Inventing Interactive

Quick Post: Qualcomm AR Challenge

July 28, 2011 - In Present, Quick

Qualcomm recently announced the winners of their Augmented Reality Challenge. The challenge was part of a promotion of their AR SDK for iOS. And the winners are pretty cool: 3rd Place: “Danger Copter” by five grad students at USC. It’s a great idea (and my favorite of the winners) — you walk around a very large physical surface in order to explore areas in a virtual city. 2nd Place: “Inch High Stunt Guy” by Defiant…

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Quick Post: Daito Manabe

July 21, 2011 - In Present, Quick

I’d never heard of Daito Manabee before reading this great overview of his work by Joshua Noble on a CreativeApplications.net. It’s all pretty amazing stuff — but I was especially fascinated by “electric stimulus to body + myoelectric sensor test1.” Using the body as both input and output, it may be a little unnerving, but it’s also hard to stop watching. (Link via Serial Consign.)

Quick Post: BBC Philharmonic’s Maestro

July 18, 2011 - In Present, Quick

What is it like to conduct an orchestra? The easiest way is find out is to just try it yourself. Which is what this cute project from Magnetic North lets kids do. Wave your arms around and see how the orchestra adapts. It looks like a lot of fun. My only question is if it’s too unstructured an experience. Could there be a layer that helps guide kids to learn? The project was part of…

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Interview: Simon Wood (L.A. Noire)

July 11, 2011 - In Present

I love L.A. And when the game L.A. Noire was recently released I was first in line to get a copy. It’s a fantastic recreation of Los Angeles in the 1940′s. So I’m really happy that Simon Wood, who was the production designer for the game at Team Bondi, was able to talk about what’s involved in the design of such a title… Q: What is your background? It’s a journey… I was 8 yrs…

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Quick Post: GlitchHiker

July 7, 2011 - In Present, Quick

A game that self-destructs — both visually and structurally — as you play it. And once it’s done, the executable file no longer works. GlitchHiker was created for Global Game Jam on the theme “Extinction.” People could play the game at the event, but eventually it self-destructed — never playable again. All that remains is a video of the gameplay. There is more info at Create Digital Motion and Vlambeer. As well as the game’s…

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Dreamy Visions

July 7, 2011 - In Future

Here are three interesting vision scenario projects from Michaël Harbourn, a designer currently studying in Paris. There’s a fascinating aspect to these projects — I’m not sure if the student, foreign (non-US), or product-design orientation is the source. But his use of morphable surfaces, and quiet, almost meditative, presentation style, is pretty neat. Aeon is a transportation vision, with augmented reality and even the ability to block everything out and just relax. And Transcendenz, part…

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Oblong Mezzanine

June 30, 2011 - In Present

It feels like this should be filed under future, or perhaps under alternate realities, but instead it’s the present – right now and available today… Oblong’s Mezzanine. For years Oblong has been a fascinating company– doing super-innovative research into gestural interfaces. From their movie UI work, to conceptual demos, and even their vaguely mysterious (perhaps secret?) custom solutions — thir g-speak framework has been the foundation for a whole new category of interactions. So it’s…

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iPad Indies

June 28, 2011 - In Present

Have I mentioned my love of the blog Gym Glass Magazine? It was there that I discovered Linefeed — Michael Bojkowski’s blog with amazing video reviews of current magazines. His reviews (or, maybe, surveys) are so cool — they’re just him, flipping through a stack of recent issues and commenting on them. I’d love to see someone do the same for websites, or interfaces. It’s a very personal way of reviewing work, and his tone…

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Quick Post: Receipt Racer

June 17, 2011 - In Present, Quick

Take a look at Receipt Racer — a microproject by Joshua Noble and undef. Done in just one day, as part of the CreativeApplications.Net OFFF2011 Workshop, the game is a fascinating mix of interactivity and print. Using a thermal receipt printer, a racing track is printed. The racing car is projected onto the printout with a micro projector, and a game controller lets the player steer. The creators note that using 50 meters of paper…

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Reality is Plenty, Thanks

June 16, 2011 - In Present - One comment

At the recent MobileMonday 21 conference, Kevin Slavin (co-founder of Area/Code) gave a fascinating talk on the field of augmented reality: “Reality is plenty, thanks.” And in her blog, Helen Walters gives a great summary: Slavin makes the case that much of the current work in AR is wandering down the wrong street (albeit one with a thin veneer of apparently useful information laid over its surface.) The talk is a sweeping history lesson that…

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