Visible Sound: Graph Stitching Sewing Machine
An electronically enhanced sewing machine [soundsbutter.com], able to represent sound through the height of the stitches it creates. The resulting stitch pattern thus becomes visually similar to an equalizer timeline. Unfortunately, currently a non-working prototype only.
Via SwissMiss.
”
(via information aesthetics.)
November 17, 2008
Category: electronic culture, information design, music, tangible
Tags: clothes, device, visualisation
Comments (0)
About an intriguing urban computing assemblage
The recent story of Google cars causing stir in Rome still makes me wondering about the perception of so-called “urban computing” and citizens. To put it shortly, the problem was basic: Google recently brought in black cars in Rome that take pictures for the Google Streetview project (yes at some point you have to physical artifacts taking PICTURES of streetviews, it’s not just virtual). BernhardWarner for the timesonline hence reports the following people’s reaction to these black cars:
“On cue, pedestrians shuffled off the street and into bars, out of sight of the offending vehicle, no doubt wondering if these are the new intrusions that must be endured after a sudden shift to the right. Your correspondent managed to snake through a queue of cars at a traffic light to get a better look at the vehicle that upset so many mid-afternoon espressos.
(…)
Just then the Google car swung left and I followed, in a very slow pursuit. The identical scene unfolded before me: Romans stumbling into shops and bars, hoping to be out of view of the camera’s lens“
In a sense, they perceived it as “a new type of video surveillance vehicle”. I won’t enter into the details of the explanation provided by the timesonline (the election of a right-wing mayor… who wants to promote tough-on-crime platforms) but this situation seems certainly revealing of a troublesome relationship between technological assemblage.
The picture of the google cars in the Netherlands made by Lars van de Goor shows how the whole pack can be intimidating:
Why do I blog this? what I find interesting here is less the perception of a service (that can be articulated as “urban computing”) but instead the sort of experience of the infrastructure needed to provide a service. A flock of all-similar black cars wandering around the city with huge camera-devices may indeed by an intriguing experience as it may came out from the blue. Will we see more of this sort of encounters in the city of the near future?
Btw, Mauro were in you in Rome? have you seen this?
”
(via pasta and vinegar.)
June 02, 2008
Category: electronic culture, hardware
Tags: car, device, google, map, mapping, surveillance
Comments Off
Depuis mardi, le défibrillateur de ce patient transmet immédiatement la moindre anomalie de son coeur à son médecin par e-mail ou par SMS.
“
Since Tuesday, the ICD is transmitting immediately any abnormanl data from its heart to the patient’s doctor via email or text messages.
(Via 20 minutes CH, via Amandine.)
April 06, 2008
Category: technology
Tags: alert, body, computer, device, email, embed, heart, icd, improvement, medicine, monitoring, sms, tracking
Comments (0)
Emotiv to make mind-controlled games a reality by Christmas: “
Filed under: Gaming
The idea of wearing a funny hat to mind control software is certainly nothing new ’round these parts. Now Emotiv Systems returns with an update to their Project Epoch USB headset. Crave went hands-on with the system which required a short, six-second calibration before entering the first ‘game.’ At that point, Crave was able manipulate a simple cube on the screen with varied success at making it disappear or pull forward. Oooh, what fun! Mind you, it’s just a prototype and we’ve seen this tech applied to old-school arcade games like Pong and Space Invaders to great effect. You’ll get your chance soon enough as Emotiv plans to launch the first thought-controlled, consumer gaming device this Christmas for $299 with at least one bundled PC game. One more picture of that Alien face-hugger of a headset after the break.
Continue reading Emotiv to make mind-controlled games a reality by Christmas
“
(Via Engadget.)
February 21, 2008
Category: hardware
Tags: brain, control, device, video game
Comments (0)
1986 Seiko Speedmaster by Giorgetto Giugiaro: ”
If you’ve ever asked yourself, ‘What was that amazing watch Lieutenant Ripley wore in the 1986 movie ‘Aliens?” I have the answer for you. It was a Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed Seiko Speedmaster Chronograph. The vertical stopwatch pushers placed inside the asymmetrical case extension are what makes the watch entirely unique. Personally, I think he may have been influenced by the design of the 1973 LIP Mach 2000 that came out 12 years earlier. Many of Giugiaro’s other designs for Seiko between 1985-86 had asymmetric qualities as well, which you can see on Watchismo.
