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

Stokke Gravity Chair

All I want for Christmas is the Stokke Gravity Chair. It provides four different sitting positions, including fully reclined and forwarding leaning, simply by shifting your weight. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more comfortable than a La-Z-Boy, while still being able to pull of the title of task chair, and remaining relatively light and mobile.

The ergonomic benefits of changing your position throughout the workday are obvious, and I really love chairs that provide a place to kneel, but why is high design so high priced? At $2,400, I don't think I will be privileged enough to own one anytime soon, and good luck getting your boss to buy you one too.

Why are mass produced things often times the worst things? I don't claim to fully understand the economic demands on mainstream furniture designers, but I wish they produced more ground breaking concepts like this more often. Design for the everyman is bland and sad.

Tricky Art

Above you'll find the work of artist Rob Gonsalves. It's a great optical illusion that displays a large ship with full sails morphing into an aqueduct over the open seas. It's amazing what the eye sees depending on where it's focused.

Controlling the gaze of the viewer is just as much an art form as painting itself. Where do you want your viewer's eyes to go? Why? How will you do it? Contrast, lines, illusion -- all these methods and more should be in your box of design tools. Remember, you're not just making a thing, but a mediated experience, and it is your task to guide a viewer through that experience using your design principles along way to meet that end. Ultimately you can't make someone look right where you want them to, but the odds are in your favor if you consider the mechanics of the human eye and mind.

Population : One

Feast your eyes on Population : One, a website with one goal in mind: to put you in your place. It's hard to fathom being in a world with 6.5 billion other people, but that is the unbelievable case we find ourselves in. What's so unbelievable about that you ask? Well I think it's high time you had a visit to the site and found out.

It's a brilliant yet simple concept. Every pixel in the rainbow colored region of the site represents a human being on earth. Just keep on side-scrolling on through until your browser crashes or until you have a crash yourself. It's totally inconceivable.

This design is so simple, yet so effective. What an elegant way to represent something so huge. It really is important to keep in mind that sometimes -- most of the time really -- simplicity is king, and no substitutes need apply.

Logos with Great Use of Negative Space

Check out this rather amazing logo design that makes great use of negative space. Can you guess what A.G. Low does?

If you thought of a floor plan, you're on the right track -- they're a construction firm. It's amazing what a logo can communicate when designed thoughtfully.

There's a whole collection of these logos over at Logo Design Love, and they're all worth a look. There's a property maintenance logo that uses the negative space of an open-end wrench to make a house, or the Guild of Food Writers logo that hides the shape of a spoon in the tip of a fountain pen -- really creative stuff!

I've had a little experience trying to make cleaver logos like these, and it's really challenging work. As ever, the moral of the story is to try your very hardest to see what's between the lines and incorporate that into your designs too.

Image source: logodesignlove.com

More on Bad Droid Marketing

I know I just got through making fun of Verizon's counter intuitive ad campaign for the new Motorola Droid, but their material seems to get worse and worse. This time, Verizon is taking direct aim at the iPhone by spoofing one of Apple's TV spots. Their commercial is called "iDon't, Droid Does," and it's a list of things the iPhone doesn't do, that android does. Great.

Anyway, the several people have already beat me to the punch and parodied that parody. Here is the best one of the bunch:

iDon't Care


That pretty much sums up everything I don't like about this style of marketing.

So far Verizon thinks they can threaten me into buying a HAL 9000 Droid, or that they can bash competitors, leaving themselves champion. I have news Verizon, we're smarter than that. I love the Droid, but why would I want one now? When you design an interaction between a company and a potential consumer base, don't make the cornerstone of the relationship negative jabs at the other guy. Make it positive. Goodwill goes a long way.

Moto Droid Adverts

What's the deal with the Motorola Droid's marketing? The last time I checked, no one wanted HAL 9000 in their pocket. I can imagine its users saying, "Voice command: call home." Only to be answered by Droid's omnipotent monotone, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." Whoever hired Arthur C. Clarke to be the marketing director for this project must have had their cognitive circuits disconnected.

Even the sounds it makes are a bit unsettling. Get a text? You'll hear a low robotic voice say, "Droid." Well crap, someone was texting you, Dave, but I guess Droid was hungry.

Now I know that Android 2.0 is great, and that this phone is really great -- Really -- but I just can't get the bad taste out of my mouth that some Verizon exec baked into this campaign. If you see a capsule drop out of the sky, land in a field, and start moving its sinister-looking mechanical aperture, make sure you run like hell -- I mean wait around for it to dispense great smartphones.

If you want someone to be scared of something, make it scary. If you want someone to love your product and carry it with them everywhere, I would plan on making it as kindhearted as possible; just short of painting rainbows on the case.

Mac OSX Home, End, Page Up, Page Down Keys

If there is one thing I've learned through my experience with Apple products, especially the iPhone, it's that no button goes wasted. If it doesn't need to be there, then it's not -- maybe not even if it does need to be there. So why are these four buttons, which are on every new Mac wired keyboard and many different models from different makes for the last thirty years, going largely unused under OSX?

As it stands their only function is to move the viewport of a window, and they don't even do that very well. Want to go to the very top of a long document? Hit the home key. Bottom? Hit end. Move up one viewport length? Page up. Down? Page down. Brilliant, we all get it.

But, the functionality of these keys is much more useful to the majority of the computing world, and even Mac users who fuss with their keybindings and install apps to bridge to non-cocoa-based apps. I'm talking about moving the cursor. The time I least want to fumble over to the mouse is when I'm typing, and that's exactly what I would have to do on a stock OSX build if I want to go to the beginning of a line of text, or select a section of text easily. If you want to move up to your last paragraph, get ready to hold the up arrow key, or grab your mouse, because Page Up is only going to confuse you when your window's viewport shift unexpectedly, instead of moving your cursor up, rather intelligently, to the previous body of text.

Apple's design principals have taught me a good deal about purposeful utilization of every feature of an object, but this discrepancy, that almost feels like a judgment for wanting something all-knowing Apple has wisely excluded, has me rethinking some of that. Maybe their version of utility isn't quite what mine is.

Thinking Differently

Check out this image collection from an exhibition of Michael Paulus's illustration series, Cartoons' Anatomy. I though these were really clever. Have you ever thought about Fred Flinstones' underpinnings? Uh, don't answer that. Michael Paulus has (in the best way), and the result is another inspiration to challenge the obvious.

Over think things! It might just lead you down a new and interesting path. It might even land you a gallery showing -- Who knows?

I find myself lost in minutia, while others around me are bored taking everything for face value. That might sound like a bad thing, but I have found that being obsessive can only help you make a better something. Embrace it, even if it means sketching the Powerpuff Girl's bones. Get lost in design that is lurking beneath the surface that we take for granted, or just don't even think about.

Image credit: uaddit.com

Time Juxtaposed

In the past months, it seems like social networking services have been flooded by posts related to photos-in-photos that depict that same place during two very different times. Without much need for explanation, this concept is really humbling. All of us have probably stopped to think about who has occupied the spaces we now inhabit, but this has to close to the ultimate extension of that sort of pondering.

Hats off to the photographers that do the research that makes these dramatic historical juxtapositions possible. You can find the image above and more like it here. When I first started seeing this concept, they were commonly scenes of war-shaken town centers, and how they've been restored. I think this set might have something more to offer. It's fascinating to me how time changes everything, but it happens so slowly that it's hard to see. This particular group of images offers a sort of super-human ability to see into the past.

Lately I've been on a bit of an existential time trip asking questions like, "Who's thought of that? Or, why didn't they do this? Where would we be if this was never created?"

I wonder if the lady on that bench wondered the same thing.

Image source: woa2.com

Gumuz Word Clock

Behold the Gumuz Word Clock. See it in action here. It's pretty clever, if not all that original. Instead of representing the time the way me might traditionally, with hands and numbers, this clock is using words that illuminate to write the time as most of us would speak it. Now, while this design does limit its minute resolution to five minutes, I still think this concept would make for a great addition to a casual, leisure time space, where five minute resolution seems like looking at the space time continuum with a microscope.

This clock is in keeping with my continuing aim to challenge the commonplace, and there are few things more common than the humble clock. Why should commonplace be boring? The things we use every day, should be the objects with the most care taken in their design. Without trying to sound like an out of control consumer, replace the things around you that don't make you smile. Don't waste an opportunity to be inspired by good design.

Source: gumuz.nl

Vessel Workplace Dish Set

Take a look at this all inclusive and all-around clever design by Vessel. It's their Workplace Dish Set (currently back-ordered, and for good reason). It puts place mat, flatware set, plate, bowl, and cup all in one neat and secure bundle that is ready to be grabbed and taken back to your work cave to help you eat up.

Here are some additional images to give you a better idea of how it pulls all that off:





Now, while I'm fairly certain that no one really enjoys staying in the office for lunch, this set might just make the experience a bit more palatable.

This whole package got me thinking of how items that are associated with each other, should really be bedfellows so they're always ready to go when we are. Want to pack up your music and bring it along? You could grab your portable and a pair of tangled headphones, or you could apply this principle and have your player all ready to go inside of a case that both protects it and stores the earphones securely and neatly.

Image credit: vessel.com

Longevity of Design: History of the Coca-Cola Bottle

I came across this collection of Coke bottles this Tuesday, and I can't seem to stop thinking about them. Their transformation speaks volumes about the technology, and even the culture, of each era. From the first bottle, my personal favorite, with cork stopper and extra thick glass walls, to the modern sculpted one with a metal bottle cap and screen printed label. They all tell a story about the age they served. An aside, I was a bit baffled to find that green glass was only used in one generation of the bottles -- my favorite color happens to be coke bottle green, and I was shocked to see that it's not really the prevalent color for the brand, from a historical standpoint.

As a designer, this image gets me thinking about the legacy we leave behind when we create things. I think about how my creations correspond with what came before them, and perhaps how they don't; how they make something new, or how they just tweak what was already there and take it a step closer to perfection; or how they lay the footwork for the next designer to be inspired and say something new, or how it allows them to just say the same thing with a more modern voice. When I look through these bottles I have a very changed perspective about the scope of what designers do. I think that’s why I keep coming back to this image day after day.

Image source: ubersuper.com

Confirmation Bias

Sure counting words has its place, and it can be a very revealing information gathering tool, but as linguist Geoffrey Nunberg points out in his piece "The I's Don't Have It" that aired on NPR last Tuesday, "counting words isn't very revealing if you aren't listening to them too." The internet makes everyone a linguist, and everyone is trying to find fault in the new health bill or the most recent political speech. But, are people blindly counting I's and finding everyone to be a narcissist when really they're using an imperial I to show deference? The media seems to be suffering from confirmation bias. If they're looking to support an opinion, they will find evidence.

Sometimes I feel as though I suffer from confirmation bias in my designs. Do I do it this way because it's more usable, or just because everyone does it that way -- making it more familiar and easier on new users? Stand behind your design decision and don't do what's commonplace or easy. Do what makes the most sense.

Lust Over a Grocery Getting Bike? Definitely

Meet the strange looking brain child of David Mahan, which recently won the Fixed Gear Gallery "Grocery Getter Contest." He took an old Van der Kolk & Sons Flying Dutchman collapsible bike, cleaned it up, and then he fabricated a basket, designed to hold a large Rubbermaid tote perfectly and complete with a new steering linkage, that attaches between the two original frame members; extending the overall structure. Additionally, he included fold down caster wheels on the back half of the basket so, with the rear frame section removed (containing the seat, drive train, and rear wheel), it can be used as a shopping cart inside the store. This is the most elegant cargo bike concept I've seen, when it comes a dedicated shopping-centric purpose, and possibly in other common scenarios.

Let's go step through the trip to the grocery with this unnatural beauty:

1. Ride to the store
2. Deploy the basket's caster wheels
   
3. Detach rear frame and lock it up outside
4. Take your newly transformed cart inside and fill it with loot and checkout (while enjoying strange looks)
   
5. Reconnect the rear frame and fold up the casters
6. Ride back
   
7. Remove the tote full of your loot from the bike's basket, and bring it on inside
8. Unpack and replace the tote

There's no bagging and no transferring of individual bags into the house -- a feat even for more conventional cargo bikes.

This really inspires me to take a look at familiar objects and think of a way to make them more useful, efficient, and practical -- why not get the most out of the things you use the most?

I really wish David would put this kit into production, but until then, I think I'll be working on my welding skills and bribing guys at my university's shop to let me make my basket. We'll see.

Source, photo credit: fixedgeargallery.com

Trouble in the Slow Lane

If you have your doubts about bike lanes, you're not alone. Segregated bike lanes, a marked off area that was formerly known as a gutter; as we're all too familiar with here in the states, or a cycle path, seen more in Europe, are real threats to safety. If bicycles really have all the rights any other vehicle has (yes, a bike is a vehicle, according to U.S. law), then why do they need to be segregated from traffic? There isn't a semi truck lane or a motorcycle lane, so why a bike lane?

Sticking to your guns? Well, then you probably already have your answer: Speed. It's a valid problem, but segregation of vehicles can create many more problems than it solves, primarily at intersections (of course).

Now, the point of this entry is really just to question the design assumptions bike lanes impose, and it's time to provide reasons why vehicles of all race and creed should live and move as one. I'm going to make an effort to make these explanations brief -- they are pretty obvious when you consider them.

Issue 1: Obstructed cycle lanes. Consider this scenario: a delivery truck needs to stop, and there are not any parking spaces available. Where does that truck park? That's right, the segregated bike lane. These drivers have become used to doing this, and it is perfectly legal, if in a properly zoned area -- unless there is a bike lane. Now there are two problems, trucks with nowhere to stop and cyclists with nowhere to escape, because motorists could care less that your path is obstructed.

Issue 2: Maintenance. Have you ever noticed that the dirtiest part of the road is at its edges? We all have, and there is good reason for it. Cars produce a sweeping effect as they travel -- they move a lot of air. This sweeping moves all kinds of debris, including puncture inducing glass and metal shards, right into cycle lanes that are most often located along the outside of roads. This problem is helped if sweeping equipment is regularly dispatched alone these routes -- wait doesn't that create a lane obstruction? Additionally, not all cycle lanes are accessible by street sweepers, either. If there wasn't a bike lane, no one would be traveling in these hazards.

Issue 3: Increased risk of collisions. Cycle paths in urban settings with many interchanges result in more car-bicycle collisions. It's a fact. What's so unintuitive about that? Segregation imposes more cognitive tasks for both riders and drivers. Having all vehicle traffic together is simple -- literally. To drive (or ride) this point home, I will leave you with a few quotes from the article cited above:

In the United States,^[40] UK,^[41] Germany, Sweden,^[42] Denmark^[43]and Finland,^[44] it has been found that cycling on roadside urban cycle tracks/sidepaths results in up to 12-fold increases in the rate of car/bicycle collisions. At a 1990 European conference on cycling, the term Russian roulette was used to describe the use of roadside cycle paths.

That's a 1200 percent increase in car-bicycle collisions!

In Helsinki, research has shown that cyclists are safer cycling on roads with traffic than when using the city's 800 kilometres (500 mi) of cycle paths.^[46] The Berlin police and Senate conducted studies which led to a similar conclusion in the 1980s.^[47] In Berlin 10% of the roads have cycle paths, but these produce 75% of fatalities and serious injuries among cyclists.^[48] In the English town of Milton Keynes it has been shown that cyclists using the off-road Milton Keynes redway system have on a per-journey basis a significantly higher rate of fatal car-bicycle collisions than cyclists on ordinary roads.^[41] Cycle lanes and bike lanes are less dangerous than cycle paths in urban situations but even well-implemented examples have been associated with 10% increases in casualty rates.

Hopefully I need say no more. Bike lanes. Bad idea. Stop it!

Photo credit: Wikipedia.org

Vehicular Cycling

Gear up for another bicycle related post -- no pun intended.

Have you ever braved traffic on a bike? It's a pretty polarizing experience. Usually you love it or you find it terrifying, but, as I have seen as friends come to terms with their traffic fears, it really isn't so bad once you know how to ride: like a car.

You may think that this seems to fly in the face of the ever more prevalent implementation of bike lanes that seem to be popping up in urban places. You're right it does. As drivers get accustomed to bike lanes, more and more of them seem to believe that that is the only legal space a cyclist should occupy -- far from the truth!

I wonder how many of these drivers have considered something they do many times a day: a left turn. For a cyclist bound to a bike lane, usually found on the right, it can be a chore. How are you to cross lanes of traffic, that now believe you have no right to leave your gutter ghetto, to reach a left turn lane -- or worse, wait for a chance to turn with traffic (hopefully) waiting behind you when no turn lane is present? Is the solution really to turn right and then make a U-turn?

There are all kinds of design problems in road infrastructure when it comes to facilitating dissimilarity paced vehicles, but I have come to find that by practicing vehicular cycling (read: ride like a car), many of these problems are mitigated, if not almost completely resolved.

Now I'm not saying you should be reckless -- far from it. Drivers know what to expect from cars around them, and by showing drivers you're following the same rules they are, they know exactly what to expect from you too.

If you are interested in more information of vehicular cycling, please read more at the VC Wikipedia entry.

Media Blacklist Edition 2: Alexandra Smith - Cycle Path Scandalmonger

Another edition of "Media Blacklist" is here already, and will continue the established theme: bicyclists' rights.

This time I find myself gawking as Alexandra Smith of The Sydney Morning Herald perpetuates my previously found false myth, stating that cyclist are freeloading off of non-cycling citizens' tax dollars.

I'll leave you to read all the facts and figures in her article for yourself, but the brunt of the matter is that governments are really trying to be more environmentally responsible in their transportation infrastructure development decisions. Now, keeping in mind that sooner than later cars won't really be an environmental problem, as hydrogen cars come to prevalence, it is still important to provide ways for communities to exercise while commuting, during time that would otherwise be wasted.

Back to the meat of the issue, I might be comparing apples to oranges, but if Australia's local street budget is anything like ours here in the states, then the 70 million being spent in Sydney is small potatoes considering the billions spent on local street infrastructure annually. I think it's high time that the cyclists of the world are rewarded some back taxes for subsidizing auto traffic for so long through paying the same taxes motorists do that pay for 88.6% of local streets that is accounted by 2004 this study.

One loose end, her argument that these new lanes are taking up vital space is a valid one, in my opinion. I really don't understand the need for cycle lanes in speed zones under 40 mph -- I honestly regret the installment of bike lanes on some of my regular routes. I really will get around to explaining that soon. In any event, the bottom line is the dollar sign and there is almost always more space to be had.

Photo credit: smh.com.au

New York City Bicycle Safety Campaign: "Look"

Take a look at these posters for a minute:





Without getting into my personal opposition to bike lanes, and my strong preference to practice vehicular cycling when appropriate (both of which I might just have to cover in another entry), I really thought these public service adverts by a NYC campaign Look were clever and timely given the increased number of bicycle commuters there, and increasingly across the nation.

It might be fair to say that these posters make light of a very real and serious problem that both cyclists and motorists face, but I really think these are elegantly subtle reminders for bike commuters to think defensively and to expect the unexpected.

The design of these posters is also quite inspirational to me. I try and keep an eye out for this kind of third-level meaning potential in everyday life, and I must say that this is a great example of just that. By painting cycling lanes places where they usually aren't, it tells a whole story to the observer that isn't altogether explicit or obvious. But, once you do get it, it's a very clear narrative that has a strong message that was communicated by imagery alone.

Media Blacklist Edition 1: Terence Corcoran - Bicycle Bigot

Who's really getting a free ride, cyclists or motorists?

Take a look at Terence Corcoran's article. He is an editor for Canada's National Post, and, with the national scope of his argument aside, has some very strong opinions about taxing cyclists that are just plain ignorant.

I will let this bigot speak for himself:

But bike riders pay nothing, even though the cost of urban bicycle infrastructure, operating risks and potential liabilities are mounting. Bikers are getting a free ride that all non-bikers are paying for.

This is just not true! Some might believe that because cyclists are not paying fuel taxes and licensing fees, they are not paying for roads, but it should be argued that cyclists actually subsidize the cost of roads for drivers. If you're still not sure that Corcoran is sorely mistaken, if not an altogether discreditable liar, I challenge you to take his next claim seriously.

And then there's the carbon footprint. When car drivers cruise Yonge Street on Saturday night, their metabolisms are more or less flat-lined. They just sit there, burning up little energy personally but paying for the cost of their automobile's carbon footprint via taxes and fees. Bike riders grinding up the same route burn up a lot more carbohydrates, which their bodies convert into carbon dioxide and exhale, adding to their carbon footprint. The volumes are small, but it all adds up, and bicyclists don't pay.

Wow! That's right, a breathing tax. Why not tax every man, woman, and child to deal with the carbon emissions they produce by breathing? Corcoran may not see a reason not to.

Back on track, James D. Schwartz, a writer for The Urban Country helped me find a 2004 study by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute that found that those who do not operate a car full-time or at all, including cyclists, do actually subsidize drivers.

Since bicycling and walking impose lower roadway costs than motorized modes,
people who rely primarily on nonmotorized modes tend to overpay their fair
share of roadway costs and subsidize motorists.

Since most cycling and walking happens on local roads, we are not going to worry about highway funding. With this in mind, in the 2002 the U.S. spent $27.9 billion dollars on local roads, but only $3.1 billion was sourced through user fees, leaving $24.8 billion paid by general taxes that are paid by drivers, cyclists, and everyone else alike.

Now, considering the higher demands cars put on our road infrastructure, including increased wear and the need for much more space to allow the same number of people transport -- just to name a couple key examples. Who is really paying more for their fair share of the road? You might find it shocking, but cyclists are.

So I say to Mr. Terence Corcoran, maybe you should be paying those who use alternate forms of transportation -- those who are subsidizing the cost of driving your automobile -- instead of slathering on unfounded bias, and encouraging motorists to continue disrespecting bicyclist's right to the road.

Learning that some media authorities are plainly contrived liars can be hard to stomach. Hopefully future editions of "Media Blacklist" will help soften that blow.

Photo credit: greenpeace.org

Medical Acoustics Lung Flute

This strange looking device offers a great solution for the 10 million Americans who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Instead of relying on medications and strenuous coughing to help clear up unhealthy amounts of mucus in their lungs, now they can vibrate it out with the Lung Flute. The Lung Flute, which is close to receiving its FDA approval, was created by
Sandy Hawkins and provides 16-hertz vibration in the user's torso just by blowing air through it.

Hawkins had been trying to make a device to produce these vibrations for years, but he couldn't come up with one that was portable, inexpensive, and human-powered until he took a big step back and thought about different existing ways to create vibrations and remembered the reed of woodwind instruments. What I walk away with was this, if what your doing isn't working, then try and think of something else that does the same thing in another application. Inspiration is all around us.

Image source: popsci.com

Unexpected Word Art

A web developer for Fujinon Binoculars has hidden an unexpected image in the source code of their website. The image is the outline of Mt. Fuji as viewed from the Fujinon headquarters, and it's an amazingly creative little Easter egg for anyone who take a look at the HTML.

It reminds me that everything can be more expressive than you might expect, and thinking about doing things differently can yield fascinating results.

