How to get people to game in public spaces seamlessly and turn it into public entertainment? Try MegaPhone. MegaPhone inspires interactive gameplay between digital billboards and people by turning their cellphones as game controllers. MegaPhone makes gaming fun and easy: remove the stereotypical gamer stigma, cut away unnecessary hardware, and make the game accessible to the common public. Who doesn’t have a cellphone in America? It is the brainchild of two NYU ITP graduate students: Jury Hahn and Dan Albritton. After graduation, they decided to take their thesis idea and spin it off as a digital marketing concept for companies (Adidas, LG, Palm, Gamestop, are among their clients). The games inspired by this concept are quite fun: voice-control and button-play from a multi-player perspective.
Tech Wow! video of the day via Gizmodo. Obscura Digital is the interactive firm that pulled off the technological feat of projecting those images on to a downtown San Francisco building. What is stunning is how their projection software takes into account the building’s surface and surroundings to make the projected images interact with it. According to their website, their projection software “compensates for geometry and provides corrections in real-time, resulting in a seamless image on virtually any surface.” Peering into the company’s projects, I see that Obscura Digital is also working on many interactive video projects where the projections can become navigable user interfaces, etc. It’s listed as one of the Top 10 most innovative ad/marketing firms by Fast Company.
Stanford offers free online 10-wk course for developing iPhone software!?! via Stanford News Service. Is this savvy collegiate marketing or what? All hail open-source education on the Internets.
The 10-week course, iPhone Application Programming, is a hot ticket. It begins today and videos of the classes will be posted at Stanford on iTunes U two days after each class meeting (http://itunes.stanford.edu). Copies of the slides shown in class will be available there as well.
The proliferation of third-party applications for Apple’s iPhone has changed the device from a popular cell phone to a miniature computer. The Apple App Store offers more than 25,000 titles, dealing with everything from maps to business tools, games, photography, fishing and restaurant recommendations based on your location. ”There’s a lot of interest in the iPhone,” said Brent Izutsu, Stanford’s project manager for Stanford on iTunes U. “This course provides an excellent opportunity for us to show the breadth and depth of our curriculum and the innovation of our students.”
