Remember The Matrix bullet time dodge scene (aka “Trinity, Help!”)? Known as the bullet time effect, it allowed “the viewer to explore a moment progressing in slow-motion as the camera appears to orbit around the scene at normal speed” (from Wikipedia). To get that effect, The Wachowski Brothers used an array of cameras to capture a scene from different angles, stitched them up, and ran them through a computer that generated Neo’s viewpoints.
11-17 Jan 2010
That’s what a pair of New York City farmers (isn’t that an oxymoron?) hopes to raise awareness of with their farms on trucks, outfitted with “root barriers, erosion blankets, drainage mats and cups that are reserved for green roofs”, that canvass the streets of New York. On the other hand, if you like your vegetables less travelled, then live next to an urban underground farm in Tokyo.
Perfect. Except for one little thing…
We got into a heated discussion on what engineering really meant. It was a sight to behold: beer froth spewed, we went at it like dogs chasing their own tails, and threw up a gazillion different scenarios before crawling away for another pint of Guinness.
It was a bizarre yet thought-provoking topic with things like:
4-10 Jan 2010
And it’ll be picked up by a tiny brain electrode and turned into speech on your laptop. Not for mass consumption but perfect for folk who can’t speak on their own.
Talking about thoughts...Christian Kandlbauer’s new robot arms respond to his commands wired to his chest from his mind. And they’re agile enough to help him pass his driving test! And if he needs directions, just use SixthSense, a wearable gestural interface developed by MIT researchers, to find out where he’s at by beaming (yes, we’re not joking) a light onto a street sign and getting digital information from it.
We interrupt your normal programming for this announcement.
Bye bye fugly standard Blogger look! Hello brand new gleam!
It took me a while and lots of pulled hair to get this blogger template together (courtesy of Dark Orange). But you know what they say about New Year: “in with the new, out with the old”. And this jazzy new look was just the spice that we needed…along with some new features.
In addition to our weekly roundups, we’re adding longer weekly features, and UCC content that’s floating around in the websphere (aka our YouTube favourites and Facebook fanpage).
But we need your help!
Please please please tell us what you’d want to see on UCreateChange.com and here. Drop your thoughts in this post’s comments section or email me at creators.of.tomorrow@gmail.com. We don’t have any prizes now but I’ll be sure to link to your blog/website whenever possible! :D
Thanks all!
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We now return you back to normal programming.
We’re never satisfied.
We’ve got to be faster, stronger, prettier, smarter and wiser (although that’s arguable) than the next person. That’s why we Humans are fascinated with modifying and augmenting our bodies; be it with ink on skin, or a pirate’s hook hand, or a chip implanted in the brain, or bones borne from wood.
Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
After all, if the deaf could hear again, if we could help people walk once more, if we could access and manipulate information through a chip in our head – then why not?
For this blog post, we’ll look at how engineers and inventors have improved upon the human body in augmenting reality with digital information and of course, replacing lost body parts.
Don’t forget to check out this week’s cybernetic series at UCreateChange!
We went gaga over green tech in 2009, and Copenhagen 2009 was supposed to be the highlight of the year. Sadly it went bust like Frannie Mae, and now we’re all left to our own devices.
Fine.
It's time to go down to the grassroots and find out what’s happening there. After all, the best engineering ideas had worked its way up from the ground. Not ever down. So we’ve put together 7 types of green technologies that we’d like to see more of in 2010.
I'm the editor of UCreateChange. And I started this blog with the intention of putting up my past weekly roundups 'cause it's a shame they're simply disappearing into people's inboxes. Anyways, if you've a question on engineering, drop me a line at creators.of.tomorrow@gmail.com!
