For Immediate Release: Kurt and Tripp Roommates

8/31/04, Hollywood, Ca. - Kurt MacDonald has moved into in Tripp Millican's Hollywood apartment, moving their relationship from 'just friends' to 'roommates'. Though rumors have surfaced about their sexuality, the pair insist they are both straight, despite their co-habitation.

The pair were shocked to discover that most of the Interactive Media division was unaware of their decision to share a living space. The news stopped Scott Fisher dead in his tracks when he found out today. "You [pointing to Tripp] are living with you [pointing to Kurt]?" he queried, unable to hide his confusion.

"I haven't been able to decipher their love/hate relationship over the past several years. I'm not sure what they are trying to prove by living together. Or why they insist on calling their apartment 'The Bungalow'," stated third year student Mike Brinker.

Tripp responded with a vigorous "No comment" when asked about the couple's intention to adopt a South Vietnamese child together.

While details are still vague, the pair seem to be doing well. They are registered at Banana Republic, Williams Sonoma and Ameboa Records.

A date for the housewarming party will be announced shortly.

###

software structures

head over to the whitney's portal site to view a nice collection of work by Casey Reas (groupc.net), Jared Tarbell (levitated.net), et. al. Obviously, Casey is now at UCLA, and did a great workshop with he and Ben Fry's Processing software last year (maybe he'll do it again?), and I've been telling everyone I know about Jared's stuff at levitated for years. Amazing designs, check them out.

WiFi Amsterdam

Looks as though a startup company in Amsterdam is planning on offering wireless internet access across the whole of amsterdam. Now, I know that amsterdam isn't the biggest place in the world, but maybe this company could consult USC's wireless "provider," ISD, and fill them in on the idea of offering complete wi-fi coverage instead of the patchwork, truly embarrassing coverage we have now. Maybe we can get Amsterdam to purchase USC. At the very least, maybe subcontract out and have them redesign the ISD website.

Link to Reuters article via we-make-money-not-art

Scheduled Maintenance

The blog server will be down for maintenance today sometime from 4-7pm. Please let me know if that will be a problem for you.

Telejournalism at the RNC

More from the folks at NYU working in Telejournalism that I posted about a last semester:

Participate in the RNC from Anywhere tonight and tomorrow night

We're at NYU assembling our interactive cameras and wearable computers for tonights Konscious Convention broadcast. We'll have four crews in the field, one in Madison Square Garden. Also, three of us from Unmediated will be at Manhattan Neighborhood Networks monitoring the four cameras in the field, and chatting with participants that want to ask convention attendees and protesters questions. You can watch and participate tonight at 7PM EST by going to www.Konscious.tv. You can watch a stream of the live broadcast over at MNN from 7 PM to 7:30 PM EST. If you live in the New York City Area, you can tune into MNN and watch the live broadcast on Time Warner channel 34 or 78, RCN Channel 110 and digital cable channel 107. For more info on the system we're using, developed by Shawn Van Every, click here

unmediated: Participate in the RNC from Anywhere tonight and tomorrow night

WiFi.ArtCache

Well, there isn't a toot-your-own-horn category, but this project I am exhibiting may be of interest to some of you who are interested in pushing the boundaries of Flash-based interactive art. This is a CFP, in effect. We are looking for Art-Technologists interested in contributing work that would be exhibited using the WiFi.ArtCache at the upcoming Spectropolis event during the first week of October.

WiFi.ArtCache is a platform for experimenting with location and proximity based digital art media.

By simply coding to a provided ActionScript 2.0 API, Flash artists are able to create an interactive experience that changes based on how many people have downloaded their work, how many people are currently interacting with their art object, or whether it is currently in range of the WiFi.ArtCache.

The WiFi.ArtCache, developed by Julian Bleecker with support from Eyebeam Atelier, is a server containing a WiFi access point. When exhibited at the Spectropolis event at New York City Hall Park (October 1-4, 2004.), the WiFi.ArtCache will contain a storehouse of art objects. Visitors to the event can download these art objects onto their 802.11 equipped laptops and experience the artists' interpretation of location and proximity effects. WiFi.ArtCache is looking for art-technologists willing to contribute during Spectropolis. Deadline for submissions is September 26th. Submissions, questions and inquiries should be sent to wifiartcache at techkwondo dot com.

