Gesture Vocabulary from N-Trig: "N-act Hands-on"

N-Trig is a company founded in 1999 that provides pen and multi-touch solutions that integrate into LCDs and other devices, and provides opportunities for independent software vendors (ISVs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to create new interactive and hands-on computing experiences, according to the company's profile. The latest news about N-Trig's interactive capabilities was outlined in a recent article by DanaWollman, in Laptop:

N-Trig's Four-Fingered, Two-Handed Multi-touch Promises a World of New Gestures

I found the following video from N-Trig on YouTube, released on 5/11/10, that shows the new gesture set that is supported by N-Trig:

The N-act Gesture Set (depicted in the video below)
N-act3SideSweep for browsing, use fingers together for browsing
N-act2+1 - select from a displayed menu
N-act3Tap- displays open windows in a 3D carousel
N-act3Hold-rotates the 3D carousel
N-act2Scroll- scroll through a document
N-act2Tap-minimizes the open window, displays the desktop
N-act1Touch- select an item on the screen
N-act4Tap-displays customized, relevant list of web page icons; selected text/item is pasted into the chosen app.
N-act4Zoom-magnifies a movable selected area of the screen
N-act4Select-selects an area and opens a context sensitive menu

avitalntrig
Here is the promotional information from the YouTube video:
"This video demonstrates the N-trig N-act Gesture Vocabulary, a set of true multi-touch gestures for two plus one, three- and four-fingers, enabling users to perform an action directly on the screen, and providing a rich set of hand movements that enhance the overall user experience, enabling a whole new approach to how we interact with our computing devices, for a true Hands-on computing experience."


RELATED

N-Trig's Four-Fingered, Two-Handed Multi-touch Promises a World of New Gestures

Dana Wollman, 5/1/10, Laptop

www.n-trig.com
N-trig DuoSense Technology
The Future is Now:  Creating and Developing a Touch-Enabled World (pdf)
N-trig N-act Hands-On Gesture Vocabulary (N-Trig website)
Better Multi-Touch Displays Coming 
Mike Miller, Forward Thinking Blog, PC Mag (3/3/10)
DuoSense: Creating a Multi-touch Enabled World (November 2009)

Beautiful Nature by Numbers by Cristobal Vila & Eterea Studios (via Infosthetics and Flowing Data)

Here is a video from Cristobal Vila, of Eterea Studios inspired by "numbers, geometry and nature":


Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.


RELATED
Images of the process of making Nature by Numbers

HTC Incredible: My Mother's Day Present

I'm chained to Verizon as my cell phone carrier due to my family. That's why I don't have an iPhone. When I was asked what I wanted for Mother's day, I squinted at the screen of my HTC Eris and said I wanted something with a bigger screen.

I don't need reading glasses to read the newspaper, books, or magazines...yet, but I found that I was grabbing my husband's glasses to read my Eris.  Who wants to keep up with reading glasses just to deal with a cell phone?   I don't.

Here is a video from CNET that gives a nice overview of the Incredible's features:



I am happy to say that I love this phone.   I don't need reading glasses to use it.  The only things I couldn't read all of the fine print that was displayed during the initial set-up.  In my excitement to get things set up, I think I might have opted in for more than I wanted!

For some reason, I now have every contact I've ever made, all on this phone,  with phone numbers of people that I never have called,  courtesy of Facebook, I assume.  I'll have to spend some time organizing this mess later on. I'll also have to hunt for my husband's reading glasses after work today to read the fine print and make the correct privacy settings!

Revisiting Razorfish: Emerging Experiences, RockstAR application, and more...

I've written a few posts about Razorfish in the past. What is Razorfish?

"The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team is a dedicated group of highly experienced professionals focused solely on emerging experiences and technologies. "Effective innovation" is our multifaceted approach to concepting and delivering pioneering solutions for our clients."

Razorfish has forged ahead into very interesting-and fun- territory. Here is a video of the RockstAR application. It combines multi-touch technology and augmented reality, utilizing the Razorfish Vision Framework (RVT), integrated with the Razorfish Touch Framework.

RockstAR (Augmented Reality) Experience Demo from Razorfish - Emerging Experiences on Vimeo.


