Physical Computing?
Another peculiar object by Jelte van Abbema.
Think of this sonic vibe-technology inside any MP3 player ;)
Have you heard of Microsoft's desktop follow-up Surface Computing ? It is a table size multi-touch screen only, eliminating mechanical intermediaries like the mouse and keyboard …
I couldn't believe the news? Scientist are working on a system that allows you to surf the web with nothing but brainwaves . I thought surfing was a rich physical experience of …
This weeks peculiar image gives gaming that "natural" touch: the Hemp–Mote by dhrek.com Made from 3 kinds of 100% natural hemp string on the outside, while remaining 100% …
What if the mannequins in the shopping windows suddenly started moving? Would you buy more, or would it just trigger your anthropomorphobic responses? Soon we will know. Momo is a …
Are bacteria faster than a computer? According a group of biological engineers they are. The scientists have done a research in which they have used the well-known bacteria …
Data-hungry companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon could reduce their energy consumption with 40% by rerouting data to locations where electricity prices are lowest on a …
Martin Heidegger and Marshall Mcluhan already described people's tendency to extend their identities in the animate objects when interacting with them. When for instance, driving …
Earlier this year, Belgian surgeons successfully performed the country's first full-face transplant using 3D printing. The operation was conducted by a medical team of Ghent …
For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. Think about a spoon. Now think about a spoon with a face. What do you …
What if 3D objects could not only be printed by normal techniques, but naturally grown, using photo sensitive bacteria?
First 3D-printed skull has been implanted on a 22 years old dutch women.
On the emerging field of technologies that are worn close to or on the body
"However, while 3D printers are becoming increasingly accessible and capable of rivalling the quality of professional equipment, they are still inherently limited by a small print …
With the evolving technique called EEG, electroencephalography, we can measure brain activity and ultimately even read the brain.
We think of selfhood as residing in our everyday stream of consciousness. But could we possibly have a second digital self in our online behaviors? Watch episode 3 of our Intimate Technology series.
Digital becomes physical. Move your cursor using this mouse cursor. You can buy one here .
"In the morning paper, I can read the weather report as well as the stock quotes. But when I look out of my window I only get a weather update and no stock exchange info. Could …
Remember the beautiful sequoiaview harddisk visualisation posted a while ago? Above a more illustrative harddisk tree visualisation by professor Jack van Wijk. Branches are …
Hypernose is a short movie made by students of the HKU/KMT. Klick to view it here Found at Lucky Coin Films
Klima Kontrolle (video) is a project by Roel Wouters and Luna Maurer . A fan is placed in front of a computer screen and accelerates until it blows away the entire desktop. …
Despite the metaphor, current virtual desktops (a) have little resemblance to the look or feel of real world desktops (b). Bumptop explores making virtual desktops behave in a …
A robotic hand controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated by researchers in Japan. Subjects lay inside an MRI scanner and were asked to make "rock, paper, …
These totems were developed by analyzing online pornography viewing habits. Custom software was written to sniff all incoming Web traffic at a discreet location, sorting packets …
Snake, the video game that came out in the mid-to-late 1970s gained popularity in the 1990s for its inclusion on some mobile phones. Perhaps the reason why Martin Frey (Berlin) - …
A short story by Terry Bisson. For those who prefer video to literature, there's also this seven-minute film adaptation . "They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "Meat. They're made …
USB was originally only used by computer experts and nerds. Nowadays USB (universal serial bus) has developed into an every-day item and symbol for connecting the digital with the …
Another gadget. An usb memory stick that is capable of changing its physical size, depending on the amount of data it holds. when the device is about to blow up one can see the …
Let us pretend you are a soldier and you are being sent to war. One of the first questions that should pop into mind: how will you prevent yourself from getting shot? Armor that …
Behold the Apple Desk , created for all those Apple IPod style victims. Moreover this design is a wonderful illustration of the penetration of computing in everyday life; once the …
The AR+RFID Lab at KABK (Royal Academy of Art, The Netherlands) sends this marker card, wishing an Augmented Christmas. Funny they need a real tree for hanging those markers... …
The virtual communities created by online games have provided us with a new medium for social interaction and communication. Avatar Machine is a system which replicates the …
I guess we shouldn't expect better from Axe. I'm sure it makes watching internet porn feel so much more like the real thing. One of those products that is a clear signal to RUN if …
Bio Mapping is a research project which explores new ways that we as individuals can make use of the information we can gather about our own bodies. The project envisages new …
