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Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts

The Entertainment Robot That May Just Transform Your World: The Keecker.



Created by former Google employee, Pierre Lebeau, it looks like a Roomba on steroids and acts like a mobile projection theater, security camera, concert hall, internet and wireless game console all in one. It’s like having your own little Robot that provides you with Google services, streaming entertainment, gaming apps, web-cam and more - it's a Keecker.

The Apple iCup. I Would Buy This In A Heartbeat.



Designer, illustrator and 3D Artist, Tomislav Zvonaric (aka DevianTom) of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada has conceived an homage to the Apple brand by designing the Apple iCup.

High Tech Desk With High Price Tag Has High Hopes: The Stir Kinetic Desk


Stir Kinetic Desk Hero IIHIH

Many of us spend a good portion of our waking hours at desks, using computers and other devices to communicate and collaborate with the world around us. The folks at Stir felt that there was an incredible opportunity to re-imagine the desk as something powerful, life-changing and even lovable and that's how they came up with the pricey $3,890 Stir Kinetic Desk.

Stir Kinetic Desk 8 IIHIH

The people behind Stir are from places you’ve heard of: Apple, Disney, and IDEO to name a few. This includes industrial designers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, software developers, user-interface designers, marketers, media folks, and a whole bunch of smart business creators.

In recent news Stir has secured $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Vegas TechFund and Zach Ware. Josh Makower, John R. Woodard, Richard Klein, and other Apple alumni also contributed to the round, according to TechCrunch.

The startup will use the new capital for the expansion of its production and distribution. It will also develop more ways to increase the functionality of the kinetic desk, the report added.

So what makes an almost $4000 desk a worthwhile investment?

Stir Kinetic Desk features IIHIH

Here's how it works:
The Stir Kinetic Desk is driven by software, and adapts to your work style. It knows when you arrive, and tracks standing time and extra calories burned.Stir Kinetic Desk 1 IIHIH
Stir Kinetic Desk How it workd IIHIH

The Stir Kinetic Desk also learns from your patterns and preferences. In active mode, the Whisperbreath feature gently moves the desk up and down one inch, inviting you to change position. It’s a gentle, tactile reminder to breathe deeply and change things up. The desk learns when it’s best to remind you, so that being more active is effortless.

stir_Kinetic_Desk  readout (Credit- Sarah Tew_CNET)

Beneath the desk’s sleek exterior, sophisticated electronics learn users’ patterns and preferences and coordinate the desk functions with user goals. A presence sensor identifies when a user is at the desk so that calorie burn and percent-standing metrics are accurate. A database tracks each user’s goals and progress and automatically invites movement at appropriate times. The “active mode” switch on the front of the desk turns on and off reminders. A color display with a touch-sensitive interface provides user interaction and feedback.

Stir Kinetic Desk 5 IIHIHStir Kinetic Desk 4 IIHIHStir Kinetic Desk 2 IIHIH

The user interacts with the desk through a 4.3-inch color LCD touchscreen (approx. 2” x 3.5”). A user can command and control the desk with gestures through the simple touch-sensitive interface.

Stir Kinetic Desk 3 IIHIH

Data on progress and history are provided through a series of graphical and text-based data visualization tools. These tools allow a user to be in touch with fitness progress toward individual fitness and health goals each day, week, or longer.



Working at a desk also means connecting to power sources and accessory devices. The Stir Kinetic Desk is equipped with bluetooth and wi-fi hardware and has built-in ports for both AC and USB power. Your desk will be neat, clean, and free of pesky cords that can distract you from being inspired or anchor you in a sitting position.

connecting

The Stir Kinetic Desk has a set of proprietary algorithms and custom interfaces to allow the desk to sense, learn, and adapt to the needs of each individual user. The firmware also tracks usage and remembers data and preferences.

Health and Wellness
Stir's surveys indicate that less than 30% of other sit/stand workstations successfully engage their owners and deliver the full health and wellness benefits of sitting less. They are either too hard to use, disrupt other worktop equipment, or simply get left in one position for too long because you’re thinking about something else. The Stir Kinetic Desk was created to eliminate these barriers.

People around the world are studying the ill effects of what is now being referred to as the "sitting disease" and below are a few examples:

”Sitting is the smoking of our generation.“ - Harvard Business Review

Each 8-hour day sitting can cut 2.5 hours off of life expectancy. - British Journal of Sports Medicine reference in NYT

”When you sit for an extended period of time, your body starts to shut down at the metabolic level.“ - Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences, University of Missouri (Women's Health: Your Body's Biggest Enemy - The dangers of living a sedentary life)

