Interesting or Stupid?

Mr Punch

2005-07-13T13:10:00.000+10:00

Created by art collective '//////////fur////', Mr Punch is a merger between a old Punch and Judy puppet show, and street fighter. 2 players control mechanical puppets via triggers and levers, to try and knock the wooden head off his opponents puppet.

- //////////fur////
- Mr Punch
- The video (must see!)

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Kinetic Sculptures

2005-07-13T12:36:00.000+10:00

Tim Prentice, originally trained as a architect, has created a collection of wonderfully varied kinetic sculptures. These sculptures, looking like giant mobiles, give a way to see a thing we don't usually see, the movement of air around us. There are videos of some of his work on his site, the two I liked the best were 'Windframe' and 'Carpet'.

The engineer in me wants to minimize friction and inertia to make the air visible. The architect studies matters of scale and proportion. The navigator and sailor want to know the strength and direction of the wind. The artist wants to understand its changing shape.

Meanwhile, the child wants to play.

- Tim Prentice

[Via. Future Feeder]

The Mind Molester

2005-07-13T12:28:00.000+10:00

Its kinda disturbing that someone would release a product titled the 'Mind Molester' but it sounds like a pretty accurate description. You attach the device to a 9v battery and then hide it somewhere near your victim. It produces a 2000Hz chirp every 4 minutes, apparently a very difficult frequency and time to use to actually locate the device.

Your victim(s) will become obsessed, awaiting the next chirp to try to determine its location, completely disrupting their normal activities.

- Mind Molester

[Via. Engadget]

Let there be light

2005-07-06T09:45:00.000+10:00

Paul Cocksedge has created a light called Watt? but he left out some circuitry, which is up to the user to create. Attached to the light is a pad and a pencil, to turn the light on you have to complete the circuit using the conductive qualities of graphite.

- Watt?
- Video

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Return to sender

2005-07-04T10:46:00.000+10:00

Once again proving you can make art from anything, Mental Hygene have made a wall sized mosaic of Elvis out of post-it notes.

my boss decided that we needed to do something fun and creative in one of our conference rooms - the one we use for brainstorming and internal meetings - and together we came up with the idea of filling the wall with post-it notes in a multicolored mosaic of (and i’m not sure whose idea this was) Elvis.

- post-it mosaic howto

[Via. Cool Hunting]

PixelRoller 2.0

2005-07-01T07:42:00.000+10:00

PixelRoller, originally using LED's to write on phosphorescent paint, has been updated to use regular paint. This basically turns it into a hand held 'printer' and can be used to rapidly put text and images onto any surface. Theres a new gallery and video (which is really cool) on the site.

- PixelRoller

[Via. Future Feeder]

Lego Star Destroyer

2005-06-30T07:47:00.000+10:00

I know I've reported on this before, but I've just seen something that has shown me that its much cooler (read 'bigger') than I originally thought. The people at Adognamedfish.com have made a time lapse video of them making the LSD [ed:hah!] over about 10 hours. I must have one of these

- Stop Motion Lego
- Lego Shop

[Via. toi.protocol]

Broadcasting House

2005-06-28T10:10:00.000+10:00

"Broadcasting House" is a collaboration between Matthew Falla and Grizedale Arts in the Lake District.

Apparently there are around 14.5 million visitors to the Lake District every year. As has recently and controversially been noted, the majority of these visitors are white, middle aged and middle class. Generally they are not interested in the contemporary art offered by Grizedale. During our visit to the area, the local and tourist population's reactions to Grizedale seemed at best apathetic and at worst hostile.

What the tourists do like is small model houses depicting the English pastoral ideal. So Matthew came up with the concept of the "Broadcasting Houses". These modified model houses wait a predetermined time, and then intermittently broadcast a pirate television signal into the purchasers house, temporarily taking over their televisions.

- Matthew Falla

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

The Yellow Chair

2005-06-28T09:51:00.000+10:00

Anab Jain placed a yellow chair and a sign reading "My WiFi network is open for neighbours and passers-by. Free access from the yellow chair." in a experiment to illustrate how wireless technologies could recreate spaces for conversation. Questions that have emerged from this work include :-

How does space create identities?

What are the bottom up methods of creating ‘ubiquitous’ interfaces at the thresholds of private/public space?

How does the meaning of personal space and identity alter when geographical and virtual spaces merge?

- LINK

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

CONSUME!

2005-06-27T06:59:00.000+10:00

Chris Jordan has a series of photographs called "Intolerable Beauty — Portraits of American Mass Consumption." The photos depict piles of sorted waste from various junkyards throughout America. They are at once captivating and disturbing.

Circuit boards, Atlanta 2004

Crushed cars #2, Tacoma 2004

Wall of Drums, Seattle 2003 (homage to Christo)
- Chris Jordan Photography

[Via. Octopus Drop Kick]

Tastes like pussy

2005-06-26T17:30:00.000+10:00

This is just plain wrong. We all know cats end up in dim-sims.

