Breaking down television into emotions, words or colors through data visualization is Sosolimited’s specialty and the kind of acumen and fresh-thinking that The Creators Project—the unlikely partnership between Intel and VICE magazine—continues to deliver. 

In its latest creative partnership, the project turns common consumer analysis into an interactive, tangible object. 

The Boston-based art and technology firm created Astroverb, a language-based horoscope for Facebook that transforms profiles into 3D printed objects. The application extracts Facebook wall text and uses linguistic algorithms to analyze data such as how much a person talks about themselves, at what time of day they do it, using which categories of language and the response from friends.

The algorithm plots all this data on a circular chart called the Semantic Plane, ultimately generating a "predictive nugget of wisdom" and a customized shape called a Morphogram, which can be printed out using the Shapeways 3D printing platform as a physical amulet.

“The Morphogram shape is simply meant to be a mystical talisman,” said Soso’s John Rothenberg. “It’s aesthetic, and not meant to be understandable as a direct representation of your Facebook wall. Contemplate it deeply and you will find truth in its form.” Continue reading...

Even through a difficult recession, employees of Google have often been portrayed as still living the life of the booming startup culture of the mid-’90s. The environmentally friendly campus seemed to be strewn with pools (one with the Google logo painted on the bottom, natch), pool tables, cafes, workout areas, free ice cream (and treadmills with laptops on them to burn off those calories), on-premises childcare and whatever else an employee could possibly desire. 

However, the online giant’s offices were mostly shoehorned into existing but vacant office buildings, retrofitted to bring in Google’s sense of openness and freedom that are essential to innovation. Now, Google has announced that it is building its own new campus from the ground up so it can fully control that freedom. It has already broken ground on the 1.1 million-square-foot complex, which was designed by Seattle-based firm NBBJ. The nine-building campus will be situated in another part of Mountain View that is closer to San Francisco Bay, Vanity Fair reports.

While Apple is building a 2.8 million-square-foot, flying saucer-like new headquarters to house about 13,000 employees, Google’s new buildings are much more conventional looking and all fairly close together. The proximity is due to the goal that no employee will be more than a 2.5-minute walk from any other employee no matter where they are in the so-called Googleplex, the magazine notes. Continue reading...

If there is any specific forthcoming initiative tied to why Apple CEO Tim Cook's will sit with First Lady Michelle Obama at tonight's State of the Union Address, Cook's morning remarks at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference offered no clue.

But Cook — who also made no major product announcements or huge news in remarks made in conversation with analyst Bill Shope — nonetheless revealed that cash-rich, acquisition-shy Apple has evaluated far more companies than it has ultimately absorbed — and will likely continue to do so.

"We have looked at large companies," Cook said. "In each case that we've done that thus far, it didn't pass our tests."

He added: “Cash is not burning a hole in our pocket."Continue reading...

When Steve Jobs announced in 2011 that Apple would be using 175 acres of land in Cupertino, Calif. to build a 2.8 million-square-foot office complex, the expectation was that it would be completed in 2015.

It's looking like a mid-2016 opening is more likely. But as plans for a groundbreaking move forward, the company has recently submitted a revised plan to city officials, offering more detailed (and pastoral — see above) glimpses of the futuristic facility for the Apple-obsessed.

Meanwhile, Apple is moving forward with plans for new offices — if however more conventionally designed — in Austin, Texas.Continue reading...

Microsoft is teasing the Oct. 26th release of Windows 8 with this catchy countdown commercial. Will the release live up to the hype?

While HP won't be bringing a new logo to CES next week in Las Vegas, it appears to be getting ready to unveil a new ultrabook. As the glimpses in the teaser video for the mysteriously named Spectre shows, it's certainly a thin and sleek laptop — and a chance for HP to redeem itself from the TouchPad fiasco, which was pulled after seven weeks and called the biggest tech flop of 2011 by the New York Times.

While Apple heralded the post-Jobs era with the introduction of the iPhone 4S (aka the iPhone 5 in disguise), and created plenty of hubbub surrounding iOS 5 and iCloud, what about the latest updates regarding those MP3 players you still can’t live without?

We’re talking about the Zune, man! You know…that Microsoft product that was launched five years ago? To take on the iPod? Because not everyone is an Apple acolyte?

If your reaction to the idea of “Zune news” is “Wait, that thing is still around?,” don’t worry. After treating the Zune as if it were a MacBook that Steve Ballmer was asked to autograph, Microsoft officially killed the portable music player.

While the third-ranked Best Global Brand is putting the money-hemorrhaging device out of its misery, Microsoft will continue (for now, at least) to use the Zune brand name and assets, including the Zune Music Pass media download and streaming service.Continue reading...

Apparently brands aren’t just being pitched by zombies — they’re also becoming zombies themselves. 

Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad, part of a growing segment of the tablet computer market known as “not the iPad,” was discontinued on August 18, a mere seven weeks after its US release on July 1. But like many a second-guessing mad scientist, HP decided to recall its creation from Gadget Heaven, where it was contentedly playing an Atari 2600 with a Sony Betamax. Now comes word that the TouchPad is returning, for a "limited" run. Walk, don't run — it's alive!

The TouchPad, which runs HP’s Linux-based webOS operating system, launched to mixed reviews and didn’t sell very well during its initial run. Maybe it was the iPad-territory price tag. It could have been that the iPad-averse were more interested in Android products. Perhaps it was all Russell Brand’s fault. But once HP gave up and slashed the price of its remaining inventory to $99, the tablet became as coveted as the former loser at the conclusion of any 1980s zero-to-hero high school comedy.Continue reading...