sprawl

The slums of Mumbai: A model of urban...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:47:47 -0400

The slums of Mumbai: A model of urban sustainability?

“Cramped huts line narrow, dirty lanes, and the stench from open sewers and towers of garbage is all around. Welcome to Dharavi, one of the largest slums in the world. But beneath its destitute appearance, Dharavi is the recycling superhub of Mumbai, where an informal industry has grown to process and re-use waste generated by the city’s 21 million inhabitants.”

Artists Daniel Franke and Cedric Kiefer used Kinect to record a...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:10:05 -0400

Artists Daniel Franke and Cedric Kiefer used Kinect to record a dancer’s movements to Machinefabriek’s spooky electronic track “Kreukeltape.” Then, they strung together the images to create a 3-D point cloud of her body in 3ds Max. Made of 22,000 points, the cloud has the fragile fury of a sandstorm, as the dancer dips and shimmies and flails her limbs all over the place. It’s Pina, with a touch of The Mummy thrown in. [fastcodesign]

View the source link for a video of the complete visualization.

Earth’s wind patterns flow much in the same way as the...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:50:16 -0400

Earth’s wind patterns flow much in the same way as the oceans below them. This collaboration between Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg shows which way the winds of America are blowing. Appropriately dubbed “Wind Map,” it graphically displays barometric data—specifically surface wind speeds—collected from the from the National Digital Forecast Database. The page downloads forecast data hourly from the NDFD, so the map displays in near real-time. [gizmodo]

Check the source link to visit the interactive map and to learn more.

http://hint.fm/wind/gallery/mar-22.js.html

Check out photos from my time here in...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:23:58 -0400

Check out photos from my time here in Shanghai.

http://thelanguagebarrier.tumblr.com/

Jer Thorp is an artist and educator from Vancouver, Canada,...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:20:55 -0400

Jer Thorp is an artist and educator from Vancouver, Canada, currently living in New York. Coming from a background in genetics, his digital art practice explores the many-folded boundaries between science and art. Recently, his work has been featured by The New York Times, The Guardian, Scientific American, The New Yorker, and the CBC. Thorp’s award-winning software-based work has been exhibited in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia and all over the web. Most recently, he has presented at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Art, at Eyebeam in New York City, and at IBM’s Center for Social Software in Cambridge. He is currently Data Artist in Residence at the New York Times, and is an adjunct Professor in New York University’s ITP program.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Painting of a Chinese Puzzle Ball (16 Layers) by Piers...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:17:23 -0400

Painting of a Chinese Puzzle Ball (16 Layers) by Piers Secunda

Edition of 10 plus 2 artists proofs

Industrial floor paint

8 x 8 x 8cm

Starling Flocks Behave Like Flying Magnets [ Wired Magazine] To...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:15:37 -0400

Starling Flocks Behave Like Flying Magnets [ Wired Magazine]

To achieve their extraordinary coordination, starling flocks in flight behave mathematically like metals becoming magnetized, researchers say.

The same group previously described aspects of starling flocking with equations used to describe avalanches. The birds’ aerial formations don’t just transcend biology, but span multiple physical phenomena.

“They are an example of a system where collective phenomena emerge from short-range interactions. This is the kind of phenomenon that statistical physicists are used to dealing with,” said statistical physicist Irene Giardina of the University of Rome, co-author of a March 13 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences starling study.

Though flocks of common starlings — murmurations of Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris, in technical and taxonomical parlance — can be found across North America and western Europe, Rome’s flocks are renowned for their size, making them natural subjects for Giardina’s team.

Using multiple video cameras and software that tracks the trajectories of individual birds, the researchers analyze flock dynamics from second to second, in purely mathematical terms.

In a 2010 study, they showed that changes in the velocity of any one bird affected the velocity of all other birds in a flock, regardless of the distance between them.

That sort of relationship is known as a scale-free correlation, and is seen in systems poised at the edge of criticality, like snow crystals in the moments before an avalanche.

In the new study, the researchers looked not at velocity but at orientation, measuring how a change in direction by one bird affected others.

Rather than affecting every other flock member, orientation changes caused only a bird’s seven closest neighbors to alter their flight. That number stayed consistent regardless of flock density, making the equations “topological” rather than critical in nature.

“The orientations are not at a critical point,” said Giardina. Even without criticality, however, changes rippled quickly through flocks — from one starling to seven neighbors, each of which affected seven more neighbors, and so on.

The closest statistical fit for this behavior comes from the physics of magnetism, and describes how the electron spins of particles align with their neighbors as metals become magnetized.

In future research, Giardina’s team plans to study flocking in other organisms, such as local species of midges, which demonstrate other patterns of collective flight.

Giardina wonders if different purposes give rise to different collective behaviors. Starling flocks seem optimized to evade predators, for example, while the purpose of midge flights seems to be mating. She also wants to study Rome’s starlings in higher video resolution, over longer periods of time.

“People are used to the flocks here, but they always wonder how it’s possible for them to act in such complex ways,” she said. “We looked at the flocks and said, ‘We should be able to do something about this. We should be able to understand.’”

The Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:37:00 -0500

The Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space. Since you’ll capture the color, intensity, and direction of all the light, you can experience the first major light field capability - focusing after the fact . Thus you can focus and re-focus, anywhere in the picture after the fact. And focusing after the fact, means no auto-focus motor or shutter delay.

