Category Archives: Techie Rant

Google Street View Hyperlapse

Apr

22

Take Google’s Street View, add a splash of Java script and top it all up with a photographic time-lapse technique with sweeping camera moves and what do you get? This:

This is a trend known as Hyper-lapse photography – a technique combining time-lapse and sweeping camera movements typically focused on a point of interest and has been a growing trend on video sites. Creating them requires precision and many hours stitching together photos taken from carefully mapped locations… or does it?

Step up Teehan+Lax, a creative outfit based in Toronto. By using Google’s Street View as source material and some clever Java script programming to designate a point of interest within the animation, Teehan+Lax has made the process much simpler. In fact, it worked so well they decided to design a UI around the engine and release Google Street View Hyperlapse. Street View takes all the photo stitching hard work out so anyone can make their own Hyperlapse by using easy-to-use interface and engine. Chrome is recommended due to the WebGL platform.

Try it for yourself!

Twitter’s all grown up

Jun

12

This is a few days old now, but for those of you that have not heard about it yet, Twitter has redesigned its bird motif, or should I say evolved its bird. No longer does it appear a bit whimsical, instead, it has come of age and looks a little more sophisticated and grown-up. It’s lost some of it’s character I feel, but that may be in part due to the fact it is now a serious global brand and a major corporate player, hence the need to grow up. Doug Bowman (Creative Director of Twitter) says, “This bird is crafted purely from three sets of overlapping circles – similar to how your networks, interests and ideas connect and intersect with peers and friends”, he goes on to say “Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.”

The intention of twitter is for people to use the bird motif without the use of the wording. They feel as though the new identity will be strong and recognisable enough to stand alone. The colour has been tweaked to and is dark a darker shade of blue. Let us know your thoughts.

Here is the old bird

And here is the new one

Old game, modern browser technology

May

22

Last week marked 20 years since Wolfenstein 3D was released. As the first true 3D First-Person Shooter (FPS), it set the template for FPSs and has been the inspiration for thousands of games that followed since its original release. This game was truly revolutionary, considering what was available on the PC at the time, a time when web pages were just plain text and only few people even knew they existed. 20 years ago, far more people would have known about this game than knew of the existence of web pages.

So why a post about a 20 year old game?! Well, it has now been released again, for free, and this time it is based on the latest internet technology that is HTML5.

HTML5 is being used more frequently and for more and more multimedia applications that will work on any device that has a web browser – quite a difference experience from playing it on a dedicated PC sitting at your desk and that’s after driving to a shop to buy the game on disk. Now you only have to visit a web address from the comfort of your armchair on your phone, tablet or laptop and you’ll be playing it in an instant, without waiting or costs, shooting with your fingertips.

What makes HTML5 special is that it’s totally free, requires no plug-ins and is platform independent so it’s also future proofed for when the next big device comes along for accessing the internet. In this instance, your HTML5 apps in most cases will still work with no waiting or hoping that a plug-in comes out for that device or a patch to keep the device (is even) up to date. In theory, if you have an older iPhone you could still run a HTML5 app long after the app store has moved on.

So, is now the time to start thinking outside the app store and to start thinking of HTML5 for your app needs? Well, if it’s a simple app then the answer is yes. An extract from Ian Hardy’s BBC News article (linked below):

“…a lot of brand names don’t like being part of someone else’s ecosystem because they lose control of pricing and subscribers. The Financial Times recently announced it will shut off its iPad app completely following the success of its HTML5 web page.

This is a trend that is likely to snowball within months.”

Play the game in HTML 5 here: wolfenstein.bethsoft.com

Read this interesting BBC article on HTML5 here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17931814

(Opinion: Rob Barfield – Senior Programmer)

Marketing in 2012: Booth Babes?

Jan

13

Emerging technological breakthroughs were once synonymous with lab coats, thick-rimmed glasses and dodgy haircuts. In more recent times, (much like the motor industry) the technology industry – especially the ‘gadget’ and ‘gaming’ sectors – have been promoted through the use of pretty woman, often scantily clad or in latex, hired to give products some ‘sex appeal’ and entice consumers to get up and personal on the stand. The gaming and gadget industry may still be driven primarily by male consumers, but does this cheap marketing ploy still work, and is it acceptable with the ever rising female user-base and woman working in the tech industry? What are your thoughts on ‘eye-candy’ at expos? Tasteless? Harmless? Unrepresentative? Would you rather someone who had more than a one minute briefing demonstrate their wares? Are you offended as a male, to be targeted as being a hormonal schoolboy – won over by a pretty lady, or as a female, that women are used as the products themselves?

Some women at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas have expressed their frustration at the scantily-clad “booth babes” hired by some companies to promote their stalls.

The BBC’s Matt Danzico investigates whether this practice is an effective marketing strategy, or merely a reflection on gender relations in technology.

WATCH THE REPORT HERE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16533289

(Opinion: Jon Price – designer)

Welcome 2012, Goodbye IE6

Jan

6

As we welcome in another year, so everyone’s favourite software bods, Microsoft wave goodbye to Internet Explorer 6. Web developers the world over* rejoice and we all look into the html 5 driven future with great joy and enthusiasm.

Microsoft revealed this week that less than 1% of US internet users now use the program to surf the web. Microsoft held a light-hearted celebration to mark the imminent demise of their IE6 browser by baking a ‘Goodbye IE6′ cake. Microsoft themselves have been  keen to kill off this old version of the browser which was first shipped with Windows XP over 10 years ago. They even launched an IE6 countdown website last year to chart the demise of its usage.

Like an elderly relative, IE6 has been causing headaches for web developers for many years with its blatant disregard for any kind of web standards and it’s frustrating array of display quirks. This milestone has been a long time coming and makes for a very welcome introduction to a fresh new year.

Read the BBC article here

Opinion: Simon Farrow, web designer

* Based on US usage dropping below 1%. The UK is reportedly 1.4%, but China still have over 25% usage. DNA as a company decided to stop supporting IE6 for new web builds last year, but approach each new site individually, assessing the necessity for backwards compatibility by client and target market.