Amidst the “busy-ness” of April — meeting tax deadlines, observing holidays, and the ordinary course of business — we stumbled across some extraordinary eye openers in technology. The following faves really made us take notice:
1. The Lytro Illum threatens to rewrite the rules of prosumer photography, with its use of light field technology. The Lytro allows one to explore pictures from different perspectives, focal points and dimensions. Our creatives marveled at its potential for narrative application, noting how its transitions can turn a well-staged image into a mini-story.
2. Can games be considered art? Absolutely! New offerings in iPad gaming — Monument Valley and Faster than Light — brought out both the kid and critic in us. Coding the geometry in these games, graphics with ambient occlusion and global illumination, and real-time tile/shift effects were no small feats. Regarding Monument Valley, one Stimulant remarked, “halfway through, it almost stops being a game and turns into an amazing visual instrument that you can interact with to create interesting melodies.”
3. The launch of the highly anticipated Amazon Fire media streaming box spawned not just one but two threads, based on articles in Gizmodo and The Verge. Although we can (and did) go back on forth on it pros and cons, we could all agree that its voice search feature was spot on, and that, fortunately, one does not have to sound like Gary Busey to activate it.
4. Tokyo in Reverse? What could possibly be so remarkable — let alone artful — about a man walking backwards in Tokyo. In this video, posted on This is Colossal, seemingly every other person is walking backwards, but it is actually one man walking backwards, while the video is being played in reverse. One Stimulant remarked, “A simple concept executed flawlessly and with imagination. The music is fantastic too!” You’ll have to see for yourself….
5. From time to time, our guilty pleasures are low tech, and as simply as cracking open a good book. A simple query for a good read for an unplugged, camping getaway led to numerous recommendations. Although tastes vary among our team of coders, developers, and designers, it was evident that many of us are readers! The following made their way to the top (and sometimes bottom) of several heaps: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Earth Abides by George Stewart, and Wool by Hugh Howey.
