Cirque du Tournois Irréels

Mike Brinker has created a mod for Unreal Tournament where two teams of players fight each other in order to win a mission goal. Unlike most other FPS games however, there are no guns, and killing isn't required (or even possible) to complete the goals. Clownerstrike pits 2 teams of clowns against each other who compete for audience laughs using techniques as pie fights, human pyramids and other clown based combat.
Clownerstrike is a exploration into emergent behaviour where players are invited to solve problems in ways the games designer did not (and could not) predict. An example of emergent game play is given as the "human towers" which appeared in FPS games so people could get to areas on maps which the designer planned to be off limits.
Mike plans to lead the team into porting it to the Half-life2:Source engine to take advantage of its physics capabilities. He also hopes to use Clownerstrike as a thesis project for school.

- Clownerstrike

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Virtualised Reality

Scientists at Berkely have developed a way of rapidly mapping sections of city which they have dubbed "virtualised reality". Its done by scanning the landscape using lasers mounted on a truck or plane which measure distances to objects, while a digital camera captures 2D information for texture purposes. The speed at which this can take place is fast. The scientitst did a test run in downtown Berkely which took 4½ hours - 26 minutes of driving plus 4 hours of data processing. The technology will have military applications as well as possible civil navigation possibilities.

- The speedy way to capture a city

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Graffiti-comic-log

Graffiti-comic-log is a collection of photos of various comic styled grafitti paintings. There are some really great images here.

- miusicpitusi`s -Graffiti-comic-log

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Back to the Future

The Khronos Project by Alvaro Cassinelli & Masatoshi Ishikawa at the University of Tokyo is a interface that allows you distort through time sections of video by touching a screen. Moving over the surface of the screen drags the surrounding section back or forward in time, creating a image crazily distorted. This is something that really needs to be seen to be understood and appreciated.


- The Khronos Project

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Strike!

Sitting in a park in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, is the biggest bowling set youve ever seen. Flying Pins was created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen and commisioned by the city council in 1998 as a "eye catching" milennium project. Claes and Coosje have made many other 'big' items all over the world. Theres even one that looks like a Katamari!





- Flying Pins
- HouseBall
- Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

[Via. Art Moco]

Remake Light

The Remake Light by Remake Design is a modular set of lighting cubes which you can construct in any way you like. They only require one power source as they power each other through special pegs and come in 6 different colours.

- Remake Light

[Via. Josh Spear]

Oooo Buttons!

Taking shortcut keys to the next level comes the Connectlan 10 button smart mouse. Jealous Mac users? Sad thing is I could probably use this sort of functionality.

Buttons
1. Left
2. Right
3. Scroll
4. WWW Back
5. WWW Forward
6. Vertical acc UP
7. Vertical acc DOWN
8. Application SW
9. Close
10. My Computer

- CONNECTLAND 10 BUTTON SMART MOUSE

[Via. The Red Ferret]

The MouseField

Created by Koji Tsukada, Toshiyuki Masui and Itiro Siio the MouseField is a combination of RFID reader and motion sensor which a user can control a interface without using a special device. An example given is a cd playing system where you place a CD Cover on the sensor and control playback by moving it around.

- The MouseField

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

What time is it in _______ ?

The worldclock.2001 is a huge disc with the countries of the world displayed on it. As time passes it rotates making one rotation every 24 hours which allows you to tell the time via a external ring with times printed on it. I want a pocket watch sized one.

- Worldclock.2001

[Via. Moco Loco]

Think Different.

I guess this is kind of reverse case modding. Someone has removed the guts from a G3 Mac and installed a beer server.

- Beer Server

[Via. Engadget]

Prepare for disintegration

The 'Disintegrator Plus' uses a plasma arc to disintegrate hyperdermic needles. It heats the needle to 1300 degrees celcius, reducing it to a small ball bearing. Now they just need to stuck some of these around St Kilda beach.

