My Second Photosynth Experiment

Deomo booth on OLO.MUOTO trade fair here in Finland - I took several pictures with the Canon Ixus 950 camera, and photosynthed them: 

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=29a44f5f-e48b-488a-8cf0-c87aee0491b6&i=0:2:0&z=467.0787043003208&g=2&p=-2.50427e-014:6.92928e-014&m=false&c=-0.664613:-0.656377:-0.145462&d=-1.56066:1.1653:0.877044

Do remember to set the Photosynth viewer to full-screen mode (icon on the bottom right), it’s much better that way.

Regarding the Photosynth tech, I learned the lesson that one needs to change the camera angle and position only a slight amount between pictures. Otherwise, the end result is too jumpy as the Photosynth algorithm leaves too many images without context.

And yes, I’m bloody proud of the booth we did with my wife, Nina.

Cybertecture Apartment in Dubai

It’s always interesting to follow what they are up to in Dubai. The developments there are just amazing. According to some info, one fifth of world’s cranes are there in gigantic 100 billion dollar construction project.   

One particular building caught my eye: The PAD, also known as iPad. The tower is…

…targeted at switched-on, creative and hip business executives to whom we refer to as “the digital generation” or apple brand lovers who are constantly mobile and connected.

Every apartment will be intelligent and have its own cybertecture to provide a unique experience. Everything from communications, entertainment, health and shopping is covered by the cybertecture of the apartment.

Among the usual household stuff like colour changing tiles are the iFeatures. The iFeatures list contains: iReality (a virtual reality projection wall), iHealth (monitors residents health), iRotation Rooms (rotate your lounge), iArt (project a painting from a server to a wall), etc.

In Dubai, science fiction really becomes a reality. I commend their bold adventures in architectural design and pushing the edge of technology in living spaces. Oil money well spent.

Something Wet Is Out! Really Wet…

It’s quite natural for a guy nicknamed raindropper to create a book covering all aspects of water, don’t you think?

So, point your browser to The Book of W and start exploring. There will chapters and postings about science, business, arts, cultures and religions – all of course water-related.

It looks like a mish-mash of blog postings and book chapters. But there’s a simple, common theme underlining all of those – and it’s clear as water.

Introducing Deomo TV/HIFI Unit

You know the thing with home audio and video electronics these days: too many boxes, too many cables, hard to keep clean and in order. They are messy looking, you can not put those in to a modern living room.

We couldn’t find a solution in the market for our needs, so I (with my wife) designed a TV stand that solves our storage issues. I gave it a name Deomo.

Magic is in the mirror – you really have to see it to believe it. More pictures in Deomo.com – currently in Finnish only.

If you are interested in manufacturing/distributing/marketing it, drop me an email (tomi.itkonen@gmail.com).

[Update 10.9.2007] An additional pic added of Deomo TV stand:

Jumped From Sculpt 3D to Blender – I’m Hooked

In the late 80s, most of the neighbourhood bitboys had an Amiga 1000 or 500. Some of us were interested in 3D rendering with Sculpt 3D or Imagine software.

Raytracing took a long time with a CPU running at 7.1 MHz and 1 MB of memory. So, I left the Amiga run its raytracing overnight – in the morning I would check how the picture turned out to be. Heh, I did not even have a hard disk, so I must have been a patient guy.

Now, I’m amazed about the quality of the open source Blender software. I added YafRay renderer, and I’m hooked. Check out those galleries…

Jaguar Design Briefings

Jaguar Cars provides a breathtaking and informative set of presentations covering the design decisions behind the C-XF Concept and future Jaguar models.

“Jaguar Design Briefings are a compilation of online videos, photography and words that capture various themes of the future design direction for Jaguar.”

If you are interested in design, cars, or … then take a look.   

Design – Transferring Energy

I can not remember who said that “design is about transferring energy”. Anyway, take a look at the lines of the new Maserati GranTurismo. I feel energized just by looking at it.

Here are some Geneva pictures of that beautiful car styled by Pininfarina.

Nokia, LG and BenQ Touchscreen Concepts

With the religious Apple worshipping come boost and attention to entire mobile phone industry.

It is always interesting to see how original a new product is, and what the other manufacturers have previously demonstrated. 

Through the hectic iPhone conversation on Scobleizer’s blog, Lance gives links to:

Nokia Aeon concept phone with a touchscreen,

LG’s ke850 (iPhone’s brother) and

BenQ’s Black Box Concept. 

[Update 18.1.2007] Other concepts on Okan Vardarova’s iPhone blog. Apple fans have sent several cool looking designs.

Apple iPhone – Looking Very Good

Get the QuickTime plugin and jump here to see the demos:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/

The user interface is looking very good indeed. All the unnecessary junk is removed letting the user concentrate solely to the task in hand.

There’s not too much data visible at one time, only the context.

Small visual cues like horizontal scrolling and zoom effects aid the user in keeping track of his/her location in the UI. They keep the experience flowing and seamless. 

They’ve even added sensors for determining the device’s position. Very clever.

This is how technology should work; quietly and hidden in the background.

If it all functions as advertised (do they ever?) and the batteries last, it will be a damn good device.

Toyota FT-HS Concept – Scary

Check the new concept car here [carmagazine.co.uk].

If the purpose of concept cars is to test the waters and gather feedback, here’s my opinion about this car’s design: ugly, pointlessly edgy, scary. Its surface is too complicated and plays too many tricks.

Or am I missing something here; does its odd looks provide better handling, suck it to the road?

[Update 12.1.2007] They’ve added a picture from the side. Its form seems to be very sensitive to angle. 

My eye is gradually beginning to understand its design language and it is starting to look very challenging. Thus, it is very interesting.

Stealth fighter meets a speed boat with spikes.  You can slice air with that one.