Virtual Worlds

Google Street View gets photographic makeover

Plenty of photographers have tapped Google Street View for imagery.

Doug Rickard travels the byways of the U.S. via Street View to find images that, in the words of the Museum of Modern Art, "comment on poverty and racial equity in the United States, the bounty of images on the Web, and issues of personal privacy."

Michael Wolf became a flashpoint for controversy when his project "A Series of Unfortunate Events" received kudos from the World Press Photo competition--could Wolf's Street View-based approach truly be called photojournalism?

And Jon Rafman, discussing his own Street View work, has cited "hard-boiled American street photography," Depression-era Farm Securities Administration photos, and the work of famous "decisive moment" photojournalist Cartier-Bresson, among other things.

Aaron Hobson, however, seems less concerned with the documentary and journalistic potential of Street View images. Hobson doesn't like his Street View images served raw. He likes to cook them a little.… Read more

iPad artists adbust with augmented reality

Here's an interesting iPad-equipped, augmented-reality twist on adbusting and culture jamming.

Responding to my recent post about a mural "restored" using a giant QR code, CNET reader victoria_ro pointed to an ongoing project by the New York-based Public Ad Campaign and its Left Coast compatriot The Heavy Projects.

The project, which surfaced in New York's Times Square earlier this year, is dubbed the Augmented Reality Advertising Takeover, or AR | AD, and it "uses augmented reality to transform, filter, and democratize the messaging in public space"--to quote the intro to a video that documents the effort (you'll find the film embedded below).

A clutch of artists create works that appear when viewers toting iPads or other smart mobile devices train their gadgets on given ads. A setup using Junaio's augmented-reality technology, which can recognize images, spies a particular ad and serves up the appropriate art piece.… Read more

Giant QR code fights graffiti, 'restores' mural

It seems a mural sponsored by the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, as a deterrent to graffiti, wound up attracting a little instead. But someone came up with an interesting temporary fix for the defacement.

A tipster named Jason informed street-art site Wooster Collective that a giant QR code had been placed over the offending, spray-painted tag.

And when passersby scan the code with their smartphones, they're served up an image of the original, undamaged mural, along with information about its origins.

That's a nice idea. But in describing the fix as "temporary" a few paragraphs … Read more

Tiny Speck's Glitch game gets a re-beta

The natural evolution of software is to go from beta to fully launched. So the decision today by Tiny Speck to revert its recently launched virtual world back to beta may leave some scratching their heads.

After a long period in closed beta, Tiny Speck in September formally pulled the curtains back on Glitch, a virtual world that takes players "inside the imagination of ancient giants." The company was founded by Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield, along with fellow Flickr veterans Cal Henderson, Eric Costello, and Serguei Mourachov. Butterfield explained today's decision to CNET by saying that as … Read more

My Robot Nation aims for personal 3D printing for all

It seemed inevitable, and now it's here: 3D printing meets robots.

With the launch of My Robot Nation, which is taking place today in conjunction with Google's official re-launch of its Chrome Store, almost anyone can go online and create the droid of their dreams.

And it's just the start of what could be a revolution in consumer-focused 3D printed products.

My Robot Nation is from Kodama Studios, a Silicon Valley startup founded by two longtime video game industry veterans. The service offers a chance to craft your own robot design and have it quickly 3D printed … Read more

Dive into theBlu, a giant ocean simulation

Coming to a Web browser near you--a giant user-generated simulation of the world's oceans.

Known as theBlu, the huge collaborative project is the first effort from Wemo, a startup built by a series of Hollywood veterans including Academy Award-winning animator Andy Jones, as well as MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito. The idea? To let 3D artists design and model many of the creatures of the deep, and to invite everyday users to explore and learn about the digital sea, and to collect--and buy--the artists' creations. TheBlu launched Tuesday.

Ultimately, Venice, Calif.-based Wemo intends to use its "… Read more

Video game spending ticks up in 1st quarter, NPD says

FarmVille, virtual guns, and Angry Birds helped drive a slight increase in total video game spending in the first quarter, according to NPD Group.

The market researcher said today that gamers poured $5.9 billion into hardware, content, and accessories in the period, a 1.5 percent increase from a year ago. The main catalysts include digital game downloads, mobile games, downloadable content, and social network games.

The new forms of content accounted for $1.85 billion in the period, underscoring the growing importance of games on smartphones and social networks.

The increase comes as Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter … Read more

Zynga about to file for IPO

Zynga is poised to file for its initial public offering, according to sources close to the situation.

The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission could come as early as this week, or next week at the latest.

The move is not entirely unexpected, given how well the recent IPOs of several Internet companies have done recently, including business networking site LinkedIn last week and Russian search giant Yandex today.

Their strong performances show the huge investor appetite for fast-growing and high-profile Web 2.0 firms. Wall Street is also prepping for eventual public offerings from social buying site Groupon … Read more

Joi Ito dives into the MIT Media Lab (Q&A)

Consider this list of institutions and companies that are at the center of the Internet and technology worlds: Creative Commons, Mozilla, Technorati, ICANN, Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Twitter, Six Apart, and Flickr. What do they all have in common?

If you answered Joi Ito, you're spot on. And now you can add the MIT Media Lab to that list. Ito is a Japanese venture capitalist and entrepreneur who has been running and investing in technology companies like those listed above and serving on the boards of important institutions for years. And on Monday, he was … Read more

CNET lets you jump the line for the Glitch beta

This is your chance to enter the world of the giants.

Last week, Glitch, the new online game from Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield's company Tiny Speck went into beta. A whimsical playground that lets users meander through a complex, stylized virtual world, Glitch might someday be a place populated by millions of people looking for a little more than your standard Facebook game.

But for now, anyone wanting to play the game has to wait in a line of thousands of people queued up for the Glitch beta. Not you, though. At least, not if you're one of … Read more