Using electrodes positioned around a person's scalp, scientists from the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas in Greece are developping a method for electronic identification …
This home-built hot air gun printing in sugar has great potential for making all kinds of interesting foods. Imagine getting tired of your second life avatar --> just print out …
Japanese researchers have developed head gear that lets people control devices such as an iPod using their teeth. Now that is not really new, except when you take in mind that …
In the UK farmers recall simple circles appearing on their land for generations. The British media first reported on the circles in the early 1980s. By 1990 crop circles had …
The TEMPO is a fake product with a real idea. As I am really neat and eager to clean up my digital desk I tend to throw away too much files. This digital trashcan copies the stuff …
NeuroSky (founded in 2004) innovator in "wearable" bio-sensor/signal processing systems and SEGA TOYS are developing mind-controlled computer games and next generation consumer …
The EnergyTree is a device dedicated to monitoring your household energy use. It monitors you energy output from sockets and any device that is using electricity. It also monitors …
I applaud any new display technique that isn't emitting light. A recent patent application by Philips for a new type of screen based on "furry" pixels , or physical pixels made …
Wow, so what do we have here? Granddad is using some kind of mechanical apparatus to type an email which seems to be instantly printed! Now that's our peculiar image the week.
Phone, internet, television, photography, even books or music: today it is hard for the mind to escape from virtual worlds. A day without communication or interaction could make …
I first saw this statement on the Artvertising building . Let this be our slogan of the week.
I don't know how it is with you, but to me sending smileys in emails or text messages always feels a bit primitive. It's not that I don't like the icons, I really do. I just don't …
Nowadays, most people can't make anything at home because it's too expensive. Roboticist Hod Lipson wants you to stop shopping and use his portable 3-D printer to make your own …
Although there are numerous researchers out there creating humanoid robots, none are as explicit about the close relation between anthropomorphism and narcissism as professor …
Tickle is a small robot that walks on the human body to generate a pleasant, tickling sensation.It has two motors and rubber feet for a good grip on the skin. When it encounters a …
"Who wants a stylus?" Words by Apple's Steve Jobs when introducing the iPhone that uses a revolutionary input device: the finger. Using this device you find that it's pretty hard …
This summer researchers from technology firm QinetiQ and from Aberystwyth University flew an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over fields in England and Wales to map the …
Art Directors Andreas Junus and Irawandhani Kamarga; copywriter Darrick Subrata and photographer Anton Ismael (Indonesia) went through some trouble , visualizing Photoshop's …
Murata Boy, is a robot capable of riding bicycles unassisted. Balancing, pedaling and directing the bicyclee, turning the bike to avoid obstacles, etc. And this is his nephew, …
This burka transmits a self-chosen image of the women wearing it over bluetooth to nearby sellphones. It's a concept by Markus Kison, and it seems like no laws of the Koran are …
Creativity for all! Design used to be predestined to a select group of qualified brand–owning designers. That model is made redundant. At least, if it is up to Studio Ludens in …
The Waterboard is an interactive installation by Mike Burton giving the user a chance to play with water without getting wet. By drawing lines on the whiteboard, the water will …
In the Kenyan wildlife conservancy Ol Pejeta elephants are tagged with a GPS-triggered text messaging device. Before the elephants start raiding the nearby villagers' harvest they …
Famous technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil states: it's going down by 2029, so be prepared to get digital on entirely new levels. According to Kurzweil, machines will have both …
A million years from now that hand would probably look more evolved, but the idea is nice: What if we would mold objects of the now into stone or bricks to preserve them over time …
Last year Google invested four million in 23andme , a commercial research center that maps out your DNA for 1000 bucks. Now Google also invested in Navigenics , a company that …
With their project 'Rules of Six' architects Aranda & Lasch envision an unpredictable, self-generating landscape of interlocking hexagons that could represent rooms, buildings …
A future physical anthropologist who knows nothing about the human race and would dig up a contemporary desktop computer, might conclude homo desktopus must have been the user of …
Artist Max Kor, built himself a World of Warcraft Night Elf from scratch. Check his tutorial for an inside peek in surreal beauty construction. We are waiting for night elves to …
The video below is featuring a computer-generated replica of actress Emily O’Brien’s face at high-definition resolution. The Image Metrics process takes a captured video and …
Humans have domesticated animals for thousands of years. The earliest known evidence of a domesticated dog is a jawbone found in a cave in Iraq and dated to about 12,000 years ago …
At a recent Yo-Yo Ma concert at the Detroit Opera House, Honda's ASIMO robot took the stage and conducted. Blame Honda when the robots take over. Thanks Paul .
