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New Media News Every Morning

World’s Largest Multitouch Wall

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From eight-foot demo units to the Microsoft Surface to the iPhone, multitouch technology has experienced rapid miniaturization over the last two years. Now we go completely in the opposite direction, with the world’s largest multitouch wall. This tactile monster by Sensory Minds covers an astonishing 425 square meters. That’s around 6,000 times the size of your computer’s monitor.

A screen resolution of 34 megapixels created by 15 HD projectors makes for awesome images, while 30 directional speakers provide 3D aural immersion. If you’d like to see, hear, and touch it all for yourself, this baby’s installed at Nürburgring, a race track around the village of Nürburg, Germany.

(Via Information Aesthetics.)

Originally posted on November 26, 2009 @ 10:25 am

Man Marries Videogame Character

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The interactivity of new media allows levels of deeply personal engagement unimaginable in old media. In the case of one avid Japanese gamer, that engagement actually led to marriage.

…a man named Sal9000 married the love of his life. Her name is Nene Anegasaki, and she lives inside of a Nintendo DS video game called Love Plus. The wedding took place during a Make: Japan meet-up held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In attendance were a live audience, an MC, the bride’s virtual video game girlfriend — who made a speech — and a real human priest.

Don’t laugh, guys. If gaming rigs keep getting more and more powerful in accordance with Moore’s Law, someday videogame characters will attain humanlike artificial intelligence. By then, ever-improving Japanese gynoids could provide realistic bodies for such artificial intelligences.

Then they’d be able to nag you like only a real wife could.

(Via Lisa Katayama.)

Originally posted on November 25, 2009 @ 9:57 am

Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Family Guy Clips

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If you thought the Windows 7 house party ad was lame, wait ’til you see this. On November 8, Microsoft was planning to sponsor a special episode of Seth McFarlane’s animated comedy series Family Guy to promote their latest operating system.

You can see where this was going: Family Guy’s humor is very edgy, while Microsoft’s marketing is very corporate. Combining the two would have resulted in a horrifying trainwreck of pure sellout stupidity.

Fortunately, Microsoft pulled out of the deal after executives from Redmond saw an actual taping of the show. Apparently, up until that point, they were blissfully unaware of Family Guy’s edgy humor. Talk about being out of touch.

Windows 7 Family Guy SpecialNow Microsoft has released clips from that hideous abortion through the Windows YouTube channel. As you can see from these clips, Microsoft made the right decision by killing their collaboration with McFarlane. One of the video descriptions even acknowledges the blatant selling-out involved: “When Brian notices Stewie has a new PC, he thinks he smells a sellout.”

Call your neurologist, because the sheer inanity of these totally unfunny sketches will kill your brain. [Read more…]

Originally posted on November 28, 2009 @ 2:50 pm

Google Opens Chrome Extensions Gallery for Uploads

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Google Chrome ExtensionsLusting for the speed of Chrome, but enjoying the convenience of Firefox’s central plugin repository? Soon you won’t have to choose. Developer builds of Google’s browser currently feature support for extensions, but those extensions live in unofficial repositories like ChromeExtensions.org and ChromePlugins.org. Now Google has opened its official Chrome extensions gallery to uploads from developers. [Read more…]

Originally posted on November 26, 2009 @ 9:48 am

Mobile Skype Client Fring Releases Video Support

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Even the best hardware features need support from services with decent traction. Otherwise, they just become useless decorations. Some Nokia smartphones come with a front-facing camera, supposedly for video chat. Thanks to inconsistent network support for videocalls, nobody actually uses it. That may change soon, as mobile Skype client Fring releases video support for Nokia 5800, N97, N95 and N82 handsets. More models coming soon.

The front-facing camera on my Nokia feels as useless and disappointing as the Nokia app store. Since Skype is my primary VoIP service, the latest version of Fring should ease that disappointment.

Originally posted on November 24, 2009 @ 2:53 pm