The EyeWriter Project is an “ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people, who are suffering from ALS, with creative technologies.” Basically, with fifty dollars, a computer, and some free software the EWP team puts together some hardware that enables people paralysed with ALS (or Lou Gehrig’s disease) to draw and create using only the movement of their eyes. What they create can be projected in real time (or at least the real time bit is implied by the video) or saved and projected or printed later in a gallery setting.

Check out their WEBSITE.
Or just watch the VIDEO.

Read the far more interesting full article by Chris Jacob at GIZMODO.com. While you do that, I’m gonna go download DOOM and destroy my phone’s battery life.

In the words of my good friend Rossi Dixon, “this makes fonts sexy again.” Fontplore is, quite possibly, the best use of the Microsoft Surface table technology I have seen thusfar. As an interactive font exploration device it is miles and miles ahead and above any organisational tool yet devised for typeface management. I want one. No really, I want one right now. Unfortunately it’s not ready yet… and even when it is I’m sure the cost will place it farther out of my grasp than a trip to the moon.

From the website: “As the development and distribution of interactive tables is still in its early days, we see the Fontplore Table as some kind of customer attraction for the bigger design agencies, where clients and designers get together and share the experience of selecting a suitable typeface for the project.” The video of the prototype in action is quite exciting. In fact Rossi and I both watched it over and over while frantically typing out messages of awe and excitement to each other over AIM… but we’re geeky that way. You may or may not have the same reaction, assuming you’re equally geeky about design and technology and have a friend also equally geeky. The music is also rather awesome.

Fontplore Showreel from Mphasize on Vimeo.

In recent days an email went out to the IGDA membership discussing the seat of Tim Langdell on the association’s board of directors. The email cites Mr. Langdell’s trademark of the word “edge” and his, and his company Edge Games, leveraging “this trademark against any media that contains this word—threatening legal action should their target not enter into a licensing arrangement with the studio.” It goes on to inform the recipient that “under the IGDA by-laws, we are able to call for a special meeting of the membership to vote on the removal of Tim Langdell from the board of directors” and prompts them to follow a link to an online petition.

For those of you unaware of who or what the IGDA is, the International Game Developers Association is an independent non-profit advocacy organisation serving the people in the video game industry. The association’s mission is “to advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.” In short the IGDA is to video games as AIGA is to graphic design.

Further, for those unaware of the background behind the trademark war being fought (on all fronts) by Tim Langdell and Edge Games suffice it to say they are behind some of the most unfortunate and inane trademark lawsuits in the entertainment industry in recent memory. In one of the more high profile confrontations, Mr. Langdell is behind the recent removal of the wildly popular game “EDGE” (Mobigame) from the iTunes App Store for iPhone and iPod touch. Trademark infringement lawsuits have also been brought against Sony Pictures Entertainment, Electronic Arts Games, and NAMCO, among many others.

What’s important, and surprising, about this email, indeed what is important about the message presented is that it is false. In fact, the IGDA has no policy governing the calling of special membership meetings by regular members—though the co-chairs may call these meetings. Shortly after the original message was sent an official email from the IGDA Executive Director, Joshua Caulfield, was sent to the membership stating that the original message “was [from a] spoofed [IGDA email address] and the communication was not an official IGDA communication” and that the IGDA was “not responsible” for the content of the message. A slightly disheartening—and worrying from a privacy standpoint—notion being that there’s such an air of confusion and consternation surrounding Tim Langdell’s position on the advocacy association’s board, but there is good news.

Yesterday, 7 August 2009, yet another message was sent out from the IGDA, this time by Co-Chair Tobi Saulnier. This most recent email announced a move by the board of directors and the co-chairs to call a special membership meeting. It further states that a committee, or “taskforce,” has been empanelled to develop governing policies for such a meeting so as to better deal with the issue brought up by the spoofed email—that of Tim Langdell’s position on the IGDA Board of Directors, and his alleged misuse thereof.

This is an amazing example of reactive politics, and in this instance such a reaction is actually a good thing. Many in the industry, both in production rolls and consumer rolls, are quite off put by Mr. Langdell’s position on the board and have been concerned with the lack of action or position by the IGDA towards the lawsuits he and his company have introduced. While brought about by dubious, perhaps less-than-legal methods, the reaction of the board and co-chairs to this call for action is certainly a light in the dark.

You can read more about Edge Games, Tim Langell, and even the game “EDGE” here: KOTAKU.com ]]> http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/2009/08/bogus-email-prompts-igda-to-consult-membership-about-issue/feed/ 0 http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/2009/07/forget-the-cruise/ http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/2009/07/forget-the-cruise/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:45:07 +0000 Kevin http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/?p=86 While browsing the Arcitecture category over at Superuse.org I came across The Rig hotel. The concept behind this, and indeed the entire Superuse site, is simple: recycle everything. And why not? According to the article “there are approximately 4,000 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico varying in size, depth and mobility that will be decommissioned within the next century. If a deck on one of these rigs is about 20,000 square feet, then there is potentially 80 million square feet of programmable space just oft the coast of the United States.”

