Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Wired tablet app
Wired have released a video demostrating the transformation that their publication is undergoing, metamorphosing into an interactive, digital format for upcoming tablets.
Read more information on the Wired website.
Indian Premier League (cricket) to be broadcast LIVE on youtube
This might be the answer to youtube's biggest way to make money. The IPL has announced that it is to show the 2010 season live on youtube across the world (except USA). The question will be if it will be subscription-based or if the share that Google will take from the sponsorship and advertising is all they need.
It brings with it new options for the user: from the announcment:
Read the full story.
It brings with it new options for the user: from the announcment:
The most significant aspect of the deal is the amount of control it gives the viewers, who will be able to customise their viewing experience by choosing between different camera angles. Additionally they will be able to freeze, fast-forward and rewind the feed, as well as watch replays at any time during the day, a choice that is unavailable to television viewers who are bound by broadcast schedules.It's allowed the IPL to totally side-step resrtictive individual market tv broadcast deals in one fell swoop, and may well lead to other sports following suit.
Read the full story.
Samsung's transparent, folding screens
Roll-up OLED 'newspapers' are something I've waited for a long time. Leave the house with your rolled (or folded) OLED 'paper', pass by a newsagents which transmits today's paper straight to you, and debits your account accordingly.
We're not at this stage yet (I actually think it's the infrastructure needs of that idea that would take longest to execute). But progress is being made on digital ink and displays:
Originally seen on Singularity Hub.
We're not at this stage yet (I actually think it's the infrastructure needs of that idea that would take longest to execute). But progress is being made on digital ink and displays:
Originally seen on Singularity Hub.
QR matrix projected onto a Tokyo building
This QR code can be captured using a mobile phone from the street, which allows the viewer to track real-time data and Twitter conversations from within the building.
Video below:
Video below:
N Building from Alexander Reeder on Vimeo.
Ray Kurzweil's Blio at CES
I've been reading Kurzeil's books for a few years now. As a futurologist, his views fascinate me and he's often decades ahead of his time; something like a modern-day Nostrodamus.
The announcement that he's created Blio, a new eBook ready that maintains the format of the original, baffled me at first. What is a man so renowned for his views on technology (and even spirituality) doing dipping his toes in the muddy waters of paperback replacement? Well, it turns out that Ray has a lot of business dealings, such as FatKat investment software and Kurzweil Music Systems.
With the understanding that he's been something of an entrepeneur for a while now, I looked into Blio and what the intentions are. Check out the video below to hear from the man himself (skip to 2:50 for the interesting stuff):
So, what's the Blio system offering?
eBook readers are nothing new - so why is this special. Well, as Aaron Saenz in his Singularity Hub article puts it: "Integrating the ancillary media into the book itself is an amazing and necessary step". This really is the key. Imagine if the books you used at school had in-build video files, interactive quizzes to test and help you learn, and in-built audio. This could radically change the way books are used to learn. I've tried a number of digital book readers, and none has lasted with me for any length of time. There's something cold, and formulaic about it. It may be because I'm the last generation to grow up without eBooks being there when I was born, and thus I'm used to books as we know them. But I do think the Blio has the chance to be something unique and thus it may well succeed.
The announcement that he's created Blio, a new eBook ready that maintains the format of the original, baffled me at first. What is a man so renowned for his views on technology (and even spirituality) doing dipping his toes in the muddy waters of paperback replacement? Well, it turns out that Ray has a lot of business dealings, such as FatKat investment software and Kurzweil Music Systems.
With the understanding that he's been something of an entrepeneur for a while now, I looked into Blio and what the intentions are. Check out the video below to hear from the man himself (skip to 2:50 for the interesting stuff):
So, what's the Blio system offering?
