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Abt Sportline R8 Spyder - Click above for high-res image
gallery
Whenever Audi introduces a new model, chances are
that the folks at Abt Sportsline are going to get their hands on one. The German company has been
tuning Volkswagens and Audis since the 1970s and has enjoyed success racing the Audi A4 in DTM and more recently the new R8 LMS.
Needless to say, Abt knows how to properly modify cars bearing the four rings.
Abt's latest project is the droptop version of the Audi
R8. Visually the car gets a new front grille, front fascia with carbon fiber spoiler, side
sills, rear fascia, rear spoiler and lightweight five-spoke wheels. Even more importantly, the
5.2-liter V10 has been massaged to provide 600 horsepower, good for 0-100 km/h in 3.8 seconds and a
top speed of 199 mph. Finally, Abt provides a sport suspension system for improved handling. Follow
the jump for full details and browse through the high-res gallery below.
Apple has hired an expert in "human-computer interaction for mobile applications" to complement
its research and development in mobile computing, according to a new
report from Computerworld. Richard DeVaul, known for his work in the field of "wearable
computing," is Apple's newest senior prototype scientist.
DeVaul originally studied architecture, anthropology, and physics at Texas A&M before working
on a masters degree in visualization science. Before finishing his masters thesis on "novel
dynamics constraints approximation algorithm for computer animation applications," DeVaul left
Texas A&M to pursue an MD and later PhD degree in Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. While at
MIT, he also worked as a research scientist at MIT's famous Media Lab.
DeVaul's PhD dissertation revolved around a project called "Memory Glasses," which were designed to provide
the wearer with context-sensitve cues to assist in memory recall. Much of the research focused on
determining how to determine context, including using GPS location and accelerometer
data—something that Apple's mobile devices can already provide. Research into how to
present recall clues also showed that subtle, even subliminal information could prove useful in
assisting memory—the same kind of subtle clues and interactions that are evident throughout
the iPhone OS.
After DeVaul finished his PhD, he spent the last six years working as the CTO and president of
AWare Technologies, which he
also co-founded. AWare originally focused on mobile monitoring technologies for athletic and
military applications, as well as motion analysis for Olympic teams.
The company later focused on adapting its technology to fitness tracking applications, including
developing the StepTrak Lite activity tracking iPhone app. AWare's FitAWare system is similar in
some respects to a system that Apple recently
applied to patent that generates workouts that users can use to compete with each other as a
sort of game. Apple has also teamed up with Nike in the past on the Nike+ run-tracking system as
well as a system to track exercise
on certain gym equipment, both of which interface with iPods and some iPhones.
As Apple's senior prototype scientist, DeVaul reports directly to SVP of industrial design
Jonathan Ive, ostensibly developing and building prototypes of mobile—and likely
wearable—computing devices. Reportedly only seven people besides Ive and CEO Steve Jobs
will even know what he is cooking up inside Apple's research labs. DeVaul will likely explore
ways to make computing devices that are ever more mobile and constantly accessible, a job that
fits Apple's direction
as a mobile devices company.
Apple has hired an expert in "human-computer interaction for mobile applications" to complement
its research and development in mobile computing, according to a new
report from Computerworld. Richard DeVaul, known for his work in the field of "wearable
computing," is Apple's newest senior prototype scientist.
DeVaul originally studied architecture, anthropology, and physics at Texas A&M before working
on a masters degree in visualization science. Before finishing his masters thesis on "novel
dynamics constraints approximation algorithm for computer animation applications," DeVaul left
Texas A&M to pursue an MD and later PhD degree in Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. While at
MIT, he also worked as a research scientist at MIT's famous Media Lab.
DeVaul's PhD dissertation revolved around a project called "Memory Glasses," which were designed to provide
the wearer with context-sensitve cues to assist in memory recall. Much of the research focused on
determining how to determine context, including using GPS location and accelerometer
data—something that Apple's mobile devices can already provide. Research into how to
present recall clues also showed that subtle, even subliminal information could prove useful in
assisting memory—the same kind of subtle clues and interactions that are evident throughout
the iPhone OS.
After DeVaul finished his PhD, he spent the last six years working as the CTO and president of
AWare Technologies, which he
also co-founded. AWare originally focused on mobile monitoring technologies for athletic and
military applications, as well as motion analysis for Olympic teams.
The company later focused on adapting its technology to fitness tracking applications, including
developing the StepTrak Lite activity tracking iPhone app. AWare's FitAWare system is similar in
some respects to a system that Apple recently
applied to patent that generates workouts that users can use to compete with each other as a
sort of game. Apple has also teamed up with Nike in the past on the Nike+ run-tracking system as
well as a system to track exercise
on certain gym equipment, both of which interface with iPods and some iPhones.
As Apple's senior prototype scientist, DeVaul reports directly to SVP of industrial design
Jonathan Ive, ostensibly developing and building prototypes of mobile—and likely
wearable—computing devices. Reportedly only seven people besides Ive and CEO Steve Jobs
will even know what he is cooking up inside Apple's research labs. DeVaul will likely explore
ways to make computing devices that are ever more mobile and constantly accessible, a job that
fits Apple's direction
as a mobile devices company.
Self proclaimed glove hacker and electronics wiz Steve Hoefer just came out with his latest
project, the Rock Paper Scissors glove. His project isn’t just random either, the glove
actually learns how you play and will take advantage of your patterns in order to defeat you.
Kind of creepy.
Steve explains how to build your own, including the AI and all the wiring on his website. He even
tells you where to order the parts from, the part numbers, and a complete wiring diagram.
Definitely cool stuff. But don’t take my word for it, check out the video.
