Guiding Principle

Bret Victor talks about the advantage of finding a guiding principle to aid the design process. It's an inspiring talk with great examples. I highly recommend watching this if you are a designer or in the design field.

Pivot [visualization]

Gary Flake demos Pivot, a new way to browse and arrange massive amounts of images and data online. Built on breakthrough Seadragon technology, it enables spectacular zooms in and out of web databases, and the discovery of patterns and links invisible in standard web browsing.
http://www.getpivot.com

TED Talk about Pivot:

Sign me up for Brain Implants!

[http://spacecollective.org/userdata/Y0RbM3sC/1261685911/go-brain-chips-r9.png]

Image courtesy of www.gigaom.com

Original post:
http://spacecollective.org/TheUndying/5441/The-very-near-future-of-brain-chips

Best Reading Device

Taking a magazine / newspaper and showing it off the way we do new electronic devices. This format still rules in many ways.

Wii Graffiti

Concept for controlling a painting application on a giant digital display with a wii controller (Wii Sray).
[via Gizmodo]


WiiSpray Teaser from cldfx.com on Vimeo.

Touchscreen dialing for the blind [Android]

K-Bow

This is a really cool add-on to any stringed instrument. Even a guitar perhaps?

THe K-Bow gathers all sorts of streaming sensor data (like a wii controller) about where the bow is and uses that information for all kinds of things. ...like being able to start an stop loop recording and modulating effects parameters among anything else you can dream up.
Full NAMM Video Demo
Interview with Keith McMillen
Official Site

Intro to sensor data gathered using Max/MSP

Some of my old music experiments [soundcloud]

I recently fell in love with this new service called Soundcloud. It allows musicians to post there music and even link to selling it. It's a great interface and the website is equally easy to use. It's taken too long for uploading your music to be this pleasant and easy. Soundcloud gives the ability to embed single tracks or sets (aka albums).

I love being able to see and interact with the waveform.

Claytronics

Concept video by CMU’s Computer Science Department showing a future display in which molecular voxels, or Moxels, build up display elements physically, in 3D.

Projector / Camera HUD [TED]

Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry present what they call a sixth sense. The video shows good examples about half way through up till the end. The execution is far off, but the concept seems like it could have usable applications.

Storytelling Tips [Ira Glass]

Ira Glass from This American Life talks about how to do storytelling.

Storytelling #1


Storytelling #2


Storytelling #3


Storytelling #4

Pattern Tap - Interface Collection

This site collects and allows other to contribute images of interface elements. The thinking is that the best stuff shows up here. Currently there isn't a whole lot, but I'm sure it will only grow. Cool resource.


Visit PatterTap.com

Game-play & Game design

[comments via Slashdot] ...an interesting video presentation by Shamus Young on the importance of the new Prince of Persia, calling it the most innovative game of 2008. Young brings up the fact that many of today's games punish failure by wasting the player's time; being sent back to a check point, the beginning of a level, or sometimes even further. This cuts into the amount of time players have to enjoy the meat of the game — the current challenge they have to overcome. Unfortunately, as Young notes, modern controllers are designed for players who have been gaming since they were kids, and have evolved to be more complicated to operate than an automobile. The combination of these factors therefore limits or prevents the interest of new players; a problem Prince of Persia has addressed well through intuitive controls and the lack of punitive time sinks.

[video via Twenty Sided]

Best music browser ever!!!

It's Christmas and I finally got what I wanted. A music browser that helps one find music by using the objective qualities of music like tempo, melodies, rhythm, awesomeness, etc.... Well, it's not out yet. It's just a thesis project, but I can't wait!!!!!

More info about the software here »

2000yr old astronomy calculator

Antikythera is a 2000 year old astronomical calculator that has been reconstructed from a dig.

Fast sketchup model building

LittleBigPlanet [Game]

LittleBigPlanet is a very cool game for the PS3 that allows you to create your own levels. It's like the power of robotic lego's at your fingertips.

I would have never known how cool this game if I didn't have someone show it to me because it takes about 8 hours of playing till you have enough status to really start making anything. Essentially you can make anything out of switches, pistons, motors, shapes, springs etc... It's like a fantasy sandbox of cool capabilities. All this is wrapped up in a nice sonic / visual package that effortlessly reflects the style of Michele Gondry. The videos below highlight some unique uses of the tools.

Last night I went out and bought a PS3, just so I could play this game :)

Gradius (Side-scrolling shooter):


How to make a gravity defying car:


How to make an OR Switch:


Calculator (LittleBigComputer)


Little Big Planet - Playstation 3

SnifTag - Pet monitor

This is crazy, stupid and cool. It's like Nike Plus + Social Network + Pet activity monitor all in one.

Phun - Physics Simulator

Phun is a simple but powerful physics simulator that lets you create elaborate designs kinda like robotic lego's. Not as cool as PS3's LittleBigPlanet, but it's free :)

Water channeling:


Dirtbike:


Tractor:


Binary Calculator:

Visual housing browser

A tool (craigslist & google maps mashup) that helps you find a home near the amenities that are important to you.

http://gentrify.r08.railsrumble.com