Britain from Above (WAY above)

"A new BBC series makes use of satellite technology to create stunning images of Britain from above. Mark Sanders reports. Andrew Marr presents the series Britain from Above, the first episode of which will be broadcast on Sunday 10 August at 2100 on BBC One. "




Video and photo have always had a strange relationship. Sometimes a video can show things that a photograph can not, but sometimes a photo can show things that a video can not. Specifically, a video is many, many photographs shown in rapid succession - one after another. What you see looks like smooth motion, but every frame (still image that makes up the video) shows only one moment in time. There are a couple ways to alter this - slow motion takes many more frames, and then plays them at a slower speed, so what we see on video appears to happen slower then it does in real life (in some cases,thousands of times slower - like popcorn popping.) Video can also be done in time-lapse, where frames are removed, so that action happens faster then it does in real life - such as taking the construction of a building shot for a year, and condensing it down to an hour-long video.

This video take yet ANOTHER approach. This video tracks the flight paths of airplanes, the connections of cell phones, and the paths cabs take through London, and shows it on a map. Eath path is shown by a line drawn on the map, like the path was actually drawn on the map. But instead of leaving each path on the map, even long after the airplane has landed, or the cab reached its destination, the paths fade away after a time. The result is a great composite, and a really cool video. Check it out here


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7539529.stm

Barcodes can be art too!

Barcodes. Those simple series of little black and white lines that let you scan things in at a cash register.

These things. Not very exciting, right?







Wrong. How about this instead?

The barcode is the (aptly-named) row of black and white bars that run along in a row and get scanned in by the computer at the cash register. A japanese company realized that as long as the barcode is readable by the computer, nothing else matters. The running dude in the barcode above doesn't even register to the computer scanner.

"In Japan nowadays, artistic barcode labels grace everything from soup to nuts. The theme typically matches the actual product inside but just as often it doesn't. No matter, the theme is secondary to the thoughts of the artists who, though limited by the need to retain the barcode label's original purpose, still have enough leeway to surprise and delight."


Quote, information, screencaps (and more cool barcode art) here :
http://inventorspot.com/articles/barcode_art_from_japan_black_white_can_get_along_12735

How records are made

No, not birth record.
No, not criminal records.
Musical records. Those black spinny thingies that you play on a turntable. 45s. 33s. 78s.

Take a loot at how pile of plastic vynl shavings gets turned into beautiful music here
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-9977878-52.html?tag=st.top

In case you're wondering why this is important, record sales are making a bit of a comeback. Up until the advent of MP3 players, buying music meant that you actually owned something - you had a physical record, then an 8-track, then a cassete, then a CD. But when you download a song, you're lucky if you're purchasing more then a few electrons to be written on your computers hard drive.

There's something about actually owning the PHYSICAL music - records aren't digital, they're the physical impression of the sound that they've recorded. Some people say they sound "better" then CDs or MP3s. I don't know weather or not I believe that (I've yet to actually get someone to help me do a blind test - I've got a turntable, a Boston album 33, CD, and MP3.)

One of the best reasons I can think of for a good comeback of records is the record sleeve. I mean, CD album covers are tiny - about 5 inches square. You can do the greatest album cover in the world, but its going to loose detail when printed that small. It's a whole other ballgame when your album art can be printed 12x12 (the size of a 33 1/3 RPM record.).

24 Hours of Air Traffic

Everyone at some point has used either Mapquest or Google Maps to locate something, and seen onscreen that little orange or red dot superimposed on a map above some place or other. The FAA does the exact same thing with airplanes. It knows and tracks where every airplane is in US airspace, and the data can be displayed just like that little dot in Google Maps. Except the FAA isn't tracking one airplane. It's tracking THOUSANDS of planes. Oh yeah - unlike buildings, the airplanes are moving. Put it all together, and you get a really cool animation.

Watch the video here, I know it gets a little slow after 30 seconds, but it picks up again and gets even cooler after the first minute. Explinations are included in the video, as the blog I'm linking to doesn't say all that much.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2007/11/24_hours_of_air_traffic_never_1.html