Michel Gondry spoke at SXSW to a packed house; it was fantastic to see one of my favorite directors
speak about his creative process. During the talk, he mentioned a project he did where fans could
buy portraits of themselves, sketched by Gondry himself, for only $20. He did about 1,000 of these
portraits before he ended the deal, saying
that while some portraits took only 2 minutes, he started getting fancier and fancier as time
progressed, and eventually he didn't think that was a good business to continue it. When he said
that, a collective, sad sigh was felt across the conference room, since I'm sure I was not the only
one in the room who wanted a hand-drawn Michel Gondry portrait -- and if $20 wasn't the right price
to make sense, business-wise, surely there was an appropriate price point that would make
sense (and, in looking at his site, it appears that he raised the price to
$99.95 with a copy of his DVD). Now, while it is true that Gondry is a famous movie director,
surely a few hundred dollars for minutes of work is enough to get him interested, especially when
he considers that this portrait further serves to endear him more to his most passionate fans, who
are incredibly appreciative that he would ever even think to offer such a deal: It's amazing
enough that Michel has the time to draw thousands of portraits a week amidst his incredibly busy
schedule and his "Green Hornet" workload. Hopefully this commitment will urge other filmmakers to
devote similar generosity towards their fanbases... So, contrary to what Gondry thought, his
portrait offer most certainly made good business sense and was a great example of an RtB deal,
since it was soaked in his charmingly quirky artistic personality. Then again, perhaps another
example of Gondry's unique understanding of the business world is with this strange
notice that he sent out to the purchasers of the portraits, sometimes well after they had
purchased the image, telling them they could not resell the image ever. "By
placing your sketch order, you hereby acknowledge... that the sketch is for your personal use only
and you shall not have the right to sell the sketch for any commercial purpose whatsoever." To
ask this of his truest fans (especially after they have commissioned a sketch) is not only
most likely unenforceable
legally (case law here is still a bit messy, but courts have said that you can't just give up
your right of first sale based on one side's declaration), it also serves to sour the goodwill and
affection that Gondry's true fans have bestowed upon him. Now, that's bad business.
As many of you will know, I manage the Ubuntu Community team at Canonical where Daniel Holbach, Jorge Castro and David Planella
work. Together we strive to make the Ubuntu community a fun, productive and engaging environment.
This work involves a tremendous range of diverse disciplines and projects.
One thing that we have been really keen to facilitate in Ubuntu is an ethos of just do
it. I really believe our community should feel engaged to be creative in their ideas and be
able to get out there and do it, with plenty of support resources so others can help them achieve
their goals. I am keen that we don’t have a bottleneck where creativity is limited. Of
course, this happens from time to time, but we are always keen to resolve it where possible.
While Ubuntu has a great many projects going on at any one time, some of these projects I
explicitly put on my radar so I can help contribute to make them successful, and some of these
are projects that I have been happy for me and my team to commit their time to. Each of these
projects is scoped for a six month cycle, and when we get a little closer to the 10.10 cycle we
will start thinking of where we will focus our time in that cycle too.
In the Lucid cycle I was keen to track work on this set of projects in a more effective way. To
do this the process worked a little like this:
We first had a series of discussions at both UDS and online in which we discuss each project,
what is involved and what targets and goals are in scope for the Lucid cycle. Targets beyond the
Lucid cycle were explicitly deferred until the 10.10 cycle.
The conclusions generated from these discussions were first documented as a Roadmap
on the Ubuntu wiki. This provides a high-level set of goals that the project is striving for.
We then produced a Blueprint for each project and a set of actions that are assigned
to people. The blueprint is what we use to track progress on the project. The actions are stored
in the whiteboard on the blueprint (which anyone can edit) and anyone can subscribe to the
blueprint, which makes it great for keeping on track projects even if you are not involved in
them.
The actions in the blueprint are stored in a set format, like this:
[jonobacon] An example action: TODO
In the above example, it clearly states who the action is assigned to (jonobacon on Launchpad),
what it is (an example action) and it’s status (TODO). When an action is completed it is
set to DONE and if we decide we want to bump it to next cycle, it is marked as POSTPONED.
This process in itself offers some key benefits:
Commitments to a given project are clearly scoped to a cycle.
Work is assigned to people: this is a great way of getting things done. Project Management
theory has long taught that publicly assigning work to people improves it’s chances of
getting done.
Transparent: anyone can subscribe to a blueprint. As an example, even though I am not
managing the Desktop Experience team or contributing to their projects, I am interested
in their work, so I subscribe to a number of their blueprints. Each time the state of an action
changes, I then get an automated email with the update. This is great for keeping up to date with
their work.
With a bunch of blueprints that follow this format, I then approve a number of them as projects
that my team will help have oversight on and help them to succeed. Some of these projects are
driven by my team and I, but many of them are entirely community driven projects that I assign my
team to have oversight over.
The legendary Martin Pitt then wrote a script to take this range of blueprints and actions and
generate a burndown chart. Here
is my team’s as of today:
It works like this: the Y axis is the number of actions in the blueprints I have approved for my
team, and the X axis is the time until the end of the cycle (it is a little shorter as the graph
was regenerated). The thick line through the middle of the chart is the trend line. My
responsibility as a manager is to help keep the number of completed actions (shown as green)
under the trend line: this ensures that we are on track for completing the committed actions
throughout the cycle.
This was a pretty new concept for our community and of course the community is not expected to
follow this way of working, but I have been stunned at how everyone has worked hard to stick to
the actions they committed to and see the work through. As such this has felt like a really great
cycle with some stunning work going on. Thanks everyone for your contributions!
Voting ends tonight (11:59PM CT) in the Pepsi Refresh SXSW Challenge, where Mashable is supporting SparkHelp, a
location-based mobile application that looks to connect people to opportunities to volunteer in
their communities.
As a quick refresher, we’re competing against two other teams to help SparkHelp win $50,000
in funding so they can pursue their idea. If you want to help us out, you can append the
hashtag #RefreshMashable to your tweets until voting ends, as the idea whose hashtag is
used the most gets the prize.
Meanwhile, the project and the competition have received a variety of media attention over the
past few days. Below you can find our interviews with Blip.tv and The Derrick Ashong Experience
on Oprah’s XM radio channel (our segment is around the 2:00 mark), where we talk more about
the project. CNN and CNET have also written about the competition.
