18 July 2003

Three sets of cards to help your head make connections faster Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies: One hundred worthwhile dilemmas, "each of which is a suggestion of a course of action or thinking to assist in creative situations" Charles and Ray Eames' House of Cards: Comes in five flavours. "The images are of what Eameses called 'good stuff', chosen to celebrate 'familiar and nostalgic objects from the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms'. The six slots on each card enable the player to interlock the cards so as to build structures of myriad shapes and sizes" IDEO's new Method Cards: "Each card describes one method and includes a brief story about how and when to use it. This is not a 'how to' guide. It's a design tool meant to help you explore new approaches and develop your own. Use the deck to take a new view, to inspire creativity, to communicate with your team, or to turn a corner" 9:32:53 AM     comments

Best of ArtBots 2003 ("best of" according to Rodcorp, who've only read the website) MEART, the semi living artist: mammalian neurons (emryonic rat cortex) + software + drawing arm + feedback = drawings + behaviour Drawing Machine, which takes feedback via microphones, and draws Fotron2000, seemingly a photobooth which uses led light on polaroid film to draw portraits Automated Architecture Robot creates a building design with ice and water in one hour. "The robot sculpts a block of ice into an organic form using water (The water is stored and recycled by the robot). Every 10 minutes the sculpting stops and the robot's water tubes move into their 'stored' positions. Doors, windows and other architectural elements are projected onto the ice with a slide projector. Visitors can influence the outcome of the sculpted architectural model by making adjustments to a large control knob. They can choose between 'Palatial Home', 'Discreet Home', 'Mixed-Use Development', 'Company Branch Office', or 'Company Headquarters'. The robot will do its best to create the home/office of their dreams" Scratchrobot: send an e-mail to robot@spess.com. The scratchrobot will scratch your message and reply in a unique way 9:31:40 AM     comments

Open University: Play the Prisoner Dilemma online With detailed notes on Prisoner's Dilemma by Sean Crawford. [via smartmobs] 9:31:00 AM     comments

Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World Published by the Ancient World Mapping Center. Buy it used: Amazon.co.uk [via mefi] 9:28:26 AM     comments