LG travelled back in time to bring us the LG Serie 1 Classic television, their latest creation that radiates a retro design. Yup, it packs good ‘ol CRT technology (that’s cathode ray tubefor you younglings) with a traditional 4:3 aspect ratio in a 14 inch diagonal screen. It even comes complete with rabbit-ear antennae, knobs for channel surfing and volume, and chrome legs! LG pulled out all the stops–you have the option to switch between full color, black & white and sepia tone modes. Due to obvious technical reasons the Serie 1 does include a modern digital tuner, composite video ports, and a wireless remote. It’s available for purchase in Korea for about $215 in black and red renditions. Additional images below.
Out of Microsoft and University of California Berkeley comes the Pictionaire touchscreen table. It uses integrated overhead cameras to capture physical objects and convert them into digital ones to be manipulated. The Microft Surface-esque table is almost six feet long, begging for an intuitive collaborative experience. Creating digital copies of “physical artifacts” couldn’t be simpler. You place an object (say, a notebook with doodles) onto the surface, the table recognizes its presence, the overhead camera snaps a picture of it, and all you have to do is drag and drop the corner edge of the object to a new area on the table. Viola–now you have a digital copy of the notebook that can be manipulated in a variety of ways. You can drag the digital copy onto paper-sized whiteboards and use a marker to add annotations. The surface can even act as a light table to create hand-drawn copies of things. Wireless keyboards and mice are supported for text imput and image search. Though Pictionaire remains a research project, it’s good to see Microsoft and company working towards a more practical experience with the Microsoft Surface table.
From NuFormer Digital Media comes intruiging wall projections on buildings. They’ve created these “high-skill 3D video mapping projections” that can be custom-made to fit a variety of buildings. My favorite projection is the one that makes the structure look like water is shooting out from all crevices. What’s yours?
The MercuryHouseOne, designed by Architecture and Vision, is built from Carrara marble and the rooftop is fitted with solar panels to power the interior space. This bubble home can be occupied as “a portable pavilion, an outdoors office, a room, or even an off-grid natural retreat.” I can totally see myself using it as a “blogger’s pad,” a place to retreat when times get busy. The roundess and space-age theme add to the modern touches that I have become accostomed to. Well done, A & V, well done. Additional images below.
Programmer Michael Vincent has gone ahead and created a website that emulates Windows 3.1 in your web browser. Try it out! Feeling a sense of nostalgia? Me too.
Today is a sad day. Conan O’Brien, host of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, bids the show and NBC adieu. Before I go on, please allow me to get this off my chest:
JAY LENO, NICE GOING.
After only seven months at The Tonight Show, NBC decided to remove Conan from the show. The Jay Leno Show experiment failed, The Tonight Show was not receiving high ratings, and so the executives at NBC have chosen to course correct this mess by replacing Conan with Leno. It’s like the whole switcharoo never happened. I am angry with NBC and Leno for various reasons. Although Conan’s ratings were not blasting through the roof, he was connecting with the coveted 18-49 demographic and slowly gaining a larger following. NBC is kicking Conan out just seven months into the gig; he’s barely got his feet wet! And then there’s Leno. As you can clearly see in the video above, he initially attempted to be a gentleman in 2004 when he addressed his audience about the passing of the baton with Conan which would come in 2009. After his failed experiment show at 10PM, Leno should have recognized his time was up and leave The Tonight Show with the man who worked so hard and for so long to reach his position. Instead he tells NBC he is absolutely willing to replace Conan and end this legal mess on a low, sad note.
Watch in shock and wonder as a one-year-old taps into the iPhone like a pro. Real difficult, right Sex in the City‘s Carrie? (Look after the break to see what I’m referencing.)
This is a teaser clip from the upcoming BBC documentary titled “The Virtual Revolution.” It’s a four part series about how the Internet is changing the world. This teaser has got me looking forward to the series not only due to its tech-related content but also because of its impressive lineup of interviews. Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the World Wide Web), Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Al Gore, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, and Stephen Fry share their thoughts about how the web has altered (and continues to change) the world around us.
What’s also neat is that the creators and producers of the series left it up to us to decide the name (and some of the content) of the series. Tentitively titled “Digital Revolution” the series will officially be named “The Virtual Revolution.” The producers continue to hear opinions, thoughts, and experiences from around the web so that they can make the most relevant documentary possible. “The Virtual Revolution” airs next week on BBC2. If you do not receive this channel, I will update this page in the coming days with other outlets to watch if you’re interested.
Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are) just announced his latest project titled I’m Here, a 30-minute short film about robots in love. It premiered January 20 at the Sundance Film Festival. Fast Company has the scoop on the plot: “Set in a gauzy version of L.A., it’s a love story about a boy and a girl–who also happen to be robots made from what looks like cast-off computer parts from 1994. That conceit allows Jonze to create a quirky, alternate world for their romance. In one scene, for example, the boy plugs in the girl for the night–which manages to become a scene of such delicate intimacy that it makes you squirm a little.”
What’s more intriguing is the way Jonze has mingled the short film with Absolut vodka. A number of cut scenes from the short are incorporated into an Absolut commercial. “This isn’t the first time people have created branded content,” says executive producer Mark Figliulio. “But it’s never really been accepted on its own merits. That’s the grey area we’re trying to explore.” Jonze has directed commercials in the past (The Gap, Adidas, and Miller Beer). “Spike respects the medium,” says second exec producer Matt Bijarchi. “He’s one of the few people that see commercials as an art, and his ad work is every bit as discerning as his features.”
So far the short film has been been accepted into the Sundance, Berlin, and Turkey film festivals. If its popularity continues to grow at the festivals and people show interest in the Absolut commercials the film may find a home in a box set and may even play on a yet to be announced cable channel.
Go behind-the-scenes and learn all about the magic of Pandora in this video titled “Creating the World of Pandora.” It touches upon the secrets behind the 3D motion capture technique and other design elements of the film. It also includes interviews with director James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, Cameron’s creative crew, and actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver. If you enjoyed Avatar and if you are at all curious about James Cameron’s vision this is a must-watch video. It should hold you until the Blu-Ray release drenches us in tons of extras.
