It's end-of-term time, which means brainy college students throughout the land are busily quaffing coffee and eschewing sleep to get their final projects sewn up.
That means too, of course, that many of these compelling projects are being put on display for the first time.
We got an e-mail from Golan Levin, a professor of new-media arts at Carnegie Mellon University, about student work in his advanced class this spring: "Special Topics in Interactive Art and Computational Design." Levin has put together a Web page of videos, and the projects display an admirable diversity of interests and approaches (and in some cases a mischievous sense of humor).
They range from Kinect-powered 3D soundscapes to virtual houseflies to sexy long-distance physical-stimulation devices (digital foreplay, anyone?).… Read more
What if your favorite sci-fi or fantasy character broke loose from the book you were reading and went on a rampage?
Your first step (after scrambling under the bed) might be to call the police. And they, of course, would want the suspect's description--to hand off to their sketch artist.
That's where Brian Joseph Davis comes in.
In a mashup of high and low culture, the writer and artist has been creating police composites based on descriptions of characters in novels: Dr. Robert Vaughn from J.G. Ballard's "Crash," Gary from Colson Whitehead's "Zone One," Aomame from Haruki Murakami's "1Q84," even Humbert Humbert from Nabokov's "Lolita" and Edward Rochester from Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre."
The unconventional portraits form the basis of Davis' Tumblr blog/crowd-sourced art project "The Composites." … Read more
Sometimes a painting is so beautiful you just want to reach right into it.
Of course, if you happen to be in a museum, that impulse could get you tackled by a security guard.
But Greek multimedia artist Petros Vrellis seems determined to let people satisfy the urge. He's currently at work on a project that would let viewers stir the skies of one of the West's most iconic paintings: Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night."… Read more
Rather than fret about the rise of e-readers and tablets and the seemingly imminent demise of the book as we know it, book artist and poet Amaranth Borsuk decided to reimagine the digital-versus-paper struggle as a kind of dance, and make it the basis for an artist's book of her own.
Along with her husband, Web developer Brad Bouse, Borsuk created "Between Page and Screen." It's a digital pop-up book that contains nothing but elegantly rendered QR codes on its printed pages. Readers go to the book's Web site, hold a page in front of their Webcam, and watch onscreen as a poem pops out of the quick-response code (and moves along as the book is moved).… Read more
The Redwood Room in San Francisco's Clift Hotel has long been home to intriguing digital artwork.
Three portraits--a man and two women--hang on adjacent walls. If you watch the "paintings" carefully, the seemingly motionless subjects suddenly shift their gazes and change their expressions. These canvases, you see, are really flat-panel screens displaying videos of actors who know how to stand very still.
The "painted" man comes to life and looks at the "painted" lady across the room; they make eyes at each other and subtly smile. The other "painted" lady, older than the first and hanging nearer the man, frowns. That's all that's needed to telegraph a narrative to the viewer: an indiscretion has taken place, or threatens to; a woman's heart has been (or will be) broken.
We're thinking Scott Garner's "Still Life" would fit in well at the Redwood Room (or another such bar). As he explains on his Web site, years ago he "had the idea of a still-life painting that wasn't so still." And eventually he figured out how to pull off his interactive art piece.… Read more
Randi Zuckerberg, who is director of marketing at Facebook and also the sister of CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, is leaving the company after six years to start a new-media firm to help companies become more social.
In her resignation letter, which is below in its entirety, Zuckerberg said:
"I have spent my years at Facebook pouring my heart and soul into innovating and pushing the media industry forward by introducing new concepts around live, social, participatory viewing that the media industry has since adopted. We have made incredible progress, but there is still much to be done and other ways I can affect change. Now is the perfect time for me to move outside of Facebook to build a company focused on the exciting trends underway in the media industry."
Facebook confirmed the departure and in a statement said: "We can confirm Randi has decided to leave Facebook to start her own company. We are all grateful for her important service."
There was no comment from Mark Zuckerberg directly.
The company Randi Zuckerberg is creating is apparently called RtoZ Media, which is obviously a play on her name.
The move is likely to be much noticed, since Randi Zuckberberg has been at Facebook since its early days and has also been a high-profile and charismatic personality both inside the social-networking company and in Silicon Valley. She has been on maternity leave for last three months, after having her first child, and sources said she has told them that being away from the rapid-fire pace at Facebook has given her time to reflect on what she wants to do in the next phase of her career.
