2007-01-31

bear with me

[use]
by Yaz

bearwithme2

bearwithme1

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 ;)

2007-01-29

step out

by Yaz

stepout
Picture I took on my way home… waiting for the train… I like the materiality of the yellow border signaling a ‘dangerous zone’, a boundary, in contrast to the immaterial shadow… Mobility implies both immateriality and materiality.

2007-01-24

architecture’s second life

by Yaz

archinect
I am addressing the topic of Second Life + Architecture in my seminar… so thank you A.W. for bringing this up: Archinect which goal “is to make architecture more connected and open-minded, and bring together designers from around the world to introduce new ideas from all disciplines” presents an interesting article on architecture and Second Life: Architecture’s Second Life… (Screenshot)

2007-01-22

eco-mobility?!

by Yaz

Jan in the foreground.

2007-01-22

eco-mobility!!

by Yaz

Ben’s presentation spurs some ideas: forced mobility versus false mobility?

2007-01-20

Cities in Flux: Eco-Mobility?

by Yaz

This collaborative lecture is a joint effort between Critical Digital, Harvard GSD and the Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, UCL London:
Who? Yasmine Abbas, DDes 2006, Harvard University Graduate School of Design + Ava Fatah gen. Schieck, Master of Science in Virtual Environments 2001, Bartlett, UCL + Ben Croxford, Senior Lecturer on the MSc in Environmental Design and Engineering, Bartlett
Where? Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Room 109
When? Monday January 22, 2007, 9am •

Ava Fatah gen. Schieck is a Registered Architect in Germany with years of experience in practice. She holds a Master of Science in Virtual Environments (2001) from the Bartlett, UCL. She is primarily interested in exploring the relation between new technology and architecture in particular within the historic context. Ava is a Senior Research Fellow, Bartlett, UCL. She has worked on several research projects at the Bartlett investigating the relation between the physical, the digital, and the social. Currently she is involved in the research into the use of location-based computing in an urban context in the historic city of Bath as part of the Cityware project. Previous research include interface design for Augment Reality collaborative environments and the impact on the design process, information spaces and automotive design.

Ben Croxford has been responsible for developing the Bartlett’s research into air quality. This has involved developing novel pollution monitors through to leading on cross-disciplinary research linking air quality to health and spatial layout. He has extensive experience in the monitoring and modeling of various environmental factors in and around buildings especially temperature, humidity and air pollution. He has worked on several research projects at the Bartlett, investigating distribution of carbon monoxide in streets, air quality in offices and also air quality in dwellings with gas cookers. He has designed and developed the StreetBox instrument for measuring carbon monoxide that is being commercially produced by Learian Ltd. This has since been further developed with Learian into a new, smaller much more affordable product, the ICOM. A large number of these are being used on various research projects including personally supervised MSc projects. Ben Croxford is a senior lecturer on the MSc in Environmental Design and Engineering. He has successfully developed and managed the dissertation part of the course for the last 5 years, directly supervising around 80 students. He also supervises 5 PhD students with topics ranging from sustainability analysis of solar cookers in Sudan to air conditioning use in Malaysia.

I would like to particularly thank Jan, Jie-Eun, Doug, and Marc for the support/technical/preparation on this side of the Atlantic, and Ava, Jason, Patrick on the UK side ;)

2007-01-14

peau artificielle

by Yaz

Une peau artificielle pour rendre les robots sensibles
LE MONDE | 13.01.07 | 13h35 • Mis à jour le 13.01.07 | 13h35

A Nagoya, au Centre de recherche sur le contrôle biométrique, dépendant de l’Institut Riken, des scientifiques travaillent à la mise au point d’une peau artificielle à appliquer sur une machine afin d’”établir le contact”, précise le professeur Toshiharu Mukai.

Ces scientifiques se sont inspirés de l’architecture de la peau des mammifères. La première peau prototype est constituée de deux couches, l’une dure, en plastique, l’autre souple, en éponge. Entre ces deux épaisseurs, une multitude de capteurs tactiles enregistrent les variations de pression à la surface.

NB: maybe there is an application for spaces | When the digital meets the ~bio | Informs my work with Cati on the Touch·Sensitive apparel:
touchsensitive Low-fidelity prototype #2

Watch the movie mentionned in the article: RI-MAN soft carebot. More about RI-MAN… (.jpg below from website)
riman

The robot has 9 features:

  • Feedback of force using tactile information
  • Human-friendly soft body
  • Small but powerful arms using coupled drive
  • Motion simulation using an immersion-type 3D environment
  • Decentralized control using small general-purpose controllers
  • Sound localization using ‘ears’
  • Tracking of a human face by integrating auditory and visual information
  • Smell discernment by semiconductor gas sensor
  • Computational architecture based on QoS
2007-01-14

m-trends.org new flavor

by Yaz

I have been invited by Rudy to write for m-trends :) See you on both blogs!

2007-01-09

iPhone

[use]
by Yaz

I’d crunch the apple without any regret ;) Finally the iPhoneRoland Geisler did work on the Nokia web browser application. The iPhone uses the same browser core!
iphone
Screenshot… Apple website… and more info on m-trends!

2007-01-06

“société occidentale hyperpersonnalisée”

by Yaz

Il faudrait dire “hypersonnalisée” ! A lire dans Libé: Rencontre . Le consommateur est devenu critique et conscient de ses droits par François MUSSEAU | QUOTIDIEN : samedi 6 janvier 2007

Vicente Verdú économiste et journaliste espagnol, analyse notre société occidentale hyperpersonnalisée, consommatrice immédiate de marques et de multimédia, puérile et capricieuse. Sans pour cela porter un regard sévère sur cette culture contemporaine porteuse d’avenir.

Dans Moi et toi, objets de luxe, vous inventez la notion de «personnisme» pour désigner une révolution culturelle en marche en ce début de siècle. Qu’entendez-vous par là ?

Il s’agit d’une nouvelle étape qui fait suite à l’hyperindividualisme à tous crins de la fin des années 90. Le terme fait référence à une communication avec autrui plus extensive et superficielle. On y est arrivé, parce que l’accumulation d’objets a conduit l’hyperindividualiste à une impasse, puis à une recherche de «dégustation» des autres sujets, non pas en profondeur, mais en superficie. Comme l’illustre bien l’Internet, on a désormais une grande expérience de contact avec autrui, parcellaire et sans engagements.