For those of you who don’t know, Giorgio Giugiaro was one of the most important car designers of the 20th century. Credited with the ‘folded paper’ car designs of the 1970s and ’80s, he was responsible for such classics as the Lotus Esprit, De Lorean DMC 12, Maserati Merak, Bora, Quattroporte, BMW M1, and most interesting to learn, my first car, the Volkswagen Scirocco.
”
(Via Cool Hunting.)
February 18, 2008
Category: design
Tags: cult, device, object
Comments (0)
iPods won’t crash your pacemaker says the FDA: “
It turns out that 17-year-olds probably aren’t that good at studying electrical interference — and its effect on pacemakers — created by iPods. Unlike the data presented to the Heart Rhythm Society last year by a high-school student, which demonstrated the music player’s ability to interfere with heart-regulating devices, the FDA now says that the gadgets are completely safe for use. Researchers measured magnetic fields produced by four different models of Apple’s ubiquitous device, and found no reason why your grandmother can’t keep jamming to her South of Heaven reissue. Said FDA researcher Howard Bassen, ‘Based on the observations of our in-vitro study we conclude that no interference effects can occur in pacemakers exposed to the iPods we tested.’ We hope the FDA will follow this up with a definitive study on the effects of boomboxes on hip implants.
‘
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
“
(Via Engadget.)
February 18, 2008
Category: electronic culture
Tags: body, crash, device, hack, heart
Comments (0)
Turn an old cellphone into a robot’s brain: “ From New Scientist:
‘Software engineer Jatinderjit Singh built a simple robot out of Lego Technics parts, a cheap micro-controller, and an infrared interface, then attached a cellphone so that it could control the robot’s wheels and arms via the IR link.
His ‘tele-operated mobile internet robot’ or TeMo can be controlled from anywhere in the world where there’s cellphone network coverage, using a tiny web server and a graphical interface installed on the phone.
The robot also sends images from the phone’s camera back via the web link to let the controller see what they are doing, and Singh hopes to have video running soon.’
Watch the video.
“
(Via textually.org.)
February 07, 2008
Category: robot
Tags: device, mobile, mobile phone, robot
Comments (0)
Seen in Grenoble today:
“no wifi”… as if it was important to indicate that this area is not covered? It’s not the case here, if you read the lines under that sign. Sometimes, 802.11b cannot be employed… some context prevent people from making it available and sometimes it’s even worse: you’re required to deactivate your wifi-enabled devices!
Also, think about the fact that I’ve seen this sign in France, and there were not french translation at all around it.
(Via pasta and vinegar.)
January 05, 2008
Category: electronic culture
Tags: device, network, signal, wifi
Comments Off
Apple and Google Are Telecom’s Newest Stars
In looking back at 2007, CNet views the smash entrance of Google and Apple onto the telecom scene as a major formative factor for 2008’s tech scene. Google in particular is going to be a huge factor in the much-anticipated wireless auction. “Google was instrumental in getting the FCC to adopt auction rules that would ultimately give consumers more choice in the devices they use on these new networks. And in November, Google CEO Eric Schmidt committed the company to bidding in the auction, promising to spend at least $4.6 billion on licenses. Exactly what Google plans to do with the spectrum if it wins licenses is still unknown. But its participation raises the stakes, especially for traditional telephony players.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
(Via Slashdot: Apple.)
January 05, 2008
Category: hardware
Tags: business, design, device, market, mobile phone, telecom
Comments Off
Virtual Cable nav system superimposes route guidance on your windshield in 3D
We’ve seen quite a few next-gen nav device concepts, but none with as much potential as the Virtual Cable, from a New Jersey company called Making Virtual Solid. The system uses a laser, a set of lenses, and a moving mirror mounted in the dashboard to project a 3D route-guidance line above the road ahead, as though it’s actually out in front of the driver. Besides making driving that much more like a video game, the company says mass-produced versions will cost somewhere around $400 as a factory-installed option, and can be easily interfaced with existing GPS systems. Sadly, there don’t appear to be any live videos of the system in action, but judging from the number of patent applications and incredibly detailed schematics and explanations on the website, the vapor factor seems pretty low. Check the read link for a set of video mockups of the system in action.
(Via Engadget.)
December 18, 2007
Category: Feature, mapping
Tags: 3d, device, embed, geography, gps, guide, mobile, space, vehicle
Comments Off
Since 2004, R-Echos is an experimental online magazine dedicated to republication; topics vary from biology to graphic design, from ecology to business. It agglomerates anything which is about art, computing, science. His form is made out of collages of texts, links, images, references, videos and sounds - choosen with care to take part to this very personnal publication.
Follow updates on Twitter