Eyewriter

The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

The Eyewriter is hardware and software project using openFrameworks, "an open source C++ toolkit for creative coding," that enables a paralyzed person to write and point by using their eye movements as control. It was originally created by Roth for a graffiti artist, by the call of TEMPT. It uses readily available and inexpensive consumer electronics to accomplish an amazing level of control over a computer illustration environment by just moving one's eyes. The software is calibrated to track the dark circle of the user's iris. The user can even remotely paint on buildings by using a projector to shine his work of their walls.

It's amazing what can be overcome with the right application of intellect, know-how, and a little bit of hardware hacking. I'm blessed to be free from any truly inhibiting physical conditions, but it's comforting to know that there are always ways to overcome difficulty and do what you love.

Unify iPhone Game

Unify Preview from zach gage on Vimeo.

Tired of conventional block-dropping games like Tetris, where blocks only come in from one side? I bring you unify. Instead of blocks only dropping in from the top and falling to the bottom, blocks come in from both sides and fall towards the middle. You use two fingers simultaneously to swipe pieces into position, and tap to rotate. If you want to speed things up a bit, just swipe the piece towards the center yourself.

The object is to keep the play area from getting totally blocked by grouping four or more blocks of the same color to make them disappear -- just like many block puzzlers. You can also earn combos by starting a chain of block groupings starting after you remove one group of blocks, and continued as the remaining blocks sift towards the middle. The most important difference remains the convergence of two opposing block streams that meet in the middle. It takes the challenge up quite a few notches, and looks like a lot of fun.

A seemingly simple design change has a really huge impact on the overall experience of this game. It just goes to show how crucial those initial brainstorming sessions are, and encourages me to think about aspects of interaction I may not have before.

Eigenlabs Eigenharp

As the BBC article states, it really does look like something out of the bar scene with all the alien musicians in Star Wars, and it might be just that, really. This bassoon-looking instrument is the Eigenharp, and it's billed as "the most expressive electronic musical instrument ever made." It was initially thought up by John Lambert, software dev and musician alike, and he and his team have been taking steps towards making it a reality for eight years.

Lambert cites the stressful and all-around demanding nature of playing gigs with his whole rig to transport and set up. He compares his experience of playing with his ambient trance band to his solo fold gigs.

The gigs were really good fun, but the setting up was just a nightmare. Lots of stuff, equipment, wires, endless stress.

At the same time I would go to the folk club, take my acoustic guitar out of the box, tune it up, get a pint of beer, and play.

This was part of his inspiration for his new futuristic design. He now has all of the artistic control and expression he had with racks of synths, and the portability of his acoustic guitar, not to mention the ability to put on a more crowd-engaging live show.

Realizing that you can improve the way people do things through your designs is truly an empowering and inspirational thought. Think big and you'll see.

Image source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8294355.stm

Single Ladies Cover Video

More video amazement coming your way, from more independent artist folk -- is there any other kind? Pomplamoose Music is a collaboration between Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn. Jack seems to run the recording and producing bits, from what I can tell, along with most of the instrumentation, and Nataly carries it home with her great voice and occasional bass guitar playing, clapping, and tambourine jangling (and thankfully since Jack looks a bit scary when tasked with playing the tambourine -- I don't think it's a coincidence that he's relinquished that responsibility on later videos). All joking aside, these two are amazing. Why they haven't decided to open a recording studio is beyond me. They are putting out an EP nowish though. Make sure to check out their YouTube channel for more great videos.

The thing I take away is that if you're ready to create, you can. Do it. For a couple thousand dollars you can have practically all the gear you need for pretty professional results.

Flip Book 2.0

VIDEOGIOCO by Donato Sansone from Enrico Ascoli - Sound Design on Vimeo.

Checkout this disturbing new approach to the common flip book. It's called VIDEOGIOCO by Donato Sansone from Enrico Ascoli Sound Design, and weird disembodied flying head antics aside, it a novel concept I have never thought of before. It is sort of a combination of stop motion cinematography, with more traditional illustrated animation, and maybe a bit of puppeteer action thrown in there for good measure. Oh, and maybe a flash of live action if you remember the brief real knife play.

Around 12 seconds in, you really see the full magnitude of the work that went into the illustration part of the project. Donato, or MILKYeyes as he refers to himself in the opening title, is totally surrounded by his creation. I wonder how he set up all the camera equipment, or even just moved around to flip the folds back and forth.

While I'm not sure this is a new genre, It's certainly is new to me, and it's nice to know that if you find yourself getting bored with what's out there, you can always redefine your media.

Sharky Tea-Infuser

Meet Sharky. He is a tea-infuser that looks, well, like a shark -- a shark's fin to be precise. When you put him in your cup of hot water, instead of just steeping your tea, he hints at the visual idea of chumming out nasty bloody gook (provided you use right kind of tea, I'm sure). Fun!

Get a set of these, and try and make some friends that both love tea and Jaws and have yourself a shark movie marathon!

Designs like this should spice up some of the more boring parts of life, and if you don't find it at least a tad amusing, I think it's time for a vacation. Thankfully Thanksgiving is practically here (pun intended). This is going in my ever growing "thinking differently" file. Why make the everyday everyday? Great design is a refreshing thing, just like a good cup 'c tea.

Image credit: lookslikegooddesign.com

Impact of Design: Berners-Lee Apologizes for Design Excess

Tim Berners-Lee, god to any geek -- and more and more to anyone, has recently admitted that when designing the World Wide Web he went a bit slash crazy. He says that the two forward slashes following "http:" in every web address are "unnecessary."

There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I'm glad to see that even the greats of our time can admit when they have over-designed something and created a huge time suck for everyone who uses it. Think about it. How many more seconds would the world have if everyone didn't spend the early days of the web fingering in those two extra characters. Then there's the impact that extra printing all those URLs made to be considered too. Tim, you have brought me the gift of information so I will always forgive thee, but thanks for fessing up anyway. I only hope that I can be so humble in my future career.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8306631.stm