Autonomous Nuclear Armed Drones

Italian based Alenia Aeronautica is working on a 7 meter long Sky-X combat drone. The drone is mainly a proof of concept to see how many decisions the plane can make on its own in mid air. The AI developed in the Sky-X will then be used to teach the $360 million pan-European UCAV project ominously named the 'Neuron Killer'. There are even rumours of possibly arming the 'Neuron Killer' with a nuclear arsenal. Robots with nukes, Skynet anyone?

- EUROPE'S KILLER DRONES

[Via. Gizmodo]

Attack of the glowing footbags

Just when you thought hackysack couldnt get more annoying along comes the NightHack. Available in stacks of colours and with a on/off switch and replaceable battery, night is no longer a reason to stop playing. You can even get ones that strobe.

- NightHack

[Via. Gizmodo]

Unfortunatly Named DS Game

A Korean company has released a Korean dictionary for the Nintendo DS called 'Touch DIC'

- LINK

[Via. Gizmodo]

Really Small Writing

"Researchers at Northwestern University have demonstrated writing at the sub-100 nanometer molecular scale in fountain-pen fashion. They developed a novel atomic force microscope (AFM) probe chip with an integrated microfluidic system for capillary feeding of molecular ink."

- Innovative fountain pen writes on the nanoscale

[Via. Gizmodo]

The OuterOne

Tomi Lahdesmaki, AKA the Outer One, creates some astounding images from a mixture of techniques. Melding together photos, text and drawings with themes of fantasy, futurism and music he creates collages with great depth and detail. He's done work for various magazines and party flyers, as well as posters and personal projects. Very cool style.

- The OuterOne

[Via. Art Moco]

icon's Top 10

icon magazine has done a top 10 list (well.. top 11) of things they saw at the Milan Design show.

- icon Top 10

[Via. Moco Loco]

For some reason I feel thirsty?

Woody Norris has invented a coke vending machine that uses HyperSonic sound to beam the sound of a Coke being poured at unsuspecting passers by.

- Coca-Cola vending machines to make Coke noises
- HyperSonic Sound

[Via. The Red Ferret]

The Light Fantastic

Richard Box came up with the idea after a conversation with a friend who was reminiscing about playing with fluorescent tubes under power lines. Box collected 1301 fluorescent tubes from hospitals and placed them in a local farmers field. "For me, it was just the amazement of taking something that’s invisible and making it visible, When it worked, I thought: ‘This is amazing.’" There is a impressive quictimeVR to view on his site.

A fluorescent tube glows when an electrical voltage is set up across it. The electric field set up inside the tube excites atoms of mercury gas, making them emit ultraviolet light. This invisible light strikes the phosphor coating on the glass tube, making it glow. Because powerlines are typically 400,000 volts, and Earth is at an electrical potential voltage of zero volts, pylons create electric fields between the cables they carry and the ground.

- Richard Box

[Via. Josh Spear]

Revolution and Commerce

Revolution and Commerce is a exhibition based around the famous portrait of Che Guevara by Alberto D’az Korda. It brings together "photography, posters, film, fine art, audio, clothing and artefacts from more than thirty countries as well as images presented globally on the web and traces the photograph from its conception to its contemporary appearances"

- Revolution and Commerce: The Legacy of Korda's Portrait of Che Guevara

[Via. Octopus Dropkick]

The Fungus Remixes

The Molecular Media Project run at Swinburne University (my old Uni) aims to use cells and atoms to perform useful computational tasks at the micron or nano scales. Selections of digital media (text, audio, images and video) are modified at the nanoscale by growing fungus or thermally printing on the CD or DVD medium. A 'remix' is then produced of the original information as it is read by the laser being distorted by the modification. The website has a heap of media available to view or listen to which has been distorted in this way.

- Molecular Media Project

[Via. Future Feeder]

The Bird Man of Beijing

A Chinese poet has created a nest on a pole outside if Beijing and plans to live up there for a month. He will report his condition 3 times a day via SMS and will have other organisers bring him dinners. "Yefu hopes the nest life experience could help him write a new book."

- Poet to live in bird's nest

[Via. Boing Boing]

Needies

The slogan "Like Rain on a Sunshiny Day" sums up the Needies. Described as "interactive plush dolls inspired by codependent, high-maintenance relationships " the needies compete with each other for human affection. When a Needy gets touched they reply with singing and shameless flattery, however the Needies know when another is being touched and will compete for attention. The Needies are made by Amos Bloomberg, Daniel Perlin, and Brett Schultz at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

- The Needies

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

CyberWalk

Initiated by scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics together with colleagues from various other European institutions, the CyberWalk project aims to develop a new platform for walking in virtual worlds.

The core of the CyberWalk walking environment will be the so called CyberCarpet. At this stage of the project it is envisioned as a platform, approximately five meter diameter. This platform will consist of thousands of small, loosely pivoted spheres - similar to oversized ball-bearings. The spheres are propelled by a treadmill mounted on a turntable. In this way it will be possible to transport a person walking on the CyberCarpet back to the centre of the platform without them noticing.

I have been waiting for this sort of technology for a long time :)

- CyberWalk

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Voodoo Knife Block now on sale

Joy! The Voodoo 5 knife block I wrote about a few months ago is now available for US$40. Must... have... one...

They request a $20 PayPal deposit which, as Jenna points out, is a bit unnerving, as they say they’ll request the other half of the total (along with your shipping information) when your order is ready. Still, for only $40, this is a great piece and I’ll probably buy one forthright.

- LINK

[Via. Gizmodo]

Feeding time at the zoo.

A group called Heavy Trash has installed bright orange viewing platforms outside the gates of 3 LA gated communities as a means to drawing attention the the gated community phenomenon. ""There are now more than 1 million homes behind such walls in the greater Los Angeles area alone,". Ever wonder what side of the Zoo fence the animals are on?
Heavy Trash are also responsible for another couple of interesting projects. The first was a series of 'coming soon' signs suggesting the development of a fictional subway line. Called 'Aqua Line' the project was intended to start social dialogue about the need for better transportation in LA. Their second project was a set of ramps and stairs that were constructed as an answer to a fence the city put around a park to keep the homeless out.

- Heavy Trash

[Via. Boing Boing]

Guess-The-Google

As a spin off from 'Montage-A-Google' Grant Robinson has made 'Guess-The-Google' where you have to guess what word was searched for in a google image search. Pretty cool.

- Guess-The-Google

[Via. Wazza]

The Molecular Chair

The Molecular Element Seating System, AKA Feel, isn't some new nano-project. Feel is a seating system by Animi Causa which is a set of 120 soft balls covered with elastic fabric which the user can then arrange into whatever shape he or she sees fit. "The Feel gathers all positions into one object, the shape is inspired by a molecular structure." Animi has also created various other interesting furnitured designs such as Wireframe and Inflow.

- Animi Causa

[Via. Moco Loco]

The Habitat of Shayne Dark

Shayne Dark has created several art series named Spire, Habitat, In The Round and Twist. Of the four my favourite was Habitat.
Habitat uses natural materials painted in bright colours and arranged in chaotic patterns to show the forces of creation, growth, destruction and decay in nature. Each time the work is exhibited it is completely dismantled and rebuilt. "The actual physical process of creating the art, rather than the finished product, is important."


- Shayne Dark

[Via. Art Moco]

Heil Coke!

The Coca-Cola Nazi Advert Challenge is a exhibition curated by Mark Thomas and Tracey Sanders-Wood. They have asked artists to send in pieces that try and recreate the adverts that Coke had in the Nazi era. The exhibition was shown at The Foundry in London in June last year but plans to make it a rolling exhibition.

"This project is aimed at showing part of Coke's history, their links with Hitler's Third Reich by recreating some of the posters and Nazi ads. These will be displayed at an exhibition in London and possibly toured in other parts of Britain with the aim of showing the Brand for what it really is."

- The Coca-Cola Nazi Advert Challenge
- Gallery of the exhibit

Who Wants A Moustache Ride?

I came across this rather disturbing image on a bar-stool at Barcode in Crown Casino.

Nintendo Freefall

"Four sky divers have taken the new Nintendo DS and jumped out of an airplane and played Mario Brothers through an ad-hoc wireless network at terminal velocity. They found that they could play wirelessly at distances of 400 feet."

- Sky-High Gamers Go to Extremes


[Via. Boing Boing]

Gentlemen, Start Your Droids

Indianapolis is host to the Droidyard 500, held at the Star Wars Celebration III, where hobbyists will race fan made R2 units against each other. The race will be taken 2 droids at a time over the 30 yard convention floor. The gathering also allows people to buy plans, parts and other odds and ends to create more droids, which range in price based on various materials from $200 to $15,000.

- Gentlemen, Start Your Droids

[Via. http://www.wired.com/]

Heaven's Eye

Heaven's Eye is a installation created by Nobuhisa Ishizuka where a monitor is placed face up with a video of a city scape beneath it. As the monitor is moved around, the view on the monitor shifts in relation, creating the impression of a moveable window to some non-existent space below.

- Heaven's Eye

[Via. Gizmodo]

You Are Beautiful

You Are Beautiful is a meme style street art project. The crux of it is placing the words "You Are Beautiful" around the streets to attempt to "create moments of positive self realization in those who happen across the statement." The group gives away free stickers if you send them a SASE.

- You Are Beautiful

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

iTunes Music Store Australia

Well, Apple is finally getting around to launching a iTunes Music Store in Australia. The price per track is going to be $1.80, making it totally un worthwhile to not just get the CD. All I can say is 'Yarrr'.


[Via. Engadget]

Dephect Clothing

Dephect Clothing is a UK based clothing company. They have a selection of T-Shirts, Tops and Caps with some great designs on them, much of it inspired by street art and turntablism.

- Dephect Clothing

[Via. Cool Hunting]

Cultivate

Cultivate is Dave Keune and Sander Mulder who have got together to create some really interesting pieces of lighting, furniture and accessories. Their lights are all made from edge lit acrylic. Also new from them is the Orbit Clock where the rings orbit around the centre to tell the time.