- San X Nyanko Cat Hamburger Plush

[Via. toi.protocol]

Strange Times

2005-06-26T14:31:00.000+10:00

Continuing the trend of bizzare alarm clocks comes "Wake n' Bacon" the alarmclock that "wakes you up with the smell and sizzle of cooking bacon." When the alarm goes off a halogen light is triggered to slow cook the bacon, and the sizzle sound is play back over speakers.

- Wake n' Bacon

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

The clockwork world of Eric Feng

2005-06-26T14:19:00.000+10:00

Eric Feng makes fantastic images and animations of creatures showing off their inner workings, if animals worked from clockwork that is. On his website there are 2 series of wonderfully detailed illustrations and a captivating animation called 'Inside Out' which brings these creatures to life. He even has some prints available online.

- Ferric Studio

[Via. Screenhead]

Sexploitation posters

2005-06-23T10:07:00.000+10:00

Some of these are pretty funny

- Sexploitation posters

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Lego Fuchikoma

2005-06-16T08:04:00.000+10:00

Got shown this guys lego flikr site, and there are some AWESOME customs, but my favorite are the Fuchikoma's from 'Ghost in the Shell'.

- bricklovinfreakboy's photos

[Thanks Rory]

Play With Me

2005-06-15T08:29:00.000+10:00

This is just plain freaky. Van Sowerwine has made a interactive doll animation which does some extremely disturbing things. (Note: Make sure you wait for the whole movie to finish loading before you interact)

- Play With Me

[EDIT: seems its been taken down due to bandwidth issues]

[Via. Boing Boing]

Gamer Gear

2005-06-15T08:11:00.000+10:00

Split reason have a bunch of gamer and geek related clothing. Go get your geek on.

- Split Reason

[Via. Wonderland]

42

2005-06-15T08:06:00.000+10:00

Science Museum, UK, has a Hitchhiker's Guide exhibition, and to go with it is a mini flash game called '42'. Its pretty fun.

- 42

[Via. Wonderland]

The Art Of Science

2005-06-14T08:25:00.000+10:00

Theres a online gallery of the Princeton University first annual Art of Science competition.

- Art of Science

[Via. Future Feeder]

Video Game Ads

2005-06-14T08:00:00.000+10:00

GamePressure have a collection of over two thousand classic and contemporary video game ads for you to watch. You can browse them by country, platform or timeline. Go relive some retro gaming goodness.

- Video Game Ads

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Bins and Benches

2005-06-14T07:31:00.000+10:00

Art collective Greyworld have created several robotic bins and benches to be placed in a piazza in Cambridge. The solar powered furniture is free to move around, they respond to members of the public and other factors, and each piece has its own personality.
The benches like to be say on, it makes them happier. To achieve this they will move about and flock together into interesting arrangements to attract people, and when it rains they will attempt to find drier places in the square.
The bins will move about and chuckle, but prefer to be solitary. They move about to find a quiet space to occupy.
When the mood takes them the furniture likes to sing, including forming harmonies if collected in a group. Occasionally the bins will join in too. Sometimes a bin and a bench will become attracted to each other, and will giggle and make rude noises.

- Singing benches let loose in city
- The Junction
- Greyworld

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

DELETE!

2005-06-09T18:21:00.000+10:00

Christoph Steinbrener & Rainer Dempf are creating a installation piece which will extend over Neubaugasse, a shopping strip in Vienna, in partnership with the Vienna Economic Chamber. The pair intend to cover "advertising signs, slogans, pictograms, company names and logos" with a monochrome tone. This technique has been done before in manipulated photography, but it is the first time it will be translated to the real.

“Delete” will entail a very likely unique cooperation of all resident shopkeepers with a spectacular art project, a cooperation that has been made possible by the shopping street management unit of the Vienna Economic Chamber. For a period of two weeks, the entrepreneurs will renounce their identities to become part of a large-scale installation.

The exhibition will run over 6 – 20 June 2005, Neubaugasse, 1070 Vienna

- DELETE!

[Via. Art MoCo]

AT-AT Boom Box

2005-06-09T18:06:00.000+10:00

Theres no information other than a series of photos on this thing, which is a pity cos its awesome!

- AT-AT Boombox

[Via. toi.protocol]

The Case for Fans

2005-06-09T17:49:00.000+10:00

With people trying to squeeze that last MHz our of their machines, putting as many fans on your pc case as possible to cool it is always a step in the right direction. Now someone has taken it one step further and made a case entirely out of case fans.

- Casefancasefancasefancasefancase...

[Via. Engadget]

The Monster Engine

2005-06-07T20:09:00.000+10:00

Dave Devries has turned children's drawings into painted pieces, illustrating monsters and superheroes, tapping the imaginations of the young.

- The Monster Engine

[Via. Boing Boing]

Pokia Mark II

2005-06-07T19:48:00.000+10:00

The Pokia phone handset has been repackaged as the Hulger P* Phone and is available for all sorts of phones in all sorts of colours. I still want the bluetooth Pokia though!

