Senegalese girls (© Owen Franken).
Curious about Owen Franken? View more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his Web site.
{ 0 comments }
The Backtalk project tracks electronic waste.
What happens to old cell phones, laptops, and other electronic dodads that are out of date to Americans’ tastes? MIT’s Senseable City Lab wants to know—so they installed tracking technology on 40 laptops and sent some to an urban e-waste disposal center and others were donated to developing nations. Their project, Backtalk, is getting results.
You can see videos and other materials online or, if you are in New York, the project is currently exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in “Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.”
Here’s part of the project description:
“We turned used laptops and other electronic devices into independent reporters that document their ‘second life,’ sending us images and GPS coordinates from remote places. The information they report back offers first-hand perspectives—glimpses into e-waste recycling villages, local thrift stores, public schools, and libraries—that prompt a reflection on our society’s relationship with our electronic devices.”
{ 0 comments }
For the last couple years, Amy Qian ’11 has been making things–go-karts, unicycles, brass mobius strips–and posting videos of her progress online at http://amymakesstuff.com. Qian, who recently earned her degree in mechanical engineering, clearly loves to create. Check out her latest project in the video below:
Saba Mohsin '11 enjoys her first days in Costa Rica.
Each summer, MIT’s Public Service Center sends students to work on projects ranging from helping bright students in the developing world build new skills to investigating ways to improve living environments. Many students contribute to blogs to share their experience—here are two that tell their stories largely through photos.
Read a blog by Saba Mohsin ’11, who is working with other university students and Costa Rica’s Ministerio Ciencia y Tecnologia to design and run the country’s first high school science camp called Young Talent Club. Mohsin earned SBs in mechanical engineering and mathematics.
“The chicos’ first module was the design and construction of a parachute made of balsa wood, plastic wrap, and hot glue with a twist—they were making each other’s parachutes instead of their own,” writes Mohsin. “A two-hour design process turned into a four-hour frenzy in where the perfectionist in each of them came out and demanded more, better, stronger, lighter.”
Public transit gearing up in LA.
Read a blog by Architecture and Urban Studies graduate student Jaymes Dunsmore, who is working for the City of Los Angeles Urban Design Studio to improve access to public transportation, increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, and enhance the quality of life in neighborhoods around existing and planned Metro stations. The project targets compact, mixed-use neighborhoods that grew up around electric train lines in the early 20th century.
You can find more on the Summer Blogs & Media webpage. To get a quick view of PSC’s scope, visit the website.
{ 0 comments }
Oysters served on the weekends at the wine bar Le Baron Rouge in Paris. A perfect example of a symbiotic business relationship, oyster farmer Bernard Delis arrives every weekend from November to April with a truckload of his oysters from the Bay of Arcachon, near Bordeaux. He opens them outside the bar and they are served a traditional way, with lemon and bread and butter. The bar is always jammed with plates of oysters on every conceivable surface, including the hoods, trunks, and roofs of parked cars (© Owen Franken).
Curious about Owen Franken? View more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his Web site.
{ 0 comments }
Picard presents her ideas at TED.
Social x-ray specs are the newest tool aimed at helping people decipher emotional clues, part of ongoing research by MIT Professor Rosalind Picard SM ’86, ScD ’91, director of the Media Lab’s Affective Computing research group. When linked to software that analyzes some 10,000 facial expressions, these glasses reveal a range of emotions that may be too subtle for most people to detect and nearly impossible for people on the autism spectrum.
Picard got interested in tracking emotional response when she began working with people on the autism spectrum who did not have the ability to speak. So she began studying the sympathetic nervous system, which revs up the body, and the parasympathetic, which signals relaxation. She heard heartbreaking stories about individuals who were forced to leave school or familiar environments because of meltdowns. She found the meltdowns were preceded by a period of agitation—but the individuals could not express it.
“What if we could enable them to signal out their increasing stress and frustration?” Her research group came up with a simple wrist skin sensor that individuals could wear to display their emotional state. This device is now available through her company Affectiva.
“When something really matters, it elicits emotion,” Picard said in a recent TED talk. “And how do we help people communicate emotion to make life better—whether it’s at home, or at work for your customers, or for your kids at school. Our challenge at the Media Lab and Affectiva is to come up with better ways measure and help people communicate emotion.”
Picard, author of award-winning book Affective Computing, heads MIT’s new Autism & Communication Technology Initiative.
