Some may call it cool, some just call it creepy, some are just saying its the future and kids call it a monster. But for him, he just call it a new form of life.

This is Theo Jansen, a guy with an interesting background. He was born in 1948, Scheveningen in Netherland. There is so much interesting biography on him. He is a teacher, writer, an artist, a lecturer and he is well-known for his kinetic sculpture. In his early years, he was involved with many projects which included the art and technology. These includes wall painting and UFO projects.

His Projects on UFO nearly “cause a riot”. He built his own UFO using PVC because the PVC is light and was cheap at that time. He created a 4 meter wide flying saucer filled with helium.

The UFO was launched over Delft during daylight and since the sky was bright at that time, the surface of the UFO became black and its hard to guess the size of it. Some said that it was over 30 meter wide and some claimed they saw a halo around it. Theo Jansen later brought his project to Paris.

This is his latest invention. Its called Strandbeest or in English called ‘Beach Beast’. These inventions was introduced in 1990 and has been developed and slowly evolved since then. This is the invention that he would call a new form of life. These kinetic sculptures were made of PVSs and only need wind to move. They didn’t even use a singe kind of electricity to operate.

Theo Jansen uses empty water bottles to store the wind and make the Strandbeests move. The stronger the wind blows, the faster these strandbeest can go.

Theo placed his strandbeests in the beach area where it is easier to get wind thus the area is wide and compatible with his creations.

Since the invention of his strandbeests, he has been invited to give talks and lectures about his creations. the combination of art and technology has made his inventions to be one of the most original and unique inventions ever made.

Apart of it, he also created mini sized strandbeest ready with installation kit, to be sold to people who want to explore more about his new form of life invention.

Could this invention be useful in the future or just a thing passing through beaches? Who knows.

Credit: STRANDBEEST

We’ve seen the modular keyboard and washable keyboard, and to add to this list, design company Orée have come up with a beautiful handcrafted keyboard that exudes style like no other.

Made in France, the handmade keyboard looks like the perfect companion for one who wishes to have a little bit of nature in this artificial world we live in today. The keyboard is made to function as well as it looks, with different key layouts for different language inputs that you may choose.

The keyboard is also universally compatible with any device, so long as said device is Bluetooth 3.0 capable.

Available for €125.00 on Orée’s website, you can choose the keyboard layout according to language, operating system, font and even personalise it with a carving or two. The keyboards also come in a choice of Maple and Walnut.

Orée’s keyboards are beautiful to behold, and I would love to get one for myself if not for the steep price-tag  I don’t know about you but this has gotten me to think of having a wooden mouse to go with the keyboard. I don’t know how comfortable a wooden mouse can be, but it would certainly look great together.

The game is called Ingress and it intended to be free to play globally. The story of the game is about two sides battling for a new power source. On the one hand we have the Enlightened, who are trying to take control of people’s minds through portals all around the world, and on the other we have the Resistance, who are trying to stop them.

Ingress runs in the form of a free mobile app that is available for download on the Google Play store to your favourite Android device. The way to play the game is to link portals together to create protected zones or to play on the other team and try to break those links.

Watch the promo video of Ingress here.

Portals are located in real-life landmarks and players use their phone’s maps to check-in at as many portals as possible, some including retailers and brands. Players can also walk along designated paths to pick up energy to make their characters stronger.

Some people are thinking that the game may be a way of crowd-sourcing to gather mapping data for Google Maps. Whatever the case, I’m quite interested to see how the game plays out.

The game is a closed-beta, which means that currently you will have to register yourself at the Ingress website and get an invite code to play. So far I am still waiting for my invite code, but I can’t wait to try out the game.

Along with that unveiling comes the S Health, that has now launched in Samsung’s home country and subsequently in the UK as well.

Being healthy should be on the top everyone’s priority list, and with apps like these, it just makes it so much easier to keep on track as you monitor just how well you’re doing. The app is able to connect to Bluetooth and USB to health devices like heart-rate monitors and digital scales.

What’s great about the app is that it records and graphs your ups and downs, including your weight, with its aim to help you “control” what you eat and how much you exercised.

Motivation is the key factor in maintaining a healthy weight, as being able to read success stories of others can certainly help boost you along. Users can link up to social networks like twitter to update others on your health.

The app is also useful for people who need to monitor their conditions or who need regular medication intake reminders.

Currently the app is available through Samsung’s App hub in the company’s homeland and an English version is also available in the UK.

Health apps are aplenty in the market, but Samsung’s S Health certainly seems to be a strong contender. Although it does seem to be promoting the Galaxy SIII alongside with the app, I look forward to seeing if the app will live up to its name and keep users more healthy.

Livescribe is trying to turn this around by putting out their Sky WiFi Smartpen that allows you to record your written notes and audio into your Evernote account through WiFi.

This smartpen works quite simply with a camera that sits next to the nib that records what you write and a microphone that records what you say. Use it with the proprietary stationary and it will record every word, sketch and sound you want it to.

Audio recording is done simultaneously while you write, which is good in case you forget what you wanted to take note of, provided someone is talking to you while you are taking these notes.

