Archive for October, 2007
Overlapper
“Two important drawbacks of graph visualization are complexity and cluttering. In Overlapper, complexity is reduced by selecting only interesting subsets so only relevant information is displayed. Also, the authors used two edge models: the complete model, which join together all nodes of each film, and the radial model, which connects each person node to a central node representing the movie, reducing edge complexity. To avoid cluttering, edges are not drawn. Instead, transparent hulls group people who have been involved in the same movie.”
visualcomplexity.com
EveryScape Takes Streetview Indoors
“Paid photographic contributors take the panoramic photos, “scapes”, that serve as the canvasses for embedded information contributed by users. Contributors range from “graffiti” artists who embed new information to paid professional photographers that take panoramas. There’s also a mid-range for paid amateurs, which lets anyone with a simple digital camera and an IPIX camera kit
to take photos that EveryScape can convert into 3D panoramas.”
TechCrunch
RFID: Hitachi Mocks Your Manhood, Makes World’s Smallest RFID Chip
“Hitachi has just rolled out a worryingly small RFID chip, measuring an impressively tiny 0.15 mm x 0.15 mm x 0.0075 mm. The chip packs in a 128-bit ROM, which is able to store a 38-digit number. Hitachi previously held the title for world’s smallest RFID, but the now second place tag was comparatively large at 0.4 mm x 0.4 mm.”
Gizmodo
i-Garment’s “smart suit” helps disaster relief agents
“Designed to help firefighters communicate independently of unreliable traditional systems such as cellphone networks, i-Garment’s “smart suit” does more than just enable voices to be heard. The suit also packs in location and health monitoring, with a whole infrastructure behind it including multiple stages from the field vehicle back to HQ.”
Engadget
Clothing: Battery Powered Yarn Illuminates Clothing, Mostly Breasts
“This electroluminescent yarn, or “EL yarn,” is technically a multi-layer electroluminescent film composite material made from yarn and dipped in a special light-emitting ink on the inside, with a insulated covering and a second layer of yarn on the outside. When electricity runs through the yarn and ink, an electric field is created that illuminates any point where the outer and inner layers of yarn touch.”
Gizmodo
“Evoke” by Usman Haque [York]
“People with voices of different frequencies, rhythms or cadences will be able to evoke quite different magical patterns upon the surface of the building – a staccato chirping will result in a completely different set of visual effects to a long howl for example, blending old and new to continue animating the facade of the Minster.””
Networked_Performance
Military Sim Almost Brings Halo 3 To Reality: Military VR Simulator Is Closest Thing Ever to Real-Life Halo 3
“Although there are other multiple-projectors solutions in the market, the cool thing about Mersive’s Sol Server technology is the automatic calibration to adjust the multiple projectors to the curved surface. Instead of using complicated procedures that can take weeks to complete, Sol uses a robotic camera to obtain reference points. After the screen is mapped in less than an hour, the Sol Server software corrects for “geometric distortion, intensity and color variation in overlap regions that result from using multiple overlapping projectors on the spherical surface of the dome.”"
Gizmodo
Tokyo Auto Show: Space Age LCD Dashboard Converts Your Car into a Batmobile
“The Nippon Seiki Co.’s Wide Vision is a GT-Rish LCD car dashboard kit that not only shows and logs the usual information on speed, rpm and mechanical conditions, but combines it with a nightvision view of the road, rear view camera and some wicked animations to make you feel you are actually flying a Viper Mark VII instead of driving your Honda Civic.”
Gizmodo
Monolake Atlantic Wave Balloons
“Most interesting though, is Monolake’s recent Atom performances – where balloons are arranged in a grid and connected to tubes that allow them to be filled with certain amounts of helium. The balloons also have LED lights inside, which can vary the brightness of the balloon. The end result is a computer controlled three dimensional display that can shuffle between arrangements in time with the soundscapes being triggered.”
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New York Hotel Bar Uncorks an Interactive Wine List
“Pull up a stool at the goatskin-upholstered wine bote, tap the glowing word wines projected in front of you, and the list scrolls into view. Choose a type and a bottle — hand and finger movements reveal its details (grape, origin, tasting notes, cost). The info unfolds with an animated flourish out of a flower icon; think Minority Report meets Sideways. Behind the alcohol-enabling magic is a lot of technology: Cameras and object-recognition software track your hand gestures — and ignore stuff like glassware — following the motion with a trail of projected white pixel dust.”
Wired
Gel changing color in a second
“MIT researchers have developed gels which can change colors almost instantaneously when they’re exposed to a variety of stimuli, such as temperature, pressure or humidity. These gels could be used to design inexpensive sensors. For example, these gel-based sensors could be useful in a food processing plant to ‘indicate whether food that must remain dry has been overly exposed to humidity.’ Now the researchers are working on a gel which would change color in response of electricity.”
Primidi
Ultra-premium wardrobe storage and valet service
“Garde Robe is a first-class, full-service wardrobe storage facility that not only provides a place to stow pieces that currently are out of rotation, but digitally photographs each item to be organized in an online Cyber Closet. Customers can browse a catalogue of their belongings at their leisure from anywhere they access the web and arrange for delivery as needed.”
Springwise newsletter
Triggering music + visuals
“Some use Hyperscore, a music software program designed to teach students and adults how to compose music simply by drawing lines on the screen, some use loop tracks, by simple drag of slider left or right and up and down using vertical lines.”
