prosthetic knowledge

PS2 ends production run in Japan after 13 epic years 

End of an era for tech that brought many digital experiences to a wider audience - via DVICE:

After an incredible thirteen years, the mighty PS2 has ceased production in its homeland of Japan. Sony’s crown jewel amassed more than 150 million units, which works out to one PS2 for every fifty people on the planet. That incredible user base was broad enough to support some quirky games that, once given some room to breathe, ended up spawning some of gaming’s largest success stories.

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British researchers claim they can kill the pixel within five years 

The familiar pixel could be on it’s way out, as developers are putting together a video codec which works with vectors, via Extreme Tech:

The humble pixel — the 2D picture element that has formed the foundation of just about every kind of digital media for the last 50 years — may soon meet its maker. Believe it or not, if a team of British researchers have their way, the pixel, within five short years, will be replaced with… vectors.

If you know about computer graphics, or if you’ve ever edited or drawn an image on your computer, you know that there are two primary ways of storing image data: As a bitmap, or as vectors. A bitmap is quite simply a giant grid of pixels, with the arrangement and color of the pixels dictating what the image looks like. Vectors are an entirely different beast: In vector graphics, the image is described as a series of mathematical equations. To draw a bitmap shape you just color in a block of pixels; with vector graphics, you would describe the shape in terms of height, width, radius, and so on.

These two methods are very different, and they fulfill very different needs. Vector graphics, because they’re made out of geometric primitives, are infinitely scalable, making them the ideal image format for illustrations, clipart, maps, typography, Flash animations, and so on. For everything else, we use pixel bitmaps. Streaming videos, digital cameras, movie editing, video game textures — all bitmaps. There might be different file formats involved (PNG, MOV, JPG), but they’re all ultimately converted into pixel bitmaps when it comes to displaying them on your monitor, TV, or cinema screen …

… Which finally leads us back to the innovation at hand: Philip Willis and John Patterson of the University of Bath in England have devised a video codec that replaces pixel bitmaps with vectors. In a conventional digital camera, images (or videos) are captured as pixel bitmaps and compressed using a codec such as JPEG or H.264. Willis and Patterson have devised a codec called Vectorized Streaming Video (VSV) that converts the bitmap image into vectors. This builds on their previous work with VPI — vectorized photographic images [PDF] — which deals with converting bitmap images into perfect, vectorized copies.

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The 20th Anniversary of the SMS Text Message

20 years ago today, the first text message was sent by an engineer: “Merry Christmas”.

At BBC News, an interview is presented in text message format with Matti Makkonen, a Finnish Civil Servant who came up with the original idea. You can read the interview here

Also, why SMS messages are 160 characters long? Via The LA Times:

Alone in a room in his home in Bonn, Germany, Friedhelm Hillebrand sat at his typewriter, tapping out random sentences and questions on a sheet of paper.

As he went along, Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters.

That became Hillebrand’s magic number — and set the standard for one of today’s most popular forms of digital communication: text messaging.

“This is perfectly sufficient,” he recalled thinking during that epiphany of 1985, when he was 45 years old. “Perfectly sufficient.”

Abstract Christmas tree sparks protests in Brussels 

An updated version of a post made earlier today, now with a video from BBC News

A minimal voxelesque Christmas tree with projection mapping and a staircase to view from it’s top hasn’t gone down well with some …

Thousands of people have signed a petition against an abstract light installation replacing the traditional Christmas tree in Brussels city centre.

More than 11,000 signatures have been gathered in the online petition and a Facebook page attacking the new feature has been launched.

Critics accuse officials of opting for the installation for fear of offending non-Christians, especially Muslims.

Maddy Savage reports.

Abstract Christmas tree sparks protests in Brussels 

A minimal voxelesque Christmas tree hasn’t gone down well with some … via BBC News:

Thousands of people have signed a petition against an abstract light installation replacing the traditional Christmas tree in Brussels city centre.

More than 11,000 signatures have been gathered in the online petition and a Facebook page attacking the new feature has been launched.

Critics accuse officials of opting for the installation for fear of offending non-Christians, especially Muslims.

But the mayor’s office said it was part of a theme this year of “light”.

Traditionally, a 20m (65ft) pine tree taken from the forests of the Ardennes has adorned the city’s central square, the Grand Place.

This year, it has been replaced with a 25m (82ft) construction, though smaller real Christmas trees still decorate the square, a spokesman at the mayor’s office said.

The city’s website said the new “tree” was one of five “light” installations around the Grand Place this year, offering visitors the chance to climb to the top and enjoy “beautiful views” of the city.

