November 30, 2006
Retired
sLop (the blog you are reading) is retiring..
The archives should stay up indefinitely though so feel free to continue linking in if you like..
In the coming weeks, I should have something new up. Please stay tuned.
Posted by vanevery at 11:49 AM | TrackBack
July 29, 2006
Lights and Sensors, Toys for Adults
iBar - intelligent surface system - interactive bar: Pictures
I don't think these types of things will ever get old..
Posted by vanevery at 02:30 PM | TrackBack
July 03, 2006
Online Video -- Moving Forward..?
This morning Dan pointed me to an article in Today's NY Times about Nobody's Watching. Nobody's Watching is a sitcom in the form of a reality show about creating a sitcom. (A bit convoluted, no doubt).
Nobody's Watching is a pilot that hasn't yet been picked up by any networks but has been posted on YouTube. This online posting and the subsequent audience response that it has garnered has the networks rethinking their decisions. Taking a look at the YouTube page, we find that the show has had more than 300,000 views and more than 600 comments. While not huge numbers compared with television audiences, these are big big numbers for any online video.
Based on this, I am betting that the networks are about to learn something about the possibilities of online video. I am also betting that they get it wrong...
Stephen Speicher in Engadget's The Clicker: The Clicker: People are watching "Nobody's Watching" writes:
"Now, make no mistake, the likelihood of this show rising from the heaps and living to the tender age of two (err... episodes) is about as likely as Stephen Colbert replacing Tony Snow as the current administration's Press Secretary, but really that's not the point. This experiment shows that people will watch, comment on, and enjoy pilots on the web in a way that today's traditional broadcast systems won't allow. What's missing is the networks taking the next (obvious) step: instead of spending multiple years and countless dollars trying to determine what to show the viewing public, why not let the audience decide? Put the pilots on the internet before you make the decision. Not only does this give a more accurate assessment of what people might watch, it has the potential to dramatically speed up the decision process.
and
"Yet, despite their best efforts, the entrenched powers behind modern broadcasting just cannot get their heads around the potential of the internet. This is evident at every turn. Whether it be the pulling of the wildly-popular "Lazy Sunday" clip from YouTube (and then later re-releasing in a harder-to-find corner of the NBC site) or the treatment of the internet as a dumping ground for dead projects, the current regime views the internet as, at best, additional revenue. More often than not, the internet is considered a nuisance.
Exactly right, given the opportunity, people will tell you exactly what they like and what they don't. There is incredible value in this, should the networks decided to start paying attention.
YouTube is an incredible phenomenon. If you haven't yet explored it, I suggest you checkout my playlist: Interesting videos from YouTube. It shows a wide range of what YouTube has to offer (the good and the overwhelming bad), from Nobody's Watching to home videos about cats and everything in between.
Speaking of online video, "research" has brought me to: Where the Hell is Matt and Rocketboom's version. I personally respond to the freedom offered by "regular people" to just have fun with the medium. I also think there is power in how these folks are referencing each-other.
Last, I have to make plug for Ze Frank's The Show. Ze gets it, he truly engages his audience! He shows that the possibilities for audience participation and feedback are endless. On his wiki member's of his audience (now participants themselves) have taken it upon themselves to transcribe every single one of his daily shows. Ze even fits in time to play chess by vlog as well as inviting and showing audience member's doing their "Power Moves".
So.. Online video, starting to move forward? YouTube becoming more than just drivel?
Incredible..
Disturbing..
Perhaps both. And that is how it should be.
Posted by vanevery at 03:01 PM | TrackBack
June 05, 2006
American Inventor - Auditions
A M E R I C A N I N V E N TO R
Accepting submissions for the next season.. ;-)
The big question is which invention should I submit?
Posted by vanevery at 01:39 PM | TrackBack
May 19, 2006
Colbert Roasts Bush
Colbert Roasts President Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner - Google Video
Slightly dated, I know but Colbert has some guts!
Posted by vanevery at 06:44 PM | TrackBack
Cool Hunting at the ITP Show
Cool Hunting Video: ITP Spring Show 2006
For those of you wondering what I do all day every day, check out this video of the ITP Spring Show from Cool Hunting. Very nicely produced!
Posted by vanevery at 11:16 AM | TrackBack
April 20, 2006
Busker Du has launched!
Busker Du
One of the project from my class, a service for recording and distributing Busker performance has launched.. It is great, I love the podcast!
From the site:
Busker Du (dial-up) is a recording service for buskers through the telephone (preferably public payphones hidden in subway stations).
Audio recorded will be posted to this audio-blog and made available to all who cherish lo-fi original music. Try it out at your favorite subway station or street corner.
Posted by vanevery at 01:41 AM | TrackBack
April 19, 2006
ITP End of Year Events - Thesis Presentations and End of Semester Show
ITP Spring Show 2006
A two day exhibition of interactive sight, sound and physical objects from the student artists of ITP.
This event is free and open to the public. No need to RSVP.
ITP Thesis Presentations 2006
ITP's graduating students will be presenting a wide variety of highly creative and interactive projects that they have constructed over the course of their final project seminars.
Students have been encouraged to undertake projects that bring together the conceptual and design issues that they have engaged in during their two years of study at ITP.
