Shooting the breeze visually (Aeolian Light)

I'd love to see this! After reading the article in Wired about the Italian duo making sound from light, this Wired article then caught my eye about an installation at Salford Quay that is taking unseen patterns in the environment and visualising them.

Aeolian Light is the work of the art collective Squidsoup and has placed tendrils of LED lights which illuminate following the breeze. I particularly liked the observation that it also shows the passage of non-breeze and people walk past and obstruct the wind.

Electric Light Orchestra of the 90s - Quiet Ensemble

I came across this from Wired in my Christmas catch-up reading and really liked it. As with my previous post, I'm going to make a comment and get this up online and maybe add to it later rather than taking the time to follow-up everything that is interesting about it and then post.

This has nothing to do with the ELO of the 70s from Brum, but Quiet Ensemble, a duo of Italian artists who have taken electronic Elightenment as an opportunity to produce a unique sound from the barely and inaudible electromagnetic effects from different light appliances. It's really hard to describe this without visualising and hearing the concept. Thankfully you can see the conceptual build up on Vimeo.

Been a while ... New Year's resolutions

Well, sorry, (to myself as much as any readers) that I've not been posting regularly over the past couple of months. I got a bit distracted in October with the day-job and didn't really get to properly follow-up any of the interesting stuff that I was following through Oct-Dec.

It's been an interesting period, which I'd love to blog more about, but can't easily do without tripping over the aforementioned day-job. Still, in the time, I've had a good technical grilling, returned to China after nearly 20 years and have been astonished by the scale of change and been able to give my annual guest lecture at one of the local universities.

As Christmas and the run-up is usually a manic period, for the usual festive and other family reasons I also haven't had a quiet period until now.

So, my New Year's resolution last year was to start a blog, which I've done and been quite pleased how it works. It has been a great experience and a chance to get down some of the things I have been noodling about with and great ideas from others I've noticed in the press or otherwise.

What have I learnt? Well, writing good technical posts takes a lot longer than I'd thought. However, the discipline of getting those thoughts down is really worthwhile. I have also found myself half writing posts and sort of writing them in draft and not getting to finish them almost as a thought placeholder to myself. Useful, but also less useful in terms of sharing or getting comments. So, next year, I'm going to try and post shorter stuff more regularly.

I also thought I'd blog more about completed projects, but have found myself wanting to write (if only for myself) about what I'm finding that interests me and can see this as a series of flirting interests that are connected up myself, but not so easy to see externally without context.

Anyway, my thoughts for the lull period between Christmas and New Year was to try to get some of those drafts into finished posts, so if you've been looking, thank you! There will be a bunch of posts from over the summer and odd other points that may well just start appearing!

Happy New Year!

Sony (FES) eInk Watch Concept

I've long been a fan of eInk technology and like everyone else have been following the various offerings into the new eWatch space. The problem is that all of the Android and AppleWear watches seem to try to be being too clever and missing the main point of a watch which is to reliably tell the time. Now, when I mean reliably, I mean it has power. The problem with most of the offerings is that they have minimal life, which means that they can't meet the basic purpose without a lot of hassle.

Now, here is the FES Watch prototype that has come out of Sony. There are a couple of things I really like about this and it particularly marks a return to form for Sony with something clearly innovative and with a good understanding of what the user might want. Kind of like the first inkling that made them famous, understanding the need for personal audio and matching that.

Firstly, I love the clean design. Simple, minimalist, I could see myself wearing this. I particularly like that they have looked at what eInk and an eWatch could do that is different from a normal watch. Yes, you can choose a customised design for the face and the strap. Neat!

The battery life is purported to be 60 hours. Again, I like that. No chance of starting a 13 hour flight to Tokyo and then finding out just as the watch is about to adjust timezones that the thing is dead due to the short battery life of the 'smart' watches. Sure, I'm certain they will solve some of these loop-holes, but I really hope Sony get this out and give a sense of some alternatives at the 'low-tech' meets the purpose of the device end. Kind of like phones that can reliably make phone calls.

The other thing I liked about this and some might baulk that this was a device by Sony, is that they tried this out on the world through a separate subsidiary and looked at getting some test input via a Japanese croud-funding site. Is this disingenuous for a large multinational to do this? I'm not so sure. Does it meet the purpose, e.g. trying out something new and innovative on the market-place, yes. Does it allow steerage and feedback on the concepts much more directly, yes. And finally, does it allow companies to take a chance on such things, yes. Back in the day, some will remember the Sony only cautiously broke into the video-games market with the original PlayStation. Known as an AV manufacturer there was concern that this would potentially damage the brand, so the original PlayStation launched without a Sony logo, and the same for the original PS2.

Would I like to see more technology chances? Yes! Is is fair for large companies to try this? I think so, otherwise we're going to see concepts stifled as marketing and brand-police prevent companies taking chances..... good on you Sony..... let's hope we see more. Not so sure about the eInk bow-tie designs though.

Spiro @ South Street and The Vapourer Moog

Had a fantastic evening just before we get into the Christmas rush to see Spiro. I first saw them at WOMAD about 6 years ago and have long enjoyed their music. And what a treat it was to listen to them in more intimate surroundings at South-Street with some cabaret style tables. Each of the members took a turn in explaining the songs and bringing about a wonderfully dream-like state of enjoyment from the musical patterns and melodies.

In the interval I purchased the one EP we don't have at home, The Vapourer which includes an int

eresting version of some songs using a Moog to complement their traditional instruments. I asked Alex Vann, the Mandolinist how this had come about. He said that Adrian Utley (of Portishead) and fellow Bristolian had suggested it as the instrument would complement their sound. And indeed it does. As the quote on the RealWorld records site says:

A new six-track mini album featuring Moog synthesizer mixes by Adrian Utley (Portishead), which transport Spiro's music to an ethereal place somewhere between Sci-Fi, Bach and Kraftwerk - plus a new recording and three dazzling live tracks from WOMAD Charlton Park 2012.