- Hulger
- Pokia

[Via. Shiny Shiny]

Flo Control

2005-06-07T17:25:00.000+10:00

Image recognition company Quantum Picture has created a innovative solution to a problem they were having with their cat door, namely the cat bringing in half dead animals to play with and other large animals coming in. Flo Control (after Flo the cat) is a cat door with image recognition properties which can tell whether its Flo at the door, and whether there is something in the cats mouth. It uses this information to then deny or allow access to the house.

- Flo Control

[Thanks Wazza]

Compositing Half Life into the real world

2005-06-07T09:10:00.000+10:00

Someone know as Kris Mar has created high resolution renders of Half-life 2 models in real environments. Unfortunatly there is no page with thumbnails so youll just have to go through the directory.

- http://members.iinet.net.au/~kris.mar/

[Via. Wonderland]

Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure

2005-06-07T08:49:00.000+10:00

The Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure is a fully poseable 5" figure wearing pyjamas and a ratty bathrobe, with a crazy look on her face and surrounded by cats.

Yes, you may be tempted to laugh at the Crazy Cat Lady. But, be warned, one day that Cat Lady may be yourself.

- Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure

[Via. toi.protocol]

Surprise!

2005-06-07T08:24:00.000+10:00

Silvia Grimaldi has created a series of furniture designs and social experiments which cause surprise. She describes them as :-

An exploration of the use of surprising elements in design and the effect that surprises can have on emotional attachment and the memory of the experience.

(Un-)stable stool

When you sit on the stool its legs start splaying, and it feels like you're going to collapse, but after a second it stops and it is actually more functional because it's more stable.

on-edge lamp

The lamp is made of rubber but in the shape of a traditional glass table lamp. It turns on by sliding it off the edge of the table slightly; when it is fully on the table it is off.

moving cup

A person with a strong foreign accent starts reading a quote from a neurologist. The quote is long and boring, and after a minute people are not paying attention. That's when the cup moves a bit. Most of the people realise and stop paying attention to the reading and stare at the cup. The cup moves again several times, always increasing the viewer's interest and their mood.

- Surprise!

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

A lack of updates

2005-06-07T08:20:00.000+10:00

Some of you may have noticed that IorS? hasn't been updated as regularly as before. This is because I have gotten some freelance work that is eating up a lot of my time. I however will endeavour to make at least a couple of posts a week, so keep tuning in.

- Oliver

Kill with a steady hand

2005-06-01T11:38:00.000+10:00

France Cadet has created a way to add delicacy to virtual warfare. SweetPad is 4 computers running a regular version of Quake 3 Arena, the difference is the controllers. Instead of the usual mouse/keyboard combo, each user is given a SweetPad. This USB control device is totally useless if used in the fast, aggressive and tense style of usual playing is used, instead you have to stroke, caress and touch gently to accurately control your avatar. It is the soft hand that kills.

- SweetPad

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Duck-tivities

2005-06-01T11:05:00.000+10:00

Seems you cant keep a good fad down. Spurring on from things like the duct-tape wallet comes 'The Wide, Wide World of Duck Tape' which has various duck-tape related activities and creations, as well as contests and the history of duct-tape. One of the contests was called 'Stuck at Prom' and featured dozens of youths out wearing duck-tape getups.

- The Duck-Tape Club
- Stuck at Prom

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Hit Me!

2005-06-01T10:47:00.000+10:00

In a world where technology is making less and less physical interaction necessary, Kaho Abe has created a device which brings it back with gusto. Hit Me! is a 2 player game designed to promote "face to face, "real world" interaction". It involves 2 hoods with a wireless button and camera mounted on the top, and the wearer has to try and hit the other players button as many times as possible without getting hit themselves, which also activates the camera and takes a photo of a scoring hit. The image is projected onto a nearby screen for all to see. There is a great video on the site. Its a pity the hats look so ridiculous, as I think this would be a great way to play tag.

- Hit Me!

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

The Pro Con Pad

2005-05-28T10:41:00.000+10:00

If your having problems with making decisions, then maybe this is for you.

- The Pro Con Pad

[Via. The Red Ferret]

The Borg Saussage

2005-05-28T10:31:00.000+10:00

Z Lab created a video series between 1996 and 1998 called "2 minutes of experimentation and entertainment." One of the stories is the "Cybernetic Parrot Sausage". In this project, a German sausage is combined with the internals of a talking parrot toy to create a sausage who repeats whatever you say to it, twice, and who's end spins at 300 rpm.

Due to the biodegradable nature of its body, this robot has a short lifespan.

The Video on the site is CLASSIC!

