experience


VideoTrace is a system for interactively generating realistic 3D models of objects from video – models that might be inserted into a video game, a simulation environment, or another video sequence. The user interacts with VideoTrace by tracing the shape of the object to be modeled over one or more frames of the video.”

Pretty neat! For someone not experienced in 3D modeling, this is a great alternative. Reminds me of SketchUp to some degree, which is cool since you can add your models into Google Earth…Otherwise, I like how VideoTrace generates a 3 dimensional model based on a trace from a video, though I’m still not exactly sure how the software pinpoint hat angle you are at.

Video Trace site with video.
VideoTrace on Youtube video.

ted 2008 th big questions

The 2008 TED Conference schedule of speakers has just been announced! This years event will take place in sunny Monterey CA as well as a new simulcast lounge in snowy Aspen CO for some lucky individuals!(major party!)

Lots of big questions, unknown exciting speakers, and ideas to numb your brain!…this should be good!

If you have not heard of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference, catch up to their videos on TEDtalks , my 2007 TED recap, or some of my favorites.

overboots

Living in the east coast brings those icky winter storms leaving a slurry of wet, slushy, gray snow soaking and ruining most shoes. I was about to go buy a pair of stylish Swims, but then I realized they cost almost $200!! yikes!

So I did some research and found some alternatives to the Swims (mostly boot styles). I’ve not decided which to get, but thought I’d share my finds with ya’ll.

So, what are overboots? Their oversized shoes to wear over your existing shoes to trek outdoors, hence you just pop them right off when your in the office or at a friends and your set without ruining your favorite shoes. They come in “boot styles” and dress shoe “slip on” styles.
A bunch of Overboot pics and links after the jump! Continue Reading

barack obama

I’m not one to dive into the political world too often but this years round of familiar candidates has really captured my attention in that it is one of the most diverse round ups buzzing in all media formats traditional and modern on and off-line.

One particular politician that has captured my attention since 2004 is Barack Obama. His poetic speeches are powerful, his personality embraces leadership, his background is diverse, and his beliefs and actions are well supported by reason while embracing listeners to inspire, seek change, believe, and take action.

Besides the fact that this is probably the first time I’ve been excited about a presidential election, Obama is pretty geeky cool in the way that he’s all over the net, on MySpace, Facebook, has his own YouTube Channel, a blog, and even a Twitter feed. An extra highlight being a designer are some sweet icons www.008TheMovement.org has created which I received over the holidays!(thanks Bim)

No matter what the results are for Obama I praise him for being an incredible inspiration, a motivator for change, and a disruptor for the better! Obama just won the Iowa Caucuses and follows up with an amazing speech. Rock on Obama!

Barack Obama’s website

I mentioned a bunch of incredible speakers during my safari over to Pop!Tech2007 …and now a few of those lectures are available for watching at Pop!Casts here.

Above is the lecture by Van Jones who is an activist in urban poverty and environmental peril…a must watch!. He’s incredibly talented, smart, funny, and great at speaking that all should learn from!

A few other videos released:
John Legend: his music and his campaign on global poverty.
Jessica Flannery: Kiva.org, a must do Micro Funding site.
Chris Jordan: Photographer on consumerism
Christian Nold:Bio Mapping/ Information Visualization
Steven Pinker: The thinking behind conversation and language.
Louann Brizendine: The emotional behavior of the brain, men and women.
Daniel Pink: Insights on business and how Artists rule the future!!! (awesome for us creatives 😉 !)
Caleb Chung: Pleo, Furby, and otehr fun inventions!

I’ll post the videos after the jump!
Continue Reading

This past year I’ve been incredibly fascinated and inspired by Adam Kalkin’s disruptive, poetic, rustic, and rather playful spacial creations redefining what things could and perhaps should be. His projects show exploration, curiosity, and an incredible sense to imagine like a kid again while being stuck in an adults body which I love.

Check out this great video summary of Adams work and personality via Dwell Daily Blog. For a peek at some of his other whimsical creations:

12 Container House
– Push Button House, NY Times or TheCoolHunter.
Bunny Lane House via ApartmentTherapy
QuickHouse via inhabitat

Adams work reminds me of one of my other favorite sustainable architectural firms: Lot-ek (video, Recycled Airplane Library)



Ben Underwood had his eyes removed at the age of 3 due to cancer. Overtime, he’s taught himself to see objects in space by using “echo location” to navigate the world around him.

Simply amazing and inspirational! It makes me wonder about what us as humans are actually capable of. How acute can our senses be, what is our potential, how can these elements be unlocked? (this phenomenon also reminds me of Phantom Limbs;feeling and controlling limbs that no longer exists! TEDtalk Video lecture by Vilayanur Ramachandran)

Seeing instances likes Ben makes me want to dive back into my fascination with synesthesia; the ability to use one sense though a secondary sense… or as I called it back in college, Cross Sensing.

All 5 videos of Ben after the jump, including the phantom Limb lecture.
(thanks v)
Continue Reading

Paper Logs Log

Here’s a pretty nifty way to be a bit more sustainable. Take all that paper you waste daily and mash it up into usable paper logs for bonfires during the frigid winter. I’ve always made knots out of newspapers to start up fires, but this ideas pretty cool if it works. Reminds me of those can crushers for recycling, but now ya just mash up layers of paper, and you get “paper logs” for usage 😉

via ApartmentTherapy
DIY Source: two3five.com

update: A Newspaper Brick Maker! Buy Here!

swarm theory crowd sourcing

So verrrrry true! Reminds me a bit about the “Cisco cubicle free design” space, or being back in school!

“If there’s wisdom in crowds – why don’t we let the masses rule?
What would happen if a company had no recognizable leader – or management structure for that matter?
Yikes – chaos most probably.

Imaging a company as big as…say… Vodacom where everyone was paid exactly the same and had no leadership structures, everybody just followed everyone else and as a group decisions where made for the good of the crowd. That’s what ants, birds and bees do and they run remarkably fine tuned organizational machines. So why is it so far fetched to imagine that happening in a commercial human organization?

An interesting, growing trend in the world of business is what’s known as crowd-sourcing or crowd clout and the theory is that ‘the collective wisdom of a crowd is infinitely more powerful than the efforts of one’.

But how far are prepared to put this theory to the test. So far every experiment has been web-based, things like Myfootballclub and Digg string immediately to mind, but what would happen if a large, real world corporate had to try this out?

Our hunch is that bees, ants and birds don’t have giant egos to feed – so they’re naturally more inclined to let go and make it work. Maybe working together in a team goes against our natural human instinct of individual survival and is fundamentally flawed.

Check this amazing clip of the coordination of a swarm of birds in-flight.

…and for more, read Swarm Theory on the National Geographic site and how the theory is being used by FedEx and other transport companies.”

via CherryFlava
Source National Geographic



I’ve mentioned previously one of my favorite quotes during my journey over to TED2007 and it’s finally on TEDtalks here.

World famous designer Philippe Starck states “I believe in general that my job is absolutely useless; but now, after Carolyn(Porco) and these guys, I feel like shit”.

Watch the video… it’s somewhat funny to watch him, and charming. I’m not sure if what he says is anything new to the design community, but hey, it’s always great to hear it from icons such as himself.

Lots of his books to buy here.