Marcom
Scrolling through a Solar System Scale Model
Nov 26th
Solar System Scale Model [phrenopolis.com] shows a scale model of the solar system. The planets are displayed in a scale corresponding to the first image, which is that of the sun. Unlike most solar system visualizations or models, the planets are shown at their true-to-scale average distances from the Sun. That makes the resulting web page rather large: on an ordinary 72 dpi monitor it is just over half a mile wide (~800m), making it possibly one of the “largest” pages on the web. As a consequence, visitors must scroll a considerable amount in order to find the planets, which is part of the fun.
Strongly reminds me of World Population One and Hydrogen Atom Pixel Model. Via @ datamarket.
Which version of Android am I stuck with?
Nov 26th
In the process of collecting questions and requests for the purpose of creating those Q&A vids, I’ve been bombarded with queries about when such-and-such a handset will get 2.0, if ever. And when Google made their new Maps app with navigation available to phones running 1.6 and up, I was swamped with inquiries for information about when/if this-or-that phone would be getting Android Donut.
Well, a lot of questions remain for readers and bloggers alike, but I’ll offer up whatever information I currently have at my disposal. I haven’t been privy to any insider secrets or anything like that. So, what I present here is subject to change. And, just a reminder – the stuff that turns out to be true isn’t my fault!
As it stands now, Droid is the only phone with 2.0. The G1 and myTouch are the only devices with 1.6. Everybody else is at 1.5. From what I’ve heard, we aren’t going to be seeing any more phones jump from 1.5 to 1.6 – only from 1.5 to 2.0. Again, this could change.
If you’re on the homepage, click the link to continue reading:
The only phones that we know for sure are headed for 2.0 are the Hero and Behold II. HTC announced the update would be coming in a tweet about a month ago, and Behold’s update is said to be coming in the video below. Get this: it will update wirelessly. Ooooooohhhhh.
Taylor Wimberly of Android and Me has spent a great deal of time and effort gathering as much information as possible from each carrier and OEM regarding updates, and while responses were vague, you can find them here. Sorry to the dozens and dozens of Cliq owners who have contacted me about this on Twitter. It doesn’t look good.
Where does this leave the average consumer that’s trying to decide which Android to purchase? In a big, sloppy mess – that’s where. Developer’s are in the same boat.
So when you go looking for an Android device this holiday season, don’t shop for a phone that may be updated later on. Get the one that already has the features you need. Waiting for your expensive, contract-hitched handset to evolve into everything you had hoped it would be is a very long wait indeed.
EDIT: I should have pointed out that HTC’s providing a 2.0 update is dependent upon Verizon requesting it.
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Motorola Milestone available for preorder
Nov 26th
Those of you looking for a GSM version of Droid who also happen to have £439.99 on hand (roughly $735 USD) need to check out superetrader.co.uk. They’re selling the units early and should have them in stock on December 7th.
Milestone supports the following bands: WCDMA/900/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900. That means no 3G for T-Mobile, but AT&T customers are good to go. This phone is unlocked and contract-free, but as I pointed out, it is pricey. Personally, I’d say wait and see what happens in the first few months of next year, but for those of you with ants in your pants to hop on the Droid train, there you go.
Via IntoMobile
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Ring°Wall: World Largest Multi-Touch and Multi-User Wall
Nov 25th
The World’s Biggest / Largest / Longest Multi-Touch (and evidently Multi-User) Wall [sensory-minds.com, click Projects then choose 19.07.2009) seems to be installed in Nürburgring, a famous motorsport race track around the village of Nürburg, Germany The two-piece wall consists of a huge LED media facade (at the top), and a multitouch information-wall (at the bottom), and impresses by its physical size, as it totals a surface of about 425 square meters, equaling more than 6000 computer displays.
The interactive interface emerges out of 34 million pixels generated by 15 high definition projectors, supported by sound produced by 30 directional speakers. The multitouch capturing itself is based on laser technology, also called Laser Light Plane Illumination (LLP). This means more than 80 users can simultaneously get informed about news and activities around the ringworld. Now imagine the sorts of sparklines this device could display…
You can watch a documentary movie below.
