University video game design programs have been spreading like wildfire around the world over the last ten years. They allow students, researchers and game developers to work on their craft in an academic environment away from the harsh realities of the market, and have led to some interesting products like Fl0w from USC and Ulitsa Dimitrova from Germany. Both games take on topics not often addressed in mainstream games and do so in simple, poignant ways that aim to influence the rest of the ...
Most kids who play video games will never become professional gamers. Those that do are part of a very select group— it's like being a professional actor or athlete. It's nice work if you can get it. For everyone else, the sad realization usually arrives sooner or later that time spent playing games might not have the practical rewards that homework or working hard at your job might deliver.
Mobile devices can do just about anything these days, thanks to third-party developers. iPhones and Android devices have been known to do some pretty wild things. Need a dupe key made? Scan and order one with your iPhone. Want to know if you're hotter than Justin Bieber? Compare your facial features. Are you a policeman who needs to ID a suspect? Scan their fingerprints and irides. Want to control your Canon DSLR remotely? Use your Android phone.
Fatherhood is difficult, especially when you're an octopus. That is the moral of the 2011 IGF Student Showcase winner Octodad, available for free from its website. This hilarious little title was created by a team of interactive media students at DePaul University in Chicago, and is the latest in a stream of successful indie games to come out of collegiate video game design programs. In fact, it's so successful that a sequel is in the works.
With Microsoft's release of the Kinect SDK, things seem to have slowed down a bit in the world of Kinect development. Have developers exhausted the uses of Kinect already? No way! Four researchers at Cornell University have created an AI-based system on the Kinect that can recognize what you're doing, and maybe even who is doing it.
Were you horrified when Gwyneth Paltrow's head ended up in a box in Se7en? Do you share Harrison Ford's opinion that Han Solo should have died in Return of the Jedi? Think Kurt Russell could have handled aliens better in The Thing? Well, sorry—you're out of luck. There's nothing you can do to prevent William Wallace's beheading or Carrie's mayhem. But thanks to MyndPlay, controlling the plot to future films is totally possible.
What's the next best thing to being an official scientist? Being a non-official one. A new website called Science for Citizens helps you find the science experiment of your dreams, hook up with the scientists involved, and actually take part in the experiment itself. Here are some examples of what you can do:
One of the creepiest musical instruments ever is undoubtedly the theremin, a device originating from the early 20s that emits eerie sounds with a just a wave of the hand. If you've seen the original movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, you know what I mean—freakishly creepy. Playing the theremin can be off-putting for some, since it's a relatively pricy gizmo, but a new geek gadget called the EaTheremin aims to make all of us professional, dinnertime theremists.
Always wanted a fluorescent dog but didn’t want to commit? Well, here’s your solution. Researchers at Seoul National University developed fluorescent puppies that only glow when you want them to. Just inject the special pups with doxycycline and they’ll glow like a black light poster for a few weeks. Then, they return to dull, furry normal.
Body hacks. So simple, so ingenious. They're the shortcuts in life. We love them, the internet loves them. Back in 2008, somebody named Alicia Goh wrote a friendster blog post that has been passed along far and wide. Her tricks of the body include quick solutions for an itchy throat, a stuffy nose, a dire need to pee, and more. My favorites:
Does size matter? When it comes to optical illusions, it does. The size of a human brain's visual cortex determines how he or she sees the world, meaning not everybody observes optical illusions in the same way.
We've covered a variety of life perks, short cuts, and cheats (35 to be exact), but what about your health? Neatorama has compiled a list of "tricks" to staying healthy and keeping off the pounds.
LIFE magazine has posted a gallery of bizarrely wonderful old school scientific models. Don't miss the giant fetus or massive colon (double ew). Behold, science education before computers ruled our world.
Get to know Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard: Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard was born in Bolye Heights, Los Angeles, County, California on June 12, 1941.
Scientists have recently released a mathematical breakdown of the perfect handshake. The University of Manchester researchers discovered that nearly one-in-five people hate the handshake, listing complaints such as sweaty palms, limp wrists, gripping too hard and no eye contact.
I took a class in the fall entitled Writing for Television at Bentley University in Boston. Much of what I learned has helped me through my first year of creative writing. One of the keys to writing television that we learned in the class was that a television show follows the traditional three act structure that any story follows, except for the fact that in a television episode, many questions are allowed to go unanswered.
Make My Mondays Meatless! One day a week join in on cutting out the meat! This Presidential initiative revived by The Monday Campaigns in association with Johns Hopkins, rolled out this program to the Baltimore public schools, then San Francisco went meatless and now celebrity chef extraordinaire Mario Batali and his fleet of fabulous restaurants said I'll play too! Now you too can help fuel this fire!
Researching the job market thoroughly and with the correct resources is important to the advancement of your career. Watching this video will establish how to research your career options, find information about companies and familiarize yourself with job titles that are a fit for the degree and/or certifications you have earned as well as your professional background. Find the perfect job today!
Popsci has posted 2009's most amazing scientific images, and there's quite a few great ones in there. A few of our favorites below, click through for all 62.
As Hummer puts it, it's "The Ultimate Gadget for Grown-Ups." Dr. James Brighton from Britain's Cranfield University has converted a full-size Hummer H3 into a working remote control vehicle.
