Hi, Matthias Brendler here, transdisciplinary designer blogging what's interesting or significant relating to: Design, Education, Culture, Technology and Business (as well as anything that's really cool).
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Artist Aram Bartholl integrates data into physical space with his recent Dead Drop project, installing USB drives into the walls of public buildings for passersby to connect with. One of a series of interviews brought to you by the Heineken Ideas Brewery.
How does your work seek to reimagine the idea of data in everyday life?
I’m intrigued by how digital space leaks into our real life world. My work is the literal translation as it connects data to the physical world. Think Google markers in their actual, physical, designated location.
Do you think the web can become even more intertwined with physical space?
Yes, certainly. It’s already happened. There’s always a pair of terms like analog and digital that are woven into each other. Now you can barely make the distinction, but what I find interesting are the gaps. For instance, the gap between the super techie crowd and people like my parents.
We loved your Dead Drops project, where you installed a series of USB flash drives into publicly accessible building walls in order to create an anonymous peer to peer file sharing network. What interesting findings came out of this project?
Dead Drops was an unexpected success. It has yielded many variations and the idea has been used as content and for marketing apps and software. For me it was fun to see how the project grew by itself. It became a collection of very personal data, file sharing, and bits of art and music. It doesn’t have the same qualities of social media, it’s about slowing down and the picture of physical storage cemented in the wall as opposed to floating around in the cloud.
What do you think the future holds for data and physical space? Do you think people will be more open to it?
I think data is entering physical space in many ways right now, ways we are not even aware of. Projects like Dead Drops are very literal in that sense, but I think it’s important to defend the openness and neutrality of the internet. People keep forgetting the advantages of digital space. I can give you this drawing I just made, you have it now, and I don’t have it any longer. But in digital space, I can send you pictures and we both have them! Isn’t that great?! It’s a big advantage, people keep forgetting that, and soon this will also affect physical objects that are created through 3D printers like makerbot.com and thingiverse.com. I am hoping people are open to this because it’s going to be huge!
via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/08/how-to-reimagine-the-role-of-data-in-everyday-life.html#ixzz24r0sfz8c
DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program is currently testing a small, rubber robot that is capable of changing colors to blend with its surroundings. The updated prototype, developed by Harvard University’s Dr. George Whitesides and Dr. Stephen Morin, is equipped with a layer of capillaries that are used to circulate fluids or air throughout the unit. In the video below, the robot uses a dark-colored dye to blend in with its environment. DARPA says that fluids can be also be used to make the robot change its apparent shape and temperature, or glow in the dark.
In its current form, the robot is attached to an operator through a series of tubes that are used to pump the dye and air for movement. The advantage of using a silicone-based robot comes down to its durability and the low cost of manufacturing. DARPA has stated that a model like the one seen below can be made for less than $100, and is hopeful that the price can drop down to just a few dollars each in the future.
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DARPA’s Soft Robot: Now You See It, Now You Don’t (by DARPAtv)
Using a gamut of specialized tests, scientists at Berkley, Oxford, and the University of Geneva have developed a way to extract data from your mind using an off-the-shelf brainwave scanning device. The researchers placed an Emotive EPOC scanner on 28 test subjects’ heads, then measured their subconscious reactions to stimuli. When the subjects were shown nine random maps plus one map including their home address, measurements of the subconscious signals in the subjects’ brain activity revealed the location of their home with 60 percent accuracy.
The scientists theorize that their methodology could also systematically extract where a person banks, their PIN number, and other private knowledge. However, there is little chance that consumer brainwave scanning devices could be used maliciously — a hacker would have to socially engineer you into systematically thinking about your private data while you wear the scanner. While the collaborative research done by the aforementioned universities sounds remarkably similar to the psychological video games of Ender’s Game, we’re probably a few decades away from having our deepest thoughts and personalities intuited by machines.
Ferrofluid: How it works (by Michael Flynn) (by electricmic)
An Indecent Proposal from Sarah Silverman
by SchlepLabs
BY: JOE BERKOWITZ
In typically ribald fashion, noted Obama supporter Sarah Silverman explains what lengths she’s willing to go to in order to convince one obscenely wealthy Romney donor to switch sides.
After getting a description and dress-demonstration of the proposal in question, viewers are directed to ScissorSheldon.com for more information on Sheldon (including the facts that he is listed in the Forbes 400 as the eighth wealthiest American and that he is under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the target of a civil lawsuit) and asked to sign a petition to “tell Mitt Romney to reject Sheldon Adelson’s support."
Find out the details of what she has in mind above, and revisit Sarah’s previous activism effort for Obama, “The Great Schlep," below.
The around 6 million subscribers to GM’s OnStar connected car service can now rent out their cars to other drivers via a deal between the auto giant and peer-to-peer car sharing startup RelayRides. The partnership was announced back in October of last year, and the service is live as of Tuesday.
RelayRides — which raised money from GM’s venture arm — says it is the first third party to use OnStar’s API, and later this Summer GM plans to open up the API to other third party developers, too. OnStar uses satellite-connected on-board units to offer connected services, but the primary application to date has been to summon help in the case of an accident or other emergency. GM offers the service to car buyers free for a few months to try out before initiating a monthly fee — the service can cost $200 to $300 per year — and is looking to offer more services to retain those trial customers.
» via GigaOM
Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) Theatrical Trailer (by ColdBishop)
One second and 28 metres. That’s the time required to take your eyes off the road and read 100 km/h on the speedometer. The BMW Head-Up Display from BMW ConnectedDrive projects the current speed or navigation instructions directly into your field of vision − letting you keep your eyes on the road.
The V Motion Project E07 The Live Hit (by republicofvtv)
Peter Weyland TED Talk 2023 (Prometheus Viral) (by PrometheusNews)