- Preserved book formatting
- Incorporated animation
- High quality text-to-speech
- Synchronized audio with the printed pages
- Interactivity with the reader (see 4:15)
eBook readers are nothing new - so why is this special. Well, as Aaron Saenz in his Singularity Hub article puts it: "Integrating the ancillary media into the book itself is an amazing and necessary step". This really is the key. Imagine if the books you used at school had in-build video files, interactive quizzes to test and help you learn, and in-built audio. This could radically change the way books are used to learn. I've tried a number of digital book readers, and none has lasted with me for any length of time. There's something cold, and formulaic about it. It may be because I'm the last generation to grow up without eBooks being there when I was born, and thus I'm used to books as we know them. But I do think the Blio has the chance to be something unique and thus it may well succeed.
Parrot AR.drone - helicopter controlled by iPhone
Quadricopter? Check.
Controlled by iPhone over WiFi? Check.
Wet dream? Check.
Oh my, now THIS is fun. This quadricopter has inbuilt cameras, gyroscopes and more goodness. Commands are streamed to the Parrot over WiFi via an iPhone app and pictures from the camera beamed back to the device.
There's also an AR version floating around that seems to allow basic in-flight realtime battles:
TV on the back of trucks
This seems like a really dangerous idea to me! By using the back of a large truck to show you what's in front of the truck, it (sort of) makes it invisible and allows you to see what's coming. To my mind, this would actually me massively distracting and you'd be more distracted by this, meaning you may have a different sort of accident.
Anyhoo, there's more at Engadget.
BrandFlakesForBreakfast also notes that advertising and marketing will likely snap this up, making it even more distracting :)
Anyhoo, there's more at Engadget.
BrandFlakesForBreakfast also notes that advertising and marketing will likely snap this up, making it even more distracting :)
#uksnow map by Ben Marsh
Lovely idea this. Ben has mashed up Google Maps, with Twitter to allow the masses to track the mental weather we've been having of late.
To use it, you simply send a Tweet to #uksnow with your postcode and level of snowfall (1-10), e.g. #uksnow SE1 6/10
Simple, and nicely done. Check it out.
To use it, you simply send a Tweet to #uksnow with your postcode and level of snowfall (1-10), e.g. #uksnow SE1 6/10
Simple, and nicely done. Check it out.
Adidas TeamGeist - A Graphic Novel Game
Saw this a long time ago, only just blogging it now.
It's a really, really beautifully executed piece of work. An astonishing amount of work has gone into this: design, copy, tech, everything. Stylistically, it's beautiful, and the game itself is genuinely enjoyable and challenging.
There's so much to this application that I'd need more time than I (sadly) have to do a proper write up of it.
Coming to us like a graphic novel story which leads to interactive Subbuteo games of football, it all flows very nicely. As you play the interactive elements, you have a set amount of time to click-select a player, and move him forward, pass to another, or take a shot at goal. When defending, you move or intercept. Tackles you make, are made on you, or shots you make, are governed in terms of success by your ability to click within a circle in a given time, with a 'wobbly' mouse pointer. It sounds a bit crappy, but actually works pretty well and means everything moves at a super-speedy pace.
Play the game at Adidas TeamGeist
It's a really, really beautifully executed piece of work. An astonishing amount of work has gone into this: design, copy, tech, everything. Stylistically, it's beautiful, and the game itself is genuinely enjoyable and challenging.
There's so much to this application that I'd need more time than I (sadly) have to do a proper write up of it.
Coming to us like a graphic novel story which leads to interactive Subbuteo games of football, it all flows very nicely. As you play the interactive elements, you have a set amount of time to click-select a player, and move him forward, pass to another, or take a shot at goal. When defending, you move or intercept. Tackles you make, are made on you, or shots you make, are governed in terms of success by your ability to click within a circle in a given time, with a 'wobbly' mouse pointer. It sounds a bit crappy, but actually works pretty well and means everything moves at a super-speedy pace.
Play the game at Adidas TeamGeist
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
LEGO's smart use of Augmented Reality
There's a lot of hoo-haa about Augmented Reality (AR) at the moment. My concern has been that it runs the risk of being a cool gimmick, and will only survive if useful applications of the technology are found. After all, it's easier for me to go to a website and rotate a 3D model than it is to gather a printed marker, web cam, open up an application etc.
