Artist High-Level Bullshit Type of Spam

Artist high-level bullshit or spam? The two worlds seem to have merged:

Driving is a spectacular form of amnesia. Everything is to be discovered, everything to be obliterated. by online poker

Java Knowledge Update

My JavaWorld, Javalobby, SDN, … newsletters have been pilling for tool long. I went throught them today and read:

• javootoo.com, the Look and Feel Source for Java developers, because I am still worried about the work that has to be done to make Java UI look decent.
• J2SE 5.0 in a Nutshell, I still haven’t embraced Tiger.
• Url Rewrite Filter, a Java Web Filter for any J2EE compliant web application server, which allows you to rewrite URLs (like Apache’s mod_rewrite) before they get to your code. Good to know that there is now a solution to avoid having Apache in front of Tomcat/Resin.
• Snap Mobile, for Java multiplayer gaming communities… I am wondering if SNAP is still supported…
• JavaDesktop is gathering place for members of the Java platform’s graphical user interface (GUI) community.
• Understanding Rendering Hints, as I still miss some of the aspects of the control of rendering in Java2D.
• GUI Design patterns, how a certain part of your application needs to behave or how you should present things to the user.
• Changes in Working With ContentPane in JDK 5.0.
• Swing: System Tray Icons, to knwo that a solution exists…
• GUIdebook, Graphical User Interface Gallery
• Professional Swing: Creating Polished Apps and part 2. I really like the advice to uniquily use the GridBackLayout with Packer.
• My favorite Java 5 change, the enhanced for loop, combined with generics.
• Five Reasons to Move to the J2SE 5 Platform
• Go Fishing with the New MIDP 2.0 Game APIs, mobile phone game development could become more fun.
• Graphical Editing Framework (GEF) allows developers to take an existing application model and quickly create a rich graphical editor.
• XFlows, a cross-platform XML and XSLT manager.

Map-based Visualization of NNTP Newsgroups

Monthes after Patrick Jermann cool map-based visualization of an EPFL NNTP newsgroup, he moved forward and created a high-level schema of several types of textual data (newsgroups, blogs, library, …).

Based on this schema, it took me no time for me to reuse the code of ShoutSpace and build an interactive map-based visualitzation of the NNTP newsgroups (here the epfl.comp.mac newsgroup). The visualisation rely on the translation from an IP in the newsgroup message header towards a room identificator. From there, we use geographical data about the rooms coordinates to draw the maps.

This work is part of our projects on semantic and social visualization of textual data.

The Neighborhood Project

The Neighborhood Project is creating a map of city neighborhoods based on the collective opinions of internet users. Addresses and neighborhood data are translated into latitude and longitude values, and then drawn on the map. The address and neighborhood data are collected from housing posts on craigslist, and from people filling out a web form. The coordinates are generated using the free geocoder.us. I especially like the very nice zoom effect on the San Francisco map.

Wireless is "Passé"

Bridging the Physical and Digital in Pervasive Gaming

In Bridging the Physical and Digital in Pervasive Gaming, Benford, Margerkurth and Ljungstrand talk (once again) about the new challenges given to pervasive gaming. Namely:

• Dealing with uncertainty Uncertainties associated with sensing and wireless communication. Both are constrainted by limited coverage, especially in congested urban areas, so that players may often be unable to obtain fix on their position or communicate with others.
• Hybrid architectures. Reconciling client-server and peer-to-peer architecture. Whereas client-server architectures enable players to share a consistent game experience, peer-to-peer support highly localized and ad-hoc game play during encounters on the streets.
• Hefting domains Designs requires careful consideration of which elements to represent virtually, physically, or as a blend of both
• Configuration A pervasive game may need to be configured to work at many different locations
• Orchestration Real time management of live game from behind the scenes

In this article, they also mention the various forms of pervasive games (mapping classic computer games onto real-world setting, focus on social interaction, touring artistic games, educational games). They mention the three core technologies that pervasive games are built upon (displays, wireless communication, sensing technologies). It is actually the blend of technoloies combined with the location-based and often public nature of game play, gives pervasive games their distinctive identity.

Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt is a pervasive game using 3G handheld technologies. Users equipped with these handheld devices are able to play in various game zones, which can be located in and around cities. It is still very fuzzy how the link between the physical and virtual world is done and the trailer does not show much.

It seems that based on that project, a Location Based Games (LBG) company also called Treasure Hunt was created.

Paradoxal St-Gallen

LifeClipper

LifeClipper is a locative and reality augmented art project by Jan Torpus in Basel.

Map Navigation Widgets

Edward Mac Gillavry offers in webmapper categories of widgets for map navigation and zooming.