Source: geeksaresexy.net

Gadget Junk Proliferation

I have been prompted to write about an arbitrary topic, digital penguins; a strange request. I immediately thought of Linux, due to their cuddly mascot, but instead I stumbled upon this abomination. For the not so low price of $24.99 and $6.95 for shipping. What now, grandma? You're $31.94 short and, while you may have checked a gift of your holiday shopping list, you have just contributed to a pressing phenomenon: e-waste.

E-waste is an issue so out of hand, there are entire communities that revolve around stripping valuable materials from gadgets that we will, almost certainly, through away. The health and pollution problems in these communities is in some ways shocking, but in other ways exactly what you may expect when you think about the toxins, such as mercury, that are present in lots of the computer scrap we discard. So please avoid buying novelty electronics you don't need, and won't use. Always make sure to properly recycle your waste to avoid polluting the earth and the lives of others in developing nations.

Digital Candy 2.2: A new bittorrent search tool

Digital Candy is a great new program to search for files on the bittorrent networks, giving you a better chance of finding what you require. It will search many sites at the same time, saving you time and it also has an updater, so the sites should always be up to date.

I would describe myself as a heavy bittorrent user. Though, while I like to think I search for files efficiently, through bookmark keyword shortcuts in Firefox or using an application like T.E.D. to get TV shows, I am always interested in making my digital life easier, faster – more efficient. This new tool promises to deliver, for windows users, at least one way to do that by allowing you to perform advanced searches of multiple torrent trackers all at once and providing a centralized list of your query results. It is by no means the only or ultimate solution, but you can now get the content you want just that much more quickly, with energy left to enjoy it.

1935 Bianchi Corsica

Enough video related posts for the moment. Let's move on to one of my personal passions: Bikes. I found this gem on My Old Bicycle. It's a 1935 Bianchi Corsica, and I just cannot stop looking at it. From its wood rims, to its beautiful chrome braze-ons with their red accents -- I just am totally perplexed by the beauty of this old machine. The manual three-speed selection and ratcheting chain tensioner are things I have just never seen before.

I really feel like modern mass production has removed detailed and inspired design from the grasp of the common man. This piece, with no detail too small -- right down to the beautiful water bottle, is a total contradiction to what most people think of when they conger up their definition of a bicycle in their minds. I think this is just one of many similar travesties brought upon us by making products that do everything for everyone.

Best Movies of All Time Map

I found this subway route style map to the "best movies of all time" on a French film blog, Vodcaster. It proves to be a rather interesting and all inclusive journey though modern cinema classics.

I really love the concept of taking something nearly all of us are familiar with, a subway or bus route map, and transforming it into a film discovery tool. Want to know what some of the best comedies of all time are? Follow the "yellow line" and see where it intersects with other routes -- in this case film genres. This map is a great and very practical use for this powerful metaphor.

In Bb 2.0

In keeping with the mashup theme introduced in my first post, I have a collaborative, improvisational composition brought to you by the ubiquitous power of YouTube.

Individual musicians all play a part of their own in B flat. Then all the videos are collected and presented tiled on this page. I would recommend going there and playing around with the wall of videos -- making your own mix as you play or pause individual musician's video submission.

I thought the overall concept, execution, and end result of this project is very innovative -- even in this day and age of transcontinental digital collaboration. It made me want to get involved with similar projects, and I just might.

Eclectic Method Tarantino Video Mashup

I came across this rather amazing video using one of my favorite social bookmarking tools, StumbleUpon. Additionally, whole host of other such film inspired mashups, including this one, can be found at Eclectic Method.

In its most reduced form, the author basically scanned the video for audio samples -- some music from one scene, a hard consonant sound from another, or maybe a gunshot -- and compiled them into a whole new video comprised of snips synced to their original video, in the way you'd expect, resulting in an effect you might not have.

I really enjoy the whole experience this provides. It's as if Girl Talk decided to make his album from only music videos. The juxtaposition of sights and sounds, as one scene transitions into another, is really inspiring to me.

The Tarantino Mixtape from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.