I know that everybody else is talking about this, but I finally got round to seeing it today...
I remember playing around with a non-contact digitser (3d scanner) at uni and thinking it was cool, but I never got to do anything with it - so well done for these Loonaversity dudes for taking it to the Head.
More interesting that that even is making of video here:
I really don't like reality TV, but I do like reality (contrary to popular belief). Qik is the latest crazy Loic Le Meur project; which lets you broadcast from your mobile telephone's videographic enabled camera device.
Make sure you sort out a decent tariff with your phone company first tho - T Mobile charged me £3 for a 1 min video call to Kooch the other day!
Exciting Times, Convergence and The Great Technology Waterfall
Well; these are exciting times. In the last three weeks I've been glued to my technology blogs; and the underlying theme on Convergence is one which is plain to see.
First up was some great work from adrien.noterdaem (don't be put off by the page turn effect on his site!), who has used papervision, a globe camera, and some techno-creative wizardry to present us with a 360degree interactive video.
Next came the amazing 2nd life hybrid space project, posted below.
And now you can have your own live interweb TV station, as brought to you by the nice guys over at Mogulus. This allows you to mix pre-recorded videos with multiple live feeds. You can also add graphics and overlay audio tracks at run time... and what's great is the service is free! Could this be the ultimate narcissistic exercise? I'm quite sure myself that it'll spawn a whole new wave of rubbish content, badly executed live events and recycled projects masquerading as "the real thing". Hence I would exercise a note of caution to anybody wanting to broadcast just for the novelty value; but I doubt anybody will listen to me.
What's really exciting for me about all these things is that they are great examples of convergence. The Great technology waterfall; where we start in the reservoir of the Military, before going downstream to University land before hitting the world of Pornography then into the world of the Populous. The Military usually develop the hardware, 360degree cameras, mobile communication stations etcetera. Then the Universities get involved and develop software; such toys as iptv, distributed location independent databases and browser plugins. Then comes the great content vacuum; lots of stuff, new channels, but no message to broadcast. It is nearly always the Porn industry who are the first to hook up these bits of technology and software in order to present us with download, live broadcasts and virtual simulations of X rated content in order to satisfy the lust which is hard-wired into human nature. Eventually these developed systems disseminate into the wider realm and while multinational co-operations will always develop ways to charge you for these services; the great converging brains out there on the web will also work together to bring you the service for free. That's the part I love.
Also check out Earthmine - GPS/Google Map/ Photo mashup - still in it's early stages but looking like it'll cause quite a stir.
What we have in with these first noteworthy projects of 2008 is the coming together of technology, ideas and innovation. It is still early days, but the potential here is very exciting stuff for all. The old divisions between 'Creatives', and 'Tech-heads' are breaking down; with the key players of the now being creative-techologiests, strategic-producers and techno-planners.
I have to Direct a video shoot for our ITV client on Wednesday. I can't give anything away, but I've been looking at these guys for inspiration. Great stuff!
...With a Great gestural UI... another real-world minority report scenario but this time on a screen which is 8foot long! Crazy Stuff and well worth a watch.
Watching si-fi movies in the cinema while whacked out on a cocktail of various combinations of mind-bending drugs and liver damaging spirits could be an interesting experience. When I saw Minority Report at the cinema, I though I saw the future of digital video editing. Browsing Mike's Blog today I though see that somebody else was just as captured by the flick and decided to bring the idea to life in the real world.
Stumble into the toilets of the local pub, down near the West Country Cheese Farm and you'll see the Farmhouse slickers, dressed in their finest waterproofs sniffing lines of cheese in the toilet.
Today my work is dull but noteworthy in the books of rampant self-promotion, Ad-land rhetoric and western corruption of the Interweb.
I am a digital Utopian.
I Believe that the Interweb should be Advertisement Free.
I Work for a Company which makes Ads for the Interweb.
I am a self contradiction.
Hence I am in two minds about my task for the day: to populate message boards and listings sites with Lynx Blow "Seeds". Am I am the graffiti artist with nothing but a stale tag-line to scrawl? No; I do believe that Lynx Blow is something new, exciting.... I should do as I was one of the main driving forces behind its creation. I gave it digital direction, nurtured it like a little plant and was there every step of the way until it blossomed through a season of well executed teamwork into a summer of winter wonderland. Therefore I should be proud to scrawl its tagline - http://www.lynxblow.com on every bare wall I see in this macabre digital landscape... and in some ways I am. So here it is:
"Wow - check out this funky site, interesting, sexy and innovative."
http://www.lynxblow.com - plug up your headphones to your computer and blow the girls bra off. A different way of interacting with a site; the mouse won't take you anywhere you need to blow.... like the wind... blow.... Is this a possible future model for Human Computer Interaction? I would like to think so.
