To make one “Creative Technology Director” mix equal parts engineer, creative dreamer, and idealist. I’m constantly seeking new technology or services that fit one of two major criteria: 1. It’s really really cool -or- 2. I can creatively blend it with some existing services to create new solutions for marketing, communications, and entertainment. My background is pretty wacky and includes designing attractions for Disney, designing trade show experiences, writing plays, pushing really big buttons, designing laser systems and special effects for entertainment, engineering components for strategic defense and tactical weapons, kiosks, webcasting, strategic planning, and running a large videogame website as editor-in-chief.
Currently I’m losing brain cells at a rapid pace on behalf of my two kids, but I can still beat the pants off them in any videogame. I still can’t play the piano worth a damn. I can probably fill your head with more progressive rock trivia than should be allowed by the rules of interrogation under the Geneva Convention. I love new technology, but I don’t want to have to buy “The White Album” or “Star Wars” on any more plastic discs.
Surface at MSNBC for Election Coverage
By Rob Everton
By now you may know I’m a big fan of surface computing, multi-touch interfaces, and specifically, Microsoft Surface. Below is a video of Surface being used on MSNBC to map out election coverage.
As much as I love Surface, this doesn’t look like a good use of the technology. CNN has a multi-touch wall that is better suited for live television than the coffee-table format of Surface. With Surface, the camera has to constantly switch from a front to an overhead shot, which seems awkward. They use Surface’s unique object recognition to change the content on the display to correspond with labeled tiles placed on the surface by the host. This is cool and interesting, but seeing that interaction doesn’t help us as viewers.
See for yourself. I still believe Surface is an outstanding product for retail, exhibits, and corporate demo environments. But this seems a little bit of a force-feed by Microsoft.
Found on Engadget.