Architectradure
Rating Facial Expressions
“Omron’s smile-measurement software picks up the hallmarks of a smile–such as narrowed eyes, an open mouth, creases around the mouth, and wrinkles turning downward around the eyes–and uses an algorithm to assess the extent of the smile and rate it on a percentage scale. The analysis is performed in real time and only takes about 44 milliseconds using a Pentium 4 3.2-gigahertz PC, Seddon says. The smile software works on images of faces as small as 60 pixels wide.”
Technology Review
Satski: First Real Time Interactive GPS Piste Map For Skiers
“Using the Satski, you can create an interactive piste map that can be used to guide, track , and record your movements on the slopes. You can even upload your routes to Google Earth and share them with others. The Satski can also help you find the best slopes for your skill level and help you improve by recording your average and max speeds, distance traveled, and altitude information.”
Gizmodo
Clever Cable Organizers
“The picket fence on the left have an adhesive on the back that sticks to the base board – creating a trench between the fence and wall where nasty cords can be stashed away. The wrap around design on the right is even more straight forward – keep cords from bunching up on the floor by wrapping any slack around the two pronged electrical mount. Simple.”
PSFK
Half of 30-year olds may live to 100, study says
“As many as half of all 30 year olds alive in Britain today could live to be 100, according to pension buy-out expert Paternoster. The startling statistic is based on analysis of data derived from around 600,000 people on defined benefit pensions schemes, as well as general UK population data.”
Telegraph
NEC works up LCD with switchable viewing angles
“the firm has developed an LCD “that can switch between wide and narrow viewing angles without impairing image quality.” This ability enables viewers to narrow the 140-degree viewing angle down to 30-degrees so that any plans to sneak a peek at what you’re glancing at are immediately subverted. Furthermore, NEC’s technology is said to differ from other alternatives by “not causing image quality to deteriorate,” as it relies on a function of the rear plate (as opposed to the panel’s front plate) to handle the switcheroo.”
Engadget
Toshiba’s round displays make the display rounds
“Remember Toshiba’s round LCD displays? Good, ’cause they’ve got a whole range of prototypes on display at FPD to demonstrate several possible usage scenarios. As an example, how does this cellphone powder your fancy? It’s all future-looking stuff so prepare yourself for a cotton-candy filled tip-toe through Tomorrowland, mkay”
Engadget
World-first technology combines payment card and authentication in a single device
“A next-generation credit card that incorporates a 12-button keyboard, a microprocessor and an embedded alphanumeric display promises to provide unprecedented security in phone and online banking transactions.”
gizmag Article
Researchers create a transparent composite plastic as strong as steel
“The researchers created this new composite plastic with a machine they developed that builds materials one nanoscale layer after another. The robotic machine consists of an arm that hovers over a wheel of vials of different liquids. In this case, the arm held a piece of glass about the size of a stick of gum on which it built the new material. The arm dipped the glass into the glue-like polymer solution and then into a liquid that was a dispersion of clay nanosheets. After those layers dried, the process repeated. It took 300 layers of each the glue-like polymer and the clay nanosheets to create a piece of this material as thick as a piece of plastic wrap.”
gizmag Article
Toyota RiN Concept promotes driver well-being
“Through features such as heated seats that help maintain good back posture, an oxygen-level conditioner and pinpoint humidifier, and the use of green glass to reduce ultraviolet and infrared light and increase cabin comfort, drivers are encouraged to turn their attention to maintaining a healthy mind and body.”
gizmag Article
New software provides rapid 3D modeling of large urban environments
“Sarnoff Corporation has unveiled a new software solution that automatically builds accurate 3D site models of large urban environments in less than a day. MapIt!™ software utilizes aerial imagery and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) to generate a continuous large-area 3D site model. This information can be used to provide military units and intelligence analysts with critical site data for an urban area as large as 800 square kilometer in around four days as opposed to the 40 to 60 days required for current urban modeling techniques.”
gizmag Article
JackBe Raises $9.5M, Provides Mashups for the Enterprise
“…the software sits behind the firewall on the servers of corporate IT departments, channels information from a range of sources (using SOAP, RSS, etc.), and proffers it to the end user through the browser. The user can then mix and match the data (a la Yahoo Pipes) right in the browser to perform analysis. Mashups are created primarily in ten different ways (using graphs, maps, grids, etc.) and can be shared with other users within a corporation or organization. On the other hand, the sheer number of possibilities with a generic mashup program like Presto makes it hard to come up with even one standard example of what the software can do.”
TechCrunch
Decoding the Human Eye
“Artificial retinas are already in human clinical trials at the University of Southern California, where they have helped blind patients distinguish walls from doorways and even watch soccer games, albeit as blurs of motion. But approximating normal vision–and possibly enabling people to read–will require devices that can deliver electrical current with much greater control and precision. A new chip densely packed with electrodes, developed by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), is the first step in that direction. Currently being used in research, the chip can stimulate and record from individual cells in retinal samples. The technology will provide insight into how the retina codes information and how to mimic that coding–lessons that will be crucial in developing the next generation of retinal implants. Further down the road, some version of the technology might be used to send visual information down the optic nerve”
Technology Review
Samsung’s High-Resolution Phone Display
“Pentile uses only two main subpixel stripes: a green stripe and a second stripe that alternates between red and blue. (The green stripe is only half as tall as the alternating stripe.) To make a set of white and black lines, a green stripe and an alternating stripe are turned on while the next two lines are turned off. As a result, only four lines are required to create the black and white stripes. “We actually only used two-thirds of the number of pixels to have the same effect on resolution,” Pollack says.”
