Tag: map

Missing: Bella the Dog

This isn’t the sort of thing I’d usually write about here, so for the hardcore who’ve come to expect a blend of media and tech thoughtfulness, an alternative reading is that this is a a live case-study in how digital can play troubleshooter to certain real-world issues…

Those who follow me on Twitter will know the news already:

There’s been a search out for her ever since, with all five Saunters and some amazing neighbours clomping about in our wellies, flashlights in hand.

I’m pretty sure we’ve thought of everything: we’ve scouring the entire surrounding area (see map); spoken to people all over town; put up flyers and posters in areas of high traffic; we’re leaving a scent-trail back to the house from where she went missing; notified all the necessary authorities and secured some media coverage (Star Radio, Gumtree, DogLost).

As you’ll see, what we need now are some more eyes and ears…


View Larger Map

Four hours ago, something incredible happened. A lady I’ve never met created the Facebook group ‘Help find BELLA‘ and invited some friends.

Since then it’s grown, and now a whopping 128 people have joined. Tomorrow, there’s a search planned for 10.30am in the Littleport area. Truly awesome. Thank you all. We can’t do this without you!

[box]Update: We found her! I’ll update this blog post when we find her. In the meantime, please tweet, Facebook and G+ this blog post to anybody in your network that lives in the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk area.[/box]

Many thanks indeed, Tom.

Awesome Kid Robot Toy

This vinyl toy is so freaking awesome – via kidrobotrules:

Finally, the time has come for the explosive launch of Dunny Series 2010. Tonight, release parties are celebrating around the globe for this highly anticipated new series with an exclusive tote bag and super rare Relish Dunny. Check the worldwide map for a trading party nearest you. Day 19 is a two-fer with Sket One’s awesome designs, Dunny Boom and the Relish exclusive. Bon appetite.

Sticky Light

Ready for some frickin’ laserbeams to kickstart the week? I know I am.

A team from the University of Tokyo have conceived of several new applications for lasers, some of which are interesting to say the least, others potentially groundbreaking. These applications arise from their Smart Laser Scanner (markerless laser tracking) technology:

Essentially, it is a smart rangefinder scanner that instead of continuously scanning over the full field of view, restricts its scanning area to a very narrow window precisely the size of the target (from the Ishikawa Komura Laboratory)

So what this means for us is we could pretty soon have a low-cost and low-apparatus method to interface with a wearable computer, in multitouch, and without the need for any markers.

Potential form of laser inputA potential laser output
Potential forms of laser input and output
The project website features videos for all of their experiments, including:

  • Simple 3D tracking
  • Air writing
  • Multiple point tracking
  • Alphanumeric feedback
  • Video editing
  • Map navigation
  • Multiple users

I urge you to read more on the project website right here, but before you go, I’d like to feature one of the coolest applications I found for the Smart Laser Scanner. It’s called Sticky Light, and it’s an experiment in light interaction:

The question I want to ask is, wouldn’t this be the ultimate executive toy if productized in time for Christmas? I know I want one.

Where is freedimensional?

You’ve probably read about Google Latitude, and maybe even used it yourself. I’ve been using it mostly without meaning to, because I activated the service on my N95’s Google Maps and the bloody thing never turns off. Here’s where I am right now:



Locative technologies are a growing area of interest for me. I believe that GPS, cell-tower triangulation and even good old Bluetooth will play a large part in making cloud-computing extra-relevant to consumers.

I know that people get a bit funny with the blend of real locations and virtual space (see Google Street View debacle) but once we’re all using our next-gen pieces of UI, your networked device could begin to act as a portal to new layers of information useful to you about the city, street, or shop you are in.

I am talking about location-based advertising. An implementational nightmare, but it is foreseeable that Semantic technologies could serve geographically relevant messages, charging advertisers on a cost per impact basis. Google kind of do this with their local search results. It’s a bit shit at the moment though.

The nearest we have to the kind of next-gen solution I’m thinking of is lastminute.com’s free service NRU, available on the Android OS. It lets you scan around your environment with your phone acting as a viewfinder, where cinemas, restaurants and theatres are overlaid in a sonar-like interface. These services pay a small amount to lastminute.com on an affiliate basis, or are paid inclusions:

NRU for Android, from lastminute on the G1

There’s one locative service I’m disappointed never took off in the UK, despite being around for a while. BrightKite is a kind of location-based Twitter, and it had real promise until Google came stomping all over them with the release of Latitude.

If I were to ‘check in’ at The Queens Larder on Russell Square, BrightKite users would see my marker and message on a map of the area, as well as other people checked in nearby. The potential for social interaction is high, because through using the service one feels proximity with other users.

With all this in mind, I’d like my readers to ‘feel closer’ to me, so as well as in this post I’ll be placing my Latitude Location Badge on my Contact Page. If you’re in the vicinity, go ahead and either serve me an advert or say hello. I won’t mind which.