You can sometimes view prototypes videos like this OmniTouch demo and on the surface think they’re just pretty cool, but when you actually take the time to watch it a number of times it makes you sit up and question what this will eventually lead to?

The level of intereactivity and accuracy they have already achieved within a first generation prototype is pretty incredible. OmniTouch provides capabilities similar to that of a mouse or touchscreen. It is a wearable depth-sensing and projection system that enables interactive multitouch applications on everyday surfaces. It is now conceivable that anything you can do on today’s mobile devices, you could do in the palm of your hand.

The hardware is large at present but over the last decade we have all been witness to the incredible advancements in reducing the physical size of mobile phones and batteries whilst at the same time as they are required to perform more and more demanding tasks.

This is a great insight into what is being developed outside of the mainstream desktop and tablet platforms and it’s conceivable in the future that you could browse the web, read your favourite books, play your favourite games, socialise with friends and use your favourite apps without the need for any bulky hardware. We’d all look a bit weird on the tube though!

I do like the private & public viewing modes.
Will this take off? Time may tell…

Nice infographic that takes a 60 second snapshot of internet activity over a range of sites, applications and social channels. Large version can be viewed here.

A very nice infographic to start the week off!

I have discussed the rise of mobile platforms before on this blog (A mobile future) and this infographic takes a look at all the major digital networks and their current mobile user base. View more from JESS3 the original creators.

I have been researching mobile platform penetration for a couple of projects and pitches I have recently been working on. This also forms part of a series of future thought pieces I am creating concerning the development of the online experience that is evolving beyond the notion of a web site or single destination to include multiple touchpoints.

Here’s a couple of interesting points I have recently found:
• According to eMarketer the tablet market will grow 400% by 2012
• Mobile internet devices out sold computers in 2009 by 144 million units*
• It is predicted by 2012 more smartphones will be shipped than PC’s
• There are around 650 million 3G/3.5G subscribers worldwide**
• By 2013, people using their mobile device to search the Internet will overtake desktop Internet users for the first time

What does this mean?

Well, as consumers continue to expand their media consumption across a variety of devices and platforms marketers and advertisers will need to rethink measurement approaches and marketing strategies in order to engage with different audiences and deliver on their needs and behaviours.

* Source: Gartner, Jan 2010. Information week Dec 2009.
** Source: ChinaCCM.com

These amazing structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s. They were built to commemorate were WWII battles took place or where concentration camps stood. More of these amazing monuments can be seen here.

The images above are from a series by Jan Kempenaers called “Spomenik: The End of History”. Between 2006 to 2009 Kempenaers trekked through the Balkans to photograph these amazing structures.

I’d love to visit a few of these in person just to have a real idea of the scale of them.

Quite simply a really nice idea well executed.
The idea is still king, we shouldn’t forget this.

Credit for find must go to @bohellberg

Incredible Tron Legacy blog post from Josh Nimoy aka jtnimoy giving an insight into the technologies, programming and processing techniques behind the effects for the feature film. Josh is obviously incredibly talented and far too clever for his own good! he’s using OpenFrameworks, wxWidgets, writing particle renderers and physics simulators and a lot more.

I love the in-depth approach and conscious effort right from concept stage to make the effects as real and appropriate for the film setting as possible “We were trying to create fireworks that looked enough like real fireworks but had interesting techno-aesthetic. As a homage to the original Tron character Bit, we used icosahedrons, dodecahedrons, and similar”!

His other work is just as impressive, take a bit of time out to check out jtnimoy.net.

I found this really nice blog post on fastcodesign exploring and explaining the creative process behind the ‘face’ of IBM’s supercomputer Watson.

Watson recently featured on US quiz show Jeopardy, in one of the latest installments of the Human v Computer battles. IBM hired renowned digital artist/designer/technologist Joshua Davis to create a visual avatar for Watson.

The video in the blog is a great insight to the creative process and final visual execution.

Found this nice little infographic on Digital Buzz Blog while having lunch today. Quite astounding that 1 in 11 people on the planet are now on Facebook! The figures are incredible when you think about them, nearly 8 new accounts are registered every second!

I wouldn’t even like to think how much the server and network system costs to keep going each month.

The infographic was originally crated by SocialBakers.

Ever wondered how on earth some projects have been created?

If you’re a creative, designer, developer or techy working in one of the many creative disciplines then no doubt you will spend a good deal of your time researching campaigns, sites, virals, social media etc from your peers, competitors and rivals.

In my experience of working in agencies there are normally two responses to viewing other peoples work. The first and most common (if creatives and designers are involved) is unfortunately to go straight for the jugular and start pointing out flaws, describe in detail how badly it’s been executed, wonder if they didn’t have the budget to finish it or explain how you would have done it differently and obviously better.

The other response is to sit in awe, to call colleagues over, send an email and to say under your breath “I wish I’d thought of that” or “how on earth have they done that?”.

North Kingdom frequently fall into the latter category, they appear to have won just about every major award possible and now they’re giving everyone an insight into how much work they put into their projects. They’re obviously working with considerable budgets but there is no denying the amount of work and detail that is executed at every level.

If you have a bit of time to kill then I suggest you give their site a visit and have a good study of the behind the scenes.

Christian Faur has assembled a collection of over one hundred thousand hand cast crayons in order to create his Crayon Series 1 body of work. I’m not entirely sure if they would be classed as sculptures, installations or paintings?

Crayon Series 1 is a series of photorealistic landscapes and figurative images that are formed at the surface of the thousands of tightly packed crayon tips. Very nice indeed.