The city and the crowd

Here's an interesting video-post from over at Space & Culture that looks at early city film montage from 1928:

The city montage from King Vidor’s 1928 silent film, The Crowd

The montage of the busy city streets, enormous crowds, and speeding trains that is Johnny’s introduction to New York City is frantic and a bit awe-inspiring, especially the great shot that climbs the side of the building where Johnny works. Many of the crowd shots were done with a hidden camera, and in one scene, when a traffic cop seems to tell us to move along, he was actually instructing Vidor and his crew to move.”

From 'The city and the crowd'

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Revolutionary Virtual Reality Training Originally Designed For The Army

The capacity of virtual reality simulation is rapidly expanding - no wonder then it is increasingly being used for real-life training. Here's some latest news:

Development studio Intelligence Gaming is behind a different kind of game, dubbed “serious gaming” - games that are designed to teach users rather than entertain them. The company has previously created games for the United States Navy, and has now been contracted by the Army to develop a new kind of game that is part virtual reality, part movie. The company teamed with development and design firm EffectiveUI to create a technology called RealityV based on Adobe’s upcoming Flash 10 platform. The result: 3D interactive simulations that could revolutionize training in the military, health care, retail stores, and any number of other industries.

At the core of each RealityV experience is a a full motion movie shot in 360 degrees. This movie is projected into a special headset that strongly resembles the “Virtual Reality” googles of yore. As the user rotates, their perspective in the video rotates as well (they can only rotate around a single point, as the technology doesn’t yet support movement). During the videos users are forced to make quick decisions that affect the scene’s outcome - it’s sort of like a ‘Choose your own adventure’, except you feel like you’re actually there. Users can also use RealityV from their browser, but this effect is lost.

The first application of the technology is “Immersive Cultural Simulation Product”, a game created for the Army that teaches soldiers how to handle cultural differences in Iraq. Soilders are forced to make decisions in real time as they watch the people surrounding them, paying attention to gestures and facial expressions to decide who to pay attention to and look for any possible threats.

Read more at - 'RealityV: Revolutionary Virtual Reality Training Originally Designed For The Army'

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Beijing Olympics gets official YouTube channel

As the Beijing Olympics begins today it only seems fitting to report the latest on their mobile platforms. It appears that the Beijing Olympics will be 'broadcast online to more than 70 territories using a dedicated YouTube channel in a bid to help deter illegal viewing of the event on the internet':

Beijing games organiser the International Olympic Committee is to launch an online channel on YouTube to provide a package of daily sports action to 77 international territories including India, the Republic of Korea and Iraq.

The channel, which goes live on Wednesday [6th], will provide a selection of footage video-on-demand, with geo-blocking of access to limit viewing only to uers in each of the territories.

It will provide a package of coverage including highlights, news and daily clips of competitions during the 17 days of the Beijing Olympics, which start on Friday, August 8.

Read - 'Beijing Olympics gets official YouTube channel'
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UN Wants Us To Fly Less, Teleconference More

Wired's Autopia blog reports on the trend for businesses to be urged to cut employee travel, and to replace it with video conferencing:

If the UN has its way, you'll be spending more time in the office and less time on a plane.

At a meeting in the UK this past week, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, a climate scientist with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), strongly urged businesses to cut employee travel, and to fill the void with video conferencing.

Speaking to members of the British Parliment (via video link, of course) at an event called "Is Your Journey Really Necessary?" Pachauri said that in some regions transport accounts for 40% of total emissions (though in the murky world of greenhouse gas measurement this number is up for debate), and that civil aviation is a major contributor. Video conferencing, he says, "would be of great benefit in reducing and controlling the growth of emissions from aviation."

Read in full - 'UN Wants Us To Fly Less, Teleconference More'
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Second episode of Rheingold's video blogs

Howard Rheingold, writing on Smartmobs, states that:

I just published in my new vlog the second episode in the series about how I spend my time online. This one is about RSS in my life. Actually, I’ll have to do another episode or two about more to do with RSS. Production quality will improve, and it looks like my continuing examination of my life online will only be one flavor of episode.

I just published in my new vlog the second episode in the series about how I spend my time online. This one is about RSS in my life. Actually, I’ll have to do another episode or two about more to do with RSS. Production quality will improve, and it looks like my continuing examination […]

Watch 2nd vlog here
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Howard Rheingold's Video Blog

Media pundit, guru and spokesman Howard Rheingold has now started a video blog to discuss life online.

The first of these video blogs is

A (re)slice of life online, part one: Introduction

Twenty years ago, I wrote “A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community”. When I thought about updating it, I realized that video is better than text for showing how I spend time online. This is the first in a series of short videos documenting my use of social media in my professional and personal life.

This is a short 4.5 minute video that talks about the evolution of participatory media and many-to-many interaction. Well worth tracking!

Watch - Howard Rheingold's Video Blog
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