Weird
Via geisha asobi, this weird toy: Big Bad Booming Bugs:
Collect some insects and place them inside the unique sound chamber. A powerful 3X magnifier enlarges your performers so you can see every detail. Put on the headphones and listen as a microphone under the special sound stage picks up and amplifies every move and noise your bug makes!Includes a handy capture-and-carry bug scooper.
17.99$, what a creepy thing.
I am always stunned by pet technology (that's why I like petistic), there are really incredible innovation in this field. Look at this Pet Master Electronic Pet Guide:
Find out exactly what you need to know about your cat or dog, instantly—with the push of a button! Get emergency information—even on the road! Find the likely causes and treatments for common symptoms. Even get training, nutrition and exercise tips! Product Hightlights: • Includes a built-in shopping list for pet care! • Frames a photo of your pet on the back! • On the road? Find a pet-friendly motel fast! • After hours emergency? Get the location and phone number of pet clinics close to you, wherever you are in the U.S.! • In fact, get practically all the information you’ll ever need about your best friend with Excalibur’s Pet Master! • A donation is made to animal charities with the sale of each Pet Master!
Why do I blog this? even though pet tech is somehow cliché there are sometimes interesting innovative practices, which are not so far from what we with human-beings. And besides, locative/spatial issues related to pets or humans are tightly related too.
When knitting freaks meet topology mathematicians, the outcome is knitting one-sided surfaces or mathematical knitting pages. Mathematical Knitting seems to be a very lively domain, judging from the variety of examples and methods
My favorites are certainly those: first is a klein bottle hat and second is projective plane hat:
(Via social fiction) When San Francisco is interested in turning dog poo into power, some other folks have designed a robot that does not require batteries or electricity to power itself but instead, it generates energy by catching and eating houseflies.
Dr Chris Melhuish and his Bristol-based team hope the robot, called EcoBot II, will one day be sent into zones too dangerous for humans, potentially proving invaluable in military, security and industrial areas. (...) The EcoBot II powers itself in much the same way as animals feed themselves to get their energy, he said. At this stage, EcoBot II is a "proof-of-concept" robot and travels only at roughly 10 centimeters per hour. (...) The EcoBot II uses human sewage as bait to catch the insects. It then digests the flies, before their exoskeletons are turned into electricity, which enables the robot to function.
(Image taken from der spiegel)
Few years ago, it was just a project, and now it works...
This afternoon I ran across stories about railway velocipedes and I think it made my day. For instance, this one is amazing at Catskillarchive.com.
The railway velocipede shown in the accompanying illustration is an adaptation of the design of the safety bicycle to track service, the machine having a, flanged tire on the front wheel and a blind tire on the rear wheel, and being held upright by a brace carrying a small guide wheel, with flanged tire running on the opposite rail. (...) The space occupied, when thus folded, is only 6 ft. x 1 ft. 6 ins., a little more than that required for a road bicycle.
Why do I blog this? first because it's definitely a nice objects and second because I am impressed by the concept of using infrastructures for other purposes (close to Situationists' concept of détournement), it's very like the skateboarding idea in which you use urban topographies to - mmmh - surf through the city.
This inflatable structure enables lightweight transportable buildings, which is somehow intriguing:
Inflatable structures (aka airbeams) have developed rapidly in recent times, finding application in a variety of new engineering projects ranging from military tents in Iraq and Afghanistan to antennas in outer space. (...) By changing design parameters, the airbeam shape can be modified for different products. The team guided and matured two weaving and braiding capabilities into a reliable technology with unlimited potential, according to Leighton, and in the process created an economical manufacturing base.
And it seems to be quite robust as attested by this.
Why do I blog this? hum I am just impressed by inflatable structures...
This is an intriguing project carried out by Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr in Collaboration with Guy Ben-Ary. It's an artistic research and development project into the use of tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression.
In the last five years, we have grown tissue sculptures, "semi-living" objects, by culturing cells on artificial scaffolds in bioreactors. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to culture and sustain, for long periods, tissue constructs of varying geometrical complexity and size, and by that creating a new artistic palette.
The acquisition of living cells and tissues for artistic purposes has created concerns and has focussed attention on the ethical and social implications of creating "semi-living" objects. Thus our goal is to create a contestable vision of futuristic objects that are partly artificially constructed and partly grown/born. These semi-living objects consist of both synthetic materials and living biological matter from complex organisms. These entities (sculptures) blur the boundaries between what is born/manufactured, animate/inanimate and further challenge our perceptions and our relations toward our bodies and constructed environment.
In this project we have used pig's bone marrow stem cells and three dimensional bio-absorbable polymer scaffolds in order to grow three sets of wings.
