September 25, 2006
Ubiach at the Ubicomp, Irvine 2006
Ubiach successfully demoed at the UbiComp 06 in Irvine.
Specifically on the demos, it was held on the Tuesday. We were surprised to find that the 31 demos and the 50 so posters from all over the world, were being shown over a merely one afternoon.
Our group was finalizing the Ubiach in the meantime up until this point, debugging with the audio.
Initially with at the ITP Spring Show 06, we presented our Ubiach, in a moving stuffed toy. This wasn’t a novel idea. The idea was as simple as hacking a doll and inputting our new technology into it. This time around, we collaborated with an Industrial designer, from Pratt, Taeki Oh. He has recently won the students competition with Umbra, designing a wall clock that represents time with its shadows. He molded and built a bunny’s head that replicated the mashimaro character. It was cute, snuggly, inviting-to—be-touched and fit our concept of being able to be carried around everywhere. It took him 5 plus gallons of silicon to come up with the right shape, texture and thickness. We ended up using dragon-skin silicon to get the texture desired. It’s pink in color and there is an inner mold that is colored black. The LEDs would glow from the inside to represent the eyes of the bunny, when an email is received.
We moved away from the initial walkie- talkie to walkie-talkie audio transfer and made the new model using a Bluetooth headset. A module is hooked up to the audio out on the computer-side and we hacked the headset itself and used the Bluetooth module part of it to hook up to a louder speaker that used an LM385 to amplify the output sound.
The hardware and the coding of the Ubiach wasn’t an easy task either. We had moved everything onto a perf board and found that with the audio, the output wasn’t clear at all, instead, there was a lot of noise and crackling, unlike on the breadboard. We later found out that the Bluetooth module had needed its own regulator for the voltage difference on the board. After this debug, the sound output was very clear and loud.
All the hardware was designed to fit perfectly into a wooden box, behind the bunny.
For our setup at the demos, we had a visual poster with the flowchart of the system diagram, showing the inner works of the email reading bunny. We had a laptop and the bunny set next to it. The name definitely caught people’s attention and people commented on it a lot. The feedback overall was very positive. Of course the comparison to the Nabatztag was inevitable and we were prepared for this reaction. The Nabatztag is a smart rabbit that displays the arrival of the email. It can also send emails using a voice recording and attaches as an mpeg file onto the reply email. It is also smart in that it has the ability to output weather forecasts, display the stock market, network with other smart rabbits around the world, etc. The Ubiach is different in that it can be personalized on the web. It can prioritize emails and its sole purpose it for email reading and short voice memo recordings. It can be taken away from the computer and one can receive all his emails in the form of audio. Along the lines of calm technology, the user has the choice to have it read out loud.
Other good comments we got were to continue developing on this strong concept of an “email reader.” A guy from Microsoft suggested that we use a speech to tech app to add the function of replying back to emails. He also thought that the idea of having a little bunny on top of a laptop that would move subtly when getting an email or a IM would also be effective.
The demo gave us a chance to personally demo our project to the ubicompers at the conference. People found the silicon material to be very intriguing.
I think there could be improvement on the speed of the email transfer and also with the quality of text-to-speech function.
I have a few ideas concerning the next steps on our Ubiach. More to follow.
Hard at work and the progress.
Posted by min at 10:42 PM
March 17, 2006
MOMA, Architecture in Spain
Went to the Moma with Fino to catch James Clar's latest. The model was really well made. Probably the most out-there model that could easily distinguished from the rest. I was able to see Zaha Hadid's latest work also.
Posted by min at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2006
Only in N Y C
in the middle of broadway.
Posted by min at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
James Clar's latest work
2004 ITP alum, James Clar came up in our discussion once again. I absolutely love all his works.
This time, Interactive Architecture! I'd love to see this bldg in real life. I've seen his other works but this is definately something a lot grander in scale!
Interactive Architecture dot org featured his works.
One vid, featuring his work.
Posted by min at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2006
SMLEDs
I really like them.
