Multi Touch Interaction Research at MIT

While touch sensing is commonplace for single points of contact, multi-touch sensing enables a user to interact with a system with more than one finger at a time, as in chording and bi-manual operations. Such sensing devices are inherently also able to accommodate multiple users simultaneously, which is especially useful for larger interaction scenarios such as interactive walls and tabletops.
Since refining the FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) sensing technique, we've been experimenting with a wide variety of application scenarios and interaction modalities that utilize multi-touch input information. These go far beyond the "poking" actions you get with a typical touchscreen, or the gross gesturing found in video-based interactive interfaces. It is a rich area for research, and we are extremely excited by its potential for advances in efficiency, usability, and intuitiveness. It's also just so much fun!

Our technique is force-sensitive, and provides unprecedented resolution and scalability, allowing us to create sophisticated multi-point widgets for applications large enough to accommodate both hands and multiple users.

The drafting table style implementation shown here measures 36"x27", is rear-projected, and has a sensing resolution of better than 0.1" at 50Hz. Stroke event information is sent to applications using the lightweight OSC protocol over UDP.

Applied Dreams-wrap up

Since last two weeks I was engaged in an exploratory workshop, Applied Dreams Workshop in association with Mattel. It was an extensive and a hectic workshop in which we developed next generation play experience. The workshop went off really well where we were involved in concept development, ideation, prototype development and finally presented our ideas.

It was hectic, but was full of enjoyment and great learning.

FIREFLY: KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID (kiss)

The mobile phone for mobile kids.
The fun, glowing phone designed from a kids point of view. With just 5 keys, firefly phones keep kids connected to the people who matter them most. With lights, sounds, colours and animation, firefly keeps it fun.

Anyone designing for Elderly? Do let me know if you know any examples of communication devices for elderly.

An apple a day keeps micro50ft away !!

OOPS!!
seems like apple is diverting from computer business and looking at music industry very seriously. First computers, then softwares, then music pods, then music, and now home sterio...

NOT BAD !!
what next!! let me guess ... how about a apple car ?

Enzio Manzini/ Sustainable-Everyday.net

Recently at Domus Academy we attended Enzio Manzini's lecture where he put across many great sustainable design ideas. He talked about global threat to natural resources and challenged as to tackle such issues through our design solutions.
The Lecture was part of our first workshop titled Energy-City.

what is sustaibability?
ustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society. It is intended to be a means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and planning and acting for the ability to maintain these ideals indefinitely. Sustainability affects every level of organization, from the local neighborhood to the entire planet.

Sustainable-Everyday.net
The Sustainable Everyday Project proposes an open web platform to stimulate social conversation on possible sustainable futures…
It presents a Catalogue of cases showing creative communities from all other the world developing original solutions promising in terms of sustainability. The blog-like structure allows innovative citizens to post new solutions, the scientific community to discuss sustainability potential and enables all of us to access and diffuse alternative to the mainstream consumption model…
SEP offers also a Scenarios laboratory where visions on possible integration of these promising solutions in everyday life can be posted and discussed.
Finally, SEP promotes a traveling exhibition with its related publication to meet local events, learn and enrich from it.

Positive flow- Denmark + DA (ENERGY_CITY)

Positive-flow and Domus Academy collectively conducted workshop "Energy-City" for Interaction Design/ Transportation Design/ Design Students.

Workshop successfully completed on 24th Fabruary with great ideas and observations from various groups.
check update of the workshop: www.ritwithfireworks.com

MIND the GAP

6 Jan 2006 - 20 Jan 2006, Dansk Design Center

Textile designer Ane Lykke explores the ways that various materials affect a room and interact with the surroundings.

This intriguing installation will be up until February 20th at Danish Design Centre's Balcony space. Lykke has set up two parallel layers of hexagonal boxes--each painted with red lines--hung 14 cm apart, along the back wall of the gallery. As visitors enter the room, they create air disturbances, which are tranposed into subtle moire patterns. Very low tech, but very sophisticated.

As Lykke explains, the wall is "passively waiting" and is only activated when the spectator moves within the space. Then variations of the patterns follow along as a film, forming a living, vibrating surface. In this way, the spectator alters the wall.

VISITORville

VisitorVille used a great metaphor for representing traffic on your specific website, it does not represent website visitors simply as numbers or graphs, but as real people in a real environment. You can monitor your site traffic as if you were people-watching in a big city."

Search engines as busses are good - and watchut the Watchdog
"Whenever a special someone or a special company visits your pages. It will actually bark!"

can we think of a ENERGY-CITY ?

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers... Playing in our studio.

:)

Andrea Branzi, architect and designer

Andrea Branzi, architect and designer, born in Florence in 1938, where he graduated in 1967, lives and works in Milano.
From 1964 to 1974 he was a partner of Archizoom Associati, first vanguard group internationally known, whose projects are preserved at Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione in Parma and at Centre Georges Pompidou in paris.
Since 1967 he works in the fields of industrial and research design, architecture, urban planning, education and cultural promotion.
He is Professor at the Third Faculty of Architecture and Industrial Design of Politecnico di Milano.

We had a lecture by Andrea Branzi at Domus Academy, Milan as a part of workshop "Energy".
Few Catches of Lecture:
- Computer = Functionoid

IDEO's Method Cards

IDEO method cards show 51 of the methods we use to inspire great design and keep people at the center of design process. The cards are divided into four categories Learn, Look, Ask and try ….

Fabrica Liquid Lights

The Fabrica Features Collection - which is aimed at various types of stores, from purely commercial outlets to cultural ones, from specialised stores to shops of art museums - is composed of:

-the BASIC collection, a series of simple, everyday objects which are a familiar presence in our life.
Basic but exclusive.

-the FEATURES collection, a series of basic products featured by the Fabrica young artists.
Limited Edition.

-the THINKIN’ THINGS collection, a series of conceptual objects that speak of themselves, created to express a vision of the world and to communicate Fabrica’s spirit..Useless but essential.

-the EXTRAS, objects of design which, whilst functional, are distinctively Fabrica.
Eccentric but functional.

Balkan Epic by Maina Abromovic

Balkan Epic by Marina Abromovic
Opening on 91 january, 2006, Giovedi, dale ore 19, Milan

Design Encyclopedia -Great WIKI

The design encyclopedia is a wiki, which means that any registered user –– can add, delete or change any of the information on the encyclopedia.
A growing, collaborative resource that describes, tracks and explains culture, commerce, politics, media, sports, brands – everything possible, really – through design.