Tech: Interior Design Software
Decorating a home dwelling can be a straight forward affair: determine the function of each room, add furniture, then apply style. When planning to decorate a retail space or special event, your interiors can have a much wider variety of needs. To keep you and your team (if you got one) organized and productive when doing a floor move or decor installation, creating a map of your project space will help you better visualize the area. Architects, Contractors and Interior Designers will always start with an idea on paper before works begins. By adopting their process will allow you to understand your design challenges before the first fixture is moved. No drawing skills? Can’t make your plans as fancy as an architect? Don’t worry, your plans need only be understood by you. The goal is to define your working space by establishing it’s particular design needs. To help you visualize your tasks at hand, we recommend a couple of handy applications for your next big project.
Google Sketchup
Acquired by Google a few years ago, Sketchup is a powerful yet easy 3D application that delivers professional results for exterior or interior modeling and object creation. Adopted by many architects as a sketchpad for visualizing concepts to clients, Sketchup is the main tool for those who need quick results without the hassle of learning a dedicated 3D or CAD program. Google has released a free version that will fit most users needs and Pro version which enables more features. Google supports Sketchup with online tutorials and seriously large library of 3D objects to use (including real models from official vendors like Maytag and Kenmore). Within a few hours you’ll be building like the pros.
Sweet Home 3D
Another popular program for interior design and modeling is Sweet Home 3D, a European application that is well supported on multiple systems and comes in various languages. Similar to Sketchup, Sweet Home 3D excels at rapidly building a floorplan from a sketch or scan of an existing plan. Users can work in a 2D interface while seeing a three-dimensional representation in another window, handy when spinning around an object gets tiring. The support for Sweet Home 3D is not as robust as Google would provide, but their website does have the necessary tech support and forums.
If you’re dreading a particular renovation or need some accuracy when planning the next event, consider testing your theories in the virtual world first, your back will thank you for it, just remember to take good measurements!
Tech: iPhone payment system
In the video above Kevin Rose demonstrates the latest invention from Twitter creator Jack Dorsey called Squareup. A service that allows instant credit card transactions through a tiny card swiping device attached to an internet enabled iPhone. The company provides a slick UI for easy on-the-fly processing; while signing and receipts stay virtual. This device solves the awkward management of spontaneous or external cash only events in the wild (pop shops, garage sales, craigslist, craft fairs). Although Squareup has designed the featherweight champ of portable POS systems, they are not alone. Stay tuned for plenty of activity in this market and lets hope the ‘whale’ doesn’t announce your negative balance. (via Venturebeat)
Tech: Intelligent Windows
Intel’s demonstration of computer assisted ‘window shopping’
The Future is never easy to spot on a daily basis. New technologies often creep in through older versions of itself. But, sometimes they can hit us square on the head, like the automated vacuum (Roomba), hybrid car (Prius) and smart phone (iPhone) to name a few examples. Intel, the computer processor manufacturer, has released a demonstration of their latest processor the Core i7, integrated into a faux store window as digital signage. The presenters demonstrate a working graphical user interface (GUI) within a pane of semi-translucent glass operated by touch sensitivity. A built-in camera is also present to identify gender and proximity of the user for a focused interactive experience. Don’t expect this technology at your local mall just yet, there are still massive cost and manufacturing hurdles to overcome before we can literally window shop. Plus, who wants to clean all those finger prints off the front window all day?
Our Prediction
The built-in camera will make it to main street storefront windows before the touch screens will. Imagine LCD advertisements adjusting to exactly what you might want based on your age, gender or items in hand. Smile for the camera. (via Core77)