- Cybernetic Parrot Sausage
- 2 minutes of experimentation and entertainment
- Z Lab

[Via. Gizmodo]

Intel DRM Inside

2005-05-28T10:20:00.000+10:00

Intel will be including on-board DRM (Digital Rights Management) into its next line of Pentium D and 945 chips. This was kept quiet at the Australian launch of the new processors but has since been confirmed. The chips will support a Microsoft flavoured DRM and makes it one step closer to the entertainment industry controlling copyright through the hardware.
- Intel quietly adds DRM to new chips

[Via. Gizmodo]

Its An Enigma

2005-05-28T09:19:00.000+10:00

This uniquely shaped fan is available from Fanimation, and appeared in i,Robot

- Enigma Fan

[Via. Gizmodo]

Dont Even Blink

2005-05-28T08:51:00.000+10:00

Masahide Kaneko and colleagues at the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, has created a system designed to eliminate the annoying blink camera shots. The system works be taking a rapid fire 15 frames in the half second after the shutter is pressed, and then software analyses the photos and selects the best one. The developers say that it can even handle shots of 30 people, with the system selecting the shot with the least blinkers.
- Sensor prevents shut-eye in digital snaps

[Via. Engadget]

Better Make Myself Look Big!

2005-05-28T08:46:00.000+10:00

J. Meejin Yoon, a professor of architecture at MIT has created the 'Self-Defense Dress'. Inspired by the porcupine, it has spines that extend when someone steps too close and triggers a proximity sensor.

- Self-Defense Dress

[Via. Engadget]

Siemens Freak'n Huge Monitor

2005-05-28T08:42:00.000+10:00

Sold as the "Remote Expert Center for Power Plants", look at the damn size of the wall mounted monitor!

- Siemens

[Via. Engadget]

CRASH!

2005-05-26T10:44:00.000+10:00

Well, as you may have noticed IorS? has not been updated for a couple of days. This is because my PC shat itself. Ive fixed the problem and will get back to updating ASAP.

Gaming Goodness

2005-05-24T09:58:00.000+10:00

Heres a bit of a round up of some cool gaming news

Spore
First off, the Spore site has launched, with a whole lot of no info, but a cool flash animated intro.

- Spore

Odama
Odama is a "pinball strategy war game" coming out on Nintendo.

- Odama

Grand Theftendo
Grand Theftendo is a homebrew NES tribute to Grand Theft Auto.

- Grand Theftendo

Hapland and Hapland 2
These are some CRAZY puzzles. I still cant figure them out.

- Hapland
- Hapland 2

[Via. Joystiq, The Independant Gaming Source]

Double Body

2005-05-20T10:08:00.000+10:00

'Legendary noisetheory composer' Glenn Branca has created a Double Body electric guitar.

- LINK

[Via. Gizmodo]

Modern Toy Sets For Urban Youth

2005-05-20T10:03:00.000+10:00

Eric Doeringer has created a set of toy packs that "imitate the look of the toy accessory sets commonly sold in grocery or 99-cent stores". These toy sets however have slightliy more disturbing themes such as 'Stoner', 'Junky', 'Teen Mother' and 'The Peeper'

- Modern Toy Sets For Urban Youth

[Via. Boing Boing]

MoMA world Clock

2005-05-20T09:57:00.000+10:00

The MoMA world Clock is a pretty clever desk clock. Rather than fiddling around with setting the time for different timezones, simply turn the clock so that the timezone you want is resting on top.

- The MoMA world Clock

[Via. The Red Ferret]

Anyone for Tea?

2005-05-20T08:47:00.000+10:00

In a interesting instalment of Art imitating Life, Niklas Roy has created 'Graphics Demo',a wireframe model of a teapot out of wire placed it in the shell of a old Commodore computer. Niklas painted it with green UV reactive paint and installed a series of electric motors that allows users to rotate the teapot using the numpad. The videos are pretty cool. Interestingly this is how they did the wireframe models in "2001:A Space Odyssey"

- Graphics Demo
- Video

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Square-Eyes

2005-05-20T08:35:00.000+10:00

Gillian Swan, a final year design student at Brunel University has creates a device that converts exercise into TV watching time. "Square-eyes" is a shoe sole which records the number of steps a child has taken in a day and then transmits it to a bass station connected to the TV, allocating time based on the number of steps. Once the allocated time runs out the TV automatically switches off

- Shoe kick-starts active lifestyle

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

MAMEintosh

2005-05-20T08:32:00.000+10:00

MAMEintosh creates custom built arcade cabinet kits specifically aimed at Macintosh MAME retro gamers.

- MAMEintosh

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

Voodoo People

2005-05-20T08:21:00.000+10:00

Steve, the "Associate Assistant of Departmental Operations" is a worker in a virtual office environment created by Donnie Bugden. The interaction between the user and Steve is rather unusual however, its done via a Voodoo Doll.

Poke him. Go ahead, give him a poke... Gently insert the provided pin into the Voodoo Doll to witness the effect of your input on the Associate Assistant of Departmental Operations. Please use with caution.

- B Side Games
- Associate Assistant of Departmental Operations

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

The Bionic Woman

2005-05-20T08:11:00.000+10:00

A 46yo British woman who suffered 2 strokes which left her left side paralysed has undergone surgery to implant 5 bionic microstimulators into her arm. The microstimulators were implanted close to the nerves supplying muscles in the womans arm and act like "bionic neurons" to mimick messages from the brain. The system is designed to help her arm 're-learn' movements it lost after the stroke.
- World's First 'Bionic' Device Fitted

[Via. Future Feeder]

Look Into My Eyes

2005-05-20T08:02:00.000+10:00

CyberNet has released for tree the Navigaze:Hands Free Computer Control software. With only a PC, Webcam and the software you can control the mouse cursor by moving your hear up/down and left/right and blinking to indicate mouse clicks. So goodbye carpal tunnel, hello neck gap. I really want to try this out with a first person shooter.

