Knock Knock @ HEAD media design from Khalil Klouche on Vimeo.

Created by Khalil Klouche and aimed at small children, Knock Knock is a playful calculator which allows calculation on the wood surface by knocking and will give back the answer using the same knocking tone. Components include Arduino board, contact microphones and solenoids.

The device was designed for the exhibition “Touch!” at MUDAC (Museum of design and contemporary art) in Lausanne in 2012. It was also featured at Lift conference in 2013 and on Nouvo on RTS (Swiss TV). Khalil is a masters student in Media Design at HEAD-Geneva.

Knock Knock – Knock interface calculator for children by Khalil Klouche [CreativeApplications]

There are a lot of things you can have delivered to your home on a monthly basis: magazines, hot sauces, underwear and beer are just a few. The second place winner at the Husky Startup Challenge, genius.box, takes that basic concept but replaces the Fruit of the Looms with simple to perform science experiments. Aimed at children between the ages of eight and 12, the projects inside each package teach a basic lesson in science, technology, engineering or math through a hands-on experience. All of the materials needed for each experiment are included, along with a lesson plan, instructions and “factoid” cards with tidbits of interesting trivia, such as the number of elements on the periodic scale.

Genius.box wants to put a different experiment on your doorstep every month [Engadget]

We’re going to guess that you’ve never seen a shirt quite like this. It’s been over two years since we first came across the incredible screw portraits by Andrew Myers. The Laguna Beach-based artist stunned us with his unique works that were made by patiently drilling in 8,000 to 10,000 screws into plywood panel. Myers doesn’t rely on any computer software to guide him. Instead, he drills in screws at different depths all by instinct to create his magnificent 3-D portraits.

In his latest work, titled “It’s been a long day,” Myers made a 4 foot by 4 foot sculpture of a men’s dress shirt. It consists of 6,500 screws, oil paint, French newspaper clippings from the 1910′s to 30′s, and wood. Check out the fun, short video he made about the piece at Facebook.

This Unique Shirt is Made Out of 3,500 Screws [My Modern Met]

Self-taught sculpture artist Haroshi is using the discarded leftovers of broken skateboards to create striking wooden creations.

The 35-year-old Tokyo resident, who prefers to not use his full name, began skating at age 15 in Kanagawa, amassing a growing stack of broken decks and parts. Ten years later, his collection overflowing, a friend suggested he find a way to do something with them. Cutting into one of the decks with a saw, he noticed an interesting pattern of stripes from its laminated layers of wood, and got to work on his first creation, a wooden bangle-style bracelet.

Since then, Haroshi’s sculptures have used the imagery of skateboard culture as inspiration for many of his pieces, utilizing multi-colored skateboard ply in both stacked layers and mosaic patterns. The output ranges from skateboarding cats to Airwalk sneakers. And, of course, skulls and demons.

Broken Skateboards Become Stunning Wooden Sculptures [Wired]

Canadian SMARTeacher has created educational software that recognizes and responds to a child’s emotions as they play.

Targeting children aged 5-11 and using an immersive fantasy Pokemon-style game format called Prodigy, the organization is able to deliver over 250 math skills (aligned with the Ontario math curriculum and the common core state standards).

A focus study conducted at elite private schools in Canada over a 4-week period showed students answering up to 1000 math questions per week, an average grade improvement of 15%, and 23% more students indicating they “like” or “love” math.

Punchdrunk is a UK performance group, who for the past couple of years has been staging a version of Macbeth, Sleep No More in New York, to sell out crowds, in 100,000 sq. ft. of former nightclub space.

While there’s a stage where some of the action takes place, the audience is actively encouraged to roam around the building, opening doors and looking around in rooms to get closer to the action and uncover storylines. The seductively elaborate sets include; an infirmary complete with beds, a padded cell, doctors offices, a giant bathroom with multiple baths, a chapel, a hotel lobby space with a reception and dining area and even a forest. When you are in these spaces, you are free to read the books and papers, open draws and cabinets, sit on the chairs and couches and pour yourself a cocktail, if one happens to be available.

It’s a radically different way of thinking about performance and as an audience member it totally immerses you in the “dream state” of the piece, it allows you to see acting and drama in a new light and you truly become part of the action. It short it makes for something that because of your actions becomes truly memorable.

Real Interaction – Sleep No More [Influx Insights]

L.A. based architectural design company, OPeX studios, initiated a public project titled “Square Inches of Love” with the goal of demonstrating the power of collective effort and creativity and the ability of virtual efforts to render great outcomes towards a socially sustainable future. It has been designed as a unique type of open-participation exhibition that begins online and gets transformed into the real world as a touring installation.

Each participant purchases space on a one million square inch exhibition base to use as their canvas for sharing brand logos, art, design, photography, ads, messages, etc. The cost is $1 per square inch of exhibition real estate and there is no minimum; therefore, individuals, companies, and organizations can have very minimal cost of entry. During this online portion, fifty percent of all proceeds collected will be donated to St. Jude. Another part of the value in participation is promotion. New submissions are displayed in a “Sidebar Slideshow” for a month and linked to participant websites. Submissions are also permanently on the “List of Love” page linked to their website. And there is an explorable Progress Grid showing each submissions future placement on the real world exhibition.

With the other 50%, OPeX studios and partnering companies will undertake the transformation of collected submissions into a custom-printed fabric base, the fabrication of 3D structures that mount over the base to provide interactive exploration routes for the exhibit, and the touring of the installation through an estimated 30 locations across the United States. The free-of-charge touring exhibition will display the results of the collective effort and provide guides for fun educational ways to explore the exhibit.

Tipped by Mark Reeves! Thanks!

Acceptional offers the only online database of college admission essays from the top 25 U.S. universities, searchable by many factors. Taps into the widespread use of technology and social media among students to seek information, allowing users instant access and insight into the traditional college essay process. Students who upload essays are paid each time their essay is viewed, so it functions as a sort of social marketplace, making for a more transparent college application process.

Idea contributed by Sohil. Thanks!

overstockArt.com announced today the official launch of its mobile website, m.overstockArt.com. The launch represents another milestone for the company as it continues its strides in technological innovation and maintains itself as a leader in the online home décor industry. Customers can now conveniently access the popular online art gallery’s collection of more than 60,000 reproduction oil paintings and decorative ceramic tiles on their BlackBerrys, iPhones, Droids, and other small-screen mobile devices.

Art Sumo allows you to discover the work of under-appreciated artists in the small corners of the globe. Members receive an email each day featuring one amazing painting, at an exclusive price.

Once you sign up, you will receive one email each day highlighting a beautiful, original painting created by an unsung artist from the small corners of the globe, at an incredible price. Like it? Then snap it up quickly, because it’s the only one in the world and it will probably be gone tomorrow.

Idea contributed by Lindsey Engh. Thanks!

Every voice has a distinctive wavelength and frequency, making it one of the most unique identifiers of you as a person. When recorded and converted into visual form, your voice’s sound waves generate a one of a kind and completely personalized artistic masterpiece.

Bespoken Art has mastered this audio to visual conversion process in order to provide you with the ability to transform your words, wedding vows, songs, and laughter into a 100% customized piece of art, guaranteed to be a great “conversation piece”.

Idea contributed by David Caulkins. Thanks!