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illusion

Your own skate jam!

TouchGrind is good game for anyone who likes skateboarding or fingerboarding, but it could use a little work to make it a great game. Pick a board and either practice your moves in your backyard (Warmup); practice tricks and attempt your single-trick high score at the main park (Jam Session); or go for the high score in a timed format at the main park (Competition). TouchGrind lets you use two fingers on your touch screen to control your board for turning and performing tricks. An easy-to-understand How To section helps you get used the controls. The physics are very good, … Read more

This PC is an Illusion

Can your computer do magic?

This prototype design can. The Illusion PC is one of thousands of entries into the Next-Gen PC Design competition sponsored by Microsoft. Gizmodo spotted it, and I have to agree that it pulls off a pretty nifty visual trick.

The design makes the PC appear to have no inner components. The designer says the aim was to make the computer not look like a computer, and when turned off to look just like a household decorative object.

The cube measures 8.25 inches on each side and uses a Mini-ITX mainboard, 200-watt mini-PSU, and slot-loading … Read more

Robots baffled by optical illusions

In theory, robots aren't designed to make mistakes. But a University College London (UCL) project team is hoping errors in how software "sees" optical illusions can make robots more like humans--mistakes and all.

Project leaders Dr. R. Beau Lotto and David Corney at the UCL institute of Ophthalmology say the study provides unprecedented insight into how the human eye can be fooled by lighting and shading. Instead of simulating the human brain, the software simulates learning patterns from past visual experiences.

The UCL Institute of Ophthalmology study recreated the vision errors using software that "learns" … Read more

Illusion cuisine

What's a tablecloth without a table? This thing, apparently.

Through creative use of transparent acrylic, the Essey Illusion Table and Grand Illusion Table fool your eyes into believing that a tablecloth is all you need to keep your meatloaf off the ground.

The table uses solid acrylic "tablecloth" corners to provide the support needed to keep the table on terra firma.

At $225 to about $470 for the tables, depending on the size and style, you may not be in the market to buy one. But if you're an aspiring magician, you should at least bear … Read more