I just thought this was a pretty cool demonstration. It allows for the real-time removal of objects in a video. Admittedly, there are some glitches to it — the background needs to be fairly uniform, as you can see with the artifacts around 1:50 in the video. (See the Popular Science article here.)
I just thought this was a pretty cool demo. It’s a 3D world running on the iPad and iPhone. I didn’t know they had such powerful processors. I guess it follows the general computing trend of the past 50 years, though – more powerful computers in smaller packages. Decades ago, computers filled an entire room. Then there was the desktop computer, then the laptop. Tablets and phone devices are just another step in that progression. I suppose the only limiting factor is the interface.
Speaking of the interface, this is next video is a pretty cool tech mockup. Maybe in the future, we won’t be limited to the size of a tablet or smart phone screen. (This video works best with blue-red 3D glasses, but it’s still watchable without them.)
Augmented City 3D from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.
It would be pretty weird to see someone interacting with their computer this way – since they’d be seeing the augmented reality images through some sort of glasses, but no one else would see what they’re seeing.
Two interesting links:
20 Counterproductive Video Game Covers
My favorite in the list is Phalanx, a “hyper-speed shoot-out in space” with a banjo player on the front cover:
11 Great Playable Video Game Satires
My favorite spoof is the “cow clicker” Farmville spoof:
Creator Ian Bogost: “You get a cow. You can click on it. In six hours, you can click it again. Clicking earns you clicks. You can buy custom ‘premium’ cows through micropayments (the Cow Clicker currency is called ‘mooney’), and you can buy your way out of the time delay by spending it. You can publish feed stories about clicking your cow, and you can click friends’ cow clicks in their feed stories. Cow Clicker is Facebook games distilled to their essence.”
We are kicking off an Empires of Steel summer sale! Instead of the regular price of $35, you can now purchase the full version of this unique strategy game of global domination for just $20 for a limited time!
If you have any friends you’d like to get into the game, now would be an ideal time.
I have to give the Gorillaz credit. They’re doing some pretty cool stuff – not only in terms of music, but their animations are great. Via Hulu:
I really like this video. I think because it makes me feel like I’m living in the future. Not only are they giving tablet PCs to children all over the world (which seems like it has amazing educational possibilities), but tablet PCs are actually pretty cool. It’s like the video comes from some kind of Star Trek alternate universe.
Mark Morgan put together a free hi-quality version of the soundtracks to Fallout 1 & 2:
Mark Morgan’s “Vault Archives” is remastered and mixed full-bandwidth soundtrack from old-classic “Fallout” games (24 tracks).
I think he copied the original music and recorded it in much higher quality. For anyone who spent way too much time playing the Fallout series (like I did), this will bring back some memories. You can download it here or here, and listen to a few tracks using the embedded player here.
[Hat tip to Octopus Overlords]
Here’s an interesting idea. It’s a video-player with a built in paypal-based payment service. Small-time video or movie creators can then put their works on the internet and charge a fee to viewers. It side-steps the whole theater / movie-rental store / Netflix distribution system. Creators end up with 70% of the revenue from each viewing. Prices range from $0.99 to $11.99 (whatever the creator wants to charge), and movies are made available for as many viewings as a person wants, ranging from six hours to seven days (based on what the creator sets).
(Via Unreality Mag) They took the top 100 games and came up with this infographic:
Clever mash-up from AgentMidnight at DeviantArt. (Via Kokugamer)
