2008-01-17

clothTag

by Yaz

Prof. Sangmin Bae and his team (Lim Yuree, Stacy + Sohn Seongki + Jeong Huikyung + Park Hyejin) from ID + IM Design Lab have designed clothTag, an “RFID tagging for your clothing life.” The team is the red dot award winner of 2007:

“Clothing could be a lot smarter with clothTag – a clothing tag that stores and communicates information about the clothing to which it is attached.

clothTag uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) technology for identification and interaction with other objects, such as smart mirrors in shops, as well as with washing machines, steam irons, closets and clothes hangers, as shown in the illustrations. Beyond these devices, clothTag has unlimited possibilities for application.

The information stored and communicated is helpful to the user, and includes general laundry treatment, colour, size, material, and colour codes. clothTag is also designed to give the user information even if the user doesn’t have a reader device; the circuit of the RFID tag can form four traditional laundry icons. The water washable icon (1), acid washing icon (2), ironing icon (3) and size icon (4) are available. The form of the circuit gives the outline of each icon group and the manufacturer can print out corresponding details of each icon on the tag.

clothTag also gives information about materials used in the cloth. The bottom bar indicates name of materials and percentage of each material used. A colour chip is provided in the middle of clothTag. The main colour and exact colour code of the cloth is printed on the tag, so the user can choose the exact colour he or she wants.”

2007-12-05

room 307

by Yaz

Thanks to Mehdi, some news about hotel innovations: check the Accor Innovation website.

A guided tour of room 307:

“Access to the room is controlled by radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, a solution that Accor developed in cooperation with VingCard Assa Abloy. The door lock opens when it detects a radio frequency microchip in the hotel key card or in a Samsung mobile phone that is scheduled to reach the market in January 2008. The room’s safe also uses this technology. In the next 18 months to three years, all mobile phones worldwide will meet NFC standards and be able to use this technology.”

Check also room 1014.

Suitehotel created nomadsphere, a new community website for architects who want to travel with other nomads:

Planning a trip to Berlin? Just connect to www.nomadsphere.com to get in touch with another nomad who shares your interests and just happens to be in Berlin at the same time.”

Personally, I am on so many Social Networking websites that I regularly forget my passwords…

2007-04-27

tag-graf

by Yaz

A mobile graffiti? Seen on the red line… Boston-Cambridge, MA.

2006-08-13

2D codes post-its

by Yaz

Thinking about “surface real estate” for 2D codes, I came to envisage printing 2D codes on post-its… You know already how much I like post-its, as ubiquitous in our environment as 2D codes… so why not combining both… like that:

2D code post-it

Let’s have them printed; let’s people pick the information about ourselves or rooms for rent… though YES!… once I see a 2D code I can scan it with my cellphone… so no need for carrying it you may say… yet… I or others can distribute the 2D-code-post-it, place it, re-place it, dis-place it as wish (and as long as the glue stands :) The post-it is certainly a good advertising tool, as the MIT Advertising Lab, blog on the future of advertising technology posts (And I will try to develop upon this post).

In fact the post-it enables both the posting and the un-posting of notes. Maybe you remember my un-post-it calendar? Having experienced using it, I have noticed:
1. It is slightly fatiguing for the arm to write on post-its, especially when standing
2. One gets an amazing sense of achievement when all the items on the list of the day “disappear”
3. It augments stress when there is a deadline coming up… but some, like me, may work better under a little of good stress!

So I have read that not so long ago, some celebrated the 25 years anniversary of this incredible invention. As the article by Greg Beato emphasizes, this minuscule idea, soon to be big, was the invention of a man who had a vision… that an outdated management couldn’t see.

Anyway, the original post-it, mainly because of its “pixel” shape has inspired many art works based on digital pictures! The pictures of the Post-it Note Video Games Characters are good examples of PIXEL ART, of which, I think, some Post-it art pieces belong. But have a look at the Post-it Note Elvis images!

