Tasty, Magic or Poison, camera, cellphone, mushroom, software

New Phone for People Who Like Mushrooms, Hate Poisonings

Foraging for mushrooms can be fun, but getting poisoned by the wrong species always ruins a nice afternoon. Researchers at the Hagenberg College in Austria have developed software that can identify which mushrooms are safe to eat and which are poisonous, just from a photograph. This means it could easily be run on a mobile phone with a camera, to create a handy tool for foragers. It's not yet clear whether magic mushrooms have been placed in the safe or poisonous category—maybe that will be a user option. [Metro]

8:49 AM on Tue Jul 31 2007
By Matthew Sparkes
2,009 views
14 comments

Comments

lumpydog at 09:09 AM on 07/31/07
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Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM!
Steel_Pelican at 09:35 AM on 07/31/07
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Mushroom identification is easy!

Poisonous mushrooms have purple caps with little skulls on them. (These will kill you)

Magic mushrooms have red caps with white dots. (These make you bigger)

And the best mushrooms have green caps with white dots. (These can resurrect the dead)

That's it. There's only three kinds. Stupid Austrians.
huygir at 09:54 AM on 07/31/07
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I wonder how long the disclaimer is on that software...

I'll stick with the old-school method (let's get Mikey to try it).
Geisrud at 09:58 AM on 07/31/07
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And obviously they are only found in boxes with question marks on them that float in the sky. Works best to jump up and punch the bottom to get them out. If you're lucky, you can repeatedly punch the bottom really fast and get lots of money too.
giyad at 10:35 AM on 07/31/07
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Yes! a safe way to find shrooms :)
Monty at 10:36 AM on 07/31/07
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I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not risking my health based on the assessment of a piece of software running on a cell phone. Not even an iPhone.
StarChaser Tyger at 10:36 AM on 07/31/07
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Eeek a snake, it's a snake....
lumpydog at 10:52 AM on 07/31/07
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Hooray! I didn't incur the Wrath of Commenters that I had expected!
liveallnight at 12:14 PM on 07/31/07
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Damn! Another way to bypass natural selection for the removal of foragers....
Oneon1isto at 01:42 PM on 07/31/07
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Egad!

I think we just found the next iphone app!
CODIFEROUS at 03:25 PM on 07/31/07
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Trippy
OtterKing at 03:41 PM on 07/31/07
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User options are good. What the... I didn't know these new fangled phones had a feature to suddenly change colors !
AdamHirsch at 03:53 PM on 07/31/07
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As a graduate of Cornell University and have taken the "Magical Mushrooms and Mischievous Molds" class, unfortunately a picture can't be the sole decider on the mushroom type. Especially because in the NorthEast there are definitely counterfeit mushrooms out there that look exactly like the Hallucinogenic version, but this trip kills you. Only true test is a spore test. (Glaven)
krueger246 at 05:01 PM on 07/31/07
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Ya i dont think they'll approve of the mushrooms i eat...