ITP BlogBlender

Head-Mounted Augmented Reality Display

Craig Kapp — 2009-11-24T16:35:56+00:00

For the last year I’ve been on the lookout for a decently priced head mounted display with an integrated camera, and last week I found a device that fits this bill. Introducing the iWear Vuzix VR920 + AR unit, which offers two 640 x 480 LCD screens as well as a clip-on USB powered webcam.

Just call me Geordi LaForge

Upon delivery I immediately “goggled” into the metaverse and thew together a quick augmented reality demo. The system is fairly responsive, and I found that installing the optional “light filter” insert (basically a piece of molded rubber that blocks out ambient light from above and below your eyes) really helps in making the illusion feel more “believable.” Here’s a quick video of me watching some cubes bounce around on my kitchen table.

As with all AR projects, the illusion is dependent on the presence of a marker of some kind. Wearing the goggles gives a user much more freedom of movement, which means that you tend to lose sight of the marker more often than you would while using your laptop’s fixed webcam. My next project will be to try and overcome this problem by creating a set of redundant markers that can act in concert to help provide overlap coverage for when a single marker goes out of view.

Telephony Streaming Taboo

Sara Bremen — 2009-11-24T04:17:22+00:00

Utilizing Nokia phones and the mobile application from Qik, Peter and I devised a mobile game of scavenger hunt Taboo. We divided the class into groups of three. Each team received a pile of cards. Each card had an object and a list of taboo words. One person, the scavenger, took a phone and left [...]

DeLillo’s Valparaiso and Miwon Kwon

Sara Bremen — 2009-11-24T02:49:09+00:00

Miwon Kwon’s discussion of DeLillo’s Valparaiso helped me better understand the play, though I’m still not convinced it would succeed theatrically. That is, it’s a very academic play with scenarios that already feel dated. The way Kwon describes it, though, Michael Majeski’s physical journey to Valparaiso leads him to a journey of self-discovery where he, along [...]

River – A giant baby head

Jelani John — 2009-11-24T01:05:04+00:00

So. Here’s a sketch for the basic idea I have for my video sculpture final project. It’s changed a bit since I made that sketch. Here’s the skinny: The orficies of a (giant) baby’s head as an entrance into baby dreams of their past lives. Using the eyes, nose, mouth and back of head as portals. For head: [...]

bicycle of you…

Robert Carlsen — 2009-11-23T23:35:46+00:00

Initial presentation of my final project for the Rest of You class at ITP.

I’m logging forces experienced by a bicycle {rider} when traveling through an urban environment. Many of these forces go unnoticed by the rider focused in the action of riding.

I’m looking to utilize mobile GPS-enabled handsets as a central part of the sensor platform to take advantage of their increasing ubiquity and a natural tendency for riders to carry a handset at all times. External sensors and hardware may be connected to these handsets to measure specific metrics, such as light and sound levels, air quality, proximity, heart rate, stress, breathing, work, attitude, speed and vibration.

[restofyou] writting assignment: violence.

Diego Rioja — 2009-11-23T15:53:00+00:00

While watching Dennett’s TED talk on consciousness, Pinker’s on the myth of violence, and Helen Fisher’s love+hate, I discovered that illusions occur due to a lack of perception of reality, but illusion are part of our consciousness. Having said that, the world is very ambiguous place were the brain tries to reconstruct reality through limited sensory input. if our consciousness is composed of an estimated guess of reality, could reality itself be an illusion?

So what do we need to understand the full picture?

The better understanding of consciousness through evolution and technology is causing certain human traits to change. I’m defining violence as a part of our reality and with its understanding, real violence is becoming less necessary to people’s conciousness. Over an extended period of time, I believe humans are changing how violence is expressed and experienced through new and interactive media.

I don’t know how long violence has been part of reality, but it has defined human history mostly through wars. We definitely don’t burn witches or feed humans to lions as a spectacle or in order to please a regime any more. Treating people as sub-human has also been diminishing thanks to civil rights. Violence has been detrimental to humankind’s prosperity through time, yet I feel that it is a human need.

Are we less violent than our ancestors? According to Pinker, yes we are less violent, and we are living in the most peaceful time in human history. Can we say we are less violent? Real acts of violence are in decline, and I think this is due because violence is transferring into a digital world were a user satisfies the need vicariously. We now experience acts of violence through broadcast and interactive media on a screen. Through violent movies and video games violence comes to our reality distorted, an illusion that we think it’s real.

Punishments, gore, and deaths.

Public displays of violence due to punishment and entertainment has declined immensely. Human sacrifices were the first ones to go, for this I am glad. Imagine a football game ending with the losing team is killed. This Mesoamerican Game and Child-sacrifices were popular and part of society when their particular societies thrived. Pinker talks about this bizarre for of 17th century French entertainment as cats were burned alive for laughs.

Real violence is in decline.

Pinker points at how violent we were in the past and how gore in the public eye was something accepted within a society. Today we don’t witness gruesome acts of violence unless they are television or in video games.

I feel that violent video games and movies satisfy a certain thirst for violence. From Street Fighter to Man Haunt violence is present in different degrees as well as it is present in most movies in existence. In the public setting, arcade/restaurant/bar establishments where the majority of arcade games have some sort of weapon attached to it makes me believe that we are still violent. It’s harmless, yet it is present, and I wonder why? Some people like to shot and kill things I suppose. We keep violence virtual in our movies and games when we feel that it is real.

We experience a large amount of violence today in the 21st century through media. Through telecommunications we are aware of genocide, death, disasters, or other act of violence and their consequences. Reporting has diluted through the population giving us virtual access to their individual lives. We care for victims of acts of violence thanks to a better understanding of the outcome of violence. I think we now prefer to be cosmopolitan, share thoughts and live in a healthy environment.

Has the actual need of violence changed it’s source? Are we fulfilling our need of violence by watching violent movies and playing video games? The emulation of violence on a screen gives us the best resolution of violent acts that we can experience. Is our mind being tricked into believe that this violence is real thus satisfying this need? Will violence disappear from the real world? If the world is becoming a larger community where sustainability has to be achieved, then violence shouldn’t exist.

