Tuesday’s Tech of the Week, Volume 9
This week's dose of titillating technology helps you get rid of physical and digital clutter, turns any photograph into a high resolution Polaroid-style pic, transforms your favorite YouTube videos into Oscar-worthy films, and acts as a bartender with a different cocktail for every song. Plus a bonus nod to a prototype that prints the morning's news on your breakfast. Here we go!
Notification Control: First, it's time to purge. Your inbox is overflowing, and over 50 percent of the junk in there is all those pesky notifications from Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr. Foursquare, Pinterest and so on. This simple website takes you directly to the "notification settings" portion of all your social media sites so you can rid yourself of unnecessary email once and for all.
: Our second tool for purging will likely tug at those heartstrings of yours. We've all been through breakups. Some of them leave us heartbroken, some leave us relieved, but all of them leave us with excess. Whether it's a motorcycle he convinced you to buy or an iPad she gave you for Christmas, this stuff is weighing you down. At the moment the site is particularly heavy on what seems like failed-marriage garb, but we're definitely digging
. And if you're looking for a little misery-loves-company action, check out the site's Tell It section.
: We know, we know. Enough with the digital photo filters already! But this one isn't for your phone, and appears to be officially endorsed by Polaroid themselves. Like its mobile cousins, Instant offers a couple dozen different photo effect filters including 8 Polaroid filters that look just like your parents' old Polaroids. You can add hand-writing onto the bottom border, and every photograph you upload is saved in its original resolution ready to print. Just
, shoot, and wait for your digital Polaroid to dry!
: Inspired by the Best Picture winning film
, The Artistifier transforms any YouTube video into a whimsical Oscar-worthy short. We couldn't resist turning the Internet's beloved Rick Astley into the deeply moving protagonist.
Drinkify: Would you like a cocktail to go with that playlist? Or rather, a cocktail for every song? A project by the folks who brought you This Is My Jam, Drinkify does exactly what it looks like. You type in the name of an artist you are listening to, and the site serves up a cocktail to match. And we're loving the tagline, "Because booze doesn't have an API…"
:
Last but not least, we've got your extra credit. It doesn't yet exist, but it was designed and prototyped for the Electrolux Design Lab. You can print the news, weather forecast, and photos on the bread via a USB connection. Jury's still out on whether this is awesome, useful, or just novelty, but we know we'd have a field day with a gadget like this in the Brit kitchen.
