Digital Cup

I searched digital cup on Google and I think that I came up with something fairly interesting. The Digital Cup is a gaming/coffee/internet cafe located in Wasilla, Alaska. I sometimes forget these places even exist and I think that this is very unique to the digital age. I would liken it to the arcades of yesteryear. Anyway, I'm sure this place is great and they'll do anything from sell you a coffee to help you design your gaming PC but I would rather look at internet cafes in general. I really don't see many of them around, except for the one I know of in Danville, Indiana. I couldn't find any exact numbers, but a Google search of internet cafes proove that there are quite a few around and they must make money or so many wouldn't exist. I think that the idea of an internet cafe has now become as outdated as a VCR. My phone can do internet as I walk around campus and I'm sure in the next few years that technology will be a lot cheaper. Who will need an internet cafe when the person can do everything that they need from a device that they already carry around with them. One might argue that people who can't afford a computer that have to use one can go visit these places but I even think that this number is dwindling faster and faster. A study from 2008 said that internet penetration had reached 82% and I really doubt that this number would ever fall. This doesn't leave the cafe much of a market, especially while more and more people sign up to an ISP. Basically, I believe that the internet cafes are antiquated and I don't think they will last that much longer.

Digital Squirrel

I searched digital squirrel on Google on a whim and actually came across a pretty interesting design firm. Digital Squirrel, which is located in Ohio, specializes in digital architecture. They use high end rendering software, at least they claim it is, to create designs for customers. They also do theme parks and do work in theater. I found this interesting because I have never heard much about digital architecture. It seems when I see an architect on TV that they are always doing everything by hand which just doesn't make much since in the digital age. After looking at digital architecture on Wikipedia, it seems that it really has some clear benefits over traditional architecture. A digital architect doesn't have to worry as much about complex computations because the computer will do them for you. I think that a digital architect is the wave of the future. Of course there will probably always be traditional architects, but I think the benefit of saving time and money and not necessarily cutting down on quality really make digital architecture stand out.

Digital Grass

Once again, I randomly put grass after the word digital and came up with something pretty interesting. Digital Grass was an interactive installation in the UK to celebrate architecture week. It's basically an installation that used motion tracking and cameras to track people passing by the screen to manipulate the grass. This is all very interesting but the company that put all of this together, HMC Interactive, is a company that creates interactive multimedia for clients. I think that this is a very interesting idea. This could certainly be much better than a thirty second TV spot and a lot more creative as well. After viewing pieces that they have worked on and searching interactive media on Google, there are countless examples of art. This, I believe, could potentially reinvent, if it hasn't already, the way that people view art exhibits. This offers the user to interact with the piece instead of just staring from a distance. I also think that it would be a good way to get children interested or more interested in art. It seems like, at least to me, that with our digital culture, static paintings and sculptures sometimes seem a little boring. Some of these pieces are very interesting and I hope to view some of them in person.

Digital Sculpture

I began by searching digital sculpture on Google. One of the first results I received was this video. Although I already knew that computers were used to create characters, I didn't know that these programs, at least the one that he shows, were so easily manipulative. I always imagined making characters like the one he makes to be next to impossible, but these programs seem a lot more user friendly than I once imagined. I'm sure that many people are already familiar with these types of programs, but I have only seen them in action a few times and never seen them shown off in this fashion. It really boggles the mind to think that technology has made sculpting so much easier. You can edit your piece so much easier and redo any mistakes with a simple control z. These programs, such as Mudbox, Zbrush, and Modo have been used by the movie industry to make all kinds of different characters. I really never payed much attention to the programs that were used to create these effects, but pretty much anyone can get them and begin experimenting.

Digital Window

After searching digital window on Google, I think that I've found one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. Although this is just a concept, this digital window could offer us so much. If someone were to carry this technology, which is once again just a concept, it could offer us so much information on our general surroundings. I imagine being able to point this device at a restaurant and immediately get reviews. Of course it all seems a little sci-fi right now, but the website says that this design does have a little feasibility attached. It contains things such as GPS, internet, camera and scanner. Even though this might be way more elegant than any technology that could actually be made, something like this is most certainly possible. Although just a concept piece, I think that this could be improved by actually adding more to the face of this object. With only one button and all of these features, this piece doesn't feel practical to me. This might seem pretty nitpicky, but I still love the design of this concept piece.