Technology Review
Research Leads to Self-Improving Chips with Speed ‘Warping’
“Here’s how Warp processing works: When a program first runs on a microprocessor chip (such as a Pentium), the chip monitors the program to detect its most frequently-executed parts. The microprocessor then automatically tries to move those parts to a special kind of chip called a field-programmable gate array, or FPGA. “An FPGA can execute some (but not all) programs much faster than a microprocessor – 10 times, 100 times, even 1,000 times faster,” explains Vahid.”
Physorg.com
Multipurpose Device: Multibook is a Lamp, Charger and Alarm Clock, Disguised As an Ordinary Book
“From the angle of the Multibook’s spine, it appears to be a conventional alarm clock, displaying the date and time. Behind a diffuser (situated where the book’s pages would be) are 74 LEDs that emit soft light. Open the book and inside are three sockets into which you can plug your chargers and hide away cellphones or media players along with all their attendant wires”
Gizmodo
Philips and citizenM build a modular high-tech hotel
“The system, which will first be implemented at the citizenM hotel near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, consists of pre-fabricated rooms which can be instantly brought online by connecting just four cables, which enable an RFID keycard, flat-screen entertainment center, free wireless, and a “MoodPad” lighting controller which controls the lighting, shades and temperature to set the appropriate ambiance. Settings stored on the RFID card can be changed remotely, so guests can login and set their preferences before they arrive, and Philips says all this tech will help hotel owners cut costs by up to 50%, which sounds a little too good to be true”
Engadget
Philips shows off health and wellness concepts at Simplicity Event
“Among the concepts on display is a ‘Celebrating Pregnancy’ scenario which, among other things, consists of a so-called “Presentation Bump” that allows for “4-D Baby Visualization”, and a seat with an integrated scanning belt that enables “fast, hygienic scanning.” Other concepts include an ‘Ambient Healing Space’ for patients recovering in the hospital, which includes a body sensing blanket that replaces other monitoring devices, along with a HeartStart portable heart monitor and resuscitation device, a whole ‘Care for Guests’ scenario, and even a newfangled espresso machine and a juicer/blender.”
Engadget
Otetsudai Networks sends mobilists to jobs
“In a recent survey by Otetsudai Networks, most people surveyed cared more about freedom and flexibility than the pay when considering a part-time job. Enter Otetsudai Networks. With Otetsudai Networks, if you are willing to work, you sign up for the service with your skills and focus, take a GPS reading on your phone and then just hang out. If you are looking for someone for say… 3 hours to man a cash register or help wash dishes, you just send the request to Otetsudai Networks and within minutes, you have a list of people available. The list shows what each person is qualified for, how others have rated their work and exactly how far away they are. Typically you will receive a list of half a dozen or more people within a few minutes.”
Smart Mobs
Hitachi: Hitachi to Install its Fingervein Security System in Steering Wheels
“Mirrors, seats and air-conditioning will be automatically adjusted to the preferences of whichever driver has his or her finger on the scanner. The crime prevention factor is obvious: if the car only works for the person whose veins are in the scanner, then it won’t go “brum” for someone who’s nicked it &mdash unless, that is, your thief is the same redheaded mofo from 24 who sawed off the real pilot’s finger in order to steal the stealth bomber and blow up Air Force One.”
Gizmodo
Racing Games: Nissan GT-R Multifunction Display Looks Like a PlayStation Game
“Ironically, anyone who buys one starting tomorrow will be playing Gran Turismo too. All the time, in fact, since the multifunction display that is the star of its interior was designed with Polyphony Digital, the developers of the famous PlayStation GT games. And it shows, because it just looks awesome up close. According to Nissan, the multifunction display monitors everything from engine coolant temperature to steering angle and longitudinal and lateral G-Force, which in my case will read something between “Wimpy” and “Drivetard.” The panel can also display data recorded from your races to the supermarket, telling you how effective your driving is.”
Gizmodo
Graphite Sequencer
“When a line of graphite is drawn across the disk, connecting two wires, a tone is heard. The quality of the line affects the sound. For example, if the line is thick, allowing more current to pass over it, the pitch changes to a lower tone”
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real-time data panoramas
“a commercially available ambient data panorama that dynamically reflects the overall “mood” of a rich information environment. the so-called “data atmosphere” reacts in real-time to multivariable changes (e.g. stock market data), that are then mapped to visual counterparts (e.g. ocean waves, sun strength, wind speed, rain). the resulting information display can be interpreted “without cognitive effort”
information aesthetics
TinyCam: Canon Snap Concept, a Microcam for Your Index Finger
“This is one of those design concepts that might also require a genie in a bottle to actually come into fruition. It’s called the Canon Snap, a high-quality camera small enough to wear like a ring. Push its single button, and you’ve got digi-photos. Sure, looks neat. If they could just make that lens retract down to flatness it would be near-perfect.”
