Gizmodo: Monkey

Chimpanzees Beat College Students at Computerized Brain Test

dango — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:55:56 EST

You know that game in Brain Age where you get a quick look at a batch of numbers then have to tap them in numerical order after they're hidden? In news that must please the good Dr. Kawashima to no end, scientists at Kyoto University have found that five-year-old chimps are able to perform a (very) similar feat much faster than a group of nine able-minded college students on a touchscreen test bed that resembles the best-selling DS game.

With a .7 second look, both man and beast are on even ground, but with a 0.4 second or 0.2 second (!!) peek, the college kids got owned, completing it 40% of the time compared to the chimps' 80%. One thing's for sure— taking this test probably didn't help the college kids with their self esteem. While not as funny as a chimp working a typewriter while smoking a cigarette, the video above of brave Ayumu doing his thing is pretty damn amazing. Get that chimp a stylus!

And if you want to be impressed, see the next video, showing the chimps memorizing the digits after the mere peek.

[AP]

Chinese Robot Gallery

Jason Chen — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:15:49 EDT

The Chinese are standing up and saying they to, like the Japanese, can make weird-ass robots that scare little children. Here's a gallery of robots made in China, including a robot waiter, a 330lb rickshaw-pulling robot made by a farmer, a four fingered piano playing robot, and that beauty robot we saw last week.

The scariest one? This robot chimpanzee made by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Now we won't have to worry about monkeys taking over the world (Planet of the Apes) or robots taking over the world (every other Sci-Fi movie). It'll actually be monkey robots. And we can identify them by their cheap Chinese-made Disney knockoff shirts. – Jason Chen

A gallery of unusual Chinese robots [Primidi]

USB MyPet Puppy and Monkey Webcam

Jason Chen — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 16:24:37 EDT

Lovers of cute things (and the Japanese) will snatch up this USB MyPet Webcam that comes in both monkey and puppy models. Supporting up to 640x480 at 15 frames per second, this webcam is perfect for the girlfriend that hates tech.

Readers could also use it to spy on a victim who doesn't know this is a webcam. A very dumb victim.

USB MyPet Webcam cranks the cuteness factor [uber gizmo]

Spank This Monkey: He Really Blows

Charlie White — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 08:50:28 EST

Do you want to touch my monkey? The Blow Monkey Nail Dryer is designed to dry your freshly-applied nail polish with the touch of a button that's positioned between the little guy s legs. Hey, whaddaya know, that button looks like a bunch of bananas! Don't get me started—stroke his banana and it turns him on? You've got to be kidding me. Straight from a British junk shop called BoysStuff, this little chimp runs on three AAA batteries and costs about $8. Next artifact from this purveyor of pathetic primate-like products? A piece of hand-crafted folk art known as The Suck Monkey. Not really.

Blow Monkey Nail Dryer [Newlaunches.com]

Honda's Monkey Limited

johnb — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 11:11:05 EST

Gizmodo Japan - Honda s 50cc leisure motor bike aka Monkey first appeared in 1967. It is small, but carries a 4 stroke engine is beloved by many and looks like something Yoshi would ride. This year, Honda is going to sell 3000 special model Monkey Limited (BA-AB27) . Most of it, like the tank and the fender, are chrome plated and engraved. It is equipped with solid "Monkey" emblem and two-tone seat in silver and black. It will sell for $2260 and I want one so I can flip over on it and make it onto America's Funniest Home Videos.

Product Page [Honda]

Kapo Super Monkie - It's a Monkey! No, It's a Radio! You're Both Right!

johnb — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 16:19:36 EDT

My favorite behavioral experiment was when they put baby monkeys in a cage with two people dressed like monkeys. There was the "hug" monkey/human that would hug and cuddle all the time and the "play" monkey that would roughhouse all the time. They found that the baby monkey would get scared and run to the hug monkey and then go play with the play monkey until it got scared again. This radio will be my hug monkey.

The Kapo Super Monkie, which translates to something like "Super Stealing Monkey," apparently, is an FM radio inside of a monkey head. The switches are embedded in the hair of the monkey and there's a tuning dial in the ear, I think. All I know is that I'd set this thing on a numbers station and fall asleep to the lilting tones of a woman repeating "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" over and over again while sucking on the Monkie's nose.

Kapo Super Monkie radio [CNET Asia]