iHologram
September 4, 2008 | Categories: Apple / Art / Design / Technology

Lately I’ve been putting more and more applications on my iPhone, something I didn’t think I’d be that excited by, but I’ve gotten a fair amount of use out of them. But the app above is in a entire different ballpark all together. It’s called iHologram, and features a kitty that looks like he’s walking around in 3D space when you view the screen from a 35-45ยบ angle. Yeah, all he does is walk around, but look how big his eyes are! He’s adorable!

I think it’ll be interesting as time goes by to see how applications like this progress, going from things like games to more arts based projects like this one. The video was created by David O’Reilly, who created the little kitty as a part of his cartoon PSS, and he also has a bunch of other fun video content as well, so be sure to check out there rest as well.

Bobby

BigDog, The Scariest Robot on Earth
August 13, 2008 | Categories: Science / Technology

My roommate Garrett just forwarded me this link and OMG is this some intense robot action! The video above features a robot called BigDog, which is a quadruped robot that has legs which are articulated like an animal’s, sort of like a big, robotic deer. The thing is a technologic masterpiece, featuring advanced control systems that allow it to navigate, balance, sense things like joint position and force, and even monitors internal states like teperature, rpm, and battery charge. This thing is the real deal.

I think this thing is damn creepy, in all honesty. Like the fact that it uses a diesel engine means it makes that intense buzzing sound, which if I were out in the woods alone and I heard that, I’d shit myself. It’s also pretty creepy because there’s nothing it can’t do. I mean, the dude in the video KICKS IT AND IT DOESN’T FALL! As we were watching the video my roommate suggested that he would kick it… obviously that isn’t an option. I’m also pretty sure when they say that it runs on “diesel” they mean “human innards.”

If you’d like some more info check out the Boston Dynamics website, it’s pretty rad and they have a few more robots to check out as well.

Bobby

Earth As Art: A Landsat Perspective
July 14, 2008 | Categories: Photography / Science / Technology

Since 1999 the Landsat 7 satellite has been circling the earth, taking photos of the surface to provide for a more accurate picture of our planet. In 2000, NASA scientists parsed through some of the 400,000 images to create a gallery of amazing images of earth, which were then displayed in the Library of Congress. The collection was called Earth As Art, and featured almost 100 images, showing just how amazing and abstract our planet can look from afar. The images are displayed in real color and infrared, whichever made for a more interesting and dramatic appearance.

I love shit like this. It still amazes me to see images like this, though seeing them blown up at a huge scale would be 100 times more impressive, I’m sure. There are actually several ways to view the exhibit. There’s this more childish (not in a a bad way!) map of the earth where you can click on a continent and view the images. Or you can click here to see the whole shebang, which is probably your better way to go. Take some time to look through all the images!

Found through Environmental Graffiti

Bobby

P.S. Wouldn’t those make great mixtape covers?!

My Jawbone Headset: One Month Later
July 1, 2008 | Categories: Technology

It’s July 1st, which for those in California means you can no longer talk on your cellphone and drive at the same time. Well you can, but you face the risk of getting yourself a ticket. So about a month ago I decided to by myself a Jawbone headset, even though they are a bit pricey, I heard they were worth it. And after a month of use, I’d have to agree and say it’s definitely worth it.

When I first got the Jawbone I wasn’t a big fan, it fit in my ear horribly. Then I realized that the ear clip comes in different sizes, and I needed the big-eared freak size. I swapped the small one for the big one and voila, much better. As for the sound and hearing quality, it’s pretty remarkable. I tested it out the first night by calling my mom as I drove down the freeway with all ym windows down and my music playing. Amazingly, she couldn’t hear a damn bit of it, so when they advertise their NoiseAssassin feature, you should definitely believe it.

I’ve actually been really happy with it, my one and only beef with the Jawbone are the little things that go over your ear. Like I said I’ve had it for a month, but I’ve already snapped one of them in half from it being in my pocket. As a dude, I don’t have a purse to carry it in, nor do I want to leave it in my ear all day looking like Uhura. The package does include replacements, but if I break these once a month, that would be no good. Maybe I just need to be more careful? I dunno, but that was my experience so far.