Projects will include installation based work, digital video and audio pieces, interactive 3D, games and educational applications, to name only a few.
ITP will be providing a live webcast of all the thesis presentations.
Posted by vanevery at 02:41 AM | TrackBack
March 26, 2006
TurnHere - Short Films about Cool places
TurnHere.com ~ The video insiders guide to neighborhoods across the world
My good friend Paul is featured pointing out all of the new buildings going up in the area. Nice..!
The site concept is interesting. I am glad to see that niche video content sites are popping up (as opposed to YouTube and Google Video).
I have a couple of problems with how it is built such as there isn't a search box (I want to see all of the Brooklyn films but could find no way to do it). There is no way to leave comments or otherwise say that I like any particular video. Also, this might be a personal bias but I think there is too much Flash used. It is fine to present the videos in Flash but why the rest of the site? Last, I wish they would give me an RSS feed with MPEG-4 videos so I can watch on my new Mini hooked up to my TV.
Overall though, I love it.. Good content!
Posted by vanevery at 08:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Mark Cuban calls bullshit, bullshit
Emmy Advanced Media - Television Business News: Cuban Likes Obesity
Shelly Palmer tells us about Mark Cuban calling out Disney's Preston Padden in obvious over exaggeration..
From the post:
There aren’t many of us who could call bulls__t on Preston Padden–at least not in front of a room full of press and politicos. However, Mark Cuban, CEO of HDNet and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, did it twice in 10 minutes at the Consumer Electronics Association’s 2006 Entertainment Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Preston Padden, executive vice president-government relations, The Walt Disney Company, was trying to tell the audience that there had been over six million illegal downloads of Disney’s animated hit movie, “The Incredibles.” Mark wasn’t buying it. “I call bulls__t!” he said, with no small degree of effervescence in his voice. “Maybe if you said ‘Star Wars,’ but ‘The Incredibles’? No way!!!”
Posted by vanevery at 07:53 PM | TrackBack
"HBO busted me for using bittorrent"
Gen Kanai weblog: "HBO busted me for using bittorrent"
HBO is going after users for downloading content using BitTorrent. Here are some stories, letters and so on..
HBO could simply start doing things like simultaneous release (or at least shorten the time), offer it through iTunes and the like and maybe, perhaps just embrace the BitTorrent phenomena and offer access to a good high quality seed for 1 or 2 dollars. Would be cheaper than the lawyers..
Posted by vanevery at 06:33 PM | TrackBack
March 24, 2006
Mobile Games Tied with Live TV
Startup to Wed Mobile Games, Live TV Shows - Yahoo! News
Very interesting:
AirPlay Network Inc. said it will introduce a lineup of cell phone games tied to live television broadcasts. While watching TV, subscribers could use their cell phones to compete against others in "real time" by predicting plays in sports, choosing winners on reality TV shows or picking answers on game shows.
Posted by vanevery at 12:08 AM | TrackBack
March 23, 2006
'The Fourth Screen' Mobile Media Festival
The4thScreen.com :: global mobile media festival
This festival looks very interesting. They are pushing people to think about the phone in a different way, not just as a television that is carried in your pocket as it seems the providers are pushing for:
'The Fourth Screen' Global Mobile Media Festival will focus on the mobile phone as an emerging social, cultural and technological phenomenon.
We invite artists, technologists, and other creative thinkers to submit creations, inventions and concepts in two categories:
1/ moving images: videos made with mobile phone, movies, animation and games intended for mobile delivery
2/ wise technologies: software art, software and hardware that proposes new uses for mobile multimedia communication, applications that have positive cultural, social and economic impact in diverse cultures
Posted by vanevery at 01:17 PM | TrackBack
February 28, 2006
Television Disrupted
Television Disrupted - The Transition from Network to Networked TV by
Shelly Palmer
Looks to be an interesting read. Guess we will find out in the near future.
From the site:
Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked Television, follows the money and the technology that enables it. The book also looks at the business rules and legal issues that are having a huge impact on the future. File sharing, copyright laws, geographical form factors, temporal windows and much more. During the next few years, everything we know about the business of television is going to change - Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked Television will serve as a guidebook and roadmap for the foreseeable future.
Posted by vanevery at 01:53 PM | TrackBack
February 12, 2006
rocket boom ebay auction closes at $40k!
Posted by vanevery at 09:54 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 07, 2006
Manamana
Manamana - Google Video
I sing this all the time.. People think I am crazy:
Thanks Dad!
Posted by vanevery at 06:31 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 28, 2006
CBS Soap Opera Podcasts
CBS.com Netcasts
Anyone a Soap Opera fan? I would love to hear thoughts about how this stacks up to watching them on TV.
Posted by vanevery at 04:21 PM | TrackBack
January 17, 2006
The end of broadcast as we know it...
