TCBlogTest: April 2010

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Augmented Reality Lets You Become “Iron Man”

Mashable!
24 April 2010 10:33 AM
by Christina Warren

Augmented Reality Lets You Become "Iron Man"

Iron Man 2 hits theaters soon and Marvel and Paramount are teaming up to put together some very cool augmented reality web experiences.

At the UK Iron Man 2 website, users can use their webcams to get suited up with either an Iron Man or War Machine helmet, as well as take a look at what the HUD (heads up display) would look like through Iron Man or War Machine's perspectives.

These sorts of features are pretty standard AR-fare these days, but what makes the Iron Man 2 approach interesting is that you can record your interactions and then link to the videos on Facebook or Twitter or embed them on your own website.

Rendering the customized video takes a really long time so I'll save you all from seeing me aimlessly moving my head around, but you can still get insight into how this tech works in this demo:

Before you can start having AR fun, you'll need to install a plugin on your Windows or Mac computers but after that, set-up is a snap. We love seeing this sort of technology, especially when it can be customized and shareable.

What do you think of how movie studios use AR to promote films and characters? Let us know!

For more entertainment coverage, follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, Windows

Tags: Augmented Reality, Film, Iron Man 2, Marvel, Movies

Channels Film News Augmented Reality Iron Man 2 Marvel Movies

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday, April 18, 2010

No Free Lunch for Ning Users; Still Plenty of Bargains Elsewhere

ReadWriteWeb
16 April 2010 5:34 PM
by Audrey Watters

No Free Lunch for Ning Users; Still Plenty of Bargains Elsewhere

The social networking platform Ning announced today that it was making some substantial changes to the company. The news, coming just one month after Jason Rosenthal replaced Gina Bianchini as CEO, was sour for both employees and for many users of the service. Ning will cut 70 jobs and will end free subscriptions to the site.

Rosenthal writes in the press release, "We will phase out our free service. Existing free networks will have the opportunity to either convert to paying for premium services, or transition off of Ning."

Sponsor

According to the release, paying subscribers account for 75% of the service's traffic. These fees have ranged from $4.95 per month to use your own domain name, to $24.95 per month to remove Ning's promotional links, although it's unclear if those fees will change.

But the service has long been used by many small groups and organization, many of which are in a tail-spin over today's announcement. Educators in particular have found Ning to be useful, as both a tool for classroom collaboration and for professional development. Tom Whitby, founder of the Educator PLN Ning, expressed his frustrations this morning: "Ning is throwing us under the bus."

Lisa Sjogren, a technology coordinator for the Osseo Area Schools in Minnesota echoed the frustrations of many teachers, noting that Ning's decision was a "big headache" that threw a wrench in a six-month-long, district-wide technology integration and standards project. Like many educators and non profits who work with limited budgets, Sjogren is now tasked with finding a new site where she can host her project for free. For teachers that already struggle to convince their districts to not block social networking sites, requesting funding to join or host sites might not be feasible.

Ning is, of course, not the only platform for creating personalized and private social networks. This afternoon, many educators shared suggestions for alternatives via Twitter. Here are a few other free and open-source options.

Buddypress (http://www.buddypress.org)
Pligg (http://www.pligg.com/)
Elgg (http://www.elgg.org/)
LovdbyLess (http://lovdbyless.com/)
Mixxt (http://www.mixxt.com/)
Insoshi ( http://github.com/insoshi/insoshi)
Xoops (http://www.xoops.org/)
Community Engine (http://www.communityengine.org/)
Astrospaces (http://sourceforge.net/projects/astrospaces/)

While many are looking at Ning's announcement today as a reflection on the success or failure of a freemium model, for many users of Ning's free services, that lesson is a bitter one.

Discuss