[Philip Lelyveld comment: this start-up is a complement to my 'hyper-personalized offer' project. It is also an opportunity for the entertainment industry to either negotiate new revenue streams or repeat the mistakes of the past.]
Many businesses begin with a simple, and then nagging, frustration. For Christian Yang and Neil Joglekar, it began with Entourage. Well, afterEntourage. In college, as big fans of the show, they found themselves continually searching for clips of their favorite one-liners or the best scenes so that they could share them with friends. Naturally, after numerous fruitless searches, they quickly grew frustrated by the inability to find and share their favorite clips.
So, in 2008, Yang and Joglekar founded ReelSurfer out of their Stanford dorm room, developing technology to allow people to sift through the mountains of video content on the Web to find that elusive 30-second clip. Today, ReelSurfer is officially launching in public beta and, in turn, the startup is announcing that it has joined the summer batch of Y Combinator startups.
This is my favorite exhibit at LA Siggraph 2012. It is a series of tiny light loops synchronized to simulate the essence of a galloping horse. Watch the 30 sec. video shot at an earlier Siggraph here: http://tinyurl.com/9eyd4au
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL, aka the Curiosity) has two mast cameras, as seen here. ... The cameras can also capture 720p video, full 360° panoramas, and even use both lenses to capture 3D images.
Will Powell, a 2010 graduate of the University of Oxford, has spent his spare time coupling Vuzix video eyewear with a few Raspberry Pis and an iPhone and iPad to allow for one person speaking one language to talk to someone speaking a different language with tolerable delays between translations. provided by Microsoft’s Bing.
The demonstration of his glasses from his website is pretty impressive...
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this is an incredibly powerful application of 3D printing to improve a life. Watch the video.]
The word exoskeleton conjures up images of sci-fi warriors wrapped in monstrous mechanical outfits that give them great strength and deadly force. But the exoskeleton here is a lightweight structure accessorized with some tiny pink handprints.
Two-year-old Emma was born with a condition called arthrogryposis, which affects the joints and muscles. In Emma’s case, it means, among other things, that she is unable to lift her arms up under her own steam. ...
The 133rd AES Convention, scheduled for Oct. 26-29 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, will introduce a new track dedicated to “Sound For Pictures.” The conference track will focus on the key technical and creative issues related to digital audio production for feature films and TV. The track is co-chaired by leading sound mixer/producer Brian McCarty (The Big Lebowski, Dick Tracy, As Good As It Gets) and by Steve Martz, senior design engineer, THX.
Nashville's Rabbit Hole Creative created a dynamic, illusory stage show for Mutemath, projection-mapping carefully created animations on a cleverly warped screen behind the stage that gave the impression of 3D imagery — no glasses required. The technique isn't new (it was used to great effect for Amon Tobin's current tour), but Rabbit Hole had to create a quality presentationfast. Cinema 4D maker Maxon and writer took us behind the scenes on the project to learn how it was assembled so efficiently.
How much does your résumé stand out from the others in the pile? Probably not as much as this one.
Mohit Lakhmani — art director, paper sculptor, and 3D graphics artist — is the creator of the best infographic résumé I have yet to see. Bonus: it’s 3D!
A team of computer scientists at Harvard University have developed a piece of software that allows anyone to 3D print their own action figures at home. Not only will the models carry the likeness of the character, they will also be fully articulated.
The software can take an animated 3D character and figure out where best to place its joints.
When Wal-Mart wanted to know whether to stock lollipop-shaped cake makers in its stores, it studied Twitter chatter. Estée Lauder’s MAC Cosmetics brand asked social media users to vote on which discontinued shades to bring back. The stuffed-animal brand Squishable solicited Facebook feedback before settling on the final version of a new toy. And Samuel Adams asked users to vote on yeast, hops, color and other qualities to create a crowdsourced beer, an American red ale called B’Austin Ale that got rave reviews.
“It tells us exactly what customers are interested in,” said Elizabeth Francis, chief marketing officer of the Gilt Groupe. Gilt asks customers to vote on which products to include in a sale, and sets up Facebook chats between engineers and customers to help refine products. “It’s amazing that we can get that kind of real feedback, as opposed to speculating,” Ms. Francis said.
Nashville's Rabbit Hole Creative created a dynamic, illusory stage show for Mutemath, projection-mapping carefully created animations on a cleverly warped screen behind the stage that gave the impression of 3D imagery — no glasses required. The technique isn't new (it was used to great effect for Amon Tobin's current tour), but Rabbit Hole had to create a quality presentationfast. Cinema 4D maker Maxon and writer took us behind the scenes on the project to learn how it was assembled so efficiently.
How much does your résumé stand out from the others in the pile? Probably not as much as this one.