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November 28, 2005
Space Ship One
I've been meaning to write about this forever but somehow it keeps slipping past me only to get postponed to a post-it note on my monitor.
On October 4th, 2004, Space Ship One claimed the 10 million dollar prize to become the first private manned space craft to reach space. With that, it obliterated any thought that space was only within the reach of those large, sometimes cumbersome government managed space agencies (ahem . . . NASA).
The story embodied all the virtues of a classic young techno upstart by Paul Allen of Microsoft, designed by supreme aviation designer Burt Rutan, and built by his company Scaled Composites.
This is an age where inventions are often more evolutionary and incremental rather than revolutionary, Space Ship One is ground breaking - perhaps standing right up there with the Wright Brothers, Alexander Bell, and Lambie Baird.
WIth hopes of a bright future in hand where humans can really reach up far beyond the sky, Space Ship One hopes to start its first passenger flights into space in 2007.
Are you a pioneer? If you could afford the air(space)fare, would you go?
another photo after the jump
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November 25, 2005
Designer Organisms Power Our Future
The same scientist who cracked the human genome now hopes to exploit the properties of DNA to solve the world's pending energy crisis.
J. Craig Venter gained worldwide recognition in 2000 when he successfully mapped the human genetic code - is now behind a new start-up called Synthetic Genomics which plans to create new types of organisms that would produce hydrogen and break down greenhouse gases.
The initial focus will be on creating bio-factories for hydrogen and ethanol, two fuels seen as playing an increasing role in powering vehicles, our homes and even our mobile devices.
With the genome mapped, scientists can now program new instruction sets in DNA for organisms to execute. Since they follow the life cycle of nature, nothing is wasted, everything is recycled and they are powered by the same sources our plants love; greenhouse gases and the sun.
Nature is incredibly efficient, even photosynthesis is about a million times more efficient than even the most complex and expensive solar panels despite doing the same thing - harnessing the power of the sun's light. By using nature as the bio-factory, our energy crisis can be solved without further harmfully contributing to the environment.
via cnet
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Honda Demos The Future Of Energy
Wouldn't it be ideal to fuel your car and your home energy needs all by yourself? No need for a government run utility service. Honda sees a future in fuel cell technology for home consumers, not just industry.
Further advancing its vision of a gasoline and emissions free transportation future, Honda Research & Development introduced the Home Energy Station III, which provides heat and electricity for the home as well as fuel for a hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle.
Unlike traditional energy sources like gasoline, the Home Energy Station III uses natural gas as its base energy source. In keeping with the path established by early generation systems, Home Energy Station I and Home Energy Station II, the Home Energy Station III is designed to work in a home-based refueling environment as is able to supply a sufficient amount of hydrogen to power a fuel cell vehicle, such as the Honda FCX, for daily operation while providing electricity for an average size household. The ultimate goal it to allow consumers to become directly aware of their own energy usage while drastically reducing emissions.
The future is upon us, if only we could get more lobbyists on our side to push these advancements ever further.
Posted by tranism at 1:23 AM | Permalink
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Zubbles Story
The story of a struggling toy maker and his 11 year battle to solve what veteran toy manufactures said couldn't be done; make colored bubbles.
To summarize, Tim Kehoe had always been fascinated with bubbles. I mean who wasn't? There is something mystical about their transparent aloofness and yet their temporary existence makes them all the more magical. Most of us out-grow their novelty but Tim Kehoe saw a future in bubbles. He wanted to bring them to life and in full technicolor, but the laws of physics have made that next to impossible . . . or so they thought.
A bubble is basically surfactants (a material found in all soap) interacting with water to reduce surface tension. This allows the fluid to spread across a bubble without breaking. You would think all you have to do to add color is to add some dye or food coloring. Two major problems exist with both those methods. First, color dye and food coloring is heavier than water so instead of spreading evenly across the bubble, it just sits and collects at the bottom under the whim of gravity. Secondly, they leave nasty stains once the bubble pops.
So the question became, is it possible to create a colored bubble that doesn't stain or leave any mark at all. After 11 years of home experimentation, Tim Kehoe finally consulted a molecular chemist (very few of them in the world) from India and with half a million dollars, a dream, and some of the most challenging work they have ever embarked on, they finally figured out the holy grail of bubble making.
The same toy manufactures who at first shunned Tim, regarded him as a toy making mad man are know clamoring to carry his latest invention - "Zubbles". Due out just in time for the Holiday season, Zubbles are posed to make the world's best selling toy even better. They making beautiful vibrant colored bubbles that last longer and once popped, leave no stains on anything. The color simply disappears once it interacts with air.
There is something intricately hot and incredibly appealing about a 30+ year old man never giving up on his kid dreams. Make sure you read the full story here. It's inspiring and better than any lifetime channel movie. Believe dat!
