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Public diplomacy through jazz in Second Life
In the days of Second Life Insider, before becoming Massviely, we had already reported on USC microcontinent and Annenberg Island, home of the USC Center for Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School in Second Life. We had also reported on the arrival of the MacArthur Foundation and their desire to understand virtual worlds and support activities that support their main aims that happen to operate within this environment.Eureka Dejavu, also known as Rita J. King, is one of those exploring Second Life for the MacArthur Foundation, and as part of her work she attended Black Watch, a play and discussion about morality and violence, and the Virtual Jazz Festival hosted by the US State Department on Annenberg Island. Obviously rather different in style as well as location, but both fostering the ideals of peaceful cultural exchange rather than an exchange of bullets. Her piece makes for a good read of itself, and her blog is well worth a look as it presents a view on Second Life as a tool for developing consciousness and morality.
USC researcher crafting silicon brain cells
C'mon, linking actual brain cells to a silicon chip might sound a bit sensational at first, but considering the work that's already been done on replacement retinas and human brains, Ted Berger's recently-hyped work is pretty much right on time. Essentially, the USC researcher has spent the past decade or so "engineering a brain implant that can re-create thoughts," and moreover, certain implementations could even "remedy everything from Alzheimer's to absent-mindedness." We know, thoughts of instantaneous brilliance are running wild through your mind, and considering that Ted (and his highly-regarded team) have figured out how to link a silicon chip to actual brain cells and elicit responses, the possibilities are indeed nearly endless. Put simply, Berger hopes that brain disorders that are currently battled with intensive drug regimens with less-than-exciting side effects can be solved "by simply implanting a few computerized brain cells." Of course, the team admits that it's "years, maybe decades" away from hospital-approved apparatuses, but if you're interested in reading (a lot) more about "the future of brain science," grab your specs, prepare your paltry short term memory, and hit the read link for all the insight.[Via MedGadget]
Living Game Worlds III: The Game Mechanics of Reality
Is the games industry burdened by its reliance on game mechanics? Speaking at the Living Games World Conference at Georgia Tech in Atlanta last week, Tracy Fullerton, a game design theorist and assistant professor at the University of Southern California Interactive Media Division, plead her case that the commonly used game mechanics are in a way impeding our ability to expand into new content themes.Fullerton began by defining the root terminology. "We've talked a lot about serious games ... but I thought I might be nice to back up and bit and really kind of question what is that a game is," she said. "One of the things that I like to do is break things down and build them up again."
NASA beefs up its "SuperBot," has video to prove it
We've seen this modular bot around, but it's really starting to come into its own, with all sorts of twisting and flexing and joining to keep it occupied for hours. NASA's plan for the bot is for a future robotic system that is "modular, multifunctional and self-reconfigurable," and this SuperBot that USC is developing seems to fit the bill. Each module has its own power supply, sensors and communication, and with a few degrees of movement and six connecting faces there are plenty things the bots can do when joined as a team -- a SuperBot, if you will. It's not much use explaining it, you just have to see it for yourself, so peep the read link for action vids galore, then head to the comments and get a bit of "I for one..." out of your system.