Posted by min at 06:58 AM | Comments (0)
PS1 Visit
Went to PS1 in Long Island City with JD today to see a big "pcompy" exhibition.
Jon Kessler, The Palace at 4 A.M, encorporates video work and motors with interesting print work. H e dealt with current political issues in the US as a theme for this work. My personal reaction is that the artist showed a little too much of this working process as a whole, and that the piece seemed too complicated and a bit hard to comprehend at times.
"All of the apparatuses used for The Palace at 4 A.M. are in plain view. Thus, the wires, gears, cameras, motors, etc. constitute the body of the work itself, creating yet another dual relationship. Though Kessler demystifies the physical structure, it also serves to further mystify his manipulations; viewers must trust themselves to ponder the power of each image despite that fact that everything is visible to the eye."
Posted by min at 06:46 AM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2006
Inbar Barak
Random sitings.
Amazing work by Inabar, DIMobile. Can't wait to see it on the streets everywhere.
Posted by min at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)
Outtings in Korea
Went to Bitforms Korea. They had Michel Joaquin Grey's exhibition. His large prints and interactive screen based projects that he worked on. Pretty cool work. Amazing visuals.
Too bad I'm going to miss Danny Rozin's opening on the 13th. Those in Seoul, please have some pics to share! :)
On my way back saw a v. pretty store front.
Posted by min at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2006
Korea, YongSan
Ended up going to the candie stores before my departure. Fun things! Found a very cool speaker place.
Posted by min at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2005
Korea Electronics Shopping
Jane and I went for a fieldtrip to YongSan Electronics Bldg. At the basement of the building, they sell alot of electronical parts. CHEAP! Ton of different LEDs, SMDs, wires, boards, fans, etc.
I found some good battery holders that I've been searching for a while now.
Next trip to make is out to ChungGaeChun to get cheaper LEDs and misc parts for pcomp next semester.
Glowing fans?
Posted by min at 05:52 AM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2005
My thoughts of the Winter Show 2005
The show in the whole was a big success. The projects were sparsely placed so as to give enough walk-through space.
My personal favorites were Jeff Gray’s, Michael Horan’s and Tristan’s. Tristan’s and Jeff’s were more of kinetic objects, without the user’s interaction, yet it was beautifully presented and the parts moved elegantly.
Tristan’s reaction to his Pixel by Pixel class was that everything was programmed in rows (power) and columns (ground) as a matrix system. His reaction to it was to create a matrix of buttons that would click up and down according to his code. The movement seemed random but the sound effects and the visual was ever so elegantly presented. The movement was also very fast that added to the overall effect.
Jeff Gray’s "Death of Sound" played on the idea of sounds/ tone that would be generated, having a life of its own and slowly dying as time passed. He had built separate modules and these would individually have a life of its own. The tones were generated by taut guitar cables. There was a motor at the bottom of each module that would rotate and generate the tones and power the life into these modules.
Horan had built a kiosk with bungee cords inside. As one slung on these tight bungee cords, they would generate sounds. He used piezo sensors in the bottom of this kiosk as inputs. Horan’s piece was very interactive. I loved seeing children interact with his piece. They would lie on the bungee cords and play with them endlessly. This just shows that his piece was very successful. It played on a very simple idea, but the concept was very strong and people enjoyed the direct, fast feedback that they were able to get.
So far, I’ve heard that Jeff’s "Death of Sound" and the "Spoiled Gumball Machine" will go on permanent display on the floor. This happens every semester. I should definitely try to shoot for next semester.
Posted by min at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2005
Winter Show 2005
simply a thrill to be part of.
amazing experience. can not wait til Spring 2005 shows.
Posted by min at 01:02 AM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2005
Live Image Processing Fall 2005 Show
The 2nd years at work. Some were damn impressive.
I really liked the following...
Jason gave a really great opening to the show and Michael H's performance was a perfect ending...
Hyung Joon performs
Henry's
Posted by min at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2005
Jason Bruges
I have to admit these Europeans do some fascinating work.
