Transmedia

Transmedia is the latest and perhaps one of the greatest advances in storytelling in a long time.

Narrowly defined it is an approach to storytelling in which the story is laid out across multiple platforms of communication. Instead of just reading a book-- the idea is that now you’re reading a book, as well as communicating with other people also reading the book, in many different ways. Instead of just the book you could all be also playing a video game together, set in the books reality with the books characters and you’re able to interact with them. Instead of the video game perhaps you’re now on a social networking website looking at the profiles of different book characters, or even a Google-maps based website set in this reality to get an idea of what this place looks like. There are tons of different ways that this transmedia idea can work; incorporating ad campaigns, mobile applications, video games, and networking sites are just the beginning. The whole idea behind the transmedia concept is to submerse the readers as wholly as possible to get them interested in worlds that can only be done through the use of different media outlets. Some people might only want the book, or others might only want the video game, or other people something else; with this concept it is up to the user to choose his or her level of interaction with this story.

Trolling a "patent troll" with ... trolls

Trolling a "patent troll" with ... trolls


Trolls trolling trolls trolling trolls, I LOVE IT.

For just 9$ you can send a troll doll to a company that trolls patents with future ideas hoping that actual technology companies come up with something similar so that they can sue them and make money; this is absolutely brilliant(both sending the troll to the trolls, and the form in which these trolls have been trolling.) i love it.

Do dyslexics need a specially designed font?

Do dyslexics need a specially designed font?

A graphic designer with dyslexia designs a font intended to help others with dyslexia read better. A masters student writes a thesis paper on it and there are some that believe that it works as intended, however of course it has it's skeptics. What are your thoughts? Even if it only helps a couple out of the many people with dyslexia I think it's a great start.

Shoebox app turns phones into photo scanners

Shoebox app turns phones into photo scanners

This is one of the neatest apps I've seen in a while; I don't believe going as far as tossing your photos out afterward is necessary, but the idea of being able to have all of your physical photos quickly and easily digitalized is a great concept.

Blackbeard's cannon salvaged from North Carolina shipwreck

Blackbeard's cannon salvaged from North Carolina shipwreck

Man I love pirates; every time I hear about stuff like in the news I'm forced to watch the Goonies.

'Tsunami' trojan hijacks Macs

'Tsunami' trojan hijacks Macs

A trojan is rewritten from a Linux-attacking trojan to a Mac-attacking trojan that hijacks a users computer to DDoS a target declared over IRC. On top of the DDoS effect it can also allow the users computer to be controlled in order for the person behind the trojan to siphon personal information from the infected user.


First Steve Jobs dies, and now malware? What are all the fanboys going to latch on to now that they can't claim their precious Macs aren't virusproof?

How to spot psychopaths: Speech patterns give them away

How to spot psychopaths: Speech patterns give them away

They talk about how psychopaths use uhs and ums as a way to make themselves look "more sane" and tend to talk more in the past tense than nonpsychopathic murderers do. Then they talk about using computer programs to analyze the data, and possibly start scanning social media websites; I think we all know where this is going.

If I disappear for a while, don't worry guys I'm being interrogated by the government.



No... but seriously, it seems to me like this has a chance to hit with a lot of false positives. For one, most people talk differently in person than on the computer/over the internet(less uhs and ums; usually, and some people adopt a whole new character for internet communication). For two, what are they planning on doing with these results?

Police: Freezer body may be woman missing since '83

Police: Freezer body may be woman missing since '83


How does this man keep a body in a freezer this long and nobody cares to check? It seems to me like "last person to see them alive" seems like a "good place to start the investigation" in my opinion. I wonder what the look on the families face was when they opened that freezer, or if any of them had any idea what the man was really like.

Anyway, I'll probably follow up on this in a few days or if/when they release more information on the ID of the person etc.

Historical sci-fi movie began as Internet comment

Historical sci-fi movie began as Internet comment

I love that the internet has come so far as to create niches for movies.

