Eventually, the next revolution in communication is happening..

While internet connection prices kept going down since it's availability to public market (1994: charge per minute, then packages with X hours of communication, and monthly contracts with unlimited access when xDSL / cable arrived in 2000) in comparison, mobile phones communication prices didn't change much since it massively entered the market in 1996..

Step by step, some calls from mobiles slowly become cheaper or free (calls to landlines, or same network mobiles) but  international calls are still incredibly expensive, and even just receiving a call when you travel abroad could be ridiculously expensive.

Special mention to the english phone provider 02 who raped me of hundreds of pounds / month for a couple of hours roaming or just receiving calls and texts. So after this very bad experience (stay away from 02 thieves !) I had to find a cheaper option to give and receive call in England and while touring abroad, and options like check my emails etc.. would be a nice bonus.

The skypephone
Following the Iphone release, all the phone providers have to think about competitive and attractive offers to be not left behind by Apple, and turn up with new products and packages.
This is what the english company 3 (three) comes up with: the Skypephone.

It looks like a regular phone (it does the same really: call and receive calls / texts / mms anywhere, on pay as you go or monthly contract from £12) but..

.. it has a built in skype software, so you can do voice calls over IP and chat with one of the 250 millions skype users around the world, wherever you are in UK (you just need to get the phone network signal, and 3 has a good coverage) and talk forever without any extra charge ! It's also free when you travel to Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Australia and Hong Kong, and hopefully even more countries soon.
It also means that you'll always be connected to skype, so people can skype you at anytime, while you are in the park or at a gig, for free.
As a bonus you also get unlimited msn, ebay, facebook and other popular websites access with no data charge, and the phone has a nice 2.0Mpixels camera, mp3 player etc..

The bad points:
Well, it's not perfect yet, as it's quite a new thing, there are a couple of negative things:
- No skype in / skype out: you can't use these great options to give even cheaper calls to international numbers via voIP.
- No skype video conference yet (I can't wait to get the next firware update, with hopefully free video conference option using the built in camera).
- Usually the signal is fine and good quality, but you can expect a few cuts and voice robots sometimes. Not ideal when you talk to a client, but pretty funny anyway. ;)
- You only get the free skype option when you're in one of these countries which have 3's sisters networks.

So for the time being, I have another phone for the other countries, and I skype (in/out) over Wifi network for free as well, with the good old Belkin phone.


Hope you get as excited as I am by this new revolution !

Edit: This is not why I wrote this post, but I just noticed that 3 offers a voucher to new recommended customers.

 

Mash a Kandinsky with a Duchamp, crumple one of Zaha Hadid’s smaller architectural experiments with H.R. Geiger’s eerie organic forms, cram the whole thing into a high-definition television, and you might end up with something like the art of Scott Pagano. Grind down the gritty, industrial detritus of Rotterdam — one of the world’s largest port cities — and process it in a digital audio factory and you may, if you’re lucky, get something that sounds like the mechanized mayhem of Jochem Paap, a.k.a. “Speedy J.” Blend it all together in a high-fidelity digital soup and you get, well, you get something entirely new.

This is how Apple website introduces Umfeld, the result of the ambitious project of Jochem Paap (audio) and Scott Pagano (visuals) to create a total sensory experience using abstract audio-visuals. The audio makes use of full surround evoking a completely immersive experience and amplifying what lies beyond the visual field.

 

Through 8 separate pieces, the 56 minute experimental movie takes the viewer from electrifying collages of angular structures to pulsating organic compositions. Similarly, the camera shifts between uneasy shakes, mechanical precision and smooth flowing motion; Brakhage in a hyper-technological and information-laden universe.

Umfeld challenges the perception by maintaining a high level of abstraction yet obtaining a very ‘realistic’ character.
The movie creates the feeling as though one starts learning to see and hear a whole new dimension and manages to hint at yet another level of existence beyond even that.

Pagano superimposes, displaces, multiplies, mirrors, deforms and adds three dimensional computer generated imagery in the mix, creating a holistic experience which exceeds the individual ‘effect’.
The audiovisual experience is of such density it becomes tangible.
Both audio and video complement each other, creating a single atmosphere where the question “what came first” is completely irrelevant. There is no causality, no link, no separation: they are one and the same entity.