A recent post on the Razorfish Emerging Experiences blog provides a detailed account of the technology that was pulled together to make it happen in the post, The Technology Behind RockstAR. The application is integrated into Twitter and Flickr.

-Razorfish Emerging Experiences Blog
"For the RockstAR experience, we are analyzing each frame coming from an infrared camera to determine if faces are found in the crowd. Once a face is detected, it is assigned a unique ID and tracked. Once receive a lock on the face, we can pass position and size information to the experience where we can augment animations and graphics on top of the color camera feed."


RELATED
One of my previous posts includes a video of the Razorfashion application, which highlights the Razorfish Touch Framework:


Razorfish's Touch Framework "Razorfashion" - A lot like my idea for an in-home FashionMirrorAdvisor...


I'm still hoping to work on my FashionMirrorAdvisor - but with a twist. Now that I have a smartphone, I want to incorporate a mobile app into the concept. Guys probably just wouldn't understand.  (However, something like this would make a nice gift for a guy who is a bit lacking in the fashion department.)


Below is a remix of my previous post


RAZORFISH'S TOUCH FRAMEWORK:  RAZORFASHION - A LOT LIKE MY IDEA FOR AN IN-HOME FASHIONMIRRORADVISOR (5/23/09)


Razorfish recently unveiled the Razorfashion application designed to provide shoppers with an engaging retail experience within the "multi-channel shopping ecosystem". I'm not the "shop to you drop" type of gal, but I can see that this concept could be useful in other situations, after a few tweaks.

Razorfashion Retail Experience from Razorfish - Emerging Experiences on Vimeo.

As soon as I saw this Razorfish Touch "Fashion" demo video, it touched a nerve. I've been playing around with a similar idea, but for my personal use, in the form of an RFID-enabled system. I'd call it something like "FashionMirrorAdvisor".


Instead of showing skinny fashion models like the Razorfashion application, I'd harness the power of built-in web-cam and mirror my own image on the screen. My mirror would dress me up in the morning when I'm way too foggy to think about matching colors and accessories.
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would be my friend. My "smart" friend, since all of my clothes would be RFID-tagged, along with my shoes, jewelry, and other accessories. My make-up, too. It would be a no-brainer. I really could use this application - just ask my husband!


More often than not, most mornings I find myself staring at the clothes in my closet, frozen in time, unable to formulate a fashion thought. I might set my eyes on a favorite blouse, but blank out when I try to think about the rest of the steps I need to pull my look together.
     
I know I can't wear my reddish-pink camisole with my dusty-orange/brown slacks, but at 5:15 A.M., who has the time to think about this little detail? My friend, the TouchFashionMirror would prevent me from making this fashion faux-pas.
     
No problem.
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me a few outfits, and dress my real-time moving image on the screen. Since she knows all things, she'd show me ONLY the articles of clothing that were clean, since my RFID system would keep up with all of that. It would be much more functional than a "virtual wardrobe" application. I could try out different earrings without having to get them out.
     
If I couldn't find something, the RFID system would take care of this detail. My FashioMirrorAdvisor would know where I misplaced my clothes, accessories, and even my keys, since they would all be tagged. The mirror application would provide me with a nice little map of my house and car, and highlight the location of the item.
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would keep track of my laundry, too. This would be a great feature. So if my dirty laundry was piling up, and I wanted to wear outfit X, Y, or Z over the next few days, I'd receive a gentle reminder that I'd need to do some laundry first!


Another practical feature:
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would also serve as my health consultant, keeping track of my weight and BMI. This data, along with information gained from the webcam, would be combined so that my advisor would NEVER suggest an outfit that would be too...snug.


I could program the system to provide me with gentle reminders if my weight was an issue. My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me images of myself "before" and "after", outfits included.

Information about the "after" outfits could be fed to the system from the web-catalogs of my favorite fashion retailers, and once I lost those 10 darned pounds, I'd find a nice parcel delivered to my door. Thanks to my FashionMirrorAdvisor, I know that the outfit would be just right.


