tech

If your in the Boston/Cambridge area today, there’s a pretty interesting panel discussion going on over at the Harvard GSD 5-7pm. I’ll try to be there.

“How do the new forms of connectivity enabled by the internet affect flows of power in society? Does electronic communication create new forms of self-identification, new political sensibilities, or new avenues of empowerment? Or do old hierarchies get reinforced and familiar divisions, such as those between male and female or right and left, get more firmly entrenched through new routines? How do design choices affect relationships of power, for example, by selecting who should be connected to whom and across what sorts of spaces? Drawing on studies of teenagers and professional designers, cities and the blogosphere, this distinguished panel will lead us on a fascinating journey across today’s changing public spheres. They will offer tantalizing glimpses into the democratic imaginations taking shape in cyberspace.

Full description here.


The Big Thrill Clock flips and flaps 2 rolodex like card sorters to tell time .  As cool as it is already I was disappointed it did not have an alarm function that flipped both panels spontaneously fanning you awake! Awesome buy from Nextime! ($150)

If you want to stay digital, go get the sweet  Fliqlo Screensaver for your computer! If your craving a custom  Monster Clock, go right ahead here.

In an ideal world, all materials would be recyclable and everybody would recycle. The harsh reality, though, is that over 75% of water bottles, perhaps the most readily recyclable product in the world, end up in oceans or landfills. So, while it’s critically important to design for recyclability, only in the best-case scenario are the products we design actually recycled.

Enter Planet Green Bottle, with their innovative plastic additive, Reverte. Combined with PET, Reverte offers a time-delayed biodegradability that breaks down plastic even in landfill conditions. By severing the bonds of a carbon chain into pieces that are small enough to be used as food for microbes, Reverte leaves nothing but CO2 and water behind. And, most impressively, the reaction can be delayed for anywhere from 2 or 5 years, so products can live a normal shelf life without fear of spoiling, leaking, dissolving, etc., and is still fully recyclable.

While recycling will always be the Cradle-to-Cradle ideal, Reverte factors in actual, albeit unfortunate, consumer behavior by offering biodegradabilty when recyclability fails. Makes it easier to design with a conscience, offering a good temporary fix until the system encourages 100% recyclability.

photo via flickr

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=shared" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Microsoft released a new video with their glimpse into the future. Most of the concepts seen are projects happening world wide and not just at Microsoft and really not that far out. Though most of the ideas are to promote the brand, it’s always good to get a refresh on the future and how technology might change our behaviors.

Really interesting discussion if your into the future in digital mobile social networking.

http://www.weforum.org
01.30.2009

The Next Digital Experience
Social networking applications and sophisticated mobile devices are combining elements of the real and virtual worlds, and delivering an augmented experience of reality.

How is this digital experience changing consumers and communities?

Hamid Akhavan: Chief Executive Officer, T-Mobile International, Germany
Eric K. Clemons: Professor of Operations and Information Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Chad Hurley: Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, YouTube, USA
Craig Mundie: Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft Corporation, USA
Shantanu Narayen: President and Chief Executive Officer, Adobe Systems, USA
Mark Zuckerberg: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Facebook, USA

Moderated by
Michael Arrington, Founder and Editor, TechCrunch, USA”


Snow is melting, birds are chirping, and warmth is near. Hello spring, bye bye winter.

Gaming: Real air pilots race simulated pilots.
Art: Matthew Chambers sculptures. Pretty neat.
Art: The drawings of James Jean.
Tech: Storytlr.com, recompiling your feeds to make sense.
Object: A pretty cool scale with large text!
Tech: Spreednews.com, reading text fast without page turns via your pda.
Tech: DingItUp.com, be informed when a  webpage is up or down!
Science: Visualizing Invisible Magnetic Waves. Very cool!
Art: Toilet roll cutout art work by Yuken Teruya.

Bill Gates gives a rather compelling lecture while releasing a jar of mosquito’s into the TED audience!

“Bill Gates hopes to solve some of the world’s biggest problems using a new kind of philanthropy. In a passionate and, yes, funny 18 minutes, he asks us to consider two big questions and how we might answer them.”

Q&A session:

I’m off for the week to TED2009 for this years theme “The Great Unveiling”, but this round I’ll be in the satilite space in the new Palm Springs location. I won’t be blogging too much, but you can follow me on twitter, or if your there, let me know and we’ll meet up. Check out the full TED schedule here or my previous TED adventures.


Mihoko Ouchi and Sherwood Forlee of “Think of The” have created a very pop art like laptop speaker in the form of a quotation bubble. Very simple and rather amusing! Personally, I’d prefer a black rimmed, white speaker to match Ji Lees Bubble Project Stickers, but black works just as well

Available this soon in 2009 for $120.
(more pics after jump)

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What happens when you bring the whole freakin’ internet into a room to talk, drink, get happy, and call it an internet culture conference? We’ll, in truth, I’m not sure, but I’m headed down to NYC to find out at this years ROFLThing gathering!

Founded by Tim Hwang (Harvard Berkman, Creative Commons,The U.S. Bureau of Fabulous Bitches) and his rock star team of coders, shakers, and makers, RoflCon (Rolling on the Floor Laughing) kicks off this Saturday in NYC at Santos Party house. The event seems to be sold out, but throw them a note and get on the list or tip the bouncer a few bucks.

A few speakers/attendees to note:
ObamaGirl
Phillip Torrone at MAKE
– Bre Petits of MAKE, NYCResistor
Jim Louderback of Revision3
– Ji Lee of Bubble Project
– Jason Bitner co-founder of FOUND Magazine
– Matt Bledsoe and Troy Hitch of You Suck At Photoshop.
Vincent Connare, creator of Comic Sans Font
– Ian Spector of Chuck Norris Fact Generator
– Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere
– Alexis Ohanian co-founder of Reddit
– and anything else internet!
– The rest of the NYC RoflThing speakers+schedule here.