Just over a year ago i first saw this video of Johnny Lee creating a multi-touch (touchless) interface using a Wii remote. Though I thought that the idea was neat and that Johnny was a genius, I kind of wrote it off as a follower of the muti-touch trend. A few months later I saw this video. This time Johnny is creating a fairly stunning head tracking interface, again using the Wii remote and a few parts. Once more I was thoroughly impressed with Mr. Lee’s innovation, but I still wasn’t really catching the “why” other than making some cool things happen with a Wiimote and a PC…until I saw his TED talk.
Johnny Lee is setting a new standard for hi-tech research, and he is doing so by making it available to everyone. Using a camcorder and YouTube, he is teaching the world how to create devices that are at the frontline of innovation. This can empower users of technology and fosters much stronger development of products. Rather than developing in a box, he is trying to make everyone a part of the process.
For those of you who don’t know Pitchfork, it is the largest online independent-focused music publication. They receive around 15 million daily page views and over 300,000 visitors daily. On April 7th, the Chicago based company released Pitchfork.tv, their attempt at the every growing audience of online tver’s. The best thing about what they are doing, is that they are producing a lot of the video’s.
As a visual extension of the music coverage Pitchfork has provided for more than a decade, and a means of updating and advancing the music television format, the online channel will bring you closer to the artists you love, through original mini-documentaries, secret rooftop and basement sessions, full concerts, exclusive interviews, and the most carefully curated selection of music videos online.
This is a really genius pop-up book. It is amazing to see where these have come. What is also amazing, is how viral marketing can promote a product. This book won’t be released until October of 2008, and without hitting a shelf and with nearly no money close to 400,000 people have been impressed by this video.
We all have stuff. In fact, our lives are filled with and often revolve around stuff. Funny, though, it seems rare that people take much consideration of the life cycle of the stuff that they interact with. The things that we bring into our homes and our lives are too often there due to someone else’s compromise. The economic system that we have North America largely exists due to exploitation, and much of the stuff that we produce and dispose of has a negative impact on the environment and our health.
This short video is a very well informed look into the life cycle of stuff. It is fast paced, articulate, and is well worth the 20 minutes that it will take you to watch it.
As of April 7th, 2008 Bell Canada will ‘throttle‘ its internet service. This means that they will implement control over what content you will be able to access at full speeds. They already claim to offer a different range of speeds, which as reported by CBC marketplace, is rather suspect. If Bell gets away with doing this, the new control will open the playing field for other ISPs to enforce control over internet content. The implications of this control could severely effect how the internet works. At this stage the internet is largely a free source of knowledge untainted by our corrupt economic system. Allowing the providers to filter and control content for their own economic benefit is adding major influence from the corrupt economic system on this purportedly free knowledge network.
So what can you do? Well here are a few things: Read more…
I was browsing around Today’s Big Thing and just happened to have a look at the video for my birthday. It just so happens that there was a really great video about this new phenomenon called “The Internet.” I would recommend that you check it out, it looks like this thing might be the future!
