Planning the Christmas Media Menu

Posted by Kyle Stallock on Monday, December 21st, 2009

My immense backlog of unexperienced media stimulates my obsessive information-seeking inner nerd into a brief, but potent, altered state of consciousness. It’s not unlike what a kid experiences moments before opening a present on Christmas morning, knowing with the utmost certainty the object behind the green and red wrapping paper. Preemptively, we both carefully plan where, when, and what we will do with our prizes post-unearthing.

But unlike the child, an elaborately-decorated evergreen doesn’t stand, almost protectively, over my prizes. They’re scattered around my room, piled into masses, and potentially disguised as ugly furniture should the desperate need arise and cloud some unfortunate visitor’s perception (It’s happened before. Xbox 360 game cases still bear the cracks and splintered remains of the attack.). Also unlike the child, my objects of fancy weren’t placed with love and care, they were tossed aside by feelings of regret and/or an urgency to do something else – usually something yielding an eventual financial return.

Opened, but barely played games litter my shelves and PC hard drive, my bloated Netflix disc and instant watch queues each hold 500 titles (the maximum), a stack of magazines and comics that can almost be measured in the plural “feet” taunt me as they gather dust in a corner of my room, and unread books occupy what little desk, shelf, and floor space not already taken by another piece of media. My room’s a mess, but it’s a beautiful mess of yet-to-be-tasted, consumed, and savored media. A disaster of any other nature would never remain for as long or prevent so much movement.

I’ve never stockpiled this much content. One of my oldest and strictest rules prevents this disaster from happening.  “Don’t buy something you can’t play, watch, or read immediately after purchase,” I’ve always told myself. An item’s retail value typically falls in the months following release. By delaying my purchase until I have time to enjoy the product, I typically save hundreds of dollars each year. But 2009 was different.

The year of teabagging, Glenn Beck,  and the inauguration of our first African American President also saw other monumental events, such as my own increased focus on growing my writing craft, additional teaching and writing work heading my way, and almost the least free time I’ve ever had. I also briefly tasted competing at videogames on a professional level with GameStop’s national Street Fighter IV championship. Securing my spot as one of the top 15 finalists took more than skill and a whole lot of luck, it took hundreds of hours of training – all logged within months of the game’s release. As my own capabilities grew, so did my media backlog.

At IPR, I’m not the only person with a backlog unusually deep. Faculty and students both often respond to my “have you played X” game requests with “no, but I will during break.” By my count, IPR students and faculty will beat hundreds of titles spanning the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this Christmas break and watch dozens, if not hundreds of hours, worth of movies.

There won’t be enough time to play everything. Two weeks off is a substantial amount of time, but my backlog’s corporeal body shrugs at the amount. Two months off filled with nothing but me devouring media would suffice, but that’s just a dream my ambition will never allow. Paying the bills and advancing my career’s too important.

With only two weeks available to us, we must take great care in planning our Christmas holiday media menu. Those with even less time off need to be especially careful. As professionals in the entertainment industry, or soon-to-be professionals, I strongly believe it’s absolutely essential we experience as much media as possible. In a way, I want everyone to think seriously about having fun.

Here’s my menu:

Every Christmas I make the seven hour to my native Northwestern Minnesota, bringing with me my PC, game consoles, particular games and movies, etc. Observers watching me load my silver Chevy Blazer might suggest I’m insane for bringing along such a high volume of stuff. They’d be right. I never play it all, but I do often play most, and what I don’t hit a member of my extended family usually does.

I’d like to play particular titles this Christmas such as The Witcher, Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters, Dragon Age, and The Saboteur, but I feel the experience may be lessened without my usual flatscreen and surround sound setup. I don’t mean to sound elitist, but with the option to experience these products in this matter, I feel I’d be doing the creators a disservice if I switched to the 17″ monitor and headphones I’ll be using up north during break.