James Erwin, an author and former Jeopardy winner went from responding to an intriguing question to formulating a movie-verse around said question, and now a possible financier to back it. Madhouse Entertainment(known for TV series like Burn Notice and The Event, but also for films such as Country Strong) has now shown interest in helping Erwin develop this concept into something marketable.


After the not-so-success of "Shit my dad says" it'll be interesting to see how this turns out, but at the moment it really feels like I should start a sweet blog in hopes of it getting picked up by some production company or other.

Researchers power line-voltage light bulb with nanotube wire

Researchers power line-voltage light bulb with nanotube wire


Nanocables and nanotubes sound something right out of a science fiction novel. But it's starting to become a reality, these nanocables are about 1/6th of the weight of the normal energy conductive metal wiring that we use today, which may make you think "who cares? those little wires don't really weigh anything anyway" but guess what, airplanes care. Airplanes and vehicles care; even something that hardly weights anything, when in a high enough quantity can get pretty heavy and the lighter an airplane or other vehicle is the better it can do it's job. In the future this may be where we're heading, lighter and more efficient transportation.

The weight-loss is achieved by using the nanotubes instead of the traditional copper or other metals used in todays wiring, which can weight quite a bit with enough of it.

Jim Karol

Jim Karol “Psychic Madman” Performing at Canton

Part psychic, Part magician, Completely Entertaining

Annually he does a show at West Point for the troops, he’s been on television in the series “Phenomenon” where Criss Angel and Uri Geller searched for the “next great mentalist,” and he was in a skit in the movie Jackass Number Two where he threw cards at Wee-Mans behind while the other cast members zapped him with an electric chair.

Now he’s known for traveling the country and combining his unique style of magic and psychic abilities to put on a one of a kind entertainment act at colleges and universities.

SUNY Canton proudly presents Jim Karol’s “Psychic Madman” show on Wednesday, October 12^th in the Kingston theatre at 8pm running until approximately 10pm. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to come down and enjoy a unique and mystifying experience close to home.

coverage by:

Shawn Burnett

Steve Jobs follow up

So now; a few days after the fact comes a post with a bit more than just a link with some additive.

From tinkering with computers in his garage with co-founder of Apple Steve “Woz” Wozniak, Jobs made a name for himself as a genius, a visionary, and an icon. From the Apple series of PC’s to the Mac’s to everyone’s favorite “iGadgets” (iPhone, Pad, Pod); jobs has won the world over with his inventiveness and eye for sleek design. For a long time now, Jobs has been nearly synonymous with the whole Apple brand. His face, his voice, his glasses, his goofy shirts, and those blue jeans; they’re all Steve Jobs. They’re also all Apple. Even the logo, originally designed by another co-founder of Apple, Ronald Wayne, we see through Steve Jobs. Now, without Steve Jobs as the Icon of Apple where will we go from here? Graphic design student Jonathan Mak Long gave a new life to Jobs in his redesign of the Apple Logo in tribute to his contributions but whether or not we’ll see the same Apple Inc. after the loss of Jobs, not only as the CEO but also as a mentor, has yet to be seen.

The world was taken aback by his death, others believe it’ll be a very long time before we see “the next” Steve Jobs, but not everyone has good things to say about Jobs. The Westboro Baptist Church plans on picketing his burial like we’ve seen them do in the past with soldiers that have died in the war. Everyone will have to deal with the loss in their own way, and like Apple Inc., time will only tell how things pan out with the loss of a visionary such as Jobs.

Apple says company co-founder Steve Jobs has died

Apple says company co-founder Steve Jobs has died

I'll write a bit more in a bit, but this is a sad day for hipsters everywhere.

Successful rainwater harvesting systems should combine new technology with old social habits

Successful rainwater harvesting systems should combine new technology with old social habits

Touching on my 'beat' in Civil Engineering Technology I've found some pretty awesome new technologies.

