blogs

Taken from Futurelab Flux

Matt Biddulph has worked his magic by hacking the Arduino (Arduino is an open-source physical computing platformi based on a simple i/o board) and binding it to the new Second Life Open Source code release

Paint.Net (FOSS, but Windows only) image manipulation, Photoshop replacement, easier to use than GIMP.  You need to have .Net installed (free download from microsoft).  Installing .Net 3.0 seems problematic on Windows XP, but .Net 2.0 fine for running Paint.Net.  http://www.getpaint.net/

PowerBullet (free, not FOSS) presentation creation tool which outputs as .swf flash files, suitable for web usage. http://powerbullet.com

Clipyard (free, not FOSS) tool for combining various elements in to a single swf. http://www.goldshell.com/clipyard/

The BBC have summarised some of the key findings of a recent Ofcom report on the use of communication technologies in the UK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6959864.stm

Ofcom's own summary is here.

Perhaps one of the more revealing points is the continued move towards mobile phones being the most engaged with platformi, however it's always useful to remember that engagement takes place at many levels:

'The alarm is the mobile handset feature which has the highest substitutional impact on stand-alone devices, followed by the camera.

The Climate Camp at Heathrow was a surprisingly good example of citizen journalism, as well as media savvyness and "off-grid" networking.
As well as the largest number of press cameras I have ever seen (kept outside the entrance except by invitation from the camp volunteer media team) there were a lot of Sony V1s, Sony Z1s and Sony PD170s, the V1 and Z1 being fairly new HDVi camcorders; the V1 being new this year. At under £3000 these camcorders are more than suitable for TV: in fact being HDV they surpass current British broadcasting resolution, and everything else about the camera makes it suitable for broadcast, including professional audio inputs/processing.

Fizzees makes the news
Fizzees, is a new prototype 'digitali pet' developed by Futurelab which promotes physically healthy behaviour in young people.  It has been getting media attention after being showcased at SIGGRAPH 2007 in San Diego and covered on the BBC.

Its a very interesting project in relation to our own ideas about our forthcoming Portable Pixeli Playground and the commissioning of new work that children and young people can get physical with.

http://www.northernedgecpe.org.uk/

A consortium of 15 northern universities, who will work closely with the creative and cultural industries to harness expertise in teaching, learning and research in areas such as journalism, visual arts and music.

The initiative is funded by Northern Way – a collaboration between the three northern Regional Development Agencies – and will provide a focal point for the development of professional training, research and knowledge transfer in the creative and cultural industries.

Rolodex teens are a generation of teenagers making a bigger and faster impact on today's society than many of their predecessors and all at the click of a MySpace button. LifeSigns (a web based portali for the Future Laboratory) has been tracking the group throughout 2007, if you haven't already marked them as 'super consumers', stand up and take note.

Here is the low-down, everything you need to know and why they're so important -  the digital generation

http://pallit.lhi.is/on_everything/

on Everything by Icelandic media artist Pall Thayer and reviewed on futherfield review
by Sabine Gottfried.

On Everything generates a real-timei audio/visual presentation of everything by appropriating shared web images and diaries. The source material is endless, the work goes on forever. Material is synthesized, mixed and, ultimately abstracted, to allow for varied interpretation. It knows nothing of the content of these materials. It reflects everything while reflecting on nothing.