Just Because I Feel Like It
Posted by Tom Carpenter in Random Musings on March 30, 2011
Major Tom on repeat this morning while driving to work. Just because.
Thought I’d share.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Holodeck in the Making
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on March 29, 2011
Is This How Strange We Look?
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on March 22, 2011
Layar is demonstrating the Pac Man game at the truStockholm Unconferance in this video. There’s no demonstration of the actual game going on for you to see. Instead, people are holding up smartphones and wandering around in circles playing the game. If you didn’t know any better, you might think it was some avant garde performance art piece or synchronized WiFi sweet spot searching.
I’d also like to get in on this Unconferance thing. No, we’re not really meeting. We’re just wandering around chatting and looking at the wall. The fact that there is a slideshow on there is just coincidence.
I guess Orwellian doublespeak isn’t just for governments anymore. Anyone can get in on the act.
You should try out Layar though. Just not too many of you in the same public place.
Popularity: 2% [?]
A New Cover – Sagan’s Law
Posted by Tom Carpenter in Stories, Writing / Publishing on March 20, 2011
People really do judge a book by its cover. I’m a cover snob myself. Unless I know the author’s work already, a cover will make or break my buying decision in the bookstore after reading the premise. Hell, I won’t even read the premise if I don’t like the cover. It doesn’t make sense, but there it is.
Which is why I had to get a professional to redo my cover for my short story Sagan’s Law. I had tried my hand at the task, but frankly, I’d rather spend my precious time writing. Plus, getting others to do my covers means I get to work with other creative professional types.
Cue stage right for The Cover Counts.
Based on a suggestion from a friend, and due to the strange coincidence that I’d met the woman behind The Cover Counts a few months before on the way to a workshop, I decided to give her a try with one of my covers. The other advantage is that it being a short story, even if I hated it, it wouldn’t be a total loss.
Thankfully, Renee did a fabulous job (and when did I start using the word fabulous?) and I would absolutely use her again. She was obsessive about making the details right, even when I was satisfied the cover did the job. And that speaks a lot that she wasn’t satisfied until the job was right, and not that I was satisfied. Kudos.
And here’s the part where I shill my wares. Shaking my tambourine at the hat filled with loose change and the stack of ebooks, just waiting to be downloaded.
shakes tambourine at hat
Sagan’s Law for $0.99 at:
This is a Digital Sea story, so if you’ve read the book, you may enjoy the story.
Popularity: 3% [?]
More AR HMD News – Laster Technologies
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on March 18, 2011
I’ve been trying to get information from Laster Technologies on their AR glasses for about half a year. Then today, a little video popped up on YouTube showcasing their glasses. I don’t know much more about them other than what’s shown in the video, and I suspect the visuals we’re seeing on screen aren’t what you’d see through the glasses.
But it is the first sighting of them beyond product pages on the website, so I’m thrilled to pass it along.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Mirage HMD Augmented Reality System
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality, Industrial AR on March 15, 2011
The HMDs are here!
The HMDs are here!
Okay, maybe it’s not that exciting, especially when you realize that the Mirage from Arcane Technologies is not a stylish pair of glasses or even some retro steampunk goggles outfitted with AR HMD gear. The unit looks so bulky and bland that not even Lady Gaga could make it trendy.
But it IS an AR HMD.
But really it’s made for industrial usage and not everyday street wear. Though I suppose, a truly hardcore AR enthusiast could augment their home and wear them safety inside without worrying about losing a chance to ever have another date. Again. Ever.
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The system comes with authoring software so you can customize your markers. I’d be curious if you could also use third party software like the Kinect to make it even groovier. The Mirage + Kinect could become quite an indie hardcore hit. However, since they don’t list the price on their website, I assume the cost is greater than even the most hardcore could afford.
Still, it IS another AR HMD on the market and to me we’re another step closer to stylish low-cost AR HMDs. I’m still predicting 2015 as my arrival date for said glasses, but hopefully someone will surprise me and deliver a product sooner.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Total Immersion Yells, “First!” on the iPad2
Posted by Tom Carpenter in augmented reality on March 14, 2011
There’s always that one guy who posts “First!” on every comment thread. Total Immersion gets to be the lucky bloke to put the first augmented reality app onto the iPad2.
And I for one salute them.
The tablets are made for a better AR experience. While the magic mirror is strictly 2010 tech, I’m good with that, since it gives a new user a quick visceral experience with the technology.
Go, go, gadget Total Immersion.
Popularity: 4% [?]
New Short Story: The Unbelievers
Posted by Tom Carpenter in Stories, The Writer's Life, Writing / Publishing on March 13, 2011
Through my publisher, Black Moon Books, I’m pleased to be releasing another short story: The Unbelievers.
I’ll hit you with a description of the novelette first.
Power exists through the illusion of belief…
Stephen’s sister dies slowly from a wasting disease and only the mysterious Unbelievers offer help if he will deny the “false reality” of the Magus. Can a young boy stand up to the great power in the city? Or will his defiance cost him his life?
This story is one of those tales I really wanted to tell when I first started messing around with the concepts of augmented reality. And while it’s a simple tale of defiance in the face of great power, it’s a story that resonates through the ages. Around the time the cover artist was turning in the concept ideas for the cover and I was busy checking over the copy-edits, I was struck by the similarities between my story and the unrest in Egypt.
While this may seem, at first, a little far fetched. Come along with me for a few feet further. I will explain.
The causes of Egypt’s unrest are decades old and I would find it hard to explain their complexities in a simple blog post. But one of the sparks (I apologize for the unfortunate use of this term in it’s context) was the self-immolation of an Egyptian man in protest to Mubarak’s policies.
Lighting yourself on fire with intent to burn to death, is in itself, a crazy idea that one could be put in a mental hospital for. But yet, people took this one crazy act, one any sane person would not do, as a catalyst for government change. The two ideas seem so far apart, but yet they are not, as seen through the events in Egypt.
And yet that’s the key point that I find so fascinating. How one crazy act. One horrible defiance of reality, that no sane person would or should do, resulted in the downfall of a dictator (yes, I’m simplifying things, but only for the purposes of this example.)
And that’s how we come back to my story and the similarities. That sometimes, to deny power to those that unfairly hold onto it, one must deny the very fabrics of reality and do things no sane person would do. How these unsettling events are connected are usually unknown, such as the case of the Egyptian uprising, but sometimes they have a reason and a purpose, though so hard to see to one immersed in that reality.
So if this at all intrigues you, I’ll point you to a few locations to purchase this novelette (which is longer than a short story but not as long as a novella) for the low price of $0.99.
The Unbelievers
Popularity: 3% [?]
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