Amazing present from Jie, all the way from Korea… as I am looking at the smoothing of devices, and the mediated usage of technology through… teddy bears or fluffy animals :) (And all the reasoning behind). Remember the talking bear video clip? You have to press the ear to transfer the call…

The i-pulse (for playing i-pod tunes) is certainly not as fluffy… and doesn’t trigger as well our sense of touch. But check this cute Cellular Squirrel designed by Stephan Marti from the MIT Media Lab Speech Interface Group. Looking for “un peu de douceur dans ce monde de brute”!

Which means that spatially, we are seeking more than generic places to live in… a retreat… Note that since it is made in Korea, it is intended for Samsung cell phones (bye bye my Nokia?!), which says so much about territoriality and technology. We are not so global after all ;)

I’d crunch the apple without any regret ;) Finally the iPhone… Roland Geisler did work on the Nokia web browser application. The iPhone uses the same browser core!

Screenshot… Apple website… and more info on m-trends!

The Caravan Project funded by the MacArthur foundation:

In a demonstration phase of the project, scheduled to launch in early 2007, books will be available in traditional hardcover or paperback editions along with e-books and audio books, both available for download, in their entirety or in chapters. A large-print print-on-demand version is also under consideration as an additional format.

Participating Publishers:

Beacon Press
The Council on Foreign Relations Press
The New Press
The University of California Press
The University of North Carolina Press
Yale University Press
Island Press

Thank you Rebecca (PhD Precandidate, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan) for the info!

Screenshot… Watch the movie clip!

Ambient Addition is a Walkman with binaural microphones. A tiny Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip analyzes the microphone’s sound and superimposes a layer of harmony and rhythm on top of the listener’s world. In the new context, some surprising behaviors take place. Listeners tend to play with objects around them, sing to themselves, and wander toward tempting sound sources. With Ambient Addition, I’m hoping to make people think twice about the sounds they initiate as well as loosen up some inhibitions.

(Media Lab thesis of Noah Vawter)…

Petit serrement de cœur à la lecture de l’article: La revente en ligne de certains cadeaux se banalise | LE MONDE | 25.12.06 | Nathalie Brafman

Désormais, les internautes ne veulent plus s’embarrasser d’un objet qui finira au fond d’un placard. Selon une étude de WebSurveyor menée en décembre pour le compte de PriceMinister, quelque 33 % des internautes se disent insatisfaits des cadeaux qu’ils ont reçus et 14,1 % ont déjà revendu leurs cadeaux de Noël.

De fait, lorsqu’on leur demande pourquoi ils revendent leur cadeau, 47 % répondent tout simplement qu’il ne leur plaisait pas, 43 % qu’ils n’en avaient pas l’usage, 32 % qu’ils l’avaient en double et 3 % déclarent préférer de l’argent.

Revendre ses cadeaux de Noël n’est plus un tabou : 93,2 % de ceux qui l’ont déjà fait sont déterminés à recommencer si nécessaire. Toutefois, si 38,7 % trouvent l’idée choquante, déjà 38,9 % des personnes interrogées trouvent que revendre ses cadeaux est plutôt une bonne idée et qu’ils le feront probablement à l’avenir. D’autant que si 36,6 % se sentent encore gênés d’offrir un cadeau d’occasion quel qu’en soit l’état, 84 % acceptent volontiers de recevoir un cadeau d’occasion.

Aussi… NORAD TRACKS SANTA... une tradition amusante qui date de 1955…

La tradition est née à la suite d’une publicité d’un magasin de Colorado Springs, proposant aux enfants d’appeler le Père Noël sur une ligne téléphonique spéciale. Il y avait une erreur dans l’impression du numéro de téléphone. Au lieu du Père Noël, le numéro de téléphone connectait les enfants avec les opérations ” hotline ” du Commandant en chef du CONAD [Continental Air Defense Command].

The TelePresence marketing video is dreadful (it is really a painful experience for a designer!)… I courageously took two screen shots for that the project illustrates a paradox of the neo-nomads: they are mobile and/or immobile. Notice the table continuing virtually in the screen… a design decision that certainly tells something. People do not want to see technology… or they do like magic! TelePresence is a system designed by the Human Productivity Lab. Few clicks away on their website I find the post: 3D Images Floating in Thin Air … …

Our private space has shrunk beyond skin. Not only we we leave traces everywhere, but the spying business seems quite lucrative: get a wireless color dog | cat spy camera… and more… Bewildering… I’d be scared of Lysol or Ajax bleach spy-cans from now on :)… It shoudn’t be too difficult to spot the spy with a spy-tie like that though! Paranoiac? get a jamming device… Nokia seems to be the preferred brand for a spy-phone. It just cost about $3295 to get one!! Continuing on with the idea of surveillance… finally an interesting detecting tool: Portable, Magnetic DNA Detector. Researchers use magnetic materials found in computer hard drives to build chips for detecting genes, cancer, and toxins. The article is written by Kate Greene for the MIT Technology Review. information related to surveillance | bio~ | body

I had [ interview ] answered Rudy De Waele…:

- What about Mobile TV?

