A month lost to mindlessness

I must aplogize for my absense the past several weeks. Life has given me other fish to fry and a challenge in prioritizing my frypan real estate.

Term Assignments and Exams
So, I had only two assignments to get through this semester; one chemistry and one in psychology. I'm happy to report that despite being unsure with how well I had done, the markers all concede I'm an A student. It took four years, and three bachelor degree programs, but I have finally earned a University-level A.

Mass Ex
The final production on the Ryerson Theatre main stage has, for the past couple decades, been the eclectic display of fashion created by the fourth year students in fashion.
I was very excited to see what these creative islands came up with, but I actually came to witness the effort of my divorced alumnus at the Theatre School. The set was more complex than I think was the vision. The main set peice was a branching skeleton resembling a tree - maybe a silver maple.
The wire frame, covered in translucent fabric somewhat stuck out past the edges. This interfered with the contrast the design was trying to acheive, but I feel that this wasn't lost on the team. Surrounding the tree's immediate base were large fabric colored flowers which would later open or 'bloom' during a blackout. Finally, the set integrated several paper globes suspended from the flys. Each element contained a color-changing LED element. This combined with the flying scenery allowed many combinations using the same elements.

Moving
Yes. I have succesfully packed up my studio. It has been compressed into a storage locker until sometime in August. It took several trips, but we're finally out of 50 Alexander.

pCubee! It's that thing you want!

By using head-tracking hardware/software UBC's Human Communications Technologies Lab has produced a very unique invention that's receiving alot of attention from consumer whores everywhere. The device, known as pCubee is a slightly larger than first-sized cube and has the ability to render what is observed as a 3Dimensional object. Five sides of the device are recessed LCD modules and as the the pCubee is rotated or tilted (or both) the images on the screens are shifted in a way so that the observer perceives dimensionality. This is done by having software track both the position of the cube and the observers head. The software then corrects for perspective; the whole assembly uses a technique known as motion parallax in which the position of the observer has an effect on the location of objects relative to one another. It is unexpectedly convincing.

This technique for producing 3D seems much more 'feesable' than the reemergence of stereoscopy as seen in films such as Avatar. It also does away with those pesky polarized glasses used in the next generation of 3D TVs from companies like Sony and Panasonic (review). What the video omits is the position tracking headgear. I have high hopes this can be resolved by using a network of low resolution cameras and eye-tracking software.

-via wired

Cyborg Anthropology

A very interesting keynote from last years Gnomedex Conference featuring Amber Case - a name similar to mine in that we both feel strongly towards a certain Mann; Steve Mann. Aside from the UofT feedback loop, Case illuminated some evidence in social trends. She compares tools like knives to the invention of the computer, but clarifies a distinction between our physical tools (bones, knives and spacesuits) to our mental tools (internet, social networking). In a related interview for Technoccult, there is elaboration on how exactly she focuses her observations and the methods of induction used to make - what appear to me - sound conclusions. From this track record she has established a career as a tech consultant and has a pretty remarkable CV which makes me a little jealous and a lot inspired. Actually, as an undeclaredian I've taken some interesting lessons from the advice she gives at the end of the article.

I feel like I've got a burlap sack and I'm just stuffing it full of inspiration. Full of names and places. Of ideas.

Maybe this is sparked by Lena Dunham winning SXSW Best Trailer Award for her biopic shot on a DSLR or maybe it's all the Phillip Blooms out there egging me on, but I really want to capture this movement. I want to put all these burlap sack people together in the same documentary and reach out. An army of aware cyborgs.

"It's all changing. It's changing radically."

A very interesting interview with Peter Molyneux about the future of his videogame company. Where AI will lead developers is something that particularly resonated with me - what happens when characters feel empathy with you? This is brand new.

Vehicular AR from GM

Interesting video from the HumanMachineInterface labs at GM.
Coming straight out of Detroit.

Interesting MS Surface Demo

Here is an interesting demo of how Surface-powered displays in public areas can interact with your own personal devices.
The best thing about this is there really is no more hardware to develop or infastructure to implement. This is here. Right now. The only thing slowing this down is the past and all the netbooks lacking tablet functionality that were sold in the past 8 months.

ORGANic Evolution III

This past Saturday I decided that staying cooped up in my studio apartment for months was enough.
A unique video on the Toronto Star website regarding Dr. Steve Mann and his recently invented Andantephone was the primary reason I wandered out into the rain to the St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church - to see what weird and wonderful creations my long time ubergeek hero has bestowed upon an unsuspecting public. 


