The Photographer's Guide to the Eye

What science is learning about how we see can help you take more compelling pictures.
If you are a photographer that wish to understand what stands behind Feng-GUI attention maps and how to use them. This article is for you.


Mark Mainz/courtesy of Getty Images and Global Action for Children

eye tracking

Feng-GUI attention heatmap

http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/5422/the-photographers-guide-to-the-eye.html

KinnerNet 2008 personal contributions

By Rafael Mizrahi, Feng-GUI

KinnerNet Un-Convention is always a blast. and this year it was an explosion of geeks, technologies, art, food, humor … you name it.

I will not be able to describe (like last KinnerNet 2007 review I did with the blog WMMNA) in one small post, everything that happened this year. So, please accept my apologies, while I am only sharing my own contribution to this art-tech frenzy.

As an artificial vision explorer at Feng-GUI and a GarageGeeks member, I was invited to KinnerNet2008, and here is my contribution.

WiiMan SuperHero

http://wiimansuperhero.blogspot.com/

WiiMan and DR. Yossi Vardi

WiiMan the Super Hero is a full action figure costume of a super hero that functions as a Nintendo Wii remote.
Having trouble playing Wii? WiiMan to the rescue.
This project combines Gaming, Technology and Useless Activity to the extreme.

The GarageGeeks along with Yael Hertzog built this custom that acts as a fully functional Nintendo WiiMote remote with buttons, Bluetooth, accelerometers, and an IR cam.

Gadgethon

Under the category of Gadget I bought, I showed:

Wearable social bookmarking accessories made by Limor Fried, AKA Lady Ada,

Digg Button , MiniPOV

Under the category of Gadget I made myself, I showed:

* React-a-Baby - A collaborative electronic music instrument for babies

* iLed - Wearable party led lights glasses which flickers between 8-16 Hz and amplitude is based on a microphone input. Hallucinogen state of mind, not included.

KinnerNet Business Card

Hagai Cohen requested my programming skills creating a souvenir for KinnerNet 2008 participants. A business card with a stretched font that is readable only when you tilt the card.

Dove Shit Dove

The garagegeeks built a huge Dove that sense if someone is underneath it and crap a small spit of Dove soap on him. I helped with the sound effects.

MAKE /Face workshop

A workshop conducted by Michael Shiloh (MakingThings, MAKE magazine and OpenMoko) and Hanoch Piven (www.pivenworld.com) I built this Fakir’s hours made out of computer parts.

Skateboard Session

Oren Zuckerman from IDC Herzelia and MIT's Media Lab organized a spontaneous Skateboard session.

It turned into an old dogs session, of myself, Nir Ofir (BlogTV), Meir Brand (Google Israel GM), Ohad PressMan (3D3R) and Gary Shainberg (British Telecom CTO) on the SegWay

Core77 Attack

We are under attack, Thanks to Core77 the Design blog:)

Thank you Arnold Van Bezooyen for sharing Feng-GUI with your readers.

view the post and comments at Core77

Web Vision explained by StomperNet

StomperNet released a bunch of great videos about Web Vision describing how do we See the web while surfing.

"What web designers should know about human vision! Not just eye tracking, but eye gaze simulation and an interactive experiment to help you get it."

for example, take a look at http://youtube.com/watch?v=-SCtjwK8PAY


watch all the videos at http://youtube.com/user/stompernet

They also provide a free (Adobe AIR based) tool called Scrutinizer that offers a simulation of the human visual system. Specifically, it illustrates the distinction between foveal and peripheral vision in visual acuity and color perception.

DLD 2008 - Digital gets Physical and Social

Our made man, Ohad Eder Pressman reached to Speaker level at DLD* 2008, lecturing about connecting the Physical and Digital worlds.

