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'David Bowie Is' AR exhibit puts Ziggy Stardust on your phone
Sony Music has a fitting tribute for David Bowie on what would have been his 72nd birthday: its promised virtual museum exhibit dedicated to the music legend. David Bowie Is has launched for both Android and iOS, giving you an augmented reality tour of memorabilia that previously required a lengthy physical visit. You'll see famous costumes, photos, handwritten notes and videos, including items that were either limited to the Brooklyn Museum appearance or are exclusive to the app. You can see documents and props from the Blackstar era, watch live performances and glimpse at footage from the experimental DIamond Dogs movie.
'David Bowie Is' coming to your home through AR and VR
Did you miss your chance to see the David Bowie is museum exhibition and pay tribute to the late, great musician? You won't have to wallow in regret for very long. The David Bowie Archive, Sony Music, Planeta and the Victoria and Albert Museum have announced plans for both augmented and virtual reality 'recreations' of the exhibit. These digital productions will use a series of "audio-visual spaces" to showcase 3D scans of Bowie's artifacts and let you get much closer than you might in real life. You might not only see a legendary costume, but try it on for yourself.
The New York Times brings Bowie exhibit to your phone with AR
Now that Google has released its first take on an Android augmented reality framework, ARCore 1.0, quite a few AR apps are taking advantage of it. The New York Times, who has already released an AR experience around Olympic athletes for iOS, is now launching a new AR feature that focuses on David Bowie's "visual legacy." This is also one of the few AR experiences that supports both ARKit and ARCore, making it available on both iOS and Android.
David Bowie's musical is making the leap to VR
David Bowie's Lazarus had two short, completely sold out runs in New York and London. If you missed it, you're kind of SOL. But, if you're willing to settle for experiencing it in virtual reality, instead of real reality, you've got a second chance to see it at London's V&A Museum. The musical will be given a second life as part an exhibition called From VHS to VR, during the museum's Performance Festival on April 30th. Visitors will be able to strap on a headset and drop themselves into a 360-degree recording of Lazarus recorded during its King's Cross Theatre run.
Can 'Warcraft' break the curse of the video game movie?
There's a special place in cinema hell for video game movies. From 1993's cringeworthy Super Mario Bros. -- a high-profile abomination that even Nintendo wants to forget -- to the basic-cable-worthy schlock that was Mortal Kombat and even the underwhelming Jake Gyllenhaal-vehicle Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, games have failed to make the big screen translation. But that's precisely why director -- and son of the late, great David Bowie -- Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) agreed to tackle the theatrical debut of developer Blizzard's real-time strategy game Warcraft. "There's been a rough track record of movies based on video games," says Jones. "I do like the challenge. I like the idea of maybe making a film which is way better than anyone expected it to be because I know the expectations are all over the place."
Bowie tribute concert at Radio City will be streamed on Skype
A pair of concerts will offer a tribute to David Bowie in New York City this week, and you'll be able to stream one of them. Due to "unprecedented interest," concert organizers are teaming up with Skype and Ammado so that Bowie fans around that world can watch live performances from Radio City Music Hall on April 1st. This is actually the second show, added after the response for the first event that's set for Thursday at Carnegie Hall. The Carnegie Hall date for "The Music of David Bowie," a tribute show that will raise money for music education, was announced just before the singer passed away in January. Both nights sold out immediately.
Instagram series creates visuals for David Bowie's 'Blackstar'
David Bowie released his final album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday just two days before he passed away. He gave InstaMiniSeries access to the songs ahead of the release to transform the tunes into a miniseries of "visual interpretations" for the social channel. The 16-episode Unbound series "takes the audience on a journey of evocative images inspired by the moods suggested in the album's music, lyrics and artwork," according to an InstaMiniSeries post. Rookie founder Tavi Gevinson and actress Patricia Clarkson star in Unbound, which debuts this Thursday at 8PM with new episodes following on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for a few weeks. For brief teaser of what you can expect, check out the clip down below.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Fisker Karma gets a price cut, and more!
Architects are constantly pushing boundaries to redefine what buildings can do. Baca Architects just unveiled the UK's first "amphibious house," which is able to rise up and float when floods strike. Designer Michael Weeks has developed a self-sufficient dome home called the Life Pod that can be transported virtually anywhere. In Kazakhstan, architects are proposing the world's first apartment building topped with a ski slope. And Franek Architects just unveiled a spiraling mountaintop walkway in Czech Republic that features a 330-foot slide.
