Digital Apollo

Man, machine and the dawn of software in the space age

In Digital Apollo, MIT professor of the history of engineering David Mindell plumbs the archives at the university in order to explore the tenuous relationship between man and machine during the Apollo landings. While machines had long defined human undertakings, it was the rise of software and intelligent machines that caused the most pronounced shift in mechanical interactions. As Mindell puts it, “Astronauts and their …

OneReceipt

Store all your receipts in a searchable online interface

Timed to launch for today’s Cyber Monday online shopping extravaganza, the new service OneReceipt provides a solution to keep track of all your proofs of purchase. Whether you have receipts from Black Friday, plan to accrue some more over the holidays or simply have an overflow of receipts and confirmations in your inbox dating back a couple years, you probably wish you had a better …

Playground Sessions

A new software program trains aspiring pianists through interactive learning

Gaming meets Chopin with Playground Sessions, a downloadable software that teaches piano through its breakthrough “Play to Learn” approach. Riffing on the strumming-to-scoring simulation of Guitar Hero, Playground Sessions enables users to practice “in an interactive environment with real-time feedback,” backed by an interconnected keyboard and hit music library. Created by brand invention firm, ZAG, Playground Sessions is a “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” method of self-driven learning motivated …