Digital gets Physical session include Kati London, Julian Bleecker (NearFuture), Neri Oxman, Ohad Eder-Pressman and hosted by Kevin Slavin



watch the full video at sevenload

http://de.sevenload.com/videos/kHp4S78/DLD08-Day-3-Digital-gets-physical/sliderPage/2



DLD conference is a blast of sharing ideas, thoughts and vision.
It was a great opportunity to meet GarageGeeks friends from all over the world:

Pabls Holman the international hacker, Digital Dan Dubno , check out their great presentation at DLD*

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/bAoG482/DLD08-Day-2-Educate-experiment/sliderPage/2

JB Jean-Baptiste Labrune who creates our next generation of interfaces, Régine Debatty editor of the art/tech blog http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com



Michael Reinboth from Compost records, Munich, kindly had a meeting with us and we discussed about various ways to integrate the GarageGeeks activities with the music industry in Germany.

Music Workshop - DIY Toy Music Controllers

At this music workshop, we are creating modified toys music controllers that send their MIDI or Audio information to central audio and visual stations.

Reflections from this workshop

photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafael_mizrahi/sets/72157603505744930/

videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4z5LKpeLZU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri4vpqTnP9A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd1H2T5uUqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5raa-XiAFAo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42jX6-n9K4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd1H2T5uUqQ

Date: 3 January 2008
Hosts: Rafael Mizrahi, Eyal ‘Person’ Sachar and Shira Miasnik

Schedule19:00 Garage Open: Prepare your "Basta".
20:00 Workshop agenda: Enough with Baby Einstein, its Baby Clubber time.
20:30 workshop starts



Who should come?
* Experienced music technicians and interactive designer.
* The event is open for everyone. You can join others (see /write in the wiki http://wiki.garagegeeks.org) by helping take apart and stuff the musical toys with gadgets.

The Garage will be wired with MIDI, and Audio cables. Each station can choose from several methods of communication to the central stations Hub. Your Toy output can be connected to the central stations or to your Laptop, and from there, to the central stations.



Ingredients: bring one or more of the followings:

1. A Toy (or some device that you wish to convert into a controller)


2. Sensors http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensors


3. Sensor interface board http://www.sensorwiki.org/index.php/Sensor_interfaces


4. Parts - Assorted switches, potentiometers and other parts
   http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb04.html


5. Laptop


6. Cables:MIDI, LAN, Audio and converter accessories.


7. Tools: soldering iron, glue, etc’
   http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb03.html


8. USB Keyboard to take apart.

How to participate with low budget:
Here is a list of ingredients to build a Music Toy Controller for anyone who wish to participate but is not so skilled or equipped. A Toy wired with Keys from a USB keyboard sending keystrokes to a utility (MouseTrap) which translates them into MIDI messages, mapped by MIDI-OX into Ableton Live.
* Toy
* USB Keyboard to take apart (also a mouse can be used).
* Laptop
* Ableton Live Demo http://www.ableton.com
* MIDI utilities:
** Keyboard/Mouse to MIDI: MouseTrap http://www.humatic.de/htools/MouseTrap.htm
** MIDI virtual device: MIDI-OX http://www.midiox.com/?http://www.midiox.com/moxdown.htm
* switches, knobs, sliders to hook on the Toy
* wires, solder, glue gun.
* anything else you wish to do with your lovely musical Toy.



Examples of participation (there can be more variations):

1. Toy+MIDI board->central station.


2. Toy+USB Keyboard->laptop->MIDI device or Audio->central station.


3. Toy+phidgets->laptop->Audio->central station.


4. Toy->laptop->MAX/MSP with MIDI module->MIDI device->central station.


5. Toy+ Arduino with MIDI module->laptop or central station.

Recommended boards:

1. MIDISense (MIDI) http://www.ladyada.net/make/midisense


2. MIDITron (MIDI) http://eroktronix.com


3. Arduino (Multi Purpose board USB) http://www.arduino.cc


4. Phidgets (Sensors to USB) http://www.phidgets.com/index.php?module=pncommerce&func=itemview&IID=85


5. Pocket Electronic (MIDI) http://www.doepfer.de/pe.htm


6. Make Controller Kit (USB and OSC) http://www.makingthings.com/products/KIT-MAKE-CTRL

notes: Don’t buy a board without understanding what you are buying and how to operate it.
The board kits are pretty easy to build, but prepare them at home because it takes several hours to assemble a 50$ kit.



