Nutricate

Typically, I consider receipts a waste of time and paper, but Nutricate is looking at some new receipt features that might make me reconsider their worth.  Nutricate receipts come with the nutrition information of the meal you purchased.  The receipts state calorie, fiber, fat and protein information as total amounts and percentages of daily recommended intakes.  These receipts make it easier to track your food intake and make smart eating decisions. To me,  the most ingenious part of this idea is that Nutricate is elevating the value of nutrition to the same level as the value for money, changing the way we think about the price of a meal.

Chris Ware's The New Yorker Cover

Chris Ware has created this thought provoking piece of artwork for the cover of The New Yorker's November issue. It is beautiful to look at, with a season appropriate theme, and some strong underlying messages about modern society. This panel is part of a larger comic called Unmasked. The whole thing can be seen here (although I think it is more effective as a stand alone piece).

(Found through Design Milk).

Murmur Study

To me, anything you say on Twitter is said in an instant, and if you hear it - you hear it, and if you don't - you don't. I sometimes forget that Twitter is permanent, archived, indexed and searched. Christopher Baker's project, Murmur Study, helps put that into perspective. He has created two installations that print out local tweets on long rolls of paper and drop to the museum floor. Creating an "absurdity of the physical archive" of conversations.

I've seen lots of Twitter visualizations, but none quite as thought provoking as this one. Fantastic idea. (Found through ComputerLove).

Microsoft's Project Natal

Microsoft's Xbox announced its Project Natal at E3 today. It is the next revolution in gaming and entertainment where no controllers are required. They system uses a camera mounted on your TV to capture full body movement, allowing participants to control and interact with the game using natural movements. They advertise that the only experience you need is life experience. The system also incorporates facial recognition, voice recognition and the ability to scan in your own gear for use in the virtual world. Watch a full video here.

This looks super cool. I can't wait to try it.

BBC Blast Studio

The BBC currently have a great website up that allows you to play with interactive art in their studios. The BBC Blast Studios connects you to a live stream of the BBC studio (available 12pm-12am) where they have 3 interactive art pieces. Online users can choose an art piece to play with and then follow the instructions to participate.

My favorite is Mark, which gives you three paint gun shots at a large canvas. It is accompanied by a dragable timeline which allows you to see the artwork being created over time.

Fantastic idea. The combination of online visitors with real participatory art exhibits is almost too good to be true. This experiment in creativity will be available until June 9th.

Tweenbots

I know Tweenbots has been on every blog in the past couple days, but I love the idea too much to not add it to my collection as well.  Tweenbots is an art experiment by Kacie Kinzer that looks at how robots and humans interact.  Tweenbots are cute little cardboard robots which try to navigate the streets of New York.  These robots are unique because they are human defendant.  They only have the ability to go in a straight line and rely on human interaction to navigate complicated routes.  The website has some great video of a Tweenbot trying to navigate its way through Washington Square Park.  It gets stuck under benches, and in potholes... but people consistently come to its rescue.  The trek apparently only took 42 minutes and 29 human interventions.

I love this project for so many reasons.  Partially, I just enjoy the idea that people would help inanimate objects with a task.  Mostly, I like this project because it challenges the typical thinking about robots.  Robots are not necessarily going to take over the Earth, we can live peacefully together... they might just need our help.  Let the robots contribute what they are good at, and let the people contribute what they are good at.  I love crowdsourcing.

Baker Tweet

Baker Tweet is like a hip new interpretation of the Krispy Kreme sign (when it's on, they are making fresh doughnuts).  Baker Tweet is a tweeting machine, aimed at bakeries.  It twitters about what you have fresh and warm out of the oven, and people come running.  The Baker Tweet has programmable settings for the different types of baked goods (bread, pain au chocolate, etc).  Bakers just turn the dial and press the button.  A Tweet is automatically sent out.  I would subscribe.  Created by Poke.

Is This Your Luggage

Is This Your Luggage is a website which documents lost luggage, and its contents, through photographs.  The luggage is bought through auction (after the airline diligently tries to find its rightful owner - of course), the contents are photographed, and the posted on the website.  My favorite part of the site is this justification for collecting lost luggage - "It's a little odd, but not as odd as stamp collecting, just a little harder to find storage space." - Ha.