UPDATE 5/8/10:  The FashionMirrorAdvisor would be integrated with a mobile app - since I now have a smartphone, this would be quite useful in planning shopping trips centered around the purchase of new clothes, shoes, accessories, and coordinating cosmetics!  I created a little game  that I think would be ideal for this sort of thing, too.   I still want to work on this....someday. Too many ideas, too little time!


ALSO RELATED
From the Razorfish site:
"The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team is a dedicated group of highly experienced professionals focused solely on emerging experiences and technologies. "Effective innovation" is our multifaceted approach to concepting and delivering pioneering solutions for our clients"

"Founded in 2008, Razorfish Emerging Experiences is a cross-functional team composed of strategists, artists, experience designers, and technologists. We’re part of the Razorfish Strategy & Innovation practice led by Shannon Denton. Jonathan Hull is the managing director of the team, Steve Dawson is the technology lead and Luke Hamilton is the creative lead."
Razorfish
Razorfish Emerging Experiences Portfolio
Razorfish Emerging Experiences Blog
Razorfish Emerging Experiences on Vimeo


RELATED 5/8/10
Razorfish Health (Fun music on the home page!)
Razorfish Establishes Cloud Computing Practice
Douglas Quenqua, ClickZ 4/15/10
The Razorfish 5: Five Technologies that Will Change Your Business
Razorfish Whitepapers


If you are looking for a job, you might be interested in the openings at Razorfish. Before applying, take a look at what is expected:
"You dream in digital. You're fluent in the technologies that define our world and passionate about the way they're shaping our future.  You're a communicator. A creator. You understand how the Web connects us, and you want to shape the conversation. You're a restless innovator.  you're not only waiting for the next big idea to happen, you're making it happen.  You're a unique talent, a visionary, an experimenter, and you're looking for an environment that lets you shine. In other words, you're just our type...."


FYI
When I visited the Razorfish website, I noticed that the background appeared to be a live feed of the offices. Since today is Saturday, it makes sense that the only person busy at the office was a custodian. Below is the screenshot:

Facebook and Privacy Issues: Reflections about the ever-changing interfaces of Facebook and the growing number of Facebook-connected websites.....

I joined Facebook in 2007 when I was taking a graduate HCI-oriented course about privacy and security.  Heather Lipford, the professor,  and some of my classmates were working on a study about Facebook and privacy, so I agreed to participate as a subject.  What I quickly learned is that even graduate IT students can be puzzled about Facebook privacy settings. Facebook has made numerous changes to the way it handles privacy settings, and this has fueled research on this topic for the past few years (see links below).  


Too many "regular" folks are unknowingly sharing things they do not want to share with the world, and it is difficult for most of us, including myself, to keep up with these rapid changes.   For example,  last month I came across a video of Mark Zuckerburg (founder of Facebook), announcing Open Graph which is a way of making "connected, mapped web that is more "social, personalized, smarter, and semantically aware."  Zuckerburg's keynote presentation at the f8 conference was delivered on April 21st, yet on the day I posted about it, only a handful of people had viewed the video. 


As of this post, only about 731 people had viewed the presentation, yet the key points that were reviewed will impact how the information we provide Facebook is used, stored, and perhaps shared by third-party web-based applications.  With over 400,000,000 people on Facebook, this is an open invitation for those "in the know" to manipulate things in a way that many of us may not understand.  


In the video below, Zuckerburg mentions that Facebook's policy for applications integrated with Facebook prohibited the storage or caching of  data and information from the user for more than 24 hours. The rationale for the rule was to protect the privacy of Facebook users.  

At about 4:58 in the video, Zuckerburg discusses this policy, and announces that it has been changed. He then goes on to say, "We're going ahead and getting rid of this policy."  (5:09) This made the audience very happy (about 5:10):

Zucherburg introduces the "One Step Permission" feature that provides third-party websites a simple means for users who have Facebook accounts to connect with the site.  The hitch is that the user can't move forward and access what they'd like to access on the site unless they make the quick decision to give up quite a bit of their Facebook information. This will now give the  host application use of your information, which they now can store ...forever, I assume.


Here is a screenshot of the single permissions dialog from the video at about 4:16:

Zucherburg's words:
"Now, if a person comes to your site, and gives you permission to access their information, you can store it. That means no more having to make the same API calls day after day. No more having to build different code paths just to handle information that Facebook users are (unwittingly?) sharing with you. We think that this step is going to make building with Facebook platform a lot simpler." 



