Blind Camera Takes Photos From Other Side of the world

March 5, 2010 Leave a comment

buttonssasha

This blind camera will snap a picture for you, capturing a moment in time. It does this with no lens, no sensor and no viewfinder. In fact, the black box consists of little more than a red button and a screen.

Point it where you like, press the “shutter” and the time of your exposure is captured. The box, named Buttons, gets to work trawling the web for a photo taken at the exact moment you pressed your button and when it finds one (minutes or hours later, depending on when somebody else uploads their snap) it will display it on the box’s screen.

The guts of Buttons is a SonyEricsson K750i running custom software. This is what records the time and communicates with a server called Blinks. This server runs a PHP script that searches Flickr for pictures matching your data. The big red button is from an old Agfamatic 901 camera, one of those little flat 110 pocket-cams.

Buttons is a project by artist Sascha Pohflepp, not an actual product. I’d love to see this hacked into an actual trick camera, though: You could hand it to a friend who thought they were snapping pictures all day long, only when they got home, they’d have a bunch of strangers’ pictures from around the world. It reminds me of the days when prints would get mixed up at the lab: I’m still scarred by those photos I got of my geography teacher’s erotic cosplay.

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Gadget Lab Hardware News and Reviews Finger Fail: Why Most Touchscreens Miss the Point

March 5, 2010 Leave a comment

screen_wars

You’re not crazy, and neither are we: The touchscreen on the Apple iPhone really is more responsive than the screens on the BlackBerry Storm, the Motorola Droid, the Nexus One and many other phones, even though all of these devices use essentially the same touch-sensing hardware.

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Though handset makers buy their touchscreens as components from the same select pool of suppliers, a good touchscreen experience requires more than just hardware. It requires a bit of design alchemy blending software, engineering and calibration for the perfect feel. Few smartphone makers have managed to get that balance right, say experts.

“If you think that no other touchscreen out there is as good as the iPhone, its not all in your head,” says Chris Verplaetse, vice president of the Moto Development Group, a product design and development firm. “It’s like asking what makes a Mercedes door close like a Mercedes door and a Hyundai door close like one though they use the same steel. There’s clearly a difference.”

Variables include engineering details such the calibration of the touch sensor so it can separate the signal from the noise, the quality of the firmware and the level of integration of the touch experience into the phone’s user interface. There are also more difficult-to-quantify things such as as the level of the company’s commitment to making the best touchscreen experience possible.

“Many layers account for the performance of a touchscreen,” says Verplaetse. “But it all comes down to how well the electronics and the mechanical hardware are integrated.”

As cellphones became more powerful, allowing users to surf the internet and check e-mail, handset makers started to add touch capability to their phones.  The earliest screens were resistive touchscreens, where two thin metallic layers are separated by a narrow gap. A finger pushing down on the top layer makes contact with the bottom surface and the point of contact is computed by the accompanying electronics.

But resistive touchscreens didn’t make most consumers happy because they weren’t responsive enough — you had to really push and hammer away at the display with your fingernail or a stylus to get it to respond.

The capacitive touchscreen in Apple’s iPhone changed the game, because it’s not pressure-sensitive. Instead, this kind of technology responds to the electrical properties of your skin, not the pressure of your finger, to figure out where you’re touching the screen. For the first time, just a light tap could open an application or a flicking gesture could get the screen scrolling. Best of all, it seemed effortless.

A projected capacitive touchscreen — the kind that’s usually used in phones — has a glass insulator coated with a transparent conductive layer. The layer is etched into a gridlike pattern. When a finger touches the surface of the screen, it distorts the electrostatic field. That can be measured as a change in capacitance.  The location of the touch is computed and it is passed on to a software application that relates the touch into actions for the device.

In theory, all capacitive touchscreens should offer consumers the same experience, but they rarely do, says Andrew Hsu, a technology strategist for Synaptics, one of the biggest touchscreen component makers.

“Capacitive touch-based handsets involve a lot of development work and quite a bit of engineering expertise in order to give them their ‘magical’ quality,” says Hsu.

It’s Not Just About Hardware

Smartphone users have no way to measure exactly how well the capacitive sensor system on their phone is actually working. Their perception is based on the feedback they see on the screen, says Hsu. That means a touchscreen could be quite fast and accurate, but if the visual display doesn’t keep up, it won’t feel smooth or responsive.

That’s where well-designed user interfaces and quality firmware come into play.

“Some systems are better at it than others,” says Hsu.

Synaptics ran tests comparing the iPhone touchscreen to the original BlackBerry Storm. They found that the Storm’s touchscreen sensor responded well, which pointed the finger at the underlying firmware.

It’s also a reason why BlackBerry maker Research In Motion was able to fix some of the lag and the bugginess of the screen that reviewers had initially complained about. Subsequent updates to the Storm’s software significantly improved its responsiveness to touch.

Another problem is separating signal from noise, which some phones are better at than others.

A perfectly designed and well-tuned capacitive sensing system would require no pressure to detect the presence of a user’s finger. But to get there, handset makers have to solve what Hsu calls the “needle in a haystack problem.”

