This type of thing would probably be sufficiently covered in a simple tweet but TweetDeck just spazzed out on me so I thought I’d take it back to the old school and briefly blog about it.
YouCube has a simple premise, and a simple delivery, but it’s rather fun. Load up a cube with 6 links to videos on YouTube and they get loaded onto each side of a cube which you can spin around and rotate as they play back. That’s it really. The fading between the audio channels as you spin the cube is a nice touch and despite a few issues in Firefox for me (the cube doesn’t always seem to actually load up/couple of videos occasionally drop out?), it’s quite smooth. Definitely worth a look anyway. Peep my ‘Wu-Cube’ what I made. It’s great.
^ That is a blue whale’s eye, at actual size. Courtesy of the WDCS.
They’ve made this piece of flash that lets you float around the whale’s ample body – life sized. It’s huge but doesn’t actually seem as big as I thought it’d be. It doesn’t really help that you can only ever see a tiny portion of it at any one time, so it’s hard to put it in context. Nonetheless, mildly fun to play around on, and it’s for a good cause so no complaints here
A little, previously unknown and quiet Buckinghamshire village by the name of Broughton has hit the news for ’standing up’ to Google in the latest example of hysteria surrounding their much vaunted (byme) street view service. A handful of residents there successfully managed to deter the Google camera car by forming a vigilante type mob and waving pitchforks and crosses at it. Or something like that..
… once Paul Jacobs spotted the Google camera when he glanced out his window on Wednesday, the photographers did not get far. The car was an unmarked black Opel, but the 360-degree camera on the roof was a bit of a giveaway. Jacobs rushed round banging on neighbours’ doors, and soon had a posse surrounding the driver. When one of the residents called the police, there was a swift U-turn. Jacobs said there had been three burglaries in the last six weeks: “If our houses are plastered all over Google, it’s an invitation for more criminals to strike.“
In fact, since the UK version launched a few weeks ago, there have been a multitude of privacy rows in the press and plenty of nervousness in affluent leafy suburbs. This idea that being able to see a photo of a house will cause crime is all too oft cited. I don’t know if anybody has pointed out to Paul Jacobs that burglars have been successful on at least 3 occasions in recent times, without the benefits of street view, but it seems that he’s made his mind up, and has possibly also never heard of logic. So who am I to argue? Also, the fact that burglars are generallyopportunisticcreatures slightly puts a dampener on the idea of stripy-topped villains looking for targets on their iPhones and then driving to them with the built in satnav.
Nonetheless, the media love this type of shit. I don’t remember such a fuss over the initial launch of street view, but then maybe that’s because it wasn’t in my country. I mean, there were some complaints about photos but most people seemed to accept Google’s promise that they blur any faces and personal stuff and that they would remove any image on request. They still have that promise, and a few people here have taken them up on it. Notably, the guy spotted coming out of a sex shop. Incidentally, how did he find himself on Google? Surely he must have started up streetview and went straight to look at the shop front of his local porn merchant? Who does that? Anyway, at least some people are content with letting Google continue their work and waiting to see the results before getting all twisted. Also, who the fuck cares about a house in Broughton? And surely the place is even less private now that it’s been all over the news(?) The residents don’t seem too fussed about having their soul captured by the evil beings with cameras, as long as those cameras don’t have a multicoloured company name in a bad font on the side.
(* not original ‘John Holmes’ face. replaced to maintain his privacy.)
I for one, love streetview. I’ve been using it for years now; mostly fueled by holiday planning (the views of L.A. are great) but also just because it’s there. I’ve literally spent hours looking at film locations, places I’ve heard about in songs, potential holiday destinations, places I’ve been, random interesting sights, etc.. I’m not trying to pretend that that’s a cool way to spend time, but it can be fun, and more pertinently, it’s harmless. The technology is great, and until the court case that features a burglar confessing about the map he created of spots to run up in (complete with directions), then I will maintain my view that Broughton is one village that has the idiot/normal ratio the wrong way ’round.
Saw this today and marveled at the genius of it for a while. Thought I’d share.
It’s basically a collection of songs that have been produced from audio snippets off of YouTube – and the corresponding music videos which are made up of the actual original video footage. I’ll let Kutiman explain it himself;
It’s really nicely done and actually surprisingly listenable-to. It’s also a nice touch having the credits (i.e. links to the source material) because watching the original clips on their own highlights how much of an achievement this project is. Rather mundane videos of people playing guitar in their bedroom or singing to themselves come together to form a decent piece of music. Go watch. http://thru-you.com
“Atheists have started advertising on buses in the UK. Do you want to see your own message on the side of a bus? Well now’s your chance.”