Gizmodo
A New Nanogenerator
“So far, efforts to make nanogenerators have focused on zinc-oxide nanowires. But barium titanate could lead to better generators because it shows a stronger piezoelectric effect, says mechanical-science and engineering professor Min-Feng Yu, who is leading the research at UIUC. Lab experiments show that a barium-titanate nanowire can generate 16 times as much electricity as a zinc-oxide nanowire from the same amount of mechanical vibrations, he says.”
Technology Review
Microchip gives staff the lowdown on pupils
“Children are being tracked by micro-chips embedded in their uniforms in a trial at a secondary school. The devices are used to monitor pupils’ movements and register their arrival in class on the teacher’s computer. Supply teachers can also be alerted if a student is likely to misbehave. The chip connects with teachers’ computers to show a photograph of the pupil, data about academic performance and whether he or she is in the correct classroom. It can also restrict access to areas of the school. The radio frequency identification system is being tested at Hungerhill School in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Ten pupils began wearing a chip sewn into their uniforms eight months ago.”
Times Online
Medical force feedback vest tweaked for gaming
“When an in-game character gets hit or shot, the gamer wearing the vest feels “pneumatic thumps” to their torso. Originally designed for remote medical inspections for prisoners and the elderly, the “3rd Space” vest will cost $189 when it launches in November, and will include an unspecified version of Call of Duty, along with a custom title.”
Engadget
Eye-Fi’s 2GB SD wireless card hits the FCC
“The Eye-Fi-2GB provides the same WiFi-enabling capabilities to any SD-ready digital camera, but this one looks to pack 2GB of capacity to handle even more snaps”
Engadget
Informance shades give athletes a heads-up display
“the upcoming Informance sunglasses from German lenscrafter Rodenstock to that list, which take your regular sports shades and tack on a tiny LED display that shows stopwatch or pulse data from a wirelessly-linked watch. Developed in cooperation with the UK’s Cambridge Consultants, the display projects a 160 x 120 pixel image through a wedge-shaped prism, occupying 12% of the left eye’s field of view in a reportedly unobtrusive manner when peering straight ahead.”
Engadget
VinylDisc hybrid plays on turntables or optical drives
“German manufacturers Optimal Media Production claim that their new VinylDisc is a hybrid CD/vinyl album that will play in an optical drive or on a turntable: “The VinylDisc is a combination audio CD and special record. It consists of two attached layers. The silver layer contains digital audio information, while the black upper layer can be played on every record player”
Boing Boing
Dash Wants To Bring Web Mashups To Your Car
“The device will collects data about traffic conditions from all other Dash drivers, and estimates how long alternative routes will take on any given day. Since they will be connected through a cellular data network to the Internet, all sorts of geo-tagged information can be pushed to the device and combined with the on-board maps. Everything from restaurants and open houses to concerts, gas, and golf courses could be sent to the Dash and appear there on the map. Owners will be able to manage which mashups they receive through Dash’s Website. There, they will be able to drag feeds from sites like Platial
, where they can create a Google Map of dog runs in San Francisco or yoga schools in LA.”
TechCrunch
Hard Drive: HDD USB Dock Plugs Bare SATA Drives Like NES Cartridges
“Compatible with Windows and Macs, this $46.79 SATA HDD Stage Rack will allow you to plug any bare 2.5- or 3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives into your computer like Nintendo cartridges or, for those of you old enough, 8-tracks. Just take the HD, plug it into the base, connect the base to your Mac or PC via USB, and it will appear on your desktop.”
Gizmodo
Fentix Cube: If Rubik was smarter, had multi-touch
“Developed by Andrew Fentem, the Fentix Cube features a cube of (patent pending) multi-touch touchscreens allowing for a myriad of multi-dimensional games, puzzles, and whatnots manipulated by the swipe of your greasy fingers.”
Engadget
Twine Launches A Smarter Way To Organize Your Online Life
“On the surface, Twine is a place to organize information you find or create on the Web—bookmarks, notes, videos, photos,contacts, tasks. [...] You can also share that information with a private group or publicly. Once you ingest in all the information you want to organize, Twine applies a semantic analysis to it that creates tags for each document or video or photo. The tags match up to concepts that Twine’s algorithms associate with each piece of content, regardless of whether that concept is specifically mentioned in the Web page or other content being tagged. For example, you might bookmark this post and Twine would create tags for all the people mentioned in it (Nova Spivack, Paul Allen, Peter Rip, and Ron Conway). It would also create tags for the organizations related to the post, such as Radar Networks and DARPA, but also Paul Allen’s venture firm Vulcan Capital—even if Vulcan was never mentioned in the post.What Twine does is automatically generate smart tags and connect them together. There is also a social element. If you share a Twine with others, each piece of content that someone brings into that online space is associated with that person. So when you do a search, the results that come back are influenced not just by the tags, but also by who put the information into the Twine in the first place.”
TechCrunch
Flickr To Launch New Geotagging and Places Pages
“Pages will be built around the Flickr concept of “interestingness,” but based on places and tags. So China/bicycle shows popular photos of bicycles taken in China. Paris/architecture is another example. Any of 70,000 places can be viewed, optionally followed by any tag. Flickr is also adding in additional information on the place, such as weather and local time, as well as relevant Flickr groups.”
