Thoughts to Text

Buenas noticias: unos científicos del condado de Albany (Nueva York) acaban de inventar y probar exitosamente un “dispositivo para reconocimiento de ondas cerebrales”, que puede convertir a texto nuestros pensamientos.

Malas noticias: para hacerlo funcionar tienes que tener el cráneo abierto, con el cerebro expuesto, y adherirle unos electrodos directamente en la corteza.

Early adopters, recomiendo esperar un poco más para encontrarle usos. A menos que sean Hannibal Lecter

No, it’s not science fiction. For the first time ever, scientists in Albany, NY were able to use a “brain-to-text” interface to read thoughts and translate them into text. But it wasn’t as simple as one might imagine. In fact, the experiment made me a bit squeamish. To use the “device,” researchers placed seven patients in a controlled environment to perform a bit of surgery.

The patients’ skulls were split open and electrode sheets were attached directly to their brains. They were also asked to read aloud from various texts (the Gettysburg Address, JFK’s inaugural address, Charmed fan fiction, and a children’s story) to get a baseline of what their brains were doing while they were speaking.

Finally, the “brainwave recognition device” was able to translate the patients’ thoughts onto paper, although the translations were rough and limited. Until this device can read minds without cracking someone’s head open, I think I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. For more details see the full story on Vice

http://bit.ly/1H9vU5r

Thoughts to Text

Una campaña (tipo experimento social) creada por Grey Nueva York para generar conciencia sobre el uso de armas domésticas…

Over 60% of americans think owning a gun will make their lifes safer…

States United To Prevent Gun Violence opens a “gun store” in NYC as a hidden camera social experiment to debunk safety myths. Every gun has a history. Let’s not repeat it. Learn more at gunswithhistory.com

https://youtu.be/1nAfWfF4TjM

One Loop Portraits

El fotógrafo neoyorquino Romain Laurent es otro de esos artistas que están explorando el GIF animado como medio expresivo, haciendo retratos con algunos de los mejores video-loops que he visto (chequen su serie “GIF / One loop portrait a week)…

Romain Laurent is a photographer and director based in New York City. From fresh, energetic portraits to high-concept ideas, Romain does it all.  He was born and raised in the French Alps, where he nutured a love of extreme skiing, and studied product design at the Ensaama National School of Applied Arts and photography at Gobelins in Paris.

He has worked globally with many top brands, agencies and magazines including Xbox, Hilton, Axe, Coca-Cola, Google, Nissan, TBWA, Publicis, Saatchi, Y&R, LLR, BBH, BSSP, Chi&Partners, GQ, WAD, Wired…

Romain also received the Young Gun X award from the Art Directors Club of New York…

http://bit.ly/1vPlMFV

Female Figure

El artista multimedia neoyorkino Jordan Wolfson creó este animatronic, titulado (Female Figure), cuyo propósito no es mas que causarnos repulsión y morbo a mismo tiempo con su bailesito sexy, mientras -según el artista- reflexionamos un poco sobre el consumo de masas y su futuro tecnológico…

Acclaimed artist Jordan Wolfson’s imagination brought this animatronic figure to life with a little help from his friends at Spectral Motion. The piece is currently being exhibited at David Zwirner Gallery in New York. The figure incorporates facial recognition technology, allowing her to focus on, and unnervingly follow, visitors at the exhibition…

Female Figure

Rain Room

Una muestra en el MOMA de Nueva York (llamada EXPO 1) tiene esta instalación interactiva del colectivo Random International llamada Rain Room, en donde la gente puede “controlar” la lluvia con sus movimientos. Nice…

Random International’s immersive environment Rain Room (2012), a major component of the MoMA PS1 exhibition EXPO 1: New York,is presented in the lot directly adjacent to The Museum of Modern Art. A field of falling water that pauses wherever a human body is detected, Rain Room offers visitors the experience of controlling the rain. Known for their distinctive approach to contemporary digital practice, Random International’s experimental projects come alive through audience interaction—and Rain Room is their largest and most ambitious to date.

