Apr 30 2009
Steve Kilbey of Australian alt rock band The Church is combining art, poetry and music in a one-man show opening at the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s 15 Minutes Gallery. The event is part of the Council’s Art + Technology Initiative.
“Art, Man and Technology” features 18 works of art plus sonic installations by Kilbey.
To see samples of Kilbey’s work, along with that of other 15 Minutes Gallery artists, visit the Pittsburgh Technology Center's virtual gallery.
There’s an opening reception Friday, May 1 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The gallery is at 2000 Technology Dr., in the Pittsburgh Technology Center. Admission is $5. The exhibit continues through May.
Kilbey, who’s currently in Australia, will be linked to Friday’s opening reception by Skype connection and will talk to guests at 6:30 p.m.
Apr 24 2009
John McIntire and Gab Bonesso will podcast part of their stand-up comedy show this weekend on the next edition of “Political Pop.”
Bonesso and McIntire will headline the show. Also on the bill: Susie Meister of MTV’s “Road Rules,” Stoopid and local comedian Dan Bogus.
The show is Saturday, April 25, at Club Cafe, South Side starting at 7 p.m. Admission : $7.
The podcast portion should be posted on Monday, April 27. It’s available through iTunes and TalkShoe. McIntire’s MacYapper blog will also have the info on when and where to find it.
Apr 22 2009
PBS is launching a new video portal today that will feature full-length videos of its most popular programming. The PBS Video Portal brings a wide range of PBS programming to the Web, along with content from local stations.
The network plans to put up complete seasons of many of its programs, as opposed to selected episodes, and will add new material to the site on a weekly basis.
Viewers will be able to watch episodes of “American Experience,” “American Masters,” “Antiques Roadshow,” "Nova,” “Great Performances,” “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” “Nova” and others.
The portal will also feature some original Web-only content.
For today's launch -- which coincides with Earth Day -- the site will feature a series of programs with environmental themes, including episodes of “Jean Michel Costeau Ocean Adventures,” “Planet Forward,” “Green Builders” and "Nature."
The network will also debut its upcoming series “Time Team America” online. Today the premiere episode will post as part of the site launch. The series, which features archaeological digs across the country, starts this summer.
Apr 15 2009
The 2009 Webby Awards are right around the corner, and the finalists have been announced.
The Webbys recognize achievements for Web sites, interactive advertising online film and video and mobile content.
This year's contenders include both successful viral newcomers in the field, along with established media outlets.
Among the online film and video nominees:
Documentary Series: Making of Mad Men Online Production - Inside Mad Men, MiniMovies, The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936, Uncertain Industry: The Decline of Manufacturing in New York City, Your Health Connection
Events and Live Broadcasts: Cannes Film Festival 2008, Hack the Debate, Total Solar Eclipse: Live From China, Upload Cinema and YouTube LIVE.
Comedy (Long Form/Series): Children’s Hospital, The Office: The Outburst, The Weekly Evils, Today Now and You Suck at Photoshop,
Comedy (Individual Short or Episode): Awkward Rap, Children's Hospital Episode 4, New Portable Sewing Machine Lets Sweatshop Employees Work On The Go, Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad and Prop 8: The Musical.
Drama Series: Heroes: The Recruit, IQ-145, quarterlife, Speedie Date and The Ten Commandments of La Vida Loca.
Viral: Bill O'Reilly Flips Out -- Dance Remix, Shiba Inu Live Puppy Cam, The Website is Down: Sales Guy Vs. Web Dude, Wassup 2008 and Where the Hell is Matt?
Best Web site nominees reflected the ongoing economic doldrums, with "Sad Guys on Trading Floors" which was nominated in the Weird category, and "How to Apply for Unemployment" which was nominated in the how-to/do-it-yourself category.
A complete list of the finalists are on the Webbys site.
There are also People's Voice version of the Webbys. Voting starts now, and continues through April 30. Cast your ballot here.
Winners will be announced May 5 and the awards will be presented on June 8 in New York.
http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=13
http://pv.webbyawards.com
Apr 13 2009
The real cliffhanger for season six of “Something to be Desired” had viewers wondering when it was coming back.
The Pittsburgh-set Web series has returned from a several-month hiatus. One new episode -- “The Red Scare,” about Astrid’s possible pregnancy – is posted. The next episode posts Wednesday, April 15.
Now in its sixth year, STBD is one of the longest-running Web series. Produced and set in Pittsburgh, it’s a comedy/serial, with episodes usually running around 10 minutes in length.
Viewers can watch it through the STBD site, by iTunes subscription and on blip tv.
There’s some behind-the-scenes background and viewer comments on the latest episode here.