Watch a video demo on how the Sky Smartpen works.

The Smartpen comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB storage models with 500mb dedicated cloud storage on your Evernote account.

The downsides of this pen may be its hefty price, with its base 2GB model costing US$170, and it’s 4GB and 8GB varieties costing US$200 and US$250 respectively. Personally I think I would just stick to the old pen, paper and scanner!

This time, with the addition of  Bluetooth 4.0, you’ll be able to control the light bulbs with your a smartphone.

Sure there have been many ways devised by man to control his light fixtures. I’m certain everyone would be familliar with the clapper device, that allows you to turn your lights on or off with the clap of a hand.

The future of light bulb technology now is the Bluetooth Bulb. By pairing your smartphone to one or more of these lights in your home, there will be wireless control via an app. Putting this device a step up from the old clapper, you can also control the bulb’s brightness, set them on a timer or change the ambiance of the room by changing the colour of the RGB bulb.

Watch the video demonstration of the Bluetooth Bulb here.

The bulbs are also touted to be environmentally friendly as it saves energy as well. As for replacing the bulbs when the burn out, every part is replacable and with no automation system required, setting up is as easy as screwing the blub into its socket.

Unfortunately the product is currently still just a patented prototype, but the creators are set on mass production somewhere down the line. I would love to switch to these bulbs, because then there will be no more need to get up out of bed to switch off the lights every night.

None more can be said about CW Network‘s live twitter feed in Entertainment Weekly magazine and Lexus‘s animated ad in Sports Illustrated magazine.

The US cable network CW recently ran a very special ad in a limited edition of Entertainment Weekly that incorporated a screen that runs a live Twitter feed of the network’s Twitter account. The ad is basically an embedded LCD screen powered by an Android device that has 3G connectivity.

Watch the video of CW’s Live Tweet ad here.

The second interactive ad is from carmaker Lexus, in the US edition of Sports Illustrated, which works by combining a print ad with an iPad to create an AR experience for the reader. The iPad app projects an animation through the page when viewed in a darkened room. Lighting effects and music makes the ad come alive from the page.

Watch how the Lexus ad works here.

These ads are rather gimmiky, but it sure shows that people are trying to incorporate digital technology into old print media. How successful these ads are as a promotional tool is questionable, but I think they’re a creative way to make print ads entertaining.

Intel and Integrated Device Technology (IDT) are working together to make our lives more convenient by making wireless charging technology available by next year.

Normally, we would rely on our trusty chargers with a lengthy cable. Makers have also made lives easier with a unified port for data transfer and also for charging. Most phones today sport a standardised Micro USB port so that you can borrow a friend’s charger and still be able to charge up your phone.

Taking this one step further, IDT and Intel are working to provide us the reality of wireless resonance charging. With this technology, devices can be charged by just keeping it close to another device with a built-in charger.

As for practical use of such a technology, imagine never needing to charge up batteries for wireless keyboards and mice ever again. Although wireless charging have been around for quite a while now, there is no industry standard and not many companies have taken up to using it in their devices for lack of efficiency.

Looking further ahead, perhaps one day even electric vehicles may be able to be charged wirelessly, but until they can work out the kinks for an efficient system, maybe it isn’t the time to throw away your wired chargers just yet.

General Motors (GM) in the US is putting together some new WiFi technology into their detection system and are currently in midst of testing it.

The way this detection system works is by using WiFi Direct, which is a relatively new technology. WiFi Direct allows for devices such as smartphones to interact with each other directly without the use of a shared access point, such as a telecommunications tower.

GM researchers have come up with a genius idea of pairing up the WiFi Direct With a proximity sensor and other existing driver alert systems to help drivers detect cyclists and pedestrians who have phones equipped with WiFi Direct.

Watch a video demonstration by GM.

The beauty of the system is that without any intermediaries, detection is sped up to one second, compared to the usualy seven or eight seconds needed if a communications tower was needed. This means that pedestrians stepping out from behind their cars could easily be detected.

This is a great idea, if it could be integrated to any car with a proximity detector/driver alert system. Pedestrians have caught me off guard a few times, appearing suddenly and unexpectedly from behind a car. I’m definitely looking forward to see how this technology will develop.

With the Occulus Rift VR display, those dreams may become reality sooner than you may think.

Behind Project Holodeck is the University of Southern California‘s School of Cinematic Arts and Viterbi School of Engineering. They have come up with the Project Oculus glasses, a glasses display that has a 1,280 x 800 resolution that makes users’ experience that much more immersive.

Put the VR display on and couple it with a Playstation Move for head tracking and also a Razer Hydra Sixense motion controller that tracks six-axis hand movements to totally immerse the player into the game. According to one of the team members, the experience isn’t like watching a floating television screen, it is meant to be a true immersion into virtual reality with simulated vision.

Watch a video demonstration of how Oculus would work here.

The glasses allow players to play in a large virtual space while they are physically in a small space.

Oculus Rifr are said to be going up on Kickstarter soon for an anticipated price of US$500. Not too bad for a pair of virtual reality glasses, if they are able to live up to their expectations.