10 Billion Tiny Screens

Re-Thinking the New Aesthetic James Bridle’s initial...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:45:43 -0400

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...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:49:43 -0400

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...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:01:40 -0400

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.

via: The New Aesthetic Panel at SXSW

Steampunk Reading Glove The TUNE Project (Tangible, Ubiquitous,...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:06:48 -0400

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...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:43:28 -0500

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...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:52:44 -0500

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...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:29:16 -0500

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...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:58:54 -0500

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...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:57:24 -0500

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

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:40:19 -0500

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

Nokia Does Augmented Reality: Nokia City Lens combines map and...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:37:58 -0500

Nokia Does Augmented Reality: Nokia City Lens combines map and points-of-interest data with what is seen in the camera’s viewfinder to show what is nearby, and in which direction. The program is a labs project for now, but the company is planning a beta next month.

via: All Things D

Reveal, created by The NY Times Company Research &...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:53:57 -0500

Reveal, created by The NY Times Company Research & Development Lab, is a mirror platform that explores the roles information and media might play in our future routines. […] A smart mirror like Reveal displays your heath stats, the weather and news headlines while you’re brushing your teeth. The R&D team calls this daily connection an “information routine,” and is fueled in part by the growth of advanced health and fitness tools on the market, like UP by Jawbone. A killer feature in the Reveal is its “augmented reflection,” or the use of a semi-reflective glass surface that displays high-contrast graphics over real world objects. Dig deeper, and you’ll see that the whole experience is fully fleshed out.

via: The Next Web

Jewelry brand Swarovski Elements is launching its “Let It...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:57:24 -0500

Jewelry brand Swarovski Elements is launching its “Let It Sparkle” campaign on the busy streets of Rodeo Drive this holiday season. The unique campaign is a combination of in-store, out of home and mobile marketing that allows consumers to virtually bring Swarovski products to life. Mobile users take advantage of an augmented reality app by GoldRun to discover pictures of limited-edition products that were made in collaboration with brands such as Missoni, La Perla and Stuart Weitzman. Consumers can then share these photos with their friends, family and virtual strangers.

via: PSFK

This is nothing short of brilliant. T-Mobile has recently held a...

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:28:11 -0500

This is nothing short of brilliant. T-Mobile has recently held a brainstorming session with the UK’s National Farmers’ Union. Farmers are now going to brand their cows with QR codes… when cows go to auction they are now going to be sprayed with a QR code which links back to the animal’s provenance and vaccination history. The best bit is that this information can be read by anyone with a smartphone - compare that to the existing situation where farmers can tag their cattle with chips to identify them.

via: GoMo News

Philips just released a new iPad 2 app called Vital Signs...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:17:38 -0500

Philips just released a new iPad 2 app called Vital Signs Camera that uses the camera to measure your heart and breathing rate. It detects subtle beat-to-beat changes in the color of your face to measure your heart rate.

via: Dr. Jay Parkinson, MD

You have to take your hats off to American clothing store JC...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:04:13 -0500

You have to take your hats off to American clothing store JC Penney for creating one of the most practical and clever uses for QR codes in a long while. When you purchase a gift from any JC Penney store, you receive a ‘Santa tag’ which has a accompanying QR code. By scanning it, you can then record a personalised voice message for the person you’re giving the gift to. Once you’ve that done, just stick the QR code onto the present and send it off.

via: Simply Zesty

"Today, the new Internet of Things model is based on simple open standards: Arduino, WiFi and Web..."

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:40:48 -0500

“Today, the new Internet of Things model is based on simple open standards: Arduino, WiFi and Web APIs. The model is open innovation and community creation. And the devices are being created by regular people with their own needs, not big companies.””

- Chris Anderson

Created by Inglobe Technologies in collaboration withAscanio...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:34:38 -0500

Created by Inglobe Technologies in collaboration withAscanio Malgarini for Optimares, an italian company that specializes in the manufacturing of aircraft interiors, “optimARes” is the first iPad2 application that allows to interact with virtual models of airplane seats directly in the real physical space using AR technology.

via: AR Blog

Domino’s Pizza has found a novel way to engage iPad users and...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:22:10 -0500

Domino’s Pizza has found a novel way to engage iPad users and maybe sell a few more pizzas along the way. The pizza chain has created an app that lets you make a pizza onscreen and then order it in real life. Domino’s Pizza Hero is a game/app that simulates the experience of kneading dough, spreading sauce, sprinkling cheese, placing toppings and cutting slices all while a timer ticks away. The object is to make the pizza as quickly as possible and to closely mimic the experience of real Domino’s workers.

via: Mashable

One of the biggest names in the augmented reality space...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:30:26 -0500

One of the biggest names in the augmented reality space is Layar. It’s been around for quite some time, but the newest addition is the rollout of Vision, a tool that lets advertisers and content owners easily integrate augmented reality ads into their publications. Better yet, it’s launching with a huge partner, the very popular Dutch women’s glossy magazine called Linda.

via: The Next Web