Deep down, don’t we all think they work like this?
[Via Aza Raskin]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
The real Human Interface originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 May 2009 17:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Over the last few months, artist iri5 has been compiling a collection of work on Flickr under the heading, “Ghost in the Machine.” The pieces start with old cassette tapes and end in awesome. To quote the artist:
The idea comes from a philosopher’s (Ryle) description of how your spirit lives in your body. I imagine we are all, like cassettes, thoughts wrapped up in awkward packaging.
Indeed. And they don’t come much more awkwardly packaged than The Cure’s Robert Smith immortalized above. Check out a close-up of his tussled chromium-dioxide hair after the break and be sure to hit the read link for iri5’s full collection. The Jimi Hendrix experience alone is worth it.
[Via GearDiary, thanks schillmoeller]
Continue reading iri5 releases the ghost from the cassette machine
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
iri5 releases the ghost from the cassette machine originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 May 2009 08:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Shouting and waving your arms at buggy technology doesn’t normally do anything useful. With these robots, it makes art.
The Cobot (for “collaborative robot”) is the brain child of Christian Cerrito, who created it for his master’s thesis at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. The pocket-sized Pollock comes in two flavors: the SoundBot, which draws in response to loud noise, and the ShadowBot, which sketches along the boundary between light and dark.
They can even transform anger into art. While Cerrito was writing his final paper, swearing loudly at his computer, the SoundBot doodled on the floor, recording his frustration.
“At some point I looked at the floor, and there was this beautiful drawing,” he said.
Other people enjoyed interacting with the SoundBot and ShadowBot, as shown in the videos below.
Untitled from Christian Cerrito on Vimeo.
But Cerrito’s favorite part of the whole project is watching people play.
“Most of what they’ve created so far are their relationships to their users,” he said. “With drawing and painting in particular, people are hesitant to dive in and start doing something. It tricks people into drawing, playing with shape and form, doing all these things. That’s the most fascinating thing.”
Cerrito wants to let the bots draw on room-sized pieces of paper and turn them loose in public places. He’s also planning to open source the designs to let people build their own, which he estimates would cost between $80 and $100.
In the meantime, you can watch Cerrito’s (and all the other ITP students’) presentations here. If you’re in New York, you can see the Cobots in person at the ITP show this weekend. And see below for one more video of a Cobot in action.
Photo credit: Christian Cerrito
Untitled from Christian Cerrito on Vimeo.
Dell’s “stick some art on it” approach to laptop design got off to a bit of a rocky start, and the stylized lids can still be a tad incongruous with the rest of the laptop’s staid design (Design Studio laptops are still limited to the Studio 15 and Studio 17), but there’s no faulting Dell for volume. They just added 120 new designs, a slick new way to browse through the looks, and most importantly: some pretty good choices (along with enough stinkers to keep it interesting). New artists include Deanne Cheuk, Maya Hayuk, Jason Holley, TWEEQIM, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Filth, Robert Hargrave, Peter Stevens, Keith Warner and OBVLN. It’s $85 a pop, and (PRODUCT) RED designs include a $20 contribution to Bono.
Filed under: Laptops
Dell Design Studio blows it out with more than 120 new options originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apparently as of right now, this stunning piece of high art is just a foam model mock-up, but listen to us, mouse manufacturers of the world: if you build this, we will give you every penny we have to own it. Our only gripe? The D-pad should definitely be up top for navigation duties. Still… where’s the waiting list?
[Via Technabob]
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
NES gamepad mouse is the most amazing piece of industrial design in the history of humankind originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There are horologes, and then there’s La Machine à Ecrire le Temps, known less formally as “The Machine that Writes the Time” — which is exactly, literally what it does. This stunning masterpiece was recently unveiled at Baselworld 2009, and while only those obsessed with time will really appreciate the 1,200 components needed to make this thing tick, anyone into whiz-bang gadgetry will find themselves impressed by the vid of just past the break. Oh, and if you’re looking to buy one to dress up your new sitting room, you should be fully prepared to liquidate nearly $350,000 of whatever you have left to squeeze.
[Via OhGizmo]
Continue reading Video: La Machine à Ecrire le Temps writes time, mesmerizes brains
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Video: La Machine à Ecrire le Temps writes time, mesmerizes brains originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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[Via Engadget Chinese]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Giant keyboard art in Shenzhen metro station offers tech-friendly seating originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Bland, black and white QR codes got you down? Well leave it to artist Takashi Murakami to shake things up. Creative agency SET has laced the psychedelic-anime expert’s playful, colorful imagery into versions of the machine-readable code for Louis Vuitton that — amazingly — still work. The company has also done similar work for Coca-Cola, though nothing quite as luxuriously squeezable as this multi-colored panda. Now, if someone could just dress up those drab bar codes…
[Via DVICE]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Takashi Murakami and Louis Vuitton make QR codes fun again originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ah, now this is the spirit. Rather than concocting yet another handheld tablet that’s good for nothing more than checking email and wowing onlookers, designers Soonkyu Jang, Chung Lee and Yonghuk Yim have come together to put linguists on the front burner once again. This here touchscreen concept is a calligraphy board that enables you to practice your stroke without ruining reams of paper and blasting through countless bottles of ink. Initially, at least, the board would only come loaded with teaching tools for the Korean language, but you know Leapfrog could hook this thing up with Lithuanian, Maltese and Slovak should it ever get involved.
Filed under: Handhelds
Touchscreen calligraphy tablet concept gives linguists hope originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s every child’s dream to one day walk through a trio of space robot legs as entering Silicon Valley, and if a proposed art project goes through, said dream will become a reality for budding tech superstars who land in Mineta San Jose International Airport. The $300,000 initiative would see a so-called Space Observer built and showcased prominently in the venue, allowing patrons to walk underneath its two-story-tall body and emit all sorts of “oohs” and “ahhs.” The monolithic space robot would sport three legs and propeller-tipped kinetic camera arms, the latter of which would collect live video to be displayed on embedded monitors within its body. San Jose Public Art Director Barbara Goldstein has already stated that “it won’t follow you anywhere,” but it’s not like she really has the power to control what this obviously sentient creature does / doesn’t do.
Filed under: Robots
Space Observer to innocently watch you at San Jose’s airport originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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