50-minute daily productivity improvement with sit/stand - Miami University Study

Detailed Technical Specifications*
Stir Kinetic Desk specs IIHIH

• Dimensions
Top Dimensions: 58.5” x 29.5” x 3.5”
• Adjustable height:
Approximately 25” – 51”, electrically actuated
• Weight: ~150 lbs.
• Dynamic load capacity: 75 lbs.
• Static load capacity 200 lbs.
• Capacitive Touchscreen input: color 4.3” screen
• Power ports: 8 AC & 4 USB
Two (2) power ports at back corners of desk, with 4 AC and 2 USB each
Each port compartment is 12” x 8.5” x 2.5” and can be used to hide or store cables or other power equipment

Materials and Colors:
Stir Kinetic Desk 6 IIHIH Stir Kinetic Desk 7 IIHIH Stir Kinetic Desk 9 IIHIH

• Desktop is a hardwood core with a variety of premium finishes including hardwood and hard-coated polymer options
• Power port covers are powder coated metal, hinged in coordinated colors
• Desk legs are powder-coated metal, available in coordinated colors
• Desk underside is lacquered high density fiberboard, available in 4 colors
Green: Pantone 361C
Ultramarine: Pantone 2728C
Crimson: Pantone 200C
Charcoal: Pantone 426C
Electronics
• Line Voltage: 100-120V AC
• Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase
• Operating Temperature: 50° to 85° F (10° to 29° C)
• Relative Humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing

Simple assembly required including attaching legs with bolts and attaching the middle underside panel.



* Specifications subject to change. Product includes wifi and bluetooth hardware. Software to use these features has not yet been developed. Wifi and bluetooth features will not be enabled initially and the timing for offering any additional features using wireless communication functions will be at Stir's sole discretion, and with terms of use to be determined by Stir. User presence sensing accuracy can be impacted by some environmental factors; 100% accuracy not guaranteed. Stir desktops are made from natural hardwoods and are hand crafted and finished and therefore may have irregularities in the surface and finish.

Order the Stir Kinetic Desk here

Visit Stir for more information

Packaging For The Happy Show's Typographic Films by Sagmeister & Walsh


Sagmeister Bluray USB pckg IIHIH

These beautifully designed limited edition Blu-ray packages for three of Sagmeister & Walsh's typographic films, currently shown as part of the traveling exhibition "The Happy Show", each contain a unique earthenware USB drive (specific to each film), the disc and a certificate of authenticity. All the black boxes were individually written on by Stefan.

Sagmeister Happy Pckg 1 IIHIH
Be more flexible IIHIH
if i don't ask IIHIH
Now is better IIHIH
Sagmeister Happy Pckg 2 IIHIH
Sagmeister Happy Pckg 3 IIHIH

Centered around the designer's ten-year exploration of happiness, the traveling exhibition of Sagmeister & Walsh's The Happy Show presents typographic investigations of a series of maxims, or rules to live by, originally culled from Sagmeister's diary, manifested in a variety of imaginative and interactive forms. To contextualize the maxims that appear throughout the exhibition, Sagmeister has gathered the social data of Harvard psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Steven Pinker, psychologist Jonathan Haidt, anthropologist Donald Symons, and several prominent historians. In addition to individual works, some of which have been custom-made for this exhibition, The Happy Show includes a personal narrative, as Sagmeister's individual experience is portrayed beside social data detailing the role of age, gender, race, money, and other factors that determine happiness.

sagmeister and walsh by john madere
above photo of Stefan Sagmesiter and partner Jessica Walsh, credit to John Madere (johnmadere.com)

Stefan Sagmeister talks about The Happy Show exhibit:


Bill Rodgers of C-file reports that "The Happy Show was a 2012 traveling exhibition by the New York design firm Sagmeister & Walsh. Spearheaded by Stefan Sagmeister, the show premiered at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in August 2012 (and has since traveled through Los Angeles, Toronto and New York). In addition to being a personal narrative of Sagmeister’s quest for happiness through meditation, therapy and pharmaceuticals, The Happy Show also looked at happiness through social data with factors such as age, gender, race and money. Sagmeister’s work employed graphic design, graffiti, bright yellows, free gumballs and activity cards suggesting things such as cutting out of the show early to go home and have sex.

go home and have sex happy show IIHIH

Video was also a feature of that exhibition. Three of those films are now available in a limited series of boxed USB drives. Each box was written on by Sagmeister; they bear individualized therapeutic reminders to be present, flexible and to ask for what you want. The USB drives themselves are made of ceramic and resemble horns, or tentacles or worm specimens. They look like exhibits taken from the mental health wing of the natural history museum.

Sagmeister Happy Pckg 4 IIHIH Sagmeister Happy Pckg 5 IIHIH

Physical media is dead. The conventional wisdom among people who produce this soon-to-be-ancient material is that physical media works best when it enhances the experience of the song or video contained within. Within the last decade we’ve seen musicians release albums that are pressed on X-ray images or are part of a vast alternate reality game. Sagmeister, who has worked within the music industry creating album art for musicians such as Lou Reed and OK Go, seems to be working with similar logic as he created a highly-personalized artifact from his exhibition that draws the experience of his work forward, even if you’re only viewing it from your home computer."

