The Pre-Photoshop Arabesque

This was the cover of the 1986 album "Island Life" with Grace Jones from Island Records. This move is pretty much impossible to achieve, unless you're photographer Jean-Paul Goude. Before Photoshop, there was just lots of frames and then lots of studio time working with the negatives. Dodging and burning, the good old days of photography. (Although I do love digital)

Click here for more info on the making of this shot.

Radiohead 'Nude' Goes BetaMax

So this dude, recreated the Radiohead song using "A Sinclair ZX Spectrum 8-bit PC was used for rhythm and lead guitars, an HP Scanjet 3c was used for bass guitar, an Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer was used for drums, and an array of hard drives were used as bad speakers to distort and reproduce vocals and effects." -The Gizmodo article.

I don't like Radiohead, but that's pretty awesome. Much respect. Bringin it back 80s style.

Turntable Drumming

Palandromic Evolution

Robot Conducts Human Orchestra

This is the Honda ASIMO robot tha everyone is all excited about because of its human-like physical capabilities (Granted it could probably crush a rock into sand). It conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for a kids music fund.

The only irony I find in this is that it's a Honda robot conducting in Detroit. Hmm.......

Books OnDemand

Say hello to my little friend. His name is the Espresso Book Machine (EBM) and he's here to make a book for you. Talk about quality with quantity. All you have to do is upload your latest novel (graphic ones too if you choose so) into the program and boom, you'll have a library-quality book to give to your mother. Tell her to send her thank you card to OnDemandBooks.

The EBM lays out, prints, slices, dices, binds, folds, and finishes a book on the spot. Watch the video to learn more.

Real Tech, Faux Turn Table

From across the pond, our buddy Scott Hobbs and the ATTIGO TT have integrated the touch screen into a DJ/mixing set up. The visuals are cool, the interface appears to be easy to use, and mixing is based on sensors. Here's a video that helps to demonstrate it's potential:

Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.

My problem with this stuff is that it's cool, it's mixing things that I love (tech and music). However, aren't you getting away from the art of the scratch DJ? If you got skills, you can just get a cut that has the same beats you would find on an mp3 file. You just look cooler too when you use tables.

People have their preferences on how they execute their art, so I can't knock this, but I just don't want to see the demise of an art because of technology.

Optimus Primed With Junk

All you need is a little over $4K and boom, instant collectors item. Or massive pile of trash. Just make sure to wash all of the dump-goo off. Here's what else the guy did.

Stress-Relieving Flash Game

It's amazing, serene, and cures anxiety by collecting shapes whilst listening to classical piano. Not a bad way to go about it.

It's better than drinking.

What Happens After You Click A Link

So this is called reflow. It's the process by which your computer interprets and displays information from your internet browser. It's kind of like watching a 56k modem load a page from the 90s. Those were the days. Static, beeps, and bloops like your own R2-D2.

And I'm done with my dork for the day.

Oh, So That's How You Make A Logo

From a couple of guys down in Argentina, they break down a logo into its components, use math, and boom, internationally known brand image. Even writers can do it. With a calculator that is. Here are more.

Meet Spectra: Your New Newspaper

This is MSNBC's new news reader. User-friendly, decent load rate, and nice color choice. Perhaps we'll see it on e-paper one day. Go here to get your news feed from a non-static reading platform. I like it.

Sea Dragon, Meet Your PhotoSynth

So this is a synthesis of Microsoft Sea Dragon and Photosynth. It combines technologies and makes the limits, simply put, disappear when it comes to image creation. Honestly, the only way to explain it is to watch the video



To further explain this, here is Photosynth.

Get acquainted with this stuff. We'll be using it some time soon.

Coming To A Window Near You

We've all seen the interactive digital billboards out today. It's pretty cool stuff. Usually it's based around a camera that senses where your at and initiates its program based on that information. Well, a scientific organization, CAVI, has developed a new type of sensor that allows part of the window to be transparent depending on the location of the viewer. They're testing it with Salling, a Danish software company. (Go Danes!)

