Moleskine notebooks are among the most beloved tools in an artist’s bag and have been for generations. But in a world that is increasingly paperless, how can a company that sells paper notebooks hope to stay relevant? Moleskine has done it by teaming up with Livescribe to make a sketch pad that automatically backs up to your iPad.

Livescribe is already known for its digital pens that turn your analog scribblings into better, neater, storable versions. Teaming this technology with Moleskine is pure genius. The pen is programmed with the exact dimensions and lines of the paper, so it really does back up your doodles and notes to look exactly the way they do in the notebook.

Each page of the notebook features three printed icons at the bottom: a star, a flag, and a tag. Tapping any one of these lets you tag that page for easy reference later. Audio icons along the bottom of the page also let you record verbal notes to go along with each sketch or note – just tap record, play or pause to access the features through the pen. Everything you do is automatically transferred to your iPad for safekeeping and for later digital manipulation if so desired.

The back of the notebook is outfitted with Livescribe bookmarks that let you access the full range of the smartpen’s features. The pairing of Moleskine and Livescribe is a big deal for artists who want to work more with digital media but are fiercely attached to the feeling of using their Moleskine notebooks. The Livescribe Notebook by Moleskine will set you back $29.95 (US) and a Livescribe pen goes for around $200. The only catch? Livescribe is only compatible with iOS devices, so you’re stuck working with an iPad whether you like it or not.

The post Paper + Digital: Draw in a Moleskine, Edit it on Your iPad first appeared on Gajitz.

In the digital age, the tactile joy of flipping through a stack of CDs or records has been replaced with the thoroughly unsatisfying actions of scrolling through files on a screen. Paris-based designer Ismail Salhi missed that feeling of physically choosing a record and putting it on the record player, so he dreamed up a new type of interaction with music and other files.

The system is called Qleek. It consists of a small cradle and lots of hexagonal discs called Tapps. Each Tapp is associated with a media file: music, videos, photos or podcasts. The small objects don’t actually store the files. They are more like placeholders than actual media storage devices.

The cradle is connected to your TV or speakers, and the Tapps bookmark your media files. When you place a Tapp in the cradle, the NFC-enabled system brings up the files you want on the device you choose.

Because the Tapps are so much like CDs or records, Salhi envisions people displaying their little wooden discs like art. It’s almost like a physical bookcase that holds digital media. The Tapps each display cover art, making them seem even more like objets d’art that also happen to be functional.

The post A Media System That Gives Physical Life to Digital Media first appeared on Gajitz.

As any gamer knows, it isn’t that difficult to become completely immersed in a great game. Japanese game designer Keita Takahashi takes the immersion concept to its logical next step with a 360 degree room-sized version of Ms. Pac-Man. It was built specifically for the 2012 BabyCastles Summit in New York.

Players can step into the room and experience the bizarre disorientation of being completely surrounded by the game on all sides. The unusual setting brings together the physical and digital worlds in a way that isn’t quite as cheesy as virtual reality but is heavier on the immersion scale than, say, a TV screen. As demonstrated in the above video, the directional controls change when Ms. Pac-Man moves between walls and ceiling and floor, making the whole prospect a little daunting – but still pretty freaking awesome.

The post Room Full of Pac: Immersive Room-Sized Retro Video Game first appeared on Gajitz.

The line between our analog and digital lives is becoming more and more blurred every day. With the constant presence of electronic gadgets and a lot of our lives being lived out online, it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t. This totally fantastic Samsung Portugal commercial blurs even the line between human skin and digital projection.

In it, a model is covered with reflective silver paint and sits very, very still (for up to three hours at a time during filming!). A digital “skin” is then projected onto the model in place of his own. He becomes a cyborg, a superhero, a soldier and a bunch of different works of art. The greatest thing about the ad is that it’s done in a relatively low-tech manner, with a real projector and a real model – but it looks totally seamless and absolutely fascinating.

The post Digital Skin: Human Face Becomes a Canvas for Projections first appeared on Gajitz.

Still life paintings have been an artist favorite for plenty of centuries, and if done well they can be truly remarkable. But even if you really love art, looking at bowl after bowl of fruit can get a little boring.

Artist Scott Garner got bored of those fruit bowls and decided to do something way more interesting with still life: make it less still.

Using a flat-screen motion-sensitive display attached to a rotating mount, Garner turned this simple painting into a truly interactive work of art.

Turn the screen one way or the other and the objects in the picture tumble around with realistic movement and lighting.

Garner made the scene in Unity 3D and used a simple C application to tie the scene to the spatial sensor. Everything works together to create one of the most incredible fusions of art and technology the world has ever seen.

The post Interactive Still Life Painting Lets You Mess Up Perfect Scene first appeared on Gajitz.