Tourism councillor Philippe Close at the mayor’s office said the aim was to show off the “avant-garde character” of Brussels by blending the modern and the traditional, to produce something new and different.

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Paper Computing Technology 

This relates to my previous post in a way; a ‘paper computing’ technology developed by the University of Tokyo in which you can edit a piece of special sheet by hand or by computer interface - via DigInfo:

At the University of Tokyo, the Naemura Group is developing paper computing technology, which can automatically erase, copy and print hand-drawn sketches on paper.

As well as using a camera and computer, this system uses a laser and UV light, making it possible to work directly with the hand-drawn sketches using the computer.

So for example, the user can leave only the edges of hand-written characters, creating 3D like text, or draw a figure by hand and color it in automatically.

You can find out more at DigInfo here

PaR-PaR 

A programming language devised to control robotic biology science equipment - via Berkeley Lab:

Teaching a robot a new trick is a challenge. You can’t reward it with treats and it doesn’t respond to approval or disappointment in your voice. For researchers in the biological sciences, however, the future training of robots has been made much easier thanks to a new program called “PaR-PaR.”

Nathan Hillson, a biochemist at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led the development of PaR-PaR, which stands for Programming a Robot. PaR-PaR is a simple high-level, biology-friendly, robot-programming language that allows researchers to make better use of liquid-handling robots and thereby make possible experiments that otherwise might not have been considered.

“The syntax and compiler for PaR-PaR are based on computer science principles and a deep understanding of biological workflows,” Hillson says. “After minimal training, a biologist should be able to independently write complicated protocols for a robot within an hour. With the adoption of PaR-PaR as a standard cross-platform language, hand-written or software-generated robotic protocols could easily be shared across laboratories.”

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Twefax 

Online web app presents your Twitter feed in the style of the old BBC CEEFAX information system, put together by @JonathanEx.

Discovered by the lovely harri80 - Try it here

Related - the old BBC service has been turned off in most of the UK, with only Northern Ireland left to go fully digital this week. So, to commemorate the end of a very British institution, the BBC have put together some items of interest.

Pages from Ceefax: Into the archives - a slideshow with accompanying cheesy library music [link]

Ceefax: The early days - An interview with one of the earliest workers with the system. [link]

Resonate Festival 2013 - Belgrade New Media Festival 

This festival and it’s line-up have just been announced, featuring many great projects and talented people who have appeared in this blog … I wish I could go …

Following the success of the first Resonate festival that took place in March 2012, Magnetic Field B in collaboration with CreativeApplications.Net and Dom Omladine in Belgrade are pleased to announce the new edition of the festival, taking place 21-23 March 2013.

In 2012 Resonate festival set a new milestone for art and technology conferences in Europe. Attracting over 600 visitors from abroad and providing a diverse cultural programme, Resonate has become a symbiosis and a bridge between culturally separated segments of the artistic and intellectual scene.

Continuing to explore the boundaries of art, media and technology the new edition of Resonate festival expands its programme to three days in March next year and will include over 40 participating artists and thinkers across a range of activities including talks, workshops, panel discussions and music performances.

This year Resonate is also partnering with a number of educational institutions and organisations to even further diversify programme and provide visitors with an in depth overview of current situation in the fields of music, visual arts and digital culture.

2013 participating artists include Casey Reas, Joachim Sauter (ART+COM), Zimoun, Moritz Stefaner, Zach Gage, Golan Levin, Raquel Meyers, Anthony Dunne (RCA), Revital Cohen, Karsten Schmidt, Spaces of Play, Memo Akten (MarshmallowLaserFeast), Andreas Müller (Nanikawa), James Bridle, Liam Young (The Unknown Fields Division), Andreas Gysin, Greg J Smith, Kyle McDonald, Peter Kirn, Studio NAND, onedotzero and many more..

More information about the festival can be found here

Out Of Print 

Fun project creates computer-generated random headlines scrambled from news feeds which are then printed with traditional techniques and sent via Twitter:

The invention of the printing press is the finest example of how a shift in technology can change the way we communicate. In the 21st century, digital technology has become the defining force shaping society; changing the way we live, interact and consume information.

With the growth of digital media we are now faced with unprecedented levels of data. We find ourselves at a saturation point. By attempting to consume ever more, we end up understanding less. How do we make sense of all the information we consume and not get lost in the process? Through the use of traditional printing techniques we explore this question.

By using live online news feeds we are building a digital application that generates seemingly random headlines; these will then be printed using a custom-built letterpress. The prints will form a growing collection exhibited as part of the installation.

