What Kind of Bird is Big Bird?

This is a very cute and informative:

"Mike Dickison, a scientist doing his Ph.D on the evolution of flightless birds, tackles an enduring scientific mystery: Big Bird's classification."


http://jezebel.com/5575434/what-kind-of-bird-is-big-bird

Project Canvas approved by BBC Trust

Via BBC:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10414215.stm

 

The BBC has been given the go-ahead for a project which could kick-start demand for internet TV.

 

Project Canvas is a partnership between the BBC, ITV, BT, Five, Channel 4 and TalkTalk to develop a so-called Internet Protocol Television standard.

 

The BBC Trust - the corporation's governing body - made its decision after extensive consultation.

 

The trust's Diane Coyle said the partnership "will deliver significant public value for licence fee payers".

 

The trust will review the BBC's involvement against the conditions of its approval, 12 months after Canvas launches to consumers.

 

The service will see a range of set-top boxes available to access on-demand TV services such as iPlayer and ITVplayer.

 

Project director Richard Halton said he was "delighted" by the trust's decision.

 

"This brings the benefits of next-generation TV to all consumers, including those who choose not to subscribe to pay-TV," he said.

 

"We look forward to rising to that challenge."

 

Conditions

 

The trust gave the BBC a provisional go-ahead to become involved in the project last December.

 

It was decided that Canvas would have a series of positive impacts, including furthering the growth of on-demand TV.

 

"People with a broadband connection will be able to access a wide range of on-demand content including BBC iPlayer, free of charge, through their TV sets," said Ms Coyle.

 

"We have however applied a number of conditions to the BBC's involvement in the venture in recognition of the potential impacts on the market if Canvas is successful."

 

The trust has imposed several conditions on the BBC, including:

 

    * Viewers must be able to watch BBC programmes without a subscription.
    * The BBC must report on whether accessibility features, such as audio description, have been incorporated in the system.
    * The Trust will review the signposting of content and parental controls at a later date.
    * Technical specifications must be published within 20 working days of the Trust's approval, to allow broadcasters and set-top box manufacturers to adapt to the Canvas standard.
    * The final core specifications must be published no later than eight months before set-top boxes are launched.
    * Other broadcasters and content providers must have access to the platform.
    * A Trust review, 12 months after its launch, will assess the effects Canvas has on the partner's incentives to syndicate their content to other platforms.
    * The BBC will need further approval if costs exceed those projected by more than 20% in any one year.

YouTube Gets a Vuvuzela Button

Via Mashable.com: http://mashable.com/2010/06/24/youtube-vuvuzela-button/

"As if we haven’t been hearing the buzzing sound of vuvuzelas enough in the last couple of days, YouTube has decided to grace us with a dedicated vuvuzela button.

The football-shaped button sits in the lower right corner, and does precisely what you feared: It produces the dreadful vuvuzela sound.

If you haven’t been following the World Cup () and you’re not familiar with the term “vuvuzela,” it’s a plastic horn that produces a loud monotone that takes all of about five seconds to get on your nerves."

Best of E3 2010: Top 5 Video Games for the Coming Year

via Popular Mechanics: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/gaming/e3-2010-best-of?src=rss

Kinect Links

Via Emily R:

 

Kinect interface stuff is hard to find and stems mostly from E3 footage as well as random commercials, but here's a compilation of what Ashley and I  have been looking at with regard to the USC project:

 

see the 'e3 media briefing' and 'kinect for xbox 360 montage':

http://www.youtube.com/user/xbox?v=aDkUxqosWqI&feature=pyv&ad=4936600670&kw=natal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNFLGXM3srY

 

some TV/ video playback remote control interactions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVgFZJWNJ30

 

and her are some photos:

http://www.engadget.com/photos/e3-2010-kinect-interface-hands-on/#3079462

 

cirque du soleil e3 event footage is rare: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-04qRBR5w

 

 

Here's the IDC site. As it's always hosted by the host university, it seems like the 2011 site is not yet up.

http://idc-sig.org/conference.php

USA v ENGLAND LEGO STYLE

Check out the World Cup Twitter Buzz Graph

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/worldcup/twitter.buzz/

Quark unveils Digital Publishing 2.0 strategy

http://www.macworld.com/article/152104/2010/06/quark_digitalpublishing2.html

 

"Desktop publishing specialists Quark has unveiled its Digital Publishing 2.0 strategy, as part of QuarkXPress 8. The platform-independent strategy promises to allow publishers to focus on creating content for the Web generation of digital devices."

