Design Workshop

Next week, IBM’s Jeopardy playing computer will go head to head with the human Jeopardy champion to test the limits of natural language processing and open question answering.

Read the full interview with Watson’s creators

Gamestorming The future of work is not about dull routine…...

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:43:56 -0500

Gamestorming

The future of work is not about dull routine… it’s about being more human.

Gamestorming is a set of best practices compiled from the world’s most innovative people and companies, condensed into a lightweight, low-tech toolkit that applies tools and rules to the problems of collaboration and teamwork.

The approach is a mashup of game principles, game mechanics and work. It’s a set of methods for inventors, explorers, and change agents. A practice made of people, paper and passion.

It’s for people who want to design the future, to change the world, to make, create and innovate.

Seven Technologies That Will Rock 2011

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:42:07 -0500

Seven Technologies That Will Rock 2011:

Crystal balling from TechCrunch on what we can expect from 2011.

So here we are in a new decade, and the technologies that are now available to us continue to engage (and enthrall) in fascinating ways. The rise and collision of several trends—social, mobile, touch computing, geo, cloud—keep spitting out new products and technologies which keep propelling us forward

The Emotional Computer When people talk to each other, we gauge...

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:00:14 -0500

The Emotional Computer

When people talk to each other, we gauge much of how the other person feels by their facial expression and/or from how something is said. We pick up emotions from tone of voice and facial expressions that allow us to decide how best to continue our conversations – to empathize with sadness, share happiness, or react to anger or frustration. People even express themselves in this way when interacting with machines, but the devices don’t seem capable of reacting to how a person feels.

Team leader Professor Peter Robinson challenged his team from the Rainbow Graphics and Interaction Research Group to build a system that could “understand not just what I’m saying, but how I’m saying it.”

IBM’s Annual List of Five Innovations Set to Change Our...

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 09:51:43 -0500

IBM’s Annual List of Five Innovations Set to Change Our Lives in the Next Five Years

What’s your verdict? Is this list spot on or way off?

What’s the Price of Everything? Great trailer for the...

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:18:28 -0500

What’s the Price of Everything?

Great trailer for the upcoming book, “The Price of Everything?”.

We Make Things A very inspiring documentary on the human need to...

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:44:29 -0500

We Make Things

A very inspiring documentary on the human need to make things, by York University’s own Ryan Varga.

360° Video Using the same technology as Google’s Street...

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:27:25 -0500

360° Video

Using the same technology as Google’s Street View, video can be shot in 360 degrees.

The Three Little Pigs and the Secrets of a Popup Book iPad books...

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:53:00 -0500

The Three Little Pigs and the Secrets of a Popup Book

iPad books haven’t been this innovative since Alice in Wonderland.

How L.A. Noire Conquered The Uncanny Valley With A Tech Called...

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:22:00 -0500

How L.A. Noire Conquered The Uncanny Valley With A Tech Called MotionScan

The “uncanny valley” describes the perception gap between a human-like impression and an actual human. To cross the uncanny valley, a simulation must match the impossibly subtle nuances of detail in a real human beyond perception.

“We’re trying something new that’s never been done. We’re not just releasing a game – everybody looks at this who hasn’t seen it in person, even from the screenshots you look at it and go, ‘Oh, it’s GTA with Fedoras on’. But the reality is that it’s a whole new different concept, it’s a whole new way of looking at interactive entertainment. I think we’re starting to blur the lines between a television program and a video game.”

Introducing Word Lens Word Lens instantly translates printed...

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:22:27 -0500

Introducing Word Lens

Word Lens instantly translates printed words from one language to another using the video camera on your iPhone. No network delay, no roaming fees, and no reception problems.

Word Lens is a dictionary — evolved. It looks up words for you, and shows them in context. You can use Word Lens on your vacations to translate restaurant menus, street signs, and other things that have clearly printed words.

Word Lens has its limits. Sometimes the translation will be hard to understand, but it usually gets the point across. If a translation fails, there is a way to manually look up words by typing them in. Word Lens does not read very stylized fonts, handwriting, or cursive.

Futuristic Concept Camera Captures Entire Perspectives at...

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:36:06 -0500

Futuristic Concept Camera Captures Entire Perspectives at Once

This camera doesn’t exist yet. But… it could. And… probably will. Very soon.

It’s always fun thinking about what photography will be like in the future, and the direction camera technology will go. What’s even cooler is seeing these ideas turned into concept drawings or videos. The Capture180 is a concept camera by Lucas Ainsworth that takes a 180° hemispheric photograph with each exposure in addition to the ordinary, framed photograph. When viewing the photographs with the camera, you can “knock” the camera into a viewing mode in which it acts as a small window into the giant scene that was captured.

33 Major Fail Tales From Startups That Died

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:47:08 -0500

33 Major Fail Tales From Startups That Died

Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology Can the Bartle test apply to...

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:16:28 -0500

Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology

Can the Bartle test apply to gamification of ideas and services?

The Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology is a series of questions and an accompanying scoring formula that classifies players of multiplayer online games (including MUDs and MMORPGs) into categories based on their gaming preferences.

The result of the Bartle Test is the “Bartle Quotient”, which is calculated based on the answers to a series of 30 random questions in the test, and totals 200% across all categories, with no single category exceeding 100%.

For example, a person may score “100% Killer, 50% Socializer, 40% Achiever, 10% Explorer,” which indicates a player who prefers fighting other players relative to any other area of interest. Scores are typically abbreviated by the first letter of each category, in order of the quotient. In the previous example, this result would be described as a “KSAE” result.

Project Magazine’s iPad Cover Contest Aside from the evil...

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:44:00 -0500

Project Magazine’s iPad Cover Contest

Aside from the evil spec nature of this “contest”, the Project format is an interesting concept. Check out the demo video and project assets for inspiration in how mobile media is changing editorial.

As part of its launch on Tuesday, Virgin’s first iPad-only magazine, Project, announced a contest to redesign the magazine’s animated cover. In order to get ahold of the brief and assets for the contest, however, designers (or their unemployed friends) had to locate one of four paper mannequins (with Sir Richard Branson, pictured above) touring New York and San Francisco, each of which held the coordinates of USB sticks containing the brief, earlier this week.

I’ve since gotten ahold of a .zip file containing the outline and assets for the cover contest, which you can download from my personal Dropbox account here. You can watch a video outlining the challenge below, and enter your design at facebook.com/project.

Offermatic: Credit Card Based Deals An interesting startup...

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 09:35:47 -0500

Offermatic: Credit Card Based Deals

An interesting startup called Offermatic launched today:

Offermatic is launching today to provide consumers with a more automatic way to earn deals and discounts. The rewards come in the form of instant rebates, discounts and points targeted to users based on their credit and debit card transactions.

New users will need to link a debit or credit card to get started, but once they do they’ll start earning points and become eligible for rebates and deals that the service sends via e-mail. Essentially, users need to provide the startup with direct access to their spending history — a big barrier to entry for some — so that Offermatic to serve up rewards.

What I find interesting about this model is the use of motivation (in the form of deals & saving) to verify customer behaviour. Although there are already cries of privacy infringement, the same criticisms were once levied at points cards. In fairness, the value of your privacy is the exchange you make to receive the deal.

What do you think? Will people go for it? Would you go for it?