crowdsourcing
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DARPA working with Local Motors to crowdsource next-generation combat vehicles
A next-gen Hummer isn't going to build itself, and these days we can't trust our government bodies to come up with all the cool ideas. DARPA is looking for some help, and if you're feeling up to it that can be you. Our favorite Advanced Research Progects Agency has selected a chassis from crowdsource car designers Local Motors (the same one found inside the company's Rally Fighter) and is asking civilians of all shapes and sizes to figure out what shape and size the Experimental Crowd-Derived Combat-Support Vehicle will be. Sure, XC2V doesn't quite roll off the tongue like "Flying Humvee," but it sure does sound a lot more practical. If you want to have your say (and a chance at the $7,500 prize) you'd better hurry up, because submissions are due by March 3rd. Sadly, designs drawn in Crayon on the back of homework are not eligible, otherwise you'd all be fighting for second place.
'8-bit Funding' is crowdsourcing for game funding
Do you appreciate all aspects of Kickstarter except that it can be used to raise money for things that aren't video games? Geoff Gibson has the perfect alternative: 8-bit Funding, a crowdsourcing site just for video games and video game-related projects. It works a lot like Kickstarter: creators set a goal amount, and then offer tiered "perks" to those who donate. Seven projects are currently up on the site, including Excruciating Guitar Voyage 2, DreamCasters Duel, and Kung-Fu Kingdom. Should any of these first projects achieve significant funding, the site will be cemented as a viable option for raising money for indie games -- which, in turn, is good news for anyone trying to raise money for an indie game.
Book Review: You Are Not a Gadget
You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier (January, 2010) Alfred A. Knopf, 209 pages, $24.95 I'm often accused of being a Luddite -- mostly based on my fervent and affectionate clinging to several physical objects that are quickly becoming cultural artifacts: the ink pen, the paper book, and the vinyl record -- but those items haven't been the only 'evidence' my accusers have historically cited. In addition to that physical evidence, there has always been my suspicion that some of the things I valued in life -- listening to a whole album, reading an entire novel in one sitting before grabbing another off the shelf -- were also going the way of Betamax, and being replaced by short attention-spanned, sound-bited fragments of conversation that didn't convey knowledge or ideas in nearly the same way. This suspicion, this "feeling" if you will -- obviously doesn't originate with me, and it's often diluted (by the internet) into some version of "the internet is making us dumber" argument. Of course, that's not really the argument at all, but who needs to be bogged down with details these days? Enter You Are Not a Gadget, which I review below.
Ridley Scott, YouTube announce 'Life In A Day' crowd-sourced feature film project
Is the future of cinema truly this democratic? We dunno, but if you want to find out there's probably no better person to ask than Ridley Scott, who is teaming up with Kevin Macdonald and YouTube to produce Life In A Day. The idea is to get people from all over the world to submit videos taken on July 24, 2010. From here, director Kevin Macdonald will assemble a feature length documentary, to premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. What's more, if your footage makes the cut you can be one of twenty lucky folks invited to the festival. Pretty wild, huh? Hit the source link for info on submitting your masterpiece. Trailer after the break.
HTC Wildfire hands-on (update: video!)
