tech

Sao Paulo: City Without Ads

Posted by _tango! on June 19, 2007

Posted in: art, brand, design, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, style, tech, thoughts. 16 comments

What happens when a mayor decides to ban advertisements in a vibrant city of 11 million people with more than 8,000 billboards? Impossible, insane, absurd, or just plain genius? Well this is what happened this past January when mayor Gilberto Kassabs “Clean City” law was introduced in Sao Paulo Brazil banning any form of advertising throughout the city to rid of “visual clutter”. (reminds me of the “advertising is graffiti” stunt, or my dislike for posters in Milan)

I’ve always wondered what an ad-free environment would be like, how a persons behavior would change, or what a city’s culture and personality would become. I’m not sure how long this law will last, but for a huge city, its a definite moment to figure out the overall affects of ads in our spaces for the good or worse. The results have been surprisingly uplifting, peaceful, educational, and positive. As much as I hate and love the art of advertising, I must admit I can’t live without it, but then again, I’ve never lived in such an environment.

Read two articles by BusinessWeek and NPR(with a MP3 interview) then skip on over to photographer Tony de Marcos Flickr set of the changing cityscape, with insightful comments here.

I’ll post the articles with the MP3 interview and some pictures after the jump.

Drivers of Change cards

Posted by _tango! on June 13, 2007

Posted in: brand, design, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, tech, thoughts. 3 comments

“What will our world be like in 2050? This set of cards identifies some of the leading drivers of change that affect our future.

Each card depicts a single driver. A factoid and rhetorical question are on one face, backed up by a brief indication of the breadth and depth of the content on the other face. The set was devised by the Foresight & Innovation team at Arup, a group tasked with exploring emerging trends and how they impact upon business of Arup and its clients. The publication serves not only as a vibrant visual record of research, but also as a tool for discussion groups, personal prompts, for workshop events or as a â€˜thought for the weekâ€™.”

I’ve had these cards for a few months (thanks TED)Â and they rock! Very inspirational, educational, great coffee table item, easy to read, and an amazing conversation starter for big topics in technology, our environment, economics, political culture, and social awareness in a globally changing sustainable future.

Drivers of Change website.
Drivers of Change Blog
Buy Cards here.

Spin N’ Snap Camera Concept

Posted by _tango! on June 6, 2007

Posted in: brand, design, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, style, tech. 5 comments

Sony just showed off a series of pretty sweet concept ideas on environmentally friendly sustainable electronics in Japan.”One of the more interesting devices of the lot is the Spin N’ Snap digital camera (pictured above), which you charge up simply by placing your fingers in the two holes (which also double as a viewfinder) and spinning it around a few times.”

Check out the pictures via Engadget or the whole article via DigitalCamerWatch.

Personally I love kinetic powering ideas though it’ll take more than one twist to take a picture most likely. We already have the hand-cranking 100$ OLPC laptop, so why not have a minority report like fling-charging camera. I’d buy one.

Venting Our (Carbon Dioxide) Problems into Space

Posted by _tango! on June 4, 2007

Posted in: green, ideas, information, inspiration, tech, wacky. Leave a Comment

Here’s an intriguing proposal to help rid the carbon problems in earths atmosphere; vent it out to space! I’ve never thought of such an idea, but then again, I never really understood our atmosphere scientifically as Mr. Wong below describes. I’d also question what happens when it’s all out in space? Is space the solution for all of our problems? anyhow, just thought ya’ll might like this read:”This week’s issue of The Economist reports on an interesting scheme proposed by Alfred Y. Wong, professor of physics and director of the Plasma Physics Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles, to rid the Earth of carbon dioxide emissions. Wong posits that a conveyor built in the Arctic could take advantage of the Earth’s magnetic field to expel emissions into outer space.

The Antarctic and the Arctic are the only two sites on the planet above which the sky opens up to space. There, particles from the sun that get through and cross the atmosphere could be harnessed for their gigawatts of power to lower the concentration of greenhouse gases by expelling them.

read the rest after the jump… via treehugger
Continue Reading

TuneGlue: MusicMap

Posted by _tango! on June 3, 2007

Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, inspiration, music, style, tech, thoughts. 2 comments

Here’s another pretty sweet interactive visual music map suggester(TuneGlue). You type in a band name, expand to see “like-bands”, delete a few, lock down the primaries, and after a few clicks you have a dozen more bands to check out.

The interface is simple, the branching is nice, and the suggestions are pretty good. It would be cool if a “listen” button was incorporated into the pod options rather than seeking a sound sample on your own. Be awesome if you could use this software for your own desktop mp3 collection as well..fun times at parties if ya ha a big touch screen for guests.(Microsoft Surface Table, or Jef Hans multi-touch wall)

zamzar.com

Posted by _tango! on June 3, 2007

Posted in: brand, information, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Don’t you hate it when someone sends you a file format that your computer doesn’t read? If so, give Zamzar.com a try which offers free online file conversions (up to 100mb) for videos, images, documents, and music formats. They even have a nifty little URL video conversion section to download streaming videos to savable formats rather than squinting into the source code.

