3D Multimedia Holiday Projection on Buildings in Amsterdam's City Center: Enjoy!

Info from Muse Amsterdam's YouTube channel, musedigital:


"On 22, 23 & 24 November 2010, H&M brought their flagship store in Amsterdam to live with a 3D projection mapping on the historic building. For over 3 minutes, guests and a gathered crowd enjoyed a surreal fairytale of light and magical effects. A red ribbon, wrapped around the building, untangles and transformed the building into a colorful dollhouse where nothing is what it seems."


Agency: Muse Amsterdam (www.muse.nl)


Production: MrBeam, Mickey Did It, BeamSystems.

(via Ambient Content)

"TV Everywhere": Google acquires Widevine to support adaptive streaming video, including DRM content.

This evening I followed a tweet to an article written by Ben Parr, of Mashable:    

Google Acquires Some Powerful Video-Streaming and DRM Technology.   According to Google,  Widevine's adaptive video streaming technology monitors and adapts to bandwidth changes as it delivers content.  This technology make accessing high-quality video content across the web more seamless, consistent, and convenient across platforms and locations, and is known as "TV Everywhere". 

A range of  technologies developed by Widevane in the recent past look like they will be of benefit to Google. Widevine's intellectual property portfolio covers a lot of ground.  The patent claims distribution, as outlined on the company's website, includes realtime piracy detection and response fingerprinting, forensic watermarking, media tracking, evolving detectors (monitoring and response to piracy), security renewals, QOS, cross domain content security, secure processor technology, trusted computing technology, grooming/transcoding, DCAS (Downloadable Conditional Access System), device certificates, application level encryption, adaptive streaming, and usage controls.  

Google will have a wide reach with the acquisition of Widevane, as it plans to continue the company's partnerships with the "entire ecosystem" of businesses related to digital video content in some way.   As more people access web-based video from smart phones and related devices, and discover they can access video whenever they want, the demand for Google's cloud computing support will grow, along with the need for additional centers and support to handle the demand for multimedia content and related software applications.

The acquisition of Widevane might provide Google with a great deal of power over the next generation of cable/airwaves. If so, this will be a boon to advertisers, if done well. As it is, viewers must wait patiently to watch an ad for 15 minutes or so before viewing a short video clip on websites such as the Wall Street Journal. For some, this just a minor annoyance, and certainly not as bad as garish banner ads and pop-ups.  Marketers will have additional opportunities to reach potential customers through the use of product placement/embedded ads when people access more longer-playing videos and movies on-the-go.  The technology exists to create customized embedded ads in videos based on data collected about the viewer, which is right up Google's alley.  

Google's Data (on us) + Widevane = ?  

FYI:

A recent post on the Google Blog explains the acquisition of Widevane in detail: On demand is in demand: we've agreed to acquire Widevane (12/03/10). According to the information from the website, "Widevine is a privately held corporation headquartered in Seattle, WA, funded by Constellation Ventures, Cisco Systems, Charter Ventures, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP), Pacesetter Capital Group, The Phoenix Partners, TELUS (NYSE: TU) and VantagePoint Venture Partners." 

RELATED

5 Reasons Google Bought Widevine -Ryan Lawler, GigaOm, 12/3/10

Google to acquire DRM firm Widevine and what it means for Google TV - Tyler Cunningham, GTV Hub, 12/4/10

Google to acquire Widevine - Heaven sent or a Devil's Deal? (Includes list of Widevine's partners/customers) - Paul Johnson, AppMarketTV, 12/4/10

Google acquires Widevine - Colin Mann, Advanced Television, 12/4/10

10 Advantages of Google's Cloud -Google

Related Posts from Advanced Television

Widevine, Qtv enable Internet video on PS2 and mobiles

Funai selects Widevine

Motorola resells Widevine

Panasonic chooses Widevine solutions

Sonic and Widevine launching USB movie drives

Are we moving to cloud-based DRM ? Take a look at the content & links below:

Universal DRM renamed Ultraviolet, beta starts this fall

Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica  (Interesting- 122 comments)

UltraViolet

Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC

SOMEWHAT RELATED

Anywhere: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business

The Battle For Your Digital Living Room: Apple, google and others are vying hard for this valuable real estate -Knowledge @Wharton, Forbes, 9/17/10

The Fifth Wave of Computing: Why the next decade of journalism will depend on engineers for survival -Trevor Butterworth, Forbes, 6/29/10

Tom Johnson's Media Convergence Matters blog 

Tech Product Placement & Embedded Advertising, Legal/Ethical Concerns

Why is this important to me?

I'm working on some ideas for web-based interactive educational videos and other interactive multimedia applications designed to be accessed across various screens and devices.  Technology is changing rapidly, and to move forward, I need to know more as I make decisions in the future.  I'll return to this topic in future posts as I research this topic further.

Thanks to Pawel Solyga (Solydzajs) for the tweet that sent me down this rabbit hole ; )  

FYI: Pawel is a software engineer, focused on next gen mobile apps.  He is the VP of Technology at Numote. He also is a NUI Group co-founder.  

Top 10 Interactive Multimedia Technology Blogposts, November, 2010

Here are the "top ten" posts for this blog, according to the number of visitors during the month of November, 2010:

Hacked Kinect Multitouch using libFreenect and libTISCH (via Florian Echtler)
11/13/2010


Power to the Pixel Cross-Media Forum Streaming Live from London Today!
10/12/2010


Revised Post 8/1/06: Interactive multimedia for social skills, understanding feelings, relaxtion, coping strategies, etc.
7/12/06


Interactive Touch Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It": REVISED
11/11/2010


Microsoft Surface Light and Physics App for Kids at the Smithsonian
11/24/2010


Interactive iPad Apps for Kids with Autism: Could some of these be transformed for multi-touch tabletop activities?
11/06/10


New Version of Surface from Microsoft?
11/10/10


Tech Product Placement & Embedded Advertising: Cisco Telepresence, Surface, Kinect, Windows 7 Phone, Apple, Apple iAd - Videos, Links - plus legal & ethical concerns
11/29/10


Digital Newspaper from News Corp, for the iPad (via physog, Guardian)
10/18/10


Online Physics Games for Interactive Whiteboards and Touch Screens (including mobile devices)
10/18/10

Workshop on Mobile and Personal Projection: Call for Papers, CHI 2010, May 8, 2011, Vancouver, CA

I can't wait to attend CHI 2011!    There will be lots to learn about emerging technologies and interactions at the conference. Here's another call for papers/participation for a workshop session at the conference, via Markus Löchtefeld



CALL FOR PAPERS: MP²: Workshop on Mobile and Personal Projection, a workshop to be held at CHI 2011, Vancouver, CA. May 8,  2011

Objectives

The workshop will provide an open forum to share information, results, and ideas on current research on mobile and personal projection. The participants will explain, demonstrate and discuss their current research with others in order to receive feedback, criticism and ideas for future work. Concrete selected questions, ideas and concepts will be addressed in various group sessions in which the participants will work on topics such as a design space for mobile and personal projection; user interface, interaction design and application sketches; paper prototypes; or ad-hoc studies using the provided mobile and personal projector hardware. The results of these group sessions will be discussed with all workshop participants. Finally, we will discuss future research areas, challenges and the potential for mobile and personal projection in order to lay the foundations for a research agenda in this field.

Workshop Topics

The workshop looks for contributions on the following and related topics:

• Applications and interaction techniques for mobile and wearable projection.
• Personal projection in augmented reality.
• Interaction with projected interfaces.
• Projector phones and wearable projectors.
• Multi-user interactions and applications.
• Multimodal and personalized (mobile) interfaces.
• New application areas of mobile projection.
• Social implications when interacting with projected interfaces.
• Artistic and unusual ways to utilize mobile projection.
• New forms of interaction with the environment.

