Other News This Week | The Gadget Grill

A few other bits of news that you find to be of interest …

Is the traditional business card dead?

This one is a bit like the Kindle vs traditional books argument, and like books, I think there’s a certain aesthetic about traditional business cards that no amount of electronics can begin to approach. A well designed business card should tell you something about the person, as well as that person’s function. More here.

Advertising on Your License Plates?

San Francisco startup Smart Plate has developed some digital license plates, which, if California Senator Curren Price has his way, could soon be used as mini advertising billboards to help raise cash for that state.

Quite frankly, I find this concept quite offensive: we have way too much advertising already, and we are also, as drivers, confronted with way too many distractions on our roads. The last thing we need is advertising for Bob’s Country Bunker on the truck in front of you at the lights.

What’s wrong with the concept of less advertising?

Smile For Your Dessert

At the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, SapientNitro is testing its new smile activated vending machine. Using technologies drawn from the augmented reality and facial recognition realms, this device asks you to smile, and when it determines that your grin is wide enough, it gives you an ice cream.

Cool, eh?

Tweeting Leads to Cuddling

Did you know that there’s a chemical that makes you cuddle? Neither did I.

But apparently, oxytocin can stimulate lots of good things in us: feelings of trust, security, it can even reduce anxiety levels and might be responsible for positive sexual feelings. Oxytocin is a hormone that’s produced in our brains, and a recent study suggests that social networking activities, like tweeting, may stimulate its production.

For more details, please check this Mashable story.