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The Daily Show – Trevor Reacts to the Orlando Shooting

Byrichard

I have been watching The Daily Show with Trevor Noah for a while now and I like the insight and analysis that his shows provide to current affairs programs. I like his shows because he provides a different perspective than other news. He is a South African who moved to the US and work on the Daily show.

In this show he explores cause and effect. He speaks about his childhood and tying shoelaces. He speaks about running and falling “a lot” and then about how his mother told him to tie his shoe laces. What I like about his show is that it is calm, factual and logical. He makes the occasional joke but it helps strengthen the point he has just made and provides a transition to the next point.

What is interesting about this comedy/current affairs show is that it also pokes fun at mainstream news shows and the way in which they try to deflect the conversation away from the key issues. News and current affairs should provide insight and analysis without worrying about what shareholders, lobbyists and other groups want the message to be. They should provide people with facts and context.

We are in the age of On Demand videos and it takes the average web user seconds to find the content that will provide them with the message or conclusions that they want to justify. Search for Orlando as a key word on youtube and you will find emotional video content.

Emotional content

In a healthy news environment you should have two main sources of information. Mainstream media should provide you with the facts and the context of what happened without prejudice or assumptions being made. Once these sources of information have been exhausted then we can shift towards the emotional talk shows, opinions and columns. What I see at the moment is emotion taking centre stage and obscuring reality.

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Quora and lateral thinking

Byrichard

Recently I saw the question “Why can’t I charge my mobile phone while riding my scooter?” on Quora so I decided to provide the answer that you see below. In my eyes my answer is legitimate. As an ingress player, as a scooter driver, and as someone who has done what I describe in the answer below I do not see why it is not a valid answer. Quora and lateral thinking are not synonymous. It would seem that Quora users do not like lateral thinking.

This is a legitimate answer because within the ingress playing community everyone that I have met uses an external battery to recharge their phone whilst out and about. Some of them carry the battery in a pocket, others in a bag and yet more of them have a special case for the bike so that they can play the game with ease whilst moving from portal to portal. If you haven’t played Ingress on a bike then you should definitely try it.

To have a reasonable answer downvoted by a user of Quora degrades my motivation to contribute to the site. I was once threatened with a ban for providing a link to back up and source what I had written. A second time I had personal attacks for writing a question to a questions asking for thoughts on a topic and now I see this downvote to a legitimate answer.

Social networks and online communities should be about open and free discussions where peoples’ thoughts and opinions are valued. When they are not valued then the return on investment for community members declines. It also discourages people from contributing to the community. Ideally you should highlight what you like and ignore what you dislike. By ignoring what you dislike you offend no one. You discourage no one.

Quora stats

In the grand scheme of things I have had 153 upvotes and only one downvote that I am aware of. This should not discourage me from using the network in future. I will take a break from the social network once again. Other social networks are more inviting, more open, more stimulating.

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Rain and the Gear 360

Byrichard

Rain and the Gear 360 are well suited to the weather we are currently subjected to in Switzerland. For the past month and a half we have had rain almost every single day. As a result of this it has limited the number of opportunities to go out and get 360 footage.

360 camera rigs are not designed for rain. Most 360 rigs involve at least six non weatherproof cameras and rigs that are designed for dry rather than wet conditions. To go out in this rain would drown the equipment. With additional funds you could film in these conditions with weatherproof gear but the cost increases. Add to this that camera systems like the Ricoh Theta S prefer clear skies and nice weather for taking video and you see that it is not really worth the effort.

By the end of September the Samsung Gear 360 should provide us with a simple to carry, weatherproof 360 camera which could be fun to take canyoning (if they make a specialist housing) or hiking for doing other sports activities where weather proofing is a useful feature. The trend to make devices at least splash proof is good.

Another nice feature of this camera is the ability to use 200 gigabyte SDHC cards. with these cards you can record for hours. When the card is full or when you’re changing location you can change cards in seconds and continue working on a project. With the Ricoh Theta S you can record for 45 minutes before you need to transfer the footage, clear the memory and start recording again.

With 200 gigabytes of storage one concept that I would love to test is 360° time lapse videos. You could fix the camera to your bike, to a canoe or to some other object and set it to take a picture at regular intervals. So far I have not seen a mention of an interval recording mode but with 200 gigabytes you can record for hours without worrying about storage. You could change the speed in post production.

This camera records in UHD rather than HD quality. Video recording is at a resolution of 3840×1920. 360 videos taken with this camera should be more pleasant to view as a result.

