Wearable Computing @ 25C3

Via Hackaday, the 25th Chaos Communication Congress's Wearable Computing and Solar Power presentations roused me from blog hibernation to say Happy Holidays and please don't text and drive. For abstracts, lecture notes, slides, and links, you too can veer off; About Cyborgs and Gargoyles:State of the Art in Wearable Computing, and Solar-powering your Geek Gear: Alternative and mobile power for all your little toys.

New Year's greetings from under a rock. No, I haven't been in the desert lately, but I have been in other realms. I've been getting into some high voltage shenanigans, the splendid forums at Cyberpunk Review, back into microcontrollers with the Seeeduino, interfacing it with Pure Data, and touring exhibition and interactive design. 2009 is looking to be hacktastic, but more on that next year.

Security Cameras are Everywhere

Found on Flickr.

1st Tangible Exchange was a rip-roaring success!

Above, Alice Tseng-Planas's textile capacitive sensors and breadboarded Qprox chip with LED indicators

Many thanks to the organizer/presenters Alice Tseng-Planas and Syuzi Pakhchyan, Mark Allen for availing Machine Project, presenters JooYoun Payek and Gilad Lotan, and the assembly! I'd guess we had about 30 people at this first meet-up. Some were in town for SIGGRAPH 2008, some had met or come through advanced degree technology programs like Tisch ITP and Parsons CD&T, some were crafty, and some were just intrigued by the concept of the event. We began a contact list, shared information, and were proud to bolster LA's burgeoning tech-arts social scene with a wearable and materials technology special interest group.

texchange blog

More event images below:

Bio-Visualization Apparel @ The Last HOPE

via Make Blog

In the video link above, Sean Montgomery presents his EEG multicolored LED hat, ECG shirt, and GSR bracelet. Respectfully, they sense and visulize brainwave, heart rate, and skin conductivity.

Electronics Sewing Circle

From: Machine Project dot com:
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
1pm - 3pm

THE FORMAT:

contribute a tutorial introducing a single topic or technique

gather to make connections across disciplines
leave with tangible, usable techniques and patterns


From: the Machine Project mailing list:
"
Please join us from 1pm-3pm Sunday August 10th for a meeting of Tangible Exchange (tex), a sewing circle for people who like to sewing electronics into stuff. This casual meet up is for those seeking skills trade, collaboration, inspiration, techniques, and exposure to topics with an emphasis on fiber, physical computing, textiles, wearables, and all matters of materials. If you have experience in these topics and are interested in contributing a tutorial or presenting a topic, please email textopic@gmail.com with your idea. If you have no experience but are curious, come to meet other people who are interested in the same topic. If you have neither experience or interest, but are really thirsty or get confused and think something else is happening at Machine Sunday afternoon, come by anyway and we will give you a nice cool glass of water.
"

DIY Spy Sunglasses

I don't want to sound negative, but I don't want to insult your intelligence either. Therefore, I'll go ahead and say that you could probably figure these simple steps out on your own, but that's just a testament to what an easy build it is. Plus, the video is short and fun to watch. I found the recommendation to use "Solar Shield" sunglasses handy as a base for housing a camera or an HMD that won't make people wonder where you left your plaids and your cane.

Symbian Will Open Up

"Phones are now a fashion business in that you’re only as good as your last model. Phone makers need to release new models as quickly (if not faster) as Parisian couture makers if they want to remain hot and gain sizable share of the handset market. " - here via here.

My N430

This is the work I exhibited at Maker Faire this Spring. I've been hacking my Archos PMA-430 into wearable computer prototypes for 2 years, and hacking my Nokia N95 for about 9 months. The top image shows a video feed from my Nokia to my Archos, while the image below it shows the unhoused wiring that adds functionality such as USB connectivity and power.

Disney Distributing Cyberpunk?

The irony of Disney distributing a major motion picture whose secondary plot involves massive unilateral corporate control, propaganda, and monopolized consumerism is too juicy to ignore! The corporation's name, BNL, stands for Buy N' Large, and the consumers buy and get large.

