Yesterday night Tricia and I attended the Science in Hollywood Salon put on by The National Academies (the people who bring us the Emmy awards). The discussion was moderated by Prof. Neil Gershenfeld, Director of The Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT.

The panel included Bill Skane, Executive Director of News & Public Information, The National Academies; Barbara Kline Pope, Executive Director for Communications and the National Academies Press, The National Academies; Alex McDowell, Production Designer for Minority Report, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse Bride; Eliene Augenbraun, President and Chief Executive Officer of ScienCentral; and J.C. Herz, Author of Joystick Nation; New York Times' first computer game critic.

Overall the discussion was interesting and stimulated critical thinking about how Hollywood and television producers engage (or ignore) the scientific community. Neil kicked things off with an amazing display of brain power (showcasing his work). While discussing a class called 'How to make just about anything', Neil brought up something interesting: students wanted to make expressive devices. Neil seemed a bit taken back by students desire to create expressive device. The projects he showed seemed more in line with projects created at ITP as opposed the research centric, heavy science going on at MIT. Expression is key to creating technology products which are meaningful to people. In this case there is a big difference between personal expression (style) and products will assist people in being more expressive.

Threads in the discussion ranged from: How do producers make Hollywood films and television engaging while not destroying the truth, to: How does science fiction inform scientific research?

All in all the discussion was very engaging. Neil kept things moving as any good moderator should. There was a great deal of audience participation in the question and answer session at the end, which is always nice to see. Neil prompted the audience with 'now what?', but no one had any answers. Could there be a more formalize approach to how Hollywood engages the scientific community? Sure. There could be. The Academy seems like a good place to start. The Academy could foster a process for facilitating such a relationship. Before this can happen however, we'll need to set more of a precedent than Minority Report.

Part of me is hesitant to answer Neil's call to formalize this relationship. Often times there is beauty which comes out of things which aren't structured. Potentially, by imposing structure we risk forcing relationships. For now we need loose structure. We need the grass roots before we can grow. We need the Dorkbots and the other communities which foster the diversity of independent communities without forcing people in one direction. Eventually things will mature and structure will be necessary. But for now, I'm satisfied without having a go to man for science. If the Academy does take on a role in fostering a relationship between producers and scientist, they may have to update the Emmy to hold an atomic symbol instead of a globe.

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Outsourcing: first call centers, then system development, now torture.

How to make a noble fruit helmet for your cat.
[via Boing Boing]

And if sustaniable design is your thing AIGA New York is putting on Grow

I don't know why I've never seen this before.

And my new faqvorite web cam is pandas!
(refresh your browser or use Sloth Cam for viewing)

This past weekend I made my way over to Printed Matter. If you're in New York and you enjoy art, books, or art books, then make your may over to 10th Avenue at 23 St.

While touring the town with some guests this weekend we stumbled into two of Soho's most wonderful modern art relics. Earth Room and Broken Kilometer are two pieces by Walter Di Maria. Originally installed in 1977 and 1979 respectively. I like modern art. I do. I'm not talking about the weird, post modern, look at how freaky my body is really close up on video type stuff. Before the post-modernists crashed the party art was weird enough to tickle you on the inside but not freak you out. I enjoy that kind of stuff.

What I really enjoyed about the two pieces we visited was the sheer size of both of them. When I hear stories about the glory days of Soho, when gallery culture flourished, I always envision people dressed in black who resemble Andy Worhol's pose, and large modern paintings hanging on the wall. I never thought of installations which consume every square inch of a large loft or gallery. Both galleries are free and open to the public. Big props to Dia for keeping the show running. It's really quite and amazing achievement.

In the news:

Dorkbot makes an appearance in the NY Times. More on Dorkbot.
(Big thanks to the one and only Peter Miller)

Some coin stories from The Morning News:

The Impeachment of George Bush (if life could only be so grand)
Get your Grill On! (I got mine. You got yours?)
And please, don't be my love slave (you murderous wench (I really don't think she did it but the whole situation form the outside is rather hilarious)).

As if ads on TV weren't bad enough. We can soon get them on our mobil devices (NY Times login required).

The Design Encyclopedia is a wiki which aims to curate "everything possible" through design.

Events
AIGA presents Small Talk No. 4: Syrup
Core77 brings us Design 2.0

And Cool Hunting blogs some videos from the ITP Winter Show.

Yes, yes yes, I've been on winter break. I had a great time visiting Wisconsin and Vermont and am finally back in New York. Taking a break was relaxing, inspiring and gave me perspective. If you haven't had a break in awhile I highly recommend one. In our day to day activities it's easy to get caught up in the nuances. Its easy to miss the bigger picture of what we're working on. Taking a break gets us out of our bubble and makes us explain things to people who may not be familiar with interactivity, art, or technology.

While in Vermont I got in a couple days of snow boarding at Jay Peak. I stopped by the Burton factory. I usually go in to drool over the new boards. I was pleasantly surprised to see Burton, Motorola and R.E.D. teamed up to deliver Audex, an Audio External Communication System. They currently have three products: a hat, a helmet and a coat. All have speakers, a mic and Bluetooth communication with your phone. The demo looks cool and the products are well made. I can defenatly see how this would benefit somone wearign a helmet. You wouldn't have to take it off to make a call. I'd be curios to try the jacket. As with any first run technologies I'm assuming there a some bugs which need to be smoothed out. I'de be curious to talk to somone who's used the coat. It still pricy, like $600 dollars or something whihc is pretty redicilious for a coat. Unless your indipendantly wealthy.

Related: iPod Jeans

Incase you were sleeping for the past few days; Apple rolled out the new Intel iMacs and laptops.

Todd posted the panorama from the Winter Show.

Rick Hauk has been busy getting FLAME running.

In food news: Batali takes on Dufresne. Tricia and I were lucky enough to get over to WD-50 over the break. Mmmm.

Some pictures from VT:
a frosty stream
Karl and Sezen
myself
the glades
the top of the tram

Hope everyone is having a good new year!