Apple’s new, speed-bumped iBooks and PowerBooks are out (YUM!). Makes me wish I had the money to buy the one-older models, as the price goes down, while supplies last.
Campbell’s Soup has new Andy Warhol labels – what more needs to be said.
But, most exciting of all, my students loans from the US are now down to below the –insert obscene amount of money here– mark! Sigh. I wish interest was only something that applied to my work, and not the money I owe…
The physical computing workshop at Wits was a huge success!!! There will actually be another beginner’s workshop on interactive video and sound (in real time) at some point in the next few months (led by me), as there seemed to be keen interest, as well as an advanced p-comp workshop to follow. The former is open to all with an interest (no experience necessary), while the latter may require previous experience (such as the first workshop) – we’ll have to see about that one, as only time will tell what can fly well. It seems that, in general, there may be room for a full p-comp course, rather than just a workshop, in the Interactive Media Design program’s future :) …
Don’t miss the great opening at Franchise, 44 Stanley St, on Wednesday night, if you are in the Joburg area!
I’ve finally discovered the right hardware for my next big interactive installation (tentatively entitled step inside), thanks in no small part to James Webb. Screen shots and floor plans will be up after the test run at Wits in a few weeks – it will eventually be the main feature at a solo show at the JAG (opens late October), and I’m also hoping that it will be an exhibiting piece at this year’s Kebble’s.
For those of you, like me, who missed Nina Czegledy’s talk at Vega the other day: do not fear. She loves this country, and we’re likely to see more of her in the future. I got to chat to her briefly at the Premises opening (also fab – I especially liked the work of Matt Hindley, which played with depth by printing pop-art-like images on mirrors) the other night, and she’s all the inspiration I expected her to be. Yay, translocality!
Just got the Fire-i Digital Camera in the mail – works on both Mac and PC. At only $89US, it is honestly the bestest real-time camera for interactive video I have ever used, and I’ll probably pick up another the next time I get to the states. Super fast, high-quality & resolution, and sees both Color and IR (can put on a cheap filter if you just want to see the IR – contact me if you are interested in making your own visible light filter for next to nothing). The downside is that the camera does not allow you to save your settings as the new defaults, so it has to be reset each time you run your performance or installation.
For the common good of Interactive Video producers everywhere, I’m in the process of emailing with Jeremy Bernstein, over at Cycling ’74 to see how to auto-send messages from Jitter (their video modular for the Max/MSP development environment) for all the settings, and will post my findings when I have them. Eventually, I’ll also email Danny Rozin (Smoothware Design) to see if we can do this from his TrackThemColors Pro Xtra from Director, too (what I teach my students at Wits). I’m also curious as to the status of his VideoMask MX Xtra – when will that happen?…
OK. Off to Pretoria to see Abrie and the tax man (separately, of course).
Bush Agrees to Answer All of 9/11 Panel’s Questions
GOP boss ads insult to 9/11 families
Is Recovery Without Jobs Now the Norm?
Poll Finds Growing Support for Gay Civil Unions
Apple seminar reveals Pixar’s switch to OS X, G5s
French Group Seeks Royalties on IPod – hmmmm. Perhaps Microsoft should pay me any time someone surfs my site on any of their Windows OSs…
Tech / Geek / Art:
Slashster – a slashdot version of friendster for geeks who want to keep in touch…
Peter Jackson has a few new movies in the works, including King
Kong (2005) and the LOTR pre-quel, The
Hobbit (note that this latter link is to a slashdot internal page, and even
better than the announcement are the very ‘in’ responses to it!).
A History of Apple’s Operating Systems
New, smaller, flashier iPod sells out fast
FingaMIDI: cool for two reasons. 1. The new trackpads are now sensitive to amount of touch (in other words, they are all li’l ADCs – analog to digital converters). 2. Already, geeks have made room for artists to use this to their advantage, via Max/MSP!
The transition to politics:
The American People:
current blog which relays many right wing articles that use the words ‘The American
People,’ in vain, to their own advantage.
Kerry/Edwards/Bush/Dean:
Kerry
Backs Benefits for Legally United Gays – perhaps kerry is cooler than he first
appears? Maybe he has a better chance than Gore did, because he actually has some
views he is willing to tell to the public, rather than basing everything on polls
until it is too late… Still, he is nowhere near as cool as my boy Howard Dean
(or Kuchinich, while I’m at it). If you have CNN, check out True
Believers: Life Inside the Dean Campaign, on today.
Kerry
Camp Plans to Raise $80 Million up against Bush’s continually growing, but
already at, $100 Million. Bush
and Kerry [are starting to] square off with that money, but that’s not the
reason I liked to the article. This quote is:
“Two-time presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson once had a woman supporter shout out, ‘Mr. Stevenson, all thinking people support you!’ To which Stevenson replied, ‘That’s wonderful. But I need a majority.'”
Buffett Charges Bush Tax Cuts Favor Wealthy – well, duh, but it is nice to finally hear a rich person say as such.
Steal
This Speech = interesting take on how Edwards changed the campaign (tho, I
read a similar one on Clark last week, which was utter rubbish; it’s that time
of year… but on one is arguing about Dean, are they?). More importantly, the
world waits with baited breath to see who Kerry will choose for his VP running
mate!
Last, not least, this article gives a very biased view of how Nader will change
the election (again). Spoiler
role is reflected in poll. I must point out two very obvious things
here. 1. it is an AP poll, which is predominantly lefties, who will vote for Nader.
2. if I ,as a former Nader voter, were to take said poll (which counts for nothing),
I would vote for Nader, too. Whereas in the actual election, I would first look
at how my state was swinging… Just a thought.