Digital Digressions

Making is Connecting

A great talk by Prof. David Gauntlett at the annual LEGO Idea Conference that I wanted to share with you. More thoughts about the conference here.

The History of the Internet

Contrary to popular belief Al Gore did not invent the Internet. Nor did it magically just appear one day in 1992.. in fact the history of the Internet goes back much further than that, and this neat little video tells the story of all the different elements that led to what we take for granted today, or are (in the case of some of the most prolific Twitter users) addicted to!

A monster New Year!

This little thing found its way to my inbox and what a lovely surprise indeed - reminds me I need to draw more and stop spending life tapping on a computer keyboard! Happy New Year to all courtesy of the continuously digressing crew and Stefan Bucher, creator of The Daily Monster website.

Did you know?

Right now I'm in the midst of a huge annual effort in the company to gather up insights, trends and inspiration to kick-off our annual innovation process - taking a starting point in a broad understanding of the world (both long-term and short-term) and making sure that insights are at the heart of how we innovate as a company.

When I say 'innovation' I literally mean 'the act of generating more value for the consumer, customer and the business by fulfilling a need or job to be done better than anyone else'. And to do that well, you of course need to understand what the needs and jobs to be done are out there - where can you be better, do more and be more relevant than you were even just a few months ago.

Of course it is a challenge to make sure you have as much relevant insight as hand as possible - but the second challenge is quite the opposite - the sheer quantity of information that is now available and the rate it also changes presents quite a task to ensure you don't drown people in information, but sift through it all - establish patterns and digest and present the insights in ways that make it workable for a wide range of people from different disciplines.(Remember: none of us are as smart as all of us, so the more people you can involve in the innovation effort the better chance you have of innovating both on small, medium and large scale and often you'll need all of those to be truly groundbreaking). So you need to create an inspiring and empowering experience, sparking ideas as opposed to anxiety (too much information, I can't handle it) or the opposite: boredom (I've heard it all before: what's new?).

One thing that I came across recently, is this 'Did you know' range of videos - which are very inspiring in how they contextualise the pace of change taking place right now. Below is the original video, which also talk about things we need to do as humanity to make sure we can keep abreast with the developments. I am told that the CEO of Coke recently used to get his team of senior leaders thinking about the pace of change. Below that is the other video, a 2008 update of some of the facts mentioned. So insights can be inspiring - in fact, when you really know what's going on - you realise we are all living on borrowed time and the more we understand that, the more likely we are to stay in business in the future too.

Cake or Death?

This is the standard question at the beginning of meetings in the cake-eating capital of Europe, Denmark - where cake eating has been elevated to an intrinsic part of any get-together.. I'm joking of course, but this wonderful rendition of Eddie Izzard's sketch about the fact that extremism and the Church of England really don't go together very well at all and if it did - it would be a question of cake or death!

The Apprentice in LEGO by the Boleg Brothers

So now we know - Lee McQueen is the next apprentice and clearly no amount of fibbing on your CV or pterodactyl impressions is enough to dissuade Sir Alan that he is a worthy candidate. I do wonder how much we actually learn about the nature of business through shows like this and does seeing it on telly make it acceptable is the next question? Obviously values like honesty, integrity, pulling your weight, treating your customers with respect and the list goes on.. these are all redundant attributes in an apprentice?

Oh well, perhaps it's not worth getting too serious about the implications of this show that frequently has made me cringe over the last 12 weeks - it is actually best enjoyed as a comedy, with minifigures (or LEGO people) as highlighted by the Boleg Brothers. (not anything to with LEGO the company - just some good fun!)

http://www.bolegbros.co.uk/home.asp

http://www.bolegbros.co.uk/latest07.html

Don't Have a Band? Don't Worry - Get a Robot!

This is just the best take on Christmas carols ever - my colleague Flemming Sorensen at LEGO who is simply a genius with all things mechanic, robotic or LEGO, decided to see just what a Mindstorms robot was capable of and here is one great take - Flemming and the robot playing Jingle Bells together. He's one of those people when you think you've hit a brick wall and an impossible task, ask Flemming and he'll do one of those wistful looks into the horizon and say: hmm... let's see.. and before you know it, he will have thought of something you didn't think could even be done. So get yourself in a Christmassy mood:

Or get the full Xmas medley here Christmas Medley with Mindstorms NXT Robot where the Mindstorms robot also plays a bagpipe solo all by itself!

Helmets aren't just for Astronauts.

