Art + Tech: The work of Aparna Rao and Soren Pors - a Ted Talk video worth watching!

Arparna Rao: High-tech art (with a sense of humor)

Aparna Rao is an artist from Bangalore, India, who creates interactive installations supported by electro-mechanical systems.  She collaborates with artist Soren Pors.


RELATED
Pors & Rao website - a delightful interactive website highlighting the works of Arpana Rao and Soren Pors.  Below are pictures of some of the duo's work, along with links to the Vadehra Art Gallery, where the works can be viewed online:


Pygmies: http://www.vadehraart.com/exhibition/viewDetails/63/1285
Decoy: http://www.vadehraart.com/exhibition/viewDetails/63/1287

Drifter: http://www.vadehraart.com/exhibition/viewDetails/63/1288

Revisiting Good Blogs - Web of Things: "Architecting the Web of Things for Tinkerers and Hackers"

One of my interests is pervasive computing, which casts a very wide "web".  That's why I like the Web of Things blog.  Below is an excerpt from the "About" section of the blog:

"Why do you want to change the Internet? What’s wrong with it? 
Not much really. It’s just a little boring. It only contains data published by other humans, but it’s not enough linked with our physical reality, not real time / real world enough for our taste! 


Why should I read this blog? 
Well depends how much you care about technology. It’s both for geeks/hackers who need a playground to develop and try ideas. But it’s also for the security expert who wants to take part to make the Web a safer place to hang out. It’s also for people who want to find new ideas." 


More about the Web of Things: 
"The Web of Things is a community of developers, researchers, and designers that explore the future of the physical Web. We explore how to leverage Web standards to interconnect all types of embedded devices (sensors, mobile phones, etc.) in order to make them easier to use and to integrate in classic Web applications. We aim to build a future Web of devices that is truly open, flexible, and scalable, and we believe Web standards are the best way to do it." 


The Web of Things blog was founded by Dominique Guinard and Vlad Trifa, two "researchers/geeks" working at ETH Zurich and SAP Research Zurich.

GOOGLE LABS R.I.P.: My favorite thing about Google is GONE!

RIP GOOGLE LABS      : O     : <        :  (        :  {        :  \        :  [      


I visited Google Labs today and this is what I found:

Here are a few articles and posts about this topic:
Google Labs is Closing? That's Unthinkable - Whether or Not It's a Good Idea
Harry McCracken, Technologizer, 7/20/11
Google Labs shuts down, the end of an era
Ray Walters, ExremeTech, 10/14/11
Google's Clearout Sweeps Away Code Search 
Alex Armstrong, I Programmer, 10/16/11
Google takes the axe to Buzz and others, focuses on Google+
Meghan Kelly, SocialBeat 10/14/11
Why is Google Shuttering Google Labs?
John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine, 7/22/11
More Wood Behind Fewer Arrows
The Official Google Blog 7/20/11
Larry Page's Remarks

RELATED
I was able to find some links to Google Code Labs at http://code.google.com/intl/en/labs/

A few interesting tech links from Experienta/Putting People First and HCI 596 Blog

No time for reflective blogging today, so here are a few interesting links!


The future of the TV Experience 
(Article discusses Blink, a media industry magazine)


Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces Conference (DPPI 11)

Cambridge Consultants: Patients Want More User-Friendly Medical Devices
Levent Ozler, Dexinger, 6/3/11

Internet of things blurs the lines of bits and atoms
Katia Moskvitch, BBC News, 6/2/11


NESTA: Hot Topics: Digital You-Discussion about Telepresence

Hot Topics - Digital You from NESTA UK on Vimeo.


NESTA is the UK's National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts


RELATED
The following links provide a wealth of resources related to emerging technologies and human-computer interaction:
Experientia - Putting People First blog
HCI  596 blog 
"This blog is for the HCI 596 course being taught at Iowa State University through it's Human-Computer Interaction program."
NESTA 

The New Media Consortium Needs Examples of K-12 Tech. Innovations for the 2011 NMC Horizon Report

The following information was taken from the New Media Consortium website. The deadline is April 1st - sorry for the late notice - it came across my path just today:

"We are pleased to announce that the Advisory Board for the 2010 NMC Horizon Report: K12 Edition has selected the six topics for this year's report:

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less  * Cloud Computing * Mobiles

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years * Game-Based Learning * Open Content

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years * Learning Analytics * Personal Learning Environments

Call for Examples
We are interested in learning about any kind of research, pilot programs, innovative projects, or faculty work happening at your school in any of the six areas listed above. (See the attached 2011 NMC Horizon Report: K12 Edition Preview of the topics for more details.) Our goal is to help readers understand the potential impact of these technologies and their applications on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry.

How to Participate
If you know of examples we could include, please use the brief web form at go.nmc.org/horizon-example-project  to tell us about them. We ask for a title, a URL, and a one- or two-sentence description; you also will need to select which of the six topics your example falls under. The process takes about two minutes. We hope to have your examples by Friday, April 1, but no matter what, we'd love to hear about what you are doing. The url above is always open to pointers to great projects."

For more information:
2011 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition - Preview of Topics (pdf)

Thanks to Liz Dorland for the link!

Interesting animation made with Google Docs presentation app. (Google Demo Slam), via Flowing Data

The video below was an entry in the Google Demo Slam,  an effort started by Google to share the word with the world about their innovative technologies.  By the time I learned of Epic Docs Animation, the video had over 800,000 views.  I plan to view a few more Google Demo Slam videos over the holiday break!


-Tu+, Namroc, and Metcalf 

For more information and Demo Slam videos, visit Google's Demo Slam website: "Welcome to Demo Slam, Where Amazing Tech Demos Battle for Your Enjoyment"

RELATED
Epic animation in Google Docs
Nathan Yau, Flowing Data, 12/22/10
Google's rationale for creating Demo Slam:
"We spend our time making a whole bunch of technologies that are free for the world, but a lot of people dont even know about them. And that kind of sucks. So, we thought organizing the world's most creative tech demo battle would be a great way to help spread the word and teach people about tech. Not to mention, it is a lot of fun."
About Demo Slam
Hall of Demo Champs