The Doc Searls Weblog : Friday, January 6, 2006
Doc writes:
The meta-story behind Intel's Viiv and Clickstream announcments yesterday is not just the death of TV as we know it, but the gang-stabbing of it by Intel, Apple and their new partners in the broadcasting and entertainment industries. Or, if you prefer, by the reconstituted entertainment industry, which will still be about production and distribution, but without the current channel-based TV system (which will come to an FCC-mandated end in 2009 — it was originally scheduled for 2006 — when every TV station will be required to move off its branded VHF channel and up to some unbranded UHF digital channel, by which time nearly everybody will stop watching over-the-air TV anyway, getting everything we used to call TV over cable, satellite or Internet).
Epeus' epigone - Kevin Marks weblog
Kevin Marks Follows Up with:
In 1998, I went to work at Apple on QuickTime, and started work on live streaming. This was hard work, but interesting - making a personal TV Transmitter for anyone with a Mac, so they could use the internet for lots of people to watch them at once. Having built this technology, I started looking for uses for it, and was rather bemused to find there weren't any.
The problem was storage again. It was always better to have a locally stored copy of the video than to try to get it over the net in real time. It just didn't use the net efficiently, and the 'buffering' experience really sucked. In fact, what I realised was that live TV was a waste of time too. But now we had enough storage.
People spend lots of money on iPods and TiVo's, whose whole purpose is to turn live streams into files so you can pause and skip them, moving the storage into their houses, and pockets. This personal storage is why Podcasting makes sense.
Downloading is always better than streaming, and Edited better than Live, except in one instance.
That difference is when you have 2-way interaction. When you can speak back to the person at the other end, either via iChat AV or Skype, or just by having a textual back channel to a conference.
That's where Live is needed.
EXACTLY!
Posted by vanevery at 05:34 PM | TrackBack
Yahoo! Go - TV
Yahoo! Go - How It Works - TV
I had mentioned Yahoo and their TV initatives earlier so I figured I should give a pointer. While this exactly what I found the most interesting, it has a similar concept. (The Yahoo! Go TV Concepts were more interesting)
Yahoo is integrating TV with internet based video search and Flickr along with Music and Movies, complete with reviews (and sooner or later all of the other things you can find on Yahoo's site).
Posted by vanevery at 05:13 PM | TrackBack
Reinventing TV
Release 1.0 / Publication / Reinventing TV: Network TV Signs Off. Networked TV Logs On.
Scott Kirsner write in an older Release 1.0 about Networked TV. It is a good article, too bad it costs so much.
From the abstract:
Television, because of its high production and distribution costs and FCC regulation, has always been the most massive of all the mass media. It seeks the middle ground, and usually finds it. The ads that accompany today's shows are made with a similar shotgun mentality: There's no such thing as one-to-one marketing on the tube. Any niche-oriented programming that does exist tends to be available only to small audiences, on obscure satellite channels or community cable access stations.
That will change over the next decade, as a growing number of television sets, PCs and mobile devices are connected to what Jeremy Allaire, the founder of Brightcove, has dubbed "the Internet of video." Plugging TV into IP rather than into a terrestrial cable system or a fleet of geosynchronous satellites, could redeem - or at least reinvigorate - the medium. The hermetically sealed world of television is about to be cracked open and rewired, transformed into an open publishing platform as a variety of new devices and services emerge to make independent video content easier - and perhaps even profitable - to produce and distribute to smaller subsets of the population.
Posted by vanevery at 02:50 AM | TrackBack
The Future of Independent Media
GBN: The Future of Independent Media
I thought I linked to this a while ago but I couldn't find it recently when recommending it to a student.
Andrew Blau writes a great essay contemplating Independent Media in the face of the quickly changing technological landscape. A very good read:
From the text:
The technologies that enable us to make and consume motion media are becoming better, cheaper, and more widely available—and with blistering speed. As a consequence, patterns of media production and consumption are changing just as rapidly. The Internet continues to create new opportunities to connect with audiences. Video games are becoming a platform for critique and education. A new generation of media makers and viewers is emerging, which only increases the likelihood of profound change. Images, ideas, news, and points of view are traveling along countless new routes to an ever-growing number of places where they can be seen and absorbed. It is no understatement to say that the way we make and experience motion media will be transformed as thoroughly in the next decade as the world of print was reshaped in the last.
Posted by vanevery at 02:44 AM | TrackBack
Digital Living Room - Stalls
The New York Times: David Pogue's Columns (Forum/Message Board)
Well, I can't find the original article (not unusual for the NYTimes site) but the reader feedback on one of David Pogue's columns regarding the digital living room is very interesting. A nice glimpse into what people are using and what they might be using in the future (along with what they are definitely not going to use).
Keep clicking Next after the jump. It goes on and on.
Posted by vanevery at 01:07 AM | TrackBack
January 16, 2006
Video Bloggers, get on TiVo
TiVo.com | Contact Us
From the site:
The TiVo Videoblog Project is currently experimenting with ways to make the new medium of videoblogs accessible on television. If you have a videoblog or are interested in participating, please fill out this form.
Anyone tried this yet? (Besides Andrew that is)
Posted by vanevery at 09:09 PM | TrackBack
iPod video, will it lead to more streaming video consumption?
Streamingmedia.com: Video iPod Sales Growth Portends Big Things for Streaming Media in 2006
From the article:
The biggest unanswered question, of course, is whether the average consumer, who has preferred her iPod audio and video downloaded, not streamed, will warm to the idea of streaming content that could really be accessed from anywhere she has cell or wireless data service.
