Archives for Television

Reverse Anthropology: Native Tribe Visits UK to Study Brits

Check out this fascinating article about a new show on the BBC:

ne bright morning in St James’s Park and a stream of tourists
approaches Buckingham Palace, where trumpets will shortly herald the
Changing of the Guard. In the middle of the crowd walk five very short,
very odd-looking men.

Read More “Reverse Anthropology: Native Tribe Visits UK to Study Brits”

Virtual Out of Body Experiences

A very cool experiment in virtual reality has shown it is possible to trick the mind into identifying with a virtual body:

Through these goggles, the volunteers could see a camera
view of their own back – a three-dimensional "virtual own body" that
appeared to be standing in front of them.

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The State of our Country: Newscaster Refuses to Read Paris Hilton Story; Burns Script on Camera

This is quite an amazing video clip — a news anchorwoman on MSNBC took a heroic stand and refused, on air, to lead with more news about Paris Hilton, despite her fellow anchormen and her producers trying to force her to.… Read More “The State of our Country: Newscaster Refuses to Read Paris Hilton Story; Burns Script on Camera”

Wow! Watch this Multi-Touch UI Demo Video

If you are interested on what computer user-interfaces are going to feel like in the future — you must see this video of a demo of a new multi-touch computer monitor. This is amazing technology — and the various demos themselves are interactive artworks in their own right.… Read More “Wow! Watch this Multi-Touch UI Demo Video”

This Guy is Funny

Thanks to a recommendation from my folks, I just watched the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Have you ever seen him? He’s a Scottish comedian with his own US talk show and his monologues are awesome. He changes personalities on a dime, his jokes are edgy, intellectual, and trippy all at once.… Read More “This Guy is Funny”

The Lost Room — Great Fun

Ok I lied, one more post before I dissappear for a little while. I’ve been watching The Lost Room mini-series on the Sci-Fi Channel and highly recommend it. It’s probably the best new premise for a reality-bender since the original Matrix — and a totally great new twist on a treasure hunt.… Read More “The Lost Room — Great Fun”

Venice Project Making Heavy Use of RDF

I just found out from Pete, that the Venice Project is making really heavy use of RDF. Very interesting. Another major proof point. It’s looking like 2007 is going to be the year of mainstream RDF applications. It sounds like there are some similarities between what the Venice Project is making, on a platform level, and what we’ve already built on a platform level.… Read More “Venice Project Making Heavy Use of RDF”

LOST: My Newest Obsession

I know, I know. I’m several years late to the party on this one, but I have become quite obsessed with the television show, Lost. It’s possibly the most addictive show on TV. Ever. You have to start from the beginning though.… Read More “LOST: My Newest Obsession”

My New Tivo Series 3

I got the TiVo Series 3 box today and installed it. It takes 2 cable cards and can record simultaneously on two channels at once, in HDTV. It also connects to my wireless network instead of using regular phone lines. Nice.… Read More “My New Tivo Series 3”

Moments of Past Geekiness: Shatner Commercial for C-64

This is a nice, VERY dated commercial for the C-64 computer starring none other than William Shatner!

New Study: TV May Cause Autism

This study is strange. But plausible.

Today, Cornell University researchers are reporting
what appears to be a statistically significant relationship between
autism rates and television watching by children under the age of 3.
The researchers studied autism incidence in California, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, and Washington state.

Read More “New Study: TV May Cause Autism”

A Proposal to Make the Media (and Society) Better

I am concerned by what I’m viewing in our national media lately. Viewed from outside (and also from within the USA), it would appear that our nation is obsessed with, and plagued by, an increasing spree of horrible crimes and abuses of human rights.… Read More “A Proposal to Make the Media (and Society) Better”

New Touch Sensitive Display Detects Multiple Fingers

Check out the photo and video of this cool new display right out of Minority Report. It detects multiple fingers at once, enabling a wide range of new gestural interactions.

