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Hottest Tech & 3D-TV:
Absolutely the most talked about new product rolled out for CES 2009 were the 3D-TV’s. And when I say talked about…I mean the manufacturers were talking about them. At the High-Tech Households seminar, Liz Claman of Fox Business Network posed the question “How many here in the audience are excited about new 3D-TV’s technology for the home?” Out of 40 people in the audience, 1 person raised their hand. Christy Matte editor at About.com and panelist, asked us to consider whether this tech is being pushed on consumers as the next big thing. Do we really need it and do we even want it?
I guess I am the type of consumer that does not embrace new technology IMMEDIATELY. I will make my own purchasing decision as I see the technology mature. I am not easily persuaded by trends, friends or peer pressure. Briefly going over TV tech, first it was the big CRT screen, then the huge project screen. They both had the lousiest definition and yet, many consumers embraced them for it’s size. Hmmmm…Finally there was HD. Even with HDTV, I waited until hardware technology converged with HDMI and Cable broadcasting technology
Continue reading “CES :: Day 3 – 3D-TV & Individuality” →
Like any other trade show, there are great designs/inventions and there is some mediocre crap. The challenge is to weave through all the junk and discover the cool stuff. One may think that since the consumer electronics industry is so popular and Americans are embracing gadgets, that you could easily find good design. With so many products out there it is sad to say good design is not as common as it should be, with 90% of the products destined for the landfill, many manufacturers make things good enough for today. After all, there needs to be a reason to make you feel that insecure need for the newer, newest igadget 6 months later.
As a sustainable designer as well as thrifty consumer, it’s always hard to justify any type of purchase. At this show, the biggest question I asked myself was, “What is going to by categorized as a luxury purchase and what is going to be a necessity?”
This year at CES, there was a huge emphasis on mobile technology, smartphones, gps tech, e-readers and of course 3D TV.
 Lg Chocolate Touch
 Axure RP App Logo It’s rare to find clients that are equally as passionate, driven and absolutely fanatic about producing great quality work. So when Axure approached us to work hand in hand with their UI team to create a look and feel that is Mac friendly for their latest Axure RP 5.6.0 Mac version, we were nothing but thrilled and honored. Joe and I are hard core Mac fans (Joe’s been using it since 1984). We think we may know a thing or two about the crazy creative Mac users.
 Axure RP Pro for Mac
 Stephen Randall from LocaModa. Image courtesy of DMI. Social Media
I am a late adopter of facebook, twitter and even blogging. The only reason why we started BACE, was so that we could be the one holding the conversation and discuss topics that matter to us. And of course we hope those topics matter to others as well. The cool thing is, no one pays us to talk about them. Whatever is discussed on our blog, is unsolicited. It’s a venue for us to rant about the things we love and hate.
Continue reading “DMI Conf. Day 3 Recap: Social Media, National Design Policy, GE, US Military Healthcare, Futurist & a Vacation at BVI” →
I love Japanese design. I have great admiration for their work ethics, dedication to craftsmanship and innovation.
This exhibition at ICFF is the 2nd kansei-Japan Design Exhibition, with the first held in Paris 2008. The Kansei Value Creation initiative aims at the “kansei value”, which is the concept of combining monozukuri (manufacturing) of Japanese design and the art of monogatari (story telling). It focuses on the new element of economic value, functionality, reliability and price competitiveness of Japanese products.
The first product that I was thrilled to see in person was Paro. I was introduced to Paro in 2003 by CNN. Paro is the 8th generation of therapeutic robot that has been used widely in Japan and Europe.
Unlike industrial robots, “Mental Commitment Robots” are developed to interact with human beings and to make them feel emotional attachment to the robots. Rather than using objective measures, these robots trigger more subjective evaluations, evoking psychological impressions such as “cuteness” and comfort. Mental Commitment Robots are designed to provide 3 types of effects: psychological, such as relaxation and motivation, physiological, such as improvement in vital signs, and social effects such as instigating communication among inpatients and caregivers. – excerpt from Paro’s website.
 Creator Dr. Takanori Shibata with Paro.
It’s been a while since we’ve posted some new discovery. We’ve been so caught up with the January events of ’09. First Joe and I had to finish up our 2009 new year resolutions, which turn out to be more like long to-do list than resolutions. Then we got caught up with the big inauguration of our new President Obama, whom we love and support. (I sort of feel connected to our new President since he grew up in Indonesia and me in Malaysia and he can speak Bahasa!!)
So among my long to-do new year resolutions, was for me to brush up on my AutoCAD skills and learn Revit Architecture before I miss out on another cool tool. (So I signed up at CadTeacher, a local continuing education cad school, whom the principal, Al Whitley is the most patient teacher and architect I’ve ever met in my life!)
While reading my monthly Fortune January 09 issue, I stumbled upon the article, “Saving Easter Island” by Jeffrey M. O’Brien. I didn’t think much about it at first, but since I am a big fan of Jared Diamond’s work, I thought this may add to my current read on evolutionary biology.
Autodesk along with the officials of Easter Island, Leica Geosystems and Metco Services are working together on The Easter Island Mapping Project. Easter Island is facing challenges with tourism and development while preserving it’s historical artifacts and natural resources. Now the cool part is when Pete Kelsey from AutoCAD brought his team along with members from Leica and Metco to the island, and laser scanned super high res 3-D model and imported the assemblage into AutoCAD Civil 3D and with that they are able to use those data for mapping, analysis, construction and preservation.
I am not going to give away the content of the article, as it’s a wonderful read and I encourage you to get this copy of Fortune. You can also check out the diaries of the Autodesk Expedition Team here. This was truly an inspiring discovery to me, as it shows me how technology can bring forth partnerships, change, and modernization while preserving culture and history.
Last year, when we were in Tokyo exhibiting at the 100% Design Tokyo 2007, we managed to tour the Sony Building in Ginza. For anyone loving the latest technology from Sony, this building has 8 floors of just cool products, café, showrooms, shops and galleries. Up on the 8th floor, there was this exhibition called Canvas @ Sony.
It’s a collaboration of Sony and young contemporary artists in Japan. Artists expressed their own unique styles onto the Vaio laptop, Walkman®, headphones and cellphones. Inside the gallery space with the products were individual exhibits showcasing the 3 Japanese artists; Hajime Yoshio, ZAnPon and Ryuji Otani.
 Canvas @ Sony
We left the building feeling nothing but awe, inspired and we have to admit, a bit envious, hoping that maybe someday leading American companies would support local U.S. artists to celebrate art, design and technology.
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