What Types of People Raise Money for Web Startups?
3:55 pm
Redesigning the New York City subway map
3:00 pm
A great story from Eddie Jabbour, chronicled by Julie Steele at O’Reilly Radar, tells the story of his desire to redesign the New York City subway map into something easier to understand and use, and then put it in the hands of users. While I personally find his design appealing, he’s found difficulties in distributing it.
Ultimately, I do think the KickMap accomplished most of my goals: to make the subway lines and their connections as clear as possible for easier navigation, and to provide users with a clear representation of where they are once they exit a station so that the subway feels familiar and welcoming to all.
My main goal, however, was to get my map out there into the hands of subway riders. After the MTA rejected my design, I found an alternative way to distribute it, via Apple’s iTunes — two apps, one free and one paid, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
All of the choices I made were aimed at trying to make the user experience as seamless and pleasant as possible. Clearly I’m striking a chord, as over 250,000 people (and counting) have now downloaded copies of the KickMap from iTunes.
Nonetheless, it’s a great article on some of the difficult decisions involved in design of such an iconic map used by millions, and how the content of the map (the Subway) isn’t the only design criteria:
One of the issues I have with some previous versions of the New York subway map is that I have a hard time believing that the designers ever actually rode the subway as an integral part of their lives in the city. There’s a disconnect between many of the decisions they made and the reality of the subway. As part of my design process, I rode the lines and exited the stations at every major intersection with which I was unfamiliar. There is a strong relationship in New York between the aboveground and the belowground, and since subway riders don’t cease to exist when they leave the subway, it’s important for the map to express this relationship as clearly as possible. Otherwise, the result is an uncomfortable feeling of disorientation.
via Redesigning the New York City subway map – O’Reilly Radar.
Climate Change
2:30 pm
Why Data Visualization Is About to Become Very Important
2:23 pm
Oren Frank at AdAge gives us the pitch on why data visualization is “about” to become very important for businesses, missing the point that for many it’s been important for several years. Even with that odd point, he does hit the mark: It’s a matter of Bandwidth. Not the internet tho, your brain.
The problem is bandwidth; our text-based input/output through-rate just can’t cope with the amounts of information we deal with today. The results are all around us: shorter texts on all media, SMS, lower common denominators for content quality and, of course, the 140-character epidemic. Add to that the increase in the number of HD screens surrounding us and the exponential growth in processing power, bandwidth, and storage and you get the rise of data visualization as an important factor in modern communications.
SLCC this Weekend in Boston, August 13-15, 2010
12:00 pm
The 6th annual Second Life Community Convention will be happening this weekend in Boston and in-world, bringing together virtual world admirers and users to discuss technology, learn new skills, and network with some of the biggest names in the industry.
The Second Life Community Convention is a conference organized for Second Life residents by Second Life residents, including teens – there’s something for everyone! Content creators, artists, and musicians attend to share ideas, get creative, and learn new techniques from the pros. Enterprise users and businesses discuss strategies for success and techniques for maximum ROI. Educators present research, best practices, and workshops. The list goes on and on! From casual users, community groups, and roleplayers to the serious side of Second Life, come to the conference to learn, share, and network with the real people behind the avatars!
Philip Rosedale is already on tap for a keynote, as are Doug Thompson, John Lester, and Sarah Hutchinson. If you’re into virtual worlds (not just Second Life), then this definitely sounds like the event for you. And, you don’t even need to leave your couch!
Samsung’s Monster 65-Inch 3D LED TV: The Biggest, Baddest Yet
11:00 am
Just yesterday we carried the news of Samsung’s impressive sub-$1000 3D Television, and today they’ve gone to the other extreme with the biggest 3D non-plasma Television I’m aware of: the 65-inch LED UN65C8000. Already on-sale at a mere $6,000, it even does more that just display 3D TV:
Expanded Range of Full HD 3D LED TVs Delivers Premium 3D Experience
With its sleek 65-inch screen, the new Samsung UN65C8000 is the largest Full HD 3D LED TV available for the home today. Featuring Samsung’s built-in 3D processor, Real 240Hz refresh rate technology, dynamic 8,000,000:1 contrast ratio and proprietary Precision Dimming technology, the award-winning LED 8000 series delivers unsurpassed picture quality and an immersive 3D experience in an ultra-slim design. The LED 8000 is WiFi-ready and supports Skype via Samsung Apps. This means that the TV becomes a huge video screen and brings an almost life-like quality to video calls.
I was looking for something exactly like this just the other day: Non-plasma, 3d-capable, 60+ inch Television. The price is almost unheard of, but proof that television manufacturers have begun to understand that the “extra cost” of 3D is going to have to near 0 if it’s to reach widestream acceptance.
Samsung’s Monster 65-Inch 3D LED TV: The Biggest, Baddest Yet.
Iridas adds stereo 3D worflow for Alexa
10:07 am
Iridas has developed a native workflow for stereoscopic 3d content based on the pricey Arri Alexa camera, that uses their DualStream NX technology and the FrameCycler 2010 family of products to edit, colormatch, and align 3d footage in realtime.
Lin Sebastian Kayser, the chief executive of Iridas, said: “This feature represents the culmination of years of engineering and stereoscopic development expertise that has enabled a 3D production workflow that works flawlessly with the equipment our customers most want to work with, like the innovative new Alexa cameras.”
via Iridas adds stereo 3D worflow for Alexa | News | Broadcast.
How to survive smog and heat
9:30 am
Motion Theory gets Wet with Disney
9:00 am
For the new ‘World of Color’ show by Disney, Motion Theory got the job of creating the commercial mixing the water fountains with classic Disney characters and imagery from years gone by. They used an impressive mix of Maya, RealFlow, Houdini, AFter Effects, Nuke, and several other tools to bring it all together, and discuss the whole process in detail with FXGuide.
fxg: How did you then integrate those characters with the fluids and particles?
Cochrane: Well, firstly, our previs, which was done in Maya, actually became the layout. We used those cameras from the previs and they became our hero final cameras. So the match-moves were modeled, rigged and animated in Maya to the Maya cameras. We then got the geometry from Maya over to Houdini. Sometimes you have to scale geometry up or down when it goes into RealFlow in order to have it at the right scale for the simulation engine, so all that geometry conforming was done in Houdini. We used dozens of different techniques for each of the characters – there were between at least five to ten different fluid simulations for each. All those different fluid sims were layered on top of each other and rendered together in Houdini all at once or in groups. What you’re seeing is no single technique at a single time, it’s a real mix.
Fragomeni: There were actually over 150 simulations for this 30 second spot and I think we amassed about 12 terabytes of data.
Cochrane: And that doesn’t include revisions and techniques that we didn’t use!
Martin Wattenberg talks data and visualization
8:42 am
Martin Wattenberg & Fernanda Viegas, recently snatched up by Google, recently held an hour-long presentation at MIT on data and visualization. Famous for the results of their FlowingMedia company, they’ve gained both scientific and public admiration for their clever use of proper visualization methods with artistic flair.
For the most part, he focuses on past projects, which I am sure you’ve seen. However, even if you have seen all of Martin and Fernanda’s work, it’s still worth a watch as he highlights the interesting tidbits that each tool or piece can reveal. The rundown makes you appreciate the work that much more, in the same way you appreciate art when you know the story behind the picture.
The presentation is just under an hour (56 minutes), but well worth the watch.
VizWorld.com 
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