The Open Dispatch » Inspiration

Crazy

shlampe — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:19:44 +0000

This is absolutely crazy. Granted the demo is just 2 simple commands but transferring those commands without touching a computer or speaking to a computer is pretty amazing.

That said, this is still pretty basic, it’s not reading the brain, it’s reading brain signatures and using brain waves to create a basis for what your brain does. But, the number of applications for this type of technology if it proves out to be as functional as it seems are limitless. Think of the ability to get rid of keyboards, joysticks, etc… anyway, here’s part 3 of the demo, the whole thing’s pretty interesting but the meat of it is in this link: http://fora.tv/2008/12/12/Tan_Le_Brings_the_Force_to_Life_with_Mind_Control_Device#chapter_03

On a side note, fora.tv seems to be a pretty nifty little site.

And on a further side note, I’ll have updates on the recording process soon!

Twitter and the ideas behind it.

shlampe — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:43:02 +0000

Twitter is hugely popular in some circles. Just about every early adopter I know is using it and there are quite a few others that are jumping on the band wagon. It’s one of those applications that’s so simple you think, “why couldn’t I have thought of that” at the same time you’re thinking, “it’s so simple, what use is it going to be”. Then again, who’d have thought that people would have cellular phones and use them for texting rather than talking…

Anyway, this is a pretty interesting read. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/02/twitter-creator.html

Great article on design/creativity and how to spark it.

shlampe — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:10:59 +0000

This article/blog has a lot of great points. It works for a lot of different creative environments as well. And I appreciate that there is no reference to “thinking outside the box”. It seems that that term has become so cliched that it’s the antithesis to what it’s actually referring to (I believe that’s also the definition of irony).

Living Social

shlampe — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:20:08 +0000

As facebook et al are becoming more and more popular we’d been thinking about developing an app that would allow people to generate reviews of beers, music restaurants, whatever. Well… someone beat us to the punch (yeah this was the original plan for melonchoice…) oh well, moving on to other things, but take a look at http://livingsocial.com/ It seems to be a pretty cool tool. I’ll be looking at it a bit more and see how it goes.

yeah yeah yeah, it’s been a while…

shlampe — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:01:04 +0000

So here’s what’s been going on. Working like an idiot but getting good things done. In the last 2 weeks, we’ve launched, http://www.savannahtech.edu and http://www.ccls.org both sites we’re really happy with, have a look through.

On another note, SWG has a new bass player and we’re working on new music so hopefully we’ll be playing out shortly.

And another other note, the Choral Arts Society is singing this weekend and I’ll be singing with them (provided my clothes have arrived by then, have to call the Tux shop and make sure they’re there…) It’s a pretty cool program so check it out if you’re free saturday night or sunday afternoon.

And finally, something for the creative in you, Nike’s new ad campaign is pretty sweet. http://www.youtube.com/nikefootball

Very cool site

shlampe — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:11:45 +0000

Check out this site. Talk about looking at a market, figuring out what the demographic is and NAILING it. This is one of the coolest uses of the web as a simple marketing tool I’ve seen recently. Just a very attractive site that really shows what the brand is without a whole lot of copy trying to TELL you what the brand is. Very, very well done. (A side note, it’s also fairly important that they show rather than tell because the copy is pretty rough, i.e. good English translator might help out… that was the one bummer.)

A little light reading…

shlampe — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:23:16 +0000

This is a cool little write up on the people that I got so amped up about at AdobeMAX in october. Interesting read at least.

http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/bigspaceship/?sr=hotnews

And while you’re at it, read up on your monkeysphere:
http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

The Computer as a Learning Tool

shlampe — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:46:14 +0000

When I was a kid, I didn’t have an atari, or a comodore 64 or any of those things. I had an Apple II+ (or was that an E?). Anyway, there weren’t a whole lot of games for the thing, I had a favorite named Sneakers, which was essentially space invaders with giant sneakers with feet (yeah, a little odd now that I think about it) instead of space ships.

The first programming I ever did was on that thing as well, i wrote a little GI Joe game, that was basically a choose your own adventure. I learned however, that it’s not that fun to play games that you wrote, because you always know the ending…

I also had a typing game where you were given a word to type and if you typed it fast enough, you’d kill the spaceship coming at you. If you didn’t, the space ship would kill you. I actually had a really good time with it and appreciate the skills that I learned with it even today. So I’m sure you sitting there asking yourself, “what the hell is Josh going on about now”. I’ll get there, keep yer skivvies on…

I know that there have been a number of games out there for people to learn piano via the computer in a similar way as the typing game. And then there’s the popularity of Guitar Hero (which is a hell of a lot of fun). So then I see this: http://www.guitarrising.com I’m REALLY excited about guitar rising. Not only does it make things a little more interesting (and useful) for the people that play guitar hero and the like, but it also I think will be VERY interesting for people that know how to play guitar. Having something like that could really “improve the chops” as they say.

A very interesting way to learn your history

shlampe — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:32:24 +0000

This is a great use of the internot. A chronological history through letters of a soldier during WW1. This is one of those things that reminds me how much interesting and collaborative the web can be. Not only is the story compelling, but the comments that the blog has received show how passionate and interested people can be.

http://wwar1.blogspot.com/