Quick Post: Journey, the next game from thatgamecompany (developers of Flower, flOw, and Cloud).

I've been following the work of some of the people behind thatgamecompany since they were graduate students at USC, working on Cloud, an enchanting and relaxing game. They went on to develop Flower and flOw, and are now working on Journey, the next game planned for release:





To view video trailers of other games by thatgamecompany, see the following post:


Games to Lift Stress Away: Flower, flOw (and Cloud), from thatgamecompany

Also visit thatgamecompany's website!

Gesture "multitouch" 12 x 7 interactive video wall provides tours of I/O Data Centers' facilities

I came across this demonstration of I/O DataCenter's 12 by 7 foot interactive video wall that makes playing around with views of data center modules...interesting! The display is a gesture-based "multi-touch" system. (I'll update this post when I get more information.)



Here is the description from the Datacenter YouTube channel:


"Instead of hauling a 40-foot long modular data center to a trade show, i/o Data Centers is taking a high-tech approach to customer tours of their i/o Anywhere modular data center. The i/o team has created a 12-foot by 7-foot touchscreen video wall to provide interactive tours of the company's facilities. Selecting a "hot spot" pops up a virtual data center, complete with cross sections and product info, following the concept of the touch screens in the sci-fi movie "Minority Report.""


FYI: I/O Data Centers has an application that runs on the Surface.

UPCOMING:
Stay tuned for my upcoming posts! 


News about LM3LABS (Previous post)
Interactive Surveillance CCeline Latulipe (technologist) Annabel Manning (artist)

Interactive Video

OpenKinect, NUI, NI

Games, serious games

3D, including glassless

Large interactive displays in public spaces

Convergence 2011
Telepresence Updates
RENCI, Charlotte Viz Lab

Plug for Computer Science in Education Week: Informative series of short video clips, resources, and links to promote understanding of the importance of computer science and related fields

This week is Computer Education in Education Week, part of an effort of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) to promote awareness of the importance of computer science education in K-12 education. CSTA developed a series of short videos to share with students as part of this effort. The videos highlight the multitude of ways that computer scientists impact our world. In my opinion, the videos would be appropriate for sharing with parents, teachers, school counselors, school administrators, and school board members.

Computer Science and Entertainment


Computer Science and the Environment


Computer Science and Communications


Computer Science and Medicine


Computer Science and Empowerment


To dig deeper into this topic, read Running On Empty: The Failure to Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age (pdf)

RELATED
CSEd: Computer Science in Education Week
Computing in the Core
Computer Science in Education Facebook Page
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
ACM/CSTA's Recommendations
A Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science (PDF)
Google: Exploring Computational Thinking
ACM Computing Careers Website

Cross-posted on the Tech Psych blog.

UPDATE: Demo 2 of the Kinect Theramin, Therenect, by Martin Kaltenbrunner

I recently posted about the Therenect, a gesture-controlled digital theremin created for Microsoft's Kinect, created by Martin Kaltenbrenner - Therenect: Theremin for the Kinect! (via Martin Kaltenbrenner)  It looks like Martin has been busy polishing up the application over the past few days, as you can see from the video below:

Therenect - Kinect Theremin - 2nd Demo from Martin Kaltenbrunner on Vimeo.

RELATED
Virtual Theremin Made with Kinect; Real Thereminists Will Make it Useful
Peter Kirn, Create Digital Music, 11/30/10

ICE PAD: Interactive Multitouch Ice Sculpture by Art Below Zero (video)

ICE PAD: Interactive Multitouch Ice Sculpture by Art Below Zero


Here is the information about the interactive sculpture from the Art Below Zero YouTube Channel:

"Created by David Sauer & Max Zuleta for the Lake Forest Tree Lighting Festival.This Ice Crystal Display was the 1st to be created in the USA, Transforming 300 pounds of ice into the equivalent of a giant Ipad touch screen. "People always want to touch our Ice Sculptures, This Interactive Display gave them the perfect reason to get their hands cold." said Max Zuleta owner of Art Below Zero. The public response was amazement and interest in the workings of the touch screen in ice. Our favorite guess was "It must work by sensing body heat!"..."

