May 30, 2010

2010 International Computer Music Conference in NY. I wish I could go!

I'm usually too busy during the last month or so of the school year to attend conferences.  One I'd really like to attend is the 2010 International Computer Music Conference in N.Y.  Music is an important component of interactive multimedia content, and new technologies have made things a lot easier for musicians who are technologically inclined.  Conferences like ICMC are a great way to see - and hear - what is going on.

Links:
ICMC Paper Schedule 
ICMC 2010 Poster/Demo Schedule
Thomas Erbe's ICMC Workshop:  Pure Data Object Programming
(see bio and plug below)

Intriguing Topics: 
"Gestural Shaping and Transformation in a Universal Space of Structure and Sound"
"SoundCatcher:  explorations in audio-looping and time-freezing using an open-air gestural controller"
"Sense/Stage - low cost, open source wireless sensor infrastructure for live performance and interactive, real-time environments"
"The Four M's:  Music, Mind, Motion, Machines"
"A Wireless, Real-time Social Music Performance System for Mobile Phones"
"Because we are all falling down: Physics, Gestures, and Relative Realities"
"Argos:  An open-source application for building multi-touch musical interfaces"
"Peacock: a non-haptic 3D performance interface"
"Head Tracking for 3D Audio using the Nintendo WII"
"The Avatar Initiative- An Interdisciplinary Approach to Digital Media Research and Education"
"Computer Controlled Video as a Multi-modal Interface in Live Acousmatic Music"
"The Machine Orchestra"
"Eye. Breathe. Music"
"Combining audiovisual mappings for 3D musical interaction"

ICMC Unconference Categories

PdBarCamp
Sensory Interaction in Composition and Performance
Language, Neurology, and Acoustics
Open Scores and Accessible, Consumer Devices
Issues in Computer Music Performance
Computer Music and Society:  Questions of Dissemination

Realistically,  I'd be happy with a bit more time to play my keyboard! 
(The very first class I took when I decided to return to school to take computer classes was computer music technology.)


My plug for Tom Erbe, from the ICMC website 
Instructor Bios:

"Tom Erbe has had an important role in American experimental and electronic music of the last 20 years. In addition to his pioneering and widely used program SoundHack, he has become one of the most sought after and respected sound engineers for contemporary music. In 2004 he rejoined the faculty of UCSD in the Department of Music and serves as Studio Director. Most recently Tom has released SoundHack Spectral Shapers, the first of a planned set of three plugin bundles to bring extreme spectral processing to the VST, AU and RTAS formats."

If you are thinking about experimenting with sound, Tom Erbe's SoundHack freeware is awesome. His spectral shapers are worth every penny.  (I used the +binaural filter to create a 3D effect of racing car sounds for one of the students I work with who has autism and loves racing cars.)

+binaural


This filter places a sound at a specific position around the listener's head. Use it with a reverb to create a virtual environment. When used with it's LFO, +binaural can place various beats or parts of a loop in specific repeatable positions.







SOMEWHAT RELATED
When I get a moment, I'm reading my latest issue of IEEE Multimedia cover-to-cover:
Special Issue:  Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia
April—Jaune 2010 MultiMedia Cover

(The second class I took after I returned to school to take computer classes was Computer and Internet Multimedia.)

May 29, 2010

Preview: Update on Touch & Multitouch Technologies, Websites, and Touch-Interactive Multimedia Apps

It is about time for an update about touch/gesture- interactive technologies.

I've been researching the latest in "touch" screens and new developments in interactive multi-media content.  In just one year, a multitude of websites have been transformed from static to interactive. 

Although the initial objective for some of these websites was to optimize the interface and navigation for people accessing websites via touch-screen cell phones,  some are ideal for use on touch-enabled slates, the iPad, and even larger touch screen displays and surfaces.   

Convergence seems to be the buzz word of the day.   Interactive TV.  Game sets with Internet access.  Movies on your cell phone.  Touch screen Coke machines displaying movie trailers.  What's happening now, and what is next?

I welcome input from my readers in the form of links to websites, university labs with grad students and professors who are obsessed with emerging interactive technologies, proof-of-concept video clips, video clips of related technologies that are new-to-market, etc.   

I will add video clips to the following playlist:


FYI: I'm also in the middle of writing a series of posts about 3D television technologies for the Innovative Interactivity blog, and welcome input from my readers about this topic.


RELATED (Previous posts)
(the above post includes links to various multi-touch developer kits and resources)




May 28, 2010

CNN's Interactive Map and Timeline of Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties "Home and Away"


Via Flowing Data and CNN

Nathan Yau, of Flowing Data, posted information and a link to CNN's interactive Casualties: Home and Away website. This website allows you to visually explore the casualty statistics of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, beginning with the first of the fallen in 2001. You can zoom into a region and see pictures and names of people.  The website provides a way for friends and family to share memories about their loved ones.

Home and Away also provides a "list view" option, shown in one of the pictures below.  Visitors to the site can sort by name or year of death.  Sliders on the map view provide a way of looking at the pattern of deaths over time.  It is sad, but this website makes us remember that war is real.  Deaths are not simply statistics.










Flowing Data
Home and Away

May 24, 2010

Quick Post: Video- Electroactive Polymers (EAP) for a Robot Head; link to OpenMaterials.org

Electroactive Polymer Robot Head


For more information:  
Electroactive Polymers (EAP) as Artificial Muscles (EPAM) for Robotic Applications
Wikipedia:  Electroactive Polymers

Electroactive Polymers Robot "Flying Fish" Transparent Blimp

"The worldwide first EAP propelled airship was made at Empa in collaboration with aeroix GmbH and the Technical University of Berlin. This lighter-than-air vehicle with 8 m in length consists of a slightly pressurized Helium filled body of a biologically inspired form with Dielectric Elastomer (DE) actuators acting as muscles and deforming the body and tail fin in a fish-like manner."


I wonder if the Blimp's surface could be transformed for interactive ads....I'm sure someone is working on this now!

RELATED
OpenMaterials.org (This is a rabbit hole I'll need to explore further.)

"OpenMaterials is a research group dedicated to open investigation and experimentation with DIY production methods and uses of materials.
In the spirit of the open source software and hardware movements, we hope to promote materials to be researched and developed in a public, collaborative manner. We see materials as an open resource, and wish to establish an open process for exploring and sharing knowledge, techniques and applications related to materials science."

Smart & Adaptive Polymer Lab, University of Toronto

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Last night I dreamt about haptic touch-screen overlays... (IMT post from about a year ago that focuses on haptic/tactile feedback, electroactive polymers, and nano-materials.)

For a smile:  "Musical Heads" Watch the Neurosonics Audiomedical" video (via Chris O'Shea)


May 23, 2010

Quick post: 3D and the Future of TV during Display Week in Seatle, WA May 26-27

Here is the link to the press release about 3D TV at Display Week/Society of Information Display Conference:



RELATED
Conference Press Kit page

Here is an example of some of the news linked to the page:
Touch Screen Shipments Pass 600 Million in 2009, Up 29% Y/Y