Last week end I bought this wonderful book entitled Manuel de la Photo ratée (Manual of failed/bad photography) by Thomas Lelu. I really like the author, his other book (Recréations) is an amazing piece of humor. This one is a nicely done manual about how to do bad photography. The most interesting...
A step toward crossplatform ubiquitous computing
(via), Nokia announced a new game at GDC called HinterWars: The Aterian Invasion, notable for being a title on both PC and their mobile N-Gage platform that supports cross-platform play between the two. The game, available as a download from its website, casts the players as one of four races fendi...
GPS Treasure Game
(via) Play Treasure Hunt is "a location based pervasive game for handheld devices, combining a clue driven Treasure Hunt with an action strategy Mech battle game.". It's based on GPS. Treasure Hunt is a location based mobile phone game that uses GPS and internet enabled handhelds. We have hidden an...
Blue Force Tracking
An example of locative media used by the US Army: Blue Force Tracking (Force XXI Battle Command, Brigade and Below System (FBCB2).) Blue-force tracking — technologies that tell U.S. military units where friendly forces are — has come of age in Iraq operations. (...) it gives combat vehicles a dashb...
A space for shelter from mobile phones
(via), DIGITAL SHELTER KIT is a space for shelter from mobile phones. DIGITAL SHELTER KIT focused in developed a shelter from scanscapes that provided not only a technical but also an aesthetic view to this mode of inhabitation in the context of the city. This proposal also provides a visual aid fo...
Echo Chamber
I forgot to mention Chris O'Shea's new project: echo chamber. It is basically an interactive environment in the form of a 3D navigable soundscape that persuades people to make noises into the space and encourages the act of listening. Echo Chamber is a world in which sound is trapped in an infinite...
Farming out R&D?
A great issue of Business Review about how western companies are more and more outsourcing R&D, creating a new model of innovation. CEOs are asking tough questions about their once-cloistered R&D operations: Why are so few hit products making it out of the labs into the market? How many of those p...
La Jetée
I watched La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962) for the 4th time. This "photo-roman" is always a pleasure to watch. For people unaware of this chef d'oeuvre, it inspired the 1995 Terry Gilliam feature Tweleve Monkey. It's the story of a man, time traveling back before a nuclear war, attempting to secure su...
A blurry distinction between the virtual and the real world
Greg Lastowka posted a great reflections on Terra Nova: I think it's clear that the future heralds an increasing collapse of any easy lines drawn between physical and virtual spaces. The collapse is well underway, and I'm not talking metaphorically about eBay economies here. When I see things li...
Impromptu meeting with stefano
I had a very enthusiastic meeting with stefano (impromptu and 300Mb worth I would say). Apart from updating me on his future projects, we had a look at some of my data. The most interesting thing (so far) is that the absence of the location awareness tool enhances the number of messages the partici...