- Navigaze

[Via. Future Feeder]

Lets See That Again, In Slow Motion

2005-05-20T07:45:00.000+10:00

Bennett Wilburn, Neel Joshi, Vaibhav Vaish, Marc Levoy and Mark Horowitz have created a high speed video camera by creating an array of low speed CMOS cameras. Using 52 cameras running at 30 frames per second(fps) they are able to create a total speed of 1560 fps. They use special calibration to re-align the different cameras viewpoints after the footage has been shot. They have some videos and a in-depth PDF on their site.

- High Speed Video Using a Dense Camera Array

[Via. Future Feeder]

It Came From E3: Part One

2005-05-19T12:44:00.000+10:00

Thought I would do a bit of a mash up of interesting things ive seen about E3 today. However there seriously is WAY too much for a smar article to hold, so your better off checking the individual sites

Kotaku,
Joystiq,
IGN
Electronic Entertainment Expo

Real Karamari

We Love Katamari
"I got to play around with We Love Katamari (is ‘Damacy’ in there still? I forgot). It’s a lot like the first one, but the multiplayer mode is crazy. You have to work with the other player to move your katamari around, which takes a lot of coordination best executed by screaming loudly at them and calling them dumb."

Namco Confirms Katamari Damacy for Mobile Phones

Trauma Center
A strange DS surgery aame called 'Trauma Center: Under the Knife.' where you use the touchscreen to operate while a anime nurse guides you through the procedure.

DDR Mario Mix

King Kong

Call for Duty 2

Quake 4

- Quake 4 Video

Remote Controll Mario Karts

Starcraft Ghost

There is so much more I could keep writing for days and not cover it all.. go seek it out.

[Via Gizmodo, Boing Boing, Kotaku, Joystiq, IGN]

Top 100 Movie Voices

2005-05-19T10:39:00.000+10:00

Film Critic has compiled a list of the top 100 movie voices including greats such as Jack Nicholson, Anthony Hopkins, Peter Sellers, Vincent Price and of course James Earl Jones.
- Top 100 Movie Voices

[Via. Boing Boing]

Top Ten Favorite Words (Not in the Dictionary)

2005-05-19T10:33:00.000+10:00

Merriam-Webster asked visitors to their site to submit words which were not in the dictionary. The following list is the pick of the bunch.

1. ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous

2. confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time

3. woot (interj): an exclamation of joy or excitement

4. chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends

5. cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway

6. gription (n): the purchase gained by friction: "My car needs new tires because the old ones have lost their gription."

7. phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number

8. slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy

9. snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed

10. lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms

Some of them seem very 'Meaning of Liff' to me, pretty funny that 'woot' made the list
- Top Ten Favorite Words (Not in the Dictionary)
- The Meaning of Liff

[Via. Boing Boing]

Feeling Insecure

2005-05-19T10:16:00.000+10:00

"First of all… why are these gentlemen(which are FEDs BTW) grinning like a couple of highschool-teens? :-)"

"Probably because they can crack WEP-encryption in around three minutes and then have access to all your funny stuff…"
- The Feds can own your WLAN too

[Via. Geek Technique]

Das Keyboard

2005-05-19T10:09:00.000+10:00

Daniel Guermeur has created and is selling 'Das Keyboard'. Marketed to 'UberGeeks Only' its a sleek black keyboard with totally blank keys.

If you are an elite programmer who can write sophisticated code under tight deadlines, someone who makes impossible projects possible; or a Silver Web Surfer your colleagues turn to when they need IT advise: this keyboard is for you.

Shouldn't your keyboard reflect your status as one of the elite? We think so!

Hopefully when things go wrong the UberGeek can find Ctrl+Alt+Del for Das ReBoot.

- Das Keyboard

[Via. Gizmodo]

International Contempory Furniture Fair

2005-05-19T09:59:00.000+10:00

design*sponge also has some neat pics from the show.

vidalia vase by skram furniture

Design School Booth from the Royal Danish Acadamy

life shop outdoor furniture

toda (by notch design), a pretty cool coat rack

[Via. design*sponge]

International Contempory Furniture Fair

2005-05-19T09:50:00.000+10:00

Day 4 from Moco Loco (more on their site)

[Via. Moco Loco]

DREAD

2005-05-19T09:00:00.000+10:00

Leader Propulsion Systems founder Charles St George has created a prototype centrifugal weapon system named DREAD. DREAD spins up ball bearings to extreme speeds and releases them in short bursts travelling at about the same speed as a standard handgun round. It can release rounds only 8.5mm apart, has no heat signature and is totally silent.

