Kevin Hall's Writing

iPhone Killers

2008-06-09T20:01:00.011-04:00

In the meantime...

2008-03-27T23:15:00.002-04:00

Writing has really picked up lately. I published in SCI FI Magazine, which I hope to be able to show soon (no scanner in the closet I call an apartment). The volume's getting a bit much for me to keep up with, but if I land any big projects I'll toss them up here.

In the meantime all of my daily work will be at DVICE.

I didn't write it...

2007-12-27T20:04:00.003-05:00

...but I did do the graphic: Why the iPhone ruled 2007

Well...

2007-12-14T19:38:00.001-05:00

Some days you write about a sweet advancement in robotics.

Some days you write about the Meat Toilet.

More more more

2007-10-31T20:02:00.001-04:00

- Mobius MKII loudspeaker is big, spreads tunes 360 degrees
- Talismoon Evolve Wii color cases, until Nintedo buys some paint
- Digidesign MBox 2 Micro puts a digital sound studio in your pocket
- GPS Sports vitals tracking system weeds out the slackers
- Banpresto showers Gundam fans with gadgetry, doodads
- Takara Tomy i-SOBOT named smallest humanoid robot in production
- Crealev LOS! floating lamps are dangerously more interesting than you
- CITIZEN:Citizen ccPhone, the wolf in Apple's clothing
- Audiovox 'Anyware' NVX3000PC hovers somewhere between handheld and laptop
- Stylish Sanyo Eneloop bell sounds the alarm, tells your family
- Chrome Calculator Belt Buckle should be forced on bad tippers

Erm... Last week in SciFi

2007-10-31T19:52:00.000-04:00

Been cuh-razy.

- Vice Versa clock ditches the face, is all arms
- M61 "Counter-Rocket" gatling gun-on-a-truck shoots down mortars like skeet
- Mobile Robots PatrolBot refitted as a festive holiday servant
- Hitachi considers steering wheels for its finger vein authentication system
- Lego Pathfinder might as well be a real spaceship
- Face tracking i.C. Hexapod wins every staring match, takes pictures to prove it
- Hot/cold sheet set cures the sheet hog, eliminates cuddling
- MultiBook: a lamp, alarm clock, charger and a terrible read
- Suzuki Biplane is a motorcycle, but looks like it could fly
- Numberless Audocron "clock" takes its sweet time
- Dell XPS One A2010 gets bland introduction by the FCC
- Arrr! Nexpeaker sailboat speakers are ripe for plunderin'!
- Ping Pong Door turns entryways into battlefields
- Fingers laptop stand organizes your cables in a pinch
- NICT android gets all touchy-feely with those who need care
- Remote controlled trench compactors put Tonka trucks to shame
- Underwood Rotobox Winder Cabinet for people who really love watches
- iShoes motorized skates: cruise at 15 mph without moving your legs
- NEC SX-9 supercomputer is world's fastest at 839 TFLOPS
- Mercedes-Benz SilverFlow: from puddle to car in 60 seconds
- Marantz CR201 Personal CD System is sleek enough to dust off the ol' album
- Rabbit-shaped strobe lights announce the coming of the adorable police
- This week in SCI FI Tech

Big SciFi update

2007-10-22T22:21:00.000-04:00

Been concentrating on SciFi at the moment:

- Belkin n52te SpeedPad makes you wish you had more fingers
- DoCoMo toying with paper cellphones... e-paper, that is
- This week in SCI FI Tech
- Travelex QUID: "intergalactic currency" for your next trip into space
- World's first tsunami generator is the wave pool from hell
- Binibottle: In 2007 bottles finally get a cap on the side
- U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi virtual humanoid isn't much to look at... Or is it?
- M65 Recoilless Nuclear Rifle: say hello to my really big friend
- This week in SCI FI Tech
- Smart Stool robot listens to you babble and then tells rest of the room
- Hyundai W-100 does a a lot more than you thought a watch could
- Sneaky how-to: attach that spare 35mm lens to your camcorder
- Nissan NV200 mobile office shortens morning commute to about two seconds
- Smart tech allows for eco-friendlier, recyclable trains in Oslo
- Checking in with the galaxy's greatest photographer
- Talking Digital Hand Grip actually talks to your hand
- Automated pod cars to provide speedy, comfortable transportation to the weary
- Fighter jets with DynaSpeak speech recognition: "Yeehaw!"
- Hymini wind turbine lets tree huggers charge their cell phones the green way
- Senjo No Kizuna: a glorious panoramic Gundam simulator
- Man-made tornado sucks by design, may save lives
- Rampaging robot cannon leaves nine dead in its wake
- D-Box GP-200 chair adds motion to your games
- Flashy LED Hat is appropriately geeked out
- WIA "Microrobot" is friggin' huge and well armed
- Kaoru Digital Signage: wake up and smell the... advertising?
- Aviation enthusiast replaces his bedroom with $30,000 simulator
- Fentix Cube brings Rubik's into the 21st century with brighter games
- ScooterDesk: a work station for chronic fidgeters
- This week in SCI FI Tech

Woo! I'll leave this week's posts for another update.

