5 posts tagged “nokia”
Jan Chipchase spent a week recording his own nomadic life for The Economist in Tokyo and Seattle, taking pictures and leaving phone messages
The Morph is a concept device designed by Nokia and the United Kingdom's University of Cambridge that explores the future of portable gadgetry when married with nanotechnology, and its creators really went wild. It can take various shapes such as a tablet, handset, headset and wristwatch — thanks to the morphing nano-bits composing it — and has an impressive, unheard of list of features: it's self cleaning, durable, changes the feel of its surface to your liking, and is covered with grass-like fibers that absorbs energy from the sun. The fibers also allow it to "sense" the world around it, providing you with information about your surroundings.
From the press release:
Nokia and University of Cambridge launch the Morph – a nanotechnology concept device
New York, US and Espoo, Finland — Morph, a joint nanotechnology concept, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK) - was launched today alongside the “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition, on view from February 24 to May 12, 2008, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Morph features in both the exhibition catalog and on MoMA’s official website.
Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces.
Dr. Tapani Ryhanen, Head of the NRC Cambridge UK laboratory, Nokia, commented: “We hope that this combination of art and science will showcase the potential of nanoscience to a wider audience. The techniques we are developing might one day mean new possibilities in terms of the design and function of mobile devices. The research we are carrying out is fundamental to this as we seek a safe and controlled way to develop and use new materials.“
Professor Mark Welland, Head of the Department of Engineering’s Nanoscience Group at the University of Cambridge and University Director of Nokia-Cambridge collaboration added “Developing the Morph concept with Nokia has provided us with a focus that is both artistically inspirational but, more importantly, sets the technology agenda for our joint nanoscience research that will stimulate our future work together.”
The partnership between Nokia and the University of Cambridge was announced in March, 2007 - an agreement to work together on an extensive and long term programme of joint research projects. NRC has established a research facility at the University’s West Cambridge site and collaborates with several departments – initially the Nanoscience Center and Electrical Division of the Engineering Department – on projects that, to begin with, are centered on nanotechnology.
Elements of Morph might be available to integrate into handheld devices within 7 years, though initially only at the high-end. However, nanotechnology may one day lead to low cost manufacturing solutions, and offers the possibility of integrating complex functionality at a low price.
Nokia Trends Lab is the company’s new physical and virtual hub of mobility experiences. It seems very much set up as a co-creation initiative, with Nokia wanting to enable creative thinkers to push the boundaries of how to use mobility as part of their creative process.
Various experiments are formed within the ‘Nokia Trends Lab’ and indulge every creative discipline ranging from music, photography, film, and design.
Music Lab
Including all styles and genres, composer, Djs, producers, ring tone creators and sound designers.
Photography Lab
Including all styles and genres
Design Lab
Including software development, product design, fashion items,
multimedia creation, graphics, interactive and web content, VJ,
Illustration, installation design and lighting.
Film Lab
Including film photography, special effects, character design and
animation, computer animation shorts and pop promos, documentaries and
film installations.
In addition, there is Nokia Trends Lab Live, with live performances taking place in a number of European cities.
There are now Nokia Trends Labs in France, Germany, Italy and Lithuania.
The European Nokia Trends Lab seem to be a version two of an earlier Nokia Trends project with strong Latin-American roots. There are Nokia trends sites for Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Europe, Mexico and Switzerland, and it is introduced as follows:
“Nokia Trends is an absolute hit with people in tune with the main trends in human and technological expression, bringing together both established and new artists.
Created in Brazil in 2004 and later exported to Latin American and European countries such as Mexico, France and Russia, Nokia Trends is an experience that proposes different ways of consuming and producing avant-garde art and music via electronic means – especially mobile ones.”
[via experientia]
Timo Veikkola, senior future specialist at Nokia, has just written an article for usability magazine uiGarden to expand on his vision of our future - already alluded to during his presentation at the PSFK conference just a few weeks ago.
“Many shifts in society and their influences on the behaviors, values and attitudes of people are often slight and may be overlooked. Through consumer trend analysis, ethnography, and contextual inquiry we are able to forecast the emergence of new behaviors and conceptual visions. The natural progression of society and people will always offer new frontiers. One thing that we can be certain of is that things always are in a state of change. Understanding that the pendulum can only swing to a certain degree before it must, by laws of physics, swing in its opposite direction, we can anticipate the future. Development has always played a natural role in the evolution of people and thus we have an invaluable position to influence that direction in its most human and natural way.”
Timo Veikkola is a senior futures specialist within Nokia. Based in the design team, and an anthropologist by training, his job involves observing human behavior and lifestyles in order to identify signals and new trends. His observations inform and influence Nokia’s design team. His work takes him all over the world from Europe to the US, Latin America and Asia. He is Canadian by nationality, and currently lives in London, UK.
Nokia’s Keith Pardy and Alastair Curtis presented an impressive slideshow on brand and design priorities, as part of an external presentation to investors at the Nokia Capital Markets Day 2006.
It speaks about Nokia’s human approach/touch to
technology. For example, they mentioned about observing first (”the often small, the sometimes big
moments of everyday”) and designing later.
