Freyburg

Did You Know? from Amybeth on Vimeo.

Not really news at this point, but check out this article by esteemed math-guy and scifi author Rudy Rucker with Stephen Wolfram, who has used his prodigious smarts to come up with a new search engine that takes in questions in complete sentences, and spits back the same. Neat.

Purveyor of “meh” videos and net.dilletante Robert Scoble spoke at MediaBistro Circus today, and as Anil Dash reported on Twitter, his half-mad, half-insane information consumption patterns scared the normals but good. After the presentation, rumour has it, Scoble disclosed he’s working on yet another video project (my thoughts on his previous tryouts apparently had no influence on him), this time with the help of Revision3. Here’s the video of Scoble’s presentation, in glorious Conference-O-Vision.

I’ve been checking out Seesmic and (to a lesser extent) Disqus, and I have to say I’m not quite getting the appeal of “video conversations.” Partly that’s my own fault, since I’ve worked in broadcasting and print in one form or another for the last decade, and while I’m comfortable with feedback….I don’t really understand what the advantage is to video over regular old text comments, other than avoiding spam and actually getting to put a face to the person who you virulently disagree with. Maybe that’s the advantage…if you can see someone’s reaction, you’ll be less apt to descend into trolldom and fire off angry jeremiads to hapless commenters.

At the same time, the Internet seems to be driving people to a new level of comfort with being “on air.” I’ve never really been in that headspace, though again that could have something to do with my background in broadcasting. I’ve traditionally been a behind-the-scenes guy, whether it’s in TV or from behind a byline in a newspaper, so to put myself forward on camera has always been a difficult proposition (even though I did briefly do so on “The Lab with Leo“). Still, maybe video comments are a way to get more comfortable with the camera in a low-risk environment. It’s also early days…Twitter didn’t really prove its usefulness until a lot of people, and more to the point, a lot of people who have interesting opinions decided to jump on board. Or it could prove to be a fad and wander over into the Web 2.0 deadpile along with a bunch of other half-baked ideas. Here’s some other opinions on video commenting.

I’ve been working as an editor on a video podcast featuring Vancouver Adobe evangalist Duane Nickull called Duane’s World. The show is all about coding, tech, music and Duane’s unique take on the world, and is hosted on Adobe TV, a central hub for shows about all things Adobe. Check it out!

Infocom, the creators of some of the best text adventures ever made, had a sequel in the works for their Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game, called Milliways, that has only now surfaced. Andy Baio, who runs Waxy.org, got a hold of the companys old network drive and found not only unreleased games but emails and other private documents detailing the soap opera behind the development of the HHGTTG sequel. If you loved Infocom games when you were a kid, as I did, this is a must read. And you can play Milliways!

Frontline, the always excellent PBS documentary series (which has a repository of shows available online for your viewing pleasure) is fixing its lens upon the online generation, and how growing up with the internet, instant messaging and constant connectivity as a part of everyday life affects today’s youth. It’s on television tonight, though I’ll likely watch it online, seeing as how I’m part of the 1200 baud generation and know how to do such things.

Hollywood’s writers are again threatening to strike, this time because they feel they aren’t getting enough of a piece of the new media pie. They’re proposing to get residuals whenever something “airs” on the internet. How they propose to actually do such a thing remains to be seen.

Well, I’ve got news for them…get your own damn pie. Hollywood was clearly running out of ideas long before the writers decided to up their demands, and it’s high time for independent producers to step up and circumvent the entire Hollywood system. With internet distribution clearly up tot the task, and with tastes radically changing from Hollywood pap to more lo-fi offerings, this is the chance video podcasters and indy moviemakers have been waiting for. The movie industry is once again cutting off its nose to spite its face Let’s help it out.

Vancouver (and Malta) technologist Darren Barefoot noted a recent interview on the Q podcast (a show on CBC hosted by Jian Gomeshi) which featured an interview with filmmaker and big thinker Peter Greenaway, the creator of films like “The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover” and his most recent “Nightwatching.”

Greenaway makes the very good point that cinema, in terms of something where people put aside two hours of unmitigated attention for a bunch of pictures on screen, is a dying medium. He contends that kids today are knee deep in interactivity and laptops, and that as such, new art that takes advantage of these forms needs to be created. In that kind of world, a straight-ahead “film” doesn’t stand much of a chance. I’d like to think otherwise as I love everything about movies, but it’s hard to argue with a guy who once guest-curated the Louvre.