Way back last February, I was all starry-eyed about a new breakthrough in holographic displays. Foolish me; just wait a few months and look what technology offers! Looks like we’ll be seeing Princess Leia any day now.

Researchers at the University of Southern California’s ICT Graphics Lab have created a new type of holographic display that can generate simultaneous 3D views for multiple observers without the need for special glasses. (Read the article)

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Kids in college are hit with a double whammy: textbooks that cost hundreds of dollars for each class and a backpack that causes spinal deformities resulting from carrying those expensive books from class to class.

Amazon’s Kindle to the rescue! (Read the article)

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In my quest for new and different uses for paper and paper products, the BBC report that a cardboard bicycle was available added a bit of variety.

I’ve seen many applications of complex origami-like folding to produce all kinds of objects, none of which have been particularly useful. This time though, the end result is a bicycle that is indeed something you can ride! (Read the article)

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OK, folks, who says that we have to buy socks and gloves in pairs? Sure, I know, hands and feet come two at a time, but think about it…

Why not one at a time or even three at a time? A quick peak at Seth Godin’s blog made me look at these ordinary bits of clothing in an entirely new way.

He has a way of standing things on their heads and this one woke me up!  So let’s talk new marketing strategy here… (Read the article)

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The Institute for the Future of the Book is a fascinating group who are “investigating the evolution of intellectual discourse as it shifts from printed pages to networked screens.” In the group’s blog if:book, topics focus on the future of reading and writing.

A recent post by Sebastian Mary, titled “virtual pop-up book in papervision,” asked this very pertinent question:

Will the children of the future only experience pop-up books in animated form, onscreen? Or would the pop-up book conceit only have resonance for those raised on the paper versions?

To put it another way, would an animated ‘book’ enchant or simply baffle an adult raised since infancy on screen-based reading? If so, the many well-meaning attempts to transpose codex-like qualities into the digital realm ultimately serve only to comfort those dwindling generations for whom in early years print took precedence over digital text.

The Eco Zoo website is an odd combination of digital imagery and audio with a 3D presentation of a traditional pop-up book… I’m not sure I really get the point.

However I do wonder about the future… if all books are digital, how does one represent a pop-up book? Or will there be new and different technology that will supersede it?

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Well, not exactly… I was hoping that some wildly creative ink manufacturer and printer had teamed up to find a way to add “variable scents” to printed documents. Nope, just wishful thinking. But this is just about as good! (Read the article)

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