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The Eden Project
The Eden Project (located in the United Kingdom) is a showcase for global bio-diversity and one of the most innovative and high profile lottery funded projects.
The "biomes" makes up the largest plant enclosure in the world built in the lightest and most ecological way possible. They are a sequences of honey-comb shaped spheres that encapsulate humid tropic and warm temperate regions.
Make sure you check out the website. The structure(s) are amazing. Too bad it's not in the USA.
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November 24, 2005
People+
Modern lives are increasingly becoming more flexible, connected and mobile. How do you update your living space to communicate the themes of mobility and its influence on people's lives? The People+ installation exposes flaws of communication, and stresses the fact that mobile communication expands the boundaries of a person and augments the distances one can reach.
The installation uses the human figure symbol (imagine a stick figure) and the "+" sign as a vehicle to tell a story; and the story is simple - connect one human being to another and you have created a network and mobile communication is all about networks. It's a type of emotional math if you will.
From that "equation", how does the installation look? A cloud of human figures and "+" signs hang from the ceiling and react to mobile phone activities like calls, SMS, MMS, etc. When this happens, the cloud becomes alive with steams of light flowing between the objects. The objects glow and dim, a human figure, a "+" sign, another human figure, another "+" sign and so on. An imaginary line is then created portraying a trajectory of activity. The result is beautiful and hypnotic.
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November 18, 2005
pixile
A Pixile is a projection applied onto spherical objects suspended in space. The projection consists of a realtime 3D rendered environment which mimics the physical shape and size of the objects is it projecting onto. The result is a holographic illusion. You can interact with the pixile with the use of a mouse, clicking and dragging objects as if they existed in real life.
The image above is taken from the DesignEDGE expo in Singapore last week. It's called "The Fishbowl Pixile". Three spheres are placed in a vertical row. A fish bowl shape is projected into each sphere, creating a virtual opening on the physical sphere, the user is able to rotate the individual bowls around in all directions with the use of a mouse. Small physics based cubes are placed inside the bowls so the user is able to pour the cubes from one bowl into another. The cool thing is the cubes start as primary colors but once they mix with the other cubes, they average out and form new colors.
check out this video
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The Abyss That Is New York
I hate long vertical images but I'm doing this for all my New York buddies and blogmates. I present to you an underground depiction of your city (not to scale of course). It looks so freakin interesting. Makes me wonder what's under Los Angeles.
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Creating A New Language
What would happen if you were locked in a room with a bunch of strangers, not allowed to speak and all you had were four to sixteen symbols to work with? How would you all communicate?
To find out, Yale cognitive scientist Bruno Galantucci decided to run an experiment. He set up a computer game in which two people wander through a virtual space with several rooms - each marked with a geometric symbol on the ground. Neither can see the other, but they can communicate by drawing symbols on a rapidly scrolling chalkboard that each can see. To figure out where the other person is, they must develop a system of communication that is linked to the symbols on the ground, yet also which communicates complex concepts like relative position and direction someone is heading in.
Then he plopped a few subjects down to see what would happen. Nine out of ten pairs developed a communication system of three or four symbols and solved the puzzle in three hours. A more complex version of the puzzle was solved in six hours with sixteen symbols created. The interesting thing was, each language was different. You would think people would come up with the same solutions and conclusions.
The good doctor expected the pairs would build their language on elements on the icons that appeared on the floors of the rooms. A few did, but they extracted features of the icons - the number of vertices or some abstraction of the shape for example. Others adopted a numbering system for the rooms - such as slanting one line for the first room and two for the second. Another technique involved labeling the rooms by their relative position in space by placing marks on different parts of the screen.
So how do humans develop these language skills so fast? Intriguingly, communication was born as soon as one partner decided to copy another's symbols. There's something cognitively deep about the act of mimesis between two sentient beings. The one pair that didn't complete the game basically reduced themselves to the equivalent of screaming in frustration by scribbling all over chaotically.
Since this video game started as a study, I could image it extrapolated into a massively multiplayer game similar to World of Warcraft. What kind of language would 10,000 people online develop? How would language influence relationships, alliances and growth? What kind of languages will be the easiest to learn and spread rapidly and what kind will quickly die and be absorbed into others? If anyone can make this kind of game, it would be Nintendo, known for their passion to create games based on motives and ideas rather than just graphics. DO IT NINTENDO!
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November 12, 2005
VirtuSphere
VirtuSphere provides a mechanical basis for truly immersive virtual reality environments. Long gone are the cumbersome heavy head gears of the late 90's. Enter a new era where the user wears lightweight wireless head gear and every real step is associated with a virtual step.
The device consists of a large hollow sphere which is mounted on a specially mounted platform that allows the sphere to rotate freely as the user walks in any direction. The user wears a head mounted display which provides the virtual environment. Sensors under the sphere provide subject speed and direction to the computer running the simulation. Users can ever interact with objects in virtual space using a special manipulator.
