Today is the birthday of cartoon legend Tex Avery.
He helped invent Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Droopy, to name a few, but also was known for playing with the rules of what cartoons were supposed to do.
I like to think he’d appreciate this new technology: a computer program that can make us invisible on our computer’s cameras!
It’s called Disappearing People, and it works like this: as you use your webcam, the program learns what the room looks like.
Anytime it sees you on the camera, or anyone else, it shows that background instead of you.
Now if you’re one of those remote workers who does a lot of video conferencing – if you’re only visible at work because they see you on a video connection – this may not be the plugin for you.
And there are times when the real-time erasing isn’t 100 percent perfect – it erases the human but leaves a sort of person-shaped, room-colored shadow in their place.
The programmer, Jason Mayes, calls it an experiment.
But in a world where so many computer programs are working to see and identify us, maybe it’s good that there’s at least one trying not to see us.
Meanwhile in Argentina, the community of Tandil had something that cannot be un-seen for those who came to the local culinary festival: the world record longest salami!
It reportedly took 36 days and over 100 people to put together a cured meat creation about 326 feet long – longer than the Statue of Liberty is tall – and weighing over 600 pounds.
Everybody needs a goal!
This Program Will Make You Invisible (to Your Webcam) (Motherboard)
Salami larger than the Statue of Liberty has broken a world record in Argentina (Mirror UK)
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