By Jamie Benning, the maker of Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning to Jedi.
Yearly Archives: 2012
Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” as an interactive animation
Made with openFrameworks and 80,000 particles.
Petros Vrellis has created an interactive visualisation and synthesizer that animates Vincent Van Goghs “Starry Night”, using openframeworks to create a simple and elegant interaction. A fluid simulation gently creates a flowing fabric from Van Goghs impressionist portrait of the Milky Way and night sky over Saint-Rémy in France using the thick paint daubs as the particles within the fluid.
The Puzzlejuice emails: Designing an iOS app
This might be the blog post that goes on to define TL;DR.
So begins an epic multi-part blog post containing the entire email conversation between Asher Vollmer the developer of an iOS puzzle game, and Greg Wohlwend, a designer he brings on board to add some serious good looks. The result is Puzzlejuice (now in the app store).
Transformers 3 VFX breakdowns
Aside
So much technology, talent and time in service of something so mediocre.
WordPress.com infinite scroll – the final straw
WordPress.com have added an infinite scroll ‘feature’ to two of their primary themes, including the Twenty Eleven theme I use here.
In the quest to make visitors engage with your content as effortlessly as possible we are rolling out a new feature to your blog home pages—infinite scrolling! Instead of having to scroll and click through older-pages links we are now pulling new content automatically whenever a visitor approaches the bottom of a blog.
Best thing, it should be entirely transparent to you or your readers. The feature is enabled for blogs with the Twenty Ten or Twenty Eleven themes.
We take care of the smaller details, such as removing the older/next links, integrating with your design as smoothly as possible. Having said that, please let us know what you think by posting any feedback you may have. Thanks.
Another way of looking at this is that they have deleted my footer from the main page of my site, and given me no way to return it (short of picking another theme and undoing all the work I’ve put into this one).
I don’t have the will to add my voice to the many, many complaints already being voiced in the forums. Instead I think I’ll be creating my own self hosted WordPress blog. Continue reading
Alan Moore on Anonymous and that iconic mask
Quote
By the early sixteen-hundreds, the bonfires traditionally lit around the start of November had been co-opted as trappings for a sort of national anti-Catholic day at which effigies of the Pope would be incinerated.
As mastermind behind the terrorist outrage du jour, however, the plot’s nominal leader Guido Fawkes rapidly replaced the pontiff as hate-mascot of choice on these occasions.
Jump forward 300 years, though, to the battered post-war England of the 1950s, and the saturnine insurrectionary had taken on more ambiguous connotations.
When parents explained to their offspring about Guy Fawkes and his attempt to blow up Parliament, there always seemed to be an undertone of admiration in their voices, or at least there did in Northampton.
While that era’s children perhaps didn’t see Fawkes as a hero, they certainly didn’t see him as the villainous scapegoat he’d originally been intended as.
Viewpoint: V for Vendetta and the rise of Anonymous – bbc.co.uk/news
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Declan Lawn hunts down racist troll Darren Burton aka Nimrod Severn.
The Mass Intelligent
This epic presentation by Andrew Rashbass of The Economist hypothesises that smart is the new cool, and what that means for publishing.
Debatewise: A good system for constructive debate
Debatewise.org is a site I think about every time I see an argument on Twitter or in a comment thread on some blog or other. The reality of the site falls very far short of the promise on offer:
[…] a place where the best possible arguments for one side are listed next to the best possible arguments against. These arguments aren’t created by one person, but by like-minded individuals collaborating to form the strongest case. This allows people both to easily compare the pros and cons and also to come to a decision safe in the knowledge they have the best information to hand.
Link
This post by Robert Scoble describes the main reason why I despise Facebook. It’s not their lack of respect for user’s privacy, it’s not their amoral founder or their virtual monopoly in social media. It’s that they have provided something that satisfies the needs of most regular users so well that they’ve critically — and perhaps fatally — injured the common web.
It’s too late to save the common web. It’s why, for the past year, I’ve given up and have put most of my blogging into Google+. I should have been spending that effort on the web commons and on RSS but it’s too late.
Normal users don’t care about the argument anymore and they are addicted to Facebook and Google+ and Twitter and apps on iPhones and Android. Heck, if you are at the Super Bowl tomorrow the official app is on iOS and Android and not other platforms.
The common web isn’t just under attack, it’s been under attack for more than four years.
