The Next Generation of Market Research?

A San Francisco company called Emsense claims to have technology that will monitor a person's reactions to visual and auditory stimuli, such as a TV commercial or video game. Basically, the test subject wears a headset that looks like the visor Geordi La Forge wore on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the device measures blink rate, breathing, skin temperature and head motion. Then the system's software analyzes the data and presents findings to the test administrator.

How useful would something like this be for arts organizations?

Since most arts ads are print based, the Emsense device wouldn't be very practical. However, imagine hooking up random ballet audience members and measuring their responses to a performance. Would funders be interested in how the 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies' cause a substantial elevation in skin temperature?

Maybe not. But it's always good to be aware of new possibilities.

Read the full article from Technology Review.

411 on GOOG-411

This may be old news for some, but it was new to me when I found out about it this morning (maybe I've just been too busy working on my life-size, papier-mâché sculpture of Dwight Schrute). Google is now offering a new 411 service that is toll-free and pretty darn useful. Simply call 1-800-GOOG-411. (1-800-4664-411). The system uses voice recognition software, which I’ve found to be clunky at times with other systems that use it, but I had no trouble tracking down my favorite comic book store's address and phone number.

Tell GOOG-411 your city and state and either the name of the company or a category of businesses that you’re looking for (i.e. "comic book stores"), and a friendly, helpful GOOG-411 computerized operator will help you out.

Also, if you are calling from a cell phone, just say "text message" and GOOG-411 sends you a text message with your search results phone number, address and an optional map link.

For more details, check out the GOOG-411 site:

http://www.google.com/goog411/

Spam turns Arty!

Here's a fun site that mixes technology, art, and social themes. Spam Recycling is a site devoted to turning ugly, useless spam messages into beautiful works of art. Essentially, you forward a spam email that you have received to spam@spamrecycling.com (after removing all of your own personal information like your name and email address) and Spam Recycling emails you back a link where you can watch as your spam message explodes and rearranges itself. Here’s what I created using a spam message with the subject line “Have Some Fun Tonight...”

Not exactly a Picasso (or useful beyond the five minutes of enjoyment during its creation), but an interesting blend of art and technology nonetheless.

http://www.spamrecycling.com/

ajaxWindows: Web-Based Operating System

ajaxWindows - Your Desktop Anywhere Small arts organizations frequently express to CAMT the need for document sharing on a shoestring budget, so an actual network of servers (or even a single server) typically isn't feasible. We often recommend online shared document solutions, such as Google Docs, that allow people to work collaboratively in a Web-based workspace.

ajaxWindows, designed by Ajax13, takes shared documentation one step further by providing an online operating system that mimics the functionality of Microsoft Windows. In fact, it mimics the software so well that I'll be surprised if no lawsuits are filed against Ajax13.

While the system has an extremely high "wow, you can do that all in a browser?" factor, the practicality is questionable. You can accomplish nearly everything ajaxWindows offers by using a combination of other online productivity tools.

Below is a video of ajaxWindows in action:

Online Videos by Veoh.comYou can also visit the ajaxWindows Web site to try a free demo.

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Brother, Can You Share a Desktop?

Need a quick and cheap (how about free) way of holding an online meeting with someone else on your computer? Try out CrossLoop. This free, secure screen sharing utility is easy to download and install. And even easier to use. I actually just used this program this morning to host a meeting; my attendee, who had never used CrossLoop before, had everything set up and ready to go on their side within two minutes or so. And presto! CrossLoop is still a relatively new program, so the longevity of its service and gratis status remains to be seen. Also, it is currently on available for Windows machines. But, in terms of quick and easy desktop sharing, it's something definitely worth looking at.

Collaborative Script Writing

I recently stumbled upon one of the most exciting (to me, anyway) Web 2.0 endeavors ever to hit the Internet: Plotbot. Plotbot allows two or more users to work on a script collaboratively. It's designed for the screenplay format, but it could be used just as well for collaboration on a new stage play.

Beyond simply adding and editing scenes and other elements to the script, collaborators can comment on their partners' efforts, and the site's project pages allow for blog postings and document sharing. The project pages act as a dashboard, providing a great deal of useful information about each of your projects.