Credits:
Creative Director : Stefan Sagmeister
Art Director and Designer : Santiago Carrasquilla
Designers: Christian Widlic, Esther Li, Thorbjørn Gudnason
Ceramic Production: Janine Sopp
Box Production: South Side Design and Building

Check out the fun title sequence on this one Happy Show video:


all images and information courtesy of Sagmeister&Walsh

Pininfarina & Napkin Collaborate To Create A Pen That Never Needs Ink. Ever.




Italian design and engineering firm, Pininfarina, combines their seductive styling with Napkin's technology to introduce the 4.EVER Pininfarina Cambiano, a revolutionary writing instrument. The pen was made in conjunction with Napkin, who created the first stylus made of aluminum with a tip made of Ethergraf®, a particular metal alloy patented by Chic Trading. With this special metal alloy, the pen can write indefinitely with no ink and no refill.



The body of the 4.EVER Pininfarina Cambiano combines aluminum and wood, design cues taken from Pinafarina's Cambiano Concept Car. Add to that the technology developed by Napkin for their own 4.Ever stylus which comes in four colors (blue avio, black, titanium and aluminium) and you have the latest innovative writing object to come out of Italy.



The 4.EVER Pininfarina Cambiano will be matched with a notebook realized in stone paper, a paper manufactured from the stone powder, stronger than the traditional one and water resistant, an eco-friendly material with a minimal environmental impact. The notebook is enriched by the original sketches of the Cambiano concept car.


above: sketches of Pininfarina's Cambiano

In the meantime, if you want an inkless pen, you can purchase on of Napkin's 4.Ever stylus here


The World's First Interactive Print Ad (For The Moto X) Breaks In This Month's WIRED magazine.




To drive home the 'customization' concept behind Motorola's Moto X Mobile phone, Digitas, with some help from T+Ink Technology, has created the very first interactive print ad. Select copies (only 150,000 distributed in Chicago and New York) of the January edition of WIRED magazine will feature a print ad that allows you to begin designing your own Moto X phone by simply pressing on colored buttons to change the color of the back of the smartphone's case.




This animated gif (courtesy of FastCoCreate) gives you a peek at the technology:


Then the viewer is directed to a site where they can complete the customization process and order the smartphone, if they so desire.

See how it works in the video below:




Motorola


Time Wrapped Around Your Finger. The Ring Clock Becomes A Reality!



This award winning rechargeable time piece was initially designed by Gusztav Szikszai two years ago, sparking a lot of interest, with many people in various forums asking how they could get hold of one.

And That's A Wrap, Folks. Here's What Mattered To You In 2013.






Here's how the world 'searched' in 2013, broken down by categories, courtesy of... Google, of course. These are based on search topics with the largest global search volume.

Trends:                    People:


Events:                    Athletes:


Consumer Electronics:  Hashtags:


Movies:                    Performing Artists:


TV Shows:                YouTube Videos:



And here's how the U.S. searched in the categories that really mattered:

Apparel:                   Beer:


Books:                     Blogs:


Cars:                       Dating Sites:


Deaths:                   Dogs:


Internet Animals:     High Fashion Brands:


Memes:                   Movies:


Popular Gifs:            Reality TV Stars:


Restaurants:            Shoes:


Songs:                    Sports:


Tech Gadgets:          Toys:


TV Shows:               Video Games:


What Is...:               Workouts/Exercise:


I hope your 2013 was everything you wanted it to be and that 2014 is even better. Happy New Year!





Animated Christmas Gifs By Various Artists Bring The Holiday To Life.




Christmas Gifs is a festive showcase of animated gifs created by an international group of illustrators, animators and directors; a project curated by Ryan Todd and built by Enjoythis. Some cute, some funny, some stylish, others twisted. They have a mix of illustration styles, yet all add a little fun, and talent, to the holiday.

Here are several of my favorites, in no particular order.

The Christougenniatiko Dentrophobic Bauble by Supermundane:


Chris Robot by UpstartThunder:


Magical Santa Henshin! by Khctang:


Santa's Little Hopper by Versus :


Happy Birthday by Ross Phillips:


Way Home by Cento Lodigiani:


FORE-ther Christmas by Animade:


Väterchen Frost by Finally:


ROUND Christmas by Vagoom:


The Gif That Keeps On Giving by Kristian Hammerstad:


Santa's gotta gun by Jack Hudson:


Sprouts alone by Matthew the Horse & Amy Mackay:


Snow Angels by Tom Mathieson:


Christmas CanCan by Malika Favre:


Merry Saturnalia! by Stephen McNally:


Christmas Puddinged by Rumpus:


Losing Sight of the Holidays by Will Bryant:


Santa's Coming by James Wignall:


To see all of the animated Christmas Gifs, go here

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