Philips Flavors - My take on it

Nowadays, everybody, especially young adults love to customize, it's what's big right now. We want to express our own style, instead of following what the company tells you to be. We don't want to settle on a design designed for us. Alot of companies are catching up to this trend, but there were early ones too.

For example, if you go to Converse's website, you can customize your own shoe, you don't have to settle on the choices they give you. Although it wasn't 100% you personally because they give you preset fabrics to choose from where you can mix and match each side of your shoe and you can even put your name on it. It was a great idea, I even bought a pair that I customized and put my name on it.

Another one is when many teens started using their phones, and wanted to be rebellious, and wanted everything their way, from that cellphone cases came to the market. You can now change the case of your cellphone and express your style through the shell of your phone.

Then Tmobile came out with MyTouch 3G, and because I always am an early adapter, I got one.

Anyways, tmo's whole concept is that when you buy the phone, it becomes 100% you. It gets to know you using an app called Sherpa, it basically remembers what you searched and compares and collects things similar to what you searched,because it assumes that you like whatever you searched. You can change the theme of your phone and the home screen so you can easily access the apps or whatever that you need easily. You can even download apps that you like, so each phone is basically unique because it will have different functions and data stored in the phone's memory.

Another technology that we all love that I wanted to focus on is the Philips Flavors. Its an exclusive home entertainment system that can be customized to match your style and interior. Again, this really isn't totally 100% you, why?..Because you have to buy the frames that are already made for the consumer. How about we take it up a notch, how can it be totally 100% you? Here are my ideas:

1. Instead of having interchangeable frames, the entertainment system could have digital nanoscreens that make up the frame that emits different images that would make up one whole image. And where would that image come from you ask, well from your computer. Using bluetooth technology, one can actually upload an image or any pattern they would like to the system using a template that would be downloaded to the computer and be compatibe to adobe image editing tools where one can scale, mix and match, crop, however one's heart desires to manipulate the image. Another way of aqcuiring the image is where the system can match itself to the decor of the room, it would produce its own palette of colors or a theme, and it can change by itself, and if you don't like the design, you can easily talk to it and ask to change it.Now that's smart technology.

2. My second concept is inspired by tmo's MyTouch 3G. It will get to know you through your flavor of shows. It will analyze the shows that you watch and the next time you turn on the T.V., it will have a recommendation of what you would want to watch. Everyone's already doing this, for example, Apple itunes and Microsoft marketplace, they give you recommendations on what you might like.

3. Last but not least is a full body sensor. It senses when somebody is in the room and would analyze how you're feeling at that moment and your stress level. The system will automatically turn on a channel that you might desire, or won't turn on at all if it thinks that you're sleepy and would not want to watch at all.

So, overall, Philips Flavor trumps the competition with their concept of interchangeable frames instead of the regular black and silver boring chrome, but it isn't my Flavor yet.

Digital Candy

We think of technology as something we handle and not as food. I wonder if we really would want to chew an iphone, or a computer? I guess the main goal of the digital candy makers is that if there's a technology out there that you love so much, you don't have to look at it, you can also chew it.

This isn't really something new, an inspiration for the makers of these candies could be pastry chefs that make cakes out of whatever their clients want, houses, computers, dogs, iphones, purses, etc. These cakes really look like the real thing. If this could be taken to the next level, it could be something that we could actually use first then eat it.They also make great gifts for children and adults who just love what they love.

Interactive Art

Usually when we look at an art on a wall, its static or if its dynamic, it has its own default settings to create the illusion, the art, and the entertainment, or whatever its trying to achieve. This interactive art in particular has an image that one can be immersed in and become part of the art. One could also argue that video games are immersive art too. They are, but our actions doesn't happen instantly. Even though we're hitting buttons and swinging our rackets, our motion is being translated digitally so that the computer could understand it. You don't really see yourself in it. The player is represented by a character in a game, and that character is digitally made.
What I like about this interactive art is that you yourself is in the art. The camera looks at the shape of a person's body and puts your uniqueness inside the art, where you can manipulate the art. One example that I like the most was the Text Rain, where there is a preset video on a wall with texts and letters that act like rain. The rain actually responds to the movement and shape your body or a material. Plus this art makes you appreciate the simplicity of the data in order to achieve the interaction, compared to a game where you have to process a lot of information before you can make your move. Truly the saying "A Little goes a Long Way" inspired the designers of this project.

