Technology Information

Online Lego Universe: "Lego tries to construct a new empire with pixels, not plastic" (David Kushner, IEEE Spectrum)

Posted: 24 Jul 2010 10:20 PM PDT

The July issue of IEEE Spectrum is full of articles for techies and the tech-curious. Although the cover article, The Chrystal That Will Change Everything" is intriguing, the article that caught my eye was Building the Lego Universe Online, by David Kushner.

Photo: Holly Lindem; LEGO Sculpture: Nathan Sawaya, in Building the Lego Universe Online, David Kushner, IEEE Spectrum, July 2010

"...unlike traditional Lego play, the online version will offer unprecedented opportunities for players to share and interact. The sprawling Lego fantasyland will be able to support more than half a million "brick heads" from around the world. Each player will start by assembling a personal Lego miniature figure to serve as his or her avatar. Players can then venture into the live Lego Universe, where forces of chaos and destruction—monsters such as the Darklings—threaten to destroy the Land of Imagination." -David Kushner

SCREENSHOT: LEGO Universe
Nathan Sawaya, the artist behind the creation in the above picture of a boy and a laptop, is known for his life-size LEGO sculptures, is one of just nine LEGO Certified Professionals.

The LEGO Universe website has media resource section that includes game screenshots, videos of game-play, pictures of concept art, wallpaper downloads, and information for the press.

Video courtesy of joystiq BETA:
LEGO Universe trailers rebuild our capacity to love. Griffen McElroy, July 23, 2010

Raymond.CC Blog - Kick XP Mode Up A Notch By Allowing It More RAM!

Kick XP Mode Up A Notch By Allowing It More RAM!

Posted: 22 Jul 2010 08:20 PM PDT

For those of us that are using Windows 7 and have a Professional or higher edition, Microsoft has kindly included a Windows XP Mode to download and install applications that don’t fully work in Windows 7. While I admit, I’ve use the XP Mode for some things, for most things, I haven’t had to touch [...]

Connected Youth: Theme of the July-Sept issue of IEEE Pervasive Computing

Posted: 22 Jul 2010 03:59 AM PDT

July-Sept. 2010 IEEE Pervasive Computing Cover: Connected Youth

The guest editors of the July-September 2010 issue of IEEE's Pervasive Computing magazine are John Canny, an engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Jason Hong, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Their article provides an introduction to the publication's timely theme, Connected Youth. The editors find that the study of the current generation of children and teens provides useful information about the future of computing as in integrates more seamlessly into our daily lives, the way we learn, and our relationships and interaction with others across time, place, and generations.

I'm in the middle of reading this issue of Pervasive Computing. The articles that have caught my eye so far include "Story Time for the 21st Century", which describes the research an implementation of an interactive book-reading system designed to connect children, family members, and grandparents who live in distant locations. The system involves videoconferencing with paper books and interactive content, and enables grandparents to read with their grandchildren via the Internet.

Additional information about Story Play, a system that is still under development, can be found on the Nokia Research Center website: "Family Story Play: Story Time for the 21st Century". A follow-up project to Story Play is Story Visit:

I'll post more about the articles from the Connected Youth issue of Pervasive Computing in the future.

Raymond.CC Blog - Highly useful Greasemonkey scripts for any Internet Power User

Highly useful Greasemonkey scripts for any Internet Power User

Posted: 21 Jul 2010 07:30 PM PDT

A while back, I provided my list of add-ons that I feel Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome should have by default installed on their browsers, and was asked why I included Greasemonkey, or rather, what scripts would I recommend. I’ve been using Greasemonkey for nearly as long as I’ve used Mozilla Firefox, being the second [...]

The Weather Channel on Microsoft Surface at WPC 2010

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 08:40 PM PDT

Below is a video of a demonstration of the Weather Channel application for Microsoft Surface:

The Weather Channel on Microsoft Surface
Eric Havir, MSDN Blog, 7/19/2010

The Weather Channel

Technology Information

New & Update

About Me

Labels

Blog Archive

Online Lego Universe: "Lego tries to construct a new empire with pixels, not plastic" (David Kushner, IEEE Spectrum)

Online Lego Universe: "Lego tries to construct a new empire with pixels, not plastic" (David Kushner, IEEE Spectrum)

Raymond.CC Blog - Kick XP Mode Up A Notch By Allowing It More RAM!

Raymond.CC Blog - Kick XP Mode Up A Notch By Allowing It More RAM!

Connected Youth: Theme of the July-Sept issue of IEEE Pervasive Computing

Connected Youth: Theme of the July-Sept issue of IEEE Pervasive Computing

Raymond.CC Blog - Highly useful Greasemonkey scripts for any Internet Power User

Raymond.CC Blog - Highly useful Greasemonkey scripts for any Internet Power User

The Weather Channel on Microsoft Surface at WPC 2010

The Weather Channel on Microsoft Surface at WPC 2010

contact

Followers