That is the basic model behind the wearable camera that blinds a user until he is touched by someone else.

The project was created by Artist Eric Siu and is called Touchy.

With Touchy, Siu wants to highlight social anxiety, which he believes is caused by the increased reliance on communication mediums like Facebook and Twitter. He says that the helmet emulates the isolating experience of over-reliance on social networks, and turns the wearer into a social device.

Touchy has two giant shutters that remain closed without human contact. Once the helmet’s sensors detect touch, the shutters open and illuminate the wearers eyes, the blindness is temporarily lifted until the connection is broken. If someone maintains contact for ten seconds, a photo is taken by the camera mounted on the front of Touchy, which is then displayed on a screen round the back.

Check out the heartwarming video below

@maniac13

Disney Research is always working on some cool stuff and now they are showing off a pretty cool and quite sophisticated touch-sensing technology called touché.

Compared to capacitive touch screens that measure 1 frequency this new technology is measuring a range of them which means it not only can detect multi touch and gestures, but also distinguish between different objects or parts of the body.

It will also add touch to non-traditional surfaces, like liquid.

Check out the video below and see some of the examples on how Disney sees this technology being implemented in the future.

@maniac13

Heiko, our German development guru found a passion for the birds in Sydney and he wasn’t alone. Here is the story of Wingtags told in his own words:

“Ever since my fianceé and I arrived in Sydney two years ago, there was something we particularly liked about this city. It’s probably because we both grew up in Germany, not a place exactly famous for abundance of wildlife, but we were always delighted to see these large, noisy, sulphur-crested cockatoos flying low across our heads, chasing tourists in parks and stirring up the CBD area with their distinctive raucous calls. Having had the chance to live close to the botanic garden for almost our entire stay, we started to study and eventually grow fond of these remarkable birds that turned out to be surprisingly intelligent.

Earlier this year we started to collaborate with a University of Sydney & Royal Botanic Gardens project which attempts to monitor their movements, breeding and habitat preferences with the aim to better live alongside urban wildlife. Even the SMH talked about it already here. Being both experienced mobile app developers, we couldn’t ignore the crowdsourcing potential and started to design a little iPhone app that comes with a simplified interface to report sightings of tagged birds. The App is called Wingtags and you can download it from the link here and below. Just spot the number on the wingtag, enter it into the app and feel free to attach a photo of your encounter if you get close enough for a nice shot.

Download the app from the App Store

We hope this project gets one or two Sydneysiders a little more curious about the feathery inhabitants of this extraordinary city. Once the database starts filling up, we’ll also be able to visualize the movements of birds right within the app. Spot a bird in Potts Point in the evening just to find out that it had breakfast in Manly – that may pretty much coincide with your own commute.

Special thanks goes out to Robbie Tapping (Amnesiafish in Melbourne) for building the API for the database and to Amnesia Razorfish for sponsoring hosting and bandwidth. The birds do very much appreciate it.”

Let the bird catching and cataloguing begin.

@maniac13

Yes you read that correctly, our beloved furniture maker from the days when we didn’t have money and we were all about DYI has announced that their TV storage units now come with build-in TVs – called Uppleva.

The LED backlit TVs will be available in 24 – 46 inches and will be build into the furniture together with a Blu-ray / DVD player and a 2.1 (2.1? really? what kind of surround sound is that?) surround sound setup.

The TVs are Full HD, SMART Vs that are Wifi ready and play DivX files which is something that all TVs should do.

One of their selling points is that all the cables are hidden to reduce the clutter, but at the same time the TV offers multiple USB and HDMI ports on the side – so luckily you can add all your other gadgets to it and bring back the cluttered cables

Mind you as a student with no money, just moved out of home and your parents offered to buy you some furniture, why not have the TV build into it. Prices seem to be starting at around $1000 and it should be available later this year in selected European countries.

Will I buy one? probably not. I think IKEA needs to stick to what they are good at and that is furniture.

