noteput is an interactive musical device, which translates physical music notes placed on a projectionscreen into music. the system combines a sense of hearing and sight with touch to create a compellingmusical interface that makes learning about musical notation interesting. the user takes the selection ofmusical notes and places them on the table. when a note is placed on the staves, the coordinating sound isheard. the user can also arrange the notes in a musical sequence and hear them all by pressing the playbutton. the notes can be looped and they can be played using the sound of a variety of instruments.the project by jurgen graef and jonas friedemann heuer uses vvvv as a programming toolkit designed forworking with real time video synthesis. http://www.jonasheuer.de Via DesignBoom

A nice piece on Irish design  from an Italian perspective. Written by Porzia Bergamasco for AT Casa. you can read the article Here. Just to make it east for you I have linked to a translated version Here

Well I can see the positives and I can see the negatives but I honestly think people are looking at this device from the wrong angle.  I really believe that the iPad has (will have) a bigger market than people think. I know it is basically a larger iPod touch, but since I got my iPhone I use my PC about 4 hours less in the evening, only turning it on when I have to do some work, or want to do some more comfortable searching of the web.  But there are a lot of people out there who are not computer numptys or old technophobe women (no offence) , myself included, that would, rather than power up an over sized and over powerful laptop reach to the coffee table and pick up a light elegant and powerful (for what it has to do) iPad which is always on and doesn’t need anti-virus, continual updating and a power lead sticking out the back. A device which just works when you need it and how you need it. And then there are those with desktops? I don’t want to have to go to the office and power up the beast just to do a quick search, show some photos to a friend or reply to a single email.

Then there are the apps. Apps are going to make the pad desirable and necessary. Wait for Wacom to bring out a tablet app (making a €1000 pro table redundant) Wait for garage band app, KORG Kaossilator, Sketch book pro etc, etc. And I’m not going to even talk about gaming. But what imagine multi-touch strategy games or racing games with the accelerometer…awesome!…

Leaving out the front facing camera was a mistake (unfortunately a calculated mistake. That’s for the 2nd generation) and they should defiantly have allowed apps to run in the background. Not on the iPhone, but defiantly on the pad. Yes the price point is high, but still cheaper than a basic Dell and the same price as the Amazon kindle. Plus it is a first generation product…and that price will fall way down.

Unfortunately for apple, the fanboys don’t like it…it’s not for them. They were expecting a touch screen Macbook pro tablet and their hopes and dreams were smashed! but a Mac book pro tablet would be freaking awesome! This isn’t a laptop..this is a very useful and ever expandable accessory. I’m still going to wait for v2 before I get one but by then we might have the iPad Pro.

Well isn’t this a super idea. One day hopefully it comes with all lens caps!

You may think automatic white balance is good enough. But if you’ve ever had to fix dozens (or even 100s) of photos with just slightly different colors, one-by-one, you know the true meaning of pain.

The White Balance Lens Cap leaves you no excuse for not properly white-balancing every situation you encounter.

Simply flip your camera into custom White Balance mode, snap a photo with your White Balance Lens Cap on, and your camera creates a perfect profile of the actual lighting in front of you.

Best of all, unlike a gray card, the White Balance Cap takes no extra room in your gear bag. Just replace your existing lens cap with this one and you’ll always be able to white balance with no additional equipment.

Squeeze the White Balance Lens Cap’s side tabs for easy attachment or removal, even with a lens hood in place. The center pinch-release mechanism prevents it from accidentally being bumped off, while in your bag or shooting in a crowd.

Each White Balance Lens Cap comes with both a neutral and a warm color dome. Pick whichever you prefer and give all your photos perfectly consistent white balance.

Available for lens thread sizes 52mm, 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm and 77mm. (Don’t know your thread size? Just check the outer rim or bottom of your lens for one of these numbers.)

Note: You may look a little silly setting your white balance by taking a photo with your lens cap still on, but the results are worth it. We promise.

Via Swiss-Miss

I was recently pointed to this article in the NY Times by Steven Heller.  It’s a very interesting read on one of my, as you may have gathered by now favorite subjects…Unintended faces in and on inanimate objects. Within the article was this MasterCard ad which is actually really well done. Below is a short extract form the piece; and you can read the full article here.

Designers have a knack for seeing the uncommon in commonplace things. The most common are faces – eyes, noses and mouths – smiling, frowning and scowling. Apparently, they’re hiding everywhere, just waiting to be discovered by discerning eyes. In 1996 the Swiss designers François and Jean Robert collected many such discoveries in a book called “Face to Face” (Lars Muller), including dozens of photographs of emotive and expressive “faces” in objects like electric sockets, handbags, corkscrews, and an owlish telescopic viewer like the kind found on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Do the designers of everyday wares deliberately inject faces to engage consumers subliminally? Is it just simple serendipity, and ultimately in the eye of the beholder? Or is there a gang of subversive extraterrestrials spying on us?

Check out lunchbreath’s great photostream over on Flickr…Great stuff! What Moleskinneur am I you ask……Well I am an over prepared freeform collager with opportunist tendencies. Via Core77

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunchbreath/