by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 21, 2015
September 2015 – At the CTIA Super Mobility event in Las Vegas we met with the representatives of Lunatik and had a chance to see their new products for support of the Apple iWatch. The company has been around for several years making innovative protection products for the mobile marketplace all with a high degree of style and precision manufacturing. The Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Scott Wilson, is an American entrepreneur and award-winning designer, best known for simultaneously sparking the crowdfunding and wearables movements with his 2010 TikTok+Lunatik Kickstarter project.
The premier product they were showing us this year as the new Epik case and band for the current 42mm Apple watch. The Epik watch kit products are available in two different basic materials, a polycarbonate case and an aircraft grade aluminum versions. The aluminum version, which we tested, is available in both a base “silver” aluminum color and a black coated aluminum version. We tested the black version with the black leather band, the watch kit is also available with a metal link bracelet.
As the watch kit is designed for the fairly large 42mm Apple watch, the kit is fairly heavy (36g) and adds additional dimension to the watch. The black powder coated design with the black leather band is targeted at the male user community and makes a strong visual statement. It is also targeting use by physically larger individuals (over 5’8”) who have a large frame and wrist size to allow the 2.17” case to sit flat on their arm. 
To supplement the aluminum case, the kit features stainless steel buttons, control/scrolling crown, and assembly screws for strength and durability. The watch kit does not include a top cover for the watch to minimize bulk, but is compatible with the majority of edge-to-edge screen protection products that are approved for the iWatch.
The retail box comes with an installation guide in the box that has both illustrations and words. It however, does not include directions on how to remove the watch module from the original band provided by Apple, but that step should be self-explanatory.
The watch kit has a number of subtle design elements, beveled edges, smooth corners, rolled lips on the top of the case and smooth easy to make adjustments and action on the strap and the connection to the case. The design is not just functional but enhances the artistic design to a standard format digital watch. The watch kit is currently available direct from Lunatik and other retail outlets.
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 15, 2015
September 2015 – There were many booths with phone & tablet accessories at CTIA 2015 show but some of those accessories deserve to be noticed. The retractable headphone case for iPhone 6 produced by Turtle Cell is one of the interesting high quality products with a good price point. The product is already at the market for the iPhone and will soon be available for the Samsung Galaxy S6. The case has a high quality finish and feel with an easy to grip pattern in four colors: gold, silver, black and red. It is a solid feeling design and its integrated kickstand is easy to operate. For the audio connection it has a button for the headphone control. It has a switch to disconnect the headphones while still in the case that let you use the iPhone as a speakerphone or hold it against your head as normal. Sound quality is exceptional from the earbuds due to the design with neodymium driver which offers a full 20kHz response, full CD sound range. For 
normal phone applications, it delivers a clear voice while talking. The package mentioned that the product is drop resistance but there is no certification rating. The retail box consists of: a case with headphones, instructions, extra ear tip, photos on the box how to use it and a quick illustration guide without words. Overall, the Retractable Headphone Case for iPhone 6 produced by Turtle Cell is very well made, feels good to the touch and deliver good sound to the ears.
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 1, 2015
August 2015, Siggraph – Two panelists came from Amsterdam to attend Siggraph 2015 and at the Lenovo’s panel share discussion about their new project. Tim Geurtjens and Gijs Van Der Velden are co-founders of MX3D, a company researching and developing groundbreaking robotic 3D printing technology. They developed 3D large scale printers that allowed printing large structures and different materials including plastic, stainless steel and aluminum. Tim and Gijs recently came up with an ambitious plan to build a steel bridge over the canal in Amsterdam. Geurtjens confessed that idea of building a bridge using 3-D printing techniques started with frustration about the 3D printing market. “We use 3D printers all the time, but they make only the small parts. We asked the companies that manufacture 3-D printers to develop printers for large parts but the companies were not interested in developing them” said Guertjens, “so we decided to do it on our own.”
