This clip is under a minute long, and definitely worth watching. A group of college students turned their dorm into a giant light show to the tune of classic 80’s TV show Knight Rider:
Tag: technology
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In the 1920’a Fritz Kahn released a series of books depicting the human body using industrial metaphors: switchboards, assembly lines, conveyor belts, projectors, machinery, workers, etc.
His modernist style made use of the growing popular fervor over industrial development, and his exploration of the anatomical relationship to man-made structures is intriguing.
Here we have the nervous system visually compared to an electronic signaling system with the brain as an office where messages are sorted.
I feel very lucky to know a few people who will attend (or would be willing to attend, if distance permitted) the Iconography of the Industrial Body lecture tonight, which will cover some of Kahn’s work.
Body as Machines gallery.
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Andrew Bosley developed a wonderful tool for sparking the imagination. The Brainstormer is a random project idea generator that combines concepts, phrases, objects and descriptions at the click of a mouse.
This application is really fun to play with. I’m sure I’ll find myself using it when I need to shake things up in my brain a bit.
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InformationWeek featured an interesting project in which artists Artists Alex Dragulescu and Julian Hodgson accepted a commission to create visualizations of computer viruses.
Using pieces of disassembled code, API calls, memory addresses, and subroutines associated with the bane of a security team’s existence, they analyzed the data by frequency, density, and groupings.
Algorithms were then developed and the artists mapped the data to the inputs of the algorithms, which then generated virtual 3-D entities.
The patterns and rhythms found in the data gave shape to the configuration of the artificial organisms, and the result was a series of images called Malwarez.
See the rest of the gallery, along with descriptions of each image here.
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There is some stunning nanoscale photography peppered throughout various blogs and science publications. Here are a few favorites I’ve come across.
These red blood cells have been treated with an antibiotic called Phyllomelittin, which apparently has the benefit of making cells appear delicious:
Source (and a few more great photos)This “tiny doll,” designed by researchers at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Industrial Sciences, uses a new method of cultivating three dimensional biological structures.
The researchers created the tiny figurine by cultivating 100,000 cell capsules — 0.1-millimeter balls of collagen, each coated with dozens of skin cells — together inside a doll-shaped mold for one day. After the cell capsules had coalesced to form the doll-shaped mass of tissue, it was placed in a culture solution, where it reportedly survived for more than a day.
The technique may be useful to create bodily organs and tissues with complex cellular structures, aiding the fields of regenerative medicine and drug development.
This gorgeous rose-like image from the Research Materials Society was subsequently turned into a guessing game.
The question:
This tiny rose (above) was made by mixing an exotic element with hydrazoic acid. That element was discovered in Germany, is a soft and silvery metal with a low melting point, and was used to lubricate the bearings of aircraft during World War II. What is it?Source (and some answers posted)
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I’m always intrigued by “meta media” experiments in which artists find unconventional ways to display traditional media. For example, Cinema Redux.
SERPICO, Sydney Lumet, 1973:
This project by Brendan Dawes distills an entire film down to a single image, using a Java program that captures a sample every second and generates an 8X6 pixel image of the frame. Each row represents one minute of the film.
VERTIGO, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958:
Dawes states:
The end result is a kind of unique fingerprint for that film. A sort of movie DNA showing the colour hues as well as the rhythm of the editing process. Compare Serpico to The Conversation. You can see there’s far more edits in Lumet’s classic compared to the more gentle slower pace of Coppola’s Conversation. This is also down to the editing style of Walter Murch who prefers to only make cuts when absolutely necessary. Have a look through the eight movies and make your own mind up.
You can have a look here.
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Those of us who grew up with classic gaming systems played them on TVs with phosphorescent tubing. CRT displays had their own unique texture, afterimage, color bleed and noise, all of which are lost in modern emulations of classic favorites.
Admit it, fellow children of the 80’s: there is something soul-less and wrong about high definition Atari, with its crystal clarity and precise lines.
Thus Dr. Ian Bogost, an Associate Professor at Georgia Tech, asked a group of CS seniors to simulate a number of CRT behaviors using an Atari VCS emulator. The results were splendidly realistic.
“[The students] are currently working with the maintainer of the free, open-source Stella emulator to patch their changes into the main build, where the effects will be available as a configurable option. Expect to see it there shortly, where hopefully it will benefit players, creators, educators, and archivists alike.” –Source
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Bare is a non-toxic body paint that allows you to become a human electrical conductor (sans electrocution) by applying it directly to the skin.
This innovative material allows users to interact with electronics through gesture, movement, and touch. Bare can be applied with a brush, stamp or spray and is non-toxic and temporary. Application areas include dance, music, computer interfaces, communication and medical devices. Bare is an intuitive and non-invasive technology which will allow users to bridge the gap between electronics and the body.
Wow. This is serious geek hotness.
It’s rare that I’m in front of a camera, but I would love to get my hands on this paint and collaborate with some tech savvy friends on a photo project! Who’s with me?
Thanks to Artie for sending this link.
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Wow…this clip stirs technological and musical nostalgia in a way that makes my little heart flutter. There’s a real sweetness to these outmoded babies chugging along in harmony. I want so much to believe that my gigantic pile of obsolete electronics do this after I’m asleep at night.
There are no effects or sampling. Simply:
*Atari 800XL as the lead piano/organ sound
*Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar
*8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass
*3.5 inch Harddrive as the gong
*HP ScanJet 3C for all vocals.Found here.
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I’m fascinated by random cultural explosions that take place around arbitrary objects. Bacon has become a veritable phenomenon over the past two years, and I’m noticing steady growth of the toast trend.
I’ll refrain from posting images of pictures burned into toast…it’s been done ad nauseum. I will, however, show you this meta-toast mosaic:
It’s not just an emergence of toast products I’ve noticed (such as Tic Tac Toast
, toast bandages
Now let’s enjoy some brief nostalgia.
In 1989, After Dark introduced the Flying Toast Screensaver (first for Mac, later for Windows):
Later, Sims Carnival allowed for more intergalactic toast possibilities.
Who can forget the 1990’s pioneer of these crumbly, starchy heroes, POWDERED TOAST MAN?
High-velocity raisins, corrosive croutons, acidic marmalade, flying butter pats…and of course, flight. He had it all.
Years later, we meet Mr. Toast and his mini empire.
There are countless variations of Mr. Toast images and products. Personally, I’m a fan of Vampire Toast:
(Love the shiny cape…very classy)Slightly more menacing is this toast from one of my favorite web comics.
Never thought toast could be sad? Well, My Paper Crane proves that it can be, if aware of its ominous scorching fate.
If you prefer your toast enraged and screaming, you can now purchase a Mini Toast Pocket Friend:
In fact, angry toast does seem to be all the rage (pun intended).
There was even a design contest based on the concept.
But wait! Not all toast is tragic!
Look at Senor Happy Toast, gleefully self-buttering:
And my own soft toast creations, circa 2006 (and part of a complete plush breakfast) were pretty happy too:
Yummy Pancake’s Mr Toastee flickr set runs the whole gamut.
Happy…
Dressed up…
Drunk…
Whole wheat, original and rye (together in perfect harmony)…
Some modern toast creations include bizarre, counter-intuitive designs like this Soft Toaster Cell Phone Holder, complete with bear face and ears:
(The toast, also with a face, is supposed to “wipe off” the phone…wonder if it’s large enough for touch screen phones)Are you…
(Image source link now dead)What are your feelings about the growing Cult of Toast?
SheWalksSoftly 