Synthesis of 3D Faces from a Single 2D Photo/Image

This is a mesmerizing software application, developed by Volker Blanz and Thomas Vetter, that renders realistic 3D faces from a single 2D image. Be patient and see the whole video things really get interesting from the middle of it.

Define: GeoMedia and WEB 3.0

(link to intro)

This is how I define GeoMedia:

GeoMedia, are electronic media that rely on precise location systems to integrate location based data with user generated contents and activities. They are not new media per se, but platforms that merge existing technologies (Electronic Media + the Internet + Geo-Location Technologies) in a new mode of data association and generation.

GeoMedia are not the sole collection of archived location based data, but an instrument that associates these existing data with a live geographical position in a personally activated and/or socially maintained data exchange (communication). Electronic Media are used to create/receive data, the Internet to transmit them, and the Geo-location technologies to position them; GeoMedia articulate these information in a live communication process.

GeoMedia are the technological platforms on which WEB 3.0 behaviours merge and expand: If WEB 1.0 can be seen as the initial move towards the simple transfer of content (Image, Sound, Text) to a new medium and digital delivery system. WEB 2.0 has seen the re-organization of such distribution of content on the basis of existing and developing social networks. In the new ecosystem interaction itself is transformed into data. WEB 3.0, based on the development of new social-networking applications, has its biggest momentum in the progressive integration of location based data in the communication process.

GeoMedia are to Space what the Watch is to Time. They regulate behaviour and coordinate interactions. They are a fundamental dimension of mediated interaction. GeoMedia regulate and generate capital, and are the predictable outcome of the expansion of capital. The move from the systematic capitalization of time (sanctioned by the Universal Time and the Standard Time) to the systematic informatization and re-capitalization of Space.

GeoMedia on the one hand reduce the distance between the Real and the Hyperreal (Baudrillard), they create yet another link between the represented (the object) and its representation (its simulation, its image), knotting them together at a certain time and location. On the other hand they increase their distance by rendering the former (the Real) a complementary but not necessary part of what we do with the latter (its representation). This processes further enhances the mimic, and the independent qualities of the simulation and contribute to the construction of the Hyperreal, a world of parallel, but different, signification systems (Image, Music, Text) in which we live parallel lives.

Preferred Reference System:

Lapenta, Francesco, 2008, “GeoMedia: Looking Back at 2008 and the Early Developments of WEB 3.0”, Draft June 2008, www.visualstudies.eu

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GeoMedia: Looking Back at 2008 and the Early Developments of WEB 3.0

This morning I left my studio in St Marks Pl ( 40°43′44.58″N,  73°59′18.82″W) at 09:13. I arrived at my favorite Caffe´, Taralluci e Vino ( 40°43′44.18″N,  73°59′4.38″W) at 09:21 and ordered breakfast, one big cappuccino and a plain croissant. When I placed my order on my mobile I was a little disappointed to see that my favourite chocolate croissants were finished. I always get a chocolate croissant with my cappuccino, I am a man of  habits, I should have checked before going out and reserved one for my breakfast before getting there, but then again I know I would never do that, I have always been too lazy to organise things too much in advance. While waiting for my breakfast I start to plan my day. I first check my live contacts on my world map, I can see that my wife is still at work (55°40′59.30″N, 12°34′43.00″E). She will be there for one hour more it´s 15:24 pm in Copenhagen, and she normally leaves the office around 16:30. Maurizio, my brother, instead is communicating to his friends that tonight he will go to a concert, the concert is in a club I know really well “Il Covo” (44°30′28.24″N, 11°22′39.15″E) , Bologna. Hold on, let me see; ok, I can see that the “Futureheads” are playing there tonight, I know he really likes them. Let me check, hummm not my kind of music, we always had different music taste me and my brother.

The cappuccino and the croissant arrive, I get a taste of both, delicious, the day is not really starting until I get my cup of coffee. Later today I have to meet with Dough who is coming from Pittsburgh ( 40°26′12.96″N,  79°59′21.33″W), but I can see on the live map that he is still 2 hours and 31 min away from New York ( 40°45′2.09″N,  73°59′36.89″W), the Amtrak live info system says that the train is on time, good. I get another sip of my coffee and another bite of my croissant, huuummm. I briefly check my e-mails, and turn on my online status. Within seconds Eric calls me, it´s really early, 06:31 am, in Arizona, Tempe (33°25′6.17″N, 111°55′59.10″W), I can see from the sun in the background that it is going to be another hot day in the Grand Canyon State, you really need to start the day early if you want something to get done with that heat. The phone vibrates, I check the Locator and tell Eric that we´ll chat later during the day, Locator is showing me that John is few blocks away and he is free, I send him my local call and invite him to join me for breakfast. I get another bite of my croissant, and briefly go trough my RSS feeds, one more sip of my cappucciono and i am on my to do list. I could not live without my To Do List and my Locator, too lazy to get in all the shops to find the things I need, I just set the list on my mobile and while walking around the city a vibration will tell me when I am in the proximity of a shop that has the items I require, the things I would like to see, the people i would like to meet. It´s 09:41 and John arrives, I smile to him, and put my mobile in my pocket thinking; how did I manage life before 2008? before the iPhone 2.0 and the  whole mobile WEB 3.0.

Preferred Reference System

Lapenta, Francesco, 2008, “GeoMedia: Looking Back at 2008 and the Early Developments of WEB 3.0”, Draft June 2008, www.visual-studies.eu

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The Sociological Documentary Course in Visual Sociology




Immersive Videos. The Evolution of VR Photography.

We knew they were coming, Google “Street View” hinted at it, and sooner then later here they are. First steps in the new 3D imaging evolution soon to come.

www.immersivemedia.com

Lawrence Lessing on User Generated Content

In an 18 min. video Lawrence Lessing provides the most compelling case for the use of “common sense” when legislating on our new, technologically induced, creative freedoms. A MUST see at TED talks.

Video (Direct link here)

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The Universal Digital Library (www.ulib.org)

“Though Google, Microsoft and the Internet Archive all have launched major book digitization projects, the Million Book Project represents the world’s largest, university-based digital library of freely accessible books. At least half of its books are out of copyright, or were digitized with the permission of the copyright holders, so the complete texts are or eventually will be available free.” (www.physorg.com/news115383203.html) From the website: “The mission is to create a Universal Library which will foster creativity and free access to all human knowledge. As a first step in realizing this mission, it is proposed to create the Universal Library with a free-to-read, searchable collection of one million books, available to everyone over the Internet. Within 10 years, it is our expectation that the collection will grow to 10 Million books. The result will be a unique resource accessible to anyone in the world 24×7, without regard to nationality or socioeconomic background.One of the goals of the Universal Library is to provide support for full text indexing and searching based on OCR (optical character recognition) technologies where available. The availability of online search allows users to locate relevant information quickly and reliably thus enhancing student’s success in their research endeavors. This 24×7 resource would also provide an excellent test bed for language processing research in areas such as machine translation, summarization, intelligent indexing, and information retrieval. www.ulib.org

TV Evolution and Global Resources

I very rarely watch tv nowadays (with the exception of the occasional film), but to satisfy my need of global tv connection i often use http://www.wwitv.com/portal.htm. This web site collects 1000s of national tv channels from around the globe all available live with on click from one portal. When it comes to experiments in the future models of televisions no doubt www.joost.com is right now the most polished and advanced offering from the creators of programs like skype and kazaa and of course watch out for these new experiments in p2ptelevision: http://zattoo.com/