Went to the Royal College of Art show last night, and amongst some beers, the sweltering heat of a packed art college and saying lots of hellos to people I haven't seen in a long time I actually got to see some work.
I'll definately have to go back with Fiona and peruse it all at leisure – there were some really intruiging things as per usual in the Architecture section, including an 'electomagnetic therapy centre' (paging the Hanso Foundation!)
The best thing though for the vain interaction designer about town is finding that you have been fabbed into a tiny USB-connected version of yourself that jumps up and collapses to my iChat status.
Jack Schulze of Schulze&Webb made the Availbots (there's also one of Ben Cerveny, apparently) for his end of year show – it's a triumph of servos and string. Jack sent me a rendering from the CAD/CAM file a few weeks back announcing his intention to do it, and I've been using it as my icon here on Vox ever since.
I felt an odd feeling of distress as the availbot collapsed violently each time the iChat status changed – I predict a technopagan market for rapidly fabricated voodoo dolls from your avatars…
Petafloptimism 