Concept store enables customers to make and share their own digital ‘look book’
"As well as featuring iPads around the showroom – which visitors can use to browse and purchase items from the designer’s online store and leave comments on the Karl Lagerfeld Facebook page – each changing room in the venue comes with a wall-mounted touchscreen and camera. Customers can use the device to take images of the items they’re trying on, add Instagram-style filters and then share the looks with their friends via Facebook, Twitter or email. As well as providing a fun opportunity for consumers to share their favorite styles, the idea also helps the brand leverage its fans to spread the word about its new products" via Springwise
Don’t snatch! Disney Research builds robot that takes objects more naturally
"The goal of this research was to develop a robot that accepts objects much as a person would. To do this, the researchers decided to arm the robot with foreknowledge of how humans give and receive objects. By motion-capturing (you know, leotards and ping pong balls) people passing objects to each other, they were able to build a database to which the robot can refer, identifying the sort of hand-off coming its way, and matching it with the most suitable response. In order to be both fast and adaptive, the researchers structured the database as a tree, clustering similar motions together so that the robot can home into a localized branch of the tree to find the appropriate match quickly and adapt on the fly. This tree-like structure allows the robot to begin its movement as the person is handing off the object, a natural, familiar approach to taking something from someone. The robot is also able to put its hand into roughly the right place to receive the object." via Gizmag
PediPower device brings kinetic energy to heel
"Rice engineering student team calling themselves the “Agitation Squad” decided to create a shoe-mounted generator. After studying the force distribution across the bottom of the foot resulting from each footfall, they decided to focus on the heel. This is because, unless running, the heel is the first part of the foot to make contact with the ground, and gravity does much of the work. The PediPower prototype devices feature an arm attached around the heel of the shoe that hits the ground first and levers up as the foot comes down. The arm is attached to a gearbox so that with every step, the gears turn slightly to drive a motor mounted on the side of the shoe. This generates electricity that is sent through wires via a voltage regulator to a belt-mounted battery pack." via Gizmag
Bespoke alternative prosthetics boost amputees’ self esteem and style
"The UK’s Alternative Limb Project is helping that audience boost their self esteem, with its fashionable, unconventional prosthetics. Founded by Sophie de Oliveira Barata, a graduate of the London Arts University who specialized in special effects for film and television, the project aims to enable amputation patients to creatively customize the prosthetics they use. Rather than accepting dull and practical prosthetics, customers can create their own bespoke limbs that convey aspects of their personality, while also helping them to remain fashionable. So far, the startup has built a ‘stereo leg’ with built-in speakers for a songwriter, a modular anatomical design for a former soldier and a floral prosthetic for a young mother, among others. The studio also produces realistic-looking limbs for those who want to reconstruct their previous appearance." via Springwise
Gizmodo – The Gadget Guide
"Samsung has announced it’s got a new 13.3-inch display with a staggering 3200 x 1800 resolution ready to plop into new Ultrabooks. Take that, MacBook Retina and Chromebook Pixel." via Gizmodo
Headcast, A Mobile Broadcast Platform For Celebrities’ & Brands’ Avatars To Talk To Fans, Launches On iOS, Backed By Stephen Fry
"The company behind the tech, HeadcastLab, describes these broadcasts as “visual tweets” since they are limited in duration to 60 seconds, so have the same bite-sized character as a tweet, but are also designed to be watched, thanks to the avatar component. There’s no getting away from the uncanny valley phenomenon here, but presumably in an effort to make that effect comic rather than sinister, the avatars have a cartoonish air, rather than going after exact photo-realism." via TechCrunch
jaemin jaeminlee: gravitistic magnetic watch
"when examining the significance of time, what is truly important is not to know the moment of the day it is but to recognize the invaluable significance of each passing moment. ‘gravitistic’ by designer jaemin jaeminlee is a magnetic watch that expresses the concentration of the hour. the units point towards a minute hand, arranged as if they are being pulled by gravity. by utilizing the force of a magnet, the device relies solely on the laws of physics to deliver an accurate reminder of time." via DesignBoom
The Largest Photograph of Earth Ever Taken Is an Amazing Sight
"In April NASA’s Landsat Data Continuity Mission took a huge panorama. From 438 miles above the Earth, the satellite shot a 6,000-mile-long, 120-mile-wide strip of planet from Russia to South Africa. It is aptly named ‘The Long Swath.’ Oh and it’s 19.06 gigapixels. Since the Landsat moves at 17,000 miles an hour it only took about 20 minutes to shoot the whole thing. That means that unlike satellite images on Google Earth or elsewhere that are taken over time and patched together, the swatch is actually pretty representative of what was happening at basically the same moment everywhere along a 6,000-mile path." via Gizmodo
Are These Dancing Figures The Future Of Digital Fabrication?
"Architect Marc Fornes, who has experimented with creating code-generated physical structures in the past, is scaling down for his next exhibit and building human-sized sculptures instead of buildings.Fornes hand-writes code, using Python, to find algorithms to create the thinnest and strongest structures possible. The results are like laser-cut 3-D puzzles–but instead of matching images, they match forms and curvatures. His goal is to design new façades that economize materials and logistics.via Co.Design
Pinterest-style site integrates social sharing, digital identification and online shopping
"The idea behind the site is that people can tell their stories through the things they own. Aimed at sharing between close friends and relatives, myStorey provides a pinboard for users to upload images of products, which they can tag with rich information – from the people in the photo and the location it was taken, to what clothes they’re wearing and where they got them from. The tags act as a kind of passive referral system for brands and outlets, while users benefit through recommendations from people they trust." via Springwise