Putting larger titles like those aside, my menu’s filled with indies, casuals, and an RPG I’m replaying.

I’m a sucker for digital download sales, and last Thanksgiving I picked up a plethora of titles I normally would’ve avoided. Majesty 2 and Madballs in…Bobo: Invasion now sit in my Steam list, waiting to receive attention this Christmas. I’ll check ‘em out, but I’m not teeming with anticipation. Zeno Clash, a bizarre first-person fighter from indie developer Ace Team, went on sale shortly after Thanksgiving, so it sits in my Steam list as well. The total amount I paid for all three titles is around $15.00. If I don’t like them, so what? I’ve spent $15.00 much more foolishly in the past.

I’m still not done with Osmos, and I never did finish The Path. Both are on the menu, as is The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. Its low-res nativity will fit in perfect with the playing circumstances. If I get time, maybe I’ll finish Samorost 2 and move on to the beautiful Machinarium.

In case you didn’t notice, my menu’s filled with point-and-click adventure titles – a genre in which I’m not well versed. Hopefully in two weeks I’ll feel informed and able to recant the hilarious maiden voyage of Monkey Island.

Social gaming’s important, especially in the middle of Northwest Minnesota, a land far, about an hour, from the luxuries of modern civilization such as cinemas, Best Buys, and Jimmy Johns. Over the last few months, I’ve played Riot Games’ League of Legends for dozens of hours. I adore the spiritual successor to DotA, but this Christmas break I’m going to try and play something else. Maybe I’ll check out the mod Defence Alliance 2 or explore a dozen or so free-to-play MMORPGs and indie titles I’ve installed but never opened. The sky’s the limit, and it will remain as free and clear of LoL and World of Warcraft as possible.

Like every Christmas, I’ll bring along my Wii and bust out Wii Sports for some drunken bowling with my parents and grandparents. I don’t play it anymore, but they all still find it entertaining, and watching my grandma giggle and laugh as she overcomes a 7 10 split makes the entire trip worth the drive and gas money. We’ll also try New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but I fear it’s too difficult for them.

Buzz TV!’s coming along once again, and will probably only surface when my highly competitive cousin challenges me to a game, or two, or a dozen. He beat me last year when he manipulated our younger cousin into choosing particular topics, but I’m bringing along a newer, faster-paced, version. It’s my time now.

And, of course, no Christmas would be complete without the film staples. I’ll force my family, once again, to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, Scrooged, A Christmas Story, and a few others, with me. And they’ll reluctantly agree. They say “yes” to my request because this is what we do during the holidays. We put up with each other’s quirks and annoying personality traits, if only for a little while. Ultimately we’re better for doing so. I learn more about them and they about me. I grow, and hopefully they do too.

My media menu’s not set in stone. No one’s should be. The menu’s exactly what it is – a list of options I can choose to pull from. Its greatest strength is diversity. Without first planning to bring Buzz TV! or the Wii, the aforementioned shared experiences wouldn’t have existed, or at least in that way.

If you get time, please list your Christmas media menu below. I’d love to hear your holiday anecdotes and past, present, and future plans.

Tags: Christmas, list, menu
Posted in Multimedia, Technology | No Comments »

From the City to the Country: The Gaping Wound Called Broadband

Posted by Kyle Stallock on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

My old roots and new roots in startling agreeance.

Internet Fantasy

Broadband internet doesn’t exist in my parents’ world. It’s an item of fantasy, like Aladdin’s lamp but without a limited use clause. Eight years ago, without much of a choice, I tolerated the 30 kb/s download speeds of rural DSL in the absolute corner of Northwest Minnesota. The transfer rate beat the criminally slow dial-up offerings my family formerly experienced, and I couldn’t exactly procure a connection equivalent to my high school’s T1, or what felt like a T1 by comparison. The situation annoyed my brother and I, mainly because our “ping,” the speed at which our computer connected to online games, lagged far behind others. The higher the number, the greater delay between button input and seeing the game reflect the action. Ours sat at the mid 300s, others lingered around the low 100s. Minimizing the delay, or “lag,” was our only reason for wanting faster internet.

