The Litmus
Grotesk [Slanted via FFFFound!]
Beat, beat, heartbeat [Mail Online via DVICE]
Astrophysical racism [arxiv via ars technica]
Butterflies in your stomach? [BBDO via I Believe in Advertising]
Velo Voyage [A Continuous Lean]
The DA goes to the RPS World Championships
So two very important events occurred this weekend, as the title of this post suggests I went to the Yahoo! Rock Paper Scissors World Championships and I finally got my invite to try out Daytum. I’m sure many of you are having a WTF moment right about now. Don’t worry, I did too when my friends told me about this event. But I have to tell you that it was one of the most surreal and fantastic events I’ve ever had the pleasure to attend. Our team of six had a mixed night, with yours truly making it to the second round; I have to send a shout out to Craig, the only member of our team to advance to the third round.
As awesome as attending and competing in this event was, I was more pumped about getting my invite to use Daytum, a service for collecting and displaying your daily data. Considering this service is brought to us by the creative minds of Nicholas Feltron and Ryan Case, your data is communicated in a simple and gorgeous manner. So what does an RPS tournament have to do with data visualization, nothing, unless of course you were to break down your experience at the tournament and present it as an infograph. Which is exactly what I did…Yes, yes, I know, I’m a big dork. Enjoy!
The Litmus: It’s Back Edition
Knot’s Landing [Jens Risch via Today and Tomorrow]
Robot maids! Let’s hope they’re not programmed with saucy attitudes [DVICE]
One of these days London, one of these days… [Crossing Over via The Royal Institution of Great Britain via I.D.]
The saddest polar bear [greenUPGRADER]
The Body 2.0 [Marcia Nolte via Dezeen]
Changes
Many of you may have noticed that the frequency of my posts has been less frequent. There is a reason for this, I have recently started a think tank called Omniscience. Getting this company off the ground is occupying a lot of my time. More importantly I’m in the process of turning this blog into a magazine. I’ve recruited another writer and we’ll be focusing on bringing better content to the pages of The Dapper Alchemist. So keep an eye out for major changes and thanks for reading.
The Litmus
Just under the surface [p:0 via FFFFound!]
From disturbing to the sublime [Toxel]
A little bit of DIY never hurt anybody [RePlayGround! via Core77]
Just in case [WARDefense via DVICE]
I’m so going bankrupt [WS Foster via A Suitable Wardrobe]
The Litmus
The real top design [I.D.]
Buzzworthy [NYMag]
Proving that it’s the destination not the journey [INTER News via Pink Tentacle]
The ascot rears its head [In Her Eyes]
Following Mad Men [A Continuous Lean]
The Litmus
Labyrint [ole kristensen via Computerlove]
Holy Green Tower Batman! [TR Hamzah & Yeang Sdn. Bhd. via Inhabitat]
A little piece of India from Russia [86era via i love typography]
That’s one way to deal with the financial crisis [Eyebeam reBlog]
Upgrade [Tomas Kral via Dezeen]
An Ode to Calculators
Are calculators sexy? This is not a question that most people would think about, unless of course you’re a nerd who engages in calculator modding. But this scene is more about adding bells and whistles than about making the device aesthetically pleasing. Don’t worry folks I’m not judging, I was a calculator modder in my younger days.
The gorgeous calculator pictured to the left is part of the LC-104 series from amadana, which can be purchased from Steven Alan of all places. This calculator focuses on wrapping functionality in a simple and stylish package. The HP 12c is another calculator that embodies this idea. The HP 12c has a timeless design that hasn’t changed in over twenty years. More classic and interesting calculator designs can be found on Pocket Calculator’s Vintage LCD Calculator Museum; it’s a mouthful for sure, but definitely worth a look.
Further Reading
The Litmus
What would you do for a Pepsi? [CLM || BBDO via I Believe in Advertising]
The future of transportation is amazing [Santiago Calatrava via Yanko Design]
Synesthetic [Synesketch via information aesthetics]
Here comes the sun [Boston.com via NOTCOT.org]
Tipsy Turvey [Alex Turvey via FormFiftyFive]
Wired NextFest
Nextfest, Wired Magazine’s annual tech fair recently ended its stint in Chicago. I took a walk around the exhibits this past weekend (and took some crummy pictures) to see what Wired thought were some of the hot new innovations. Here are the highlights.
C-Leg
You know what the problem is with your leg? No microprocessors. This prosthetic has sensors and processors that analyze every step (50 times per second) and adjusts itself accordingly. It improves on earlier prosthetics by providing the wearer a more natural-looking gait, and allows them to move at higher speeds.
Hoverit Lounger
Ignore the stabilizing cylinders at the arms, this acrylic chair is hovering about a foot above the base. It’s actually magnets, not magic, that cause it to hover. In the future, everything will hover. (And no, they don’t let you sit on it.)
Random Chair
Look at that chair!! The future is now!!
Toyota i-swing and Toyota i-REAL
If you watched Wall-E and look forward to the bleak future of our race, where we all sit in personal La-Z-Boy transporters, sipping soft drinks and watching TV, then you’ll be happy to know that Toyota has us nearly there. They’re demoing two personal transportation vehicles that are designed for short-distance commuting. The i-REAL has a “walking” mode and a “running” mode, the latter able to go about 35mph. The i-swing also has two modes, two wheels for sidewalks, and three-wheels for roads.
Toyota Plug-In Prius
For a price, you can actually do this with your current Prius. Still, it will be great to see this as an option on a factory Prius. I just wonder if they’ll include a 300 foot extension cord for me to drape out of my fifth-floor window.
Toyota 1/X Prototype
This concept car had a few interesting extras, including “ears” – holes under the side mirrors that let you hear the screams of the people you’re hitting without rolling down your window.
Xerox Secure Printing
Xerox demoed several technologies including:
- MicroText: really small text that requires a magnifying glass to read (see a $20 bill)
- GlossMark: text visible only from a certain angle
- FluorescentMark: text visible only under UV light
- Disappearing ink – using special paper coated with a photosensitive material, the ink printed on them will disappear after a certain amount of time.
Spiral Water Filtration
The famous Xerox PARC guys, now just parc, have created a new kind of water purifier. Rather than using a typical membrane system, this purifier pumps water through and, with the help of centrifugal forces, separates the water from the stuff you wouldn’t want to drink.
PEIR
This exhibit had something to do with location-based carbon-emissions calculating, but I liked it because it’s a really big touchscreen. In the future, everything will either hover, or will have a touchscreen.
d3o
This substance has plenty of clear practicaly applications. A dilatant material, the d3o goo is a gooey stretchy mess when applying a small amount of force. But when hit hard, the material itself hardens. Anyone who made Oobleck as a child knows what this is like. It’s currently being used in soccer shin gards, racing suits and other protective gear.
iPoint Presenter
The iPoint Presenter, developed by one of the institutes in the famous Fraunhofer Society (of MP3 fame), uses a series of infrared LEDs and cameras to track hand movemements and use them as an input device.
Immersa-Dome
The Immersa-Dome is a single-seat booth that engages four out of the viewer’s five senses. A projected image appears on a wrap-around screen, with audio, a rumbling chair, a vent (for wind-blowing effects) and a Smell-O-Vision-type device. The two-minute demo is neat, but doesn’t impress as much as it should.
The entire NextFest space was rather small, housed in a tent at Chicago’s Millenium Park, but still contained some cool tech and fun demos. For more information check out Wired’s page.
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