The amount of signal that your finger contributes when it touches the sensor is very small compared to the noise already present in the system. To accurately sense it and compute its location requires some software magic.

“Even if you design the entire touchscreen right, once you put it into the device, there’s an impact from other sources that emit electromagnetic interference, such as the wireless unit,” says Hsu.

That’s where an ASIC, or application specific integrated circuit, is needed to measure and amplify the signals. Apple reportedly designed its own ASIC for the iPhone’s touchscreen, while most other companies buy an ASIC from one of the touchscreen chipmakers.

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The Smart List: 12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World

March 5, 2010 Leave a comment

09.21.09

Illustration: Michael Gericke

Warning: The ideas expressed here may be dangerous. For this year’s list, we walked right past the usual suspects and went looking for trouble. We wanted radicals, heretics, agitators—big thinkers with controversial, game-changing propositions. We found a prison reformer who wants to empty jails, an economist who thinks foreign aid hurts more than it helps, and a military theorist who believes the US should launch preemptive cyberattacks, right now. Then there’s secretary of defense robert gates, who wants to win wars, not just prep for them. Risky? Sure. But this is no time to play it safe.

Illustration: Tucker & Bennett

Read More http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-10/ff_smartlist#ixzz0hKWWRLTk

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This Brand is My Brand

March 5, 2010 Leave a comment

Why logo hacks are the new black.

By Eric SteuerPage 1 of 1

Shepard Fairey and Rick Klotz are remix entrepreneurs. Fairey, famous for turning wrestler Andre the Giant’s likeness into ubiquitous urban art (you know those Obey Giant flyers, posters, and stickers you see everywhere?), heads a design firm, a publishing house, and a clothing company – all dedicated to visual appropriation. Klotz sparked the trend of reworking pop iconography and product logos for streetwear: Fifteen years ago, he launched his Freshjive line by printing T-shirts with graphics based on the Tide detergent box, 7-Eleven’s Big Gulp, and Special K cereal packaging. Wired talked to Klotz and Fairey about the art of pilfering popular culture.

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WIRED: What’s the point of your remixes?
KLOTZ: It comes from the same impulse that drives hip hop producers to use samples in their music. It’s about taking something you like and putting your own twist on it. If I take a logo and make a shirt out of it, I’m saying, Hey, this graphic that you see all the time is pretty cool looking if you draw out the right elements.
FAIREY: I was in Hawaii and went to a skate shop. The guy working there recognized me and asked about a T-shirt I’d done – it was a design that superimposed the Obey Giant logo over this iconic portrait of Iggy Pop. He said he’d been looking all over and that he’d pay any price for it. I realized that he wasn’t just interested in an Obey shirt or an Iggy Pop shirt – it was specifically the merging of the two images that he was after.

So how has this aesthetic changed fashion?
KLOTZ: Well, to some degree, it’s always been there – clothing companies have built off of each other’s ideas since the beginning. Designers get a lot of ideas for new styles by looking through old clothing catalogs. But specifically in terms of brand appropriations, the remix aesthetic levels the playing field for aspiring designers. You don’t necessarily have to be formally trained as an artist to take preexisting graphics and rework them. So when logo remixes first started to take hold, you saw a huge surge in companies doing them. But a lot of the stuff was garbage, and so a lot of guys went out of business.
FAIREY: For a while, the joke was that anyone with Photoshop and a silk screen in their garage could start a clothing company. The truth is that it takes a lot more than that to do this stuff well. You’ve got to have a sharp eye to do quality work.

Rick, what’s the story with the lawsuit filed against you by Stussy [a competing streetwear label]?
KLOTZ: A few months ago, I made a group of shirts that parody the logos of companies like Quiksilver, Volcom, and even Shepard’s Obey Giant brand. The idea was to comment on how similar everyone’s designs are these days. One of the shirts was a Stussy takeoff – the graphic combines the word Freshjive with the scribble that Stussy uses in its logo (pictured below). Unfortunately, Stussy sued us, saying that the clothes would confuse customers. But the thing is, they’ve been doing logo appropriations for years. In fact, some of their most popular designs are takeoffs. They did a Gucci remix that they called Stucci and have reworked Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and others. [Stussy tells Wired that it has not made clothing with appropriated logos in the past 10 years.]
FAIREY: The major difference is that Rick was parodying his peers instead of high fashion. Maybe it hit a little too close to home for Stussy.

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50 Practical Uses for Super Powers

March 5, 2010 Leave a comment

Photo from Pres. Obama's former Senate websitePhoto from Pres. Obama’s former Senate website

Everyone always dreams of getting super powers and using them in the eternal fight for good (or, in some cases, fame and fortune). But what if it wasn’t about the BIG issues? What if you could just use a super power to help in day-to-day life?

Now, everyone will jump to powers such as being bullet-proof for police officers, or having water powers for fire fighters, but that’s still a bit on the heroic side. What we’re talking about is practicality! With a little Twitter crowd-sourcing, we’ve compiled a list of super powers and the day-to-day jobs they could be practically applied to. Feel free to add your own in the comments!

