Wired has news of a very cool development in the materials world: artificial nacre. From the Wired article (Link):

A team of researchers in the Materials Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has managed to imitate the complex structures found in ice and mollusk shells, and the ultra-strong material could lead to everything from stronger artificial bone to airplane parts.

I keep surfing over to the RepRap blog and seeing devices that look more and more like regular old injection molding machines and can’t help but wonder if there isn’t something off in this approach. This kind of news just reinforces that feeling that there might be a better process.

Cool stuff.

I just happened to swing by Bruce Nussbaum’s blog before chaining myself once again to a particularly gnarly 3D model on which I’m working. While there I happened to notice that an older entry had a comment and went to check it out. As it turned out, it wasn’t that comment which was interesting, but the previous one that I’d missed.

For the Industrial Designers out there, this comment (Link) might be of interest:

When Galli took over Rubbermaid, someone called us to discuss finding them a director of design. If you recall, BW did a cover story on him at the time. The salary was pitiful and the job was not positioned to be effective. I called someone who used to work in design when Galli was at Black & Decker consumer products, then in CT, who said that Galli claimed to be a supporter of design, but he wasn’t. For these and other reasons, we decided not to get involved. As far as I know, they never went ahead with the search.

I remember all the talk and can’t help but wonder if the design community isn’t so desperate for recognition that it forgets how it’s just another card in the deck; played as necessary by people who only care about winning their hand.

This reminds me. As I’ve recently mentioned, I joined the LinkedIn system. When I first signed in, I went looking at some of my 2nd-removed contacts (those people whose profiles I could see). I came across an individual who played the same card as Galli.

Here was someone trumpeting how great his record was, particularly on product development/design. Even going so far as to cite a program on which I’d worked.

Lies.

The truth is, he was the biggest obstacle in that program; at one point deciding he knew best what the design should be, redirecting the effort within a week of the deadline, and then sitting quietly as the Senior VP blew a gasket at the whole team when he saw the result of this person’s involvement.

Of course at that point I went back to what I’d been doing before senior management got involved in things about which they knew nothing. I delivered a product a few days later, meeting all the impossible deadlines and, as a result, being given some kind of minor reward for a product that still sells and earns the company millions of dollars. At internal ceremonies back then this person was the first to bask in the glory of the success and those of us involved in the design had some choice words to describe this individual. And now he’s out there making false claims on this product’s continued success.

Played.

Very cool article over on the New York Times (Link) discussing emerging trends in televised viewing (“television” is becoming such a dated word, isn’t it?). Highly recommended reading.

I found the article via a post on Seth Godin’s blog (Link). As I’ve previously related my exasperation at Marketing’s general lack of interest in venturing into online 3D spaces, what he had to say was no surprise to me. From his blog entry:

He was not only not nervous about the Net, but he was uninterested in hearing about how it might be a threat.

I figure this is either “Ignorance is bliss” or it’s “The Arrogance of the Entitled”. Or maybe it’s just a poker face.

Never heard of it. But courtesy of an entry on Networked Performance (Link), I’m now aware. From the post:

Ars Virtua Gallery and New Media Center is looking for works for our inaugural show. The theme of this show is “The Real” and will be exhibited on the grounds of Ars Virtua which is located on the border of Butler and Dowden in Second Life.
…
Letter of interest due: March 14; Opening: April (TBA)

Ars Virtua, huh? Registered to the same person who registered website “Factory Noir” (Link) which has a single page saying “Another Fine Idea Stolen by Factory Noir”?

I’ve not seen this mentioned on the Second Life forums but I wonder how enthusiastic the response will be (it does have “ars” in the name which which is a nice marketing touch). More importantly, who will it showcase? Not sure I’d be interesting in submitting anything to someone who claims to steal ideas.

There’s an excellent post over on Terra Nova (Link) concerning a documentary (in progress) about Chinese “gold farmers”, people who make a living playing videogames by earning virtual loot which is then sold for real money via sites like eBay. The topic isn’t new. I’ve posted about it previously; most extensively in a post over on the SL Future Salon website (Link).

What is new are increasing reports of racial tension in these online worlds; the most recent being a report of South Korean gamers targeting Chinese “opportunists” breaching unspoken rules of game etiquette (Link to article on Joystiq). The Terra Nova entry puts a new light on this issue. From the post:

In watching the video, I am most struck by the intertwined empowerment/disempowerment that is occurring simultaneously for these Chinese workers. Their lives in these virtual worlds are brighter, but yet their interactions with American players (and associated slurs) are a constant reminder of their inferior socio-economic status.

This is a fascinating and important topic imo, so be sure to read the Terra Nova entry as well as the comments. They’re always excellent.

To help put some of this in perspective, you might also want to check out the Subtopia blog entry (Link) discussing Mike Davis’ book, Planet of Slums. The pictures alone tell the story. But having been in some of the worst slums in both South America and Asia, I can honestly say the pictures don’t communicate half of what the reality is.