Category: Creativity

Iris the Eye-Controlled Camera: Blink Twice to Take a Picture

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Simple, intuitive and innovative for the everyday photographer, Iris promises even more to the disabled, letting anyone control capture area, zoom level, the moment of a shot and other features … all with only eye movements.

Mimi Zou is a graduate of the Royal College of Art developed this eye-tracking camera design around biometric technology. The device can recognize people on both sides of the lens by their eyes – the person taking the picture (so it can pre-load preferred settings) as well as the person being photographed.

A translucent screen inhabits the center of the circular device, allowing you to get an augmented-reality look at your subject matter, with optional overlays indicating prominent buildings or other features of the built environment you may wish to capture.

Narrow your eyelids to zoom in, then open wide to zoom back out. Focus on a spot, blink twice, and a photo is taken. If a friend is recognized in the frame, there is also an option to tag them on the spot. And all of this functionality is rolled up into what looks like a cylindrical lens without a camera.

As of right now it remains a working model, but with luck, time and funding it might become the next wave in ever-more-minimalist photographic contraptions, and particularly powerful image-taking aid for those who cannot use hands to easily hold and point a camera.

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 10, 2013
Sibling Spaces: Modular Rooms Made for Brother & Sister

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

For getting things done: a static, serious and refined work space is shared by the siblings. For everything else: there is a playful flexibility to be found in movable modules, hanging hammocks, cozy nooks and hidden ladders.

Designed by Ruetemple for a family in Moscow, Russia, this children-centric interior balances the need for serious engagement with studies and self-determination outside of school-related activity (plus perhaps lessons in sharing and diplomacy all around).

On the main level, across from the work zone with its ergonomic chairs and built-in shelves, is a three-piece system of modular parts – set apart visually via the use of darker wood.

The constituent elements can be spun and situated on demand, turned into a hangout space, living room or bedroom (or whatever else the kids can come up with, for that matter).

Upstairs under a slanted roof are nooks for sleeping, reading and storage that can be made into more private bedrooms, again allowing freedom for self-determination in terms of sleeping arrangements.

The hammock is naturally a permeable mesh, and allows light to pass from one level to the next while also making use of what would otherwise be lost potential floor space.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 9, 2013
Billboard Trailers Turned Tiny Parasite Apartments

[ By Steph in Design & Guerilla Ads & Marketing. ]

Advertising is so ubiquitous that billboards aren’t even restricted to fixed positions anymore; they’re often found moving from one spot to another on trailers, always in search of those all-important eyeballs. Inside these trailers are little spaces that, one would imagine, are too small to be of any real use. But Belgian artist and hacktivist Karl Philips has taken some practical function from these ugly urban fixtures by turning them into tiny ‘parasite apartments.’

The series, entitled ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,’ consists of three billboard trailers which have been hacked into living spaces just the right size for a single-person mattress and a small collection of possessions.

Billboards take up a considerable amount of space, and it can be argued that most of them don’t have a positive impact on society. By turning them into houses, the revenue from the ads goes to the people who live within.

According to Philips’ biography, he is particularly interested in the margins of society, focusing on “themes such as gaps in legal, economic and social systems, the omnipresence of advertisement, unrestrained capitalism and consumerism, etc.” His previous work includes a parasite apartment built onto the back of a conventional billboard, invisible from the street.

[ By Steph in Design & Guerilla Ads & Marketing. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 9, 2013
Bizarre Inventions: 15 Idiotic Ideas from the Past

[ By Steph in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

For every invention that actually makes it to production, there are dozens of failed ideas, most of which failed for very good reasons. Like the fact that they’re painfully inefficient, totally unnecessary or just plain bizarre. These 15 weird and wacky creations developed between the 1920s and 1970s might be ridiculous, but they’re fun to look (and laugh) at.

The Isolator

The Isolator, by Hugo Gernsback: a terrifying hood with an attached oxygen tank, for when you want to be really, really isolated. “Outside noises being eliminated, the worker can concentrate with ease upon the subject at hand.”

Wooden Swimsuits

Swimsuits have come a long way since the days when they were long-sleeved wool monstrosities, but this wooden swimsuit invention, pictured in Washington State in 1929, wasn’t exactly a step forward.

Hangover Mask

Nothing will make you feel better when you’re suffering from a hangover than a mask that looks like this.