Check out their video below

Let me know what you think in the comments

@maniac13

Remember the days when you were sitting in front of your CRT TV playing with your Atari 2600 playing Asteroids by yourself? I do.

Now that is all in the past as the new version of Asteroids here is a massively multiplayer online (mmo) game and instead of chasing asteroids you shoot other players from all over the world.

It’s a relatively simple arcade-style game in which you attempt to rack up as high a score as possible before running out of lives, and you can sign in with Twitter to put a name to your score.

@maniac13

The rumours have been around for a while but Google finally unveiled Project glass. 

Google X – the secret Google lab that focuses on technology that should reach the masses. They worked on this project to deliver a technology that should work for you, to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t. Augmented reality puts information in your field of view with information about your surroundings, answers to questions you asked and waypoints on maps if you want directions. It can also take picture that you can instantly share with your Google+ circles.

check out the video below to get an idea of what it is capable off.

The glasses are in Beta testing at the moment and Google hasn’t released and dates or prices for it yet.

It is fair to assume that Google will release the technology and glasses manufacturers will be able to implement it into their creations.

So where is my prototype to test it, Google?

@maniac13

Most touch panels and controllers today suffer from about a 100ms delay and while most people got used to it, I still find it really annoying.

And so does Microsoft as they are putting money into the task of getting rid of that lag. Microsoft Research has figured out a way to get the delay down to 1 ms.

check out the video below to see the difference.

Pretty awesome and I can’t wait to see this technology going mainstream and into all kinds of touch devices.

@maniac13

The smart peeps at MIT have created a camera that can look around the corner.

To do this, the system uses a so-called femtosecond laser to send out extremely short light pulses that are aimed at a nearby wall, then bounce around, hit the object hiding and then bounce back to the camera.

Then smart software figures out what is lurking behind the wall by determining how long it took those pulses to return to the camera.

This happens over and over again at different angles, meaning that the system will ultimately be able to get a general idea of the object hidden.

check out the video below

@maniac13

How do those 2 fit together you ask? Microsoft has teamed up with Lionsgate to show off the latest HTML5 techniques (movie-like effect: stream, lens flare and video projections) and to promote IE9.

Check it out here

I had some issues getting onto the page, but I think it is because it is making the rounds in the internet and everybody is checking it out.

Nevertheless it is a pretty nifty and beautiful site and you have the ability to connect it to your facebook and your friends appear on billboards and screens.

The site also gives you some exclusive movie content and there are 2 easter eggs that reveal 2 never before seen clips.

• 1. In the Control Room you can type in "ivolunteer" on your keyboard after clicking on the map section
• 2. In the Avenue of Tributes you can click on Katniss and then Peeta to reveal a clip from the training center

I can’t wait for the movie to come out as it looks great and it looks like HTML5 is being pushed to its boundaries on this site.

Check out the trailer if you haven’t seen it.

@maniac13

Nikki & Meghan

We are all so proud of you. Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

The girls in action!

is still ugly and it reminds me of those VR systems in gaming arcades that somehow died out.

Forth Dimension Displays, a company that produces high resolution near-to-eye microdisplays that are used in microscopes, film cameras erc., want to take their displays to get to the next milestone of gaming.

Last week they demonstrated Half-Life 2 with their head-mounted, motion-sensing, high-definition displays, a vest loaded down with two large drive electronics kits and a modded PlayStation Move gun.

Check out the video below

great video here as well from the verge

I can’t wait for Xbox to support this so I can have one at home.

@maniac13

German artist Martin Klimas took porcelain fighting figures and let them “fight”.

The photos were taken just when the figurines shattered after being dropped – the sound of the breakage set off the camera shutter and the results are stunning. It really looks like they are fighting.

Here are some more:

Head over to his site to see more of them and his other work.

@maniac13

Simple – you cover it with a bunch of LEDs and make it disappear.

Mercedes Benz wanted to show that their new F-Cell model is good for the environment because it has 0.0 emissions. So they made it invisible.

