[via]

Interaction-Design.org is back again with a new chapter of its IxD Encyclopedia, and this time it is written by Steve Mann, the great Canadian at the origin of what we can now call wearable computing. Steve Mann, is not your average joe: he was broadcasting personal video before the internet was even built! He attended TEI last February in Kingston (Canada) and it was insightful to learn about his impressive research and work.

Be sure to check this new chapter at this exclusive link

Oh boy, here we go (again).

http://g.co/projectglass

See these for more AR glasses goodness:
BMW augmented reality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9KPJlA5yds
Nokia Mixed Reality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGwvZWyLiBU
Samsung Future Life and Style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nKFW-lDNK8
Brother AiRScouter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rtxz1P2Ogw

In an effort to better understand who we are as a community, as well as why and how we use/make open-source hardware, a few of us (Catarina Mota, David Mellis and John De Cristofaro) created a survey. Please participate so that we can promote open-source hardware and serve you to the best of our abilities!

The survey will be up until April 15, and the aggregate results will be made publicly available in the form of a report consisting of graphics, percentages, and anonymized quotes. By publishing your (anonymous) responses, we hope to provide the public with insights into the practices and experiences of the people involved in open-source hardware.
[source]

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSHW

What do you imagine the world will look like in 2025?

The FutureScapes project brings together a range of expert thinkers, designers, futurologists, writers and you – the public – to explore the opportunities and challenges of life in 2025, and to consider the potential contribution that technology and entertainment can make in shaping a better, more sustainable future.

There are more videos scenarios, workshops activities and written report (PDF).

http://www.sony.co.uk/futurescapes

[via]

Jeff Hoefs, formerly with Smart Design, now with Rockwell Group, is releasing a new Javascript framework to prototype stuff at the merger of the web and the physical. The platform is called Breakout and is best presented as follows:

Breakout is a prototyping tool for exploring the intersection of the web and the physical world. The popular Arduino platform and the Firmata protocol are leveraged to enable users to access physical input and output purely from javascript. This makes it easy for anyone familiar with javascript and basic web development to explore the possibilities of using physical I/O in their web applications. Furthermore, the Breakout framework includes a growing library of hardware abstractions such as buttons, leds, servo motors, accelerometers, gyros, etc enabling the user to easily interface with a range of sensors and actuators using just a few lines of javascript code. [from website]

It works across platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux) and on a large selection of desktop and mobile browsers. It supports many if not all Arduino boards and compatible ones, plus Teensy boards. Check the full requirements here. It has pretty nice filters to smooth data and trigger events easily.

http://breakoutjs.com

“The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The foundation has released two versions, priced at US$25 and $35 (~GB£16 and ~£22). The $35 model was released first on 29 Febuary 2012. The Raspberry Pi is intended to stimulate the teaching of basic computer science in schools” (from wikipedia)

Discover more at http://www.raspberrypi.org

A Sampling of Companies Whose Origins Were in Disruption. Copyright: Clayton Christensen

You can preview the chapter Disruptive Innovation

“LIGHTITUDE” is the theme of the 2012 CLU foundation contest. This year’s theme invites participants to reflect on lighting the communities near the Polar Circle. Due to their high latitude these communities are subjected to particular lighting phenomena. Since light is an essential part of every living organism, it or its lack thereof has a profound effect on humankind. Can these isolated communities benefit from a more adapted artificial outdoor lighting solution to satisfy their particular Nordic needs and identities?

These are some of the questions that the CLU foundation members invite the participants from all walks of life to reflect and create upon.

Free registration. 5000$ in prizes. Deadline is September 3rd 2012.

http://www.lumec.com/company/fondation_clu.html

You can also watch a full walkthrough, courtesy of black-suited and semi-moustached Mr. Corning junior.

Man this last video is well done, but a bit spooky when they freeze the scene and the man-dude shows us how it works. Impressive video, yes, but how uninteresting is this for our sense of touch. I should stop my PhD and start a glass cleaning business :-)

We’re always trying to foresee the future a bit here at TPB. One of the things that we really know is that we as a society will always share. Digital communication has made that a lot easier and will continue to do so. And after the internets evolutionized data to go from analog to digital, it’s time for the next step.

We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.

So here is a new term: physibles. I like it :-)

http://thepiratebay.org/blog/203

[via Jan Borchers on the Sketching mailing list]

Ericsson made this documentary titled Networked Society ‘On The Brink’. Here is the official description:

In On The Brink we discuss the past, present and future of connectivity with a mix of people including David Rowan, chief editor of Wired UK; Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr; and Eric Wahlforss, the co-founder of Soundcloud. Each of the interviewees discusses the emerging opportunities being enabled by technology as we enter the Networked Society. Concepts such as borderless opportunities and creativity, new open business models, and today’s ‘dumb society’ are brought up and discussed.

Watch the full length video and more networked goodness at http://www.ericsson.com/networkedsociety

My problem with many modern UIs is that they never get past the telling phase. They’re always dressing up their various functions with glows and bevels and curves, and in the process they somehow become overbearing to my senses. “Did you know you can click this? Don’t forget there’s a save button over here! Let me walk you to your control panel.” Imagine a car that verbally explains all of its various knobs and levers the first time you get into the car. Wonderful, right? Now imagine that car explaining all of these various functions every single time you get in the car for the next five years, until you finally snap and drive it off a cliff.

Worth reading! Also make sure you check the link to Ars Technica, where the author talks about skeuomorphic design.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/9/2616204/the-condescending-ui

[via]

Following the two first parts, Kirby Ferguson is offering us this third instalment titled The Elements of Creativity. Part 4 should be coming fairly soon. Check the website everythingisaremix.info for the latest info and releases.

In the same line, I discovered today this amazing video made from remixing hundreds of movie trailers on top of great (remixed) music. It’s an intense 15 minutes of insane ninja editing! Watch it in HD, and you get a free drink if you can identify the individual cuts, or even half of them :-)

United Visual Artists is well known for their amazing lighting installations. Here are two of their latest realizations.

“People might walk through [this space] everyday for 10 years, how can you create something that’s gonna change, that’s the role of generative content and interaction has to play”

Karsten Schmidt continues to impress with his computational excellence in a project at V&A museum in London. See below: