After the internet technosexualsphere almost busted a collective nut, Apple finally unveiled their latest creation today and it’s called the iPad. And no, it’s not a feminine hygiene product. It’s basically a giant iPhone using the touch technology that has given Apple the ‘must have’ buzz it has needed to reach record sales this year. Strangely, stock dipped immediately after the unveiling. The price tag is so far set at $1000 dollars with software that is somewhere between a typical Mac OS and an iPhone OS.
Here is a little blurb from Engadget:
“It’s a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it’s running a custom 1GHz Apple “A4″ chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It’ll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it’s got the expected connectivity: very little. There’s a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone — you sync everything over to your Mac.”
UPDATE: Apple has made the device available already through their website. The 16GB introductory price starts at $499 topping out with Wi-Fi + 3G for $829.
Skyskraper is one of those agencies of the future that serves as a bit of a go-between for the creative agency to final placement and execution. I am learning a lot this year, out of necessity with the future of this website about media, media buying and media strategy. Skyskraper is a digital media agency responsible for helping execute on some of those rather intangible projects that we creatives sometimes spew out in concepting sessions but have no idea how to pragmatically realize in the physical world.
One such project they recently helped Flourish Creative complete was a projected 3D advent calendar for Google Chrome displayed on the facade of the Westfield building in London. The image was projected to align perfectly with the tiles in the facade which is not an easy thing to do. The end result was pretty impressive. This kind of partnership and companies like this are definitely something to keep an eye out for in the future of our business. You would think the capability to produce something like this would still fit under the roof of a typical ad agency, but as technology continues to move forward by leaps and bounds every year more and more agencies are turning toward digital media agencies to execute on concepts and strategy.
I am loving the look of Skyskraper’s blog as well. That tightly kerned Helvetica is looking sharp.
I just stumbled upon Pranav Mistry’s talk at Ted India via the (still and always inspiring) Surfstation blog and was completely blown away by his work at developing what is inarguably some of the most groundbreaking practical application technology out there. Yes, I am prone to exaggeration (I do work in advertising after all) but I am not inflating this. Mistry’s work could really revolutionize the entire computer and interactive industry. His emphasis is on bridging digital data with the physical world in the hopes that we can one day rise from behind our computers and again live physically. It really is something that has to be seen to be believed, but it left me terribly excited. I cannot wait for the day that this technology makes it into the commercial market.
“Recently, mid-air displays are attracting a lot of attention in the fields of digital signage and home TV, and many types of holographic displays have been proposed and developed. Although we can “see” holograhpic images as if they are really floating in front of us, we cannot “touch” them, because they are nothing but light.
This project adds tactile feedback to the hovering image in 3D free space. Tactile sensation requires contact with objects, but including a stimulator in the work space dilutes the appearance of holographic images. The Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display solves this problem by producing tactile sensation on a user’s hand without any direct contact and without diluting the quality of the holographic projection.”
You can get the full credits on this project at the Siggraph 2009 website. Siggraph is a conference about emerging technologies that is happening in New Orleans. It looks like it would have been a really exciting conference to attend.
Two German biotech experts have decided to convert the entire human genome into audio and stream it over the internet. They estimate that it will take about 23.5 years until the entirety of the code has been distributed over the internet. They are also generating imagery that you can see above (looks like static).
Why? I don’t know. Interesting and kind of awesome? Yes.
Wow, really strange and unusual but I really dig it. I love work like this that kind of breaks new barriers and defies explanation. I didn’t even know what category to file it under.
Glitch art is quickly becoming a popular craze this year. Kanye West’s most recent video (which you can watch above) utilized the effect as well at the Chairlift video I posted last week. So where can you make your own glitch art? There is a really cool site developed between Dimitre Lima (dmtr.org), Tony Scott (beflix.com) and Iman Moradi (organised.info) for New Langton Arts in San Francisco that will take your site, and more specifically the images on your site and glitch them for you. The site is aptly titled ‘Glitch Browser’ and you can try it out here. If that doesn’t satiate your glitch thirst then you can see some readymade glitch art here.
Formfiftyfive was kind enough to put all of these links together first, so be sure to give them a visit as well. Thank you for all your hard blog work FFF.
