manta ray write up in Usability News

The British HCI group newsletter Usability News wrote up an account of the
HCI Engage 2006 conference. We got a a nice mention:

...however, by far the most glorious and elaborate event preceding the main conference [HCI Engage 2006], in London] , was a conference in its own right. (re)Actor: the First International Conference on Digital Live Art, led by Jenn Sheridan of Lancaster University and Alice Bayliss of the University of Leeds, focussed on HCI, computing and club art: 'mobile, avant garde art, the kind not typically put in a theatre'. 22 papers, 12 installations and 10 performances (some impromptu) took over the staid but elegant Octagon at Queen Mary, University of London. It brought in several people from the States, including the designers of a giant ray-like suspended robot that swooped over the hall and was later customised to dance just over the heads of attendees for the evening session. As well as hosting stunning displays, like the jugglers with light, ReActor addressed the serious issue of evaluation of art, and determining value from an HCI perspective. The full line-up can be seen at http://www.digitalliveart.co.uk/....

We expect video and photos soon. Stay tuned.

Liquid sculpture and water art

Liquid sculpture and water art: "

Spluch writes - 'Martin Waugh creates art out of drops of water through the use of high-speed photography. By varying the size, speed and position of drops, as well as the color, viscosity, and surface tension, a panorama of color, movement and intrigue is created.' - Link.

Related:



High speed photography - water figures - Link.
Homemade Strobe Photography - Link.Want to make your own high speed photos? Try our kit... The High Speed Photography Kit: The high speed photography kit enables you to take pictures of popping balloons, breaking glass, and splashing liquids, revealing a hidden world not visible ... - Link.
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A video projector the size of a sugar cube

A video projector the size of a sugar cube:
... both DigiSlide and Light Blue Optics showing miniscule demonstration units in the last week...

TRIKLITS - Color changing LED light strings

TRIKLITS - Color changing LED light strings: "

Pictured here, "Big Round Cubatron" by Trixie Pixie.

Glow-in-the-dark bubble-bath

Glow-in-the-dark bubble-bath: "Cory Doctorow: Make your next romantic bathroom scene a little more post-apocalyptic with this $15 glow-in-the-dark bubble-bath. Link (via Gizmodo)


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The Fraunhofer Multimedia Dome

The Fraunhofer Multimedia Dome: "September 6, 2006 Making its first public appearance at the IFA international consumer electronics fair in Berlin, the Multimedia Dome is the first digital dome theatre to feature natural spatial sound: it envelops visitors in fascinating universe of video pictures and sound. The Multimedia Dome was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology FIRST and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, the inventors of the MP3 format which has taken over the world in the last decade...(from Gizmag)

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Simple Drawing Robots

Simple Drawing Robots: " ...the coolest robots ever to be made out of cardboard ...insanely cool mechanisms made out of plastic bits, coathangers, rubber bands, and cardboard.

Google Image Labeler: Collaborative Tagging Game

Sounds interesting but here's what really caught my eye:

SearchEngineWatch dug out this excellent 51-minute presentation by Carnegie Mellon’s Luis von Ahn (also of CAPTCHA fame), who talks about ESP Game, which Google subsequently licensed to create Labeller. If you’re wondering whether the Labeller will help Google catch up on Flickr’s tags, here’s a salient stat from the video (8 minutes in): in one year, 9 billion people-hours are spent playing Solitaire; it took 20 million human-hours to build the entire Panama Canal - no wonder the professor talks about finding ways to optimise human cycles :-).

from Ajaxian