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We've been waiting for this: French designer Mathieu Lehanneur's lecture at Ted Global this past July has finally been posted. In the lecture, he discusses the role of science and scientists in his design process and demystifies a selection of related projects, including db, the noise-neutralizing ball of white noise, k, a light transmitter, and Local River, a living room fish farm (blogged here in 2008).

Created by Anca Trandafirescu, with the assistance of Le Nguyen, Hot Air is an inflatable, inhabitable monument commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Romania. The monument takes the shape of the fallen head of a giant statue, lit from within. We've seen a few iterations of this floating around the internet before, but we're happy to announce the inflatable has reached its intended site of Timisoara, Romania. Upon return, it will be shown again at the University of Michigan, where Trandafirescu teaches.

HOT AIR is envisioned as a celebration - a making of an object/space (and series of events) - inspired by the improbable and infectious spirit of the 1989 uprising that changed the course of history. The lasting legacy, and therefore the object of the memorialization here, is the possibility that lies in collective action and the less-than-perfect results. The contradictions of optimism AND instability inherent in Romania's political change are reflected in the mass, material, and construction of a symbolic image filled with HOT AIR.

We love the unexpected life of this monument as it reacts and adjusts to its environment. Here it is waking up in Eastern Europe and "snoring."

Finally, for anyone interested in making inflatables, we suggest you browse the archives of the Hot Air Blog, where the process from conception to implementation has been meticulously documented. Especially interesting is the creation of the inflatable pattern from a latex mold.

Many more shots after the jump.

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Here's a cute little video from Maya Research that illustrates the hugeness of our digital future: trillions of networked computers representing all scales of information and objects will make up the edgeless ecology of information that we'll be floating in. This is but a small preview of a larger project, so be sure to stay tuned.

What If... is a new exhibition at the Science Gallery in Dublin that investigates the future of technology "in the space between reality and the impossible and where designers meet scientists to explore the future." This exhibition has been curated by Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby and Science Gallery director Michael John Gorman and features imaginative and propositional work from a group of designers who are reimagining our future.

Below, RCA graduate Sascha Pohflepp talks about "The Golden Institute," an alternate history project stemming from the idea that Jimmy Carter was re-elected and focused more of our national efforts on the development of alternative energy sources, such as lightning harvesting. Sounds far-fetched...but maybe not much more so than Yury Luzhkov's recent (and real) proposal to ban snow in Moscow.

There are pictures all over Flickr, but the best way to explore this exhibition online is through the Science Gallery's website, where all the propositions have been thoroughly written up.

If you're lucky enough to be in Dublin, this show will remain open through December 13th, so don't miss it!

What If...
The Science Gallery
Dublin, Ireland
October 8-December 13, 2009

The hunt for typography's biggest fan just ended at the door of Post Typography. Aside from running a successful design studio in Baltimore, teaching a class on experimental typography and naming their punk band after a typographic glyph (Double Dagger), Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals just published their first book, Lettering and Type. The book release party, "Fan Letter," took place at MICA and another will happen at The Cooper Union in New York on November 17. The kickoff featured 26 presentations by artists and designers who waxed on about their favorite letter or typographic symbol. The hour long event incorporated motion graphics, storytelling and music performances from an eclectic cast of characters. Check out this video to scratch your typographic itch.

If the Happiness Hat, created by interactive artist and designer Lauren McCarthy, senses that you aren't smiling, it shoves a metal spike into your head until you do. A ruthless device to help you train your way to what McCarthy calls "Improved Social-Interacting." She demonstrates in the video below:

To celebrate the launch of their limited-edition Brixton Boot by Alden, Core77 friends Epaulet visited the Alden Shoe Company in Middleborough, Massachusetts, and shot a 12 minute video documenting the entire shoe crafting process. Founded in 1884, Alden is considered by many to be the best shoe manufacture in the US--and to this day--you can still send your shoes back to the factory for resoling.

One of their loyal customers includes Indiana Jones who wears Alden 405's, more commonly known as the "the Indy Boot." When Harrison Ford landed the role, he refused to wear anything else and wore his own personal pair of 405's from when he was a carpenter.

Click through for photos from the factory visit.

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One of our favorite interactive pieces at this year's Gizmodo Gallery was Sketch-3D, a giant Etch-a-Sketch with an additional z-axis that lets you create 3D wire frames and spin them around with a controller. One of the inventors from Detroit-based o2 Creative Solutions Mike Doyle was on hand to give us a demo, you might want to crank up the sound after the core bumper.

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Every 7 years, Stefan Sagmeister puts his client-based design work on pause and takes a year off to experiment with new ideas, refreshing the creative outlook of the studio. In this TED talk, Stefan Sagmeister discusses the value of this, showing some of the projects inspired by his sabbatical in Bali.

These pancakes were seriously perfect every time! Typically you add a measured jug of water or milk to the pre-mixed powder bags, but the crew at Gizmodo had the machine on loan for a week and assure us that coffee pancakes taste great, as do beer pancakes which also get an incredibly fluffy texture. You can add almost any extra ingredient (within reason) to the mix for flavor.

Okay let's face it, It's easy to be cynical about the wasteful nature of such a unit, like the office coffee machines that use disposable capsules, the real business here is supplying vendors with bags of the powder batter mix. That aside, the ChefStack is intended for commercial use and is a very functional piece of engineering. You need almost no training operate it, the interface is dead easy and there's very little cleaning required. The unit is designed so that pancake mix will only go onto the belt, and not get into the machine.

