Real Life Outrun

We all remember the original 8bit Outrun Game from 1986. I remember playing it until my fingers were bleeding.

So what would it be like if you could have this in real life? That is what the people at the University of California Irvine ask themselves and they created a system that, with the help of cameras and some customized software, looks in front of the vehicle and reproduces a map of what lies ahead of you onto the screen in 8bit rendering just like Outrun.

All you have to do now is follow the route. Simply awesome.

check out the video

@maniac13

Wonderful Computer Graphics seem almost too real…

This is 10 minutes of your time you won’t regret spending. Breathtaking CGI / animation meets architecture and photography. Hard to believe this is all computer rendered. Quite stunning – just watch it:

The Third & The Seventh by Alex Roman. “A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal.”

Awesome work. http://vimeo.com/7809605

Razorfish TweetDoubler – Amazing Twitter tool that allows twice the character count

We’re pretty excited here in Australia to be the first people globally to talk about a new text compression technology just released by Razorfish, one of the worlds largest digital agencies. The Razorfish guys in white coats have developed a compression algorithm that works on text, a bit like the way jpeg compresses an image – which means HUGE news for everyone using Twitter.

Try it now! www.tweetdoubler.com

Twitter normally only allows 140 characters. This Razorfish web application allows you type DOUBLE the normal amount.

You simply enter the text (up to 280 characters) – the compression takes about half a second, next your compressed tweet is sent out (under 140 chars) and then automatically decompressed as the end user views the message. It’s so simple, it’s hard to believe nobody has done this before.

We believe that in the future we can optimise the algorithm, potentially allowing 1000 characters to be compressed to inside Twitter’s limits of 140 characters. This first round of beta testing will provide us with enough data to push limits in the future.

Razorfish Credits:
Thanks to the globally coordinated team who have worked around the clock to bring this to life. Make sure you say Hi to them on Twitter:

Olaf Prilo (@olafprilo) – Independent Science and Maths Consultant.
Iain McDonald (@eunmac) – Creative Director.
Stephan Lange (@Maniac13) – Project Co-ordination.
Chris Saunders (@thesaund) – Lead Coder.
Michael Kliennman – Lead Design.
Shiv Singh – (@shivsingh) Social Media Director.
David Deal (@davidjdeal) – Marketing Director.

Please note this is a beta version open for testing for today only. Enjoy & have a wonderful day 😉

Get your head shot off and feel it

Have you ever wanted to be in the middle of your First person Shooter and feel the impact of the bullets?

Then this is for you:

The HTX Helmet is the next product in development for TN Games using its 3rd Space™ technology.

The HTX Helmet is worn in conjuction with the 3rd Space™ Gaming Vest and delivers blows to the head when you are fired upon.

Feel bullets whizzing by your helmet or the impact of getting shot in the head.

The helmet will communicates with compatible games to give precise, 3 dimensionally accurate impacts where it happens, as it happens.

Release date 2009 – no price yet, but I think I don’t need to know anyway.

NICT researchers develop new method to make holography

Researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (or NICT) have gone some ways towards making holography a tiny bit more practical. As Tech-On reports, their method is based around a fly-eye lens that consists of a number of micro lenses, which allows for moving images to be captured in normal lighting conditions, and is also used to display the image after a computer works its magic on the raw images. There are still a few fairly significant drawbacks to the setup, however, as the image displayed is currently limited to one centimeter in size with a two degree viewing angle, although the researchers say they should be able to increase that to a four centimeters within the next three years.

Still a bit off but closer to my holographic companion than ever.

Lessons in Twitter Ghostwriting from Britney Spears and Malcolm Turnbull

Updated 23/10:
I’m glad to see @therealbritney has seend the light. Twitter posts now contain the posters name (see below) and it appears thay Britney is new posting. Be interesting to see if she replies to fans directly…

end update/

The day started well for Britney Spears on Twitter…
http://twitter.com/therealbritney

Ahhh, but there’s the problem – it’s not really Britney, it’s just her marketing / PR team copying and pasting. No, “NOT the real Britney” and it didn’t take long for people to wise up:

“I’m following the BS PR team. I’m just a pop culture twit, what can I tell you?”

Oh dear. Britney (or her agency) has misunderstood what Twitter is all about – real people, real conversations, monologues, not dialogues.

Malcolm Turnbull (http://twitter.com/turnbullmalcolm) on the other hand – Australia’s opposition leader/politician is having a better time so far:

 

Yes, Malcolm appears to be entering the conversation as himself and interestingly he has managed to attract a lot of the major digital influencers with Problogger and NickHodge firing a few questions at him. Hey I even threw one at him myself today to see if he’s reply. This could prove to be a lot of work for Malcolm but at least he’s giving it a go – and yes we all know he’s busy (urm, his Dog Blog is clearly consuming a lot of his internet time).

Summary:
Be real on Twitter, the agency cant’ do it for you, no matter how much they charge you.

Want to get started on Twitter – here’s some light reading
Read the Rules: http://www.caroline-middlebrook.com/blog/twitter-guide/
Then Break em: Scobleizers 10 rules of Twitter

Massaud Airship Hotel Fake : Manned Cloud likely full of hot air.

Fancy flying around he world in 10 days onboard a luxury flying hotel? Well you may have to wait longer than expected. This story has been floating around the web for about 10 months and has made many mags and press, but time seems to be telling that it looks more like a little publicity stunt for architect Massaud (here).

Web Chinese Whispers? Proving again that some web consumers are willing to adopt, believe and blog things that have very little grounding in fact – and then copy and paste madly, there really is very little to suggest this was any more than a ‘concept’ but the web and press have made it look like this project is really happening. I’m happy to be proved wrong, but I’m betting this is a tall story from Massuad that went a little too far…

Early Daily Mail Story here that fueled many blogs (did they really believe this?):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-511843/The-flying-hotel-Thunderbird-2-The-700ft-super-airship-gently-float-world.html

Trust Banners – Science based advertising

1.4.2008: We are delighted to announce the arrival of TrustBanners – a scientific breakthrough in advertising. The results come about from 18 months of research with Professor Olaf. Prilo an expert in the study of brain function.

Below: The dots stimulate both left and right eye individually, stimulating the human mind to feel compelled to immediately consume or purchase the subject matter in the middle (eg: the apple shown). The animated version of the image below can be seen (here)

 

The Amazing Facts from viewing a TrustBanner:
– 87.9% average increase of product desire in test subjects.
– 76.4% switched brands after seeing a single TrustBanner
– 63% purchased consumable products within 7 days.
– No Click / CTA required. Can be applied to any banner ad.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF TEST SUBJECTS:

We look forward to hearing all you feedback and everyone enjoying TrustBanners in your favourite websites soon. 🙂