The big innovation is basically the camera’s micro lens (pictured). It has hundreds of tiny lenses in it that break up the light before it gets to the image sensor, capturing the direction that the light is traveling in in addition to just getting the sum total of the light. That’s what makes the after-the-fact focus possible. It’s basically capturing the geometric data about the direction light is traveling and using that to re-build the scene. The other end is software, both in the camera and when it’s photos are posted online. When you post a photo, it includes the light field engine data, using Flash for desktop and HTML for mobile to let someone focus on different points in the photo.

The Lytro comes in three colors and two models. The blue and graphite models have 8GB of storage and will cost $399, the red model is 16 GB and costs $499.

View the entire press release at:

http://gizmodo.com/5851420/lytro-camera-first-look-its-small-deep-and-cheap-updating-live/gallery/1

Visit the official Lytro site

https://www.lytro.com/

The EyeWriter is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus and custom...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:51:00 -0500

The EyeWriter is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus and custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis to draw using only their eyes. In 2009, the GRL, openFrameworks, TEG and the FAT Lab collaborated with TEMPT One, legendary LA graffiti writer and ALS suffer to make the first prototype of the EyeWriter. Check out http://eyewriter.org for more information.

Process video of a Wall painting by Supakitch and Koralie

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:27:00 -0500

Process video of a Wall painting by Supakitch and Koralie

Video

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:12:03 -0400

Quirky is a web based company that promotes the idea of social...

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:18:41 -0400

Quirky is a web based company that promotes the idea of social product development. They aim to make invention accesable. The Quirky Manifesto shown above describes their mission in more detail. Visit the source for more.

“For centuries, becoming an “inventor” has been a hard gig to crack. Complexities relating to financing, engineering, distribution, and legalities have stood in the way of brilliant people executing on their great ideas.

Since launching in 2009, Quirky has rapidly changed the way the world thinks about product development.

We bring two brand new consumer products to market each week, by enabling a fluid conversation between a global community and Quirky’s expert product design staff.

The world influences our business in real-time, and we share our revenue directly with the people who helped us make successful decisions.”

This is the promotional video for the BMW Guggemheim Lab which...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 23:10:49 -0400

This is the promotional video for the BMW Guggemheim Lab which plans on serving a a mobile laboratory traveling around the word to inspire innovative ideas for urban life. The Lab will be open in New York City from August 03 to October 16 and its FREE to the public. Visit the source for more information and make sure to check it out in person.

Ross Ching’s video titles Running on empty takes a look at a...

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:13:33 -0400

Ross Ching’s video titles Running on empty takes a look at a car-free Los Angeles, something unimaginable for a city that is so automobile dependent. visit the source for more.

Urbanflow Helsinki imagines how to build an operating system...

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:03:19 -0400

Urbanflow Helsinki imagines how to build an operating system for everyday life capable of adapting to the changing city and connecting to its users.

“A concept from Nordkapp and Urbanscale, Urbanflow plans to help visitors and tourists find and get to where they want to go, and provide a more serendipitous city for locals.”

Visit Urbanflow.io in August for more detailed information.

Another group of “urban explorers” documenting their...

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:31:04 -0400

Another group of “urban explorers” documenting their experiences in the underground sewers and metro tunnels of the UK. This is episode one of a series of short films titles Crack the Surface. Check out the source link for all of their photos and videos.

This video is part of a series by Wallpaper* and The Office for...

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:14:00 -0400

This video is part of a series by Wallpaper* and The Office for Non Fiction Storytelling describing the work of AMO, the Office of Metropolitan Architects research counterpart. The Architects featured in the short film speculate about a world driven 100% by renewable energies through projects of various scales. Its worth watching… for more be sure to visit the source link.

I came across these Images depicting the processes involved in...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:57:20 -0400

I came across these Images depicting the processes involved in making a Coca-Cola Neon Sign circa 1954.

This animation by Alex Roman is amazing. Keep in mind that this...

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:37:00 -0400

This animation by Alex Roman is amazing. Keep in mind that this video is entirely computer generated.

Credits.

Title: ‘Above Everything Else’
Agency: N/A - direct client
Client: Grupo Cosentino
Product: Worktop
Brand: Silestone
Production company: The Mushroom Company
Director/DoP/Art direction/Post/Editor: Alex Roman
Original idea/Concept: Alex Roman
Additional CGI: Juan Ángel García Martinez
Music: ZipZap Music
Spot TV 60”

Take a look at this proposal for a complete restructuring of...

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:31:00 -0400

Take a look at this proposal for a complete restructuring of mass transit in LA. Gensler LA’s scheme is built upon a platform of creating a more responsive system that will invite an improved user experience. In more detail the system aims to;

“Increase vehicle choices in the LA Metro system to include alternative modes of transportation, which provide various scales of public transport efficiency.

Increase flexibility of public transport by keeping existing transit stops but liberating the routes that connect them so that it may respond more immediately to user demand. Also provide it an efficiency advantage with dedicated lanes and pull-in stops to allow for bypassing, as well strategically located underpasses.

Leverage existing data to increase flexibility and optimize choices by overlapping the location of all ground transport, stops and users through GPS to coordinate their relative positions, needs and capacity in real time. To complete this triangulation, a GPS enabled app – tripFinder – automatically scans the network to sort and provide the user with the optimum trip itinerary while also optimizing the current status of the public transit fleet.

Expand the network and fill in the transport voids by granting access to this real time information through the selling of licenses to more and other alternative ground transport entities. This business could also be a potential profit center for LA Metro.”

This video definitely provides a glimpse into what the future of public transportation can be. Head over to the source for more details.