LEGO is using AR codes on their product boxes with a kiosk in Illinois, to allow little nippers to preview the model they can build when they shell out daddy's bucks. All told, it's a pretty slick idea and nicely implemented. Vid below:
LEGO is using AR codes on their product boxes with a kiosk in Illinois, to allow little nippers to preview the model they can build when they shell out daddy's bucks. All told, it's a pretty slick idea and nicely implemented. Vid below:
Microsoft Bing! Maps goes indoors, overlays live video
Complex to explain. So I'll just say, watch the video below. Skip to 4:15 for the really good (and scary) stuff. Before that, it's showing off MS's use of Photosynth & Seadragon in Bing! Maps.
After 4:15, you'll see MS overlaying live video on a map view, indoors. Which opens up so many new possibilities that I actually don't know where to start.
After 4:15, you'll see MS overlaying live video on a map view, indoors. Which opens up so many new possibilities that I actually don't know where to start.
G-Speak: Spatial Operating Environment (think Minority Report)
Wow. I've seen a few gesture systems implemented and demonstrated, but this one looks the most intuitive to me.
You may watch the video below and think, "Hey! That looks like the interface shown in Minority Report" (which I've also posted below). Well, there's a good reason for this. John Underkoffler led the team that created the interface for the movie, and has since spun off his own company, Oblong Industries, to bring the system to reality.
I've often voiced my dislike of current interface methods with friends (ooo, lucky them. Yes, I'm a ThunderDork). I don't think 1 letter at a time, so why must I be slowed down massively by having to use a keyboard? Equally, using a device on a horizontal 2D plane (a mouse on a desk) to control content on a vertical 2D plane (a screen), which can often itself be in 3D (at least graphically) is just as bizarre to me. The quicker we move to more instinctive interfaces, the better. Look at the incredible rise of the Nintendo Wii - especially with audiences that hitherto struggled with 'using computers' (as an example, my 65 year old mother has a Wii and never read the instructions, just picked up and played. Using her email, however, still remains a baffling mystery :)).
Microsoft are on the verge of releasing Project Natal, and Playstation are bringing out Playstaton Motion - both planned for this year. I think it's fair to say that gestural systems are very much on the way - exciting times!
G-Speak Spatial Operating Environment demo video
Interface clip from the film Minority Report
Microsoft Project Natal
Playstation's Motion project
You may watch the video below and think, "Hey! That looks like the interface shown in Minority Report" (which I've also posted below). Well, there's a good reason for this. John Underkoffler led the team that created the interface for the movie, and has since spun off his own company, Oblong Industries, to bring the system to reality.
I've often voiced my dislike of current interface methods with friends (ooo, lucky them. Yes, I'm a ThunderDork). I don't think 1 letter at a time, so why must I be slowed down massively by having to use a keyboard? Equally, using a device on a horizontal 2D plane (a mouse on a desk) to control content on a vertical 2D plane (a screen), which can often itself be in 3D (at least graphically) is just as bizarre to me. The quicker we move to more instinctive interfaces, the better. Look at the incredible rise of the Nintendo Wii - especially with audiences that hitherto struggled with 'using computers' (as an example, my 65 year old mother has a Wii and never read the instructions, just picked up and played. Using her email, however, still remains a baffling mystery :)).
Microsoft are on the verge of releasing Project Natal, and Playstation are bringing out Playstaton Motion - both planned for this year. I think it's fair to say that gestural systems are very much on the way - exciting times!
G-Speak Spatial Operating Environment demo video
g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.
Interface clip from the film Minority Report
Microsoft Project Natal
Playstation's Motion project
Blog Lag
I know, I know - it's been somewhat... stagnant on here for a while.
I need to streamline my workflow - i have about a dozen or so subjects stored for which I need to write an article and post. I'm just struggling to find the time. I shall think on it some more.
For now, expect some new posts today (hopefully. Gah. Damn my lack of commitment).
I need to streamline my workflow - i have about a dozen or so subjects stored for which I need to write an article and post. I'm just struggling to find the time. I shall think on it some more.
For now, expect some new posts today (hopefully. Gah. Damn my lack of commitment).
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