New model of disease contagion ranks U.S. airports in terms of their spreading influence
Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu are judged likeliest to play a significant role in the growth of a pandemic.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Public health crises of the past decade — such as the 2003 SARS outbreak, which spread to 37 countries and caused about 1,000 deaths, and the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic that killed about 300,000 people worldwide — have heightened awareness that new viruses or bacteria could spread quickly across the globe, aided by air travel.
While epidemiologists and scientists who study complex network systems — such as contagion patterns and information spread in social networks — are working to create mathematical models that describe the worldwide spread of disease, to date these models have focused on the final stages of epidemics, examining the locations that ultimately develop the highest infection rates.
Full post from MIT here:
http://web.mit.edu/press/2012/spread-of-disease-in-airports-0723.html

Excerpt via fastcodesign.com:
THE BRANCHING NARRATIVES OF INTERACTIVE BOOKS ARE LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARES. THAT IS, UNTIL ONE COMPANY RELEASED THIS FREE WRITING TOOL.
Who hasn’t, at least for a moment, thought a Choose Your Own Adventure book would be fun to write? It’s like making a game out of words. Branching narratives are a surprisingly natural approach to make books interactive. But they’re a logistical nightmare. Multiple storylines? Converging plots? How could you keep even a simple story straight?
A company called inkle appears to have figured it out. Recently, they released the impressive Frankenstein app and interactive novel, and while we weren’t so sure that rewriting Frankenstein was a win for literature, we were impressed by their flowing, option-fueled text interface....'
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670294/write-choose-your-own-adventure-books-thr...

by Ryan Paul - July 25 2012, 10:00pm EDT
'Google has released a new software framework that aims to give programmers the ability to create interactive experiences in physical spaces. It could potentially be used to build interactive art installations or games that involve physical interaction....'
Shari Frilot, Senior Programmer to Sundance Film Festival and curator of the New Frontier section, opens up about Transmedia and how the future of entertainment boils down to the convergence of storytelling and innovative technology.
April Arrglington's full interview with Shari here:
http://transmediala.net/2012/07/interview-with-shari-frilot/#
Molly McHugh, July 19, 2012 (Excerpt)
'From the Dreamwork's powerhouse comes Ptch, a richly visual editor that turns your images and videos into rich storyboards.
Clearly, mobile isn’t only meant for consumption. The iPhone has made us reimagine digital photography — not only how we consume it, but how we create it. Clearly the trend has proven itself; if you don’t believe me, go ask that one company that recently net itself a $1 billion price tag less than two years after it launched.
So who better than some of the brains behind Dreamworks to throw their hats into the ring? A new app called Ptch (which has been in stealth mode for the last nine months) funded by the animation company launches today that lets users create, share them, and even collaborate with other users on short multimedia pieces.
Ptch may be backed by Dreamworks but it’s operating as a standalone app, something vital to its success, in CEO Ed Leonard’s opinion. “We saw the guys really winning at this were fast moving startups that had the ability to pivot, iterate, and go after their target with no constraints,” he tells me. Initially, Leonard was simply part of Dreamworks’ effort to research the space and put the necessary pieces into place. But he got caught up in it all and attached himself to the project....'
Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/ptch-wants-to-unleash-all-the-visual...

By Robert Pratten. Monday, July 11th, 2011
'To fully realize the revenues of mobilized TV we need to create unique “story-experiences” that leverage the reach of TV and the personalization & interactivity of mobile.
Rather than fight or deny the audience’s split attention between TV show and simultaneous use of a second-screen – be it phone, tablet, laptop or whatever is to come next – networks would do best to commission shows that tell stories across both screens.
The key is to tell multi-platform stories: not repurposing B-roll content (that doesn’t create a compelling enough mobile value proposition) or churning out tedious encyclopedic character detail (let the fans create that) but by writing multi-layered stories with additional sub-plots and parallel plots intended specifically for mobile and to be enjoyed socially either at air time or later on demand....'

by Frank Cifaldi, July 18, 2012 (Excerpt)
'It has often been said that the true star of Rockstar's groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto IV was not lead character Niko Bellic but, rather Liberty City itself, a fictional metropolis modeled after New York City.
Creating a breathing, living city is one of the toughest challenges facing developers of open world games today: get it wrong, and your player feels like she's walking through a lifeless television set with cheap props and false fronts for buildings. Get it right, and she'll be absorbed enough in your world to momentarily forget she's playing a game at all.
Ubisoft Montreal is among the best in the business at creating believable cities thanks to its Assassin's Creed series. We sat down with Alex Hutchinson, creative director of the upcoming Assassin's Creed III, for his tips on making a city feel alive. He tells us it's "one of the hardest things you could possibly do," but managed to offer the following.
1. Two-tiered reactions
It is a given that NPCs in open world cities will react to your actions: fire into a crowd in any Grand Theft Auto, and pedestrians will run screaming, cops will come after you, and some of the rougher types might even fire back.
What Ubisoft Montreal has been focusing on for the Assassin's Creed is in two-tiered reactions: NPCs that understand not only the action the player has committed, but how it relates to them. Hutchinson explains:
"If someone hires you to kill Character A, and you do it, and they react like, 'Good, that's what I asked you to do.' But then you go and kill some other random person and they're going to freak out, like you've lost your mind. Whereas someone who wasn't involved in that conversation would freak out at both of the instances."
It sounds simple when explained that way, but Hutchinson insists that it is "one of those things that no one in games yet has truly solved," including his own team....'
via Mashable:
The creators of The Dark Knight Rises released a new iPhone app on Thursday that immerses fans into the world of Gotham City like never before.
Using a combination of audio technologies and Hans Zimmer’s amazing score, this free app lets users feel like they are living inside the world of The Dark Knight Rises
Here’s how the app — dubbed The Dark Knight Rises Z+ [iTunes link] — works. Put on your headphones (it works without them, but to get the full experience you really need headphones) and start up the app....