animals

Just another turtle planetarium

As fellow Craver Caroline McCarthy is off on other assignments, we've been asked to fill in on some of her regular beats. No, it doesn't involve wine or beer. Or still more wine and beer.

In this case, it's something that combines two other of her favorite topics, stuffed animals and planetriums. (We don't ask questions.) The "Twilight Turtle" looks like a regular plush by day but, by night, its plastic shell turns into a planetarium that projects the night sky onto any ceiling.

It comes in white, green or blue, colors that researchers … Read more

Nothing faked in iClone's animation

Do you want to be the next John Lasseter? Is Hayao Miyazaki your hero? iClone Studio Edition 2.0 updates the feature-heavy, template-based 3D animation studio aimed at the amateur animator. It's a must-see app if you're trying to break into the camera side of movies and animation, or if you just want to play around with 3D animation without having to draw everything from scratch.

The installation is a bit of a drag, with a mandatory registration that also scans your computer's hardware. If your machine is tall enough for the ride, you can get access to an extended trial version with a few more templates than the regular trial. Once you're in, though, iClone really gets down to business.… Read more

New stars in new media: Is cute the killer app on YouTube?

Forget copyrighted comedy ripped off from some cable channel. Even forget the made-for-YouTube teen fantasy. This is real video of a real-life couple, laid bare before all the world. And the world, as reflected by YouTube, seems to love it.

You may be the last person on earth who hasn't already seen the hand-holding otters. The video is years old, but it wasn't posted until March. In less than two months, nearly 6 million viewings have been recorded.

Canadian TV reports the two otters have become big celebrities thanks to the video. Here you can learn the two … Read more

Celebrity bear builds media presence with Web site, book deal

The world's youngest celebrity is building quite a media career. Five-month-old polar bear, Knut, is already a star at the Berlin Zoo. He also stars in more than two dozen YouTube videos, which have accumulated millions of plays. When you visit Knut's new personal Web site you'll see pictures and e-mails from adoring fans.

But today we learn that Knut and a human co-author have a book deal. One purpose of the book will be to draw attention to global warming, says the human writer. The book'll be published by Scholastic, which has a track record … Read more

AniBOOM's ShapeShifter: easy user-generated animation creation

Old-school Mac users might remember a little application called HyperCard. Originally a database application, it doubled as a casual animation tool--letting users create fairly basic cartoons, frame by frame. This morning I've been playing around with AniBOOM's ShapeShifter, a Web-based animation creation tool that brings back those old feelings of black-and-white computing, with a new social bookmarking twist.

ShapeShifter is pretty simple to use. There are four shapes to choose from, and you can place them wherever you want on the canvas. Each shape can be rotated, resized and grouped together to make new forms. When you're … Read more

Endangered ringtones

If you've already bought the Serenade Clock Radio and you long to hear the mournful howl of the Mexican wolf when your phone rings, then you're in luck as the Center for Biological Diversity is offering free ringtones of endangered species. The goal is to raise awareness of the plight of these animals, and to get more people involved with protecting them.

After giving your name and e-mail, you get to choose which ringtone you want. The ringtones themselves are the sounds of these endangered animals - it ranges from the mighty roar of the polar bear to … Read more

Plug your PC into an elephant's booty

How about a heaping helping of visual tomfoolery to go along with your electricity?

Adrien Gard?re's vinyl wall-outlet surroundings make charging your gadgets or powering your PC a little more interesting. Jack right into a pig's snout, a puppy's nose, or even the sun-don't-shine area of a cow or elephant.

Unlike doing any of those things in real life, you won't need to take a shower afterwards or get a call from the ASPCA.

The vinyl pieces cost 33 euros each, or about $44.

'Twirl-a-Squirrel' is really just a YouTube video stunt prop

This 'Twirl-a-Squirrel' markets itself as a way to keep pesky rodents off your bird feeder. But honestly, it's really just a playset for making funny YouTube videos. I can imagine the squirrels got a little bit ticked off, though. Seriously, why is it bad to have these little guys around? Don't you think they're kind of cute?

Besides, the Twirl-a-Squirrel video is nowhere near as funny as the one about the squirrel who ate fermented pumpkins and got hammered.

This week in imminent doom at the hands of cyborg animals

What the hell is going on these days? Seriously.

All of a sudden, scientists have created living remote-control pigeons, monkeys that can control huge robotic arms using only their brains, and cats that are getting pimped-out bionic eyeballs. And then there's that gaming helmet that can read your mind. It's awesome, but it's also creepier than 70 clown Draculas.

Here is what I'm talking about, yo.

Real-life pigeon cyborgs: Simply by placing a bunch of electrodes and red wires in a pigeon's brain, scientists at the Robot Research Center at the Shandong University of Science … Read more