Currently there are 18 VirtuSpheres around the world with more to come. Some of the foreseen applications are:
- Military, Law Enforcement, Dangerous Occupations training simulations
- Video Local Area Network Arcades
- Health and exercise, professional athlete training, fitness clubs
- Business and personal communications
- Education
- Virtual travel and tourism
- Virtual museum exhibits
- Entertainment at events
- Home gaming and exercise
The ability to move physically and thereby control the simulation is one of the enabling technologies behind such science fictional devices as the Star Trek holodeck. (Yes I'm a geek). The holodeck is a virtual environment that provides infinitely varied participatory, interactive entertainment in a very small space. On Federation Starships, stressed crew members need to have some sort of outlet for exercise and entertainment.
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November 8, 2005
Robot with 20,000 Brain Cells
A robot operating on biological principles without any pre-specified instruction; is that possible?
Apparently yes - researchers at the Neuroscience Institute have developed "Darwin VII", a trash can shaped robot that has 20,000 brain cells.
The infant bot crawls across a floor strewn together with blocks, grabbing and tasting as it goes, its malleable mind is impressionable and hungry to learn. It is already adapting, discovering that the striped blocks are yummy and the spotted ones are gross.
Its exploration is driven by instincts, an interests in bright objets, a predilection for tasting things (sounds like me), and an innate notion of what tastes good. In time, it will learn more and researchers are eager to study Darwin's "brain" develops.
So here is the beginning of self-thinking robots. Darwin may be an infant now but if moore's law holds true, he will soon rule the world and in preparation for his dominion, I bow to my new overlord. You all should too.
Posted by tranism at 2:12 AM | Permalink
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Carbon Neutral & Clean; It's The Future
The Toyota Fine-X provides a glimpse of the radical opportunities that a hybrid fuel cell system can provide, delivering strong environmental performance and exceptional maneuverability through a four-wheel independent drive and the use of a large steering angle mechanism that allows the vehicle to turn on a dime.
The Fine-X follows Toyota's "vibrant clarity" design principles and has external dimensions slightly greater than the current Toyota Corolla. Interior space however is closer to a Prius or Camry. The interior is designed to be welcoming, with variable lighting intensity and power seats that automatically move in and out of the car through gull-wing doors.
Four-wheel independent drive with in-wheel electric motors and four-wheel independent steering with a large angle steering mechanism gives the Fine-X more maneuvering ability than any other vehicle. With this ability, the car can make u-turns on the spot or move into tight parking spaces since the wheels can rotate to a perfect 90 degree angle. Driving is also made easier and safer thanks to the use of multiple displays that gives the driver a 360 degree view around the car.
The hybrid system, combining a hydrogen fuel cell and electric motors ensures environmental performance, while Toyota pursues a carbon-neutral profile for the vehicle by using plant-based materials in the construction of internal and external components. The source plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow and even if the components are burned when the vehicle reaches the end of its life, no additional CO2 is emitted.
The interior of the production version varies from the concept mockups but at least there is a production model. Could this be the future Prius? The future looks promising don't it?
click on images for a larger view
additional pictures via gizmag
more pictures after the jump
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November 6, 2005
Water Drops Make Music
The Aqueous installation is a meditative space that encourages perception of small things. In a dark room, visitors can see lights near the floor and on the ceiling and hear soft water sounds from every part of the space. As the sound gains and loses musicality, they can also catch glimpses of tonal, rhythmic and spatial patterns.
Water droplets fall through the space into 25 water filled tubes that are approximately tuned in an equal temperament scale spanning two octaves. Each tube is lit from the bottom by an LED creating a glow in the ceiling that shimmers and flickers when the water surface is distorted. The release of droplets is hidden above the ceiling allowing it to act as a canvas.
via Zehao Chang and near near future
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PhaSR
Trekkies aren't the only ones sportin' phasers - soon the military will too. Developed by the Air Force, the PhaSR (personal halting and stimulation response) is a non-lethal illumination technology weapon. It was designed to protect troops and to control hostile crowds. The weapon employs a laser system that temporarily blinds its targets. The contract to build this weapon has been awarded and the first complete prototypes will come out in March of 2006.
And it dawns on me, the age of weapons being used to control rather than kill. After all, people are more useful alive.
Posted by tranism at 1:32 AM | Permalink
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Fish TANK
The fish that live in this tank talk by using their body language. Designer Sangmin Bae created a device that explores the many aspects of biosonic and infrasonic sound. Video captured from a webcam mounted above the tank is combined with data from flow sensors inside the tank (measuring the currents created by the fish swimming). These inputs are combined to create audio and video output. Bae suggests that "even if the fish can't speak and express their feelings in a human way, it has energy and communicate in its own way". Here, vibration is the medium of interaction.
via Yanko Design
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