randomwalks/dj

While in Los Angeles earlier this week, Jake Dobkin spotted some sweet Banksy pieces on Melrose. You can see more here on LAist.

Originally from Wooster Collective, on February 24, 2006 02:27 PM

I just established the ogle-3d tag on Flickr for people to post cool photos/pics/renders of things they have done with OGLE. Do it up!

Originally from OGLE: OpenGLExtractor by Eyebeam R&D blogs, on February 24, 2006 11:37 AM

Vyatta is a San Mateo company comprising a stealthy group of developers who have been building an open source router to challenge San Jose networking giant Cisco. This morning it has opened itself to the public. Here is a press release we got last night (downloads file). As usual, when it comes to things telecom, Om beats us to the punch, and has already offered superior analysis here in his Business 2.0 piece. No one is safe anymore, Om makes clear in his additional blog post:...

Originally posted by Matt Marshall from SiliconBeat, on February 24, 2006 11:35 AM

yatta posted a photo:

To clarify: Frumin speaks about the use of OGLE in Second Life to the Second Life Future Salon in Second Life.

Originally from eyebeam - Everyone's Tagged Photos, on February 24, 2006 09:33 AM

eyebeam posted a photo:

nyc!

Originally from eyebeam - Everyone's Tagged Photos, on February 24, 2006 09:32 AM

3D displays that hover in midair have been a staple of science fiction for decades; after all, who can forget the hologram of Princess Leia in the first Star Wars? Now, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has developed a method of projecting three-dimensional images in the air.

The system reflects laser light off of mirrors, and focuses that light into a point in the air using a plasma emission phenomenon.

The technology remains experimental, so there is no estimate of when it might appear in the marketplace.

Source: Minding the Planet

Originally from FutureWire - futurism and emerging technology, on February 24, 2006 09:32 AM

We don't have TV here in the hiphopmusic hobbit hole, but sources tell me there's a commercial running now that uses Public Enemy's "By the Time I Get to Arizona" to promote the PGA Tour. Can anyone help eradicate what remains of my sanity by confirming this? I never thought anything would top the "Revolution Will not be Televised" Nike...

Originally posted by jsmooth995 from hiphopmusic.com, on February 24, 2006 09:31 AM

Frumin speaks about the use of OGLE in Second Life to the Second Life Future Salon in Second Life.

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on February 24, 2006 09:31 AM

Another sweet use of OGLE, posted semi-anonymously to the forums. Someone named Karl out there has used it to capture a molecular model that they made using the open-source molecular modelling tool PyMol, and then texture, light, and re-render using Lightwave. Looks great if you ask me:

Originally from OGLE: OpenGLExtractor by Eyebeam R&D blogs, on February 24, 2006 09:31 AM

Linklogged, but worth mentioning repeating verbatim in the main blog since it's damn cool. We're having a SXSW party! We booked I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness! Kick! Ass!

That is all, continue on.

Originally from random($foo), on February 24, 2006 09:31 AM

Last month, seventy-three year old video art pioneer Nam June Paik passed away, leaving behind a large body of influential, risk-taking work. This Saturday, New York's Electronic Arts Intermix will present a 12-hour screening of the legend's videotapes, dating from 1965-2000. The program will include better-known pieces like Paik's early 'Electronic Fables' and his more recent 'Analogue Assemblage,' but will also include rarities like his TV collages made in collaboration with major figures such as Joseph Beuys and John Cage and the 80-minute '9/23/69: Experiment with David Atwood.' Paik was among the very first to experiment with video as an art form, in an era when 'media' was redefined to mean both 'the media' and artistic 'medium' in the same instance. His Fluxus-based performances, installations, and recordings often contained humorous pop elements, while remaining very politically savvy. At their core, Paik's works were always radically experimental, with the forward-thinking artist who anticipated the modern internet in coining the term 'electronic superhighway,' constantly pushing boundaries of form in ways that inspired generations of electronic artists. The EAI video retrospective is organized to begin with Paik's more recent work and roll backwords to his earliest projects. Taking this trip back in time will no doubt present glimpses into the future of future of media art. - Marisa Olson

http://www.eai.org/eai/02_06_paik_pr.html

Originally from Rhizome.org Net Art News, on February 24, 2006 09:31 AM

Wayfinder GPS software works on the N70 and now there's CoPilot Live available according to MobileBurn.

Originally from Nokia N70 Blog, on February 24, 2006 09:30 AM

The Implicit Association Test [1] is a sorting task which reveals something about our automatic, non-deliberate, associations [2].

The part of the test which betrays our automtic associations is a combination of two simpler sorting tasks. Both simple tasks involve sorting words and pictures into categories which are assigned to the left and right (by pressing the E and I keys, which are on the left and right of your keyboard). One task is to sort words (like 'love', or 'failure') into the categories 'good' and 'bad'. The other task varies depending on what you want to detect automatic associations about. In the 'race IAT' the task is to sort pictures of the faces of white americans and the faces of black americans. The race IAT isn't the only version, but it is the most (in)famous (you can also do the IAT on fat vs thin, arab-muslim vs non-arab-muslims, for different US presidents and in many other variations). The compound task involves sorting both words and pictures to the left and right where each side has two categories assigned to it - so 'good' and 'black american' on the left, and 'bad' and 'white american' on the right, for example.

