Week #264 started off with some feedback on our Virtual Reality project. Everyone is happy with the progress, just polishing-up the two current designs. We have also settled on what our third data visualisation will be and we’ll start coding it up in week #265. We also went down to CCP, the makers of EVE online and Valkrye the new VR Space game for the Oculus Rift. They have a version you can play now called GunJack for the GearVR. We got to try a few of their game and some of their prototype hardware and software which we’re probably not allowed to talk about yet. Overall, it was an inspiring visit and helped us learn a bit more about the state of VR.
Friday of week #264, some of the team attended the ÍMARK Marketing conference. Overall, we enjoyed the day, it was very inspiring, but it gets harder and harder to related to big companies with massive budgets when you’re not one. Also, after you’ve absorbed so much on the topic, these conferences aren’t really giving you any new information or “fresh air”, but rather repeating back to you what you already confirmed to be true.
Week #264 has also been Food and Fun week here in Reykjavik, Iceland. That means lots of restaurant related goodness and showing-off this week. On Saturday, part of the team went down to Harpa Concert hall where they had plenty of tasting booths and a farmers’ market. It was good fun.
In week #264, we also managed to get loads of packages delivered. A few prototype t-shirts which look great.
On the prototype front, we’ve also sent off to get more test stickers made, this time using stickermule.com and some laser cut prototypes from ponoko.com. We are looking forward to how things come out so we can potentially scale-up some production.
Behind the scenes we’ve been working on the material.is conference kickstarter video, text, rewards, newsletter and tying-up loose-ends so we can launch the campaign as soon as possible. We got approval from Kickstarter on Monday of week #265 and sent out an email to all the backers. Wednesday morning launched the campaign. Currently we have 2 backers. We need a lot more to get us to our goal.
Week #265 was also Design March, a design festival. Lots of events happening around town supporting and showing off designers, their products, prototypes and practices. It is really fun to wander the streets and see some interesting what people are thinking about, new trends, materials and generally what is in fashion.
Bric-à-brac
With all the VR projects and news we’ve been looking into, it is amazing to see what you can do to make 3D holograms just with some old plastic, a phone and some specially made videos.
Once you understand how this works, it doesn’t seem so special, but what makes it so amazing is that no one else has done it. Such a simple trick, you kick yourself in thinking why didn’t I make that!