"...The system is known as Rear Diffused Illumination or Rear DI. It works because an Infrared light is shone from the opposite side of the ice wall through the ice. When an object such as a finger, hand, or mitten stops the infrared light it reflects the light back to a custom camera built by Peau Productions. The illuminated objects are then converted to points of interaction using an open source program Community Core Vision which outputs TUIO data streams to a Flash program for animation. We like the look and feel of the Fluid Solver flash application. The output from the computer is then projected into the ice and ice diffracts the light into something beautiful. By this method the user can manipulate a visible light screen via an invisible light that only the camera can see..."


Thanks to Nolan Ramseyer, of PeauProductions, for the link!
PeauProductions Blog: Multitouch and Technology


RELATED
Ubice = Multi-touch On Ice at the Nokia Research Center in Finland (Video + Pic via Albrecht Schmidt)
Art Below Zero

Human-Machine-Music Interaction: KarmetiK Machine Orchestra (Video, links)

Here is an example of innovative interaction between humans, machines, and music:


KarmetiK Machine Orchestra - Live at REDCAT Walt Disney Hall - Los Angeles - Jan 27, 2010 from KarmetiK on Vimeo.


Information from the KarmetiK Machine Orchestra Vimeo page:
"On January 27th, 2010, KarmetiK and California Institute of the Arts brought together a group of interdisciplinary artists to perform in a revolutionary production. During this performance, The Machine Orchestra, a collective of musicians, engineers, dancers, and theatre designers, gave an audience at the Walt Disney Concert Hall's REDCAT performance space a glimpse of the future: one in which computers, robots, and humans join forces to make music.Featuring a cast of musicians, new musical interfaces, and musical robotics, The Machine Orchestra fused a wide array of musical styles ranging from free electronic improvisation to world dance music.This DVD features uninterrupted footage of The Machine Orchestra's debut concert, a performance exploring human interaction with KarmetiK's collection of musical robots: MahaDeviBot, GanaPatiBot, Tammy, Raina, and ReyongBot. Directed by Ajay Kapur and Michael Darling."
Music Director, Co-Creator: Ajay Kapur
Production Director, Co-Creator: Michael Darling
Guest Electronic Artists: Curtis Bahn & Perry Cook
World Music Performers: Ustad Aashish Khan, Pak Djoko Walujo, & I Nyoman Wenten
Multimedia Performer-Composers: Charlie Burgin, Dimitri Diakopoulos, Jordan Hochenbaum, Jim Murphy, Owen Vallis, Meason Wiley, and Tyler Yamin
Visual Design: Jeremiah Thies
Dance: Raakhi Sinha & Kieran Heralall
Lighting Design: Tiffany Williams
Sound Design: John Baffa
Production: Lauren Pratt
Editing: Meason Wiley
Filming: Benny Schuetze 
machineorchestra.com
Follow KarmetiK on Facebook and Twitter: 
facebook.com/​karmetik
twitter.com/​karmetik


Detailed information about this performance and Machine Orchestra:

Human-computer music performance uses system that links music and musical gestures

Lisa Zyga, Physorg.com 

MACHINE ORCHESTRA
KarmetiK Machine Orchestra

RELATED
Building a Hybrid Man/Machine Orchestra, Pt 1
Jordan Hochenbaum, Create Digital Music 1/25/10

Hybrid Man/Machine Orchestra:  Interfaces, Interaction and Keeping it Together

Jordan Hochenbaum, Create Digital Music 4/22/10

Direct links to the publications listed below, and more, on the  Publications: Refereed Journals and Conference Papers page of the Karmetik website.


Kapur, A. & M. Darling A Pedagogical Paradigm for Musical Robotics, Proceedings of the
International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Sydney, Australia, June 2010.


Hochenbaum, J., Kapur, A., & M. Wright, Multimodal Musician Recognition, Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Sydney, Australia, June 2010


Vallis, O., Hochenbaum, J,, & A. Kapur, A Shift Towards Iterative and Open-Source Design for Musical Interfaces, Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Sydney, Australia, June 2010


Hochenbaum, J., Vallis, O., Diakopoulos, D., Murphy, J. & A. Kapur, On Designing Expressive Musical Interfaces for TableTop Surfaces , Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Sydney, Australia, June 2010


Murphy, J., Kapur, A., & C. Burgin, The Helio: A Study of Membrane Potentiometers and Long Force Sensing Resistors for Musical Interfaces, Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Sydney, Australia, June 2010

HACKED KINECT MULTITOUCH using libFreenect and libTISCH (via Florian Echtler)

MULTI-TOUCH WITH HACKED KINECT
Here is NUI-Group member Florian Echtler's  proof-of-concept HD video of using a hacked Kinect camera for multitouch-like interaction.  The application was built on Ubuntu Linux written using libfreenect, by marcan42  and Florian's creation, libTISCH.