Layar - Real Time Browsing

Have you ever walked down a Historic Street, or a neighbohood that you want to move in? Have you ever wondered, hmm,what's that building's name? or how can I reach the realtor of that house? We want to access information right away, without going to the web wondering what we have to type in the search bar, or what we actually need to browse for? Nowadays, we always think of different ways to be immersed with the digital world. Today, its made possible by iphone's augmented reality app, and also a company known as Layar. The app. that I’m most familiar with is Layar, because I’ve actually messed with it. I’m not sure what Iphone uses.
I think Layar’s idea of a Reality Browser is pure genius. Back then,even though it could only be 2 or 3 years ago, we have to mysteriously think of what we need to put on the search bar, that would relate to something we saw in real life and we have to try and translate it for the computer bots using tags and keywords, hopefully wishing that it would find its web page, therefore getting information. That’s just too much work for the kind of people nowadays, especially for me. Layar scans your surrounding which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your phone. On top of the camera image (displaying reality) Layar adds content layers. Layers are similar to web pages in normal browsers. Just like there are thousands of websites there could be thousands of layers in the future. You can also switch between layers by selecting another using the menu button, pressing the logobar or by swiping your finger across the screen. Layar shows, Facebook users, Twitter users, Yellowpages, Flickr photos, hotels, Wikipedia, etc. Being able to finally combine reality (in real time) and the digital world together could really change the way we could access information. Each experience is unique to each user, each one has their own story that they experience instead of going online and going through the same pages over and over again.

Paranormal Activity

Believe it or not, I thought this was scarier than "The Unborn", or "A Haunting in Conneticut". Paranormal Activity was especially frightening, because it was so simple. The film was made for under $15,000. The film avoided the normal cliches of a normal Hollywood horror film, it did not rely on special effects or even make up to scare the audience, the sound is used so well that it alone was scary enough to make me hide my face and cover my ears. Every time it would go back to the night vision camera the audience would all exhale as if to say "Not again!" The very switch of camera effects made me feel a sense of fear. I read stories on the internet of people actually getting up and leaving the theater because they were so frightened. This movie psychologically scares you by leaving you hanging as to what the "demon" looks like. This film certainly can raise a question as to whether indie films are on the rise. The film was originally going to be remade by Paramount Pictures and Steven Spielberg even watched the DVD at his home before it was released to theaters.
Good thing Paramount Pictures backed off and didn't remake this at all becaue it wouldn't be as good as the original. Going back to the the frozen moments for a commercial that we saw in class, this movie had a very similar concept and was effective. The camera stills at night when they're asleep is the one that produces a lot of reaction, as I discussed above, this is when then tention starts to rise, even though the actors are still, but there's a feeling that's being protruded out of that scene, and every time it happens, all the viewers get frightened.
So, could the future of better films lack technology? The movie didn't have as much technology, but it had a really strong story, and that story made the movie successful. Capstone project anybody? I would definitely keep this as an inspiration for a future capstone, being an amateur really pays off, be passionate and opinionated about something.

WayBack Machine - Internet Archive

I think this website is great. It's an internet archive. As a web designer, I can see the transitions the web has been through for more than a decade.

The idea of looking back at the old websites and comparing them today gives us a whole new outlook to what they will look like in the future. Mr. Mannheimer is right, that not everything will look like the way they are right now in the future. Its true, thats why we don't have ugly fanny packs at Target, we have modern handbags, because bags are not meant to go around our waist, just like websites are not meant to have bright yellow fonts and black background with frames and an animated banner. The internet archive can prevent a designer from committing those mistakes by looking at different examples of old websites.

Cybertime

When we talked about the time of cyberspace in class, it got me to think deeper about the internet and its cybertime. If I was to describe cybertime, it would be - "a time continuum where all the space and time that have ever existed through earth's lifetime, even before the first thought of the internet ever entered J.C.R Licklider's mind is stored."

Why I say this?. One can easily search the "Creation of The Universe" and in this search we are then entangled in a knowledge that existed before Humankind ever walked Earth, therefore, we are immersed in time that we never knew. One can even go further in time to 2050, with our top scientist's prediction for our future, a future not too far away.

I can access any time period, any knowledge past, present or future. The power of the internet to store TIME, that anybody, anywhere and anytime can access is a sign that we are at the cusp of the future.