Brand Noise

Retooling Virtual War to Help Heal

(from the New Yorker) Currently, the Department of Defense is testing Virtual Iraq—one of three virtual-reality programs it has funded for P.T.S.D. treatment, and the only one aimed at “ground pounders” in six locations, including the Naval Medical Center San Diego, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, D.C., and Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York. According to a recent study by the RAND Corporation, nearly twenty per cent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are suffering from P.T.S.D. or major depression. Almost half won’t seek treatment. If virtual-reality exposure therapy proves to be clinically validated—only preliminary results are available so far—it may be more than another tool in the therapists’ kit; it may encourage those in need to seek help.  Video  Read full article

GTA Marmite Modding

According to Stuff.co.nz a New Zealand kid, Stacy O'Callaghan is in some trouble for adapting Grand Theft Auto to suit his domestic conditions - complete with detailed images of modern New Zealand police cars and uniforms.  The police are not amused and are threatening legal action. Police national headquarters spokesman Jon Neilson said its legal team was investigating whether the modified version - which lets armed vehicle thieves bash and kill police officers - breached regulations concerning the use of police insignia.

The Machine Is Us

We've come a long way from HAL, the machine in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey that rebels at the plan to disconnect him.  The fear of machines in these films is rooted in the fear of them as a separated and uncontrollable force. They are not us.  But now it seems that we are clearly transitioning into a new period in which machine and human mesh.  The machine is us now.  We mod and mash-up the real and the virtual.  The challenge going forward is to balance the relationship.  To understand and negotiate the layers of real and hyperreal. This is the new narrative that defines us.

An article in Time Magazine this week discusses this fusing of man and machine as  seen in new releases like Iron Man and Speed Racer.  "We live in an age of sophisticated machines. They do much of our work for us; we spend most of our playtime with them. So let's recognize our symbiosis with machines--and celebrate our mastery of them--in movies that couldn't be made without them."  Read more

Being Young in China

Young & Restless in China tracks the lives of nine Chinese Gen X'ers over four years as they scramble to keep pace with a society changing faster than any in history. Raised under communism they are now making their way in China's blazing capitalist economy. Their stories of ambition, exuberance, crime and corruption are interwoven with moments of love, heartbreak and passion. Together they capture the changing values, hopes and dreams of a pivotal generation.

Good Technology Makes Good Pictures, Not Smiles

Why is a smile synonymous with a good picture? Sony has been banking on the connection with its new Cyber-Shot camera with its Smile Shutter technology. Yet reviews are less than favorable: “Smile shutter sounds appealing in theory…But it strikes me as a work in progress.”

My own favorite photos of my six-year-old daughter are when she’s at her most contemplative. Maybe they can fine-tune a camera for me with a Brood Button? This is a case of where technology is not keeping up. The smile thing as good photography is something that lives in the realm of boomers and silents.

Not such a provocative concept considering that the first successful picture was produced in June/July 1827 by Niépce required an exposure of eight hours. Who could have possibly smiled that long?  Things didn't get snappy until about a century later.

(photo: Sabine demonstrates that pain makes a great picture.)

Parent/Kid Sharing is About Fun

Check out this bit of kid/parental sharing. Can someone give me one compelling reason to act like an adult? The idea of play doesn’t stop when a Gen Xer or Yer becomes an adult, let alone a parent. Now it's about seeing the fun side of all things. Even when your house is being overrun by Littlest Pet Shop, as demonstrated by director Rebecca and her dad, the cameraman.

Men are Twits

Twitter falls in line with the sentiment that girls blog and guys post video. An engine like Twitter facilitates the quick in and out that guys require--kind of like how old department stores used to be designed with menswear consolidated on the first floor and close to the exit, never making the guys walk through any of the girly stuff.

Because of the limited amount of characters (140) and how sore thumbs can get pushing those little keys, Twitter postings are usually space-efficient and to the point. All that's missing is location-based functionality--ideally GPS.

By following only the users you want to hear from, it limits the amount of unwanted tweets. "I quickly realized that decrying the banality of tweets missed their point," says Jason Pontin, publisher of Technology Review. "The only people in the world who might be interested in my twittering – my family, my close friends – were precisely the ones who would be entertained and comforted by their triviality."

Twitter met its Internet hipster tipping point at least year's SXSWi. This year, it was even more firmly entrenched with most attendees gaining a general awareness of their friends' SXSWi experience by constantly monitoring their Twitter feeds. When some after-show parties began to fill too quickly...frustrated groups would spin off from the long, outdoor lines to collect in impromptu "tweet-up" parties.

At the show's Day 2 keynote with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg and the audience grew bored with the interviewer's questions, causing the 23-year-old CEO to clam up and the audience to start heckling—by monitoring other attendees' Twitter feeds.

Read more.

Mobile Devices Fall Short in Bathe-ability

A survey released Tuesday showed that 41.2% of people in Japan have at least once taken their cell phones to the bathtub to make calls, type emails, listen to music or play games. The practice extends across all sexes and ages, although teenagers were the most likely to have bathed with their phones, according to the poll of 16,250 people carried out by video-game maker Sega.

Now why would this surprise anyone? Taking your phone, your music, your games into the bathroom is pretty much common human behavior. No one raises an eyebrow when you bring magazines in the bath or complete a crossword while soaking.

The problem is that the devices aren't ready to succumb to the perils of h2O. Ask my old Verizon. He sizzled for two days after my toddler proudly sent him swimming a few years back. He recovered but he was never the same.

Read more.

iTunes/BBC..."Computer says no"

I love news of internet media partnerships that seem like they are going to be great and yet...NOT.  The news of the BBC/iTunes deal seemed great until I learned that it is only in the UK.  The BBC says it is Britain's first broadcaster to offer television programmes on iTunes for download onto Apple's video iPods and iPhones. I need Little Britain and Alan Partridge  on the go more than tired repeats of CSI Miami.  Work it out people - I'm waiting.

Essence of a Fridge: What is it?

Last week, my daughter came home from kindergarten. In her science class, they are learning about magnets. The teacher asked all the kids to raise their hands if magnets stuck to their refrigerator. Our kid did not. Instead, she came home for a lesson in stainless steel.

I realize that a clean Sub-Zero fridge was a ‘90s status symbol. And that things that are stainless coated will hold magnets. But has anyone asked lately—what is the modern essence of a refrigerator? Is its essence a defacto gallery for family artwork and magnetics?

The first refrigerator magnet patent was obtained by William Zimmerman of St. Louis, Missouri, in the early 1970s.

There’s been some talk about parents coming to term with their modern homes in the wake of young children. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Is my fridge any less a fridge because it has no magnets? Am I a lesser parent because there’s no artwork on my fridge? Does magnetic steel really solve the problem? What will we carry forward?