While visiting the UK recently I was surprised by a pervasive public service campaign aimed at curbing alcohol consumption. The government is educating consumers about the appropriate amount of liquor to consume based on a point system (2-3 per woman per day, 3-4 per man) which adorns every container of beer, wine and spirits (above […]
Author Archives: leo
ill robots
While in Inverness I visited the Center for Health Science where I witnessed their state-of-the-art medical simulation equipment, including these incredibly sophisticated (and creepy) medical dummies. Doctors and nurses in training use them to train for real-life scenarios, so these life-like dolls have a temperature, a pulse, a voice and can undergo a number of […]
Posted in evil robots, livingbreathing, materials, possessed products, soft/glowing, tangible
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food life
Halfby’s latest animation takes their bird’s eye view to a national level: this public service announcement illustrates the impact of a shifting food culture. Japan’s diet has shifted away from rice, fish and locally farmed vegetables to include more meat, oils and fats largely imported from other countries. As a result, people are becoming unhealthy, […]
Posted in energy, environment, food, futurecraft, supply chain, visualization
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paper cloth
Mio pointed me to a Japanese site that sells cloth and clothing made from a combination of cloth and rice paper. There is a lot of talk about design for durability, but even better is the conscientious reuse of temporary materials. This solution looks like it might make an adequate vegetarian substitute for leather, it […]
Posted in fabrication, fashion, futurecraft, materials, soft/glowing
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craft cam
At distancelab last week I saw Elena Corchero’s Handmade, a wearable camera for capturing the work you do with your hands. This is a simple, wearable solution to the problem of documenting manual tasks for a variety of new media, including DIY sites such as instructables for which the process of documenting a task can […]
Posted in fabrication, futurecraft, marketing, soft/glowing, supply chain, surveillance, traceability
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highland high
Hyperexperience has been erratic as I’ve been visiting Inverness (Scotland) this past week. In just a few days I was fortunate to meet with the experts at the Highlands and Islands Enterprise and visitscotland.com and to attend the Open Studio at distancelab. I’ll be posting about all of the issues and inventions that add to […]
Posted in conviviality
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fly light
While jetting to Inverness today I found an eco-label for airplanes in my Flybe in-flight magazine. The airline – proud of its fleet of new planes – publishes the environmental impact of its aircraft in terms of fuel, carbon dioxide, pollution and noise. Even without being widely disseminated these labels help to engender environmental literacy, […]
Posted in energy, environment, marketing
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finger fun
Joe Colombo designed these ‘smoke‘ glasses in 1964, an original solution to hedonistic multitasking. In an age where most of the things we hold in our hands are plastic boxes, it’s nice to be reminded of a time when ‘usability’ wasn’t defined by how many fingers your multi-touch screen could detect. Colombo’s example reminds us […]
Posted in customization, human2.0, product design
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