Home Preparations:

1. Get a Toy, disassemble it at home and look for ways to attach the sensors or potentiometers onto it.


2. Decide how the toy will function? (MIDI, USB, Phidget, OSC, etc')


3. Prepare your board and test it with the sensors or potentiometers.


4. A handful of parts (knobs, slides, etc') that you can hook on the toy, bring extra, maybe others can use them.
   tour some electronic shops for such parts, or just take them from electronic junk you still didn't throw away.

Links

1. List of electronic shops which also sell sensors http://www.garagegeeks.org/blog/?p=78


2. List of music shops that sell music instruments http://www.act.co.il/index.php?action=shops

Reading material

MIDI
Essential MIDI toolbox
Use to monitor midi messages, send midi from your keyboard, map midi devices and more.
MIDI-OX
http://www.midiox.com/?http://www.midiox.com/moxdown.htm
MIDI-Yoke
http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.midiox.com/myoke.htm

OSC – Open Sound Control
OSC is meant to supersede the MIDI While MIDI requires a MIDI USB device, OSC communicate via a standard home or studio network (TCP/IP, Ethernet) or via the internet.

http://opensoundcontrol.org
http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OpenSoundControl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSound_Control

OSC to MIDI utilities
OCCAM (MAC OS) http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~c.ramakr/illposed/occam.html
OSCulator (MAC OS) http://www.osculator.net/wiki

USB keyboard or Mouse to MIDI or OSC

MouseTrap - MouseTrap lets mouse and keyboard act as general purpose Midi / OSC control hardware.
http://www.humatic.de/htools/MouseTrap.htm

More Links for Muse

http://www.act.co.il
http://createdigitalmusic.com
http://createdigitalmotion.com

Tarazi Design Studio: Per Capita

Garanti Gallery Istanbul is proudly be announcing the exhibition on the works of Israeli industrial product designer Ezri Tarazi entitled "TARAZI DESIGN STUDIO: PER-CAPITA" between 23 October and 15 December 2007.



Feng-GUI lab created the video installation at "Per-Capita" that traces the signs placed on the head of each person visiting the exhibition. The visitors wear over their heads a piece of cloth marked by a red routing cross.
A tracking camera 'identifies' the sign, tracks it down and puts a routing cross on it. By screening the "tracking map" on the gallery wall, the background images constantly shift producing a different context for each situation. In one situation the exhibition visitors become targets of targeted killing, and in the other situation they are individuals in a video game.



PER-CAPITA places in front of the visitor/the participant in the exhibition futuristic, intriguing questions raised by the twentieth century. Will nationality keep its presence and relevance? Will the planet "raft" be able to go on carrying its inhabitants? What sort of relevance will hierarchy have? What power reservoirs will be required in order to connect with the different? Will Jerusalem stay united?
Will religiosity become a destructive or productive factor? Where will the wells of salvation come from?

Per Capita review at Designophy

from Ezri Tarazi blog:

On the opening moments of my exhibiting PER CAPITA in Istanbul at the Garanti Gallery, we found ourselves in the midst of a huge demonstration against TEROR.
Few days before the opening 17 people were killed on the east side of Turkey by the PKK, the Kurdish organization. Just in front of the gallery, thousand of people were
marching on the Istiklal road, the main street of Istanbul.



I was lecturing on that day at the Istanbul Technical University about the concept of Realism and Reality Design. I did not imagine that it will become so expressive. We had the HEART 'flags' from the interactive installation on the show, so we took them and waved with them on the street. People were responded to it in consent. I assume they have accepted it as a peculiar way to demonstrate the superfluous use of terror and bloodshed in the world.


The RED of the HEART 'flags' were exactly the same RED of the Turkish flag. At the heart of the gallery we showed 'crowded', the sofa made of sections of national flags. It had an interesting inter locution with the flags and loud voices out side of the gallery.

