In less than three months, Internet Explorer’s nostalgia-heavy “Child of the 90s” video has been viewed a whopping 28 million times and along the way was nominated for a Webby Award (voting underway now). [Read more...]
Nostalgia Ultra: Child of the 90s
Nostaliga. I just love the way the word slips off the tongue, and excites my memory banks. Just the mention of the word sends images racing through my mind at breakneck speeds. I grew up a child of the 90s. Nirvana was one of the first bands I ever really got into (In Utero was the first album I ever slipped into my my Sony Discman® and prayed the skip stabilizer would hold). My shoes either pumped up so I could run faster and jump higher during the day — or — lit up to light my way at night, when I stayed out after the street lights came on. Internet Explorer was born in the 90s, and as they grew up, a generation known as Millennials did too. Which makes this campaign tug a little harder on the heart strings — for those who remember. [Read more...]
IRIS: Interactive, Expanding Dots Mimic Your Movements
The world has exploded with hacks of the Microsoft Kinect and its ability to track the body’s movements, but the majority of examples use a conventional screen. The aptly titled IRIS breaks this trend, using a very unique and beautiful matrix of clear LCD screens. Each monochromatic unit has the ability to display a phased, opening and closing, black “iris” of either solid or concentric circles. Linking this to the Kinect, you get a screen which can roughly emulate the shape of peoples bodies using a artful halftone like pattern. [Read more...]
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When Science Fiction becomes Reality
From augmented reality video games to Apple’s Siri digital assistant, technology continues to zip along at lightening speed. Many of the most wild science fiction stories later become real life. Jules Verne came up with the idea of a fax machine, Arthur C. Clarke conceived the idea for satellites, and Edward Bellamy dreamed up the telephone before its time. Back in 2002, Phillip K. Dick’s short story was produced into the Hollywood movie Minority Report. In the film, a computer is featured that allows the user to interact with the screen in 3D, grabbing images and items virtually and moving them around the screen. Now that wild piece of sci-fi is quickly on its way to reality. [Read more...]
Graphing The Comeback: A Browser You Love(d) to Hate
What defines a comeback? By most accounts, it’s overcoming apparently insurmountable odds stacked against success, pushing through all boundaries, and dramatically trouncing the competition. In sports, figures like Lance Armstrong and George Foreman come to mind… while in the celebrity world people like Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr. could top the list. But, what if that comeback came from an internet browser? [Read more...]
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What if Nuclear Waste Could be Used Safely as Fuel?
After Japan’s tsunami, much of the positive light shed on nuclear energy since Chernobyl has vanished. It is likely hard to find many people with confidence in the safety of nuclear energy these days. Concerns ranging from waste, to meltdowns, to terrorist attacks have nuclear power on par with apocalypse and while those concerns are blown wildly out of proportion, they are still valid. Nuclear power has gotten a bad rap over the years, but a rebirth is on its way.
In comes TerraPower. The company’s mission to develop a sustainable and economic nuclear energy system while greatly reducing proliferation risks and creating new options for converting low-level waste into vast energy resources, puts the company in a world that many would deem as science fiction. Their new technology is still in development, but boasts the ability to turn nuclear waste (depleted uranium) into vast sources of power. TerraPower projects their traveling wave reactor (TWR) to turn an 8-metric-ton canister of depleted uranium into 25 million megawatt-hours. That is enough power for 2.5 million households for an entire year. [Read more...]
There’s a Physicist in the Kitchen
Bill Gates has credit for a lot of things. Even after Microsoft, he continues to push the limits of giving with his Gates Foundation, but what about all of the other incredible people that made Microsoft the technology behemoth that it is? Where are all the other incredible minds from the company now? Former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer, Nathan Myhvold, like Gates, is pursuing some mind boggling endeavors in his post Microsoft life. He holds degrees in mathematics, geophysics, and space physics from UCLA, and PhDs in mathematical economics and theoretical physics from Princeton University. Besides starting successful invention incubator Intellectual Ventures, he has nearly 250 patents issued or pending of his own. Many of those patents are related to food technology, which has led to his publication of Modernist Cuisine: The Art of Science and Cooking. The incredible tome is a 2,438 page, six-volume set of books set out to “reinvent cooking.” [Read more...]
Brandversation: When Corporate Logos Meet
Duking it out every day with advertising designed to make their brand look the best, these mash-ups of ubiquitous corporate logos beg the question: just how different are major brands like Coke and Pepsi? The series, titled Brandversation, remakes the logos of famous companies using the logo from their arch rival as the paintbrush. Company slogans are also reversed, bringing to light the possibility that, in many minds, they may be just as appropriate for either business. The brain child of Romanian graphic designer Stefan Asafti, you can find more of his work on behance.net. [Read more...]
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Silhouetris: A New Kinect Controlled Tetris
Tetris: back in the 1980′s it was the staple entertainment of gamers and bored employees, providing countless hours of dexterous finger numbing exercise. Enter the new kid on the block: Silhouetris. An experimental version of the original game that tracks your body’s motion using the Microsoft Kinect and ups the players interaction to some really fat-busting levels. [Read more...]
The Complex World of Microsoft Acquisitions
Looking like a fantastically complex version of the London Underground map, this information rich graphic details the many acquisitions and investments of the behemoth Microsoft corporation. At first glance it is quickly apparent that the multi-faceted company has its hands in just about every sector of business, and with the recent $8.5 billion purchase of Skype, their influence is only expanding. [Read more...]
