Jun 24 2008 Fugly As Hell Jacket Has A Camera On The Back, Monitor On The Sleeve, But No Style

Paul Coudamy is a guy who has been beat up from behind one too many times. And, instead of just buying a pair of those rear-view spy glasses or rip-away underwear, he made a jacket. A denim one that looks awful and has a camera on the back and a monitor in the sleeve. That way Paul can sleep comfortably at night knowing that the next time he gets jumped or mugged, they definitely won't want his hideous freaking jacket.

Paul Coudamy's Hard-Wear jacket watches your back when no one else will [engadget]

Thanks to Julian, who, like me, just wears a bike helmet everywhere. You know, the kind with the little mirrors.

May 23 2008 First Person Perspective: R/C Car Comes With Camera And Dorky Looking Goggles

The VTS (Vision Tracking System) R/C car is probably the awesomest R/C vehicle I've seen in a long time (flying lawnmower excluded). The car has an onboard camera attached, which relays real-time video to your goggles so you can race with a first person perspective. Not only that, the camera moves around according to your head movements! Holy shit I want one. Unfortunately each setup (including controller, etc.) will cost you over $1,100. And then you'd have to convince a buddy to dish out the same so you can actually race. Which would be fun as hell, especially since you'll be wearing a pair of goofy-ass goggles and waving your head around like Ray Charles (see video). The goggles do lend themselves to one of my secret racing tactics though -- taking yours off and kicking your opponent in the nuts.

Another picture and a worthwhile VIDEO after the jump, but a heads up -- they set it to a song about some guy whose dog got hit by a truck and wife left him because he loves NASCAR more than her (read: country).

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May 15 2008 (Oh God Please Be) FAKE: Ghost In Elevator

I watched this video a couple of times so needless to say I'm making this post from under the bed. It's allegedly a video of a ghost in a Singapore hotel's elevator (let it load and skip to 1:20 to see the goods). I'm sure it's fake as all hell. Right? It's fake right? Good, because you know ghosts scare the crap out of me. Seriously, I've got a huge mess back there. You know, I'd be more inclined to believe this was real if the ghost wasn't a dead(!) ringer for the bag lady I make out with at the train station on Mondays and Wednesdays. I know she's still kickin' -- we played a little tonsil table tennis just yesterday. I would have won too, but she cheated and bit the tip of my tongue off.

UPDATE: Thankfully, I did some investigative interwebbing and found the creators of the video. It's some human resource group that wants you to work for them and "never have to work late and risk seeing a ghost". Which is stupid because the guys in the video never even saw the damn ghost. That said, I have seen one before. It sucked. It was this real busty chick. I tried to cop a feel but my hand just passed right through her. Tease.

Ghost Caught On A CCTV In An Elevator [aolvideo]

Thanks Emilia, I hate sleeping anyways

Apr 30 2008 Portal Technology Makes For Neat Video

Remember Portal, the sweet little game that came with The Orange Box? Yeah, I heart my companion cube too. Well, using the technological basis of the game, a company has made a video demonstration of what portals would look like in the real world (and yes, it's better than the see-through display video).

Created by EmmanuelMFr of France's Total Immersion, the illusions in the video really are reminiscent of those in the game. Using his company's D'FUSION software, he was able to swap the images on each virtual screen surface in real time, including full 3-dimensional transformations.

Okay now that video left me pretty confused, but I think what they're getting at is how awesome it would be to grab a beer from the fridge without leaving the couch. And I think we can all agree that would be Nobel Prize worthy. Hell, if I could grab beer from the grocery store (and not pay) without leaving the couch, I'd nominate that shit for a Pulitzer.

portal technology in the real world [technabob]

Jan 31 2008 Stop Being Spied On: The Camera Detector

Tired of the government spying on you? Tired of your perverted neighbor spying on you? Well put an end to it with the $25 Hidden Camera Detector from ThinkGeek.

When a wireless camera is detected, an LED light flickers and an audible alarm sounds. Advanced circuitry reduces false alarms from background interference and a sensitive tuner allows you to automatically scan variable distances and channels. The unit detects frequencies from 50MHz to 3GHz.

There you have it. Not bad for $25. I might actually get one. I know my girlfriend is spying on me. She's afraid she's going to catch me with another woman. And I'm afraid she's going to catch me prancing around in her lingerie singing Celine Dion.

ThinkGeek Product Page

Thanks to Melissa, who can spy on me any day, for the tip.

Dec 4 2007 New Camera Powered By Fluorescent Light

NEC has developed wireless cameras that are powered by fluorescent tubes. You just put the ring-shaped component around a bulb and you're good to go. The device "uses electromagnetic induction in order to obtain power by using the magnetic field generated by the AC source in the fluorescent light." Pretty impressive as long as you keep the lights on all the time. Which I learned is key to shooting good video anyways. Let's just say the last sex tape I made was three minutes of complete darkness. You can still hear the action though. It sounds a lot like a woman making fun of my penis for three minutes while I cry into a pillow.

Fluorescent light powers camera [coolestgadgets]

Nov 5 2007 MII Flashcam: Flashlight And Video Unite

The MII Flashcam incorporates a 85,000-candle-power LED flashlight with a video camera. It even has a night-vision mode with infrared emitter. It costs $1,500, and is marketed to police organizations. According to local legend, the unit was created when a police officer's Maglite was left in a cruiser one evening and it banged the dash-mounted camera in a lusty one night stand.

MII Flashcam: Tactical Flashlight with Built-In Camera [boingboing]

Oct 31 2007 Police To Use Gun Cameras For Evidence

Police officers in Orange County, New York are having their guns fitted with pistol cameras, which show the view of the barrel and target. When an officer removes the gun from its holster, it starts recording. The resulting video will help justify lawful shootings, as well as aid in disciplining officers responsible for wrongful shots. If nothing else, this new arrival should provide for some pretty interesting Youtube footage.

Please note I was unaware of the Philadelphia tragedy at the time of initial commentary.

Pistol Cam Offers Police Gun Barrel View [therawfeed]

Oct 16 2007 Man Trappped In Box Game Looks Promising

Levelhead, a game being developed by digital artist Julian Oliver, looks pretty neat. The basis of the game is a marked cube, a digital video camera, and some custom software. Basically you move the cube, the camera picks up the angular changes you make, and you try to lead the little man to the exit. It's sort of similar to the Playstation's Eye technology. Could be fun. Sort of like Lemmings, except you can't nuke the little bastard when shit hits the fan.

Explanatory video after the jump.

UPDATE: You can only see the rooms and man if you're watching through the monitor. The cube is just a box marked in a way so the camera can recognize which way you have it turned.

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