I like too much observing people for watching movies or programs while on the move, immobile in a moving train. Yet I recall that summer inviting friends over for diner in the backyard, hanging white sheets, a mobile computer plugged to a projector and speakers. Someone in the yard nearby shouted “you are the best neighbors ever”! So I guess, Mobile TV, if it can allow their usability/spatial extensions for times of rest in any spatial setting, without having to carry much…

On the top stories of Wired News today… the post: Tiny Projectors Make the Video iPod Make Sense… and if you hyperlink… Digital Doodads Debut in NY. You read:

“LEDs also last far longer than regular bulbs — up to 10,000 hours, according to Jane Poon of Toshiba. “By then, probably, laser projectors will be coming out,” she said. The LEDs are not terribly bright: They produce just 20 to 25 ANSI lumens, versus 2,000 for a standard projector such as Toshiba’s equally priced but far larger TDP-S35U DLP. But the microprojector was powerful enough to illuminate its included 23-inch fold-up screen, even under the intense lighting at New York’s Javits Center. And in a dark room, it can project an image measuring up to 68 inches diagonal, according to Poon.”

I have always liked the Bouroullec brothers’ work, since their débuts with the 2000 Lit Clos. This time it is Les Tuiles, the 2006 project for the Kvadrat showroom that caught my attention. A textile wall totally packable… carry your walls with you… needless to expand further on it, as the description of the project is rather clear:

Image comes from their website © Ronan et Erwan Bouroullec

“The Kvadrat showroom is structured by textile walls made of independant « Tiles » assembled together via an ingenious folding system. The Tiles sytem was conceived specifically for the textile showroom activity. It aims at highlighting the various textures and materials of Kvadrat’s collection by dressing the spot with sensuality and warmth.

Moreover, it grants a certain flexibility and a wide range of possible evolution to the showroom. The extreme easiness of the pieces’ assembling to build walls leaves Kvadrat free of changing the configuration and the atmosphere of the place.

Then, the doors themselves are conceived as self-supporting and mobile modules like « furniture-boxes » that can be moved easily. Accesses, corridors and transitions can be changed, thus making the general architecture of the space fully evolutive.

But the Tiles system is also a new way of building walls with independant modules in the tradition of Algues and Twigs. It is the realisation of some long-incubated ideas about constructing soundproofing spaces with textile.
Conceived like sorts of scales, the Tiles can follow infinite shapes, be they organic or geometric. Thus, the high modularity of this system allows to consider multiple applications in order to build autonomous and soundproofing spaces.

The industrialization process of the tiles is surprisingly easy and fast : 20 seconds only are needed to mould the hard foam core between 2 pieces of material. With the assembling simplicity of the tiles, anyone can consider creating variable-geometric surfaces, building walls with a soft and rythmical aesthetics and thus creating astoning places with a muffled atmosphere.”

Not digitally enabled? Yet neo-nomadism is about the mix of both, physical and digital mobility… hence the post!

In Transit
In London, Upgrading Airport Time
By JENNIFER CONLIN
Published: September 10, 2006
New York Times

“With security continuing to cause delays at British airports — particularly for passengers heading to the United States — hanging out in a plush airport lounge rather than trying to find a seat in a chaotic concourse may seem more a necessity than a luxury,” says Conlin.

She mentions rejuve, a service that, as the website informs us, has been created for us to “Refresh. Restore. Relax. Re-charge. Check-in to Rejuve. And prepare to travel well. Changing time zones…different climates…unfamiliar surroundings. Long-haul travel is always demanding. Even with best itinerary, the rigours and stresses quickly take their toll.”

As well as the possibility to book a seat in an airport lounge through simplylounges for example. As advertized, “Each lounge is uniquely designed and welcomes both business and leisure travellers. You don’t have to be important to get the V.I.P treatment!”

Better keep the stress low in these times of travel.

The point of this post? Mobility involves immobility; we spend a large chunk of time in transit; limiting the stress of travel costs us…