Additionally, the WiFi.ArtCache will contain a generic storehouse of digital ephemera that visitors can upload and download to the server. Scratchy audio, yellowed digital documents, discolored image files and spoiled emails can all be found and dropped off at the WiFi.ArtCache.

Visual Effects - CTAN 462

This is a semi-selfish post, but, the Visual Effects class offered this semester taught by Eric Hanson (author of Maya Killer Tips and artist on many films such as Spiderman and Fifth Element), needs more students to survive. The class is every Monday night 7-10. It's has a rep as a great class in general, as well as to learn things such as Maya, Shake, Boujou, Visual Effects History, etc.

To enroll, contact Isabelle Gelot in LPB 202A, gelot@usc.edu, 213.740.3986

Eric Hanson is a visual effects designer specializing in the creation of digital environments and effects for feature films. Having worked with noted visual effects houses such as Digital Domain, Sony Imageworks, Dream Quest Images, and Walt Disney Feature Animation, his work can be seen in "Spiderman", "Cast Away", "Hollow Man", "Mission to Mars", "Bicentennial Man", "Atlantis", "Fantasia 2000", and "The Fifth Element", as well as many special-venue films.

Eric's Website

Class Info:

462 Visual Effects (2, FaSp) Survey of contemporary concepts and approaches to production in the current stage of film and video effects work. Digital and traditional methodologies will be covered, with a concentration on digital exercises illustrating modern techniques.

SMU to Offer Women's Industry Scholarship

The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University (SMU) has announced that it has partnered with WomenGamers.com to "present the first-ever women's-only, industry-funded scholarship to attend SMU's one-of-a-kind digital games education program in Dallas, Texas."

Funded by businesses that recognize the need for more women in the game developer workforce, the Game Development Scholarship for Women will help cover the cost of tuition ($37,000) during the 18-month Guildhall program. MaryMargaret.com, a sponsor of the Women's Game Conference, will be assisting WomenGamers.com and SMU in finding publishers or developers who may be able to donate to the scholarship program.

The Guildhall at SMU Executive Director, Peter Raad, PhD, commented, "Game development studios and publishers must learn to capitalize more effectively on the increasing numbers of women playing games. We believe the most important step toward achieving that goal is for game developers' staffing choices to be reflective of the growing market of female gamers."

A press conference concerning the women's scholarship will be held at the upcoming Women's Game Conference during September 9-10 in Austin, Texas.

Zemeckis Schedule

FYI

We don't make any reservations for the facility after 10 pm. People in the edit labs and other labs can stay till 11:30 pm. At that point we ask everyone to wrap up what they are doing so we can be completely shut down by midnight. Crew on the soundstages are asked to wrap up sooner.

Weekend hours are shorter. The building will be completely closed by 9 pm on Saturday evening. On Sunday evening we are completely closed by 10 pm, though later in the semester this will go to the same schedule as the weekdays.

From the horse's mouth: Alan Starbuck.

Seven Mile Boots

link via wmmna

After putting on the boots they start looking for active chat channels. When the user walks around s/he can locate a chat activity through audio. S/he will hear himself passing through a group of chatters or s/he can decide to stop for closer observation. The boots log into the chat rooms automatically under the name of "sevenmileboots". The channels are selected according to their activity and topic. Everytime while walking, the boots are looking for a new selection of channels from the net. The boots contain all the necessary techniques in them, a computer with wireless network, microprocessor, sensors, amplifiers and loudspeakers. The boots are ready to function in any location with an open wireless network.

I like the idea of hearing convesations of chat groups, but it seems like a pretty limited application of the tech.

antisocial software?

Internet Gives Teenage Bullies Weapons to Wound From Afar

Sprectropolis

Spectropolis: Mobile Media, Art and the City is a three-day event (OCT 1-3, 2004) in Lower Manhattan that highlights the diverse ways artists, technical innovators and activists are using communication technologies to generate urban experiences and public voice. The increasing presence of mobile communication technologies is transforming the ways we live, construct and move through our built environment. The participants of Spectropolis make obvious or play with this shift, creating new urban perceptions and social interactions with cell phones, laptops, wireless internet, PDAs and radio. In addition to twelve projects presented in City Hall Park, there will be several free hands-on workshops and three panels available to the public.
[And featuring Julian Bleecker!]