I wish I had thought of this idea.

We Tell Stories

We Tell Stories is a website created by Six to Start for Penguin books. It features 6 writers, telling 6 stories, in 6 weeks. The project takes classic Penguin titles and retells the stories in a digital format - but not your typical, eBook style digital format.  Six to Start consider themselves modern storytellers who tell stories using high tech interactive methods and media.  Of the 6 stories, one is told using areal view map fly overs, one is told using twitter, two are web based choose your own adventure stories, another was written in real time with real time readers, and yet another was interpreted by Nicholas Felton's data driven infographic style.

Whew.  And I'm sure there is much more to come.  The world of digital and location based storytelling is just beginning.  (Found through Half Deserted Streets).

iSketches

Jorge Colombo creates paintings... on his iPhone.  He uses a application called Brushes, which allows him to paint with his finger.  He captures scenes of New York City on his little 3.5 inch digital canvas.  The backlit screen allows for easy nighttime painting sessions.

If you want to see how it's done, Jorge's website features movies of the paintings in progress (a feature of Brushes).  I'm amazed and inspired.

Augmented Twitter T-Shirt

The geeks (and I mean that in the nicest way) at Squidder have combine their favorite things; t-shirts, Papervision and Twitter, to create this live status t-shirts.  The shirts have fiduciary markers, translatable by webcams or camera phones.  The markers are encoded with your user name, to look up and display your latest Twitter post in a movable 3D format in front of your chest.

Painting Facebook Portraits

Matt Held has found a timely twist on portraits - basing them off Facebook profile images. I've been thinking a lot the past few days about Michael Surtees' article about Face pics being the new logo.  In some ways I hope this isn't true.  The pictures people use for their profiles all seem so calculated and unreflective of a person's dynamic self (mine included).  All that aside, Matt's portraits are very alive and flattering.  I would love one.  If you are interested in getting your portrait painted, just join Matt's Facebook group.  Oh, and of course they are all square. (Found through Double Takes).

24 Hours at Sundance

Today I am following 24 Hours at Sundance.  It is an experimental live reality tv game where all of the video feeds are streaming live from mobile phones using Qik.  The show is hosted by Kevin Rose and Ashton Kutcher, with 4 video bloggers as contestants.  The contestants are given challenges to complete over the next 24 hours (many challenge ideas submitted via Twitter to Ashton and Kevin).  You can watch, comment or participate live using Qik.

This is such a fantastic idea.  So far, it is playing out like you would expect a true live internet experiment to.  I'm staying glued to my mobile phone all day.

Follow the Host's Qik feed here: Ashton, Kevin

And the contestants' feeds here:  CJ Peters, Irina Slutsky,  Meghan Asha, Matt and Shira.

Interactive Subway Installation

Ginga Interactive in Brazil has been working hard to promote the movie Twilight.  One of their advertising approaches has been a series of interactive posters in Sao Paulo subway stations.  The posters are touchable, allowing subway passengers to explore the content.  They can watch and control clips from the film, browse character profiles and download information to their mobile phones.  Watch a video of the interactive posters here.

RFIDs Fighting Bike Thefts

University of Portsmouth in the UK has started tracking student's bikes using RFID tags.  Students park their bikes in designated areas and then register the bike's location using a mobile phone.  Before retrieving the bike, riders must call and enter a pin number.  If a pin number is not called in, moving the bike will cause security cameras to zoom in on the action.  Oregon State University and city of Copenhagen are starting up other anti bike theft RFID initiatives.  (Found through rb.trends).

Text Messaging Elephants

So what do you do when an elephant keeps destroying your crops at harvest?  You give him a SIM card, of course.  In Ol Pejeta, Kenya, two of the most destructive wild elephants were equipped with SIM cards.  Every time the elephants cross one of the town's virtual fences, the rangers are alerted via text message of the intrusion.  The early warning allows the ranger's to scare the elephants off before they reach the fields.  The tech savvy approach to wildlife regulation has greatly benefited the elephants and the community, reducing the destruction of both animals and crops.  The elephants whereabouts can also be tracked by conservationists and internet users via Google maps.