Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE MIX Thursday, April 13,2006 —I— —I I ■ -X-V . M,. I Ak m Page 9 From school plays to singer, CEO / Special to THE GAMECOCK Lyvotte Hall, a second-year media arts student, is slated to release his first self-recorded album in early 2007. Hall is CEO of Urban Vision Produc tions and cites Al Greene and his parents among his sources for inspiration. •Are you boring? Gadget can tell New machine from MIT researchers might help conversationalists lower their boredom Hasten Truesdale ASSISTANT MIX EDITOR Ever wonder if you’re •boring? Well, MIT Media Lab researchers are building a device that can quench your curiosity. The “emotional social intelligence prosthetic” device has a big name but a simple function: It tells you if you’re boring. Originally created to help autistic people relate to those around them, the device alerts the user if the person they are talking to shows signs of being bored or annoyed. Picking up on social cues is only one problem facing those with ^^autism. “It’s sad because people then avoid having conversations with them,” said Rana El Kaliouby, of the Media Lab at MIT. El Kaliouby, along with her colleagues Rosalind Picard and Alea Teeters, is constructing the device. Small enough to be clipped on to a pair of eyeglasses, the camera feeds images to a tiny computer, which then uses image recognition software to detect emotions. From only a few seconds of video footage, the software recently demonstrated the ability to recognize whether a person was agreeing, disagreeing, concentrating or showing interest. It alerts the user by vibrating when a person seems to be bored or disinterested. “So you’d be rattling on about, say, enantiomers and diastereomers, and your glasses would be rattling away,” said Chanda Cooper, a third-year biology student. Many students agree that the device might be beneficial for people with autism but would be almost pointless for the average person. Shant Boyajian, a third year public policy student Special to THE GAMECOCK A new gadget may help its users avoid a reaction like this during conversation by emitting a vibration to alert the talker if the person they are talking to is showing signs of boredom. The device was originally created to help those with autism. at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va., said the device might not gain solid footing in the market. “I think any new technological toy will probably be used by some high-end consumers who want to be as chic as possible, but after the initial glamour fades, I don’t think the device will be that popular because of its lack of any practical uses in modern society.” El Kaliouby’s technique is based on a machine learning computer program that recognizes more than 100 8-second video clips of actors expressing different emotions. The software recognizes the movements of eyebrows, for example, and tracks various head movements. When the software was shown new video clips of actors, it recognized the correct emotion 90 percent of the time. Still, Cooper said she feels that the device could be embarrassing, or even disastrous, for both parties. “Friendships could end because the vibrator lies. I might be yawning because I finished my essay at 4 this morning, while my buddy thinks I don’t care about her root canal.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm. sc. edu Dead MySpace users find final resting place ^ MyDeathSpace ™ pays homage to deceased My Spacers Caroline DeSanctis the gamecock If all dogs go to heaven, where do deceased MySpace users go? Well, there is a special little cloud in cyberspace for them called MyDeathSpace. cqp, a Web site tfytt pays tribute to MySpace users who did not have time to delete their MySpace profiles before they died. Unlike its counterpart, MyDeathSpace.com does not boast features such as messaging and bulletin capabilities because all the members of MyDeathSpace. com are dead, each name having been submitted by a friend or family member wishing to memorialize their loved one through this beyond-the-grave online forum. Upop first glance, MyDeathSpace.com might seem like a creative joke, but the idea behind this site is all serious. “They may be gone, but they’ll never be forgotten” serves as a slogan for the site, scrolled across the top of the home page. Visitors can view pages that list the “latest deaths,” offer a directory of individuals’ profiles listed on the site or submit a name of the recently deceased to add to the list of hundreds already on the site. The latent “dead profiles” featured include those of rapper Proof from D12 and a 19-year-old who committed suicide, but the profiles on this site are not like those on MySpace, even though each dead profile features a link to the deceased’s MySpace profile. These after-death homages include the name of the dead, their age, and the cause and day of death. Most profiles also feature an article that ran in the local paper of the town that the deceased lived in, helping MyDeathSpace.com “pick up where a regular obituary leaves off.” The only catch is that the deceased must have had a MySpace profile to be featured on the site. Hopefully, this site will only be used by USC students out of curiosity. According to MyDeathSpace.com, “only three things are certain in life: MySpace, death and taxes.” Two out of three isn’t bad. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockfeatures@givm.sc. edu Son of choir singers to release CD in early 2007 Ualene Sims THE GAMECOCK Lyvotte Hall always wanted to be a star. But growing up, he wasn’t sure he would make it. Now, all his dreams are coming true. “It was like a 180-degree turnaround,” Hall said. “Maybe it’s my destiny.” In only a few years he went from shy kid to school plays to recording his own album, scheduled for release in early 2007. Hall, a second-year media arts student, said his interest in music started in church. “I never had the courage to join the choir,” he said, but he became inspired by watching them sing. . His family was a big influence on him, also. “I came from a family of singers,” he said. “Their main stage was the church choir.” R&B classics such as A1 Greene had an influence on music • 10 GET FACIAL WITHDIY SPA CARE Spa treatment as close as bathroom sink Oenssa Pacio KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS Don’t have the time or money to indulge in a luxurious spa facial? Take matters into your own hands and squeeze an at home facial into your usual sldn care routine. It’s as easy as boiling water and carefully choosing the right mask for your skin type, according to the experts. Qt-art- Kir cfpominor vnnr - - J - O J face over a bowl of hot water with a towel draped over your head for about 10 minutes to loosen dirt and open up pores. Pay attention to different areas of your face, from dry patches to oil slicks, and use varying masks accordingly is the advice from Francis Rodriguez, New York based beauty director for La Prairie. “Most people don’t realize they may have more than one skin type,” Rodriguez says. “You might use a cleansing mask to take care of your T-zone, but then use an energizing mask on the dull outside areas to help promote oxygen flow.” Your T-zone is the area of skin across your forehead, between your eyes and your nose. While masks -- when used correctly. — can clean out pores and increase blood flow to the skin, you should also be aware of the ingredients, says Kenneth Beer, Florida-based dermatologist and author of the new book “Palm Beach Perfect Skin.” He says, “It FACIAL • 10_