This can answers Pinker’s question of “what are we doing right to help the decline of violence?” Is violence being transferred into another realm were it is less harmful to society? I believe by experiencing the illusion of violence in a screen, human beings can understand why we are violent without harming other fellow humans.

The Delivery, a tribute to Domo-kun

Cindy Wong — 2009-11-23T05:27:03+00:00

The Delivery from cindy wong on Vimeo.

What happens when you give 5 ITP students a camera to shoot in New York City? A complete mashup involving slasher horror, ninjas, film noir, and a giant Japanese TV mascot. Purely an exercise for our own enjoyment, I don’t expect Hollywood to come knocking anytime soon.
Equipment: with a Panasonic HD camera, edited in Final Cut Pro. Domo-kun costume made by Mindy Tchieu.

Leon

Adam Harvey — 2009-11-22T01:30:54+00:00

Leon. November 2009.

Photos of Leon

It’s been a while since I’ve shot any new work. But today I shot this portrait of an artist, Leon, for a magazine article.

[restofyou] final proposal_v.2

Diego Rioja — 2009-11-21T00:53:46+00:00

For the Rest Of You final Mustafa Bagdatli and I will be continuing working on Bed_Data, which is a matrix of FSRs that aim to detect pressure being exerted onto a bed surface. The plan is to log users’ bed behavior to tell a story.

I asked myself: What are my bed stories and how is my bed making me happy?

The bed as a gestural interface.

Ideally we’ll use body gestures to control visualizations for different the different bed behaviors. From sitting down to sex, these body gestures need to be recognized before we go any further with this project.

How do we interact with a bed?

Sitting down or laying there are instances where the user may be sitting down on the edge or laying on the bed doing a passive activity.

How are you sleeping? Sleep can be characterized by different positions. What is my most common sleeping position? How long do i keep that position through out my sleep? How can your sleeping position define me?

How well are you sleeping with your partner? I’m curious about the way you sleep with your significant other. Is it a better experience when you are with someone on the bed? Do you spoon much?

What about sexytime? As young adult this is obviously the most fun activity you can do on your bed. How much sex? For how long? What comes after sex? Do you cuddle much?

Could it tweet?

A few friends envisioned and encapsulated a scenario as a conversation around the bed:

Wife: “Hey honey, we haven’t made the bed tweet in a while”

Husband: “Well, I have been so stress at work that…..”

Bed intelligence

If a bed could talk, what would it say? Giving a bed consciousness through this FSR matrix makes me wonder how a bed sees the user? How can a bed give the user feedback? I think through logging data, bed_data can probably know you better than you know yourself, in bed. Are you on or off your bed? For how long? Are you getting enough sleep? What are you lacking? These are some questions that could be answered.

Bed_Games

The bed can be a controller (up, down, left, right, and button) for a game that simulates a race. Using left and right movements, which proved to be the more natural ones, there is enough control to do a simple game.

2. While you are having sex you could be inspired with a visualization that is playful and encouraging. Some say love moves the world, and with this in mind. How can love making move the world? This is what I’m thinking for a sexy visualization.

There are multiple activities a user does on a bed that can tell a story. From reading a book to having the time of your life. So we are asking ourselves how can we visualize this?

Proposal

We first aim to detect a user’s bed behavior starting by recognizing patterns of sitting, laying down, sleeping, or having sex. By logging this data there could be a lot of insight on a user’s life, in bed.

The bed as a controller. We are brainstorming of a first person game that simulates the illusion of racing or traveling. We are still debating weather a bobsledding game or a space adventure.

Private Post

Adam Harvey — 2009-11-20T20:37:45+00:00

Privacy Button

Private call button outside the Chanel Mobile Art Container in NYC by Zaha Hadid in 2008.

NJEDge.Net Conference on Educational Technology

Craig Kapp — 2009-11-20T16:14:55+00:00

I just finished presenting a session on “Augmented Reality in the Classroom” at this year’s NJEDge.Net Conference. For those of you who stopped by, thanks! Here’s a quick recap of some of the videos that I referred to during the talk. My own Augmented Reality demos can be found by clicking on the “Augmented Reality” category tag to the left.

Link: The REACH Project: Infinite Games for Pediatric Rehabilitation

Augmented Reality – The Future of Education

A Visit to Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab

A Soldier’s Therapy Session: Using Virtual Reality to help Patients with PTSD

Topps Baseball Cards in Augmented Reality

Mixed Reality Learning Media: Effects on Classroom Instruction

In-Place Augmented Reality 3D Sketching of Mechanical Systems

Fashionista: Webcam Social Shopper

New York Nearest Subway iPhone 3GS Application

Unveiling the Sixth Sense: Wearable Augmented Reality

Xbox Natal

The Daily Show: Augmented Reality in Iowa Caucus

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Hi-Tech News Coverage

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

“After Goldsworthy”

Ari Joseph — 2009-11-20T03:59:36+00:00

“After Goldsworthy” is a video sculpture by Marco Castro and Ari Joseph. A tent-like structure serves as a projection surface for mapped video projections. The viewer inside the tent is immersed in a synthesized natural environment, akin to being enveloped by the construction of an Andy Goldsworthy piece.

The piece was created for Video Sculpture, a class at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

Music: Ted (Bibio Remix) by Clark.

[Live Web] final proposal

Diego Rioja — 2009-11-19T18:03:39+00:00

BKPK (Brooklyn parking)

“Connecting people to find resources they need.”
The project is aimed to relieve the burdens of finding parking by creating a community.

Materials,References:

ushahidi = geo database
imified = request response (conduit, agent)
google maps routing engine
open street maps….check it out.
JSON, JavaScript, PHP, MySql.

Development plan:

install Ushahidi
implement google maps or openstreetmaps
imfied + twitter feed

escalate nirvana

Jelani John — 2009-11-19T14:48:21+00:00

This is the start of an experiment i did that takes a collection of found movie clips and looks at how small events can escalate into big ones; and the how time and distance turns big events into small events which in turn escalate into big ones again. Escalate Nirvana from jjohn on Vimeo. The music is [...]