What the IAT test does is compare your times for sorting good words when the 'good' side is also the 'white' side to when the 'good' side is also the 'black' side (and vice versa for sorting bad words, and for sorting white and black faces to the good and bad sides). By doing these comparisons the test can detect any evaluation of 'white' or 'black' as positive or negative that is affecting your time to classify the words or faces to the correct side. So, for example, if you take significantly longer to sort good words to the 'black' side than you do to the 'white' side then the result is an automatic preference for 'white americans' over 'black americans' [3]

What the Racial IAT indicates is that most Americans have an automatic preference for whites over blacks. Two things are important about this. First it isn't really clear what mechanisms lie behind the effects found in the test ('Voodoo' is one suggestion!), nor is it clear what they mean [4]. Second, the automatic preference shows up for most people, even in those who consciously express no race preferences and even in many black americans.

Now where did this automatic preference come from? It certainly can't be deliberate attitudes, since the bias shows up in people (including many black americans) who have explicitly anti-racist attitudes. Some suggestions have been made, like they are the residual of previously held explicit attitudes, or the result of a 'cultural bias' (whatever that means) [5], but I think a strong, and more likely causal [6], possibility is that that these preferences are the result of systematic exposure to particular associations (i.e that white = good and black = bad). Associations can become established in memory merely by the repeated co-presentation of two things (conditioning), there doesn't need to be any logical connection between the two. So if on television the adverts for flash cars and happy domestic scenes always feature white folks and the the crime shows more often have black folks as the bad guys you're going to absorb those associations.

The researchers running the project imply as much in an answer in their FAQ

...it is very possible to possess an automatic preference that you would rather not have (and the researchers who developed this test are convinced that they, too, fall into this category). One solution is to seek experiences that could undo or reverse the patterns of experience that could have created the unwanted preference. But this is not always easy to do. A more practical alternative may be to remain alert to the existence of the undesired preference, recognizing that it may intrude in unwanted fashion into your judgments and actions. Additionally, you may decide to embark on consciously planned actions that can compensate for known unconscious preferences and beliefs."
(My emphasis).

The interesting thing for me about the hypothesis that these automatic preferences develope from repeated exposure to particular associations is that you do not need to believe the associations on any deliberate level, nor do you need particularly to pay attention to them, all you need to do is to have them as part of your environment. In that way our Implicit Associations reflect a part of our minds which belongs as much to the environment of our experience as to ourselves - and, additionally, is as much common to everyone who has shared our environment as it is unique to our individual minds.

And this relates to advertising. Adverts are ubiquitious. Advertising shapes the statistical content of the stimuli we are exposed too, however much we decide to give ourselves certain experiences. Does the IAT give us a glimpse of the consequences we reap from an unclean mental environment? [7]

References below the fold

[1] You can get all the research papers here. How wonderful

[2] I nearly used the word 'unconscious' here but couldn't quite bring myself to. I'm afraid that if i say it three times the ghost of Freud will appear!

[3] e.g. here or here

[4] Here's one example of an intepretation

[5] The residual of childhood preferences? discussion at cognitive daily. Review Article Sources of Implicit Attitudes (2004)

[6] That's the problem with much psychology research. You can find factors associated with some phenomenon, but it's far hard to find what is truly causing it

[7] Guardian article about the clean mental environment movement

Originally from Mind Hacks, on February 24, 2006 09:30 AM

GQ is about to push its men's magazine franchise into the quickly growing world of wireless media, according to Business Week. "On Feb. 27, the Condé Nast title will announce the launch of a new service called GQ Mobile, providing text messages to readers via their cell phones. Starting in the March issue, GQ readers will be invited to sign up by using their cell phones to send a text message with "GQ" to GQMAG (or 47624) Once enrolled, GQ Mobile users will start to receive original content developed for the digital mobile service. It may include information about events, private sales, shopping nights, and giveaways. ... GQ sees new ways to market to its audience -- and reap additional advertising revenue in the process. Privately held Condé Nast says GQ has 854,000 subscribers and 4 million readers. Nearly all of them have cell phones, and 89% of those use text messages.

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on February 24, 2006 09:30 AM

Originally marketed to repair old tennis shoes (which it does very well), this industrial strength rubber cement has many, many purposes.

I had a problem with the trim falling off of my second Mazda Rx-7, so I went around the car and pulled off all the trim and re-glued it with Shoe Goo. I never had the problem again. Through all kinds of weather and at very irresponsible speeds, the trim was still on the car after the vehicle was used up, wrung out, stripped of parts for my third Rx-7 and sold to a salvage yard for scrap metal.

Goop makes several other varieties that are supposedly specialized for different applications, but after trying them I keep going back to the original.

-- Justin Belshe

[Note: Apparently "Shoe Goo" is not a trademark. Several products from differing manufacturers use the same name, in very similar packaging. The link below is to the source which Justin Belshe used. Beware of imitations!]

Shoe Goo
$7
George's Shoes

Originally from Cool Tools, on February 24, 2006 09:28 AM

When Erika Thereian changed to a black-skinned avatar in the online game Second Life, she found that some of her friends no longer sought her out, certain men assumed she was sexually promiscuous, and that some people just don't like black folks. "Well, I teleport into a region where a couple people [are] standing around. One said, 'Look at the n***** b****.' Another said 'Great, they are gonna invade SL now.'" (both via rw)

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on February 24, 2006 09:28 AM

Cameron Sinclair is an architect whose unorthodox organization, Architecture for Humanity, shuns television coverage, refuses to put AFH or donor names on the buildings he builds, and makes his building designs available to anyone who asks, for free. "People don't realize that the largest humanitarian group in the world is the US military. They do more help around the world than most people realize. Where's the PR for that?" Cameron Sinclair, architect and founder of Architecture for Humanity.

This year, TED is granting him $100,000 and the chance to present one wish to conference attendees: To build community that actively embraces open source design to create innovative and sustainable design to improve living standards for all.

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on February 24, 2006 09:28 AM