Posts
Indaba Music and Dave Stewart Join Forces with Tim Kring and Nokias Conspiracy For Good
Thu Jul 29, 10:03 AM
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Indaba Music, the internationally heralded community of musicians, and Dave Stewart’s trendsetting record label, Weapons of Mass Entertainment, are joining Heroes creator Tim Kring and Nokia’s Conspiracy For Good (CFG) campaign to create music to benefit award-winning international nonprofit programs. Focusing on literacy and education, the new initiatives will benefit Room to Read and the Chataika Basic School in Zambia, and will feature the participation of Weapons of Mass Entertainment artists.
Indaba Music has launched a unique musical composition program on IndabaMusic.com (http://www.indabamusic.com/featured_programs/show/cfg), offering five $1,000 prizes to winning artists whose submissions embody the true spirit of the Conspiracy For Good. Musicians may create a new song using provided audio or by uploading a pre-recorded composition of their own. Submissions are due by August 31 at 5 pm EDT.
“We are excited to be working with such innovative people and organizations,” said Matt Siegel, Indaba Music Co-CEO. “It’s an honor to bring such a worthy global cause to our international community.”
The inventive Weapons of Mass Entertainment joined CFG from day one when its internationally renowned artists, Ann Marie Calhoun and Nadirah X were uniquely interwoven into the story as protagonists, blurring the lines between fact and fiction when they joined the CFG to expose the evil Blackwell Briggs. As the story has progressed, Ann Marie has disappeared, leaving clues embedded in her music to help Nadirah and the audience uncover the corruption of Blackwell Briggs.
Additionally, a unique version of The Eurythmics’ chart topping hit ‘Sweet Dreams’ has been recorded in Mandarin by Beijing-based singer Tia Yuan. Recorded in Hong Kong and co-produced by Dave Stewart and Hans Ebert, Tia’s rendition will be sold on Nokia’s Ovi Music with all proceeds going to Room to Read’s Conspiracy For Good campaign.
“Music plays one of the starring roles in the Conspiracy For Good,” said Dave Stewart. “Promoting social benefits through this new entertainment experience is the focus of Conspiracy For Good. Through unique community participation on Indaba Music, and artist support from around the world, CFG is offering a new and unique concept of Music for Good.”
CFG has been interacting with participants using music throughout the project. Clues hidden in online music tracks have been solved to move the story forward, London’s Kiss FM awarded listeners with tickets to the 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Festival courtesy of CFG, and a handful of underground gigs have all demonstrated the power of good for CFG participants. CFG has continued hosting live events in London including a massive concert on July 28 that featured acts including Chapel Club, Wild Palms, and Flats; a forthcoming recruitment party on July 31 including DJing and live vocals from Shingai Shoniwa and Dan from the Noisettes; and the finale on August 7 featuring musical performances from Mystery Jets, Dave Stewart, Tia Yuan, Ann Marie Calhoun, Nadirah X, and special guests - limited tickets are still available. To take part in the events you can register at www.conspiracyforgood.com.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Now We Know What Dave Stewart is up to on this Project! 'Indaba Music and Dave Stewart Join Forces with Tim Kring and Nokias Conspiracy For Good
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Panasonic introduces 3-D camcorders -
Excerpt:
"The whole camcorder and lens setup, shown Wednesday, starts at about 170,000 yen ($2,000), far more affordable than professional 3-D camcorders, which have been the only types available up to now for 3-D filming. The camera looks much like a regular digital camcorder but needs a slightly bigger 3-D “conversion” lens that's sold separately."
more deets...
Logorama -award winning video - in case you haven't seen it!
via vimeo.com
This is a short film that was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain. It was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award under the category of animated short.
In this film there are two pieces of licensed music, in the beginning and in the end. All the other music and sound design are original. The opening track (Dean Martin "Good Morning Life") and closing track (The Ink Spots "I don't want to send the world on fire") songs are licensed pre-existing tracks. All original music and sound design is by, human
(www.humanworldwide.com)
Ghost Recon: Alpha Live Action Trailer screened at Comic-con
via youtube.com
Oscar-Winning directors Francois Alaux & Herve de Crecy (Logorama) will be directing a 20 minute live action prequel to be released in 2010 with the Ubisoft Game
wanna make a 3D movie? here's how: 3-D, 3-D, 3-D, in All Directions «
via ascmag.com
Excerpt:
"In the July 2010 issue of Popular Mechanics (page 115) DIY Tech writer Anthony Verducci presents a print version of how to color correct (subtractive) the dual uploaded files in your computer, then sync and merge them for anaglyph viewing. He concludes by writing “this fall a Roxio-branded 3-D software suite from Sonic Solutions will completely automate the 3-D editing process.”"
lots more deets:
http://www.ascmag.com/blog/2010/06/28/3-d-3-d-3-d-in-all-directions/
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Whoot! Gorillaz release 3 episode game- Escape to Plastic Beach for iPhone + iPad
via youtube.com
seems it's a 3 episode game - free to play for the first two, then pay to play for the 3rd!
