Today’s technology advances so rapidly that people are often unable to update their media schemas in time and as a result are left cluelessly in awe of it all. Mike Thompson’s Wifi dowsing rod aims to work against this: By basing the design for a wireless internet detector on ancient technology, the user should immediately feel at home with the device.
Although perhaps impractical and anecdotal, the Wifi dowsing rod is an intriguing attempt of using ‘magic’ as a construct to cope with the technological complexity accumulating around us. A great gift for your grand-grand-parents.
Related: Magical interaction, Your grand-grand-grand-parents new media, Dandella shows you the way, Voodoo communication device.
These dudes from the Spanish TV show El-Hormiguero mixed cornstarch and water made on a concrete mixer truck, effectively creating a pool of non-newtonian fluid – which is almost like normal water, but when stress is applied to the liquid it exhibits properties of a solid.
I don’t think you would have bumped – quite literally in this case – into a such a material in old nature. Well, maybe in a swamp. But that is less fun. Just imagine all the next Olympic sports we could build on this! Hypermaterial of the moment.
Naturally, there is also a Japanese TV version, but I like this non-newtonian fluid scuplture better.
This video shows the first beta version of TwittARound – an augmented reality Twitter viewer on the iPhone 3Gs. It shows live tweets around your location on the horizon. Because of the video see-through effect you see where the tweet comes from and how far away it is.
The app does something similar as layar(.com) — launched in Amsterdam (NL) June 17th –, a phone interface that puts a content layer over the phone camera’s videoscreen to locate the nearest toilet, bar, supermarket, bank and other search categories.
Though we still trust our natural eyes and ears; with tools like these, we have but to reach in our pockets to look ahead and see what is coming. The apps are not predicting the future yet, but I am pretty sure we will have to get back on that soon.
via: i.document.m05.de (thanks @droombos) | Related: On the Road | Avatar Machine
The eye passes on more information to the brain than the brain will process. In that sense, the brain functions as a filter. But on the battlefield the risk of neglecting information could mean the difference between life and death. To take away the filter is the idea behind a pentagon-funded project to develop “brainwave binoculars”.
Intelligent binoculars can tap into the brain’s ability to spot patterns and movement to help soldiers detect threats from miles farther away than they can with traditional binoculars. Electrodes on the scalp inside a helmet will record the user’s brain activity as it processes information about high-resolution images produced by wide-angle military binoculars. Those responses will train the binoculars over time to recognize threats.
Via: blnz.com | Related: Scientists Extract Images directly from Brain | Do you Mind? | Turning Brainwaves into Tweets | Brainscan replaces Job Interview
Using ultrasound technology, researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a holographic projector that displays three-dimensional virtual objects you can feel with your bare hands. The system is currently on display at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans.
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Designer Carlijn Compen upgraded her watertap with some LED’s that shift color along with the heat of the water. A simple yet effective example of information decoration that will seamlessly fit in the ambient bathroom. I don’t know whether the electricity for the LED’s is generated by water power.
Related: Ambient bathtub, Wallpaper blooms when the heat is on, Energy consumption shown on power plant, Datafountain, Power aware cord, Excitement clothing, Information decoration for dummies.
Music evolves. So do the instruments. And when they do, some instruments turn into UFO’s, probably because designers like to associate futurism with alien vessels.
Peter Kubik about his electronic drum prototype: “My concept of this musical instrument is thoroughly electronic. Primarily it is designed for the household use, but I can imagine that its use will expand further and be used in big concerts without the need for other instruments.The musical instrument rests on the knees or is gripped by legs. The sound is produced by hitting the surface with hands, palms and fingers. The drum then identifies the force, area and intensity and as a result, generates various tones”.
It looks like the iPhone of instruments, it is smart and it knows what the user wants. [I believe there even is an app that generates such colors when touched, I’m not sure]. But will technology reach the soul and become an extention of the mind instead of a “tool” that we use?
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Today browsing and gaming is dominated by the shortcomings of machines, for machines simply do not know who is on the other end. Man needs to interact; therefore man needs to input. Buttons, keys, keyboards, arrows, joysticks, consoles, gun-triggers, tracker-balls and steering-wheels are indispensable. Until now…
Microsoft is making serious efforts to end that era and by doing so, giving a fledged answer to the Nintendo Wii. Project Natal is the codename for Microsofts new and revolutionary way of gaming; taking Xbox into the next generation. It lets you, the user, take full control of the games by simply moving around, jumping, punching and kicking or whatever you feel like doing.
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The big lobby to endeavor for a climate neutral lifestyle must have reached its peak. It is common knowledge that recycling electronic and battery operated utensils is better for the planet, but if there ever was a taboo reckoning sex toys to that philosophy; with the Earth Angel it is now shattered. The vibrator in question is completely made from recycled materials and uses a wind-up crank to charge the internal rechargeable battery. Winding up for four minutes gives you half an hour of pleasure.
Saving the earth was never more fun! Read the rest of this entry »
Remember Asimo? Honda has now developped a new Brain-Machine Interface technology that allows humans to control the humanoid robot simply by thinking certain thoughts. The BMI system consists of a sensor-laden helmet that measures the user’s brain activity and a computer that analyzes the thought patterns and relays them as wireless commands to the robot.
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