TechCrunch
Pantech intros bone-conducting A1407PT handset
“While bone conduction has been fairly quick to catch on in headsets, the slightly unnerving technology has so far been conspicuously absent from the cellphones themselves, save for the odd rumor. Pantech looks set to change that, however, with its newly-announced bone-rattling A1407PT handset now headed straight for KDDI.”
Engadget
BYU’s Spilling creation takes handheld displays to tabletops
“a few dutiful individuals at BYU have concocted a snazzy way to get handheld imagery onto tabletop displays, and there’s even a video to prove it. To demonstrate, the team utilized a Sony VAIO UX, which was mounted on a conductive frame that “established an electrical connection between the user’s grasp and the unit’s feet.” Once the UX was placed on a larger display, it then beamed its images out and even allowed users to scroll around or reposition the output by simply touching the display and / or moving the UX”
Engadget
Concept: T-Phone Concept For the Elderly, Lazy
“This T-Phone concept from designer Jeong-Kyun Nam aims to make things a little easier with its unique RFID badge dialing system. Each badge can be programed to remember someone’s number, and a picture slot makes identifying the correct badge easy. To make a call, all Grandma has to do is place the correct badge onto the call button and press. The phone will read the info and then dial the number.”
Gizmodo
Nanotech: World’s Smallest Radio Is Just Atoms Wide, Still Needs AAA Battery
“University of California researcher Chris Rutherglen shows off a radio made of carbon nanotubes, measuring “a few atoms across,” that’s 1,000 times smaller than today’s radio technology.”
Gizmodo
AU Optronics Unveils In-Cell Multi-Touch Panel Technologies and a 0.69mm Ultra-Thin Mobile Device Panel
“Unlike the touch panel applications currently on the market, AUO’s two newly-launched 4.3-inch multi-touch panel technologies both implement in-cell design, which integrate touch function features into the TFT-LCD manufacturing process without adding an additional glass and thus, are able to retain a thickness of 2.2mm with a resolution of 480 x 272 – thinner than conventional touch panel applications. Also, they both have superior anti-glare properties to retain proper image color saturation and readability under the sunlight.”
AUO Online
Dual-Cockpit Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System delivered to the U.S. Navy
“Thee dual-cockpit JHMCS also provides a visual indication of where each crew member is looking and displays tactical information, aircraft altitude, airspeed, gravitational pull and angle of attack on the visor to increase the crew members’ situational awareness. The inclusion of JHMCS in the aft seat of two-seat aircraft gives the weapons system officer the same weapons management capabilities as the pilot. The system vastly reduces the amount of required verbal discussion and improves the ability to react rapidly to targets and/or threats that are visually detected by either crew member.”
gizmag Article
Audi shows off concept cellphone / vehicle control device
“In addition to doubling as a cellphone, the handset (which boasts both Wi-Fi and 3G UMTS technology) will apparently act as an MP3 player, a vehicle control system, and an input for the car’s navigation system. As if that wasn’t enough, it can also receive pics of any intruders snapped by the vehicle’s camera system, and it’ll even let you then keep watch on ‘em as they speed away thanks to the built-in tracking system.”
Engadget
A watch to measure your stress
“This watch, which is in fact a wearable computing system, contains several sensors that gather information about the user and his environment. Now it will be used to conduct 3-minute interviews of its wearers every 45 minutes for 5 days (even during their sleep?). It will ask them questions such as ‘Working hard?’ or ‘Happy?’ and wirelessly transmit the answers to a central computer. The study, which is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is expected to reveal correlations between environmental factors that we encounter every day and which may increase the risk of certain diseases such as heart attacks or strokes.”
Primidi
Email Software: 3D Mailbox Level 2 Now Includes Airport Sim
“What if you could have all your email delivered to you by Boeing 747s, simulated as if they’re pulling into LAX? That’s what the free 3D Mailbox Level 2 software can do, giving you a 3D animation—complete with air traffic control tower chatter—for each sent and received email. Your emails will arrive and depart in planes from the countries matching your email’s origin or destination, with 80 airlines represented.”
Gizmodo
Displays: Toshiba Matsushita Develops Round LCD Display
“before you get too excited about the possibilities, keep in mind that the viewable area is only 62mm (2.44″) across with a contrast ratio of 600:1 and a resolution of 240X240. So, at this point it is not quite ready to be part of your desktop PC configuration–but Toshiba believes that it has definite potential for use in vehicle instrument panels.”
Gizmodo
Using pictures to help tenants request repairs
“Created by UK-based M3 Housing, Housecall presents tenants with a step-by-step online guide to reporting a problem. They begin by specifying what broad category their problem falls into—plumbing, heat/electric, or roofs/drains, for example—aided by a pictorial representation of each. The graphics-based process continues from there by helping residents zero in on the precise nature of the problem, with pop-up diagnostic prompts when they mouse over relevant images, such as a heater or sink. Finally, before finishing the process with an e-mailed report to the community manager, users have the option of typing in comments.”
Springwise newsletter
Driving with poor vision becomes possible
“This innovative system is based on a reconfigurable device known as FPGA (or Field Programmable Gate Array). This means that it can easily be reprogrammed to be used under different circumstances. In fact, if his vision declines, a user of the SERBA system will just download a new version of the software adapted to him, without the need to buy a new device. Some companies are already interested in the system, but there is no information today about commercial availability.”
