[KAIST ITC] Smart E-Book Interface Prototype Demo
KAIST Institute of Information Technology Convergence
Patented Smart E-Book Interface Prototype implemented with Apple Private API
Very smart.
Category Archives: Miscellania
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This looks amazing. Continue reading
An idea for the iPhone home button
I’m pleased to report that the idea I posted last week for a bookmarklet to make web citations has attracted a little interest on Forrst.
This weekend idea is much simpler: Turn the iPhone home button into a tiny LCD screen so it can display context-sensitive information. Continue reading
Solar updraft tower
Arizona should be getting some of these sci-fi eco monsters in 2015.
Solar updraft towers combine three technologies to produce power: the greenhouse effect, the chimney effect and wind turbine. Sunshine heats the canopy at the base of the tall chimney causing air to flow upwards towards the turbines at the base which then convert that flow into electricity. The solar tower requires low maintenance, no feed stock (uranium, coal etc.) and emits no pollution.
(via Arizona getting colossal solar updraft tower in 2015 – digitaltrends.com)
Link
By Jamie Benning, the maker of Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning to Jedi.
Transformers 3 VFX breakdowns
Aside
So much technology, talent and time in service of something so mediocre.
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
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
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)
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.
Intermission
Aside
“I have a dream”
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.”
Martin Luther King’s famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial, 1963. ©EMI/Sony!
Martin Luther King Jr.‘s “I Have a Dream” speech is considered one of the most recognizable collection of words in American history. It’s the rhetorical equivalent of a national treasure or a national park. The National Park Service inscribed it on the Lincoln Memorial and the Library of Congress put it into its National Recording Registry. So we might hold it to be self evident that it can be spread freely.
Not exactly. Any unauthorized usage of the speech and a number of other speeches by King – including in PBS documentaries – is a violation of American law.
Another tragic abuse of copyright. It’s hard to imagine anything more deserving of being in the public domain. Continue reading
Kickstarter 2011, by numbers
Kickstarter have posted some facts and figures about their 2011, compared with 2010:
The largest categories continued to be Film ($32 million pledged) and Music ($19 million pledged), however Design saw the biggest growth in launched projects (235 in 2010 vs. 1,060 in 2011), Games saw the largest percentage increase in backers (up 730%), and Dance had the highest success rate (74%). All 13 categories saw at least $1 million in pledges.
I took the numbers and had a play to see if there were any interesting observations to be made. Continue reading
Open Domesday Book
The Domesday Book, freely available online for the first time. You can search by place, name or simply browse the book.
Trends in independent documentary filmmaking
Affordable digital cameras, crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, and video distribution sites like YouTube and Vimeo have all opened the door to a generation of new independent documentary filmmakers.
Many of today’s documentary filmmakers are making bold stylistic choices more often associated with narrative storytelling than documentary filmmaking and finding savvy new ways to engage audiences. By pushing the boundaries of what is considered traditional documentary filmmaking, they are stepping up to compete for the eyes of a generation raised on the often outrageous, unfiltered and unedited user-generated videos that can be found on YouTube and the conflict driven scripted Reality television that fills TV networks.
Stiffs: The Apocalypse Party
Stiffs is a five issue mini-series comic currently seeking funding on IndieGoGo. It’s produced in Cardiff, so if you think it sounds cool, give them some support.
Set in a dead end town in the South Wales Valleys, it follows the adventures of working stiffs Don Daniels, and his monkey life partner (they’re just friends, really) Kenny McMonkey, as they discover that the undead stalk the valley at night. Raised on a steady diet of rubbish horror films and heavy metal, they do what any sane person would: become a pair of bad-ass, hard-living zombie hunters.
The perks are really great too: $20 gets you the whole series, another $5 gets them signed for you, but for $50 you get to commission the series artist to draw whatever you like, and $100 gets you a zombie-cameo in one of the comics!
They’ve already managed to raise $2,048 of the required $3,000, with 16 days still to go, so they’re right on target. I grabbed a preview issue at last year’s Cardiff International Comic Expo, and it looks like a great series. Continue reading
The Essential Geography of the United States of America
Created by over two years, Slate explains what made David Imus’ map The Essential Geography of the United States of America the Best of Show at the annual competition of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society.
Blade Runner Sketchbook
Some fan has uploaded the out-of-print Blade Runner Sketchbook (1982) to Issuu. Sadly it doesn’t seem like you can download the PDF from there, so go and appreciate it before it vanishes! There are more Blade Runner goodies from the uploader at the Future Noir Tumblr blog.
Thing a Week
People who have followed me on Twitter or this blog for a while may be aware that back in June 2009 I started a Flickr photography group called Thing a Week. The concept is quite simple: To take a picture on a different theme every week.
Now the group is under new management and has a snazzy new website, it seemed like the perfect time for me to get all nostalgic.
The Eagles wrote the Hitchhiker’s Guide theme tune
I think I already knew this, but massive hat-tip to Gavin Rothery (@GavRov) and friend for digging up this little tidbit.
halfblog.net 