Archive for November, 2008|Monthly archive page
Thai Commercial
Comments (3)Thais are well-known in the region for their creativity in advertising – I’ve covered some of the funny and touching ads, and they’re also no stranger to ads that play more like a short movie. So here’s yet another:
The ad itself while generally well-produced isn’t too spectacular or inspirational – taking 4 minutes of air time to tell the story of a deaf-mute girl who learnt to play violin. What choked me though, was the last 5 seconds when the ad finally unveiled which product is for.
Pause the commercial at just about 3:55 and see if you can guess before the ad ends?
Obama Headlines
Here’s a whole bunch of newspaper front pages from all over the world – all covering the recent Obama victory in the US presidential elections. It does seem like the world is swept over by this significant victory – it is surely a momentous chapter – though at the back of my mind, I’m also asking “would there also be similar avalanche of front page all devoted to the election results, if it was not Obama?”
The elections for US president is certainly a major news item in most parts of the world and worthy of headlines by itself – did the Obama phenomenon actually convince more to feature this result more prominently? Or is this simply a natural picture of the day after elections?
Amazing Gear Heart
Wow, this is simply an incredible motion sculpture. Initially it looks like it’s simply a heart composed of carved gears of various proportions coming together to form a shape – but when the motion starts magic happens, as gears of various ratios engage each other in a most harmonious way.
If you look closely enough you’d also notice that on each gear the spacing between the teeth are also varying to accommodate for the variation due to turning. It must have taken gazillion tries (or, genius mathematical calculation) before the gears can be totally in sync – and even reform back to the heart shape after a few cycles.
Magnificent!
Carl Liu Talk – Friday 7th Nov
One of the more prominent Asian industrial designers (and now Walt Disney China’s Creative Manager) Carl Liu is going to be sharing his thoughts through a talk titled “Design is not rocket science” in Singapore Polytechnic. So if you’re in Singapore and have some spare time this Friday, drop by and see what he has to say! I’d be there too.
Details:
Carl Liu’s Talk – “Design is not Rocket Science”
7th Nov (Fri), 7pm
LT 1A (above MacDonald’s)
Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore
[Register (before 6th November]
Lakeland Clip Spoon Rest
Ideally this problem shouldn’t exist – and even if it does the solution should be integrated with the pot itself. But life isn’t perfect, so maybe one of this Lakeland clips may still be a good fit for your kitchen ensuring your spoon stays near with your pots without falling into or out of them.
Touchscreen moves out of the Screen
While the world’s ooh-ing and ah-ing with Microsoft Surface some time ago for its engaging and intuitve interaction, researchers within the campus are moving on to yet another interesting interface – touch control but out of the screen.
Called SideSight, the interface allows you to control a phone placed on a table by wiggling your fingers in the space around it. This helps to solve the problem that a touch screen is limited by the need for fingers to touch it – thereby limiting how small the screen can go.
Personally I see application of this more outside of the phone though – how often do you place a phone down on the table? But think about things like ultramobile laptops and stuff – a virtual trackpad if you wil – and things start getting more interesting.
[via New Scientist]
