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Kagura, making music with your body
Brian Eno once said, “The problem with computers is that there is not enough Africa in them.” The interfaces we use to interact with computers are too digital, not fuzzy enough to sense analog inputs. We’re stuck with mouse and keyboard. Kagura is a game that runs on a laptop and uses the camera to […]
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Excellence In Advertising
I was asked the other day to name my favorite advertisement. In terms of effective engagement, I think branded apps are the best combination of free-to-the-consumer utility and on-going engagement for the brand. I recently downloaded an app to help me find the closest Chevron gas station because my dealer said that their special gasoline […]
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Life 2.0, a movie about Second Life
It’s been years since I have written about Second Life, the virtual reality platform which captured everyone’s attention back in 2006-2007. Lately Second Life has come up again in conversations with colleagues when we talk about the popularity of the 8-bit version of alternative reality games where you build things such as Minecraft. Second Life […]
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Pokémon Breeding and the Masuda Method
The depths of Pokémon gamer knowledge are beyond my reach. My kids, on the other hand, have gone deep and are using the internet to expand their learning further. I helped connect their Nintendo DS to Wifi so they can explore virtual worlds. Now they are connecting with other players around the world to trade […]
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Monetizing Games
Practical advice on game design from Disney Imagineer and Carnegie Mellon Professor, Jesse Schell in this recent talk at DICE 2010 conference. It’s all about tapping into the desire to level up.
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Physical and Virtual Spaces
I just returned from a year-end holiday in Tokyo. As always, the city never ceases to amaze me. The people in the photo above are all standing outside Yodobashi Camera, an electronics store in Akihabara. The store offers free wifi for anyone with a Nintendo DS and on that network they can get access to […]
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Spin the Bottle 2.0
Jan Chipchase is a research anthropologist at Nokia who travels the world and studies how people interact with technology. His blog (future perfect) is a fascinating stream of one off thoughts and observations which twist your mine to look at the everyday world around us with a new sense of wonder. In the photo above […]
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Werewolves infect Webmasters
Werewolf (also known as Mafia) is a great parlor game in which players try and figure out the good guys from the bad guys relying on your ability to read the body language of other players to determine who is telling the truth and who is lying while keeping your role and identity hidden from […]
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Ethan Haas? 1-18-08? Let the scavenger hunt begin!
I’m a total sucker for this kind of stuff. Can anyone tell me what this is about? Scott Beale posts a note that says it has nothing to do with JJ Abrams mysterious new trailer for 1-18-08 – this is going to be fun!
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Lumos Labs – brush away the cobwebs of your mind
Lumos Labs is a new site which, through a series of simple online games, excercise your brain. The site’s games are “scientifically proven to improve your attention, memory and processing speed.” Like doing situps for your mind, the site sends you through a series of short games that are fun, engaging and beautifully designed. Scores […]