The future has already arrived. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.

Previously on Skandalon

Merrick Angle is a Freelance illustrator and designer based in France. Check his About page for a list of his clients. Visit his official website to buy his stuff.

The dog’s name was Nipper:

In 1898, three years after Nipper’s death, Francis painted a picture based on a photograph of Nipper listening intently to a wind-up Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph, substituting a disc gramophone for the phonograph. On February 11, 1899, Francis filed an application for copyright of his picture “Dog Looking At and Listening to a Phonograph.” Thinking the Edison-Bell Company might find it useful, he presented it to James E. Hough who, in a move that would eventually result in Edison exiting the record business altogether, promptly said, “Dogs don’t listen to phonographs.” On May 31, 1899, Francis went to the Maiden Lane offices of The Gramophone Company with the intention of borrowing a brass horn to replace the original black horn on the painting. Manager, William Barry Owen suggested that if the artist replaced the entire machine with a Berliner disc gramophone, the Company would buy the painting. A modified form of the painting became the successful trademark of Victor and HMV records, HMV music stores, and RCA. The trademark itself was registered by Berliner on July 10, 1900. (wikipedia)

More info about Nipper over at DesignBoom.

“Here’s my new wallpaper at work – something I’ve been working on in OmniGraffle.”

“My name is Mark Goetz, and I am currently a second-year Master student at the University of Michigan’s School of Information. I’m specializing in Human-Computer Interaction, and hope to begin a career in user research and interaction design after I’ve finished.” (more)

Visit his portofolio over at http://markandrewgoetz.com

Previously on Skandalon: PowerPoint, Edward Tufte.

“OK, if iPad is innovating meaning even more than it is technology, what meaning might that be? Here’s my best guess:

iPad is tapping into an emerging dynamic of a more interactive, tactile experience with digital technology and information. These interactions make technology less of an interface, and more of an extension of ourselves and our environment.

The tweets above are a couple that show the natural way children engage with technology. Given the iPhone experience, they turn around and want to apply it to other devices. Buttons on devices, our traditional form of interaction, are divorced from the screen. They provide a measure of distance from the digital experience.

Touch, however, represents a new level of intimacy in the digital experience. In technology terms, it’s just an alternative form of interface. Touch, mouse, tab, whatever. But touch is a vital human sense, and a core part of experience. It’s how we interact with others, how we shop, experience textures and so much more.”

About Hutch Carpenter:

“I am the VP of Product for Spigit. Spigit helps companies manage innovation, providing idea management and prediction market software for enterprises. The goal is enable easy capture of ideas by employees, customers and partners, and convert the most promising to innovative initiatives. Spigit recently received a $10 million equity investment from Warburg Pincus.” (more)

“The Reality Checking Device is a poetic information machine that stands in the tradition of the ancient Greek oracle. It confronts people with their own self and their personal anxieties. It helps to identify all those scenarios we really do not need to fear – despite being told the opposite by mass media.

The Reality Checking Device is a made for a society in which anxieties have become a lifestyle choice. This machine is a tangible information graphic that reveals the relationship between public outrage and actual danger in common risk scenarios. With this project I aim to explores the poetic, aesthetic and informative possibilities of personalised networked services that are directly responding to peoples’ hidden needs and desires.” (read more)

Susanna Hertrich is an “interaction designer temporarily based in Tokyo” : “My work centers on how what we believe, fear, think and how we act is altered by the technology around us. My designs aim to discuss the dilemmas of our existence mapped into new technological scenarios. I am particularly interested in exploring the social and psychological subtleties of the ‘mundane’.” (read more)