I’m writing this on Saturday, November 28, 2009, and, despite the eight year difference, internet download speeds remain unchanged at my parents’ home. An entire day’s worth of bandwidth was spent downloading a 313mb file. At my apartment in Minneapolis, my cable connection would’ve devoured the same file in minutes and then asked “what’s next?” Here, I can almost hear the coughing and wheezing of the DSL modem struggling to provide its meager archaic speeds. If the inanimate object could hear me, I’d say “Don’t worry old girl (or guy). It’s not your fault my parents live in an area where expanding real broadband service isn’t in the internet service provider’s best financial interests.” But, of course, the company is interested in charging my parents a monthly connection fee equal to the one Comcast lays on me ($36 a month for 15 mb download speeds). In rural ISP’s defense, Comcast delivered a nice six month deal when I threatened to switch provider (I wasn’t lying). Service used to cost $50+ a month. I’m unsure on the exact amount. I’ve tried to block it out. The paying-too-much-for-internet wound’s still fresh.

But payment aside, I relish high media accessibility. Nearly every day, I check one of my various email accounts using my phone, play World of Warcraft, listen to internet radio or podcasts, watch television shows or movies on Hulu and Netflix, or download media legally via some digital distribution service. Sometimes I engage in any number of the aforementioned simultaneously. This is just what I do with the internet. It comes as natural to me as riding a bike and feels as vital as food. Call it mental food if you want.

Mr. Obama Gets Me

The Obama administration understands, and have compared today’s need for high speed, high capacity broadband internet to the need and proliferation of electricity and telephone services in the 1930s. The administration’s ready to do more than talk about the problem, and have plans to pour $8 billion into the construction of new broadband networks across the nation. If all goes according to plan, all grants will be awarded by Sept. 30, 2010, and the massive project will be “mostly complete” within two years. I’m hopeful everything will go according to plan, but I’m also hopeful of one day winning the Powerball.

The great American broadband expansion didn’t stem from a national desire to watch Family Guy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Modern Family on Hulu. More jobs become available to those with broadband. Acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Copps, said “Without ubiquitous broadband, our citizens – our country – will lack the competitive tools necessary for success in the 21st century.” He’s right, and a woman named J.T. Burnett would probably concur. In an article originally from the Beaumont Enterprise, writer Kyle Peveto explained Burnett found the “perfect stay-at-home job transcribing medical records via the internet.” The only problem was her home, five miles outside of town, didn’t and couldn’t have the necessary high-speed connection. Showing exemplary initiative, the 32 year old Burnett decided to rent a storefront east of the town square where she could access broadband. Four days a week, she now types at her computer, making money “from home.” She also makes and sells candles from her store, and even makes a little bit of money from a dog grooming business. The former, she says, could not exist without its website TheWaxWagon.com. “From my own experience,” she adds, “I think if the capabilities were available to rural areas, (the Internet) could do great things. It’s already done great things for our town.”

Broadband internet enables greater access to jobs and media. Got it? Good. Now back to my long weekend without my usual accessibility…

Slow Internet, Destroyer of Instant Messaging Culture

If someone shared a YouTube link with me via instant messaging service, I had to open the video and immediately pause it. Two to five minutes later I could watch it. Buffering took that long. The experience was painful, if only for the social element. Tossing links back and forth to communicate a point, or just to share for the shock value, is something my friends and I do regularly. Think of the shared experience of watching America’s Funniest Home Videos with other people, but in bite-size chunks, and without a major television network deciding what you can and can’t watch and when. YouTube’s role is kind of like that during my online social interaction. Immediacy’s key. If I’m late to a video, I might miss the poignancy of a remark or an entire conversational subject. And I did. To avoid these mishaps, I momentarily altered the way I communicated online. I felt restrained, or paralyzed, and I really didn’t like it.

