Memoir – RADAR S4 Ep 41 [vid] « Radar Created by Lance Weiler & Alex Johnson!

"When an entire town’s memory is erased, it is dismissed by the rest of the world as an elaborate hoax. But one ambitious journalist is determined to expose the truth. Memoir is a graphic novel written by Ben McCool and illustrated by Nikki Cook who describe their collaboration as a “cross between Twin Peaks and the Twilight Zone.” It is a dark and sinister tale with gritty visuals that is sure to haunt readers long after they’ve put down the book."

Relevant sites:

Nikki Cook’s Blog

Ben McCool’s Blog

Credits:
CREATED by Lance Weiler & Alex Johnson
DIRECTOR Josh Cramer
EDITOR Jawad Metni
DP Tim Naylor
SEGMENT PRODUCER Janine Saunders
POST PRODUCTION House of Trim
FEATURED MUSIC by:
City Rain “How We See”
Evenings “Still Young”

I like this so much I'm reposting!: Indie Movies and the Importance of Sharing « Beyond the Iron Sky

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Excerpt:

May 7th, 2010 by Janos Honkonen

"One of the things that makes Iron Sky special is our direct contact with our fans and our activity all around the net. Especially so since all this is on a full swing even now, over a year before the film will come out! Our community has helped us in several ways, from giving us concrete ideas and materials via Wreckamovie to helping us finance the movie by buying merchandise or investing directly in the movie. This help is not cosmetic or a gimmick, it’s very important for us in a very concrete way, and we are grateful for everybody who has participated like this! The ideas are very valuable and the more financing we get from our fans instead of the business side of the things, the more we can keep our artistic vision in our own hands.

There is a third thing people can do that really helps us, but it’s something they don’t necessarily think of as being useful or important. Moreover this is something that’s very easy to do and also free. This something is SHARING...."

Apple 3D patent details glasses-free display projection

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"Apple describes the special display involved as “a projection screen having a predetermined angularly-responsive reflective surface function,” which basically means that the angle of light reflection from different points on the screen would be predicable enough for a computer to bounce light with individual eye accuracy. It’s unclear whether Apple’s system would be able to support more than one simultaneous viewer, or indeed what computational requirements such a setup might demand.

The application was filed back in 2006, and of course there’s no guarantee that Apple ever intends to produce 3D-capable hardware using the technology it covers."

Nice! Post from Andrea Phillips on Character Creation (Deus Ex Machinatio)

December 29, 2010

Read the full post on Andrea's blog,

http://www.deusexmachinatio.com/2010/12/character-creation.html#

insights from a Master: Media Theorist Douglas Rushkoff on Alternate Reality Game

Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is well-known for his insightful books and documentaries about how cultures, people, and institutions shape values in the digital age. Since his 1994 observational book Cyberia, Rushkoff has often been at the forefront of digital counterculture. His latest book, Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age, provides clear, actionable ways to master technology before it masters us.

Recently, Rushkoff collaborated with games production company Smoking Gun Interactive to create an experimental alternate reality game (ARG) and graphic novel “proof of concept,” Exoriare. After chatting very briefly about ARGs at the eBook Summit last week in New York City, I thought our readers would enjoy a more focused e-mail interview with Rushkoff about his experience with Exoriare, ARGs, and play.

Jane Doh: For Exoriare, even though you have the writer credit for the graphic novel, how involved were you in the writing or the design of the Darknet ARG? Was the development of both elements concurrent, or did one come before the other?

Douglas Rushkoff: The initial concept for the story behind the Darknet ARG was already developed when I came on. I ended up writing a graphic novel for which the characters of that story were more tangential than central; their plight was of concern to my characters, but I had another story going on. That story got adjusted a bit to accommodate my timeline, and my intentions for a story that was to span four to six graphic novels.

Where we did collaborate a lot, though, was on the role of the player/reader. It was important to me that my graphic novel end with the beginning of the game – the last frame is to be the computer screen on which the game is played, with the player as an active member of a resistance group, reaching out to others through the Darknet.

I wanted the reader to be more than an uninvolved third person, but someone with a stake in the story. I also wanted the story itself to give the player an idea of his or her own back story, or to be able to imagine one based on the timeline they experienced over the first book.

So the ARG had to support this notion of people coming together to fight a very new kind of war.

JD: What were your impressions of the collaborative creative process for Exoriare? How did the form of the content, its delivery, its interactivity, affect the course of development and creation?

Read the full post on: ARGNet: Alternate Reality Gaming Network

Useful. New App Finds Street Parking From A Smartphone | Autopia | WIRED

Back in November we told you about Streetline, a new service that offers drivers and cities a real-time view of available parking spaces. The service just got a lot more driver-friendly yesterday, with the debut of a new iPhone app that points the way to roadways ripe with ample street parking.

Parker, currently only available in areas near Hollywood, California, displays for drivers a real-time Google map with available spaces. Streets with multiple open spots are highlighted, and garages are also listed as an alternative. Anyone whose been lured deep into a parking garage only to find obscenely high hourly rates posted beyond the point of turning around will appreciate that current garage and meter rates — in addition to time limits — are also available with the swipe of a finger.

For Los Angeles, it may be a chance to reduce congestion without drastically changing infrastructure. “By making parking easier, we can help people get where they are going faster, and reduce pollution and traffic congestion caused by drivers circling in hopes of finding an open spot,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Streetline requires the installation of sensors into existing parking spaces, then connects parking infrastructure through an infinitely expandable wireless network. With the network in place, drivers can find, reserve and pay for open spaces, and cities can tell where violations are and set dynamic prices for spaces based on demand.

We tried out the app and wish it were already available in every city we’ve ever driven. Though it took a half second to get the hang of the interface, streets with multiple open spots were clear. It was also easy to get directions, albeit to another city, from our current location.

The Parker app might be the best example we’ve seen so far that having access to real-time parking information could be the difference between finding a space and circling the wrong block endlessly, or seeing that parking is at a premium and deciding to leave the car at home.

Image: Streetline

Apple Wins a Patent for a Futuristic 3D Stereoscopic Display & More - Patently Apple

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From the site:

"The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 17 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include two iPhone related User Interface designs, another for their Mini DisplayPort and others relating to iTunes and their fantastic LED backlit displays. Yet one of the star patents that were granted to Apple today, is definitely one that involves a futuristic 3D stereoscopic display. Is Apple wetting our appetite for a possible future 3DTV system? Here's to hoping that Apple could actually one day deliver something beyond a little black box called Apple TV.

Granted Patent: 3D Stereoscopic Display System

Apple has been granted a patent for a 3D stereoscopic display system. Apple first applied for this patent in 2006 and we first posted a detailed report on this in March 2008. It's interesting to note that one of the key attributes of Intel's forthcoming Sandy Bridge processor is its native support for 3D stereoscopic video playback. One could only imagine that it'll only gain momentum in their 2012-2013 22nm Ivory Bridge processors that will pack 8 and 16 cores."