I knew there was a BIG problem with Facebook's privacy settings when Nathan Yau, author of the Flowing Data blog, tweeted about his discovery of information that Facebook somehow shared without his knowledge. Nathan's recent post, "Evolution of Facebook Privacy Policies", contains a interesting visualization, created by Matt McKeon of the Visual Communication Lab at IBM, that provides an interesting look at Facebook's privacy policies from 2005 on.


The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook (Interactive graphic with options for viewing an animation or an image-based version.)


The blue area represents the default settings regarding the availability of your personal data. As you can see, the default settings allow a large set of personal information to be shared among your Facebook connections as well as the outside world.  As a member of Facebook, you must manually change your settings to make sure you have your preferred level of privacy. Don't assume this is taken care of for you by the application!

RELATED

Five Hidden Dangers of Facebook: Security Expert on Big Risks You Should Be Aware You're Taking When You Use the Site (CBS News.com 5/8/10)

"Your information is being shared with third parties Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign Facebook ads may contain malware Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable Scammers are creating fake profiles "

Privacy bog causes Facebook to disable chat
Caroline McCarthy, CNET News 5/7/10
Video: Major Facebook Security Hole Lets You View Your Friends' Live Chats
Steve O'Hear, TechCrunch 5/5/2010

Nathan Yau and Flowing Data

f8 2010 Breakout Session Videos

Previous Post:  Mark Zuckerburg's Recent Keynote at f8: Facebook's OpenGraph

HCI Lab at UNC-Charlotte:

"At the Human Computer Interaction Lab (HCILab) at UNC Charlotte, we investigate novel ways for people to interact with computers, and through computers with their environments. Our research covers a broad range of areas within Human Computer Interaction, such as Novel Interaction and Multimedia, Privacy, Creativity, and Visual Analytics. We collaborate with researchers in a number of areas related to HCI, such as visualization, gaming, art, and psychology. We also study interaction in a variety of domains such as intelligent information systems, information privacy and security, image processing and graphics, and intelligence analysis."

UNC-C's HCI Facebook Research Articles
Lipford, H. R., Besmer, A., and Watson, J. "Understanding Privacy Settings in Facebook with an Audience View." In the Proceedings of the USENIX Workshop on Usability,
Psychology, and Security (UPSEC 2008), April 14, 2008. pdf
Lipford, H.R.,  Hull,G.  Latulipe, C., Besmer,A.,  Watson, J. Visible Flows: Contexual Integrity and the Design of Privacy Mechanisms in Online Social Networking. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Security & Privacy in Online Social Networking, August 2009. pdf
Lipford, H.R., Watson, J., Whitney, M., Froiland, K., and Reeder, R.W. "Visual vs. Compact: A Comparison of Privacy Policy Interfaces. In Proceedings of CHI'10. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. April 2010. pdf
Strater, K., and Lipford, H.R. "Strategies and Struggles with Privacy in an Online Social Networking Community". In the Proceedings HCI 2008, Liverpool, UK. 2008. pdf
Watson, J., Whitney, M., and Lipford, H.R. "Configuring Audience-Oriented Privacy Policies." In the Proceedings of the Workshop on Assurable and Usable Security Configuration, ACM CCS, November 2009. (abstract)
SOMEWHAT RELATED
IBM's Visual Communication Lab is behind the Many Eyes website, which I used as a resource during when I was taking a course in information visualization and visual communication. At the time, I was looking at data related to the high-school drop-out problem in the US. I loved how the on-line Many Eyes application provided me with a variety of ways of looking at the data I had collected for my team's project. Since then, thousands of other people have utilized the Many Eyes website. Warning: If you are interested in data, stats, and information visualization, be prepared to spend a while exploring. It is an enticing rabbit hole!
Many Eyes: For Shared Visualization and Discovery

Cross-posted on The World Is My Interface

The attracTable is Coming Soon: Sony will launch a high-definition touch and gesture- interactive tabletop, using Actracsys's technology!