Nick Larsen, the man behind the uber-cool Charge Bikes and the Charge Plug fixie I keep staring at longingly whenever I see one, just sent me this great video explaining the importance of wearing a helmet when cycling. I couldn't agree more as my run-ins with squirrels and most recently a car (!) are ample testament to the fact that helmets do work, they save your precious noodle and if you do bang your head, rather the helmet take the impact than your brain. We can get new teeth, new arms, skin will heal and bones will mend, but brains are harder to fix and since we only have one it's worth looking after as the kids in this video explain -

Exoforce for Real: Fully Functioning Exoskeleton for Humans

Some years ago I worked on LEGO Exoforce and inspired by the exoskeleton that Sigourney Weaver uses in the Alien movie, in addition to the Manga inspirations of Gundam and NeonGenesis Evangelion, the exoskeleton robots operated by tiny mini-figures took form.

Little did I know that only a year or two later, the technology would be available not just to play with as an idea in a toy, but something for us to try out for real. This video demonstrates the exoskeleton and sadly, here it is shown as something for the military to use, whereas I could see tons and tons of uses for it to help people in their day-to-day activities. Imagine no longer needing a wheel chair, just step into your exo and off you go.. dancing, running, walking up the stairs, playing ball - you name it.

The Death Star Canteen

Just en route to the States I came across this sent to me by both Alex Nisbett and Tracy Suff on Facebook so I owe you both for cheering me up in the midst of airport security, online check-in and bag-drops (here we come!!).. Imagine Darth Vader in the Death Star.. going down for some food..

For those of you who aren't familiar with the comedian doing the voice-over: check out Eddie Izzard and your world will never be the same!

Priceless comedy for a Monday

Many thanks to Mark over at Herd for reminding me of some of the classics in LEGO stop frame animation. These two were created by the chaps at Spiteyourface.com where you can find plenty more of their handywork.

A LEGO Factory making LEGO Cars..

I just couldn't resist this one - pure genius!

Imagine the time, talent and skill it took to create this. I'm humbled! My hat off to LEGO fans world wide!!

And to all those who would like the real factory making a LEGO car of their very own, don't forget LEGO Factory.

Robots on Candid Camera

Ever wondered just how much havoc you could cause by rigging up a robot in a shopping mall with a shouting challenge? This brilliant 'you've been framed' is simply hilarious.

Or how about trying to guard a bowl of sweets in a Supermarket - harder than selling ice cream to eskimos? Another hilarious candid camera feast with some finger-licking fun :)

LEGOworld 2006 Highlights

Earlier this month I attended LEGOWorld 2006 in Zwolle (19th - 24th October 2006), the Netherlands - the biggest annual LEGO event in the world, pulling together fans from all over Europe and visited by over 50 000 people over 6 days. It is an amazing feat of organisation, orchestrating many different groups and companies to deliver wonderful activities and experiences to all those who come. No, it is not just amazing models on display, but also tons of bricks for you to immerse yourself in and build whatever comes to mind, a true celebration of imagination where only the sky is the limit! Here's a short movie giving you a taste of the event:

Top 25 Video Sharing Sites

Having become a Youtube regular almost a little bit too soon, I decided to do a little investigation into what other sites are out there and how they rank in terms of the traffic they receive. They are ranked using Alexa traffic ratings as of October 03, 2006. Alexa traffic ratings are imperfect in several ways and measure page views not video views, but they do provide a good estimate for ranking purposes. Ranking numbers after each entry are for all sites on the web. (i.e. YouTube is the 10th most popular of all sites on the web, not video sharing sites.)

There are a several very popular video sharing sites that Alexa does not break out for ranking because they are sub-domains of larger sites. These include Yahoo Video, Goggle Video, MySpace, and AOL Uncut. All of these sites would rank high in the Top 30. Interestingly, Youtube leads the pack although I have seen reports recently of Google surpassing Youtube as the most popular video sharing site. This I cannot verify using the Alexa information, but could very well be. Given this amount of traffic it must cost Youtube about 1 million dollars a month to finance the bandwith required to service all the views, a considerable achievement for a company which still only employs around 60 people. Youtube claims to finance their activities solely through advertising, but that is still a tall order.. anyway - my musings aside, here's the list:

#1 www.youtube.com (Alexa Ranking #10)

#2 www.grouper.friendster.com (Alexa Ranking #40)

#3 www.photobucket.com (Alexa Ranking #73)

#4 www.metacafe.com (Alexa Ranking #141)

#5 www.break.com (Alexa Ranking #318)

#6 www.dailymotion.com (Alexa Ranking #709)

#7 www.ifilm.com (Alexa Ranking #1,062)

#8 www.bolt.com (Alexa Ranking #1,260)

#9 www.putfile.com (Alexa Ranking #1,294)

#10 www.vidilife.com (Alexa Ranking #1,813)

#11 www.buzznet.com (Alexa Ranking #1,960)

#12 www.grouper.com (Alexa Ranking #2,762)

#13 www.revver.com (Alexa Ranking #3,084)