[VIDEO] It’s Cool 2 B Flat @ IgniteNYC

Lee Sean Huang — 2009-11-19T04:58:40+00:00

Here’s the video of my IgniteNYC talk courtesy of @YoungImpact:

Fabulizabeth on the Highline

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-19T04:39:38+00:00

Elizabeth is busy putting her dressmaking skills to the test, and is creating some very beautiful and interesting shapes. This dress has a great salmon color that is perfect for next Spring, and it features an intricate twisted design on the waist and shoulder straps. Much like Elizabeth’s hair, it catches the wind quite nicely.

She chose the Highline, a favorite place of mine, as the location for the shoot of her new dress. The weather was sunny, but a bit chilly. We came at the right time, because there weren’t too many people, but just enough to keep things interesting.

She posed and strutted above 10th Avenue on the steps of the amphitheater-like steps, and then we moved down to a spot with a great view of the Hudson while the sun was setting. The whole scene was very beautiful, and like the Highline, showed a view of beauty in the city, and nature in the concrete jungle.

Let me know what you think!

Whitney Museum’s new website

Juri Imamura — 2009-11-19T03:14:57+00:00

I was reading one of blog articles by Mark Hurst at Good Experience, and found that the Whitney Museum has recently launched a new website. I love the fact that they put the “Visit” section prominently on the landing page. They made this section AJAX-based (like Google’s Gmail) that allows dynamic interaction, so visitors can [...]

SL Avatar Control using Augmented Reality

Craig Kapp — 2009-11-18T15:57:55+00:00

I’ve been experimenting with ways in which AR can be used to control other systems, including Second Life. Here is a quick demo of an AR cube that is tied to a Second Life “chair” that my avatar is sitting on. In the future I would like to set up a complete control system for an avatar using AR or color tracking. The system that is demonstrated below uses the following:

Single marker tracking to orient a cube in 3D space
When visible, the 3D transformation matrix of the cube is sent to my webserver
In Second Life, the “seat” that my avatar is sitting on calls my webserver and asks for the current transformation matrix. After unpacking the data it reorients the cube in Second Life 3D space.

My dog Prue co-stars in the demo video below. Perhaps this one should be titled “dog-mented reality” instead (I know, it’s a terrible joke!)

Using the CD74HC4067 multiplexer with Arduino

Rory Nugent — 2009-11-18T04:09:43+00:00

Below is an Arduino sketch that uses the CD74HC4067 multiplexer / demultiplexer to read analog values from all 16 channels. This gives you the ability to read from 16 analog inputs while only using one analog input and four digital pins.

/* CD74HC4067 Analog / Digital Multiplexing

This sketch reads analog values from all 16 of the multiplexer pins.

created 17 Nov 2009
by Rory Nugent

The following pins must be connected:

Digital Pin 2 -> S0
Digital Pin 3 -> S1
Digital Pin 4 -> S3
Digital Pin 5 -> S4

Analog In Pin 0 -> SIG

// Mux analog / digital signal pin
#define sig 0 // Analog In Pin 0

// Mux channel select pins
#define setPin0 2 // Digital Pin 2
#define setPin1 3 // Digital Pin 3
#define setPin2 4 // Digital Pin 4
#define setPin3 5 // Digital Pin 5

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);

pinMode(setPin0, OUTPUT);
pinMode(setPin1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(setPin2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(setPin3, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
// for loop to cycle through all mux channels, 0 - 15
for(int i = 0; i < 16; i++)
{
int sigValue = readSig(i); // read from a mux channel

// print the analog / digital value to the serial monitor
Serial.print(sigValue);
Serial.print("\t"); // TAB
}
Serial.println(); // NEW LINE
}

// NAME: readSig
// INPUT: mux channel as an integer, 0 - 15
// RETURN: analog value of the selected mux channel as an integer
int readSig(int channel)
{
// use the first four bits of the channel number to set the channel select pins
digitalWrite(setPin0, bitRead(channel, 0));
digitalWrite(setPin1, bitRead(channel, 1));
digitalWrite(setPin2, bitRead(channel, 2));
digitalWrite(setPin3, bitRead(channel, 3));

// read from the selected mux channel
int sigValue = analogRead(sig);

// return the received analog value
return sigValue;
}

Jump! Retweeted by Clay Shirky

Lee Sean Huang — 2009-11-17T21:07:51+00:00

On Twitter this weekend:

cshirky: The New Yorker still runs cartoons of crazy people carrying placards. What do 25 y.o’s make of that? In their world, crazy people have blogs
8:07 AM Nov 15th

leesean: @cshirky 25ish y.o.’s like me make mashup/remixes of crazy people with placards and put them on YouTube http://bit.ly/x0BQV
10:28 AM Nov 15th

cshirky: RT @leesean: @cshirky 25ish y.o.’s like me make mashup/remixes of crazy people with placards and put them on YouTube http://bit.ly/x0BQV
1:14 PM Nov 15th

I created Jump (The Bailout Bash) with Elizabeth Fuller for a class at ITP last year (Communications Lab with Marianne Petit).

Miriam and the Magic of Yoga @ Greenwood

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-16T09:23:16+00:00

My newest friend at ITP, Miriam Simun, asked me to take photos for a project she is working on, and the results are incredibly beautiful. She is reinventing the public space that is cemeteries with the magic and serenity of yoga. She reasons that people hardly appreciate cemeteries for their full worth: places of beauty, peace, and life. She explained that cemeteries are ecological hotspots in many cities because they are seldom trafficked by the living, there are often lots of trees, and sometimes there are lakes and ponds for them to coexist in and around. There is so much life going on in cemeteries she says, that it is a waste to think that they are places for just the dead. The living can go there to appreciate life, nature, and the sublime spirit of things through the practice of yoga.

She demonstrated a sequence of poses in and around the cemetery today, and there were birds chirping, fountains gurgling, and squirrels running around. We hung out with a bunch of geese and they seemed interested in her posing beside graves. They never ran off from us, but they did keep a safe distance. We really liked having them around because they were so quiet and fun to watch while they looked for bugs and roots to eat. She has a specially made hat with an Xacti camera on it to record the sights and sounds of the cemetery and the classes she wants to teach there.

