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Life.Lab's Colony brings location-specific art controller to the iPhone
Colony is a new free application that showed up on the iPhone App Store just recently, but it won't do much of anything if you download it -- unless you're hooked up to the WiFi at the Life.Lab building in Digital Harbour in Melbourne, Australia. The app is actually part of an art installation by an artist named Troy Innocent, and was developed by Stewart Haines specifically to control the setup there in Melbourne.It's a very interesting project -- while it doesn't mean much to anyone not in Digital Harbour, the idea of bringing the iPhone into a location-specific setup is intriguing. Haines has a nice page on his site that details the process of creating the app, and you get to not only see the thought behind the process, but some of the concepts and tech behind the app as well. Very cool.There are lots of location-specific applications that have yet to be explored on the iPhone, most of them commercial (putting your order in while waiting in line at Starbucks, for instance). But Colony looks like a really thoughtful take on the idea -- I would say that it's too bad you have to go all the way to Australia to use it, but then again that's kind of the point.
Mixed reality Melbourne: Seventeen Unsung Songs
It's one of those little Melbourne bars, not so much wider than the bar that runs much of the length of it, with some seating near the front for the smokers (who are nearly out in the cold, literally), and a smaller lounge area in the back with a tiny little stage. It's poorly lit (too dark for clean photography), and the cramped space is moderately crowded. The focus is, strangely, two men, and their laptops. Their laptop screens are projected against the walls, and strange ambient music is circulating through the room. This is a living performance in Second Life created solely for an audience in the physical world.
Babelswarm has a way with words
Letters pummel you as they fall from the heavens, struggling to form the words you just spoke. Any casual utterance leads to another cascade of letters; you see some jostling letters fall into place before you -- "hello". Are you talking to Babelswarm, or is it talking to you? The Australia Council for the Arts awarded a $20,000 artist-in-residence grant to three Melbourne artists last year to explore interactive art in Second Life. Christopher Dodds, Adam Nash and Justin Clemens -- visual artist, musician and writer -- created Babelswarm to combine swarm theory with the story of humanity's effort to build a tower to the heavens. Terrestrial visitors can view and contribute to Babelswarm at the Lismore Regional Gallery, where the words they speak will become a part of the ever-building, ever-collapsing virtual tower. The installation opened simultaneously in Second Life and at the Lismore Gallery April 11th. If you have Second Life installed, why not stop by and help create the tower with your words?
Aussies criticizing Seven Network for compressing HD feeds
Same story, different continent. The compression bug has seemingly struck again, and this time its aggravating those Down Under who'd like to enjoy Seven Network's 1080i programming in all of its high-definition glory. After just recently flipping the switch to broadcast content in HD, a sect of Australians have already begun to grumble over the "relatively low amount of bandwidth the network has allocated to the high-definition channel." Of course, it should be noted that "most" viewers have seen no reason to get bent out of shape, but for those relaxing in Oz, what say ye on the Seven situation?
Jogging over Distance technology makes it a social experience
Technology is inexorably tied to progress, but when it busts into our lives and subtly tells us that we're doing something wrong -- in this case, getting some "us" time on a solo jog -- we've gotta admit to being a little peeved. Even for those who like to share their second most sweaty experience on the day-to-day, this is probably a bit of an overkill. A prototype technology called Jogging over Distance is being developed at the University of Melbourne which uses GPS, cellphone tech, and 3D audio simulation to make it seem as if two joggers from separate cities are actually slogging it out together. The advantage over just whipping out a cellphone is that as one runner goes faster, their voice appears to be coming from further ahead to the other runner, which could presumably help motivation. To each their own we suppose, but we'd take some loud music over the grunts of a fellow jogger any day. Or, indeed, a form of motivation that helps us -- no, forces us -- to start jogging in the first place.[Via textually]
Play the Wii before all the other Aussies
In teaming up with Australian newspaper The Herald Sun, Nintendo is going to give Aussie gamers the chance of a lifetime: play the Wii early at Nintendo's Australian headquarters. With the console launching December 7th, entrants have little time to get their emails sent. Those wishing to win must: Send an email to webcontests@heraldsun.com.au including Wii Contest in the subject line In the body of the email, include your name, address, and daytime phone number And that's about it! Easy enough, right? Emails must be received before midnight on Thursday, November 30th. The contest is obviously only open to residents of Australia and only one person per entry will be accepted. Also, sadly, travelling to and from Nintendo HQ is the responsibility of the winner. [Via Aussie-Nintendo]
Wii documented at GAME1 Expo
During the recently-concluded GAME1 Expo, a show dedicated gaming in Melbourne, Australia, Aussie-Nintendo took a ton of footage from the Wii games on-hand. With separate videos documenting their times with Wii Play, Twlight Princess and WarioWare: Smooth Moves.They also have video of the console powering on and setting up, which has been included along with all of the other videos into the post, embedded past the break.