The work invites visitors to explore the roles that science, technology, and human ingenuity can play in stabilizing our environment. Using digital technology,Rain Room creates a carefully choreographed downpour, simultaneously encouraging people to become performers on an unexpected stage and creating an intimate atmosphere of contemplation…

http://bit.ly/18Zpn7m

Rain Room

Math + Street art

Utilizando cinta adhesiva de colores  y jugando con las formas y tonos, el artista callejero neoyorkino Aakash Nihalani ha ganado reconocimiento internacional por sus intervenciones en la vía pública de ciudades que van desde su ciudad natal hasta la capital de India.
Como en muchos casos, su trabajo es alabado por la crítica y perseguido por las autoridades, pues sin importar la sutileza de su mensaje, las leyes suelen considerarlo como “vandalismo” o alguna otra figura parecida.

Esta serie en la que se apropia de elementos urbanos para crear expresiones matemáticas raya en la genialidad…



I’m loving this series of simple, non-destructive interventions by artist 
Aakash Nihalani (previously) who is widely known for his observational street art involving neon-colored tape in various geometric forms. Nihalani opens a solo show starting January 12th, 2013 at Jonathan LeVine

http://bit.ly/10GgYqO

Math + Street art

NY carbon footprint

Hay infográficos (o “infovideos”, como en este caso) que solo viéndolos podemos tener una noción real de la dimensiones de las cosas que tratan. Estos visuales sobre la Huella de Carbón de Nueva York pueden alarmar a cualquiera…

In 2010 New York City added 54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (equivalent) to the atmosphere, but that number means little to most people because few of us have a sense of scale for atmospheric pollution. 

Carbon Visuals (http://www.carbonvisuals.com) and Environmental Defense Fund (http://www.edf.org/energy) wanted to make those emissions feel a bit more real – the total emissions and the rate of emission. Designed to engage the ‘person on the street’, this version is exploratory and still work in progress. Mayor Bloomberg’s office has not been involved in the creation or dissemination of this video.

NYC carbon footprint:

54,349,650 tons a year = 148,903 tons a day = 6,204 tons an hour = 1.72 tons a second

At standard pressure and 59 °F a metric ton of carbon dioxide gas would fill a sphere 33 feet across (density of CO₂ = 1.87 kg/m³:http://bit.ly/CO2_datasheet). If this is how New York’s emissions actually emerged we would see one of these spheres emerge every 0.58 seconds…

http://youtu.be/DtqSIplGXOA

No more Soda

En un intento (muy errado de antemano) por combatir la obesidad, el departamento de salud de NuevaYork acaba de aceptar una iniciativa que practicamente “prohibe” vender refrescos tal como los conocemos (limitando las bebidas a 16 oz. de azucar por cada porción).

Parece que no entienden: prohibir las cosas no nos hace mejores sociedades. Al contrario, nos hace más retrogradas, nos enajena e “infantiliza” aun más. La solución sería crear conciencias y generar alternativas reales y viables…

“This is the single biggest step any city, I think, has ever taken to curb obesity, but certainly not the last step that lots of cities are going to take,” Bloomberg said at a news conference after the vote. “We believe that it will help save lives.”

Dr. Sixto R. Caro, who practices internal medicine in Brooklyn and Manhattan, was the one board member who abstained from voting. “I am still skeptical,” Caro said. “This is not comprehensive enough.”

The new regulation puts a 16-ounce limit on sugary drinks sold at city restaurants, movie theaters, sports venues and street carts and applies to both bottled and fountain drinks.

It does not include grocery or convenience stores that don’t serve prepared food and would not apply to diet soda, other calorie-free drinks or anything that has at least 50 percent milk or milk substitute.

“This has nothing to do with banning your ability to buy as many sugary drinks as you want, simply the size of the cup that can be used, it cannot be greater than 16 ounces under this regulation,” Bloomberg explained…

http://cbsloc.al/QmZ8io 

No more Soda