Factual dreams - a true oxymoron

Sometimes it is easy to forget how "magical" current tech would seem to a visitor from the pas, or even ourselves enough years ago. 

Sitting here typing on a laptop with glowing keys so the light can be down and the sky outside can set the mood (scheduling pub time, summer dusk at present) 

With music coming down from the cloud, landing on my small slab of a mobile (or smart glass, or mini computer) and out via the connected speaker.

 Eva & The Heartmaker: Live fra Rockefeller http://wimp.no/album/20517767

And then glancing down at my e-paper watch to see the track title, and maybe skip or pause. 

In another ten or five years, the keyboard might be connected to the phone-slab as well, with the screen being multipurpose, rather than welded onto a battery and cd combo. Or the phone will be gone, replaced with a small biometric knob - able to connect to assets at home, at work and in the coffee shop.

Or not. It will change, but how it will transition is still thankfully unclear. We can dream, play, test and explore our way forward. Ipad,Air or MS Surface - will they become one or will all three have their niche? 

Why am I writing this on the big MBP, and not the iPad - or even over at the workhorse stationary pc? Full size keyboards on both, but the immediacy of the mid sized screen up close, as opposed to the vastness of the 24'' might be part of it. Or possibly the avoidance of distractions - games are lined up over there, a backlog of golden rpg games, bought digitally to fill in the gaps in the collection. Same goes for the iPad, the lack of full on keyboard (despite the nifty Touchfire needing some love) and an abundance of consummation apps makes other uses better than blogging. 

And still I lust for a brand new Air. Not because I need more gear. Nor because it is time to replace the latop. But because it is new. And shiny. And better than the one I lusted over last year. 

Solved it then by having a friend buy one with myself as advisor during the test and purchase. Not to mention rebooting the iPad2 for a forth gen. A cheap perk for my employer, considering the hours spent reading and staying up to date, on my own time. For now blaming the lack of instant OS update might be enough. Hassle free being a key decider in anything that will be just for fun and on my own time.

On that note it seems right to get around to the quote that started the tangent off:

This is the challenge of the Kickstarter artist, the growth stock CEO and the well-published author. Dreams are irresistible, but they will never match reality when it finally appears.

[seth G, my link added]

And that is why Kickstarter is the ultimate "weird" shopping experience - you get to play along with the process, so by the time you get the product you are vested, and using it feels a lot more natural than something you "just" bought in a store.

For some products the experience up to the product might be enough in and off itself. The feeling of being a patron of the (creative) arts making a transaction justified even if you don't really need the product that much.

Might also be why I had more or less shifted into digital only projects. Until a weak moment saw a dual dose of robots getting some support. So by xmas there should be a Sparky trotting along with some sort of BrickPI creation. Provided they both make it past customs and survive shipping.

Inspiration makes the future something worth waiting for

"...and you’re off to the manufactured normalcy races, where nobody wins because everyone goes to fucking sleep."

  W. Ellis 

Quote from a keynote he did in September 2012. So we are already in the future, looking back and forward again. Would have loved to seen it as a video, but well worth reading in full.

The main takeaway (for me) is about how we need ideas to push us to make reality. Slapping a Hello Kitty case on a phone isn't innovation. But making a phone so slimmed down it almost NEEDS a case to protect it is.

It is the wild ideas and visions from art, books, movies that push us to try to make a different tomorrow.

Kevin Kelly touched upon a similar vibe in the 20 years celebration issue of Wired, it is about spreading ideas and opportunity out globally, at scale. Change the world one byte at a time. And if you can envision a better tomorrow, then somebody else is probably impatient enough to try to make it next week rather than next year.

The same idea was a foundation for the Ridley Scott show "Prophets of Science Ficiton" on Science, covering greats like Jules Verne, Asimov, Heinlein, Clark. How reading their books prompted a lot of people to not only study science, but try to make it a reality. And preferably before someone else did it. Not enough to get to the Moon, it has to be first, fastest, longest.


Because, if we settle for JUST pushing the button 3px to the left, we risk loosing that drive, the competition and the dream of a new tomorrow.

Natural 11

Wired 18.11 - the "natural" breast issue caused a bit of a stir. But what got my attention was something completely different.



Phineas & Ferb mainly. The piece was just around the same time as they started airing big time on Disney Channel over here. I must admit to being  pleasantly surprised to hear that the were Disney made (or paid, same distinction).

Became a fan watching it with junior (who wanted to hear the songs over and over and over and over... especially the "big tune" #1 song - he has since moved on to Dora as the main "want to see")

I had some fun with the ToonTips - short clips showing how to draw one character in one simple pose, using the stylus and the iPad to sketch out some simple characters (heads at least). The simple style makes it both memorable and replicable even for a simple dabbler such as me. Even downloaded and printed out a four page guide for when junior gets around to drawing somewhat planned.

Then there was the launch (?) of wired.com/rawfile - photoblog with a twist. Which is still going strong, actually ended up there a few days ago for the 'screaming' images (one seen left - worth reading and seeing the whole piece)


And finally, WDYDWYD. What a fun acronym, impossible to sound out compared to saying it in full. And so simple to understand when you have heard or read it once.

What is it that motivates you? Makes the blood pound a little bit more, makes you get out of bed in the morning?

Seeing it's been taken a step further with a .com - get some text on an image to express it - WHY do you do what YOU do?

Sometimes just asking it makes things clearer. And sometimes if you really dig into the answers you might find that it is time to change. 

Be it a pivot or a "war" - or a FLINCH! (still free, still awesome, still nagging me)




- ...and the sun is probably shining today, so I'm out at the swings, while the nice servers pushes this out there for you. Yes YOU.