With 3 size options to choose from, the ChefStack can produce about 200 large pancakes an hour. Over the course the week Gizmodo cranked out 629 large, 1074 medium and 4730 mini pancakes, a total of 6433 pancakes. That's a few well fed attendees and some really well fed exhibitors.

Click through for more pics and see the full Gizmodo Gallery here.

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Ho, lee, cow. This video, a Part 1 demonstration of the amazing BumpTop, isn't just another conceptual touchscreen interface pipe dream; it's actual downloadable software, albeit only for Windows.

Watch the vid to see the well-thought out interface, and don't worry, the presenter's voice slows to a normal human pace after the first few seconds. The demonstration admittedly becomes a little less cool at 1:47--when it's revealed that you're working inside of a grey box that looks like one of the hospitality suites at Guantanamo--but even that can't detract from the freshness of the interface design.

via cult of mac

I love this video from MIT--showing a state-of-the-art CAD system from, wait for it, 1982--because for some reason the presenter cannot bring himself to make eye contact with the camera. (It was taken from an article by Joseph Friedlander on Next Big Future called "The Future of CAD 2019 as predicted by Solidworks" and is presumably meant to make us feel better about current-day CAD limitations.)

C'mon, it's not that embarassing, that was the best you guys had back then! Although it's true that the mechanical part he's working on looks only slightly more complicated than an Oreo cookie.

Hailing from Austin, Texas, electronic rock band ArcAttack performed daily at the Gizmodo Gallery with their singing tesla coils and robotic drummer. With some modifications to their home-made telsa coils which are explained in the video, not only can they produce lightening, but sound as well--how badass is that! A little dangerous yes, however so far, so good. They've performed over 300 live shows without incident, although they once tackled a cop to save him when the police shut down a rave, and the kid exhibiting next to ArcAttack had his wi-fi card fried the first day the gallery opened.

Like many electronic musicians, they craved the authentic live sound that only comes from a real drum kit. 2 months after one of those parties where you talk at length about such things, their friend turned up with a working robotic drum kit. He'd spent 15 years building animatronics for Disney and was able to make the whole thing out of spare parts in garage. Click through for pics and to watch ArcAttack perform the classic Doctor Who theme.

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Returning to New York after last year's success, we caught up with gadget blog Gizmodo editor and tech junkie Brian Lam for a personal tour of the Gizmodo Gallery. Packed with DIY interactive creations, vintage gadgets, weird and expensive devices, a huge tv, and an automatic pancake making machine (awesome), the highlight for us was Austin band ArcAttack and their daily performances with sound producing telsa coils.

Part educational and part nostalgic, the exhibition was mostly about hands-on entertainment and an opportunity to geek out over some seriously cool gadgets. We got to play with o2 creative solutions' Sketch-3D, a giant Etch-A-Sketch that can draw in 3D using a Wii-like controller to navigate, and amongst some of the guest-curated items lent for the show was Apple's Original iPhone prototype, 1983, from Hartmut Esslinger, founder of frog design.

Click though for more pics and check Core77's full photo gallery here.

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Cuelight, by Obscura Digital, is part of a suite of digital toys made for Esquire's "Ultimate Bachelor Pad" at the SoHo Mews development in New York City.

The pool table is an interactive surface that reacts to the pool balls in different ways, depending on the chosen effect. Though we aren't sure how this enhances the actual game of pool, it's definitely fun to watch, and an interesting demonstration of the possibilities of interactive displays.

We wanted to make sure you didn't miss Fast Company's 2009 Masters of Design selections, announced late last week. The masters include David Butler, the head of design strategy at Coke; David Adjaye, architect of the new National Museum for African-American History; Lisa Strausfeld, a partner at Pentagram; Alberto Alessi, lead of design company Alessi; and David Rockwell, of Rockwell Group.

The site features stories, bios and a ton of supplemental media about the designers, their work and their process. For example, here's David Rockwell on playground design:

And a behind-the-scenes video at Alessi:

Much more material here.

Loving this video, but mostly for the graphics (are those motion graphics?!) and the narration. Whoever you are, please contact Core77 for more voice over work!

Thanks Martin!

0300tv recently shot this video of Atelier Bow-Wow's studios in Tokyo, designed by the firm themselves. From the footage, it's almost impossible to tell what the building looks like as a whole—instead, it's all about situation. The most important spaces found inside and outside the building are highlighted, revealing how they are occupied, used and cluttered. This idea seems central to Atelier Bow-Wow's practice, which they've illustrated so well in their books Graphic Anatomy, a commingling of architectural drawings and everyday scenes, and Pet Architecture, an index of tiny buildings that have been squeezed into leftover spaces.

>> More Eurobike 2009 coverage in our galleries.

Hazwan Razak explains the features of a low cost rice thresher.

See more of our coverage of Maker Faire Africa in the Core77 galleries.

Miniver Chalwe explains how the Cassava Grater works and its time saving benefits.

See more of our coverage of Maker Faire Africa in the Core77 galleries.

A thoughtful (and beautifully produced!) video with Emily is up on Adobe's Inspire, which this month will focus on "Design With Intent". Check it out here. Can't wait to read David Womack's article next!

Dapo Bakare shows off the Aquaportand its features.

See more of our coverage of Maker Faire Africa in the Core77 galleries.

Prateek Prasoon explains how the Aluminum Battery is made and shows some of its applications.

See more of our coverage of Maker Faire Africa in the Core77 galleries.

We've heard it before, but here's proof from the Minnesota State Fair that Senator Al Franken can draw the US map from memory. It's truly amazing.

via Minnesota Public Radio

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From Kottke, an entertaining chronological compilation of video effects in the movies.