Flowing Data's Best Visualizations of 2009 (Nathan Yau): "It was a huge year for data"

"Data has been declared sexy, and the rise of the data scientist is here."  -Nathan Yau, Flowing Data
I started following Nathan Yau's Flowing Data blog nearly 2 years ago, when I was in Robert Kosara's information visualization/visual communication class at UNC-C.  What a great blog!  


Here is the short list- visit Flowing Data for the pics and details:
Honorable Mention:  MTV VMA Tweet Tracker
Honorable Mention:  Crisis of Credit Visualized (animation)
5.  Microsoft's Photosynth
4. New York Times' The Jobless Rate for People Like You
3. Open Street Map: A Year of Edits
2. Stanford University's  Protovis
1. Ben Fry's On the Origin of Species: The Preservation of Favored Traces


RELATED
Ben Fry's Origin of the Species: The Preservation of Favored Traces

Protovis
NYT's Jobless Rate for People Like You
Photosynth Website (Christmas lights featured on main page today 12/25/09  "Mintz Family Christmas")

Open Street Map
Crisis of Credit, Visualized
MTV MTA Tweet Tracker


SOMEWHAT RELATED
Dr. Kosara's EagerEyes site is a great resource to follow- I especially like his link to the History of Visual Communication website.
The Three Sexy Skills of Data Geeks (Michael E. Driscoll Dataspora Blog, 5/27/09)
Michael Driscoll's Book Recommendation:
The Elements of Statistical Learning:  Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction, Second Edition

Stanford University Viz Group


NOTICE
I'm gathering information about good examples of user-friendly multi-user interactive information visualization applications, preferably on multi-touch or gesture-based systems. Leave a comment and a link if you can point me in the right direction!

About Digital Out of Home

"Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising is a dynamic, fragmented, and rapidly evolving space. It's one of the fastest growing media channels, with year-over-year growth pegged in the double digits through at least 2011....as with many emerging media channels, DOOH is a bit of a gray area in terms of what type of agency should own strategy, planning, and buying. A traditional agency because TV spots can be repurposed? The OOH shop because it's just a digital version of a billboard? The interactive shop because it's digital, often interactive, and highly measurable? Or will a new class of DOOH specialty shops emerge to deliver services explicitly for the channel? This lack of clarity creates uncertainty and
hesitation in advertisers."
-Jeremy Lockhorn, ClickZ  7/13/09 Digital Out-of-Home Landscape Brief (pdf)


This is an industry that is beginning to take off, just as internet-based advertising and web-design/user experience did during the 1990's. The number of players, and potential players, is growing.


For more information, resources, and links, see the rest of the post:  What is DOOH and Why Should We Care?
(The World Is My Interface)

More tech news I missed while I was out holiday shopping!

While I was shopping:
Via Boy Genius, 12/23/09: Apple tablet definitely coming in 7" size?
Via Andrew Lyle, Neowin.Net 12/23/09: Apple to Demo 7" tablet in January?
Via Dan Frommer, The Business Insider, 12/23/09: Apple to Demo Tablet in January, Asks Developers to Get Apps Ready
"We assume tablets -- or at least multi-touch screen technology -- will eventually penetrate more Apple product lines, including portable Macs and maybe even desktop Macs."
Via Neil Hughes, Apple Insider, 12/23/09: Piper:  75% Chance of Apple Jan. Even, 50% likelihood of tablet
"Numerous reports this week have claimed that Apple is in talks with CBS and Disney in an attempt to offer a subscription plan for TV shows. Sources have said that both companies are currently considering an offer from Apple that would provide them $2 to $4 per month for a subscriber to a broadcast network like CBS or ABC, and $1 to $2 per month for subscribers to a basic cable network."
Via Neil Hughes, AppleInsider 12/9/09: Tablet rumors:  February production start, 10-inch LCD Screen

MORE TOUCHSCREEN ALL-IN-ONES and LAPTOP/TABLETS
Packard-Bell's Viseo 200 Touch Edition Monitor






Packard-Bell's EasyNote Butterfly Touch Edition

The laptop has a screen size of 11.6 inches, and a 1366 x 768 screen resolution, running Windows 7 Home Premioum. Includes WiFi, microphone, VGA webcam, and has options for 3G, Bluetooth, a card reader, and HDMI i/o.
Via Electonista, 12/23/09: Lenovo netbooks surface with Pine Trail, multi-touch
Via Electronista, 12/23/09: 500,000 Nooks by March, New Orders due February
I was at Barnes & Noble yesterday and came across a touch-screen kiosk where customers could find out more about the Nook and put in their orders. There was a notice that said that the Nook would not be available until February.  It must have generated some interest, since I noticed people surfing the information on the kiosk during the time I was there.