Posted by min at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2005
Robotics at Eyebeam
Last Saturday, I finally headed over to Eyebeam to check out the robotics show.
November 19, 12-6pm: Automated Lives - panel discussion/workshop with Robot Clothes
During their residency at Eyebeam the artists collaborative Robot Clothes, comprised of James Powderly and Michelle Kempner, developed Inside Out Life Story, an artwork that combines robotics, art music, theatrical sets, animated toys and artificial intelligence to tell their personal story about a sick person and their partner, life in the hospital and the process of shifting back and forth between two disparate worlds. Elements of the robotics and sets will be on view and an ancillary panel.
I was able to catch the setup of it and the robotics were very real looking. Almost scary.
Part of the Eyebeam, Produced at Eyebeam '05, projections and projects.
Posted by min at 01:35 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2005
Architecture and Sound
Angela, Joo Youn, Thomas and I went to this lecture. It was definitely time well-spent. I was really inspired and was amazed to see how architects are bringing in pcomp into their works. The one that impressed me the most was the third group that presented. A reiteration of the project, White Noise/White Light, in Athens Olympics. The project for a Washington, D.C. sidewalk by Erik Carlson and Meejin Yoon. They were totally pcomping! Here are some info below.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Erik Carlson, Alvin Lucier, Joel Sanders, Ben Rubin, Karen Van Lengen, and Meejin Yoon
A presentation and discussion of several new projects that explore the use of sound in architectural space. Among the projects that will be discussed are “Hearways,” a collaboration between Joel Sanders/JSA, Ben Rubin/Ear Studio, and Karen Van Lengen; a project for a Washington, D.C. sidewalk by Erik Carlson and Meejin Yoon; and several sound pieces by sound artist Alvin Lucier.
Thursday, November 10
The Urban Center
457 Madison Avenue
6:30 p.m.
Following the submission of a large number of proposals from around the world, the Look of the City Section of ATHENS 2004 has selected a series of interactive installations to be realised alongside the routes.
The following interactive installations will operate primarily from 21:00 to 02:00, between 12 and 29 August.
J. Meejin Yoon: White Noise/White Light ("Listen to Athens" Route)
An interactive platform is placed near the entry to the Ancient Theatre of Dionysus, on Dionysiou Areopagitou St. The installation is a field of fibre-optic light strands which responds to pedestrian movement. The strands brighten and activate concealed speakers which emit a sound sampling of the city in the wake of the passerby.
Layout of the poles. Essentially, through human's touch, acting as a capacitance, certain sounds are triggered. The sounds are also networked creating a fade, 3d effect in the space.
Their circuit
Some other projects, the "Open House," that is to be built in Germany. They are building a house with the soundscape built-in, so that different parts of the house would give off different sounds according to its surroundings.
Some clips.
Posted by min at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2005
Advice from Career Fair
There was a Career Fair here at NYU a few weeks ago. I went to the "Careers in Technology and Multimedia," on October the 24th. There were panel members from companies such as Morgan Stanley (IT Risk and Security), Goldman Sachs (VP, Technology Division), Google, etc. Overall a great talk by them all. I felt inspired and motivated when I walked out of the conference room. These are some of the tips from the alums in the field.
Posted by min at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2005
Toy land
Jane and I headed to Toys R Us this Saturday to see what was out there. Being on that ITP floor almost everyday, limits us from our inspirations and others' creative works.
It was a great day in NYC. The weather was warm, clear sky and the sun felt so good.
As soon as you walk into Toys R Us, you are surprised by a line of flashes. Workers there take a picture of you, as soon as you enter. Then you can't but notice the huge ferris wheel going around in the middle of the building. Absolutely gobsmacking. I almost wanted to go on it for the experience...
A whole bunch of these just look scary...
Materials are essential in toy design. After making our plushy, I really ended up appreciating toy designers. Tis hard to satisfy little brats...
Every single toy these days are interactive. Even books are. It's hard to find just normal picture books without any sound or moving parts. Even Mr. Potatoes are interactive...
Girls' favorites... Stuffed animals. Elmos even dance these days. Man!
