Merlin is not that far... FamCam

Brainjuicer, a start-up in Marketing/consumer research has the project of "Virtual ethnography for consumer insights generation"

=> it consists in placing cameras in the homes of participants

http://www.brainjuicer.com/

The "real time face detector": the software which recognizes your mood!

A group of scientists from Fraunhofer Institute (Germany) is working on a software which detects the user's mood by analyzing the characteristics of the face: the nose, eyes and the face outline.

If you look stressed, the system recognizes your reactions and adapts the flow of information in your computer to optimize the understanding.

This program is attractive for marketing analysts to catch the reactions of walkers in front of posters for example. It could be a powerful tool to evaluate the impact of the advertizing on potential consumers!
If you are curious to test it on yourself, you could download the demo:
http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/EN/bf/bv/kognitiv/biom/422107.jsp
Enjoy!

Some little annoyance less at your desk

Another simple and innovative idea: the CableDrop.

It prevents you from losing your cables behind your desk, scrambling on the floor (which is not always the better side you want to show to your collegues !)

Simple, Design and Cheap (around 10$ for a set of 6)

A fun way to drink water

Simple, Cheap and not Useless
It's not everyday you find something compliant with these 3 criterias !

Here is one: the Tapi Squeeze Fountain, designed by Dreamfarm, an Australian company

It's a very simple rubber device that fits to almost any tap so that you can drink water directly from your tap.

It is Hygienacally safe, costs only 5$ and above all, FUN.

Made a 1,474-Megapixel Photo During President Obama’s Inaugural Address

A journalist shows us how precise and scary technology can be!

http://www.davidbergman.net/blog/how-i-made-a-1474-megapixel-photo-during-president-obamas-inaugural-address/

Solar Strap for Camera

What about ading a function to the strap you have to use anyway ?

This is what Yanko Design proposes by adding solar films to its Solar Camera Strap

Simple and easy

The Spray that works in any way !

One of the golden rules to come up with breakthrough innovations is to be a response to a dissatisfaction.

What about the dissatisfaction of the spray you can only use in the vertical position, of the dissatisfaction of striving to use the end of it ?!

This is a little dissatisfaction to which Michael Pritchard has an answer. It's the AnywaySpray which can be used...in any way of course.

Hot does it work ? It's thanks to a tube, which has millions of holes, and where the laws of physics work in the pump’s favour. As long as any part of the tube is in contact with the liquid, and whichever way the container is inverted, a constant spray will be maintained until the very last drop.

Here is a video of Michael presenting its Spray