Categories
Inspiration

Steven Pinker on Measuring Human Happiness

Debbie Millman talks to experimental psychologist and author Steven Pinker about measuring human happiness […]

Categories
Readings Software

Information Technology in Brazil: universities scoring well in the “Programming World Cup”

The Brazilian Military Institute of Engineering (IME) finished the “World Cup of Programming”, closed on Wednesday (25) as the best university in Latin America in this year. Another highlight of the tournament was the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) — my alma mater — who finished 36th […]

Categories
Design Innovation Readings Software

Watch James Patten’s “The best computer interface? Maybe … your hands” talk

In this nifty talk and demo, James Patten imagines a more visceral, physical way to bring your thoughts and ideas to life in the digital world, taking the computer interface off the screen and putting it into your hands […]

Categories
Inspiration

Watch Dan Ariely’s “What makes us feel good about our work?” talk at TED

What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn’t just money. But it’s not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational, presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work.

Categories
Design Information Technology Innovation Software Trend Watching

Watch Carlo Ratti’s “Architecture that senses and responds” talk at TED

With his team at SENSEable City Lab, MIT’s Carlo Ratti makes cool things by sensing the data we create. He pulls from passive data sets — like the calls we make, the garbage we throw away — to create surprising visualizations of city life. And he and his team create dazzling interactive environments from moving water and flying light, powered by simple gestures caught through sensors […]

Categories
Design Innovation

Watch Bill Verplank’s Opening Keynote on IxDA | Interaction ‘11 Conference

Bill Verplank is a human-factors engineer with a long career in design, research and education. As a fresh ME PhD from MIT he worked eight years at Xerox on the testing and refinement of what we now call the “desktop metaphor”: bit-map graphics, keyboard and mouse, direct manipulation […]

Categories
Design Information Technology Innovation Trend Watching

Watch “Cynthia Breazeal’s “The rise of personal robots” talk at TED

As a grad student, Cynthia Breazeal wondered why we were using robots on Mars, but not in our living rooms. The key, she realized: training robots to interact with people. Now she dreams up and builds robots that teach, learn — and play. Watch for amazing demo footage of a new interactive game for kids […]

Categories
Design Information Technology Innovation Trend Watching

Watch Richard Buchanan’s Keynote on IxDA | Interaction ‘11 Conference

Richard Buchanan is Professor of Design, Management, and Information Systems at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Before joining the Weatherhead faculty in 2008, he served as Head of the School of Design from 1992 until 2002 and from 2002 until 2008 as Director of Doctoral Studies. While at Carnegie Mellon, he inaugurated Interaction Design programs at the Masters and doctoral level […]

Categories
Design

Watch Natalie Jeremijenko’s “The art of the eco-mindshift” talk at TED

Natalie Jeremijenko’s unusual lab puts art to work, and addresses environmental woes by combining engineering know-how with public art and a team of volunteers. These real-life experiments include: Walking tadpoles, texting “fish,” planting fire-hydrant gardens and more […]

Categories
Design Information Technology Innovation

Watch “Creativity and Collaboration in the Digital Age” panel at MIT Comparative Media Studies

In a panel moderated by James Paradis, five former Comparative Media Studies (CMS) students discuss their personal experiences within the CMS program and the impact it has had on their understanding, interpretation, and implementation of creativity in the digital age […]