Research into people's reactions to emergencies aims to make sure there are more survivors in
future
Imagine you're stuck in a burning building, trying desperately to escape. After stumbling to the
end of a smoke-filled corridor, you have to choose whether to turn left or right. The decision
could determine whether you live or die – but the way you make it is not as
random as you might think, according to Ed Galea, professor of mathematical modelling at the
University of Greenwich.
Galea has forged a career out of working out the science and psychology behind how people's
brains function in disaster zones. He has interviewed thousands of survivors, from 300 people who
escaped the World Trade Center on 9/11 to plane crash and Paddington rail disaster survivors. The
results of his research are used by governments, building designers and emergency workers around
the world to try to plan for the effects of future catastrophes.
His latest project, funded by a €2 million (£1.8m) European Union grant,
is BeSeCu (Behaviour, Security and Culture), which involves trying to understand whether culture
affects the way people behave in emergency situations. "The question we're answering is, do
people from different countries behave differently in a crisis?", says Galea. "Most of the data
that's used in evacuation analysis is from the UK, US and Australia. There's an implicit
assumption that people everywhere behave the same, but we're not sure that's true."
So BeSeCu is carrying out "unannounced evacuation drills" in multistorey university library
buildings around Europe, including Poland, Czech Republic and Turkey, and comparing the results
with evacuation data from Brazil and the UK. "We're going to compare the data on response time
and behaviour. If it varies in different places, that will suggest a need to change how we plan
for emergency situations – we'll have to take a much more localised approach."
Galea's interest was triggered by victims' responses to a tragic fire in the Daegu underground in
Korea. "I looked at photographs of the inside of burning carriages, and collaborated with a
Korean researcher who interviewed survivors. Most sat around, waiting for instructions from an
authority figure. When I presented the findings at a UK conference, it was suggested that my data
was irrelevant because 'that would never happen in the UK'. So I started wondering whether people
around the world react differently."
Working at Greenwich's Fire Safety Engineering Group, Galea and his team have designed Exodus, a
computer modelling system that can simulate how people behave in emergency evacuations, which is
used in 33 countries. It was used in the design of London's O2 arena, Sydney's Olympic stadium,
the "bird's nest" arena in Beijing and the Airbus A380.
Now he is adding to the model by analysing data from interviews with survivors of the 7/7
terrorist attacks in London and the Madrid bombings. "By studying how people responded on the
underground trains and in the stations, we hope to better understand how the perception of risk,
reaction to authority figures and interaction with other survivors influences emergency
behaviour." The findings will be used to improve computer software so it better reflects how
people behave in emergencies and can be more reliable in building design.
There are also practical ideas that are easier to implement, Galea says. "I'm looking at how
people respond to alarms and instructions. If people on trains always wait for an official to
tell them what to do, then perhaps we need to improve communication systems on trains so they
have a better chance of working in extreme situations."
Galea is also investigating how people think when trying to escape house fires or a flooding
house. "We've set up an online survey looking at how people move – at
intersections, do they go left or right, for example. So far it seems that left-handed and
right-handed people behave differently, and so do people who drive on different sides of the
road. Working out the patterns will give people a better chance of surviving future disasters."
Galea, who spends his days mapping human behaviour, fell into his work "completely by accident".
More than two decades later, he has amassed plenty of advice on getting out of a fire or crash
alive. "The main thing is having good situational awareness," he says. "Understand the
environment you're in, whether it's a plane, train, ship or building, know where your nearest
exit is and how you'd escape in a hurry. If you're travelling with family, plan what you would do
in an emergency, like whether you'd try to reunite before escaping, or meet outside."
On planes, Galea recommends choosing a seat close to an exit. "I always try and sit within five
rows of an exit on an aisle seat," he says. "Once you're seated, count the rows to your nearest
two exits in case it becomes too dark to see." Galea stresses, however, that planes are "really
quite safe".
One thing that does make him upset, however, is disaster movies. The latest to hit our screens is
2012, which Galea says makes him "frustrated about how badly Hollywood gets it wrong".
"Disaster films convey completely the wrong view of how most people behave in these kind of
situations," he says. "Hollywood shows people panicking, but my research shows that 9.9 times out
of 10, people don't turn into crazed individuals, but behave quite rationally. They tend to help
each other, too."
That, says Galea, is a crucial part of his job. "The knowledge that most people react in a
humanist way helps me to get in up in the morning – I come to work knowing
that people tend to behave in a supportive, helpful way in emergencies, so any way we can help
inform intelligent building design and disaster strategies will help them to survive."
· Galea is keen to hear from survivors of particular emergencies, including: ·
People who have experienced domestic fires in the last 10 years that required evacuation and the
emergency services · People involved in the Royal Marsden hospital fire in January 2008
· Anyone who was on a train that was evacuated or in one of the stations that was
evacuated during the 7/7 London bombs · Anyone who has been forced to evacuate their home
due to floods Find out more: http://fseg.gre.ac.uk/fire/besecu.html
Just think of all the fun you could have if the iPhone could interact with RFID tags. But you
don’t have to wait for Apple for iPhone version 7 for this feature. Nope. You can build
your own iPhone compatible RFID reader right now.
Maybe not right now. First you probably have to get through your day at the office and make your
way home only to spend a few mundane hours with the family. But maybe in the 35 minutes you have
after your last kid goes to bed and the nightly news starts, you could assemble this project.
This concept
project is one that I would love to see on any city street at night. The Intersection
Signaletique uses special projectors from above to create messages on the streets, and its use is
three-fold: advertisement, direction, and decoration.
As advertisement, it could be quite effective. Just imagine walking home, and you are wicked
thirsty. Then imagine the Coca-Cola logo under your feet. I don’t know about you, but I
would probably stop by the nearest store and get a Coke for the way home. Granted, the streets
would get pretty gaudy with multiple advertisements, but advertisers could boost the town’s
economy by paying for “street space”.
As for the directions, I would rather follow the signs from above than a map any day. Of course,
these directions would be tough to see during the day. For cities that never sleep, like Las
Vegas, this would be the next cool thing. I wonder if you could get it so the lights above could
sync with your GPS or mobile phone, to give individual people the directions that they need.