(Extracted directly from Pink Tentacle , thanks!): Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can …
"Google has stationed approximately a million computers worldwide to be able to process the 40 billion searches per month. One search request uses as much energy as a low-energy …
Second Skin takes an intimate look at computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). World of Warcraft, …
WARNING: Spending too much time behind the computer, may cause the leaking of elements from the digital environment into everyday life. Self control freak Olivier Otten is …
I used to hear voices in my head, but now they seem to be coming from the walls – am I back in to the womb? No wait.. it's a wall that reacts to the spectators voice (quicktime) . …
Meet midori-san , the first blogging houseplant! Through sensors connected to the leaves of this Sweetheart Hoya reads bioelectric currents through the plant, this gives …
Beauty and the Geek jeans by Erik de Nijs. The trousers offer a full Querty keyboard layout as well as a mouse, speakers and a little joystick. As he calls it: "Beauty is skin …
What would it be like if the communication on a social networking site like Facebook was actually played out in everyday life? Hilarious sketch by Idiots of Ants (thanks Martijn ).
Videogame players celebrated this week as a hotly anticipated sequel to the popular online video game World of Warcraft hit the shelves. The nine million gamers can now play a …
The recent discussion on boomeranged metaphors reminded me of this 20 pound mouse hand created a some years ago for a Paradise by the laptop light event on Next Nature. The …
By MARCEL VAN DER DRIFT. Ten years from now, a cell phone gently sinks to the bottom of the river. It's one of the latest models. The clever design, trendy colours and nifty …
Using thermochromatic ink, which changes color when the temperature exceeds a specific degree, designer Josien Pieters created a prototype of a dynamic wallpaper that …
Since the days of Plato, the lost city of Atlantis has captivated the imagination of many. The city, if you don’t already know, was said to be a naval power located roughly 600 …
This video shows the first beta version of TwittARound – an augmented reality Twitter viewer on the iPhone 3Gs. It shows live tweets around your location on the horizon. Because …
Meet A.T.R.E.E.M. (acronym for Automated Tree-Rental for Emission Encaging Machine), a device that compares daily activities, energy and products to the growth of a tree. "From an …
Its title might be self-explanatory and it sure looks intriguing... however kokkugia fails to give a thorough description for this architectual piece. Classified as 'peculiar …
Forget about palmistry! MRI scans for candidates in top jobs such as bank directors could soon become part of the job-application package, says Erasmus University researcher Prof …
The eye passes on more information to the brain than the brain will process. In that sense, the brain functions as a filter. But on the battlefield the risk of neglecting …
In response to the Boomeranged Metaphors post of last week, visual wizard Ton Meijdam sent us these foldable icons. Print them, fold them and use them to decorate your 3D desktop …
In the nineties laser printers revolutionized graphic design. Currently 3d desktop printers are revolutionizing industrial design. Next we will be printing buildings and …
Scientists of the University of Pennsylvania are creating electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body, through the use of thin, flexible silicon electronics on …
Recently were introduced, the OOMouse ... ...and the Magic Mouse . Both tools are developed to browse the ones and zeros more easily. It almost seems unfair to compare them, so I …
Today browsing and gaming is dominated by the shortcomings of machines, for machines simply do not know who is on the other end. Man needs to interact; therefore man needs to …
Getting information as fast as possible and on the spot is the trend. So what could be more direct than having information fired directly into the eye? Today - together with his …
Although this TED video has been all over the web and commented on this website already, it still deserves a separate post: Desigineers Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry of the MIT …
Using ultrasound technology, researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a holographic projector that displays three-dimensional virtual objects you can feel with your …
An earlier post on this blog already displayed the possible future of sight using augmented contact lenses. Researchers at MIT take this second sight to a next level by …
WiredScience writes: Hackers who commandeer your computer are bad enough. Now scientists worry that someday, they’ll try to take over your brain. In the past year, researchers …
These printed pots were inspired by Southwest Native American pottery and were printed using powdered slip and binder in a three-dimensional printer. Mixing ancient traditions …
Remember Asimo ? Honda has now developped a new Brain-Machine Interface technology that allows humans to control the humanoid robot simply by thinking certain thoughts. The BMI …
No this isn't photoshopped. After a motor accident Finish hacker Jerry Jalava decided not to use a normal prosthesis and felt that a prosthesis usb memory stick would enhance his …
Man is a flexible species. We tend to adapt quite rapidly to new environments. But how fast can these adaptations turn to new evolutionary traits? For instance: to what extent is …