I was inspired to write about Pixar's Wall-E by the fantastic blog, wiki, and forums at http://www.cyberpunkreview.com. Therefore, this synopsis focuses on the Cyberpunk themes of Wall-E's secondary plot, which is the story of humanity. The primary plot of Wall-E is an animated romantic comedy between robots, who have the ability to learn and have emotions. The secondary plot has computers and robots with a similar suggestion of machine intelligence that is very reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Mixed Reality Exhibition: SIGGRAPH & SL

PR:
"
ACM SIGGRAPH SpaceTime Student Gallery in Second Life Gallery

Opening at SIGGRAPH 2008 Wednesday, 13 August at 5 pm PST

For the first time ever, the ACM SIGGRAPH SpaceTime Student Exhibition will be holding both a physical and a virtual opening at the SIGGRAPH 2008 conference in Los Angeles.

In a reflection of the integrated nature of the 2008 conference, the SpaceTime Student Gallery will be integrated throughout the ACM SIGGRAPH Village this year. To further underscore this concept, the ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee has partnered with the Otis College of Art and Design to extend the SpaceTime Gallery into the virtual world via Second Life. The Otis SL gallery will include virtual versions of both the animation and print work from the physical gallery. To introduce this virtual gallery to the SIGGRAPH public, there will be an official opening on Wednesday, 13 August at 5 pm PST at the SpaceTime Student Gallery in the ACM SIGGRAPH Village at the conference.
"

Understanding Aging conference and free symposium

On the BarCamp LA list, Chuck Esterbrook wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> You are cordially invited to participate in the scientific conference
> "Understanding Aging: Biomedical and Bioengineering Approaches," which
> will be held from June 27-29, 2008 at UCLA. The conference includes a
> free symposium for the general public on June 27th focused on public
> policy implications of successfully postponing aging. The scientific
> conference, on June 28th and 29th, will be focused on the science and
> technology of aging and its postponement.
>
> Over 20 illustrious speakers are already confirmed. The provisional
> schedule for the conference and online registration are online.
>
> Full details at:
>
> http://www.mfoundation.org/UABBA/
>
> -Chuck

Thanks Chuck! He has promoted similar forums, such as the Life Extension Workshop here in Los Angeles.

Geek Scooter

Researching this kind of thing for Adventure Touring the American Southwest, and Technomadism and Transhuman Hacks of Metavlogging Phrashion have been decorating my plate as of late. via Make:.

IGargoyle Maker Faire Booth 5/08

Nym, Erin, & Ordaos; Telepresence Toy Phrasionasas

J9, futureboy, & RoBo; Metavlogging Phrashionasa

Brendan; Retro-Futuristic Post-Apocalyptic Phrasionasa

I can begin to imagine what the O'Reilly and Make/Craft blog/zine teams felt when an online community manifested in meat space. It was so great to meet some of you and send some of you here for the first time. It's so nice to transcend the screen.

What is Metavlogging & Phrashion?

Blog = Web + log
Vlog = Video + Blog
Metalog = log re: log
Metavlog = vlog re:log or log re:vlog or vlog re:vlog

Some elements represented by the Metavlogging: Video web Logging + mobile device video display mirroring + video screen capturing + Geo-tagging + metadata video frame imprinting. Metavlogging may incorporate media and synchronizable metadata logs. An application includes recording use-scenarios of ubiquitous computing interfaces in software and environmental contexts.

Phreak = Telephony + Hacker + Freak
Phrashion = Phreak + Wearable Technology
Phrashionasa = Phrasion + NASA + Fashionista

Quick W3rd2 re:Maker Faire

I want to just quickly thank Nym, Ordaos, Brandon, Erin, O'Reilly, the Makers, the people who waited on long lines, the staff, the volunteers, past, regular, and new readers/makers/interactors in spaces meat and otherwise.

Besides the obvious "inspirational", I'd more viscerally describe Maker Faire Spring 2008 as "heavy vibin' ".

I have been ruminating on this weekend's magic, but I first must hack my salvaged scooter into a water fountain outside my window before I can bear to type any more. That's what happens when Makers try to blog, and one reason I'm so interested in our theme of the weekend; "DIY Wearable Computing".