Vik Muniz makes art with cotton, wire, sugar, dust and what not !

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via TED Talks

The fascinating Art of Substance and Absence

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by Alwar Balasubramaniam via TED Talks

Amazing High-tech Art by Aparna Rao

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via TED Talks

What may happen in next 100 yrs

While going thru some old stuff from college, I met with an old article, rather a scripture which was written & published in 1900 by John Elfren Watkins Jr. on how our world would look in 100 yrs from then.

Surprisingly, much of it has actually happened.

On a second thought, who is a greater visionary ???

“Do a Barrel Roll” on Google, and You Won’t Be Disappointed

“Do a barrel roll” has become a trending topic on Twitter and elsewhere, thanks to an easter egg on Google Search.

Type the phrase in Google, and the screen will tumble around (it’s a barrel roll, after all). The same thing happens if you search for “Z or R twice.” Because it was built in HTML5, it doesn’t work on all browsers. Firefox and Chrome seem to support it best.

Both phrases are references to Star Fox 64, the classic 1997 Nintendo game that sucked up a giant chunk of my life when I was a kid. Peppy, the game’s veteran space pilot rabbit, tells hero Fox McCloud to “do a barrel roll” (a feat accomplished by pressing “Z” or “R” twice) multiple times throughout the game. The phrase spawned an Internet meme that has stood the test of time.

I have no clue how long the Google easter egg has been around, but I love it. It’s yet another testament to Google’s quirkiness and nerdy demeanor.

Kinect + Augmented Projectors + Microsoft Research = A roomfull of awesomeness !

Microsoft’s research division has created augmented projectors, a new technology which use data from up to four Kinects to let you interact with a 3D model of any room you’re in. At its simplest, the projector shines an image which you can interact with by casting shadows, but the other applications are both more complex and more interesting.

The Kinect sensors within the room can define the space digitally, and then use the projector like a magic flashlight to expose and interact with the digital facsimile of the real room. Objects can be placed on walls, hanged in empty space, and electronic versions of real objects can be cloned and moved within the virtual reality.

Compare this to the bulky and expensive original Microsoft Surface and the augmented projectors could bring similar types of interaction to any room in your house in a fraction of the size. While the resolution isn’t very high and holding a projector seems jittery, it’s still one step towards Microsoft’s vision of the future.

Toyota’s “Window to the World” Augmented Reality Concept

The new system from the Japanese automobile manufacturer’s European Research division was developed with the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design and turns windows into interactive screens designed for education and play.

As shown in the video, with “Window to the World,” backseat passengers will be able to draw objects that will then integrate with the outside world, estimate distance to outside objects, zoom in on objects, translate written language on signs, and learn more about outside objects by selecting them.

Toyota also says the technology can be applied to sunroofs and, at night, constellations and their information can be studied with the night sky as the backdrop.

When kids are bored on the drive, parents can once again tell children “Look out from the window for a while.”

Kinect makes presentations more presentable & self-organized

Haruki Maeda from Meiji University shows his presentation software that can sense where you stand and orders the text into the visible space around you. Transitions are handled with gestures and you can even pinch-to-zoom live on stage. The modest Mr. Maeda says all it took was some C#, the Kinect SDK and an Excel spreadsheet to get this beauty working.

Olly : The web connected, smelly robot

What if there were a way to add smells to the things you see every single day on the internet?

To some, just the thought of that there scenario would induce nausea. To others — primarily those who spend their days Googling various rose gardens around the globe — it just might be the extra dimension to surfing that they’ve been waiting for.

If you happen to find yourself tucked into that second camp, we’d like to introduce you to Olly, the web-connected robot that’s capable of emitting smells based on inputs from the ‘net. The critter was dreamed up by Tim Pryde and the folks surrounding the Don-8r (Foundry, if you’re curious), and while there’s currently no way to purchase one, instructions are forthcoming to produce your own with a 3D printer.

In fact, it’s recommended that users build a few, stack ‘em up and connect different inputs (Twitter, Instagram, your mum’s vegetarian cooking blog) to each one. It’s the perfect cacophony… or the perfect disaster, depending on your browsing habits.

Visit Olly’s official website for more details.

Your pants could be your PC & your shirt could be your personal assistant

Transistors of all shapes and sizes form the foundation of just about every electronic gadget under the sun, and similarly, cotton clothing is a key component of a well-rounded wardrobe. It was only a matter of time before these two got together to form a fashion-forward future, and an international team of scientists have accomplished the trick by creating a transistor using fibers of cotton.

Now, this isn’t the first organic transistor, but cotton’s plentiful, cheap, lightweight and sustainable nature make it a great choice for use as a substrate in carbon-based transistors. To get the fluffy white stuff ready to amplify and switch electric signals, it was conformally coated (to cover all the fiber’s irregularities) with gold nanoparticles, semiconductive and conductive polymers in a super thin layer to preserve its wearability flexibility. The result was an active transistor that can be used in integrated circuits sewn into your shirt, socks, or even pantaloons, if you like.

The future of fashion is right around the corner, folks, and in that future your pants are the PC.

Read the full study, co-authored by Cornell fiber scientist Juan Hinestroza, at Cornell’s Website.