- Disintegrator Plus™: Harnessing the Power of Plasma

[Via. Gizmodo]

The One Ring

Thinkgeek is selling a bottle opener made in the shape of a stainless steel ring called the 'Ring Thing'

- Ring Thing

[Via. Gizmodo]

The Straw-like User Interface

Students at University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have created the Straw-like User Interface (SUI) which creates virtual drinking sensations by controlling pressure and creating vibrations in a device which resembles a glass with a straw in it. They took samples of the pressure and vibration of various foods/liquids being sucked through the straw and this device plays them back to give the illusion of drinking. They also made a game called Conspiratio where you have to drink up food brought to you by little animals but be careful not to drink the animals themselves. The video on the site is classic espescially the footage of them taking samples.

Parts of the cerebral cortex in the parietal lobe are involved with processing information related to touch. One such area is the primary somatosensory cortex. A map of the human somatosensory cortex was drawn by Dr. Wilder Penfield shows that our lips are among the most sensitive areas, therefore it is also possible to treat it as an excellent sensory device.
For this reason, our research aims for the establishment of the method of novel information transmission using our lips.

Currently, we are conducting research on the sensations of mouth and lips during drinking from straws. And thus we developed the Straw-like User Interface (SUI) that could transmit virtual drinking sensations to the user.

- The Straw-like User Interface

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

This is your captain speaking

It seems that if you do a search for 'NTSA' on ebay you can bid on all the items confiscated by Airport Security in the US. Included in the items are things like 100 victorinox pocket knives, 40 pounds of nail clippers, 50 pounds of corkscrew bottle openers and possibly the most strange... a purple sombrero.

- NTSA Ebay Search
- The Purple Sombrero

[Via. Boing Boing]

Illustrated Idioms

A grade 4 class in Rutherford, British Columbia, have drawn a huge collection of idioms. First each student was given the idiom and told to draw exactly what the idiom said, not what it meant. The idioms were explained as the image was placed on the wall. Some are really clever and hilarious.

Idiom: an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up

- Classroom Idioms

[Via. Boing Boing]

PSP Skins

Mod My PSP has a whole bunch of images to stick to your PSP, including this cool Katamari Damacy one.

- Mod My PSP

[Via. Boing Boing]

TouchMe

TouchMe is a project by blendid Interaction Design where viewers can "add a personal image to a otherwise impersonal space." Its made with frosted glass pate behind which rests a projector and a camera. A visitor can step up to the glass and have their image taken which is then displayed on the glass via projection. If no one is interacting with it it will cycle through past images. The images have a eerie look to them, as if the subject is frozen in ice. There is also a video of it in action on the site.

- TouchMe

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

And Now A Word From Our Sponsors

Ad*Access has a collection of advertisments from 1911 to 1956 on all sorts of different products. The site has a huge number of ads including some quite humerous.

- Ad*Access

[Via. LINK]

The (insert name here) show

iam is: " persistent video recording from the creator's viewpoint published to the web in a layered/drill-down user interface using community feedback to filter created content." Created by Tripp Millican, iam is a collection of several months worth of footage taken by a camera attached to his head. The project was created to "explore and catalogue user created point-of-view video."

- iam

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Live Long and Prosper

Forbes has done a article on the findings of Dr. Toshihiko Maruta and other reasearchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn on things that you can do to live longer. It seems that how you think is one of the major factors in living a long life, where optimists decreased thier risk of early death by up to 50%. The full list in breif is: -

1. Don't oversleep
2. Be optimistic
3. Have more sex
4. Get a pet
5. Get a VAP
6. Be rich
7. Stop smoking
8. Chill out
9. Eat your antioxidants
10. Marry well

- Ten ways to live longer

[Via. Lifehacker]

Bosskey 2.0

The StealthSwitch is a device which at the tap of the foot will switch from a sus computer activity (games, porn, irc) to a less sus one (like writing this article). "No more minimizing applications, turning off the monitor, or re-booting when someone enters your office or cubicle."

