Thursday, March 8, 2012

Wireless Rx Cap


Vitality has launched a top that reminds you (wirelessly) to take your meds.

OKC Maps


OKC has some really well designed maps on their website.

VC goes OKC



Successful trip to Will Rogers with the VC Juniors (PM Section)!

Metro


Windows 8 Consumer Preview...

It is an interesting platform. Worth checking out if you have access to a Windows based computer.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Immigration Laws

I've come across a few news stories that seem to be a central reason why some people are wary of implementing national forms of ID.

34,000 Hispanic students skip class after judge ruling to enforce following Alabama law:

"U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn ruled on Wednesday that Alabama can enforce the law’s requirements for schools to verify students’ immigration status and for police to determine citizenship and status of those they stop, detain or arrest. Police are allowed to arrest anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant during a routine traffic stop, under the law."


A German manager with Mercedes-Benz is free after being arrested for not having a driver's license with him under Alabama's new law targeting illegal immigrants


US Teen (possibly) mistakenly deported, returns to US

Countries — ID cards

This is just a wikipedia list of current forms of ID used in a number of countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_document

This is a list of countries that use forms of National ID and what the stipulations are for each of them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_identity_card_policies_by_country

National ID Card Pros & Cons

Some obvious pros and cons to think about. They list feasibility as a con, but I don't think it is. As Justin has been telling us we have the technology to do this. They also list redundancy as a con, but we are dealing with combining all these together I'm not sure why this thought did not cross their minds.

Pros/Cons

A post highlighting some of the pros and cons of National ID cards.

MyKad information

This article (http://www.rogerclarke.com/DV/MyKad.html) gives a lot of insight into how the introduction of the Malaysian national ID card, MyKad, is going, what the security risks are/have been, and how the card might be used. Might be a good resource to check out if you want to consider more specific security risks.

RFID Chips

Here is an interesting article on RFID Chips. It is crazy to find out that these are in some products that we buy everyday.

MyKad — Malaysian National ID

The National ID of Malaysia, MyKad, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyKad, was introduced in 2001 as a scaling mandatory card — not fully required yet, but mandatory for anyone needing to update their ID information, until it rolls over into the de facto ID card for citizens over the age of 12.

Applications on MyKad

The MyKad project was developed was originally intended to have four functions:

Identity card, including fingerprints and photo
Driving licence
Travel document in Malaysia and several neighbouring countries. However, a conventional passport is still required for international travel: the card is aimed at reducing congestion at the border by enabling the use of unmanned gates using biometric (fingerprint) identification.
Storage of health information

Current applications

Four further applications were added before or during its initial release,

e-cash, an 'electronic wallet' system intended for low value but high volume transactions (the maximum limit[clarification needed] is US$ 500)
ATM integration[clarification needed]
Touch 'n Go, Malaysia's toll road tolling system and also public transport payment system
Digital certificate[clarification needed], commonly known as Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), only supported by the 64Kb version (implemented by the end of 2002)

At this time, most[specify] of the functions are still not widely used because they are not widely promoted[citation needed].
[edit] Future / proposed applications

The extensible design of the card may be leading to functionality creep.[citation needed] Further applications envisaged by the government include:

frequent travellers' card
a merge with the Payment Multi-Purpose Card ('PMPC'), giving the MyKad credit and debit card functions that will pave the way for other financial uses

Personal identification

MyKad must be carried at all times. Failure to do so may incur a fine of between RM3,000 and RM20,000 or jail term of up to three years.

No unauthorised persons, including security guards, are allowed to retain the MyKads (identity cards) of other people. Only those authorised by the National Registration Department, like the police and immigration officers, can do so, said National Registration Department director-general Mohd Abdul Halim Muhammad.
[edit] Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

MyKad PKI application allows for two digital certificates to be inserted into the MyKad. MyKad holders can apply and purchase the digital certificates from two of Malaysia's certification authority, MSCTrustgate.com Sdn. Bhd. and DigiCert Sdn. Bhd..

PKI allows for easy securing of private data over public telecommunications networks, thus allowing, secure electronic transactions over the Internet which include:

Online submission of tax returns
Internet banking
Secure email

MyKad as a travel document

Frequent travellers between Malaysia and Brunei can use MyKad as a travel document.[7]

As Malaysia stopped issuing and renewing Restricted Passports beginning on 1 January 2006, Malaysia considered negotiating with Singapore to allow frequent Malaysian travellers to enter Singapore using MyKad. However, Singapore rejected the use of MyKad by frequent Malaysian travellers to enter the country, citing security concerns.

REAL ID Act

The REAL ID Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act) was passed in 2005.

This act has basically been ignored or indefinitely postponed by almost all the states, and required standardization of information on ID cards used today, which is basically the closest the U.S. has gotten to imposing a national ID card. It got a lot of backlash.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Ambient Experience Design


Philips has documented their vision for Ambient Healthcare Environments

Link 1
Link 2

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Akkurat



We talked about some great typefaces in class on Wednesday. Be sure to look at Akkurat, Meta, Akzidenz Grotesk, and others!

Psycho


We spoke of Saul Bass' title sequence for the 1960 Psycho in class last week. For those of you who haven't seen it a must see on YouTube. The 1998 Psycho remake uses the same visuals for the title sequence, but decides to do it in color. Gus Van Sant was the director, but it did not fare well with audiences. You can still catch the entire film (before Universal yanks it off) on YouTube also.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Saul Bass Bell System


Vintage video from 1970 that outlines the pitch to Ma Bell on updating their brand and creating a system.  

Research Presentation Selections



DDam

Emily: City of the Lost Children/Saul Bass
Mitch: China Syndrome/YuCo
Caitlin: Videodrome/Prologue
Matt: Clockwork Orange/Blur
Robert: Chinatown/Danny Y.
Brittany: Modern Times/Smith+Lee
Seth: Playtime/Imaginary Forces
Bryce: Brazil/MK12
Tiffany: Chungking Express/Digital Kitchen

DDpm

Elle: All About My Mother/Prologue
David: City of the Lost Children/Blur
Max: Chinatown/Saul Bass
Taylor: Clockwork Orange/MK12
Kelli: Chungking Express/Digital Kitchen
Liz: Brazil/Smith+Lee
Sam: Farewell My Concubine/Imaginary Forces


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Screen Resolution Sizes



A great diagram to keep handy to remember screen sizes for HD and SD video.

Class Starts Tomorrow

Welcome back. It is going to be an exciting semester. More to come soon!