(I was hoping that the Braille would work in the title bar, but no… it doesn’t even work here.)

For those not in the know, Braille is a writing system used by blind people which takes the form of a set pattern of raised bumps. Take, for example, this message:

This translates to English as ‘Be kind to others.’

Numbers can also be read in this manner, as can punctuation and even accented letters (visit Omniglot for the whole alphabet).
Obviously, technology is actually a bit of a bind for blind people. I mean how the hell can you expect them to use a screen? Even a typewriter’s going to be a bugger.
Yes, you can read and make telephone calls – as long as the buttons are marked accordingly. As for screens though – fuhgeddaboutit. Because we’re so image-concious as a species, we forget that the blind and partially sighted are going to be stuffed when it comes to watching films or even browsing the web. I can even only find one text-to-Braille converter. At best, text is usually transformed into spoken word.

How about a wristwatch then? It’s a visual display, isn’t it? Well yes, but it’s easy to modify to speak the time. However, there may be situations where you don’t want to make a noise (eg middle of the night) or you can’t hear it.
That’s where this watch comes in; yes it can speak the time, but it also has a nifty Braille face.

Until recently, the problem has been trying to make the mechanical workings small enough to fit into something of this size. It’s been designed by WinG Li, but I can’t seem to find a page for him other than the blog site I found the article on…

Go visit The Design Blog for more.

So everybody I know sent me this video, except for you. It was inspiring actually. I haven’t blogged in a while so it was nice to still receive suggestions like this one. I figured you guys got smart and ran away and stopped coming here. Though, Spike has been blogging like a madman.

I was just trying to remember the name of this site where you can create animations with only dialogue and then y’all send this to me. Thanks.

via Everybody

Fer those that know me over on Facebook , I posted a picture of a conceptualisation. Essentially, someone had sat down and tried to figure out what a 1970s Atari iPod would look like, and then created a mock advertising poster for it:

I thought it was a good job done, and other people liked it too. End of story.
Well, no.
What I thought had been a one-off image was simply one part of a whole retro-imagining of current tech by a guy called Alex Varanese. Not only has he worked wonders with the iPod, but he has also managed to successfully rework hand-held gaming consoles, laptops and even mobile phones. In fact, I’d have to say I really, really love the slogan he came up with for the ‘phone…

Go and see the whole lot over on Behance Network (and check out the rest of the posts while yer there.)
Via Acid Cow.

The video is decently entertaining, however I enjoyed the deeper message that we may want to disconnect every now and then. Friday evening I was out with the boys and pulled out the gadget to peep twitter. When I looked up, my friends had their phones out and were surfing also. I looked across the bar and spotted 2 other tables full of people doing the same thing.

Take a second to look around you. Interact with actual people, not their avatars.

via Milk & Cookies

When I was a kid (mumble) years ago, there was a barber I used to go to. It wasn’t the closest, not by a long shot. What made it so attractive though, was the Space Invaders console table in the waiting area.

At that time, it was the best thing ever and – oddly enough – his trade shot up. Especially after he put up a sign barring non-customers from playing.
I wanted one. Heck, I still do.
Until I win the lottery and have both the money and space to own it, this will have to do…

Via Geekologie

There seems to be a bit of a paradigm shift going on in the world of photography at the moment. There’s a technique known as ’tilt-shift’ which has been around for quite some time, but it’s only recently that folks appear to be taking it and seeing just how far they can take it. If you feel you can handle the terminology, there’s a decent in-depth explanation of the procedure and equipment needed over at Wikipedia.
The short of it though, is that you can take a photograph of a normal scene, muck around with the focus in certain parts of the image using something like Photoshop and – hey presto – you have a picture that looks like you photographed a model or diorama. What – you think someone actually set up a model of the Eiffel tower? Pff – far too much effort.

It’s an even more powerful effect when you see the larger version. If you think that was impressive, take a look at this video, created by stringing together thousands of tilt-shifted photos into pseudo-stop-motion animation. And while you do that, try and ignore that little voice in your head that tells you “This is how they made Camberwick Green, Chigley and Trumpton, you know.”

Oh, by the way; I wasn’t entirely truthful with you earlier. You know I said you needed specialist equipment and post-photography jiggery-pokery? Well, I was half right. You see, it turns out there is a nice little website called, appropriately enough, TiltShiftMaker.com which allows you to upload any photo and it automatically does the jiggery-pokery for you. As long as the pic’s not too big that is. And the best thing about it is that it’s absolutely free. And if you don’t have any pictures you feel you could use, then – fret ye not – you can go and pinch one from that big old internet thingy.

One piece of advice – I’ve found it’s best to have a fair old distance between foreground and background. I tried it with a photo I took in our house and it didn’t really work.

Put yer teeth back in, yeah?

Do me a favour, take a look at your computer base unit. Chances are, unless it’s older than six or seven years and you’re in your late twenties, early thirties, neither you or it will recognise this:

That, for the uninitiated, is a 3.5″ floppy disc. It’s also the latest storage unit to succumb to the ever-advancing march of time and technology. For over twenty years, they reigned supreme and were as ubiquitous as the CD-ROM became (and now the memory stick).
Recently, however, Sony finally decided it wasn’t cost effective to continue production and called time on it all.

Unfortunately, if yer anything like me, you will probably have a stack of the wee beggars hanging around at the back of a drawer somewhere. In these days of recycling and reduced carbon footprints, we don’t want to just sling them in the bin, but what can we do with them?
If yer feeling creative, here’s one suggestion:

If on the other hand, creating a sculpture like that looks a bit too much like hard work, the BBC compiled a list of 40 other options… Click here to find out more.
Thanks to… Riscy, I think it was. (It’s been a while, lurking in my bookmarks)