The best of 2010: The top three technology Seeds of the year

Italy, Japan, US – While the iPad became the most talked-about gadget, my favourite technology Seeds were about a beta-test installation, a ceramic speaker, and a superstar rapper’s augmented book campaign.

The Contemplating Monolithic Design at this year’s Salone del Mobile furniture fair was an exciting take on a beta-mode technology project. For the installation, Sony commissioned British design duo BarberOsgerby to create a laboratory of unfinished tv designs with which visitors could interact.

I also liked how Nendo used craft to produce a highly technical piece of sound equipment. The Japanese studio designed a 1mm-thick ceramic speaker for the Revalue Nippon Project in Japan in collaboration with potter Miysuke Masagasu.

And in New York, I thought rapper Jay-Z’s and luxury brand Gucci’s giant treasure hunt made a great job of augmenting the real world with technology. To promote his memoir Decoded, pages from the book were placed in locations meaningful to him, which participants tried to find by using clues found on Jay-Z’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

Every day from 20 December until the end of the year, the LS:N Global team is choosing its favourite stories from 2010. We will resume normal service on Tuesday, 4 January 2011.