Small Agency of the Year, Campaign of the Year: Definition 6's 'Happiness Machine'
How they did it
The brief the agency received from Coke was to create something that had viral traction. However, "there are no guarantees regarding anything going viral," said Definition 6 Executive Creative Director John Harne. "Viral implies you are in a popularity contest; viewers must choose to see the video. This is unlike what most agencies create spots for. You cannot buy airtime based upon ratings. Instead, the best you can do is to seed the videos. We had a good strategy for that and were successful. And let's not forget luck. We informed the client there are no guarantees and we consider timing and luck part of our success."
via adage.com
full article on adage.com
Dude-Centric Video Network Break Media Moves Into 3D Programming
via techcrunch.com
Source: techcrunch.com
by Leena Rao on Jul 27, 2010
Following the success of 3D technology on films like Avatar, Break Media, a social video and entertainment site for guys, is moving into 3D programming today with the launch of a 3D video channel on Break.com. Video content, which will include action sports videos and a series of 3D mini-shows, will both be curated in-house and aggregated from across the web, so viewers have a one-stop-shop for 3D content online. See our in-depth guide to 3D technology here.
Break Media’s has nine branded properties, which include Break.com, MadeMan, Chickipedia, Cage Potato, Holy Taco, Screen Junkies, and All Left Turns, and also operates an ad network. While the Break’s CEO CEO, Keith Richman says that there isn’t a wealth of 3D content on the web at the moment, he believes that demand will steadily increase and wants to get into the game early.
Break’s original content that it will be created in-house includes X3D, an extreme sports series with skateboarding, Motocross, BMX, and MMA videos; Scare3D, a horror series that presents the viewer with a new frightening scenario each week; and Life in 3D, a series that takes a unique look at everyday objects and surroundings and exposes them in all their 3D glory.
And Break will be also incorporating 3D video into the advertising products it offers through its in-house ad server, Apex. Richman says that the 3D video offering will also give advertisers another way to create innovative campaigns to attract clicks....
more deets:
Grazie to Jane McGonigal! for posting the ARG Urgent Evoke Debrief » What Went Right, What Went Wrong
Top 10 What Went Right
1. We created an extremely active, productive community from scratch, virtually overnight.
2. We focused on real, intrinsic motivation and real activity.
3. We defined and bounded the experience very clearly: “a crash course in changing the world”, brought to you by the World Bank Institute: 10 Weeks, 10 Missions.
4. We made it social.
5. We designed multiple win levels.
6. We invented the Leader Cloud.
7. We created a highly addictive activity feed.
8. We created a super-satisfying feedback loop: runes automatically lighting up for completed quests and missions.
9. We designed a great hero’s journey (the quests).
10. We created a real “game-changer.” We took full advantage of media opportunities to create an extremely high-profile project – and to tell an urgently optimistic story – and as a result, EVOKE changed what people think is possible.
Top 10 What Went Wrong
1. We failed to start the gameplay soon enough – ideally, during registration.
2. The social world wasn’t bounded enough.
3. Weekly missions and the final EVOKATION weren’t connected enough.
4. We didn’t design meaningful SMS gameplay.
5. We missed the opportunity on real-time mentors.
6. The +1 voting wasn’t fun or meaningful enough.
7. The quests would have been more valuable if they were more integrated with the missions – players using unique strengths and vision to respond to the URGENT EVOKES.
8. Overall, the collective experience of the EVOKE network subsumed the individual journey toward social innovation.
9. We needed more meaningful opportunities for strengths-based collaboration and teamwork.
10. We definitely want to do a better job presenting the EVOKE Code of Ethics and getting player buy-in.
Amazing detailed debrief on the wins, improvements & solutions here:
http://blog.urgentevoke.net/2010/07/26/what-went-right-what-went-wrong-lesson...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Facebook stories - fascinating to see this launch after watching the 1st The Social Network trailer in theater
Onsite text:
"Facebook stories
Facebook is all about the individual and collective experiences of you and your friends. It's filled with hundreds of millions of stories. Which ones inspire you? What's your Facebook story?