- Centrifugal weapon could deliver stealth firepower
- LPS Teams with Major U.S. Defense Contractor to Develop DREAD Centrifuge Weapon
- Video

[Via. Boing Boing]

My Food Phone

2005-05-18T18:12:00.000+10:00

One of the more bizzare dieting fads is My Food Phone. Basically the gist is that you take a photo of each of your meals with a phone cam, send it to MFP, and that image is sent to a personal nutrition coach who analyses the meal and tells you what you should be changing in your diet. Its not cheap either at $149 a month.

- My Food Phone

[Via. Lifehacker]

Kirsten Ulve

2005-05-18T15:32:00.000+10:00

Kirsten Ulve does some extremely stylish and colourful illustrations, paintings and animations. Her gallery includes some caricatures of celebs, shorts from her animation pieces and some fantastic images. Some of the images seem to have a darker side to them, and some are quite funny.

clown vomiting

Cosmo Bitches

Black Hand of the Dummy
- Kirsten Ulve

[Via. Art Moco]

Secret Wall Tatooing

2005-05-18T10:24:00.000+10:00

Secret Wall Tatooing is the act of conceling grafitti behind things such as mirrors, paintings and other wall hangings in hotel rooms.

- Secret Wall Tatoos

[Via. Cool Hunting]

The Wheelsurf

2005-05-18T10:13:00.000+10:00

The Wheelsurf is a Brazillian designed single wheeled vehicle of a rather unusual shape. Its steered by shifting the centre of gravity (i.e. YOU), has a top speed of 50k/h and will cost around US$2500.

- Wheelsurf
- Gizmag Article

[Via. Toi Protocol]

The Last Supper

2005-05-18T09:40:00.000+10:00

Eric Deschamps has done a mural for Giant Magazine which depicts the star wars characters at the last supper.

- Starwars Last Supper
- Eric Deschamps
- Giant Mag

[Via. Boing Boing]

International Contempory Furniture Fair

2005-05-18T09:32:00.000+10:00

Heres some more ICFF stuff from Moco Loco

Ligne Roset was showing the new Bourellec chairs and carpet/cushion combo.

Mio was showing a new flatpak pendant lamp made of metal that you bend to make the shade you want.

Plodes wall art made with golf tees.

Digital Grandfather Clock

[Via. Moco Loco]

Crazy Gaming Rumours

2005-05-18T07:47:00.000+10:00

Seems as E3 is about to hit the news wires are going nuts with rumours of gaming goodness. Here's a brief run-down.

The Game Boy Micro.
Nintendo is re-releasing the GBA for "image-conscious folks who love video games, the ones who want the look of their system to be as cool as the games they play on it"

- Game Boy Micro

The Nintendo Revolution
Nintendo's next gen console, the 'Revolution' is now slated for 2006. Features include backwards compatibility with NES, SNES, N64 and GCN(not sure how they are going to do this). It will be wireless for the controllers and the Internet.

- Nintendo Revolution

Playstation 3
The PS3 will also feature backwards compatibility. It will have a 3.2ghz cell processor, a nVidia RSX(”Reality Synthesizer”) graphics chip, a2.5 inch HDD attachment and bluetooth support for wireless controllers.

Play Station 3

[Via. Engadget]

Its Full of Stars

2005-05-17T10:46:00.000+10:00

Ingo Maurer has created a glass table with hundreds of LED's embedded in it and connected by invisible circuitry so it looks like the LED's are floating in the glass. It comes in either white, blue or red LED's.

- Ingo Maurer

[Via. Engadget]

Brighthandle

2005-05-17T10:39:00.000+10:00

Brighthandle is a light up door handle designed by Alexander Levik. The handle has a length of acrylic which glows red when the door is locked and green when its unlocked. Its powered from wires that run through the door and can be reprogrammed to glow at any time you want it to.

- Brighthandle

[Via. Engadget]

Domo-kun iPod Cover

2005-05-17T10:10:00.000+10:00

Katy from moblogUK has created a Domo-kun iPod Cover. Pretty cool.

- Katyblog - Domokun iPod Cover

[Via. Geek Technique]

International Contempory Furniture Fair

2005-05-17T10:03:00.000+10:00

Heres some more stuff from the ICFF via Moco Loco

[Via. Moco Loco]

Help the Prince of All The Cosmos

2005-05-16T08:33:00.000+10:00

May 18-20, All Day - Namco Hometek - We LOVE Katamari Ball - Help the Prince please the King of All Cosmos at this E3Expo with the We LOVE Katamari ball. The King of All Cosmos has requested all attendees to provide items throughout the three days. Items should be lightweight enough to be attached and as nutty and creative as possible. Items should NOT be x-rated in nature or include clothing, books, magazines, papers or garbage. Those representing the Prince also have full right to decline any item.

- E3 Expo

[Via. Kotaku]

Attack of the Cockroaches

2005-05-16T08:19:00.000+10:00

Garnet Hertz has created a hybrid machine that combines a Trackball controlled 3 wheel robot and a Madagascan hissing cockroach. The cockroach is mounted above the trackball like device and steers the robot. The direction is controlled by using infrared sensors to provide navigation feedback which in turn light up LED's facing the cockroach. As cockroaches dislike light, it tries to scuttle away from the light, thus changing the robots movements.

