You Remind Me of the Babe: Bowie’s Birthday

Today is a good day for birthdays in the geek world. No, I’m not saying that David Bowie is a geek necessarily. He, however, has made a huge impact on geekery in general. A pusher of boundaries, an over-the-top-personality, and certainly a man with his own set of rules, he’s one of the people who has changed popular culture to an extent that we probably won’t be able to comprehend for another few decades or so.

But in spite of Mr. Bowie’s huge influence on music and culture from the 60s to today, there is one achievement of his that will be forever the pinnacle in my humble opinion: his (and his, um, spandex pants’) performance in Labyrinth as Jareth the Goblin King. Geeks of a certain age will know what I mean, as indicated by some of the Twitter responses from this morning, but I’m fairly sure that I’d never seen a man with eyeshadow before, let alone such tight fitting pants, until I saw Mr. Bowie. Let’s just say it made me ask a great many questions, and certainly contributed to my obsession with speculative fiction.

And yet, oddly enough, by the end of the film, I always kind of wanted Jareth the Goblin King to win. Because he was that awesome.

If you haven’t seen Labyrinth, you likely think I’m off my rocker. And I would tell you to go see the film now, except that I don’t think you can possibly recreate the feeling of experiencing it for the first time as a kid.

At very least, I will share with you the perhaps most often quoted songs of the film, “Magic Dance.”

And as a last fun tidbit: Bowie’s son Duncan Jones is also the director of the film Moon, which definitely riffs on his song “Space Oddity”. Can’t get much geekier than songs written about trips to the moon.

Tags: , ,

“Mind-reading” airport security claims overblown

There are a host of stories today about mind-reading technology being the future of US airport security. But there’s no real suggestion the technology will ever be adopted in the country, and the system actually monitors the body rather than the brain.

The attention has come from a syndicated Associated Press story which has appeared in outlets such as the Los Angeles Times. It looks at a variety of new or improved techniques for improving security, an obvious hot topic in the wake of the failed attempt to bring down a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day.

The suggestions range from simply examining passengers and baggage in more detail, to privatizing security, to making more use of profiling to focus attention on the more likely suspects. But there are also some technological ideas, both stemming from Israel.

One, currently being studied by the Department of Homeland Security, is known as Future Attribute Screening Technology (or FAST), and involves scanning eye and facial movements as well as using Wii-style balance boards to detect uneasiness. Those behind the technology say it can detect physical signs of anxiety which are specific to those intending to do harm (as opposed to general nervousness). At the moment the system works by staff specifically pulling passengers out of line to use the equipment, but the plan is to develop it so it can be used on all passengers without causing disruption.

The most attention-grabbing suggestion is a system created by Israeli firm WeCU. Contrary to reports of “mind reading”, it instead uses cameras and sensors which can detect bodily changes such as temperature and heart rate. Staff then display images or text on visible surfaces as passengers are passing through security. The idea is to use images which only a terrorist would recognize, such as logos of their political group or even pictures of a suspected co-conspirator.

The theory is that this causes an involuntary physical reaction in the same way as a person would instantly respond to seeing a picture of their children. According to WeCU’s chief Ehud Givon, the system only detects a response where somebody has built up a strong psychological association with an image or text.

It’s worth noting that although the Department of Homeland Security has given research grants to WeCU, there are no current known plans to use the technology in the US.

(Picture courtest of Flickr user nedrichards.)


Project Natal confirmed for 2010: will work on existing Xbox 360s

Project NatalIf you’re chomping for full-body control on your Xbox 360, the good news is that you won’t need a new console. The bad news is that it likely won’t be available for 10 months.

As part of his address to the Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft’s head of “entertainment and devices” Robbie Bach confirmed that Project Natal will be available for play this year, though it will likely be timed for the holiday season which kicks off the day after Thanksgiving.

Project Natal is Microsoft’s answer to the success of the Wii. Rather than use motion sensor controllers, the product is based on a set-top camera which tracks body movements. (I’m going on record now predicting that there’ll be a YouTube clip of a child karate-kicking through a TV screen before year’s end.)

Bach didn’t give much detail about the pricing or sales process, but said the system will work on existing consoles. That probably means it will just be a case of buying the camera system, though it’s not yet clear whether only new games will take advantage of the product or if existing titles will be fitted with the functionality retroactively through downloads.

On the pricing issue, Bach has previously said the equipment will “go through the usual price curve”, which most likely means a high price when it goes on sale and then a reduction in early 2011.

In other news from the address, Microsoft is to launch an online arcade named “Game Room” through Xbox Live. The concept is that users can create their own virtual arcade, complete with decor choices, then buy retro games to put in it. Once the arcade is set-up, the user can invite other players to “visit” the arcade and play the games alongside them.

There’ll be 30 games at launch with a target of 1,000 titles by 2013. There’ll be a dual pricing system of 200-400 Microsoft points to buy a game outright, or 40 points for a single play. While the former is clearly much better value, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a lot of points spent  by players trying out a game.

Meanwhile Modern Warfare 2 will have two sets of downloadable content this year, which will be timed exclusives: that is to say they’ll initially only be available for the Xbox but will eventually make their way to the PS3. Microsoft described them as “content packs” which Official Xbox Magazine speculates could mean single-player campaigns rather than just extra settings and modes for multi-player activity.

The Third & The Seventh: Where Fiction Meets Reality

We’re now at a point in history where computer generated art, whether it is animated or not, can be nearly indistinguishable from something you’d see in reality. Just check out the following piece, which has been fully rendered and animated via software commonly available to everyone (3dsmax, Vray, AfterEffects and Premiere.)

Architechture through the cinematographic lens. The visual fusion between the third and the seventh arts.

This brief description defines the declaration of aesthetic principles that underlies the “Third&Seventh” project:

A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture are across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces.

[Source: Thirdseventh.com]

Symphony of Science: The Unbroken Thread

“The Unbroken Thread” is the fourth video in the Symphony of Science series, and it features David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, and Carl Sagan. The clips used in this installment come from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, David Attenborough’s Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life, The Life of Mammals, The Living Planet, BBC Life, XVIVO Scientific Animations, IMAX Cosmic Voyage, Jane Goodall’s TED Talk, and a clever Guiness Commercial. The themes present in The Unbroken Thread attempt to explore the wild diversity of life on our planet, the intricacy and origin of its mechanisms, and its close relation to all other life forms.

Chaucer + Rap = Surprisingly Funny

I saw this video this morning, posted by a few people on Facebook. I had to share.

This one goes out to the Summoner, the Miller, the Wife of Bath, and the Monk.

There are dozen of reasons to love Chaucer (hilarious stories, sexual innuendo, and fart jokes notwithstanding) but who knew the General Prologue lent itself so well to rap?

For those of us not fluent in Middle English, here’s a good side-by-side translation.

Tags: , , , ,