Eine steirische Firma produziert dreidimensionale Stadtpläne für Microsofts “Virtual Earth”. Graz ist die erste europäische Stadt, die online geht.

Graz. „Das ist das größte Kartierungsprojekt der Weltgeschichte.“ Franz Leberl, Geschäftsführer von Microsoft-Photogrammetry, spart nicht mit Eigenlob, wenn es um die Arbeit seines Unternehmens geht. Es produziert unter dem Titel „Virtual Earth“ dreidimensionale Stadtpläne, die im Internet unter http://maps.live.com kostenlos abrufbar sind. Als erste europäische Stadt wird Graz in rund einem Monat online gehen.

Später soll Wien folgen. Bis Juni will man insgesamt einhundert Städte weltweit im Netz haben, in fünf Jahren sollen es 3000 sein. Anders als bei Konkurrent „Google Earth“, wo auf Satellitenbilder als Basisinformation zurückgegriffen wird, setzt Microsoft auf eigens aufgenommene Luftbildaufnahmen. Sie werden in sehr hoher Auflösung zur zweiten „Virtual Earth“-Zentrale in die USA geschickt, wo sie für das Internet aufbereitet und online gestellt werden. Die Software dafür wird vom Standort Graz geliefert, die 600.000 Euro teuren Kameras werden in Völkermarkt (Kärnten) gebaut. Mit ihnen können Aufnahmen mit 15.000 x 10.000 Bildpunkten gemacht werden. Zum Vergleich: eine normale Digitalkompaktkamera liefert 3000 x 2000 Bildpunkte. Die High Tech-Produkte unterscheiden zwischen 7000 Graustufen und liefern gestochen scharfe Fotos, auf denen jedes Haus, jeder Baum, jeder Sonnenschirm in einem Gastgarten zu sehen ist. Die Daten werden automatisch in 3D-Modelle umgewandelt. „Die User haben die Möglichkeit durch Städte zu navigieren“, wirbt Stephen Lawler, General Manager von „Virtual Earth“. Als Steuerung dient die normale Computermaus oder ein XBox-Controller. Damit kann man aus jeder Himmelsrichtung über urbane Ballungsräume „fliegen“, durch Straßenschluchten fahren oder Einzelhäuser inspizieren.

Retuschen bei Kasernen

„Potenzielle Mieter können sich die Umgebung einer freien Wohnung anschauen, Touristen in Städten orientieren oder Unternehmer die Lage ihrer Filiale inklusive Routenbeschreibung auf ihrer Website anzeigen“, erklärt Lawler. Zur Finanzierung sollen innerhalb der virtuellen Welt Werbeflächen an Straßen und auf Häusern vermietet werden. Menschen oder fahrende und parkende Autos werden dagegen als irrelevante Momentaufnahmen-Information durch eine Objektivierungssoftware herausgelöscht. Auch bei sensiblen Gebäuden wird nachbearbeitet. Beispielsweise will man auf Vorgaben von Regierung oder Armee Rücksicht nehmen. Diese Bereiche sind in der virtuellen Darstellung unkenntlich gemacht. In den Niederlanden wurden Kasernen durch Bäume ersetzt.

(”Die Presse”, Print-Ausgabe, 23.05.2007)

Online-Artikel und mehr Informationen auf diepresse.com

Thank you! Have a nice weekend! Best,
Daniel

Today, Wickie is coming out everywhere in Austria. I have to say that Wickie was a funny movie. The characters are adorable and make up for a not so great plot. All in all a lovely movie for the family and people that have remained young in their hearts.

At the premiere were Bully Herbig, Jonas Hämmerle (Wickie), Günther Kaufmann (Der Schreckliche Sven). Wickie helmets were handed out, 7 cinemas were booked to show the movie (one entire cinema for OE3), the red carpet was rolled out, there was a big sound and light show and lots of fans and people eagar to win the last tickets to the premiere.

Here, some pics from the opening of the movie in the Cineplex Donauplex, in Vienna, last week:

(Click on the image to see all pictures)

Wickie is a true example of how smarts can win over muscle. Definitely, a great movie to start a new year of school!

