Museum Light Bulbs Beam Useful Information To Visitors’ Devices. The FabCafe in Shibuya, Japan features a mix of 3D printing, laser cutting, and regular cafe offerings. In February, it is running a special workshop where participants can have their head captured by a high-tech machine that provides a 360° scan to make a unique 3D printed chocolate mold. FabCafe says all it takes is a look of love that you want that special someone to see when they open their box of chocolates and are greeted with a small chocolate version of your head looking up at them.
The workshop consists of two consecutive classes in the run up to Valentine’s Day, and those who attend will receive a collection of chocolate heads to give to their loved one for the special occasion. They also get to keep the 3D printed mold, so they can make more chocolate versions of their head in the future if they wish to. Wired reports that this Valentine’s Day promotion, which will also teach participants the basics of 3D printing, costs 6,000 yen (around $65). FabCafe. New Spin on Video Chats Brings More to the Party - Walt Mossberg - Personal Technology. Holding video chats on your mobile devices can be a great thing. But many of the common video chat apps only allow two-party calls, at least for free, or require you to have an account with a large service or social network. Now, there’s a new video-chatting service for mobile devices and it’s free. It allows up to 10 parties in a single chat session and it doesn’t require an account to participate in a chat.
This new service, called Spin, also allows you to share photos and videos with others during a chat. Spin launched Tuesday evening for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I’ve been testing Spin in recent days on two iPads and an iPhone, and found it to be a nice way to communicate. In one test that included six people on a Saturday, some of us were at home, one was at a sidewalk cafe and one was in a vineyard. When you launch the Spin app, you’re presented with a large tile representing yourself and a series of smaller tiles arranged in piles, or “stacks.” 5 Mobile Trends Brands Need to Watch. Jonathan Gardner is director of communications at Vibrant Media. He has spent his career at the nexus of media and technology, having worked in communications around the world. Follow him @thejongardner If you let your imagination run wild, innovations such as Google’s Project Glass suggest there will come a time when we’ll no longer converse with each other, but instead exchange data like a bunch of GPS-enabled cyborgs.
While that may not be quite how it plays out, a highly-connected future is definitely on its way. Already, data shows that more than one third of American teens own an iPhone and the one-tablet-per-child initiative is a mainstay in South Korean and Thai schools. It’s easy to see what life will look like for the next generation of consumers, but will marketers be prepared? 1. Look in the mirror and what do you see?
For example, the wizards at Corning provided an inspiring look at how touch screens made of glass might soon be seamlessly integrated into our environments. The Sonic Interface Trend [Need To Know: SXSWi] Welcome to Shazam. Walmart’s Updated iPhone App Lets You Speak, Type & Scan To Add Items To Your Shopping List.