Primidi
Wiimote: Wiiwiiwiiwii Converts Wiimote Into a Beautiful Musical Instrument
“While we’ve seen other music mods in the past, this is a completely different beast. It uses a Mac interface to control the input and generate the sound, using Propellerheads Reason, and a Windows PC to visualize the instrument actions in real time. The instrument can do all kinds of things, from single-note percussion to multiple Wiimotes for melodic chords, loops and note bursts.”
Gizmodo
circular email visualization
“a data visualization application capable of rendering the relationships between the user & individuals in the address book by examining the TO:, FROM:, and CC: fields of every email in the 60,000-large email archive. the intensity of the relationship is determined by the color intensity of the line. “My Map” allows to explore different relational groupings & periods of time, revealing the temporal ebbs & flows in various relationships.”
information aesthetics
Led: Interactive LED Roof Tiles Great For Advertising, Talking Smack About Neighbors
“These roof tiles by designer Lambert Kamps feature built-in LEDs powered by series of self-contained solar-photovoltaic cells. Owners can program the lights to display static or animated mosaics of text, pictures and other graphics in multiple colors.”
Gizmodo
Does Your Building Need A Social Network? Why Not.
“The building managers control the network and post information about the building itself. Residents sign up to get news about the building, interact with other users, etc. They’ll provide information about local businesses (dry cleaners, restaurants, delivery services, etc.) and allow residents to post reviews (similar to Yelp
, but even more geographically targeted). They’ve also included a marketplace for people to buy and sell goods within the building.”
TechCrunch
Musical Instruments: Terpstra MIDI Keyboard, for Musicians from Another Planet
“This Terpstra keyboard must be the strangest one yet, but don’t be getting worried that you’ll need to type on it because it’s a MIDI keyboard for musicians. The gigsters will like it because it’s velocity sensitive, letting keyboard players put more expression into their music just like when they’re playing a piano. Only problem we have with it is there must be a tremendous learning curve with this strange honeycomb-shaped arrangement of the keys. Notice the sharps and flats are in groups of two and three, just like on a piano keyboard, but sheesh, after that, all bets are off.”
Gizmodo
RFID tags help you to choose clothes
“For example, when you go to a dressing room to try a suit, a ‘smart mirror’ will tell you what kind of shirt or tie you need to buy with it. Will this technology be deployed elsewhere? Time will tell.”
Primidi
Airlines announce bar code standard for cellphone check-ins
“Unlike some other systems, this new standard consists of a bar code that passengers receive as a text message, which can then be read directly from the phone’s screen when they arrive at the airport. The standard, which the IATA hopes will take hold by 2010, even goes so far as to incorporate various bar code systems in use around the world, including Aztec, Datamatrix, and the ever-popular QR codes. Of course, it’s more than just convenience that convinced the airlines to sign on, with the IATA estimating that change could ultimately end up saving the airlines more than $500 million a year.”
Engadget
Fabrik External Drives Offer Unlimited Offsite Storage
“In addition, purchasing one of the new Fabrik drives allows a consumer to backup 2 Gbytes of data using the Fabrik online storage service, for free. Online storage is a relatively new service offered by top-tier companies, but not the smaller vendors.”
ExtremeTech
Concept: “Vice Versa” Digital Clock Only Needs Its Hands To Serve You
“A lot of designers have taken a minimalist approach when it comes to wall clocks these days, and China’s Yiran Qian certainly fits into that category with his “Vice Versa” clock. However, being gadget geeks, we do appreciate the inclusion of a digital interface on the hands. It’s a truly unique way to blend the aesthetics of an analog clock with the functionality of a digital.”
Gizmodo
Concept: Unique Alarm Clock Turns Your MP3 Player Into a Joystick Controller
“When the MP3 player is inserted into the USB port on top, it can be used as a joystick that can be shifted right, left and forward to toggle through playlists.”
Gizmodo
Spherical Solar Cells Are Pretty Awesome
“Instead of conventional solar cells which lay flat and only have 1 surface to collect the sun’s energy, these spheres, measuring between 1-1.5mm in diameter, will be able to harness the energy from most of their whole surface. This also gives their panels flexibility as their structures do not need to be rigid, allowing them to be used in more applications than conventional PV. As an added bonus these cells do not block light and can therefore be embedded in clear objects without fully compromising clarity, giving energy producing windows a chance.”
EcoGeek
Electronic Jewelry: Skintile Electronic Sensing Jewelry Blings Your Mood
“Designed by Philips alongside Stella, a project that is developing flexible electronic substrates for the medical world, Skintile jewelry is an adhesive body adornment that can light up depending on your mood. Everything is contained in the substrate—energy supply, sensors, actuators and display, and Philips rather saucily claims that it is “arousal enhancing.”
Gizmodo
Cellphones: Hyundai W-100 Wrist Phone Most Feature-Rich Yet, and Now It’s Real
“It’s equipped with Bluetooth so you can walk around and look like you’re talking to yourself, and then you can be sneaky and take some pictures with its 1.3-megapixel onboard camera. It even has an MP3 player, and if your eyes are sharp enough, it plays videos, too.”
