Jeff Han: Multi-touch Screens - the steroid version

Started reading John Maeda's "The Laws of Simplicity" today. He keeps a blog lawsofsimplicity.com, that continuously develops the ideas further. A few clicks later I ended up on the Signal-vs-Noise blog and eventually saw this amazing video showing Jeff Han and Phil Davidson demonstrate how multi-touch screens “will change the way we work and play.” Examples include usage in image editing, web browsing, creating 3D animations, etc.

These guys were announcing on their site that they were up to some exciting things. One of my very first posts was about their work. This is the amazing development:



http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271543545/bctid422563006

Cyborg Extensions - The Spock Look

That's what I thought yesterday morning when I saw a student, who wore a tacky looking bluetooth headset. He wasn't even talking, he was just wearing it and looked ridiculous. I wondered: How willing are we to become cyborgs?

I get the impression we are sooo ready to strap on, implant, inject all kinds of extensions to our bodies. A familiar pictures are teenagers, who don't bother to take off their music when they talk to their friends. At least one headphone bud is permanently stuck inside their skull. Can they really "multi task" in a way that I'm not able to? Are they a need breed, possess a skill that I am too old to learn? Has A.D.D. become the norm and nobody is bothered?

I've read about people who have RFID transmitter chips implanted under their skin. It gives them access to night clubs, for God's sake!

Yesterday I read about Stelarc, an Australian-based performance artist, whose work explores and extends the concept of the body and its realtionship with techonology through human-machine interfaces. He does all kinds of prosthetics and extension to the human body. The website is not very good, but you'll get the picture: http://www.stelarc.va.com.au/


"Reversed-Spock-Ear-Look"

Jeff Han, NYU, Multi-touch Technology

Just must have hid underneath a rock for the last two weeks, if you haven't heard of Apple's new iPhone. What came as a surprise to me was the fact that multi-touch screens have been around for almost 20 years. Sitting there in laboratories...why hasn't anybody picked up on this technology?
Look at this: AWESOME!

Dance Event in NY, March 10th

I got a good reason to travel to New York because my friend Christine is turning 50. And we are throwing her a party, an event at the Baryshnikov Arts Center on March 10th. There are going to be speeches and dance performances and food and good friends. I’ll be dancing with Rebecca.

I designed this card which is being send out soon.