Is the cockroach in pain?
Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches make a loud "alert hiss" when they are angry. They also enjoy feel safe when crammed into a tight space. Their cuticle has no nerve endings in it. Because of these reasons, and because they do not illustrate a fearful hiss when controlling the robot, it is my opinion that they are in no pain, and do not mind being in the robot system.

- LINK

[Via. Engadget]

International Contempory Furniture Fair

2005-05-16T08:09:00.000+10:00

Moco Loco has a series of photos of some of the things on display at the ICFF in New York

- ICFF

[Via. Moco Loco]

Feedster

2005-05-15T15:44:00.000+10:00

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster feedster:69cc17d8fc64c15b1a7c2753252d0e26

Reach for the Lasers

2005-05-13T16:43:00.000+10:00

ELP have made a turntable that uses lasers instead of a needle, producing a better quality sound with no wear on the record. Its done with 5 lasers, 2 read the sterio tracks, 2 track the shoulders of the groove and another maintains the focus. They say that it should be able to play cracked, warped and off centre discs. They have models which will play records from 7-12 in diameter at speeds of 33-1/3, 45 and 78 rpm. It also offers CD player features like cuing to tracks, random play and repeat.

- ELP Laser Turntable

[Via. Design Technica]

Places you dont want to visit

2005-05-13T13:33:00.000+10:00

Sprol is a satellite sightseeing blog of "some of the worst places in the world.". It covers chemical plants, urban sprawling, factories, chaotic freeways and ecological disasters, all from the safety of space.

- Sprol

[Via. Future Feeder]

Its A Gas

2005-05-13T13:11:00.000+10:00

US telecommunications company Nethercomm has developed a way to send broadband Internet data over existing natural gas pipelines. They estimate that it should provide 40 - 100 Mbps at essentially the same cost as DSL.

Broadband-in-Gas technology traverses the last mile of broadband and represents a completely new era of low cost access to broadband services and a completely new alternative to cable video, phone and data services.

- Nethercomm

[Via. The Red Ferret]

Deep Fry PC

2005-05-13T12:52:00.000+10:00

Pure boredom and a few beers drove Markus Leonhardt of Germany to submerge his PC into a tank of vegetable oil, and it still works over a year later. He said that the main advantage is that the case doesn't make any noise, and dissipates heat well, although the case must be kept below desk level to stop capillary action draining oil out over the mouse and keyboard cords.

- LINK

[Via. Boing Boing]

Play Good

2005-05-13T06:34:00.000+10:00

Lego sculptor Henry Lim has made a full size lego Harpsichord. Whats more its playable. The whole thing is Lego, the keys, hammers, case, lid, everything except the wire strings and uses over 100,000 bricks. There is a MP3 of it being played, which goes a little way to explaining why harpsichords arent usually made of Lego.

- Lego Harpsichord

[Via. Gizmodo]

Interview with Keita Takahashi

2005-05-12T17:15:00.000+10:00

Theres a really good interview with Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damashi. The site its on requires registration, but if you hit stop before it re-directs you you can watch it without registering.

- Interview with Keita Takahashi

[Via. Boing Boing]

Collective Subconscious

2005-05-12T16:00:00.000+10:00

Collective Subconscious is a installation which uses RFID tags to display messages stored on a server. When a person waves their card in front of the sensor, a message they have chose will appear on the screen, and then fade back as new messages are added, creating a collage of 'thoughts'. Depending who is going through the public space, the resultant collage will have different themes, a sort of 'Collective Subconscious'. The messages can be changed via a web site so thought can change. There's a pretty good Video on the site.

- Creative Subconscious

[Via. We Make Money Not Art]

penguinremixed

2005-05-12T15:44:00.000+10:00

Penguin books is running a competition (UK only) to take samples from 30 different penguin audio books and mix them into a music track. Samples include bits from 'Alice in wonderland', 'Around the world in 80 days', 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory', 'Dracula', 'Frankenstein', 'Picture of Dorian Gray' and many others. There are already many mixed tracks available to listen to on the site.

- penguinremixed

[Via. Boing Boing]

No More Socks!

2005-05-12T15:36:00.000+10:00

New Scientist offers a page called 'No More Socks!' where New Scientist readers can buy and reccomend items.

By harnessing the collective gift-giving experience of New Scientist readers we’ve put together an eclectic and imaginative selection of fantastic gift ideas for all occasions

- No More Socks!

Some of the cool stuff on there is the LighTalk led wand, which lets you scan a image and then display it with a wave, and the Ecosphere, a completely sealed eco system, developed by nasa, consisting of red shrimp and algae, which only needs some warmth and light to continue living for around 2-3 years, although they have been know to live for 10!

Google Will Eat Itself

2005-05-12T15:28:00.000+10:00

'Google Will Eat Itself' is a web project Hans Bernhard and Alessandro Ludovico who plan to make money through googles advertising program 'Adsense' (same as I use), invest the money in google shares, and then use these to hand the company over to GTTP or 'Google To The People'.