My Comments:
It was suggested in the article that the answer might come at CES or at MacWorld. While interesting related items were announced at CES (nothing at MacWorld AFAIK) I don't think this actually has anything to do with what the consumer will actually adopt.
Mobile streaming video.. Hmmn.. Mobile carriers think it is the next big thing. If the iPod video is a success and I think it will be, it will be more about personal control over media and fair pricing than TV anywhere, neither of which the mobile carriers understand. For instance, I can't stream my home movies through Verizon's VCast service but I can offer a download of them through iTunes for iPod consumption.
Posted by vanevery at 08:33 PM | TrackBack
Massive Media, distilled
Future Of Television Is Self-Service, P2P Distributed Media Consumption - Robin Good's Latest News
Robin Good edits and re-presents Dan Melinger's Massive Media thesis.
Posted by vanevery at 11:48 AM | TrackBack
January 15, 2006
stay free, article roundup
Stay Free! Daily: This Month in New York City Critical Mass OR How Much Does It Cost the City to Run One of Those Police Copters All Night? - Story of what Critical Mass has become. Bikers vs. Police. Messed up!
Stay Free! Daily: Sucking on the tit of McDonald's - McD's, marketing to kids? I wouldn't say that this image is evidence but there is no doubt.
Stay Free! Daily: Hiking through Manhattan - The highline!
Stay Free! Daily: Radio Free Clear Channel - Clear Channel doing pirate radio. Quick someone get the FCC on them.
Stay Free! Daily: How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel? - I have always had issue with this. You can video tape a public space with visual private property in that space, but you can not have the sounds of that space if it includes music. Documentaries are greatly suffering because of this.
Posted by vanevery at 01:58 PM | TrackBack
December 14, 2005
Content for P2P about P2P (almost)
THE.SCENE
From the FAQ:
Q: What is "The Scene" in real life?
A: The Scene is the piracy underground where 99% of pirated movies, songs, video games, etc start out. There, thousands of pirates upload, download, and trade files (often illegally) using FTP sites. From there, the files make their way onto the peer-to-peer networks, that so many know and love.
Posted by vanevery at 12:16 AM | TrackBack
December 10, 2005
Good Question
Emmy Advanced Media - Television Business News: Who Are The Real Pirates?
Shelly asks a good question that the media companies should be asking themselves. Particularly the music companies. In essence, they need to realize that fair use is fair and good and people WANT media on their own terms.
From the post:
How many times will you buy the same master file? That question is being answered every day on P2P networks, via email and podcasts. Obviously, some consumers are willing to pay for the convenience of not having to bother converting their own files to be used in all of their devices. But there are far more consumers who would rather not pay for the same thing over and over again.
Posted by vanevery at 10:24 AM | TrackBack
December 09, 2005
Future of Television Conference
Beyond TV: TVSpy.com Next Generation TV
So, I went to the Future of Television conference a couple of weeks ago and was somewhat suprised. Last year, I poked my head in to see what was being discussed and it was a big snooze. After checking out the website, I figured it was worth my time this year so I went.
Wow.. I was surprised. You wouldn't know it but there are people in TV who really "get it"... Larry Kramer from CBS most notably get's it.
Here is what I had to say on the day of:
I am writing from Future of Television Conference at NYU's Stern School of Business today. I am here for several reasons, first of all I would like to know what the networks and traditional media concerns think of the scrappy interactive folks. Second, I am here doing recon. Specifically, I would like to know how long video bloggers and other decentralized media creators have before traditional media begins to offer enough of what they are doing to satiate "consumers". (Perhaps that is not exactly my fear but close enough for now.)
First of all, I have to say that Larry Kramer gets it. He really does. He is open to experimentation. At CBS he has launched many interactive initiatives from a broadband news channel to podcasts of daytime soaps to fantasy sports sites to deep entertainment content add-ons to viewer/user photo posting to writer and producer blogs to actual audience participation through SMS. Phew..
CBS isn't the only media company doing this type of experimentation. The other networks, cable and broadcast are doing the same or similar. Notable is ABC News Now, ESPN, Playboy and the like.
The question is, whether or not this is enough. Will this engage and empower viewers enough to keep them despite the ever growing number of alternative content channels. The networks certainly know how to deliver programming to a passive audience. They are just beginning to support a more engaged and digitally connected viewer.
A later speaker in the day, IBM's Saul Berman described the audience by categorizing them in 3 camps. "Massive passives", the folks that CBS has always served, lean back, over 35, want to be entertained but don't feel compelled to buy the latest gadget or create their own media.
The next camp, arguably the focus of most of these efforts he described as "Gadgetiers". He describes this group as heavily involved in content, they are fans, will seek out other individuals who are interested in the same content they are. They will purchase the latest devices, use time shifting (TiVo) and will space shift (TiVo To Go). They are also the heavy buyers, the early adopters, in short, the people that the advertizers (and therefore the networks) covet.
It remains to be seen whether what the networks are starting to do will appeal to this group in the long run. In the short term, it is clear, if you put it out there they will come. How long they stay is another matter.