Florian decided to use picture-browsing interaction to demonstrate proof-of concept, so "everybody can focus on more interesting things :-)"


(I have SO many ideas for this!  I'll throw a few out there in an upcoming post....maybe someone can run with them!)


RELATED
Hacked Kinect taught to work as multitouch interface
Paul Miller, engadget, 11/11/10


FOR THE TECH-CURIOUS:
TISCH stands for Tangible Interactive Surfaces for Collaboration between Humans, and is a cross-platform, cross device multi-touch development framework.  You can download the source package for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux from the TISCH Sourceforge website. The Ubantu Lucid/Karmac version has "superquick installation via PPA" - the instructions can be found on the TISCH Sourceforge website.


LibFreenect- Open Source PC Drivers for Kinect
Xan Tium, XBLOG 360 11/10/10

Marcan is Hector Martin Cantero, the author of the Abort, Retry, Hack? blog.

For your convenience, I've reposted something I wrote about libTISCH back in 2009:

libTISCH, a multi-touch development framework with multi-touch widgets and more!

For techies (and the tech-curious) who like technologies that support collaboration and multi-touch interaction,  this is great news!

Florian Echtler announced the first stable releas of libTISCH, a multi-touch development framwork, which can be found on Sourceforge.  TISCH stands for Tangible Interaction Surfaces for Collaboration between Humans.  libTISCH, a C++ software framework, is included in this project.  It provides a means for creating GUIs based on multi-touch and/or tangible input devices.

Here is how it works:

Here is information from libTISCH announcement:

Highlights of this release are, among others, the following features:

- ready-to-use multitouch widgets based on OpenGL
- reconfigurable, hardware-independent gesture recognition engine
- support for widely used (move, scale, rotate..), pre-defined gestures
 as well as custom-defined gestures

- hardware drivers for FTIR, DI, Wiimote, DiamondTouch..
- TUIO converters: source and sink

- cross-platform: Linux, MacOS X, Windows (32 and 64 bit)
- cross-language: C++ with bindings for C#, Java, Python

libTISCH has a lot to offer for the multitouch developer. For example, 

the textured widgets enable rapid development of applications for many
kinds of multi-touch or tangible interfaces. The separate gesture
recognition engine allows the translation of a wide range of highly
configurable gestures into pre-defined or custom events which are then
acted on by the widgets. While the lower layers of libTISCH provide
functionality similar to tbeta, touche etc. (you can interface existing
TUIO-based software with libTISCH in both directions), it goes far
beyond.

More information about the library and underlying architecture can be found on http://tisch.sf.net/ and in the Sourceforge wiki at
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tisch/

TISCH Project Wiki

Note:

Dr. Florian Echtler is on the scientific staff at the Technisch Universitat Munchen in Germany. Be sure to check out his  webpage.

I especially like the concept of the MeTaTop: "A Multi-Sensory Table Top System for Medical Procedures" that is linked from Florian's website.

Resources about Interactive TV and Media: The Interactive Television Dictionary and Business Index

Here is the link:


The Interactive Television Dictionary & Business Index

More information to come!

RockMelt? Watch the video interview of the co-founders to learn more about the worlds newest web browser!

A quick glance at my morning newspaper- yes, the kind that involves paper and ink- brought to my attention that today is the first day that the RockMelt browser meets the world.


So what is special about RockMelt?  According to the RockMelt blog, the browser is built on Chromium, the same source code that fuels Google's Chrome. The biggest investment in RockMelt was $10  million dollars, from Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm.  Andreessen is also one of RockMelt's board of directors.  RockMelt is tightly integrated with Facebook, which is understandable, since Marc Andreessen is also on that company's board of directors.  (Marc Andreessen is the guy behind Netscape, one of the first popular browsers in the mid 1990's.)


