urbanism and connected society

Now researchers at Samsung and Sungkyunkwan University in Korea have come up with a way to capture power when a touch screen flexes under a user’s touch. The researchers have integrated flexible, transparent electrodes with an energy-scavenging material to make a film that could provide supplementary power for portable electronics. The film can be printed over large areas using roll-to-roll processes, but are at least five years from the market.

Technology Review: Self-Powered Flexible Electronics

Second Life Shared Media, a new Viewer 2 capability, makes sharing standard Web-based media in Second Life easy and seamless. It enables content creators to make more compelling, interactive experiences. Basically, Shared Media brings the Internet inworld.For the more technically inclined, what this means is that you can now put media textures on any prim in Second Life. More specifically, the viewer uses WebKit to create a fully interactive, dynamic texture from a Web URL. This even includes support for Web-browser plug-ins, like the Adobe Flash Player. And, you can place dozens of them on the same region. (We still don’t know what the upper limits are. I’m sure that you’ll let us know.)

Second Life Blogs: Features: Shared Media: Bringing the Web Inworld with Viewer 2

finncube2.jpgBerlin-based Studio Aisslinger has devised and prototyped the FinCube, “a vision of temporary living.” Provisions for “nomadic living” combine with a “natural high-tech” aesthetic in this house, which is modular, sustainable, tranportable and low-energy. The prototype was built near Bozen in Northern Italy, with a killer view of the Dolomite mountains, and has since been moved (!) to nearby Ritten, where it is now on view.According to the studio, the house is made entirely of locally supplied, long-lasting and recyclable materials, provides 47 square meters of living space, and manufactured by Tyrolese craftsmen. 360 degrees of glazing is surrounded by a skin of wooden slats—the space between serves as an exterior walkway.It appears that the FinCube is designed less for living and more for low-impact luxury vacationing. According to the studio, it’s easily dismantled and requires a minimum of soil sealing (two square meters), allowing the site to be easily “renatured” after moving.

FinCube: a portable vacation home? – Core77

Recognizr works when the user points the camera at another person. Inbuilt face recognition software maps a 3D model of the subject and transmits the information to a remote server where it is matched with an identity already present in the database. This information is then sent back to the handset along with any relevant social networking information associated to that person, conveniently displayed above the persons head using little social icons.

Stalk a Stranger. Point Your Phone At Their Face.