First shown off a couple of years ago in Milan, You Fade to Light uses a grid of Lumiblade OLED panels which light up to follow your every move. Stand still, and the panels act as mirrors. As soon as you move, the OLED pixels light up. Wherever you go, so goes the light. The 107.9″(w) x 50.4″(h) interactive display can also be set to an inverse mode, which lights up everywhere that you’re not, and leaves the mirrors where you are. It’s a really cool effect, captured here by the guys at A3Network:

The installation was created by rAndom International, with custom software written by Chris O’Shea. You Fade to Light has been produced in a limited edition of just eight units, and is selling for €140,000 (~$188,000 USD). I suppose that if you’ve got the money – I’m talking serious 1% money, that is – you could hang one of these on your wall. Or you could just watch the video above and enjoy it from afar.

[Thanks for the tip, Buster!]

The display features a dot-matrix of illuminated rocker switches spelling out the classic programming test phrase “Hello World.” It’s is supposed to speak to the beginnings of modern technology and the visual language of minimalism. I like how even old technology like light-up switches can be hacked together to form a screen of sorts.

The switches can still be turned on and off, but I want to know if they let people flip the switches to show other stuff, or if they’ve got it locked down. It would definitely be more fun if it were interactive.

It’s part of an exhibition called Fünf Räume at The Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City, where you can view it until September 5th.

[via Triangulation via Colossal Art + Design and Make:]

Then, I actually read the PixelPads website and found out that’s exactly what they had in mind when they created these.  Each paper iPad comes with 64 sheets of graph paper at exactly the same size as a real iPad screen, and lined with 10-pixel square grid blocks. And if you’re concerned about being green, all the paper from sustainable forests, and printed with non-toxic vegetable-based inks.

For added convenience, the backside of each grid sheet is a 4-panel storyboard, with four places to sketch out your iPad app icons at actual 72 x 72 pixel size. Even my real iPad can’t do that!

PixelPads sells the pads in kits which include pad refills, pens, pencils, and markers, ranging in price from $24 to $99 (USD). But the best deal is the Awesome Pak, which includes 2 iPads, 3 iPad refills, 2 Sharpies, 2 Pilot VBall pens, and 2 Bicmatic pencils for $49 (USD). While that may sound like a lot of money for office supplies, it’s still only 10% of the price of the cheapest iPad from the Apple Store – so why not buy 10?

The Runco WindowWall is a customizable video wall system, allowing you to seamlessly integrate video into the walls of your home or office.

A typical WindowWall system come in a 3×3 display configuration, pushing out a native 4098 x 2304 resolution onto a 10.1 foot wide screen, and can tile video from 1080p, 720p and other video sources. Other standard configurations include 1×2, 2×1, 2×2, 2×3, 3×1, 3×2, and 5×4 grids to fit into whatever wall space you have to work with. You can even arrange the displays onto curved surfaces. Runco also offers custom configurations to suit your every giant-video-wall whim.

Each LCD “tile” in the grid measures just 46″ diagonally, 4.5″ thick, weighs 48 lbs, and is separated by a small gap between tiles that’s 0.28″ wide, so while the image has some seams, they’re pretty unobtrusive. Each panel is set into a special “Tile Align” mounting system which ensures the displays are properly aligned on your wall.

No word on pricing for these panels, but I suppose if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.

[via Unplggd]

Each of Andrew’s Electric Window digital sculptures displays a variety of intriguing images as they sit there on your shelf. The LED dot-matrices gradually morph between a variety of geometric patterns, as well as 8-bit game inspired pixel art, including those ubiquitous Space Invaders.

Check out the video clips below to see a couple of the patterns in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

In addition to the red LED “Electric Window 3.xx” series, there’s also this cool blue version, “Electric Window 4.xx”, which looks like something that would be blinking in the background on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, but sadly does not include any Invaders:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Each Electric Window is handmade by O’Malley, and is powered by a custom-programmed Arduino circuit. You can get your hands on one of Andrew’s creations over at his Etsy shop for $125 (USD).

This incredibly lo-fi SatanVision television set was designed by David Forbes. It’s outputs of an unbelievably crappy 128×96 resolution image, and all of the pixels are red. Here it is playing the only video game they have in the underworld, Pong. Oh, and they only have one paddle down there, too.

And thanks to the low wattage red LEDs, it’s virtually useless in the daylight. Good thing that there is no daylight in hell.

