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I’ve just had a fantastic day at the Pictoplasma conference in NYC watching hours of character art and design, from the rampantly hallucinogenic visions of David Oreilly and Friends With You to the simplified forms of Akinori Oishi and the prodigious output of Studio AKA.

One of the more interesting talks was David Oreilly’s, where he showed a number of unseen animations and outed himself as the creator of the Octocat meme, before showing us the final episode. I won’t give anything away, but try see it if you can.

And I thought he was just the guy that created the fake iPhone hologram video:

iHologram – iPhone application from David OReilly on Vimeo.

BONUS: Alba and I scored a box made by Motomichi for the apartment – sweet!

Software is for humans, not for computers.

Most people do not want a computer.

To the user, the interface is the product.

Choice quotes from a thoroughly excellent user-focused manifesto on software development and interface design.

my del.icio.us tags, originally uploaded by michaelsharon.

]]> http://uberthings.com/2008/07/26/my-delicious-tags/feed/ 0 http://uberthings.com/2008/07/14/radioheads-house-of-cards-video/ http://uberthings.com/2008/07/14/radioheads-house-of-cards-video/#comments Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:54:05 +0000 michael http://uberthings.com/2008/07/14/radioheads-house-of-cards-video/
Probably one of the most beautiful videos I’ve seen in recent memory, made all the more memorable by a conspicuous lack of traditional equipment.

No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes.

On top of all this, Google open sourced the data and Processing code used to generate it. Spectacular work, chaps (Aaron, Google and Radiohead). via overstated / elatable

Built-in Screen Capture Utility: With the iPhone 2.0 software installed, hold down the Home button and press the Lock button and your screen will flash—and an image of your phone’s screen gets saved to your Camera Roll’s images.

- via Lifehacker

Here’s my latest screen:

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone

1. Download the latest Python Script Shell from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=154155&package_id=171153. For me, this was PythonScriptShell_1_4_3_3rdEd_unsigned_testrange.sis
2. Go to Symbian Signed
3. Click the link under Open Signed. It should be: https://www.symbiansigned.com/app/page/public/openSignedOnline.do
4. Get the IMEI off your phone by typing *#06#.
5. Enter the details and upload the PythonScriptShell that you downloaded.
6. Follow the email instructions to confirm the signing process and then download a signed version of the PythonScriptShell.
7. If you’ve already installed the PythonScriptShell on your phone, then remove it. Otherwise, Bluetooth the file over to your N95 / N82 / Nokia device and install it.
8. Run the Bluetooth console back to your machine, type in something like this:

>> import positioning
>>> positioning.modules()
[{'available': 0, 'id': 270526873, 'name': u'Bluetooth GPS'}, {'available': 1, 'id': 270526860, 'name': u'Assisted GPS'}, {'available': 1, 'id': 270526858, 'name': u'Integrated GPS'}, {'available': 0, 'id': 270559509, 'name': u'Network based'}]
Yay! Success! 

This means you’re now ready to leave the temple, Grasshopper. Go, go and unleash the next brilliant location-aware social ice cream finder software on the world.

Day 1 – Friday: Chaos at the airport. Power failures and jetlag.

Day 2 – Saturday: More power failures, this time in Sandton City (one of the biggest mall complexes in Joburg). Wandering through the shops feels like the dimly lit opening scenes from a post-apocalyptic epic where only the large chains have managed to stay alive. Also, the clothes are ridiculously expensive. G-Star jeans, admittedly not the cheapest in the world, are double the price. Started the drinks off at Schwabing, that great old German ale house, which makes edible pizza. The Bowling Club at Zoo Lake is more popular than ever, having graduated to serving something called Pimpjuice along with the usual complement of cheap beers. Bombay Blues has lethargic service, fantastic food and difficulty calculating money from various sources. Ran into many old friends at Fuel Cafe & Carfax.

Day 3 – Sunday: Breakfast at the Melrose Arch Hotel was spectacular. Crumpets and pancakes made to order, a surfeit of fresh fruit and enough cheese to kill a small pony made me very happy. Capping it all off with a shot of tequila was a completely unexpected, but not unpleasant end. The wedding was fantastic, down to the last speech, it was a wonderful celebration with friends, family and last minute dates that was perfectly pitched and paced. Pics forthcoming.

Day 4 – Monday: Ugh. Too much happy vibes at the wedding made me very hungover. Missed breakfast. Almost lost our car keys. Made it back to the city in time to meet David Frankel at JB’s Corner. Spent the afternoon exploring Muti shops on Diagonal St. Bought a pair of sandals made out of car tires. Green factor – high. Comfort – low. Also bought some awesome material for future projects. Watch this space.

Day 5 – Tuesday: Met Matt Buckland, Jason, Kim & Ethan Norwood-Young for lunch in Rosebank. ‘Twas tramezzinicious. Snuck into Kesh’s offices before being picked up by Mignonne for a reunion with Ruth. Dinner at Bottega with Brother Mike, Melinda, Tyrone, Noo and Emilio.

Day 6 – Wednesday: Frances picked me up from Alba’s place, transported all my baggage to Kesh’s place, then we spent a lovely morning checking out David’s new gallery and driving around Craighall Park. Lunch at Corner Cafe, coffee at Vida e Caffe in Parktown North. Dinner was at Fino with loads of friends.

Day 7 – Thursday: Met up with the amazing Claudine and Emma, her wonderful daughter. Claudine took me to a great little curio shop in Parkview, where we met Johan Schepers who whisked me off to 44 Stanley for lunch. Frances’ car packed it in that afternoon, but luckily, Wouter came along and took me to Norwood for a stroll and a chat.

Day 8 – Friday: Sam and James took me for one last lunch at Trattoria Renato in Emmarentia – probably my favourite Italian restaurant in Johannesburg. I worked here in my last year of high school – until I was asked to leave for putting in hair extensions which “terrified” the patrons. The menu has been unchanged since the 80′s and the food is as fantastic as I remembered it. Highly recommended.