MooPig Trade Show Department :: "Reviewing CES 2013"

Another Opening, Another Show
by Pat Darnell | Jan 20, 2013 | Bryan TX

The International Consumer Electronics Show is innovation. However, CES, January 6th through 11th, 2013, has been criticized as "lacking" in luster. Several reasons make it so: manufacturers have their own time tables for moving their new products. Such as Microsoft, who released Windows 8 in October 2012, and all the innovative, new laptops followed. All happening before the trade show and exposition.

In the past new products were most often showcased at the CES which has been in January over the years. Here are some of the innovative products you can expect in the coming months.

These items caught the eye of the poor bastards down in MooPig's Electronics Department in the basement.

Huh?

Tactus' morphing touchscreen was quite likely our all-around favorite device at the show. It combines a great idea with interesting potential and that full-on science fiction wow when you first see the "keyboard" inflate. Tactus hopes to see products shipping with its tactile touchscreen this year in devices ranging from phones to devices for the visually impaired. We wish them well and look forward to checking out what may eventually come of this technology.

At first glance the HAPILABS HAPIfork seems more novelty than tech -- and may well prove to be -- but it definitely stepped away from the norm and garnered a pile of attention. The idea is you use the fork as you normally would, but it keeps track of how long you eat, how quickly and how many bites you take. It then shares these metrics with a Runtastic-like site. Eat too quickly and the fork or spoon -- the end is detachable -- will vibrate to let you know to slow down a touch. The $99 HAPIfork ships in Q2 this year.

CES 2013: top 10 moments | News | TechRadar: " Xi3 Corporation and Valve talk Steam-powered Piston Gaming is usually a sideshow at CES, but it stole major spotlight this year thanks to an announcement by Valve. The company chosen to be Valve's first public partner in this venture is the Xi3 Corporation. Xi3 has a CES presence, too. They showed off the Piston, said to be the fruit of their partnership with Valve.

While their representatives wouldn't talk specs or availability, or even refer to the prototype as a Steam Box, Xi3 already has powerful and compact systems on the market. Like the rest of the gaming community, our curiosity was piqued. The possibility of a machine like this bringing PC gaming to the living room, and competing with the upcoming Xbox 720 and PS4 is beyond exciting."

'via Blog this'

Playing around with ThinkGeek's table full of toys was unquestionably a highlight of 2013 CES experience, which is (thankfully) nearly at an end. In amongst the always awesome licensed Star Trek and Star Wars toys was the Princip Interactive LED Futuro Cube, a strange game device created with ThinkGeek. The device brings to mind the Rubik's Cube, if only because its a geometrical puzzle game. In place of colored squares are a series of different colored LED lights.

Like Rubik's famous three-dimensional toy, the Futuro isn't particularly easy to master. It has a menu system and offers up a series of audible commands to access its different games. Getting started takes a quick shake and it can be put to sleep with couple of taps. There's also a USB port on one side for downloading software updates, including new games.

Nokia is here to show that the maker community isn’t alone in its love for 3D printing. The mobile phone maker has released a 3D-printing Development Kit, cutely named 3DK for short, that gives people the files and information they need to print a custom Lumia 820 back case.

The company is essentially making it possible for its users to tailor their phone to their tastes, an unusual move in a space where companies exert tight control over their technologies and design innovations. Nokia is, according to Nokia, the first major phone company to do this.

It released the files for the Lumia 820 back shell on Friday. They can be found on the company’s developer site here, here and here.




______________________Reference
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/computing/ces-2013-top-10-moments-1111489
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/14/ces-2013-best-of-show-roundup/
http://www.engadget.com/tag/ces+2013/
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2013/01/10-best-gadgets-of-ces-2013.html
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gadgets/forget-ces-2013-heres-whats-coming-at-ces-2014/
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/gadget-lab-show-ces-samsung-galaxy-camera/
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/14/tech/gaming-gadgets/ces-roundup-2013/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_us+(RSS%3A+U.S.)
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/the-best-of-ces-2013/
http://www.engadget.com/tag/HAPILABS/
http://www.engadget.com/tag/Tactus/
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/gaming/consoles/valve-unveils-first-steam-box-hardware-for-big-screen-gaming-1123543
http://www.engadget.com/tag/ThinkGeek/
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/11/thinkgeek-interview/

Burning Man 2008 -- 2009

Obviously Voting for Change...

Review by Pat Darnell, 10/10/2008

ROCK
SCISSOR
PAPER





The Burning Man convention just ended for 2008 on September 1st. If you are not familiar with the event click HERE.

2009 Art Theme: "Evolution"
"Nature never made a plan, nor does it seem to copy very well. No living thing is ever quite the same as others of its kind. Charles Darwin called this Natural Variation. There is a kind of subtle chaos, a supple element of chance and change, residing at the core of living things. Our theme this year prompts three related questions:
1. What are we as human beings;
2. ...where have we come from;
3. ...and how may we adapt to meet an ever-
changing world?"

- - - - - -

OK, then we at MooPig have a few questions, observations also:

There's that word again: Change!! Is it evolution, or change, guys? Well, certainly don't expect me to reckon all your confusion... I'm just as much a frustrated academician as all of you out there.

It turns out, MooPig realizes very well there are many frustrated, even capable, designers out in the wide carnivorous world. Mindsets are no different today than when pyramids were built by our ancient relatives. Protein is still protein, and the physics of our living-spaces and environment have not "changed."

And Gravity has not yet been mapped so that we can decide if it is a particle, beam or electro-magnetic wave -- or something entirely different.

All those buzzwords you are using make me think you at Burning Man might just want to get together for a big party. So be it -- evolve into it, play with it... more ugly.

The Mind Shaft Society has some interesting links for the designer in you: click HERE...