For those of you out there who want to learn a bit more about the Atom, here is an excellent 1950’s documentary by John Sutherland Productions. Remember kids: ‘Trust us with the control of technology, and we’ll give you progress without end’. General Electric that is.
Direct link to the Prelinger Archives here.
A new substance which negatively refracts light developed by researchers at Princeton, raises the theoretical possibility of bending light around objects and therefore render them invisible, alla Thermo-optic camouflage of Ghost in the Shell. Sweet.
Read the article from Wired here.
My old and faithful Minolta DimageX died about two weeks ago, her digital soul leaving this material world and starting its journey to camera heaven (or landfills I think they’re called…). You will be missed, although not for long. (more…)
I’m not really a smoker, but here is the one gift that can convert me in a flash: a handsome water resistant watch lighter. Now you know what I want for my birthday (b/way and 28th has them… I snapped the pic while waiting in line for my daily iced coffee).
Not a collectors item, but damn it’s close.
I followed Wired’s liveblog coverage of Steve Job’s presentation all day today…
New iPod with touchscreen = Love. Just gotta wait for it to have real storage, another year perhaps?
Google has recently launched Google Sky. Included within Google Earth 4.2, the SKY mode allows you to explore galaxies far-far away, the sky right above your location and perhaps even design flaws on the Death Star.
Thanks to my good friend Rocha (read the comments below) who pointed out a few articles / studies about this black screen energy-saving claims. It actually seems like black screens end up using more – not less- energy than white screens… Here’s the original post anyways
Heap media brings us Blackle, a google based search engine that helps us save energy every time we do a search.
In their own words: Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. “Image displayed is primarily a function of the user’s color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.”
Since it’s powered by Google, its searches still deliver the same results we’ve come to love…
A few months ago, before Steve Jobs told us about the iPhone, an open source Linux-based free-from-your-lousy-provider phone was shown to the world. Openmoko, a Taiwan based company released on July 9th the developer’s version of their open source phone. The mass-market version (read: the rest of us idiots who don’t know how to program Linux, or anything else for that matter version) will be out in October.
The device itself isn’t as sexy as an iPhone, I agree, but it comes unlocked and its functionality promises to go beyond it.
Here is a fantastic project by Tad Hirsch, a researcher and PhD candidate in the Smart Cities Group at MIT’s Media Lab.
Tripwire is a site-specific installation responding to the unique relationship between the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport and downtown San Jose, CA. Custom-built sensors hidden inside coconuts are hung from trees at several public locations to monitor noise produced by overflying aircraft. Detection of excessive aircraft noise triggers automated telephone calls to the airport’s complaint line on behalf of the city’s residents and wildlife. Documentation of noise incidents is archived for later analysis.
See more on the project here.
via [guerrilla innovation]
5 years after the proposal, the laptop for the masses will enter mass production.
“The laptop needs an order of magnitude less power than a typical laptop,” said Professor Bender. “That means you can power it by solar or human power.” Will we see in a few years a whole new class of bicycle-power apparatuses developed around the re-charging of these laptops in the developing countries were they’ll be deployed? You bet.
Read the BBC news here.
So among the horrors of war, an American tech company has somehow managed to add a nightmare right out of Akira. Cute helper BEAR-bots, there to assist you when the place you’re in is SO insanely dangerous, your higher-ups decide to send a droid. I’d rather have Cheerbear pick me up and take me over the rainbow.
I finally took a look at Google’s new Street View addition to Google Maps and it is truly amazing: you have a 360-degree street view which can be panned just by dragging on it. Just place the little fellow wherever you want to and take a peek of the city.
Why go visit places now when you can just sit on your behind and click your way through the world?
I just came across the City Wall on display in Helsinki. The wall “is a large multi-touch display installed in a central location in Helsinki which acts as a collaborative and playful interface for the everchanging media landscape of the city.” Content from YouTube and Flickr is gathered, displayed and updated in realtime while users navigate the content based on intuitive gestures.
For more info, check this link out.
I remember seeing some early clips of the same type of display being developed at MIT a couple years ago. Very cool seeing it operational and open to the public (or are they trained stand-ins?).
Via [electro plankton]
A new exhibition of John Maeda’s work – Maeda:Myspace – opened at the Riflemaker Gallery in London a couple weeks ago. It goes through June ‘07 so if you happen to be in London, go check it out, take pictures and upload them here 
.
View a clip of the exhibition here
Read more on his blog here.
Mark Goulthrope’s reactive architectural wall Hyposurface will be on display at the 2007 BIO International Convention, a Nanotech convention going on in Boston until well, tomorrow…
For those of you who haven’t seen any of dECOi’s stuff, here’s a link with more info on the Hyposurface at the SIAL.
His presentation of the Mirian Gallery is also very interesting.
You have to keep in mind that this stuff is over 3 years old, but the techniques are truly great and new parametric/reactive systems are just starting to catchup to Goulthrope.
The news itself aren’t that interesting, I just think it’s plain wrong for the BBC to post this image. Then again, maybe that’s why I’m using it.
Read the news here.
The GRL will be giving a presentation over at Pratt on Thursday the 12th at 6:00 pm. More info in their site:
Graffiti Research Lab
Thursday, April 12th
6:00PM
ARC Building, Lower Level
Digital Arts Lecture Hall, Room E-2
This might be the best possible use for an uber-expensive interactive projection…well, maybe 2-year olds chasing the ball for hours would beat it. Nah
Google has launched ‘My Maps’, where the creation and distribution of customized maps is a very simple process. ‘MyMaps’ gives you the ability to draw lines, create polygons and insert placemarks with just a simple click. Images and video can be embedded onto the description window as well (you’ll have to do it manually though). So, it won’t be long until we start seeing some very interesting mappings of cities. Guy Debord and the situationists would’ve been delighted.
