http://www.lepalec.com/index.htmlMy latest posts on my blogenfrancois@lepalec.comCopyright 2007 Francois Le Palec2008-10-01T22:41:15+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:29:43 +0100francois@lepalec.comArt & Design2008-10-01T22:41:15+01:00http://www.lepalec.com/files/roger_hiorns_crystal_cave_seizure.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.lepalec.com/files/roger_hiorns_crystal_cave_seizure.html#unique-entry-id-12The British artist Roger Hiorns presents Seizure, his latest art installation commissioned by the arts organisation Artangel.

Hiorns has transformed an abandoned housing estate near London’s Elephant & Castle by covering the inside with blue copper phosphate crystals.

Walking in this cave of sparkling blue crystals is an amazing breathtaking experience I highly recommend.

The complex creative process of filling the flat with 90,000 litres of copper sulphate solution has been documented and is available on IconEye, the website of Icon Magazine.

Hiorns' art installation is scheduled for demolition after the exhibition which ends on 2nd November. Don't miss it!

Visit in video here: http://tinyurl.com/4kqotz
More info here: http://tinyurl.com/67kzrj]]>francois@lepalec.comTechnology2008-03-12T21:02:54+00:00http://www.lepalec.com/files/mobile_broadband_vs_adsl-cable.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.lepalec.com/files/mobile_broadband_vs_adsl-cable.html#unique-entry-id-112007 has been a turning point for the mobile industry with carriers finally accepting they were not fancy-shamcy media companies but just dumb pipes!

After poor results in mobile TV and the video calling and multimedia messaging flops, mobile operators needed new growth opportunities to cover their 3G license costs. And, as Fred Vogelstein explained in "The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry", the launch of the iPhone in mid-2007 finally triggered this shift by forcing carriers to give more power to manufacturers, developers, producers and consumers.

The result in early 2008 is an intense competition in mobile broadband offers. Keeping your laptop connected wherever your are now starts at £7.50 a month. Even non-geeky newspapers like The Guardian are now helping their readers to find the best deal.

So the time might have come to replace our old ADSL subscriptions by a 3G dongle... and no longer rely on those patchy wifi hotspots!]]>francois@lepalec.comArt & Design2008-01-19T22:50:00+00:00http://www.lepalec.com/files/waterfalls_in_nyc_river_this_summer.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.lepalec.com/files/waterfalls_in_nyc_river_this_summer.html#unique-entry-id-10 According to The New York Sun, Olafur Eliasson, the Danish-Icelandic artist who uses elements of nature to evoke sensory experiences, will present a monumental art installation in New York this summer. Four 70 feet high waterfalls will be erected in the East River and will be on display from mid-July to mid-October... A good reason to stop over in NYC this summer!

More info here: http://tinyurl.com/ypy4d7]]>francois@lepalec.comArt & Design2007-07-29T14:03:11+01:00http://www.lepalec.com/files/hreinn_fridfinnsson_at_serpentine.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.lepalec.com/files/hreinn_fridfinnsson_at_serpentine.html#unique-entry-id-8 If you liked the half-Icelandic Olafur Eliasson's sun set over the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in 2004, do not miss Hreinn Fridfinnsson at the Serpentine Gallery this summer!

This exhibition of one of Icelandic’s leading conceptual artists, is presented in collaboration with Eliasson, who is working with Kjetil Thorsen to design this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion.

Fridfinnsson’s work is a poetic and lyrical exploration through our childhood memories and emotions. His ability to capture the strongest feelings into the simplest objects is just astonishing. This Icelandic ready-made poetry is in London until September 2nd.

More info here: http://tinyurl.com/2vpy83]]>francois@lepalec.comTechnology2007-07-12T23:04:19+01:00http://www.lepalec.com/files/the_anti-iphone.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.lepalec.com/files/the_anti-iphone.html#unique-entry-id-7If you're craving for an iPhone but haven't planned to fly to the US before xmas - or just don't want to take the risk of unlocking it despite the good news from the activation unlock contest - have a look at the Neo1973 from OpenMoko.

The open-sourced Linux mobile phone, which had been introduced before the iPhone last year, not only looks like an iPhone but also has a similar multi-touch screen, a wifi interface and 3D accelerometers. However, there's a major difference between those two nice toys. While the iPhone is locked and its applications are strictly controlled by Apple, Neo's software and hardware are designed to be expandable and fully configurable by the developer community.

The Neo1973 is already available online in its developer preview version ($300 without WLAN). The consumer edition will be released in October. So, are you iPhone or Neo?

Official site: http://www.openmoko.com]]>