The article “The Girls Guide to Elvis” by the New Observer newspaper gives us some data: “We’re talking about a mosaic of the King, Elvis Presley himself, made from Post-it Notes. A total of 2,646 sticky notes, to be exact, on a 14-by-9-foot wall.” Tedious though to calculate how many post-it per color scheme one would need, so to calculate how many pack to get… Anyway, would you want to convert a flat image into a post-it art piece, please follow the post-it mosaic howto [updated]!

I (as well) like very much the post by the insurgent muse, “The Under-Appreciated Art of the Post-it”! The art work by Rebecca (picture below comes from the same posting) makes me think of many of the customizable-environments-and-hotel-rooms inquiries that I have been sharing with you.

Post-it Art Rebecca

But I still think that the dimension of the PACK of post-it, which gives a depth to the post-it surface, has unfortunately not been taken into close consideration. After all there might be as much jubilation to post a note as that to un-post it; and to keep un-posting it until the pack ends (Actually, I shall now revise my un-post-it calendar ;)

Hence, one of the most beautiful Post-it work of art is that of the artist VASSEVA, who I have met when drifting in the streets of Budapest (I went to Budapest for the SASE2005 conference and to give a presentation about neo-nomads). Here is a picture downloaded from her website… For me it is more about “effeuiller” (defoliate, denudate…) than “leaving a message.”

VASSEVA

Yet I also recall the power of Post-its (mute messages) in the movie by Elia Suleiman, Divine Intervention, 2002. Poignant. On another note, the interview of the movie director in VACARME is particularly interesting, as he also “compares himself to a Bedouin, and claims his experience of nomadism…” The article is in French.

2006-07-24

train away

by Yaz

TRAIN AWAY a collection by Puma… pretty interesting “practical fashion-forward products for business travellers.” The shoe has a “unique hotel card storage slot in outsole”… well… it is to put your [W] hotel key. Free to roam, but tied to a chain hotel?

2006-01-30

to own or not own?

by Yaz

From personal experience, I prefer carrying all things with me when I go for a short business trip… (Global Nomad Experiment) I would not want to loose my business suit if I am going to a conference and even if I can track my missing suitcase with embedded RFID technology. Yet I would not care less about loosing my business suit if I could rent one at my hotel. Business models already exist for people to rent tuxedos, or furniture, and pushchair or all other material one need for his/her baby (Petits Nomades). So why owning an item that you only use occasionally (the business suit may not be the best example… but… losing a suitcase, or its arrival being delayed is rather frequent)? Why carrying with you encumbering items that you only need for a short period of time? This brings into mind the notion of ownership (… and frugality, concept I am currently developing). If neo-nomads move constantly, do they actually need to own (in the old sense) spaces and objects? “Shall we buy or rent?” is a question currently debated by the City on The Move. However this is some food for thoughts: the manifesto of the IS—not the Internationale Situationiste, but the Internationale Squattiste—claims for investing creatively, and for the purpose of creation—spaces that are temporarily not in use. Yet, why is the need to stick to an address, and why not move from empty lots to empty lots? That is a question I shall further develop…

Thank you to Eléonore and Kostas for your contribution!

2005-10-01

my body is a hypertext …

by Yaz

remember my body is a hypertext? A friend sent me this: scan my skin! Not the same aims, but close :) :)

project number . 20050816

medium . ink or washable tattoo
my identity has shrunk to my skin…
<< I link therefore I am >> says WJM
my tattoo is no more a barcode that one scans
for revealing the identity of a product
the extension of my body is a url
we exist because of the envelope, the image
which is drawn, written, or projected onto it
our skin is a state of mind, a habitat, and our identity
the last private space?
my body is a hypertext

2005-08-17

look for it

by Yaz


look for this semacode, phonephoto it, it will leed you to the url…
discreet (?) “marque de fabrique” on every neo-nomad-yaz project, like a tattoo on my skin…