I checked out their website and funny enough they’re having a special Hands Free Ticket Discount, meaning if you get a ticket for talking on your phone, punch in your ticket number and they’ll give you $20 a Jawbone. Pretty cool, huh? Anyhow, if you need a wireless headset, I’d definitely check out their site and see for yourself.

Bobby

It’s Going To Be An Apple Day
June 9, 2008 | Categories: Apple / Design / Technology

So that’s it! Basically what we learned today was that the new iPhone is now the iPhone 3G, it’s going to have 3G and GPS built in. The iPhone 3G will come in black and white, 8GB and 16GB versions. The 8GB goes for $199 and the 16GB goes for $299, the white version will come in only the 16GB version. What’s scary is that I bought an iPhone last December, but for $200 I would totally buy a new one. What does everyone think about all the new stuff?!

11:52: Did I mention it comes in white as well? haha… way cool.

11:46: THE 8GB IPHONE IS GOING TO BE $199!!! Shut the front door. That is so totally insane. And that price is for the whole world, no matter where you are. They just killed, raped, mauled and utterly destroyed all competition. The 16GB is going to be $299, and they’ll be realeased, in all selected countries, on July 11th.

11:44: Built in 3G ANNNDDDD GPS. Google Maps on the iPhone is hands down one of my very favorite things about it. I feel bad for all those people who make GPS systems, they are major screwed. The iPhone 3G should be available in over 70 countries by this fall.

11:36: And there she is, the new iPhone 3G. Still pretty much the same but a little smaller, black, plastic back. The new 3G phone is wayyyy faster I guess, nearing WiFi speeds. Hopefully AT&T can step up their game and make this worthwhile.

11:19: MobileMe. Takes all of your info, stores it in an “information cloud” that constantly updates all of your connected devices. Change a date in your iCal or update a contact on your iPhone? Your computer knows soon after. Works with Mac or PC, even in Outlook. Me.com is going to be the most popular site on the net VERY soon.

11:09: Wow. You can view all iWork documents on the iPhone now, as well as all MS Office docs as well. Bulk delete and move in email, save images from an email to your iPhone, scientific calculator, added languages. iPhone 2.0 software will be released in July. Free for iPhone, $9.95 for iPod Touch users. The update can be downloaded wirelessly!

11:01: Whoa, crazy game by Digital Legends. Kind of God of War-esque.

10:53: News to make my roommate Garrett happy. MLB.com is going to have an app that allows for instant scors, real-time video replays, even minutes after they just happened. Dudes everywhere now want an iPhone.

10:49: More new games, Cromag and Enigmo, try them now, $10 for the iPhone. Also a British insurance salesman made a game call Cow Terry, which is musical instruments on the iPhone, piano, drums and a “blues application”.

10:45: A slew of new interfaces like eBay, Typepad, Loopt, and even The Associated Press. Wordpress is also coming out with one, so says the guys at Gizmodo. Helloooooo mobile blog posting.

10:31: Oh Shit, Monkey Ball! And it only costs $10! I hope they announce that I can buy the game in like 2 hours, or I might be a little annoyed, haha… The images look like the Nintendo DS, easy. Fun times!

10:20: So far they’re just talking about the SDK and how you’ll be able to write your own programs, as well as how they’ve been working with big Fortune 500 companies to make the iPhone more big business friendly. YAWN!

Today is the big day! Apple is releasing all sorts of new goodies, so I’m going to try and keep up and post the things I find to be really cool! I think most people are going to be salivating for the new iPhone most of all, but I’m sure they’ll be more surprises then just that!

Bobby

Nude Remix by James Houston
June 6, 2008 | Categories: Music / Music Video / Technology

Artist James Houston was somewhat frustrated with Radiohead’s Nude Remix contest, as he put it, “Nude is in 6/8 timing, and 63bpm. Most music that’s played in clubs is around 120bpm and usually 4/4 timing.” So he went an entirely different route, drawing inspiration from the lyrics and alternate title, Big Ideas: Don’t Get Any. From that he recreated the song using some really weird shit, a Sinclair ZX Spectrum, an Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer, a HP Scanjet 3c, and a Hard Drive array, turning these weird odds and ends into his instruments.