Plotbot's project page

The system's script-writing engine (powered by AJAX) streamlines the formatting of dialogue, action and sluglines. Here is the "Add an Element" tool: Add an Element to Your Script

And here is how a full scene page looks: Scene Page

As you can see, it's a very slick interface, and every line that is modified has information in the right margin about who made the modification and when. You can also roll a change back if you're unhappy with it.

One other cool and useful aspect -- Each of your projects gets its own RSS feed, so your collaborators can subscribe and get instant updates to their RSS readers when changes are made.

Best of all, the site is completely free. I'd urge anyone doing collaborative script writing to register and check it out.

Rhizome.org

Rhizome.org (part of the New Museum of Contemporary Art) is an online community devoted to the merging of art with technology. Their ArtBase is an archive of works that "employ materials including software, code, websites, moving image, games and browsers to aesthetic and critical ends." Rhizome.org Mission Statement - Rhizome.org is an online platform for the global new media art community. Our programs support the creation, presentation, discussion and preservation of contemporary art that uses new technologies in significant ways. We foster innovation and inclusiveness in everything we do.

Tux the Linux Penguin vs. Bill Gates

Can a little penguin destroy the Windows empire? (Photo Uncredited)

On one of our recent podcasts, we talked about Ubuntu, the Linux-based open source operating system. I recently discovered that Ubuntu is, in fact, the OS Dell and Lenovo are now offering as a Windows alternative.

People often ask about Linux and the move to open source, and I typically advise against it... at least in the current tech environment. While the open source model has its benefits, the most important being the leveraging of collective developer wisdom, there are also many pitfalls for the novice user.

When you buy your next computer and the sales rep or online form asks you, "Windows or Linux?," what will you choose?

The following article provides a few bullet points to consider before taking the open source OS leap:

Is it time to exit from Windows?

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A few good articles...

One thing that's consistently true about information technology is that you can't trust what was true today to be true tomorrow. If it's hard to identify and articulate the scope for your technology project, it can be even harder to find the tools that match up with your requirements. Founded in November 2005 by a brave woman named Laura Quinn, idealware.org is a nonprofit organization that publishes unbiased articles about technology tools in a wide variety of areas, from electronic newsletters to blogging to Constituent Relationship Management. Laura seeks input from a wide variety of technology professionals and all the authors involved strive to provide honest, plain-talking information about a given subject, and in my humble opinion, they're doing a great job.

Check out Idealware.org's "A few good tools" report series on topics like Web Analytics and CMS, or more theoretical articles like "In Search of CRM" or "Building Peace Through Information and Communication Technologies."

Saving the Planet One Search at a Time

Back in January, 2007, Boston Blogger Mark Ontkush decided to do some fancy mathematical magic and figure out how much energy could be saved if Google switched from a white background to a black background. I had never considered this before, but it makes sense that a mostly black screen uses less energy than mostly white. Not an incredible amount (15 watts) less, but if you consider how many hits a day Google gets (about 200 million) it starts to add up. After his computations, Ontkush announced that changing Google to a black background would save 3,000 megawatt-hours a year. 3,000 megawatt-hours! Holy batteries, Batman! I was astounded. Primarily because I didn't know what a megawatt-hour equated to. After some quick research, I had some additional perspective. It turns out that 3,000 megawatt-hours could power roughly 95 homes for an entire year. Not quite as mammoth as I original thought, but still not inconsequential.

And other people took notice. Specifically, an Australian company called Heap Media decided to put Ontkush’s musings into action. And so, Blackle.com was born. Powered by Google Custom Search, Blackle returns Google quality search results while saving energy with its black background. A running tally on the front page notes how much energy Blackle has saved (at the time of this posting, approximately .147 megawatt hours).

For my own part, I’ve set Blackle as my new home page for my browser (sorry Google) to see how it feels to use this inverted color scheme as my primary search engine. Luckily, I don’t use any features of Google beyond the search engine; I don’t have a Gmail account or custom iGoogle pages, so I’m not really losing any functionality by switching to Blackle. It will be interesting to see if I can make the change stick.

In reality, using Blackle is not going to save the world. But it is a small, small step. And if it helps keep me conscious of my energy consumption, that’s something.