- StealthSwitch

[Via. Gizmodo]

Lay-z-boy

Waseda University and Japanese company tmsuk have revealed the WL-16RII, a 2 footed robot chair which is able to negotiate stairs. The chair should be available by 2010, ushering a new age of laziness as people no longer need to get up to go to the fridge.

- WL-16RII

[Via. Gizmodo]

Food for thought

Mike Davidson of Mike Industries has a iPod-A-Month Creativity Competition. It kicked off with the theme of 'recreational food sculpture', where you must make a ipod shuffle out of nothing but food. The winner was Davin Risk whos iPod was made entirely of goatbutter

- iPod Giveaway #1: We Have a Winner

[Via. Gizmodo]

The Power Seed

"Avoid consuming hundreds of "mindless" calories every day." Touted as a method for weight control , the Powerseed lifestyle change system is a little egg shaped device that alerts you when to take your next mouthful so that you savour it which "imparts new sense of control over the eating process, [and] enhances the filling effect of the food and improves digestion". Every five minutes it flashes a different signal to remind you to evaluate your level of hunger. This is a really bizzare device.

- Powerseed

[Via. Future Feeder]

Seeing from someone elses perspective.

Animal Vegetable video is a collection of footage taken from the perspective of animals and plants. The project was started by Sam Easterson after he was commissioned to create a new video project in 1998. Since then he has been strapping helmets with cameras on them to various plants and animals. The site offers several intriguing short clips from various subjects.

- Animal Vegetable Video

[Thanks Marta]

Your Turn

Pep Torres was approached by a Spanish white goods manufacturer to make a innovative fathers day gift. What he came up with was a machine called 'Your Turn'. Its a washing machine that wont let the same person use it twice by using fingerprint technology to lock out the last user.

"I thought it would be good to finish with macho man from the ice age who doesn't do anything around the house except drink beers,"

- Washing machine fingers lazy male

[Via. Gizmodo]

Katamai Damacy II Indepth

1up have done quite a huge feature on Katamari Damacy II.

- We (Heart) Katamari

[Via. Boing Boing]

Creative Communists

Giant Robot Printing has started selling the Creative Communist t-shirt sporting the phrase "your failed business model is not my problem" and the Creative Communist logo.

- Failed Business Model Tee
- Wired Creative Communists Article

[Via. Boing Boing]

Lets Make Meth

"ELMA - A local woman went 'through the roof' when a deputy took his anti-drug message to high school.

She says he showed students how to make methamphetamines, and she has the video to prove it.

Grays Harbor County sheriff's deputy shows class, "And the reaction will start occurring down there and start bubbling up."

It is part chemistry class and part drug enforcement as a member of the Grays Harbor drug task force talks to Elma High School students about making Methamphetamine.

Deputy shows class: "Then you'll have a little bit down at the bottom, the white stuff, and that's your meth."

One parent considers it a recipe for disaster. "

- In-Class Meth Demonstration Angers Parents

[Via. Boing Boing]

iRobot

Bennett Robot Works makes some really cute robots from scrap metal. They are also for sale.

- Bennett Robot Works

[Via. Boing Boing]

A Blog of Japanese Monsters

- Japanese Monsters (Japanese)

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

The Bangarama

Based on the idea that people playing rock music will headbang along, Laszlo Bardos and Stefan Korinek designed a instrument that is played by headbanging. The Bangarama consists of a accelerometer attached to a helmet which controlls the volume and duration of a note and a virtual guitar that allows the user to change the pitch. The videos are pretty funny.

- Bangarama
- Videos

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Mmm Sacrelicious

Someone with too much time has depicted the seven deadly sins with gummies.

- The Seven Gummie Sins

[Via. Boing Boing]

110,000 volt Taser Cannon

While I dont really understand the technology or application, I think the name alone gives it the right to be here.