All kidding aside, it took David months and over $1000 of his hard-earned dough (and an entire roll of duct tape) to build this intentionally crummy display. To pull it off, he built out an array of 8×8 LED panels he found over on eBay, and then built a custom controller circuit which converts the television signal into something you can display on the LEDs.

Want to build your own SatanVision TV? David provides a full set of schematics, PCB artwork and firmware for the controller over at his site, Cathode Corner.

[via adafruit industries]

Created by Japan’s SeaHope, the Dual Touch LED watch has a display that can react to your touch. In finger trace mode, the LEDs under your digits follow your exact movements.

The other cool thing about the Dual Touch is that each one features a unique dual-color LED matrix that can change colors with a simple swipe of your finger. There’s a blue/green combo, a red/green, red/blue, orange/green and orange/blue duos too. Each Dual Touch watch comes in a slick modern stainless steel (silver or black color) case, and is protected by a durable mineral glass crystal.

In addition to the finger-touch mode, there’s also an animation mode that switches between 6 different patterns including the requisite “running human” pictured above. You can check out a basic Flash demo of the watch animation here.

You can find all of the different permutations for sale over at SeaHope’s online shop for ¥18,900 each (appx. $209 USD).

Created by Joe Doucet, founder of the new design collective Bond., the Scape Modular Seating system lets you transform your living space on a whim, thanks to its moveable seating towers.

Individual seating cushion blocks come in five different heights, and varying shades of gray to create an illusion not dissimilar from a topographic map. To rearrange your space, simple slide the different height cushions into the system’s gridded base, and you can completely change the look and layout of your couch in seconds.

The Scape Modular Seating System will be just one of the multi-disciplined collective’s works shown at the Bond. launch party at New York’s Pomegranate Gallery on May 17th, 2008. Check out the Bond.NY website for more details.

[via designboom]

Created by Chinese display manufacturer Seekway, this prototype 3D LED display cube was created using a 16x16x16 grid of interconnected color LEDs (that’s a whopping 4096 individual diodes).

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The system is capable of displaying animations at up to 30 frames per second and each dot can be individually addressed for both color and intensity.

Now that the prototype is complete, Seekway is gearing up to produce versions with grids as large as 48x48x48, which will require more than 110,000 LEDs. Wow.

Entitled Space Invaders 2008, the light installation uses a grid of 176 unique lighting fixtures to work its magic. When a person passes in front of a video camera connected to the display, custom software and electronic dimming systems automatically translate movements into adjustments to the intensity of the lights.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

With a pre-recorded video signal, it’ll even act as a giant (albeit very blocky) video screen.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Yes, Michael Jackson really does look like that (must be all the plastic surgeries).

The curtain of lights measures over 1600 square feet, and the illusion doesn’t seem like much of anything until you stand back a ways. But from a distance, in a darkened room, you really can see the effect. The system can also use other input devices such as audio signals, to turn it into a huge spectrum analyzer.

Designed by interactive artists Rainer Kehres, Sebastian Hungerer and Friedemann Wolpert the display on exhibit at ZKM Center for Art & Media in Karlsruhe, Germany through February 13, 2008.

You can find more images and information over on commonlights.

[photos: Marc Walthieu]

Their new Geomesh watch has a grid of 27 colored LEDs concealed beneath a mirrored finish. Hours are indicated counting up the green vertical dots, while minutes are indicated on the horizontal ones. Sound simple, no? Now here’s where it gets a little more complex. Yellow horizontal dots indicate five-minute intervals and red horizontal dots indicate one-minute intervals. The watch above reads “9:29″ but I kept coming up with “9:25″ (until an astute reader pointed out the source of my mistake, see comments below) — but what’s four minutes between friends anyhow?

Maybe this chart will help sort things out.

In addition to the multi-colored version, expect white and blue LED models to drop as well — each with equally challenging display schemes. The ¥13,900 (appx. $121 USD) Geomesh should be arriving in the next couple of months. There’s more information over on the TokyoFlash website.

[via GeekAlerts]

The Giordano Curve LED watch features a matrix of 82 individual LEDs to display the current time in a unique vertical orientation. The watches have a nice stainless steel band, and are water resistant to 30 meters.

The Giordano retails for $179 to $189 and is available in red, green, orange or yellow LED versions.