Watch here for a more detailed explanation*:


*- This thing is still in prototype mode, hence the blue screen. If anything, it's good for a hoot.

Here's the original article.

Daddy, When I Grow Up, I Want To Be An Android

I found this while scrolling around one of the tech blogs I keep an eye on. It's a list of current and patent-pending biotechnologies that will change every one's life. That means you who is reading this. What's crazy about it is the limb regeneration bit. It's like I, Robot meets Predator. I went there.

And I quote from technut:

"1. Self-assembling Nanofibers Heal Spinal Cord - No more quadriplegics in the future.2. Gene Sequencing for the Masses - A personal genome scan for everybody. This will make you aware of what’s going on in your body. It will probably motivate people to live healthier lives.
3. Scientists discover “master gene” for blood vessel growth in tumors - Another great step towards a cure for cancer.
4. Genetic Future: The human genome is old news. Next stop: the human proteome - After mapping our genome, we’d also like to map the proteome. This will tell us everything about all the proteines we have in our bodies.
5. Human Protein May Offer Novel Target For Blocking HIV Infection: Successful In Lab - A step towards curing HIV and Aids.
6. Human trials to begin on ‘diabetes cure’ after terminally ill mice are returned to health - Progress towards the noble goal of curing diabetes.
7. Mad Science: Rejuivenate Your Brain with Umbilical Cord Blood - Rejuvenation. Need I say more? Death to aging!8. Whole genome sequencing costs continue to fall: $300 million in 2003, $1 million 2007, $60,000 now, $5000 by year end - Personal genomes are about to get cheap! It’s close… just like solar power, now that I think of it.
9. Regeneration Initiative enables nerve cells on a computer chip to heal and regrow damaged nerves - Nerve regeneration. Useful if you want to cure paralysis.
10. Researchers create heart and blood cells from reprogrammed skin cells - New cells? Sign me up, buddy! When my body starts wearing out, I want new cells so I can live on for decades longer!
11. Science 2.0 — Is Open Access Science the Future? - Will science go open source? Why not… some software is open source, and look at what it has produced: Linux, one of the most stable OS’es ever to grace the planet. Imagine the results that a worldwide science project could possibly yield.
12. Scientists successfully awaken sleeping stem cells - Good, more regeneration for me!
13. Mini Stem-Cell Labs - More stem cells… (I never get enough of’em!)
14. Gene therapy experiments improve vision in nearly blind - Curing blindness with gene therapy. And keep in mind that this is just the beginning. Don’t believe me? Check back here in 10 years to see if I was right.
15. Troops’ body parts may be regrown - Great, now I won’t have to fear losing a precious, currently irreplaceable body part anymore. I’ll sleep better knowing that my arms and legs are no longer scarce commodities."

Now I don't feel so bad about my late night face-stuffing sessions or the fact I'm going to have arthritis in both shoulders before I'm 30. Hopefully by then, I'll be able to pay with my cell phone.

Here's the link to the article.

Oldie, But A Goodie

Watch Carefully

Possibly the most complicated watches ever. I think these products follow more of the form over function mentality. Check out the rest here. I still want one. One day.

Dude, Get A Dell

I know how this guy feels. Minority power!

Wall Flowers That Shine

Throw away your lamps. Break your candles. Catapult away your flashlights. The future is here, that is, once they actually announce what this thing is. The Light Emitting Wallpaper might be the most revolutionary design breakthrough since Feng Shui.

The guy in the picture, Jonas Samson, created this two-dimensional flat surface that emits light, but when turned off, looks like normal wallpaper. It was created as an entry for the Flat Futures project, an exhibition in the use of digital and e-paper.

Rave anyone?

PS- Just found an article here on how it works.

Beta Noir Anyone?

Coming up next week: An External Cheese Drive.