Interesting Videos I Almost Missed (Future/Emerging/Creative Tech)

Creative Tech Videos I Almost Missed

I admit that sometimes I just don't have the time to hang out and watch interesting or quirky tech/future tech videos on the web.  Here are a few that passed me by the first time around.  

Enjoy!


The first video for this post is of an interactive game installed permanently for children at the Royal London Hospital.  Woodland Wiggle is a work commissioned by Vital Arts, in collaboration with Nexus Interactive Arts, Chris O'Shea, Felix Massie, and Brains & Hunch.  The game was created in C++ using openFrameworks, and relies on an Xbox Kinect camera.   The installation is part of play and garden spaces designed as healing environments for young patients.  (See links in the "Related" section for more information.)

The next video is the creation of Igor Labutov, Jason Yosinski, and Hod Lipson, of the Cornell Creative Machines Lab.

AI vs. AI:  Two chatbots talking to each other


I liked this video because I once created a chatbox video game for an AI for Games class I took several years ago, and have fond memories of the hours I spent reading the textbook supporting the display on the right- Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach)

Tom Jenkins and Simon Sharp, of thetheory, created the following two video shorts. Address Is Approximate is a stop-motion video about a lonely desk toy who makes a journey across the US via Google Maps Street View.   Speed of Light uses a pocket projector, a video feed, and creativity to create an augmented reality-like police-chase short.  According to information from the Vimeo website, Speed of Light was filmed using a Cannon 5d Mkll + HD MiniCam, with MicroVision projectors.

Address Is Approximate, from The Theory

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.


Speed of Light / aka / The World's Tiniest Police Chase from The Theory on Vimeo.

RELATED
Woodland Wiggle:  Interactive games on a giant television at the Royal London Hospital
Interactive Woodland at Royal London Hospital (Nexus Productions Website)
Giant tigers and rooftop teepees: the Royal London Hospital play space
Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian, 2/21/13
Note: I especially liked that in his article about the Royal London Hospital's play space, Oliver Wainwright shared this quote from Florence Nightingale's 1859 Notes on Nursing: "variety of form and brilliancy of colour in objects presented to patients are an actual means of recovery".
Cornell Creative Machines Lab
Robot-To-Robot Chat Yields Curious Conversation
Robert Siegel, Host, All Things Considered, 9/1/11
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (Udacity Course)
Meet the Creators: Tom Jenkins and Simon Sharp Trade Viral Shorts for A Studio Film
Joe Berkowitz, Co.Create

Listen

Google Nexus One SmartPhone News (what I missed while I was holiday shopping...)

If you don't know this by now:

Via Chris Ziegler, Engadget 12/23/09
"Exlusive: Nexus One full specs detailed, invite-only retail sales starting January 5th?"
 (Here you will find all of the specs.)


Via Ross Miller, Engadget:12/22/09
Google Nexus One stands with iPhone and Hero, interface gets a 5-minute walkthrough

Atreblatrebla's You Tube Video: Nexus One Google Phone HTC Android 2.1 Preview FR


Via Ross Miller, Engadget 12/22/09
Another Google Nexus One Sighting, this time a wee bit more clear

This article is a good read - it discusses business models in the tech industry, something that has puzzled me for a while.

Via Michael Gartenberg, Engadget 12/15/09
Entelligence:  A Google hone could be the death of Android
"Without a doubt, the big buzz since the weekend has been over the "Google Phone," an HTC-built device called the Nexus One handed out to Google employees last week in what Google describes as a "mobile lab." Confirmed to be running Android 2.1, the Nexus One has once again raised the idea of Google selling unlocked devices directly to consumers. (Google has been selling unlocked HTC Android phones for some time, but only to developers.)"   -


Comment
I thought about getting a "Droid", since my family is locked into Verizon.  That's why I never got an iPhone - but the Droid's sharp edges didn't feel very comfortable in my hand.  After reading Creative Applications.Net's "15 Best and Must Have iPhone Apps of 2009", I want Santa to bring a few sleigh-fulls of iPhones to Verizon.

At the bookstore yesterday, I was pleased to see that there were all kinds of books about developing iPhone apps and games in the computer section!

I think I know why.
Barnes & Noble and the iPhone friended each other!


According to Jennifer R. Bergen's ZDNET article about the Barnes & Noble iPhone app, "the coolest part of the app is that it allows you to use your camera to take a photo of a CD, book, or DVD cover, and then immediately receive product details, editorial reviews, and customer ratings, as well as find and reserve a copy."  


Bergen goes on to further discuss the eReader app, which "offers iPhone/iPod touch users, as well as BlackBerry smartphone, and PC and Mac users, the ability to have instant access to more than 750,000 eBook titles. If you want to pay an extra $9.99, you can get hundreds of new eBook releases and eBook bestsellers. The app also allows you to modify the type, size, and font and annotate and bookmark text."