The last camp, the "Kool kids", the ones really getting all of the attention, are the hardest to understand. He suggests that this is the group that rejects DRM and "walled gardens", in short, the group that wants media on their own terms. This is the group that uses P2P software and is heavily social. They have dream devices that aren't out in the market as of yet.
I know that the kks (short for "Kool kids") are what have network executives up at night. They are the hackers and inventors who are really driving the internet. TV and media in general will fit into their game or be disregarded.
Ok.. So the big question at the end of the day? Will the cable and TV networks run scared and do everything possible to protect their business models or will they embrace the new like they must. My feeling after this conference is that they have learned something from the music industry and will try to embrace but there will still be a major shakeup and Yahoo! and Google just might become the "new" networks. Good or bad.
Posted by vanevery at 09:31 PM | TrackBack
MyBBCPlayer
Technorati Tag: MyBBCPlayer
So, the BBC is launching a P2P media delivery platform. The link above will tell you to what the blogger's have to say.
I can't wait to try it! Will I be able to in the US?
Posted by vanevery at 08:33 PM | TrackBack
David Pogue writes "What's Holding Back the Digital Living Room?"
What's Holding Back the Digital Living Room? - New York Times
In the article he posits a couple of theories ending up with:
Could it be that the digital living room concept is equally flawed--and all Silicon Valley's horses and all Asia's men are barking up the wrong tree?
Perhaps I am jaded today but I think the concept that Silicon Valley is pushing forth is flawed for many reasons. First and foremost is that entertainment companies don't understand interactivity (games aside) and tech companies don't understand entertainment, specifically that their content doesn't *work* on TV.
After saying all of that, I do believe that there is a way to "infect" the entertainment industry with interactive technology. Some day I will let you all know how. ;-)
Posted by vanevery at 04:42 PM | TrackBack
December 08, 2005
EPIC is about to arrive, powered by Googlezon
Posted by vanevery at 02:28 PM | TrackBack
November 06, 2005
The Participatory Generation
The Lives of Teenagers Now: Open Blogs, Not Locked Diaries - New York Times
NY Times is running an article about a recent Pew survey that is demonstrating that teenagers have embraced publishing media online. From myspace and the like to creating their own websites featuring music remixes, videos and so forth.
They have become the participatory generation.
From the article:
According to the Pew survey, 57 percent of all teenagers between 12 and 17 who are active online - about 12 million - create digital content, from building Web pages to sharing original artwork, photos and stories to remixing content found elsewhere on the Web. Some 20 percent publish their own Web logs.
That reality is now inextricable from the broader social, cultural and sometimes, as in Melissa's case, deeply personal experience of being a teenager. And it is one that will undoubtedly have profound implications for the traditional managers of content, from big media companies and libraries to record labels, publishers and Hollywood.
[Later in the article]
The Pew survey shows "the mounting evidence that teens are not passive consumers of media content," said Paulette M. Rothbauer, an assistant professor of information sciences at the University of Toronto. "They take content from media providers and transform it, reinterpret it, republish it, take ownership of it in ways that at least hold the potential for subverting it."
Posted by vanevery at 10:37 AM | TrackBack
September 26, 2005
Google Video, thoughts..
Everybody Hates Chris: Everybody Hates The Pilot - Google Video
Google video has the full premeire episode of Everybody Hates Chris for a limited time. I would love to see the stats for this one.
In any case, this is the first time I have really checked out Google Video since it launched. I am not so sure about the Flash based video, I find the playback performance a bit weak compared to QuickTime and Real on my Powerbook. I am impressed by the random feature but not really by the content. I find enough standard TV fare on TV, I don't need it on the internet as well. It is for this reason, that unless I need to look something up, I will turn to Ourmedia.org, Yahoo Video, Current.TV and MeFeedia for my online video watching pleasure.
Posted by vanevery at 06:05 PM | TrackBack
December 06, 2004
ITP Winter Show 2004
ITP Winter Show 2004
Sunday, December 19 from 2 to 6pm
Monday, December 20 from 5 to 9pm
A two-day explosion of interactive sight, sound and technology from the student artists and innovators at ITP.
An oversized Greenwich Village loft houses the computer labs, rotating exhibitions, and production workshops that are ITP -- the Interactive Telecommunications Program. Founded in 1979 as the first graduate education program in alternative media, ITP has grown into a living community of technologists, theorists, engineers, designers, and artists uniquely dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactivity in the real and digital worlds. A hands-on approach to experimentation, production and risk-taking make this hi-tech fun house a creative home not only to its 230 students, but also to an extended network of the technology industry's most daring and prolific practitioners.
Interactive Telecommunications Program
Tisch School of the Arts
New York University
721 Broadway, 4th Floor South
New York NY 10003
Take the left elevators to the 4th Floor
This event is free and open to the public
No need to RSVP
For questions: 212-998-1880
email: itp.inquiries@nyu.edu
http://itp.nyu.edu/show
Posted by vanevery at 06:29 PM | TrackBack
Hillary support's The INDUCE Act
I was dismayed to learn that Senator Hillary Clinton has come out and in fact co-sponsored Senator Hatch's Induce Act. What follows is a draft of a letter that I am writing to Sen. Clinton to express my concern. I hope that others will do the same.