I guess the last usage, decoration, would be perfect for any holiday. Just picture boughs of
holly being projected during Christmastime, turkeys at Thanksgiving, pumpkins on Halloween, and
so on.
Too bad this is only a concept for now. However, to implement this, you would have to affix these
special lights to where the streetlights are, and the streetlights could outshine these
Intersection Signaletique lights. Let’s work that out.
Thanks for the reply and sorry for creating confusion. Totally my fault. Let me try to be more
clear and give a bit more info as I still haven't figured this out.
My tests (in C#) create a C# object called ProdLoc. ProdLoc has a component called Demand (in
C++). Thus the C# project that ProdLoc belongs to references a C++ project (CemMath.dll) that
Demand belongs to.
CemMath (which is c++) needs to be compiled in win32 configuration. All the other projects are
compiled in Any CPU configuration.
When I don't use a C# class that references the C++ project R# test runner works brilliantly. But
with the tests that has ProdLoc in them, R# test runner gives the System.BadImageFormatException.
Just as a clue: In nUnit (2.5.3) when I run through the default gui app, I get the same
error in the ProdLoc tests. When I run nunit-x86.exe I don't get the error and my tests runs OK.
In addition these tests were running OK in another machine same version of Visual Studio with
Resharper 4.5.
Thanks again and let me know if more info is required.
MikeChino sends in this excerpt from Inhabitat: "China already has the most advanced and extensive
high-speed rail lines in the world, and soon that network will be connected all the way to Europe
and the UK. With initial negotiations and surveys already complete, China is now making plans to
connect its HSR line through 17 other countries in Asia and Eastern Europe in order to connect to
the existing infrastructure in the EU. Additional rail lines will also be built into South East
Asia as well as Russia, in what will likely become the largest infrastructure project in history."
They hope to get it done within 10 years, with China providing the financing in exchange for raw
materials, in some cases.
MikeChino sends in this excerpt from Inhabitat: "China already has the most advanced and extensive
high-speed rail lines in the world, and soon that network will be connected all the way to Europe
and the UK. With initial negotiations and surveys already complete, China is now making plans to
connect its HSR line through 17 other countries in Asia and Eastern Europe in order to connect to
the existing infrastructure in the EU. Additional rail lines will also be built into South East
Asia as well as Russia, in what will likely become the largest infrastructure project in history."
They hope to get it done within 10 years, with China providing the financing in exchange for raw
materials, in some cases.
The jury may
still be out on whether or not
the world has gone ga-ga for Aussie actor Sam Worthington, but that
hasn't stopped the rumor mill from attaching his name to every action/fantasy/sci-fi franchise
around. The latest property to bear the Worthington connection -- according
to Pajiba -- will be the big-screen adaptation of the UK comic book hero Dan Dare, with Worthington in the lead, of
course. Dare was created by Frank Hampson, and was known for complex stories and stunning
artwork. It had popped in and out of English pop culture over the years as a radio show, and also
as a television series (that, for the most part, didn't go beyond the planning
stages).
In 2008, interest in Dare resurfaced thanks to a Nickelodeon UK animated series, and a limited
comic book run by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine for Virgin Comics (who also owned the rights at the
time for Dare). When Virgin Comics dissolved, Dynamite Entertainment picked up the rights, and
sources are claiming that Warner Brothers is fast-tracking the project to find a writer and
director for the sci-fi story.
The latest attempt to bring Dare to the big screen started
in 2007, but the wait could be over. According to Pajiba, it's full-steam ahead for the tale of
England's answer to Buck Rogers. The name Dan Dare is relatively unknown on this side of
the pond, but even if you aren't familiar with the original comics, you'll have to agree that just
going on looks, Worthington isn't a bad choice for the dashing Colonel.
Worthington has already signed to star and produce
another comic book adaptation, Last Days of
American Crime, and judging by the rumors alone, he's going to be pretty busy for the
foreseeable future. So I guess whether you like him or not, we all better get used to having him
around.
It's that time
again -- the Engadget Show returns this Saturday, March 20th at 5pm! We'll be
joined by Nicholas
Negroponte, founder of the MIT
Media Lab and OLPC project for what's sure to be a
rousing conversation. What's more, we'll have Joystiq's Chris Grant on hand and
Sony's Senior Researcher Richard Marx will be showing off the PlayStation Move... and we'll be
letting some lucky audience members demo it live on the show! You'll be meeting our new
investigative correspondent Rick Karr and we'll have more of the classic Engadget Show shenanigans
that you love so much. You can also look forward to some chiptune goodness from minusbaby, as well as visuals from notendo. We'll be streaming the whole thing direct to you via
the internet, but we'll be doing some major giveawaysat the live show
only, so make the trek and join us at The Times
Center in person if you can. If for some reason you live in not-New York, hit up the stream and
tweet comments directly to the show!
The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of
New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as
always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be
first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need:
There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free
The event is all ages
Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating
at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM
You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be
present to get a ticket
Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full
Sprint is also offering 50 guaranteed tickets to the Engadget Show taping to
the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online. Standard text messaging rates
apply. Click here for the Official Rules and
see how to enter online.
If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at]
engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to:
engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.
Subscribe to the Show:
[iTunes]
Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[Zune]
Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V)
to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
So we were
on the front page of YouTube on Saturday! That was pretty fun, though a bit surprising to the
ten web series creators we featured, whose inboxes that morning were quickly flooded with
subscription notifications and comments.
But what does being featured on the front page of YouTube mean for a previously unknown show, in
an organically generated list instead of a sponsored slot? After an hour or so on Saturday of
watching the viewcounts climb on our own video, I reached out to a few of the folks we featured
to find out what their results were.
And the answer is: If you’re devoted to viewcounts, then being featured on the front page
of YouTube is AWESOME. Just some of the reporting I got back:
By the numbers, the big winner was Project Rant, whose total views made the biggest
reported jump, going from 20,233 to 232,000. The featured episode received over 160,000 views,
with the other episodes getting at least an additional 1000 views. Subscriptions jumped as well,
from 59 to 1022. “Homepage exposure on YouTube is pure gold – and will make a huge
difference in your raw view data if you are a relatively undiscovered show on YouTube,”
co-creator Luis Esteban Caffesse said.