Make it or code it?

Fair overview piece from the Economist, on the webversion / extension of the Intelligent Life Magazine; Whats with Steampunk

A bit shallow on the analysis compared to what I recall from the print side, haven't read lately so it could have changed...
Would have live to read a bit more on the digital vs real angle, linker up to sites like boingboing and the Make direction. Steampunk is cyberpunk brought back to something you can (imagine / visualize) being able to create yourself. While cyberpunk gives you a bit of ressonance if you program, most webusers really don't. So steampunk mixes in the tangible rather than a complex and encompassing digital realm, whilst still retaining the flair of the fantastic.

steampunk is clearly not just a look, but an embrace of a nearly mythical era of mad science and weird contraptions

The visual style and the golden age (1920'ies careless or carefree...) has been used to great effect both for movies like Sherlock Holmes (pre-steam...) and games such as Bioshock.

Is it the feeling that everything was simpler, understandable yet still outside your control?
Sure you could fit together the pieces of a diving suit, but the dark waters were still scary. But now it is close to magic, packages flying at literally the speed of light around the world with thousands of servers, switches and cables involved in the simpelst act of wathcing a video or writing a text.

...and the sun has probably set behind the grey clouds...

Anderson Drones

Lego Autopilot first flight: "We tested stabilization, autonomous navigation (only using compass headings this time, although GPS is in the works), and the real-time video downlink"

Chris Anderson (Long Tail, Wired editor) has a new site up for his latest fun project -DIY Drones: - detailing the building and now flying of a Lego NXT based drone or self-controlled plane.

Too cool - goes to show how far you can get with the willingness to push the boundaries (and some spare cash, sub $1000 is still a bit for playing around)

Real toys and virtual playhouses

With the internet it is so easy to find information - and so hard to find the time to use it.

How many sites can you spend time on? How many YouTube videos and Facebook friends can you fit into a reasonable time online? Currently Norway is swept into a social networking frenzy, first by "Nettby" - from the largest paper (and the largest online site) VG. In a short span it grew from nothing into 150 000 users and high profile coverage during the captial markets day for Schibsted. And now Facebook has apparently passed 170 000 Norwegian users, up from 3000 in January.

I'm reading "Linked" (or for the full explanatory tagline title; "How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means") It is a book from late 2002 and at one point Barabási talks about the "six degrees" phenomenon and how "we don't have a social search engine so we may never know the real number". And now just a few years down the line we are pretty close. At least if it was easy (or feasible) to map the online part of the world by mixing MySpace, WOW, LinkedIn, blogs and comments (Technorati) into one large cloud of interconnected "metaverses". Something for Yahoo Pipes to do as their next proof of concept?

Second Life has also been in the news quite a bit, but it seems to have more value as a marketing buzz word than as a destination (send out a release about doing something in SL and get coverage, rather than getting the attention in SL itself). Like this post from 3point on Bunnies in bits... more than a month before the (possible/plausible) event or entrance kicking off.

too cute

Moving over too pure toys - and buzz machines - the Pleo robot dino just looks way to nice! It was covered in Wired and PC Mag has a interesting hands-on. The choice of dino species was adapted based on the need for all his new high tech innards - so stubby legs and a thick neck is a perfect match. Not to mention that it makes for a cute little critter. (Image from Ugobe, creators of Pleo)

Also in the cute category is the story of robot chicklets from NXTbot - coming from Sega (who needs to make a game console when you can get this kind of attention?)

NXT is the new version of the Mindstorms "make your own robot" kit from Lego - which at $250 is best suited for the slightly older geek. With the more "regular" pieces there is no problem making fanciful mech style creations - like this APU from the Matrix movies, or the Lego IP mecha setting called Exo Force. And here the power of the net as both a source for off line activities and for stealing time is quite visible; building instructions or browsing 30,790 creations?

As for NXT- it would be fun to pick up a set and make a small robot, but I just don’t see the time for delving into it properly on the horizon - too many other options and ideas. Like building that Exo Force combination model ;D

-
...and the sun is a postcard from tomorrow...

Sounds like web spirits

September was the "rebirth of music" issue from Wired - with podcasting filling my Zen with weekly shows and podiobooks, I have to admit that pure music has taken a backseat (even with our whole collection on the pc). So it was interesting to read a bit more about alternative venues (in the broadest possible interpretation of the word) such as Last.Fm and NerdCore Hip hop.

Last.Fm basically takes the community and recommendation aspect of Amazon and brings it to music. By "listening in" on more than 3 billion songs played (software works with most audio player programs, such as Winamp, iTunes and Windows Media Player) they help you discover new music and keep a finger on what's getting hotter around the net.

Nerdcore offer up a twisted mix of geeky rap, with artists taking their names from a broad swath of popular media. Good fun. Have picked up a couple of tracks, and added them to the playlist.

In a way I'm glad that I'm not in the US - free Amazon shipping and NetFlix delivering 7 million dvds each week to 5 million subscribers just might feel to nice and convenient to go out and look for new entertainment on my own. Been feeling the same way about games lately, so when I got a gift card I headed straight to town and grabbed a couple of games that had already made in into platinum (PS2 bestsellers). Review games feel the same way - get several, play some or all for a bit, then a few for more than an hour and then pack up a whole stack and give them back to free up closet space.


Totally unrelated tangent, but she was featured at Wired Next Fest; "Actroid Der Kokoro -- an android resembling a young Japanese woman" - gives off a Bladerunner vibe. Sure you can tell she's not all that human - but give it some years and the money to improve facial texture and complexity, and things might not be so clean cut. Especially if she answered on a video phone. Neat and spooky mixed together nicely.