Latest Gear Live Videos
Oddage Puzzle Word Game
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Games, $2.99,
If you just can’t pass up a good word game, Danilo Campos’ Oddage is the one for you. With this app you need to pick out the word that doesn’t belong with the other ones. Categories include periodic table elements, county names, spices, Greek gods and trees. There are a total of 900 words in 50 categories, and each game lasts between 60 to 90 seconds. The download is $2.99. We guess this is a perfect application while waiting for the ATM or the idiot in front of you that has more than 10 items in the express lane.
Read More | Oddage
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Merriam-Webster to Release New Words
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet,
Merriam-Webster has announced over one hundred new words that will go into its 11th Edition Collegiate Dictionary. To determine which make the cut, they study the usage for sometimes decades before accepting them. Among the words are webinar, infinity pool, dwarf planet, Norovirus, and dirty bomb, but it is mondegreen that is our fave.
What is a mondegreen, you ask? According to M-W, it is a “noun defined as a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung” first coined by author Sylvia Wright in the 50’s when she admitted that she misunderstood song lyrics. We know that some of our personal mondegreens include those from “Blinded By the Light” and “Louie, Louie.”
To celebrate, M-W Online is calling for submissions of your favorites through July 25. Already available online, the 2008 print update of the Eleventh Edition will be in bookstores September 1.
Read More | Merriam-Webster
Review: USB Exercising Mouse
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Product Reviews, Toys, Videos, USB,
This little guy has been out for a while now, but when our English buds from Crazy About Gadgets sent us a USB Exercising Mouse, we just had to put him through his paces (pun intended.) While waiting for the software to upload, we noticed that Microsoft warned us that it had not undergone safety testing by them. (Thanks for looking out for us, but we’ll take the risk.) Full review and video after the jump.
(Thanks, Phillip)
Click to continue reading Review: USB Exercising Mouse
Read More | Crazy About Gadgets
Gender Genie Algorithms Detect Author’s Sex?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Misc. Tech, Science,
We were so fascinated by a blog we wrote last week that mentioned being able to tell the sex of a writer from content that we just had to explore it more. Our research ended up at the Gender Genie. Based on the algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel of Bar-Ilan University in Israel and Shlomo Argamon of the Illinois Institute of Technology, you simply place some text on the site and it tells you if the writer is male or female. Try it yourself and note that they suggest something written with at least 500 words. We submitted one that was 471 words with these results.
In all fairness, we tried it again with a shorter piece but the result was the same. Hmmm. So much for math and science.
Read More | bookblog
Speak Without Sound with TheAudeo
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Misc. Tech, Science, Videos,
We always want to complain when we hear someone on a cellphone who is too loud. TheAudeo was originally designed for those who cannot speak but also can be utilized by those who can. Ambient designed the tech that translates thought into speech through a neckband by catching nerve signals. At this point, it recognizes about 150 words and phrases. The company is working on an improved version that will identify phonemes and thereby have a larger vocabulary base. This video is almost eerie, don’t you think?
Read More | Ambient
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