More about the project here

LTU student shows that computers “understand” art

First of two news stories that could get you thinking about the future of technology and art museums.

The first, a student puts together a database of examples of art history for a computer program to visually analyse and make connections (such as above) - from Lawrence Technology University blog:

LTU student Jane Tarakhovsky showed, for the first time, that computers can match art historians in understanding and analysis of visual art.

In the experiment she let the computer analyze ~1000 paintings by 34 well-known painters, and let the computer automatically deduce the similarities between the artistic styles without using any information other than the visual content. The similarities were then visualized using a phylogeny (a tool normally used to visualize similarities between genomes of different species, but in this case was used to visualize the similarities between artistic styles). Surprisingly, the analysis of the computer was almost identical to the analysis of Art Historians.

For instance, the computer automatically placed the High Renaissance artists Raphael, Da Vinci, and Michelangelo very close to each other, and the Baroque painters Vermeer, Rubens and Rembrandt were placed by the algorithm in another cluster, indicating that the computer sensed that these painters share a common artistic style.

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Old Lady Ruins Fresco, Claims Copyright, Demands Money

Via TechDirt:

Remember that sweet octagenarian lady in Spain who tried to restore a 19th-century fresco “Ecce Homo” and ended up producing something that the BBC’s Europe correspondent described as “a crayon sketch of a very hairy monkey in an ill-fitting tunic”?  …

According to a story pointed out to us by @sinkdeep, that sweet octagenarian lady is back, accompanied now by her lawyers, claiming copyright on her work and demanding a cut of the takings from the collection box that the church authorities have placed near the fresco …

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US Army grants $3 million for anti-suicide nasal spray research 

As soldier suicides in the US Army continue to rise, an apparent quick-fix solution is being developed (and possibly a sign of a future mental-health treatment, albeit one which wouldn’t treat long-term concerns and could create a form of dependency).

Extract from RT News:

For those feeling down in the dumps, the US military now has a solution: an anti-suicidal nasal spray that delivers antidepressant chemicals to the brain.

­The US Army has awarded a scientist at the Indiana University School of Medicine $3 million to develop a nasal spray that eclipses suicidal thoughts. Dr. Michael Kubek and his research team will have three years to ascertain whether the nasal spray is a safe and effective method of preventing suicides.

The research grant comes after the Army lost 38 of its soldiers to suspected suicide in July, setting a record high. So far in 2012, the Army has confirmed 66 active duty suicides and is investigating 50 more, making a total of 116 cases.

The Army’s suicide rate is at the highest level in history, with more American soldiers taking their own lives than being killed by the Taliban. The Pentagon reported in June that suicides among soldiers averaged one per day this year, surpassing the rate of combat fatalities.

But the naturally occurring neurochemical thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) could slow the rising suicide rate. The chemical has a euphoric, calming, antidepressant effect. TRH has been shown to decrease suicidal ideas, depression and bipolar disorders.

“We’ve known since the 1970s that TRH has antidepressant effects, and it works quite rapidly,” Kubek told The Daily. “The bottom-line problem has been figuring out how to get it into the brain.”

Until now, doctors have only been able to transmit TRH through injections into the spinal cord. Pills and blood injections do not allow TRH to enter the brain.

But with new technology, Kubek’s team of research scientists has found the nasal cavity can safely carry TRH across the blood-brain barrier.

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“And That’s the Way It Is” by Ben Rubin 

Public installation art projects transcripts of US broadcaster Walter Cronkite onto the matrix-like front of the academic building named in his honour:

To honor the Cronkite legacy, the College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin dedicated the Walter Cronkite Plaza on Thursday, April 19, in front of the Jesse H. Jones Communication complex, near Dean Keeton Street and Whitis Avenue.

“And That’s the Way It Is,” an art installation by renowned new media artist Ben Rubin, is filmed in part in this video. The permanent art installation can be seen every evening from dusk to midnight and is projected on the front of the CMA building on campus at 2504 Whitis Avenue.

Cronkite attended UT from 1933 to 1935 and served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News from 1962-1981.

The digital art installation by media artist Ben Rubin entitled “And That’s the Way It Is,” is named for the iconic catchphrase used by Cronkite at the end of his news broadcasts. The piece was commissioned for the College of Communication by Landmarks, the University’s public art program, and will use lighting to display images and text from Cronkite’s news broadcasts, along with current news coverage, across the south side of the Communication Building.

Rubin said the purpose of the work is to both honor Cronkite and foster research regarding the differences between past and present news coverage.