📷Epic VR Gear, Psychoactive Peppers, and AI Ears
VR for everyone
Hey everyone!
How are you doing this morning?
I helped a good friend and his family move on Saturday - so I’m still quite sore. We filled up and emptied 1 and a half-giant uhauls! I wasn’t early enough to help with most of the first uhaul, but they left to go watch the World Cup USA game.
December is here, and Christmas is right around the corner . . .
Our children are quite obsessed with the Christmas tree - and try to pull on branches every . . . 5 minutes.
How is it already the end of 2022? Wild.
Have you checked out the new season of Titans yet? It’s pretty fun - and I’ve enjoyed seeing a show that actually has a decent cast of Batman characters.
Yeah - it can be kinda cheezy, but it’s way better than nothing.
Speaking of Cheezy . . .
Cheez-it made cheez-it themed hotel rooms. They look AWESOME!! Surely they come with lots of free cheez-its to eat.
How was your Spotify Wrapped this year? This year was mainly phonk, electro house, and lofi. I’ll be sharing it below . . .
Now that Callisto Protocol is out - and we can actually watch gameplay - it looks a whole lot like Dead Space - but with more pixels.
Oh - I imagine you’ve been hearing all about the GPT-Chat AI. If you haven’t gotten a chance to mess with it, please do! It’s pretty incredible - I may write about it next week.
Shall we dive on in?
📸Epic VR Gear
Sony dropped a teaser for some INSANE new VR gear.
No - it’s not another oculus style headset, a treadmill or anything like that.
It’s called Mocopi - and it’s comprised of a set of sensors for motion capture. You don’t have to set them up in different corners of your room - you just have to strap them to your head, waist, wrists, and ankles.
Maybe that sounds cumbersome - but they’re each only about the size of a pedometer. Compared to the other existing motion capture solutions - this looks buttery smooth.
Here - watch the video!
Mocopi also makes motion capture portable - you can create videos in your living room, or outside!
It comes with its own smartphone app where you can record your videos and track the connectivity of your sensors.
According to Sony’s site, you’ll also be able to record your footage in real time - so I imagine this will include streaming to Twitch, VRchat or other platforms.
I found this video that demos some of the Mocopi features.
It looks pretty awesome!
Check it out at the site. It looks like it’ll be coming out in 2023 . . .
🌶️Psychoactive Peppers
I like a good hot sauce now and again - My dad got me a PHENOMENAL one for my Birthday.
It’s sweet AND hot - and is really good with pizza.
Could that feeling of joy that hot sauce brings make it a psychoactive substance?
Ya know . . . like drugs
That’s the argument that Piotr Migdal makes in his article “Perspective: capsaicin is a psychoactive substance.“
Here’s the gist of it.
Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) is a substance found in chili peppers that causes a burning sensation. It binds to the vanilloid receptor subtype 1 (TRPV1), responsible for burning pain stimuli . . . While in principle anything we eat affects our neurous system, not everything acts direcly on neurotransmitters. In case of capsaicin it is both a direct interation (vanilloid receptors) and as secondary effects —related to adrenaline and endorphines. In mild doses, it brings a sensation of excitement (most likely adrenaline). It is mouthwatering even when I just think about it.
So . . . peppers play with our endorphins and adrenaline - which is why people who crave hot sauce - crave it. They want “the rush” they get from what Capsaicin does in the brain.
I . . . . I neeeed the hot sauce . . .
Just like someone experimenting with different types of weed, I wonder if hot sauce lovers keep trying to find hotter and hotter/flavorful sauces to try and get different “rushes.”
It’s an interesting idea!
I love that show on Youtube - First We Feast: Hot Ones - where they try all the different hot sauces.
Did you ever see the episode with Idris Elba? where he eats the veryyyy hot hot sauce?
Yeah - that hot sauce would be wayyyyyyy too hot for me.
It’s a funny clip - especially when you see Idris’s reaction to just how hot the hot sauce is.
Check out the rest of Piotr’s article at the link!
👂AI Ears
Ever wish you could monitor your house WITHOUT cameras?
There’s a new Kickstarter called Earzz that’s building a smart home monitoring system without cameras.
Just . . . little listening ears.
They listen for noises like barking, knocking, and other noises . . . and alert you.
Eyyyyy I heard some glass breaking . . . for example.
Unlike Alexa or Google Home - all Earzz does is listen for certain sounds + send alerts - it does not do anything else.
According to Earzz, it does not listen to conversations
Earzz AI technology listens for sounds, not speech. Our AI does not decipher speech information within the audio captured. It scans through the audio file looking specifically for non-speech sounds. Once processed for sound recognition, we also do not store the raw audio information gathered unless specifically requested for. This ensures that your conversations remain yours. (source)
Of course, there’s a certain degree of trust you have to place in Earzz that they aren’t listening in.
Just like Google, Alexa, or our very phones for that manner.
You could also use it for listening to baby cries, coughs, and that sort of thing too!
I’m curious to see how it does - and how it stands up as a “threat” to other more established smart home players in the space. Alexa already has a feature like this called “Alexa Guard” but Google doesn’t . . .
Check out Earzz at the link!
🐙The Land of Random
It’s Random Time! Let’s goooooooooOOOoooooo
Elmo skits are the best
Watch the Bee Movie
but not really, it’s more of reading the script in real time
Amnesia Might be Playable Now
Amnesia with a gun, is better than Amnesia with no gun. These games are terrifying.
Make Glowy Shapes
Shiny and Vibey. Download and share!
Beats In Your Browser
Start making those sick beats. Seriously, it’s actually really easy to make something cool without trying. I made a mario (like one of those paper mario levels in the forest) sounding beat in 15 seconds.
AI Animation is Gonna be Nuts
This fascinating article describes how AI powered animation will completely remake the animation industry within the next 5 years.
Sharing Your Car Key in Apple Wallet
This just boggles my mind, but it makes sense. OH YOU NEED TO BORROW MY CAR HERE’S MY DIGITAL KEY.
Is HTML All U Need?
Html is awesome!
🎵TikToks You Can’t Miss
What dystopian version of Gumby is this
Well I hope he’s the “if you’re on my street we’re friends” kind of prepper
I lack the skill for this sort of omelet precision
LOLLLLLLLLLLLL - I bet that kid isn’t telling anyone.
Ah yes, it appears the Wendigo will eat me
He’s in the . . . . box?
🎙️Vybes
My top songs from 2022. Phonk Vibes, Lofi Vibes, Electro House, and a touch of Goth. . . the ghostly remnants of my deathcore rap phase.
That’s all for this issue! Come hang out in the chat to discuss this week’s issue!