All of us at Facebook thank you for being a part of our story: facebook.com/thanks"
will I share my stories on facebook???? may be not
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The Future of Advertising = Crowd Sourcing - BusinessWeek
The Future of Advertising The traditional advertising model is broken, argues John Winsor of new-model agency Victors & Spoils. It's time for the old guard to wake up By John Winsor
I posed this teaser in a Businessweek.com article published just over a year ago. At the time, the question was purely rhetorical. But in the ensuing conversations it quickly became obvious that the answer was a resounding "NO."
Realizing this inspired me to quit my job as executive director of strategy and product innovation at the advertising agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky to co-found Victors & Spoils, an advertising agency based on crowdsourcing principles. Now I find myself at the center of the debate about the future of advertising, design, and marketing—even the future of work itself.
via businessweek.com
Saturday, July 24, 2010
« Mixed-Media Artists Reanimate Night of the Living Dead |
via wired.com
I thought this played with the original soundtrack - must be on the dvd!
Help Film a Time Capsule for Future Generations | Ridley Scott's Life if a Day is Today!
via wired.com
“It’ll be kind of like a time capsule, which people in the future, maybe in 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 200 years could look at that and say ‘Oh my god, that’s what it’s like — a portrait of the world in a day.’”
Of course, this is what YouTube and the rest of the social web do already:
They document our lives. But by carefully curating these clips into a unified creative vision, MacDonald hopes to make something far more meaningful than a random sampling of YouTube videos dated the same day typically would.
To participate, simply film something happening Saturday (guidelines follow) and then look for the “submit” button that will appear on the “Life in a Day” YouTube channel, Saturday, July 24. MacDonald advises participants to shoot high-quality video of any length and save their uncompressed footage in case their videos are selected for inclusion.
The project will be more effective if MacDonald can weave together thematic threads that connect people’s videos, so in addition to the guidelines linked from this page, he mentions the a few examples of the sort of “little snapshots from your lives” that he’ll be looking for:
“something banal” like going to work or breakfast time
the sunrise
your baby doing something interesting
going to the hospital to visit a friend
your birthday
going for a walk in the countryside
or something “much more meaningful and emotional,” such as the demolition of your favorite building or the death of a friend
your wedding
Overall, MacDonald asks participants to answer the following four questions:
What do you fear the most (he mentions snakes, population explosion, climate change, the witch who lives next door)?
What do you love?
What makes you laugh?
What is in your pocket? (In MacDonald’s case, he had an iPhone in a case, keys, a “very cheap pen” given to him by Donald Sutherland and a tissue.)
Del Toro Promises Serious Scares in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark | Underwire
SAN DIEGO — Guillermo Del Toro told would-be horror storytellers to keep things visual if they want him to consider their projects.
“I can’t listen to story pitches,” he said during the Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark presentation at Comic-Con International here Friday, “but If you’ve got a portfolio of drawings or a short film, fucking show it to me!”
He’s not just blowing hot air. First-time feature filmmaker Troy Nixey got his shot at directing old-school screamfest Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark by e-mailing Del Toro a few .jpgs featuring monsters from his 2000 short film Latchkey’s Lament.
“To get a guy like Guillermo Del Toro to see your short film and then ask you to direct a movie he wrote the script for is like a dream come true,” Nixey said during the Hall H presentation.
The filmmakers unveiled a Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark trailer and previewed a gripping Gothic sequence centered on an exceptionally brutal bit of dungeon dentistry performed on a hapless housemaid who falls down the stairs. After the clip, Del Toro questioned an admiring fan: “Did you crap in your pants?…. Figuratively of course.”
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, set for Jan. 21 release, contains no profanity or nudity, but nonetheless received an R rating because it was simply too scary for younger audiences.
“I consider that R a badge of honor,” said Del Toro, who wrote and produced the movie, which is based on a 1973 TV movie of the same name.
He scripted the remake in 1997 but had a hard time selling its hard-core terror to studio bigwigs, who wanted the filmmaker to tone down the ending. The setup: When a little girl (played by Bailee Madison) visits her father (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in the old mansion, she triggers evil forces within.
A day earlier at Comic-Con, Del Toro announced that he will be developing a movie called The Haunted Mansion based on the classic Disney attraction.
Follow us on Twitter: @hughhart and @theunderwire.
See Also:
via wired.com
L I V E E V E R Y L I T R E +>online participatory doc hits the road in a Honda hybrid -how far will they get?
Not all journeys are about distance. Earlier this year we set out on a road trip across Europe to film people on their own once-in-a-lifetime journeys. From sailing a bouncy castle to dancing naked on the streets of Paris.
We asked you to be the stars of the films, to plot the routes and even make the music. Thousands of you took part and helped us choose 13 people to hit the road.
38 days, 18 European cities and 10,000 kilometres later, you can see all of the films you helped make, right here.