Why did it take so long for people to wake up?
It’s too late for Dave Winer and John Battelle to save the common web – scobleizer.com
A bookmarklet for making web citations
I share a lot of suff from the web, on this blog and elsewhere. Typically I like to use a passage of text from the site I’m linking to (wrapped in a <blockquote>), followed by a link to the source (using <cite>). Then I’ll add some of my own text above or below the excerpt to add any necessary context.
I’m very particular about how I format all of this information. Only fairly recently I’ve started using the excellent TextExpander to speed up the process.
When I need to excerpt a passage that is more than just plain text (containing, for example, lots of links, lists or a table) I’ve been making use of the handy Posterous bookmarklet, which takes any selected text and formats it very much in the way described above. I’ll then modify the code it produces to suit my own needs.
The Posterous bookmarklet is fine, but it has two drawbacks:
- It uses Posterous-specific markup (a class on the blockquote and
divinstead ofcite). - I don’t use Posterous any more, and the bookmarklet requires that I be logged in.
So starting with this need, I’ve produced a mockup of a bookmarklet that would be of great utility to me, and presumably to many others:
Link
Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film by Danny Cooke
A short film about letterpress and one of the few remaining movable-type printing workshops in the UK, situated at Plymouth University, featuring Paul Collier.
The Gift
Video
The Gift by Big Lazy Robot / directed by Carl E. Rinsch
Continue reading
No Robots
Video
A student film, from San Jose State University
No Robots by Kimberly Knoll (USA) and 張永翰 Yunghan Chang (Taiwan)
Continue reading
Link
Physibles: Data objects for 3D printing.
We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles. Data objects that are able (and feasible) to become physical. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.
(via thepiratebay.org)
Archetype
Video
Your memories are just a glitch
RL7 is an eight-foot tall combat robot that goes on the run after malfunctioning with vivid memories of once being human. As its creators and the military close in, RL7 battles its way to uncovering the shocking truth behind its mysterious visions and past.
Upcoming geek events in Cardiff
Just a quick roundup of events planed for the next couple of months in Cardiff. If you want me to add something, leave a comment.
MathsJam Cardiff – Tuesday 24th January 2012 (tomorrow!)
We meet on the second to last Tuesday of every month, from 7pm in the evening, in the Grape and Olive wine bar which is located at the corner of Wedal Road and Allensbank Road, just off the A48.
Follow @RealityMinus3 for details, or email cardiff@mathsjam.com.
And don’t be put off by the ‘wine bar’ thing – it’s really not that fancy.
Dorkbot Cardiff #6 – Thursday 26th January 2012
(Ignore the date on their page, the next meeting is in fact this year.)
Typically a small gathering, but it’s always eclectic, and this week’s seems no different: Nic Finch will be talking about his VJ work, Rhys Philips on protecting aircraft against lightning strikes and Matt Cook with some sounds from Hong Kong.
Also, anyone else is welcome to show and tell in an ‘open dork’ session.
The dorkbot global network is made of groups of people “doing strange things with electricity”. There are more than 100 groups worldwide, who meet at various intervals and present work in progress, experiments, hacks and other unexpected uses of technology. Members of dorkbot groups include artists, engineers, designers, musicians, hackers, curious types, no robots yet.
Talks will be in Milgi’s garage, 213 City Road, CF24 3JD from 7:30, with presentations starting at 8:00. If you haven’t been before, don’t be put off by the alleyway; the garage is a pretty good venue.
Cardiff UX Bookclub – Thursday 26th January 2012
If Dorkbot isn’t your thing, there’s also the Cardiff UX Bookclub, discussing Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith. They meet at Sequence, Fitzalan House, CF24 0EL at 6.30pm.
Follow @uxbookclubcdf.
Cardiff Node.js User Group – Saturday 28th January, 2012
CNUG held at Y Mochyn Du near Sofia gardens at 1pm. See Eventbrite for details.
Follow @cnug_js.
February
unified.diff – Wednesday 1st February 2012
For too long, Cardiff’s software development community has been fragmented by language, discipline, and platform.
unified.diff is a monthly meet-up for anybody involved or interested in the field of software development.
We hold tech talks, and trade war stories.