Researchers set to test bionic eye implant
Researchers at the University of Southern California's Doheny Eye Institute have snagged the all-important FDA approval need to begin clinical trials of their bionic eye implant, joining a growing number of other groups following in Lee Majors footsteps. Once underway, between 50 and 75 patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration will be outfitted with the implant, which has already seen some degree of success in limited testing. As the image above shows, in its current form at least, the device isn't completely implantable, also consisting of a small camera mounted on a pair of glasses that's wired to a handheld device. It works by processing images from the camera and wirelessly transmitting them to a receiver implanted in the eye, which in turn sends signals to a series of electrodes that stimulate the retina, sending the information to the brain, all of which happens in real time. While it won't restore full sight, the researchers say patients should be able to detect light and distinguish objects from one another. If all goes as planned, they also foresee the device being commercially available shortly after the trials are complete, although it obviously won't come cheap, with an expected price tag of $30,000. Let's just hope a mirror shades version isn't too far behind.[Via BBC News]
Rival robots prepping to automate home building
"Your shoes, clothes and car are already made automatically, but your house is built by hand and it doesn't make sense." That's word from Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, whose team at USC is getting ready to debut a $1.5 million robot designed to build homes with zero help from puny humans. The bot should have its first test run in California this April, where it will build the shell of a two-story house in 24 hours. The operation is akin to a 3D inkjet printer, with the robot moving about in three dimensional space, spraying out the home layer by layer. Part of the simplicity of the process comes from the simplicity of the materials: nearly the whole house is built with concrete and gypsum, obviously leaving a bit of work for the decorators, but allowing for complicated shapes and cheap construction -- about a fifth of current costs. A rival robotic house building being developed at Loughborough University takes a week to build a home, but will include fancier designs, including ducts for water, electrical and ventilation. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait around 5 years for that model to hit the market, and by then we'll all be having so much fun driving around in our flying cars we won't even have time to bother with these "home" things.[Via Slashdot]
USC undergrad builds DIY PowerBook Wacom tablet
Inspired by the DIY Wacom Cintiq tablet that we wrote about a few weeks ago, Florian Maurer, a USC mechanical engineering undergraduate student, recently took apart his Wacom Graphire 6 x 8 inch tablet and combined the internals with a PowerBook Titanium 800MHz machine. The result, two days later, was a a fully functional PowerBook tablet, with a touch-sensitive section. From what we can tell, he also added in a feature so that you can draw words (such as "google") and then use a gesture stroke to load that particular page. Check out the YouTube vid on the next page for the full effect. Watch out Jobs, hackers are always a step ahead.[Via digg]
flOw on Dec. 19 for PS3, 2 more titles from USC devs in the works
thatgamecompany's expansion of flOw onto PlayStation 3 has finally been targeted for release on December 19*. Coinciding with this announcement is word of a three-game deal signed between Sony and the former USC Interactive Media Division students who founded thatgamecompany. Details about the two additional games have not been provided, but Sony has reserved a space for the team at its Santa Monica base. "This is a watershed moment in the history of the school," recognized USC Dean Elizabeth M. Daley, "It builds on our tradition of expanding relationships with the professional community, and opens the door for our students and graduates to showcase their creative talents in an incredibly dynamic market." Guess the gang is sorta like the Bushes and Leinharts of the Interactive Media Division. Go Trojans! *flOw will be offered as a premium downloadable title on the PlayStation Store. Play flOw now.
HDTV Listings for November 25, 2006
What we're watching: Notre Dame vs. USC is the big game tonight, both because of last year's infamous "Bush push" and because the winner could end up in the National Championship game. Otherwise there's also NHL on HDNet and boxing on HBO. Hugh Laurie guests on Saturday Night Live in a repeat episode.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Joystiq interview: Jenova Chen
Xinghan (Jenova) Chen has big dreams. A recent graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Cinema & Television, Chen focused his master's thesis on changing how game designers look at difficulty and redefine the concept of Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment. With two award-winning independent games (flOw and Cloud) under his belt as well as contributions to a multitude of other games, Chen's resume reads like an old professional in the gaming field. We had a chance to speak with Chen to talk about his thesis, its (mis)interpretations, and his current work with Maxis. Why did you choose this project as your Master's Thesis? The Master's Thesis has to have some contribution to the field that you want to be a master. For me, I have created so many games in the past I feel just creating another game is not contributing anything. I'm more interesting in coming up with another solution in better game design that can be used by other game designers to attract more gamers. For other industries, any kind of interactive design, the theories in this project are helpful.
Exclusive: Academics Advocate Staying Indoors Playing WoW All Summer
Aren't your teachers & authority figures supposed to encourage their wards to go out & live life; stop & smell the roses? Well, this article from the USC college paper, the Gamecock (shut up, Beavis), takes a more refreshing approach, listing a whole slew of online summer activities guaranteed to keep you indoors, pasty-white, and out of shape.Will high-schools & Universities offer extra-curricular gaming activities pretty soon? Will my kids be able to earn extra credit for playing MMO's? Man, I wish I wish school was like that in my day...
Jan. 4: What's on HDTV Today
What we're watching: The game of the century.#1 vs. #2. Texas vs. USC.Rose BowlI've barely been able to sleep at night as visions of Vince Young, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinhart danced through my head and finally the day is here. I'm leaning towards Texas in an upset because I think they have a better defense than USC has seen so far. But if Reggie Bush and Matt Leinhart (and Lendale White) are half as good as they have seemed all season, it's really impossible to call.There is nothing else worth watching tonight, the two best teams are playing, be there and in HD. After the jump is our traditional listing of HD programs throughout the night.