You Suck at Transmedia post» David Varela talks YSA Measurement & ARGs
Excerpt:
"The numbers: our core space in Home got 4.5 million visits from around 620,000 players in 3 months. There were another 11 spaces that came and went during the course of the game. There were other numbers too: the Xi messageboards had 18 million views and tens of thousands of messages. There were hundreds of Xi-related videos on YouTube and a dozen or more wikis and fan sites. Anecdotally, some players said they’d gone from visiting Home maybe once a month to spending 40+ hours a week in there.
So a few lessons in learned:
1. Advertisers love these figures. But the thing is, the anecdotal ones carry more weight than you’d think – they become the headline that the ad man leads with when selling the concept. They maybe not have the rigour of online tracking, but they have emotional power. Like a good newspaper quote, they can really help demonstrate success."
Read more at Christy Dena's blog, You Suck at Transmedia:
Hill Holliday Blog » A Site That Went Viral and The Numbers Behind It - grazie Christy Dena!
via hhcc.com
A Site That Went Viral and The Numbers Behind It
by Ilya Vedrashko | July 21st, 2010
It is an unfortunate but understandable reality that while we often marvel at digital projects that spread like wildfire across the web, we rarely get a chance to look at the numbers behind them. Between January and May, we built, launched and monitored Jerzify Yourself (warning: sound on autoplay) to get just such a glimpse into the dynamics of spreadable content.
This is going to be a long post, so if you are in a hurry, check the summary published in AdAge or scroll all the way down to the list of the most important things we’ve learned from this experiment.
The Setup
Jerzify Yourself was created in January a week after the first season finale of a certain MTV show that had attracted an audience of 4.8 million. The site, written in a few days in Flash, provides a familiar attraction of uploading one’s headshot onto a stylized body, and is packed with references recognizable by the show’s viewers. Or, in the much more lively words of Village Voice: ”The gist is Snooki-grade simple: upload a medium-sized jpg, scale the image to fit, choose your spraytan shade, pick your pose — and holy Freckles McGee, you’re magically recast as a human meatball.”...
read more: http://www.hhcc.com/blog/?p=2814
Friday, July 23, 2010
Read Online! Spider-Man: India Comics Online Issue #4 |
Spider-Man: India #4
The Story: When Pavitr Prabhakar donned the costume of Spider-Man, he didn’t realize the danger and tragedy that he’d have to face. Now Pavitr finds his whole life has led to one moment, one chance for Spider-Man to put things right and bring down the maniacal man-turned-monster known as…the Green Goblin! In this final issue of the first Spider-Man: India limited series, It’s a desperate fight to the finish with the fate of India hanging in the balance!
via marvel.com
Now how could we play with this??? 3D Printing Inches Toward Affordability for Small Businesses
Check out this website I found at networkedblogs.com
Excerpt:
"High-resolution 3D printing crept further into reach for small businesses this morning when Z Corporation announced two new models of its ZPrinter line of 3D printers.
The ZPrinter 150 and 250 models, priced at $14,999 and $24,999 respectively, are being touted by the company as an ideal solution for classrooms and small businesses.
3D printing has been used for years by large firms, medical professionals and governments to quickly create 3D prototypes of product designs, human body parts, architectural models and just about anything else that can be imagined and drawn up using CAD software. It's only in recent years that the printers have begun to drop in price to the point where they can fit within the budget of smaller companies."
It's about unique value & participatory narrative: Transmedia & Jeff Gomez: from the Bible to Middle Earth to Coca-Cola to Melbourne
by: David Tiley
Screen Hub, Wednesday 21 July, 2010
Jeff Gomez, transmedia proselyte, is a high priest of a development model which proves there actually is a secret conspiracy to control us all. This is something you should probably know.
Jeff Gomez, who owns Starlight Runner Entertainment, has one of the best roles in the screen sector. In public he is called a transmedia producer - a role he helped develop - but his task is actually much deeper than that.
Transmedia producers manage the spread of a project across its attendant media and ancillaries, which can encompass comics, novels, music, toys, spin off series, webisodes, and the vast range of product-based tie-ins, which in turn can involve the placement deals. It is about spreading the brand, creating new connections and opportunities, tracking the monetisation, and resolving the complex intellectual property issues. It is connected to the original property, to project income, to marketing, and the management of fans.
This is not about plonking a character on a shirt, or a doll in a toyshop. To the proselytes like Gomez, the task is to tell important stories related to the original material across the range of material. It is called transmedia storytelling.
On the phone, Jeff cited the webisodes for Battlestar Galactica as an elegant example. "Things were revealed about ancillary characters, or terrestrial creatures or certain concepts that could be viewed independently but gave you new insight into the characters and concepts of the show." he said. "They made you want to go back to the show, and re-examine their characters and motivations – that’s a great transmedia mutation because it caused you to look at the ancillary and rethink whats going on in the main content."
This makes sense as a marketing tool. The ancillaries reach far beyond the film, and can be made to point back to it. "Look at District Nine", he said, "and its marketing. Almost everything in that marketing was canonical. That makes it fascinating, and helped to build the level of interest in the film. You are paying for that if you are a studio. However, you might also accrue a number of licensees for the tee shirts and magazine and comic books and toys, based on your IP. Why not go further and give them bits of canonical content so you are simultaneously licensing the content, and nurturing the storyworld? That is a major rethink for many of our clients to get that."
To do this, the story elements have to be distributed across the media, and therefore ruthlessly consistent. Indeed, the central property has to be able to bear the strain of all this extra material. This is far more elaborate than ensuring all the properties enhance the brand - it cuts to the heart of the script and the world it creates and inhabits.
This is the bit that creates a model of development which explains just why and how the big tentpole franchises are filling our multiplexes - a process which can be subverted for our more modest purposes.
Gomez is creating bibles for films or television series which go far beyond the bible as we understand it in series production, although we are familiar with the basic notion. It is an intricate description of the world, the characters, the connections, timelines, backstory, any fantastical elements or conventions or special devices. It articulates, binds and bounds everything.
He used the example of Tolkien, saying, "Middle Earth was built on an enormous amount of research and development. A hyper-elaborate bible with a whole language and world was made before he wrote 'The Hobbit'. So what we are building is closer to that model. A platform neutral development of the storyworld."
via xmedialab.com
read more.... www.xmedia.com
Thursday, July 22, 2010
whoa! Celebrated authors bypass publishing houses to sell ebooks via Amazon (check the authors list!)
Philip Roth is one of several major authors bypassing publishers to sell digital versions of their books via Amazon. Photograph: Orjan F Ellingvag/Dagbladet/Corbis
An eye-wateringly stellar list of authors, from Philip Roth to Orhan Pamuk, Martin Amis and John Updike, is bypassing publishers to sell digital editions of books directly to readers, via Amazon.
The brainchild of uber-agent Andrew "The Jackal" Wylie, Odyssey Editions launches today. It offers 20 modern literary classics as ebooks for the first time, exclusively via Amazon.com's Kindle store. The books, all priced at Amazon's usual ebook rate of $9.99, range from Amis's London Fields, Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and VS Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival to titles from the estates of dead authors such as John Updike, William S Burroughs, Saul Bellow and Hunter S Thompson.
The authors all share Wylie as their agent, and the move makes good on his threat last month that, dissatisfied with the terms publishers have been offering for ebooks, he would remove them from the equation.
"We will take our 700 clients, see what rights are not allocated to publishers, and establish a company on their behalf to license those ebook rights directly to someone like Google, Amazon.com, or Apple. It would be another business, set up on parallel tracks to the frontlist book business," he told Harvard Magazine in June.
The exclusive deal with Amazon, which will last for two years, effectively removes other booksellers from the equation as well: modern classics including Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas will only be sold through the internet retailer.
"As the market for ebooks grows, it will be important for readers to have access in ebook format to the best contemporary literature the world has to offer," said Wylie, who worked with the UK company Enhanced Editions on the digital project. "This publishing programme is designed to address that need, and to help ebook readers build a digital library of classic contemporary literature."
The move is likely to concern publishers. In December, Random House wrote to agents informing them of its belief that it holds exclusive rights to digital editions of the "vast majority" of its backlist titles, even those acquired before electronic rights were specifically included in contracts. That letter enraged authors, and the Authors Guild issued a statement saying that "publishers acquire only the rights that they bargain for; authors retain rights they have not expressly granted to publishers. E-book rights, under older book contracts, were retained by the authors."
The guild also pointed to a 2001 court ruling, which dismissed Random House's claim that its copyright had been breached when ebook publisher Rosetta Books acquired digital rights in eight novels by the American writers Kurt Vonnegut and William Styron.
But Random House – which publishes physical editions of some of the Odyssey titles – looks set to challenge the new venture. Spokesman Stuart Applebaum said in a statement that the publisher was "disappointed by Mr Wylie's actions".
He continued: "Last night, we sent a letter to Amazon disputing their rights to legally sell these titles, which are subject to active Random House publishing agreements. Upon assessing our business options, we will be taking appropriate action."
Eleven of the Odyssey titles will be available globally, according to Amazon.com. The tension between publishers and authors over ebook rights has also been growing in the UK: earlier this month historian and novelist Tom Holland, chair of the Society of Authors, said that the deals authors were being asked to sign up to for ebooks were "not remotely fair".