Radio Hat

All this poor guy wanted was an iPod. The portable straw radio hat was made by an American inventor in 1931.

Bicycle Tire Swimming Aid

This group of teenagers in 1925 Germany seem pretty proud of their invention, a swimming aid made of bicycle tires.

Next Page:
Bizarre Inventions 15 Idiotic Ideas From The Past

[ By Steph in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 8, 2013
Love Hurts: First Aid Kit to Help Survive a Broken Heart

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

Nothing but time can heal broken hearts, but there are some salves that can at least help bridge the gap between a breakup and happier times.

That is the idea behind this half-serious (and currently conceptual) relationship survival kit titled Love Hurts by New York graphic, product and packaging designer Melanie Chernock (images by Luke Nilsson).

About its contents: “Love Hurts contains all of the essentials for going through a rough breakup such as dark chocolate, vodka, bubble bath soap, a candle with matches, candy hearts, a mix CD, and if all else fails, tissues. All of the products come neatly packaged in a compact kit.”

Modern minimalist gift box meets traditional metal medical case in the simple red-and-white-themed design. The contents are a combination of cute, cliche and pragmatic – really, no one should have to go through the end of a long-temr relationship without access to chocolate.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 8, 2013
Peking Yuck: The 9 Worst Statues In China

[ By Steve in Global & Travel & Places. ]

These 9 Chinese statues are so awful, many were demolished within days of their unveiling after enduring scorn and ridicule by the People’s Republic’s people.

The Brylcreem Buddha of Luoyang

(images via: Sh.People.com and News Hefei)

In April of 2013, citizens of Luoyang in east-central China’s Henan province were excited about the soon-to-open Hualong Amusement Park with an enormous gold-toned Buddha statue at its heart. Imagine the shocked silence when the covers came off the statue, revealing what incredulous netizens quickly dubbed the “Big Maitreya with the Swept-back Hairstyle.” When pressed, park managers admitted the statue’s head was modeled after a local entrepreneur who believed his grinning golden visage would help “inspire young people.” Inspire them to commit arson, one would guess.

(image via: Chinanews.com)

After a few days of scathing and unrelenting criticism from local web commentators, park visitors arrived to find the statue headless – odd, yes, but still an improvement. As for the missing head, it turned up shortly thereafter mounted on a small, nondescript building some likened to a public restroom, presumably so young people would be inspired to answer nature’s call in a more entrepreneurial manner.

Jurassic Peck

(images via: Atlas Obscura and China Tour Advisors)

Want to know where the money you spend at Walmart is going? Try Inner Mongolia, where white elephants and green dinosaurs (in this case, one and the same) are free to roam. Unlike other constructed-but-unoccupied cities in the area, Erenhot boasts a population of about 75,000 and a thriving wind farm but city managers felt something was missing. Solution: build a Dinosaur Town & Tea Road Park, plunk a flock of life-sized dinosaur statues around the wind farm to make it look more natural, and have two of the biggest beasts kiss as they arch their necks over a highway… because dinosaurs DID kiss, of course. Wiiiilmaaa!

So Long Soong Ching-ling

(images via: SINA Weibo)

So Long Soong Ching-ling, we hardly knew you or at least, knew your statue! Soong Ching-ling was the second wife of Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China, and is held in high regard by all Chinese to this day. Therefore it was no surprise the Henan province Soong Ching-ling Foundation was able to scrape up 120 million yuan ($ 19.5 million) to construct a 24 meter (78.5 ft) tall statue honoring her in Henan’s capital city of Zhengzhou. What WAS surprising was that the statue was demolished before it was even half-finished. Sun, I am disappoint.

(image via: China.org.cn)

Curiously, it seems that managers at the Henan Provincial Soong Ching Ling Foundation took issue with the appearance of the statue, which was supposed to have been based on a design by Professor Liang Mingcheng of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. “Though the statue and our design look alike, it is terrible in both effect and quality,” stated (or rather, spun) Professor Liang, who evidently isn’t one to mince words. End result: mince the statue.

Next Page:
Peking Yuck The 9 Worst Statues In China

[ By Steve in Global & Travel & Places. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 7, 2013
Stoned Hipsters: Ancient Greeks in Modern Hipster Attire

[ By Delana in Art & Photography & Video. ]

We’ve all seen hipsters in the wild, and even if we can’t perfectly define what a hipster is, we know one when we see one. Parisian artist Léo Caillard does too, and he wondered what this modern trend would look like if it were transported back in time…back to when ancient Greeks paid homage to the perfect human form by immortalizing it in stone.

Caillard got the idea while walking through the Louvre and looking at the masterful statues. He wondered what a juxtaposition of modern fashion and ancient art would look like together. And because a question like that simply can’t go unanswered, he set out to make that unlikely combination happen.

Next Page:
Stoned Hipsters Ancient Greeks In Modern Hipster Attire

[ By Delana in Art & Photography & Video. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 6, 2013
ZIG: Modular Furniture Lets You Build to Suit Your Space

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Assemble rectangular furniture components like building blocks to create the exact arrangement of seating, tables and storage to suit your space and lifestyle. ZIG Modular furniture by Cezign comes in four different block types – upholstered foam, solid wood, open wood and clear polycarbonate – that can be stacked and strapped together any way you like for optimal versatility and adaptability.

Perhaps you need to make the most of a tiny studio apartment, or you need to be able to quickly and easily clear furniture away to use your living space for other purposes. Maybe you just like to change things up. Modular systems like ZIG give you control over what is typically some of our bulkiest, heaviest, most unchangeable possessions.

ZIG offers colorful adjustable belts that hold the foam pieces together, so you can build couches and beds of any size, or just use them as soft tables with no sharp corners to harm clumsy toddlers. Putting them together is like a creative project, challenging the user to come up with the ideal geometries for their interiors and usage requirements.

Available through Cezign, ZIG comes as a set of six units, and expansions are virtually limitless. “Our focus is on creating affordable spaces that have a high level of multi-functionality but that still blend aesthetically with what is unique and contemporary,” say the creators. “It is a creative force that transforms unused existing raw spaces and turns them into attractive, modern design projects at reasonable cost.”

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 5, 2013
Orwellian Birthday: Party Hats Put on Public CCTV Cameras

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

To celebrate the 110th birthday of deceased British author George Orwell, famous for his dystopian visions of the future, Front404 roamed the streets of Utrecht adding colorful celebratory hats to all kinds of security and surveillance cameras.

Recent news about the National Security Agency has prompted a record-breaking uptick in sales of one of Orwell’s most famous works, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), in which state monitoring reached terrifyingly deep into the everyday lives of citizens.

From the activist artists behind the project: “By making these inconspicuous cameras that we ignore in our daily lives catch the eye again we also create awareness of how many cameras really watch us nowadays, and that the surveillance state described by Orwell is getting closer and closer to reality.”

CCTV has long been a subject for street artists, including the infamous Banksy, particularly in places with lax laws regarding the monitoring of public spaces … which makes sense, considering their works are not always legal, but often caught on tape.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 5, 2013
Wooden Skyscraper: 34 Stories of Stick-Framed Architecture

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

If accepted and completed, this design would be the tallest wood-frame structure in the world. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, sustainable timber framing can be more eco-friendly than steel-and-concrete construction, which is also precisely the premise behind this competition entry that pitches wood as the primary building material.

C. F. Møller (in partnership with Dinell Johansson and Tyréns) notes that wood is renewable and lighter, thus costing less in both money and fuel to transport. Many non-architects also do not realize that wood can perform better than steel in a fire – steel heats up and buckles, while wood first loses its water weight, then chars and resists the flames.

Everything visible both inside and out celebrates the use of wood, from pillars and beams to ceilings, walls and window frames on each floor and in each unit. In turn, large exterior windows would also show off these wooden details to external viewers. At the building’s center, either wood or concrete could be used to form the service core. From the designers: “Wood is one of nature’s most innovative building materials: the production has no waste products and it binds CO2. Wood has low weight, but is a very strong load-bearing structure compared to its lightness.”

As a mixed-use development, “Social and environmental sustainability [are] integrated into the project. Each apartment will have an energy-saving, glass-covered veranda, while the building itself will be powered by solar panels on the roof. At street level there is a café and childcare facility. In a new community centre, local people will be able to enjoy the benefits of a market square, fitness centre and bicycle storage room. A communal winter garden will provide residents with an opportunity to have allotment gardens.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

July 4, 2013