Latte Art

I was going to try and tie the below coffee printer with this study on how touch can influence taste in some crafty way. Then I decided not to. (Oh, and here's some more milk foam art! Yum!)

Mechano-Synaesthetin'

Before the post, I should say I feel like death warmed over from some bug I caught. But, I was stirred enough by Obama's acceptance speech in Iowa to pull out of my haze and post.

io9 is just posting a slew of stuff, mostly scifi related, but also gems like this. The vibrotactile stimulator pictured above is attached to a camera, where grayscale information varies the speed of vibration. Again, nothing really "new" other than that this is an active probing usage.
I can't find the links now, but an example of previous efforts include BrainPort which uses a camera attached to a grid of piston-like pieces that apply pressure based on grayscale info. Still very cool and more practical for those who want, but don't need, the experience.