The Nook

Via Electronista, 12/22/09: OLPC teases $75 tablet features, images: OLPC X0-3 may get camera, wireless power According to Electronista, the tablet uses a Pixel Qi display.
See my blog post for more information about the display: Mary Lou Jepsen, Inventor of Pixel Qi Technology, Discusses Screen Technologies & Multi-touch Tablets


Via Electronista, 12/10/09:  Dell Streak tablet due at CES? Dell Android tablet may debutSOMEWHAT RELATED
I was reading a review from Engadget about Lenovo's Pine Trail tablet, and found one of the comments amusing.  Manufacturers need to listen to the people, but often, they don't. Apparently the prototype had a glossy screen, which is something that might enhance the picture, but for some, has drawbacks.
Here is a comment by someone who calls himself "Old fogie late bloomer":
"God... listen, manufacturers... I don't want to see my hands reflected in my screen, I don't want to see my fat gut reflected in my screen, I don't want to see my (admittedly handsome) face reflected in the screen, I don't want to see the people behind me reflected in my screen; all I want to see is what the screen is displaying!  GO BACK TO MATTE!" 

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."

Multi-touch Linux on a Stantum SlatePC & more

-Stephane Chatty, Benjamin Tissoires; Video by G. Tabart


Information from the YouTube video:
"This video, shot by ENAC's Interactive Computing Laboratory, demonstrates how one can use out-of-the-box Linux applications with multitouch displays, using the lab's kernel drivers and modified X.org evdev driver. See http://lii-enac.fr/en/projects/shareit/xorg.html for technical details. This work was done during project ShareIT, carried out with Thales Avionics, IntuiLab and Stantum, and sponsored by Aerospace Valley. The ShareIT project explores the use of multitouch interaction for future commercial aircraft cockpits."


The multi-touch software shown in the video was created by IntuiLab.  The Slate PC multi-touch hardware was built by Stantum.  Later in the video, the software is shown running on a MERL DiamondTouch


RELATED
Project ShartIT, ENAC:

ENAC Interactive Computing Laboratory, University of Toulouse, France


Multitouch Interaction: Some Background (from ENAC)


List & Description of some multi-touch devices (from ENAC)


IntuiLab Showroom Pictures


Stantum: Notes from Guillame:
"Key to the expansion of multi-touch is finding the killer app."  

For Techies & Tech Curious: Python and PyMT developments - PyMT and speech recognition

PyMT is short for Python Multi-Touch, a project that is the work of several members of the NUI Group.  Sharath Patali experimented with speech input for PyMT and used the pocketsphinx library from CMU to integrate into PyMT. It worked out well, as you can see from his video demo below:


PyMT Speech Recognition from Sharath Patali on Vimeo.

Other people involved with the PyMT project are Nathanael Lecaude, Matthew Virbel, Thomas Hansen, and Xelapond.

Sharath Patali's Blog/Website Roll (Links to some NUI-group members)

• Divesh and Aditya’s Blog
• Harry van der Veen’s Blog
• Laurence Muller's Blog
• Linux Hacker ( Balaji R Rao)
• Paul D’Intino’s Orion
• Seth Sandler (Cerupcat)
• Sparsh-I Team
• Tommy’s MT Blog

Matthieu Virbel on Vimeo
NUI Group on Vimeo


Python and Game Programming Resources
Adaptation and Evaluation of Numpty Physics for Multi-touch Multiplayer Interaction (pdf)
(A python-based module called "numptyphysics" was created to integrate Python multi-touch cold to allow the C++ code to parse data, converting it to C structs passed to the game code using pointers.)
Python Programming Language Official Website
Pygame
PythonGames
PythonL Game Programming Wiki, by Geoff Howland and Rene Dudfield
Lectures 1-6
Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame -Book (Will McGugan)
Game Programming with Python - Book (Sean Riley)

Comment:
The reason I'm putting together resources about Python, multi-touch, and games is that I hope to facilitate an exchange between two of the schools I serve as a school psychologist.

Both of the schools are on the same campus. One is a high school for technology and the arts, and one is a program for teens and young adults who have severe disabilities, including autism.  Next semester, one of the computer teachers will be teaching a game programming class using Python for a class of graduating seniors, and if all goes well, perhaps some of the students will create a game for the students with disabilities that would work well on a SMARTboard.

Even better:  It would be great if the pre-engineering students could build a multi-touch table or two for the students with disabilities, running games in PyMT that the computer students create!