Sep
18
On this episode of Spark: Augmented reality, chiptune jazz, and a world without email
- Spark listeners confess the number of email messages in their inboxes
- Nora mentions Luis Suarez’s video from the Web 2.0 Expo: Thinking Outside the Inbox
- Luis Suarez explains how he got rid of corporate email and replaced it with social software tools
- Nora mentions Yammer, which is like Twitter for companies
- Marla Thirsk is still on dial-up, and wishes she had broadband
- Broadband Canada
- National Broadband Maps
- Spark Lite, the low-bandwidth podcast version of Spark
- Cathi Bond explains two trends in augmented reality: games and advertising
- Augmented reality enthusiast and science fiction author Bruce Sterling contemplates the future implications of AR
- The Hype Cycle
- Daniel Jones from the Radio Berkman podcast tells the story of NBC versus the pirates
- Andy Baio reimagines Kind of Blue as a chiptune cover album called Kind of Bloop, and pays for the project through crowdfunding with Kickstarter
- THWOMP revives classic video game music in their “Nintendo cover band,” and Alison Myers listens in
This episode features Creative Commons music and sound effects:
- “One Two Three O’Leary” by Count Basie & His Orchestra (1941)
- “Wadidyusay?” by Zap Mama
- “Computer” by State Shirt
- “Get a Groove,” “acclimate,” and “Ray Squared” by General Fuzz
- “amomentgiventothose_imiss” and “awakemyfriendandwelcomespring” by _i (not CC, used with permission)
- “Help Yourself (instrumental mix)” by Danny Echo (not CC, used with permission)
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[Original image by In Veritas Lux]
Bruce Sterling
September 19th, 2009 at 3:55 am
Hearing the story on Thwomp reminded me of a similar band in Ottawa that does Nintendo music only in metal style. It is best described as happy metal music because of the nostalgia aspect mostly. Pierre, one of the guitarists writes all the music by ear after hearing it played from the actual game. Pretty rad.
You can find them at http://www.myspace.com/megamankicksyourass
September 20th, 2009 at 4:37 am
There is also another form of older Augmented Reality that is finding new life in recent years that you didn't mention but I think people might be interested in that are known as ARGs or Augmented Reality Games. Unlike the augmented reality that gets much of the buzz today where you overlay the virtual world and its info onto the real world, it is the flip side of the coin where they overlay parts of the real world onto the virtual one.
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Probably the most famous one was Electronic Arts"Majestic", a game based around the Majestic 12 Conspiracy Theory ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_(video_game... ). The tag line for the game was "The game that plays you!" because when you would sign up you would give it your Phone Number, Fax, EMail, Instant Messenger and the game characters would contact you as though it was really happening. Further, the game would have you visit special websites made to look like genuine real world websites, but created for the purposes of the game.
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Today you are seeing these appear more often as parts of viral market campaigns and promotions for related content like TV Shows, Movies, and Computer Games.
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Probably the most famous of these right now was the ones done by NBC as a part of their online experience for the hit show "Heroes". For free players could sign up for the service and become a role, then get contacted through emails and texts, get clues, solve puzzles, and in effect become part of the Heroes universe in a small way and learn things about the shows story that people who didn't play couldn't.
Personally I am tied up in one for an upcoming MMORPG from FunCom Called "The Secret World". Ragnar Tornquist ( http://ragnartornquist.com ) , One of the heads behind the cult classic computer games "The Longest Journey" and "Dreamfall", had come up with an idea for an entirely new MMO(RPG). Instead of being based in a swords and sorcery setting or a futuristic sci-fi setting, it is based in the modern world. Not just that but hidden in this present day modern world is "the secret world" full of Lovecraftian horror, government conspiracies, and secret societies.
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To prepare for this forthcoming game, FunCom started a viral marketing campaign that took the part of an ARG. They released a puzzle from a fictional character claiming the game was being made by FunCom and that he had these weird documents he needed deciphered The puzzle lead to a series of websites, that then lead to a Flash website that was another puzzle. When you figured that one out you got access to the forums for the game, where another character, a main female figure from the game says you've been had, you helped out the bad guys and now she is paying the price. More puzzles went from there until the community through hard work together got through them all.
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Guild quickly began to form, fan websites and content sprouted up quickly, fan made content started to be produced. Articles and blogs were raving about this upcoming game.