Or at least from one point of view. One side of the new car was covered in LEDs and the other side had a Canon 5D Mark II attached to it so the video shot by the Canon was than shown on the other side making the car disappear.

Check out the video below, it’s pretty awesome

@maniac13

Our sister company Publicis Mojo, together with Finch and Mobile Projection Unit (MPU) Sydney have developed and documented a look at mobile gaming – “Snake the Planet”

When ‘Snake the Planet!” is projected onto buildings, each level is generated individually and based on the selected facade. Above you can see that the person is part of the level – pretty cool.

Check out a video of it in action

I can’t wait for some more games to be developed. How about some Donkey Kong?

After the break you can find some more information, videos and photos.

@maniac13

Publicis Mojo, MPU and Finch start urban gaming with ‘Snake the Planet!”

Publicis Mojo, Finch and Mobile Projection Unit (MPU) Sydney have developed and documented a world-first in terms of mobile gaming:
Called “Snake the Planet!”, the classic mobile game Snake has been adapted for the urban canvas and can now be played via projection on any building or facade.

The three companies have worked together to deliver a brand new contextual gaming experience.
When ‘Snake the Planet!” is projected onto buildings, each level is generated individually  based on the facade on which it’s being played.
Every window, door frame or sign becomes a boundary and obstacle in the game. With ‘Snake the Planet’, any facade turns into a screen for urban gaming.

"The project is a great example of collaboration and creativity at the intersection of media, entertainment and technology", said Craig Davis, Mojo’s Chief Creative Officer.
Rene Christen, one of MPU’s members added, “We really like that Guerrilla element of just cruising around the city and throwing a game of Snake up on any building we like, it makes it immediately accessible for everyone.”

Publicis Mojo and Finch have teamed up with MPU to launch the project and have documented it with Finch’s Alexander Roberts as director.  

Together they will develop the project further towards an iPad application and eventually release the code as open source.

Documentation videos
‘Snake the Planet!’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXgrvUoq4W0
Interview with MPU:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbHZ57lfYeo
Still photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mpulabs/

Download of the videos
http://mpulabs.com/videos/Snake-The-Planet-1080p.mp4
http://mpulabs.com/videos/snake-the-planet-(explained)_1080p.MP4

Credits:
Concept and programming:
MPU -http://mpulabs.com/#snake-the-planet
Film Production:
Publicis Mojo -http://www.thisismojo.com.au
Finch -http://www.finchcompany.com
Director:
Alexander Roberts
Creative Producers:
Tim Buesing (Publicis Mojo), Emad Tahtouh (Finch)
Soundtrack:
Tobio ! – Clock Wonk -http://soundcloud.com/tobioh

Who is MPU?
MPU (Mobile Projection Unit) is a Sydney-based collective that is bringing interactive mobile projections into the urban landscape. Using technologies such as OpenFrameworks, MPU’s aim is to generate and drive interactive experiences from existing architecture.

Contact:

Publicis Mojo
www.thisismojo.com.au
Joanne Johnston
joanne.johnston@publicismojo.com.au

Finch
www.finchcompany.com
Rob Galluzzo
rob@finchcompany.com

MPU – Mobile Projection Unit
http://www.mpulabs.com
contact@mpulabs.com

After Stephan’s post appeared on the blog yesterday, it reminded me of an amazing project called Back to the Future (and part 2) by Argentinian photographer, Irina Werning.

By taking a photograph from your childhood, she attempts to recreate the photo with extreme attention to detail. The surroundings, clothes, positioning and facial expressions are all carefully put together to capture that exact moment from your past, in what was your future.

Another couple to note are a ‘do it yourself’ project called ‘Young Me/Now Me‘ where you can submit your own attempts at reenacting your favourite childhood memory and Dear Photograph (below), a blog where you take a photo of an old photo that is perfectly lined up with the original photo’s setting (make sense?). Check it out: