Lytro Camera – the future of image capture has arrived

Filed under: Art & Creative, Industry Trends, Opinions & Comments, Technologyposted on March 27th, 2012

This is going to change the way we see captured images.

Full light field capture which offers variable focal length images capturing the entire depth of field in a shot so you can play with it later is pretty amazing. While this is still pretty simplistic in the Lytro, the possibility of the underlying tech are very exciting.

Imagine shooting Google Street View again using this, trying to capture every street in the world with variable focus so you can look at what you like. Take that a step further to when this matures and you can shoot your holiday video capturing full light filed and go back over the footage to review things you missed. Add to that professional production, global mapping and location based information overlays and we are starting approaching virtual tourism pretty rapidly.

If this was viewable through a head mounted display or virtual goggles so you got full immersion and coupled with eye tracked focussing we would be able to have a pretty good virtualised experience of another place or event. I can image bopping out to a full immersion replay of the latest Glastonbury festival in surround sound, full immersion 3D or exploring a mining collapse after sending in a bot with recording gear.

To come back to the now for a moment, check out the science of the camera and some example pics on the website here http://www.lytro.com/

NIKE+ Fuel

Filed under: Art & Creative, Fun, Industry Trendsposted on January 20th, 2012

Unlike Kodak, who are finding themselves being eaten up by the industry they created over 100 years ago, Nike are moving with the times and making sure they stay tech savvy and relevant in the world of sports. In 2006 they partnered with Apple to create the NIKE+ system, which enabled you to track your run with your shoes and iPod/iPhone, and today they have pushed the envelope even further with the new NIKE+ Fuel system.

The little wrist band analyses your movements and exertion levels as well as your run, steps, time etc. It takes all these things in to consideration and gives you a NIKE+ Fuel number each day so you can track your physical activity.

This is the first time a basketball player and a tennis player, or a runner could compare their efforts for the day in a fair and logical way.

NIKE+ Fuel is a huge step forward for technology in the world of sport.

iTunes Match goes live… finally.

Filed under: Art & Creative, Fun, Industry Trendsposted on November 15th, 2011

A little later than expected, iTunes Match goes live for all users.

With iTunes Match, even songs you’ve imported from CDs can be stored in iCloud. And you can play them on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC — whenever you want and wherever you are, without syncing. iTunes Match is just $24.99 a year.2 Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store.

Any music with a match is automatically added to iCloud for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 20 million songs in the iTunes Store, chances are, your music is already in iCloud. And for the few songs that aren’t, iTunes has to upload only what it can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch.

Once your music is in iCloud, you can stream and store it to any of your devices. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.

THE OUTPOST Project-Taking street art to the masses!

Filed under: Art & Creative, Fun, General Chatterposted on November 7th, 2011

The Sun was shining and culture was high on the agenda for a great day out on Sunday as I made my way out to the spectacular location of Cockatoo Island on Sydney harbour for the OUTPOST-Art from the streets exhibition. The Exhibition features some of Australia’s best street artists as well as some exhibits featuring the work of some big named overseas artists such as Banksy, Swoon and Faile.

I was lucky to have a personal guide in the name of one Mr Edwards a good friend and street art creator who is one of the contributing artists in the Pastemodernism exhibit located at the hub of the exhibition. The OUTPOST Project is well placed among the gritty industrial spaces of Cockatoo Island superimposing this explosion of dynamic urban art. The exhibition features the talent and raw energy of more than 150 artists, all willing to come on a journey with curators Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and aMBUSH Gallery, in a first for the Southern Hemisphere.

Renowned international and local artists such as ROA (Belgium), Ethos (Brazil), Kid Zoom (USA/Australia), Anthony Lister (USA/Australia) and the Everfresh Collective (Australia) illuminate the island with large-scale installations, (make sure you check out Anthony Lister’s large scale balloon heads and Kid Zoom’s Home). The Next by T World T shirt gallery is really entertaining showing a huge array of artists and designs from T shirt Culture. There are live art creations including aerosol art, stencilling, paste-ups, sticker art, cup rocking, sculpture, murals and billboards. A rocking bar is also set up throughout the day and into the early evening to help you unwind and take in a really awesome exhibition which runs from November 4^Th –December 11^th.

Whilst we were there a series of street art forums helped to explain various concepts and insights into behind global street art culture. The George Shaw’s Oi You! Collection includes important works by Os Gemeos, Swoon, Faile and the world’s best known and most influential Street Artist Banksy.  Vibrant live acts and a changing weekend events program offer a mix of grand experiences and unexpected happenings. Street sports also take centre stage in the vast waterfront skate park, setting the scene for a Skateboarding Australia’s Pro/Am Tour Grand Final.

An array of pop-up bars, retail and gallery spaces, artist battles, demos, DJ’s, tours and art-making projects cover the island and you should give yourself a good 4 or 5 hours to really experience the whole exhibition. Better still go out to the island on several trips as the River cat and some direct ferries leave Circular Quay pretty regularly. Don’t Miss it!

All Star Animators Recreate the Entire Ocean Online

Filed under: Art & Creative, Funposted on October 24th, 2011

Wemo Media has partnered with top animators from Avatar and Tron, the director of MIT’s Media Lab and other high profile activists for an ambitious, underwater animation project called theBlu. TheBlu is, more or less, a recreation of the entire ocean ecosystem — from North America to Asia and everywhere in between — largely powered by user submissions. It is part art project (users can create and customize underwater creatures), part social network and part educational tool. The main action in theBlu is exploration. You navigate through different underwater environments observing the user-created species. You can click on new species and complete “collections” native to those regions. Finding an entire collection will then gift you a creature, which you can name and let loose in the wild or monitor in a virtual fish bowl. All of these collected fish will populate the digital oceans. Clicking a fish will bring up some quick facts about the creature and its owner, with options to connect. (via Mashable)

TheBlu is currently in a closed beta, so until it’s available to the masses, check out this YouTube clip to see how it works.

2011 AIMIA AWARDS

Filed under: Announcements, Art & Creative, Industry Trendsposted on October 17th, 2011

Have you submitted your award winning work? With only four days left to enter the 18th AIMIA Awards, we have already seen some exciting entries submitted. If you haven’t already, it’s time to get a wriggle on. Make an impression and submit your entries to the 18th Annual AIMIA Awards! With so many exciting innovations and creations, this year is without a doubt going to be bigger and better than ever before.

Show off your talent and Enter Now

The 18th AIMIA Awards is comprised of 26 categories and celebrates excellence across all genres and digital platforms. Be quick, entries close Friday 21 October.