ChatRoulette.com – anonymous random video chat – as basic as that. Supposedly going crazy around the world, but no one I know will admit to using it.  Here is one of the best writeups I found on the topic:

Simon from NYNY wrote:

Chatroulette is a way to stop time, waiting. A perfectly instant jolt of the unfiltered internet. The addictive boundlessness of the internet itself is brutally reduced to a demographic experience. There is one single young male after another, each overstimulated by his perpetual anticipation. The ultimate promise that Chatroulette delivers on is fact that the internet has made everything possible at any moment, while denaturing personal experience in a consciously impure way.

From my view, it seems that the majority of the boys/men on the site are searching for something sexual, which most would consider deviant. There are plenty of images of male torsos, abdomens and hand-throttled cocks to elucidate this. The view of man as predator is nothing new but here we are presented with a new structure: an instant one-on-one that can begin, progress, and end quickly and anonymously. Just as the internet has made information on any subject almost too available, using Chatroulette in this context has the promise of a quick climax. That someone’s physical looks blatantly determine whether or not they are worth talking to is one of the harsh realities of using the site, but is also nothing particularly revelatory if you’ve ever been to a bar.

The endless procession of utterly glazed users is blinding. That they can seem simultaneously depraved and endearing is one of the sites many human graces. We are forced to accept ourselves – physically watching our own interactions in real time. There are moments of gentle shyness, universal awkwardness and plenty of honest intrigue. I shared a long silent moment (10 seconds or so – a Chatroulette eternity) with a shirtless man who appeared uncannily like an older version of myself.

I don’t agree that spending time on Chatroulette is not useful or productive as it is now. It seems that Andrey is very succinct and in tune. He created the site so that he could use it. The site is by its very nature as untenable as virtual communication itself. At this moment, Chatroulette is a cross-section of the core of the internet, and the fact that it has gained its most persistent traction in the US is probably one reason why you see so much masturbating. It is both a cause and symptom of the overwhelming available stimuli in our culture. Chatroulette and the internet as a whole give each user a limitless audience. The profound intensity of the experience comes from the lack of performers.

Words from creator: “I set up a photo camera in my room, turned out all the lights and took a long-exposure shot of my roomba doing it’s thing for about 30 minutes. The result is a picture that shows the path of the roomba through it’s cleaning cycle, it looks like a flight map or something. It really hits every spot!”

1. Take the sewn on label off the outside of your sleeve – it might be sewn on, but it doesn’t belong there when you wear it.
2. The pockets also DO work, even though they may also be sewn shut. Do yourself a favor and carefully snip them open so you can use the pockets. They are sewn shut for shipping so the garment doesn’t sag.
3. Snip the few threads holding the back of the jacket if there is an opening (see below.)  You don’t know how many people I see walking around like penguins in restricted long coats with the back tail slit sewn shut.

Thanks! Now I can move on in life

Here are some suggestions to the product manager of Guitar Hero:

Start off Teaching Rhythm

The icons running up the screen indicate when to play, but you could easily add in measure indicators so at least you would know timing.  After a few easy level of quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes, move up to eighth notes and sixteenth’s.  Players spend HOURS starting out and something so basic should be achieved.

Intermediate Levels Can Teach Strings

The keys on the fake guitar are colored, and you make the player coordinate the colors of the notes with the colors of the keys. So make the 6 lines correspond to the 6 strings and work each string at different levels, then mix in rhythm and different strings at higher levels.

Turn the Music the Right Way

After a user plays Guitar Hero for too long, they may end up thinking reading music is like driving on a road. Turn it sideways and start getting players used to reading it the right way…. just like you would read a book – left to right, top to bottom.

Teach Notes

You’ve got 6 strings, the music written horizontally, and rhythm down pat. All that’s left is to introduce one note at a time and add some notes in between strings.

Teach Chords

The same way you would teach all the others – one chord at a time w/ fingering and tab shortcuts.

New Goals for Power Users

Not like gaining high score bragging rights and celebrating with your virtual trashy whore groupee is bad or anything, but imagine someone playing Guitar Hero for a couple years and finally picking up a guitar actually knowing what everything is… how’s that for success?

Imagine experts at Rock Band sitting down with real instruments knowing how to play a complete song with an entire band. That would be amazing… and there would be thousands of people who already know the song, ready to jam!

Think about the marketing leverage when someone’s at the store comparing games when one of them offers to actually teach music, while the other is just a game.

Here’s one of my first test images:

Original is below:

Here are the steps from the video.

Basically, to create a more realistic photo, one would like to use the Lens Blur, but you can only apply a lens blur to a rasterized mask vs a Smart Object where you would create the gradient blur.  I’m guessing most people stop at the gradient blur, but this technique adds a finer quality to the finished product, stead of a hazy look to the image.

Shall we say – Modern Day Laser Tag? – but this time around you don’t have to strap the sensor on your dog  Shooting stuff will always be around no matter how many mothers out there stand rigidly against it. Kids have transitioned from cap guns to BB guns, then to laser, back to a reformed BB (Airsoft) and upgraded Nerf, and now back to upgraded infrared.

Interative Toy Concepts has developed a skeet shooter game designed to be an indoor toy.

The world’s first HD 3D camera – sorta speaks for itself.

2.6 millimetres – so we can ripped on buying a 3/4″ acrylic protector that all those iPhone accessory companies will cash in on!

Completely wireless HD TV’s – now I can mount this sucker just about everywhere – Monster Cable should lookout!

High speed camera – we’re talking 300FPS – capture that golf swing, tennis serve – finally!

Keep Polaroid film alive!

An iPhone-controlled drone helicopter – how cool is that toy??

BumpTop.com offers a great new way to organize just about everything through a revolutionary visual organization scheme. Your desktop becomes an entire cubicle. Pin stuff on the wall, create piles, reorganize, and… spread them all out again. You can undo, shrink, enlarge and many other options. And finally a cool visual app for both Mac and PC.