Link About It: This Week’s Picks
The iPad paintbrush, Zagat does food trucks, high-tech barcodes and more in this week’s look at the web
1. Vivian Maier’s Street Photography
The work of a live-in nanny, this collection of images capturing everyday Chicago life in the ’50s and ’60s was discovered by a real-estate agent three years ago.
2. Sprig Lamp
NYC-based designer Victor Vetterlein’s recently-launched lamp concept plays off the nature of plant growth for a rhizome-like structure. The modular design looks elegant as single pendant but combine two or more “sprigs” to create a floor lamp or chandelier.
3. Joystick-It
Adding a retro feel and improved control to gaming on touch-screen devices, this solid milled-aluminum joystick is lightweight and works simply by sticking it to screens.
4. High-tech Barcodes for Cameras
While we’re all familiar with various forms of traditional barcodes and the attempts that have been made to read them with a mobile device, a group of student from MIT Media Lab’s Camera Culture Group have developed a super high-tech bar code to be read specifically by cameras. The Bokode utilizes the Bokeh effect, creating a tiny barcode that users can scan from up to 15 feet away.
5. Pop Up Park Opens in Nolita
Transforming a gallery, this indoor park—complete with see-saw, a pond and grass—offers a respite to the current wintery slog in Manhattan.
6. Magic mirror can monitor health
Students in the Harvard- MIT Health Sciences and Technology program developed a mirror that helps keep you health-conscious. The device can read you blood pressure, respiration rate and pulse just by glancing into it so you can see your life stats while you brush.
7. Zagat Food Truck Survey
NYC’s leading food surveyor adds food trucks to their coverage. The Zagat Food Truck online guide filters by cuisine and shows which are open using Twitter.
8. Virtual Footwear
For anyone who thinks Germany’s sneaker stores are impressive, Intel partnered with Adidas to create a virtual shoe store that would put as many as 8,000 kicks at customers’ fingertips.
9. Nomad: iPad Paintbrush
Introducing a new interactive level to the iPad, the Nomad comes out next month and brings all the physical nuance of a brush to the digital tool.
10. Fuji Finepix X100
Inspired by the form of classic 35mm cameras, Fuji’s new Finepix X100 packs all the digital innovation you’d expect into a beautifully-crafted body.
11. Whimsical Sustainable Furniture
Design site 3Rings explains the value of wood with their look at Tom Raffield’s elegant chaise lounge. The equally stimulating designer “uses no ‘nasty’ glues or finishes, and designs with longevity of the piece in mind.”
12. VideoSurf
Like Shazam for the TV, VideoSurf allows you to hold smart phones up to the screen to find out just who that actor is.