Zamzar reminds me of YouSendit.com which helps you store and send files across the net (up to 100 megs). So now you have online format converters and online file senders. I haven’t used Zamzar much, but I’m sure many of you will find it handy though the conversion types are basics and nothing super fancy yet(designers: no ai, psd, sldprt). Check out their conversions list here.

All Things Digital Conference Videos

Posted by _tango! on May 31, 2007

Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, information, inspiration, tech. 2 comments

If you missed out on the huge All Things Digital conference(D5) this week check out the highlight videos on their new website including many clips of the highly anticipated Steve Jobs with Bill Gates side by side discussions. Go to allthingsd.com and click on the “D5” tab in the videos section for this past years videos and get your geek on!!!

Royksopp: Remind Me (kick butt graphics)

Posted by _tango! on May 26, 2007

Posted in: art, design, entertainment, inspiration, tech. 2 comments

Royksopp – Remind Me
by Pard

Great video by “Royksopp: remind me”. Watch it above or click here. I’ve seen stills from the video a few times, but I never knew it was an animation, which seriously rocks! Some incredible, simple, vectored “information communication graphic art work”(aka the art seen in those airplane emergency inserts) Check it out, be jealous of the sweet graphics, and great music to go along with it.

Web TV Streams

Posted by _tango! on May 23, 2007

Posted in: brand, entertainment, information, me, tech. 2 comments

I’m the type that rarely has time for TV(seen more shows on airlines), but sometimes that TV playing in the background catches my attention and I’m hooked on a TV show or two(three, four). One huge problem is catching a show in the mist of a series and not really understanding everything. What now; TiVo, Bit Torrent, Kazaa, alloftv.net, or wait for the DVDs?

Well, now for the great news! I recently (finally) caught an episode of LOST and got addicted a few weeks back and was drastically confused and curious. Luckily abc.com started streaming all of their episodes online last summer, and just recently announced they would be streaming their shows at HD(high definition) quality in July!

Anyhoots, The LOST season finale “Through the Looking Glass” is tonight, so if your like me, and missed a bunch of their episodes, go watch their TV streams and prepare for the ever elusive season finale tonight! Otherwise, watch any of your other favorite ABC shows. NBC.com(HEROES) also streams their shows now. I’m sure many other TV networks will do the same (it’s TiVo online!)

update: in case any of ya’ll are interested in what was written in that mysterious “newspaper clipping” from the seasons finale episode, click after the jump for the rumored somewhat seen answer. via LostPedia

PBS TV: Everyday Edisons

Posted by _tango! on May 19, 2007

Posted in: brand, design, entertainment, ideas, information, inspiration, me, style, tech. 6 comments

“Everybody has a great idea that could change the way we work, the way we live or the way we play. Everyday Edisons documents the development process of 14 inventions and the parallel stories of the people who invented them as they are taken from a sketch on a napkin to a store shelf.”

If your the type that craves to see, watch, and understand the creative methodology of a product idea to market, take a glimpse at the new documentry invention show Everyday Edisons on PBS (a Bouncing Brain Production), which follows a handful of inventors through their journey to bring their ideas to shelves for everyone to buy. Unlike some reality shows, there are no winners or losers and no cheesey competitions. This show follows and documents the story behind each individual over the time of a year working with a large team of people to make their products a reality with the real prize being a spot on store shelves.

The series started a few weeks back, so check out your pbs listings for your local air times(usually on Saturday). Even though the first season has not finished, it seems the show has licensed through some pretty good channels, skymall, and a few of the inventions have popped up on Amazon though not available at the moment.

update: They have their very own YouTube Channel to watch and subscribe to!!!!

iSave water indicator

Posted by _tango! on May 18, 2007

Posted in: design, experience, ideas, information, tech, thoughts. 3 comments

iSave is a pretty sweet concept that just might make you behaviorally turn that fawcet off when brushing your teeth to conserve the amount of precious water you use/waste daily.”This device has a digital display that works with the help of a turbine. When you open the faucet the pressure of the water activates the device and it displays the amount of water consumed.”

I recently read in a card in the book “Drivers of Change” this:

“How long will we continue to flush our toilets with drinking water?”
“Although two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered by water, only 1% is fresh water.”
“Within 30 years, the majority of the world’s population will not have enough potable water” ‘water wars’ are very likely to occur.”

Personally, I’d love to have the iSave in my house, then yell at my friends that take 2 hour showers, or leave the fawcett running for 10 minutes while brushing their teeth. It’s almost like being carbon-neutral, but just in the world of water. Perhaps the same could be made for electrical sockets. Less is better…kinda like a weight scale when your dieting 😉

via newlaunches

Pong Watch

Posted by _tango! on May 18, 2007

Posted in: art, design, entertainment, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, style, tech, wacky. 2 comments

pong watch John Maushammer

This is way too geeky cool! I want one! In fact, I’d really like a Pong Belt Buckle as well! Creator John Maushammer has a documentry of his homemade creation on his site here. I don’t think he has any current plans to mass manufacture this watch yet, but when it does, I’m sure it’ll be a hit at gatherings.

Watch the video above or YouTube video here.