Slave to Programming

Similarly, since the connection didn’t allow for me to open a window in the upper right corner of my screen and constantly steam Hulu or Netflix (like I do at my apartment in Minneapolis), a media void began to surface. I needed to consume digital video. Left with only one option, I became a slave to DirecTV’s satellite programming. Instead of control, as I would have with streaming video on my PC, I had a choice over what I wanted to watch. The change felt wrong. The viewer, me, should never have a prolonged viewing experience dictated by scheduled programming. This teaches people to either settle for what they’re given or get off the train. The experience is furthermore soured when passengers who’ve already paid for their monthly subscription decide “there’s nothing on.”

Traditional Media Molds More in Rural Areas

Normally I’d cuss up a storm and do something different, but I really wanted to watch something; anything. I checked out the HBOs. Nothing was on that I hadn’t seen before. I checked out Showtime and Cinemax. The same overplayed films lie their as well, waiting to be blasted out of their misery. And finally settled for a few hours on the Travel Channel and the various “let’s go around the world, meet people, and eat crazy things” shows (for the record, Anthony Bourdaine > Andrew Zimmern). During commercials, I flipped through the music stations, fuse, MTV, VH1, and BET,  and came to a startling conclusion: old, or traditional, media, such as satellite TV, potentially wields more culture-molding power in these broadband-less areas than anywhere else in the nation. In some cases, they might even be the life support. What then will happen in two years when broadband’s reach extends to rural areas where the youth are more defined by “music television” than elsewhere? Also, what will happen when the entire U.S. can give DirecTV the finger and embrace control?

When I told my mom of the many ways in which I experience media, she looked shocked, as if I had told her of a fantastical run-in I had with Cthulhu at the office, (he, a family man, got off early and decided to pick up his wife). The combination of immediacy and control was too unbelievable to be true. After spending the long Thanksgiving weekend up north, I completely understand her response. Broadband’s like magic if you’re stuck as a rural muggle.

Posted in Multimedia, Technology | 2 Comments »

iPhone App Development Made Affordable For Poor Musicians and B Celebrities

Posted by Stephen Wayne on Monday, October 19th, 2009

I’ve been following a few mobile app developers that allow indie artists, athletes, public figures, and small businesses to use software and web based platforms to launch their own apps and place them in the major mobile app stores.   No longer does the cost of a custom iPhone app match the sticker price of a brand new car.  These developers have made tools available to upload your own photos, music videos, connect social networks blogs and other feeds – into slick apps that won’t cost you a fortune.

You don’t have to own an iPhone to understand the value that apps present.  iPhone app development has been a booming business despite the current state of the economy.  Apps are cheap entertainment users can take anywhere.  Those who sell their apps for less than a large coffee see huge revenues from thousands of downloads.  Free apps see even more downloads and give companies a new venue to reach consumers.  The music industry has witnessed the iPhone app become not only a tool to promote artists, but also interactive albums with exclusive content that have brought in millions of dollars in sales.  But what about those cool apps you see from famous rock stars?  Can I get one of those?  The answer is: heck yes you can.

Mobile Roadie is the most promising solution for those on a budget.  While its offerings are fewer than Kyte, a platform commonly used by major labels and corporations, Mobile Roadie has a lot of functionality for the price.  Although both platforms are ideally suited for music industry related clients, they can easily be modified to fit the needs of any public figure or company.

MR features include a wall with commenting, tour dates, music player that stays put while you browse the content, album info and iTunes links, videos, integration of facebook, flickr, and other media sharing and social networks, and even imports your RSS feeds from Twitter, blogs, calendars, etc.