The current standard royalty for ebooks in the UK is 25%, but authors believe it should be 50%, as digital editions have lower warehousing and distribution costs.
American literary agent Robert Gottlieb, chairman of the Trident Media Group, said agents were also pushing for better royalty rates in the US. "As of this time, publishers are doing their hardest to hold to the 25%. My view is this is a moving target and, as time goes by and the market place becomes more competitive, publishers will have to negotiate ebook royalties on a case-by-case basis," he said.
Although Gottlieb wished Andrew well in his new venture, he felt that an agent becoming, in effect, a publisher contained "the potential for a conflict of interest with authors and/or estates", and is not contemplating a similar move himself.
Wylie's initiative is not the first time authors have looked to bypass publishers. In December, bestselling business author Stephen Covey announced that he had sold exclusive digital rights in two of his bestselling titles to Amazon, cutting out his traditional publisher Simon & Schuster. The deal was made via Rosetta Books, which also struck a similar deal in the US for a collection of titles by Ian McEwan. And with Amazon.com offering authors a royalty of 70% for ebooks sold via its Kindle store, the trend only looks set to continue.
Full list of titles published by Odyssey Editions and available on the Kindle:
London Fields by Martin Amis
The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
Ficciones (Spanish edition) by Jorge Luis Borges
Junky by William Burroughs
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
The Enigma of Arrival by VS Naipaul
The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson
Rabbit Run by John Updike
Rabbit Redux by John Updike
Rabbit is Rich by John Updike
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
via guardian.co.uk
Excerpt:
"An eye-wateringly stellar list of authors, from Philip Roth to Orhan Pamuk, Martin Amis and John Updike, is bypassing publishers to sell digital editions of books directly to readers, via Amazon.
The brainchild of uber-agent Andrew "The Jackal" Wylie, Odyssey Editions launches today. It offers 20 modern literary classics as ebooks for the first time, exclusively via Amazon.com's Kindle store. The books, all priced at Amazon's usual ebook rate of $9.99, range from Amis's London Fields, Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and VS Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival to titles from the estates of dead authors such as John Updike, William S Burroughs, Saul Bellow and Hunter S Thompson.
The authors all share Wylie as their agent, and the move makes good on his threat last month that, dissatisfied with the terms publishers have been offering for ebooks, he would remove them from the equation.
"We will take our 700 clients, see what rights are not allocated to publishers, and establish a company on their behalf to license those ebook rights directly to someone like Google, Amazon.com, or Apple. It would be another business, set up on parallel tracks to the frontlist book business," he told Harvard Magazine in June..."
read more: guardian.co.uk
Holy Crap! check the detailed data summary: You want an interactive map of where Facebook is used? Happy to help | Technology | guardian.co.uk
You want to know which countries Facebook has made the greatest inroads into? Happy to help.
With data from Nick Burcher, plus some data about the world population (thanks, Wikipedia), plus a little bit of SQL, plus OpenHeatMap, we've got an interactive map you can play with to see where Facebook is all-conquering - specifically, which countries it has the largest (and sometimes smallest) number of the population signed up for, in hitting its 500 million user mark.
via guardian.co.uk
Clever: The Most Interesting Man Once Threw a Party So Exclusive Even He Wasn't There
via fastcompany.com
Excerpt:
"You know who he is. Right now, he's probably luging Mount Everest or quail hunting in Tunisia. He is the only man alive able to tweet 141 characters. Once, he saw a quadruple rainbow and hiked on, unimpressed. He is...The Most Interesting Man in the World. And last night, he threw a party.
As legend has it, the Dos Equis frontman "jettisoned his belongings" after his personal aircraft malfunctioned during a "routine circumnavigation of the world." Of course, it is "well known that the Most Interesting Man is a collector of priceless artifacts," and these items must be found. Called the Most Interesting Cargo Hunt, the Dos Equis-sponsored event was based entirely around this story, and like his perfectly crafted lines, every detail of the gathering was fine-tuned. It serves as an innovative example of how viral marketing has legs beyond social media and other traditional avenues."
Monday, July 19, 2010
When Netflix Knocks Out Blockbuster, Blame Canada | Fast Company
via fastcompany.com
Excerpt:
"Ah, Canada. The true north, strong and free, as its anthem sings. Here, Blockbuster's Canadian subsidiary is indeed strong--at least, much stronger than it is in the U.S.--and free--or at least, debt-free. Unlike its American counterpart, which is mired in nearly $1 billion of debt, Blockbuster Canada Co. has remained strong, with more than 450 stores and annual sales around $400 million. But don't expect this success story to last too much longer--Netflix is expanding north, in a move that could seriously damage Blockbuster's Canadian operations.