The first gathering is at O’Neill’s on Trinity St., starting at 7pm:
19:00 Interfacing
19:20 Walkthrough
19:30 The Loneliness of a Long Distance Coder – Carey Hiles – @handybitesize
20:00 How to handle your terminal like a boss – Warren Seymour – @woogoose
20:30 Clean Code – Gavin Davies – @gavd_uk
21:00 Memory fragmentation
23:00 Shutdown
Follow @unifieddiff.
South Wales Linux User Group – Wednesday 1st February 2012
SWLUG meet in the City Arms on the first Wednesday Tuesday of every month, from about 7pm. They also have regular meetings in Carmarthen.
Note: For this Cardiff meet-up, they will be joining in with unified.diff at O’Neill’s (see above).
Follow @SWLUG.
Update 2012.03.23: From April, SWLUG are moving to the first Tuesday of every month, to avoid clashing with unified.diff.
Cardiff Windows Phone User Group – 8th February 2012
At The Promised Land – doors open from 6.30pm. Book tickets through Eventbrite, follow @cdf_wpug and do the Facebook thing.
Cardiff Blogs Meetup – Wednesday 22nd February 2012
Starting at 6:30pm at the Maldron Hotel on Saint Mary St. (an excellent venue). It’s free, and they’re so inclusive that you don’t actually have to be from Cardiff or a blogger to attend!
Cardiff International Comic & Animation Expo – 25-26th February 2012
If you don’t know what this is all about, read my blog post from last year.
Apparently 75% of the tickets have been sold, though I gather a limited amount will be sold on the day at the doors.
Truthfully, there is no one must-see draw to this in terms of guest speakers (for me), but the stalls, displays, artists, costumes and over-exited fans make this a must. I’ve only bought a single day ticket though.
Follow @CardiffExpo.
WordPress Users Wales – Wednesday 29th February 2012
No firm date for this one yet, but pencil it in for late Feb. I’d expect this second WordPress gathering to focus on useful, practical advice for new WordPress users.
Follow @WordPressWales.
TEDxCardiff – Saturday 31st March 2012
Tickets went on sale this morning, and I expect them to sell out quickly (if they haven’t gone already Update: Tickets sold out within 20 minutes!). I believe there will be more made available later though. Speakers are still being announced (they’ve just announced Lionel Fanthorpe!) but whoever ends up speaking in the unannounced slots, they’re pretty much guaranteed to be interesting and entertaining if past talks are anything to judge by.
TEDxCardiff 2012 will be held in the Weston Studio at the Wales Millennium Centre. There are two sessions (2-4pm and 6-8pm). Tickets are £6 for one session or £10 for both. You need to call the box office to purchase: 029 2063 6464.
Follow @TEDxCardiff.
Also, keep an ear out for new Cardiff Blogs (@cdfblogs) meet-ups. (All set for the 22nd Feb – see above.)
There’s also likely to be a Geek Cluster gathering mid-February. Follow @dorkomatic for info.
Re-centring the fight for the internet
I really like this suggestion from Joel Spolsky:
The internet seems to ignore legislation until somebody tries to take something away from us… then we carefully defend that one thing and never counter-attack. Then the other side says, “OK, compromise,” and gets half of what they want. That’s not the way to win… that’s the way to see a steady and continuous erosion of rights online.
The solution is to start lobbying for our own laws. It’s time to go on the offensive if we want to preserve what we’ve got. Let’s force the RIAA and MPAA to use up all their political clout just protecting what they have. Here are some ideas we should be pushing for:
- Elimination of software patents
- Legal fees paid by the loser in patent cases; non-practicing entities must post bond before they can file fishing expedition lawsuits
- Roll back length of copyright protection to the minimum necessary “to promote the useful arts.” Maybe 10 years?
- Create a legal doctrine that merely linking is protected free speech
- And ponies. We want ponies. We don’t have to get all this stuff. We merely have to tie them up fighting it, and re-center the “compromise” position.
Jonathan Coulton on piracy and making money from art
Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan. The big content companies are TERRIBLE at doing both of these things, so it’s no wonder they’re not doing so well in the current environment. And right now everyone’s fighting to control distribution channels, which is why I can’t watch Star Wars on Netflix or iTunes. It’s fine if you want to have that fight, but don’t yell and scream about how you’re losing business to piracy when your stuff isn’t even available in the box I have on top of my TV.
Jonathan Coulton on piracy and making money from art. Continue reading
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