Touch displays are going to transform the way we use computers. MultiTouch, a Finland-based company, has just released a truly amazing modular based multi-touch display. They’re completely scalable, from the size of a laptop screen to screens that measure over 66 feet across — only your pocketbook will decide the size of your display. Each LCD screen is HD ready and can be built as a table or a wall unit. The multi-user system allows the direct use of hands to play games, sketch, manipulate, and play around with maps, pictures, and videos — no more mouses (or is it mice?). If you’ve watched CNN lately, you’ve probably seen the MultiTouch in action, moving around the electoral map. It really has to be seen to fully understand its capabilities.

Related: TED 2007

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“I'm working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

At the conference he couldn’t provide specifics and it took nearly two years to finally release the story, and it’s now public.  His mission is to create awareness about an extremely drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis which is killing one person every 20 seconds around the world, and it’s completely preventable.  Watch the gripping 3 minute video and help make a difference now, please spread the word.

It’s that time of the year again, when I pop out to San Francisco and the Bay Area for a few days before going to the incredible TED conference in Monterey, California. This years speaker lineup aims to answer questions like “Who are we?” “What is art?” “What is love?” and “What is evil” in, as they describe, unexpected ways. The whole lineup can be read on the site now, and I’m jazzed as ever to see folks like friend and site mainstay Kaki King, Chris Jordan, Bob Geldof, and Al Gore (again), as they all take the stage and blow the room away, for 18 minutes each. I’ll surely be covering highlights on the blog as it happens. I can’t wait! Stay tuned.

Related: TED 2007 Highlights

The speaker lineup for the legendary and incredible TED Conference I attend in Monterey, California just released their speaker lineup for the event — 50 days away! — and it is seriously stellar. As the folks at TED say, their most ambitious to date (I’m not surprised, they don’t play around); a diverse group of folks like Kaki King (love her) alongside author Dave Eggers, John Knoll, Walter Isaacson, industrial designer Yves Behar (he did the Jawbone) to name a few. And of course, Al Gore will make another appearance on the same stage he announced his film, An Inconvenient Truth. The yearly brain safari I alluded to last year in all my TED 2007 posts is almost here. I can’t wait! Be sure to check out the whole program here, because you know you can look forward to them as TED Talks in the future.

About a week ago, we stumbled upon a 24 year-old graphic designer who goes by the moniker of 57 Even. Unlike a lot of other designers his age (or even those far past his age), 57 Even's work was demonstrating something often sought but less infrequently attained: an empathetic relationship with the client, the product, and the consumer.

Considering his clients are often trying to reach the segment of buyers that he himself is a part of, it could be that this empathy is a basic reaction to his current situation, a natural narcissism that happens to serve him well in his chosen profession. However; whether he's working for HP, MTV, or skate/snowboard companies, one thing seems to stand out about finished product: it talks. And in the desperate quest to find a way to get 18 to twenty-somethings to listen, talking is a compelling quality.

Regardless of the circumstances that add up to the results of his creativity, the fact remains that 57 Even, for a freelancing young gun, offers something that all designers would do well to have. Read on to try, like us, to determine what that is.

Joshspear.com: What led you, initially, to graphic design?

57 Even: Graphic design was something that I realized I was already doing late in high school. I got there through a mix of the fine arts (drawing, painting, sculpture, jewelry making, poetry, graffiti, pottery) and computer-based experiments (HTML, digital imaging, ascii, ansi, web design), forged with an incessant desire to create and an inability to sleep. READ MORE…

I’m biding my time before looking through Dazed & Confused magazine’s Dazed Digital site because it holds so much content (a good thing), the highlights of which include interviews with Bjork and designer Bernhard Willhelm, and an up-close and personal tour with Wu Tang Clan as they globe trot from London to Denver. If you’re feeling similarly overwhelmed, hit up the “Seduced By Light” series first for some excellent short documentaries featuring three artists/groups that use light as integral parts of their work. One of the groups represented is United Visual Artists (the people behind the dynamic live visuals for Massive Attack’s tour), who discuss their technique for developing warping holograms above dancers in a show, and how they rigged the lighting work for Battles’ “Tonto” video. In other films, artist Jason Bruges takes viewers into the studio to show “interactive light environments,” and David Batchelor talks about his interpretations of light in art. I’m not sure how long these films will be up, so catch them before they’re replaced with new content.