- Cultivate

[Via. Moco Loco]

A Journey

Liquid Journey has a series of experimental flash animations with interesting selections based on AI, 3D, Recursion, Particle Systems and many more. Some are just interesting to watch, others are captivatingly beautiful. They also offer some code as open source.

- Liquid Journey

[Via. Future Feeder]

Attention K-Mart Shoppers

For those of you who live close enough to the supermarket not to require driving, the 8 Shopping Bag Caddie could really come in handy. Designed to hold 8 plastic shopping bags it has 2 rubber wheels and is designed to distribute weight evenly so it doesn't tip. Further down the Hammacher Schlemmer site I was shocked to find the Double Decker Strolling Pet Carrier. Thats just plain strange.


- Eight Shopping-Bag Caddie
- Double Decker Strolling Pet Carrier

[Via. The Red Ferret]

Any Colour You Like

Correctly identifying a colour can be a real hassle as any designer will tell you. To solve this Pantone has created the Color Cue which they say can identify any colour in 3 seconds. It will give you the colour in Pantone Ink Formula, CMYK, RGB, HTML, Lab and a slew of other colour standards. Nifty.

- Pantone Color Cue

[Via. Josh Spear]

Ownage

Some of the internets best ownage clips edited into a single clip. Humans are fucking crazy.
- Ownage

[Via. Fazed]

Storynest

Storynest is a group from Taiwan with a collection of interactive installations and flash animations for your enjoyment. The Nest Lab and Installation sections have some great and interesting materials to watch and play with.

- Storynest

[Via. Future Feeder]

Another Annoying Alarmclock

Created by Aaron Tang, the Anemone clock wakes you by sound and interaction. When it goes of it beings to rumble intensely, bouncing off in odd directions due to its unusual shape so you have to jump out of bed in pursuit.

- Anemone Clock

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

A Door To Paradise

A Door To Paradise was a competition to create novel door concepts. 3652 designers for 90 different countries participated. The winner, Dominic Muren, created a door with 8 different sized panels giving you a full octave of different door knock sounds. Other concepts included a door which converted to a ping pong table, a door made of bubbles, a door that gives acupressure massage, one that plays music, a door that you can sms reminders to yourself too, and many other strange designs.

- A Door To Paradise

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

The Solar Tower Project

The Australian Solar Tower Project is a program to adapt new Solar Tower technology to create the worlds first large scale solar thermal power station. The concept was designed by a German structural engineer Professor Jörg Schlaich, and a prototype was created with the assistance of the Spanish government in Manzanares, Spain, which operated for seven years. A single tower will stand around 1,000 meters tall and will be able to generate 200MW of energy, enough to power around 200,000 households. This energy output should represent a annual saving of over 900,000 tonnes of greenhouse gasses. The project is currently undergoing the final feasibility phase. Their site has some great animations of the technology.

- EnviroMission

[Via. Gizmag]

AWOL

Put down your crack pipes people! The AWOL (Alcohol With Out Water) is a sort of Hookah for alcohol. Created by Dominic Simler it gives a instant hit by sending alcohol directly to the brain by vaporising it and mixing it with oxygen.

- AWOL

[Via. Gizmag]

Music for your mouth

Graduates James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau of the Royal College of Arts, the audio too concept is a implant which is embedded in a tooth that contains a receiver and micro-vibration unit which can convert digital signals from phone, radio or computers into vibrations which reach the inner ear via the jaw bone, allowing communication that only the user can hear.


[Via. Gizmag]

Spray on Stockings

A Japanese company has created a type of spray on stocking that wont run, wont come off due to sweat or rain and wont stick to clothes once dry. Its made of ultra fine silk particles that can easily be washed off again with soap and have passed allergy tests.


[Via. Gizmag]

Umbrella 2.0

The Lotus 23 is a umbrella designed to retract into its handle, and has flexible ribs so that damage caused by wind and even severe storms is eliminated. It also squeezes the water out before you enter a building The Lotus 23 earned Andy Wana the gold in the 2005 Australian Design Award-Dyson Student Award

- Lotus 23

[Via. Engadget]

The X-Woofer

Designed more as a force feedback/vibration device aimed at gamers, the X-Woofer is designed to create a “personal listening experience”.

- X-Woofer

[Via. Engadget]

Keep your eye on the ball

Shown at CeBIT, this prototype created by Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, is a eye controlled vidop camera. It expected to have applications in psychology and market research.

- Tech of Tomorrow

[Via. Engadget]

The Scratchophone

Alari Thierry decided that his turntables were not a real musical instruments, so he created the Scratchophone. Its a “portable scratching bongo drum” which allows him to jam with his friends or play outdoors without a need of a sound system. The device has batteries, mixer, amp and speakers contained in the shell. The tone arm is on a gooseneck with a needle from a record playing toy truck, which while it couldnt play a record from end to end, is good enough for scratching.

- Scratchophone

[Via. Engadget]