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Monday, August 4, 2014

The Golden Age of Narcissism

Our selfie president may not do anything else well, but he absolutely embodies the narcissism that permeates our society. 

From the notion of taking selfies everywhere comes the ubiquitous GoPro video cameras that have allowed thousands of people to take HD videos of how cool they are.  Not enough of you in your videos, because you have the camera mounted facing forward?  Fear not; a whole line of products like this allow you to hold the camera remotely so it can capture your glorious self. 

The notion of taking videos of yourself may have just hit its ultimate point:  AirDog (auto-start of video warning).  AirDog is quadcopter drone with a twist: it has a wrist worn radio transmitter called AirLeash that the drone follows - from a respectful distance.  Mounted to the front of AirDog is your video camera, gyro stabilized and always pointed at you. 

Afraid you'd do something really awesome without producing a video to send to friends or put on the Tube?  Afraid your awesomeness will lost to posterity?  Fear no more!  For a mere $1300 you can purchase a drone dedicated to recording your awesomeness.  Check out their video describing the project. 
I have to admit, from a pure technical standpoint, it's really cool and my initial reaction was to be filled with want.  On a few minutes thought, though, I dropped that desire.  I'm just not that awesome.  This blog is all the selfie-ness that I need.


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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 4, 2014 at 9:23 PM

    Perfect for parolees...

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  2. AnonymousAugust 5, 2014 at 3:58 AM

    Should be fitted to every policeman.

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  3. AnonymousAugust 5, 2014 at 9:56 AM

    Hah, there was a book, The Artificial Kid, by Bruce Sterling written all the way back in 1980 that had autonomous drones that orbited around people filming everything they did. The title character is a "combat artist" who roams the post urban wastelands engaging in ritualized combat as performance art. Heavy hormone therapies keep him pre-adolescent, which is part of his shtick.

    We are living in the future....

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  4. CederqAugust 5, 2014 at 1:30 PM

    I was wondering about the endurance of the gizmo, It would ironic being over the water and the batteries go dead... now you have a wet selfie?

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  5. A ReaderAugust 7, 2014 at 3:32 PM

    Is this how some doofus ended up ditching a drone in one of Yellowstone's hot springs? I can't think of many things less full of win than polluting a superheated puddle of cerulean beauty in a national park with cheap chinese electronics.

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  6. SiGraybeardAugust 7, 2014 at 5:55 PM

    A Reader - probably not AirDog, This drone isn't on the market yet.

    Not that it makes it any better.

    ReplyDelete