Here is some background material:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.2560:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64315,00.html
http://techlawadvisor.com/induce/
http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/004563.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20040618-3906.html
http://www.futureofmusic.org/articles/INDUCEanalysis.cfm
http://action.eff.org/site/pp.asp?c=esJNJ5OWF&b=164928
Like your iPod, read this:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Apple_Complaint.php
Please comment on the letter as you see fit.
Dear Senator Clinton,
I was dismayed to learn that you have come out in support of Senator Hatch's Induce Act. I hope that on further consideration of the issues that this bill covers that you change your stance to better reflect the opinions of your constituents and for the betterment of our society.
The Induce act as it currently is written does much to stifle free-speech, artistic and fair uses of media. Imposing legal responsibility on the makers of devices and software for illegal use such device or software will create a burden so great on manufacturers and creators of such programs that they will not develop or offer products that have potential for misuse.
I fear that by trying to curb the theft of copyrighted material you will instead be curbing the ability for individuals and groups with legitimate uses for the technology that enables such to use it. Being thoroughly immersed in an academic and artistic atmosphere, I am witness every day to fair uses of technology that would not exist today were such a law in existence. In fact I feel that the software that I am using to write this letter would not have been developed simply because it includes the ability to cut and paste text from any source into the document.
I believe that should this Bill become law that it will undo much of the progress of free-speech and alternative media creation that has been enabled by the internet, personal electronic devices, computers, tape recorders and so on. Furthermore it will be a giant step backwards and lead to increased power by the media and further relegate citizens to the role of consumer without a voice.
I hope that you will reconsider your position on this matter.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Shawn Van Every
Posted by vanevery at 11:35 AM | TrackBack
October 09, 2004
Hack A Day tells us how to add RSS feeds to TiVo
add rss feeds to series 1 and series 2 tivos - hack a day - www.hackaday.com
Now we just need to read the enclosures, download the Torrents and add them to the menu.. Has it been done (on TiVo)?
Posted by vanevery at 05:56 PM | TrackBack
September 10, 2004
Engadget gives some info on Song's in air Linux system
Song Airlines' Linux-based distributed media system - Engadget - www.engadget.com
Posted by vanevery at 12:52 PM | TrackBack
May 31, 2004
future physical
Future Physical
Looks to be a British art group that commissions performances, research and events that stretch the boundaries between the physical and real.
Posted by vanevery at 11:24 AM | TrackBack
May 23, 2004
No need for Napster when you can just grab the songs from a stream
Replay Music
Although I have appreciated this type of functionality in software such as FreeAmp, I am not sure that I like this as a commercial product. Not only does it add fuel to the music industry's assault on online music services it deals a major blow to streamers who don't encrypt their streams (allowing greater player and platform choice) or do it just for fun without any hope of profit.
From the site:
Just play music from your favorite online radio station or streaming music service, and every song is saved on your PC as a high quality MP3 file, automatically tagged with the artist and song title, and perfectly separated into individual tracks.
Posted by vanevery at 08:28 PM | TrackBack
May 01, 2004
Who wants to play Pac Manhattan
Pac Manhattan
This looks like fun, the pictures of Dens are hilarious. Hope they put up the videos soon!
From the site:
Pac-Manhattan is a large-scale urban game that utilizes the New York City grid to recreate the 1980's video game sensation Pac-Man. This analog version of Pac-man is being developed in NYU's Interactive Telecommunications graduate program, in order to explore what happens when games are removed from their "little world" of tabletops, televisions and computers and placed in the larger "real world" of street corners, and cities.
Posted by vanevery at 01:41 AM | TrackBack
April 26, 2004
mini GNU/Linux distro for the Via EPIA boards
freepia
Yea! Now I will have something to do with my M-10000 once my thesis is done ;-)
From the site:
Freepia is a small GNU/Linux distribution designed to run on Via Epia-M Mainboards. It currently runs on the M-9000 and M-10000 (ezra and nehemiah cpu) but with some modifications like kernel and X11 modules it should run on others too. (if someone has get it running on other Epias let me know). The main motivation behind this project is to build a full featured, low noise media box to play movies/mp3s/images etc. For this it uses freevo but in the future there maybe support for others like mythtv or vdr.
Posted by vanevery at 08:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 09, 2004
re-work, re-tell and release..
Video
I feel like this is something like bringing the oral storytelling tradition to modern media. It allows for change, critique and so forth.
From the site:
Wizard People, Dear Reader is an unauthorized re-envisioning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Ston, by Brad Neely. To experience it, viewers need to get a copy of the first Harry Potter movie and watch it with the sound off, replacing Neely's narration with the original soundtrack.
Posted by vanevery at 01:35 PM | TrackBack
April 07, 2004
Now THESE are TV's
transvision
Chekout the Flash version of this site as well: http://www.transvision.us/
From the site:
Transvision's intent is to change you're relationship with what you are seeing rather than simply mindlessly relaying information. Each of the fully functional televisions proffers new prototypes for watching and reconceptualizing our ideas about television. These new schemes of interface problematize the act of watching TV by imbedding interaction into a medium traditionally resolved to the goal of complacency. The individual transformations in Transvision expose the power of the mediating object, reanimating both the content and the viewer while cutting through the static and stasis of media. Whatever you do, don't sit back and relax.
