Archive for February 12th, 2009
WHAAM!
Whaam! is one of the greatest pieces of modern artworks, in my opinion of course.
Here I recreated it in an anti-aliased pixelated version. Unfortunately this doesn’t show up above, as it has been scaled down. The full sized version is 1920 x 830. Maybe I can host it somewhere for wallpaper downloads.
For more info on the real thing…
WHAAM! info at The Tate
Bored? Build a bird table
Yep, I built a bird table! Last Summer, after inspiration from a TV nature show, I turned a dull afternoon into a productive one. I grabbed some old wood hanging around the garden and built a Robin’s nesting box (yet to be occupied). I found this strangely fulfilling, so a week or so later I set about making a bird table, as the current one was on its last legs (you can just about see it in the background).
Apart from buying some rough sawn wood for the stand, most of the table was built from an old palette that I rescued from the bins at my workplace. Some other materials kicking around the garage finished the job.
I decided that I would try to build another bird table, but one that was more challenging. More angles, detail etc… Project Hex was conceived. More to follow soon…
Edit: Check out the build of the Hexagonal Bird Table
Innsbruck building
After checking-in at Innsbruck Airport on my way back from a boarding sess in St. Anton, my friend and I were in search of a coffee shop recommended to us by the barman in our hotel. Situated just around the corner from the main terminal at Innsbruck airport, this regular office building caught my eye. It looked remarkably striking against the mountain backdrop.
It just goes to show that a touch of glass & metal can transform a dreary building into something aesthetically pleasing.
Photo was taken December 2008
The Next Big Thing
Every marketing type in a global conglomerate wishes they can be the architect of the next killer app. They won’t. history shows that killer apps are the domain of geeks in sheds with too much knowledge of servers and such shit.
Until then, the marketing folk are happy to sit back in velour covered cheapo plastic chairs, hands clasped behind heads, pretending they are important by applying the number one rule in being important; blue sky thinking. Devising ever more pointless projects to vainly attempt to ‘add value’, or to be blunt, make money out of something that no one wants.
They have some sort of inferior complex, so compensate by talking bollocks about something that already exists and didn’t work in the first place. Big ideas by little men. Talentless men.
Yeah, sure, we all like to have a laugh at the geeky girlfriendless twonks that founded Google, Facebook et al, but, and it’s a big but… they were unpretentious in their will to accomplish their goals. They had raw talent.
Middle aged men with a mid life crisis unfortunately have the (relative) power with many tech companies to come up with barmy ideas that persuades higher powers to ‘run with it’. When any young person with two brain cells to rub together could tell them in short shift, that ‘it ain’t gonna work grandad’. They would be right, but unfortunately this may be seen as negative, anti-constructive, not bouncing the ball, anti free-thinking, and any other load of boardroom shite that would be a good description.
Hundreds of man hours and thousands of pounds later, the powers at be will eventually come to the same conclusion as the oik that would have said ‘nahh mate, won’t work’ in a few seconds.
So, what IS the next big thing? Well, no one knows, that’s the point of them.
Catch 22 – Social Interaction Technology
Mobile technologies restrict real human social interaction. It’s a known fact, rarely studied, the boffins are getting there, but we all know it, no need for $m studies…
Mobile technologies open up human interaction, it’s a fact… The more advancements there are, the more users shun real physical interaction… Catch 22.
Mobile technologies have also opened up new communication channels. In fact ‘opened up’ is an understatement, unprecedented unimaginable worldwide explosion would come close to a description. Young people in the developed world are super-connected, like never known before. They can connect with anyone worldwide, at minimal cost. In fact, cost is not even an issue.
They can Google, Bebo, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter each other. Crime is even YouTubed, everything is digital, information is king… notoriety is king.
Having spent many years in the video gaming industry, one rule remained hard and true – gameplay is king. It doesn’t matter how mathematical your programmers, how artistic your 3D artists, how talented your level designers… a shit game with groundbreaking graphics, 250 individual sound recordings, stunning cut-to-video footage… is still shit. Play Tetris, it’s a good game, the rest doesn’t matter. Gameplay is king.
Does this apply to social networking, or, more pertinently, social technology??
Well, yes and no. Different rules apply. Human interaction isn’t a game, it’s life. There is a big difference.
Companies want eyes on phones. The more squinty pupils that focus on the little QCIF, QVGA or wide open widescreen touch sensitive screens, the more the companies marketing directors eyes open… they see revenue. Eyes + advertising = $. They all want a slice of the cake, but is this wrong; hell, this is wrong.
A good lesson can be learned from the current Wall Street grab-ever-penny-from-people-who-can’t-afford-it scenario. Advertising was borne out of an opportunity from realising eyes were watching. Now the moneymakers are trying to reverse engineer the time-honoured process. They think ‘What can we provide to consumers that will make them watch ads?’. It’s a doomed plan. Yes, they’ll grab some revenue, but ultimately it will fizzle out, and they’ll move on to the next short-lifespan money-grabbing scheme.
I always try to avoid saying the ‘a’ word, but in this case, I can’t avoid it. Apple is a shining example of the opposite of the above; they think of the consumer first, money will follow later. Please don’t label me as an Apple fanboy, I ain’t. Yes, I use their products, but that’s because they work (most of the time). Yes, their bottom line is cash, but they go about it in the time-honoured tradition, they don’t try to reverse the natural order of things.
A quality product will prevail, cash will follow. The problem is that there are 100 money grabbing schemes to every Apple-like business plan. The ‘100’ have good products, they do their job and pull eyes. The industry should consider the human interaction side of their action. We need products to mentally connect with consumers, we need real interaction, real life enhancing products.
Gameplay is king? In gaming, yes. In the world of social technology, Human Interaction is king.
Play mode engaged
This is Blue getting ready for some sort of Commando assault on the undergrowth
Meet Blue
Firstly, when it comes to photography, any better than this is considered a miracle. Blue has a knack of moving very quickly whenever a lens is anywhere near him. For reference, this was his first foray into the outside world on 24th Jan 09. Initially he was very timid, now I believe he thinks he’s some sort of commando dog. He doesn’t avoid bushes, logs, flowers, hedges… he runs straight through ’em
Blue was originally dubbed ‘Happy’…
Happy was his birth name, a name given by his owners to easily distinguish pups in a litter. Why Happy?.. he was the first to wag his tale. This makes me smile, it reinforces the notion that we definitely ‘got the right one’.
To cut a long story short, an unexpectedly pregnant Beddlington Terrier X Beagle gave birth to five pups on 3rd December 2008. Dad was a wily 15 year old Tibetan Terrier, who obviously still had a bit of go left in him.
On the 8th Jan 2009 I went to collect Happy… we named him ‘Blue’.
Rufdog. 