Iceland Passes Proposal to Become 'New Media Haven'

via ReadWriteWeb: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/iceland_passes_proposal_to_become_new_media_haven.php

 

If you're looking to say something contentious on the Internet, then Iceland is the place to go. The Icelandic Parliament unanimously passed a proposal yesterday to make the country a "new media haven" in an initiative inspired and strongly backed by Iceland-based whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

 

The proposal, entitled the "Icelandic Modern Media Initiative", "resolves to task the government with finding ways to strengthen freedoms of expression and information freedom in Iceland, as well as providing strong protections for sources and whistleblowers."

According to the text of the initiative, Iceland hopes to become the international home of news organizations worldwide by way of providing these protections:

The legislative initiative outlined here is intended to make Iceland an attractive environment for the registration and operation of international press organizations, new media start-ups, human rights groups and internet data centers. It promises to strengthen our democracy through the power of transparency and to promote the nation's international standing and economy. It also proposes to draw attention to these changes through the creation of Iceland's first internationally visible prize: the Icelandic Prize for Freedom of Expression.

The proposal goes on to acknowledge that where a particular media is published has become irrelevant in many ways and that the creation of these laws could help create an environment that fosters quality journalism, unafraid of prosecution.

"We can create a comprehensive policy and legal framework to protect the free expression needed for investigative journalism and other politically important publishing," the initiative reads.

When Al Jazeera covered the budding proposal last March, it said that "the idea behind IMMI is simple but it's ambitious - bring together some of the most progressive media laws from many different countries to create one holistic law that will position Iceland at the forefront of the battle to protect journalists, whistleblowers and their sources from oppressive libel laws."

As both Al Jazeera, the Nieman Journalism Lab and others question, however, can laws in one country protect journalists from prosecution in other countries? The article on Nieman Journalism Lab suggests that the laws may not ensure protection from other countries laws, but "if nothing else, it would probably prevent your servers from being forcibly shut down", were your content hosted in Iceland.

For now, however, the effects of IMMI are yet unknown, as it is merely a proposal for laws that remain to be written and tested in international waters. There is also the question of whether or not Iceland has the bandwidth to support large media servers, although the IMMI clearly states that Iceland "has fast undersea cables to some of the world's largest consumers of information".

Whatever the case, the passing of such a proposal is promising, if just in an altruistic and optimistic journalist's point of view.

Aaron Patzer on How to Take your Start-Up to the Next Level

Yes, another silicone startup BUT lovely tips and insight into new business planning.

http://carsonified.com/blog/business/aaron-patzer-on-how-to-take-your-start-up-to-the-next-level/

Studying Engineering Before They Can Spell It

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/education/14engineering.html

Minority-Report-Style Interfaces

Interesting article (w/ video) at Fast Company showing possible future computer gestural interfaces.

The Genius Behind Minority Report's Interfaces Resurfaces, With Mind-blowing New Tech

I'm Comic Sans.....

Funny, but beware some foul language be ahead
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/monologues/15comicsans.html

To Toddler Mode or not to Toddler Mode

Interesting article (and link) about creating a Toddler Mode for touch devices.

Toddler mode for the iPad

Webby Awards!

World Cup: English Papers Turn Green With Ire

http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2010/06/13/english-papers-turn-green-with-ire/

By Dave Kansas

U.K. newspapers howled Sunday morning, mainly wailing about the calamitous goalkeeping blunder by England's Robert Green that enabled the U.S. to garner a 1-1 draw against the Group C favorites in South Africa.

Hand of Clod was easily the favorite headline, maybe because it was the Lord's Day. The News of the World, the Independent on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror all went with the double-meaning headline. Along with lambasting Mr. Green, it provided a sly reference to Diego Maradona's goal ('The Hand of God') against England in the 1986 World Cup.