From what I’ve seen on the MR site, there is a mere $499 fee for setup.  MR (more…)

Tags: apps, development, iphone, kyte, moble roadie, video
Posted in Blogging, General Media, Industry, Multimedia, Technology | 2 Comments »

Disruptive Technology – Social Media At The RNC

Posted by Stephen Wayne on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Last year at this time things were quite different in the Twin Cities.  The Republican National Convention was in full swing and both Minneapolis and St. Paul were effectively under siege.  We all recall the thousands of local and imported delegates, protesters, riot cops, chartered buses, barricades, and journalists that transformed St. Paul into a political circus.  Activists had been flooding social media sites and the blogsphere for a year in advance organizing protests and recruiting people to join there causes.  During the week of the convention, these social media sites became a powerful tool for activists to out smart riot police and and broadcast their every move.

A few of my film maker friends set out to document the events and discovered some great information in the process.  At the time they regarded their findings as top secret as to maintain the flow of information from the activist underworld.  A year after these events occurred I think its safe to spill this can of beans.

While the thousands of peaceful protesters organized on the State Capitol lawn on September 1st, the Police were organizing to control the protest march that was about to take place.  Simultaneously many groups of protesters who’s intentions were to conduct civil disobedience and even rioting were putting their own plan into effect to carry out their missions.  One of the more active of activist groups was a local organization called the “RNC Welcoming Committee” who advocated less peaceful methods of protesting.  They divided the city into zones or “sectors” and delegated their radical protest duties to groups operating in each sector.  As seen in dozens of videos all over the internet,  these group of Anarchists and other anti-establishment protesters broke off from the march and raised havoc across the city.  Despite the presence of thousands of riot police form every part of the Midwest and beyond, these radical protesters successfully blocked traffic, harassed delegates, disabled delegates’ charter buses, and smashed windows on buildings and police cars.  How did they do it and where were the required back up of riot cops?

Activists use a Fox 9 report to claim victory over St. Paul’s police force in the aftermath of the RNC

A few weeks later the St. Paul police department admitted they had no control over the situation the first day of the convention.  In a Fox 9 report, the police site the problem being the two dispatch centers placed too close together.  What you didn’t hear from the police or press reports is that the protesters that broke off from the march had their own dispatch, a Twitter account called RNC08.

Twitter posts recieved via text messaging on 9-1-08 guided protesters.

Many of the protesters set up Twitter accounts of their own and became “followers” of RNC08.  By enabling the cell phone feature and turning on SMS text updates for the RNC08 account, over 100 rioters received real-time updates of locations of roit police, the direction they were heading, and how strong in numbers.   The recipients of these tweets would pass the information on to the protesters in their immediate vicinity and forward these texts to other groups.   The owner of the RNC08 Twitter account collected information from rioters in the streets located all over downtown St. Paul.  Some of the tweets requested reinforcements where cops outnumbered rioters or locations where riot cops were using rubber bullets, concussion (more…)

Tags: protesters, RNC, social media, twitter
Posted in Multimedia, Politics, Technology | 1 Comment »

Video in 2009: A Technology in Transition

Posted by Travis Norman on Friday, August 14th, 2009

Our relationship with video is starting to change.  Increased ease of creating and sharing moving image content are contributing to a shift in our notions of what the technology can, and should, be used for.  Early adopters of the first film technologies did not immediately fulfill the medium’s potential, but rather used it simply as a means of transferring their efforts in radio and theater to a new format.  Thus, silent movies and recreations of stage dramas or radio programs were produced with relatively static scenes and little deviation from the accepted ways of doing things, save for the addition of cameras.  A radical shift in distribution and presentation, to be sure, but not particularly innovative on the creative side.  In hindsight, we can clearly see that a film can offer techniques and abilities to storytellers and documentarians which are utterly unavailable to those other mediums.  This does not to imply that one approach is more valid than the others, just different in scope and potential.  A similar state of affairs exist today as we collectively push the boundaries of how and why we make video content.

