Welcome to the Morning Buzz, a catch-up on interesting happenings around the city and country and a quick guide to what (and who) to keep your eyes on. We'll be here, first thing every weekday, to get you going. Here's what's buzzing this morning:
For those who have always dreamt of being lab rats or require incentives to complete everyday tasks, please welcome Olly and Molly -- the end of our semi-independent lives as we know them.
Olly and Molly are the creations of the brain trust behind the UK-based Ollyfactory. Olly is a web-connected robot that turns your online notifications -- emails, messages, retweets, direct messages, likes, faves, repins, check-ins, +1s (ha! just kidding, we know you're not on Google+) -- into customizable smells including essential oils or "your partner's perfume" (psa: creepy).
Molly is the company's latest addition. She plugs into your computer, syncs with your Twitter account, and doles out sweets for a certain number of retweets that you can set up with Ollyfactory's app.
Sure, you'll hate her for sitting atop the frangrance-shooting bot every Monday morning and every afternoon when your coworkers and friends hit the 3 p.m. lull and start sending you their latest viral meme finds. But you'll really want to kill her for hogging all of your candy while you sweatily attempt to come up with something that's just too funny not to retweet.
Together, the pair will instill a pavlovian response to your social media activity -- doling out sensory goodies as you frantically aim to please your new tiny robot gods.
Go ahead, fund the project's kickstarter. Or, wear some deodorant, buy a bag of M&Ms, and carry on.
