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Google's Field Trip app gets you into 13 museums for free right now
Museum buffs and tourists might want to download Google's Field Trip app right now. As we've told you before, the location-based app shows you cool things to do while on a trip. For a limited time, the app will also get you into 13 major US museums for free, as Google announced on the Field Trip Google+ page: Rumor has it you can visit 13 museums in 6 cities for FREE with Field Trip... RUMOR CONFIRMED!!! For a limited time you can walk into any of these for free: Conservatory of Flowers, SF California Academy of Sciences, SF Walt Disney Family Museum, SF Museum of Contemporary Art, LA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Adler Planetarium, Chicago The Field Museum, Chicago Museum of the city of New York, NY Museum of Arts and Design, NY National Building Museum, DC Portland Children's Museum Portland Art Museum Pittock Mansion, Portland If you are around one of the following 13 museums, you will get a Field Trip card with "Free Entry" in the title (check the 'nearby' tab). Show the card on your phone to the admissions staff and they'll take care of the rest. Enjoy your Field Trips! Living in Europe I'm pretty spoiled, as almost every major museum is free. But looking at the list above -- especially seeing three of Chicago's best museums (my old stomping grounds) -- leaves me feeling a little envious of my US friends at the moment. Field Trip is a free download for iOS and Android.
Google's Field Trip app granting free admission to 13 museums (update: now 23)
While Google's Field Trip app may find attractions off the beaten path, it's been up to users to foot the bill for their excursions. Now, however, the Niantic Labs-made application is handing out freebies for an unspecified limited time, allowing those who wield it to waltz into 13 museums for free. Folks near the establishments will receive Free Entry cards in the "nearby" tab, which will let them pass turnstiles without forking over a dime. Although Field Trip has been beefed up with points of interest in over 80 countries, the participating institutions -- which range from The Field Museum to the Walt Disney Family Museum -- are all located in six US cities. Head past the break for the full list. Update: Google's let us know that they've expanded the offer to include a total of 23 venues. We've revised the full list after the break. Mountain View says it's on a "first come, first served basis," so you'll want to head out there as soon as your sightseeing self can.
Photoshop 1.0 source code now available from the Computer History Museum
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. (home of Google, and just a few miles from Apple's HQ in Cupertino) has a new display up, featuring none other than the source code to Photoshop 1.0, the very first version of Adobe's powerhouse photo-editing software. The exhibit features 128,000 lines of code, which make up the initial release of Photoshop, for Mac computers back in ye old early computer days of 1989. Photoshop represents one of the very first, and most successful graphical interfaces, which of course the Mac platform is known for innovating. You can not only see the exhibit at the Computer History Museum itself, but you can also download the source code on your own over the Internet -- as long as you agree to a 1,400-word license. At any rate, it's nice to have this little piece of GUI history archived and remembered in this way.
Sound Uncovered is a gateway to the fascinating world of sound
The San Francisco-based Exploratoruim has a long history of promoting science, arts and hands-on learning. The science museum has a physical location with more than a thousand exhibits, a website with more than 50,000 pages of content and now it is launching its second interactive iPad app, Sound Uncovered, a follow-up to its successful Color Uncovered iPad book. As its name implies, Sound Uncovered lets you explore the wonderful world of sound. There are articles that'll explain how a blind person can ride a bike and why gum chewing drives some people crazy. There are also interactive exhibits that'll have you questioning what you hear and why you hear it. These interactive elements are reminiscent of the cool science exhibits you would see at a physical museum. Sound Uncovered is not only fun; it's also informative. The app doesn't water down the science and introduces the concepts of interference and illusions like Shepherd tones and the McGurk effect. While elementary school kids will enjoy playing with the science experiments, the science explanations are definitely geared towards upper-middle school and above. The science, though, shouldn't deter you from downloading Sound Uncovered. Even if you are not a science-minded person, the experiments are practical and fun. Starting today, Sound Uncovered is available for free from the iOS App Store.
Alberta's Show Me Apple Museum a nice collection of Apple history
Apple may not be planning on opening a museum in its new Cupertino headquarters, but that doesn't mean you can't find a local museum to learn more about Apple's illustrious history. One such collection is the Show Me Apple museum located in Alberta, Canada. It was founded by Todd Boschee and is one of the largest personal collections of Apple gear in the North American continent. According to the museum's website, the collection started with a few old Apple computers that were purchased from friends. As the Boschees learned more about vintage Apple products, they got bit by the collecting bug. Their museum now houses a variety of Apple computers like the Apple Lisa 2, unusual devices like the QuickTake camera and a handful of signed memorabilia. You can read more about the collection and browse through a photo gallery on the museum's website. If Canada is too far north for your travels, there's also a museum collection of Apple devices making an appearance in Roswell, Georgia in April.
