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September 2008

The Archives

Sep 29 2008

Robotic Lawn-Mowing Sheep by David Goligorsky
Filed under: Associative Thought, Engineering, Pragmatism, Robots, video
Check out this lumbering Styrofoam robotic remote-control lawnmower sheep from Carnegie Mellon: If you need more Carnegie Mellon robots, check out my recent post on the Keepon.
Sep 27 2008

They thought no one would notice by Eric Silva
Filed under: Misplaced Thoughts
There's inspiration, then there's this. The Panasonic RP-HTX7 headphones, released in 2006: The Boosted Stiloso headphones, released in 2008: The similarity is stunning, right down to the two small screws attaching the similarly perforated headband. It's not apparent in these images, but both headphones have unusual cloth-insulated wire connecting the headband to the cans. These photos are roughly to scale—the headphones appear to be the exact same size. This sort of thing is common with inexpensive items imitating products costing orders of magnitude more. Oddly, the original Panasonic RP-HTX7 headphones are actually cheaper than the Boosted Stiloso headphones. I noticed the Stilosos in my local ...
Sep 18 2008

Perpenduum is not for tips by Christian Eager
Filed under: Apple, Misplaced Thoughts
However, Eric and I were recently talking about missing keyboard shortcuts, and I figure it's worth sharing. Add a "Zoom Window" Keyboard Shortcut on Mac OS X Open "System Preferences" Click "Keyboard & Mouse" Select the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab Click the "+" button to add a new shortcut Choose "All Applications" in the Application dropdown, type "Zoom" in the menu title field, and set your desired keyboard shortcut (I chose cmd-shift-M). Click "Add". Voilà. There does seem to be an outstanding issue in which this does not work properly in Firefox 3, but it works like a charm in every other app I've tried.
Sep 17 2008

Yeesh. by David Goligorsky
Filed under: Perceived Value, Pragmatism, Security
Swissmiss strikes again with more gold. Anti-theft lunch bag.
Sep 16 2008

“What do you mean I’m always too busy?” by David Goligorsky
Filed under: Personal
Swissmiss posted this irony-rich product from Thorsten Van Elten, available at Velocity Art and Design. I probably need this one. [caption id="attachment_757" align="aligncenter" width="288" caption="What do you mean I'm always too busy?"][/caption]
Sep 15 2008

Leica D-LUX 4 by David Goligorsky
Filed under: Design, Experience Design, Interaction Design, Perceived Value, Pragmatism, Product Design, Remix, photography
Core77 mentioned the impending arrival of the new Leica D-LUX 4 as reported at Digital Photography Review. I use it's predecessor, the Leica D-LUX 3, and I love the crisp optics, the macro option, the range of focal length in the optical zoom, the 16:9/3:2/4:3 aspect ratio options, the option to go fully or partially manual with aperture, shutter speed, and focus, and the Leica compact digitals are the most elegant-looking cameras in their class and price point (in my opinion). I have a few gripes about the usability design, including the lens cap, the arrangement of functions ...
Sep 14 2008

BigDog, Quadruped Robot by Christian Eager
Filed under: Robots
At the other end of the Uncanny Valley from Keepon is BigDog, developed by Boston Dynamics, with funding from DARPA. It can best be described as a pack animal: about a meter in length, it walks at 4mph, climbs slopes up to 35°, and carries loads up to 340 pounds. Oh, and it's creepy as all get-out.
Sep 13 2008

Keepon by David Goligorsky
Filed under: Academia, Aesthetics, Code, Design, Engineering, Experience Design, Interaction Design, Japan, Materials, Music, Product Design, Robots, Science, Software, video
I subscribed to Ambidextrous, Stanford University's Journal of Design. The magazine is edited by the Stanford Design community and receives content from contributors around the world. It's a very well-done publication and I would recommend subscribing if you are a designer, engineer, scientist, anthropologist, interaction, UX, HCI, or really anything else because you're bound to find these articles worthwhile. Reading through issue nine, I was particularly impressed by a robot designed by Hideki Kozima in Kyoto and programmed at Carnegie Mellon by Marek Michalowski. It is known as Keepon (from Japanese kee for yellow and pon for bobbing). ...
Sep 09 2008

PEBKAC by David Goligorsky
Filed under: Code, Computers, Quotes, Software
PEBKAC: "Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair" also known as PICNIC: "Problem In Chair, Not In Computer" These are acronyms for computer programmers to belittle human beings. (via swissmiss)
Sep 08 2008

Mr. Matsumoto by David Goligorsky
Filed under: Aesthetics, Art, Japan, Materials, Remix, events, fashion, sculpture, wabi sabi, wood
[caption id="attachment_722" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Typewriter by Mr. Matsumoto"][/caption] These wood and brass sculptures of common objects are phenomenal. They are by Mr. Matsumoto, who will have an exhibit of this work at the Paul Smith shop on Floral Street from September 15-20 to coincide with London Fashion Week and London Design Festival. (via Dezeen)

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