Re-Thinking the New Aesthetic
James Bridle’s initial collection of the New Aesthetic included satellite images, superimposed digital and physical maps, physical goods that look like pixel art, and real shoes made to look as if they were low-polygon 3D renders. His tumblr—the closest thing to an official record of New Aesthetics—offers even more curiosities. A screenshot of a Flickr search for broken Kindle e-readers. A list of tweets announcing the surprising discovery that the Titanic was a real ocean-liner and not just a film. A histogram of player moods while playing Xbox Live. A Wells Fargo ATM that laments having missed a customer’s birthday.
via: The Atlantic
Google Begins Testing of Augmented Reality Glasses
If you venture into a coffee shop in the coming months and see someone with a pair of futuristic glasses that look like a prop from “Star Trek,” don’t worry. It’s probably just a Google employee testing the company’s new augmented-reality glasses.
via: New York Times
Bruce Sterling on the New Aesthetic
Nobody doubts that there has been a blurring of our physical and digital worlds - but did you know that there is actually a term to describe this? Visionary Bruce Sterling refers to it as the New Aesthetic:
“One of the core themes of the New Aesthetic has been our collaboration with technology, whether that’s bots, digital cameras or satellites (and whether that collaboration is conscious or unconscious), and a useful visual shorthand for that collaboration has been glitchy and pixelated imagery, a way of seeing that seems to reveal a blurring between “the real” and “the digital”, the physical and the virtual, the human and the machine.”
What’s interesting is that it is, in many ways, a response to hipster-embraced “retro-ness” and the belief that the only authenticity can be found in the past.
Steampunk Reading Glove
The TUNE Project (Tangible, Ubiquitous, Narrative Environment), makes use of the reading glove, which allows players to hear a narrative about an object. Part research project, game and story, this steampunk reading glove lets the user experience “psychometry,” or the psychic power of object reading.
via: Ecouterre
In the new Spring 2012 issue of Speakers Academy, interviews and profiles of featured speakers are accompanied by “View with Layar” logos on the pages of the magazine. Scanning these pages displays bonus videos, giving readers a look at the speakers in action.
via: Layar
A Computer Screen That Touches Back
We all love our keyboards and the sensory interaction. But the emergence of touch screens have actually hindered typing. From the touch pad to smart phone, keying in text against a flat “feelingless” screen has been a problem. Today, the touch screens can provide a whole new level of magic. A screen that actually touches back!
via: John Nosta
PINWHEEL: CATERINA FAKE’S NEWEST VENTURE
Pinwheel is like Flickr for geotagged notes… a service that lets you collect and share notes based on locations. Pinwheel is a way to transmit and receive information about particular locations that isn’t tied to one action—like a checkin, or a game.
via: Gizmodo
UNLOCK A MERCEDES WITH YOUR OWN CAR KEYS
German ad agency Lukas Lindemann Rosinski did a nice job with these digital outdoor ads for Mercedes-Benz that passersby could control with their remote car keys. The point was to show off the Viano’s roomy passenger cabin. So, every time someone clicked their car keys at the ads, the Viano’s side door opened to reveal what could fit inside. Examples included an entire Chuck-E-Cheese ball pit, hot girls, giant robots, a Power Ranger dance troupe, hot girls again, sumo wrestlers, and a sauna (full of hot girls).
via: Adweek
Smart appliances are part of a larger trend toward smart electronics, which took hold with phones and is now moving rapidly toward televisions and household appliances. “Smart” may have been the most commonly used adjective at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — with smart TVs, cameras, vacuums, remote controls, to name a few, on abundant display. The idea is that consumers can control the devices, which can communicate wirelessly, with their smartphones, tablets or televisions. So the owner of a smart refrigerator could check what’s in the refrigerator on a smartphone, and in some instances, send photographs to be displayed on the refrigerator’s LCD screen. via: New York Times
How Google Will Augment Reality in 2012
Google is even taking 3D mapping indoors. It’s sending people with backpack-mounted Street View cameras inside local businesses, so Google can put a panoramic interior view into Google Places results. Google is also building mobile 2D maps inside buildings, including malls, airports, hotels and convention centers. When all these maps combine, Google can take you from a desktop or mobile search, down the street, into the mall, to the store, inside the store, and eventually, it wants to be the way you pay, too. via: ReadWriteWeb