{ 0 comments }
If you’re a person who eats a lot of lunches on the MIT campus, then you probably know your options. There are sit-down restaurants around Central and Kendall, fast food joints in the Student Center and near the MIT bookstore. And then there are the food trucks. One in particular–a big white one usually parked near MIT Medical–is often flush with customers.
It’s the Clover food truck, one of several trucks operated by the Clover Food Lab, which was founded by Ayr Muir ’00, SM ’01.
Muir launched Clover Food Lab in October 2008 and seems to have struck gold. He went from seven employees to 70 in about a year (currently has over 100), and he went from one truck to four–plus a really nice restaurant in Harvard Square–in just a few years. There are plans in the works for a few fast food restaurants, so stay tuned.
This week Muir and the crew of the Kendall Square truck are running what they call “MIT Food Week.” They’re doing demos, tastings, even honing recipes. Today, they’re hosting a tea tasting from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m., and tomorrow (Friday) they’re having “Coffee Tech” from 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
“Material science and engineering is the best possible preparation to work with food! Seriously, I’ve used a lot of what I learned at MIT,” says Muir. “Building a business is all about problem solving.” In practice, this has led to Muir looking for ways to serve food without relying on traditional livestock farming. His solution is to serve food that is local, just-cut, and vegetarian. “We’re here to make food you love,” says Muir, and his customers seem to agree.
On Twitter, the handle @cloverfoodtruck is peppered with messages:
“@cloverfoodtruck is amazing. Love the addition of tempeh!”
“@cloverfoodtruck Words are inadequate in an attempt to explain how much I love you. I would that I could hug your whole truck.”
“Super excited to see this @cloverfoodtruck. Btw, squash fritters? OMG. http://lockerz.com/s/120494884”
A bonus perk to opening Clover? Muir says, “To my surprise I know more folks in the MIT community (as customers) than I ever did as a student. Too many to list! I probably know 400 people in the Kendall Square area by first name, including friends at Technology Review (Jason, Nathan), Julie (our adopted grandmother), many students, Ruth (our 3-time a day regular who teaches classes), folks at the Model shop, etc. etc.” Even Governor Patrick stopped by the other day.
Check it out for yourself, if you’re interested.
Location and hours are posted here: http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/?page_id=2248
Today’s menu is available here: http://www.cloverpos.com/media/html/menu.html?restaurantId=3
Crowds gather for lunch at the MIT Clover truck on Tuesday. Credit: Liv Gold
{ 0 comments }
If your dermatologist is anything like mine, the next available appointment is at least six months from whenever you call. But now you don’t have to suffer with that strange rash and horrify yourself with photos from WebMD.
Ellen Kislal SM ’90, PhD ’93, who earned her MIT degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, and entrepreneur Sean Elwell have launched SkinofMine.com, where patients can upload photos of skin conditions using an iPhone app or the website and receive an online consultation, usually within 24 hours.
Patients select a licensed dermatologist and/or nurse practitioner in their state, submit photos, and will receive a diagnosis, prescription and/or over-the-counter recommendations, therapeutic advice, and helpful reading links, all for about $30-$50.
You can also upload a photo of a mole for an automated analysis—quantitative feedback about symmetry, border, and color regularity—or upload two photos, which can be mathematically aligned to highlight changes in your skin. There are also modules for wrinkles, acne, and more. The service has launched in about six states with the rest of the country expected to be available nationwide by year’s end.
{ 0 comments }
Ted Acworth MBA ’07 is known for combining old school artistry with top of the line technology. His company, Artaic, uses design software and robots to create high-end custom mosaic projects. Now Artaic is taking on another technological innovation: QR codes.
According to Artaic’s blog, “The codes don’t only have to be website links, text can also be embedded into the codes. The tile QR codes could provide interesting insights into their installation locations, telephone numbers, or humorous quips.”
The idea of making permanent an entity that heretofore has been fairly ephemeral is interesting. QR codes show up a lot on soda cans, bus stop signs, and yogurt containers. Does (literally) plastering them onto buildings change how you perceive them? Would you whip out your smart phone at a cafe and start scanning a wall?
This cafe wall mosaic contains a collage of quotes, among them, "People only see what they are prepared to see." Credit: Artaic
{ 3 comments }
Men walking through Tienanmen Square, having all just bought the same suitcase in a “same suitcase” shop, Beijing, 1983 (© Owen Franken).
Curious about Owen Franken? View more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his Web site.
{ 0 comments }