The first episode of The Sanctum jumped from 4,000 views to 61,000 views, and the
following episodes jumped from a range of 200-300 views to 1500-2300 views.
The episode of Ignite featured jumped from approximately 10,000 views to over 40,000
views, though with minimal change in subscription counts.
Vicariously went from about 1,000 views to 60,000 on Saturday, and is still climbing.
It also saw a subscriber bump of about 200.
Man Vs. Thing also jumped from about 1,000 views to nearly 62,000 views, and in
addition now has over a hundred subscribers. The other videos jumped in views by 100 percent.
Downsized got a total of 48,855 new views on Saturday, and about 40,000 of those were
for the featured episode. “Currently, the first episode has almost 44,000 views, and the
subsequent episodes have also gone up several thousand views, so viewers are checking out the
rest of the episodes,” creator Daryn Strauss said via email.
One consistent element is that while the featured videos did very well, the other episodes
didn’t have as huge of a bump. That’s because when a video finishes playing on
YouTube, it doesn’t immediately offer you the opportunity to watch the next episode in the
series unless you’re in playlist mode. More call-to-action is necessary in order to
capitalize on a feature like this.
In addition, most of the creators mentioned a dramatic increase in commenters, many of whom
represented the lowest common denominator in comments YouTube has become known
for.Man Vs. Thing creator Rob Schulbaum said in an email that “Overall the
series has become the target of an unexpected stream of bile and vitriolic criticism. It
didn’t seem to be enough that a user express that they didn’t enjoy it, but a number
suggested that I abandon my career in entertainment. I’ve also been informed that
it’s totally ‘gay.’” That’s definitely something to brace yourself
for, should you be so lucky.
I’d like to thank YouTube again for giving us a chance to give these shows more exposure
— it was a real honor. But I’d also like to thank everyone who commented on our intro
video to compliment my “tatties.” My parents and grandmother really appreciated
seeing that.
Washington - Of the estimated six in ten Americans who read news online, only 19% said
they would be willing to pay for news online, while 82% said they would look elsewhere if news
sites they used asked for payment, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's
Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Denis took part in our
photo project in December 2008, and we’re happy to announce her new exhibition that you
shouldn’t miss, especially as it only lasts three days!… Denise Panieri showed us her photographic world of mistreated
Polaroids 15 months ago, and we very much like the mysterious photo she took during her night
with us. To read the text she wrote about the experience and browse her online mini-gallery,
click here.
If you’d like to see what she’s up to now, why not go down to Pictogram Séridéco, a company specialised in large prints and
stickers, based in Montreuil (two minutes from a métro station).
The exhibition is shared with two other artists, Josée Le Roux (drawings and painting)
and Frédérique Riba Sarat (pinhole camera shots) and you’re
invited to the opening! Be there on Thursday 18th March from 7pm onwards.
Denis Panieri’s photos exhibition is at Pictogram Séridéco (here) from 18th – 21st March 2010. Open Friday 19th March from 7
– 10pm and the weekend of 20th/21st March from 5 – 9pm.
This vehicle is aptly named the Mondo Spider. It’s
not from some apocalyptic movie, but seen here at Burning Man. Like a lot of Burning Manexhibitions, it was built for
the joy of the build and with a rather extreme budget: $15,000. We’ve embedded one of the
many videos after the break, as well as a few of the hardware details.
Weighing in at about 1600 pounds this eight-legged horror is much more massive than the rideable hexapod we saw a while ago. A Honda 24 horse
power V-Twin engine provides the power needed to run the hydraulic legs. It’s designed to
turn on a dime, but as you can see in the video, traction can be a bit of a problem. For
night-time operation the legs have been outlined in glowing read, as if this wasn’t already
frightening enough to terrify the weak-at-heart.
Editorial Note: There was so much work and time put into this project by
a lot of different people. We
searched around for a picture of the entire team with this bad boy but couldn’t find one.
If you’re working on an insane team build, don’t forget to take a group picture that
will let you relive the fun times. That’s what the Copenhagen
Suborbitals did.
[In a GameSetWatch-exclusive set of blog posts covering the week of GDC 2010, Magical
Wasteland blogger and Game Developer magazine columnist Matthew Burns continues his journey
through the show. Previously: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and
Part
4.]
I’m speaking to Baiyon, the composer and graphic designer on PixelJunk Eden. He
talks about how different the show is from CEDEC, Japan’s counterpart to GDC.
“I like CEDEC, but I feel like they are a little too serious, thinking too much. Here, I
did a talk with Richard Lemarchand, Lead Designer on Uncharted 2, and there I answered a
question on how to get ideas for games by saying my method is that I go on a date with a girl,
have some drinks at a bar, and then spend some private time together, and the next morning
I’ve decided what to do."
"That was a kind of joke, but many people were talking and tweeting about it. I also played a set
at GAMMA IV. It was so fun,” he says. “I love the GDC people– the
whole thing is like a party.”
We also talk about what it’s like to work with Dylan Cuthbert, and he describes some
details of his approach to his next collaboration with Q-Games– a music
visualizer called PixelJunk lifelike.
We end our lunch conversation with a story about something Keita Takahashi, of Katamari
Damacy and Noby Noby Boy, created in college: a goat-shaped planter where excess
water comes out of the goat’s rear end. I’m not sure if learning this contributes to
my understanding of his work at all, but I’m inexplicably pleased to hear the anecdote
anyway.
The press room is something of a refuge from the loudness of the show, but there is very little
relaxing taking place there. Game journalists rush in from the talks, set up their laptops and
spend fifteen or twenty minutes filing their stories; they all know each other from before and
have clipped conversations with each other about the topics of the day while they work.
These include how Zynga was received at the Game Developer’s Choice awards last night, the
Final Fantasy XIII talk in which screenshots of Hitman and Tomb Raider
were used in a slide to represent “Western RPGs”. Robert “Bob of Bob’s
Game” Pelloni and Tim Rogers stop by in the room and enliven the place with their antics
while the other writers mostly ignore them.