Teaching you addition, subtraction and multiplications. You match up the numbers and the toy speaks out the answers! These would have really helped me back in those days. Hm, to think of it, they may still help.
Discovered these on the 1st floor. Magnetic parts to help you make globes! Could have come in handy for our bucky ball assignment.
Parts for a possible Spatial Design class final project. Wireless toy cars... More to come!
Posted by min at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2005
The New York 2005 Marathon
I have a few friends running for the NY marathon this year. I really admire them. It takes some endurance to be a marathon runner. Takes time to train to be one and you have to continue your practice. I really applaude all those running for a good cause.
This year, NYC is going all out with their tech! Chips in your shoe that will track your running throughout the course. Info could be emailed out to your friends!
• The chip will record your official time from the starting cannon until you cross the finish line, and your net time from when you cross the start line until you cross the finish line. In accordance with USA Track & Field rules, the official time will be used for scoring, but we will provide you with your net time for informational purposes. Both official times and net times will be listed on your finisher certificate and in the official race results.
Man... I just had a conversation recently about embedding personal info under one's skin. This day may soon come. CNN's Sparks reported last year that there was this club in Europe that had adopted this to RFID their clubbers. It acts as an entrance ticket and you can even get your drinks using this chip that was injected into the upper part of your shoulder. Scary idea but the chip could be removed.
The idea of embedding anything remotely chip-like is just distasteful.
Posted by min at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2005
About Privcay
"Monitoring"
Silent Watch is designed to help you keep an eye on what your computer is being used for, even when you can't be there in person. With it installed on your system, you can review the web sites your children have visited, your children's instant messaging sessions, and your children's offline computer use.
The program will operate without the child's knowledge.
The program can be used alongside a filtering or blocking tool.
The program can be set up to warn children when they attempt to access inappropriate material.
Privacy
1 (남의 간섭을 받지 않는 개인의) 사생활;사적[개인적] 자유, 프라이버시
2 남의 눈을 피함, 은거, 은둔, 은퇴 생활
3 비밀, 은밀, 비공개
4 [pl.] 《폐어》 은거처, 은둔소, 사람 눈에 띄지 않는 장소
You'd think that there would be a word for "privacy" in Korean. There isn't. I thought about it hard in class, but I couldn't really pin point. It's different from copy-rights, it's different from the word "private," which is an adjective.
"Data Profiling "is the term use to denote the gathering, assembling, and collating of data about individuals in databases which can be used to identify, segregate, categorize and generally make decisions about individuals known to the decisionmaker only through their computerized profile." - Karl D. Belgum.
"Private corporations, such as individual websites and Internet Service Providers, collect data from their own benefit. Due to technological advances, mining of data has seen a significant reduction in cost, leading to an entire industry dedicated to selling consumer data, particulary interested marketers."
Points to think about. So much data about us is out there. When we use our credit cards, when we fill out necessary forms at the doctors, when we purchase things online... the list goes on. How do we protect ourselves? Should we even?
Posted by min at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)
Retail and Interactivity
Having worked at Frankel, a major branding firm back in Chicago, I am constantly judging and trying to see retail interior fixtures differently.
Starbucks today, the only place where I could really concentrate on my work without the distraction of having a smoke or the roommate who loves to play her cantopop. It's amazing how most Americans are addicted to Starbucks. It's especially the case in NYC. Just to get my cup of joe at 4pm, I had to wait in line for about 10 minutes. Would I have really come down here if I had known there was such a long line? But then again, this place is always crowded, being the only starbucks on campus, selling their legally-drugged cup of H2O.
As I sit here reading for about an hour or so for my privacy class, I notice the "starbucks" light fixtures, the lowered ceilings with the cheap incandescent lights, the wall paintings... aren't we getting a little tired of seeing this all? So boring.