Per Capita became at once from a philosophical overview to a REALITY DESIGN event mixing with the powers of people out on the streets of Istanbul.

Banner Blindness by Dr. Jakob Nielsen

An article by Dr. Jakob Nielsen from http://www.useit.com

The most prominent result from the new eyetracking studies is not actually new. We simply confirmed for the umpteenth time that banner blindness is real. Users almost never look at anything that looks like an advertisement, whether or not it's actually an ad.

Users rarely look at display advertisements on websites. Of the four design elements that do attract a few ad fixations, one is unethical and reduces the value of advertising networks.

read the full article...

Issues of Saliency and Recognition in the Search for Web Page Bookmarks

Alex has published his great Masters Thesis on:
"Issues of Saliency and Recognition in the Search for Web Page Bookmarks"

to provide empirically-determined guidelines for web producers on how to title pages in order to optimise the recognition of bookmarks by users, and to increase the rate of revisitation as a result.

2003 Kai Gradert and Phil Clevenger

Cofounders Kai Gradert and Phil Clevenger have designed and developed over 20 award-winning commercial software applications, games, and communication technologies.

For Cooperating Systems, they have hand-picked an experienced global team to develop and support CoSI products and technologies, and to establish a leading market presence as creators and publishers of innovative yet practical networked applications.

Take a look at Kai Gradert gallery of work

Eric Wenger creator KPT Bryce

U&I Software http://www.uisoftware.com was formed by artists seeking to create tools that would allow them (and by extension other likeminded individuals) to explore new realms of creative expression. Founded in 1997 by Eric Wenger creator of KPT Bryce

Does Flickr auto improve your photos

Does Flickr auto improve your photos?

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/01/does_flickr_bea.html

http://colorspretty.blogspot.com/2007/01/flickrs-dirty-little-secre_117020899505299548.html

you be the judge.

feng-gui at Adobe Labs

Adobe Labs, a great place to find new, exciting and creative technologies.
such as .... feng-gui
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Spry:SprySites
go to the bottom of the page.

bad thumbnails experiance at flickr

looks like the flikr community whould like to have a better thumbnails experiance.

http://www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/23701/

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/21889/?search=thumbnail

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/21927/?search=thumbnail

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/19994/?search=thumbnail

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/15508/?search=thumbnail

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/16266/?search=thumbnail

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/2060/?search=thumbnail

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/16996/?search=thumbnail

www.flickr.com/forums/ideas/11612/?search=thumbnail

The Creative Mind

What’s going on at Adobe's creative minds?
Check out this brilliant and cool flash demonstration of Adobe Creative Suite.

http://www.adobe.com/creativemind/?promoid=NLKO

Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory

Reveal the perceptual and cognitive aspects of music at the Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory
http://www.musicianbrain.com/

Can't dance? Test to see if you're rhythmdeaf!
http://tonometric.com/rhythmdeaf/

Test your musical skills in 6 minutes!
http://jakemandell.com/tonedeaf/

NIME 2007 - CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The 7th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), organized by Harvestworks and New York University's (NYU) Music Technology Program in partnership with the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). The conference will take place June 7-9, 2007 in New York City.

for participation submission, see
http://itp.nyu.edu/nime/2007

Art. Lebedev Studio Industrial Design

Just got this link to a neat Russian company which makes cool computer (and more) gadgets.

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/id/

Kodak - Winds of Change

Open Source Physical Objects

Limor Fried AKA LadyADA is this week idol. respect!
introducing the Open Source x0xb0x Synthesizer.

http://www.ladyada.net



want more ? :
The Eyebeam OpenLab
The Eyebeam OpenLab is a home for artists, engineers and hackers pioneering open source creativity.
http://research.eyebeam.org

LED Throwies
led throwies at instructables

http://graffitiresearchlab.com




more Labs:
http://www.laughingsquid.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid

Designing Usable & Visually Appealing Web Sites

Great list of rules of thumb for Designing Usable & Visua