Microsoft recently unveiled a revolutionary piece of software called WorldWide Telescope which gives anyone the ability to explore the universe in ways never before possible. Artefact assisted Microsoft Research in crafting a user experience that is truly engaging and we are very excited to see it become available.
“The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a rich visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space telescopes in the world for a seamless, guided exploration of the universe.” - Microsoft
WorldWide Telescope will be available this spring as a free download from worldwidetelescope.org.
Watch the TED video »
February 28th, 2008
This concept shows a compelling vision of the promise of Augmented reality systems, which overlay digital data onto normal photographic views of the world. This looking glass concept has enormous potential for taking the huge amount of digital data currently locked away in map based mash-ups and revealing it in situe.
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February 28th, 2008
A friend told us about an exhibit he saw during a recent visit to New York’s Moma called Design and the Elastic Mind. He mentioned that the show seemed to be influenced by the Eames studio and process and that it is worth heading over to NY to take a look. Thanks Rodney for the recommendation!
“Over the past twenty-five years, people have weathered dramatic changes in their experience of time, space, matter, and identity. Individuals cope daily with a multitude of changes in scale and pace—working across several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite maps and nanoscale images, and being inundated with information. Adaptability is an ancestral distinction of intelligence, but today’s instant variations in rhythm call for something stronger: elasticity, the product of adaptability plus acceleration. Design and the Elastic Mind explores the reciprocal relationship between science and design in the contemporary world by bringing together design objects and concepts that marry the most advanced scientific research with attentive consideration of human limitations, habits, and aspirations. The exhibition highlights designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and history—changes that demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior—and translate them into objects that people can actually understand and use. This Web site presents over three hundred of these works, including fifty projects that are not featured in the gallery exhibition. “ - moma
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February 28th, 2008
We’re inspired to build one of these using dry ice mist instead of water. Also, some sort of digital display would be cool in place of the static letter/lights. Perhaps combining this type of display with a real-time visualization of web usage stats.
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February 8th, 2008
