Doce surpresa (“Sweet surprise” in portuguese) is a one-minute short produced by SQMA Film Delivery for Nokia. Interestingly enough, even though the purpose of the video is to serve as a marketing tool for the Nokia Lumia series, not a single phone is shown at all. This short takes on “The Amazing Everyday” theme and follows a style similar to that of “The Little Amazing Show” ads I’ve shown you before. As such, the video highlights the bonds between people and how the simplest of things can steal a smile from you.
From this video, I particularly like the song. Unfortunately, it was specifically composed for it, so we don’t get any more than those sixty seconds. By the way, I’d deeply appreciate it if anyone could help me figuring out the lyrics. I tried to do it myself, but my French is a little bit rusty, so I’m not even sure if what I think I have is actually correct.
Même si on ne comprends pas la vie * à la fois. Même si la porte est fermée, moi, je suis a tes côtés.
Et si tu voudrais cacher la tristesse qui t’a trouvé, je veux entrer n’importe quoi pour te voir sourire autre fois.
Nos coeurs séparés *
Every spring, an ocean of canola flowers deluges Luoping, covering everything in never-ending yellow. Year after year, thousands of travelers and photographers are attracted to this place by the promise of a stunningly beautiful scenery that is guaranteed to overwhelm their senses. The small county lies in the relatively underdeveloped eastern part of the Yunnan Province, in China, neighboring the Guizhou and Guangxi provinces and sitting 220 kilometers to the east of the capital Kunming.
Bookmark Luoping as one of the places I’ll definitely visit some not-so-distant day and there goes another good reason for me to learn how to use my camera appropriately. Also, a quick thought: the whole city is going to look like this on the day I pass away.
“Poco después, cuando el carpintero le tomaba las medidas para el ataúd, vieron a través de la ventana que estaba cayendo una llovizna de minúsculas flores amarillas. Cayeron toda la noche sobre el pueblo en una tormenta silenciosa, y cubrieron los techos y atascaron las puertas, y sofocaron a los animales que durmieron a la intemperie. Tantas flores cayeron del cielo, que las calles amanecieron tapizadas de una colcha compacta, y tuvieron que despejarías con palas y rastrillos para que pudiera pasar el entierro.”
Blueprints is a beautiful Tumblr client with an attractive look & feel that matches perfectly with your Windows Phone. We’ve put great attention to its design and we really think you’ll like it.
Just log in with your Tumblr account and we’ll sync your phone with it right away so that you can view your dashboard, manage your posts and see what’s new with your favorite blogs.
Blueprints includes dozens and dozens of features. With this app you can:
Share texts, photos, quotes, links, conversations, videos and audio.
Like and unlike posts as well as reblog them.
Play audio posts and videos.
Save photos to your phone.
Share links in your connected social networks.
Search for songs in the Zune Marketplace.
Save drafts or add posts to your queue.
Post to multiple blogs related to the same account.
Pin your favorite blogs to your start screen.
Send your posts to Twitter.
Find the blogs you’re following.
Keep a look on the posts you’ve liked.
Feel free to check it out, play with it a little bit and let us know your thoughts. We think you’ll really like it. :-)
Tweenbots are 10-inch tall robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians. Rolling at a constant speed and in a straight line, Tweenbots have their destination written down on a flag that they carry around with them. Struggling to survive in the precarious city and relying solely on human kindness, they must put their faith on the random passersby they meet to read this flag and aim the little robots in the right direction so that they can reach their final goal.
Kacie Kinzer, the mind behind the project, describes one of the first experiments involving her Tweenbots:
I walked out to Washington Square Park on a sunny summer day, placed my first Tweenbot on the sidewalk, and walked away. … Every time a Tweenbot got caught under a park bench, ground futilely against a curb, or became trapped in a pothole, some passerby would always rescue it and send it toward its goal. Never once was a Tweenbot lost or damaged. Often, people would ignore the instructions to aim the Tweenbot in the “right” direction, if that direction meant sending the robot into a perilous situation. One man turned the robot back in the direction from which it had just come, saying out loud to the Tweenbot, “You can’t go that way, it’s toward the road.”
The Tweenbot’s unexpected presence in the city created an unfolding narrative that speaks to the power of a simple technological object to create a complex network powered by human intelligence and asynchronous interactions. The journey the Tweenbots take each time they are released in the city becomes a story of people’s willingness to engage with a creature that mirrors human characteristics of vulnerability, of being lost, and of having intention without the means of achieving its goal alone. As each encounter with an empathetic pedestrian takes a Tweenbot one step closer to reaching its destination, the significance of our random discoveries and individual actions accumulates into a story about a vast space made small by an even smaller robot.
The Tweenbots are now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This is certainly a beautiful lesson about empathy and the things that define human-likeness, such as being in danger, lost and looking for help and company.
It’s quite impressive how it’s possible for us to simulate cognition using software. Actually, can it even be called a simulation? Aren’t these machines learning exactly the same way that we, as humans, do? Well, beats me. But it makes you think, because it might happen that the things that mark the difference between computers and living beings might just disappear one day.
From the video description: “Cornell University professor Hod Lipson demonstrates how a robot can teach itself to walk without any knowledge of its form and function. ‘Within a relatively small number of these babbling actions, it will figure out what it looks like’, Lipson says. He adds that eventually ‘it can figure out how to move.’”
Hit the source link above to watch this clip from The Colbert Report as Stephen Colbert celebrates Chuck Grassley’s minimalist Twitter feed and artistic aversion to typing. Genius!
Henry, an old man who’s been living in a nursing home for approximately ten years, is described as being depressed and unresponsive. One day, he’s given an iPod with music from his era. As soon as his caretaker puts the headphones on him, his eyes immediately brighten up with happiness. He starts singing and rocking his body and can’t stop smiling and is being animated. “… he’s restored to himself, he’s remembered who he is.”
Now, that’s music and technology for you. Indeed, there are few things out there as magical as music and the technology that seamlessly delivers it to us. Seriously, watch the video; it’s the sort of thing one must see.
You know? I’ve always felt this kind of personal obligation to do something (anything!) to make people’s lives a little bit better. In fact, even though I’m significantly art-oriented, I became an engineer because I believe that technology is the key for me to deliver the biggest contributions I can to mankind. Sure, I probably won’t stop world hunger or erradicate diseases. Still, I truly hope that one day I do something, for small as it may be, that makes someone smile like this.
To be honest, I actually wonder if some of the stories I blog about in here bright up someone’s day from time to time. I hope they do.
Listen to this kid, in a remixed version of his speech, give noteworthy words of wisdom to everyone who’s trying to learn how to ride bike. Seriously, may I say this is a parenting win? I hope one day I can raise my own kid to be this awesome so that he can conquer the world like a true leader with iron fist.
By the way, this one goes dedicated to two friends of mine who’ll certainly appreciate the motivational speech.
From the video description: “A cherubic child gives a rousing speech-song to inspire all aspiring bike riders of the world—and all peoples who aspire to do anything.”
Yes, that’s pretty much it. I think life would be amazing if I could reduce it to these six things alone. Oh well, I should go back to my engineering book now.
