Last week one of my students, Heather (you can read some of her work there) presented to the group an interesting view on the technologies we are using for 3D. Not sure I should admit this but, it really opened my eyes. Gone were the days of pretending you could see 3D when really it was more effort than it was worth.
Asking what is a browser reveals that actually people are happy to use whatever is on their machines. How does this affect design and user experience? This clip is showing the response in America but it was asked in several different countries and the responses were similar.
This article comes from Neuromarketing » Video Games Make You Smarter… Really! I think it’s an important read because there is often so many negative things about video games.
Below is what was printed:
Can video games make you a better air traffic controller? How about a better surgeon? And, for the huge demographic bubble of baby boomers, can video games keep you cognitively sharp into old age?
A friend sent me a link to this video, and I really wanted to be sure I had it somewhere to reference it. Worth a watch, interesting!
This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some.
This is fantastic news! I had been review a lot of the classic games that have been coming to the iPhone, and often wondered when the heck is that darling Q*Bert gonna find its way there too. I can’t wait to try it. Looks like it’s been submitted to the app store and they are just waiting for approval.
It has been approved and is now available for download… 
I’m off to grab a copy!!
I came across this post a few weeks back. I read it and then clicked on to some other Internet wonders of course, as we do. But the words stuck in my head.
I found myself thinking about it a lot. By the next day I went back to find it and have a re-read. It made me think. How often do I put into that cookie jar, and was I taking more than putting in.
What difference would it make if I did take from this jar and never put back into it? Would it be any use to anyone if we were all takers? There is a real beauty about what Stefan wrote because the vibe I have been feeling with social networking at the moment has been exactly this cookie jar principle. It seems that maybe I have been lucky with the folks I ‘follow’ and vice versa but I feel a real spirit of a place where folks are helping and contributing. Seems the jar is very full at the moment, and it’s likely to stay that way.
Read the full article on his site: The Cookie Jar Principle or you can read it below as he has written it:
The Cookie Jar Principle by on July 6, 2009
Give more than you take. It’s as simple as that. If we embrace this one powerful principal in our lives, individually we will enjoy meaningful, vibrant relationships and collectively create a culture of abundance. If we can’t, we end up with an empty jar.We can all point to a friend or colleague who breaks the rule repeatedly. They call only when they need something and they only show up or participate when it benefits them. They forget that the act of taking from the jar implies that they will one day put back more than what they took. In many ways selfishness is failing to recognize that when you chose to benefit from the effort or contributions of another, you become part of a self-sustaining cycle of give and take, and that your actions alter the system’s balance. In the fog of self-absorption we can loose sight of the truth and reality of the circumstances of both others and ourselves. When we take more than we give, everyone that depends on the contents of the jar loses.
Remember that every one of your relationships has its own jar. We fill them with our time, energy and love. Sharing, participating, and giving before we take signal our good faith – they are small promises that when it is our turn to take, we have not forgotten our responsibility to keep filling the jar. What we do take, we should always strive to return with interest. This simple principal is as true for individual relationships as it is for groups, families and communities of any size. When we agree to be a part of the group, whether the group is 2 or 2 million, we accept an equal and shared responsibility for the jar.
I have been a fan of pinball since I can remember being tall enough to reach the table (from a chair). There is something so fantastic about the sound and dynamics of this game. The un-predictable nature and the idea that maybe somehow if I hit the ball in a certain way at a certain speed I have control over it is magical. I came across this fantastic article through a contact, and I was so pleased to see a tast of some of it’s origins and to read about this wonderful innovator Steve.
I had a friend, I’ll never forget her “Misty”, who was the main reason I was late for most of my time at Junior High School. She had a pinball machine in her basement, and when her parents left for work, we unlocked the front door of the machine and rigged the change collector se we could play as many games as possible for no money. It was bliss, even with all the detentions I ended up having!! Hope you enjoy this article as much as I did…
Original article here: pinball innovator steve kordek
pinball innovator steve kordek
This is a great site to make a mockup of an iPhone app. Irregardless if you design the app in the end or just use it to prototype your ideas is up to you. Handy too though to help with the design phase.
From their site:
Any creation of a mockup through this website happens at your own risk. Note that your mockups are not protected in any way other than by a non-obvious URL. I can not be held responsible if you create a mockup and your competition figures out how to access it. Mockups can contain user-uploaded images and user-entered text. View at your own discretion. I do not watch, see or check this user-generated content in any way, and can not be held responsible for images uploaded by users of this site or text entered by users of this site.
The following article is from the amazing I, Cringely site of wonderboy Bob, who wrote Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can’t Get a Date.