In case you have say, $100K lying around and happen to be unhealthily obsessed with your iPhone’s touchscreen, you can always step it up and go for Perceptive Pixel/Jeff Han’s Interactive Touch Media Wall — Josh raved about his play with the eight-foot-three monolith at last year’s TED, although he thinks the mark-up is just a “tad steep.” Think of it as Apple meets Minority Report; Neiman Marcus has the video illustrating the Wall’s abilities which, for most of us, will be about as close to getting our hands on one as we’ll get — at this point in time, anyways. In any case, it’ll definitely be interesting to watch how this sort of technology is employed in our everyday lives over the next few years.

Via Uncrate

The brainchild of Australian graphic designers Rebecca Brown and Tanya Mckay, Blanket Magazine is an online publication that aims to “uncover new, emerging and established designers/artists/photographers, showcase their talent and give them a vehicle for self promotion.” So far, Blanket has produced five issues, each of which is available for download on its website. The issues focus around a theme and are released in four sections (to keep us all in a constant state of giddiness). Past releases have included “The Yellow Issue” and “The Urban Issue.” The latest issue is “The Face Issue,” and it features Spear Collective badass, Jesse Hora. But you don’t have to be friends with us to contribute to Blanket. Anyone can do it, simply by following the instructions here.

With a really clean site design featuring what I can only hope are original sketches by Brown and Mckay, along with a blog of their own which highlights other worthwhile design-related stuff on the internet (oh, that’s what a blog is? Thanks Dan!), Blanket Magazine is definitely worth a look. And I have nothing witty to add to that.

Last Saturday, architect-designer Chris Deam made a stop in Boulder to give a presentation at our local Design Within Reach. Deam’s work for Airstream, an unlikely alliance that has been met with surprising enthusiasm and success, recently led to the production of a DWR/Deam special edition travel trailer.

The DWR Airstream (which accompanied Deam for the presentation) proved to be a beautiful model of past and modern aesthetics and sensibilities. Using the classic Airstream shell as an inspirational base, Deam outfitted the interior with a dreamy selection of materials, appliances, fabrics and electronics. Eco-friendly flooring, a Nelson Ball Clock, a Tom Dixon coat rack, and metal perforated laminate doors are only a few highlights of the long list of lustables included in the DWR Airstream, but the real success of the collaboration is derived from the flawless compatibility of the design elements in unison. My favorite aspect of the trailer was the interior exposed aluminum, a creative decision made by Deam so that the exterior would be reflected in the interior, bringing the outdoors indoors and thereby adding a constantly changing element to the Airstream’s design.

Deam and The Airstream are currently touring DWRs around the U.S. To see if Deam will be anywhere near you, check out this map.

Related: This Don’t Be Your Everyday Trailer Trash

WARNING: Under no circumstances does Attus Apparel recommend, encourage, or condone using firearms to shoot any article of clothing as it can be a dangerous activity that CAN RESULT IN SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY OR DEATH.

(Sweet, sweet, reader contributions.)

Thins are still getting kinda juicy over at the Design Showcase — thanks to Kohler and our fine readers, Round 5 was blessed by (among other things) lighting porn; an awesome company that will etch your artwork straight onto your laptop; and maybe the perhaps the best shout-out to consumerism ever to grace our digital pages.

Awesome stuff, guys; keep it up — and if you haven’t started showing us the stuff that you love, YOU BETTER… or we will break into your closets and blow bullet holes through your well-developed wardrobes.