Various other efforts to lambaste Mr. Green had a so-so quality. It seemed Sunday editors were just as busy drowning their sorrows as thinking up clever headlines. The biggest missed opportunity: It's Not Easy Being Green. Clearly, no Kermit fans on this side of the pond.

Here's what the English did conjure up:

"We was Rob-bed" (News of the World)

"Going, going…oops it's Gone" (Observer)

"Oh no, not again" (Sunday Telegraph)

"Rob-bish" (Daily Star)

"God Save our Green" (Sunday Mirror)

"Capello to Axe Clown Green" (Sunday Express)

"It was all going so well…then Calamity" (Independent on Sunday)

Inevitably, some BP references surfaced.

"Green Fingers – One Disastrous Spill the Yanks Won't Complain About" (Sunday Times)

"Maybe the Americans got the most appropriate revenge for the BP-engineered disaster. They scored because England's keeper had oil on his hands." (Sunday Telegraph)

And, lastly, let's not forget the English are known for their pluck; they struggled at the start of their only victorious World Cup campaign in 1966. Maybe they drew against the widely derided Yanks (Calamity! Disaster! Horror!) but that doesn't mean the end of the world.

"Don't Panic Fabio…We Started With a Draw in 1966." (The Mail on Sunday)

"Don't Panic…We Will Still Bring Cup Home" (Daily Star)

Some England optimists also noted that Italy drew with the U.S. 1-1 in the group stages of the last World Cup. And Italy went on to win that tournament.

You see. It's all going according to plan.

JJ Abrams Bringing 'Lost' to the Big Screen?

JJ Abrams Bringing 'Lost' to the Big Screen?

Written by Jared Owen Thursday, 01 April 2010 08:52

2177

retweet 0 JJ Abrams bringing 'Lost' to the big screen? For the past few days, we've been hearing speculation regarding a motion picture based on the hit television series "Lost". Of course, we were one of the first sites to write it off as false, but as it turns out, it may not be so false after all. JJ Abrams spoke briefly with Entertainment Tonight about his latest series "Fringe" which airs Thursday nights on Fox. In the midst of the interview, Abrams slipped up when he said that a "Lost" movie was indeed in the works. Apparently, the announcement wasn't suppose to be made until sometime this Summer, but as you know, it can be rather difficult to contain a secret as big as that. Knowing he was already in trouble with Warner Brothers, the studio he confirmed would be distributing the movie, Abrams did what anybody would do in his situation, he went on to reveal even more top secret details about the picture. He states, "I probably shouldn't have said that and Warner Bros. is going to have my ass for this one, but yes, a big screen version of 'Lost' is already in pre-production. We have a great script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and we're working with a $145 million budget." Can you say awesome? Elliott and Rossio are responsible for writing the "Pirates of the Carribean" films. Abrams didn't announce a director nor did he mention anything about the casting, but damn it, our beloved series is actually coming to the big screen. What do you guys think? Are you excited? http://www.reelempire.com/news/67-tv/2177-jj-abrams-bringing-lost-to-the-big-screen

Internet Week! "Made in NY: Social Games and Branding" conference

I trudged down West 12th street in the pouring down rain. Running late, rushing to get to the panel. I got into my seat sopping wet just in time for the start. 4 panelists lined the stage, eager to talk about gaming and social media. There were discussions regarding Facebook, Android, and marketing but here are a few of the major highlights:

- Gaming on Facebook
> HUGE market (ie: FarmVille). Perhaps we could make a small facebook game targeting parents. Parent tips integrated with a co-play with your child game. Planting a garden on Sesame Street and harvesting your crops to feed your friends on the street.
> Facebook has opened the doors for a lot of "secret gamers" such as females, moms, and older generations

- Microtransactions. Many games develop "pain points." User can drop some $$ and get the item right now, or wait 6 months and then get the item.

- Brands need to be on mobile websites and the iPad now or they will left behind

- Games extend the life of the brand. People will remember long after gone (ie: original NES)

What is Darth Vader's diagnosis?

This is quite disturbing. Darth Vader isn't a real person, right?

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/07/what-is-darth-vaders-diagnosis/?hpt=C2

Tar Balls Wash Ashore On Florida Beaches, Scientists Warn Oil May Spread Up Atlantic Coast (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/oil-on-florida-beaches-ta_n_600503.html

GULF ISLANDS NATIONAL SEASHORE, Fla. -- Waves of gooey tar blobs were washing ashore on the white sand of the Florida Panhandle and nearby Alabama beaches Friday as a slick from the BP spill moved closer to shore.

Spotters who had been seeing a few tar balls in recent days found a substantially larger number starting before dawn on the beaches of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and nearby areas, a county emergency official said. The park is a long string of connected barrier islands near Pensacola.

Keith Wilkins from Escambia County emergency management said tar patties were are pretty thick on parts of the beach, as much as one every foot.

Small gobs of reddish brown oil washed up in the surf for the first time in nearby Gulf Shores, Ala., on Friday morning and a petroleum smell tinged the air.


Sam Champion from Good Morning America was in Pensacola Friday morning and picked up globs of tar off of the famously white beaches.

WATCH:

Visualizing the Oil Disaster

Move the spill around to see how much it would cover. If the oil spill was up here it would cover all of NYC and stretch from CT to the middle of PA.

http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

Live Oil Spill Cam

wkrg_oil_spill on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Inspired by Sesame Street:

10 Ways B2B Marketers Can Improve Their Websites

(link courtesy of Dan Lewis)

Google Font API

The Google Font API helps you add web fonts to any web page.

Benefits of the Google Font API include:
*A choice of high quality open source fonts.
*Works in most browsers.
*Extremely easy to use.

Directory of fonts here (still limited but will grow):
http://code.google.com/webfonts

Great shot of the ISS and Jupiter during daylight hours

Via Bad Astronomy Blog:

 

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/05/30/amazing-shot-of-iss-and-jupiter-during-daytime/

 

"The amazing pictures of the space station taken by ground-based amateur astronomers keeps on coming. On May 29th, Anthony Ayiomamitis used a 16 cm (6″) telescope to capture a phenomenal image of the International Space Station passing Jupiter… in broad daylight!"

 

 

 

Virtual Goods Sales Rising

Via Cynopsis Digital mailing list:

 

The practice of using real world greenbacks to purchase virtual goods is climbing according to a new survey of 2,412 people from Magid & Associates and in-game commerce company PlayScan. Buying habits aren't changing but more people are getting into the game, with some 13% of the overall population surveyed buying virtual goods in the last 12 months, with the mean of digital good purchase up 14% from $87 in 2009 to $99 in 2010. The median of digital goods purchase is $50 in 2010 - a 67% improvement from $30 in 2009. Global revenues from the sales of virtual goods will eclipse $10 billion in 2010, according to projections from "various sources."
 
Largest demographic of consumers who have reported buying virtual goods:
1. Males ages 18 to 24 (31%)
2. Males ages 8 to 11 and 12 to 17 (both at 23%)
3. Males 25 to 34 (21%)
4. Females ages 8 to 11 (16%)
5. Females ages 12 to 17 (15%)
6. Females ages 18 to 24 (14%)
 
Where consumers are buying from:
1. In a game (57%)
2. The official Web site outside the virtual world or game (38%)
3. E-commerce site such as PlaySpan (16%)
4. Another player (8%)
5. Other (8%)
6. Not sure (8%)
 
Type of game or environment where consumers have bought from:
1. A free, web-based game (37%)
2. A social network site, other than a game (31%)
3. A free multiplayer computer game (29%)
4. A game on a social network site (29%)
5. A connected console marketplace (21%)
6. A paid, subscription based multiplayer game (18%)
7. An online virtual world (11%)
8. Other (6%)
Source: Frank N. Magid Associates, PlaySpan, Inc.
 
Nearly two-thirds of all online software purchases were digital downloads in 2010, up slightly from 2009, according to the new report from The NPD Group. Online digital downloads of new products accounted for 23% of online purchases, up from 22% in 2009. Online subscription renewals accounted for 34%, down one percentage point from 2009, and trial-to-paid conversions amounted to 8% of sales, up from 6% in 2009.