The idea of footwear was pushed further by converging elements of digital culture with fashion and design into a wearble technology. The end product is a sneaker designed to detect Wi-Fi wireless internet hot-spots wherever the user may roam, with every step.

The ASRD™ sneaker is equipped with an integrated wireless internet detection unit embedded under the flap of the left shoe. Once the pressure sensitive insole is activated, the unit scans the surrounding area for Wi-Fi signals and displays the result through LEDs.

The three LEDs on the flap enclosure represent the signal strength of any wireless internet signals within a 50 meter area. A blinking LED represents no signal, while a solid LED shows that there is a signal present.

Wi-Fi finder hacking.

Make your own wireless detector...

This interesting art project consists of a computer speech to text loop that continually degrades over time. One machine reads text aloud that is alayzed by another computer which then speaks the text, while the next machine analyzes it and speaks the result as well. The result is printed out in real-time on a nearby printer to keep a record of the conversation. Also see Apple Talk by Jurg Lehni as a reference for this project.

Taiwa-Hensokuki

This was one of those generic chinese drum machine thingees, the kind that shares its guts with 1000s of other toys, but the external plastics change depending on who does the packaging. I really like this version of the drum toy because it has pretty lights and sounds great when bent. Very Aphex Twin. It also has dog and frog sounds... This one has two optical resistors for optical sequencing and pitch control that are switchable "on" and has pot control for making it go realllyyy slowwww... I also did a metallic blue with silver splatter paintjob which turned out kinda cool.

Tom Eckert makes incredible wooden sculptures that often look just like draped cloth. He also made this awesome Tank Chair. From the images of his tromp l'oeil sculptures, you would never know that that satin is actually carved and sanded from wood.

"Shade Pixel" is a physical display that uses deformable skin to represent live information. The project was developed at the Design Media Lab at Korea's Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). From the description: "The prototype display is 11 x 7 pixels large and is made up of a skeleton of 77 solenoids with frame holes. A layer of Spandex forms the surface of the display and through the use of iron cores, each solenoid can be triggered to pull down each core to form a concave dip in the Spandex skin, causing "shades". These shades are what forms the image. Similarly, the solenoids can release the iron cores, returning the skin to its "flat" surface."

Design Media Lab, via Architectradure

This installation, entitled "Without Records" by Japanese experimental musicians Otomo Yoshihide and Yasutomo Aoyama employs over 100 record-free turntables to create a sound piece dedicated to the result of the dissappearing technology of LPs. Each turntable is augmented with some form of object to create a different effect on the needle arm as it passes the disc platter thus producing an interesting clatter of sounds when heard as a whole. Watch the video and listen to the results.

ENSEMBLES/Otomo Yoshihide via Pink Tentacle

Jeffrey Augustine Songco made this rather foreboding dream catcher featuring a captcha text -

I’m really interested in the relationship between my identity and the Internet. I’m interested in how I can become someone else or learn more about myself by using the Internet. Regardless of what that identity is, Dream Captcha is a work about protecting that identity.

More:

Captcha Paintings

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating profile of Andrew Schneider, a tech artist from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

[via Boing Boing]

In honor of John Lennon's birthday, here's a piece of cool, inexplicable conceptual techno-art that might be right up John and Yoko's alley. It's an untitled piece by Christopher Kaczmarek and was shown at last month's ArtBots show in Dublin. I found it on the Solarbotics site. They gave it a shout out 'cause the device uses the SCC3766 Solar Cells and GM10 Gear Motors they sell.

Untitled, 2006

More:

• ArtBots 2008 Dublin - this weekend

While New Yorkers have been consumed by the stock market meltdown, a tiny little pet store quietly opened four days ago at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street in the West Village of New York City.

There are no puppies or kittens in the windows here.

Instead, a live leopard lounges on a tree in the window.

Or is it?

In other windows, things get a bit more bizarre.

McDonald's Chicken McNuggets sip barbecue sauce. A rabbit puts on her makeup. A CCTV camera nurtures its young.

Clearly, that this isn't your typical pet store.

So who's the "owner" of the Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill at 89 West 7th Avenue?

Banksy...

The "Spore 1.1" project is a self-sustaining ecosystem for a rubber tree plant purchased from Home Depot where the economic health of Home Depot stock value is analyzed and used to control the watering of the plant through a custom built circuit. If the company does poorly and the plant dies, the plant is returned to Home Depot and replaced with another at no additional cost. Let's just hope that the economy starts improving so that we can save all of the house plants.

Spore 1.1

When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over.

More about Decorating your room wit a Sharpie Marker [DRAWN!]

In the Maker Shed:

Maybe you could start with a DIY Laptop Bag by Skooba

Back-to-School Sale - 10% off every order, free Maker's Notebook with every order of $25 or more.

Use code CRZYDAN for the discount, the Maker's notebook will be added automatically. Ends 9/30/08 midnight PST

Bandai's Luminodot is the Lite-Brite we always knew we wanted. This 70 by 50 pixelated board is supported by a bright LED backlight. With 1600 bulbs in 12 different colors, each dot is important to finish the master piece. Any type of images can be projected onto the Luminodot, from a simple 2D picture to perspective art works. Featuring a private software that helps the user to create and preview the image. Luminodot is designed with a removable front panel, which allows the user to place the printed image underneath. A one-of-a-kind interior decoration. Available only from Japan (More & videos).

The "Crackle Canvas" by Tom Verbruggen is a series of circuit bent canvas devices that when patched together with 1/8th inch audio cables produce sounds that can be manipulated in a live performance. Check out the video for the full effect of this installation.

Tom Verbruggen YT Channel via Network Research

The "WowPod" by Russian media artists Aristarkh Chernyshev & Alexei Shulgin is a large-scale, iPod that actually works, although it looks like it's been through an oven or is reflected in a funhouse mirror.

WowPod

A train-style record player. Users connect the chipped pieces of records together to make new tracks. The records pieces are from cheap records bought at jumble sales or used record shops. This record player revives forgotten, old records.

The dumpster is used to frame its contents - 1649 litres of filtered, chlorinated water. Its interior is lined with waterproof blue material while a pump and filter system ensures the purity of its contents. Powerful jets stimulate the sensorial experience.

Records were melted and sculpted to form a cascading wave, dotted with bursts of colorful labels. The resulting structure speaks to the inevitable waves of technology that render each successive generation of recordable media obsolete. The piece also aims to physically manifest the ephemerality of music as well as one man's musical tastes, as represented by his personal record collection.