Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Metaplace: open DIY virtual worlds for everyone

via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow on 9/19/07

Metaplace -- a virtual world creation system that lets anyone make their own multiplayer games, link them and share them -- has just launched, at the Techcrunch 40 event. Metaplace was created by Raph Koster, the architect of Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online -- and the author of the incredible Theory of Fun. Metaplace is a world-creator that runs right in your browser, and that makes it incredibly simple to share objects, characters and entire worlds. I joined the advisory board as soon as Raph told me what he was working on and why -- this is one of the coolest ideas for gamespace that I've ever heard of.

Our goals are sort of idealistic. We think there are all kinds of things on the Internet that would be improved if anyone could have a virtual place of their own. Right now, there aren't enough good games, for example, and they all seem to be about elves in tights or soldiers in battle armor. Metaplace allows more diversity. Right now, there are lots of people who want to use virtual worlds for research, or education, or business, but it's just too darn hard to get one going. Now you can create a world in just a few minutes and start tailoring it to your needs. Basically, we wanted to democratize the process of making online spaces of all sorts...
We speak Web fluently. Every world is a web server, and every object has a URL. You can script an object so that it feeds RSS, XML, or HTML to a browser. This lets you do things like high score tables, objects that email you, player profile pages right on the player -- whatever you want. Every object can also browse the Web: a chat bot can chatter headlines from an RSS feed, a newspaper with real headlines can sit on your virtual desk, game data could come from real world data... you get the idea. No more walled garden.

Link

DigiTimes: Google will definitely launch its own branded handset

from Engadget by Thomas Ricker

Citing sources at "Taiwan handset makers," DigiTimes is reporting that "Google will definitely launch its own branded handset." However, the Googlephone's OS, hardware specs, production contractor and operating partners have still not been finalized. Given that we're already pretty sure that Google has developed their own mobile OS based on Linux, we'll assume that their use of "finalized" refers to the final feature set and UI polishing -- not the possibility of the gPhone running Symbian or WinMo, for example. DigiTimes' sources also note that Google is contemplating going with a 3G handset instead of EDGE for its initial foray into the cellphone market. However, the choice for Qualcomm's 3G versus TI's EDGE could push the introduction of the HTC manufactured handset into the first half of 2008. Come on Google, it's post-Labor Day now so just go ahead and announce your plans already. We're big boys, we can take it.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Imogen Heap - Just For Now

from Fresh Pics by Fresh Pics

Augustine: technology amplifying human creativity, simply incredible.

Popout

Imogen Heap singing acapella "Just For Now" (from her album "Speak For Yourself") at the Studio 11 for Indie 103.1FM on september 2006. Amazing performance. Thanks to Derek and Daniele for the video.

Projectors: Toshiba TDP-PX10U Surprisingly Bright for a Such a Puny Projector

from Gizmodo by Charlie White

Toshiba's building upon its mini-projector chops it revealed last fall, and while this little DLP shiner's slightly bigger than last year's palm-sized projector, it packs a more powerful punch. The 2.9-pound TDP-PX10U is still not all that big—a mere 8.3 inches wide and 6.5 inches deep—but it tosses its 1024x768 image on the wall with an unusually bright 2200 ANSI lumens and a 2000:1 contrast ratio. Check out the gallery to get a feel for its size, shape and port configuration. Too bad there's no HDMI out back. Oh well, what do you expect for $999? [Toshiba, via Gadgetress]

Slick: Vaio Zoom Concept is Exactly How We Want Laptops to Look in the Future

from Gizmodo by adam frucci

This Vaio Zoom laptop concept is one of the coolest we've seen. Featuring a holographic glass screen that goes transparent and a keyboard that turns opaque when turned off, it's slick and beautiful. And sure, a touch keyboard like this would be extremely annoying without haptic feedback and screens like that don't really exist yet, but it's an interesting look at what we'll be playing with a few years down the line. Despite the fact that this isn't an official Sony concept, we still think they should work at making it a reality. Check another image after the jump.