An alum at ITP had once said that the "print" ages are over in advertising. It's true I don't see too many children who are surprised when seeing moving images nowadays. So, why is the transition in architecture and interiors happening so slowly? There's the new field of study in interactive architecture. I just purchased the book, 4dspace: Interactive Architecture by: Lucy Bullivant. I'm really interested in as to where and how interactivity would fit into architecture. I have to admit, it's a little sci-fi-ish and I can't stop but imagine them in my head.
I personally think interactivity should be brought into retail environments very soon. I mean, we see them in museums all the time. So why not the next step and bring them into our daily lives? When it comes to retail spaces and interactivity, it'd be about the personal experience in that space as opposed to buying-and-getting-the-hell-outta-here experience.
I wonder if Russ Dow is on it right now.
Posted by min at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)
October 31, 2005
Mesh tea spoons
are great!
Probably one of the greatest tools out there. Simple, yet it works with no mess. Oh, I've been dreaming of one of these. Perhaps in different colors and sizes?
Posted by min at 08:21 AM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2005
Moma, Safe Design
Went to the MOMA with Rob and Alice. Some, I've already seen, some, simply innovative and creative. I feel like the space wasn't used to its advantage. Like what Alice said, the show wasn't really curated well. Friday afternoons, free entrance at the MOMA.
Similar to the plushy project, these fluffy dolls were used to comfort downsyndromed children.
The safe house.
Posted by min at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
Nebraska Noise Fest, Tank
Some very interesting pieces at the show.
I especially liked Douglas Irving Repetto's piece including mylar pieces that would subtly move as noise was input into the mics.
"In the physical world, transmutation is never perfect. Slowscan Soundwave is one in a series of pieces that attempt to create simple physical manifestations of complex physical, biological, and social phenomena.
Sound travels through open spaces via the compression and rarefaction (expansion) of air molecules. For example, as the head of a drum vibrates, it pushes and pulls at the air around it. That pushing and pulling creates areas of higher and lower air pressure, which propagate out from the source in waves. Slowscan Soundwave uses a microphone to sample the ambient air pressure in its environment. It then uses those samples to change the alignment of seventy nine suspended plastic sheets in an attempt to create a visible analog to those constantly changing pressure fronts.
Even the simplest of sounds is too complex, and changes too quickly, to be accurately represented by plastic sheets slowly moving this way and that. As a result the patterns formed by Slowscan Soundwave are a crude approximation of those formed in the air.
The goal of these pieces is not perfection or precision. I am entranced by the strange and beautiful, but often invisible, intangible, and inaudible phenomena that surround us. These pieces are an (imperfect) attempt to make those elusive phenomena more clearly perceptible."
Tank
Tristin's piece
Interactive sound piece
Posted by min at 01:21 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
Second Life
Today, our Spatial Design class went to a talk by the CEO of Second life Inc, Philip Rosedale. The talk was held by the Computer Science Colloquium at NYU.
I have to admit, I'm not a fan of video games, or just any kind of games. As a teen, my mother would get us the playstation and I wouldn't even look at it. I was actually mad at her for paying all that money for some box made out of plastic. My sister would play on it for hours and I just didn't understand why anyone would waste time on it when you could go out and do other things... (Yes, I've tried playing, but I'm simply not interested)
But having studied architecture as an undergrad and being exposed into the 3D world has changed my perspective on video games and 3d games.
Second Life is a real time 3D game online that runs off of servers. Philip Rosedale discussed the challenges of using distributed network of computers. The users online can pretty much do anything in the game. He was telling us how certain players create their little islands and sell them off for a few thousand dollars. There are people who make up to $150,000 selling their objects and "islands". It's simply mind- blowing how some people make a living of making things for the virtual world that doesn't even exist.
He was a great speaker and I was really impressed by the whole thing.
Posted by min at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
Half Life 2
In week 4 of the 3d class, Marland came in to give us a demo of the video game, Half Life 2. All of it was modeled in Maya and Virtools. It was quite exciting to see what can come out of all the things that we are learning in class. Very impressive, very inspirational.
The control of light and the textures seemed so real.
Posted by min at 12:24 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2005
jason bruges studio
Interesting interactive spaces.
Posted by min at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)