Posted by vanevery at 02:31 AM | TrackBack
April 01, 2004
The Experimental Gameplay Workshop
The Experimental Gameplay Workshop
From the site:
The Experimental Gameplay Workshop is a forum for the demonstration and discussion of innovative game designs. It provides a place for designers to showcase challenging, unproven work, and discuss it with peers.
By explicitly acknowledging the existence of a community of experimental game designers, the workshop helps legitimize gameplay-oriented research and development.
A related festival is The Independent Games Festival at http://www.igf.com/
Thanks Josh
Posted by vanevery at 01:07 AM | TrackBack
March 11, 2004
The infamous WFMU, freeform radio
WFMU-FM 91.1/Jersey City, NJ; 90.1/Hudson Valley, NY
WFMU is an independent freeform radio station broadcasting at 91.1 fm in the New York City area, at 90.1 fm in the Hudson Valley, and live on the web in Realaudio, or in Windows Media, as well as two flavors of MP3, and all programs archived in Realaudio.
Posted by vanevery at 02:30 AM | TrackBack
March 04, 2004
WiFi changing consumer behavior
USATODAY.com - Wi-Fi changes virtually everything
Posted by vanevery at 12:24 PM | TrackBack
Go Larry! Hope the book makes people THINK.
Wired 12.03: Some Like It Hot
From the excerpt:
If piracy means using the creative property of others without their permission, then the history of the content industry is a history of piracy. Every important sector of big media today - film, music, radio, and cable TV - was born of a kind of piracy. The consistent story is how each generation welcomes the pirates from the last. Each generation - until now.
Posted by vanevery at 11:56 AM | TrackBack
February 25, 2004
TiVo to your friends favs
RSSTV: Syndication for your PVR
From the site:
We propose to share program information by building on existing syndication infrastructure. Specifically, we'll add a number of namespaced elements as an extension to RSS. The value formats for these elements will be taken directly from XMLTV, a source of publically available program information.
Posted by vanevery at 12:43 AM | TrackBack
February 24, 2004
Covering TV and technology
Lost Remote | About Us
From the site:
Lost Remote takes issue with the status quo of television. Technology is changing fast, and new generations of TV viewers are demanding more.
We do our best to keep you ahead of the curve. Every day, Lost Remote's bloggers scour the planet for the latest trends in TV and new media. Every Thursday, we send out an email newsletter with the week's highlights. And nearly 300 TV web producers swap tips and rants in Lost Remote's email discussion list.
Posted by vanevery at 07:02 PM | TrackBack
February 09, 2004
Not MORE reality television
Reality Central
From the site:
Until now there has been no dedicated broadcast source for information and entertainment dealing exclusively with reality television. REALITY CENTRAL is the destination for fans to visit everyday and connect with their favorite programs and personalities. REALITY CENTRAL is the place for the latest in news, entertainment, and information covering the world of reality television. Reality TV fans will be transported behind-the-scenes of their favorite shows and find in depth coverage with never before seen footage. REALITY CENTRAL will promote the wildly popular reality programs of major broadcast and cable networks, serving as a catalyst for their promotional efforts. In addition to featuring rebroadcasts of network reality series and premiering international hits, REALITY CENTRAL will produce its own original talk, call-in and interview shows, many featuring the most prominent reality TV stars
They say they will feature ITV from the get-go, let's see what they mean by that...
Posted by vanevery at 09:48 PM
February 08, 2004
Work that game..
A Joystick That Challenges You to Sweat
More about the workout/game playing device(s). One question, does it have any haptics (feedback)? Here is the manufacturer: http://www.powergridfitness.com
Posted by vanevery at 01:37 PM
February 01, 2004
Sideshow - Todd
Todd Robbins Carnival Knowledge
From the site:
Todd Robbins, whom New York Magazine calls "a performer of dazzling skill," parts the curtains of the secret world of the carnival sideshow in his amazing new stage production, "Carnival Knowledge."
One of the last practitioners of a quintessentially American art form, Todd Robbins brings us face to face with an oddly beautiful mixture of real-life human marvels and classic carnival magic. TheaterMania.com calls the spectacle "infectious, informative and colorful." The New York Post promises, "this is theater at its most visceral!"
Posted by vanevery at 04:36 PM
January 31, 2004
Computer games that involve excersize
GETUPMOVE.COM - Story Mode
From the site:
I started playing Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) at the age of 17
with the very first version that was released to the United States, DDR Version 1.5. The first time I saw the game was at Gameworks arcade in Seattle, where tons of people were crowded around the DDR machine to watch different players dance. At this time, I was a senior in high school and weighed about 235 lbs. Four and a half years later, I now weigh close to 140 lbs and I wouldve never guessed how much that trip (OR a video game) would affect me with my health/weight, and in growing to be a better, more self-confident person.
Posted by vanevery at 01:25 PM
Friendster goes to the Dogs
Dogster :: A Walk Through The Dog Park
Woof and welcome To Dogster. You've come directly to the page of Jarvis.
