17:26, Monday 28 Feb., 2011 Link

Fits.me (strap: "Virtual Fitting Room for Online Clothes Retailers") has a shape-changing robot mannequin hooked up to a webcam. Deets: Customers shopping at a participating site enter their body measurements online (height, chest, arm length, torso, type, and so on), then see photos of a mannequin shaped just like them 'trying on' the item they're eyeing in different sizes and styles.

Great photos here. And also, this quote from the CEO: Now, we have a robot that can be any shape at the push of a button. I wish I had a button like that. WHOA.

Superpowers suddenly seem more of-our-world if they have buttons. What if Mr. Fantastic had to press a button before he stretched? What if Superman had one button to fly, one button to use his heat rays, and another button to fly or use his super speed? Villains would try to press them! He would fumble for them in a rush! What if the Iron Man suit ran on Windows 3.1, and the mouse ball kept sticking? What if Superman lost his user-defined preferences file and his only back-up was at the back of a drawer in the Fortress of Solitude?