To learn, to teach, to introduce ourselves, to reply to or elaborate on an idea presented by someone else, or even to interact with a friend or associate in another timezone as if they were instead in the same room – these are just a few of the ways in which we are now able to apply video in our daily lives.  Add to this the greatly reduced cost of entry required to create video for the more traditional outlets of advertising and entertainment and it appears that we are witnessing a turning point in the technology’s history.

(more…)

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Get Busy: Online Productivity Tools

Posted by Travis Norman on Friday, July 17th, 2009

More lemonade time.  That’s what I’m trying to give you today.  While summer may indeed conjure images of relaxed downtime spent sipping that classic combination of lemons and water, so pleasant in it’s understated simplicity, for most this only occurs once the day’s duties are done.  Having deduced this lemonade to productivity ratio, it seemed an increase in efficiency could directly result in more available sipping time.  Couple this with the fact that as we speak, giant companies are at battle in an effort to bring us more refined and useful tools to help better manage our time.  So, here we go…

lightweight web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote are on the way...

1) Google Docs: share and collaborate with others on the same document

2) Google Calendar: allows for you to share your calendar with multiple other users

3) Lifehacker: website with daily tips and downloads for getting things done

4) Gliffy: create flow charts and diagrams

5) ConceptShare: online collaboration tool for visual design projects

6) bubbl: online brainstorming

7) backpack: secure document sharing and organization

toodledo: online (and iPhone) to-do list with special features for procrastinators

9) Dreaminder: free goal tracker

10) Good Ol’ Pen and Paper: okay, not an online tool, but worth the space they take up in your pocket to insure you remember flashes of inspiration, potential song titles and lyrics, etc.

who will offer the best productivity tools?

when life gives you lemons...

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”
Famous quote by Henry Ford (1863-1947)

“No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.”
Famous quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
Famous quote by Zig Ziglar

Posted in Multimedia, Technology | No Comments »

The Sky’s The Limit: Cloud Computing for Multimedia Artists

Posted by Travis Norman on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Cloud computing is a term used to describe data and applications which are stored in a “cloud” of web servers and accessed via the internet rather than being drawn from your desktop computer. The concept is steadily gaining in popularity amongst business professionals seeking to streamline their infrastructures and potentially save some money. Benefits of moving to this type of system include no longer requiring an IT team to maintain proper operation and no longer having to invest in costly hardware and software solutions. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are amongst the many companies planning on delivering information and applications in this manner.

While pondering the ramifications of this paradigm shift for the corporate world, I began to wonder how it might impact the work flows of creative types as well. Could producers of multimedia content hope to harness this potential and reap similar rewards? A quick consulting of my technology trends Magic-8-Ball revealed that we may indeed keep our eyes open for interesting developments on this front. Let us imagine then, a world in which reaching for the sky yields powerful tools of production and collaboration, and productivity rains down upon us!In this hypothetical reality, the power offered by cloud software has actually surpassed that of what is available for traditional local installation. By overseeing the deployment and upkeep of their products, the major multimedia software manufactures have been able to offer three huge advantages.

The first is an increase in capability: the coupling of higher bandwidth speeds for internet subscribers with the strength inherent in hosting the software on large scale servers has resulted in exceptionally powerful systems.

The second aspect is the reliability derived from real time upkeep on the manufacturer’s end; by employing maintenance experts dedicated to identifying and fixing bugs and glitches, the end user is able to enjoy a stable environment to work in each time they log in. The product is thus perpetually being updated, with everyone using the same “version”.

The third incentive is the potential for collaboration. Existing examples of this technology have progressed greatly in the real world and now offer a viable platform for working with others regardless of physical location; embedding them into the flagship host digital audio and video workstations would be a game changing event. So how does this vision of tomorrow compare with the options available today? The type of integration with leading software packages that I imagined may be a ways off, but at least on company is poised to show us how it might be done. Indaba Music, who describe themselves as “an international community of musicians, where artists network and collaborate in online recording sessions”, recently made an announcement detailing the arrival of their browser-based DAW software tentatively called Session Console 2.0.