Last year, scientists managed to use the bacteria Escherichia coli to solve a mathematical problem , described in this research . This year, the building blocks of a computer are …
Coughing into your cell phone could soon save you a trip to the doctor's office. Thanks to software currently being developed by Star Analytical Services , people may soon be able …
Doctor gets chip. Chip gets virus. Virus infects other devices... Dalek shoots doctor? Dr. Mark Gasson of Reading University implanted a RFID chip under his skin last year. It is …
Bitquid is an installation by Jeroen Holthuis which shows digital information transferring in an analogue way, through the use of fluorescent liquid. Nowadays the use of internet …
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro ( Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaska University) has done it again! This time in coöperation with robot-maker Kokoro Co. Ltd . Objective: to …
Protection is the fundamental purpose of the helmet. This helmet, a conceptual design project by Seungjoo Lee , enables the storage and protection of memories. Plug in your USB to …
Mud tub is an experimental tangible interface that allows people to control a computer while playing in the mud. By sloshing, squishing, pulling, punching, etc, in a tub of mud …
Do you also have that feeling sometimes that your dentist is undertaking all kinds of activities in your mouth that aren't really necessary? Yet, you usually just trust the …
Unsure whether this video by Patrick Jean should be interpreted as an allegorical vision of the utterly transmuting effect the digital has on the physical , or that it is just an …
The human body is increasingly recognized as a biometric source of information for a wide spectrum of issues, including security, psychopathology, personality and health. Earlier …
Samsung has released the results of a consumer study that indicated nearly a third of Denver–area residents would sooner give up sex for a year that go without a cell phone for …
At Tokyo's Shinagawa Station visitors can now select beverages from a 47-inch touch panel. An embedded camera will recognize your gender and age, allowing the machine to …
Urban intervention, naughty boy-style! The public media interventionists of VR/Urban have designed a cool tool to intervene into next nature: the SMSlingshot. A wooden, embedded …
The ‘Decay’ project explores how traces of time and use can be embedded in textile. By wearing a carbon fibre suit over a white blouse, textile designer Marie Ilse Bourlanges …
As neuroscience progresses, we gain access to previously inaccessible and unexplored areas of the human mind. Consequentially the intricate processes in our brain are cultivated …
It might take a while before this goes mainstream, if ever, but there is a certain luster in being a plant VJ. Augmented Ecologies is an installation by Guido Maciocci, who rigged …
Inspired by crickets, researchers of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology of the University of Twente in the Netherlands have build a biomimetic sensor that can measure changes …
Wikileaks gone physical? Aram Bartholl’s Dead Drops is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space. USB flash drives are embedded into walls, …
The human body as an instrument is a cool example of how culture and nature are merging. Calvin Harris used a giant human synthesizer to perform his single. The material used is …
At Cornell Creative Machines Lab they were curious to see how two "chatbots" would make conversation. Powered by Cleverbot , created by AI researcher Rollo Carpenter, the robots …
Until now we've seen the types of brain-computer interface where the human has to put on some sort of bulky hat full of wires to control a machine. It won't be like that for long: …
A little girl gets angry at her father, and uses her index finger and thumb to make a pinching motion . No, she's not trying to hurt him. She's using iPad sign language to say, "I …
Say hello to teacher Engkey ! The city of Daegu — South Korea, introduced 29 robot teachers in 19 elementary schools as part of a large scale project to robotize teaching. The …
#! Possibly the answer for blind people with cynophobia, the fear of dogs. This robot guide dog is stil a bit slow compared to the old nature version, but as technology advances …
For past entries and an introduction to the 11 Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Design, click here. What people experience as anthropomorphic is highly personal. Tests have …
" The Institute for Digital Biology researches next steps in the evolution of the internet, where websites and services develop into living creatures ." This scenario lives in the …
I've noticed DNA spray notices springing up around Amsterdam. I assumed it was a fairly standard anti-theft device: A crime is committed, a little nozzle is activated by the …
Japanese professor Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University has quite a track record of threading the uncanny valley. Remember his Doppelgänger Robot and Geminoid Female ? His …
Ever wish you could express yourself better over Skype? Tired of being a disconnected head-in-a-box? A team at Stanford University has rigged a Mac computer screen to shake its …
The earth operates on a 24 hour cycle, and so do humans. For most of history, we didn't have much choice in the matter. However, in the absence of visual cues light sunlight, some …
Certain types of bacteria can navigate using magnetic nanoparticles as tiny compasses. Researchers at the University of Leeds have extracted the protein that controls this process …
Now who's gonna scare who? Our peculiar image of the week was sent in by Béla Zsigmond .