I meet up with Steve Gaynor, designer at 2K Marin, congratulating him on BioShock 2 and
discussing the feel of its story in comparison to the first game. He has a lot of opinions on
where it succeeded and where it failed, which I very much enjoyed hearing; I tell him developers
that are their own worst critics are the best kind.
We also discuss the difficulties inherent to being part of a new team assembled to make a sequel
to an established studio’s successful title. Unlike some people I know from some similar
situations, however, Steve says he’s happy with where he is right now and is looking
forward to the studio’s next project.
At dinner that evening, Michael Abbott, of The Brainy Gamer blog and podcast and a theater
professor at Wabash College, marvels at the scene of the show. “Compared to the theater
world, this is just amazing,” he says, pointing out that academics usually don’t talk
to the people who are actually out there writing plays and putting on productions.
“Look at this place– look at just who we have in the restaurant right
now,” he says. “We’ve got working game developers, academics, and people who
cover games in the media all in one room talking to each other.”
Stories from all sides are traded. I listen to writers for mainstream publications talking about
fighting huge battles simply to move games coverage from the Technology section to the Arts or
Entertainment sections (“they finally realized that games are entertainment,” one
person says, a phrase that succinctly captures the maddening sclerosis of the old newspapers).
I tell Trent Polack of Lightbox Interactive and freelance writer Chris Dahlen about my
tribulations with source control tools after I went independent. They listen eagerly, and
I’ve overcome with the feeling that everyone here is an incandescent rock star, radiating
knowledge and ideas and unshakeable faith in the potential of the video game medium despite the
larger world’s often-demonstrated indifference.
As I power my stiff legs back to the hotel in the wee hours of the morning after another evening
of excess with inadvisably cheap liquor, I can’t help but finally mentally confront the
quantity and exceptionally wild quality of San Francisco’s bums. One of them is staggering
back and forth, screaming inhuman sounds at the top of his lungs. Someone rides by on a bicycle
and yells “Shut up!” at the old man, who, after an unsettlingly long amount of time
near to me, eventually limps his way into another part of town.
These people are impossible not to see, but the crowds and I walk down Mission or Market street
pretending not to, lest they cause us problems or remind us of things we don’t want to
remember. It is so strange, I think, how discretely we often view the world, with our categories
and our assumptions and our constant, reflexive blotting out of such large parts of our
perceptions. Hotel roommate Jeff Ward and I mumble some confused words comparing the transients
in various cities around the world before I slip into unconsciousness.
Very few games
manage to instill a pure kind of terror such as Limbo, an aptly-titled puzzle-platformer in
development for the past four years. Winner of multiple IGF awards,
Limbo is a beautiful and haunting journey, one that must be experienced to be understood
-- and thankfully, you'll be able to experience it on Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Like Braid and Shadow Complex before it, Limbo
is likely to become the headlining downloadable game of the year.
To describe Limbo in great detail would be a huge disservice to gamers. What makes
Limbo so mesmerizing is its mysterious quality: the game simply begins, and continues. The
abstract narrative is told simply through the journey; don't expect long Jonathan Blow-esque prose
throughout. Presented in black and white and silence, Limbo's simplistic style carries a
foreboding atmosphere unlike any other game. It's gorgeous, with detailed animations giving life to
every object in the world. Were it not for its interactivity, one might be hard pressed not to
think it's a painting.
Limbo offers players little direction, nor does it need to. A GUI would ruin the simple
beauty of developer Playdead's project. The controls will be immediately familiar to most gamers: A
to jump and X to grab. It may seem a bit too simplistic, but Limbo offers some rather
unique puzzles that take advantage of the environment in unusual and unexpected ways. Timing and
precision is a necessity -- as is repetition, with death an unavoidable part of the gameplay.
Traps, enemies, and pitfalls will make this a perilous journey, and the graphic depictions of death
will keep you uncomfortable and on edge for hours.
It was hard to resist the urge to continue playing through the entire adventure. While I found
myself stuck at a few devilish puzzles, I never found myself too frustrated to go on.
Limbo is a gorgeous game that explores emotions so rarely found in games: not just terror,
but a distinct sense of helplessness and longing.
Very few games
manage to instill a pure kind of terror such as Limbo, an aptly-titled puzzle-platformer in
development for the past four years. Winner of multiple IGF awards,
Limbo is a beautiful and haunting journey, one that must be experienced to be understood
-- and thankfully, you'll be able to experience it on Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Like Braid and Shadow Complex before it, Limbo
is likely to become the headlining downloadable game of the year.
To describe Limbo in great detail would be a huge disservice to gamers. What makes
Limbo so mesmerizing is its mysterious quality: the game simply begins, and continues. The
abstract narrative is told simply through the journey; don't expect long Jonathan Blow-esque prose
throughout. Presented in black and white and silence, Limbo's simplistic style carries a
foreboding atmosphere unlike any other game. It's gorgeous, with detailed animations giving life to
every object in the world. Were it not for its interactivity, one might be hard pressed not to
think it's a painting.
Limbo offers players little direction, nor does it need to. A GUI would ruin the simple
beauty of developer Playdead's project. The controls will be immediately familiar to most gamers: A
to jump and X to grab. It may seem a bit too simplistic, but Limbo offers some rather
unique puzzles that take advantage of the environment in unusual and unexpected ways. Timing and
precision is a necessity -- as is repetition, with death an unavoidable part of the gameplay.
Traps, enemies, and pitfalls will make this a perilous journey, and the graphic depictions of death
will keep you uncomfortable and on edge for hours.
It was hard to resist the urge to continue playing through the entire adventure. While I found
myself stuck at a few devilish puzzles, I never found myself too frustrated to go on.
Limbo is a gorgeous game that explores emotions so rarely found in games: not just terror,
but a distinct sense of helplessness and longing.
TechCrunch Disrupt is a three-day, single-track conference and startup competition to immerse you
in the debate about what’s changing in media and technology right now, what’s causing
it and what we need to do about it to survive and thrive in real time. Join 2,000 or so of your
closest friends to talk about what’s most important in the collision of technology and
media.