( (( ((( Spectropolis 2004 ))) )) )

comments: solution?

don't know what typekey is, but found this while trying to figure out the problem:

I have complained about the comment moderation problem a couple of days ago. With the options "Accept Comments from Unregistered Visitors" checked and "Enable Unregistered Comment Moderation" unchecked, a comment added by an unregistered user still can't be approved automatically. Since upgrading to MT 3.0D I have to approve comments by hand. It bugs me a lot.

Thanks to missblackajo!!! You saved me!!! I read through a thread in MT support forum and finally figured out why my comment configuration about comment moderation couldn't work. It's due to the Jay Allen's MT Blacklist which is incompatible with MT 3.0D. After getting rid of it from plugin directory, every thing works perfectly!!! I don't mean to blame Jay. Actually Blacklist is such a cool plugin if you decide to stay with MT 2.XX. However, if you are MT 3.0D's user and run into the same problem as mine, you'd better leave blacklist temporally and wait for a compatible new version to strengthen the comment moderation function.

CSCW: Representations of Digital Identity

Representations of Digital Identity
URL :: http://sims.berkeley.edu/~dmb/cscw2004-identity/

CSCW Workshop: Saturday November 6, 2004 - Chicago
Position Paper Deadline: September 20, 2004 - cscw04-identity@googlegroups.com

The human body operates as a rich site for information. As we pass through the world, we give off information about cultural identity (ethnicity, sex, age, etc), social class, individual personality (through dress or physical alterations) and psychological state (through movement and tone of voice). These cues help others determine the appropriate modes of interaction with us. In computer-mediated communication (CMC), the performance of identity occurs not through direct experience of the body but within the constraints of digital representations constructed by interactive systems.

This workshop will address the many ways by which online presentations of self have been ­ and could be ­ constructed. In the absence of the body as a source of accountability and social legibility, individuals project a sense of self through multiple layers of mediation, including email addresses, graphic avatars, "friend lists," and results from search engines. How can we use the body in a mediated world? Or alternately, how can we promote rich modes of interaction that do not rely on the illusion of physical presence?

Moving from current practices to future scenarios, the workshop will use a design exercise to produce a conceptual framework promoting accountability, expression, and trust in online interactions. We invite contributions from researchers exploring social aspects of CMC, including, but not limited to: blogging, gaming, online dating, mobile and ubiquitous social devices. Furthermore, researchers interested in reputation, trust, privacy and vulnerability; social networks, identity, persistent conversations, and context are encouraged to apply.

Participants will be selected based on demonstrable interest in the topic, as seen through position papers submitted prior to the workshop.

Proposals should consist of
- A sketch, design, or other constructed representation of digital identity; alternatively, a collage of existing representations of digital identity
- A 1-page discussion of the critical issues considered in this representation and the process of producing it.
- A 1-page discussion of background, interests, current work and motivation for participating in this workshop

Acceptable submission formats include: Word, PDF, HTML, Flash, Quicktime, etc.

Organizers:
- danah boyd :: http://www.danah.org/
- Michele Chang :: http://www.intel.com/research/people/bios/chang_m.htm
- Elizabeth Goodman :: http://www.confectious.net/
Contact organizers if you are concerned about the submission format: danah boyd, Michele Chang, Elizabeth Goodman (cscw04-identity@googlegroups.com)

Slamdance Game Competition

BAWLS Guarana and Slamdance join forces to honor the work
of aspiring game developers

Los Angeles ­ Aug. 19, 2004 ­ BAWLS Guarana, a favorite high
caffeine soft drink among gamers, and The Slamdance Film
Festival, known for nurturing independent filmmakers, have
created The BIG C ­ the BAWLS Independent Game Competition
­ to help aspiring game developers showcase their work in a
national competition.

Presented by Slamdance, The Big C is calling for entries of all
new games from emerging talent. Selected games will compete
at The Slamdance Film festival in Park City, Jan. 21 to 28, 2005
and will be judged by festival attendees, with a Jury Award and
Audience Award that include cash and prizes presented at the
end of the festival.

Game submissions have an early-postmarked deadline of Oct.
1, 2004 and a final postmarked deadline of Nov. 14, 2004.
Entrants may submit games on disk or provide a URL for judges
to download. Entry forms and application information are
available through the Slamdance website at
www.slamdance.com or by calling Slamdance Games
Competition Manager Carolyn Cohagan at (323) 466-1786.