Sony will be introducing a full high-definition interactive table, a result of a collaboration with the Swiss company Atracsys.





(At about 2:14 in the video below, there is a demonstration of an application that recognizes facial features and expressions, which are used to control and manipulate images on the screen.)
Images from the Sony Stand at Vision 2009


Here is an "overview" video that shows a number of uses for the Attractable:

Here is a version of the atracTable, using a tangible user interface to create music:

Here is the "Nespresso" table, which provides people with information about the type of coffee that you are drinking. It makes more sense as demonstrated in the video.
Atracsys @ Baselworld 2010


beMerlin:  Interactive gesture-based application for retail:

Google buys BumpTop

BumpTop is an application designed for touch-screen interaction and was introduced at TED by Anand Agarawala, who worked on the application for his Masters thesis at the University of Toronto. The company was recently bought by Google. 

Below is the video of Agarawala's 2009 TED Talk:




Here is a link to a previous post about BumpTop:
Bump Top 3D Desktop on a Touch Screen: Toss Your Photos to your Facebook Icon!



RELATED

Announcement about Google's acquisition of BumpTop, from the BumpTop website:

Dear BumpTop fans,
More than three years ago, we set out to completely change the way people use their desktops. We're very grateful for all your support over that time — not just financially but also through all the encouraging messages from people who found BumpTop inspiring, useful, and just downright fun.
Today, we have a big announcement to make: we're excited to announce that we've been acquired by Google! This means that BumpTop (for both Windows and Mac) will no longer be available for sale. Additionally, no updates to the products are planned.

For the next week, we're keeping BumpTop Free available for download at bumptop.com/download to give BumpTop fans one last chance to grab a copy.
Existing BumpTop Pro users should visit bumptop.com/pro for more information.
Thanks again for all your support over the years. Despite our change in strategy, we remain as passionate as ever about helping shape the future of computing!
Sincerely,
April 30th 2010

2010 SID (Society for Information Display) International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition: Display Week

 I love interactive displays, and if I could, I'd attend the following conference:

2010 International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition
May 23 - May 28, 2010
Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA, USA

The SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, now in its 48th year, is the premier international gathering of scientists, engineers, manufacturers, and users in the electronic-display industry.

The event provides access to a wide range of technology and applications from high-definition flat-panel displays using both emissive and liquid-crystal technology to the latest in OLED displays, flexible displays, and large-area projection-display systems. This is where to find state-of-the-art information on image processing, systems software and display processor hardware, human factors and applied vision, and exciting new applications such as multimedia and the electronic cinema.

As the must-see event for the worldwide information-display industry, the SID International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition is host to hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of attendees each year.

The hours of the 2010 exhibition are:

Tuesday, May 25 10:30 am - 6:30 pm
Wednesday, May 26 3 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Thursday, May 27 4 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

Key Dates
FAQ's

Courses offered during Display Week:

Times	2AB	3AB
Wednesday, May 26
8:30 - 10:00	A-1: Emerging Touch Applications Geoff Walker NextWindow	A-2: Flexible Display Technologies and Their Applications Ruiqing Ma Universal Display Corp.
10:30 - 12:00	A-3: Various Light Sources for General Lighting Sungkyoo Lim Dankook University	A-4: Mobile Multimedia Displays Jyrki Kimmel Nokia Research Center
3:30 - 5:00	A-5: Introduction to PicoProjectors Ian Underwood University of Edinburgh	A-6: Image Sources for Near-to-Eye Display Applications James Melzer

3D In-Home Cinema:
"A special 3-D Cinema Event will be held on Tuesday, May 25, from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. 3-D film shorts will be exhibited stereoscopically on a special 30-ft. silver screen, with featured talks by 3-D filmmakers and other members of the rapidly growing industry. Attendance at this session is free for anyone that is registered for the Tuesday-Friday Symposium. The fee for attending only this session is $100 ($15 for full-time Students or Life Members). The fee includes refreshments, plus access to both the Symposium Keynote Session on Tuesday morning and the Exhibit Hall, enabling 3-D film enthusiasts to see the cutting edge in display technology that is bringing 3-D into the home."


