Craig

Happy to be getting back into the swing of things post-Sandy. I’ve been super impressed with the Occupy Movement’s ability to organize and disseminate information throughout the disaster. Also, ITP Alum 2012 Becky Kazansky wrote a great piece on Mesh Networks in Red Hook which included a well-deserved mention of current ITP student Sean McIntyre who’s been directly involved with ITDRC.

Been hearing a ton of great ideas for final projects, looking forward to seeing them come to life in the next few weeks. Had another meeting with Dan Shiffman and Shawn Van Avery regarding our online education efforts. We’ve got some exciting stuff in the works, hoping to be implemented in The Nature of Code class next semester. Also, congrats to Dan Shiffman for releasing his Nature of Code book. If you’re looking for something to do over Winter Break, read this book!

The Vimeo internship is picking up momentum, been digging into the Vimeo Advanced API, which is pretty well designed. If anyone is interested in messing around with it, let me know, happy to get you rolling.

Here’s another amazing Chrome Experiement: Explore the Galaxy. And just when you thought you’d had enough of Psy, check out Infinite Gangham Style along with a brief explanation of what’s actually going on here.

Eric

Office hour questions have gotten bigger literally (building structures to hang off of) and figuratively (building complex gyroscopic motor systems). I have also spent a fair amount of time helping with a few classes. For all of you who missed the PAPO performance, you are in luck! Keep your eyes open for the impending final show (at a yet to be determined time). Patricia’s Ideas taking shape class produced their own laptop stands, which I helped to cut out using our CNC routing machine. The Lasersaur has been giving me endless grief since I am at the part in the project where one step forwards seems like two steps backwards. Pushing through that, I’m still excited to be able to fire the laser in the next few weeks.

Get ready for Thesis Second Years! Thesis is now! (also December 1st).

3d scanned and printed objects to blend in with everyday things

A PHD Thesis paper doing gait analysis on Theo Jensen’s Strandbeasts, and trying to figure out another more efficient system

The Marmalade Group – combining technology and old school model making to create absolutely beautiful slow motion shots

Genevieve, Lia, Antonius, Merche and Mimi (GLAMM)

In the spirit of collaboration, we are making a group digest update today. One of us finished the music for a certain iPad app about a Synagogue and the other one is finishing up the development and getting the same app ready for the app store! Also, one of us is building Windows 8 and Windows RT apps via Processing JS.  One of us is in San Francisco, again! shooting user interviews. One of us is part of an amazing CSF (Community Supported Fishery) in Brooklyn, and last week made this delicious chilli crab dip with our weekly haul. Too bad there was no fish food at the election night party, but it was cool cuz Obama won! What does Obama have to do with fish food? One of us climbed to the top of the Christopher Columbus statue on 59th street to hang out in the living room built around it. The piece is called Discovering Colombus by Tatzu Nishi, and you should really go see it before the exhibit closes. One of us really like puppies. One of us does not. Here are some dog houses. Speaking of houses one of us just got a new one with Valentina, guess who? Did you check out ITP Alumni Valentina and Maria’s voting app, by the way? Esta Amazinga. One of us went to a Madonna concert, and it’s not who you think it is.

At this moment, we are all watching the Big Screens midterms and all the projects are looking pretty snazzy. The class has a great dynamic, thinking through what the audience will see and staying calm despite the time constraints. Speaking of constraints, one of our visas is expiring. Can you guess whose? Also, one of us is growing a moustache. Can you guess which? NIME is going to be kickass. The invites are being printed right now. We all met with Nancy to discuss the incoming thesis sessions. Who thinks this is exciting? We all do!

****** GAME ********

SEND IN YOUR ANSWERS!

WINNERS GET A SPECIAL PRIZE!!!

Instructions: Connect the resident to what they did this week

1. Antonius
2. Genevieve
3. Lia
4. Merche
5. Mimi

• My visa is expiring
• I watched Madonna
• I am addicted to Letterpress
• I’m growing (trying to grow) a moustache
• I never put on pants the whole week NYU was closed

Nick

Great to see people’s midterms and to hear the first rumblings of ideas for finals. If you’re working on a project involving automated movement, I’ll be doing a special pcomp help session on solenoids next monday at 8pm in the conference room.  We’ll review different types of solenoids, look at how to control them with the Arduino and talk about strategies for designing mechanisms around them.

I saw a brilliant piece at BAM  last week called “Sans Object” by the French performance group Compagnie 111.  It featured two performers interacting with a large industrial robot arm and a very cleverly designed set in a number beautifully choreographed, often dangerous looking, sequences. It made me want an industrial robot.

I’m planning to attend The Status of Sound, a fantastic looking conference on defining the history of sound art coming up at the CUNY Grad Center on Fri Nov. 30th.

My friends at StoryCorps just finished a new animated short based on one of my favorite clips.

Steve

It was great to get back to ITP after the hurricane. The questions at office hours are getting harder and more interesting. Regexes to socket connections to deciphering Processing libraries and Ruby & Javascript questions also.

Rune and I went to the Visualized Conference last week at the New York Times building. I saw and talked to a handful of ITP students, both current and alums. My two favorite talks were from Alexander Chen (creator of mta.me, baroque.me and the Les Paul Google Doodle), Shan Carter who made 512 Paths to the White House. And of course ITP’s own Matt Epler added a 5 minute bit of levity talking about his tangible data viz project from last spring. Unfortunately I missed Jake Porway’s talk.

A few people have asked me throughout the semester how to make a website using Jekyll, and I’ve replied with “I’ll tell you later,” now I’ve found what looks like a great and extensive tutorial on using Jekyll, check it out. And even though I’ve decided to stop using CoffeeScript, here’s an excellent talk about programming languages by Jeremy Ashkenas.

Rounding out the links, the history of the planet in 1 minute (by the creator of my second favorite video ever). My new favorite radio show is WFMU’s Downtown Soulville.