(via Twitcherati)

Video Game to Fight Hunger

Comments from Tech Review blogger Erika Jonietz:

The United Nations' World Food Program has created a video game called Food Force to help educate kids about hunger and the aid agency's work. Billed as a cross between Tomb Raider and a lecture from the World Food Program, the game is targeted to children between 8 and 13 years old, according to BBC News.

The game is due to be released later this year for the PC and Mac, and will be available in the U.S. as a free CD or download from the Internet. It starts with a short video that explains a crisis in an imaginary country due to drought and civil war. Players then complete a series of missions such as dropping food parcels from the air or using food aid to rebuild the country's economy.

While the goal is admirable, I have to wonder about how helpful it is to target this sort of information to kids as young as 8. This is a growing trend among aid and conservation groups, with A-B-C books on endangered species and elementary school pamphlets on rainforest destruction. Young children should be encouraged to do basic things such as recycle or bring canned food to a food pantry. But it's questionable how much information they can--or should--absorb on the depth of the world's problems and their own (future) responsibility for solving them.

Technology Review: MIT's Magazine of Innovation

Women's Game Conference, September 9-10

The Women's Game Conference focuses on women in the computer and video game industry. The conference program includes career paths for women in the industry, gender inclusive game design and women and girls as consumers of games.

The Women's Game Conference runs concurrently with the Austin Game Conference September 9-10, 2004 at the Austin Convention Center and is open to anyone interested in the game industry and game development.

>> Looks like some very good speakers here, if anyone is able to attend!

World's smallest robot flies forward

The firm behind a tiny flying robot says it could be used for security work, disaster rescue and space exploration.

Seiko Epson has designed the insect-sized craft as a more advanced successor to its flying micro-robot, reports Japan Today.

The new version of the world's smallest robot flies autonomously according to a flight-route program sent by Bluetooth wireless from a computer.

The robot has two tiny ultrasonic motors that drive two propellers in opposite directions for lift.

Epson said the model, which is 136mm wide, 85mm tall and weighs 8.6 grams without the battery, will be on display at the Tokyo International Forum from August 27 to 30.

from http://www.ananova.com/

POV video

Similar to DARPA's Lifelog , Microsoft's MyLIfeBits, and Tripp's Thesis Project, now NASA's also interested in the videoblogging area:

NASA is interested in being able to take a device (i.e., a wearable computer) out into the field that, if there is a problem, video footage or photos could be taken and automatically uploaded to a server so that customers or managers could view it immediately. Lets say I have a problem out in the field and I'm two or three miles from my office. I have a camcorder or digital camera, and I have to go out there, take some footage or pictures, go back to my office, transfer it to my computer and then put it on the server where I can get to it, and finally go down to the conference room to show to my mangers. Instead, why not put something in the field that can take the video and automatically upload it to a server where it can be streamed out to a Web page, conference room, etc. Theoretically "in real time or near real time" a technician could be in the field working and a manager could see what's going on at the same time. The device we're working on would be able to accomplish this task.

(via arforum)

SensAble Haptics Competition $10k

While poking around at the Siggraph expo, I was a little disappointed at the software demo SensAble had for their Phantom Omni device. I let them know and they said they have a little competition going for demo software. They are offering the Omni system to developers for a low cost, along with their new libraries (all GL-based) for demos ranging from game development to sci-viz. If anyone is interested in this, please let me know immediately.

Press Announcement with PDF link

VC's on fire for Mobile Gaming

Investors have finally caught on to the fact that mobile entertainment is hot growth sector. Now they're climbing over each other to throw money at mobile game developers.

"mobile gaming is young enough that it's cheap to produce a lot of games and see which ones stick."

"In two months' time, venture investors have recognized this is a great market in the U.S. and there are a finite number of lead players," says Rory O'Driscoll, managing director at BA Ventures. "They've made bets real quick."

VCs made six gaming investments totaling $50 million in all of 2003. In the second quarter of 2004 alone, there were five deals totaling $86 million, according to VentureOne, a San Francisco-based research firm.