The symbolism of cemeteries and graves is beautiful to begin with, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather today—-in November, no less. Enjoy the photos and come enjoy the magic of yoga with Miriam in one of the most beautiful places in all of New York.

Sunday Night Live! Village Underground Sights & Sounds

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-16T08:49:47+00:00

I was invited by my friend Jay to see him and another friend, Andrasiano, perform live at the Village Underground tonight. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it there in time to see either of them. I was kind of upset, since both put on amazing shows since they have such strong voices. I stayed around there for a while with friends and soaked in the sounds of a few more artists. The crowd and vibe there was RIGHT, and some people made for the best photos. I really like living in the moment with my camera on nights like these. Definitely hit up this place for good local music, you’ll see some stars in the making.

It’s Cool to be FLAT 2.0 @ IgniteNYC

Lee Sean Huang — 2009-11-16T05:23:07+00:00

Photo by James Duncan Davidson.

I gave an updated version of the It’s Cool to be Flat talk at Ignite NYC last night. I created the presentation with Nicholas DiBiase of Hepnova, and gave a previous version of the talk at ITP30 Pecha Kucha.

It’s COOL to be FLAT, v2

View more presentations from Lee-Sean Huang.

You can also download the presentation here: [PDF] [PPT]
UPDATE (11/17/2009): Here are my presentation notes. Hopefully the video will be on YouTube soon.

1. Hi. Iʼm LS. I am a creative technologist, and masters student at ITP, the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. I developed this talk with Nicholas DiBiase of HEPNOVA Multimedia, who gave a version at Phoenix Design Week last month. This is a manifesto. This is a provocation. Itʼs cool to be flat. Cool like McLuhan. The world is flat. Letʼs embrace it.

2. A specter is haunting the world of the web and visual design. The specter is the gratuitous use of gradients, drop shadows, and faux 3D. This slide is a Wall of Shame. Join me in a holy alliance to exorcise this specter.

3. Welcome to Wankery, Inc. 2.0. Reflections and gradients do not equal instant web 2.0. These visual artifacts are a cheap trompe lʼoeil that dupes clients into paying more for ugly. This slide will be the death of me, one of us will have to go.

4. Design is not a dark art. Art for artʼs sake has its place, but design for design sake forgets the user. As designers, we need to be comfortable with our craft, Itʼs OK, really. Design is about function, not about showing off chops and gadgetry.

5. Design is compressed communication and not decoration. (seems obvious, but maybe those who proliferate gradients and reflections didnʼt get the memo) Good design expresses a lot of information in a short amount of space or time.

6. Simplicity is key. Condense and clarify, it donʼt clutter or complicate. Strip away the unwarranted and the unnecessary. Make positive use of negative space. Silence is negative space in time (pause)

7. Avoid pseudo 3-D effects and embrace flat. Work with rather than fight against with the nature of the 2-D media in which we work, be it print or a computer screen. Work with your constraints, and make use of other techniques, like bold color contrasts, interesting textures, and plenty of negative space,

8. Letʼs rise up in a tidal wave of change to bring flat back to the interwebs. This is restoration, not revolution. Flatness has a long and proud tradition through history and across world cultures, from this Hokusai woodblock print, to Western modern art.

9. From the Ancient Greeks to the Pacific Northwest Indians, flat art is internationally awesome. Artisans and craftspeople have worked with the constraints of the media and materials, and made effective use of bold lines and color contrasts.

10. In the Western Modern art tradition, artists like Mondrian, Matisse, and Kandinsky embraced the flatness of their canvases, through minimal, flat forms, their paintings are in a way, low resolution, high contrast A provocative challenge against the hegemony of traditional perspective.

11. Two more examples. Lichtensteinʼs work is comic book flat, while Calder is seriously simple. Lichtenstein makes the mechanics of the flat page a central element While Calder uses the intensity of his color contrast to take flat reductionism to an emotional extreme.

12. From cartoons to gallery walls. Ren & Stimpy to Murakami. Flat is back to the forefront of pop culture. Flat knows no distinction between the high and the low. Murakamiʼs superflat explores the superficiality of pop culture, but only the shallow know themselves, so thatʼs ok. *Thanks Oscar Wilde.

13. Visual and web designers can take some cues from the modernist architects. A simple ABC from Alvar Aaalto to the Bauhaus to Le Corbusier. Strip away the frivolous And cleanse the degenerate decadence of digital rococo that is rotting away the soul of the internet.

14. Letʼs take it to the bridge with a musical analogy. Hair rock vs. Punk Rock. We want to be punk. Do you want to contort yourself around a polytonal 11th chord with sus 4 flat 2? Or do you want to play a punk rock power chord? Think about it?

15. Here are some memorable and versatile “flat” logos. IBM lconveys the timelessness of Big Blue Chanel takes simplicity and turns it into elegant luxury Ubuntu conveys its values of community and sharing
BP is sinister greenwashing, but aesthetically brilliant And the Wu Tang, is Wu Tang

16. The formula is simple. FLAT is function over ornament. Get rid of the excessive. Elegance is not ornament. The slide speaks for itself. Reflections are the worst kind of vanity.

17. Design is about conveying your values and your vibes. Even without gradients, drop shadows and reflections, you can communicate with bold use of color, line, and contrast. Say more with less.

18. FLAT builds character. Hello Kitty is just a few lines and dots. She doesnʼt even have a mouth, but she is part of a multimillion $$ global empire Their simplicity means that they are accessible and universal, we can project our own meanings onto these characters. These 2 guys below are ODI and AMO, two characters I created last year.

19. This is a challenge to embrace the values of Flatness. This is the DAO of FLAT. Itʼs COOL to be FLAT. Be bold, be iconic, make a statement. Letʼs return to the values of simplicity and clarity in design.

Want to philosophize about flat? Or just tell me that Iʼm wack? Find me on the interwebs at LEESEAN.net or @leesean on Twitter. Thank you!

