by stephanlange on February 13, 2012
We have all been to a museum and had to fight the urge to touch the painting we are looking at.
That might have been what Petros Vrellis thought, so he went ahead and created an interactive version of Vincent van Gogh’s painting Starry Night.
Hi project is a flowing simulation of the painting that when you touch it reacts and synthesizes sound. If left alone it slowly returns to its original state. Displayed at about 30 frames per second at 1920 x 1080 I am sure Vincent himself would have been impressed by it.
check it out in action here:
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 31, 2012
What is WiGig you are asking? WiGig is an alliance that completed a multi-gigabit 60Ghz wireless specification.
It means that WiGig enables wireless transfer rates more than ten times faster than today’s fastest wireless LAN, and it’s completely backward compatible with existing WiFi devices.
Panasonic is now in the process of jamming the functionality into SD cards set to arrive next year and they already have a working prototype that they showed off at DigInfo.
Photos and videos were effortlessly send to secondary displays and played without any glitches. According to them a whole DVD can be transferred in under a minute.
But check it out in action here and be surprised by how much it looks like Amnesia Connect 
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 30, 2012
Adobe released a sneak peek video of Photoshop CS6 on YouTube and it showed off a dark UI similar to Lightroom and After Effects.
Lots of customizations are now possible simply by context clicking and the rich cursor support is something that I have been waiting for a long time.
I definitely like it, so check it out in the video below:
PS: the Camera Raw 7 product looks quite nice too.
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 23, 2012
Researchers in Germany, Canada and the US may have come up with an elegant solution that can work with any smartphone and an external display: virtual projection.
The system works by using a central server that constantly takes screenshots of the external display and compares them with the images from the phone’s camera to track its location.
It then replicates what’s on the handset’s screen, while allowing you to add multiple image windows and position and rotate them.
Additionally, multiple users can collaborate and virtually project pictures or videos onscreen at the same time.
Personally I think your battery life will suffer the most, but in general it is a cool idea.
check it out in action below:
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 20, 2012
German Photographer Marcus Reugels takes pictures of water droplets refracting an image behind them, making them each appear to contain a world or Batman or Spiderman.
How he says on his website, every droplet is a unique piece of art. Pretty amazing
Check out his other work, which he says was not manipulated with Photoshop at all.
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 17, 2012
Being a gamer myself there is always that point where I could go and do exercise or I could finish that next level and then usually I end up not going to the gym.
Now there is a solution for my first world problem. BitGym has created a control system for playing iOS games while you are on your favourite exercise equipment. Right now it is a racer (that looks a lot like Outrun) and you control the cars steering with you head and your acceleration is based on your exercise rate.
Check out the video:
nifty little tool, but I am not sure if the movements you have to do to get through the game are good for your posture 
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 13, 2012
CES in Las Vegas is on and like every year I am jealous of everybody who can go to it.
But nevertheless I still get to see all the cool new gadgets and while I have seen prototypes of this before, but this seems to be ready to be installed in my house.
The Samsung Smart Window – a transparent display that is touch enabled and a one sided pane which means people on the outside can’t see what you are seeing.
here are some videos of it in action:
I love the blinds, also word on the street is that mass production is starting in the next few month, but no word on price yet.
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 10, 2012
I am very excited about the forthcoming Windows 8 and I have been playing around with it since the Developer Preview was released.
We have a big touchscreen in the office here so it is perfect for the Metro UI, but I have to say that the mouse interaction on a laptop without a touchscreen is very average.
Along came Tobii and at first you think it is just another gimmick, but everybody on the net who has actually tried it is blown away by it.
Tobii comes with an eye control device, a rectangular glass obilisk that is attached to the hinge of the laptop. It requires a personal calibration and off you go. It also controls all the swipe gestures available in Windows 8.
But enough said, check it out in the video.
and another video of it in action
can’t wait to try it out
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 9, 2012
We have seen some cool stuff in the past that could bring us closer to the Star Trek HoloDeck, e.g. the HoloDesk
And now Microsoft Research has pushed a little further and gives us a 3D hologram that is floating in mid air at 15 frames per second and is viewable from 192 different points at a time.
reminds me of Star Wars
Of course Kinect is involved here and the depth sensor makes it possible to interact with the hologram – you can basically touch it.
It is still a long way off from 3D hologram telephony or a full size HoloDeck, but for now this is pretty cool.
check out the video:
@maniac13
by Maria.Gioffre on December 19, 2011
*Quick pop quiz…
1. How many hours of video were uploaded to YouTube in 2010?
2. What percentage of smartphone owners, use their device while shopping?
3. What Australian state most frequently searches for the weather forecast?
As a planner, I’m always chasing that one research tool to bring them all together, and while Think Insights with Google attempts to do just that, it does fall short in a few areas. It’s missing the core search functionality that is the cornerstone of Google’s business… after all, the nirvana of a planner research tool would provide just that, a simple way to intelligently search and prioritise, facts, stats and behavioural trends based on a simple question, such as: ‘How many Australian’s use their laptop in the kitchen while cooking?’
On the flip side, this is a good resource if you are looking for general information on search and mobile related topics, particularly for Google brand related products. And, it does include over 100 custom reports, so you can certainly pop it on the list of go-to resources for all things digital.
My personal favourite resources on the site are: Our Mobile Planet tool (though the data is a little shady for the emerging markets such as India and China) and the Research Library finder.
Ultimately, Think Insights with Google is the perfect tool for media planners, and a useful resource for digital strategists too. Despite it’s downfalls it is one of the best free resources that I have found.
@mariagioffre
*Answers
1. 13 million hours
2. 70%
3. Victoria
