The man's got balls.

September 21, 2007 5:34 AM

Alex Beim's Zygote is a lightweight inflated ball that responds to pressure: Tap it or squeeze it and the internal LEDs react. The balls can act as input or output devices by being linked to a central computer, as Daniel van Tijn did here to make crowd-generated music. (See also: Dorkbot.)
posted by GrammarMoses (14 comments total)

These are really kind of poor links - the first one says nothing about the project (that I could find before coffee). Plus it makes my cursor flicker.

If there's not much on the web about this yet (I couldn't find much on Google) then it's not best of the web, methinks. It's "coolest of the concert venue" or somesuch, which I think belongs to a different site, not MeFi.
posted by desjardins at 5:53 AM on September 21, 2007

The first one is a Flash site, and does some mighty annoying things with the cursor, but click on the arrow for drop-down menus that give more info (including photos and video). Sorry, should have warned the precaffeinated among us.
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:06 AM on September 21, 2007

A better link from Vimeo, gives a bit more info about the delightful Zygote. The inventors' site, TangibleReaction (and it does some seriously silly things to one's cursor).

Zygote is a wonderful idea and I love the music generated. Thanks for the post GrammarMoses.
posted by nickyskye at 6:28 AM on September 21, 2007

awesome!
posted by empath at 6:31 AM on September 21, 2007

Although I can see how playing with this thing might be fun, as a concept, it strikes me as a bit banal. From what I can see, it's really just a binary switch -- you hit it and it triggers a random colour or a random sound.

Is there something I'm missing here?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:37 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

These are really kind of poor links - the first one says nothing about the project (that I could find before coffee). Plus it makes my cursor flicker.

I found the info in like 4 seconds. Click the "forward" arrow, then "products", and then "zygote"
posted by delmoi at 7:00 AM on September 21, 2007

'best of the web' has been long deprecated as a standard.
posted by empath at 7:06 AM on September 21, 2007

Here is a video of the ball in action, which is pretty much the only worth-while content on the flash site anyway.
posted by delmoi at 7:06 AM on September 21, 2007

What a terrible name.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:55 AM on September 21, 2007

Perhaps not the best of the web, and perhaps it is just a painfully simple beach ball with a binary switch, but if you watch the video of the crowd bouncing the thing around and the amount of sheer joy they seem to be having I don't see why that matters. Happy people make for good internet.
posted by pantsonsteven at 8:02 AM on September 21, 2007

PeterMcDermott said: Although I can see how playing with this thing might be fun, as a concept, it strikes me as a bit banal.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
posted by dejah420 at 9:14 AM on September 21, 2007

"A zygote (Greek: ζυγωτόν) is a cell that is the result of fertilization. That is, two haploid cells—usually (but not always) an ovum from a female and a sperm cell from a male—merge into a single diploid cell called the zygote (or zygocyte)."

I think zygote is a fun name for this invention.
posted by nickyskye at 10:43 AM on September 21, 2007

Ah, so it's the first generation of the Rover from the Prisoner.

Fantastic.
posted by quin at 12:11 PM on September 21, 2007

Whatever. Just don't wear your ball to the airport.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 1:58 PM on September 21, 2007