Additionally about this post, it that he includes his voice reading this post. I really love this feature and think this may be something for all sites / blogs to consider. Fantastic inspiring man!
The following is taken directly from his post on his site. You should go there and checkout / subscribe to his writing.
Online image / photo editor pixlr free
I have been using Pixlr now for the most part of the year. So much so that I really hardly open any editing programs on my computer any more.
This is an online image editor. You can launch it straight from the website online editor, or use it as a plugin for Firefox. This is also great because you can just right click an image and it will open it in the editor for you.
Keep in mind, it isn’t Photoshop and won’t have the vast range of tools or options as that program does. But for basic editing, or changing of images, I have had nothing missing so far. (I couldn’t find a way to Kern the text so I ended up typing the letters one by one for a particular heading once), but that seems to be all I have missed.
A friend from Twitter (@tobiasrocks) sent me this link to Little People. It really captured my attention and is such a wonderful and unique idea I can’t help but totally love it! There is something almost magical about these little figures who could so easily be missed, yet if you did manage to see one, the amazement at the idea of someone placing these figures is wonderful.
Little People – a tiny street art project
The Lair
DETAILS from his site:
Southwark, London
My solo show closes this Saturday, so check it out if you are around West London.
I have released a limited edition badge set featuring images from the show (anyone at the opening night might have picked a few up!) – you can get them here. I am retiring the older badge sets too, so once the present batch have gone, they are gone forever…
Here is how you can also make your unique ringtone…
Any non-protected file can be used for a ringtone on your iPhone. First you need the song that you want to use. If you have an idea for a ringtone, (and its not actually a song), you can go to a site like Free-Loops.com where you can search for something more unusual to use. ( I wanted an old modem dial-up sound for my ringtone which is why I started on this quest to figure out how to do it! )
My visual voicemail was missing over the last week and it was driving me insane!! Anyhow, I was trying to figure out if it was me or if it was the same for others who had upgraded to 3.0. There was only a hand full of folks who had this problem. I ended up trawling through google and looking at help forums, which mostly had advice for American folks using AT & T as a service. I am using O2 in the UK. (though in the end the advice that worked was not related to the service specifically)
Fail, fail again, fail better. Samuel Beckett
When you are trying to think of ways to design, create or work through to your solution, the above quote always gets me thinking. How many times have you lost work, forgotten to save or just thought you needed to improve something. So many times these accidents lead to a far more creative or interesting solution then what you maybe would have originally come up with.
Maybe it isn’t failure at all but part of a detour to get to where you’re meant to be.
Using Ether Pad for Education.
This was one of the great ideas I picked up while at the fabulous sandpit web 2.0 session by Digital 20/20. A few weeks back I went to this event which introduced me to a new collaborative tool. Etherpad. This tool was new to almost everyone at the event (perhaps everyone actually) and we set about a group collaborative task. (more…)
[First: BIG thanks to my CDC group Yr1 & YR2 for doing this session with me!!! Three cheers and sorry if I didn't include your pic or your tweet in the post.]
I wrote a post about Twitter and the integration of it as a learning resource and teaching device. It can be a good source for research. Tying in with that is the notion of getting students to use technology to better understand it.
I decided to try some of the ‘Twitter in the Classroom’ techniques. I set up an account called @interactivity, (that is actually the module title) but also our topic of discussion.
This film, I show to students for several reasons. The animation in it is amazing to watch, it completely keeps your attention by the detail and creativity shown. In addition to that, they show the work of Canadian Animator Ryan Larkin, who had made beautiful and inspiring animations in the 1970s. This film really allows you to see the differences in the animation techniques which – again for inspiration- is a great thing to demonstrate. This is one of the few films that I have purchased, and on the DVD there is additional viewing material (making of, and other work by Chris). It is a film I hope you will go back to a view more than once, because you really get more from it every time you watch it.
Additional to that, is this story is sad. It’s an emotional film and the way emotions are shown even though its using technology is an amazing achievement. If you have a chance to also click the NFB link under the film you can see the work by Ryan on their site as well.
Ryan
Chris Landreth, 2004, 13 min 54 s
Information from The National Film Board site:
This Oscar®-winning animated short from Chris Landreth is based on the life of Ryan Larkin, a Canadian animator who, 30 years ago, produced some of the most influential animated films of his time. Ryan is living every artist’s worst nightmare – having lost his ability to create and succumbing to addiction, he panhandles on the streets to make ends meet. Through the use of computer-generated characters, Landreth interviews his friend and colleague in an effort to shed light on his downward spiral. Some strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.
