Google Labs has launched Julia Map, a fractal renderer in HTML 5. which lets you generate and explore fractals — specifically, the Julia set and Mandelbrot set — with just a browser (no need to launch a program).
It uses the Google Maps API to zoom and pan into the fractals. The images are computed with HTML 5 canvas. “Each… read more
Animusic’s fascinating and novel approach to creating and animating virtual instruments is full of possibility for the future of augmented and virtual reality.
Wikipedia | Animusic is an American company specializing in the 3D visualization of MIDI-based music. Founded by Wayne Lytle, the company is known for its Animusic compilations of computer-generated animations, based on MIDI events processed to simultaneously drive the music and on-screen action,… read more
Video Source: Animusic, LLC
Bigelow Aerospace has announced plans to lease space aboard its inflatable space habitats to seven clients in The Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, according to Aviation Week.
At the meeting in Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow stated that one of the main types of customers that his company is looking at is… read more
While the concept behind this video game is likely riffing on the various defintions of singularity from physics, as opposed to the metaphorical “technological Singularity,” it’s clear that the term has wormed its way into mainstream pop culture, and is having a strong impact on the cultural zeitgeist.
Wikipedia | Singularity is a video game developed by Raven Software, published by Activision Blizzard, Inc. and… read more
Related:
Singularity official website by Activision
Activision Blizzard, Inc.
Source: Social Times — June 11th, 2010 | Megan O'Neill
3D projection mapping has recently emerged as one of the coolest forms of advertising, with big companies like Nokia, Samsung and BMW projecting beautiful 3D video displays on buildings around the world and sharing their campaigns on the web. 3D projection mapping has become something of a recent obsession for me, as well as for the advertising world. Read more about this technique and how it’s being used by brands… read more
Well, the 44-year mystery has finally been solved, The Company of Biologists just announced. Biologists have settled the argument and resolved how fleas jump: with their toes, not their knees. (Ah, I could have told them that — ever try jumping with your knees, unless you’re a TM practitioner, that is?)
In 1967, Henry Bennet-Clark discovered that fleas store the energy needed to catapult themselves… read more
Promos say this film is “an action thriller about a global offensive initiated by unknown extraterrestrial hostiles.” Looks scary, check out the two trailers below. Here’s the film’s official website from Sony Pictures. The release date is March, 2011.
And in case you’re curious, the ominous song lyrics featured in the teaser trailer are:
“The Sun’s Gone Dim and The Sky’s Turned Black,” by… read more
Microsoft Surface | Microsoft Surface’s vision system can see what’s going on on the tabletop. This allows for all manner of natural user interfaces to be employed both with everyday objects, and objects specifically crafted to work with Surface.
Wikipedia | Microsoft Surface is a surface computing platform that responds to natural hand gestures and real world objects. It has a 360-degree user interface, a 30 in (76 cm) reflective surface… read more
The apropos track “Modern Inventions,” from the Submarine’s debut album Declare a New State!, released in 2006. An acoustic version of this track was also used in the closing credits for the documentary The Pixar Story (below).
Related:
The Submarines website
Source: Brian Malow blog & Time — February 11, 2011
Time | Science comedian Brian Malow analyzes our fears of a day when machines are smarter than we are.
Brian Malow blog | I have a new video up on Time about the Singularity. If you don’t know what it is — find out here. I wrote it. Craig Duff shot and produced it. Jim Fields edited. The video complements Lev Grossman’s new Time magazine feature story on Ray Kurzweil.
Also see:… read more
In The Age of Intelligent Machines, which I wrote in the mid-1980s, I predicted that a computer would defeat the world chess champion by 1998. My estimate was based on the predictable exponential growth of computing power (an example of what I now call the “law of accelerating returns”) and my estimate of what level of computing was needed to achieve a chess rating of just under 2800… read more
The making of visual effects for Cloverfield. In the second video: “Subway Parasites” segment from the Cloverfield DVD’s “Cloverfield Visual Effects” extra. This 2008 disaster/monster “mockumentary” was directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard.
The film follows six New Yorkers attending a party on the night that a gigantic monster of unknown origin attacks the city. All footage is shot from the perspective of… read more
Related:
Cloverfield website
PopTech | Designer Orlagh O’Brien asks, “What if we try to visually represent the emotions that are running through our body?” She gave a simple emotion-specific quiz to a group of 250 people. Asking respondents to describe five emotions — anger, joy, fear, sadness, and love — in drawings, colors, and words, O’Brien ended up with a set of media she used to create Emotionally}Vague, an online graphic interpretation
Related:
PopTech | Orlagh O'Brien
PopTech | Orlagh O’Brien helps us get in touch with our emotions
Emotionally}Vague
Motherboard | Ray Kurzweil tells us about his vision of the Singularity — a point around 2045 when computers will acquire full-blown artificial intelligence and technology will infuse itself with biology. His theories have all sorts of supporters, detractors, and critics, but do you even remember what life was like before three-year-olds had cell phones and you actually had to remember facts instead of relying on the internet?
That
Related:
Motherboard: Exploring the Culture of Technology website
My initial reaction to reading about IBM’s “Watson” supercomputer and software was a big fat ho-hum. “OK,” I figured, “a program that plays “Jeopardy!” may be impressive to Joe Blow in the street, but I’m an AI guru so I know pretty much exactly what kind of specialized trickery they’re using under the hood. It’s not really a high-level mind, just a fancy database lookup system.”… read more