Losing Touch With Computers

[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 16, 2008 by admin in Technology

Gestural interfaces: the end of those filthy little things we call computer keyboards?

Other than watching Tom Cruise get abused by the Dr. Solomon Eddie character (played by persvasive creepy bad guy Peter Stormare), one of the coolest things about the film Minority Report was probably the gestural computer interface that Cruise’s character used in his police work. While many developers have been working on ideas like this for awhile, they often are not quite there – like this cool video demo, which is really just a huge iPhone-like multi-touch display – or they seem a bit misguided in their goals. Like Mgestyk Technologies, where they take a great idea and demostrate it with first-person shooter games. The clip seen here is the latest from Oblong, who seems to have the most sophisticated and practical system in operation. Not surprising, since they were consultants on the Minority Report effects, which were based on existing MIT work.

WUBA WUBA WUBA

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on November 14, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture

Go ahead, cry for me, Argentina


Can you guess which European city this is?

How come no-one ever told me about Buenos Aires? As a seasonally-distraught, occasionally poverty-stricken but happily self-employed (I’d honestly rather starve than take most jobs for which I’m qualified) person rather unhappily residing in the midwestern U.S., it’s time for my once-every-few-years obsession with a new place to live. Go ahead, cry for me, Argentina. Because I can’t afford to visit right now, and I think it’s about to blizzard where I am. I first got curious about about B.A. when I read about filming that was being done there. The city in the background of the short films shot there kept looking disturbingly familiar, yet strange at the same time. Was that some east-coast city? Somewhere in Europe? No, it was the “Paris of South America”. Check out WUBA (What’s Up Buenos Aires) for the American ex-pat view of hip BA pop culture. That’s where I ran across the amazing performance art troupe Fuerzabruta and the quirky latin techno folk artist Gaby Kerpel. So let’s go. Apparently things are cheap, the transit is literally green, and you get to kiss people all the time.

McCain Grows A Moustache

[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 14, 2008 by admin in Politics

This is considered news around here.

With nothing else to do but sit back and laugh as the press devours his former running mate with plastic forks and knives, John McCain has decided to grow a moustache (see creepy image, left*). “Chicks dig it”, he is quoted as saying – according to an anonymous staffer – allegedly emphasizing his point by making a “V” gesture below his mouth and making a “lah-leh-lah-leh” noise with his tongue. Although he has reportedly been offered a position in the new administration, insiders quoted him as saying “C’mon my friend…who ever heard of a WHITE lawn jockey?” The administration expressed disappointment, but is moving ahead with their cabinet decisions. In other political news: well, let’s face it. There is none. In fact, Dissociated Press is rumored to be announcing the end of their Politics section altogether, as well as their political comic strip. As the site’s chief editor and writer put it: “Bush and Cheney? Now that shit’s funny before you pick up the pencil, but Obama? We’re actually planning to just redirect our domain to the White House so we can get to work for the man.”

*Which is actually a Schick™ ad campaign

Sometimes I’m Not So levelHeaded

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Technology

Kind of like a little man trapped in Rubik’s Hypercube

I’ve always had a strange relationship with technology. I had a synthesizer for my first band (an Arp Axxe) when I was fifteen, way before most people even knew what they were, but was the last person I knew to get a CD player. I had a pocket scientific calculator when I was about eleven (rotary phones were still dominant at the time) but didn’t use a P.C. for the first time until 1999. As a Star Trek and space-race era kid, my expectations of technology have always been a little out of sync. That’s why I was a little confused by the video at left. It’s a 3D computer game called levelHead in which you make a little man walk through various rooms by tilting the cube. At first I was amazed and wanted to run out and buy one. Then I was ready to call hoax, because it’s so obvious that the apparently 3D images are superimposed on the cube. Then I realized that the video is what a player would see on the screen as they moved a blank cube around in their hand. Then I thought “wow, how stupid”. Then I reined in my cynicism, and realized it was pretty clever. Then I thought “what a stupid way to demonstrate the idea though”. Then I said “shut up, Ian, and stop starting sentences with ‘Then’ “.

Is Your Cat PlottingTo Kill You?

[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Review this simple guide to find out.

Review this simple guide to find out.

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