The presentation shown above had 2 possible themes for my project, the first was changing the bus commuting experience for the better through design and interactive technologies.

It has a whole bunch of random ideas including equipping bus coaches with Virtual Reality headsets for each passenger and concept sketches for a modular bus made up out of people’s cars, and a circular bus where everyone’s facing each other.

At this time wardriving with Pringles cans modified into Cantennas was an emerging hacker trend, wifi networks were even less secure than now. So one concept was that the bus stops and shelters would act as the transmission points for the mobile network signal, with each bus as a node in a citywide wireless network. In effect the bus drivers are wardrivers of sorts, feeding off each others wifi signals.

The second theme explored was a reactive building, I looked a little into the possibilities of holograms and also physically altering the structure of the building. I must have been influenced by Daniel Rosin’s Wooden Mirror.

Anyhows, I went with the Bus idea and wrote up a treatment for a commercial solution called BuSpace.

BuSpace equips each bus with a wired, local area network. 2001 was the pre-smartphone era and Wifi wasn’t the ubiquitous standard it is today. Each bus would be equipped with a BuSpace server suitcase containing a laptop, GSM transmitter/receiver which plugged into a network point in the floor. The signal was then fed to network points on the back of each headrest, serving up WAP speed internet data to laptops, PDAs or mobile phones with (magical!) proprietary BuSpace cables…

Anyhows, this has been sitting on my computer HD for a long while, but I thought I’d put it out there. As someone wise once said “Publish or be damned” :)

Not sure what genre it’d fit into exactly… possibly folk meets downtempo meets dnb…

Then later on that evening was This Happened #6, where the audience learned all about the creative processes behind four unique tech art projects. These were Touched Echo by Markus Kison, Audience by rAndom International and Chris O’Shea, Troika‘s ‘Cloud‘ and the responsive installation at Covent Garden by United Visual Artists. One thing that was striking about all these was the ammount of time put into planning and pre-visualisation, leaving little or no room for error when the final product was delivered. Also they were made in very tight timeframes, Cloud for instance was nine months from initial idea to the final installation.

In the lobby of the BFI there was a project I really liked called Doodle Earth, which basically encourages people to draw. An animated map dotted with buildings and moving vehicles is projected onto a blank wall and people are encouraged to fill in the blanks with coloured markers. I drew this dragon head thing burning the building in the projection (someone added the ‘Cheese’ speech bubble and ‘JAFC rules…’ messages later on). All the art meets technology stuff is great but this really suceeds at creating a fun, collaborative user experience in a fairly lo-tech way. It’s good to draw!

Anomie
An experimental art piece showing the journey of an amnesiac from a healthy state of mind to a state of uncertainty. Through a route of non-linear interactivity, the user helps guide the character to the reason of his ill health and the incident that caused it.

M.A.M.M.Y.
M.A.M.M.Y. (mass audience multimedia-media yeah) is a social networking site for the creative students of DKIT, where they can communicate, collaborate and display their work. It uses bluetooth to beam recently uploaded content to students mobile phones.

R.E.A.C.H.
The R.E.A.C.H. (Routine Education for Autistic Children at Home) team produced an e-learning CD-ROM for autistic children to show them how to get ready for school in the morning. Their research found that autistic children are visual thinkers so it uses a cartoon based approach to effectively communicate it’s message.

Delirium
Delerium generates a visual representation of the current mood of the user using music and colour. The users temperature is recorded and inputted into the computer, at which point images and a piece of music appears and floats around the walls of the room. Questions appear onscreen that the user answers, after which these answers are compared and contrasted with the temperature reading.

The Land Of Luna
An exploratory game aimed at 8 to 9 year old girls. The game is from a first person perspective. The user plays the character of Lana who is transported to the world inside her snow globe, where she must collect a series of objects in different levels to save her friend Noah. There is no time limit on the game, so as to encourage the user to explore the world and interact with the characters.

Reuben Chinaski
An interactive exploratory autobiography for the digital age. We see the main character, Reuben Chinaski, on his deathbed. He is too weak to write his own biography so instead he tells the user about the ups and downs of his life. The user is free to explore parts of Reuben’s life in a non-linear fashion by selecting various objects in the room and letting Reuben explain what the object means to him through filmed narrated memories.

Seven Deadly Sins
Purge your soul of the seven deadly sins by engaging with this interactive experience. Memorize sound sequences inside the confession box while hit with some far out imagery.

Tactical Control Force
‘Watch tomorrow’s news today”, in TCF you control a live newsfeed by taking place in a series of games. The outcome of these tests shapes the narrative. A real adrenaline rush as you try to avert a national emergency in real time. The installation for this piece is a sort of survival bunker / command post, which helps intensify the atmosphere further.

Zeppelin’s Universe
This game’s target audience is kids in a public waiting room who are feeling restless. The main character, Mikey, goes into a dream state where he meets Zeppelin the Wizard. He has four tasks to accomplish to allow him to return to reality, or else he will be trapped in Zeppelin’s Universe forever.

Character Design For Mobile Devices
Everything you need to know about sprite graphics, a history of 8/16 bit video game systems, production techniques and tips, a Super Mario evolution and lots of and interesting insights… packed with clear screenshots… indespensible. link

Refill – Issue 4
A bit like a designer's 'Lucky Bag' containing the magazine, a mousepad, stickers and some fliers and stuff… But it's really all about the 'mook' (magazine/book hybrid) and the interviews and artwork showcased in it. link

Business Cards – The Art Of Saying Hello
Just about every concievable twist on the 80x55mm biz card format, from sticky-note pads to 5mm thick perspex blocks and everything inbetween… I particularly liked the idea of just putting your own sticker on someone elses card to make it your own. link

Another desirable gadget (but is kinda out of my price range and looks like it will get ultra-rare) is the AIBO robot dog by Sony, which they have announced will cease production in March '06, along with their QRIO humanoid robot (as seen in the Beck “Hell Yes” video )… I've had a chance to play with the AIBO (and view some of its prototypes/predecessors) and it great fun, a real robo-pet… it recognises its owner, simulates emotions (gets grumpy if ignored etc), can patrol your house and email photos to its owner… a glimpse of the future and a show of imagination beyond Sony's production of audio and video players/recorders…

So it looks like Honda's Asimo will now be the main focus in consumer robotics… Honda have recently posted video of a new Asimo running at 6kmph… I've seen one, standing at the 3ft the bot strikes a definate human like presence… but when it's moving it really comes alive… also Honda has placed 3d models of Asimo, the P2 robot and several of it's vehicles for free download at it's fan site, cool…