Explore one of the great art galleries with Uffizi Touch
The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy is one of the great art treasure houses of the world. Construction began in 1560, and now it is home to thousands of paintings and statues from Renaissance artists like da Vinci, Caravaggio and Rembrandt. The entire collection ranges from the 1100s to the last century. If you visit the gallery, expect long lines and waits up to five hours. Or, tour the collection on your iOS device with this universal app called Uffizi Touch, which sells for US$4.99. Uffizi Touch, which looks great in the iPad's large screen, lets you search by artist, period, room or theme. You can zoom in to see the detail of the paintings and, with a WiFi or 3G connection, get access to 100 megapixel images, the largest version available for these works of art. If you look at a particular image for a moment, all the navigation buttons slowly fade away so as not to interfere with your viewing. %Gallery-174634% Another unique feature is the "Visual Tour." When you select a painting, you can find others that are related. It might be a work of art with similar jewelry, or an iconic subject. The only downside is a watermark that becomes visible as you zoom in. It's there to prevent to protect the artwork's copyright, and is a requirement of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The implementation is a bit distracting, because the logos fade and re-appear, and sometimes change sizes. I understand the need to protect these images, but I would have liked to see something less intrusive. Don't let that small criticism dissuade you from the app. The art is beautifully and tastefully presented, with information about each item. Holding the Uffizi collection in your hand is quite a treat, and someone can spend hours exploring and appreciating the art that is displayed. The app is a 446 megabyte download, and requires iOS 4.3 or later. It is optimized for the iPhone 5. I've included some screen shots but these compressed images don't do the native images justice.
Phil Schiller: no Apple visitor center or gallery at new campus
Apple's new Cupertino campus won't be finished until at least 2016, and if Phil Schiller has his way, the new headquarters will not include a museum or gallery celebrating the early history of the company. Atlanta-based author and "computer historian" David Greelish wrote a blog post and started an online petition asking Apple to include a visitor's center at the new building featuring a small gallery telling the history of the company. Schiller's response to Greelish was short and to the point: "We are focused on inventing the future, not celebrating the past. Others are better at collecting, curating and displaying historical Items. It is not who we are or who we want to be." Greelish's petition has been met with little enthusiasm; MarketWatch notes that the petition recently had only 39 signatures and a guest editorial by Greelish on Cult of Mac has been met with mostly negative comments. But Therese Poletti of MarketWatch thinks that the idea is a good one, since the building will be "an architectural attraction for both the Apple faithful and sightseers." As she notes, "something to accommodate visiting tourists would be a gesture of goodwill for the company's fans and its neighbors in Cupertino." What do you think? Should Apple consider making a place on the new campus for Apple fans to visit? Or do you agree that another place, such as Stanford University or the Computer History Museum, should continue to archive the history of the company instead? Take our poll or leave comments below. %Poll-79311%
EVE Online coming to NYC's Museum of Modern Art
New York City's Museum of Modern Art is prepping a new video game exhibit for next year and has selected EVE Online to be one of the first 14 titles included. The sci-fi MMO will join the company of titles like Tetris, Portal, and The Sims starting in March 2013. While attendees will be able to play some of the titles in the gallery, Senior Curator Paola Antonelli said that the staff had to get creative with titles like EVE Online: "To convey their experience, we will work with players and designers to create guided tours of these alternate worlds so the visitor can begin to appreciate the extent and possibilities of the complex gameplay." Antonelli said that all of the selections were chosen "as outstanding examples of interaction design." The museum hopes to expand the exhibit to 40 titles in the near future.
Here's how many people saw The Smithsonian's Art of Games
The Art of Video Games exhibit just concluded its run at The Smithsonian and the final number of visitors is in: 686,406. The exhibit ran for six months, from March 16 - September 30, so that's well over 100,000 people per month critiquing the art from such games as BioShock, Diablo 2, Donkey Kong, Fallout 3, Goldeneye 007, Doom 2, Minecraft, Jet Set Radio Future, Shadow of Colossus, Star Fox: Assault, Zaxxon and tons more, all chosen by fans via some smooth Smithsonian voting.For reference, 686,406 people is slightly more than the entire country of Montenegro, more than six Grenadas, or 617,765 dollar-store items in Grenada (10 percent sales tax).