Research Questions

Mobile and personal projection is at a relatively early stage of research. Reflecting this state, the workshop specifically addresses the following fundamental research questions:

• What are the unique properties and affordances of mobile and personal projection? What are suitable interaction metaphors?
• What are core application domains that benefit the most from the usage of mobile and personal projection? What are the application contexts and usage requirements that support mobile and personal projection?
• What are suitable interaction techniques for mobile and personal projection? How can gestures be incorporated? How should visualizations be structured? How can the projected virtual and real images of objects coexist? What is the role of augmented and mixed reality?
• What is the social impact of mobile and personal projection technologies? How can users manage privacy when using mobile and personal projectors? How does public behavior change with the introduction of mobile and personal projection technologies?
• How can spontaneous co-located collaboration be supported by mobile and personal projection technologies? How can designs support the exchange of media items between mobile projector phones?
• What are suitable strategies and methodologies for evaluating mobile and personal projection interfaces? What aspects impact the user experience?

Submission

We ask for papers that address one or more of the research questions mentioned above, or that describe findings that relate to these research questions based on systems the authors have built. We welcome position papers (2 pages) as well as papers reporting novel concepts, (first) prototypes, studies, applications or interaction concepts (up to 4 pages). All submissions should be prepared according to the standard HCI Archive format.
Each paper will be receive at least two reviews. All accepted papers will be made available online and will be published at Sun SITE Central Europe (CEUR) Workshop Proceedings.

INFORMATION:

Mobile and personal projection interfaces are no longer fiction and have received considerable attention recently. Integrated pico-projectors in mobile and wearable devices could make mobile projection ubiquitous within the next few years. Walls, desks, floors, ceilings, t-shirts or palms will act as projection surfaces for these kinds of new devices.

These technological developments offer new opportunities and challenges for novel forms of interaction. Virtual displays can extend beyond physical device boundaries and augment existing objects. There are also new opportunities for spontaneous multi-user interaction. However, issues such as lighting conditions, privacy, and social acceptability also come into play.

We will bring together researchers and practitioners who are concerned with design, development, and implementation of new applications and services using personal mobile and wearable projectors in their user interfaces.

Important Dates

• January 10, 2011 - Submission Deadline
• February 4, 2011 - Acceptance Notification
• March 11, 2011 - Revised Manuscript Due
• May 8, 2011 - Workshop Date

Organizers

Raimund Dachselt

Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg(Germany)

Jonna Hakkila

Nokia Research Center,Tampere (Finland)

Matt Jones

Swansea University (UK)

Markus Löchtefeld

DFKI (Germany)

Michael Rohs

University of Munich (Germany)

Enrico Rukzio

University of Duisburg Essen (Germany) & Lancaster University (UK)

More gesture and multi-touch interaction! Windows 7 Navigation with Kinect; Product browser by Immersive Labs,

Here are a couple of new natural user interface videos.  The first video, by Evoluce, demonstrates gesture interaction/navigation in Windows 7 applications supported by Kinect. The second video, by Immersive Labs, shows multi-touch product browsing interaction on a large display.

Kinect Treatment of Windows 7, by Evoluce

Evoluce: Leading Surface Technologies


Immersive Labs - Multi-touch Product Browser

Immersive Labs

Buzz about Microsoft's "Light-Induced Shape-Memory Polymer Display Screen" patent application by Erez Kikin-Gil

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have a passion for interactive displays. Imagine my excitement when I learned about Microsoft's recent patent for a display that has a "topography-changing layer including a light-induced shape memory polymer.." !


For the tech-curious, here is the link to the patent application:
LIGHT-INDUCED SHAPE-MEMORY POLYMER DISPLAY SCREEN

RELATED
Microsoft develops shape-shifting touchscreen
Paul Marks, NewScientist 11/29/10

Microsoft Building Shape-Shifting Touchscreen for True Tactile Touch Tech

Clay Dillow, Popsci, 12/1/10

The name on the patent application is Erez Kikin-Gil.  I did a quick search and found someone by the same name who works as a Senior UX Designer at Microsoft.  

According to information on his blog, Tiltool. Erez Kikin-Gil's graduate thesis focused on the development of the Eco-Pod, a TUI (Tangible User Interface) designed to help children develop cognitive skills to support systems thinking.  He has a range of interests, including information visualization, touch interaction, prototyping, product design, and user experience.