The exhibition features some of the world’s premiere ‘interactive artists’, including Golan Levin and Aaron Koblin, and it has certainly attracted a lot of attention. I went along to check out what all the fuss was about. These are my favourites.

Body paint

Mehmet Akten’s virtual painting installation is unlike any painting you will have ever attempted before. The piece works by sensing motion allowing intrepid artists to splatter, smear and spray paint over the large virtual canvas. The result is inevitably a messy smear of vivid colours but that doesn’t matter; it’s the interaction that counts.

Body Paint (via Ben J Gibbs)

The real-time tie between the user and the canvas is fascinating, with a flick or the wrist you can spray a flurry of pink up the canvas. It’s like begin child with poster paints again, except this time you can do it all day without any mess and still claim artistic integrity.

Dandelion

The concept here is pure simplicity; allowing users to blow away the seed of a dandelion. This being a virtual interactive piece however both the dandelion, and the wind which affects it, are virtual.

The installation was created by Sennep; a London-based design studio specialising in creating digital experiences. It’s another child-like activity brought into the virtual world as an adult’s plaything, but it’s that simplicity which makes it so delightfully engrossing.

Dandelion (via Pixelthing)

Exquisite clock

This piece, created by the Italian group Fabrica, is one of the only exhibits to allow participation from the wider world (rather than just the viewer). The piece is a clock, but of course it’s interactive! For months anonymous online visitors have been able to add their images on the exquisite clock website, each user adding a photograph of (or representing) a number, thereby building a database full of number images. This database is then plumbed by a live updating clock displaying each digit as a different image.

The beauty in this piece is that it can really be contributed to by anyone, it’s a truly crowd-sourced application reliant on willing users. A live updating version of the clock can actually be seen on the website. Why not submit an image yourself and wait to see if it comes around?

There were of course many more amazing pieces in the exhibit, from a virtual (but real) tree to an interactive wall of bubbles. The whole exhibit was great fun, I’d thoroughly recommend a trip to see it before it closes. For more information and tickets visit the V&A museum website.

The app uses the not quite original ‘Year For Change’ slogan and light blue colour scheme and, on launch, presents you with five options:

1. Where we stand – policies broken down by different areas
2. Latest news – blog post style news snippets
3. Call a friend – phone someone in your address book
4. Swing-o-meter – a visual representation of the possible election results
5. Donate – links to donate over the phone or online

There are also buttons that link out for you to follow their profiles on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The swing-o-meter functionality is actually pretty cool. It makes use of the accelerometer; you tilt the phone to show the different percentage swings in parliament towards a Conservative majority, it even promises live election results come the big day. A clever use of the tech!

But the ‘call a friend’ functionality is a little disturbing. The premise is this; you call someone from your address book (displayed in the app), chat with them about politics and the Conservatives (yawn!) then report back to the app their name, address and voting intention. All this data collected is then used by the Tories for local campaigning. It’s a bit big brother if you ask me!

This app might be the start of a digital revolution in politics, try it out but remember; vote your own mind!

The Revo Heritage grille

Described as a ‘deluxe table radio’ the Heritage really looks the part. With a styling that echoes classic 60s designs but finished in aluminium, rubber and a walnut veneer it’s a looker. It’s not just a pretty face either, with more modes than you can shake a stick at:

• DAB radio
• FM radio
• Internet radio (11,000 stations)
• USB input
• 3.5mm aux input
• Wireless UPnP audio streaming
• iPod docking
• Last.fm integration

Sure, there’s no CD player, but when was the last time you used one of those old plastic discs anyway?

Now, back to the outside. The control system is based around a surprisingly intuitive joystick with added buttons for presets, modes, sleep alarm and play controls. There’s also a wonderfully tactile rubber volume knob. The front panel is set with a frankly stunning white on black OLED display (which dims when the unit is powered down). The sound is good as well, it’s not as room filling a sound as you would undoubtedly get from a Hi-Fi separates or mini system but for a bedroom it’s perfectly adequate.

The OLED display

There are a couple of minor improvements I would make, these are all small gripes in a great system though. While optical out is provided there’s no optical in, this would be a great touch. There’s no mute button, a petty quibble I admit but I’d use it. Full iPhone compatibility and control would be lovely, although I understand why it’s lacking (there is standard compatibility, of course). More alarms please, it only has two.

With so many options I’m finally listening to music I like and discovering new stuff too. I charge my iPhone over night, wake up to DAB radio, stream Spotify for a quick fix of something specific, and use the Last.fm connectivity to search out new music. And when I glance over it still looks great.

What stopped me getting one before now wasn’t the stills-only camera, the lack of MMS, or even no copy-paste. It was the capacity. I wanted the iPhone to be my personal technological convergence, my single device, my ‘one ring’ and without that “32GB” label it could never be that. For me it’s simple math:

iPhone = phone + iPod + camera + DS + laptop

Except it’s not. With my iPod I could get through a couple of days of moderate use, my old phone only needed charging once a week and I went a whole holiday on a single charge of my DS and camera. This thing sucks power like it’s trying to reanimate Frankenstein. But it’s not just one of those devices, it’s all of them and it fits in my hand, you can’t blame the little thing for being a bit power hungry.

The new features – video camera, compass, voice control – are surprisingly useful. There are some great apps to make use of all the shiny too; Maps now lets you orientate yourself using the compass and Doom Resurrection really tests the speed and graphics bump.

Doom Resurrection

One thing I wanted to do was use my iPhone for work, the Exchange support makes that easy; It syncs perfectly and plays nice with MobileMe as well. But for business use there are (in my opinion) some crucial features missing:

• Tasks and to-dos – I rely on the great to-do management in both iCal and Outlook. Just a simple app sync with these would surely be a boon for any business user.
• Flagging emails – All email clients and protocols support this, it’s basic. Implement it already!
• Email signatures – Why can’t I have separate signatures by account? Silly.

I admit these are all minor gripes and it’s only because of the near perfection of the iPhone that these stick in my throat.

The iPhone has delivered on it’s promises, I can see now why it’s been such a game changer for the mobile market. Its strength is in its versatility; it can be anything and provide everything. With it in my pocket I feel invincible; wherever I go and whatever I do I know where I am, I carry all my media and all my important information, I’m always connected and I have the entire internet at my finger tips. That’s a powerful thing.