Gizmodo
Wormholes a ‘possibility’
“The wormholes they describe aren’t quite the instantaneous transportation portals described by Star Trek or Valve’s new computer game. The light still travels through the metamaterial tube but isn’t detectable outside it, by sight or other methods. Uses for this idea include endoscopic surgery and 3D televisions where all but the end tips of many beams of light are hidden by the wormhole, giving the appearance of a floating image”
Futurismic
Video Chat Service Aims to Follow YouTube’s Path
“The company, TokBox, allows people with Webcams and broadband Internet connections to conduct face-to-face chats inside a Web browser. Users can visit its site, www.tokbox.com, or add a TokBox module to their pages on social Web sites like MySpace. Several other services, including AOL’s AIM, Yahoo Messenger and Skype, allow live video chats but require that each party download the software and be online at the same time. On TokBox, if one party is not present, users can send a video mail message of up to five minutes in length that the other party can later retrieve at the site.”
New York Times
Virus-Built Electronics
“In producing this novel fiber, the researchers have demonstrated a completely new way of making nanomaterials, one that uses viruses as microscopic building blocks. Belcher, a professor of materials science and biological engineering at MIT, says the approach has two main advantages. First, in high concentrations the viruses tend to organize themselves, lining up side by side to form an orderly pattern. Second, the viruses can be genetically engineered to bind to and organize inorganic materials such as those used in battery electrodes, transistors, and solar cells. The programmed viruses coat themselves with the materials and then, by aligning with other viruses, assemble into crystalline structures useful for making high-performance devices.”
Technology Review
Videogame: levelHead is an Interactive, Blockbusting Videogame
“…software is used to detect the cube’s motion and a set of digital cameras are then utilized to display an appropriate image, depending on your response. The game being worked on currently relies upon guiding a wondering, lost sole through the cubetastic world. Each tilt of the hexahedron guides the walker in the corresponding direction. The aim is to direct the bi-pedal show off to the exit of the virtual world contained within. Eventually, there will be multiple blocks, all interlinked, making for one crazy toy, indeed.”
Gizmodo
62 Days + Almost 3 Billion Pings + New Visualization Scheme = the First Internet Census Since 1982
“Researchers at the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute, one of the birthplaces of the Internet decades ago, have just completed and plotted a comprehensive census of all of the more 2.8 billion allocated addresses on the Internet — the first complete effort of its kind in more than two decades, they say.”
Information Sciences Institute
Concepts: Electric Band-Aids for Fast Relief
“HealFast is specifically designed for patients with diabetes in an attempt to address the chronic ulcers and pressure sores that they often experience. Once applied, an electric charge would generate a very weak field that prevents infection in the surrounding tissue.”
Gizmodo
Hymini: Wind Powered Gadget Charger
“The Hymini is micro-wind universal charger/adapter for recharging “digital gadgets.” The device stores the power collected, which can also be from a wall plug or solar power. And, well, you can make it work when skiing, biking, sailing, running, or simply sitting enjoying an evening breeze”
EcoGeek
Cellphones: Samsung Water-Powered Cellphone On the Way
“At first the company says the fuel will be in the form of hydrogen cartridges that must be changed every four days or so if you use the phone for four hours a day. Later, Samsung plans to evolve the design so all you’ll need to do is put some water in your cellphone and you’re good to go. Don’t expect anything like this anytime soon, though, because the first water-powered phones won’t hit the market until 2010.”
Gizmodo
StyleShake turns women into fashion designers
“…the startup aims to allows customers to create and order individually tailor-made dress designs, share them online with other StyleShake users and, of course, wear them. Essentially StyleShake puts design tools in the hands of customers who create designs using a simple tool Flash then. They can then order the design in a pre-selected size. Ten days later their hand-made dress turns up by mail.”
TechCrunch UK
U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi!
“the U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi system maps a pretty girl onto the robot’s anatomically correct, green-cloth surface with the help of a sensor-equipped head-mounted display worn by the lonely, lonely man. The result is a 3D character you can touch and “interact” with. Researcher Michihiko Shoji hopes that the system can be commercialized for arcades and personal humanoids for general use.”
Engadget
Microwind Generator: 30X More Efficient and Cheaper!
“…Shawn built a kind of birdge out of taught kite fabric. The fabric vibrates in the wind, and a magnet, attached to the fabric, creates electricity at one end of the device. He says that, in a 10 mph wind, the generator is up to 30 times more efficient than the best rotary turbines. These are some impressive claims. That much more efficient? But, at what cost? Well, ridiculously cheap. Just some fabric, a magnet and some copper coils does it. Frayne guesses that, for the developing world, the Windbelt could cost as little as a few dollars. It’s cleaner, cheaper, and easier to fix than any other method of generating power. That is, as long as the wind keeps blowing.”