Recommended Reading: The brilliance of David Bowie
'Heroes,' Heavenly Bodies and David Bowie's Untouchable Brilliance Bomani Jones, Playboy I've followed the work of ESPN's Bomani Jones long enough to know that when he writes about music, you should pay attention. After David Bowie passed away earlier this week, he penned a piece for Playboy on music icon's body of work and how his creativity remains unrivaled. "His star was big enough to keep everyone warm, but while we orbited around him, no one could be what he was," writes Jones.
Play the video game starring David Bowie for free
David Bowie was a man ahead of his time across a range of industries, including gaming. The man and his music are featured in the 1999 game Omikron: The Nomad Soul, from the studio that went on to create Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. If you're familiar with those games -- yes, Omikron is a fairly trippy experience. Its publisher, Square Enix, has decided to offer Omikron for free today through January 22nd, in honor of Bowie's life and his surprising death this week at the age of 69. To hold your own digital vigil for The Man who Fell to Earth, use the promo code "omikron" at checkout on the Square Enix store.
David Bowie fused science fiction and pop culture
David Bowie passed away yesterday following an 18-month battle with cancer. The news was confirmed through his official website, his publicist and son Duncan Jones, who tweeted, "Very sorry and sad to say it's true." Though he only lived to 69, it's hard to think of an artist who had a larger impact on pop culture. Bowie was a gifted and prolific songwriter who created iconic albums like Diamond Dogs, Heroes and Let's Dance. He was also a fashion icon, actor, painter, producer, Broadway star and performer who invented iconic alter-egos like Ziggie Stardust, the Thin White Duke and Major Tom.
iTunes exclusively streaming David Bowie's new album
As reported by Apple Insider, David Bowie's forthcoming album, The Next Day, is exclusively available to stream on iTunes in its entirety until March 12th, when the album is released. The Next Day, available for pre-order now, is Bowie's first album in 10 years and has come as somewhat of a surprise. Bowie first announced the album in early January with a video for the track "Where Are We Now?". iTunes streaming is becoming more prevalent as a means to promote high-profile releases. Previously streamed albums on iTunes have included works from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Matchbox 20 and Jack White. [Via Apple Insider]
Remix David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on your iPhone
I'm a big David Bowie fan, regardless of the era. From Ziggy Stardust to Tin Machine, I'm a just a fan. Bowie's first big UK hit, "Space Oddity," was originally released on July 11, 1969. It was released in conjunction with the Apollo 11 mission and became a smash in the UK, though it wouldn't break through to US audiences until 1973. Coinciding with yesterday's Apollo 11 anniversary iKlax Media and EMI have come together to release Remix David Bowie - Space Oddity [iTunes link] for the iPhone and iPod touch. Essentially Remix David Bowie is the Space Oddity 40th Anniversary EP [iTunes link], but it lets you create your own "mix" of the track. iKlax's Remix app has a pretty neat interface that separates the original track into various stem-specific elements. You can control the volume for each of these stems (for things like the lead vocal, the vocal dub, the electric string guitar, orchestra, mellotron and others). In addition to letting you control what elements you want to adjust, you can also listen to some of the pre-arranged samples, like "acoustic," "a cappella" and "instrument only." This actually coincides with the versions and stems on the Digital EP release that is available as a music download. You can make track adjustments on the fly, but you can't alternate levels in various parts of the track. That would be expecting a bit much from a $1.99 app, but I thought I should point it out. After you create your custom mix, you can name it and save it. Unfortunately, you can't share that mix with others, which I imagine is a licensing issue, but it's too bad. Sharing custom remixes, even if it was through a web player, would be really cool. At $1.99US, Remix David Bowie is a pretty fun app for the would-be DJ/Bowie-fan. %Gallery-68450%
Build your own Stylophone, be slightly more like David Bowie
Sure, this little hack requires more than basic soldering skills and you'll need an actual synth for sound output, but we've always been intrigued by the Stylophone David Bowie used to write songs on, and now we can build one. The 29-note "keyboard" is really just an exposed circuit trace, and completing a circuit by touching the metal stylus to one of the keys sends voltage to your synth and lets you get glam in the comfort of your own home. Complete instructions at the read link, and a video of Bowie in action after the break (it's at the very end).[Via MAKE]
Today's most Bowie video: Rock Band's Suffragette City
Everyone needs a little bit of Bowie in their day. Today's hit of Bowie comes care of a Rock Band trailer showing off David Bowie's "Suffragette City" with brief snippets of the title being played as a four-player rock fest. We still can't wait to get our hands on the the drum controller. Again.Video embedded after the break.%Gallery-3923%