Netflix announced today that it will be launching a streaming-only service in Canada this fall. It's main competitors up north will be Blockbuster and Zip.ca, a privately owned kiosk and DVD-mailing service that's a spitting image of Netflix (just check out its homepage), but without Netflix's killer online-streaming capability. "The future really is streaming," says Steve Swasey, VP of corporate communications at Netflix. "Netflix is growing very robustly in the U.S., and we hope that our neighbors up north will enjoy the service."
Swasey says Netflix chose Canada for several reasons. Besides it's close proximity to the U.S., Canada benefits from having a high-broadband penetration, close to 75%, which is obviously crucial for launching a streaming service...."
read more:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1671681/launch-of-netflix-canada-spells-big-troubl...
whoa! 'There's still 12 minutes of new Lost left to see, starring Ben Linus and Hurley!' thanx unkledanger!
via io9.com
"You thought you were at last finished with Lost...but Lost isn't yet done with you. The upcoming sixth season and complete series DVDs will feature an all-new, 12 minute vignette featuring Ben and Hurley. And yes, it will answer questions!
Michael Emerson and Jorge Garcia are both reprising their roles for the DVD extra, which involves their characters taking over as the island's new overseers. The image up top is from the new mini-episode. What we know about the short is almost entirely confined to an interview with Michael Emerson, in which he simply states:" .....
read more deets after that cliffhanger at:
http://io9.com/5589855/theres-still-12-minutes-of-new-lost-left-to-see-starri...
A hidden world, growing beyond control: Washington Post launches investigative site 'Top secret America
Excerpt:
'The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work....'
Find more:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world...
Sunday, July 18, 2010
what the????? '70,000 Blogs Shut Down by U.S. Law Enforcement'
The gist of the conversation on the discussion board initially indicated that copyright infringement might have been the motivation. Torrent services, like Bittorrent, are the frequent target of legal actions as they are an efficient way to share large amounts of information, such as television shows or movies. This does not appear to be the case, however. The owner stated that the service dealt with copyright issues without prior problems.
"(I) got C&D letters from copyright owners to remove pages with links to torrent/rapidshare. I always handle such abuse reports within 24 hours and remove such material."
BurstNET responded that "this was not a typical case, in which suspension and notification would be the norm." A spokesperson for the company later told CNET that this case had nothing to do with copyright violations.
On the discussion board, a BurstNET representative subsequently said:
"Simply put: We cannot give him his data nor can we provide any other details. By stating this, most would recognize that something serious is afoot...This is the last post we will make on this subject."As things currently stand:
- 70,000 people have been cut off from their blogs
- The law enforcement agency involved has not been identified
- The alleged wrongdoing on the part of the platform has not been made public
That "something serious is afoot" is a description, not an explanation. Keeping this sort of thing private may be warranted, at least when it comes to the details. But the sensible thing for this unnamed agency to do, if in fact it exists and is an actor in this drama, would be for it to issue an official statement with at least some verifiable information in it.
URL blocked graphic by Wesley Fryer
via readwriteweb.com
Meet Milo: Microsoft's virtual four-year-old boy who acts just like a real child | watch for the gestural interface
via dailymail.co.uk
I don't buy all claims in the video but the gestural interface is gorgeous:
Excerpt:
"He will answer your questions and if you make fun of him he blushes and walks away.
In fact Milo is just like any other boy his age only with one important difference - he is a computer programme.
The four-year-old has been unveiled by Microsoft as the world’s first real virtual character who is convincing enough to be considered‘human’.
The player’s voice commands and physical movements are picked up by an infra-red sensor which works with artificial intelligence to interpret the player’s intonation and meaning, and respond accordingly.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1295004/Meet-Milo-Microsofts-v...#ixzz0u5OuqnKs
Conspiracy for Good: transmedia storytelling goes live in London + Nokia X6 handsets
via futurebook.net
Excerpt:
"Conspiracy for Good is an enormous, well funded transmedia project (devised by Tim Kring - maker of the massively popular TV series 'Heroes'). It is being billed as a 'game changer' and from it publishers and their storytelling competitors could learn lessons about how stories can be told in the 21st century.