More information about it on the website of the Pig Wing Project:
The Pig Wings installation presents the first ever wing shaped objects grown using living pig tissue, alongside the environment in which such endeavour can take place. We will attempt to present living tissue engineered pig wings that will be animated using living muscles. This absurd work presents some serious ethical questions regarding a near future where semi-living objects (objects which are partly alive and partly constructed) exists and animal organs will be transplanted into humans. What kind of relationships we will form with such objects? How are we going to treat animals with human DNA? How will we treat humans with animal parts? What will happen when these technologies will be used for purposes other then strictly saving life?
Why do I blog this? still a sunday afternoon browse, I was also wondering about tissues as a new interface (input/output) for certain technologies.
(Update: Thanks cb for telling me that this is really an april joke) Via, this 2005 april joke news (though I did not manage to find any other references about it). As the blog mentions:
Researchers from Belgium have been able to extract voices and sounds from a pottery that is 6,500 year old. The person making the pottery at the time was using something very sensible to vibrations which recorded the sound vibrations on the pottery. This amazing video is in French so I hope you will not mind. However at the end of the video there is a recording shown and you can hear somebody laughing from 6,500 years ago.
The group of is led by belgian researcher Philippe Delaite. Check the video on youtube (in french though).
BUT, after a quick scan in some scientific articles, it seems that other persons are working on that issue: Bart Lynch for instance:
In architecture, natural harmonies occur in Renaissance structures. Harmonic relations of form and space were often based on the golden section and the ratios therein. These same ratios occur in the growth patterns of flowers, fish and other components of nature. I am currently concerned with understanding why these ratios occur and why they are pleasing to us.
I have been translating sounds into three-dimensional pottery using several computer programs in order to see if pleasing sounds make pleasing pottery and vice versa. Using the sound program Sound Edit Pro, I can get a visual representation of a sound that is time dependent. That visual is saved as a picture and imported to the program Swivel 3D where the sound form can be lathed to resemble pottery and used as a template to create actual ceramic works. Using these programs, I have also been animating the figures so that the pottery forms on the computer screen dialogue with the sounds that created them. I see these processes as data-gathering exercises that help me to understand the nature of the harmonic relations so that I will be able to use them more effectively in the future.
Why do I blog this? ... curious sunday browsing found... but it's unfortunately not a real thing ;) a good fake project for regine's collection!
This drawing is somehow recurrent in Geneva (among lots of others, like this one which found also in Lyon and Barcelona), located in various places; even on a door left on a tree in the city.
Just felt it was inspired by the sayajin armor from dbz.
Via nxtbot, How to Survive a Robot Uprising by Daniel Wilson is a funny resource on how to behave in case if robots rebel.
If popular culture has taught us anything, it is that someday mankind must face and destroy the growing robot menace. In print and on the big screen we have been deluged with scenarios of robot malfunction, misuse, and outright rebellion. Robots have descended on us from outer space, escaped from top-secret laboratories, and even traveled back in time to destroy us.
Today, scientists are working hard to bring these artificial creations to life. In Japan, fuzzy little real robots are delivering much appreciated hug therapy to the elderly. Children are frolicking with smiling robot toys.
It all seems so innocuous. And yet how could so many Hollywood scripts be wrong?
So take no chances. Arm yourself with expert knowledge. For the sake of humanity, listen to serious advice from real robotics experts. How else will you survive the inevitable future in which robots rebel against their human masters?
Of course it's humour but we might see this kind of stuff in the future:
DESTROY OR DISABLE EXPOSED SENSORS
Sensors are by far the most vulnerable, exposed parts of any robot. Destroy or disable outward-facing sensors such as cameras. A handful of dirt, mud, or water will suffice. It is hard for a robot to wipe mud from its eyes when it has whirring buzz saws for hands.
My favorite advice is certainly "SEARCH THE HOUSE FOR UNUSUAL ITEMS: Check the robot's quarters for stashed weapons, keys, or family pets".
Why do I blog this? apart from the funny aspects and the fact that I like this kind of drawings, some slogans ('resistance is futile') made me think about Anti-Pop Consortium (scifi hip-hop from NYC). In addition, it's interesting to see how underlying messages about technology and robots like this are beginning to be disseminated in various ways.
I'm in Barcelona (for this) where I just discovered this Flotarium concept: a spaceship-looking sensory deprivation capsule full of water and salts to create optimal buoyancy so that people can float and relax.
The design is impressive. And few minutes after discovering this, I ran across this amazing napmosphere (via): a modular system meant to be like a cocoon - providing a place of shelter.
This seems to be an intriguing trend.
A picture of what astronauts had to wear when flying to the moon: undershorts layered with absorbent material:
At that time it was really lowtech, now it can recycle fluids into drinkable water.
The Wow item creator (designed by Krigaren) seems to be a good way for Chuck Norris fans to express themselves in MMORPG worlds. There are indeed various norris-esque tool such as:
Check also this interesting Chuck Norris Fact Generator that can post random Chuck Norris facts found on ChuckNorrisFacts.com
There are some good folks who are designing a machine to do dreadlocks using mechanical engineering. It seems to be a university project. The first step they choose is to run a quick survey about the need for this.
I did not find any picture of this device, only a bunch of dread tools like the one below:
There is, of course, the supa-dupa kit but it's still not an automated process:
General Management - Technical Services Vatican Telephone Service:
The Telephone Service of the Vatican State is responsible for the study, installation and management of the telecommunications infrastructure of the Vatican. It has been run since 5th July 1948 by devout members of the religious order of the Society of St Paul (la Società S.Paolo), employs over 30 laymen, a few priests and numerous nuns (suore Pie Discepole del Divin Maestro) who, on account of their distinct qualities of seriousness, reserve and in-depth knowledge of foreign languages are employed as operators in the day-to-day running manual switchboar
As a matter of fact, the network has very importance connections: " the first Italian link via radio connecting the Holy See and the Papal Residence at Castel Gandolfo".
Other facts about it here.
Nam June Paik, is a korean artist who designed (in 1964) a robot that can shit in the streets of New York and call/mingle people who pass-by. According to an interview in Wired (back in 2000), it seems that it's the only pooping robot (well except Wim Delvoye's Cloaqua which is more a machine than an anthropomorphic robot). It's called "Robot 456" and the antropomorphism in this case was related to its innovative capacity to XXX.
(Picture Photograph: Hanns Sohm | © Nam June Paik taken here)
Why do i blog this? I like some of his statements like "I make technology ridiculous", the way he manipulated technology and humour is fantastic.
Via the Presence-L mailing list, many High-Definition TV owners report that their pets are having trouble distinguishing the realistic picture from reality itself.
I first noticed this phenomenon in 2001 when I brought home my first high-def set. Surfing the dial, I stumbled upon a HDTV channel that was showing a documentary on the American Bald Eagle. Snoopy was taking a cat nap in a chair to the left of the TV, but suddenly looked up and saw an eagle soaring across the screen. She immediately walked over and began watching -- and she hasn't stopped yet.
As the caption in the article says: "Snoopy tries to catch a fish in a PBS documentary in high-def".
Why do I blog this? well, I don't want to design TV programs for pets but this is an intriguing fact.
People interested in physical interaction MUST check this incredible resource: the Ultimate Guide to Shooting Rubber Bands by Tim Morgan.
we will discuss the many methods of arming and firing a rubber band. Proper mounting and delivery is critical towards making the rubber band go where you want it to. With practice, you should be able to mount your rubber band swiftly and before your opponent can disarm it.
What is of interests are the tricks and methods to use then in various kind of battles. There are some tricks like the following:
My point is that help thinking about new kind of interfaces or way to interact with objects. The crux issue here is the fact that the affordance of a rubber band is malleable and can be apprehended differently.
I think gum-removal technology is one my new favorite weird-tech-focus (after street cleaning vehicles and bathroom tech). The Gum Wizard is interesting for that matter: there is a vacuum to evacuate residues. It falls in the category of the "LIQUID gum remover".
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The Gum Wizard - simultaneously applies steam, pressure and water-base chemical to soften and lift gum wads off any hard surface. The chemical CGR1000 used in the machine, along with the 1 3/4 inch brush, completely emulsifies and lifts the gum off the surface in just seconds. There is also a vacuum to pick up any residue and excess moisture. The machine can also be used for baseboard cleaning, sanitizing hard surfaces without chemical, graffiti removal, degrease kitchen floors and oven hoods, removing mold and mildew, and much more. |
Why do I blog this? I found intriguing those extra-uncool machines, what is often interesting is how they are advertised with weird mottos like "Fantastic Values", "Helps Resist Scale Buildup!", "The difference is like night and day!!" (double mark!).
While doing some weird keywords combination on Mountain View's search engine, I ran across this interesting application allegedly called "Vomit", which means "voice over misconfigured internet telephones":
The vomit utility converts a Cisco IP phone conversation into a wave file that can be played with ordinary sound players. Vomit requires a tcpdump output file. Vomit is not a VoIP sniffer also it could be but the naming is probably related to H.323.The vomit utility is distributed under a BSD-license and completely free for any use including commercial.
