Ultra High Definition Olympics

BBC Super HiVision showcase in Bradford

I had the pleasure to experience the BBC Ultra hight definition and NHK’s Super Hi-Vision again today.

There has been enough wrote about about Super Hi-Vision on the R&D Blog but I wanted to give my view on it.

16 times the density of 1080p, and it looks like it. Each clip we saw was crisp and full of depth. Interestingly on the depth side is the lack of need for 3D. The actual density seems to increase the illusion of depth a lot. Unlike that crappy add-on 3D effect you see too much of, it feels completely natural. Well I guess it would feel totally natural as it as such….?

BBC Super HiVision showcase in Bradford

22.2 channels of 3D surround sound, yes it felt and sounded amazing. People will say it sounded loud but the reason it sounds loud is because if you go to the real thing (like I went to the womans semi-final football a couple days ago) then it is loud around you. It feels like your in the Olympic stadium in London.

BBC Super HiVision showcase in Bradford

The clips we saw was the opening of the London 2012 Olympics (parts cut together). The mens 100 meters final and some cycling events from the velodrome. Each one had plenty to see and watch. Not only could you see the audience but you could see which camera phone they were using to take pictures! During the 100meters I watched to see where that bottle got thrown from, and although I didn’t see exactly the person. I saw a number of potential people who it could have come from. Thats how rich the density of the picture. Likewise I was able to hear the chain of the bikes as they switched into high gear. Clapping from the crowd urged you to look around to check if someone in the audience was actual clapping as it sounded like it.

The swing of the camera wasn’t too bad but I can imagine it being pretty intense if it swings and pans too much.  The framerate was great and made everything look super real (as said almost 3D like)

BBC Super HiVision showcase in Bradford

Its fascinating and if you can experience it, do go you won’t be disappointed. Its still going on daily till the end of the London 2012 Olympics. What you waiting for…?

I wish Google Now was my phone’s default homescreen

Edd Dumbill talks about Google Now and how he uses it. Just as I thought its a very useful thing to have.

…After some weeks of use, I wish Google Now was my phone’s default homescreen. I’d happily swipe left or right to get to my apps such as email or games, but I more often search than not. The ambient information is a useful start, and I hope will get better over time.

Google Now as a home page would be great, but imagine Google Now as a alarm clock… Now we’re cooking with fire…

Jamaica’s bolt wins gold on the eve of its 50th Anniversary

Jamaican Sunset

The world’s fastest man Usain Bolt wins on the very eve of Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary of Independence from Great Britain. Seemed very fitting for Bolt to not just win the men’s 100 meters but for his running partner to Yohan “beast” Blake to come second for silver. It could only have gotten better if Asafa Powell had gotten bronze.

Every Jamaican I know must have been watching that race and must have been ever-so proud of Bolt and Blake.

The party started early… 50 years!

London 2012 Olympics

I got to say I’m really surprised how good the London Olympics has turned out. Charlie Brooker wrote this up in the Guardian recently which I can understand.

I’m finding the Olympics hypnotically watchable, partly because the BBC’s coverage is so crisp and comprehensive and informative and useable, and isn’t jammed full of brand names and commercials. And it’s partly because … well … look, I don’t know.

Like Charlie, I was hearing all these crazy stories about Locog wiping out anything which even smells like the Olympics. Then the London 2012 Olympics actually opened with that simply amazing opening ceremony which NBC screwed up for many of my American friends. I watched it the day afterwards in full using the BBC’s total coverage and I was blown away. There was something very British about this Olympics. From the opening to the music used in Beach Volleyball.

At the time of writing, the running-and-jumping stuff has begun in earnest; the sheer physical agony of which I can personally relate to thanks to hours spent playing Track and Field in the 80s. No reason to believe this won’t become another time sponge. So yes, thanks, Olympics, for confounding my inner cynic, and not being awful. And for, I suppose, on balance, I admit, I confess, in a whisper – actually being quite good.

Theres lots more I can say about the Olympics but generally its been impressive and I’m looking forward to seeing the woman’s semi-final of the football at Old Trafford tomorrow. Shame it doesn’t include Team GB but I’ve decided to back Canada over Team USA.

Really hope in 3-4 weeks time I’ll still be as impressed after the end of the Para-olympics. The lasting legacy is a big question but right now its looking pretty good…

Cloud Atlas trailer

I remember hearing about this book and thinking this would be good as a film. Well unknown to me, they made it a film which is coming this year. Not only that its by the Wachowski brothers. Yes I can hear the boo’s and hsss’s from here. But frankly I will give them there dues because I still love the Matrix trilogy (yes I still like reloaded and revolutions, not as much as matrix one of course) and I found Speed Racer actually rather good.

Theres a section at the end of Speed Racer which is very much like the tailer for Cloud Atlas. Emotional and gets you caught up. The premise that everything is connected is of course interesting to me and many others. Amazing that its such a long trailer.

Chronicle vs The Craft

I was watching Chronicle again recently and started thinking, how a like it is to the Craft. Doesn’t matter to me because frankly there both great films. Funny they also have similar votes…

Chronicle
Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.

The Craft
A Catholic school newcomer falls in with a clique of teen witches who wield their powers against all who dare to cross them — be they teachers, rivals or meddlesome parents.

If this happens do this to my laptop…

I have already talked about IFTTT to death and how I liken it to some ideas and work I had around pipelining.

All the new movement in this area has been in the online space but I found this little app for Linux which operates in a similar fashion to the very old conduit (Conduit) but its focused around system events rather than webservices.

Cuttlefish is a tool which can execute various actions when specific events are triggered. For example, you can change the proxy mode depending on the currently connected wireless network, unlock your computer when a specific Bluetooth or USB device is connected or disconnected and so on.

I can easily see how webservices can be written into the application, although there is no roadmap yet.

Unity comes into focus

ubuntu login screen with alternative environment

On Friday I tried using Ubuntu’s Unity interface, which some people rightly pointed out I really didn’t like.

When I first saw Unity and tried to use it, I didn’t like it but over the last few months I’ve seen more of what Unity has to offer. The HUD, Lens/Scopes, Ubuntu on Android and now Web App Integration.

I’m not totally switched over yet, however…

One of the first things I did was hide the dash and menu because I don’t like it eating up my desktop space. I still hate the fact the menu for each application is at the very top right but I’ve started using one application full screen every workspace. It kind of works but still drives me nuts.

I have changed Unity so its workstations are stacked on top of each other just like Gnome Shell, however I miss having a dual screen setup with one which stays static. Having dual screen and workspaces seems a little too much? Sure I would get use to it after a while.

The Dash or overlay is a bit messy compared to Gnome 3’s and I frankly find the way you navigate around a bit poo. But that was before I learned about Super + S and Super + W. I haven’t got the hang of the Hud yet but we’ll see how things go. I also find the gnome extensions very useful which seem to be missing under Unity.

I do still find Unity very noisy, I much prefer the Gnome Shell look, so if there was a skin which looked like Gnome Shell and acted like it, I’d deploy it in a heartbeat.

No matter what, I find the Ubuntu Unity Web API really interesting and I’ll be looking forward to seeing if Gnome Shell adopts some of Unity’s features or Unity chills out in the future.

Perceptive Media talks next quarter

I’m really happy to announce I’ll be talking at a few places in autumn (q3).

I have the pleasure of talking about Making your TV more engaging for TedXBristol. Pleasure because its great to have the opportunity to spend some time in my home city and learn about whats moving and shaking? If you look online, it seems like Bath (the lower rival to Bristol) is where things are happening in the south west of England. And frankly that worries me.

TEDxBristol takes place Saturday 20th September but there is a lottery system in place for those who want to go along. Its weird because its something we considered for BarCampLondon in the later days but never went through with.

I also have the pleasure of talking at the Oreilly Tools of Change conference in Frankfurt in October. I have a lot of respect for Oreilly conferences because there very well run and tend to attract the right people along but don’t cost the earth to go to. Its a shame Emerging Tech conference ended because I would have liked to have spoken there however, TOC (tools of change) is sounds like its filling in the space Etech left nicely.

I will be talking about Perceptive Media (still need to get my bio up, but you can see my picture) and should have some of the results from our breaking out audioplay.

Updated

I will also be taking over from Tony and talking at the NEM summit in Istanbul, Turkey (which will also be the furthest east I have ever been) in October 16-18th.

And another update

I will also be talking at Canvas Conf in Birmingham on the 7th September which is mainly a web developers event but I’ll hopefully stretch their imagination and single out the client side revolution which is starting to take hold. With a look at Perceptive Media. Maybe we’ll even be able to launch something there?

So its… now

We’ve had quite a few offers to talk but its important we pick the right ones even if they are offering to pay for everything, as it takes me away from doing more research and development. We can’t have that, can we!