Camera + Facebook = Facedeals. No, this won’t cause a panic…

Part of me wants to think that this is just a hoax but no, I think it’s real.

So how this works is that you sign up on Facebook to let Facedeal use your info. Now every time you walk into a store that has a Facedeal camera that can scan your face you get offers and junk sent to your smart phone.

“Facial recognition cameras are installed at local businesses. These cameras recognize your face when you pass by, then check you in at the location. Simultaneously, your smartphone notifies you of a customized deal based on your Like history…The Facedeals app must be authorized via your Facebook account. With your help, the app verifies your most recent photo tags, using those to map the physical appearance of your face. Our custom-developed cameras then simply use this existing data to identify you in the real world. Personalized deals can now be delivered to your smartphone from all participating locations—all you have to do is show your face.”

I can’t help but think that this is going to freak people out or at least prompt folks to wear Nixon masks when they post self pics to Facebook and walk around in public. Another use for the ‘V for Vendetta’ masks? Read more about this ‘wonderful’ new technology at the L.A. Times:

Facedeals checks you in with facial-recognition cameras – latimes.com.

Video from Facedeal…

The Mechanical Mustache

“A mustache party? By Jove I’ll be there!” I exclaimed as I dashed forth from my lab!

I few weeks ago I got wind of a party that the local hackerspace here in the greater Phoenix area was having. They decided to celebrate their one year anniversary by holding a mustache party. So I decided to live the hacker dream and build my own mustache (yes, I have a natural one but that was easy to make).
Take a look at the process that I went through to build my creation. I give you the  Mechanical Mustache Project!

Torrents In Space!


Yarr… The idea of placing a file server in orbit around Earth sounds cool but the practicality of it verges on the crazy insane. Anyway, a server that is on orbit my be exempt from international law but the ground stations that serve it are not. I suppose you could put a satellite up/down link on someplace like Sealand and worry about feeding data to and from that. It’s still not going to solve the problem of hosting data that countries don’t want being hosted.

This week, Pirate Parties worldwide started brainstorming about a similarly ambitious plan. Instead of founding their own nation, they want to shoot a torrent site into orbit.

Pirate Parties Plan to Shoot Torrent Site Into Orbit.

Norwegian Ninjas!

Say what you will about the concept of Norway having ninjas but you have to admit that it could be very funny.

Kommandør Treholt & Ninjatroppen is the true story of how Commander Arne Treholt and his Ninja Force saved Norway during the Cold War. The story takes place in the time right before Treholt’s arrest on espionage charges in 1984, and reveals a spectacularly different version of our recent past than has been previously known.

I’m looking forward to seeing this gem.
News: Death Strikes Silently From The Fjords! The NORWEGIAN NINJA Trailer Is Here!.

24 Hours Trapped Inside Starbucks

StarbucksA writer spends 24 consecutive hours in a Houston Texas Starbucks and lives to tell about it:

“15 hours, 11 restroom visits, and 16 drinks in. 3:06 PM May 14th via Twitterrific”

At this point, it really felt like I was seeing things. The drinks weren’t the worst part, it was mostly the restroom. My bladder began to hurt. Later, it would go numb.

The Starbucks Experiment: 24 Hours Trapped Inside Starbucks