A team of researchers from three universities have succeeded in creating the first device that boosts the brain power of primates. In the study, five rhesus macaques were trained …
Researchers at Stanford and the J. Craig Venter Institute recently created the first complete computer model of an organism. The simulation models the genome and life processes …
Thanks to the collaboration between Makerbot and TeamTeamUsa new biodegradable shells are printed for hermit crabs.
Have you heard of Elephantiasis? It is a disease caused by microscopic parasitic worms that cause a thickening of the skin and underlying tissues. The disease typically occurs in …
Volvo cars is testing a new safety system that automatically hits the brakes once an animal is detected in the vehicles vicinity. The Animal Detection System expands the range and …
Tokyo University of Electro-Communications , revealed SHIRI (? = "buttocks"), a "Buttocks Humanoid That Represents Emotions With Visual and Tactual Transformation of the Muscles." …
You all probably know the ' Twitter implant ' from the Nano Supermarket . Scientist at the University of Princeton now created the first working prototype. The implant is actually …
These stones were dug up by future archaeologists, some centuries after the integration of the digital and the material world was completed. No seriously, our peculiar image of …
Printable pizza. The next big food innovation after sliced bread.
Amazon announces they want to use drones to deliver your order within a half hour at any location you choose.
A new kind of piezotronic transistor mesh could make for robotic skin that’s as sensitive as your own is, covered in thousands of tiny mechanical hairs.
Kate Darling argues that society needs to update its ethical landscape to include thinking machines.
British research group created anew scanning technique permits to obtain 3D images and detect wavelengths that our visual system is not able to see.
Google has just submitted a patent for lie-detecting throat tattoo that can also make calls.
The rise of digital currencies reduces the need for physical interaction and communication between people. At the same time every payment method still leans on trust. But how can …
In the movie Fantastic Voyage, a submarine and its crew were shrunk and injected into the body of a sick man in an attempt to save his life. Despite the fictional nature of this …
Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde uses smoke, moisture and lighting to create temporary clouds.
Digestible Microchips are now approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
How incredible would it be to imagine a thing and have it magically appear in concrete form? After food , organs and virtuality , here comes the thought printer! Thinkerthing , …
The News Machine is a contraption that explains the news distortion that happens when a message is broadcast through different media. The starting point is a tweet sent from a …
With advances in genomics, imaging and other technology,scientists have to face the age of big data.
A revolutionary new smartphone for the blind uses a completely tactile interface.
There is a similarity between strings of binary and strands of organic DNA: they both carry actionable information encoded into reconfigurable symbols. Using nature’s biodiversity …
Buckle up for some tracking technologies beyond the beyond.Buckle up for some tracking technologies beyond the beyond.
A robot that applies computer controlled motion to precisely decorate your Easter eggs.
People have complex relationships with their own (and other’s) bodies. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is believed that your feet are a map of your body and can provide …
Mogees: the device that can turn everyday objects into unique and unusual musical instruments.
A new technology aims to provide doctors with a true hologram of organs.
Designer Behnaz Farahi envisions an interactive 3D printed outfit that can detect and respond to the gaze of the other and respond accordingly with life-like behavior.
A wooden floor that follows the curves of the tree it's made of, thanks to smart milling techniques.
We may soon all be making natural gestures to interact with our digital devices.
Two American hackers have been working on hacking cars to takeover full control of vehicles.
How would you feel if robots inherited ethical complications of existence?
22 teams of computer scientists have unveiled a set of algorithms able to predict the odor of different molecules based on their chemical structure. Computers learn how humans smell
The way we interact with the technology in our lives is getting progressively more seamless. If typing terms or addresses into your phone wasn’t easy enough, now you can just tell …