EcoGeek
Citizen displays Earthquake Early Warning watch
“Jointly developed with Rhythm Watch, the device combines an Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) receiver and an analog watch. The Seismic watch functions as an ordinary watch until it receives the EEW, which causes the hour hand to speed up based on the seismic intensity estimation, while the minute and second hands give the countdown time to the earthquake arrival.The wearer is alerted of an imminent earthquake with an audible alarm and, fittingly, a vibrator.”
gizmag Article
image collection browser
“a data visualization/mining application to browse large collection of images, such as from the Library of Congress American Memory collection. for each metadata category, vertical bars show the distribution of images in the collection that match the search query. wide bars represent subcategories (e.g. kinds of people) that appear in many images in the collection. tall bars represent the relative fraction of subcategories which appear in images that match the query.”
information aesthetics
ABC Reshapes the Evening News for the Web
“…ABC is the only major broadcast network that is using the staff of its evening newscast to produce a separate and distinct daily program for a Web audience. The 15-minute Webcast often features Mr. Gibson in the anchor chair, but the similarities end there: the segments can run long, and they purposely look raw and personal, as if they were made for MTV rather than ABC. Over the course of 20 months, the Webcast has evolved from a basic distillation of the day’s news into an original program that incorporates video blogs, first-person essays and interviews. It covers many of the same stories as its television sibling, but often in a different way: in one example, the day after President Bush announced gradual troop cuts in Iraq, Mr. Gibson was shown debriefing the network’s chief White House correspondent, Martha Raddatz, in the Webcast for a full 3 minutes and 20 seconds — an eternity on a half-hour television newscast.”
New York Times
Safety First: Teen Driver Cam Keeps Tabs on Horrible Teenage Drivers
“Teen Safe Driver is a camera provided by insurance companies that attaches to the windshield and points right at the driver. Since it can be used to keep people safe by ensuring kids stay off their damned cellphones and keep their illegally purchased beers closed and away until they get to Steve’s parents’ house, it’s free if you live in a number of states, even giving you a healthy 15% discount on your premiums if you use it.”
Gizmodo
Future of Cinema: Immersion [Montreal]
“In Morel’s Panorama, an installation inspired by the book Morel’s Invention, Japanese artist Masaki Fujihata presents images captured by a panoramic camera in a square space. It is an unexpected take on the concept of immersion. Continuing to the 3D world of SANDDETM, a high-tech device developed by IMAX® and use by the NFB for the creation of stereoscopic 3D animations, viewers are immersed in sounds and 3D images floating around them. In the NFB Stereo Lab, viewers will have the opportunity to see screenings of several NFB’s creations, including a stereoscopic world premiere.”
Networked_Performance
Clips: Nissan Round Box Has Most Incredible Dash We’ve Seen Yet
“the inside has a dashboard that’s absolutely amazing featuring superfluous graphics up the wazoo. Granted, it may be too amazing to actually be functional, but we’ll take eye candy over safe driving any day of the week.”
Gizmodo
Led: Floating Computer-Controlled LED Show Calls for Ocean-Sized Mario Bros.
“Designer Seung-Jin Lee has decided to that it will be a good idea to put LEDs embedded in tubes to make them float on the water. The objective is to control them with a computer and make beautiful shows for concerts and the like.”
Gizmodo
Solar-powered donkey carts bring power to African villages
“Using a traditional donkey cart as a platform, the HAPPY is based around a solar panel and a 12-volt battery, a power supply robust enough to power a cell antenna, water filtration system, emergency lights, and a small neon tube — enabling the HAPPY to support several families in a rural setting or serve as an income-generating kiosk in a more urban environment.”
Engadget
New CAD interface simulates sculpting
“Two tools have been devised, a scraper, for removing material from a model, and a sandpaper, for smoothing and exploring the surface. Users start with a block of virtual clay, for example, and use the tools to cut and shape it with their hands. They can watch the process on a computer monitor and, most importantly, feel the sensation of the tool cutting and smoothing the clay. Psychologists from the partner Universite Aix-Marseille have been closely involved in studying how modellers use tools in this way.”
Core77
Janice Caswell’s Landscapes
“Janice Caswell’s amazing collages and drawings are made with tiny pieces of paper and lines of ink representing mental maps and the narrative as she envisions them. Hole-punched paper circles chart steps along a path, while colors delineate sites where events occur – cities, neighborhoods, buildings or rooms. Simple ink lines trace the wanderings and form the narrative. The mind proccesses and remembers space unreliably and incompletely – rather than trying to force reality on the mental maps, the incongruities are accepted and depicted as memory serves.”
visualcomplexity.com
Voice Control: Vocal Joystick Makes Everyone Go Aaaaaah Oooooooh
“I know this video shouldn’t make me laugh because the Vocal Joystick—software that allows you to control your mouse using eight vowel sounds and the “sounds k and ch simulate clicking and releasing the buttons”—is amazing for people with disabilities. But I can’t help it, I just find it hilarious. Its developers at the University of Washington have now come up with a version that controls a robotic arm to further help people with serious mobility problems.”
Gizmodo
Google hits vanity ring
“an electronic ring that shows the number of Google hits when searching for the name of the person who wears it. every night, when the ring is inserted into its docking station, the ring is reloaded & updated to the objective popularity & importance measure of one’s personality.”
information aesthetics
Intel Completes Photonics Trifecta
“Researchers at Intel recently announced a silicon-based light detector that, by all measures, is better than those made of more expensive materials. It can detect flashes of light at a rate of 40 gigabits per second, while most of today’s fiber-optic networks operate at 10 gigabits per second. The new detector is also more efficient and produces a cleaner signal than other detectors that operate at the same speed. [...] If implemented in existing fiber-optic networks, inexpensive photonic chips could drastically reduce the cost of Internet bandwidth. Built into computers, they could move and transmit data at much greater speeds.”
Technology Review