Watch this first 'tutorial'.FauxTo! Hoax! Con! May 28, 2008, this video was uploaded to YouTube illustrating the popcorn popping power of a circle of ringing mobile phones. Radiation. Amazing. Viral. Millions viewed.
Guitar Essentials My friends and I would secretly scribble tab in the darkly lit practice rooms in our university even though we were educated musicians. So, being able to read tablature, or tab, is essential for beginning guitarists.
The resume is an essential tool for getting freelance work assignments. A well written article is not enough when trying to secure a freelance or staff position as a writer. Publishers want to see a resume. It gives the writer an outstanding opportunity to introduce themselves and it gives the editor a general idea of who you are, where you've been, and the work you've completed.
I know there are many students going for their first job that are new to the whole interview process. This is why I’m writing this article—to provide some tips on making your first interview experience simpler and hopefully successful. I’m currently in a university, but I had my first job when I was in ninth grade. I’ve held a few jobs and have undergone interviews many times. Sometimes they didn’t go so well, but I did learn from my mistakes. As I learned, I became better at interviews and s...
What is Google Dorking? Well, simply put, "Google Dorking" is just an efficient way to utilise keywords in order to perform very specific searches on a given subject. In this case, one would look for websites/servers that are vulnerable to attacks or are configured improperly by using specific search criteria that should yeild results, should it find matches to known mistakes/errors in a website or webserver.
It’s been a pretty big week for Google, and Google+ itself. There were a number of articles proclaiming the end of Google+, because allegedly traffic dropped over 60% after it opened to the public. Then +Steve Yegge accidentally posted a long rant on Google+ itself, which was originally meant only for Google employees and colleagues to see. Interestingly enough, the most inflammatory content wasn’t actually about Google itself, but about the horrible work environment at Amazon. The accidental...
Hideo Kojima is one of the biggest names in Japanese game design. He's the man behind every Metal Gear game, each of which has been beautiful but divisive. He's an auteur, a rarity in AAA game design, managing business, design, and programming for Kojima Productions. Last week he made a rare public appearance at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which contains the school's video game programs, and gave a 90-minute talk about his career, influences, and the specifics of his new Fox game design...
Listen up Scrabblers... you finally have something to brag about besides knowing what MUZJIK is, and if you think it's elevator music, put those tiles back in the bag and pack up your Scrabble board because this doesn't apply to you.
Last week, Google+ took a crucial step towards becoming exactly like Facebook. As of now, there are games available for download within the service, most notably Angry Birds, which is already available on at least one of the devices owned by everyone in America today. Some of the other popular games include Bejeweled Blitz and Zynga Poker, and out of all of the available titles, all come from four companies that have come to form the four-headed dragon of U.S. casual gaming: EA, Zynga, PopCap...
Our hacked Kinect series has demonstrated amply how the Kinect is changing the worlds of business, art, medicine and robotics. But where does it go from here? That will be determined by the thousands of dedicated DIYers out there doing work like you've seen here over the last week.
Are you prone to crusades of the overambitious? Well, here's one for you: try to find and identify every animal on earth. You may think scientists have a handle on this, having pinned down 1.4 million animal species so far, but there are millions more are out there, waiting to be found. Brazilian scientists have put the cost of finding the rest at a decisive $263 billion.
Guitar Essentials My friends and I would secretly scribble tab in the darkly lit practice rooms in our university even though we were educated musicians. So, being able to read tablature, or tab, is essential for beginning guitarists.
Deadly natural disasters can happen at any moment— earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, fires and especially tornadoes. That's why you have to be prepared.
Could Nigeria add SCRABBLE to the list of games at their National Sports Festival in 2011? No one knows for sure, but it's definitely a possibility since SCRABBLE was among the competitions of the biennial 10-day sports fiesta in the past. In 2009, at the 16th Nigerian National Sports Festival (NNSF) in Kaduna, SCRABBLE was finally scrapped from the list of games, but some wish for its
How is it possible that Iron Man is not yet a reality? DVICE reports that super-powered exoskeletons are indeed within our grasp (if not quite as flashy as Hollywood SFX just yet). Real life exoskeletons fall into the realm of not-too-distant futuristic warfare.
Robert Wright interviews Arthur Peacocke about Pantheism, the problem of evil and several other topics. Arthur Peacocke, formerly a biochemist and a member of the theology faculty at Oxford University, is honorary canon of Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford and a past winner of the Templeton Prize. Learn about the problem of evil & pantheism.
In recent years, Russian marine biologist Alexander Semenov has built a stunningly beautiful collection of deep sea photography, capturing alien creatures only locatable in the hostile, icy depths of the far northern sea off the coast of Russia.
Oh yeah, this is a big topic, at-least for me. All the frequent flyers will/should be interested in this topic. I'm sure all of you have heard at-least something about the TSA, and most of it should have been bad. Complaints, lawsuits and general disgust surround this organization. Is there a reason, or are the 'extremist liberals' at it again? Let's find out!
Nikola Tesla In my opinion, one of the most neglected inventors of all time. The names Edison and Marconi come to mind as familiar, but Tesla? Most think of a car. Few know that Tesla is responsible for alternating current, florescent lights, radar, remote control, generators that preform efficiently, the spark plug, and many others. The U.S Supreme Court declared in 1943 that Tesla, not Marconi, was the true inventor of the radio.