I'd like to highlight the people who will receive awards and honors during the conference:

Awards & Honors

EACH YEAR, the Society for Information Display (SID) honors individual scientists and researchers for outstanding achievements in the field of electronic information displays and for outstanding service to the Society. Only a small number of the preeminent members of the industry are nominated and fewer still are finally chosen as recipients. This year's winners will be honored during Display Week 2010 at the annual awards banquet to be held on Monday evening, May 24, prior to the Symposium.

	Name: Dwight Berreman Award: Jan Rajchman Citation: For his many contributions to understanding electro-optic effects in liquid crystals and especially for his pioneering work on developing the 4 x 4 matrix method for simulating and optimizing the electro-optical properties of LCDs.
	Name: Philip Bos Award: Slottow Owaki Prize Citation: For his pioneering educational efforts in the field of LCDs, including the development of curriculum and student research topics for the latest LCD-technology innovations for high-speed response, bistable operation, the design of wide-viewing-angle films, and diffractive devices.
	Name: Frederic Kahn Award: Karl Ferdinand Braun Citation: For outstanding innovative contributions to the development and commercialization of flat-panel LCDs and projection systems.
	Name: Makoto Maeda Award: Lewis and Beatrice Winner Citation: For his exceptional and sustained service to the Society for Information Display, especially his outstanding leadership as Chapter Chairman, Director, and Regional Vice-President, all of which contributed significantly to the growth of the Japan Chapter.
	Name: Eli Peli Award: Otto Schade Prize Citation: For his many outstanding contributions to vision science and their application to image-quality evaluation and enhancement, including pioneering efforts in improving display performance for populations with special visual needs.
	Name: Wei Chen Award: Fellow Citation: For his many contributions to the advancement of liquid-crystal displays, including the pioneering development and commercialization of high-performance LCD computer monitors, multi-touch displays, and computer displays with LED backlights.
	Name: Edward Kelley Award: Fellow Citation: For his outstanding leadership in the theory, methods, and technology of display metrology and his many contributions to international flat-panel-display standards.
	Name: Haruhiko Okumura Award: Fellow Citation: For his outstanding contribution to the research and development of TFT-LCD driving technologies, especially overdrive and low-power technologies and for significant contributions to the advancement of the display community.
	Name: Roger Stewart Award: Fellow Citation: For his many contributions to display science and technology, including the first amorphous-silicon TFT-LCDs with integrated scanners ("SASID"), the first single-crystal silicon active-matrix EL displays, polysilicon AMLCDs, and compensation circuits for AMOLEDs, and for his creativity in TFT-LCD design.
	Name: Andrew Watson Award: Fellow Citation: For his outstanding contributions to both basic and applied vision science, including applications to image quality metrics, image compression, and psychophysically based display measurements.
	Name: Joyce Farrell Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For her outstanding contributions to the human factors of imaging systems and technology, including the development of the first successful quantitative metric for display flicker and for her exceptional service to the Society for Information Display.
	Name: Hiroki Hamada Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For his outstanding contributions to the development of display devices including red laser diodes and polysilicon TFT-LCD light-valves for projectors.
	Name: Michio Kitamura Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For leading technical and entrepreneurial contributions in putting simulation techniques to practical use as a standard tool for designing LCDs.
	Name: James Larimer Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For his many contributions to vision science related to displays and image quality, including the development of display-performance algorithms.
	Name: Ryuichi Murai Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For his leading contributions to the research and development of large-sized plasma displays, especially his commercialization of the 103-in.-diagonal PDP.
Special Recognition Award Citation: For the technical and commercial development of high-dynamic-range displays and the pioneering of local-dimming display technology. Names: Helge Seetzen, Gregory Ward, Lorne Whitehead
	Helge Seetzen
	Gregory Ward
	Lorne Whitehead
Special Recognition Award Citation: For their outstanding contribution to the development and commercialization of super-large-area film-type display, utilizing technology that incorporates an array of plasma tubes. Names: Kenji Awamoto, Manabu Ishimoto, Tsutae Shinoda
	Kenji Awamoto
	Manabu Ishimoto
	Tsutae Shinoda

NOTE:

I sometimes use this blog as a resource for supporting career education activities for high school students.  By sharing information about the people behind various technologies, I hope to inspire young people to consider careers in STEM-related fields. (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.)