1. With a sophisticated and on-the-edge browser-server tool [flash/php] we generate a steady flow of clicks. We are locking the software on a limited amout of pageviews [~2500] and clicks [~200] per day. There is no difference between human clicking and this level of machine generated clicks - we are no script-kiddies but bastard artists.

Im pretty sure that violates the Adsense terms, still a great idea though.

- GWEI
- Project Description

[Via. Future Feeder]

Molecubes

2005-05-12T15:20:00.000+10:00

Hob Lipson from Cornell University have designed Molecubes which are robots capable of self replication.

Each 10 centimetre cube contains a microprocessor, and they are all equipped with an identical set of instructions that tell the block how to connect and swivel, depending on the way it is linked to other blocks. The instructions are designed to make the blocks work together to self-replicate.

For example, three or four blocks piled on top of each other to form a tower can create an identical tower by swivelling round like a crane to pick up other nearby blocks and pile them on top of each other

The video makes the process a lot more understandable.

- Self-cloning robots are a chip off the old block
Video

[Via. Future Feeder]

The All Five

2005-05-12T15:15:00.000+10:00

Dr. Wayne Danie has designed 'The All Five', a puzzle which nests a tetrahedron, octahedron, cube, dodecahedron, and finally the icosahedron without any in between voids.

- The All Five

[Via. Future Feeder]

Panda Food

2005-05-12T15:08:00.000+10:00

Brano Meres, Slovakian hobbyist has made a bike frame out of bamboo.

- Brano Meres Bamboo Bike

[Via. Cool Hunting]

iPod shuffle Crucifix

2005-05-12T15:07:00.000+10:00

Spotted at the Pratt Show 2005.

[Via. Engadget]

The Solar Umbrella

2005-05-12T15:02:00.000+10:00

The Solar Umbrella collects and stores light during the day and uses it to power 48 LED lights underneath it when the sun goes down.

- 9' Solar Lighted Umbrella

[Via. Gizmodo]

Reach Out And Touch Someone

2005-05-12T14:57:00.000+10:00

Deepak Sharma of India has gotten himself into the Guinness Book of Records by sending 182,689 SMS's in one month. He received a 1411 page phone bill, but luckily is on a unlimited SMS plan.

We’re not sure if that’s total, or unique messages, but if you’d like us to break that down for you, that’s about 6,100 messages a day, 253 an hour, 4.2 a minute, or a new one every 14 seconds or so.

- A Ludhiana guy sends 1,82,689 SMS in one month

[Via. Engadget]

What Day Is It??

2005-05-12T14:51:00.000+10:00

"When the day is more important than the hour" is the slogan for DayClocks, a company which makes clocks that indicate the day of the week rather than the time.

- Day Clocks

[Via. The Red Ferret]

Nooka Zot Watch

2005-05-12T14:47:00.000+10:00

Doing away with digits or hands, the Nooka Zot Watch uses Dots and a progress type bar to tell the time. Very Cool.

- Nooka Zot Watch

[Via. Josh Spear]

Musical Critters.

2005-05-12T12:59:00.000+10:00

Created by grain-brain, critters is a osX application to use genetic algorithms to make digital music.

Our goal at grain-brain is to provide a versatile, easy-to-use tool that anyone can use to compose original music. No musical ability required. Listen to a batch of critters, rate them and create a new generation based on your preferences. Breed them repeatedly, ’steering’ your critters towards your desired destination.

- Grain-brain

[Via. Future Feeder]

All Natural Synthetic Landscape

2005-05-12T12:51:00.000+10:00

Diogo Terroso has created a interface where users modify a real time computer generated landscape by manipulating peices of wood, leaves and sand.

- Natural Interface

[Via. Future Feeder]

Round One... Fight!

2005-05-12T12:42:00.000+10:00

War of Monstars is a book of postcards by French designer Koadzn. He has invited 80 other illustrators to fight in a graphic battle. Koadzn draws 1/2 the image and then sends it on to the other competitors to create their own combatant. There is a large selection of images on the site

- War of Monstars

[Via. Cool Hunting]

Theres always room for Jello

2005-05-12T12:21:00.000+10:00

Jello create one of a kind furniture pieces including really cool tables made of acrylic filled with toys. I want the rockem-sockem-robots table!

Jellio is about combining childhood fun with interior design. It's placing a few memories in your home, in a unique and stylish manner.

- Jello

[Via. Moco Loco]

Art Imitating Life

2005-05-11T08:54:00.000+10:00

Manfred Gruebl has created a installation where eight men, dressed in the typical all black garb of gallery goers, stand motionless in the crowd of gallery visitors. Its only once the crowd leaves that its possible to really see the installation.

- Manfred Gruebl

[Via. Moco Loco]

SPINMASTER 2000

2005-05-11T08:50:00.000+10:00

The spinmaster 2000 is a universal TV remote which allows you to adjust the volume with the spin of a fishing reel. It also includes fishing sound effects. I hope they have volume control too.

- SPINMASTER 2000

[Via. The Red Ferret]