Half of the event is a March Madness style startup competition. We’re sorting through
hundreds of applications to find the most interesting startups launching this Spring.
You’ll see live on stage demos, rapid fire Q&A sessions with expert judges from a
variety of backgrounds (product, finance, team building, leadership and more) and highlights from
behind the scenes mentoring sessions.
The other half of the event will put leading experts from around the world on stage to talk about
the stuff that matters most in technology and media. A few of the speakers and experts are listed
below. Keep an eye on the Disrupt Blog and
Speaker list for more updates.
Ron Conway
Angel Investor, SV
Angel
Ronald Conway has been an active angel investor for over 15 years. He was the Founder and
Managing Partner of the Angel Investors LP funds (1998-2005) whose investments included: Google,
Ask Jeeves, Paypal, Good Technology, Opsware, and Brightmail. Ron was recently named #6 in Forbes
Magazine Midas list of top “deal-makers” in 2008 and is actively involved in numerous
philanthropic endeavors. Ron is Vice Chairman of the UCSF Medical Foundation in SF, Board Member
of The Tiger Woods Foundation, and SF Homeless Connect, and on the Benefit Committee of Ronald
McDonald House, College Track, and the Blacked Eyed Peas-PeaPod Academy Foundation.
Jack Dorsey
Co-founder and CEO, Square
Software engineer Jack Dorsey is the Co-Founder of Twitter, and was the CEO until October 2008.
Dorsey had the original idea for Twitter while still at Odeo, a podcasting startup which was a
project of Obvious Corp. He is now the chairman of Twitter. In May 2009, Dorsey announced his
latest startup, Square. Square, originally code-named Squirrel, is a mobile payment startup with
both an app and a piece of hardware that allows the iPhone to accept credit card payments.
Brad Garlinghouse
President, Internet and Mobile Communications, AOL
Brad Garlinghouse is President, Internet and Mobile Communications at AOL since September 2009.
Until 2008 Brad served as SVP of Communications & Communities at Yahoo, which includes the
world’s most popular webmail product, Yahoo Mail, Messenger and Groups. During his tenure,
Brad has also overseen the primary starting points to the Yahoo network, including Yahoo.com and
My Yahoo. Prior to joining Yahoo, Brad served as CEO of Dialpad Communications. Earlier in his
career, Brad led VC investments in communications and Internet businesses at @Ventures. He also
spent time in leadership roles at @Home Network and SBC Communications.
Katie Geminder
User Experience and Design Expert
Katie started her career in Seattle, working to produce and publish print and web content for
clients including Microsoft, Intel, and Expedia. She joined Amazon as the managing editor of the
e-Cards business and led large cross-functional and customer experience initiatives including the
Amazon.com Kitchen Store, re-launch of Tab Navigation, Target.com, and the Amazon Services
e-Commerce platform. In 2005 Katie moved to work on the Apple Online Store team as a Sr. Manager
focused on content and customer experience, collaborating with engineering, marketing, and design
teams to improve online shopping for Macs and iPods. Katie joined Facebook in early 2006 and led
the product management, design and user experience teams. She played an integral part in
launching the News Feed and Mini Feed products, making Facebook available to all users (beyond
college and high school), opening up the Facebook Platform to application developers, and the
Facebook redesign. In August of 2008 she set out on building a design and consulting business
with her co-founder, designer, and husband. She then rejoined Owen Van Natta at Myspace in July
of 2009, a job she would leave in February 2010 after Van Natta’s departure.
Charlie Rose
Host, Charlie Rose Show
Charlie Rose is an American television interviewer and journalist. He entered television
journalism full-time in 1974, when he became the managing editor of the PBS series Bill
Moyers’ International Report. He currently hosts the Charlie Rose Show, where he has
developed a reputation as a skilled interviewer.
Brian Sugar, CEO & Publisher, Sugar Inc.
Brian Sugar is the CEO and Publisher of Sugar Inc., the company behind PopSugar. As CEO &
Publisher, Brian Sugar sets the overall direction for Sugar Inc. Prior to founding Sugar Inc.,
Brian served first as Vice President of Marketing then as Vice President & General Manager of
2Wire, Inc.’s media business unit. Before joining 2Wire, Brian was founder and CEO of Sugar
Media, a digital media software company, which was acquired by 2Wire in October 2003. Brian was
Chief Web Officer at Kmart’s BlueLight.com, Vice President of eCommerce at J.Crew, and a
founder of Neptune Interactive, a Washington, DC-based ISP.
Michael Wolf, Board of Directors for Entercom Communications and
iAmplify
Michael Wolf currently serves on the boards of Entercom Communications Corporation (NYSE: ETM),
the fourth-largest broadcasting company in the United States, and iAmplify.com, a Web-based
content publisher and syndication network and the world’s largest selection of expert video
and audio downloads. He was formerly the president and former COO of MTV Networks. Michael was a
Director of McKinsey & Company and head of its Global Media and Entertainment Practice.
Before joining McKinsey in 2001, Wolf was a senior partner with Booz & Company, where he
spearheaded its media and entertainment group. Wolf is the author of publications on the subjects
of entertainment, economics, non-fiction, e-business strategies and the development of global
media. His bestselling book on entertainment economics, The Entertainment Economy: How Media
Forces Are Transforming Our Lives was published in the U.S. in 1999 and then globally. He is
frequent contributor and op-ed columnist for newspapers, journals and business publications.
Augmented Reality is a pretty hot topic currently, but it
seems to me that
the
Japanesein
particular have really embraced the concept of mixing the real world with computer-generated
imagery and data. One case in point is the Crimsonfox
project [JP], an “Alternative Reality” scavenger hunt game event that took place
over the weekend in Tokyo, Japan.
The main idea here was to use a tailor-made augmented reality app on the iPhone (which is only
available in the Japanese App Store) in a mass-player game in the real world, namely the central
district of Shibuya.