Here’s a photo by Carlo Demarchis of me presenting last night:

Designer’s tools for iPhone UI design

Juri Imamura — 2009-11-15T07:36:12+00:00

I’ve been designing a mock up UI(user interface) for a browser-based app for iPhone for the past few days as part of my final projects at ITP. I’ve pretty much ruined my sketchbook for drawing a bunch of layout and wireframes. I found several interesting resources for designing iPhone specific UIs. Whether I use them [...]

Final Proposal: FireChat Greeting Card

Cindy Wong — 2009-11-15T02:47:37+00:00

For my web development final, I knew I wanted to pursue my interests in social media, interactive design, and multimedia. I’m pretty interested in technology that helps bring people together over the web to communicate/interact. So, how can I make it fun?

FireChat is an interactive video website that serves as a hub for friends to deliver greeting card messages. Rather then have friends sign a paper card, why not have an electronic card where your friends can all personally deliver a video message to your intended recipient on 1 screen? Go to the website. Sign in. Create an e-card page. Upload your video message. Invite your friends and family to your e-card webpage so that they can upload their video messages too! When you’re ready, you can email your video-card recipient and they will get to see everyone’s well-wishes on 1 page in video! You know how some people hate having to sign cards? Sometimes, it’s easier to just say what you want outloud. Don’t worry, unlike handwritten notes, you can just re-record your message till you get it right.

Examples:

Browser testing

Juri Imamura — 2009-11-14T15:26:14+00:00

When you are developing a website or a blog, browser testing becomes critical to make sure visitors get what’s supposed to be on the screen. You should at least test your site on IE and Firefox. It is probably the best if you analyze the traffic to your website and figure what browsers are mainly [...]

JavaScript Serial Applet

Shawn Van Every — 2009-11-13T20:35:25+00:00

A couple of weeks ago I put together a process for allowing access to a hardware serial port from JavaScript. I thought I would point to the documentation page here and allow the comments section of this post to be a place where questions could be answered and so on.

Without further ado, here it is:
JavaScript Serial

Foodventures: Schnippers for Lunch!

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-13T02:00:43+00:00

Today it was raining, and I got hungry around 2, so I walked out for a bite to eat. Usually, I am a huge fan of the super cheap eats of Subway and the Chicken Bar close by, but today I wandered off to Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen at the base of the New York Times Tower on 40th and 8th.

I had passed by it before several times on my way home, but today I decided to give it a try. Supreme happiness ensued! The red and white interior was expansive, and my eyes were drawn to the fish and chips on the menu. I couldn’t remember the last time I had them. Probably back home. I missed that for an instant, so I ordered the fish and chips, and got some fresh brewed Southern sweet tea! Breathe with me here for a moment….SOUTHERN SWEET TEA.

I was given this odd device that was supposed to signal when my food was ready. It was an odd shape, so I wasn’t sure just how it would do that, but after a few minutes, it buzzed frantically on my table. It sounded kind of like a duck, so I was instantly amused! I like cheap thrills (but in this case it was expensive, at $13).

The sweet tea was PERFECT, almost as delightful as the sweet tea at Raisin Cane’s in New Orleans, and it was a perfect compliment to my fish and chips. Whoda thunk it!? West Coast meets Gulf Coast! I was in heaven.

Augmented Reality + SMS

Craig Kapp — 2009-11-12T19:44:29+00:00

This week I decided to try and hook up an augmented reality scene so that it can be driven by SMS messages. The app below lets you vote for your favorite flower using your mobile phone – just text the appropriate code (”craigk red” or “craigk blue”) to 41411 to cast your vote!

The system is built using the public version of the TextMarks SMS aggregation system, a pair of back-end Perl scripts and, of course, Flash + Papervision.

Vote for your favorite flower!

Check out a video of the project in action:

[liveweb]serial data to js

Diego Rioja — 2009-11-12T18:53:26+00:00

I managed to control a canvas object’s color, y-position, and width via blue-tooth. I used Qik to document my results. I used 2 photocells and an FSR to change the square, just to demonstrate how Shawns’ applet works with blue-tooth. I believe i want to expand this and substitute the FSR with electrodes and be able to control the internet with my brain waves.

Here is the link to the website.

Here is the documentation for the JavaScript serial applet. Feel free to use firebug to look at the java script functions that connect arduino to js.

Jive Turkeys Sing & Dance to Spice Girls

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-12T16:33:22+00:00

One of my boys was feeling down last night, so I went with him and some friends to Karaoke to cheer him up. Naturally, I can’t sing, or dance that well, so I was the world’s greatest audience member (as usual).

I said I was going home after he sang his song with a friend of his, but I just couldn’t help but stay an extra few minutes to watch these kids jump around to the Spice Girls’ hit song, “Wannabe.” Sometimes I think there’s a white girl in all of us….

Claaaaasic!

Meet TweetChime, ITP Final Project

Cindy Wong — 2009-11-11T05:40:33+00:00

For my Final Project, I decided to combine my ICMW and PComp classes together and produce a single idea: Meet TweetChime. TweetChime is an interactive music chime that that will take specially coded Twitter messages people send to you and transforms them into melody where you are. What makes that so special?

Whether a friend wants to express “Good Luck!”, “Congratulations!”, “Have a Great Day” or “Thinking Of You”, TweetChime transforms their greeting in a harmonious patterned musical chime melody in real time. Be pleasantly surprised when you hear the ringing of notes and know that someone – out there– is thinking of you. As an owner, you can decipher what people are messaging you based on the musical melody overheard.

Interaction: Person tweets a message through a special code setup. Example: @cwong08 says, “@tweetchime 65 #tweetchime.
Among the selected messages are examples like “Have a Good Day!” “Miss You,” “Good Luck!”, “I Love You,” that are given specific number codes etc. Currently, numbers 65-68 are coded. The owner of the TweetChime machine will log on to the TweetChime website and activate their device. From there, the TweetChime website scans an RSS feed for impending tweets for @tweetchime and refreshes your website with appropriate melody when triggered by friends and family’s tweets.

Under the Hood: TweetChime is powered by Javascript, PHP, and an Arduino. The TweetChime website is built with Javascript to interact serially with the Arduino (via USB port). TweetChime website uses AJAX to scoop data from a PHP script that reads a Twitter RSS feed and parses numerical codes from people’s submitted tweets. From there, it passes those byte values to the Arduino which then outputs it into the message’s cued melody.