Tomorrow’s Weather: Building-Size Data Sculpture Predicts the Weather
Nov 25th
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Tomorrow’s Weather [bigertbergstrom.com] is a 8 storeys high (~37m) data sculpture which extends 2 arches made up of over 60 molecular globes, forming a double helix. The globes change color depending on tomorrow’s weather forecast so that the interior landscape of structured lights take form as a “premonition of tomorrow”. Tomorrow’s Weather combines modern technology with one of nature’s most basic expressions, the weather, so that its elaborate visual expression changes forever, capturing the volatile nature of climate and the future.
Reminds me of The Source, Electric Moons and Plastic Trade. Via Seed Media Group Blog.
Done with the Droid
Nov 25th
It was fun while it lasted, but the Motorola Droid has left my possession and taken up residence with @CarlosGraves, who will be providing Droid coverage for PhoneDog. Carlos is a b/vlogger and techie who is known for iPhone theming and hacking. He knows his stuff and I’m sure he’ll be offering up some great Droid content, so keep your eyes out for him over at the mother ship. He’s got his own thing goin’ on, and I don’t want to saddle him with any Q&A stuff I missed. That said, I don’t think he’d mind a few questions vis Twitter.
I’m in the middle of my full-length written review of Droid for PhoneDog, and that should go live this week. ‘Tis the season, however, and I’m not sure what everyone has lined up. So, whatever you do or don’t see by Black Friday, know that I’m working on a multi-part Eris video series for PhoneDog, an Eris written review, Eris Q&A vids, and later, almost all of the same stuff regarding Behold II. So stay tuned, folks. I’m working for the weekend. Oh, I added my third and final Droid Q&A vid to the original post.
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Competition: What is the most Ugly and Useless Visualization Online?
Nov 24th
Want to participate in a competition worth almost US$1000? Read on!
There has been a lot of discussion about the concept of information aesthetics lately, mostly focusing on the seemingly rapid rise of misplaced attention to “pretty, flashy mash-ups of something or other“, in the press and on some (hmm hmm) online media. Despite these disagreements, I do hope we can all agree on some sort of visualization spectrum, with on one side the functional, expert-geared field of “information visualization”, and on the other, that of the intriguing, visually persuasive “data art”. I personally do believe we should not focus on defining such a hard divide, as there already exists an overlapping subfield in between where all the exciting things currently happen. Potentially, and maybe egoistically, I would propose this subfield could be labeled with the name of this blog. However, for the purpose of this competition, this issue is not even of much relevance.
While we keep discussing the necessity of theoretical frameworks, start dozens of vizblogs with endless “best-of” lists, and criticize the best practice of data visualizations, we seem to have lost the attention to a parallel universe, which no-one really recognizes the need to write a manifesto for. A field that is potentially more prevalent than all visualization “tools” and “artwork” put together. I mean those data visualizations that are neither “eye candy” nor “useful”, neither “beautiful” nor “functional”, neither “art” nor a “tool”, neither “user-satisfactory” nor “effective”, and neither stimulating the “heart” nor the “brain”. The challenge of this competition is thus for you to find the most “ugly”, “useless” and “disfunctional” data visualization online. It sounds easy, but can be more difficult than you might think.
Courtesy of our long-term sponsor FusionCharts, the 2 winners will each receive a FusionCharts Developer Bundle, worth US$499. Fusioncharts specializes in interactive Flash charts, gauges and maps, and is used by companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Dell, HP, GE, and many more. The Developer bundle comprises one license each of FusionCharts (animated Flash charts for web apps), FusionWidgets (data visualization widgets for dashboards), PowerCharts (interactive charts for specialized domains) and FusionMaps (interactive online maps).
You can participate by sending an email to ugly at infosthetics.com. The email should include a 600x600px .jpg image of the respective visualization, a direct link to the webpage containing the visualization, a title and short description (100-word max), and your name and email address (which will not be posted). Entries should be received before Wednesday 2 December, 12am (CET). The jury consists of FusionCharts staff and infosthetics. Any questions can be asked below.
Please note submissions proposing the complete collection of past infosthetics posts are permitted, but not really encouraged. 
Images above were sourced from Many Eyes and Worst Visualization Gallery. Sorry, could not help picking 2 beautiful ones, negating my own rules… Further inspiration includes The Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics and The Pentagon Information Graphics Machine.
