At the International Toy Fair, a manufacturer showed off a new system that they hope to take mainstream. It uses 3d laser scanning and a rapid prototyping machine to make 3d sculptures at low cost. The initial uses would be for kiosks in public spaces that allow you to have a sculpture of yourself, similar to photo booths. Most analysts expect home 3d prototyping machines to become available in the next few years that would allow users to create 3d models or download them to their computer then “print” them at home.

article and gallery at Wired.com

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Pipes is an intriguing new service that recently went online from Yahoo as a Beta. It allows you to create RSS feeds by taking two or more and combining them together in creative ways. For example, you might take the daily headlines from the New York Times and use that as a filter for keywords of RSS feeds of Flickr photos. Another example I saw at the site was constructed from feeds of real estate listings from Craigslist filtered through Google Maps and other services to show houses and apartments that are available near landmarks or particular types of commercial businesses.

This type of application could have many uses in classes for student research where students engage in activities to construct their own “pipes” to analyze current data on the Internet.

Pipes beta at Yahoo

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In October 2006, a joint Singapore-MIT International Game Lab was announced (see MIT’s press release). This article from Wired entitled “Today’s Homework: Make Good Games” provides a significant update on that effort.

Based on this update, the “serious games” movement seems to be making its way into the nonprofit and educational sectors. According to Wired, “The United Nations got the word out about its food-aid programs with a game called Food Force. Student-resistance leader Ivan Marovic is using games to teach strategies for nonviolent protests.” It’s easy to see how these applications of gaming might translate into higher education. It’s also clear that these serious games might be useful for fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. Wired also notes that “[MIT] is currently seeking students to enter the program [in Fall 2007] opening the program to candidates from such far-flung majors as journalism, museum studies and computer science.”

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