Phones with built-in cameras have all but taken over the casual digital photography field, but there will always be a market for standalone cameras – particularly those that can take great photos but also have some fun, quirky features. The Sun and Cloud camera is the world’s first “self-generating” digital camera. Even if remembering to charge up all of your gadgets isn’t your strong point, you’ll always be ready to capture special moments with this camera.

That’s because in addition to the typical USB charging method, the Sun and Cloud camera can be charged via its solar panel or hand crank. It might look like an old-timey box camera, but the Sun and Cloud from Superheadz Japan is actually quite modern in its design and technology.

The unique camera can shoot video as well as stills, and a built-in microphone captures audio at the same time. The three megapixel lens isn’t the most advanced out there, but it’s more than enough to catch some wicked vacation shots. A total of 15 on-board filters also let you take the more dramatic, artistic kind of photos that have made you so popular on Instagram lately.

The post Minimalist Digital Cam Runs on Solar or Hand-Crank Power first appeared on Gajitz.

Imagine walking past a clothing store only to see someone in the window of that store aping your every movement. You’d probably be a bit annoyed until you realized it was just a mannequin that had somehow managed to gain the power to move around. United Arrows, a Japanese clothing store, has introduced Marionettebot to the world.

Marionettebot is a mannequin attached to 16 wires and a specialized motor, which is how it is able to mimic the movements of passersby. The robotic mannequin “sees” through a Kinect camera and is then able to make movements similar to the humans walking by. Although the mannequin isn’t quite limber enough to be a perfect mirror to humans, it is rather effective at amusing those humans.

The post Doing the Robot: Marionette Mannequin Mimics Movements first appeared on Gajitz.

Have you ever gotten a little chill down your spine as you walk past mannequins in a department store? That chill may soon be well deserved since an Italian company introduced a new line of mannequins that really are watching you. EyeSee mannequins from a company called Almax feature cameras and microprocessors in their heads, allowing the mannequins to gather information about shoppers.

The mannequins would be placed in strategic positions in stores, such as at the entrance or near important displays. The cameras and microprocessors in the mannequin heads would measure data like demographic information based on facial recognition. Data like ages, races, and genders of shoppers could be measured (like on the screen above), along with how many people visit a certain part of the store in a set time period and how long they hang around.

The company is quick to point out that the data processing would all be done on-site inside the mannequins, so no demographic or personal data would be stored or transmitted. According to Almax, the anonymous data can be used by the stores to adapt their staffing and displays to the customers – all without revealing any personal information. But that doesn’t change the fact that the mannequins will be creepily spying on you as you shop, which is enough to make us stay at home and give more of our business to Amazon.

The post The Dummies Have Eyes: Store Mannequins Spy on Shoppers first appeared on Gajitz.

The old, low-tech way of judging consumers’ interest in products was to put them in a focus group and ask them questions. However, some studies on the focus group method have uncovered a rather inconvenient fact: focus group participants often try to please the testers by saying what they think the testers want to hear. So how do you measure interest without asking for opinions? Some companies are relying on three-dimensional computer simulations of virtual stores full of virtual products, then tracking where consumers’ eyes are drawn.

Using special computer hardware and software that tracks a virtual shopper’s gaze, companies can create a sort of heat map indicating where the eyes were drawn and how long the gaze was held at each point. Some systems even use devices that measure involuntary facial expressions to gauge true emotional response to whatever the subject is looking at. The result of all of this technology is that companies are able to test out different packaging, logos, product placement and other important aspects of retail without wasting millions on prototypes and ineffectual focus groups.

The post The Eyes Have It: Marketing Tech Parses Gazes for Info first appeared on Gajitz.

We have a confession to make: we’re a little neurotic about carrying full grocery bags in from the car. We’ll put as many as possible into each hand and slide those suckers onto our arms until we can barely walk just to avoid having to make a second trip. It’s like a declaration of failure to have to go back to the car to retrieve more bags. Whoever created the One Trip Grocery Bag Holder is apparently a kindred spirit, because the simple device lets you carry a ton of bags all at once.

Like a big carabiner clip, the bag carrier opens up to hook through the handles of your paper or plastic grocery bags. It can hold up to 50 pounds of groceries at a time, so if you’re really hardcore like us you can carry a whole hundred pounds of groceries at a time with one in each hand. They’re $5 each so you can go a little crazy and treat yourself to a few of them.

The post Easy on the Digits: Grocery Bag Carrier Prevents Finger Pain first appeared on Gajitz.