Hello World.

Love this piece of art by Valentin Ruhry. There's something interesting about how it at first looks like a digital billboard, but turns out to be a very low tech version when you get closer.
I don't know if it was the artist's intention, but I really like the way it tries to make digital tangible.

Via: TodayTomorrow

Light Painting WiFi

WiFi networks are all around us but we never see them. The only way we know they're actually there is by looking for the little icons on our phones or computers.
This great little project temporarily changes that by visualising the flow of WiFi signal strength in urban spaces. I really like the way it explores and reveals the invisible nature of online networks by turning them into something very analog and visible.

It's done by using a light painting technique and capturing it in long exposure photographs. Practically it means moving a four metre tall measuring rod fitted with 80 light points though urban spaces while photographing.



Via: @glueisobar

New interactive projects from Hyper Island

Lots of cool stuff comes out of digital media school Hyper Island. Here are two recent student projects that offer a different take on the shopping experience:

1)

Interactive shop window concept where the movement of a virtual model is triggered and controlled by the motion of people walking by.

The videos themselves are created by people online, who chose the model, background and which city it will be displayed in.

2)

Social media integrated into shoes via an RFID chip. This creates multiple opportunities for localtionbased actions and also offers the possibility to create real life "like" buttons.

Via: Trendland & Wireduk

Walking on Eggshells: Borrowing Culture in the remix Age

This is a Great little documentary made by students from Yale University. It's based on interviews with people from the cultural industries who share their views on intellectual property in the remix age.

Great 80s style viral from Pixar

At first glance this looks like a typical 80s TV commercial, but it's actually a viral ad for the Toy Story 3 which is scheduled to premier in June. To introduce one of the new characters from the film - Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear - Pixar has created this fake retro commercial and uploaded it to Youtube. It's very convincingly done, the noise at the bottom of the screen and the distorted sound makes it look like it's been transferred from an old VHS tape. The Youtube account it is uploaded to looks very authentic as well with lots of other 80s commercials. All in all a great attempt to blur the line between reality and fiction.

Via: Yahoo Movies

Colour sensitive billboard by IBM

As a part of their Smarter Planet Agenda campaign, IBM created this billboard that changes colour according to the colour of clothes people in front of it are wearing. The result is a very simple form of interaction where no technical devices such as mobile phones or cameras are needed to be able to take part in the experience.

Draw your own iPhone game!

Sketch Nation Shooter is a new game for the iPhone that allows you to design all the elements of the game yourself. You simply draw a player, enemies and levels on a piece of paper and take a picture of it using the iPhone camera. When your images are imported to the game an editor function helps you set up everything. Once you have created a level it can be submitted to Facebook which makes it available for everyone to download. I really like this idea!