Below is a video of an interview of the co-founders of RockMelt, who explain the reasons why browsers need to be re-invented to address social networking, "the cloud", and more.  





"Wherever you go on the Internet, RockMelt makes the Web a personal experience. Because RockMelt is the first browser you log into, it unlocks  your Web experience with your Facebook friends, your feeds, your favorite services, even your bookmarks and preferences. RockMelt is also the first browser to be fully backed by the cloud. This means you can access your personal browsing experience from anywhere, and you get quick updates from the people and sites that are important to you."  -RockMelt Blog


Promo Video:  RockMelt- Your Browser. Re-Imagined







For more information, visit the RockMelt website.  You can also sign up to get the browser at the website. The browser might be a little buggy, as it is a Beta version, and is still in development.

USB Midi on the iPad: Video demonstration of iOS 4.2, supports wireless MIDI

Video from the MooCowMusic YouTube Channel

RELATED
On iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, New MIDI Support, Via Wires, Wireless
Pete Kirn, Create Digital Music, 11/3/10
MIDI on the iPAD
Display Blog, 11/4/10

Thanks to Johannes Schöning for the link!
(FYI: Johannes will be at the Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces conference, held in Saarbrucken, Germany, from November 8-10.)

Philipp Geist: Blending the Physical with the Digital; Google TV/Leanback, Vimeo's new Couch Mode, oh...and ViewSonic's 3D (glasses-less) pocket camcorder...

I'm thinking about getting one of the new "internet ready" TVs.  I have a serious reason to do this. I'm working on some interactive video projects, and a couple of my projects are geared for teens and young adults who have autism.*   My hunch is that many of my students would like to watch- and interact with-content optimized for Google TV and Vimeo's Couch Mode.  The content is designed to look good on larger high-resolution flat-screen displays, and I'm sure it would be great on my school's newer SMARTBoards.  I need to learn more about  developing applications for this purpose.

(Currently I use my HP 22-inch TouchSmart PC to view web-based video content, and to evaluate websites that provide "touchable" and interactive content that might work well on interactive whiteboards.)

At any rate,  I've been looking for great videos that have the potential for use at work with older students who have autism. I'm also looking for effective ways that the students can use to interact with multimedia and video content. This is important, since the students have minimal verbal communication skills, have limited reading ability- if they can read at all.  They learn about their world through visual means, and are capable of learning much more - but not through traditional means.

Since our school is focusing on globalization and learning about the cultures of other countries, I've been on the lookout for some interesting videos that might appeal to our students.  

Today I came across a great find- Philipp Geist.  Who is Philipp Geist?  According to his bio, Philipp works internationally as a light and multi-media artist in the mediums of video, performance, photography and painting. Some of his work focuses on architecture, history, and cultural heritage.  A good example of his work is the installation he created for a festival in Thailand in 2009:

Bangkok / Thailand 4D Light & Sound Installation by Philipp Geist (23Min) from Philipp Geist | Videogeist on Vimeo.

"The one-hour show is the central part of the celebrations and will be seen by thousands of visitors.  It interprets artistically the king's life and his work dedicated to public welfare. The art installation combines images of the kings and his social projects in the past and present with 3D animations of Thai natural and cultural heritage and abstract painterly passages." (from the Vimeo site)

Phillip Geist's Showreel

Philipp Geist Showreel 2009 from Philipp Geist | Videogeist on Vimeo.

HIGH-RES MULTIMEDIA WEB CONTENT ON LARGE PANEL HD TV!

This might boost holiday gift sales and in turn, give a little jolt to the economy. To do my duty for my country, I will continue to research Internet TV as I narrow down my selection for my new Internet-ready TV.... Below is some Information about Google TV, Google Leanback, and Vimeo's Couch mode that I've recently gathered to share with my IMT followers:

GOOGLE TV:  "The web is now a channel"

"With Google Chrome and Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Google TV lets you access everything on the web. Watch your favorite web videos, view photos, play games, check fantasy scores, chat with friends, and do everything else you're accustomed to doing online. Plus, the world's best websites are now being perfected for television -- check out our Spotlight gallery for examples."  "The worlds' favorite websites are being tweaked and perfected for the television." -Google TV

I'm not too excited about the design of the application that transforms your Android phone or iPhone into a remote control.  I hate most remote controls.  According to Google TV, multiple phones can control the same TV, and you can use your voice to search, which seems like it would be a good thing...  I wonder if they tested this out with real families, not just families of Google TV techies .

