Technology and geeky stuff Archives - Page 34 of 45

Adaptive music (huh, what’s that?)

18 April, 2007 by sky Leave a Comment

I track the game-developer world to a limited extent (because I work on real-world pervasive games), and today I ran across an article by Andrew Clark in Gamasutra describing what he calls adaptive music. Very few online articles keep me reading from start to finish – and a four-part article is even less likely to do so.
Why did this article intrigue me so much? Well, first, I have been a musician (to some degree) since I was five years old; and second, I’ve been writing educational (computer-based) games and programs since 1978. And I’ve always wanted to incorporate sound and music when it was possible. At the age of 18 I was faced with a flip-the-coin decision between engineering and music. My piano teacher told me that I could embark on a life of music and perhaps if I worked really hard I could make it – but that it was more likely that I’d be a “talented amateur” rather than a successful professional musician. So I went with engineering, and ended up in computer science.
But when personal computers came along, I tried to incorporate music wherever I could. When I started a company (in 1980 – DesignWare) to create educational titles for kids and we started working on the new Apple-II, we had little musical themes that popped out of nowhere when the game started up.

What Andrew calls adaptive music is the kind of music that appears in today’s video games that “tracks” in some ways the action and stages of the game itself.

[Read more…]

The Missing Peace opens in New York – and is still in Virtual Space online!

6 April, 2007 by sky Leave a Comment

The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama has opened in New York (March 2007), after successful runs in Los Angeles and Chicago, but for you newcomers to my blog, I wanted to remind you of the great online virtual tour of the exhibit, that I first described in August 2006. The tour will continue to be online until, well until long after the physical exhibit no longer exists. The idea behind having a virtual tour was twofold: first, to provide a way that people could see the artworks who otherwise will not be able to get to a real-world showing, and; second, to provide a preview the would be of value to those attending the exhibit.

In fact, it’s probably also a great “reminder” or those who’ve visited the show and forgotten the details of what they’ve seen.

Here’s a part of Darlene Markovich’s description of the opening in New York – The event began at 6:30. As we approached the museum just before 6:00, we were amazed to see a long line of people waiting in the cold and rain outside the doors to get in! The museum stopped counting at over 1,000 people so we don’t have the exact count of attendees. It was a big hit!

The event was very well organized and beautifully arranged – the food was excellent. Just for a moment, I wondered if their events always had such a draw, but museum staff told me that this crowd even exceeded their very large and well-attended anniversary event!

To us, since just over 50% of the exhibition was shown (4th and 5th floors and lower level) , it appeared to be a much smaller show; however, the installation is absolutely beautiful and the juxtaposition of ancient Himalayan art with TMP art is outstanding. To a person unfamiliar with the full exhibition, it was a major (sized) show. Most people commented that it was wonderful to see contemporary art at the RMA. The energy level was Himalayan-high. So much so, strangers would comment about the artworks to each other.

Sixteen TMP artists attended, and, as well, art critic and advisory board member Lilly Wei and art critic Kay Larson. It was a lot of fun to receive Christo and Jeanne-Claude as they raised quite a bit of excitement in the crowd.
What lies behind this online tour?

[Read more…]

Mopping up the Bits

30 March, 2007 by sky Leave a Comment

When I go to Dharamsala, no matter what my intended major focus, I always have a half dozen concurrent side projects. No exception this time. I spent several days talking with people and keeping those relationships and projects alive. And introducing new people to old people. Playing the role of human glue to bring people together. This was my fourth trip.

Now that I’m finished there, I’ve returned to Delhi, having arrived by train last night. The students from Nigeria and California, with the teachers and part of the video crew, were all driven down (in seven cars) to Pathankot where we picked up the overnight train to Delhi. We arrived in Delhi at 5 am. Delhi streets are fairly busy any time of day or night, but we had an easy time of it since we had a “tourist” bus waiting, which is at the disposal of the student group for the next couple of days.

(The photo shows the computer room at Chonor house, overflowing with me attempting a video transfer, two video cameras running, and two computers on the Internet.)

Today the photographers and video makers (and I) are looking thru photos and copying and editing them, as well as copying video files. And preparing blog entries which can be uploaded from the YMCA around the corner. While in Dharamsala, I copied the TCV videos (about 20GB) to a LaCie USB drive, and this morning I copied the Nigerian videos from Emmanuel’s camera to the same drive. This drive will go with John Sorensen back to GraceCreek Media so the video will be available for use in the documentary that’s being made for Project Happiness.

Several thoughts, and perhaps a cautionary tale or two for traveling geeks:

[Read more…]

An Organic Model for Growing “Beyond-the-First-Mile” Solutions

28 March, 2007 by sky Leave a Comment

The phrases last mile or last mile problem refer to the way network connectivity is brought from the telephone central office (or other connection point) to a subscriber’s home or business. For telephones, this used to be the pair of copper wires that ran from the central office, where the switching equipment lives, to the home, where the subscriber lives. Today, of course, it could refer to cell phone towers (which use radio), cable TV lines, fiber-optics or lots of other types of circuits.
Friends have suggested to me that it’s useful to pivot, face the other way, and think of this as a first mile problem instead. And for yet another perspective, the folks at AirJaldi call it a beyond the first mile problem.The AirJaldi Summit took place in 2006. But AirJaldi itself, as an organization, is far more than just a one-time meeting. It aspires to be a model for disseminating Internet connectivity to places commercial carriers will never venture. Using open-source software, modified and loaded into wi-fi routers equipped with battery backup, solar power (in some cases), armored against the weather, and connected to high-gain antennas, AirJaldi has constructed a model network that spans 70km and connects thousands of users’ computers to the Internet.

I talked with Mikey Ginguld, who has just taken a full-time role as acting CEO/COO with AirJaldi, about how they’re doing it.


Play the interview:

Google’s “Sitesearch” grows up

8 March, 2007 by sky Leave a Comment

Until recently, Google provided a pretty straightforward “Sitesearch” service that any webmaster could use as a “local site search engine.” Pretty simple to configure and use – I did one for a private client of mine a month ago, and it took about half an hour to configure and then install on their web site. And SiteSearch provided a Search box that permitted your site visitors to search just your site or to search the entire web – their choice.
But it’s now gotten more complex. And it’s gotten much better.

[Read more…]