Conspiracy for Good is an ARG (Alternative Reality Game - http://bit.ly/9QzKs2), a text-heavy game-storytelling hybrid (see recent research 32% of UK population see themselves as gamers - http://bit.ly/cPKEcw) CFG creates a dramatically fictional experience using interactive theatre, video content, blog posts and participatory game."
more deets:
http://futurebook.net/content/conspiracy-good-transmedia-storytelling
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Miniature faking - The Best How-To article on Wikipedia - grazie Matt Gorbet!
via en.wikipedia.org
"Miniature faking is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is made to look like a photograph of a miniature scale model. Blurring parts of the photo simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered in close-up photography, making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is; the blurring can be done either optically when the photograph is taken, or by digital postprocessing. Many faked-miniature photographs are taken from a high angle to simulate the effect of looking down on a miniature."
more deets on wikipedia!
Interactive Fish Tank designed by Kitchen & Ben Hooker : Life in a fishbowl
San Jose's Mineta Airport has that new airport smell. The new terminal has shiny floors, a new Peet's coffee shop and the usual gates through which travelers come and go. But the terminal is also a museum, where artwork almost becomes part of the architecture.
A fish tank with cameras and screens that resemble a flight information display nearly blends in with the airport decor -- nearly. The large metal structure between gates 25 and 26 catches passengers' eyes. Some are drawn to the fish, without always noticing themselves on display.
"People just love fish," says Shona Kitchen, a Mountain View resident and co-designer of the piece. "They don't know you're part of the project."
Kitchen co-designed the piece -- called "Dreaming F.I.D.S." -- with Los Angeles-based artist Ben Hooker.
"The concept was to bring an obvious infrastructure -- surveillance -- together with something natural," Kitchen says.
Kitchen's work as an artist -- or, as she says, a "designer" -- has largely centered on the relationship between technology and nature."I love machines, I love technology, but I love nature as well," Kitchen says. "I try to find a way to celebrate both."
Part of this task is transforming the way people see technology.
"A lot of people see technology as negative," Kitchen says. "I look at a negative aspect of man-made environment and find ways to make people think these things are positive."
For the "Dreaming F.I.D.S." project, Kitchen focused on the technology of surveillance, a system that is prevalent in airports.
"Surveillance software is a piece of art," she says. "Hopefully it (the installation) will make people see surveillance as a more playful thing."
"Dreaming F.I.D.S." was selected to be in the new terminal for at least two years, but it may become a permanent piece, Kitchen says.
She describes the piece as "very site-specific." The name, which stands for "Dreaming Flight Information Display System," ties together some vital elements of the work.
"The dreaming is surveillance that's gone more dreamy and playful," Kitchen says.
The three screens, which are actually within the fish tank, operate on three programs. The first, tracking, displays images of fish that swim in front of the cameras. The second is the processing mode that identifies fish exhibiting suspicious behavior and isolates them on the screen. Mode three is dreaming, in which the screens depict abstract flight information displays.
"This becomes a microcosm of the airport itself," Kitchen says.
A fascinating aspect of the airport display is the public interaction with the piece. Kitchen says she's heard all kinds of comments about the piece.
"With public art, what's great is people coming up with their own deciphering," she says. "You can't … expect people to react the same way."
The piece weighs about 1,500 pounds and will require weekly maintenance for the fish. The fish will also be changed eventually, once they determine the best species that will swim around the middle of the tank. Kitchen says that after all the work installing the piece, she has grown attached to the fish.
"There have been an initial couple of deaths and I felt so guilty," she says.
The piece came together as a collaboration from several sides, including Kitchen's "great programmer" in Seattle. She says that her project manager, Mary Rubin of the San Jose Public Art Program, was instrumental to the project's success.
During the piece's tenure at the airport, Kitchen will continue to check in and gather public feedback about the piece. She hopes that it will present a different perspective to viewers.
"It's accepting the consequences that technology has created," Kitchen says. "It's finding positiveness in something seen as negative."
High-tech art welcomes passengers at San Jose International Airport
via usatoday.com
congrats Matt & Susan Gorbet! huge undertaking successfully launched!
Facebook to launch “Facebook Stories” | Data Viz on impact of social network on your life
Exclusive: Facebook Will Announce 500 Million Users Next Week With “Facebook Stories” | Kara Swisher |
Facebook confirmed that it expects to announce its 500-millionth user next week, and will mark the occasion with new consumer marketing initiative called “Facebook Stories.”
Last week, BoomTown got wind of the effort–which will center on a variety of life stories from users about the impact of the social networking site on their lives–and asked Facebook about it.
The company said it was readying its launch for next week and put Randi Zuckerberg on the horn to tell me the story behind “Stories.”
“As we anticipated our 500-million milestone, and we wanted to find a different way to announce and celebrate it.” said Zuckerberg, who has spearheaded the site’s creation, in an interview this afternoon. “In the past, it’s been all about the numbers and milestones and we realized we had never taken the opportunity to celebrate users.”
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