oyayubizoku

Who thought SMS would or even could be used as a control technology? Well, I guess it does make sense, its alphanumeric characters being blasted across microwave frequencies. Mark Argo of Mobjects has developed a couple of very innovative and cool apps for mobile phones. One is .dot.dot.dot using a JAVA app on the mobile, allows you to create pixel based animations and trigger them on a special display device through Bluetooth. The other is Hugms also using a JAVA app, this time creating a virtual visual hug based upon the length of characters you enter.

The Mobjects projects remind me of a similar product developed by the Yoshimoto Kogyo Co.Ltd. in Japan for Maywa Denki (a Japanese mod pop group styled after DEVO). Maywa Denki released a whole line of white plastic toys that were based on the pixel theme. One of which was the BITMAN, basically a small square device with a 64 pixel LED display that was connected to a small processor and sound chip, linked to potentiometers. By shaking in various directions, up and down, left to right, etc at various speeds, you are able to control the pixelated man walking, break dancing, flipping, etc. to a scratchy beatbox computer breakbeat.

Recently the VideoBulb was also released, a derivative of the BITMAN phenomenon, this one plugs into the RCA Video input of any TV or monitor and creates the same 64 pixel based animations on your screen, based upon audio sensors.

View: .dot.dot.dot Information
View: Hugms Information

View: Maywa Denki Website
Buy: BITMAN Shop
Buy: VideoBulb Shop

I recently saw this film on DVD rental and was amazed at its cinematography, soundtrack and acting. I have been following Thomas Jane and his acting career since he was a pot smoking criminal in the John Woo movie Face/Off (in case you don't know, he was in the high security prison sequence). In addition, the soundtrack for this film was top notch, including tracks from The Free Assocation (introduced by David Holmes) to the Temple of Sound to name a few. The movie soundtrack is nowhere to be found even on GEMM.com. So would be a good project to test out soulseex.

"Stander" is based on the true story of André Stander, a South African homicide/robbery police captain who became one of the most notorious bank robbers in the country. After participating in the brutal killing in a riot in the line of duty, Stander decided to defy the very system he was part of, and set off on an audacious crime spree; robbing banks during his lunch hour then returning to the scene of the crime to lead the investigation. Finally, caught by the same police force he worked with, he was jailed and, subsequently befriended Allan Heyl and Lee McCall. After a daring jailbreak, the 'Stander Gang' committed a large number of robberies, which grew increasingly bold over time. In the eyes of the public, their blatant disregard for authority made them South Africa's most popular anti-heroes. In reality, however, Stander and his gang were the most wanted men in the country.

Buy: Stander Movie (DVD) $22.46

Are you familiar with LimeWire and Morpheus? Well, Soulseek is another peer to peer file sharing app, BUT they really did a great job on the simplicity of how it should be for all others. Up to this point only available for Windows, many of my music aficionado friends used Soulseek to search for rare and hard to find white labels online (using a sluggish PC in a corner room). Now available for Mac OSX, its going to really allow us to integrate file sharing and music searches into the desktop experience.

View: Soulseex Website and Download

A friend just sent me this link. Its to a JAVA app that tracks your names popularity over the years, based upon the amount of names being registered by parents for their new born babies. I think its a great visual mapping-anthropology tool. I just tracked my name and a whole slew of others in my family and its very interesting to see the progression. I compared the names to the dates when the person was born, and 9 times out of 10, its spot on to the timeframe of the person being born. Check it out!

View: Name Voyager w/ embedded JAVA app

This is my ultimate dream-tech-global-features-rich-has-everything mobile phone! Not only is the 802se a Tri-Band GSM but also has UMTS capabilities (for use in Asia), a 1.3MP Digital Camera w/ LED Light element, plays MP3/MP4 as audio or ringtones, has Flash and SVG-tiny support, uses a MemoryStick Duo (up to 1GB!), is Bluetooth and Infrared, and the list goes on...

The major drag about this phone is that Vodaphone locked in an exclusive deal with Sony Ericsson to release this make/model unit in both the EU and Asia to work only with their Vodaphone Live 3G-Streaming Media services. SO the only way your going get this baby to work on your Cingular network is to buy one on eBay unlocked for upwards of $580 dollars. This is such a rip as it retails in Akihabara for around $360.

I could fly to Japan, grab like 10-20 handsets, get them unlocked by the local underground tech dealer, fly back to the US, post them on eBay for $480, and still make a profit enough to cover my airfare. SO, I just don't get the greed factor.

-on the phone with my friend Jonathan.

All I want to do is evangelize solid tech, get better products released here in the US, so we all who can appreciate them, can use them, that's all I ask! And what about MUJI not being in the US yet, common guys get your act together! Another great retail product environment that would stomp all over Crate and Barrel and Restoration Hardware. I emailed them and they said they were exploring their options... Blah!

PS> The 3GSM Word Congress in Cannes (14th -17th February) was the presenting ground for a newer GENERIC version of this phone called the z800i. It should be released in Q2 of this year. I still like the 802se w/ Japanese characters on the keypad though. The cool factor on that is worth the extra effort IMHO.

View: Vodaphone 802se Sony Ericsson Japan
Download: Desktop Images Sony Ericsson Japan

If your the world traveler, and I know some of you are, this site is for you. You know those design books you see in the travel section of your local Virgin or Barnes/Noble called Hip Hotels? This is a web version similar to those books, with the reservation featured added in for good measure. Its got a database of some 200 hotels worldwide that are all focused on a 'design experience', not only is the hotel an architectural work of art, but its also a very luxurious and potentially expensive affair. Each hotel has a short piece of descriptive text to get you all excited to start saving for your next globetrotting vacation in style.

design hotels was established in 1993 to provide marketing and global representation services for design-led hotels worldwide. Subscribing to the view of design as a measure of living, not as a temporary trend, the company began to cooperate with forward-looking hoteliers and designers who share a similar vision.

An international zeitgeist brand was formed synonymous with distinctive architecture and interior design, balanced with functionality and service. Each hotel caters to the modern traveler, reflecting the individual and the environment - a revolution in hospitality and lifestyle.

View: design hotels website

The Last Minute (2001) was Stephen Norringtons third movie after Blade (in 1998). I cannot begin to explain the plot, its really a roller coaster of twists and turns in the storyline, blending from clarity to drug induced reality and back. It stars a number of English known faces, and a cameo by Stephen Norrington himself and another Blade veteran, Stephen Dorff (who I really dig as an actor).

The Last Minute starts right in the middle of the action. A guy you don't know much about, gets caught up in some grandiose media agency press junket global frenzy, to only be dumped when they decide he is not fashionable anymore, goes from being the most popular new comer to the scene, to a depressed and drugged out addict. The whole film is inter-cut with this characters future tense monologue, pounding electronic music, intense visuals, and sometimes over the top violence and action sequences. You can def. see some of the camera angles, film effects and time lapse motion sequences that were used in Blade, filter through into this film as well.

All in all its a head trip, and makes you think about what your purpose in life really is. I mean is it the 9 to 5 JOB? Or something else more meaningful to the world? You may want to try and figure this out before your last minute.

Buy: The Last Minute Movie (DVD) $16.99
Buy: The Last Minute Soundtrack (CD) $14.99

OK, so think of too-short with a hard core London street accent and your pretty close to Dizzee Rascal. I can only describe his sound as minimal electro with the tight Roland tb303 hip hop percussion (probably from his Drum N Bass DJ roots).

His lyrics are of course about the street, drugs, un-planned pregnancy, fighting, not messing with his crew, etc. Somehow though, his music has more soul and meaning to it, I don't really know how to describe this. I feel its a more intense listening experience than some of our American counterparts. Maybe this is due to the almost now MTV ubiquitous sound that permeates the radio and TV airwaves? When I hear the Dizzee Rascal sound it cuts right through its all, and really makes an impression. My friend Kevin hipped me to it and I have been doing some heavy listening on my iPod of late.

View: Dizzee Rascal Bio at XL Recordings
View: "I Luv You" Music Video Quicktime required
Buy: Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner $14.99