Link to Innovative Interactivity (II) & post: SMART Technologies' acquisition of NextWindow: A "smart window" to the world

I am happy to announce that will be contributing a post bi-weekly on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month for the  Innovative Interactivity (II) blog.

In my first post, I discuss interactive technologies in education and the explosion in the number of interactive whiteboards making way in classrooms in the US and around the globe.   The motivation for this post came from last week's announcement of Smart Technologie's acquisition of NextWindow.  Not long after the announcement, I had a chance to speak with Al Monro, CEO of NextWindow, and Nancy Knowlton, CEO of Smart Technologies. I share some of their insights in my post:

SMART Technologies' acquisition of NextWindow: A "smart window" to the world

About Innovative Interactivity (II):


"Innovative Interactivity serves as an open forum for multimedia producers, web developers and all other visualization junkies. Content focuses on the dynamics and theory of how people receive and react to different forms of information on the Web, both through visual, multimedia storytelling and interactive data visualization."

"The goal is that this blog will provide an outlet for those in the online realm, whether you are interested in learning about multimedia, interactivity, programming languages, data visualization, or all of the above. Hopefully you will be inspired from what you read here to surpass your current web standards in order to develop highly effective multimedia interactives for the digital community."

Tracy Boyer | Founder & Managing Editor

Tracy Boyer is an award-winning multimedia producer, specializing in interactive Web development and multimedia storytelling. Currently, she is a dual master’s candidate (MBA/MSIS) at UNC-Chapel Hill where she is studying Human-Computer Interaction in the School’s Information Science program and Entrepreneurship at Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Previously, she was a multimedia producer at Roanoke.com, served as the UNC correspondent for CNN.com and interned with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In 2007, she was selected to participate in the Poynter Summer Fellowship. Boyer graduated with a multimedia degree from UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her passions lie in travel and multimedia production with a focus on video, audio and interactive graphics. See more of her work at www.tracynboyer.com.

Boyer is available for speaking engagements and seminars. Please contact her for more information.

Andrea Ballocchi | Spanish Editor & Social Media Manager

Andrea Ballocchi is a Chilean journalist. She studied video production at the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and worked as an assistant producer for Sábado Gigantes on channel 13 in Santiago, Chile, and as a producer at Anticipa, an internet company also in Chile.
In 2005, she participated in the multimedia project “The Ancient Way”, in Spain. Since then she has participated in several other projects, including “Chasing Crusoe,” “Atacama Stories,” “Special Olympics in Shanghai and Idaho,” and “South of Here.” She has also taught and coordinated projects at Universidad de los Andes, Chile.
Andrea Ballocchi is currently a multimedia journalism graduate student at the University of Miami, Fla. and works at The Knight Center for International Media.

Ellen Peck | Contributor, Philanthropic Multimedia

Posts publish bi-weekly on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month

Ellen Peck works as consultant with a focus on the Non-profit sector. Ellen worked for over 15 years with Save the Children as a Director of Development, and also created and managed their Emergencies and Crisis Leadership Council. She has worked with start-up non-profits, and first-time capital campaigns for more established organizations. She has been involved in fundraising and strategic partnerships with individuals, corporations, foundations and organizations, and in strategic planning with artists, agency project teams and senior management at organizations for new initiative development.

Ellen also serves in the role of producer and creative/content advisor to documentary film, music and other projects in the arts associated with social and environmental issues. Her projects include the film and soundtrack for “Born into Brothels,” (USA) which garnered the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2005, and for “Stolen,” (Australia) currently showing at international film festivals.

Ellen is a Liberal Arts grad with a degree from Amherst College.

Lynn Marentette | Contributor, Academic Multimedia

Posts publish bi-weekly on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month

Lynn Marentette has over 20 years of professional experience as a school psychologist, and has used interactive multimedia applications and games with students who have disabilities since the early 1990’s. She is passionate about emerging collaborative technologies, natural user interactions and interfaces, and how the power of interactive multimedia can be harnessed in education. In addition to her work as a psychologist, she blogs about accessible off-the-desktop natural-user interfaces at “Interactive Multimedia Technology.”