More SciFi & time in the field

2007-10-03T16:38:00.000-04:00

Last week I was running around to report at a bunch of different press events including Hot5, ShowStoppers, and DigitalLife. I don't think I mentioned Pepcom, but I was there a little earlier last month as well.

- Corsair Readout shows you exactly what's inside
- Today's word is "Average," brought to you by Toshiba
- Zipit messenger keeps kids in touch with their Internet buddies
- FlyTech buzzes back into the spotlight
- IceRage office gadgets expose your inner geek
- Toshiba's DLP-PX10U projector makes presentations less cumbersome
- This week in SCI FI Tech
- Mio DigiWalker GPS learns some sweet new tricks
- Bang & Olufsen keeps focused with music phone
- Paint: It keeps your lights on now, too
- Sharp's multi-touch LCD optically scans with every pixel

SciFi for the weekend

2007-09-21T19:23:00.001-04:00

- A robot that walks wherever it wants
- Holographic supermodels
- This week in SCI FI Tech roundup

More SciFi for you

2007-09-20T16:45:00.000-04:00

- Finally, something will laugh at my dad's jokes
- Electric cigarettes
- I can't look at this thing without imagining it rolling down the street and slicing things in two
- DisplayLink's multiple display technology
- Two HD consumer camcorders
- Just a pen... Or is it? (Yes.)
- Rowmobile

For the weekend

2007-09-14T15:51:00.001-04:00

- Bee happy you won't get blown up
- I'm seriously considering getting one of these
- For sushi chefs in training

This week's articles

2007-09-13T18:02:00.000-04:00

- An idea for dog owners dog owners
- Solar power collection... in Space!
- A huge-looking CD changer by Sony
- Wheelchair controlled by thought
- Beat Dress
- Cellphones are for dogs, too
- Semacode ads
- It's a mystery that Japanese people are known for being punctual
- LaCie Golden Disk
- Belgium zero-emission Antarctic research base
- "Emergency Cocoon"
- A wine rack to end all wine racks
- Not really a robot, but close enough

SciFi & Red Hook Brochure Samples

2007-09-05T16:30:00.000-04:00

- A rocket that lets you watch its lift-off
- ROBOT!
- A crazy wound scanning thing
- This thing kind of looks evil
- Greenscreening for dummies

Design by Lisa Maione. What we basically went for was a list that flowed from one thing to the next with an easy way to reference back. Not pictured are Lisa's map and the rest of the brochure, which are really well done. (If you click on the picture, the text is easier to read.)

Two more

2007-08-30T17:03:00.000-04:00

-Robo hugs!
-To remember those malt shop days

Getting back on track

2007-08-27T20:03:00.000-04:00

Here's what I've been up to, between moments of craziness:
- A rainbow night light
- An airport scanner for home use
- An automated bartending unit
- A more useful approach to ionic winds
- Cheap laptops
- Floating planet lamp thingies
- A CD player with a pretty wonky design
- Russian water cannons
- A robot tour guide
- GPS tracking for school uniforms
- An SUV for little people
- Nerdy graffiti

...

2007-08-21T17:42:00.000-04:00

Will resume shortly.

Thursday SciFi

2007-08-09T18:46:00.000-04:00

No clever titling this time around. This player looks like it was designed by the record companies as it'll totally destroy all of your CDs.

A Wednesday in Hamburg

2007-08-08T19:01:00.000-04:00

I took the morning flight over to Germany and waited for a bus. Good thing, too, as the storm that rocked New York this morning punched a hole in my roommate's wall, so I got to miss out an all the flooding woes.

Tuesday Tooth Care

2007-08-07T18:09:00.000-04:00

A toothbrush I really wouldn't mind using myself.

Moriarty's next of kin...

2007-08-06T15:42:00.000-04:00

...continues his legacy of diabolical genius.

Friday SciFi & new headings

2007-08-03T18:03:00.000-04:00

This time around, I wrote it for the kids. Also, instead of just using the days of the week to title updates for SciFi, as it'll probably continue for a while, I'll try using dates. Or maybe even something more interesting like relevant blurbs. We'll see!

Thursday SciFi & my crazy brother

2007-08-02T21:22:00.000-04:00

Sorry, Mr. Lewinski.

Also, thanks for all the comments, bro. This isn't really a blog. It's more of an organic resume and a place where I can keep track of how many articles I've written when it's time to invoice, but it's great to know someone is actually peeking from time to time.

Wednesday SciFi & hopefully other stuff

2007-08-01T18:04:00.001-04:00

A new article can be found here. It's about a mouse.