Setup: Arduino, PHP, Javascript, 5 wind chime tubes, servo motors, 5 mini metal tubes (strikers)

Each wind chime is paired with a servo motor that is wired to the Arduino. When the Arduino checks for digital read messages, it will receive the values and trigger the servo motor to tap the chime in series. A message like “Have a Good Day!” would sound differently then a message like “Miss You.”

Here’s a video of me testing the sensor motors against the wind chimes I purchased to see if they’d resonate.

Testing Servo Motor for Final Project Use from cindy wong on Vimeo.

Testing Prototype: TweetChime Web/ServoMotor Interaction from cindy wong on Vimeo.

Physical Construction of TweetChime from cindy wong on Vimeo.

Sleep for the Rest of you.

Diego Rioja — 2009-11-11T04:28:50+00:00

I researched for sleep and ways to improve sleep for a better conscious state. This lead me to research sleep stages, circadian rhythm, and light therapy. SAD (winter blues), Jetlag, delayed sleep phase syndrome, and insomnia are some of the most common physiological disorders that affect our well-being.

So what is sleep? We detach ourselves from our sensors to rest physically and mentally. The why is obvious, we all know what happens when we don’t sleep. It is a vital biological function.

Sleep logging: Here is a link to yawnlog, a beta project that logs your sleep by having the user tweet sleep habits.

Sleep Architecture:

During sleep our brain doesn’t necessarily stop working, in contrast to our body the brain keeps functioning. In adults, sleep is divided into two states REM and NREM sleep (rapid eye movement and none).

NREM sleep consists in four different stages with different EEG activity. Here is a link to the different sleep stages. The architecture of sleep is very delicate, if a person wakes up in stage 4, usually they wake up tired. This is the last stage of NREM sleep, the next stage is REM sleep. This state is where we dream the most.

“Small structures in the brain called suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) coordinate circadian rhythms. The SCN, in turn, is very sensitive to the presence or absence of light. This may explain why daytime sleep has been found to be less restful than nighttime sleep.”

Circadian Rhythm

Blue Light:

“Blue light exposure may be a countermeasure for fatigue, particularly during the night.” This article from the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School reinforces me take on how blue light (blue; 460 nm) may help reduce fatigue.

“The subjects exposed to blue light consistently rated themselves less sleepy, had quicker reaction times, and had fewer lapses of attention during the performance tests compared to those who were exposed to green light. They also had changes in their brain activity patterns that indicated a more alert state.”

Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has done research which indicates that if we don’t get a strong exposure to bright, blue light in the morning, it can delay our circadian rhythm, making it hard to fall asleep that night. Here we have a list of their research:

Light can alleviate seasonal depression.
Light can increase the length and quality of sleep.
Light can consolidate sleep/activity patterns in Alzheimer’s Disease patients.
Light can improve the performance of night-shift workers.
Light can improve weight gain in premature infants.
Light activation of the circadian system is affected by a newly discovered photoreceptive mechanism in the eye.
Light regulates melatonin, which has been shown to reduce breast cancer growth.
Light has a direct impact on cortical brain activity.

“Until recently, it was thought that the eye was just used to see. BWH researchers and others have shown that it is also used to detect light for other purposes, such as resetting the body clock to the 24-hour day.”

This other article focuses more on blue light as the mean to treat circadian rhythm disorders. Also, bright light therapy is a common treatment for seasonal affective disorder. White light is applied for a small period of time in the morning to help depression.

Products

Phillips has these products in the market. These products claim to improve your day by having your circadian cycle restored, improving your mood by waking up naturally. All of these claims seem promising to people’s happiness. This is another product that aims to treat sleep disorders the same way.

On waking up naturally i found this for a dawn simulator: “A dawn simulator gradually turns on your bedside lamp in the morning, before you wake up, so that your retina (not you — you’re still asleep!) “sees” the light show up at the time you choose, increasing gradually just as natural sunlight does, over about 30-45 minutes.”

I did research to improve the Bed_data project. Here is an article on sleep movement tracking (the study of sleep and circadian rhythms, provides an acceptably accurate estimate of sleep patterns).

Materials and sensors

I found this instructable on a 2×2 soft fsr matrix. I wonder how scalable this can be, so I emailed Pluesa in hopes to learn more about soft sensors.

Here is a company that has conductive foam and other products for your diy sensor needs. Here is the company Mustafa and I bought the foam for our sensors: conductivefoam.com

Also here’s Kate Hartman’s soft sensing report.

In conclusion, light therapy can help restore the circadian rhythm if applied correctly. Blue light stops the production of melatonin, which is a hormone that induces sleep. A dawn simulator alarm can help different circadian rhythm disorders according to the amount of light you can get in the morning. Our cognitive functions are weakened by a lack of sleep, thus we can improve our sleep habits by logging them and resetting sleep cycles.

ITP Big Screens Show

Daniel Shiffman — 2009-11-09T21:31:12+00:00

Please RSVP to: itp.rsvp@nyu.edu

More info here: http://itp.nyu.edu/bigscreens2009/

Storyboarding

Cindy Wong — 2009-11-09T16:13:33+00:00

In a team of 5 people, create a 2-minute movie that is planned with a storyboard. Deciding we wanted a rich, narrative perspective sequence, my team divided the movie into 4 distinct chapters that delve into different movie genres. The movie, itself? Let’s say, it’s a tale of a serial killer and the hunt to find him…

Slow News

Juri Imamura — 2009-11-09T13:17:13+00:00

I stumbled on an article about “slow news”. Proposed by Dan Gillmor, a technology writer, the slow news is a concept to “think before believe” rapid-fire news. A recent example is a balloon-boy news, in which media made a great fuss about a missing boy in the sky that turned out to be a hoax. [...]

Song of the Moment: Heart of A Lion

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-09T06:49:31+00:00

Cudder is pretty much my favorite artist out there right now. Yayyyy!

