February 2012
65 posts
Parasite Library Re-Uses Old Pay Phones →
Pay phones are a dying breed in the streets of of New York City (and other cities). But is this a problem or an opportunity? Currently New York City counts 13,659 pay phones. Most of them are hardly used and beg for new functions. Architect John Locke is the man behind the Department of Urban Betterment, a New York-based interventionist project that is repurposing phone booths into communal...
Bad Dollar →
Baddollar.com is the brainchild of my good friend Mr Whitlock (offa the Poke London). The site invites writers to submit short e-book based stories that are then published and can be purchased, from said site – for just one dollar. The only catch being that every story must be about stuff that could happen if a dollar is spent in a less frugal fashion.
Nicely.
Here.
from (title unknown)...
Uniqlo Undercover →
Uniqlo collaborates with Japanese fashion brand Undercover, and their collection called “UU” website has just launched. You can see their whole product collection with Google map interface navigation. Their product collection will be available on March 16th at 11 countries.
Uniqlo Undercover
from Adverblog http://bit.ly/zElfIO
this is rather brilliant — and it’s the attention... →
this is rather brilliant — and it’s the attention to the shadow that makes it work in the mind, as best I can tell.
altnytterfarlig:
Balloon paperApp (via @Etienne_mineur) With this paper video game you get both a regular book and a pop-up paper hot air balloon to lay on top of your iPad screen.
You are the hot air balloon pilot, and you will discover an ever changing world as you fly with the...
The Autonomous Parapoetic Device by Adam Parrish... →
The Autonomous Parapoetic Device by Adam Parrish is a self-contained and portable machine that generates poetry. Constantly creating new sequences of words, lines, and stanzas, the APxD promises serendipitous encounters between aleatoric (but affective) text and our experience of physical space. The text that the device generates is ephemeral: it remains on screen for only a small time, and then...
Li-Fi →
*It’s a press release. I’m running it because of the interesting implications of Internet connectivity through visible light. If you combine this with projection-mapping you get a remarkable technology where visual augmentations transfer their own data.
*I would skeptically note that Internet connectivity has been threatening to ooze out of sewer lines and buzz out of wall sockets for ages now,...
Opportunities and productivity work hand in... →
Originally posted in New Rules
…much like the two-step process of variation and death in natural selection. The primary role that productivity plays in the network economy is to disperse technologies. A technical advance cannot leverage future opportunities if it is hoarded by a few. Increased productivity lowers the cost of acquisition of knowledge, techniques, or...
"we do not want to pay for our memories. The films... →
“we do not want to pay for our memories. The films that remind us of our childhood, the music that accompanied us ten years ago: in the external memory network these are simply memories. Remembering them, exchanging them, and developing them is to us something as natural as the memory of ‘Casablanca’ is to you. We find online the films that we watched as children and we show them to our children,...
Habits are the new viral: why startups must be... →
The economic value of web businesses increasingly depends on the strength of the habitual behavior of their users, argues Nir Eyal on Techcrunch. These habits ultimately will be a deciding factor in what separates startup winners and losers.
“Increasingly, companies will become experts at designing user habits. Curated Web companies already rely on these methods. This new breed of company,...
Nike Just Does It, Again and Again →
Yet another good example of Nike getting out and doing things to help people become better at their sports, not just saying things to them through advertising. For more on what Nike is up to with their marketing, see the recent article from Fortune on them.
Nicely done, Nike and R/GA. Nicely done.
from Paul Isakson http://bit.ly/x9cQat
Short films released each month are shaped in... →
Viewers are playing an ever-more-defining role in the movies they watch, including everything from choosing what gets shown in the local cinema — and even powering those cinemas — to guiding the film’s very plot with just the power of their thoughts. Along similar lines, Finite Films is an effort whereby audiences can help shape the events in a series of short films created by a trio of filmmakers...
Textiles | Blanked that can detect its shape →
IM Blanky: soft hardware “IM Blanky is a 7’7” x 4’2” blanket composed of a distributed field of 104 soft tilt sensors, embodying simultaneously a physical and digital presence. These soft sensors form the most basic motif: the flower. The flower consists of 6 conductive petals, linked by resistors, and a conductive tassel in the center. The flowers are grouped together into 14...
