Rocking Air Guitars

The Virtual Air Guitar project, developed at the Helsinki University of Technology, tracks air guitar gestures into real sounds. Rock. [video]

via NS

Industrial Origami

Industrial Origami uses its patented “smiles” stamp or cut to create foldable sheet metal products up to 2 inches thick. Benchmark tests have shown remarkable strength and unusual resistance to fatigue.

Thanks, John.

Broad-Spectrum White LEDs

Anyone who has bought “white” LED devices knows that the light is not quite white. Michael Bowers, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, has discovered an alternative method of producing white LEDs with a broad spectrum while remaining cool to the touch. This discovery will certainly make its way to architectural lighting and large scale applications as LED production costs drop. Bowers’ method also indicates possibilities to provide illumination through chemical processes in a luminescent paint to transform any surface into an light source.

via Exploration | Treehugger | Worldchanging

Willcom's W-SIM : World's Smallest Cellular Data Card

Willcom’s soon to be released (11.25.2005) W-SIM packs a cellular data card into the size of a SIM card (25.6 x 42.0 x 4mm or 1 x 1.65 x 0.15-inch). The card opens new avenues for companies to embed cellular data connectivity into about any electronic device you can think of giving ubiquitous cellular connectivity a new horizon.

via Engadget

Lightspace DepthCube: 3D Volumetric Display

LightSpace claims its DepthCube is the world’s first solid-state volumetric 3D display capable of 3-dimensional projections without any headgear or moving parts. The display runs on a stack of 20 liquid crystal shutters synchronized with a video projector (50Hz refresh rate) all packed in a TV set box circa 1980.

Rapid Iris Biometrics

The Sarnoff Corporation‘s new Iris on the Moveâ„¢ uses infrared LEDs and an algorithm that isolates one’s iris for biometric identification (2048-bit code) on moving subjects. The device, similar in shape to a metal detector, only requires subjects to look forward while walking to scan at speeds up to 20 IDs per minute.

via NS

3D LED Matrix

James Clar’s latest generation 3D Display Cube is a hand-made LED display matrix of 1000 white LEDs. The matrix incorporates software developed by Josh Nimoy to display Photoshop and Aftereffects files as well as 3D animations and a 3D Pong game. [video] [shop]

via MoCo Loco

'Smart Concrete' for Levees

Deborah D. L. Chung‘s mixture of carbon fibers and conventional concrete, is an electrically conductive “smart concrete” (developed at the Composite Materials Research Laboratory) that can be continuously monitored for changes in electrical resistance as the material goes under stress. Levees and other critical structures can benefit from “smart concrete” and other early warning systems that sense subtle changes which occur prior to its failure.

via Physorg

Mid-Air Human-Computer Interface

Alvaro Cassinelli, Stephane Perrin & Masatoshi Ishikawa’s Smart Laser Scanner uses off-the-shelf technology to create a high resolution human interfaces that tracks one’s bare fingers as it moves through space in 3-dimensions. The systems tracking technique is sophisticated, yet simple and elegant, permitting future possibilities of embedding this entire system into a variety of portable electronics. Imagine writing or gesturing in mid-air as your cell phone or laptop beams a laser directly to multiple fingers and even multiple users as it interprets motions into letters and words. [demo videos]

via Engadget | The Raw Feed

Urban Nomad Shelter

Urban Nomad Shelter, designed by Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley of Electroland, acts as both a “humanitarian act and as a social provocation.” The neon colored inflatable shelters stand as beacons or plot points as they are scattered across a landscape, commodifying and exhibiting those whom are often neglected. [I.D. Magazine 51's Annual Design Review (Winner, Concept category)]

See also Michael Rakowitz’s paraSITE.

via wmmna