New 3D Display — Shows Images in Mid-Air — See Pics

An innovative new 3D display technology uses lasers to create plasma dots in mid-air. Can you say, "Help me, Obi-Wan," anybody? Check the link to see the kewl pics!

TV2Me — "Space-Shifting" of Local TV Broadcasts

Tv2me_pvs2My friend Ken Schaffer’s startup, TV2Me, is starting to really push the envelope on video streaming. Their box enables you to stream your own cable, satellite or terrestrial TV signal to your laptop or cell phone or PC, no matter where you are, with incredible fidelity.… Read More “TV2Me — "Space-Shifting" of Local TV Broadcasts”

Powers of Ten: The Simpsons Version

Watch the Simpsons version of the classic Powers of Ten film.

New Sony Creation Box Makes TV's Better

Sony has released its new Creation Box in Japan — it processes regular TV signals to make images clearer, flicker free, and more vivid — and it enables zoom functions. Pretty interesting idea — but why bother? Aren’t we all going digital anyway?… Read More “New Sony Creation Box Makes TV's Better”

Skeletal Systems of Cartoon Characters

I found this delightful series of drawings of the skeletons of popular cartoon characters at The Unreasonable Man, a blog I read. Very smart, take a look!

Senate May Ram Ludicrous Copyright Bill

From the Truly-Ludicrous-Department, the Senate may attempt to ram through a horribly shortsighted and backwards copyright bill. This bill would, among other things, eliminate centuries of fair-use precedent, make skipping commercials on digital recording devices a crime, and would make many uses of p2p networks, digital music players, digital sampling, and other forms of fair-use, crimes.… Read More “Senate May Ram Ludicrous Copyright Bill”

TV2ME Unveiled

Think outside your cable box! My long-time friend, the legendary Ken Schaffer, has finally come out of stealth with his new project, TV2ME. In a nutshell, it enables you to watch your own cable subscription channels live from anywhere via broadband over the Net.… Read More “TV2ME Unveiled”

From a Reader: TV News: A Mirror Reflecting the World It Covers or Making It A Better Place in Which to Live One Story at a Time?

This article was submitted to Minding the Planet by a reader, James Clayton Napier, the author. It’s an interesting inside commentary on how TV News works (or doesn’t work, as the case may be) — NS

“Images can either imprison or liberate us.”… Read More “From a Reader: TV News: A Mirror Reflecting the World It Covers or Making It A Better Place in Which to Live One Story at a Time?”

Pocket Holographic Video Projector Demonstrated

This is totally brilliant — read the description of how it works all the way to end. I am especially impressed with how they are able to make computer generated holograms 1 million times faster than previous methods, and how they figured out how to do it by interviewing people.… Read More “Pocket Holographic Video Projector Demonstrated”

Yamaha's Amazing New Singing Voice Synth

Yamaha has released a new synthesizer that sings. And it sings really really well. You have to hear it to believe it! This is going to revolutionize the music biz.

Now You Can Program Your Dreams…

The company in Japan that brought us the “BowLingual” dog-bark translator has now announced their new Dream Workshop device. They claim you can use it to program your dreams at night while you sleep. People who’ve tried it say it sometimes works.… Read More “Now You Can Program Your Dreams…”

All About Machinima: Shooting Movies in Virtual Reality

Couldn’t sleep. Woke up at around 4 AM. Channel surfing, I end up at a show about Machinima — a new form of moviemaking. Here is what Wordspy says about Machinima. It’s really cool stuff. Basically the idea is to use game engines such as Quake etc.… Read More “All About Machinima: Shooting Movies in Virtual Reality”

New Electronic Paper Displays Video

Next-generation e-Paper technology can now display color video — with even better brightness than conventional LCD displays! The applications of this range from wearable computing interfaces, wearable TVs, to digital newspapers and even to wearable entertainment, new computer-controlled fashion,and adaptive camoflauge.… Read More “New Electronic Paper Displays Video”