GOOGLE LEANBACK Video (Integrated into GoogleTV)

Google Leanback 
When I visited the Leanback website, I encountered the following screen with a suggestion that I type in what I was looking for.  I typed in "lynnvm", the name of my YouTube channel.  Apparently Google provides you with a randomly generated featured video that appears in the background that has nothing to do with what you are looking for.  


In this screen shot, my YouTube channel offerings are in the foreground. "Maleficent Halloween Tutorial" is what played in the background: 

VIMEO INTRODUCES COUCH MODE: Vimeo's version of Google's Leanback is Couch Mode.  It is optimized for use on Google TV, so that makes things less complicated in the world of videoviewingland.   According to Ryan Hefner's article on the Vimeo staff blog, "Couch Mode is a special new section of Vimeo that allows you to watch collections of videos (such as Staff Picks, your inbox, your videos, etc.) completely uninterrupted like a TV channel."
Couch Mode works on computers, but since it relies on HTML5 and CSS3, without Flash, it only works with Chrome and Safari browsers.  For more information, see the video below:



RELATED

VideoGeist: Media installation/mapping, visual art concepts, visual art

Philipp's Blog

VIMEO Couch Mode

Google TV

Google TV Web Site Optimization Guide

Google TV is coming to 10,000 lucky developers

"A few of our favorites include Net-A-Porter, which lets you watch runway videos and shop for high fashion; Meegenius, a place where you can read and customize children’s books; TuneIn, a personal radio for your TV; and The Onion which always gives us a good laugh." - Google TV Blog

MeeGenius If you are a teacher, parent, kid, or lover of children's books, visit this interactive website ASAP. It is optimized for Google TV and works nicely on touch-enabled screens and devices.

As I was wrapping up this post, I came across information about Viewsonic's new 3D, glassesless pocket camcorder.  I'll update information about this new gadget when I have a chance to learn more about it. !

Comment: The idea of developing interactive multimedia apps in 3D intrigues me. At this point, the technology is too new for an "armchair technologist" like me to pursue with my incredibly busy work obligations.  I don't have the money to buy a 3D video camera.  But I might try this out, if it is true that it only costs $238.00!

Viewsonic introduces 3Dv5 3D pocket camcorder, no glasses required
Darren Murph, Engadget, 10/20/10
Film Videos In 3D for Under $250 With Viewsonic's 3DV5
HotHardware, 10/28/10


* About me:  
I presently work full time as a school psychologist at a high school and at a program for students with more severe disabilities, including autism.  The students I work with have made amazing gains through the use of interactive multimedia applications, and also have responded well to video presented on the large IWB screens.   


I went back to school to take computer courses, initially so I could make interactive multimedia applications and games. I continue to blog about interactive multimedia,  emerging/ new technologies, and topics related to post-WIMP HCI/UX/ID/IA.  Although my "spare time" is limited,  I try to keep up my technical skills whenever I can by working on projects that can support the students I work with.  

Augmented Reality Eyeglasses: I AM geeky enough to make this fashion statement!

THE AR WALKER, from NTT DoCoMo

Jason Sosa tweeted about the latest trend, the AR Walker, augmented reality for your glasses. This technology from NTT DoCoMo allows you to instantly access location-based information about the things around you. This would be very convenient for people walking about in urban areas, or for tourists. The system also provides easy access to other kinds of information. For example, if you look up towards the sky, you'll get weather information...beyond what you'd figure out on your own.

Of course, the fashionable get-up is in the prototype stage, so you won't be able be seen in public with the newest type of shades anytime soon. For more information, see the video below:


AR WALKER


RELATED

Augmented Reality On Your Glasses, Maps in Your Eyes, Aaron Saenz,  Singularity Hub.

DoCoMo shows prototype augmented reality display, Nick Barber, IDG News Service

LAYAR: Augmented Reality Browser (website)

Total Immersion's Partner Success Story: Demo Reel of AR&Co in Indonesia

Cross posted on The World Is My Interactive Interface blog.