And over 200 players showed up in flesh and blood on the day of the event, all equipped with
iPhones. Using said app, GPS and the built-in compass of the 3GS, players ran around in the city
looking for hidden (physical) hints to find the real-world hideout of a “secret society
called Moonlights”.
On the screenshot below, you can see those hints in red and an interim goal in blue.
Players were able to “scan” hints they found with their iPhones, for example a
graphic printed on a piece of paper somewhere. The app would then verify the hint by
superimposing an emblem (see below) over the image on the iPhone camera, give away points for
finding the right hint and then lead players to the next part of the game.
Very cool concept, so it wasn’t too surprising that the Crimsonfox project was watched by a
total of 7,000 people live online. Tokyo-based Ubiquitous
Entertainment, the main organizer of the event, was even able to win the support of
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry.
While this is probably possible in Japan only, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this kind of
event copied for marketing or other purposes outside this country in the future (hit
this link for more information on the game in English).
Two and a half
years ago we learned that while Michel Gondry's adaptation of
The Master of Space and Time was hitting the dust, he was
working on a project with his son, Paul: "a futuristic story with a dictator and a rebel. He's
[Paul] the dictator in the story [and] it will be based on [his] art." Fast-forward to this year's
SXSW, and The
Playlist asks again about Master. Gondry replied: "Unfortunately, that's not going to
happen, but I'm going to do something similar with Daniel [Clowes], another science fiction project
... based on a comic book made by my son." Said project is the animated
Megalomania, a collaboration that has recently attracted the
voices of Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, and Juliette Lewis.
Then
MTV then talked with the director, who offered yet another science fiction feature. He says
that he's working with writer (Keith Bunin) on a time travel piece, and that Ellen Page will star. It sounds
like MTV is confusing the dueling pics, as they're assuming the project that's "similar" to
Master is the time travel piece, when Playlist says the similar project is
Megalomania. I assume that these are, indeed, different projects, since
Megalomania is about kids who discover a way to create energy from hair, which ends up in
a class divide where the rich keep their hair, and the poor run around bald, which doesn't sounds
very time-travel-y.
Confusion aside, here's the kicker: Gondry told MTV: "Ellen is supposed to be the main character.
She'd play Nancy ... a young woman who participates in a discovery that changes the world." As they
note, "Nancy" is the name of one of the key people in Master of Space and Time. Just what
is going on? Stay tuned ... hopefully it will all become clear soon.
I used to have a
long-running complaint that there were certain directors who
just didn't work as often as they should. In the case of David Fincher, I grudgingly
accepted it because his uncompromising nature as a director resulted in some of my all-time
favorite films. But, judging by the news-wire these days, I may have to take Fincher off my list of
"cinematic teases." Variety is now reporting that
Fincher is in talks with Colombia Pictures to direct Pawn Sacrifice, a chess drama about
the great Bobby Fischer and his life leading up to the legendary match against Boris Spassky.
According to sources, Steve Knight's script has garnered plenty of attention in Hollywood from
other A-list directors, and was quickly snapped up by Tobey Maguire to produce, and
possibly star.
The news of Fincher's potential involvement with the chess flick came days after word had surfaced
that he was still looking
for a studio for his Heavy Metal re-imaginingand was also in talks to direct The Girl
with The Dragon Tattoo. It's certainly a change for the usually slow-paced director, who
has proven that he isn't afraid to walk away from a project rather than abandon his principles, and
it was probably that same attitude that led to Fincher's previous battles with Paramount.
Variety even speculates that perhaps Fincher has found a new home at Colombia, having
already started work on the Facebook drama Social Network for the studio.
I've been a fan of Fincher long enough to know that he isn't afraid to pull the plug, so until
these movies are in production, I won't hold my breath. Then again, maybe I should try and be a bit
more optimistic, and I can only hope that Fincher has finally caught the productivity bug.
Feedback on the previous round mainly
happened via email. I concentrated on those who where so nice and thoughtful to describe how they
perceive things. That’s so much more valuable than just votes for single options.
Nokia has a brand new project known as Design by Community, where cellphone users are more than
welcome to help the Finnish telecommunications giant create a “smartphone concept device of
the future.” Basically, you are free to choose how a Nokia smartphone of the future would
look like, ranging from display size to the operating system, construction materials,
connectivity options, camera features and overall size and shape. Depending on the collective
design choices, the Nokia Design team will come up with a 3D render of the final smartphone come
this May. Hmmm, have they run out of ideas that they will need to get a democratic consensus of
what goes into the next Nokia phone?
does anyone here know a way to make the bookmark dialog stay (after pressing shift-f11), now just
it will vanish as soon you clik outside of the dialog.
Optimally i would like the bookmark dialog be accesible from "left, right or bottom" like
project/structure/web etc...
I've never made my own plugin and dont have the time right now to look into it but maybe this is
possible to customize via the plugin API?
Any suggestion is highly appreciated, i use bookmarks a lot when i'm browsing/working on large
codebases.
A website that sorts everyday the most relevant information to you.
Vote for the news and Matoumba will learn your tastes and the information that you like the most.
It is all FREE!
Find here the history of the stories you found interesting.
Show this to people who share the same interests as you,
and if they use Matoumba, their own votes will fine recommandations to you.
Voting ends tonight (11:59PM CT) in the Pepsi Refresh SXSW Challenge, where 
This concept
project is one that I would love to see on any city street at night. The Intersection
Signaletique uses special projectors from above to create messages on the streets, and its use is
three-fold: advertisement, direction, and decoration.
The jury may
still be out on 
It's that time
again -- the Engadget Show returns this Saturday, March 20th at 5pm! We'll be
joined by 
Denise Panieri showed us her photographic world of mistreated
Polaroids 15 months ago, and we very much like the mysterious photo she took during her night
with us. To read the text she wrote about the experience and browse her online mini-gallery,
click 
[In a GameSetWatch-exclusive set of blog posts covering the week of 
Very few games
manage to instill a pure kind of terror such as 
We
are just starting to announce the first speakers at the upcoming 
Two and a half
years ago we learned that while 
I used to have a
long-running complaint that there were 
Recommandations
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