Tim and Gijs discussed their plan to build a 3D printed steel bridge over the canal in Amsterdam. “We want to show the world what that technique could do”. The founders of MX3D are getting government support for this project as the city officials are really interested in presenting Amsterdam as an innovative and progressive city. Even though they invented the technology, they estimate that it will take them a year to understand fully, the capacity and the limits of their technology in an outdoor application and do a design. The starting date is set for spring 2017 and with an estimate to take 3-4 months to print the bridge. The most interesting thing about this 3-D image technique is that we can not only print the building as a new object, but we can use the multi-robots in the system to build in place from an existing structure. In that case, the projects can be of unlimited size” said Geutjens.
Using these 3D printing techniques, it is possible to recreate things. Geurtjens sees the printers as an extension of the existing techniques. Currently, there is a Chinese company that is us using additive manufacturing to print buildings, but it is more efficient and most appreciated, if we use the technology to create additional decorative pieces. It is well known that decoration is the heart of architecture. The use of computers and printers allows these designs to be extravagant, as it does not matter how complex the pieces are. Why use traditional techniques if we can add to them with the time and money consuming details?
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 1, 2015
August 2015, Siggraph – Chris Edwards is the Founder and CEO of The Third Floor, the world’s leading pre-visualization studio services up to 40 major studio feature films each year. He is also Co-Founder/CEO of The VR Company. In addition to the two companies, he has extended his qualifications into the content area. Over the last 10 years he has been building a massive database of 3D assets, and servicing the world’s top Directors. He began his career in digital cinematography at Disney Studio and then he worked for George Lucas at Skywalker Ranch. His credits include Marvel franchises like Avengers and X-Men, the new Godzilla and Gravity.
“In the previsualization studio, we are working in real time to create scenes ahead of production, so a director can try one and have other options to choose from” said Edwards. . He explained that his company helps incubate concepts and package production for VR. The studio is experimenting with master layer imagery, which is combining CGI with live action photography for VR.
“Every time you go to see the Broadway play you feel like you are transformed by this amazing experience. We need to bring back that kind of language. Before we had cinema”, he continued, “we had a rectangle on the wall to display, dream, and still entertain us. That was called theater or play or some performance. It usually happened in front of the audience. The actors stayed sometimes on the front, or they go around. When you see Cirque du Soleil they come from above. The director uses all the tricks that work: sound design, blocking the characters and how they move around you, and lighting.”
by Lidia Paulinska | Sep 1, 2015
August 2015, Siggraph – David Karlak, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, sees VR as an extension of the dreams that we have always had. He predicts that beyond VR, there will be additional technologies that will give us more immersive experiences. These experiences will include characteristics and senses from the physical world, such as smell. The opinion of the panel was that VR is not a necessity to be pushing innovation, but it is instead a wish fulfilling technology. For now, access to VR is not affordable to 99% of the world, but over time it will be more popularized and democratized.
Karlak has been exploring the confluence of virtual reality and science fiction cinema. He directed the short film “Candidate” that created a lot of buzz in the industry. Following this success, he raised funds on Kickstarter for his next project “Rise”, a film about a robot revolution in the future, told from the perspective of the robots. He sold the original story concept to Warner Brothers. Soon after sale of “Rise”, he sold a second original pitch titled “Outliers” to 20th Century Fox.
When he talked about VR he reminded the audience about the scene from “Reservoirs Dogs” by Quentin Tarantino. There was a scene in the film where all the characters were sitting on the table and the cameras was on a dolly which was rotating from one character to another. Having that camera calling out the characters in that moment is like having a camera on the table. “It actually make things simpler”, said Karlak . ”There is more emphasis on blocking of your actions in oppose to blocking of the camera. The camera in some ways disappeared leaving the viewer deeply immersed in the dialog and action of the scene.” He sees VR as alternative to Facebook or Instagram. People instead on spending time posting on social media, they will be “physically immersed” and connected in VR.