Successful rainwater harvesting systems should combine new technology with old social habits

Now this technology isn't that useful to places like our own here in upstate NY, but in some of our drier climate states and even outside of the the U.S. this could be a huge help to keep towns and villages alive. In dry areas the ground isn't as spongy and absorbent as it is in other places so when it rains they often have flash floods, which are extremely dangerous and damaging. This new technology will allow for the rain to be harvested, and then slowly used to "recharge" the ground moisture in specific areas.

This technology will need participation from whole communities, which can sometimes be hard to get everyone to come together in that way so they're coming up with ideas like offering tax breaks and an "aquifer recharge credit" for helping out.

Comparing news media

Comparing Print to Television to Online

I was following the coverage of the overhauling of Facebook to see what other people’s reactions have been. Now normally when I see something on TV I’ll stop there, unless I’m really interested then I might check it out online, same for in a newspaper. In doing this you almost always get a “little more” by going that extra distance. Whether it is information, or just a different take on the topic, you’re expanding what you already heard about this issue. After having researched the same story in all three places it feels almost like I’ve missed out on a lot of stuff in the past.

Each medium has its strengths and weaknesses when it comes to presenting information and in this article I hope to touch on some of them for each.

Print media has been around for so long you have to recognize it right away. It must be doing something right. Print medias biggest strength, to me, is that it’s usually (unless the article is an editorial) giving you straight up information. It’s giving you most of the prominent information to give you a good conversation point. Because some only come out daily, weekly, or even monthly however, some of the information can be dated. Newspapers are great for a lot of information on timely subjects within the range of it being newsworthy, and magazines are better for big editorials and other articles on world events and timeless information. In the case of my research, NY Times did a great summary of what Facebook was doing. No opinions, just facts about the different services they were trying to provide and information on exactly what Facebook was doing, thinking, and planning on doing.

Television news came in next, and also has been around for a while. One of the reasons it’s stuck around is because of how it’s grown. Television news isn’t always as forward, or as informative as the print media but it gives you views on the news as its happening. The news can be happening right this second and sometimes you turn on the television and you see it as its happening, this is a huge thing for some people. Television news is also very good at giving airtime to the people that the current article has affected in some way or another and allowing them to voice their opinions or frustrations on what’s going on. I think the timeliness is a big strength in Television based news, as well as the fact that you can often see others reactions. Where it lacks sometimes though is that straight up hard information, it’s sometimes giving you too much opinion or too much reaction and not enough information to really form your own opinion, or use the information in a conversation.

Online news media is newer on the scene, however it’s really boomed. Able to combine cold hard information, timeliness, and viewer opinion you get the best of all worlds. In the coverage of the Facebook overhaul there was just update, after update, after update that kept me up-to-date with all the information, how people were reacting, videos, sound bites, quotes, everything you could need to not only stay informed and form your own opinion but also know how others are responding. Within the last couple of days there has been article after article with everything from what’s happening, to how people are reacting, even to Q&As on how to make your “new Facebook” look like your “old Facebook.” I really felt like this had the strengths of both print and TV news without any of the weaknesses. The only real weakness I could see for online news is the fact that sometimes it can just be so overwhelming; you’re getting way too much information way too fast and it’s hard to process it all on your own.

Scientists find new way to 'disarm' AIDS virus

Scientists find new way to 'disarm' AIDS virus

I personally think this has been a long time coming. It's great to see that we're making headway into this nasty nasty virus.

Another good thing to read about AIDs in recent news is this article http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/online-gamers-crack-aids-enzyme-puzzle-161920724.html about how video gamers in cooperation with scientists and researchers have mapped a 3-Dimensional view of the virus, instead of the flat view provided under a microscope.

Finally, us gamers are doing good in the world!!

Netflix to split DVD and streaming services

The days of streaming movies and TV shows until your DVDs arrived are over for most of us.

Netflix to split DVD and streaming services

In the age of dinosaurs it was fun getting these DVDs in the mail and an awesome bonus to be able to stream a video over y our computer every now and then, but things evolved and the roles were reversed. Streaming was nearly the single most awesome thing in the world and getting a DVD every couple of days was just this neat little "thanks for watching our stuff" letter packaged in a red envelope.

