Archive for January, 2004

StoryCorps — listen closely

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StoryCorps is a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each others’ stories in sound.

We’re here to help you interview your grandmother, your uncle, the lady who’s worked at the luncheonette down the block for as long as you can remember—anyone whose story you want to hear and preserve.

To start, we’ll be building soundproof recording booths across the country, called StoryBooths. Our first one opened in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. You can use these StoryBooths to record broadcast-quality interviews with the help of a trained facilitator.

We’ve tried to make the experience as simple as possible. We’ll help you figure out what questions to ask. We’ll handle all the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of the hour-long session, you’ll get a copy of your interview on CD. And thanks to the generous contributions of our supporters, all this costs only $10.

Since we want to make sure your story lives on for generations to come, we’ll also add your interview to the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, which we hope will become nothing less than an oral history of America. (See the press release on the Library of Congress Web site.)

Check out the project.

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A look into Prohibit NYC

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Check out the kicks available at Prohibit NYC

Prohibit is located at 269 Elizabeth Street in NYC, NY

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2004 wireless predictions – Part 1

8 Jan 2004

It’s that time of year again when we pull out the tarot cards to see what the future holds for our industry. Towards the tail end of last year we surveyed ARCchart’s analysts for their views on the major wireless communications developments expected over the coming year. In a two part series, split between this week and next, we present ARCchart’s top ten 2004 predictions for the wireless world. No doubt this will generate some topical debate, so email your comments to the usual address. Here is Part I:

1. The first commercial cellular handsets with fully integrated Wi-Fi capability will appear on the market.

2. While 3G (W-CDMA) will see increasing deployment around the world, it will not be the boom year many are expecting.

3. This will be Bluetooth’s year. Bluetooth chips have not only hit the $5 target, they have recently dropped below it.

4. Pre-standard 802.11n silicon will hit the market and this may see the Wi-Fi Alliance expand its role in the standardization process.

5. Nokia will become more aggressive with its Symbian strategy.

Read more about it.

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IDEO overview on interactive spaces

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Read about IDEO’s Tim Brown or Colin Burns on interactive physical spaces

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Retail Store of the Future

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A virtual tour bellow:

http://nrfannual04.expoexchange.com/expoexchange/usercontent.asp?ID=116&EventKey=1

http://www.future-store.org/servlet/PB/menu/1000373_l2/1064515370423.html

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BIX: Info Display + Architecure

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The Kunsthauz art museum in Graz, Austria is employing an interesting fusion of display technology and architecture.

BIX is a field of 930 standard, circular fluorescent light tubes which is integrated into the biomorphic facade structure of the new Kunsthaus. All the lights can be controlled individually via a computer controlled data-bus system – i.e. the lights can be switched on and off and the light intensity can be changed at an infinite variability 18 times per second.
In this way the installation transforms the eastern main facade of the Kunsthaus into an approximately 45 meter wide and 20 meter high low-resolution gray scale display which is highly integrated into the complex double-curved facade structure.
Simple messages, icons and animations are send out into the city of Graz, becoming a unique artistic message format for the new kunsthaus.

See the live webcam looking at it’s facade.

The Bix installation in the Kunsthaus Graz was designed by a company called Realities:Unite (the brothers Tim and Jan Edler), in Berlin.

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Koop – DJ Patife remix and Video

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Listen to the “Waltz for Koop” (DJ Patife remix).

Watch the video here.

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Phonecam Games?

I believe I saw a demo of such a game by David Colier (now at Namco) where you would take snapshots to feed a Tamagotchi-like creature. I.e. if you would photograph a red truck, it would take the color red and turn it into a strawberry to feed. I think that game was in Japan.

I also heard about a fox-hunt game in Europe where people took MMS pictures as proof they ‘captured’ their target, but it seemed not to be embedded in the game application itself.

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Midwizest

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details here : http://www.midwizest.com

or read this fun filled description:

mid-wiz-est
jan 9 – feb 11

stay gold gallery
451 grand street
brooklyn

Opening Reception
Friday, January 9, 2004 / 7pm-12am

A collective of established and up-and-coming artists will be graphcally exploring their interpretations of the Midwest. As a highly under-rated part of the hip hop culture and design world, the Midwest is thriving with talent that does not have the direct opportunity, outside of the world-wide web, to be exposed to the culture of the coasts.

This show will be an opportunity for these artists to gain exposure outside of their immediate environment. Each artist will create an individual interpretation using any medium and application. All artists have roots in the Midwest and a range of styles from graffiti art to experimental web based design. Included will be a performance by a group of Chicago based MC’s and DJ’s.

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SENT – Phonecam Art

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SENT will be the first major exhibit of phonecam art in the United States. We’ll explore the camera phone’s potential as a creative tool in two ways: through an online public dialogue in which amateur photographers and phonecam users around the world share mobile snapshots of their lives; and through an invitational exhibit in which professional photographers, artists, and public figures test the limits of creative possibilities offered by these hybrid devices.

Phonecams — mobile phones that include tiny, built-in digital cameras — are a relatively new gadget. They’ve only become widely available in the US in 2003, and their use is largely utilitarian: snap a photo of your baby, your sunset, your face; then, share it with friends or family. They’re small and cheap. We use them to capture the mundane, the obvious, and the personal. Soon, we’ll use them to capture and manipulate data: phonecams are becoming handheld barcode readers, and tools for a variety of new mobile commerce applications.

The images they produce are undeniably crude, but like Polaroids or snapshots from vintage or “toy” cameras, that lack of finesse lends a distinctive, awkward charm. And the fact that they fuse together the abilities to capture, view, and distribute what we see (through e-mail or online photo weblogs) makes them revolutionary. Phonecams are changing the way we see the world, and our place within it. They’re an extension of urban eyes. They democratize, hack, and deconstruct photography. When everyone is both photographer and publisher, how will art change? How will human conversation change? What will be the difference between professional and amateur? Through SENT, we’ll find out.

Check out the site.

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