The Mechanical and Electronic Processes of Rotterdam

This is an interesting interactive piece from Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.  The red crane-like structures are actually streetlights that are controlled from a panel so anyone can manipulate the position of the lights.  They were designed by a group called West8.

Use Your Cell as a Road Sensor

While most of us are using our phones all the time we are not utilizing them to their full potential. Researchers are devising a new distributed software platform that uses things like GPS, accelerometer, Bluetooth and microphone sensors on your phone to a create a rich collection of road data for personalized trips. After downloading…

DIY: Acoustic Guitar Pickup

After receiving an introduction to pickup microphones in class, I feel it was fitting that we see a way to use our newfound knowledge. By using a Piezo Buzzer and some audio cable, one can easily construct an acoustic guitar pickup. The process of how a pickup works was the most interesting part of this…

A Walk Down Memory Lane

As a change of pace I have opted to post about laptops. No, not the problematic MacBook Air, something a little beefier than that 3 pound work of art, none other than the Osborne 1. Weighing in at 23 pounds, the Osborne 1 first hit the market in June of 1981. It had a built…

Emotional Systems

Emotional systems are systems that respond to programming that interprets human emotion. The artist can make the systems respond to live emotion, the viewer’s emotions, passerbys or entire cities, such as this emotional map of Greenwich. Other examples in the article are installations that map the artist’s brainwaves, photographs that interpret historical artwork’s emotions, or…

E-Book + leather

For those of us who love the concept of e-books but hate the concept of reading for extended periods of time on a computer, there might be an answer. Student Nedzad Mujcinovic has created an e-ink screen with a touch screen on top of it. The system works works somewhat like a an I-Phone: slide…

Mr. T Fashion Show?

I know this is not traditional Responsive Arts blog material, but I am sick and it really lightened up my day and made me feel a little better. Watch it.

Silicon Womb breakthrough paves way for possible silicone people

Scientists have recently developed a silicone womb to nurture and grow test tube babies, as the artificial womb more accurately replicates the growth environment of a natural human. While this has little to do with stem cell research and cloning, there are obvious connections, and further research in this field could eventually lead to a…

New Media: What

Messa di Voce is a collaboration between Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman. The project consists of mircophones placed in front of a projection screen that displays various animations. Viewers are invited to speak into the mircophones and then their voices are interpreted and transformed in various moving images such as “a rain of balls, smoke…

Animal super power

Students of Design Interactions Chris Woebken and Kenichi Okada, in collaboration with MBA students from the Oxford Said Business-school, have been developing a series of sensory enhancements toys for children to experience “animal superpowers.” Each prototype allows the kid to change perspective or feel empathy with animals. I chose this one because it is so…

Experience Music Project

Tina Blaine a musical interactivist lead a team of artist and created these interactive games. These games function by touch and it can be played by a group of people that all speak a different language. The games remind me of Simon Say’s in a way. The are extremely interactive and they look beautiful with…

Lights for the Future

By being able to create every single light in the spectrum, this handy little device would be a great item to have at events that would require using each kind of light without having to waste too much time and energy setting up each different light bulb. Not only is it simpler to have all…