Also, a new month means it's time to get rolling again. The only other project I have active right now is writing fiction, though I can't post that here. But hopefully I'll have some interesting stuff to post soon.

Tuesday SciFi

2007-07-31T17:38:00.001-04:00

Huzzah, a Star Trek reference.

Monday SciFi

2007-07-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

Woke up a bit under the weather.

An article I wrote on Friday went live this morning. Wish I had the power to edit it as it's got some rough bits I didn't catch—my own fault—but that's all right. A second article of mine for today is here.

Thursday SciFi & my window situation

2007-07-26T18:30:00.000-04:00

Another post at SCI FI Tech. They're going to keep me on next week as well at one article daily. Hope it holds up!

Also, I returned the Roman shade that completely fell apart and got one with a functional drawstring. So, despite what it might mean about me as a person, I am rather excited to have a fully functional blind covering each of my windows.

SCI FI Tech

2007-07-25T19:05:00.000-04:00

My first post for SCI FI Tech went live today. Pretty groovy.

SCI FI Tech & the Brooklyn Freelance Writers

2007-07-24T18:02:00.001-04:00

It looks like I'm going to start writing articles tentatively for SCI FI Tech. Only one a day until the weekend, maybe a few next week, and hopefully more as things pick up. Some of the guys I worked with at Gizmodo also post there.

There are a few smaller networks here in Brooklyn and New York in general that I've found, like Brooklyn Freelance Writers and Park Slope Freelancers. I'm used to talking to designers and clients, so it should be nice to meet my fellows and see how they go about it, see if anyone needs help, what they're reading, etc.

Roman shade installation & insanity

2007-07-23T18:06:00.000-04:00

Easy end to the month. All of my clients have their invoices and I got a bit of downtime. Downtime that will be swallowed up by the two shades I've tried installing and completely mucked up.

One is stuck open, the other closed (the drawstrings came loose and fell off). I won't even begin to go over screw woes, cheap drill bits, and my electric drill almost catching on fire.

I plan to take pictures of the place so everyone can take a peak, but don't be surprised if I just have slabs of cardboard taped over my windows.

Wednesday Gizmodo (last update) & new prospects

2007-07-18T20:23:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to continue at Gizmodo for the moment. My focus is definitely on my fiction writing and Gizmodo is the big leagues of blogging, so to speak. Certainly no bridges burned, though, the team there is great.

These are my last Gizmodo articles at the moment:
• A exoskeleton of sorts from Japan to help aid disaster relief
• Dogfight! I want one, actually
• A waterproof, floating speaker case for the iPod Nano
• This thing made me realize I have a cyborg pirate fetish

However, a friend—the same guy who gave me a chance there—has pointed me in a new direction. Keep you posted.

Tuesday Gizmodo & Red Hook

2007-07-17T23:02:00.000-04:00

My designer friend, Lisa, brought me on to write copy for a pamphlet she was whipping together. A community in southern Brooklyn called Red Hook wants a guide of sorts for people getting off the cruiseliners there. Not that Red Hook is a bad place or anything, but it has a very narrow strip of rather incredible things to eat and see, surrounded by a residential area that could be confusing to newcomers. We've since sent the final draft to the printers, and when Lisa gets back from vacation I'll see if it's OK to post a sample of the pamphlet here.

Until then, some more Gizmodo:
• Very short bit about leaked Playstation 3 controllers
• A rather cool looking iPod dock
• Finally a computer my dad would love
• I really dig this light, personally

Monday Gizmodo & Aaron James

2007-07-17T14:45:00.000-04:00

Right, so, getting together all of my articles proved to be a little too time consuming. In the meantime I'll keep this rolling.

Today I met with Aaron James to finalize the copy for his website. He knew exactly what he wanted in terms of language and atmosphere, so working with him was really easy.

Also, these posts went live at Gizmodo yesterday:
• A cooling pad for laptops
• A Cyberman shower radio, fashioned after the cyborg race from Dr. Who
• A coffee table with LEDs and IR sensors scattered across its surface
• More iPhone/AT&T rumors
• An Apple patent, hopefully they do something with this one

The patent article could have been better, but I was pretty burned out after reading the 34-page concept sheet Apple put together.

2007-07-12T20:17:00.001-04:00

Nothing here yet. I'm getting together all of my June articles so that I can link them all at once. In the meantime, a link my brother uses to find my Gizmodo posts is up above. It has all my latest stuff. Looks like it's missing around 40 posts or so, but that's probably because the site update changed the way the server detects bylines. Also it's a tad slow to update.

This area should be updated more or less daily with whatever I publish. It will also have information about what's going on with my clients outside of Gizmodo (got three of them right now), and where to find it.

And yeah, this template is tacky. And some of you are probably rolling your eyes. I can't help it, I ultimately like to keep things simple. This weekend I'll be sorting out the visuals.