Back in second year design class I came up with a simple interactive game idea as part of our final project. Basically it was an electrical circuit tied into a light(s) and at various points around the circuit players manned “key stations” where they depressed switches modeled after common locks (which are interesting little things if you’ve never investigated them). In any event, it wasn’t really so much competitive play as collaborative play. Or something.

Over on Interactive Architecture there’s a post (Link) about something that reminded me of that old project. From the post: Continue reading →

Needless to say, I’m still struggling to find time to post entries. And when I stop in to some of the other blogs I favor, I’ve noticed that they too are apparently being otherwise occupied. So rather than try to put together a coherent post (not that all my posts are coherent, but I do try), I’m going to just hit on some topics, post some links – most of which probably have a comment I made which is as much writing as I’ve done lately – and leave it at that since I have to get back to work in half an hour.

For starters I wanted to mention an entry over on NussbaumOnDesign (Link) discussing some data relevant to the whole “crowdsourcing” discussion currently making its way around the series of tubes. I do believe there is something worthwhile in the idea, but it seems more and more that it’s being overblown. Some recent comments I’ve posted on a Core77 forum thread (the most I’ve written in weeks – Link) explain why I believe future developments don’t really threaten professionals to the degree some might think. In any event, Bruce Nussbaum (who tends to be just a bit behind the leading edge, imo) does raise some interesting questions that are worth considering in addition to citing the statistics in the Guardian article he references. Maybe I’ll stop in to his blog more often (I’ve noticed he finally took notice of Second Life so now I’m wondering how long it is before he groks the potentials).
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After yesterday’s news concerning the plot to detonate liquid explosives on aircraft (a big no surprise this was bound to come up), one of the things that’s been on my mind is exactly what the Brand Noise blog talks about (Link): how will businesses and manufacturers adapt? The post is much more down to earth than what I had in mind though. I was thinking about how rapid manufacturing technology could be used by airport stores to create custom containers on the spot. They could have embedded date/time codes which could be visually checked. This would ensure that they couldn’t be used for air travel at a later time when someone has perhaps modified one and filled it with something unpleasant.
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I’ve been so busy the past couple months that a number of things have completely fallen to the wayside. One of those is the oil containment kirkyan concept I’ve wanted to put some time into (you can read what that’s about as it’s an example used in this explanation for the kirkyan concept – reLink). The recent stories about the environmental disaster off the coast of Lebanon really had me thinking about it this past week. Perhaps in another few months I’ll find that time, but for now I thought this story on the MIT website (Link) about researchers using kayaks for marine robotic tests was interesting. From the article:

Working in labs that resemble machine shops, these engineers are taking small steps toward the holy grail of robotics — cooperative autonomy — making machines work together seamlessly to complete tasks with a minimum of human direction.
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Operating on the surface means that SCOUTs can take advantage of such technology as wireless Internet and global positioning systems (GPS), which don’t work underwater. Researchers are thus free to focus on fine-tuning other necessary robot functions, such as navigation — all with the goal of creating a team that works so seamlessly that a lot of communication isn’t necessary.
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Software developed on SCOUT may someday help AUVs search the sea bottom for plane wreckage or allow kayaks to find shipwreck survivors.

“We keep thinking of new applications,” Leonard said.

Seems like oil spill containment is a natural application to me.

via Boing Boing

Via the 3pointD weblog (Link) which was apparently aware of it but didn’t blog it until Micro Persuasion mentioned it (Link), I learned about Starwood’s project to have the Electric Sheep build a virtual hotel inside Second Life. You can visit the development blog and follow along with the process if you want – Link.

When I read about it yesterday the first thing that came to my mind was an earlier entry I posted (reLink) discussing Starwood and the way they were realigning their business thinking. That entry includes a link to a video interview with Starwood’s CEO, so you might want to hear what he has to say. Consequently, it’s no surprise to me that it’s Starwood breaking this virtual ground. You can almost see the lines of connection between user experience-focused companies, mass-customization technologies and virtual development. Some companies are going to leap ahead (like Starwood, imo) and some are going to continue on their old paths… to their detriment.

{Update: C|Net has a gallery of images for this project (Link)}

{Image Copyright © 2006 Electric Sheep Company}