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PhotoSketch is an “Internet Image Montage” project from five students at Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore. The basic premise, which they present in the form of a research paper [pdf], works like this:

• Draw the outlines of the figures you want in your picture – anything from seagulls to a wedding kiss;
• Add labels for each of the items, as well as for the background.
• PhotoSketch will then find real-life images to match your doodles and put them together in a Photoshopped image that will make your jaw drop.

And before you say "it must be fake", download and read the research paper (in pdf), already evaluated by the scientific community.

In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, and developed with contributions from users. 20 different YouTube videos embed in the same page, each with one instrument playing a tune, but where harmony is very well achieved. The videos can be played simultaneously - the soundtracks will work together, and the mix can be adjusted with the individual volume sliders. And you can combine any choice of instruments and play a different music each time, worth a try.

Google has just launched Street View for the two biggest cities in Portugal, Lisbon and Oporto. And of course, the hunt for images with awkward situations has just began (image taken from Parque Eduardo VII in Lisbon):

Via A Source Of Inspiration.

CRISTAL (Control of Remotely Interfaced Systems using Touch-based Actions in Living spaces) is a ubber simple user interface for controlling multimedia devices and home automation systems. It's a interactive table, much like Microsoft's Surface, with a huge difference: a camera placed on the top of the living room creates an image which is the interface itself. Confused? Watch the demo and wait for Christmas:

RSS readers should click here to watch the video.

My friend Miguel Muñoz Duarte and his company, iMatch, will bring Ignite to Portugal. But what is Ignite? Ignite captures the best of geek culture in a series of five-minute speed presentations on topics ranging from The Best Way to Buy a Car to Hacking Chocolate. Each speaker gets only 5 minutes, with 20 slides that auto-forwards every 15 seconds. The motto is "Enlighten us, but make it quick".

If you are interested, you can be the next speaker. Visit the Ignite Portugal website and follow the instructions. Still with doubts? Maybe the next Ignite presentation will convince you:

RSS readers should click here to see the video.