ganyet.com » Why didn’t I think of that?

21 Steps: literature meets Google Maps

Josep M. Ganyet — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:29:47 +0000

An excellent mashup, or a geo-localized short story written on Google maps bubbles by writer Charles Cummings. I’m halfway through it and about to fly to Edimburgh. Don’t tell me the end!

Visit the 21 Steps website

200 people frozen in NY Grand Central Station

Josep M. Ganyet — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:47:30 +0000

Brilliant acting from the guys of Improveverywhere.com with 200 people freezing for 5 minutes in NY Grand Central Station.

Their motto “we cause scenes”. Judge for yourself.

Yesterday 185.000 views and today 630.000. Going viral. I’ll talk about it Thursday on the radio.

Check their other actions in Improveverywhere.com.

Daft Punk + Hand Coreography = Daft Hands (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger)

Josep M. Ganyet — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:43:05 +0000

Extremely creative and yet simple video of two hands dancing to Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. All in one take and no editing.

13,5 million views and counting.

PNG Icons & Icon Packs Download | IconsPedia

Josep M. Ganyet — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:12:39 +0000

Iconspedia.com is a wiki where you can upload/download icons in PNG and icon format. There’s not a huge collection yet but they’re all top quality. Here’s a sample of the Animals->Creatures category.

PNG Icons & Icon Packs Download | IconsPedia

Yadogg » Vinyl Sleeve Heads

Josep M. Ganyet — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:03:57 +0000

Take a vinyl sleve with a face on it, pose to match it, take a picture and send it to Yadogg.

More pictures at Yadogg » Vinyl Sleeve Heads

Wii remote: Redefining Human Computer Interaction

Josep M. Ganyet — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:04:42 +0000

If you thought that the spring horse + Wii Remote + Need For Speed was the coolest thing you ever saw on videogames wait until you see this.

Via hackaday.com I land on Johnny Chung Lee’s website and a brave (and cheap) new world opens before me.

In his page he has put a few do-it-yourself-with-a-wii-remote videos that will blow you away. The advanced interaction concepts he explores, the easy and cheap implementations and the clarity of the demos make the perfect combination for an instant YouTube hit.

It’s all about using the powerful 1024×768 infrared camera on your Wii remote and connecting it via bluetooth to your computer. The results?

Tracking Your Fingers with the Wii remote

Use your fingers to control a multitouch screen in the air à la Minority Report.
Tracking Your Fingers with the Wii remote video

Low-Cost Multi-point Interactive Whiteboards Using the Wii remote

By pointing a Wii remote at a projection screen you can create very low-cost interactive whiteboards or tablet displays. No projector? Point the Wii remote to your computer monitor and turn it into a multitouch surface.
Low-Cost Multi-point Interactive Whiteboards Using the Wii remote video

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote

With a cheap pair of glasses, an couple of infrared lights and, of course the Wii remote, literally open a new window to an inmersive 3D VR environment.
Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote video

(By Johnny’s personal page URL cs.cmu.edu I gather that he’s from the School of Computer Science at renowned Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and he works in Human Computer Interaction there.)

Extending the Wii: Need For Speed + Spring Horse

Josep M. Ganyet — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:02:23 +0000

Reading X de Xavier’s post about using the Wii remote to enable disabled people to interact with computers, I remembered a video of a boy using a spring horse and a Wii remote to play Need For Speed.

Yet another case of popular use of tecnology that it’s creators never foresaw.

Flash is evil revisited

Josep M. Ganyet — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:16:08 +0000

In my previous post I talked briefly about fair use of flash in websites and this led me to review an old article entlitled Flash is Evil written in 1999. I remember reading it when it came out and I couldn’t agree more with the author.

The article reviewed in a few paragraphs the abuse of flash used in websites at the time, especially the cases where entire websites were coded in Flash. The author worried that some day Tim Berners-Lee open source platform could be taken over by Flash. Not to mention that the author got heaps of hate mail.

I was at the moment developing Hoymesiento.com an emotion based portal (that whas the word back then) entirely coded in flash which was doomed from the begining. The outcome? the blog I created in 1998 still online, while you have to check Hoymesiento.com on web.archive.org

Make My Logo Bigger Cream

Josep M. Ganyet — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:43:13 +0000

What’s all this white space doing in my ad? Can you make the logo bigger? My brand needs more presence in the homepage.

Does this sound familiar to you? I bet it does if you’re a graphic designer.

To all my graphic designer friends: Make My Logo Bigger Cream, a hilarious video about a too well known situation. Enjoy!

Sometimes I’m here, sometimes not. Zoomap: googlemaps from Barcelona with love

Josep M. Ganyet — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:07:14 +0000

Zoomap is Googlemaps + a Wiki. Yet another project based on the infamous Google API. But this one is fun to use.

In plain English: you can pinpoint any spot in the world and upload your picture and add some text to the database creating an image tagged location. Once your tag is created Zoomap provides a direct link to it for you to enjoy.

A good and fun use of the Google Api and probably of the Wordpress blogging platform. The closest project I’ve seen to Zoomap is Wikimaps, a plugin for Wordpress that turns your blog into an open wiki based on google maps. Not sure if Zoomap is not using Wikimaps.

Update: Via Dani Julià one of Zoomap creators: The system is programmed from scratch. No Wordpress and no wikimaps underneath.

Check my avatar next to the França Railway Station site of the Audiovisual Institute of the Pompeu Fabra university where sometimes I am and sometimes I’m not.