Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo. Ah, the eternal debate over what constitutes a “toy.” We’re again seeing it as musicians snap up the cheap, smartly-designed keytar for Rock Band 3. (That should make a nice visual controller, too, though perhaps visuals are really the perfect application for the guitar.) […]

‘YEKPARE’ (monolithic) from nerdworking on Vimeo. From over the summer, here’s a dazzling visual narrative set out against a train station in the town. It also answers a point made recently in comments. The impact of projection mapping is indeed greatly dimmed when projectors fall short on contrast ratio or brightness. This work, on the […]

‘YEKPARE’ (monolithic) from nerdworking on Vimeo. From over the summer, here’s a dazzling visual narrative set out against a train station in the town. It also answers a point made recently in comments. The impact of projection mapping is indeed greatly dimmed when projectors fall short on contrast ratio or brightness. This work, on the […]

AmpliTube 2 arrives today with new effects, recording, bounce to audio, export/import, practice tools, and in-app purchase of extra stomp modules. I’ve been playing with a pre-release version for the last few days. Combined with an audio interface like IK Multimedia’s own iRig, AmpliTube 2 turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a handheld, pocket-able […]

Paper, wood, and traditional media aren’t tied to one vendor. They don’t require licenses or agreements. They aren’t, generally speaking, incompatible. If digital art is going to provide artists with the same freedom, it stands to reason that artists working with computation will find ways to make any pixel their medium. Processing is a good […]

Tonight, interactive artists are taking over an Internet Cafe and turning it into exhibition space, running artworks that function in regular browsers. Artists: Erik Andersson, Cory Arcangel, Michael Bell-Smith, Charles Broskoski, Jon Cates, Aleksandra Domanovic, Doubble Happiness, Constant Dullaart, JODI, JK Keller, Greg Leuch, Olia Lialina & Dragan Espenschied, Duncan Malashock, Eva & Franco Mattes […]

The Rock Band keytar Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard, next to an iPod touch, for scale. What if a gaping product hole for musicians were filled by a game company instead of a musical instruments company? There’s no need to imagine: pick up the new Rock Band 3 keyboard, and you’ll see what I mean. […]

A toy controller – in a good way. The Mustang Pro guitar controller for Rock Band 3 is equipped with a full MIDI implementation and standard 5-pin port to connect to synths and computers. Since the very first Guitar Hero game, musicians have found ways of converting game music controllers into genuine music controllers, through […]

iOS has proven some of the appeal of on-demand interactive artwork and audiovisual toys. But even the iPad is limited to a 10″ screen; these days, the biggest screen in the house that isn’t a TV is often attached to a computer. (In fact, I regularly run across people who use a large computer monitor […]

iOS has proven some of the appeal of on-demand interactive artwork and audiovisual toys. But even the iPad is limited to a 10″ screen; these days, the biggest screen in the house that isn’t a TV is often attached to a computer. (In fact, I regularly run across people who use a large computer monitor […]