Looking Outwards

The inFORM is a dynamic shape display that uses what reminds me of PinArt a classic childrens toy to create a dynamically interactive surface. It surprised me. The project is able to interact with objects placed on top of it and be used as a medium to display digital information. The setup shown in the video is also capable of using a Kinect to define how the display should move. The objects in front of the Kinect are rendered as a landscape on the inFORM. It is an entirely new type of display. I feel that it could have been more effectively done with a better resolution of pins. It would be interesting if the project could be done in such a resolution that textures could be represented on a surface. Former attempts at the project were called Relief, Recompose, and Contour. This project was made by the Tangible Media Group led by Professor Hiroshi Ishi in and attempt to create a TUI (Tangible User Interface).

This is a small bluetooth speaker that levitates. I feel that it is an interesting idea, but that it was not executed well. There have been several levitating pieces in the last 10 years, the first which I had seen was a levitating lightbulb. The artist did some things right in my mind; this speaker uses bluetooth to transmit audio and actually levitates. However, it shows all of its wiring and sensors allowing everyone to see how it works for the most part. I think that it could have been improved greatly by encasing the arm and speaker with sensible enclosures. It would also be more interesting if the speaker did not have a set height of levitation or possibly reacted in some way to the audio it played.