TileStack - Your Creative Playground

TileStack - Your Creative Playground: "Remember that great application that used to come with all Macs called HyperCard? Ever wished it would return, only better? Say hello to TileStack!"

I liked Hypercard. I knew people from all walks of life who used it. It was free, included with all Macs, and the scripting language was easy to learn. Users could build some fairly complex applications in a short period of time. There are a lot of tools out there that do what Hypercard can also do and the tools are used for what most people used to use Hypercard for (contacts, recipes, etc.) but the presence of a powerful but simple scripting language means that users have to ability to take it far beyond the vision of the creators. Most often, Hypercard stacks were pretty basic, but in the hands of the right user, it could really fly. For instance, in the final days of Hypercard, someone built a complete bulletin board system from nothing but Hypercard. A bulletin board was a pre-WWW system that users would dial into to leave messages, host games, and communicate with one another. BBSs were often stacks of modems in people's garages. Applications like Hypercard democratize technology.

How Second Life Affects Real Life - TIME

How Second Life Affects Real Life - TIME

One of the more remarkable things about this article is that it is appearing in Time Magazine. I like seeing this in the mainstream press. The article looks at research at Stanford that explores how a person's avatar can effect them in "real" life. I am glad the behavioralists at Stanford are catching up. A great description of this process is already found in Carl Jung. One of the reasons that I think teaching works in SL is the phenomenon of projection and transference.

"The possibilities are — virtually — endless. Inhabit buffed-up versions of yourself to lose weight, cuter versions of yourself to gain confidence, or older versions to start putting money away for the future (that last one is being studied at Stanford now). "The most stunning part is how subtle the manipulations are and how difficult they are to detect," says Bailenson, "but how much it affects real life later on."

This research really holds up. Ever since I created an avatar in Second Life, I just get better looking everyday.

Spike Lee and Nokia team up for film - International Herald Tribune

Spike Lee and Nokia team up for film - International Herald Tribune: "Spike Lee and Nokia team up for film
By Laura M. Holson
Published: April 24, 2008

Who says cellphones are good only for talking? Today they are bringing together two unlikely brand names: Nokia and Spike Lee.

Lee, the director, is teaming up with Nokia, the cellphone maker, to direct a short film comprising YouTube-style videos created by teenagers and adults using their mobile phones.

By hiring Lee for the project, Nokia is seeking to combine the populist appeal of user-generated content with the power of a famous director's pedigree. The film will have three acts, each three to five minutes long, with the theme loosely based on the concept of humanity."