Space Shuttle Endeavour hitching a ride atop a 747 to its new home on September 17
Space Shuttles Discovery and Enterprise have already settled into their new homes, and now Endeavour is scheduled to depart for its future abode at the California Science Center on September 17th. Taking to the skies atop a modified Boeing 747, the shuttle will make pit stops in Texas and at Edwards Air Force Base in the Golden State before touching down at Los Angeles International Airport on the 20th. During the journey out west, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft will buzz certain cities and NASA sites along its flight path at roughly 1,500 feet in altitude. After its voyage, Endeavor will head to the science center on October 13th, but won't be on display until the end of the month. Yearning to catch a glimpse of the historic vehicle before it reaches its final resting place? Head past the jump for its flight schedule and flyover details.
Campaign to build Nikola Tesla museum hits $500k in less than 48 hours, hopes to raise $850k
Nikola Tesla may not have gotten all the credit he was due in his lifetime, but his stature has grown considerably since, and many of the inventions he dreamed up are now finding new life in today's technology. Now, a new effort is underway to truly cement his place in history -- even moreso than having David Bowie play him in a movie. Two days ago, Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal comic strip launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund a Tesla museum at the site of Nikola Tesla's laboratory in Shoreham, New York, and it's now already raised over $500,000. That money will go directly to the non-profit Tesla Science Center, which has been attempting to buy the property for $1.6 million, half of which will be covered by a matching grant from the state of New York (meaning the goal for the campaign is $850,000, although anything raised above that will go toward the actual building of the museum). As Inman notes, however, even raising "just" $850k will ensure that the property isn't sold to someone else and demolished, as others have been looking to do. Those interested in contributing can find all the details at the links below.
Second Story uses Kinect for augmented shopping, tells us how much that doggie is in the window (video)
Second Story isn't content to leave window shoppers guessing at whether or not they can afford that dress or buy it in mauve. A new project at the creative studio uses the combination of a Kinect for Windows sensor with a Planar LookThru transparent LCD enclosure to provide an augmented reality overlay for whatever passers-by see inside the box. The Microsoft peripheral's face detection keeps the perspective accurate and (hopefully) entrances would-be customers. Coming from an outlet that specializes in bringing this sort of work to corporate clients, the potential for retail use is more than a little obvious, but not exclusive: the creators imagine it also applying to art galleries, museums and anywhere else that some context would come in handy. If it becomes a practical reality, we're looking forward to Second Story's project dissuading us from the occasional impulse luxury purchase.
Visualized: a look inside iRobot's gadget-filled 'cool stuff room' (video)
We've all seen a Roomba at one point or another, be it picking up debris around our feet in a friend's living room or chauffeuring a courageous kitty for an entertaining clip on YouTube. Likely far less familiar, however, is iRobot's gadget-filled Massachusetts headquarters, including the museum-like "cool stuff room" in the lobby. There you'll find a large variety of autonomous devices, ranging from an early Roomba prototype that subs in a removable cloth for the vacuum to the relatively creepy My Real Baby -- an $89 doll that cries for food and offers realistic reactions to tickling. There's also plenty of industrial and military gear on hand, including a long cylindrical bot used for repairing oil rigs as they continue to operate, a full-size self-driving vehicle and a wall-climbing robot that uses suction cup wheels to ascend vertically. Some of the exhibits are downright creepy, such as a crab-like prototype which an iRobot employee referenced as being "inspired by nature," though the company's familiar household gadgets help to balance out the eerie. Sadly, the collection doesn't appear to be open to the public, though IEEE was granted a tour, which it graciously filmed for your enjoyment -- you'll find that video walkthrough just past the break.
Space Shuttle Enterprise ready to go on display, space travel gets its fitting tribute
The Enterprise has been on what we'd call a very leisurely trip around the East coast, but it's finally time for the original Space Shuttle to settle down. As of Thursday, the only way to glimpse the prototype spacecraft will be under an inflatable roof at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. It's a quiet yet noble end for the vehicle, which didn't go on formal missions but set the ground-- sorry, spacework for the Shuttles that came later. If you're interested in seeing more animated forms of the Enterprise's legacy, you can either sit down to watch its namesake TV franchise or follow the private expeditions that owe it a debt of gratitude.