  1. Super Strength: Fruit Pickers – instead of relying on those tree shakers, one person should smack the ground and all the fruit comes down
  2. Super Speed: Postal Workers – Would make the daily rounds go a lot faster
  3. Weather Control: Elementary School Teachers – the ability to turn off the rain when it’s time for recess
  4. Elasticity: Plumbers – who needs a rooter device when you could just reach down a pipe and clear the clog?
  5. Phase Shifting: Electricians – nice to be able to re-wire a house without knocking a lot of holes in the walls
  6. Clairaudience/Super-hearing: Librarians – like they don’t have it already
  7. Flight: Roofers – saves a lot of time going up and down the ladder
  8. Multiplicity: Daycare Workers – when the kids start going a little crazy, there’s always someone around to help
  9. Accelerated healing: Florist – makes working with roses all day a little less intimidating
  10. Acid Generation: Blue Jeans Maker – ’cause acid wash is coming back, baby!
  11. Animal Mimicry: Zoo Keeper – for those days when the Bonobo is sick, but the crowds still want to see poo flung
  12. Echolocation: Caddie – always find your client’s golf ball no matter where it landed in the rough
  13. Invisibility: Movie Theater Usher – catching those camcorder pirate will be a piece of cake now
  14. Invulnerability: Crash Test Dummy – the job, not the band
  15. Kinetic Absorption: Football Linebackers’ Coach – they can grade tackles very subjectively
  16. Merging/Combining: Wedding Planners – the caterer and coordinator combine to become the minister
  17. Self-detonation or Explosion: Stunt Man – makes the effect budget a lot cheaper if the stun man blows up without additional pyrotechnics
  18. Sonic Scream: Quality Control in a Glass Factory – it’s not the wavelength, it’s the frequency
  19. Superhuman Breath: Barista – steam the milk with a straw
  20. X-ray Vision: TSA Employee – might make the lines move a little faster
  21. Telescopic Vision: Tornado Chaser – because the school teacher got the weather control
  22. Wallcrawling: House Painter – no more scaffolding
  23. Waterbreathing: Pool Cleaner – for that hand-washed look
  24. Astral Projection: Museum Docent – saves a lot on new shoes if you don’t actually have to walk around
  25. Empathy: DMV Employee – it could revolutionize the service
  26. Telepathy: Waiter/Waitress – Your glass of water would always be refilled… until you weren’t thirsty anymore
  27. Animation: Housecleaner – efficiency the likes of only Mickey Mouse could imagine
  28. Darkness or Shadow Manipulation: Black & White Photographer – anyone could be the next Ansel Adams
  29. Density Control: Kevin Smith – then he’d never get kicked off another Southwest flight
  30. Disintegration: Busboy – ensuring clean plates down to the molecular level
  31. Elemental Transmutation: Pawn Broker – every gold chain is 24 carat
  32. Gravity Manipulation: Personal Trainer – you’d only need a bar and one pair of dumbbells for a complete weight training facility
  33. Light Manipulation: Real Estate Agent – then every house could have “great afternoon light”
  34. Magnetism Manipulation: Supermarket Shopping Cart Wrangler – get along little doggies
  35. Mass Manipulation: Carnival Game Runner – win the “guess your weight” game every time
  36. Molecular Manipulation: Short Order Cook – make sure the plate of grits that’s been sitting waiting for 10 minutes is still hot when the waitress shows up
  37. Probability Manipulation: Dungeon Master – because you never want your players doing TOO well
  38. Radiation Manipulation: Animal Rights Activist – you could save the cat every time
  39. Time Manipulation: Tax Accountant – take on more clients and spread the work out
  40. Air and Wind Manipulation: Air Traffic Controller – constant headwinds make for quicker take-offs and landings
  41. Cold and Ice Manipulation: Bartender – no need to put ice in the shaker
  42. Earth Manipulation: Organic Farmer – watch out, Monsanto
  43. Plant Manipulation: Topiary Artist at Disneyland – talk about a dream job
  44. Electrical Manipulation: Prison Guard – keep the prisoners on their best behavior by dimming the lights, and then humming “another one bites the dust”
  45. Fire and Heat Manipulation: Furnace Repairman – “Sorry, sir, but it seems to be working fine now”
  46. Water and Moisture Manipulation: Spa Attendant – it’s a sauna, it’s a steam room, it’s a sauna, it’s a steam room
  47. Illusion: Politician – sometimes the jokes just write themselves
  48. Shapeshifting: Car Salesman – when the first guy goes to “get his manager,” can you really be sure it’s a different person?
  49. Summoning: Valet – make sure the right car shows up immediately
  50. Telekinesis: Bowling Alley Operator – just in case the pinsetter breaks down

Special thanks to the following for their suggestions: John Madden, Luke McKean, Jenny Williams, Chuck Gamble, Matt Blum, Matt Rower, Matt Middleton, D.A. Schweiss, Bactchan, Joshua Miller, Nathan Barry, floax, Lorri Miller, kpereyra (my 1st autograph!), and Jonathan Liu.

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