Some eager beavers went ahead and busted through the embargo dam this morning, so you should already be up to speed on the Wildfire's specs and vital statistics. For the latecomers, this is an Android 2.1 device with the same processor as HTC's fabled Hero, a 3.2-inch capacitive QVGA display, and an ambition to sate the market for an affordable, socially connected Android smartphone. It's slated for a release in Europe and Asia early in the third quarter of this year, and you can see all four of its tasteful color options in the exhaustive gallery of intimate photography below. Skip past the break for the full spec sheet and our early hands-on impressions of the Wildfire.%Gallery-93137%
Nokia's Design by Community makes smartphone concepting a multiplayer game, with limits
Nokia's community blog has opened up the crowdsourcing floodgates, at least in theory. For "Design by Community," users will be able to vote on smartphone features via a series of sliders, although within an arbitrary point allotment system. A new poll opens next week for size and shape, followed by materials, operating system (Symbian or MeeGo being the only choices, unsurprisingly), and so on in the weeks that follow, with the last poll starting April 26th. After that, a concept sketch will be voted on and later rendered -- but no plans to ever have it made into an actual retail product (boo). We can't exactly say we understand all the selections here: why is a touchscreen keyboard less ambitious than T9 text entry? Does saying capacitive is more ambitious than resistive serve as a subtle hint of trends to come? What in the world is the difference between hot key and one touch? It's interesting to see how X6, N900, N97 all come out as a Perfect Mixes, while last year's E75 and the more recent C5 all straddle the "less than ambitious" line. Oh, and just so we're clear... a 5-inch, 21:9 ratio display without touchscreen but with a touchscreen keyboard is a perfect mix. Go figure. [Thanks, Pratik V]
CrowdSpirit gadget development project goes into beta
It's been quite a while coming, but the ambitious CrowdSpirit project has finally moved from the hype-building stage to the beta testing stage. For those that missed it the first time around, the project aims to apply crowdsourcing to the development of gadgets and consumer electronics, with individuals able to submit ideas for products that then get voted on by the community at large. If a product makes it all the way through the process, the contributors to it will then earn "a share" of the product revenue. Judging from the current pace of things, however, that possibility seems to still be quite a ways off.[Via MAKE:Blog]
Dell customers root for Linux option
If the customer's always right, then let's hope that Dell's ready to deliver. Since February 16 when it launched Ideastorm, a customer-based crowdsourcing site, over 100,000 comments have addressed the possibility of offering leading Linux versions preinstalled in addition to, or in place of Windows. Dell spokesman David Lord confirms that the Linux buzz is being "taken into consideration" and tells us we should "certainly stay tuned." Despite the vague update, Dell no longer has the luxury of turning a blind eye to high customer demand since it's getting exactly what it asked for in the first place. Believe it or not, Dell is no stranger to Linux, according to Lord who explains that it sells custom-designed, high-end Linux desktops for use in oil and gas exploration. There's no doubt that systems pre-loaded with Linux instead of Windows would cost less, but it's hard to say how much since it isn't clear what Dell tacks on for Windows. In addition, some customers are pushing to swap MS Office with OpenOffice, which is another way to reduce system prices. So it looks like Dell's got a real (Idea)storm a-brewin' and an interesting opportunity to make some big changes -- but stalling seems to be the plan du jour for now.Read - Dell Ideastorm siteRead - Reuters
CrowdSpirit wants the masses to design, build and buy new gadgets
Crowdsourcing is one of those internet buzzwords that many of you have heard floating these days, and it was only a matter of time before someone took that idea and merged it with consumer electronics. Enter CrowdSprit, a new online community that aims to improve upon the consumer electronics market by tapping the wisdom of the masses. Some of the proposed devices include an MP3 player, GPS device, and radar detector (huh?), all for under €150 or $190. The idea is that a group of online consumers discuss ideas for a new gadget, then investors will throw some money down and build a prototype. Once that's done, the community comes back to test the device, and then will ostensibly buy that product. (No word on what happens if the product is a flop, or if it needs to go back to the drawing board.) We've got loads of suggestions on some of our favorite gadgets, and while we're not entirely convinced that this whole idealistic plan will work, we're definitely intrigued. Once CrowdSpirit actually makes its first prototype, we'll let you know.
Web surfers to help Texas monitor border cams
Texas Governor Rick Perry has just announced a plan to leverage the eyeballs of millions of voyeuristic web surfers into a de facto army of unpaid border guards, by allowing the general public to watch live streams from video cameras trained on the Mexican border and call a toll-free number to report illegal crossings. Although the governor did not go into details on how many cameras would be installed nor how far apart they would be positioned, he did estimate the cost of the program at around five million dollars, which would buy almost 3,000 high-def HDR-HC3 camcorders even if Sony decided not to give the state a bulk discount. Leaving the whole immigration issue aside, what really stands out about this project is that it could possibly set a precedent for inner-city officials to open up their surveillance cameras to John Q. Public -- so instead of some authoritarian regime monitoring every citizen's activities, "Big Brother" will actually become all of us.[Via BBC News]