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The catch… it was still just in its concept stages.
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For 2 years almost nothing, because the company had not considered that this ARG was going to be such a huge hit. There was a slight delay as they had to move the whole company to work on another title for a while to get it out on time, but several months back they started up the ARG again and it was even better and showed more about the game. It is now on the tips of many game reviewers tongues as they say they can't wait to learn more about the game, and there are very few games that can say that today.
September 20th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
[...] this week take a listen to their most recent episode, and you’ll hear our story on NBC’s experience with digital pirates. [...]
September 21st, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Hi WolvenSpectre
Thanks for this; you might be interested in an interview we did with ARG pioneer, Jane McGonigal, a while back. She was one of the main people behind I Love Bees:
http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2008/10/full-interview-ja...
September 21st, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Regarding the expansion of broadband Internet access into rural territories:
I wonder if this should truly be the government's responsibility? I mean, if in fact the government has played a role in keeping typical ISP fees lower than in the USA, I am not unappreciative. But surely the costs in time and money to make this a nationwide government project are less efficient than simply consulting a private, satellite-based Internet provider such as Xplornet? According to their website at http://www.xplornet.com, if one has a clear view of the southern sky and can have a satellite dish installed (and presumably, reliable electric current), one is eligible. Granted, there are different equipment requirements and somewhat higher monthly costs involved, but the average rural user is no longer stuck exclusively on dial-up.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I have Xplornet and I agree this shouldn't be something to waste money on as it it means taxing the economy and taking money that could be better spent on something else.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I might further add that, as a city dweller, I have never been a customer nor an employee of Xplornet. I only first learned of this company through a friend who is also not an affiliate of Xplornet; the nature of my friend's work requires moving every few years and usually involves living in smaller communities. Not so long ago, he often dreaded the prospect of dial-up and the strain it meant for his work. No longer…
September 21st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
The bit about NBC was interesting.
NBC was a dumb and they ended up paying for it. Even at $1.99 it is still a rip off for tv shows. A season of House on itunes is $32.99 to $39.99. I can get the same season for $39.99 to $42.99 on amazon.ca or $29.99 at Costco and I get a hardcopy that the studio can never decide to take way. Plus I don't have to worry about eating up my bandwidth.
In Canada it's even worst. The big studios complain that Canada isn't doing enough to stop downloads but in turn they never bring the services that stop downloading to Canada. I'll stop downloading when you stop treating Canada like a back water.
Moving to downloads is not a huge shift like you tried to make it sound like. It's only hard because the studios don't want to do it. Times are changing. The studios have to change or die. And free is the new black.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Economist such as milton Friedmand and Ludwig Von Mises have argued against intellectual property such as copyrights and patients arguing that ideas unlike real property can be used over and over again and that even real property can be copied. In their book “Against Intellectual Property” Michael Boldrin and David K Levine argued that intellectual property costs money and that is causes stagnation not innovation.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I was a little surprised when the topic of AR was brought up without mentioning the "Sixth Sense" technology by MIT.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/pattie_maes_dem...
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Your podcast about AR instantly reminded me of the 2002 movie 'Minority Report'. In it, the ads targeted passers-by via retinal scanning. Could AR end up going too far in terms of invasion of privacy? Just some food for thought…
September 24th, 2009 at 6:29 am
i love the ar story…very cutting edge. The kind of bloop? i linked to it right away on my facebook page. i kinda like it bt i can see how jazz purests wold hate it. i mean they hated charlie parker and dizzie when they came out with bebop. not to say that 8 bit sounds is the same as 'bird' but…
This is one of the few shows that i listen to that my brother all the way in NYC also listens to. Its kinda his way of staying canadian i guess.
September 24th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I was thinking of Minority Report, too, Chris. While it's not really a great movie, it seems to have real legs in terms of envisioning future applications of this stuff (not to mention the extremely cool computer interface!
I think Bruce Sterling was not really being facetious when he rattled off a long list of potential problems.
September 24th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Hey Trip,
It's amazing isn't it? I tweeted about that a while back. There are a lot of tentacles to AR and I think it's really a topic we'll return to periodically.
October 12th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
[...] Links agraphia bldgblog blprnt boxesandarrows Dan Zen dataisnature Flash Feathers Fojzi infosthetics Advertising through games October 12, 2009, 4:45 pm Filed under: Uncategorized via CBC Radio: Spark [...]