To my delight, I was in store for much, much more than simply a century-old pipe organ controlled from a system of midi-enabled floor tiles. The evening centered around encouraging new and creative approaches to the idea of music and how we experience it, and a surprisingly large number of performers came out to demonstrate exactly what technological evolution meant to their respective art forms. One could make the argument the evening was just as much for them and their collaboration as it was for the audience - a unique twist indeed. 


The evening began with Canadian native Brenda MacIntyre, who  introduced the audience to the concept of channeling music through spiritual means. Although she was focused - during her song several patrons entered and shuffled to their pews in a manner most obtrusive. The organizers of the event no doubt anticipated this, as it did appear to be one of the less relevant performances of the night. 


Following Brenda was Heiki Sillaste, a young musician with a long list of accomplishments who performed an electronic piece - the first of the evening to take advantage of the pipe organ. Sadly, his performance was severely lacking in the 'electronic department' which would later be explained my our emcee as a technical folly. Regardless, the champion stood his ground and finished. 


Dr. Maria Karam, a PhD from Ryerson's Psychology department introduced the Emoti-Chair which was present in a trio the entire evening. The unexpected element of this presentation was that my Psych 308 professor, Dr. Frank Russo, had key involvement with the project. I was happy to experience this novel approach to human/machine interfaced pioneered by someone whom I have a personal connection. However, this did not bias my experience of what was essentially a frequency-tuned vibrating chair. I have no doubt the researched gleaned from the experiment is more valuable than the tool itself, but as far as a revolutionary method for helping the hearing impaired - like my step-mum - it seemed to fall short.


Notable electronic artist Stephane Vera took the stage after this short presentation and played an electronic piece using a grand piano, a midi keyboard and a laptop. The piece was composed to take full advantage of the Emoti-Chair and its narrow frequency band. Regardless of how it felt, it sounded quite amazing. So much so it prompted a search on iTunes for Vera and the subsequent purchase of one of his singles. 

Leif Bloomquist was another electronic specific artist who focuses on cyberpunk-industrialism and electro-ambient. He performed a piece from his newest album which I sorely regret not purchasing after the concert. 
Regardless, I am now a fan of his current album on Facebook and have my fingers crossed he will make his next show public. I highly recommend checking out this engineer-turned-musician.  


Finally, Dr. Mann and Ryan Janzen spoke briefly on the andantephone and what its possible uses are.

Here you can see the whimsical instrument being used by Dr. Mann during the intermission. It appears this would also be useful in preventing vertigo. 

Glogger Video

Ryan came out and performed a unique piece on the andantephone after intermission and it was pretty well received. I enjoyed much of it, though hoping along these tiles seemed to take a rather alarming amount of balance. 


The second half of the performance drifted from the technological evolution realm of the show and focused on the existence of Solfeggio tones which are somewhat unique in their frequency responses. 
Vera performed once more with these tones in mind, followed by a rather complicated audio/video performance my an artist who goes by the Latvian moniker Dzintars Skrapjuvilis. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, but this was arguably the least focused showcase of the evening.


The evening trailed off after this and the show ran a complete hour and a half longer than anticipated. This was mostly due to technical issues as a few bands in the second half realized most unfortunately. For example when Fearful Symmetry performed and lacked the volume they expected the lead guitarist finished by dropping the rather lustrous instrument to the ground. 


My conclusive remark is that I'm happy I was able to experience the show and see what Toronto has been working on. Before last night I had not expected such an event, but I am pleased I was able to experience it. 

Google's New Dog, New Trick

When Google releases something from the lab into the wild, it's usually a whole new breed...

Capatalizing on information in the information age has always been the Googliath's game plan.
In the past year, a new contender has entered the ring named Kid Wolfram (Read: Wolfram Alpha).

The job of Wolfram's invention has always been to quantify data in a way that streamlines the way it's presented to the user.

The website is working pretty well so far, but I don't typically count on it for web search results - more or less it's a tool to reinforce theories I have about social trends.

Enter the new Google tool: The Public Data Explorer.
This new system takes information and superimposes them on maps or graphs. The tool then creates a short animation that shows these trends changing over time.
The tool also lets you embed your research in a more interesting way.

Behold, US Unemployment from 1990 to December 2009.


And this...

Interesting Duracell Ad

This is an interesting television commercial featuring thousands of rendered bunnies. The animation was directed by French talent Pleix, who has established himself by directing videos for both Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada.