Paap produces a soundtrack recalling the magnificently alienating experience of ‘public energy nr 1′ and ‘a shocking hobby’ and extends it by his gained experience in surround compositions. Layers of crisp, pulsating high-energy, melodic chimes and crackling rhythms, deep basses and metallic resonance flow on top of each other and create a stunning spatial experience.

Umfeld provides a glimpse of what it might be like to not just see and hear what’s within the range of our senses, but also the frequencies outside those limits. It almost creates a heightened awareness… or did I just have too much espresso?

See and hear ‘Umfeld’ for yourself :
Go to www.umfeld.tv and download the dvd image for free or order the dvd (incl. Region Free 77 and a short documentary) online!

Article from Rupture Online

Umfeld profile on Apple website
Umfeld flickr account.

 

Radiohead's new album is out today !
And believe it or not, you can pay whatever you want to get it.. "It's up to you" says inrainbows.com, the album's website, actually the only place where you can download the digital 10 track LP.

When their contract with the records label EMI expired, the band didn't want to renew it, and decided to produce and distribute their seventh album themself, a choice that would be considered as risky, but Radiohead members don't seem to care much.. 

They are well aware that the classic music industry model is Dying (CDs are part of the past history already), and Internet and the mp3 format have completely changed the rules in the past few years, and records labels still seems to ignore all this (and they keep trying to sue people, and ask governments to reinforce laws against young people which are downloading more and more, and who used to be their clients..).

Anyway, Radiohead members also know that they will make more profits on their concerts tickets, and are happy to hustle the established majors by making a choice that will probably stay  "historical", like Prince did when he gave away his album from free in a Sunday newspaper.

If their choice happens to be a good business model, and if they actually make good profits, or more money on sales than they used to do before with a record label (which actually get most of the money *70%* you pay when you buy a CD), this would probably be a severe earthquake for all the records companies that makes money out of what's primarily supposed to be Art rather than business.

I just bought my copy of the album for £5, and I'd be happy to buy a couple more for friends rather than just doing the usual "Ctrl-C Ctrl-V". Radiohead you Rock !



( Original picture from Radiohead's blog. )

By the way, I'm quite rubbish at writing reviews about music content (I'm more into visuals), but my friend and music specialist No wrote a good post about the album (in french only).

 

UnitedVisualArtists strikes again !
This time, the UVA brought their lightning installation skills to a disused Welsh quarry, for the new Warp video (latest Battles single: Tonto), and installed many bright white vertical LED bars in a slate bassin..

Standing up at equal distances, perfectly lined up and leveled, the LEDs becomes a unique light structure at night , controlled via DMX by UVA's own software.

The visuals, especially produced for the shooting, can appear sometimes very geometrical, or organic, depending on how the lights were triggered. The stone closeups are also quite fascinating, and it reminds kinetic art, as the light "animates" the slate, but in fact the only thing moving is the camera.

The editing is also very well done, with a very interesting evolution and narration on a nearly 8 minutes long format.

Watch the video:



Behind the scenes pictures on Uva's blog

A video documentary about UVA, and details about Tonto's video (at the end), part of the great Dazed Digital's "Seduced by light" series.

  

Google maps passe à la vitesse supérieure en mettant en ligne des photos haute résolution. Un résultat très impressionant, qui peut donner froid dans le dos aux protecteurs de la vie privée.

A noter que seules quelques zones ont été shootées en haute résolution (au Tchad, et à Sidney), car cette technique n'est plus satellite mais aérienne, et nécessite le passage d'un avion haut dessus de chaque zone pour obtenir une telle qualité. Dans tous les cas on peut quand même commencer à se poser des questions...

Quelques clichés choisis:
- Des nerds en croisière
- On joue aux petites voitures ?
- Le nom d'un VJ c'est glissé dans cette photo.. :)
- Un skatepark au bord de l'eau.. rhaaaa..

Pas mal d'autres perles sur geo-trotter
Via: ecrans