Microsoft Surface

Check out the first commercially available digital table. It borrows heavily from the interface designed by Jeff Han (and currently available on the iPhone). However, it is the future. Especially for the neighborhood martini bar.

The Multi-Touch Interface

In this demo, Jeff Han shows off (for the first time publicly) a high-resolution multi-touch computer screen that may herald the end of the point-and-click mouse. The demo, which drew spontaneous applause and audible gasps from the audience, begins with a simple lava lamp, then turns into a virtual photo-editing tabletop, where Han flicks photos across the screen as if they were paper snapshots. (The Apple iPhone, to be released a year later, also does multi-touch -- but only with two fingers.)

MTV Art Battles

Hosted and broadcast live by MTV in Times Square, May 2007, Art Battles showcased the work of 12 emerging artists vying for the opportunity to bring their work to the world. After two grueling hours, 8 finalists were chosen and the voting to determine the winner is now up to you. The winner was unveiled LIVE on TRL, June 11th.

The Mind's Map

For years, the human brain has been compared to a computer—but it is a computer without a wiring diagram. Researchers simply do not know how the billions of neurons in the brain are connected to one another, and without this information they cannot fully understand how the brain’s structure gives rise to perception and behavior. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have jumped what many believe to be a major hurdle to preparing that chart by identifying all of the connections to a single neuron and other cells—a discovery that could eventually lead to a 3-D map of the brain’s wiring.

Showing the Backstory

Arlene Birt has begun designing communications campaigns for edible products; specifically, she has dragged the lifespan of a chocolate bar into transparency, from unharvested cacao bean to first delicious bite, by designing an easy-to-decipher graphic label for the interior of a chocolate bar wrapper. Check out the clever use of simple information graphics used in her project, Background Stories.