We never really doubted that our readers could find better stuff than we do, but the things that have been popping up on our Showcase have been putting some of the team (ok, mostly just me) to shame. Topping off the list of good stuff from this week is the glow-in-the-dark limited bike from Brooklyn Machine Works (so rad); the curious and amazing Beach on Wall project; the DUO x Rogue Status Pivotal bike seat (which has definitely made its way around the internet- good for them); and the new Maps album, We Can Create, that sets the mood for summertime relaxation even better than the three mojitos you’ll probably down while listening to it. If you still haven’t gotten to know our Showcase, click on one of the Kohler + JS boxes floating around the site — it will take you to a page where you can share your finds with us and other readers for a chance to, well, share (because sharing is nice), and to win some gift certificates from Spout. Thanks for the contributions so far, guys, you’re on fire!

Who taught you to drive? This question will undoubtedly spark some interesting stories from almost anyone you ask and it’s the question BMW asks on newly launched, RelearnToDrive. Relearn features hilarious videos with different characters (agro gym coach, war vet grandpa, cig smoking “drive with both feet” mom, etc.) who may have taught you to drive, but have no clue what they’re talking about. After a hearty laugh, you can “Undo the Damage” at the BMW Performance School site that highlights everything the school has to offer — which is more than plenty — and showcases some insane driving footage. The ‘Testimonials’ and ‘Instructors’ sections are must sees!

We're thrilled to have “firsties” on the just-launched site and even more thrilled to have you, the readers, share the funny, humiliating, exhilarating, and scary stories about how you learned to drive. Without further adieu, I’ll give you all the green light!

My apologies for the radio silence since I arrived here in London! I’ve had an incredible past few days, filled with meetings and engagements. The most notable experience was definitely my talk at Google Zeitgeist yesterday followed by a panel with an amazing group of people (moderated by new friend Jonathan Zittrain) discussing the Digital Youth and the future of marketing and implications to the younger generations in the digital world. I spoke about five trends I believe are affecting the next generation of marketing, and what I am doing at my new agency to tackle those issues. The trends I spoke about covered Mobile as my center of gravity, I’m always on (so find me anywhere), Dating as Gaming, Virtual Gifting and Mass Individuality.

I’m told a video of my presentation and highlights from the panel will be on YouTube shortly, I’ll be sure to update everyone when they’re up there.

You’ll have to excuse the light posting for today, as I’m heading back to ICFF momentarily. Before I do, though, I wanted to share some of the highlights of my filled trip on Saturday. Josh had warned me there would be a lot of “garbage” at the Javits Center (and indeed, there is) but I guess you can chalk my kid-in-a-candy store excitement up to first-timer enthusiasm. After the jump is a just a snippet of some of my favorite things from Saturday’s field trip, and I’ll be back later this evening and tomorrow with a veritable boatload of photos and stories.

If there’s someone there you think I should check out, hit me up on my Blackberry and I’ll swing by.
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I’ve been to the digital film festival Resfest before in the States and always look forward to it, so I’m blocking out the next three days when it stops here in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian version will include films that are common threads to all stops, such as international music videos and shorts, but ours will also include a ton of Brazil-specific films that I doubt most people outside of the country have seen. For starters, there will be a restrospective of the work of Goulart De Andrade, who pioneered independent programming in Brazil and set the tone for a non-pre-scripted format, and three showings of shorts by different Brazilian filmmakers. In addition, Resfest Brazil boasts 10 feature-length films exclusive to this leg of the tour, including Matthew Barney’s epic Drawing Restraint 9, a Brazilian graffiti film called No Traco do Invisivel that follows artist Zezao around the city and a profile of punk rock in the country called Botinada. Other highlights include a showcase of Brazilian music videos from bands like Cansei De Ser Sexy, Nacao Zumbi, Mombojo as well as in-depth panel discussions.