Digital Palace

I searched digital palace randomly, which led to this website. This is a website for China's Palace Museum. It is a very competent website that shows off the museum and allows users to plan visits and look at many of the pieces that the museum contains. I found this so interesting because this palace has been around for many many centuries and has an internet site devoted to it. The internet is something that seems so current yet it can contain things from all of time. This leads to something Professor Manheimmer asked in class, "What time is it on the internet?" Why of course there is no solid answer for this question, I would like to think that the internet is all time at once. For example, I can look at a map of Europe from 100 AD while listening to a podcast that just came out. This is interesting to me because, even though this could be said about a library maybe, nothing else offers people this experience. We are able to connect and look at any point in history or speculate about the future.

digital weapon

The search for digital weapon wielded a result that I found pretty unexpected. I found an article from The Guardian that discusses the effect of the internet on feedback and complaints. The article also relates complaints and feedback from a radio show with the Obama campaign. This is a very interesting idea. The internet provides users to voice their feedback immediately and most certainly has more exposure than just yelling into the air. Of course, this has been around for years now at this point but it seems like Obama was really the first to properly utilize the internet in his campaign. Anyway, right now pretty much anyone who has an internet connection sound off their opinion and, in this case, cause some pretty large ramifications. I think that it is good that more people nowadays can have their voices heard but it is so easy for these things to get out of control. For example, this is a much more common way that this instant access can affect someone. In this case, people using Twitter started a rumor that began to catch on and eventually became so popular that people began to believe that it could be true. This happens on Twitter much more often with false reports of a celebrities death for example. I think that this is one of the more ugly parts of the internet. In a realtively short amount of time, news can spread that is totally eroneous and not many people can tell fact from fiction. This article from MSNBC spreads even more light on this phenomenon. Even though this blog looped around and evolved into something else, I think it made me realize that the instant services of Twitter and Facebook can't be trusted no matter how factual and proffessional they might sound. An Austrailian newspaper confirmed Jeff Goldblum's death when he was, in fact, very much alive. I think that the activists on the internet that are actually getting things changed is great but there are still so many people that don't realize the impact that their words can have. I think that everyone should really double check what they post on the internet because you never know what is going to become the newest trend.

Digital Table

I began this entry by searching digital table on Google. My results mostly included tables that have a touch screen built in. These tables can do almost anything. A fairly popular example of this technology is called Microsoft Surface (pictured above). These tables feature multi-touch technology and allow you to manipulate images and surf the web, all using touch. Another feature that they describe is transferring information, such as pictures, from portable devices and the transfer shows up in real time. This is a fairly interesting idea in my mind, but the units are in no way practical for current personal use. The basic unit costs $12,500 and the developer unit costs $15,000. Price aside, I think that this is a fairly revolutionary idea. I believe that this technology has the potential of changing the way people use computers. This would move the computer from the desk to a possible communal experience in the living room. To me, surface represents the first step of a bigger process. Another company doing something interesting with touch surfaces is called Touch Taste Tech. This company as incorporated the technology into bars and clubs to let customers order their drinks. Audi has also created an app that lets you customize your car in real time. I couldn't find any real sales numbers for these products but I haven't noticed them in any public places yet. I think that this needs to be improved by simply finding ways to lower the price. If this technology becomes more ubiquitous I think that it will naturally bring down the price. I imagine this technology thriving in a consumer setting. If someone could walk into a restaurant and place their order just by manipulating images and/or pressing on a screen, it could make the experience much more interesting. It might cut back on human interaction, but it might also make the experience much more convenient. Ordering a drink from a bartender is easy already, but it might be more fun to use an intuitive interface instead.

Digital Car

I started out by searching digital car on Google with no prior knowledge to what this could mean. According to How Stuff Works, digital cars were represented in TV in such shows as "My Mother the Car" and "Knight Rider". Once the computer age began, cars began sporting features such as a 40gb hard drive in the 2008 Cadillac CTS. What makes a car digital is intelligence, according to the article. The digital cars of today concern themselves with mostly safety and entertainment. As for safety, these new cars can "sense" the traffic that's ahead or behind the car and many other features that the article explores. These cars also feature GPS, which almost seems to have become ubiquitous in new cars over the last couple of years. As for entertainment, automakers are looking into adding wi-fi to cars that can actually keep up with highway speeds. Storing music on your car hard drive and hooking up your Ipod already exists now. Where will this technology take us? I think that it will lead us to the self-driving car. As you can see, this technology already exists and it would seem that it would inevitably be incorporated for consumer models. I think that this would allow the entertainment factor in cars to increase. If the cars are almost exclusively driving themselves, who is to say that you can't watch video or at the very least text and drive. I firmly believe that this is the future of automobiles and I can't wait.

Digital Wallet

This time I tried the phrase digital wallet randomly. Only after I searched I realize that this is something that's been around for a while now, however, I did not know anything about it's origin. According to Wikipedia, the digital wallet was first utilized in the late 90's with the advent of storing "e-cash" online. Apparently these services never caught on and the idea of the digital wallet or e-wallet evolved over the years to provide internet users with a convenient way to store and use online shopping information. I am fairly confident that this is the same general idea (or is exactly the same) as services such as PayPal. I honestly think that the digital wallet revolutionized the internet and I really don't think that anyone could disagree with that. However, I think that there is still a lot there that could be improved upon. I still don't feel as if people feel comfortable sharing their banking information online. I believe that something more has to be done to assure the customer that they are safe and that everything will go smoothly. Also, these services are very easy to replicate and someone with basic computer knowledge could put something on their website to steal your information. In the future, I think that this industry will continue to grow and online shopping will become even bigger than it is now. Ebay and Amazon seem to be two of the biggest players and I'm sure we will see more companies in the coming years provide the same services. I believe for these companies to be as successful as possible, they need better options for online payment.

Digital Pencil

This time, I tried my luck searching digital pencil. I actually found something pretty interesting. I found the textbook "The Digital Pencil: One-to-One Computing for Children". The purpose of this book is to take a serious look at children having their own computers and analyze what the costs might be, what devices they might use, etc. This book is dealing with the idea that every child should have a networked computer of their own for school. After searching a little on Google, it seems that many schools have started using this one-to-one computing model although the evidence of improved grades have been thin according to Education Week. http://www.edweek.org/ew/events/chats/2009/08/06/index.html, Education Week, also offers a live chat answering many questions about the realities of one-to-one computing. I didn't really know much about this, but after reading, I think that this is a very important step in education. It seems like it has to be done, and the sooner the better. For example, at IUPUI I'm on a computer constantly and I think that a curriculum built to show children how to effectively use computers would pay off immensely over the course of their entire lives.

digital beverage

Once again, I did a random search, this time for digital beverage. The first thing that I noticed was a digital beverage dispenser and mixer. This device has a very minimalist and sleek design and manages to mix alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. It also connects to the internet and can be updated with new mixes. These are pretty helpful and a neat little gadget to have around the house. I think that this raises the question, however, of is digital technology becoming to pervasive. One has to ask themselves if we really need a digital drink mixer. The honest answer is what could it hurt. After scouring around the internet, almost every appliance around has some sort of microchip or digital display at the least. This item also couldn't really exist without digital technology. Nothing ever allowed you to press a button and mix a drink while having limitless drinks available to be made. I find it very interesting that this smart appliance exists. http://www.lge.com/about/rnd/digital_appliance.jsp, LG's website, explains that they have a very strong commitment to digital appliances. Some of their concerns are clearly outlined as more functional than stylistic, but I believe that if LG is taking this seriously so are all of the other manufacturer's. This leads me to believe that we will be seeing many more things like this in the future, and I welcome it.

Digital Clothes

I searched digital clothes randomly on Google and actually got an interesting result. I imagined that I would get something relating to clothes that you can buy on a digital avatar but this shows that real-life clothing is even getting a digital upgrade. According to, http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-clothing.html, computer clothing is seriously being looked into and Levi is even marketing a "musical jacket" in Europe. The website also reports that this technology has also been looked into for medical purposes such as to monitor heart rate in patients. I think that this is a very interesting concept, but it really does seem in the development phase right now. I don't think that it is at all ready for a main stream release. I think that it is also a little bit too gimmicky for now. Possibly when the tech gets better, so will the product, but I honestly don't see a use right now. What I would like to see from this product, and I have no idea if this is possible, is a shirt that could change color or design completely. It seems like this could one day be possible.