London’s Science Museum to scan visitors’ faces in 3D
Visitors to London's Science Museum are being invited to have their faces scanned in 3D.
The Me in 3D stand at the museum uses a series of cameras to build a virtual image visitors can then view and manipulate.
Data from participants will be used by Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College Hospital and Eastman Dental Hospital and Institute to provide better treatment and surgery for patients with disfigurements and congenital conditions.
"It's a very simple process using simultaneous photography by nine cameras and then some software modification to produce a 3D image," says Dr Chris Abela, a senior craniofacial fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital. ...
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Technology Predictions: 2012 -2022
From internet-connected toilets and trash bins to video walls, this is an interesting collection of ideas.
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The Art of 3-D Printing
As part of our special report on manufacturing, we askedNeri Oxman, a professor at the MIT Media Lab and an internationally recognized artist whose work is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, to create a sculpture that would illustrate the future of manufacturing. ...
3-D printing encompasses a range of technologies—from inkjet heads mounted on gantries that can deposit plastics layer by layer to form intricate models, to more recent laser-based systems that sinter metal powders to make durable parts for airplanes. 3-D printers have mainly been used for prototyping, but they are becoming an option for manufacturing as well, and may eventually even be used to print buildings, Oxman says. But designers and architects haven't yet learned to take advantage of their capabilities. ...
Oxman's lab is also developing robotic systems that could print large concrete structures for buildings. The new robotic system is being designed to be able to vary the density of the concrete, making it possible to use dense, strong concrete where it's needed for support, and lightweight, porous concrete for non-load bearing walls, to save on materials costs. Eventually, it may even be possible to print concrete that's so porous that it's translucent, reducing the need for indoor lighting. ...
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Crypton Future: Japan’s Nth Creation Movement “Hatsune Miku” Is on Its Way to the Global Stage.
An open creative movement that broke out on the web.
A new form of creativity originating from the web.
The major players of this movement are the "virtual singer Hatsune Miku" and "You." This is a new style of participatory creativity, where works of no-name to big name creators, songwriters, composers, arrangers, illustrators, dancers, video directors stimulate one another through "Hatsune Miku" and generate entirely new pieces of work.
Besides the 30-thousand original tracks, many more works are still being released through the Internet.
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Where are they now: CES 2011’s most promising tech revisited
We're two days away from dropping in on Las Vegas for the start of CES 2012. Before we get started on all the crazy new stuff that'll get shown off in a convention center full of bloggers, journalists and business folk, let's hop in our time machine and take a trip back to CES 2011.
Was last year's CES just smoke and mirrors, or did the companies that promised their gadgetry deliver? Follow us through as we warp back to last January.
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CES – everything you need to know
Sortable has posted an excellent info graphic of CES here:
Interview: Peter Hirshberg and the Geek/Arts culture divide in San Francisco
Summary: Teaching geek stuff to artists and arts to geeks is a key goal for GAFFTA, an innovative startup focused on bridging the cultural divide in San Francisco…
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