“PlusPreview of World’s First Rotating SkyscraperPreview of World’s First Rotating SkyscraperThe Associated PressArchitect Dr. David Fisher unveiled the Dynamic Tower, the world’s first building in motion. The rotate skyscrapers, which are planned worldwide, have floors which rotate independently to create a building that constantly changes shape. (June 24)Is it the skyscraper of the future? Or just a “pie in the sky” idea? Italian architect David Fisher unveiled in New York the design for what he’s calling the world’s first “building in motion.” It’s an 80-story residential tower with revolving floors, ostensibly set for construction in Dubai this fall. ((David Fisher, Architect)) “It’s the first building that is dynamic, changing its’ shape. You can adjust the shape any given moment.” Fisher says he is also slated to build one of the “dynamic” buildings in Moscow, and, he hopes, New York City. He says the buildings also double as power generators: wind turbines on every floor will provide power. “Wind has a very negative affect on skyscrapers we all know. So I say ‘why do we want to fight the wind?’ Why don’t we use the wind, to our own benefit? The Dubai condos are going for three-thousand dollars a square foot. Lifts will allow penthouse residents to park their cars right in their apartments. Fisher says the building parts will be prefabricated in a factory in Italy then assembled at the final location. The architect says he’d like to have the Dubai building ready to live in by 2010. Ted Shaffrey, The Associated Press, New York”
Holy crap. What an amazing project. Dubai is really hedging its realestate and architectural bets agains the oil decline. It is absolutely outrageous what is going on over there in terms of development right now.
“Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device’s tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles.
The wearer adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. When the wearer is happy with the strength of each lens the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.”
Such an obvious yet innovative idea. Brilliant and wonderful.
Philip Rosedale speaks at TED about his amazing creation, ‘Second Life’. I have never actually gotten involved with Second Life but I have always been amazed by the concept and it was enlightening to hear Rosedale muse on the concept. Rosedale goes by the avatar “Philip Linden” when he is living his ‘Second Life’. I really is a fascinating idea that belies a multitude of ramifications and I am sure it will only evolve further and further as time goes on. It will definitely be interesting watching it unfold and what it may inspire in the future.
Idée extracted the colours from 10 million of the most “interesting” Creative Commons images on Flickr. Using their Multicolr Search Lab you can search through them all by color. Interesting idea.
Computational architects, We Are Dag were selected as one of the five finalists in the SXSW Web Awards.
They have some wild, virtually indescribable code-driven artwork in their portfolio. I wish I knew how to create work like that. Unfortunately (although I worked as a Flash developer for 3 years) I have since tried to stray from code at every turn.
“The intention for this project was to make sound visible. As there is already a variety of ways in which sounds can be seen (equalizers, sub-titles, etc.), my aim was to produce a device where that representation of sound would be a physical one. I therefore used the sewing machine as the basis for the project as I feel it is synonymous with industry, and making physical products. Due to limitations in my computer programming skills this model of a stereo/sewing machine is a prototype of how I imagined the actual product would look.”
I had almost forgotten entirely that I sent a couple images to Poolga a long long time ago for their ongoing free iPhone wallpaper project until I saw the above image posted on someone’s blog. If you haven’t yet visited Poolga, please do because aside from being just a really cool project offering up a nice bag of freebies, it is also a great source of inspiration for design, art and illustration as it now features a pretty impressive list of some really great artists, illustrators and designers.
Well, get ready for the electronic Newspaper. I remember reading about how it was becoming a real possibility but had no idea that the technology was still under aggressive development and this video confirmed that fact. It looks pretty damned cool.
03/15 MEXICAN DRUG WAR The FBI has vowed to help Mexican officials in an escalating violent war with rival drug cartels that claimed the lives of 2 American employees of the consulate in the Cuidad Juarez. Both were murdered after leaving a consulate social event. On Sunday, The State Department authorized the temporary departure of dependents of U.S. government personnel from the consulates in Ciudad Juarez along with five other northern border Mexican cities.
03/12 FIVERR The website Fiverr asks, in a very broad way, what would you do for 5 dollars? Or better yet, what could you get done for 5 dollars?
03/10 COREY HAIM DIES 80’s movie star Corey Haim passed at the age of 38 at a hospital in Burbank, California. Some reports have suggested the cause of death may have been an overdose as Haim struggled with drug addiction for years following his success.
02/27 ICEBERG ADRIFT A massive iceberg has struck Antarctica dislodging a gigantic block of ice measuring 48 miles (78 kilometers) long and about 24 miles (39 kilometers) wide and holds roughly the equivalent of a fifth of the world’s annual total water usage. Holy crap.
02/27 CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE A powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake has struck Chile with a death toll so far standing at 82.