I had kind of a rough weekend, but I jammed to some good music when I was in bed. This one is one of my favorites and it is off of Kid Cudi’s new album. Don’t sleep on that man, because not only is he stylish and smart, his music is actually meaningful and heartfelt. Have a listen.

The Ruth Bremen and Anne Katherine Graham Memorial Grandmothers Historical Society

Sara Bremen — 2009-11-09T01:20:24+00:00

The Carbon Peep Show

Craig Kapp — 2009-11-08T22:10:50+00:00

The Carbon Peep Show is a project that I co-developed with Adam Harvey over the summer for Artist as Citizen. Developed as an entry for AAC’s Burning Embers competition, The Carbon Peep Show is designed to showcase potential environmental scenarios that may play out based on the level of global warming that the Earth experiences over the next hundred years or so.

Upon visiting the Carbon Peep Show, visitors are presented with a closed set of theater curtains. Behind the curtains lie a series of climate change themed videos that depict ecological consequences that may happen to our global environment if the world warms by a certain number of degrees. The only way to watch a video, however, is to “pay” for it using a dollar bill. Simply holding up a dollar bill to the highlighted rectangle on your screen (assuming that you have an active webcam on your computer) will advance the peep show to the next video in the playlist.

Hold up a dollar to watch the next video

In addition, the Carbon Peep Show is designed to be part of a larger conversation in which responses from the community can be showcased and broadcasted to the world at large. By clicking on the ‘Participate’ button, visitors can submit their own video responses to be included in the project. Will we be the victims of environmental disaster? Will our cities become submerged under rising ocean levels? Or, perhaps, will our ecosystem find its way towards a new equilibrium? Submit your response and let the world know what you think!

The Carbon Peep Show wants to hear from you!

Next Exhibit › Target: Joan Carney in collaboration with Kelly Gallagher

Greylock Arts — 2009-11-08T17:51:07+00:00

A collaborative mixed media project.

Opening Reception:
December 12th 2009, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Exhibit Dates & Times:
December 12th 2009 – January 2nd 2010

Location:
93 Summer Street, Adams, MA 01220

Mobile Art && Code

Shawn Van Every — 2009-11-07T21:56:27+00:00

I am here at CMU in Pittsburgh at a conference called Mobile Art && Code. Great talks, great workshops, glad I came.

I am doing a workshop called Interactive Telephony for New Media Arts, here is the full set of notes.

One thing that I did for the workshop is a put together an Asterisk driven webservice in PHP for getting at live phone call data. If you have been working projects that get information from asterisk or use phone calls to control other applications, it might be worth checking out.

PHP AGI Script:

#!/usr/bin/php -q
<?PHP
require('/var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin/phpagi.php');

$agi = new AGI();

$agi->stream_file("vm-extension");
$return = $agi->wait_for_digit(10000);
while ($return['result'] > 0)
{
        $ascii = chr($return['result']);
        $agi->say_number($ascii);
        file_put_contents("/var/www/html/webservice/data.txt",time() . "," . $agi->request["agi_uniqueid"] . "," . $agi->request["agi_callerid"] . "," . $ascii . "\n",FILE_APPEND);
        $return = $agi->wait_for_digit(100000);
}
?>

PHP Web Service Script:

<?
	// The client will send a timestamp if it want's new stuff from the timestamp
	$timestamp = 0;
	if (isset($_GET['ts']))
	{
		$timestamp = $_GET['ts'];
	}

	$data = file_get_contents("data.txt");
	$dataarray = explode("\n",$data);
	if ($timestamp > 0)
	{
		// Send everything from the timestamp forward
		for ($i = sizeof($dataarray) - 10; $i < sizeof($dataarray); $i++)
		{
			$currentline = explode(",",$dataarray[$i]);
			if (sizeof($currentline) > 0)
			{
				if ($currentline[0] > $timestamp)
				{
					echo($dataarray[$i]."\n");
				}
			}
		}
	}
	else
	{
		// Just send the last one
		if (sizeof($dataarray) > 1)
		{
			echo($dataarray[sizeof($dataarray)-2]);
		}
	}
?>

Processing Example

I should note that this was built very quickly and therefore somewhat buggy. I don’t think the Processing example is thread safe and the PHP should really be using a database.. Also, the Processing example is a riff off of something Dan Shiffman put together for getting Asterisk and Processing to talk through a Java server.

TN-OH-MY! Mehanata Madness!

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-07T19:42:41+00:00

Though I am a second year ITP student, I’ve only been to two TNO’s. Still have yet to go to a drive by. This week, I felt particularly festive, and went to TNO with the gang at Mehanata in the LES (otherwise known as the Bulgarian Bar). The doormen appeared to not know who we were, but after Catherine gave them a talking to, they realized that we were in fact real live ITP students in need of a good time.

Inside, we found a wonderful little world. There was a stage getting set up for a band, a snazzy bar, and a sign pointing downstairs to the ICE CAVE. The Ice Cave was basically their beautifully lit lower level that was complete with another stage with a cool band, a full bar, and LOTS of pretty lights. There was a great turnout, and lots of the students came along. I never really had any super fratty parties to go to in the South, and certainly nothing with beer involved, but I imagine that TNOs purpose is for students to de-stress and relive their college days. I think?

At any rate, I managed to take some blurry, pretty photos of the lights and my friends having fun. I think I shall dub one of them, “The Official Wallpaper of Last Thursday.” I will set it up for everyone to download and experience the beautiful lights. Click here to get it! Maybe I’ll go again next week. Yayyyy!

FMS based virtual world 1.0

Craig Kapp — 2009-11-05T19:53:22+00:00

This week I’ve been playing around with the shared object feature of the Flash Media Server. So far I’m really liking it! I was able to whip up a pretty basic prototype of a web-based virtual world without too much fuss – feel free to check it out.

Just me and MC Hammer hanging out in the metaverse

As of today the world can do the following:

Avatar identification
Synchronous text-based chat
Click-to-move functionality within the world
Appearance editor (change your own avatar’s look)

The appearance editor is still very rudimentary, and changes made to your avatar don’t yet ripple out to other users. I was having a real tough time figuring out how to send out complex AS3 objects using the Shared Object feature of the FMS. The documentation explicity states that sending any AS3 class via a Shared Object should work. What the documentation fails to tell you is that you need to prepare your classes in a very particular way in order for them to retain their integrity after being serialized by the FMS encoder.