Arc Group predicts that the mobile game industry could reach $8.4 billion worldwide by 2008.
San Jose Biz Journal Article
SlashDot Article
The Feature Article

IML on Creative Network

For the most part, the IML has now been switched over to creative. Both labs can talk to one another...in theory. Still have a few more things to clean up and fix. Mission critical stuff for the start of school should be finished by the end of the day Wednesday....eerrrr...today.

comments

Ok, there is a bit of default commenting weirdness going on at the moment, and I'm at this point only partially sure what's going on, so bear with me for a bit, and hopefully I can get things straightened out.

Basically, the new version of MT has implemented a whole new commenting system that is based around their typekey registration system -- the idea being that only humans, and not spammers, can register, and therefore comment, on our blogs.

so what's happening now, is that since very few of us (I actually am) are signed up for typekey, when we try to post comments without signing in, the comment gets sent to a waiting room where it waits for the blog author to approve it. Then it shows up on the page. To complicate things, my recent comments code on the side doesn't check for the approval info, so it shows that a comment has been made, but doesn't account for if that comment has been given the a-ok yet. Sigh.

Basically, I'm trying to figure out if this is all more trouble than it's worth. However, I can't even really do that, because right now I can't seem to config blogs to just bypass this whole comment reg. system, even though technically it's just a switch in the configuration. Sigh again.

ok, but long story short: bear with me for a bit -- but for the moment, if you see in the recent comments thing that someone has commented on a post of yours, can you pls. log in and approve it...

thanks.

WiFi Rickshaw Temple

From India, word reaches us that there is a high-speed rickshaw..er, a high-speed WiFi rickshaw..I mean, a rickshaw, that's got a temple-like carriage and that provides wireless Internet access. Or something..
From USA Today

BITHOOR, India — For 12-year-old Anju Sharma, hope for a better life arrives in her poor farming village three days a week on a bicycle rickshaw that carries a computer with a high-speed, wireless Internet connection.

Students gather around a mobile Internet classroom in the northern Indian village of Bithoor.
Rajesh Kumar Singh, AP

"By using computers, I can improve my knowledge," Sharma, whose parents plan to pull her out of school at 15, said in Hindi, before joining a class on Web cameras. "And that will help me get a job when I grow up."

MT 3.0

New version of MT is up. Will post more about this later.

New Sony TV Chips

WSJ.com - New Sony TV Chips Give Viewers Control; Can 'Pan and Scan'

TOKYO -- New technology unveiled yesterday by Sony Corp. lets television viewers manipulate the images broadcast to their screens, allowing them to zoom into and pan around the picture as well as sharpen the resolution..snip..Still in the experimental stage are other features that let viewers zoom in on bits of a TV broadcast -- such as a pitcher's face in a baseball game -- as if they were using binoculars. Sony's new chip can digitally fill in details of the picture to keep the image sharp, and lets users pan that enlarged view, as if they were controlling the video themselves.

MIA in NYC

Well, I keep coming up with errors everytime I try to post on my blog, so I apologize for putting up personal news on the main page. However, I wanted to give an update on how the show is going.

We open this Tuesday, and I am so excited to get audiences in on this. This past week we were mentioned on a number of conservative programs such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and we've been fending off death threats and press inquiries ever since. Things are really heating up in the city as we approach the convention, and I can't wait to tell you all the stories.

Here's a link to the press release online. Googling the title or the playwright's name leads you to some really interesting conservative blogs, so have some fun with that!

All in all, I'm learning a lot about augmented reality and audience interaction, and this is a no-tech play, so it will be fun to apply this knowledge in the upcoming semester!

Peace

Soundwalk #2 - Interactive Sound Installation

http://soundwalk.org

This looks like a promising group show featuring sound installations, including a project called Real Love Stories #2 by D. Jean Hester, who did a quite excellent project called "Write On This" for the recent Psy.Geo.Conflux in NYC last spring.

Please participate in the creation of "Real Love Stories #2", an interactive
sound and video installation. "Real Love Stories #2" will be part of the
SoundWalk event in Long Beach, California on August 21.

It's easy to do: just visit my website and fill out a form:
http://www.divestudio.org/projects/love_submit.php

Back On-The-Line

So, after an interesting week of stuff not working, things have begun to start working again. I know everyone is thinking that black magic was to blame for the server crashing, and that may indeed be true. however, there was no magic involved in the recovery of the server, and everyone should give a warm thanks to our wonderful new lab manager, Marientina Gotsis, who spent many hours salvaging our precious data and reconfiguring the blog you are now (again) looking at. hooray!