If you aren't aware of our latest project, you MUST be living under a digital rock.

Twitterin' Teddy isn't your ordinary bear. We've brought him to life through a 2.0 implant...web 2.0 that is.

Teddy speaks via a web 2.0 application that converts his twitters and his friend's twitters to speech and saves them as an audio file. The flow chart below gives an overview of how the system works.

As users update their twitter feeds, the application scans for the updates, and converts the text to speech, and saves it as an audio file. This audio file is placed on a public server where anyone and the world with internet connection can access the file.

Aside from making a bear come to life, this application may provide viewing-impaired web users a way to stay connected to friends and loved ones. Twitterin' Teddy is just an example of what you can do when you combine Technology, Entertainment and Social Interaction.

About the Drexel MET-Lab

The Music and Entertainment Technology Laboratory (MET-lab) is devoted to research in digital media technologies that will shape the future of entertainment, especially in the areas of sound and music. The MET-lab's primary research focuses on the following music and entertainment applications:

• Music production and playback technology: The iPod and digital downloads have changed when and where we experience music. In the near future, the impact of digital technology on how music is produced ated and performed will be even more dramatic.
• Machine listening and music information retrieval: Computers are great at recording, editing, and playing audio, but they can’t tell you much about the sound itself. How can we teach machines to really listen? Can they help organize our ever growing personal music collections?
• New music interfaces: It generally takes years to learn to play a musical instrument. This research looks at creating simpler and more intuitive interfaces that enable people to start making music without prior experience.

The MET-lab is also heavily involved in outreach programs for K-12 students and hosts the Summer Music Technology program, a one-week learning experience for high school students. Learn more about the lab at http://schubert.ece.drexel.edu.

My Other Cool Project

Before working on Teddy and My Home 2.0, I co-developed a Mood Classification Game. Its called MoodSwings, and when you play it you are helping teach our computers how to understand mood. Confused? Try it out for yourself! http://schubert.ece.drexel.edu/moodswings

Posted by Guru Lloyd | tagged: MET-Lab, Drexel, Teddy, Twitter, DIY, Lloyd