Creativity @ Conduct

Android Contact Lenses

fred

19th December

Contact lenses of today predominantly serve two purposes. They sharpen your vision, correcting long or short sightedness or they change the appearance of your eyes turning them into cats eyes, different colours or even smiley faces. Think that’s pretty cool? Then you will love the contact lenses of the future. With a technology called “wearable computing” users will be able to see an overlay of computer generated visual information through the contact lenses. Being reminiscent of the Terminator movies, wearable computing contact lenses may be able to send and receive data from other platforms such as mobile phones, GPS units or gaming units. They could also potentially inform the user of current events and real time notifications plus provide health alerts and even help the user navigate through a city.

The research is being driven by Professor Babak Parviz of the University of Washington and his pupils (sorry bad pun) in conjunction with scientists from the University of Aalto in Finland. Their research was recently published in the journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.

At present the researchers have successfully managed to create and test a single pixel contact lens on live rabbits eyes. The unit is powered wirelessly encompassing an antenna, radio circuit, transparent sapphire chip and micro light emitting diodes of which all are integrated onto a single contact lens. This single pixel contact lens can be used to perform simple operations. Before we are able to read emails using this technology, hundreds of pixel resolutions need to be incorporated which may be many years away.

A number of challenges and obstacles faced the team in the development of the Android contact lenses. Some of these were finding ways to power the wireless device, making it biocompatible and integrating all of the components onto such a small surface. Tests so far have been limited to the eyes of live rabbits. At present the unit can be powered from a maximum distance of 1 metre away and only 2cm away when it is being worn.

The wearable technology created by the team demonstrates that Android contact lenses can be produced in the future to serve a number of purposes. Perhaps in the coming decades, many of us will be looking through android contact lenses much like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies…Hasta La Vista Baby!

Image Source: iopscience.iop.org

Tags: Android, Android Developer

Future of Nokia mobiles is mind/phone bending

fred

7th December

Nokia has unveiled a physical prototype of a bendy and flexible phone at this year’s Nokia World Show event staged in London.

Instead of only using a touchscreen or keypad like the phones of today the Nokia Kinetic also has the added functionality of bending, twisting or squeezing it to perform specific tasks. To answer the phone the user squeezes the phone, to scroll through files, twist the handset forward. The harder the twist the faster the scroll. To open files bend the handset inwards and to go back to a previous file or menu simply bend the handset outwards. These same movements can control a myriad of other functions including zooming in on images and for volume control.

If Nokia does ever release a commercial version of the Kinetic it is not expected for at least another three years according to a Nokia spokesman from the World Show event.

Looking even further into the future Nokia has also released a new concept video entitled the Nokia Humanform. Shaped like a teardrop or a miniature surfboard, this phone looks very futuristic in the same way as a concept cars does.

The Humanform incorporates Wiiremote like gestures as well as bending and twisting to control the handset. Perhaps some of the coolest features are the electro-tactile feedback which lets you feel images and the mood recognition software which can change the lighting backdrop on the interface when using video calls to represent emotion.

Whether we ever see any of the new concepts in the Nokia Humanform come to us any time soon is another question all together. But if I were to tell you about the capabilities of today’s Smart phones ten years ago, would you have believed me?

Images sourced from pcauthority.com.au

Tags: Android, mobile design, mobile development, smart phone

Wacom…more like WOWcom!

andrew

1st September

inkling
Wacom have recently announced their next product in digital drawing and sketching, it’s called Inkling

Having pretty much abandoned my mouse completely, I’m constantly using my graphics tablet to navigate around, design and draw on my Mac. The only downside of this, as people have been saying for years, is that it doesn’t feel like you’re actually drawing.

There is nothing natural about pushing a plastic tipped pen around on another piece of plastic. Sure, you can get used to it pretty quickly, but nothing compares to good old pen and paper. This is where Inkling comes in.

Inkling is a new device, consisting of a special pen and a small receiver device. Basically, you clip the receiver onto the paper you are drawing on, no matter whether it is a single sheet of paper or an entire sketchbook, and then you draw…that’s it!

Once you’ve finished your drawing, you simply plug the receiver into your Mac or PC, and it transfers your paper sketches into digital format.

But wait, there’s more!

As you’re drawing, there is a button on the receiver to create a new layer. Which means you can do a basic rough sketch lightly on the paper (the pen has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity), create a new layer, and then do the final drawing over the top. When you transfer the drawing to the computer, your drawing will be split up into those two different layers, which makes it super easy to just delete the sketch work and keep the final drawing.

It gets better! You can import your drawings or sketches to Photoshop as well as Illustrator. Now, you might be thinking, ‘But Andrew, Adobe Illustrator is a vector program! How would that work!?’. The answer is, I have no idea how that would work, but according to all the videos floating around the internet, your drawing is fully converted to a vector drawing, layers included.

Yeah, there’s a few more little sweet bits

Once you import your drawing onto your computer, you can watch yourself draw, kind of. The receiver not only tracks the drawing as a whole, but also the timing, so you can watch a video of your drawing taking shape line by line. I don’t know how this is useful in the slightest, but it’s still pretty sweet.

The best part about all this is going to have to be the price. Retailing at only $200, this device (providing it works as well as other Wacom products) is a must have for any designer or artist who’s best work comes out on paper.

Tags: web design, web design melbourne, web development, web development Melbourne

Melbourne Design Awards

Nick

22nd November

The inaugural Melbourne Design Awards are bringing together 15 education organisations, 6 industry groups and 55 categories. All focused on celebrating design, from the people who create the works to the people who sponsor the projects.

The awards also offer an opportunity for students to enter and have their work compete alongside industry professionals.

The Awards showcase leading design projects in a selection of handpicked design-orientated cities through a broad range of categories covering Object, Product Design both consumer and business; Space, Architectural and Interior Design projects; Fashion, Accessories, Mens and Womenswear; Experience, Events to Radio; Visual, Graphic Design, Illustration, Print, Photography; and of course our favorite Digital Design!

Entries close on the 28th November 2010!

For more information and details on how to enter, visit the official website at www.melbournedesignawards.com.au

Tags: graphic design, graphic design melbourne, web design

Sydney band Lost Valentinos augmented reality video clip

Simon

4th May

The Lost Valentinos deliver an ingenious slant on augmented reality – augmented reality video clip where fans can download and print out black and white square markers. The online application recognises these markers once placed in sight of a webcam, and overlay images of band members dancing and playing their instruments.

This is a clear example of how modern technology engages users to interact with content and instill individual ownership. Once users have finished making their unique film clip they can upload it for the world to see – hence building a community. This campaign has viral potential written all over it.

I would love to see this integrated into an iPhone application… I will be sure to keep an eye on this project.

You can view this in action and even create your own film clip – www.lostvalentinos.com

Wired Magazine interview Conduct and featured AR.Drone gaming concept

Charlie

13th March

Conduct was recently interviewed by Wired Magazine and asked to submit a gaming concept for the amazing Parrot AR.Drone

The AR.Done is one sweet rig and fulfills any man/child dream of having a remote control toy!

We’ll post the concept once the Magazine Issue comes out on the 18th of March 2010, page 55.

Conduct have been contacted by Parrot who were excited by Conduct’s concept and would like us to develop the idea further. Conduct can’t wait to push the ideas and collaborate with the Parrot team located out of Paris.