Hypocrisy is hard to miss. →
Share and Enjoy:
from Indexed http://bit.ly/w68e6z
‘Starfield’ by Lab212 – Interactive galaxy, the... →
‘Starfield’ is the latest installation by Lab212 which uses a swing to manipulate large interactive starry sky. With a Kinect installed behind the swing and a video projector, the software creates a galaxy of stars in which the user wanders with the rhythm of his swing Continue reading…. ‘Starfield’ by Lab212 – Interactive galaxy, the swing and Kinect
from CreativeApplications.Net...
E-books Can't Burn →
Tim Parks writes on how many still disapprove of reading on devices like the Kindle. Moving beyond the practicality of the devices and how we acquire reading material, he provides an excellent opinion on the experience of reading with the devices vs. the traditional paper book.
The e-book, by eliminating all variations in the appearance and weight of the material object we hold in our hand and...
The Myth of the Disconnected Life →
Jason Farman writes a wonderful conclusion and short history of the repeated calls for time away from our mobile devices, so that we reconnect with the people and places immediately around us. It is important to set aside your iPhone at the dinner table or when you have the opportunity to visit face-to-face, but is this not more an issue of etiquette or common sense? Digital devices are a...
Mötley Crüe Will Crowdsource DJ Duties in Vegas... →
Mötley Crüe’s upcoming Las Vegas extravaganza will feature the pyrotechnics and dancing girls one might expect (video below), as well as a rather unusual feature available to fans with iOS or Android smartphones tucked into their ripped jeans: the ability to choose what music plays during the last two shows of the Crüe’s residency at the […]
from Evolver.fm http://bit.ly/wjvgcU
Perceptive Media On Your TV →
Incase you’re not familiar with the phrase, which I wasn’t until yesterday, ‘Perceptive Media’ basically means the personalisation of an experience via an API. Think Museum Of Me or that Lolipop thing. Until now this kinda thing has only really been available via the Facebook, but that might be about to change thanks to the BBC’s Research and Development department. They are looking at how to...
subtle fail →
I’ve got a bunch of talks to write over the next few weeks. I’m conscious that I’ve been doing varients of the same thing recently. I’d like to change that. I’m not sure I have tons of new ideas, but I should at least try and find new ways to talk about them.
Thus far this sign has been my most productive inspiration. It seems to have a speculative, fantastic...
Cinemagram | DIY Animated GIFs →
Cinemagram is an app that enables you to turn your iPhone pics into animated gifs in a matter of seconds. Here.
from (title unknown) http://bit.ly/wyveeD
Robots navigate via a grid of QR codes (by kellan) →
Robots navigate via a grid of QR codes (by kellan)
from The New Aesthetic http://bit.ly/wBn1pc
Kauko – Remote control your cafe →
Spying on lovers having a coffee is one thing. Changing the music, lighting and even their table height is another. At Kauko (Finnish for remote) you can do all of this from the safety of the web, illustrating how design affects us all.
I always dig web-real-life connections. No doubt it is fun for web users to play soft pranks on people in the cafe. I just wonder how pleasant it is to be a...
Data | Uploading your data for analysis by Wolfram... →
Data Analysis for the People “Wolfram Alpha Premium can recognize certain types of data and even certain types of content inside a file. Uploading an archive from an e-mail mailbox will produce a diagram showing the connections between different senders (see image at top) or a chart showing your most frequent mail recipients. If a spreadsheet contains country or city names, Wolfram Alpha...
Haptics | The Cryoscope is an aluminium cube that... →
Haptic Weather Forecaster Lets You Feel Tomorrow’s Temperature “Robb, an industrial design student at Rochester Institute of Technology, created the Cryoscope from a heat sink, cooling fan, and a Peltier element, which is kind of like a thermo-electric pump that can transfer heat from one area to another. All the elements are encased in an aluminum cube which heats up or cools down to...
Digital Entertainment | Korean theme park tracks... →
South Korea opens a Kinect-powered theme park “Visitors wear RFID wristbands that allow the displays to identify them, while Kinect sensors detect their movements, voices, and faces. Many of the attractions center around having users create an avatar of themselves that they can interact with and take on a virtual adventure, which is portrayed using 3D video, holograms, and augmented reality...
