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3d-blog

By leo | Published: July 30, 2007

lately virtual environments have come under fire because they are not so good at any of the things that 2-dimensional interfaces do so well, like chat, marketing and organizing information. what are they good for? fun! since wolfenstein 3d virtual three-dimensional environments have been the ideal way to explore complex worlds and shoot nazis. i think this was the reasoning behind 3B, who offers virtual environments can be used to explore the web or your own myspace and in my case flickr pages (above). you can choose from a variety of settings, and in some worlds you even run the risk of encountering other browsers. it would be nice if these worlds were more like first-person shooters, so that i could intercept people leaving comments and look at my art and get into interesting discussions/violent altercations.

Posted in 3d, architecture, blogogracy, marketing, perception, visualization | Comments closed

lost

By leo | Published: July 30, 2007

Posted in guerilla, marketing | Comments closed

meticulous models

By leo | Published: July 27, 2007

for years computer modeling has been a technical pursuit, much like drafting once was, without the artistic merit of its tangible counterparts. that’s why i find frederick wessler‘s work interesting: he carefully crafts computer models of objects that have a particular significance to him, such as his father’s wrench or this medical kit (above) and sells the renderings or 3d-prints of them. kind of a modern-day hyper-realist.

Posted in 3d, fabrication, futurecraft, product design, visualization | Comments closed

toddler tangibles

By leo | Published: July 26, 2007

for only $30 fisher price sells the easy link internet launch pad, a tangible gateway to the internet that replaces the keyboard with a physical token-based, limited gaming interface to specialized webpages on their home site. for decades now tangible interaction through physical tokens has been proposed as a way to, among other things, make computer interaction so intuitive that very young children could engage in some sophisticated digital interaction. one added advantage of this kind of peripheral, the makers are proud to point out, is that parents can have complete control over the internet their children are exposed to because the device blocks out anything except the approved content. at the same time, they are learning useful mouse-based interaction for their exciting futures in the information sector.
via

Posted in marketing, possessed products, product design, surveillance, tangible | Comments closed

fearless learning

By leo | Published: July 26, 2007

last week i needed to find out how to install an undermount sink, and i found a video at moen.com:

today i heard about tufts medical center’s live webcasts of common surgeries:

and i virtually assisted the inimitable don sadoway‘s introductory course on materials science (3.091) via mit’s open course ware:

these videos are much more instructive than text and images could ever be. all of these instructional videos have in common is that they reduce the barriers to knowledge as well as the fear of learning and doing by yourself through their immaculate production and free distribution.

Posted in blogogracy, conviviality, fabrication, open objects, visualization | Comments closed

smokeless stove

By leo | Published: July 26, 2007

philips is field-testing a healthier and more efficient wood-burning stove for the developing world. it works by forcing air into the combustion chamber with an electric fan, making it burn hotter and a third more efficiently while producing less of the toxic smoke responsible for as many as 1.6 million deaths a year (one tenth the indoor pollution and one hundredth the VOCs). it also aims to reduce deforestation and the time and energy spent to gather fuel every day. the wood-stove relies on a rechargeable battery, though, so it remains to be seen how people who have no electricity can take advantage of it. one hopes that it is more than a PR move, and that this is a sign that the market for improving the lives of poor people can be considered important enough to develop new technologies for.

Posted in conviviality, fabrication, open objects, product design | Comments closed

waste more!

By leo | Published: July 25, 2007

just when i thought that the computer industry would follow google’s proposal to adopt a standard power supply to reduce inefficiency and waste, a new apple patent is revealed that actually keeps a device from turning on with a third-party adapter. along with their refusal to allow people to remove their own batteries, why does apple hate the environment? and when will customers start to care?
via

Posted in fabrication, marketing, possessed products | Comments closed

war weave

By leo | Published: July 24, 2007

while reading enlisting madison avenue: the marketing approach to earning popular support in theaters of operation (a handbook for ‘shaping’ the opinion of ‘indigenous’ populations in US-occupied countries) via chris c, i came across many failures and few successes. one of the biggest problems in US propaganda efforts is that many ‘shaping’ attempts find their way back to the US through transposition from one medium to another. that’s how propaganda leaflets dropped by jets in afghanistan end up sewn into rugs:

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it turns out that after millenia of hand-weaving elaborate geometric rugs, afghans began to weave war imagery into their rugs after the attempted soviet invasion of 1979. there are now many examples of graphic war rugs, many of which have been imported to the US. some of the more impressive are here: