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Virtual Newscaster

Posted by michael on from the not-just-another-pretty-face dept.

Chad Coffman was the first to submit Ananova, an animated character which can "read" news and breaking stories in real-time. Waste of bandwidth? Or broadband killer app?

2 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. The killer application? by acb · · Score: 4

    Now there's an idea worthy of a huge IPO: a real virtual girlfriend service.

    Think about it: you sign up to a site, and get a "relationship" with an idoru; for the sake of example, let's say her name is Traci. For the subscription fee, she (actually, a random natural-language generator running off a knowledge base crosslinked to your relationship account) will send you email, telling you about her virtual life, asking about yours, and remembering enough to give the illusion of continuity. Once a year, she'll have a "birthday" (randomly chosen), at which you can buy her virtual presents (by credit card). Also add to this other relationship surrogate activities/expenditures.

    Something like this would probably really sell in Japan (and may in fact exist there). Then again, there they have parks where you can pay for the privilege of raking leaves, for that real close-to-nature experience denied to city-dwelling salarymen.

  2. User preferences? by joshv · · Score: 5

    The article mentions that her delivery of the news items could be modified to suit user preferences.

    I can just see the options now:

    Sultry Voice: On
    Accent: [x]French []British []American
    Flirtation Coefficient: Min |----------O-| Max
    Startup Phrase: [ Hey there sexy, have I got some HOT news for you ]
    Shutdown Phrase: [ Mmmmm, ohhhh, mmmmmmmmm ]
    Lipstick Color: Hooker Red