Modular electronic coolness!

Another really cool project from fellow MIT Media Lab friend Michael Rosenblatt. Modular electronic blocks to make things that move and sense, with various level of difficulty. I can't wait to try the kit with my daughters ;) Congrats to the team!!

It is on kickstarter, but be quick, you can get the early first kit

Here is the video

Super neat robot that solves Rubik’s cubes

Great idea for Halloween!

Spiders trapped in a maquette of a building, then retro-projected from the inside of the building. Very scary!!

spider projection from Friedrich van Schoor on Vimeo.

I need more music in the office!

My new desktop 3D printer (for the fall!)

Impressive Lego Contraption

Making the Invisible Visible in Video

MIT researchers — graduate student Michael Rubinstein, recent alumni Hao-Yu Wu '12, MNG '12 and Eugene Shih SM '01, PhD '10, and professors William Freeman, Fredo Durand and John Guttag — will present new software at this summer's Siggraph, the premier computer-graphics conference, that amplifies variations in successive frames of video that are imperceptible to the naked eye. See the researchers' full video and learn more on the project's webpage: http://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/vidmag/

Microsoft announces Suface today!

Welcome Surface! We all had our role in making you happen, I had the pleasure to work on your exploration phase ;)

A future for TV?

NeXtream offers a potentially interesting TV! "Functionally, television content delivery has remained largely unchanged since the introduction of television networks. NeXtream explores an experience where the role of the corporate network is replaced by a social network. User interests, communities, and peers are leveraged to determine television content, combining sequences of short videos to create a set of channels customized to each user. This project creates an interface to explore television socially, connecting a user with a community through content, with varying levels of interactivity: from passively consuming a series, to actively crafting one's own television and social experience."

This is a very interesting approach and project that not only challenges everything that makes TV lame, but also what makes watching content on a laptop based on friends' recommendations on social networks more integrated. TV becomes a new social activity, with tailored content. The only issue here is repetition that one might find in social networks. If your friends only watch gossipy content, you end up only hearing about that on your TV. On the bright side, it is also a channel to discover entirely new content by filtering and reviewing users "a la" stumbleupon. It was designed and built by ReeD Martin, Ana Luisa Santos, Mike Shafran, Henry Holtzman, and Marie-José Montpetit at the MIT Media Lab.

Prenatal genetic testing: a critical design discussion

Interventionist Healer: This object serves the family who views their genetic mutation within a fatalistic, predetermined narrative: They accept the experience of carrying the mutation as part of the family identity, but choose to be active.





This object is given as heirloom to the child who did not inherit the genetic mutation. While physically fortunate in avoiding the illness, in effect they are also excluded from a substantial part of the familyʼs narrative.

With the increased availability of genetic information, the view of our body and identity as a sequence of genes is becoming prevalent. This perception of ourselves has the power to reconstruct our familial relationships and challenge our conception of responsibility, risk and autonomy. Gold and silver, much like a number of genetic cancers, are traditionally passed down the generations as inheritance. The emerging use of precious metals in medicine and especially in cancer treatment draws parallels between material heirloom and genetic ancestry. This series of speculative heirloom objects is based on the medical applications of nanogold particles and responds to the new moral codes of genetic responsibility. Each object address a certain issue within this context; focusing on the emotional and psychological implications of genetic knowledge.How does the comprehension of genetic vulnerability change our behaviour? Can new materials have an effect on our morals and social structures?

Genetic Heirloom by designer Revital Cohen with Partner — The Wellcome Trust. Collaborators: Professor Richard Ashcroft, Professor of Bioethics, School of Law, Queen Mary University,London. Dr Ainsley Newson, The Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol. Professor Andy Miah, Professor in Ethics & Emerging Technologies at the University of West of Scotland.Photography by Gary Hamill.