Category: Links

“a reconfigurable grid of backlit keypads which connects to a computer. interaction between the keys and lights is determined by the application running on the computer. there is no hard-wired functionality” I love the fact that these are (apparently) made in a barn in the Catskill Mountains.

Interesting and beautiful visualization of London noise level data. I am particularly intrigued by the braille like version.

PIPS:lab have a new show that features a thing called the Radarfunk. Here’s a nice clip of a small performance that demoes what it can do.

A crazy mockumentary by Matt Cottam on computational wood. It’s an effective format to use for communicating such far-future design.

“The PlayPump systems are innovative, sustainable, patented water pumps powered by children at play. Installed near schools, the PlayPump system doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for children.” I am not sure wether this is awesome, or very very wrong. It makes me think of Luis von Ahn’s games that double as human computation harvesters (such as the ESP Game).

Reading this, particularly the bit about the zillion derivative apps on sale, makes me wonder wether the App Store might be headed towards a Atari 2600 style demise.

An interesting invitation-only summit on physical computing happening in London right now. Will be keeping an eye on what comes out of this.

At this year’s Develop conference, Tom will be talking about applying service design to games. What a nice idea, do check him out.

When androids dream of electric sheep, this is what it looks like.

A location-based treasure hunting game on the Nintendo DS. Might just need to get this.

Utrecht-based web agency Rhinofly report on our third edition (in Dutch). I’m happy to see the author enjoyed himself, but he does mention that, for him, the evening wasn’t about interacton design. I wonder why he feels that way?

Iskander sacrifices sleep to be the first to write up a report of the third This happened in Utrecht, and as always tries to discover a theme where none was intended. I am glad the notion of craftsmanship was something he picked up on in all presentations though, because I think that is central to the This happened concept.

A three-part book on the Dutch electronic culture sphere, looking at how the ways we engage with culture are changing, reporting on a recent e-culture conference and the state of the sector in general. Worth the EUR 12,50? I’ll soon find out.

Alper shares the work he’s done in the open government data space (in Dutch). “Het kan allemaal wél beter. Laten we het dus gaan doen.” Amen.

“GaIn focuses on developing systematic and playful approaches to enhance and organize the process of creating new products, especially from the perspective of game design processes.” These Fins remain at the forefront of games design research.

A brief interview with Alexander that touches upon what is wrong with pure repetition and the virtues of generative systems.

Photos of “the first East African skatepark constructed by local youngsters.” Wonderful stuff, via Hessel.

“And Yet It Moves is a puzzle-platformer, set in a unique world, made of ripped paper. Within the paper collage, you can jump, run and last but certainly not least: rotate the world.” There are too many interesting indie games being released to keep track of, lately.

James reports on a recent GovCamp held in Amsterdam, where hackers competed to come up with the best mashup of government data sources, and designers and civil servants presented on topics related to data, the Dutch government and civic duty.

“We are making a new game, a film about The Sandpit and social gaming in general, and we’ve got this lovely new website to document everything interesting that happens between now and the big launch at the Hide&Seek Weekender on August 1.” A project worth keeping an eye on.

Since I’ve been thinking about using Twitter as the platform for a pervasive game for some time, this is really interesting to me. A nice simple concept, seemingly well-executed.

“The games on offer the night I visited included Press Gang, a Q&A session where “celebrities” get grilled by the gutter press, and Semaphoria, which involves devising a flag language to transmit coded messages. Both were entertaining, but neither these nor the Mexican thumb-wrestling competition going on in the bar could be labelled profound cultural experiences.” Which makes me wonder whether the author of this piece thinks all theatre is profound…

“Miegakure is a platform game where you explore the fourth dimension to solve puzzles. Because humans can only see and move along three spatial dimensions, pressing a button allows to ‘swap’ one regular dimension with the fourth, invisible dimension. Armed with this, the protagonist can see inside closed objects, walk through walls, move objects from one dimension to another, hide under 3D shadows of 4D objects…” This is incredibly cool, but also makes my brain hurt.