kathleen forden

We’ll have to wait a bit longer for augmented reality-based apps to be available on the iPhone and Android platforms (word is that after Apple releases its 3.1 software update in September, we’ll see a flood of AR apps in the App Store). In the meantime, we’re gathering our wish lists for apps that bridge the gap between our digital social lives and our real-life ones.

You’re Twittering? Me too!
That’s the concept behind Michael Zollner’s TwittARound app that allows you to see live tweets pop up on your iPhone based on location. The app brings the real world into our digital reverie, enabling you to see both where the tweets ae coming from and how far away the person is that’s tweeting it. It could be a useful conversation starter, but mostly Twittaround just seems stalkerish.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/5-futuristic-augmented-reality-apps-socializing

Enjoy as you recognize how you can return to when you thought everything was possible.

NEW YORK Until recently, augmented reality existed mainly in movies like The Minority Report and computer science labs at universities, where technologists grappled with comically clunky headgear.

Now, however, several new Web and mobile applications are changing minds and helping to bring AR into the mainstream.

In essence, AR holds the promise of marrying the digital and physical worlds by taking complex data and overlaying it with views of the real world via Webcam technology and multiple screens.

“The last thing I can [recall] getting this much hype is Second Life,” said Matt Szymczyk, CEO of Zugara, a Los Angeles-area digital agency. “But I think there will be more practical uses to this.”

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i4d0a69ad29e1cca5eb27fa6d2f367326

Anticipation for James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi adventure Avatar has been at a fevered pitch for seemingly forever, and cinephiles and geeks everywhere now have less than five months to see if it lives up to the hype (it’s scheduled to open December 18, 2009). But for the Comic-Con audience, where the toys are almost as important as the movie they’re tied to, Mattel set hearts aflutter with its announcement of its line of Avatar action figures that are expected to hit store shelves in October. And, get this: The toys offer augmented reality. (The good news just keeps coming).

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/stephanie-schomer/write/wait-avatar-gets-little-easier-these-toys-come-life-1

Knee Injury

getting off airplane from DC, my foot caught in metal bar
while dodging from falling stuff foot stays, and my knee moves

meniscus tear – pain in the knee
swelling, pain, can’t straighten my leg, i’m hobbling through work last week

cane and crutches, and heat, ice, heat, ice, leg is blue and black
i take pain killers that don’t work

medical care in the US, doctor does the mcmurry test
my knee says, snap, crackle and pop
finally, pain killers that do work

only issue?  i have apathy for all around me today and i don’t enjoy the feeling

r.i.c.e – works for a while – rest – ice – compression – elevation
my day job interferes and the pain limits interaction

going to take a few days for rest, ice, compression, elevation
no surgery for this one, maybe 20 years from now when i need the hip
get both done for the same price, who knows it could happen with the new healthcare plans proposed recently

normal, active life in the horizon and i’m going to do what i have to
so i can return to normal

5 Socio-Technology Trends

Great presentation with a very cool interface

Thank you Gerd Leonhard for this video and content

Don Tapscott- the Wikinomics guy – is just a great speaker, with seemingly endless knowledge, and one of the people that constantly inspire me in my own work (check out the new Futerati.com for all the others…) This video has so many great pieces of wisdomin it that youll just need to watch the entire 62 minutes! The new keynote “Rebuilding the World” by Don Tapscott from Sander Duivestein on Vimeo.

time of my life
what a blast – no pun intended
meet and greet

funny
down to earth
for space alumni

it was a Tweetup
so see below for
my tweets during

NASA Tweetup 7/21/09

panel presentation rocked
when astroMike pulls
off handle on hubble

hours of screw removing on mission
but lots of laughs tell us about it

no carbonated drinks in space
burbing can really be hazmat related
stuff space alumni can’t do for 2 wks
after return growing with each mission

no shopping and mowing lawn added
by crew of the sts-125

after tweetup ended
warm, down to earth, mingling
handshakes, laughs, hugs, photos
chat, more photos, swag bags

twitter folks from NASA rock
really get the whole So Me thing

interview of brandon who went
with me to DC
then they turn to me
i fumble and stutter and i’m
the one quoted in the blog

last day of visit
old stomping grounds
dupont circle near the zoo
love the little shops
felt like home again except for

humidity – which stinks
wet rag feel and look all visit
go to get off plane and twist knee
bad
really really bad

finally hobble outside
103 degrees
i’m perfectly dry – even
after hobbling to car

blog for APS.org – Physicists
http://www.physicscentral.com/buzz/blog/index.cfm?postid=4331474373085228145

next post – photos and videos

i don’t watch much traditional tv anymore
that sentence alone lets you know i love to read
i do watch some shows on hulu

my son has turned me onto a new show he loves
it’s growing on me
royal pains – about a concierge physician – who goes with his brother to the hamptons

why is it growing on me

i needed to learn how to veg out
i need to take time every week and not think for a few

PLUS

the humor and setups in each episode
each show has hank needing a special tool

each show has him building or working with one

show six – he needs a microscope – “get me duct tape, a paper towel tube and a jeweler’s loop”

show five – he needs to do brain surgery – “get me a drill, duct tape and hot water”

it feels like they speed up the action for these two minute scenes of “extremely resourceful” for Dr. MacGyver
these are my favorite portion of each episode

take a look and see http://www.hulu.com/royal-pains

MacGyver Paperclip , originally uploaded by kforden.