Face reconstruction

When you hear the words 'face reconstruction' you probably think about the police trying to make an image of a missing person or a wanted criminal. However, face reconstruction can also be used for other purposes. National Geographic recently made a face reconstruction by putting together 190.000 photographs. The reconstructed face was meant to be the most typical person in the world. Check how typical you are in the video below!

Now I have this other great example of face reconstruction. Do you remember Ötzi the old Iceman? When they found the mummy in 1991 in the south of Tirol in Austria he looked like this. Ötzi is with its 5300 years the oldest Homo Sapiens we know of. 

Ötzi

Recently the brothers Alfons an Adrie Kennis made a completely new reconstruction of the face of Ötzi, which makes us now think that Ötzi should have looked like this: 

Face reconstruction of Ötzi

He had an average length, was thin and had hollow eyes above gaunt cheeks. He looks tired and was probably sick. His hairstyle and beard show he lived a life in the woods. De reconstruction was made based on a 3D-model of the skull and skeleton of the mummy. In addition hundreds of X-rays images were being used. A new exposure of this fascinating mummy was opened on the 1st of March  in the Südtiroler Archäologiemuseum with 'a mummy between science, cult and myth' as a subheading. The body of Ötzi himself can be seen in a museum in Bolzano since 1998. Hopefully the brothers Kennis stay alive, since 7 people who were studying Ötzi have died in strange circumstances.......

More information over the death of these people can be found here (written in Dutch): Death of researchers

SkinDisplay

I can imagine it is quite annoying when people are showing their BlackBerry's 24 hours a day while doing everything they have to do and sending messages at the same time. I have to admit, I am becoming one of these persons, but I know it and I can stop it. Although it is true that I feel unsocial when I don't answer a BlackBerry message within five minutes. Where is this coming from? Without these possibilities to answer right away I never would have felt that way. This is an important dilemma concerning these media. On the one hand there is the advantage of being available any time any day. On the other hand, this everlasting availability comes with a lot of stress, since pressure arises to answer immediately every message we receive. Nevertheless, there may be a solution to it. 

Because technology never stops, a new way is found to read messages on your mobile phone; a very original one. The project is sponsored by the makers of BlackBerry and works in combination with another concept: SmartCall. This application uses software and services to enrich voice calls with a deeper level of information. When you receive a call the reason, the urgency and the time frame for response will appear on the screen.

SmartCall

You need SmartCall to make use of another concept called SkinDisplay, which makes it possible to read a message on your phone without taking it out of your pocket. How is this ever going to work?

When receiving a call, the information concerning the reason, urgency and time frame for response from SmartCall will appear on the back of the phone when touching it. When you press your finger on the raised message the text will be imprinted in your skin. To erase it, you can easily rub your fingers. The idea is that while making use of these applications, communicating digitally is more closely based on face-to-face communication and on the complexities of human behavior. Click on the link to see a Demonstration of SkinDisplay.

Long live the technology!