I should have a fix in place for this real soon – I’m uber excited about being able to share non-trivial AS3 objects in real time!

Not That You Needed To See More…But!

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-05T17:49:49+00:00

Here are some awesome projects that my classmates are working on in Materials! We had a nice party last class. Mine is still under wraps but will be unveiled as soon as it is finished! It is going to be of EPIC PROPORTIONS + HAVE LIGHTS!

Shoptastic Boxtravaganza + Helping Hands!

Jonathan Ystad — 2009-11-05T17:21:10+00:00

In my Materials class we constructed boxed from metal and cast molds of our hands. These were probably the two most fun projects in a while. Even though I am not the most skilled, I still manage to make things that come out looking great and that are sturdy. Sorry these photos were taken on my phone. I have more to come soon that I took with my good Cammy!

I made a brass box that resembles a Chinese takeout box that you’d get from around your corner. What is special about my box is that I folded the metal by hands, kind of like origami, after I cut out my pattern, and that I only used two rivets to bind the whole thing together. AWESOME!

My cast of my hand turned out pretty cool, and everyone marveled at how girly my hand was. Hey, I can’t help it if I have nice nail beds and dainty, piano-playing fingers! Don’t hate!

Check Elizabeth’s flat box, and Nicholas’ small boxes made out of brass! We make things in style.

Baseball Card Trades

Sara Bremen — 2009-11-05T14:56:30+00:00

Using the “image chat” technology, I propose a website for baseball card trading. Geared towards tweens, the site will not reference physical cards, but rather hold a finite number of virtual cards. Visitors can earn “money” by doing various chores. Maybe the currency will be approved by a parent or on-line chores–answering research questions, reading [...]

Week 8 Lab: Transistor Lab + HBridge Lab

Cindy Wong — 2009-11-05T05:32:16+00:00

This series of labs were a two-part process. First, we had to learn how to control a DC motor which uses a high current load. Then, we used H-bridges to control the spin direction of the DC motor.

Transistor Lab

Using DC Motor with Arduino from cindy wong on Vimeo.

So how do you control a high-current DC load such as a DC motor? Transistors, in this case the TP120 transistor which acts as an electrical switch between the Arduino and power to make the higher current load (in current, voltage)doesn’t overwhelm it. In this scenario, I used a potentiometer to control the spin intensity of the DC Motor. FYI, I learned that soldering a DC motor is easy since the order of the wires, power or ground, doesn’t matter! Check out the video above.

Update: Note that clickety, jerky motion of the DC motor above? Apparently, that is the result of the DC motor receiving too much power. Looks like that DC Motor is meant to run between 3-5V power. The Arduino is blinking (resetting itself) each time as an indicator for us (according to Igoe).

Here’s the Breadboard setup.

DC Motor Control Lab

H-Bridge to control DC Motor Spin on Arduino from cindy wong on Vimeo.

To change the direction of the DC Motor’s spin, you’ll need an H-bridge which connects to your breadboard. The H-bridge is handy when you want to control multiple motors. In this case, we’re controlling the circuitry by alternating power between the H-bridge’s motor logic pins which are connected to digital pins on the Arduino. Sending power HIGH or LOW changes the motor’s spin direction from one way to the other. See the bread board below.

Latency Fugue

Sara Bremen — 2009-11-05T03:59:59+00:00

Latency Fugue is a live performance that utilizes the latency drag of live streaming which otherwise frustrates viewers. A performer dances next to a series of screens. A video camera captures her movements and streams them over the Flash Media Server to each screen. In turn, each screen displays its own .swf file embedded on a [...]

it’s real (time) !

Robert Carlsen — 2009-11-05T03:10:23+00:00

after a couple of late nights, i have a proof-of-concept in the real-time cycling-related datalogging. the reasons behind the project are still getting sorted, but lately my interest in ubiquitous urban sensor networks has been piqued and this is a tentative exploration in that area. sensors don’t have to remain static as part of physical infrastructure…millions of people are carrying millions of sensors around with them daily.

an iPhone application records accelerometer data at anywhere from 1-40Hz (arbitrary rate) which is geocoded using core location (including heading, altitude, and location). every second the most recent sample is uploaded to a server running couchDB. after a ride, the full-resolution file can be e-mailed or uploaded to the server. for the proof-of-concept the data is being plotted on a dynamic Google Map.

in the immediate future i’ll be adding live updating of the map via ajax or some other web sumthin’ dot oh technology.

longer term is to build out similar applications for android and symbian (or maybe just j2me if it’s feasible). i’m also planning on getting back to the ardunio-based sensor packages which started the project.

[BKPK]midterm presentation

Diego Rioja — 2009-11-04T23:38:48+00:00

Mike and I gave a presentation before class on October 28, 2009. Here is the link to the pdf:

Our biggest obstacle right now is to get the DOT parking restriction database API. Considering this could time, we are planning on having the actual community to map out restriction zones and parking areas. The Digital Democracy crew came in yesterday to give us their opinion about our midterm projects and presented us with pressing questions about the direction and obstacles of our projects. Mark suggested openstreetmaps to us, in hopes to have bkpk have street mapping parties. The community would be stronger if it is involved from the very start.

The main goal of BKPK is to build a parking community that can sustain, so having the community involved in street mapping parties is a good idea.

ITP BlogBlender

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Leon

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Jive Turkeys Sing & Dance to Spice Girls

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Storyboarding

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Song of the Moment: Heart of A Lion

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The Carbon Peep Show

Next Exhibit › Target: Joan Carney in collaboration with Kelly Gallagher

Mobile Art && Code

TN-OH-MY! Mehanata Madness!

FMS based virtual world 1.0

Not That You Needed To See More…But!

Shoptastic Boxtravaganza + Helping Hands!

Baseball Card Trades

Week 8 Lab: Transistor Lab + HBridge Lab

Latency Fugue

it’s real (time) !

[BKPK]midterm presentation