8 posts tagged “technology”
When I was there, a girl had arranged to meet up with her boyfriend who was in London. It was pretty neat that they could see each other.
The art project is the work of Paul St. George and brought to life by Artichoke who also created the 42-ton Sultan's Elephant, a ginormous sculpture and theater project that they had lumber down the streets of London and around the world. Mr. St. George claims that there is an actual tunnel and the images are conveyed via a long series of mirrors. He's concocted an elaborate Victorian history for his creation.
The term telectroscope does date from the Victorian period and it did refer to either fictional or seriously proposed long-distance optical devices or television-like devices that were never realized.....until now!
While the unimaginative will claim this is just an oversized webcam and frankly old technology, this unexpected window onto another slice of the world and even limited access and interaction with distant strangers is strangely exciting and satisfying.
If you're near the Brooklyn Bridge or Tower Bridge in the next few weeks, definitely check it out - it's up until June 15.
The two "ears" on the top/left side are the right and left buttons with a very prickly looking scroll wheel.
Steampunk originally referred to a specific type of science fiction literature set not in the future, but in a pastiche of the Victorian, industrial, steam-powered era. Now it also refers to a design aesthetic as well.Think computer keyboards wired and built into old typewriters. The cobbled-together aesthetic can be very lovely. It's good to see the bones of our machines. Spiffy!
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was very important to the beginning of the US. He is well known for his political importance before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. He's also known as an inventor, a scientist, a writer and satirist, and a ladies' man.
He was an early advocate for the abolition of slavery, the first Postmaster General, a founder of the country's first hospital, of the University of Pennsylvania, and the first volunteer fire department. He suggested Daylight Savings Time as a way to increase national productivity. He tried to make many spelling reforms, but they never caught on.
He invented a stove, bifocals, the lightning rod, and the glass harmonica (a musical instrument based on touching the wet rims of wine glasses, but laid out like a keyboard). He was the first to use the terminology "positive" and "negative" when referring to electric charges, and of course he showed that lightning was electricity. Despite being a polymath and able to speak 5 languages, he only went to school until age 10. He did eventually receive honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Oxford Universities.
A contemporary parody of Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac about a long term trust fund that was intended to mock the overbearing optimism of Americans. However, Ben Franklin liked the idea in the parody so much that he bequeathed a thousand pounds each to his favorite cities of Boston and Philadelphia. The interest was to be disbursed every two hundred years. The Franklin Trusts today are worth several million dollars are used for loans and school funding.
Similarly to Thomas Jefferson, Franklin was unsure about Christianity. He liked its ideas but not the religious institutions. He did believe in God, but not necessarily the specific Christian God.
His mother's maiden name was Folger - those relatives would later go on to found Folger's Coffee
The incredible contraption shown here is arguably one of the first typewriters: the Hansen Writing Ball from 1870 by the wonderfully named Reverend Rasmus Hans Malling Johan Hansen who worked as a teacher for the blind in Copenhagen.
His writing ball was intended as a way for his blind and mute students to communicate. Each key protruded from the sphere but was angled so as to hit the paper at the right angle. The paper is curved and moves in an arc as the carriage advances.
This is truly one of the best machines I have ever seen.
Obviously the "do not try at home" section reigns supreme.
Very well done, and it hits close to home for anyone who has ever had to "fix" anyone's computer - or who has needed their computer fixed.
[This clip is in Norwegian, and subtitled in both Norwegian and English]
Do you remember the really awesome computer that Tom Cruise had in Minority Report? Someone has created one, but without the lame glove.
Check out this spiffy-to-the-max demonstration from the annual TED conference in California in 2006.
Describing the demo is kind of pointless. You have to see to believe. I would settle for this kind of interface even over a personal jet pack.
Burton and Motorola collaborated to bring you this most unholy union of nonfashion and dubious convenience.
While I am staunchly pro-android, pro-technology, and pro-warm clothing, I cannot possibly give this terrible combination of the three my stamp of approval.
The day they make wearable technology that doesn't turn you into a complete arse will be a joyous day indeed.