“iZON is an app-based wireless network video... →
“iZON is an app-based wireless network video camera. It letss you see what’s happening in any room, from anywhere in the world with your iPod, iPhone or iPad and can watch and listen for you, alert you when there is motion or noise and even record to a free, private YouTube account — automatically!”
iZON is peace of mind. (Apparently)
from Ben Bashford - Notebook of Things http://bit.ly/A1H61E
Internet of Things | OpenLabel connects barcodes... →
OpenLabel Exits Stealth, Raises $80K To Turn Barcodes Into Public Labels “For example, users could add notes about the manufacturer’s use of child labor, sweat shops, animal testing, toxic chemicals, and more, and then give the product a thumbs-down. While those types of things sound like they may give OpenLabel somewhat of an activist slant, there are other types of things that could be...
“AWOL is a guide to getting lost, encouraging... →
“AWOL is a guide to getting lost, encouraging exploration and an increased awareness of your surroundings through a series of algorithmic walks. You won’t know exactly where you are going on these walks but will always return to your starting point, so you can enjoy the new surroundings and experiences without the anxiety that often comes with being lost.”
(via)
from CK http://bit.ly/Ah23qV
RHCP | Look Around [Interactive Version] →
Red Hot Chili Peppers interactive music video. Click-and-drag to explore different scenes in a panoramic manner. Click the “Show Hints” option to reveal even more interactive layers.
Here.
from (title unknown) http://bit.ly/xg6jBm
Augmented Reality | Sonified converts live video... →
Inside the Mind of a Synaesthete “The thrill of using the app is having it respond to optical nuances in real time as you move through spaces that come alive in new and surprising ways. Hall’s ethereal sonic palette may be a bit New Agey for some tastes, but the software offers a teasing glimpse of how much more we could be doing with these powerful multimedia platforms in our pockets....
"If everyone now has the ability to make their own... →
“If everyone now has the ability to make their own things, then surely everyone should also be responsible for the things they make. If not, it’s entirely possible that the 3D printing “revolution” will be remembered not only for the products it creates, but also for the landfill it leaves behind.” - Tim Burrell Saward - Making Things The Hard Way
from Ben Bashford - Notebook of Things...
altmetrics →
altmetrics
n. Tools used to assess the impact of scholarly articles based on alternative online measures such as bookmarks, links, blog posts, and tweets. Also: alt-metrics. [Alternative + metrics.]
Example Citations:
Luckily, there is a growing movement within the scientific establishment to better measure and reward all the different ways that people contribute to the messy and complex process...
“Kiti le Step went onstage with livecoder MCLD,... →
“Kiti le Step went onstage with livecoder MCLD, and this is what resulted: noisy deconstructions of dubstep’s core components, inflicted live on audiences in Strasbourg and Paris. Beats get broken, basslines get turned into feedback howls, humans and algorithms conspire against sound engineers.”
Kiti le Step vs MCLD Live in Strasbourg (by chordpunch), via @quadrophobiac
from The New...
Where humans are most actively engaged... →
Originally posted in New Rules
…with their imaginations, we don’t see productivity gains—and why would we? Is a Hollywood movie company that produces longer movies per dollar more productive than one that produces shorter movies? Yet an increasingly greater percentage of work takes place in the information, entertainment, and communication industries where the...
Facebook Already Knows What You'll Be Listening to... →
Facebook knows when you’ve met someone and it knows when you break up. We tell Facebook these things. For some, a relationship doesn’t officially start until it’s reflected in the Relationship field on Facebook, and it’s not really over until Facebook says it is. The data team at Facebook can see this data for hundreds of millions of people, and as of late last...
The Scale of the Universe 2 →
Originally posted in Cool Tools
This is a cool tool for comprehending, appreciating, and demonstrating the scale of our universe. I used to recommend Charles and Ray Ames’ classic film, Powers of Ten, as the best way to get a sense of our cosmos. It’s still effective, but two bothers have made an on-line portal that blows Powers of Ten away.
Check out The...
statmyweb →
Very useful search engine that provides detailed stats about websites like when it was created, where is it hosted, how much is it worth and where does it rank on the web. These detailed stats are displayed in both graphical and text formats. All for free.
Nicely.
Here.
from (title unknown) http://bit.ly/zGD82K
slavin:
via Timo: OpenCV Face Detection:... →
slavin:
via Timo: OpenCV Face Detection: Visualized (by Adam Harvey)
Like the 2D Boxcar visuals that bring Genetic Algorithms to life, I can watch this for a long time. It’s a glimpse into vision itself, and where we may never be able to see how humans really see, in 2012 we are finally getting a glimpse at how we are seen.