The Taser Cannon can direct a 15,000 Ampere plasma channel through the air along a straight trajectory, at grounded targets up to 35 ft downrange. The cannon consists of 30 high pressure pneumatic dart stations, each capable of launching a tapered aluminum sabot that trails a thin 'seed wire' 0.008 inches in diameter. Cannon tilt and pan is pneumatic, and a sighting laser is located inside the cannon head. When a launched sabot contacts the target, the Marx-configured capacitor bank automatically fires and erects the bank to 110,000 volts, igniting a plasma channel along the vaporized seed wire. The plasma channel quickly intensifies, magnetically confined in the air by the Lorentz forces of its own current. Damage to the target can vary widely. Most spectators experience some degree of sinus discomfort after several firings, due to the high brissance of the plasma explosion. The capacitor bank is currently disassembled, and newer capacitors are being added to increase the bank energy to 250 kilojoules, and the range to 50 feet.

- 110,000 volt Taser Cannon

[Via. Gizmodo]

Bisazza Mini Cooper

Tile and mosaic masters Bisazza have created a few custom Mini Coopers covered in tiles. These tiles would make some great pixel art (like Invaders stuff).

- MINI covered in exclusive mosaics by Bisazza.
- Bisazza

[Via. Cool Hunting]

Dib Dib Dib Dob Dob Dob

Boy Scouts in Hong Kong now can earn merit badges for learning about the wonders of copyright law--at least the version described by the Motion Picture Association.

The MPA, the Hong Kong Scout Association, and the Hong Kong government announced the program this week. It's the first of its type anywhere in the world.

- Hollywood creates Boy Scout merit badge on copyright

[Via. Boing Boing]

Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley makes amazing sculptures of the human form (and a few inhuman) out of steel and other materials. I think they are absolutely awesome.

- Antony Gormley

[Via. Art Moco]

Cashetter

With the tagline "Name your price for spam!" this is one of the more bizzare entrepreneurial schemes I've seen lately. Cashette is a service where you set a price from 1-5c per spam which advertisers then pay you to send spam to your account. I don't see what's stopping you setting up 50 hotmail accounts and getting them to spam the fuck out of them.

- Cahsette

[Via. The Red Ferret]

Under Da Sea!

Hilton Maldives Resort has opened up "Ithaa", the worlds first underwater restraint. Its located 5 meters underwater amidst coral reefs and schools of fish of the Indian Ocean.

- Hospitality Net

[Via. Josh Spear]

More Papercraft

Paper Starships has a selection of (you guessed it) papercraft starships. They have models from Star Trek and Star Wars as well as various other sci-fi productions. There are some awesome ship, and I plan to spend some time making them.

- Paper Starships

[Via. Wonderland]

Net Disaster

Ever wanted to launch nukes at a website, well Net Disaster is the site for you. Net Disaster lets you destroy a target website in various ways including Nukes, Meteors, Martian Attack and many others. Hours of fun to be had.

- Net Disaster

[Via. Tracy]

Dutch Design: The Next 10 Powerhouses

Core 77 has a article about the next 10 big Dutch designers, as selected by Venka de Rooij, managing director of Dutch by Design. The list is Wieki Somers, Yvonne Laurysen, Frederik Roije, Nicole van Schoutenburg, Marjet Wessels Boer, Chris Kabel, Kirsty Powell, Maarten Baptist, Thijs Bakker and Joost Wever. Between them they have come up with some damn interesting peices.


Marjet Wessels Boer - Door of Secrets
Door of sectets hontains hidden storage compartments that people can get too by shuffling the doors sections around.


Nicole van Schoutenburg - Self Shelf
Self Shelf is a set of shelves where the shelf itself looks like a book.. giving the appearance of books floating in air.


Chris Kabel - Sticky Lamp
"I made a book full of photographs of all the tools that were used to repair products: tape, rope, string, rubber bands, paper clips—all really great solutions. I found these very intriguing. One of these photographs pictured a lamp fitting that was taped against the wall to provide instant light. I translated this into the Sticky Lamp."


Frederik Roije - Spineless Lamp
Spineless lamps are unique lamps made of deformed porcelain. No two are the same.

- Dutch Design: The Next 10 Powerhouses

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]