My previous blog on the Joker:

http://blog.ipressl.com/2008/08/11/exklusiv-interview-mit-verstorbenen-schauspieler-genie-heath-ledger/

The Oscars, an amazing event that speaks the international language of art ~ Penelope Cruz (Winner of the Oscar for best supporting actress, 2009)

Great! I submited the concept of CINEATRIX (www.redwired.org/cineatrix) last year and was happy to find out that it got so far at the MLA (more info about the MLA award – german site).

A lot of the cool videos that we made through this joint-project between MIT, iPressl and Kimeki can be found right on this blog in the left column or on youtube via “cineatrix, ipressl”.

And that is how much fun we had:

It is a good day to be proud! Best,
Daniel

Toller Artikel in der Kaerntner Zeitung! Ich weiss, wieviel Zeit und Arbeit ihr in eure Sache steckt (durch unsere Zusammenarbeit mit Wolfsberg Studios)!

Nochmal, Gratulation, zu den verdienten Lorbeeren! Hier, euer Artikel (www.kleinezeitung.at):

mehr NEWs zu Cleave auf deren Redwired Seite und auf YOUTUBE:

Heavy Greetz! Euer,
Daniel

In search of the mysterious Organization Quantum of Solace, Bond finds his new enemy, the evil business man Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). Green manipulates different goverments to reach controll over the world’s most important resource – WATTER (see also: “Living Planet Report", a Study of the Worldwide Fund for Nature WWF: “…we need more than 1,3 planets already!….”)!

Fotos of the Premiere (bild.de)

Austria-Start: 7. November!
USA-Start: 14. November!

Translation of paragraph in red letters: “Sometimes you meet people on the set that you get quite close to – then you pack your things and maybe you never see each other again, sometimes without saying a last Goodbye.”

(see SKIP, DAS KINOMAGAZIN)

The movie was a blast! (you can read a previous article about the movie on my blog here)

Be Kind Rewind Footage

Continuously thinking about my project CINEATRIX, while already standing in line for the preview screening of Be Kind Rewind, then obviously during the movie and then looking forward to the Question & Answers session, I was quite nervous when it got to the point when the following happened:

“Well, that sounds like a great idea!”

~ Michel Gondry on CINEATRIX

I had a minute to explain over the microphone that was put up near my seat after the showing to explain to Michel Gondry what CINEATRIX was all about. In the end I asked him if he could give me some advice, his answer was:

“Now, just stay motivated and let things happen in front of the camera, without taking to much control from behind the camera.”

~ Michel Gondry on CINEATRIX

To see Michel Gondry’s new movie Be Kind Rewind and to then hear him talk about his works and life was quite amazing. The lecture hall was packed and there were some good questions being asked during the Q&A session. Michel Gondry also said that he loves coming back to MIT. Through my research for this article I found that he was actually a so called “artist-in-residence” at MIT! Here is a little excerpt of a recently published WIRED article about Michel Gondry:

Gondry spent 2005 as an artist-in-residence at Nerdland. That’s the name his 16-year-old son bestowed on MIT, which invited Gondry there to pursue his interest in neuroscience. “They understand the connection between science and the arts,” Gondry says of the school. “It’s very blurry. It was brainstorming all the time.” At MIT, Gondry tried out some unusual notions about special effects. His idea was to combine digital technology and chemistry. “People are always thinking to make everything digital,” Gondry says. “The key would be to do an interface between the digital, for the control, and the chemical, for the reaction. If you can get the two worlds together, you can make the best effects ever.” In one experiment, for instance, Gondry mixed up a paste of cornstarch and water. He placed the paste on a plate and wired it to a speaker, then added a strobe light. By changing the speaker’s frequency, he created reverb on the plate, and the concoction bubbled and spewed into strange and beautiful shapes.

Sounds like an eighth-grade science project. But keep in mind that this same mad scientist pioneered the technique known as bullet-time four years before The Matrix. That bit of inspiration happened after Gondry saw computerized morphing (think of the T-1000 robot in Terminator 2). Instead of merging one person into another, though, Gondry wanted to morph shots of a scene from different perspectives into one take. He placed cameras around the studio to “freeze” the action, then had the shots digitally composited so that the environment appeared to revolve around the center. It took three weeks to complete six minutes of effects, incorporating more than 1,000 digital morphings and several freeze sequences. The result was an award-winning 1995 Rolling Stones music video, “Like a Rolling Stone.” “Michel has this technical side,” says his brother and collaborator, Olivier Gondry, who helped him develop the effect. “He is not especially good with a computer, but he is very good at imagining what a computer can do and then finding the person who can do it.”