There are more things to this video than I can articulate quickly, but...
The Shoes Maketh →
If you want to understand a person – look at their shoes, or lack of.
As the most frequently used interface between ourselves and our physical environment more than anything else that we our footwear treads the fine balance between communicating both need and intent. In dustier climes with a significant population engaged in manual labour tasks – keeping shoes clean (and white...
Smile, and the City Smiles With You →
Will this disembodied face make Berliners happier? Credit: Julius von Bismark Christine McLaren is the resident blogger for the BMW Guggenheim Lab. This story originally ran on the lab’s blog.
Think about the last time you saw a friend, family member or colleague smile about something that made them happy. Did you smile too? If you did, did it make you feel a little happier at the same time?
...
notational via annaberrant: →
notational via annaberrant:
from Fresser. http://bit.ly/xtwu2K
"The music industry responded to illegal... →
“ The music industry responded to illegal file-sharing with digital rights management (DRM) techniques that prevented a song from playing on an unauthorised device. Could companies that sell physical products do the same?
One option is placing a marker on objects that a 3D scanner could detect and which would stop it operating. In 2002 University of Cambridge computer scientist Markus Kuhn...
Time, Date Will Tell →
Today is Sunday 27th May, 2004. My early morning jaunt trying to track down this town’s finest coffee roaster for a fresh brew started at 1pm local time.
One of the more nuanced quirks of Ethiopia is how locals refer to time. The country is notionally on Eastern Africa Time (EAT), which lies at UCT/GMT+3, but locally the clock-day starts at dawn (06:00) rather than at midnight (24:00) meaning...
Social Skills | Verbling lets you find a native... →
Verbling Pairs You with Native Speakers So You Can Practice Speaking New Languages “Flashcards and topics for discussion (e.g., “What is the nightlife like in your country”) are provided beneath the video screen to help guide your conversation. Each session lasts five minutes. I was matched up quickly with Paco in Spain, but then the video cut off, and then Jose connected. The...
Sensors | Chick-a-Dee detects smoke and chirps... →
Bird-Shaped Smoke Detector Chirps Louder As Smoke Thickens “The Chick-a-Dee is a simple design that brings a fresh twist to traditional smoke detectors. The device is designed to look like a bird perched on a branch and gives out friendly chirps when it detects smoke. As smoke thickens, the sound becomes louder and more sustained at 85 decibels.” via @PSFK
from rb.trends...
Next Phase of Commercials →
Originally posted in The Technium
Superbowl commercials often foreshadow the norm in everyday TV commercials later. I noticed several things about this year’s crop of commercials.
1) They are definitely getting weirder, more whimsical, trying harder to catch your attention — while you check your email. They are no longer competing against the possibility of you...
"As we move away from interaction via screens and... →
“As we move away from interaction via screens and into physical space, we have the potential to make the world significantly more magical. We can make the everyday into the any day, especially if we focus on communication and understanding.” - Zach Lieberman of Openframeworks responding to the question “how will technology become more humanised in the next decade”, in Wired’s March 2012 issue....
Fixity vs Fluidity →
Originally posted in The Technium
On his blog Nick Carr spells out the typographic fixity of the classical paper book. It’s a great exposition of all the attractive parts of the big fat heavy paper books. [The image below is of book tombstones.]
I summarize his list of Four Fixities:
Fixity of the page — The page stays the same. Whenever you pick it up,...
Obvious Engine | AR →
A lot of people (understandably) struggle with AR and see it as a novelty/pointless item. Currently if you want to use it you have to pull out a device, open the browser, select the appropriate layer, point your camera at stuff and read info from a fairly tiny screen (while still pointing). Admittedly, that’s quite a lot of effort compared to a lot of other stuff that does the same job. While I...
Adapter connects smartphones to microscopes for... →
It wasn’t long ago that we covered MobiUS’s use of smartphone technology to provide portable ultrasound imaging, and recently we came across a related innovation. Aiming to expand smartphone photography even further into the scientific realm, the SkyLight is a sleek, minimalist adapter that connects smartphones to microscopes.
Now available for preorder on Kickstarter, where it has...