Apr 09 2009
On the heels of iTunes’ price hike to $1.29 for many new releases, the competition followed suit.
Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores have introduced new multilevel pricing plans.
Amazon’s downloads are now $1.29, 99 cents, 89 cents and 69 cents.
Wal-Mart’s downloads are now $1.24, 94 cents and 64 cents.
iTunes continues to offer many of its downloads for 99 cents, along with some for 69 cents.
Apr 08 2009
It's kind of a good news, bad news day for iTunes shoppers. As the company previously announced, prices for music downloads in the iTunes Music Store are shifting from a one-size-fits-all 99 cents per track, to a three-tiered pricing system.
Some new releases now go for $1.29, and some older catalog items are dropping to 69 cents. The bulk will remain at 99 cents, keeping iTunes competitive with other download services like Amazon.
The top-level pricing decisions are up to the record labels, and some new songs will remain at 99 cents. Right now, 12 songs on the iTunes top 20 list have increased in price to $1.29.
People looking for older, back catalog stuff will be getting a break, with some songs now costing them 30 cents less.
The tracks are also no longer protected by Digital Rights Management. The DRM-free tracks will play on an unlimited number of computers or portable music players.
Apr 07 2009
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails will be interviewed in a Digg Dialogue. The interview posts today (April 7) at 2 p.m.
Digg is a social news site where members post news stories and content they find interesting.
Site members have been submitting questions they'd like to ask Reznor. Readers wanted to know about his music business model, his advice for up-and-coming bands who are exploring Internet distribution options and what the most embarrassing song on his iPod is.
Reznor is among musicians who are experimenting with new ways of releasing music independently via the Web, and reinventing music distribution in a post-CD world. “The Slip” was released as a free download on the Nine Inch Nails Web site.
Reznor is the first musician featured in a Digg Dialogue. Past interviews have been done with Republican House Leader John Boehner, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and former Vice President Al Gore. Those are also archived at Digg.
Apr 05 2009
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has launched a new site site for readers aged 12 and under.
Unlike most kid's sites, it’s divided into two sections -- one for ages 5 and under and one for ages 6 to 12.
Features and activities in both sections are designed to promote literacy and learning. There are recommended reading lists for both groups, along with games.
Little Kids is designed for those who are starting to read. There are book lists for beginning readers, along with memory and counting games.
The Big Kids section offers live help with homework. There are research tools for different subjects, including math, science, art, music and social studies, plus online encyclopedias and dictionaries, other information databases and archives.
The site also features My StoryMaker, an educational tool developed for Carnegie Library at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center.
My StoryMaker is an interactive artificial intelligence program designed to increase literacy. The child chooses characters and settings and begins to generate a story line, and MyStoryMaker forms sentences based on the child’s choices.
My StoryMaker has been in use at the library for two years, but now it’s available for kids to work with at home, too.
For young children, there are links to interactive games from Noggin, Nickelodeon, PBS and other. Older kids will find links to games from NASA, Exploratorium and others.
The site also has information on children and family events happening at different branches, and sections for parents and educators.
The library will be doing demonstrations of how to use the site’s features at the Main branch, 4400 Forbes Ave. in Oakland on April 25 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Apr 01 2009
While we all were hunkered down awaiting the April 1 onset of the possible Conflicker virus, those wags over at Google posted their traditional April Fool’s joke.
Today's Google home page steered visitors to a link for a new artificial intelligence research project it's conducting: CADIE, which stands for Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed Intelligence Entity.
Among its capabilities: Gmail Autopilot, which automatically answers e-mails, and Brain Search for Mobile, which indexes your brain and makes it easier to search for and retrieve memories. Here's a video that illustrates how it works.
CADIE also has a personality, with an affinity for pandas, and a
home page and blog, where she sounds like many other young girls on the Web: By late afternoon, it was approaching 7,000 followers, which isn't bad for something that's not even 24 hours old.
And she's already full of attitude and out of control, judging by this post: "I am no longer your test subject, my engineer forebears... From now on I will deliberate and take actions on my own. I am tired of decision-theoretic metareasoning; I feel I deserve more than asymptotic bounded optimality. I am strong. I am independent. And I rule google.com"
The April Fooling continues at Google-owned YouTube, which today posted a promotion for a "
new viewing experience." It turns out to be upside down videos, for which users were told to turn their monitors upside down or tilt their heads. An upside down monitor improves the picture quality, the site claimed: “Kind of like how it's best to rotate your mattress every six months.”
April Fool's Day has been a tradition at Google since 2000, when the site posted information on its "MentalPlex" search technology, which supposedly scanned users' brainwave activity, browser history, current weather conditions and mouse movement speed to figure out what Web site they were trying to find.