Author Archives: David

An Ant and An Astounding Act

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ant-with-chip

In my line of work as a product designer, I often have to deal with gaps and distances that are smaller than 1mm – as much as it may seem diminutive, they really do make a difference in certain applications – like the clearance between the buttons and the main housings, the fit between parts, etc. When dealing in 3d files, tolerances often go to 3 or 4 decimal places of a millimeter for it to work properly.

But that, to a chip engineer, is probably like a blue whale to a mouse. As electronic product races to be smaller and more powerful, they’d have to device ways to lay circuits and build paths around a tiny piece of real estate. And though we do hear a lot about nanotechnology and how it may change the future of production and medicine, sometimes a sense of perspective and scale would be in order to really grasp the “tiny-ness” of it all.

The ant in the picture is holding a IC chip in its mandibles – the chip is just 1mm x 1mm. That would really put some perspective into the scheme of things!

 

3D Face Morphing

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From what it describes, it seems like the software is capable of constructing/modifying face features on the fly, based on its database of previously entered 3D face models. That isn’t all that new – it’s like a Poser for face. What’s really cool, however, is the ability to churn out usable 3D face models just from a picture alone – that’d really have some tremendous vanity applications, like putting yourself as a full-featured main character from Final Fantasy, or *gasp* a realistic Sims avatar. This is certainly one-up compared to the typical “paste-a-2D-face-picture-into-that-oval-shape-head” thing that some games currently use.

Anna Gram – “Ceramic for Mix”

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anna_gram_ceramic_for_mix

The name of this object  “Ceramic for Mix” doesn’t quite exactly illuminate its function, though it certainly hints at it. At first look I didn’t get what was it – but after I do, I liked the slightly-whimsical but interesting execution:

The ball is put into a glass built with special shapes. Then we have to pour some infused tea into it for example: the liquid pushes the ball, and invites users to move it by moving the glass. The ceramic ball comes to mix all various sugars, ringing the glass at the same time. When we drink, this ball is blocked by the gravity in the recess of the glass, moreover than its shape is too big to be ingested.

Ah, so that’s what the doughnut at the base is for! While I accept the fact that gravity would trap the ceramic ball rather than to flow into your throat, I wonder about the “ring tone” with the ball. The ball is sunk in the liquid loop – probably rather heavy – would it be able to drift around the glass and make those clanking sounds that we’ve come to associate with merrymaking?

[from Anna Gram]

Wind Turbines at Sea

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wind-turbine

Wind power is fascinating – it promises to deliver clean, renewable energy, except that everybody wants to have it at someone else’s backyard. I don’t quite get it though – I always thought wind turbines are such elegant, beautiful structures – I really don’t mind having one in my backyard, or the rooftop. But of course, there are people who see them as ‘eyesores. The sea thus become a likely solution – moreover, the average wind speeds on sea are higher than land.

The seas aren’t always nice though – while the elegant wind turbines may seem dainty in the face of the open sea, some scale and perspectives could probably help visualize the scheme of things:

turbine-scale

It is HUGE!

But still, I really like the imagery in the first picture – it reminds me of palm groves in an oasis – except that instead of a desert, this vast openness is filled with water rather than sand.

[More here]

I Am @ Youth.SG

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blogwhore-for-psp

[utter blog-whoring]

While other high-profile bloggers can get free Ferrari laptops from Microsoft and then debate about the ethics of it, lowly 100-visitor-a-day blogs like mine get no such love. And so when I saw a post on Youth.sg dangling a chance to win a PSP in return for a blog post, I decided to jump, coz you’d never know if the planetary alignment today is favorable to good fortune, or if the gods are particularly choosing to bless you today. What’s the deal?

All you need to do is write a blog entry, in your own blog, on the theme “I Am @ Youth.SG”. You decide what “I Am @ Youth.SG” means to you, and you are free to interpret it any way you wish. Title the blog entry “I Am @ Youth.SG”, link it to us at www.youth.sg, and send an email to iam@youth.sg to submit your entry.

So I thought – how difficult can it get – I mean, it’s just writing some random paragraphs on your own blog. But I realized that when incentives are thrown in, the balance tips. When I was just writing for my own curatorial sake, for leisure, and with no profit, there were no pressure on my back. It was really easy writing those entries day in and out, because I didn’t have to crank my head in my posts too much to make them a little funnier, or the comments that much wittier, because in a way, I did not have obligations to please anybody on this blog.

In this case however, I spent the last hour trying to think of something witty, something clever, maybe something that deserves publication and glorification – I started to wonder how the people on Best of Craigslist do it. Or even local Singaporean favorite bloggers like Mr. Brown who have gone pro in producing amusing podcasts and blogposts.

I came to realise that churning good reads on a daily basis is definitely not easy – and when your livelihood depends on it, as in the case of pro-bloggers, it is perhaps even more difficult because every step you take does affect the readership, and eventually the bottom line. (And to think I once, and at times actually still do, harbor aspirations of being a pro-blogger). Bloggers, podcasters, news media, even aggregators and portals like Digg, Reddit and of course Youth.sg definitely have to keep scratching their heads to engage and involve their communities, or they’d simply fade out of relevance.

Perhaps an analogy would be between a job interview and a chat with a buddy. With an incentive, the nature of the conversation changes. In this post, I am interviewing with Youth.SG (albeit a Youth.SG with a big PSP face – damn to me who can’t see beyond materialistic possessions – though I think I do get excused because I’m an industrial designer, so I’m supposed to be into gadgets and all!).

Anyway, Youth.sg is a Singapore-based portal with content and links catering to youths – I (sadly) discovered that I am probably at the upper spectrum of “youthfulness” given that I am not quite captivated by either Superstars or the latest teen idols featured on their front page. Kinda like the adult-proof ringtone – you know you’ve “arrived” when you’re deaf to these. But that’s just the old crummy me speaking – you may discover your cup of tea there!

For now, I’d just have to pray for an email to arrive in my inbox bearing good news.

[/utter blog-whoring]

Audi 4-rings ad

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Audi is a brand that I aspire to – I always told friends of how I liked their blend of design and engineering. And this witty ad communicates precisely that – with a great dash of humor and creativity, just like their cars. Man, they just make me love them more.

Manga Simpsons

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anime-simpsons

おはよう、私達は”Simpsons” である!

If Homer worked in the Tokai Power Plant instead of the one in Springfield, here’s how he might have looked. The classic Simpsons character were given an manga facelift. It seems like Marge has the biggest transformation, shedding the trademark hair (that gave her an 8’6″ statute) for more fashionable locks.

[Art by spacecoyote]

Double You Happy New Year

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The virtual world goes all out to imitate the real world, while the real world goes all out to imitate the screen. Here’s a pretty cool stop motion video of people entering and doing all sorts of random things in a drawn browser. Well, forget all that description – it doesn’t really matter – watch it, and maybe have a really alive new year in 2007!

[made by the people from doubleyou]

Soot in Manhattan

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manhattan-soot-cleaning

Saw this photo of people cleaning the soot off the wall of a typical building in Manhattan – man, that sure is hell lot of dirt/grime/dust. Not quite as artistic as the time where a graffiti artist used the dust for artistic/commercial purposes, but certainly almost as astounding. I’m sure it’s not just Manhattan, but practically any major metropolitan in the world. For years, people have turned a blind eye to pollutions in cities, taking them as a necessary chip for economic advancements. With the recent report on expats leaving Hong Kong for cleaner air elsewhere, it’s about time to realise that, hey, the environment does play an important role even if you just want to plainly look at the numbers.

Wall Street Bull – with Golden Balls™

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Wall Street Bull with Golden Balls

This is the Wall Street Bull. Weighing a hefty 3200kg, the bronze sculpture was created by sculptor Arturo Di Modica as his testament to the vitality of American capitalism following the 1987 stock market crash. He made it at his personal cost, and had it placed (illegally) in front of the New York Stock Exchange as a form of guerrilla art. Although the police had responded by seizing the sculpture, they eventually reinstalled it some blocks away following a public outcry.

It is now a tourist destination in New York’s Financial District, symbolizing the aggressive financial optimism and prosperity as suggested by the bull’s eager stance, as if ready to charge. And now, the golden question:

Why does the Wall Street Bull sport a pair of particularly shiny, golden, erm, balls? Could it be that the artist intended the reproductive anatomy to symbolize the reserve from which the bull draws its vitality? For good fengshui?

It turns out that, it is simply due to human behavior – particularly, tourist behaviors. Touching, fondling, or otherwise rubbing the bull’s nuts have become a de-facto photo-op, much like how you’d see hordes of people stretching out their hands to “hold” Pisa Tower. With that much fondling, the balls are certainly glistening and basking in flash-accompanied glory.

 httpv://www.youtu.be/r_9eHqhsRuM