Archive for September 2006

Fireside Chat: John Maeda and Diego Rodriguez

In Links on 20 September 2006

Topic: Simplicity In this chat, the participants discuss John’s new book The Laws of Simplicity, teaching, TiVo, iPods, cars, Japan, and more. Sample quotes John: “I find that MIT students are a bit too smart. In my courses I try to make them ‘dumber’ in a sense.” Diego: “I don’t think individual human beings are [...]

Le Romantique

In Links on 19 September 2006

The New York Times Magazine has a lengthy profile of Michel Gondry, director of numerous music videos, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the upcoming Science of Sleep: As a director, Gondry creates highly imaginative worlds that seem to exist somewhere between the conscious and the unconscious; again and again, states of waking and [...]

Philips clothing prototypes light up to reflect the ‘emotions’ of the wearer

In Links on 18 September 2006

The garments, which are intended for demonstration purposes only, demonstrate how electronics can be incorporated into fabrics and garments in order to express the emotions and personality of the wearer. The marvelously intricate wearable prototypes include ‘Bubelle’, a dress surrounded by a delicate ‘bubble’ illuminated by patterns that changed dependent on skin contact- and ‘Frison’, [...]

What is a Hacker?

In Links on 14 September 2006

Bruce Schneier, security and technology expert and author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World and Secrets and Lies:Digital Security in a Networked World, muses: A hacker is someone who thinks outside the box. It’s someone who discards conventional wisdom, and does something else instead. It’s someone who looks at the [...]

New products announced from Native Instruments

In General on 14 September 2006

Native Instruments announced five new products recently; two new synths and three updated versions of their popular synth/sampling line: Massive (above) is a new analog-style synth, featuring “a high-end audio engine, flexible signal flow, wave scanning oscillators, innovative and intuitive features, drag and drop modulation assignment, integrated step sequencers and effects section, KORE integration” and [...]

Short Bits

In Reviews on 6 September 2006 tagged Music, recommended

Do us all a favor and have a listen to these recent and upcoming releases: Clara Hill – All I Can Provide Various Artists – Dubstep Allstars vol. 4 Bark Psychosis – 400 Winters Broadcast – Future Crayon Corinne Bailey Rae – Corinne Bailey Rae Daedelus – Denies the Days Demise Erasure – Union Street [...]

Sweet sixteen

In General on 6 September 2006

Yesterday was John ‘Jack’ Melton’s 16-week birthday, which makes him now four months old! After spending the day making new friends at his new child care provider, he took his evening bottle and usual storytime before retiring for the night. We celebrated in his honor by eating pizza and drinking Grolsch on the front porch [...]

"This Is Your Brain on Music"

In Links on 5 September 2006

Salon has an interesting review about This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by neuroscientist Daniel Levitin. It examines how our ears hear and the various parts of our brain process sound, why certain music becomes pleasurable to us by evoking strong emotions and memories, why we’re more open to [...]