Art

No doubt to the relief of third party suppliers of styli for the iPad, the optical stylus support for Apple’s tablet hinted at in a patent application uncovered earlier this year has so far failed to eventuate. While most of the styli on offer are basically fingers in a pen form factor, the Pogo Connect offers pressure sensitivity like that seen in graphics tablets from the likes of Wacom.  Read More

In a very clever promotion that plays on our desire to be conscious of what's happening to us even when we're not actually conscious, Ibis Hotels is inviting people to take part in what it calls "the Sleep Art experience." Sleep Art, as the name suggests, is an attempt at creating art from sleep patterns.  Read More

Currently, using Google’s “Search by Image” function, it’s possible to search the internet for information on something if you already have an image of that thing. Also, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing a system that allows computers to match up users’ drawings of objects with photographs of those same items – the drawings have to be reasonably good, though. Now, however, a team from Rhode Island’s Brown University and the Technical University of Berlin have created software that analyzes users’ crude, cartoony sketches, and figures out what it is that they’re trying to draw.  Read More

An origami fractal made out of nearly 50,000 business cards is the first physical representation of the Mosely Snowflake three-dimensional fractal in the world. The sculpture was put together by more than 300 students and volunteers at the University of Southern California.  Read More

Artist Nova Jiang scoured the sidewalks of her native New York (Brooklyn, to be precise) to extract moss samples to embed into the moving planters of her Landscape Abbreviated art installation. Jiang describes her creation as a "kinetic maze," but the intention seems more to have been to delight and inspire than to confuse or bamboozle.  Read More

It’s certainly impressive that there are robots capable of mowing lawns, tracking sharks, and toting goods, but sometimes it’s the robots that do completely useless yet entertaining things that really captivate us. Such is the case with TOSY’s soon-to-be-released DiscoRobo and SketRobo – one of them will dance to the beat of whatever music you have playing, while the other will draw your picture.  Read More

Thanks to its status as a brand that many aspire to own, the term Mercedes has earned a figurative connotation. When you say that you just ate the "Mercedes of meals," you undoubtedly feasted on a masterfully prepared example of haute cuisine, a meal that is to eating what a Mercedes S Class is to driving. When you say that you just ate at the "Mercedes of drive-thrus," well, it could now take on a more literal meaning.  Read More

Having long been successful with "talkies," Disney has developed technology that could allow the creation of "feelies." While designed more for touchscreens than the silver screen, the REVEL system developed at Disney Research uses reverse electrovibration to bring computerized control over the sense of touch, thereby allowing programmers to change the feel of real-world surfaces and objects without requiring users to wear special gloves or use force-feedback devices.  Read More

A hobby is what you do with the rest of your time. It tends to feed a deep-seated need of which you may not even be aware - to be your best self. Some people golf, some swim, some quilt, some travel, some climb mountains ... there's no end to the list. Then there's Szymon Klimek, who makes some of the most incredible miniature electromechanical sculptures imaginable.  Read More