Shaking up the world of Powerpoint and Keynote, Prezi is taking the idea of presentations to a whole new level.  With little change in the slide deck utility belt since 1995, Prezi allows presenters to place their content on an interactive ‘map’.  Content can be placed and sized in a way that will provide a big impact while maintaining context and keeping a frame of reference.  The natural story-telling interaction is truely a step forward in the right direction and the fluid fly-over animations make it a 10 out of 10.  This short clip shows how one goes about making a Prezi.  Afterwards, head on over to the website to try it for your self.

PICOL delivers an engadging animated history of the internet. From the 1950s to today, the narative goes into more detail than most overviews while keeping things clear and straight-forward.

Chris Harrison and Scott Hudson have teamed up to develop a technique enabling Pseudo-3D video conferencing via generic web cameras.  The technique works in two parts to complete the effect.  The first is to seperate the person from the background. The second is to track the movement of the viewer via face tracking. By scaling down and moving the background of the remote viewer based on the viewer’s movements, an immursive effect is created.  Chris Hudson is a student, and Scott Hudson a Professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Peter Skillman, VP of Design at Palm, gives an up close and personal look at the Palm Pre which was launched at CES earlier this month.  No design secrets revealed, but there is plenty of juicy UI and interaction design to go gaga over.

• Palm Pre launch video at CES

From start to finish in 3 months, the Oakley designers and engineers share the insanity of bringing the Oakley Thump mp3 sunglasses into existance.

The FLARE system is a modular component which can be used on the facade of buildings as a dynamic architectural skin. By changing the reflections of natural light upon the skin, the look of the facade is changed. The whole system is computer controlled and any surface animation can be created.

The Nike Airforce 1 has become legendary over the past 25 years. After its initial run was ended three Baltimore stores petitioned to bring the shoe back. With its famous new shoe design every month, fans were quickly born and so started the legend.  The Airfoce 1 has become an icon within the basketball and hip-hop communities, enjoys center stage in many wardrobes, and has secured its place in history. Enjoy the Documentary parts 1 and 2 as well as many others.

Graffiti artist DAIM chooses colors, brushstroke strength, and textures all virtually to create 3D art. Wearing a head mounted display he is able to see and move within his graffiti as he creates it. Three cameras track glyphs positioned on DAIM’s body which allow the augmented reality software to create the three-dimensional canvas. As augmented reality software and development tools become more robust a new landscape limited only by imagination is being created.

Good Magazine’s expose on Hippo Water Rollers shows how such a simple idea can have a profound impact on a community.

John Maeda, president of Rhode Island School of Design, ponders RISD’s role in society and its future.