tech

Thomas Kalak: Thailand – Same same, but different!

Posted by _tango! on September 21, 2008
Posted in: art, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, style, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment


Photographer Thomas Kalak sent me his new book “Thailand – Same same, but different!” containing a colorful variety of street improvisations containing creations in leveling objects in challenging environments, sourcing water in unique ways, making broken products useful, converting objects into other uses, and a variety of other everyday needs. The photos are simple, mind-provoking, and very humorous once you realize the entire story. You’ll look at an image, wonder what they were solving, realize the initial problem, then understand how they solved it. Each image is a puzzling fun story in itself.

We live in a culture where resources are abundant, but at times we also find ourselves sourcing our needs around what we already have. The art in improvising is one of the most elemental needs in creativity just as “perspective” is to creation. Just because something is made to do “this” does not mean it cant’ do “that”. Thomas has created a wonderful simple book giving us a lens in seeing such beautiful samples in Thailand!

A little bird tells me this is selling out fast! Get your orders at RupaPublishing.com or direct here!

A few pictures from the book after the jump provided by Thomas!
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I’m a PC

Posted by _tango! on September 19, 2008
Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, experience, me, tech. 9 comments


Apple’s viral “I’m a Mac” ads tainted images of PC users over the years and Microsoft just launched a reply with their “I’m a PC” ads (not the semi failed Seinfeld ones, though buzzy) which surprisingly are pretty good. It’s not bashing Apple at all, and not saying I’m better than you or anything else. It just says hey, look at who uses a PC. No mud slinging, no joking, just purity which I frankly really like over their past “Perfect Family Lifestyle” ads that none of us connected with. “I wear glasses, I wear jeans, I have a beard, I’m a human”. There are quite a few celeb spots in the ads and there is a definite tone about the shear number of users out there vs “other” computers. Transparency in brands, relationship to customers, ability to connect, truth, being nice…. yes… all good things.

Anyhow, I’m not here to say who is better, but it’s great to see this reply from MS. I don’t say this often, but bravo Microsoft! I’m liking you a bit more…. and yes, “I’m a PC”.

Awesome job Crispin, Porter + Bogusky!(the rockin ad firm)

via gizmodo

EveryMomentNow.com

Posted by _tango! on September 18, 2008
Posted in: art, design, information, tech. Leave a Comment


EveryMomentNow.com has a pretty cool interactive visualization by designer Craig Mod depicting the amount of news published about both presidential parties Obama vs McCain. The obvious shift in news occurs in early September during McCains wild announcement for Palin. Will be a good visualization to watch out for in the weeks to come, though it sometimes acts up being viewed in firefox.

2008 Paralympics

Posted by _tango! on September 13, 2008
Posted in: entertainment, ideas, information, inspiration, tech. 2 comments

A few weeks have passed since all eyes gazed into the late night 2008 Beijing Olympic broadcasts, but many of us aren’t aware of the wonderful events happening now in Beijing during the 2008 Paralympics. I cant seem to find anything on TV but you’ll be able to watch online at UniversalSports.com or ParalympicSport.tv. (opening Ceremony here)

After seeing photos from Boston.com I’m going to tune into the Paralympics with even more anticipation with events I’ve never seen. Events where blind people run, run with partners attached by arm, play soccer blinded, where game rules change, where a disability creates an amazement of ability, fencers do battle in wheelchairs, volleyball is done on the ground, where advanced prosthetic legs launch runners beyond belief, swimmers power themselves forward with just their arms, and several other amazing accomplishments.

Give a look at the incredible pictures after the jump carefully then imagine being able to do what they are doing. I’ve tried walking more than 20 feet with my eyes closed and running is just beyond my imagination. These athletes rock!

For the creative side, this reminds me in a project given during RISD ID: Design a cell phone for Edward Scissor hands. The point is to imagine, create, and enable a product, function, or even experience when an ability we might all be accustomed to is not possible. The solution solves the problem and at times surpasses the original. So I guess a thought for design is to always consider the non obvious when approaching a project to innovate. When designing a phone, you might wonder how to input by sight, smell, sound, your face, feet, etc. This might sound odd, but I can guarantee this is how some of the most innovative ideas surface!

36 images after the jump mirrored from boston.com
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Swype

Posted by _tango! on September 13, 2008
Posted in: experience, information, tech. 4 comments

T9(predictive text) inventor Cliff Kushler revolutionized the mobile industry with his auto-word-complete T9 system and just announced Swype which basically takes the same idea as T9 but uses all the letters your fingers crosses over to auto complete text in a touchscreen! (uhmm, iphone)

According to their website this is the next fastest input method after a full size keyboard. The video makes this technology seem ingenious but you never know until you give it a try . “Give us a interactive flash page we can give it a go with, dammit!!” Okie, yes, it’s new and ya’ll are shopping for vendors, so I’ll have to wait bit to give it a go…maybe CES, or early product launches. I want I want!

via newluanches

Swype website

Introducing Ubiquity

Posted by _tango! on August 28, 2008
Posted in: fun, information, me, tech. 3 comments


Wow… Ubiquity by Mozilla labs is pretty freaking cool. Kind of an advanced user type of plugin, but some definite worthy features I’ll adapt to over time.

“Today we’re announcing the launch of Ubiquity, a Mozilla Labs experiment into connecting the Web with language in an attempt to find new user interfaces that could make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily.

The overall goals of Ubiquity are to explore how best to:

* Empower users to control the web browser with language-based instructions. (With search, users type what they want to find. With Ubiquity, they type what they want to do.)
* Enable on-demand, user-generated mashups with existing open Web APIs. (In other words, allowing everyone “not just Web developers“ to remix the Web so it fits their needs, no matter what page they are on, or what they are doing.)
* Use Trust networks and social constructs to balance security with ease of extensibility.
* Extend the browser functionality easily.”

Add the ubiquity plugin here.

Weekend Links

Posted by _tango! on August 25, 2008
Posted in: design, entertainment, food, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, misc, style, tech, wacky, weekendlinks. 1 comment

jetblue terminal
Thought of the week: Keep trying and believe.

– A peek into Jetblues new restaurant terminals!
– Made in USA shirt in Chinese.
– Flower Foaming Fire Extinguisher.
– Wifi Heatmap..kinda nerdy, but kind of works.
– How to get into any club by pretending to be a DJ.
– A very bad paramedic!
– Free the airwaves!(internet for all!)
– Windows Error page projected during Olympics opening Ceremonies!