The 360° video eco-system is still in it’s infancy and most 360 video solutions require people to use a number of cameras. Both Samsung and Ricoh provide all in one solutions along with software to stitch the images ready for post production. They are helping to democratise the medium both by making production cheaper but also by enabling people to produce content. This increase in content will encourage more people to get VR goggles which in turn will justify increasing the budget of 360 video production budgets. It will go from being a niche product to being mainstream.

“Posting Dead Zones” Are Encouraged by Social Media Practitioners Taking a Utilitarian Approach to Social Media.

“Posting Dead Zones” Are Encouraged by Social Media Practitioners Taking a Utilitarian Approach to Social Media.

Byrichard

A few years ago we were part of social networks. These networks were based on social interests, activities, passions and more. Over time as attention shifted from Social networks to social media so the activity that people were busy with changed. With that change social media professionals filled the channels, pushed for “audience” rather than friendships and eventually created what they call the “posting dead zones”. This is both amusing and sad.

It is amusing because social networks, later called social media were entirely about conversations and sharing content and experiences of interest. In such an environment you would use social media from the moment you woke up to the moment you went to sleep. You would meet with members of your social media social networks a number of times a day. The Return on investment for having no “posting dead zones” meant that people would be attentive to what you posted.

With time, and as early adopters were replaced by mid to late adopters, as conversations became less private and less personal so the opportunities to connect with people declined. Instant messaging via Google Hangouts for Ingress, Facebook messenger for personal friends and whatsapp encourage exchanges between existing networks. The work of adding new people to a social network has shifted back to face to face meetings.  As a private user the return on investment in regards to social networks has imploded. We see this with Facebook and Twitter. Their stickiness has declined.

Social media practitioners forget that social media are about social networks. People use the social network where they connect with other people. When a social network is no longer sociable “posting dead zones” get extended so much that vibrant networks become ghost towns. Facebook and twitter spent so long focusing on getting advertising and mainstream media on board that they forgot the essence of social networks.

Facebook Disengagement
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Facebook Disengagement

Byrichard

Facebook disengagement by those I know has become so serious that I have decided to take a break from the social network myself. For many years this was a network of people I knew and spent time with in person. It has school friends, uni friends, activity friends and social media friends. For many years it was a place to socialise, share events and images. From the moment Zynga polluted Facebook with Farmville the conversational aspect of the social network degraded. As the conversation declined the sentiment that Facebook was a waste of time became a reality.

Facebook users no longer use the network to share their lives and converse. They use it to share sensationalist rubbish. Aside from Social media marketers Facebook has become a ghost town. As normal people no longer use the social network you are saturated with sensationalist rubbish. Facebook has become the preserve of the lowest common denominator. It has become a tabloid news distribution network and those who enjoy intellectual stimulation have moved on to other networks.

The content has declined in value to such a degree that I felt myself turning in to a troll. Every second or third article that people share is sensationalist rubbish and I feel the urge to call it rubbish. I don’t want to offend individuals so rather than do this I will take a break.

Social networks are about people connecting and conversing. It is about sharing what inspires us both through the adventures we have and through the links we share. Every article and headline should inspire us. For as long as social media practitioners focus on telling us how to feel rather than provide a description of the content of articles I will stay away.

Conversations are personal and current affairs articles should be factual. When a network like Facebook no longer has conversations and when articles are emotional the world is upside down and the model is broken. It is time for social networks and social media to become personal once again.

It amuses me that I write this about facebook. I wrote the same about twitter a few months and years ago. Social networks and their strategists keep making the same mistakes.

A Chinese Via Ferrata of sorts

Byrichard

School children in the Chinese Sichuan province need to climb up a via ferrata of sorts to get to school. As I watch this footage it makes me think of the Ladders of Death Via Ferrata between France and Switzerland where smugglers would transport contraband between these countries.


When I watch this footage I believe that it would be relatively easy for the Chinese government to get some European Via ferrata equipment specialists to create a via ferrata and safety gear adapted for young children. In Europe Via ferrata are equipped with “pig’s tail” metal loops through which safety ropes can be threaded. These make it possible to do via ferrata with younger children.

The drawback to via ferrata equipment is that it has certain weight requirements. They are designed for people who weigh between 50-110 kg so if you are too light the “parachute” will not be activated and this can lead to injury.

I like this video from an ethnographic and historical context because it shows us a glimpse of what the infancy of via ferrata was like. It shows us the improvised ladders, agile people climbing on exposed rock and more. We see that the youngest person is kept relatively safe by his father and a rope in case of a slip or fall.