Now, in what's been one crappy decision after another Netflix splits into two companies; one for streaming and one for the DVD rentals. Two bills, two websites, two companies. Of course the Qwikster company(DVD in the envelopes) will start offering video games to try to justify the price, and Netflix(streaming) say they are going to "substantially" increase their streaming library I'm still not sold. Every time I think of what's going on here I hear the intro song to Married with children in my head over and over.

'Contagion' billboard features live bacteria

Another crazy viral marketing campaign by a Hollywood movie.

This time they use actual live fungi and bacteria spread across a giant petri dish in the window of a Toronto store. At the beginning it just looked like a blank sign with "coming to theaters" on it, after a few days however the fungus and bacteria grew to spell out Contagion, the movie title.

'Contagion' billboard features live bacteria

Back to the Future, now

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/09/nike-unveils-marty-mcflys-back-to-the-future-sneakers/

I posted this on my facebook earlier before I had to get out and about for the day... but I'm home now and really want to add more to this.

I'm a huge fan of the movies, honestly though who wasn't, and always wondered why there wasn't shoes more like this style or even someone taking advantage and making replicas. Now not only are these finally reaching the public, but it's going for a good cause. Michael J Fox has said that not only are the proceeds going to his charity looking for a cure for Parkinsons, but he'll double what they make off them in donations.

Awesome shoes.

Awesome cause.

Awesome movies.

One thing that's kind of disappointing though is that there's only 1500 going on sale, I look forward to Nike hopefully coming out with more for the public eventually.

Astronaut in space during attacks shares unique footage of 9/11

I thought this article was awesome, coming up on the anniversary of 9/11 we get a whole new look on the aftermath of the attacks on the WTC in 2001. In the video we hear the astronaut's, Frank Culbertson, reaction to the attacks and his apologies to the people.

Reading on in the article you also read about how he also watched the invasion of Afghanistan from the viewpoint and has shared this with some veterans of the Afghanistan war that he has met.

18-year-old student discovers comet break-up

Once again, while looking for news-stuff this morning I came across something that opened my eyes to some other interesting things.

18-year-old student discovers comet break-up
Just a summary of the post, a student in her last year of high school was able to join with the Faulkes Telescope Project(I'll talk a bit more about this momentarily) during the summer and do some soul searching, or better yet star searching.

What this group does is ally itself with educational institutions, such as high schools, colleges, and universities and allows the students to be a part of astronomy. The students are allowed access to a lot of research and even able to spent time in the labs and use the equipment of this project. This student, 18 year-old Hannah Blyth of St. Johns College, Cardiff was part of this project. She worked with the project as a summer work-experience through her school and during just that summer witnessed some pretty amazing stuff. Not only did she spot the comet break-up but she was apart of discovering over 20 other unknown or previously undiscovered comets, 2 of which she discovered herself.

The post then goes into some of the other researchers discoveries and a bit about the project. It also makes a comment on how she see's herself becoming a biologist, instead of an astronomer in her future.


But back to the Faulkes Telescope Project. http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/ I read a little information on the website and thought it was an absolutely awesome idea put into practice. Students allowed to stand in beside established astronomers and help decipher images of space and deep-space sounds like the experience of a lifetime to me. I did a little preliminary reading but I plan on following this trail to see if we've got anything of this sort in America because if not, it's something that should be.

Awesome collection of neat sciencery

I'm kind of a geek, I like reading about new tech or even existing tech... even if it doesn't really effect me in any way.
While trying to get my source of news I came across this article: Humankind's most ambitious science projects

It's basically a compilation of super-awesome stuff like the Large Hadron Collider, the International Space Station, and a few other really neat information-gathering man made tools of science. I'm a firm believer in "the more we know, the better we'll be" theory of science and information, so I strongly believe that a lot of these tools are really revolutionary and could one day really be more than just a waste of taxpayers monies.