#14 www.vsocial.com (Alexa Ranking #3,808)

#15 www.guba.com (Alexa Ranking #4,022)

#16 www.veoh.com (Alexa Ranking #4,041)

#17 www.yikers.com (Alexa Ranking #6,308)

#18 www.maniatv.com (Alexa Ranking #7,932)

#19 www.addictingclips.com (Alexa Ranking #8,352)

#20 www.vimeo.com (Alexa Ranking #9,043)

#21 Phanfare (Alexa Ranking #10,910)

#22 vMix (Alexa Ranking #15,252)

#23 CastPost (Alexa Ranking #15,376)

#24 Jumpcut (Alexa Ranking #19,689)

#25 Clipshack (Alexa Ranking #25,874)

Brickfest 2006 High-lights

LEGO is not just for kids - it's a creative medium capturing the imagination of people regardless of age and background and a means of showcasing some true talent and ingenuity - just check out these MOCs (my own creations) from Brickfest 2006, a recent gathering of LEGO enthusiasts in Vienna, Virginia, USA.

What made this event so memorable for me was how warmly and kindly we LEGO people were greeted by all and how everyone was so open and willing to share thoughts, ideas, experiences, suggestions for improvement etc. This was enormously inspiring and has injected all of us with bags of enthusiasm and passion to do more to support the amazing talent, creativity, skill and ingenuity that frankly had me humbled.

 

Tenori-On: Coolest Electronic Music Interface since the Invention of the Synth!

Some of you know I like to dabble with music and mixing every now and then. Anyone with an interest in this field knows that electronic music these days is a collection of computers, cables, USB midi-controller interfaces, software, plug-ins, compatibility issues - never enough performance and many more challenges placed in our way of masterminding the field of digital music making. Intuitive is in fact a word that seldom springs to mind, as there are so many components to use concurrently that it is often easier to get stuck reviewing a library of samples or simply trying to make things run smoother than it is actually making music.

This is why this movie of a collaboration between Toshio Iwai and Yamaha really caught my eye - it's extremely simplistic dotmatrix interface seduces one into thinking this is some sort of pre-wacom type of tablet, until you realise that not only is it an incredibly intuitive way of playing music, but it also doubles up as a sequencer and synth all in one beautifully simple interface. Moreover - you can hold it in your lab AND it makes for interesting watching by the audience! Gone are the days of some geek with sunglasses standing behind the keyboard pressing keys and twiddling knobs - for all we know, he could have just been pretending. Not with this thing though - making music becomes a visual spectacle as well as an interface for experimentation and play. I want one!

Many thanks to prof. Edith Ackermann at the MIT for bringing this to my attention.

Microsoft Photosynth: 3D Image Browsing

Although you may have stumbled on my reluctance regarding Microsoft in some posts in this blog, this new technology championed by Microsoft Live labs is so cool I'm prepared to put aside some of my bugbears just this once. The technology in question is called Photosynth and is a kind of 3d tagging system for photographs, which means you can search the web for a picture and instantly have related pictures be aligned into a 3d environment around the source picture so you can navigate the area as if it was a 3d world. Sound weird? You betcha - until you check out this little film and it all makes sense.. if I was Adobe I would be very worried... very worried indeed as this is a kind of technology which would be great for the next generation of Photoshop, not the next generation of Microsoft Photo Editor.. just a personal preference. Anyway - have a look and be intrigued!

[Microsoft] [Youtube] [Computers and Internet] [Internet] [Photography] [Software] [Technology] [Web]

Secret LEGO Mindstorms Movie

As some of you already know, the cool LEGO Mindstorms robotics invention system has received a much-needed face lift and a whole host of new and improved features. The new Mindstorms is actually a product of co-creation by some of our most avid fans and the LEGO group and is due to launch world-wide in August.

Having seen the many iterations the team have gone through to arrive at this perfect blend of open-ended building and also a revolutionary open-source programming language to encourage users to share their own creations and programs - Mindstorms is continuing as a trail-blazer in the field of robotics. It is one thing to be able to buy a robotic toy that walks, talks, reacts to sound and can pick things up - it's an entirely different matter to be able to decide for yourself what your robot looks like, what it does and how it reacts to stimuli in the environment. Check out this article in Wired Magazine on the new Mindstorms: Geeks in Toyland

More importantly - to get in the mood for the new Mindstorms launch, open the JPG below to see the instructions of how to find the secret Mindstorms movie hidden on LEGO.com!

Play with Your Walls

I seem to be on a bit of a roll here with groovy interfaces of late, but no harm sharing cool stuff. This is an interesting twist on projections, where rather than merely providing a bigger view of a screen - the projection on the wall actually comes alive, reacting to gestures from people around. Have a look!