Just when I thought my life was complete, Disney makes a possibly life-changing (for me) announcement. In preparation for the much-hyped and mind-blowingly adorable new Pixar movie, Wall-E, the company will release a line of Wall-E products, including a robot! So what if it’s $190? I can drop that kind of cash for anything that does all this (and includes voice controls)–

With voice activation and a follow-me mode, WALL·E can follow the sound of a human voice and detect someone entering a room. He also has several emotional states and an easy system for programming thousands of combinations of movements with the remote. Numerous sensors allow him to detect and respond to his environment, including infrared sensors that allow him to detect obstacles and steer around them, sonic ears that detect sound direction, and touch sensors.

Can I please get one? Please? In the meantime, follow the jump and watch the Wall-E preview for further explanation of why I’m so excited for this movie. And why everyone at work is going to make fun of me for posting something so sappy. [Source: MakerFaire.com; Image: FirstShowing.net]

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Since I enjoy writing “Crushes & Hexes” so much, in the coming weeks, the blog will continue to feature breaking news updates from Ryan, while I focus only on regular features and product reviews. The newest addition to our features is “Round Up & Release,” a compilation of the biggest stories and developments from the speech tech world. While “Crushes & Hexes” focuses on the tech community as a whole, RR&R is just about speech. I hope you like it - it will appear every Thursday on the blog. As always, keep the comments coming, and send us feedback! Seriously, Ryan and I get all giddy when our readers comment. Sad but true — it’s the small things. Full post after the jump!

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I’m pretty sure Stelios Arcadiou is copying Van Gogh. The Australian performance artist, who goes by the name Stelarc, recently had a left ear surgically constructed and grafted to his arm. Why? According to an article on the UK Website GazetteLive, the artist wants his work to:

“Challenge perceptions about the human body by exploring its relationship with technology through means including prosthetics and robotics.”

OK, so Van Gogh didn’t have this type of technology when he infamously cut off his ear and mailed it to a lover. But in an age where exhibits like Bodies walk a fine line between educational and exploitative, Arcadiou’s work poses interesting questions about body modification and the possibility of changing our anatomical structure for advancement. Could it be that our original forms are not completely ideal?

In the case of his “Extra Ear Project,”Arcadiou says he plans to mix technology and anatomy by installing a Bluetooth transmitter into the ear.

So, how does this relate to speech technology? As part of an aptly-named “Prosthetic Head Project,” Arcadiou also made a head that can mimic human speech patterns using real-time lip synching and speech synthesis. We’re all for the advancement of speech tech, but a fake talking head? We’ll pass for now.

[Arcadiou story & image via Gazettelive.co.uk]