This multi-platform release will allow users to record high quality audio and access editing, looping, and mixing capabilities. A handful of artists have been working with a beta version which is generating some positive reviews.

“I got different companies contacting me all the time trying to get me excited about their products, and most of the time I just don’t care. But this particular application, the Indaba Music Console caught my fancy,” said Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. “It’s like a simplified version of any of these complex professional recording programs that no one like me knows how to use. It’s going to open the door for a giant population of musicians out there, a giant resource for somebody like me.”

Not everyone is convinced that allowing cloud based applications access to, or even control of, your data is a wise idea. However, purveyors of web based applications seem appropriately aware that the path to their success is based on remaining open and transparent while insuring that customers feel secure (or else these customers will simply leave).While attempts at bringing cloud computing to creative types will certainly not appeal to everyone, the possibilities are more than enough to keep me intrigued. After conducting an informal twitter poll, it seems that the prospect of accessing projects from any computer without jumping through the required hoops of proper session transfers is pretty enticing to a number of folks. Stay tuned to these pages for further developments on this exciting trend…

Posted in General Media, Multimedia, Technology | No Comments »

Retro Future: All Tomorrow’s Parties

Posted by admin on Monday, June 1st, 2009

Depicted in the following snapshots of imagined futures are colorful predictions of what was once thought to be right around the corner.  Complete with technology and automation to handle life’s chores, it seemed a carefree existence, full of wonder.  While these idyllic days don’t seem to be dawning in quite the way we were promised, we may at least take comfort in the knowledge that there remains a small, yet dedicated group committed to preserving the vision.  So crack open a freeze-dried astronaut snack and return for a moment to the tomorrows of yesterday.

The as-of-yet unexplored potentials of televisions, automobiles, and homes were delivered with convincing authority in the cartoons of Tex Avery.  Is it any surprise, then, that many young minds grew bitter with disillusionment as not a single one of these advanced concepts was brought to the marketplace.

(more…)

Posted in Art and Culture, Multimedia, Technology | No Comments »

Retro Future: All Tomorrow’s Parties

Posted by Travis Norman on Thursday, May 14th, 2009

Depicted in the following snapshots of imagined futures are colorful predictions of what was once thought to be right around the corner.  Complete with technology and automation to handle life’s chores, it seemed a carefree existence, full of wonder.  While these idyllic days don’t seem to be dawning in quite the way we were promised, we may at least take comfort in the knowledge that there remains a small, yet dedicated group committed to preserving the vision.  So crack open a freeze-dried astronaut snack and return for a moment to the tomorrows of yesterday.

The as-of-yet unexplored potentials of televisions, automobiles, and homes were delivered with convincing authority in the cartoons of Tex Avery.  Is it any surprise, then, that many young minds grew bitter with disillusionment as not a single one of these advanced concepts was brought to the marketplace.

(more…)

Posted in Art and Culture, Multimedia, Technology | No Comments »

Future Still Not What It Used To Be? The Buck Starts Here!

Posted by admin on Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Kurzweil meets Glenn Beck.

I sometimes wish I could squeeze more entertainment value out of people who make mundane yet extravagantly exclusive tech predictions. Instead, whenever somebody claims something along the lines of “the future of music is jewel-encrusted flash drives,” I can’t help but inwardly wince. People prone to holding devices at eye level (anything mobile is popular) and saying “this is the future,” per AllHipHop.com cofounder Greg Watkins (smart guy, lousy speaker) at last year’s National Conference for Media Reform, bug me even more, especially when they’re trying to show off some unidentified app without first remembering to hit “on.”

Vernor Vinge discusses singularity readiness.

(more…)

Tags: alvin toffler, future, future shock, futurism, futurist, glenn beck, h.g. wells, kurzweil, New Scientist, the club of rome, walt disney
Posted in Multimedia, Technology | No Comments »

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