Feel free to look around when you're done with this perfect pooch. Woof!
Posted by vanevery at 12:49 PM
January 30, 2004
Travel video (from a virtual city)
My Trip to Liberty City
Jim Munroe
Posted by vanevery at 04:32 PM
January 24, 2004
Rover videos...
Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Multimedia
Posted by vanevery at 01:44 AM
January 19, 2004
Video games with motion tracking... Nice.
Toysight is set of cool games and toys to play using your iSightѢ or similar firewire camera.
Using a system of object and motion detection to track your position, Toysight allows you to control buttons, sliders and perform gestures on the screen, putting you right in the action!
Posted by vanevery at 03:11 AM
January 16, 2004
Electric shock for game feed back..!
Reiff and Morawe are not the only ones to flirt with the idea of electric shock controllers and joysticks as a means of introducing greater realism into computer gaming.
Posted by vanevery at 12:57 PM
November 05, 2003
Tons of Amtel C Code Examples
Thanks Mark
Posted by vanevery at 02:32 PM
November 01, 2003
How I miss the..
Suck: Daily
"a fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun"
Never to return, nice to read the old dry humour every now and then...
Posted by vanevery at 01:26 PM
October 18, 2003
The institute for craziness, right here in Brooklyn
The Madagascar Institute (Fear Is Never Boring)
The institute does all kindsa crazy things from giving stilting workshop, holding condiment wars in DUMBO (which was insane) to who knows what else..
Posted by vanevery at 12:02 AM
October 17, 2003
Musical robot designers
LEMUR: League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots
Posted by vanevery at 11:41 PM
October 15, 2003
Wired News
News and articles concerning just about everything I care about.. Hard to imagine the world without Wired.
Posted by vanevery at 12:40 PM
October 12, 2003
TV and Linux
linuxtv.org TV is dead - this is LinuxTV
TV is dead - this is LinuxTV
Only the access to the source code of our future television sets will guarantee the independence of content and technology. This website is a platform for the development of open source software for digital television (DVB, DTV) receivers, Linux DVD players and tools to stream audio and video to the net.
Posted by vanevery at 08:28 PM
TV Culture for the Phone
Who's Calling, Please? Check the TV
Hey let's make everything work through the TV, talk about lazy..
From the article:
"I don't even have to get up from my chair," said Mr. Kruger, a retiree who lives in Phoenix. "I can see who's calling, and if it's not someone I want to talk to, I'll ignore the phone."
Posted by vanevery at 05:14 PM
October 11, 2003
A perfect box for the TV hacker
Device Profile: Dreambox DM7000 -- an open TV hacker's paradise
From the site: Device Profile: Dreambox DM7000 -- an open TV hacker's paradise
Curtesy of LinuxDevices.com, a great site for Linux in everything (except the PC).
Posted by vanevery at 09:49 PM
Great Art/Technology/Media Space/Gallery
From the site:
MANIFESTO :: Our Artistic Mission
Location One: Catalyst for Content and Convergence
This is our credo:
1. First, the Internet will be about content,
not just serve as a conduit for it. The nature of the technology changes content%u2014not just access and distribution%u2014with implications across the full range of artistic expression and subject matter.
2. Second, Location One is about convergence.
We are bringing together creativity along the two standards that have governed the history of human expression: the axis of expressive discipline and the axis of available technology.
3. Third, Location One is a catalyst.
We select talent, stimulate interaction, supply resources, and provide real and virtual forums. We enable things both cool and consequential to happen. New media transform artistic expression. Conventional barriers of time and distance are erased. With them depart a myriad of social, political and cultural distinctions. Access, distribution, participation become universal (and affordable).
4. Creative alternatives proliferate.
Posted by vanevery at 02:28 PM
Remote Lounge
Controllable Video Cameras, VJ's and Booze.. What a combination!
Posted by vanevery at 02:24 PM
Can NYC make sense?
From the site:
What is Nonsense NYC?
Nonsense NYC is a discriminating resource for independent art, weird events, strange happenings, unique parties, and senseless culture in New York City.
What does that mean?
We send out an email every Thursday night about unique events occurring the following week.
Posted by vanevery at 01:04 AM
October 10, 2003
M$ Cable Television Platform
Is New Microsoft Offering Must See TV?
"The system, which uses software in set-top boxes as well as the operators' network, supports standard and high-definition channels, on-demand programming and interactive program guides, plus future offerings that will use two-way data transfers."
Posted by vanevery at 11:51 AM
October 07, 2003
Underground P2P
CNN.com - Song swappers flock to invitation-only Internet - Oct. 6, 2003
These high-tech Cotton Clubs usually require users to be trusted or at least know someone inside. The files being traded, instead of out in the open, are encrypted -- the 21st century equivalent of hiding bathtub gin under a fake floorboard.
Posted by vanevery at 02:38 PM
Interactive Coke Sign
Coke sign goes interactive - Sep. 30, 2003
"This is an intelligent sign, with state-of-the-art computer technology, built-in cameras and an on-board heat sensitive weather station," Coca-Cola Co. said.
Posted by vanevery at 02:39 AM