This is Not Useless

[Signe]

... so it didn't seem to be right for the Useless Video forum.

Siftables

These look better than having friends!

[JWIV]

This is definitely cool

[Khaldun]

Potentially cool. But maybe less than it appears, as with a lot of IT stuff--you have to ask what goes in to make some of that go out.

For example, pictures that are aware of each other or change depending on juxtaposition. If I have to have three different head shots of every person that I want to be "aware" (e.g., a head shot facing left, straight on, right) loaded into the Siftables in advance, then there's really nothing spontaneous or granular about that--the Siftables are just a way to make something happen that I've planned and scripted in advance, and any kid playing with the blocks will be limited to what's been scripted for them (or will have to have a way to make those images themselves).

The word or number games aren't that different from Boggle or from what you can do with a calculator on a desktop. Again, the question is what has to be done in advance for them to do that, or whether they have to be talking wirelessly to a "master computer" that allows them to do that.

The thing about blocks is that you sit down and build with them; the mutability of what you build is limited only by the size and shape of the blocks and by the physical properties of the universe around you. (Building on a hardwood floor? On soft mud? In sand? Different things will happen with the same structure. Trying to put plastic dinosaurs on block terraces? Depends on how you build your terraces on structure and the size of the dinosaurs).

That's where something like Siftables would be really, really interesting: if their mutability was intrinsic to them, rather than something that had to be planned in advance, designed by someone other than the player, dependent on content creation elsewhere. If each Siftable was more like a letter of the alphabet: a granular unit whose recombination with other units could produce sense or nonsense, novelty or familiarity. From that talk, I'm not really seeing it.

[Hawkbit]

Imagine the pr0n applications. 

[Nebu]

This is amazing.  Can you imagine how this could be used to teach chemistry.  Have blocks as elements and you could form molecules through combinations to teach the fundamentals.  Games, music, numbers, alphabet, ... wow... this has amazing potential.

[schild]

This is amazing.  Can you imagine how this could be used to teach chemistry.  Have blocks as elements and you could form molecules through combinations to teach the fundamentals.  Games, music, numbers, alphabet, ... wow... this has amazing potential.

The worst thing about TED is that once it's shown at TED, the likelihood of any of us seeing it again is near zero. So much cool shit is shown there that never ever ever makes it out of that particular arena. I've actually stopped going there unless I'm linked there and caught off guard.

[Nebu]

To be fair, lots of very cool ideas never make it to market because they will never realize profitability. 

It makes me weep to know about all of the drugs stuck in a vault because they treat a disease that not enough people have. 

[schild]

It makes me weep to know about all of the drugs stuck in a vault because they treat a disease that not enough people have.

This, however, should be illegal.

[Nevermore]

That was definitely very cool.  Especially the music part at the end.

[Sky]

To be fair, lots of very cool ideas never make it to market because they will never realize profitability. 

Because capitalism is the best!

Also, need to follow up on Hawkbit's idea. Porn can make almost anything profitable.

[Samwise]

My first curmudgeonly thought on seeing the video is that each of these things doesn't do anything that's not already done much better by, say, an iPhone.

My second thought was that at no point do they mention how much these things cost to produce.  If they cost a couple hundred dollars each, well... 

[Signe]

I can't figure out the porn applications. 

[Lantyssa]

We're probably better off not dwelling on that.

But now that you've said it, I'm sure someone will oblige your curiosity by telling us.

[MahrinSkel]

My first curmudgeonly thought on seeing the video is that each of these things doesn't do anything that's not already done much better by, say, an iPhone.

My second thought was that at no point do they mention how much these things cost to produce.  If they cost a couple hundred dollars each, well... 

As a toy for young children, they'll do a lot more to prepare them mentally for a "ubiquitous computing" world where smartphones are as common as shoes than Legos or an erector set.  And price is strictly a matter of time and scale, what costs $200 a shot now for prototypes could cost $1 per dozen in 5 years.

--Dave

[Segoris]

Imagine the pr0n applications. 

If only I had a third hand to move the blocks for the interactive story mode! 


I did really like the education possibilities, especially if it was possible to add a voice recognition system to help with languages.

[Hawkbit]

We're probably better off not dwelling on that.

But now that you've said it, I'm sure someone will oblige your curiosity by telling us.

That's the spirit!  We'll brainstorm it and someone here can get themselves a patent. 

You don't have to look any farther than a flashlight to see what innovation can do!

[Chimpy]

The speak and spell voice and sounds for the spelling game made me think back to my childhood and smile.

God I miss that thing.

[Xuri]

I was born too early. I want toys like this for my child-hood self, dammit!

[craan]

I use the knuckle then put the counter-clockwise swirl at the end.

[Velorath]

This is amazing.  Can you imagine how this could be used to teach chemistry.  Have blocks as elements and you could form molecules through combinations to teach the fundamentals.  Games, music, numbers, alphabet, ... wow... this has amazing potential.

The worst thing about TED is that once it's shown at TED, the likelihood of any of us seeing it again is near zero. So much cool shit is shown there that never ever ever makes it out of that particular arena. I've actually stopped going there unless I'm linked there and caught off guard.

Not only will Siftables be seen again, they'll be seen at GDC this year.

Also confirmed is "Physical Play: Siftables and Other New Forms and Formats for Interaction, Collaboration and Creativity" from David Merrill of the MIT Media Lab, who will be showcasing his innovative 'Siftables' technology, "cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands."

Over his entire lecture, Merrill will give an overview of his work "building new systems for physical, collaborative and multimodal interaction with digital content," asking the question, "What opportunities will arise from systems that make digital interaction more physical and less screen-based?"[/url]

[NiX]

I use the knuckle then put the counter-clockwise swirl at the end.

 

[FatuousTwat]

I can't figure out the porn applications. 

Men are like porn-whisperers... Don't let it get you down!

[Soln]

amazing.  Me want now.


Edit:  This is amazing for what it could do for games.  Come on people.  Like it's a whole new platform.