The obvious concern here is what to do when the next major hurricane bombards the gulf. Well, there’s an interesting solution to that… Fill the centre of the rig with water. Indeed “spaces are organized around a core of water, which allows light to penetrate to the center of the rig. The core of water acts as ballast to stabilize the rig during ocean storms, and reduce the effect of seasickness.” Eureka! I have absolutely no clue how that would work, but they also propose the centre core of water could be used for underwater Cirque Du Soleil shows, and I’m all about some Cirque!

Read the entire article, including the PDF, over at Superuse.org.

Today, 17 June 2009, the new OS for the iPhone is to be released as a software update to the general public. I will whole heartedly admit that I got out of bed this morning at 3am EDT to see if the Apple servers were going to tick over at 12 midnight and make the software available. Unfortunately they did not, so I wasted a few hours watching the #iPhone trend on Twitter. I know, “a few hours” of watching a trend roll on Twitter sounds mind numbing—and to a certain extent it is. But in this particular instance something rather entertaining, if not completely frustrating, occurred.

Someone, somewhere decided that they were going to go to the Apple website and check to confirm the release date. A very reasonable idea, I did the same thing myself. However this particular person was on the SINGAPORE Apple website. So when the link swept through the Twitterverse and retypes of the dastardly “Apple has DELAYED iPhone OS3 until 18 June!” message sprung up, I investigated. It made absolutely no sense! I had just been to the website and it still said 17 June (or, more accurately “June 17th”). How was this possible! Had my browser cache pulled fleece over my eyes?! No. No, in fact I caught the difference almost immediately. The pictures were different. Apple Singapore’s iPhone OS 3 software update (http://www.apple.com/sg/iphone/softwareupdate/) page has very similar images, but not the same. The MMS roll on the phone (the third photo from the left) has “delete” buttons next to the messages. The photo on the USA site does not. I quickly reported this back to the Twitter trend… to no avail.

The idea the OS release was delayed spread like wildfire this morning, quickly inspiring a feeling of sheer astonishment in me. I really was taken aback by how many people were unaware that we all live on a giant sphere and that it cannot be the same time everywhere in the world at once. A few people picked up on my message to check the country of the website that was going around. A few figured it out on their own, I’m assuming, but the vast majority of people saw “delayed” and went into total panic mode.

Even now, at 1:06pm EDT on the 17th there are people sitting around WAITING, DEMANDING the update be released immediately. There are people saying they need it and can’t live without it and on and on and on. And I’m wondering if these people ever leave their desks… Do they go outside? Ever? Are they… Are WE so addicted to our gizmos and updates and iPhones and Crackberries that we really can’t live without them? It’s a scary thought.

I take my iPhone everywhere with me, but that’s exactly why I bought it. The iPhone, while totally awesome and geek-tacular in its own right, was a practical purchase for me. I cut down the number of items I carried in my pocket by two, and it’s been amazing! iPod, phone, and PDA/calendar book all in one. Brilliant! And, unlike my old phone, I haven’t lost it once—which is truly amazing, I assure you. But I think I could live without it… Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to try. My mobile phone is my primary means of communication and as my Verizon contract finally expired in April, I no longer have two phones. But I don’t need it. I don’t have many extra apps on my iPhone, so I’m not constantly on it. I carry it with me for music—something I can’t live without; emails—which I’d rather live without; and phone calls.

Anyway, iPhone’s new OS just became available for download. So I’m gonna go update my phone. ]]> http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/2009/06/addicted-to-updates/feed/ 0 http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/2008/05/autodesk-and-realviz-sittin-in-a-tree/ http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/2008/05/autodesk-and-realviz-sittin-in-a-tree/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 01:45:40 +0000 Kevin http://cleanupafteryourdog.com/?p=136 AutoDesk finished their REAL VIZ acquisition! Exciting news, no?

“REALVIZ’s products are used for panoramic photography, image-based modelling, match moving and optical motion capture. The technology extracts 3D information from pictures and videos, and is complementary to Autodesk’s modelling, visual effects and animation products. REALVIZ technology has many complementary applications across the industries Autodesk serves, including architecture, film, broadcast and game development.”

Read more about it here.

Now there’s speculation all up and down this rumour because SCEA has denied they are planning to drop the console’s price. And there’s reason to listen to them on this one because the 40gig PS3 option has done better in the market than anyone thought it was going to (given its limitations). However, the last time the cut the price of the PS3 they maintained that it was just a terrible rumour up to the day the price dropped. Sooooooo…. there ya go!

You can read more about this over at Gamasutra’s article.

I was rather excited when I’d heard there would be a Wii channel from which you could download DS games and demos. Such a channel would be BRILLIANT in terms of game availability and access. All they’d have to do is plug in some cheesy credit system or a billing system (much like iTunes uses) and the company could pull in more money than they’d spend producing the physical copies for store shelves.

But… it’s not true.

Nintendo of America peeps negated the earlier report about such awesomeness. Yes, demos will still be available for download (which will be automatically erased when your DS gets powered down), but not full games (which would have to have been written to a blank SD card on download).

You’re missing out on a good idea, Nintendo.