Nutricate

Typically, I consider receipts a waste of time and paper, but Nutricate is looking at some new receipt features that might make me reconsider their worth. Nutricate receipts come with the nutrition information of the meal you purchased. The receipts state calorie, fiber, fat and protein information as total amounts and percentages of daily recommended intakes. These receipts make it easier to track your food intake and make smart eating decisions. To me, the most ingenious part of this idea is that Nutricate is elevating the value of nutrition to the same level as the value for money, changing the way we think about the price of a meal.

Chris Ware's The New Yorker Cover

Chris Ware has created this thought provoking piece of artwork for the cover of The New Yorker's November issue. It is beautiful to look at, with a season appropriate theme, and some strong underlying messages about modern society. This panel is part of a larger comic called Unmasked. The whole thing can be seen here (although I think it is more effective as a stand alone piece).

(Found through Design Milk).

Murmur Study

To me, anything you say on Twitter is said in an instant, and if you hear it - you hear it, and if you don't - you don't. I sometimes forget that Twitter is permanent, archived, indexed and searched. Christopher Baker's project, Murmur Study, helps put that into perspective. He has created two installations that print out local tweets on long rolls of paper and drop to the museum floor. Creating an "absurdity of the physical archive" of conversations.

I've seen lots of Twitter visualizations, but none quite as thought provoking as this one. Fantastic idea. (Found through ComputerLove).

Microsoft's Project Natal

Microsoft's Xbox announced its Project Natal at E3 today. It is the next revolution in gaming and entertainment where no controllers are required. They system uses a camera mounted on your TV to capture full body movement, allowing participants to control and interact with the game using natural movements. They advertise that the only experience you need is life experience. The system also incorporates facial recognition, voice recognition and the ability to scan in your own gear for use in the virtual world. Watch a full video here.

This looks super cool. I can't wait to try it.

BBC Blast Studio

The BBC currently have a great website up that allows you to play with interactive art in their studios. The BBC Blast Studios connects you to a live stream of the BBC studio (available 12pm-12am) where they have 3 interactive art pieces. Online users can choose an art piece to play with and then follow the instructions to participate.

My favorite is Mark, which gives you three paint gun shots at a large canvas. It is accompanied by a dragable timeline which allows you to see the artwork being created over time.

Fantastic idea. The combination of online visitors with real participatory art exhibits is almost too good to be true. This experiment in creativity will be available until June 9th.