me: hm I think I'll get back into 3d modeling
maya: cool but I'm not going to display bump maps and you're never going to be able to find out why
me: hm I think I'll never do anything ever again
Latest update to the 3D web browser lets you create and remix 3D web pages easily, letting you drag and drop images, GIFs, videos and even 3D models into a space. In some ways, this could be the most important and creative web browser at the moment.
It should be noted that even though the browser was designed for VR headsets, you do not require one to use it (It can be operated like a single person view PC game).
Embedded below is a video capture of a session put together by The VR Bar to see these new features in action (it is nearly two hours long, but you only need to see a portion of it to get an idea of how it works):
Janus VR is available for PC, Mac and Linux, and you can find out more here
[GIFs above were put together using content created by Usagiihere]
The event returns this year with more artists producing pieces for the 40 year old European information service (including an entry by myself). Also worth noting is that various European channels will be presenting these works on their service, allowing you to see them on your own television:
ARD Text, ORF TELETEXT, Swiss Text and arte Teletext present the International Teletext Art Festival ITAF 2015 (August 13th to September 13th 2015). ITAF starts on August 13th and is broadcasted for one month in ARD Text, ORF TELETEXT and ORF III TELETEXT, Swiss Text and arte Teletext. It will be also part of the Ars Electronica Festival 2015 “Post City”, in Linz/Austria, September 3rd to 7th 2015.
Since it was launched in 2012 the International Teletext Art Festival ITAF has been enjoyed by over two million people in Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and Finland. The festival can be experienced in millions of private homes which makes it one of the biggest media art events in the world. The idea of the festival, which was founded by the Finnish artist cooperative FixC, is to explore the creative aspects of teletext by inviting artists to create art works in teletext format and to broadcast the results to the public.
Teletext is an economical broadcasting format where the essential information is delivered using a technology first launched in 1970’s by BBC and has since been used daily by millions of people for over 40 years. Technically a teletext page is based on pixels and can be perceived as a grid of 24 rows and 40 columns. The teletext palette has only six colors plus white and black and special effects are limited to blink-effect making it a challenging platform for the participating artists.
The 15 artists/artist groups featured in the 2015 festival who are also competing for the Teletext Art Prize are: Bakketun & Norum (NO), Christina Kramer (DE), Emilie Gervais (FR), Holger Lippmann (DE), Ian Gouldstone (US), Karin Ferrari (AT), MadAsHell (US), Maria Lavman Vetö (SE), Matthias Moos (CH), Max Capacity (US), Paula Lehtonen (FI), Ryo Ikeshiro (JP), Bernhard Garnicnig & Lukas Heistinger (AT), Rich Oglesby (GB) and Rainer Kohlberger (AT).
If you have ever wanted an X-Ray machine in the lab to assist in tracing out the PCB traces that run under components? John McMaster built just that. He used a dental X-Ray machine which has a very small image size. A controller moves the system to allow for multiple images to be taken and stitched together later. The result is demystified reverse engineering. Via: Make
Matt Borgatti created this War Boy Bandana so you can wear your Mad Max fandom on your face:
Witness me, Bloodbag, because I’m biting down on some silver spray paint and flooring my wasteland doom buggy on a one way trip to oblivion. Any day you’re wearing engine grease as eye shadow, firing explosive spears at the cars that ate Paris, and sucking the blood out of an apocalyptic drifter to sustain your half-life for a final trip down Fury Road is a lovely one.
Meet the apocalypse in style with a face that is genuinely shiny and chrome. These 22×22″ black cotton bandanas are printed in a near-indestructible bright white plastisol ink and shiny reflective silver detailing around the mouth. Use this bandana to filter the dust of a crumbling city as you scrounge for parts to repair your armored hot rod. Use it to shade your head as you barter with cliff dwelling cannibals for gasoline and shells. Use it to bundle up a precious few trinkets as you flee from midnight marauders into a wild and unknown desert. It also makes a handy pocket square for flagging: “Apocalypse. ISO – Acolytes.”
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
Going Abroad is both a very amusing read and extremely practical. Americans abroad tend to have two kinds of toilet difficulties, low tech and high tech.
At one end of the spectrum, there is the squat toilet. This may appear to be simply a porcelain hole in the ground with foot rests, but you can learn to use it. First, you probably need to practice squatting before you leave home. You need to build up those underused muscles so that you don’t fall in. Second, you need to learn which direction to face. (Hint: you want the two holes involved to more or less line up).
The second low tech problem is toilet paper (or the lack thereof). You’ll learn how the locals wipe themselves without paper. Actually, they usually rinse with water. That bucket and dipper by the toilet are not for drinking. Still, be careful about grabbing anybody’s left hand. Local customs do vary.
Why is there a waste basket full of used toilet paper in the bathroom? Why don’t they flush it? There’s a reason. Don’t you flush yours. You may knock out the plumbing system for the building, or even the whole village. (I’d like to take this opportunity to once again apologize to the people at the Naval Museum in Haifa. I didn’t know.)
The USA used to be a technologically advanced nation. Not so much anymore. The problems at the other end of the spectrum involve high tech toilets in more advanced countries, particularly Japan. The important thing is to learn how to flush them without needing to call down to the hotel reception desk for assistance. Unfortunately, this book is somewhat dated. It does not cover the latest toilets, which are probably Wi-Fi hotspots that will analyze the contents of your excrement and send health recommendations to your phone. But the main thing is how to flush.
In this book you will also learn about the mysterious bidet, what it is for, and most importantly, what it is not for.
This book is very well-illustrated to aid in learning.
All images courtesy of Cambridge University Library
The earliest example of multicolor printing is now available for the public eye, digitally available through Cambridge University Library’s Digital Library site. The 17th century book, Manual of Calligraphy and Painting (Shi zhu zhai shu hua pu), is so fragile that it was previously forbidden to be opened, its contents a total mystery before its recent digitization.
The book was created in 1633 by Ten Bamboo Studio and is the earliest known example of polychrome xylography, invented by Hu Zhengyan. The technique, also referred to as douban, uses several printing blocks applied in succession with different inks to achieve the appearance of a hand-painted watercolor. The Cambridge site explains that the although the skill required to achieve such douban prints is admirable, the gradations of color within the book are what led to its reputation as “perhaps the most beautiful set of prints ever made.”
The manual contains eight categories showcasing birds, plumbs, orchids, bamboos, fruit, stones, ink drawings and miscellany. All of these sections of the manual are contained in the original “butterfly binding,” and has been identified to be the finest copy in the original binding by a leading scholar.
In addition to Shi zhu zhai shu hua pu, the library has also digitized other selections from its Chinese collections including the oracle bones (the earliest surviving examples of Chinese writing anywhere in the world), a Buddhist text dated between 1127 and 1175, and a 14th century banknote that threatens forgers with decapitation. (via Hyperallergic)
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
