NYT’s Google Cardboard experience is another step forward for “My First VR”

The New York Times is sending out a million Google Cardboards to go with its upcoming VR films. It’s an exciting time to think about the adoption curve of cheap and easy mainstream virtual reality. In order for VR to mainstream, it must be accessible and affordable. That means $350 Oculus headsets that need a $2000 computer to run aren’t realistic for Joe Blow Public. And the Halolens developer kits are going to cost $3,000. This is why I’m soRead more

Live coding music at space150 this week

One of the newest electronic music sub-genres is called Live Coded Audio, where composers make music using algorithms. It’s live, improvised, electronic music created using programming languages in real time. Live coders often project their code onto a large screen for the audience to see, allowing for a very transparent performance. No cut/paste allowed! This form of music started with a small group in the UK and is just starting to get some traction in the states — and inRead more

Vote for space150’s 2016 SXSW proposals

space150 is excited to share our speaking proposals for South by Southwest 2016 that are now live in the PanelPicker for your voting pleasure… Deep Web & Dark Social: Is Anything Really Private – Greg Swan & Marc Jensen​ Text is Dead: Emerging Visual Languages Online – Greg Swan & Nick Mastodon Embrace Data for an Algorithmic Content Strategy ​- Craig Key How Digital Can Solve Racial Disparity ​- Elliott Payne 5 Signs, Steps & Benefits of Nonstop Courage ​-Read more

So it turns out fruit flies are self-aware and can play video games

According to a new report in the Journal of Neuroscience, fruit flies may be a higher order species than we may have thought. A crucial function of the brain is to be able to distinguish whether or not changes in the environment are caused by one’s own actions. Even the smallest brains appear to be capable of making this distinction, as has been shown by closed-loop behavioral experiments in flies controlling visual stimuli in virtual reality paradigms. Scientists at theRead more

If fishing is a sport, surely drone racing can be

Competitive drone racing. It’s a thing. And you may just watch it on TV some day. As I write this at 9:30 a.m. on a Wednesday, more than 108,000 people are watching other people play the video game League of Legends. And nearly 90,000 people are watching other gamers play Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (circa 1994). These are sports where athletes use joysticks and controllers matched with lightning-quick reflexes and brains steeped in puzzles to dominate the competition. So inRead more

Forward-looking brands are experimenting in Snapchat today

We’ve had a lot of internal conversations about Snapchat lately, especially as we start building out programs for clients. But Snapchat isn’t proven. It’s new and is the definition of an emerging channel. Why should a brand start peeling off resources for test-and-learn programs in Snapchat today? Snapchat is the 2015 version of “Join the Conversation” and “Be Present Where Your Audience is Engaging” — the same reasons brands started experimenting in social media six to seven years ago withRead more

Hacking your drive time data with aftermarket hardware

Part of our role at spaceLab is to explore new and emerging technologies, understand how they will impact consumer behavior, and put them into context for our clients. In November 2013 I installed Automatic on my car, which is a small white square that plugs into your car’s data port (you know, where your mechanic plugs in the check engine light machine that somehow costs $100 just for turning it on). Automatic has helped liberate the data that I generateRead more

The Google and Twitter Partnership: It Begins

Early last week Google started to roll out tweets at the top of search results on mobile. As of right now, the partnership is in its infancy as we’ve only seen things like major news stories and awards shows populate in our search results. Although we have only seen a preview of this new partnership this could be the beginning of a game changing alliance between these two tech giants. So what does it mean? There are still a lotRead more