Augmented Sculpture

 Lichtfront

Skinput

Interesting experiment and proof of concept for human-computer interface via the acoustic signals coming from simply tapping ones arm.

Something that bugs me...

I guess this is a rant combined with a lesson.

The Rant: Social Networking websites are really excellent tools for exposing talent. Both showing off and being seen, they're really quite ground breaking. Having been involved in a couple of these communities I've got a couple hang ups. I feel like I'm not taking advantage of one of the key features - whore your creations out to different groups. I'm not sure if its something to criticize in other users: submitting a photo or video to 50+ groups to get 40 views. Perhaps it's the opposite: I'm not talented enough to get alot of views. Also, I don't know many intellectuals to converse about my passions. In any case I choose to not whore out my photos like crazy.

The Lesson: I don't spread my photos to more than two, maybe three groups because it reminds me why I do what I do. I take photos because it's something that makes me happy. I enjoy the technical challenge more than the challenge of capturing an emotion.

I value creative dialogue, but I find that's very difficult to find on flickr. I don't know if it's a communal pretentious attitude or my expectations being projected.

I don't want to appear as though view counts matter to me, but I do yearn for educated, positive reinforcement.

 

Above: John + Overabundance of Thought

Tokyo Glow

This is an epic timelapse that I would hang myself for not reblogging.
tokyoglow-low from Nathan Johnston on Vimeo.

The Future of Gaming

Jesse Schell, a former Disney Imagineer currently teaches at the Carnagie Mellon Entertainment and Technology Center. Basically in this keynote, he's rationalizing the progression of 'games' in the real world using advanced technology.

 

Schell Games at Epcot, in the Innovations Pavillion

He outlines the fact that facebook applications have been an unexpected form of revenue generation and are now worth hundereds of millions a peice. He then uses the example of the new Ford dash to exemplify the fact that these games with arbitrary point systems are popping up more and more.

He eventually suggests that these point systems will take over more and more as the SPIMEworld is developed through electronics miniaturization.  Eventually you're entire day will be a game of MafiaWars or Farmville in which the priority goal is to earn as many points as possible. The duality of this concept comes from the fact that doing things better (ie brushing teeth - via touch senstive toothbrush; or reading a certain number of novels - via Kindle with eye-tracking support) will support the companies investing in the technology, but also it will encourage users to live a better life because there will be a more thorough and transparent competition going on between all people.

Very interesting. Very scary.

Kopin Golden i

Chris Pirillo brings us a new video highlighting this exciting new concept from Motorola. It's essentially a hands free wearable computer that gives the user the ability to voice control a complete version of Windows CE 6.0.

The exciting part about this is how it can apply to people working in the field. The device has an integrated digital compass, so as you rotate your orientation realtime and the image from the built in eye-peice adapts.

According to the break in the story from The Inquirer last September the device should be on sale within the year for about $2000.

Missile Defense Shield or "That Thing I've Seen Pictures of all my Life in PopSci"

Hey, this is a pretty cool image.
I hear all these rumors in the blogosphere about Obama and the missile defense shield. Like, it's not feesable, that we can't have it. That the current budget can't afford it.
Well, if you think that wacky program was off the rails for good I've got a picture for you!

This is a infrared imaging photo posted on Engadget, possibly my most frequented techblog.
The blob on the left is a air-based missile being dominated by the blob on the right, a project spanning multiple decades, Boeing's Missile Destroying 747.

Wicked stuff here

Toyota Response

 

This was easier for Toyota than explaining to all the mechanics what to do.

And no, this is a put on by a major corporation, so I'm not worried about protecting these two schmoes privacy.

Now, I know that Toyota has been putting in alot of effort to make sure they resolve the gas peddle issue, but I find a Facebook reachout a little silly. Doug Coleman seriously did not sign up for this.

Red Eyed Robots

I was wondering why is it we commonly associate red eyes with evil. I guess it's from some biblical verse explaining demons in some physical detail. Was it always this way in literature? Where did it start?

I wonder if it was ever attempted on stage?
Anyway, early movies with AI and robots, like Metropolis didn't mainstream the trend.

It seems it wasn't until the heyday of 1980-1990's Hollywood that it was widely adapted and almost seems common.

Anyone can be a Film Maker

Might this be the start of something new where film buffs pay good money to watch something created by the (real life) Gorillaz. I doubt it. One day, we could take advantage of them for financial gain.

Gorillaz single tomorrow, iTablet Wednesday. It should be an exciting week for us consumer whores.


- Posted from my iPhone