I wish I could have talked more with Michel Gondry about CINEATRIX and his work and future projects, but of course that was not possible. As a sidenote, the room was also packed with bodyguards that filmed he audience with infrared cameras during the viewing, for any recording devices that might have been smuggled in (if they had made it by the security check at the entrance of the classroom).

Anyways, I was very glad and honored, which I told Michel Gondry at the beginning of my question, to have been able to speak with this amazing artist for at least about a minute!

I. Spracherwerb: Zukunftsvisionen am MIT

Deb Roy, Professor am MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, setzt auf geballte Technik. Und auf die Video-Beobachtung seines zweijährigen Sohnes: Ganz gleich, ob Roy Junior Bauklötze stapelt, mit seiner Mama ein Buch anschaut oder trotzig herumspringt – in den Zimmerdecken installierte Kameras halten alles fest, rund um die Uhr. Mikrofone zeichnen jeden Ton auf, den der Knirps von sich gibt. Dies alles ist Teil eines wissenschaftlichen Projektes zum Thema Spracherwerb. Aus den Aufnahmen – rund 400000 Stunden in drei Jahren – soll eine riesige Datenbank entstehen. Ziel: Entwicklung von Robotern, die die Sprachentwicklung von Kindern nachvollziehen lassen. (quellegeo40/D/EU) ek

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2006/05/17/mits-speech-recognition-baby
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmafp/is_200605/ai_n16379261

II. Search Engine for Children

QUINTURA! Eine Suchmaschine fuer Kinder! Take a quick tour.

III. Cyberschool (Austria)

Cyberschool ist der größte, österreichweite SchülerInnen-Wettbewerb im Bereich Internet, Mobile und Multimedia, in dessen Rahmen man Know-how in Form von praktischen Projekten umsetzen und präsentieren kann. Mehr dazu…!

IV. Digital Natives – Twitter Blog

Digital Natives

V. Vancouver Film School – Tolle Werke

Schaut’ mal auf deren Webseite!

VI. Planet Science Under 11s

A lot of the content on the site is aimed at the 11 – 19 age group. Some really cool software for kids!

VII. Scratch

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.

Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.

Scratch is available free of charge, go to Download.
Currently available for Mac OSX and Windows

To find more about the ideas underlying Scratch, visit this page for Educators.

VIII. Khronos Projector

Khronos Projector [a video time-warping machine with a tangible deformable screen] by Alvaro Cassinelli

The Khronos Projector is an interactive-art installation allowing people to explore pre-recorded movie content in an entirely new way. A classic video-tape allows a simple control of the reproducing process (stop, backward, forward, and elementary control on the reproduction speed). Modern digital players add little more than the possibility to perform random temporal jumps between image frames.

The goal of the Khronos Projector is to go beyond these forms of exclusive temporal control, by giving the user an entirely new dimension to play with: by touching the projection screen, the user is able to send parts of the image forward or backwards in time. By actually touching a deformable projection screen, shaking it or curling it, separate “islands of time” as well as “temporal waves” are created within the visible frame. This is done by interactively reshaping a two-dimensional spatio-temporal surface that “cuts” the spatio-temporal volume of data generated by a movie.

IX. Diesel Show: Underwater Magic

Fashion show of SS’08 Preview Collection at Pitti Uomo. Journey through time and liquid space to a futuristic world of bioluminescence, giant mechanic cephalopods, futuristic aquanauts and mysterious galactic polips. Witness the first catwalk show with real models showing with holographic models.

X. Projekt ueber erste Eindruecke

Menschen sehen sich ueber eine Kamera, aber zu versetzen Zeiten und muessen die Person beschreiben, die sie gerade sehen: How people perceive each other based on appearance

XI. Fully Illustrated

Check out cool drawings and creatures at Fully Illustrated: