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Do Avatars Dream? Link Dream Catcher, by Milan Prucha, investigates the blurring of boundaries between 3D online games players and virtual life experiences. The project is a dream recording and sharing service for Second Life avatars. The service can only be accessed by avatars (via specially designed dream recorders) from within the Second Life world. Although the work exists in a virtual and intangible space, the service itself (running live withing Second Life) is real. Real people control the avatars, and hence the dreams that the service receives are the dreams of real people from all over the globe. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Urban Underground Farming Link  [ permanent link to this entry ]
Intelligent Warp Link Kate Deacon works on making smart textiles and sustainability compatible and uses smart technology to generate organic movements in light-reactive interior textiles.
Intelligent Warp is a window blind that stores energy, which it then slowly releases to power and light the home. A fully closed blind that has no exposure to light remains closed. As natural light makes contact with the fabric it starts to contract. The heat of the sun warms the Shape Memory Alloys so that it contracts then allow sunlight through. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Oxygena Air Purifying Floor Tiles Link We've been watching this application of what is a 'natural technology' for some time. Good to see that it is now becoming commercially available. Contrary to what you might suspect, Gambarelli's Oxygena isn't a face cream, it's actually a floor tile that supposedly purifies the air around it.
The tiles contain titanium dioxide, which reacts to polluting gases and eliminates them, all through a completely natural process - at least that's what they're claiming. The tiles are primarily designed to be used outdoors, to remove nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide produced by vehicles and the like, but the company says they can also be used indoors, where they'll keep your bathroom and kitchen smelling titaniumy-fresh. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Storytelling Wearable Devices Link Xiao Li Tan 's Storytelling Wearables: An Alternative Autobiography explore storytelling and enable people to discover Xiao's relatives and birth city through looking at the movie bag, examining the shell necklace, and by lifting the hidden pieces on the skirt.
The Portable Movie Bag shows images of Taishan in China. People can also learn about the stories of the artist's relatives by lifting some fabric on the Peekaboo Portrait Skirt, and they can experience her childhood memory of shells through the glowing Mood Shell Necklace. All the pieces are either powered by 3v battery, or self charged battery. They are portable and meant to be worn. More pictures. [ permanent link to this entry ]
The Futures Lab To Work With Harlequin and The Busselton Challenge We are very excited to be partnering with these two fine organizations in their respective futures. [ permanent link to this entry ]
Now I Know My Internet: More Nursery School Children Going Online Link Before they can even read, almost one in four children in nursery school are learning a skill that even some adults have yet to master: using the Internet. Some 23 percent of children in nursery school -- kids age 3, 4 or 5 -- have gone online, according to the Education Department. By kindergarten, 32 percent have used the Internet, typically under adult supervision. The numbers underscore a trend in which the largest group of new users of the Internet are kids 2 to 5. More > [ permanent link to this entry ]
Heads Up Display In The Real World Link Olympus has prototyped a head mount display that shows information when required without impairing vision. The device projects information on your glasses (normal or sunglasses). The goal here is to project everyday use data like train schedules or the arrival of an email or whatever else you might want. The system could potentially incorporate a database with information about the city, providing information about the area where you are situated, possibly via a GPS system and an optical tracking system that detects what the eye is looking at.
Of course the device might also provide for on-the-move simulated environments / gaming, which offers a new dimension to a variety of social issues. Consider the concerns over cell phone use while driving, this particular technology could put that to shame! [ permanent link to this entry ]
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