Wired NextFest Chicago Preview

September 25, 2008

Start­ing with Friday’s pre­sen­ta­tion by Chris Ander­son, I will be cov­er­ing the Wired NextFest 2008 here in Chicago. The week­end event will high­light new tech­nolo­gies and inno­va­tions from around the world focus­ing on the areas of sus­tain­abil­ity, health­care, design, robot­ics, games and more. If you’re in the Chicago area and can make it out to Millennium Park this week­end, here are few things to make sure you check out:

• Alinea Restau­rant
  Former Sous Chef at the acclaimed French Laun­dry in Napa Valley, Grant Achatz opened Alinea in 2005 to wide-​spread crit­i­cal acclaim. His modern restaurant features up to a 27-course tast­ing menu with pre­sen­ta­tion and design input from Martin Kast­ner and Cru­cial Detail (many of the dishes are served on Martin’s pieces). In 2006 Alinea was named Best Restaurant in Amer­ica by Gourmet Magazine.
• Every­Block
  Search news and events based on your street or neigh­bor­hood. Every­Block also gives you access to crime reports, build­ing per­mits and restaurant inspections and a handful of other publicly available records for your area.
• Flower
  An upcom­ing Playsta­tion Net­work release by thatgame­com­pany in which a player guides a pedal through brightly-​colored land­scapes to reach a flower. The game is con­trolled by the Six­axis fea­ture of the Playsta­tion 3 con­troller and offers stun­ning visu­als and sound wrapped in a unique user experience.
• PEIR
  This collaborative project between UCLA and Nokia Research Center is an online ser­vice that inter­acts with your cell-​phone and tracks your day-​to-​day envi­ron­men­tal impact. PIER col­lects data on carbon emis­sions, impact on sen­si­tive sites, fast-​food expo­sure and par­tic­u­late expo­sure as you go about your day.

For a list of all the scheduled exhibits, check out the NextFest Exhibit page.

Tags: chicago, nextfest, wired