Countdown of Awesome: Personalised beans to audio-tagged truths behind US political ads

30 August 2012

Welcome to this 10th weekly installment of awesome ideas from around the interweb. This week’s gems include 3D printed soundwaves, personalised baked beans, and a cunning MIT app which identifies US election broadcasts and provides impartial truths around them.

Number 5) World’s first city for robots
First up is an interesting feature from Onearth on Pegasus Holdings’ efforts to create a $1bn, 20 square mile model metropolis of the future in New Mexico to house 35k. Only thing is no humans are to reside in it – just robots.

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Via @rickwilliams

Number 4) 3D printed album soundwaves
Another 3D printing innovation in at Number 4 – this time from Realitat who have created a collection of some pretty amazing looking 3D printed soundwaves from the likes of Portishead and Nick Drake.

“Each album’s soundwave proposes a new spatial and unique journey by transforming sound into matter/space: the hidden into something visible”. I guess a Status Quo riff wouldn’t look quite so majestic?

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Via PSFK

Number 3) Heinz Five engraved beanz
To help promote the new can of Heinz Beanz with 5 different types in it, We Are Social have come up with an interesting idea where fans of the Facebook page can have their name engraved on their very own baked bean. Seems to work well with ‘Pat’, perhaps not so well for a Maximillion?

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Via @RobinGrant

Number 2) Roadtrippers app
Roadtrippers is s a really smart bucketlist utility app which enables you to not just to plot a course from A to B, which can be as fun as watching paint dry, but to include all the most interesting stops in between to guarantee the most memorable roadtrip.

“The aim is to help those heading out onto the road find eccentric roadside attractions, breathtaking natural wonders, or mouthwatering foodie feasts”.

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Via @Springwise

Number 1) Super PAC app
In the coveted number 1 spot this week we have an app from MIT which audio tags (AKA audio fingerprints) US election ads in order to display the hidden truths behind them. Here’s a pithy description from Fasttocreate.com

“Cut through the BS with Super PAC App, which delivers information about money spent on a given campaign ad, veracity to claims made, and how other viewers are reacting to the ad.”

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Via @Ctough85

Aggrieved something isn’t featured? Think an entry just isn’t up to the correct threshold of awesomeness? Then let us know in the comments below. Or if you’d like to recommend anything for inclusion next week then contact @jamescfilmer or james.filmer@umww.com.

James Filmer
Chief Innovation Officer
UM

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