What he ended up creating is nothing short of genius. It’s not only the way the song came out sounding, but also in the way he shot the video above. Visually it reminds of the way that Scott Hansen colors his photos, like old sun-damaged film, as well as lots of steady close up shots of all the different pieces doing their part. Radiohead needs to get this guy on the phone and have him make a commercial or something for them, I mean the video has been viewed over 100,000 times in the last 2 days alone, that’s definitely saying something. Here’s hoping we see more from this brilliant guy.

Bobby

The Milky Way Is Awesome
June 4, 2008 | Categories: Photography / Science / Technology

Seriously though, space is the place. I was reading an article over on Wired and in traditional me fashion, I end up straying somewhere else following a link and stumble on something else that gets me all excited. The photo above is a photo of The Milky Way viewed from the Kofa Mountains in Arizona, and it’s one of those things you see and you can’t believe it’s real. I honestly can’t think of anything more awesome than this. If you asked me who would win in a fight, I would bet The Milky Way over anyone or anything else, that’s just how bad-ass that galaxy is.

I tweaked the photo some to make it a little bit more dramatic, so if you’d like to see the original you can click here. There’s also a complete picture of the entire Milky Way Galaxy on there as well, so check that out too.

Bobby

Sensing Sounds Visual Turntables
May 26, 2008 | Categories: Design / Music / Technology

Scott Hobbs is a British product designer who seems to me like the kind of guy who’s going to create some awesome things in his life. He’s just now finishing his 4th year at Dundee University and he’s already come up with a new form of turntable as a part of a project called Sensing Sounds. He’s taken the record and traditional turntable out of the equation and has replaced them with two touch sensitive screens that gives you a visual of the waveform the music is creating.

Based upon the videos above it looks pretty damn cool. It’s kind of like simplifying the act of DJing to a super-simple level, you can just look at the screen and literally SEE the beats, which I’m sure would make it much easier to match beats. I’m a very visual person, so seeing this makes it seem like something I could really do. For more information about the project including an entire written proposal, visit his site by clicking the link above.

Bobby

The Northern Plains of Mars
May 26, 2008 | Categories: Science / Technology

On Sunday night, NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander landed on the far northern plains of Mars called Vastitas Borealis, which I think is so rad. While it’s out there it’s going to be searching the soil with it’s big fancy “trench-digging arm” to see if there’s frozen water below the soil. They’re also looking for microbial life as well, because where there’s water, there’s potential life. And of course they’re taking a ton of photos as well, which is definitely my favorite part. I just want them to rotate the camera and suddenly see a giant alien stature or something (maybe they could put it in the NEXT Indiana Jones film?! hahaha).

The NASA sire also has a cool Phoenix Mars Lander interactive site where you can read all about what the lander does. I had no idea it was so big! The solar arrays that power the lander are 18 feet wide! If any of this interests you be sure to visit NASA’s website, they do a really great job of posting all sorts of awesome photos and info pretty regularly.

There’s also this New York Times article that goes into the details of the landing itself.

Bobby

Card-Board: A Cardboard Surfboard
May 23, 2008 | Categories: Design / Technology

I haven’t been surfing for probably 5 years now, but when I would go I really loved it. I was never good and I’ve probably ridden about 5 waves successfully, but there’s definitely something exciting about surfing and surf culture in general. But what happens when a web programmer decides to build his board not in the traditional way, with foam, but with 3-D modeling? Well you get an entirely new experience.

Mike Sheldrake had no idea how to carve a board, so he took to his computer, a tool he was much more familiar with, and designed himself a snap together board made out of… cardboard. The board is made up of almost 400 pieces of regular old cardboard which are cut out by a computer controlled saw. Because of the unique hexagonal and triangle patterns the boards strength is increased, dispersing the force evenly throughout the board. After he put it all together it’s wrapped in a fiberglass cloth and hardened with epoxy, just like a real board. So what you’re seeing up there is more like the core, you don’t ride that hole-y beast. Mike wants to start selling these online in the near future, so keep an eye out!

Found through Pop Sci

Bobby