Presumably, leaving Facebook will give Zuckerberg greater freedom to work for a range of companies without a conflict. That said, it's unlikely she'll take on Google+ as a client.… Read more
To celebrate its 190th anniversary, the U.K.'s Guardian (known at its 1821 founding as The Manchester Guardian) has concocted a very-old-school version of the front--er, home--page of today's edition.
The page uses serifed and black-letter Web fonts; copious vertical and horizontal rules; vintage engravings; and a background image of a pulpy, papery texture to re-create the thrill that awaited one who clapped a copper into a newsboy's palm and flapped open a newly purchased copy of the Latest Edition.
In explaining the project, the page's developers also have some fun with Georgian/Victorian-era prose stylings:
"This new edition is available in the following establishments: the Flaming Fox public house; the Verdi & Traviatta at the Royal Opera House; the African Expedition outfitters and the recently-constructed Silver V8 engine foundry," they write in a blog post. When readers click the included links, the rather exotic appellations become clear:… Read more
commentary Is it OK for AOL's TechCrunch editors to invest in companies they write about?
It's a question we once had figured out but a new generation of editors says it's OK. As long as it's disclosed. But is that enough?
Mike Arrington, editor and founder of TechCrunch, an AOL company, yesterday disclosed his investments in some high-profile start-ups.
He said he had refrained from making investments in start-ups since 2009 because of distracting accusations of conflicts of interest, but that he had recently changed that policy (following the sale of TechCrunch to AOL).
Dell has partnered with Nickelodeon and Whyville.net to give life to its latest version of the Mini10v. According to Dell, the kids' Netbook has been designed with safe computing, education, and entertainment in mind. At a glance, Dell is only trying to reach another market (children), but if you look a little closer, the Netbook may represent a change in the way the next generation of preteens and children will learn to socialize and develop their decision-making skills.
The Netbook comes with desktop animations which link to Whyville.net, a virtual world where kids of all ages chat, shop, and visit places in town that engage them in science, nutrition, art, and business activities.
One of the most interesting locations is the cafeteria, where Whyvillians can pick a food item, view its nutritional facts, and select a meal based on an educated decision. If their character eats more fattening, high-calorie items, the cartoon character will see the effects as it becomes fatter and unhealthy. Likewise, if the character doesn't eat enough, he will become frail and sickly. A lack of vitamin C will cause scurvy sores, and a lack of calcium will cause weak bones and a bandaged head. As a result, the child may be advised that his Whyvillian should see the Whyville nutritionist.… Read more
Randall Bennett, co-creator of The 404 and now the host of TechVi, joins us on today's show to talk about his journey around the globe, a few of his new projects, and how he's saving the world one post office box at a time.
We've had Randall on the show before, but this is the first time we've seen him since he moved back to New York from his brief but productive stint on the Left Coast. What the heck has he been doing this whole time? Well, Randall is a man of many many talents, and he tells us that he's been using those talents for projects including Tech Vi (pronounced vee), a constantly updated tech news outlet with frequent guests that include industry pundits from Engadget, Popular Mechanics, and a couple of lame dudes that have no idea what they're talking about.
Randall also lets us in on some big news in the works for TechVi that actually involves the CNET departed, so be sure to listen closely to hear it first!
Per usual, the second half is all about the latest news in the world of silly tech and beyond. Following up on yesterday's story about the young woman falling through a manhole while texting, we discuss an even worse occasion: a different woman has twittered through a bank robbery! How is that possible? Well, mainly because the trackball on her BlackBerry smartphone fell off, rendering her incapable of doing anything on her phone but twittering out asinine messages like "cant figure out how to call work without a trackball... police just arrived. maybe theyll let me go now." Me, I probably would've twittered something useful, like "OMFG call the cops frealsies, there's an effing gun in my face."
Be sure to listen to the entire episode to hear Randall's hilarious story about how he saved the lives of countless Netflixers by stopping a man from burning down a post office box. New York needs more good Samaritans like you, dude! Also, feel free to leave us a voicemail (a clean one we can actually play on the air, sans caviar) at 1-866-404-CNET!
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