Steam is used to distribute games online and is developed by Valve. Some of the popular games developed by Valve are Counter-Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and many more… You can purchase all those games online using your credit card or Paypal and then use Steam to download the games which [...]
Interactive off-the-desktop technologies are taking off in many regions, including the Carolinas. I'd like to share some of this "post-WIMP" goodness with my readers. There are lots of interesting things developing in my own backyard!
About a year ago, I wrote a post about T1 Visions, the company behind the interactive technology at the T1 Tapas restaurant in Huntersville, NC. In May of this year (2010), Mike Feldman, the president of T1 Visions, LLC, and inventor of the T1 Connection Booth, participated in a panel discussion about innovative technologies for the restaurant sector at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show in Chicago, Illinois.
The T1 Connection booth is an integrated system that includes a durable interactive multi-user touch screen table, powered by a mac. It also includes a high-quality audio system and high-definition video screen. It can accommodate a variety of mobile devices, such as iPods, iPhones, MP3 players, and laptops. If you have digital photos, you can easily connect to the system and view them on the video screen.
The T1 Connection Booth was designed for use in restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. In the Charlotte area, booths can be found at Harper's Restaurant in South Park, and soon will be ready for action at a new restaurant, Cowfish. According to a press release, the system is more affordable than the Microsoft Surface, and can be
The T1 Connection booth looks like it could be re-purposed for a variety of settings. I've experienced the T1 Connection Booth "hands on" a few times while visiting T1 Tapas, and I'm sure that it has potential for use in museums, libraries, and other public spaces. T1Visions also provides high-definition display systems that coordinate with the T1 Connection booths. T1 Vision's displays and digital signs are in use at the newly-opened NASCAR Hall of Fame museum, and also at the Charlotte Convention Center.
T1 Visions Touchscreen Experience
2009 Five Ventures Conference: T1 Visions, Inc.
The TechnoFiles, CNN Video Feature of T-1 Vision's High Tech Restaurant, T1 Tapas (2009):
Previous IMT post about T1 Tapas, July 16, 2009: T1 Tapas, a restaurant north of Charlotte, N.C., in the Birkdale Village in Huntersville, has majority owners with a technology background. Mike Feldman and Jim Morris started up Digital Optics Corporation, which focused on optics for computers and imaging, and after they sold their company, they teamed up with Denise Feldman to establish their company. T 1 Connection Booth with Multi-User Touch Screen, HD TV, Sound System, Computer, & more: "T1 Connection Booth seating gives you access to music, photos, and videos through built-in touchscreen tabletops, brilliant monitors, speakers, and computers."-Picture and taken from the T 1 Tapas website The restaraunt serves as a test bed for T 1 Visions to try out their software and hardware designed to enhance the digitally connected dining experience.The restaurant was featured in May of this year on CNN.
I recently visited the Discovery Place science center in Charlotte, N.C. It was my first visit without kids, and I thought it would be fun to explore all of the exhibits at my own pace. I was excited to play with the interactive applications created for exhibits running on Microsoft's Surface table-top computers. There were so many kids and teens at Discovery Place that every exhibit was in use. Fortunately, I obtained permission from parents to videotape/photograph some of the action.
Next time, I'll make sure that I visit at a less-busy time!
The following displays were developed by the Microsoft Surface team at Quatrefoil. Quatrefoil is a company located in Maryland that develops immersive interactive experiences, primarily for museum exhibits and related projects.
Midwife Toad App on a Microsoft Surface
Project Build Exhibit video, from the Quatrefoil YouTube website, helps people understand the architectural design process:
THEM exhibit, from the Quatrefoil YouTube site:
"This health-related exhibition at Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC, explores how the human body is an ecosystem with a myriad of flora and fauna. Visitors are presented with an exciting and educational experience. The content is delivered in a way that carefully walks the line between gross-out information and the need to keep the context within the human body...Quatrefoil Associates designed the exhibit and produced creative media including Attack of the Superbugs, a video about antibiotic-resistant bacteria." -Quatrefoil Associates
Normally I’m not one that supports or uses proxies myself, seeing as I usually can access 99% of what I need and want on the internet without the use of them. However, because I live in Canada and not in the United States, I can not access certain sites or certain Youtube videos without the [...]
In the following video, tech entrepreneur Zach Klein shows his company's official version of Boxee, a set-top box system that provides users a "plug-and-play" opportunity to view Web-based video on their televisions.
Web video and content, viewed on a large-screen HD display, in the comfort of a cozy recliner or sofa, is in line with the "Slow Media" movement, as well as the concept behind Google's "YouTube Leanback" application (see links and info below).
SOMEWHAT RELATED Slow Media Manifesto "The concept "Slow", as in "Slow Food" and not as in "Slow Down", is a key for this. Like "Slow Food", Slow Media are not about fast consumption but about choosing the ingredients mindfully and preparing them in a concentrated manner. Slow Media are welcoming and hospitable. They like to share." Google YouTube Leanback (Google) YouTube Leanback offers effortless viewing (Google) "YouTube Leanback a different way of watching videos on YouTube. Just as its name implies, YouTube Leanback is all about letting you sit back, relax and be entertained. Videos are tailored to autoplay as soon as you get started, in full screen and high definition, so watching YouTube becomes as effortless as watching TV. YouTube Leanback is simple to use, easy to navigate with your keyboard's arrow keys, and is personalized to your unique preferences." YouTube's 'Leanback' Wants to Friend Your Television RemoteEliot Van Burskirk, Wired 7/8//10
So it’s Sunday again, meaning that I’m going to post something completely unusual by many standards. Today’s topic: the computers of yesteryear. For those of us born after 1994, you’ve certainly missed many magical advancements in computers, especially the advancement in the price tags. I mention this because of the legendary computers of old, you [...]