In the news item they speak about developing tourism. The parents live in this remote village of 72 people because the farmland is arable. With the development of tourism the path to school could be improved and made safer. If they develop via ferrata tourism as we see in Europe, the Americas, Asia and New Zealand they could have an additional form of income. I know that I could be tempted to try this as a via ferrata if and when they re-equip it. It’s a nice way to see the landscape and a good reason to visit new places.

 

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The World from a baby’s perspective

Byrichard

How would you feel if you had access to video footage taken with a 360° camera of the world from a baby’s perspective? This is a question I find interesting to answer. I decided to try this experiment a few days ago. The limitation of most cameras is that they only show what is within the field of view. They only show what the photographer or camera operator felt was worth capturing.

With a 360° camera placed at the child’s eye level you can see everything from their perspective. You can see the entire room and you can look up to see the grown ups or down to see the hands and other objects on the ground. You can also see the underside of chairs and tables. With VR goggles you would see the world from that perspective.

Imagine a birthday or Christmas party from this perspective. You would see the opening of presents, the reaction of the infant but also of the grown ups, of the brothers and sisters and maybe pets if there are any around.

I think that this way of documenting the world would be most interesting for the child when she becomes a teenager or grown up. Imagine the pleasure that could be had by seeing how everyone looked at this time. Conventional cameras are always missing at least one person. With 360 cameras everyone would be in the image. The camera operator becomes part of the scene.

One advantage of 360° videos is that they cover what is taking place in front and behind the camera so people may behave more naturally than if a standard video or photo camera was pointing at them. I love being behind video cameras rather than in front. With 360 cameras I am forced to be in frame. I believe that people will behave in a more natural manner than if they were filmed by a conventional camera.

We see how people enjoy letters and paintings, photographs and conventional videos. Imagine how much enjoyment people would get from taking a step back in time. Imagine looking at the furniture, the gadgets, the architecture from a decade or two ago.

Understanding Virtual Reality games via Youtube

Byrichard

Virtual Reality is still an abstract concept for people requiring either a Samsung mobile phone and their VR headset, a mobile phone and a VR headset from a third party provider or dedicated hardware like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Unless you’re in a big city testing this technology is impractical.

Vlogging is an effective way to understand the potential of Virtual Reality experiences such as those provided by the HTC Vive. I mention the HTC Vive system because it is one of the first to provide gamers with a fully immersive experience. You move around in space physically and pick up objects thanks to the controllers.

In contrast to written articles you see how people react and enjoy new technology in real time. You don’t rely on someone’s writing skills. It gives you a direct and honest appreciation of the experience that you will personally experience if you play the game with that setup.

Demonstrations such as this one are fun because they show you how immersive the game is and how physically demanding VR gaming can be. When my generation were gaming we had to sit at a console or computer and use a keyboard and mouse or a controller. We could sit for hours not moving much. With VR systems gaming is no longer an inactive activity. From now on you need space in a room to move around in, you need hand controllers and you need to stand, sit, crouch and more. Gaming is now a physical activity.

We are still in the infancy of VR gaming and technology will improve. We will get gloves, surfaces for walking and more. VR experiences will be progressively more immersive and so people’s occasionally negative perception of gaming and gamers may change. I look forward to VR gloves that allow us to see our fingers move and wrap around objects.

 

The Martian after the Hype

Byrichard

Yesterday I finished reading The Martian. I chose to read the book rather than watch the film, and I chose to read it now rather than months ago because I wanted to read The Martian after the hype and excitement had declined.

The story is simple to follow and the ideas are interesting. I feel that when problems occur for the character they are put in simply to demonstrate more technology and more ideas rather than to provide real challenges to the character. It is more of an essay looking at a hypothetical trip to Mars.

There is humour in the book as shown by some quotes.

Well, okay. I know the answer to that. Part of it might be what I represent: progress, science, and the interplanetary future we’ve dreamed of for centuries. But really, they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. It might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true.

“It was like flying a cow,” Martinez grumbled, his hands racing over his controls.

“Brought product to surface of Mars. It stopped working. 0/10.”

“first: Tomorrow I’ll be the first person to recover a Mars probe.”

Using advanced construction techniques (duct tape), I reassembled some of them into a square.

As you might not have read the book I will leave these quotes without discussing the context. There are one or two moments in this book where I laughed aloud. It is nice to read a book that makes you laugh.

The importance of a book such as a Martian is not the writing style or the story telling but rather the ability to imagine what future human exploration could be like. How would we get food. How would we survive on scenario or another. Are some risks more interesting than others. It encourages people to think about space exploration and some of the challenges. It is accessible to a broad portion of people.