Destroying the Big Six - ecotricity

What a great way of poking fun at the big six British energy companies!

"The mood in Britain has turned very much against the Big Six energy companies. And it's not hard to see why. People are fed up with the unethical pricing, complex tariffs, awful customer service and the dire lack of investment in new sources of green energy."

ecotricity hope to change this opinion with this comedic short showing the destruction of old power stations, although well done and, actually quite funny! I think they endear the viewer to the old buildings too much!

more after.........

Wipeout Quantum Levitation

Not sure whether any of you saw this a few months ago, the research by Tel-Aviv University into superconductors controlling magnetic fields. For a full explanation click here.



But anyway, the amazing and inevitable next step for this research has finally been released!

WipeOut - for real! click through to the video...

iDEV CAM for iOS

Just bought this for the iPad.

Whats in a line weight?

I have been working a lot recently in Trophy Design and development for various different sports' federations, these projects are pure form designs, there has obviously had to be some functional consideration given to the designs with regards to manufacture and handling, but all in all these are mainly form based briefs - "make it look pretty!".
So, I have been working in 3D but trying to output a less engineered visual for the clients. Something that shows a less clinical visual at initial stages to the clients, but takes into account the physical capability and viability on the designs, at an early developmental stage.

3D assets into legacy photography - quickly

This looks fantastic, A quick photographic matching tool for inputting 3D objects / animations directly into photographic scenes. This tech needs to be extremely easy to use, as you could see this being used as an API for consumers to use to use and postion 3D content within real world environments. This could be coupled with some AR API tech to develop better realtime model matching tools.

We have seen elements of this before a few times, however I do like the way Kevin has created the lighting matches and shadow cast algorithms. These additional levels of detail allow the final result to look far better and far more real than any other system has been able to generate.

Heres the video:

Merc F125 Hydrogen Car

Thought this deserved a quick post, this car looks fantastic!

150mph top speed
0-60 in 4.9 seconds
Hydrogen fuel cell powered.

Robotic formation control

Watch this great little video showing 5 robotic vehicles with plastic platforms attached, these vehicles are not controlled in any way other than being commanded to achieve a certain resultant position.

These platform carrying vehicles move into various positions allowing a autonomous quadrocoptor to hover behind the robotic train of vehicles and eventually land on the synchronized platform created by the ground vehicles.

Wall - E as a automaton robot

This is nothing short of amazing! The detail and 'open-source' capability of this make for an extremely interesting commercial product line.

I love the control commands, and simple but cute responses from Wall-E!

Brilliant work.

Floating Water Lily Solar collectors - by the Why Factory

Headed by architect Winy Maas, research group The Why Factory challenges us to think big in regards to going green and conserving our natural resources. Making bold and slightly fantastical designs, the group’s plan for the Thai city of Phuket are both beautiful and self-sustaining. Part of an exhibition at Berlin’s Aedes am Pfefferberg, Why Factory’s submission is a series of water-lily like artificial islands that soak up the sun and convert it to energy.

I know this is 'pie in the sky' 50 year solution to an up-and-coming real energy problem, but i think these are worth mentioning, Photo-voltaic energy is a great "possible" solution to harnessing the clean renewable energy, however of course we do not have anything near the quality of technology and efficiency to collect this 'free' energy at this present time. This is not to say we wont get there though. Its nice to see a good marriage between design and engineering in these panels.

I would have to ask though:

• What would the efficiency be on these, based on energy in to energy out?

• How do they intend to get the electricity back to the grid?

• Are there environmental considerations at work here, what happens when there are tropical storms or rough seas, do the units secure themselves somehow?

• These thoughts have probably not been overlooked, just not documented in this review!

Yellowbird - panoramic video recording