Urban Computing

  • 05.01.08
    dsc00955 Bikecrumbs Prototype 01

    Bikecrumbs is an invisible ink dripper that attaches to my bike to leave a permanent trail every where I ride. The trail is only visible when viewed under UV light.
    Bikecrumbs: Prototype 01 from che-wei wang on Vimeo.
  • 03.27.08
    dsc00490.jpg Ornos: Prototype 02

    Here’s the first test with Ornos. The compass readings are behaving pretty well considering it’s right underneath a spinning hard drive. The 1.2Ghz processor and 512 RAM don’t seem to be enough to download and render the image quickly enough, so I’m going to have to figure out how to speed things up.
  • 03.12.08
    dsc00367.jpg Ornos : Prototype 01

    I was going to cover the lasercut masonite with a leather sleeve, but I’m going to go with cnc milled RenShape with a painted finish for the next prototype. The compass needs to be calibrated to the offsets caused by the magnetized computer hardware and I need to tweak some code to get the [...]
  • 03.01.08
    ornos02r01.png Ornos : Prototype Shell 01

    Here’s a rendering of the custom housing for all the components of Ornos (HP TC1100, Arduino, Digital Compass, and a mouse). Hopefully everything fits and doesn’t overheat. The first version will be lasercut masonite. The final version will be some combination of stainless steel and leather.
  • 02.24.08
    picture-4.png Ornos : A View from Above

    Since the first hand drawn maps of the stars to satellite imagery and GPS navigation today, our frame of reference and our perception of space has been molded into a view from above. Our understanding of place is often linked to an abstract representation on a map rather than a physical relational comprehension. [...]
  • 02.06.08
    window.jpg Window

    Urban Computing : Window
    1

    Windows give a frame of reference, crops a view, magnifies a perspective. It filters and blocks. Window is the opening that mediates here from there. I would argue that windows are what give walls meaning. Without windows, there wouldn’t be a notion of “there” since the possibility of something [...]
  • 01.30.08
    banksy_grafitti_area.jpg Wall

    Urban Computing: What is a wall?
    Wall, as a simple force of division, marks a boundary between here and there. How do we define our world through walls? One could argue that geographical boundaries act as walls defining spaces within which all forms of life acknowledge and encroach. But even geographic boundaries are crossed [...]