smithsonian

The 404 1,226: Where the faces don't match the voices (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Bonobos opens stores that don't sell anything.

- The Smithsonian gets Warner Bros. movie props no one else wants.

- Moving Image art fair sells first ever "Vine art" for $200.… Read more

Orangutans monkey around with iPads at zoo

Apple's iPad is proving to be popular among a different, and hairier, type of consumer.

The Smithsonian's National Zoo recently kicked off Apps for Apes, a program that lets orangutans use the iPad as a way to stimulate their lives.

Offered through Orangutan Outreach, Apps for Apes has already been used at 12 other zoos around the world. As described by the group, the program has three goals:

Provide stimulating enrichment and immediate gratification for orangutans. Make zoo visitors aware of the critical need to protect orangutans in the wild. Promote the conservation efforts of Orangutan Outreach.

… Read more

Simulation shows Discovery's final flight -- into D.C. (video)

If you had been hoping to be able to see the Space Shuttle Discovery make its last flight -- albeit on the back of a 747 -- next week but can't be in Washington, D.C., don't worry, we have you covered.

That's because the nice folks over at Technology Integration Services have created a 3D simulation of what the flyover of D.C. and landing at Dulles International will look like.

For those of you who don't know what this is about, NASA said earlier this week that it will be flying the Discovery-747 combo … Read more

Take a stroll through 'The Art of Video Games'

If an art museum existed in video game heaven, it would probably look a lot like "The Art of Video Games" exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Twenty game consoles and more than 80 games star in the multimedia exhibit that "focuses on the interplay of graphics, technology, and storytelling" in video games. Spanning consoles from the retro Atari to the modern PlayStation 3, many great game titles like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. 3, Metal Gear Solid, and Bioshock made the cut.

The exhibit, which opened last month and runs until September 30, features terminals showing videos and images from the last 40 years of games.… Read more

Smithsonian turns to 3D to bring collection to the world

With just 2 percent of the Smithsonian's archive of 137 million items available to the public at any one time, an effort is under way at the world's largest museum and research institution to adopt 3D tools to expand its reach around the country.

CNET has learned that the Smithsonian has a new initiative to create a series of 3D-printed models, exhibits, and scientific replicas--as well as to generate a new digital archive of 3D models of many of the physical objects in its collection.

Representative of that effort, the museum is touting the 3D printed replica of … Read more

Super Mario, Doom II, WoW in Smithsonian show

Are video games a form of art? Whatever your views are, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has released a list of titles to be showcased in its exhibition "The Art of Video Games"--and the choices are bound to fuel debate.

The retrospective show is set to run from March 16 through September 30, 2012, and will feature blockbuster games such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, SimCity, The Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Halo 2, as well as lesser-known titles. See the full list here (PDF).

Visitors to the museum in Washington, D.C. will get to play Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and World of Warcraft as part of the display.

Related link • Help Smithsonian curate video game exhibit

From mid-February to mid-April, voters picked 80 games from a pool of 240 candidates divided into 5 eras, 20 gaming systems, and 4 genres spanning nearly 40 years. The earliest is Combat, released in 1977 for the Atari 2600. … Read more

The Smithsonian welcomes Microsoft's Surface

As part of a new, permanent exhibit, The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has implemented Microsoft's Surface computer as a hands-on learning aid.

Microsoft worked with The Smithsonian to put together seven applications for the Surface with which visitors can interact. Each app is related to the exhibit's "The Wonder of Light: Touch and Learn!" theme, letting users do things such as zoom in and out of photos, rub sticks on the surface to create virtual fires, and shine a real flashlight onto the Surface's screen to light up an underwater scene.

The Surface … Read more

GM donates crash test dummy to Smithsonian

General Motors is donating a crash test dummy to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

The dummy, better known as 50H-1, was in scores of full-vehicle crash tests and a host of special assignments over its 15 years of service.

The donation of 50H-1, an anthropomorphic test device, or ATD, is part of a museum initiative to collect materials related to technological advancements in the auto industry to improve safety features, GM said in a press release. The ATD will be part of a collection that also includes costumes and props from the Vince and Larry safety belt … Read more

In awe at D.C.'s Air and Space Museum

WASHINGTON, D.C.--If you walk around the Air & Space Museum here, as I did Sunday, you can't help be struck by how much of the most important events and aircraft in aviation history are from decades ago.

This is the museum, after all, where you can find the plane the Wright Brothers used in humanity's first-ever powered flight, in Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903. And the capsule from John Glenn's first American manned orbit of the Earth. And the Apollo 11 capsule. And so on.

Then again, right above you when you come in … Read more