Google opens Web Lab at London's Science Museum, because 'the internet is incredible'
Still unable to resist its techno-philanthropic urges, Google has just unveiled the Web Lab at the Science Museum in London. Paid for entirely with Google juice and constructed in a basement area that was previously used for storage, the exhibition consists of five experiments that help us to "discover the power of the internet while we're on the internet." That might sound cheesy, but we've had a good play with each installation and they're actually very well thought out and accessible -- although, if you're already a hyper-connected nutcase then you might find it more appropriate for friends and family. We won't give too much away in case it spoils your fun, but you can get a flavor from the attached promo video we saw back at Google I/O, plus our gallery and the PR after the break. In any case, it's safe to say that each experiment involves creating and sharing media in a way you've never tried before. What's more, everything you do is stored in a little personal account in the cloud that you can access using the unique "lab tag" shown in the photo above. (Incidentally, all those symbols floating around in the background represent other individuals who are also currently participating in the project -- which ought to give you some idea of the overall premise.) The exhibition opens to the public tomorrow, is free to enter and follows the same opening hours as the main museum -- although the lab's online dimension will remain active for a distinctly un-British 24-7-365.%Gallery-160661%
Google Maps adds floor plans and walking directions for 20 US museums
Getting lost can be half the fun of any leisurely museum excursion, but if you'd prefer to navigate your indoor outing with a level of precision typically reserved for trips across town, you'll want to bring Google Maps along on your next journey to the Smithsonian. Mountain View just added 20 US museums to its battery of 10,000 indoor schematics, including the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cincinnati Museum Center, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, 17 Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo in DC. You can find the plans for any venue by searching or hitting the current location button once you're on site, and Google plans to continue growing its collection, with SFMOMA, The Phillips Collection, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans set to join soon. Meanwhile, institutions interested in joining forces with Google can use the company's Floor Plans tool to get the process started. Full details are at the source link below.
Miyamoto sees potential for museum guides to be a 'core business' for Nintendo
Nintendo's Audioguide Louvre, 3DS software designed to assist self-guided tours of the Louvre museum, may seem like a weird, random lark, but Shigeru Miyamoto is much more serious about the software than we thought."One big thing I recently handled is the Audioguide Louvre - Nintendo 3DS, referred to earlier in this meeting," Miyamoto told investors during a recent Q&A. "This has not made money yet, but it has the potential to be one of our core businesses in the future."Later, in a nod to the announcement, reaction to, and eventual retraction of the announcement of Miyamoto's eventual retirement, Miyamoto admonished the assembled shareholders. " I should be careful about telling you about these things and I would like to add that we are not announcing any concrete business plans here. I would also be glad if you carefully tell someone else about my remarks."
Visualized: Enterprise cruises around Jersey on its air, land and sea triathlon
On our last episode of "Spot the Enterprise," the grizzled shuttle prototype was being unloaded from a wheeled transporter after a private 747 flight. Now it's arrived on a barge at New Jersey, and onlookers on cruise ships, beaches and Coney Island were treated to a glimpse of the wayfaring craft. After a quick layover, it'll begin the final stage of its comeback tour by sailing up the Hudson River where it'll thrill crowds forever more at Manhattan's Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Big show-off.
Visualized: Space Shuttle Enterprise disembarks the 747 en-route to its watery retirement home
Two weeks after arriving into JFK on the back of a Boeing 747, the Enterprise has been hoisted from the back of the jet and onto a wheeled transporter. From there, the prototype spacecraft will be taken down the Hudson river on a barge, where it'll end up exhibited on the flight desk of the USS Intrepid (CV-11). The museum will open on July 19th, while the plane that carried it has one more historic flight to carry out -- taking the Endeavour to the California Science Center before both are retired. [Image Credit: Dennis Jenkins / Collectspace.com]
Miyamoto's DS patent offers upgraded tourist hunting techniques
The DS Lite could see society's next great advancement in GPS technology, at least in tourist-heavy areas such as museums and haunted-home expeditions, a patent from Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto suggests.The patent describes a system where an overhead grid of infrared "positional information transmitters" reads a user's DS to light up floor patterns and potential walkways. The user can then pick which route he'd like to take, reading tourist facts along the way.Nintendo has already infiltrated the museum scene with the 3DS giving guided tours in the Louvre, and it's doing a pretty great job, from what we hear. There's no guarantee that a patent will translate to an actual product, but the thousands of infrared beams hovering over the Mona Lisa fulfills a few of our own spy fantasies, so we'll hope this one works out in some way.
