Lovely stereoscopic images by T. Enami are "animated" for viewing without glasses.
Cheap trick but effective.
See them here.

Full story here

from gawker.com.

That was then. Some unevenly cool examples have happened since, like the Google Gmail video released in August 2007, ostensibly made from 1,110 submissions, and most recently the Eternal Moonwalk tribute to Michael Jackson.

Here's the coolest, released this month:

and the story behind it, which came out yesterday. Kevin Kelly writes "More proof that the hive can make art, when directed."

Deadline for submission is 31 October 2008 and notification of recipients will be 30 November 2008.

The commissions must be completed by June 2009, for inclusion in “80+1: A Journey Around the World,” an 80(+1) day event in the Linz Main Square and the Ars Electronica Centre, 18 June - 6 September 2009, for Linz09, European Capital of Culture.

Full details can be found here.

Motion tracking, which uses computer vision techniques to track objects in the image, has virtually replaced motion control, which uses expensive mechanical and robotic cameras, for many kinds of composite shots in the past few years. The implications for independent production, new interactive techniques, and general hacking are huge.

By way of Kevin Kelly's blog, in a post called The End of Video as Evidence of Anything, a must read.

"It has the potential to give farmers a much finer control of pastures, finer management of where animals are and a better use of the land," said Rus, a robotics expert. "With this technology we can also find out what the animals do all day."

Full story from today's Boston Globe, continued - - ->

By Melanie Dabovich, Associated Press Writer | August 5, 2008

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --The tradition dates back to the Old West: A cowboy gently soothes his cattle with a simple song.

"Come on girls, let's go," the cowboy croons as he gathers his bovines from across the desert range. One day, this cowboy may not have to ride the range to corral his herd.

The "cowboy" is U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher Dean M. Anderson, who is working to corral cattle remotely through a high-tech device that funnels sounds directly to the animals.

It's Old West cattle herding with a 21st century twist -- part of a project involving the USDA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the government's Jornada Experimental Range in southern New Mexico.

The wireless headset, called the "Ear-A-Round," has stereo earphones that transmit sounds directly into the cow's ears to guide its movement. Powered by a small solar energy panel, the unit contains a GPS device to monitor a cow's location and movement.

Researchers hope the device will give ranchers and farmers the ability to herd cattle from afar, said Daniela Rus, an MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science who teamed with Anderson.

"It has the potential to give farmers a much finer control of pastures, finer management of where animals are and a better use of the land," said Rus, a robotics expert. "With this technology we can also find out what the animals do all day."

In essence, a rancher could stay in his air-conditioned office and check on the location of his animals by logging on to a computer. Another potential benefit would be eye-friendly vistas that have no fences.

The device works by using sound to keep an animal within a "virtual paddock" through GPS technology, Anderson said.

The first field test is scheduled for later this month at the Jornada range, using cows trained by Anderson.

The animal scientist has been working on remote herding technology for about 30 years. He previously created a patented Directional Virtual Fencing system to contain cattle movement using remote cues.

Anderson said the goal of the current research is to improve animal distribution on the landscape. Land can be abused by overgrazing and large animals overrunning sensitive areas.

"With virtual fencing, you would have the ability, in real time, to manage the animals across the landscape to avoid that situation," he said. "If there are areas that are overused, you could move an animal off those areas more rapidly."

The technology won't eliminate the need for cowboys; instead, the focus is to shift their labor from physical to cognitive.

Ranchers and cowhands will no longer have to spend time building and repairing fences. Instead, they'll devote more time to leading animals to areas with better nutrition while protecting natural resources.

"Virtual fencing could take all this labor included with removing physical, mundane barriers and focus more on management," Anderson said. "It's looking for the best management with the best skills that technology can provide."

Rus said it's important to first understand cow behavior to achieve the best results. Because cows tend to follow leaders, Anderson is working to identify herd leaders and outfit them with the device for the field test.

"If you try to get them to move from point A to point B and you don't understand their behavior, you're less likely to have success," Rus said.

The trial will focus on whether the animals can be gathered just by the sound of Anderson's voice.

Anderson has sung his song during training exercises to get the animals to move. If they pause for longer than a few seconds, he will use the song cue to get them moving again.

If the sound cues fail, the headset can give a small electrical shock to move unresponsive cows.

Rus and Anderson also plan to test other sounds as possible cues, including naturally repulsive sounds for cows such as barking dogs and hissing snakes.

By Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i1751753614c1db77744a34deae6cb78b
June 6, 2008, 09:19 PM
Leonardo DiCaprio has more fake IDs than Fletch.

The ubiquitous actor-producer has just become attached to star in "Atari," a pitch that writers Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman sold to Paramount on Friday about the godfather of the video game industry, Nolan Bushnell. DiCaprio's Appian Way shingle is producing the biopic, which the filmmakers hope will play with elements from "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "Tucker."

Bushnell was an engineering student, puzzle-lover and game enthusiast (chess, Go, early computer games) who went from fixing broken pinball machines to launching Atari Corp., a video game manufacturer, in the early '70s. Its first product was a little game called Pong that transfixed kids in suburban rec rooms across the country and led to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of video game sales. Within a few years, he sold the company to Warner Communications for $28 million.

Bushnell is only the latest real-life personality in which DiCaprio has found grist for his creative mill. The Oscar-nominated actor has inhabited author Tobias Wolff ("This Boy's Life"), poets Jim Carroll ("The Basketball Diaries") and Arthur Rimbaud ("Total Eclipse"), master counterfeiter Frank Abagnale Jr. ("Catch Me If You Can") and aviator-recluse Howard Hughes ("The Aviator"). He's also attached to films in development about flashy Wall Street felon Jordan Belfort and James Bond creator Ian Fleming.

Hecker and Sherman write together and independently. Hecker wrote and directed the Tribeca comedy "Bart Got a Room," which stars William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines, while Sherman wrote a biopic screenplay of 1920s college football coach Pop Warner. The duo are repped by Original Artists.

"Viewfinder: How to Seamlessly 'Flickrize' Google Earth"
progress report and video went online today.

March 1 — May 11, 2008
Williamson Gallery, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena
Opening reception: Friday, March 14, 6 to 10pm (coincides with ArtNight Pasadena)

Bernie's work, the surprise hit of the 2007 Ars Electronica Festival, ranks #1 on Google searches for interactive wood machines. -M

San Francisco artist Bernie Lubell makes interactive installations that focus on the intersection of science and the arts — but which at the same time are adamantly low-tech. His incredibly complex machine environments are made of wood, use no computers or video or motors and are entirely human-powered.

The use of wood and ancient technologies to examine 21st century issues adds a disarming historical perspective to Lubell's enterprise. The pieces are witty, friendly and personal even as they tackle serious issues such as the nature of consciousness or the origins of life.

More here.

When the IMD Class of 2007 was in its second year, the students made a group project for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach called Fishualization. The idea was to have visitors and fish "collaborate" on making visuals. A camera caught the fish swimming while visitors interacted with menu options using DDR-style foot switches. The resulting imagery was projected next to the fish tank. Fishualization was installed during the Aquarium's Ocean Tech Day and was a hit, particularly with young visitors.

Class of 2007 grad Doo-Yul (Doox) Park, the principle designer of the Fishualization software, will be installing "Fishualization 2008" for this year's Ocean Tech Day, Saturday March 8, tomorrow. We're all pleased and proud that Doox has continued with this innovative and lively experience. Check it out!

registered photo overlaid on 3D model of USC campus by Perry Hoberman, summer 2006

November 5 - Viewfinder (a new project in collaboration with ICT and a research award from Google)
Instructor: Professor Michael Naimark, with the Viewfinder team and a special guest from Google

Viewfinder is an easy-to-use way for a community of users to find the pose of their photographs with respect to Google Earth as well as to neighboring photographs. These photos can be then viewed as perfectly aligned overlays in front of Google Earth and can be used to help make better, faster models in Google SketchUp. Our approach is to combine state-of-the-art computer vision algorithms with a little bit of human help. We're specifying that pose finding in Viewfinder can be done by ten year olds. Our plan is to build a first-pass version in the next four months. Some background can be found here.

This workshop is working session to specify technology, design, schedule and milestone. We welcome student participation. Limited to 6 students. Please email me to sign up.

Monday November 5, 1:00-5:00pm, ZML

"The Nintendo Wii is many things—a motion-sensing video-game console, a retail success story, possibly even a cultural touchstone. What it isn’t, despite its players’ controller-waving antics and media hype about gamers finally getting off the couch, is an exercise machine. Until now. The Wii Fit, a soon-to-be-released suite of games that uses a $70 weight- and balance-sensing Balance Board, does everything from analyzing posture to revealing how bad you actually are at yoga. It turns fitness into a game, instead of a chore." - Popular Mechanics

See also the Nintendo video here. Hoola hoops is awesome.