Lynn has presented on topics such as multimedia thinking and learning, universal usability of interactive multimedia, and universal design and accessibility for games. She returned to school a few years ago to learn how to make interactive multimedia applications and games for the web, handheld devices, and large displays, and has taken graduate courses such as game design, ubiquitous computing, and virtual reality in preparation for a potential PhD in Information Technology at UNC-Charlotte.

Android Tablet Prototype Runs Flash (Video and quick links)

It is interesting to watch how this unfolds:

Part I

Part II


The above videos can be found on ZedoMAX's YouTube channel.
(Thanks to Justin Ireland for the link.)

RELATED
More videos about Adobe products and new forms of tablets can be found on TheFlashBlog. (Thanks to Christian Moore for the link.)

YouTube HTML 5 Video Player Info
Google Chrome 5 Beta: The Top Five Features 
Ian Paul, PC World Blog, 5/5/10
"HTML 5, the new programming standard for Web pages, may not be officially ready yet, but that hasn't stopped Google from implementing some of its new and exciting features. Google Chrome 5 beta introduces file drag-and-drop capabilities, Geolocation (such as Google's MyLocation feature), and offline application caching (Google Gears replacement ). The new version of Chrome beta also offers Web sockets, which make it easier and faster for Web-based applications to communicate with their host servers." -Ian Paul

Serious Games Links from Eliane Alhadeff

Eliane Alhadeff blogs about serious games and recently posted a number of links that I'm happy to share!  The first set of links are to presentations from the recent GAMETECH 2010 conference held in Orlando, Florida. I've also included links to Eliane's blogs as well as to an article about games, simulations, and learning that was recently published in the Charlotte Observer.


SERIOUS GAMES: FROM WHY TO HOW (pdf)
Ben Sawyer, Digital Mill
Serious Storytelling:  Top Research Findings in Game-Based Storytelling (pdf)
Rudy McDaniel, Ph.D.,  Dept. of Media, University of Central Florida
Army Game Studio: Serious Games Development (pdf)
Marsha Berry,  GameTech 3/29/2010
GAMETECH 2010:  Part I (pdf)    PART II: Chaotic System (pdf)

Will Wright (Creator of The Sims, SimCity, and Spore)

GAMETECH 2010 Website (Links  to all presentations)

RELATED

The US Army Simulation and Training Center

Army Announces Virtual Worlds Challenge Finalists

-STTC

Eliane Alhadeff's Blogs:
SERIOUS GAMES MARKET 
FUTURE MAKING SERIOUS GAMES BLOG

Quote:  "Future-World Thinking & Modeling - Credo: If you want to change the future, play it first!" 

SERIOUS GAMES INTERACTIVE WEBSITE

By the way, a recent article in the Charlotte Observer discusses the topic of the use of games and 3D simulations in education: Learning with fun and games:  In todays classrooms and businesses, an avatar isn't just a movie; it is a ticket to success. (Sabine Vollmer, 5/2/10) 

FROM THE OBSERVER ARTICLE:

"WHAT IS 3D LEARNING? 

3-D learning happens by immersing yourself in a computer game or virtual world, using an avatar - like a digital sock puppet - that you control. You have an out-of-body experience in a digital classroom, learning by interacting and doing, where mistakes don't cause any damage in the real world. ...What's key to 3-D learning is computer technology that's fast and powerful enough to run the game or virtual world. In that respect, 3-D learning is an offspring of semiconductors' doubling in speed and power every 18 months (known as Moore's law)."

Second Life and more 

"These are some virtual worlds visited for learning:

Second Life, where avatars attend conferences, own property, shop, vacation, work and build. www.secondlife.com

ReactionGrid, a newer competitor of Second Life. www.reactiongrid.com

World of Warcraft, a huge, multiplayer online game where avatars fight monsters and complete quests. www.worldofwarcaft.com

DimensionM, a multiplayer video game for K-12 students that hones math skills. www.dimensionu.com/math

Innov8, a simulation game that teaches business process management. http://www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/innov8/index.html

Sims, a strategic game that simulates activities of virtual people in a suburban household. www.thesims.ea.com"