I couldn’t think of anything funny to write, so I went with what the first thing that popped in my head.
In case you’ve not seen it, this is based on that ‘there’s probably no god’ poster (see here) and appears to have been cooked up by some of those clever folk at b3ta. Nothing extraordinary, but it made me smile . Go and play!
Sometimes, things are sent to try us. It can be hard to keep your head above the waterline and deal with the various things that clutter the plate of life. It’s at those times when we all need someone to look up to. Someone who has been there, done that, and lived to tell the story. (And written a book about it for reference purposes). Someone who “at once … intimidates and inspires; breaking down the walls that secure some yet block others.” Thanks to Will, I’ve discovered that very person.
Mat Dickie. Or as I like to call him, MDickie. Inspiration.
He’s “the free-thinking rebel that redefines the rules. He says what no-one else will say and does what no-one else will do“. Basically, when he talks, you better listen. He’s a master of everything that he puts his mind to and effortlessly maintains an entire empire. Specifically, he makes 3D games, primarily based on either wrestling (he’s a master at that too. When he was younger, he once tossed a guy off who jumped on his back, then they played with each other. True story.), or bible stories. Officially the two best subjects of 3D games. And he does both. Possibly combined, (Moses vs The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase? (who, oddly, is now a christian minister..)) but that’s yet to be confirmed.
In his games, he also draws upon a myriad of popular culture references to convey his message to a world of people who, frankly, are lesser mortals. Things like comparing Jesus to Morpheus. As seen here. You have to watch this.
There’s also the colloquialisation of scripture, like in this scene from The You Testament.
How come indeed. It all helps to help us understand.
If the website isn’t enough, he’s also written a book, ‘Inspiration For The Interactive Generation’ which you can read the first chapter of on Amazon.
Gaming’s most outspoken character finally speaks out about himself! For almost a decade, Mat Dickie electrified the games industry with his prolific output. He used unconventional methods to create unconventional games, and redefined what could be achieved by one man. Audiences responded accordingly and ensured his underground rumblings would resonate around the world.
I’m hooked.
Now, I know that some of you cynical types might think that MDickie is too good to be true. I don’t blame you. I was like that too. I thought, how can one man embody all the qualities that I strive for and be so modest and helpful with it(?) How can just one person have achieved so much and have so much to share with the world(?) The answer lies in the fact that MDickie isn’t just one man. He’s a revolution. ‘The dictionary definition of “independence” in full effect. See if you can feel it…‘
Great collection of flash preloaders courtesy of the good folk at Big Spaceship. I spent a good 10 minutes the other night just watching them cycle through. Lots of recognisable ones; all good ones. Most seem to have been made by Big Spaceship themselves, but that’s understandable, and no bad thing because they’re consistent with the quality.
The ‘about’ section calls it a “a tribute to a vanishing art form”, which is somewhat true I suppose with broadband and whatnot often negating the need for a lengthy preloader but still, I come across a fair few still – most of which pale in comparison to these. See, a preloader doesn’t need to be just a bar and a %! Good stuff.
I love google maps. I could happily spend hours just zooming around the world looking at stuff, and in fact, I probably have done just that. It’s awesome. And it keeps getting better and better – and now it’s even better again! The street view option which started off not too long ago with a couple of North American cities now offers imagery from what looks like every major U.S. city and a decent handful from Europe. But no UK representation (yet).
It’s a great tool for checking out potential holiday destinations.. or even past holiday destinations for a hint of nostalgia or to remind you of that road where you nearly got ran over in Prague for instance (that particular view isn’t available yet but I’ll keep you updated).
I’ve just spent a short while checking out Rome and Paris and I’m just amazed at the sheer amount of coverage they have.. Go google!
I wonder how long it’ll be until they send the camera car to my village…
If you’re not sure who Futura is, you need to recognise. Go and look at his website. It’s a bit odd, and actually I think I prefer the older version of it which was really odd but it’s still worth a peep. Probably my all-time favourite artist/designer.. there’s just something about those shapes and colours that I always think is awesome. Not to mention his earlier graffiti work. The man is a legend. One of my top inspirational books is this which by the looks of it is rather hard to get hold of nowadays. Yay for being ahead of the game.
But anyway, there’s a small piece on him in issue 50 of vapors magazine. To be honest, it’s not the most in depth interview but it’s nice to see that he’s still doing stuff. I feel like I haven’t been aware of any new work for a long time, but maybe that’s just me being out of the loop. In fact, I did miss this Burton snowboard design which is supremely fresh. If I could snowboard, that’d be my shit.
So yeah, go and read the article.. and have a look at the other stuff in the magazine. It’s a good issue (some GZA, UNKLE, Jean Grae and other stuff inside).
