Tech playground — try it yourself - Biomedical Innovation with Colin Stewart

Companies and people with an Orange County connection of some sort are invited to submit virtual playthings that show off what a new technology can do.

Submissions will be screened by my Amusement Advisory Council, which readers are welcome to join. See details below.

The contest: Use Juvederm Revitalizer software at the Web site of Allergan Canada to transform an image of a face – to make it hideous or beautiful. E-mail the results to me, with “Hideous” or “Beautiful” in the subject line, and I’ll post some of the most remarkable transformations on an “Inside Innovation” blog post.

The technology: The software incorporates Modiface technology that was created by Dr. Parham Aarabi, the head of the University of Toronto’s Artificial Perception Laboratory. It’s based on more than a decade of research into computer vision, face detection, and automatic face analysis.

The game: Follow a trail of clues with your Web-enabled cell phone. A congratulatory photo of fireworks awaits you if you make it through to the end.

The technology: Celllfo software from MobileGates of La Palma allows businesses and consumers to create informative cell-phone-friendly Web sites for transmission to cell phones of people who want to see them. My column about this technology was published in June 2007.

CELL-PHONE MEGA MILLIONS PICKER

The game: Take a cell-phone photo of the Mega Millions logo on a lottery ticket and e-mail it to us@snap2link.net. You’ll get a link by return e-mail that will suggest numbers for you to enter on the Mega Millions ticket.

The technology: Using image-recognition software, Evryx Technologies created Snap2Link, which lets people connect to Web sites by using cell phones to click on specific 2D images and some 3D objects in the real world. My column on Snap2Link appeared in June 2007, with a video demonstrating the technology in action.

Shortcut: You can see the number-picking Web page if you click on the photo of money at right, but that way you only experience a hyperlink, not Snap2Link.

Companies: To suggest a virtual plaything for the Tech Playground, send me an e-mail that briefly explains your technology and makes clear how your submission is entertaining. (The technology can be practical, but for it to win a spot on the Tech Playground you’ll need to find a way for people to experience it in an entertaining way.)

Also tell me the company’s connection to Orange County, Calif. Is it based here? Was the founder born here? Do you have locations here? Please don’t just tell me that you sell or hope to sell your product or service here. If you have a local connection and your toy entertains members of my Amusement Advisory Council, it will be included.

People: Want to serve on my Amusement Advisory Council? To apply, send me an e-mail with “Amusement Advisory Council” in the subject line. Include your name, daytime phone number, city, school or company affiliation, sharply focused JPG of you, and a brief description of yourself as a technology consumer. The phone number won’t be published; the rest might.

Reader comments: We want this to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We expect people to differ -- judgment and opinion are subjective -- and we encourage free speech and the exchange of ideas. But you are participating in a community that is intended for all of our users and we prohibit profanity, vulgarity, racial, sexual and homophobic remarks, threats, harassment and personal attacks. Here's the full User Agreement. Thank you for making this a safe place worth preserving and sharing. Share this: The icons below make it easy to share this post with others. First icon e-mails a link.