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OpenPool – track those balls!

OpenPool uses the kinect to track the position of every ball on the pool table. Through a projector,mounted above the table, the application can add effects to the balls and the table in real-time. It is open source, so there is a potential for a whole lot of themes. There are currently 3 demos online and the software is in beta stage. The company will be selling a complete solution (1 table, 2 kinects, 1 projector, pocket detectors, collision detector) for $10,000. It is not available for a download just yet but they are signing people up who have $10,000 to fork up for the full solution.

Video is here: http://vimeo.com/61133664#at=0

This is the developer website: http://www.openpool.cc/

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3-D Printing

While not a new technology, 3D printing is getting more and more popular. This year in honour of Valentine’s Day, there was a pop-up event in Toronto featuring a “3D Kissing booth”. Both fun and interactive, couples/individuals were encouraged to go down to the event, hosted at a store and pose to have a 3D model of themselves scanned and printed out for purchase.

Hot Pop Factory used an X-box Kinect to scan the posing person and convert their form into a digital copy.

Check out the full article here: http://www.thestar.com/life/valentinesday/2013/02/13/valentines_day_toronto_shop_sets_up_3d_kissing_booth.html

Another interesting 3D printing article, is the “3Doodler”, which is a 3D pen that allows artists to draw their art in midair

Check out the article and video here: http://mashable.com/2013/02/19/3d-printing-pen/

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SpaceTop – getting closer to Minority Report

Transparent LCD screen is used in this setup to present a user interface, overlaying traditional input devices. I like this example because it could be applied well as a hands-on product demo, with an added value. Jim – thanks for the find!

Go to the website to see the video and learn about the product. http://www.leejinha.com/spacetop

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Beck Sound and Vision – 360 degree interactive concert

Beck has collaborated with Chris Milk to create an interactive video concert. There were 3 video cameras, capturing a 360 degree view of the concert. The beauty is that you can control the zoom and the pan of the cameras on demand. Don’t want to use your mouse to control the camera? No problem – use your head with the help of a face tracker (written in flash) to pan around.

Make sure that you go with the SD version as the HD can take several days to load.

Link to the site here.

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Coca Cola – the ice floes are melting

Ice floes, polar bears and Coca Cola? Sounds familiar right? I saw this campaign at the Toronto Eaton Centre today. The bear is standing on a sheet of ice that will melt unless you soash (short for all the social media bucket) a custom message, predefined message or a video. It brings urgency to environmental issues and has a well crafted digital extension. I like it!

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Submergence lights – motion sensing light installation

Massive light installations are nothing new but this one is somewhat unique. The user is being tracked through the installation, augmenting the pattern of the lights.

Check out the link: http://vimeo.com/57412634

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The Sensational Rise of Haptic Interfaces

Screen Shot 2013-02-13 at 3.15.00 PM

From wikipaedia

haptics – is a tactile feedback technology which takes advantage of the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user

 

Two very interesting articles online

1 Can You Feel Me Now? The Sensational Rise of Haptic Interfaces

http://www.wired.com/design/2013/02/haptics/?cid=co5813354

“Haptics is to touch the way optics is to sight. It’s a user interface that circumvents the cluttered inputs of sight and sound, and it’s appearing in an increasing number of objects we interact with daily. Vibration is just the beginning.”

2 iPad Touch? How Senseg’s haptic system gives touchscreens texture

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/mar/07/ipad-3-touch-senseg-haptic

Author suggest strong likelihood that future iPads will include some sort of haptic technology.

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Tracey Emin in Time Square

Young British Artist + Time Square + Photosharing Art Campaign

Throughout the month of February, fifteen gargantuan billboards will be given over to the video art installation shortly before midnight. Digital art purveyor s[edition] has adapted six messages from one of Emin’s most well-known neon series into moving images, all based on the theme of love, echoing her notoriously tumultuous personal life.

The installation is the latest instalment of a public art initiative titled ‘Midnight Moment‘, organised and supported by the Times Square Advertising Coalition in partnership with Times Square Arts, for which the Square is transformed into a digital art gallery in the evening.

http://blog.seditionart.com/

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Interactive jacket

This for now goes into the “vapor-ware” category. Wearable electronics have existed for a very long time but haven’t gained much popularity. This startup out of Brazil is trying to change that by creating a jacket with an array of sensors. Each sensor is unique and can control a custom computer program behavior.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/machina/midi-controller-jacket-v01?ref=website

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Capri is the future of 3D sensing – next Xbox Kinect

Capri Next kinect

Next kinect

Just ran into a very cheesy video made by the manufacturers of the Xbox Kinect of their upcoming, much smaller sensor, named Capri. Take a look at the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w5QGf_9gGME

Why does it matter? Because the existent Kinect system is very successful in many practical applications beyond gaming. The Capri could be far more precise, powerful and smaller. Lots of applications for outdoor interactive with no need for touch!

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