Time-Lapse Twitter Visualization Shows America’s Moods

Very interesting. The takeaway here is not to expect people to react well to you after lunch.

From Mashable:

A group of researchers from Northeastern and Harvard universities have gathered enough data from Twitter to give us all a snapshot of how U.S. residents feel throughout a typical day or week.

Not only did they analyze the sentiments we collectively expressed in 300 million tweets over three years against a scholarly word list, these researchers also mashed up that data with information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Google Maps API and more. What they ended up with was a fascinating visualization showing the pulse of our nation, our very moods as they fluctuate over time.

Here's the study:

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/amislove/twittermood/

Created a quick Flash demo for Android phones

Basically this is just a quick mod of some animation we did for another project that lets you make a little guy dance on the screen. We messed around with a few frame rates on it, and I've found that 8FPS seems to work best for vector animation at a full screen size. However, I'm experiencing some shearing on my Nexus One as it tries to blit all of the animation to the screen. If anyone happens upon this, I'd be interested in your feedback.

Here are the test files:

30 fps

http://www.neatoentertainment.com/A-R_dropbox/nexus/demoDanceBoy30fps/nexusDemo_boyDance.html


10 fps

http://www.neatoentertainment.com/A-R_dropbox/nexus/demoDanceBoy10fps/nexusDemo_boyDance.html


8 fps

http://www.neatoentertainment.com/A-R_dropbox/nexus/demoDanceBoy8fps/nexusDemo_boyDance.html


6 fps

http://www.neatoentertainment.com/A-R_dropbox/nexus/demoDanceBoy6fps/nexusDemo_boyDance.html


For SEO - Flash for Android, Nexus One Flash, Flash 10.1, Flash Android Demo

The Palm Pre is a piece of unmitigated garbage

Ten months ago, around the end of August, I bought the shiny new Palm Pre that I had been waiting for since its announcement the previous February. For reasons of the onscreen keyboard and that I didn't like the calendar and email apps, I didn't want an iPhone, so this seemed the thing to get. Palm had put a lot of work into the user interface and I had always found their calendar, contacts, etc very usable. So, when I took the wraps off of it and started using it, I was elated. It just worked, and worked well. The OS was, and still is, a great piece of work.

Fast forward to January of this year: My Pre developed spiderweb like cracks emanating from the button in the front. It rendered my touchscreen useless. I sent it away, grumpily paid my $150 insurance deductible, and chalked it up to me having the bad luck to get a dud. My new one came a few days later and after transferring my info to it, I was back in business. For about 2 weeks.

My second Pre's screen had just stopped working. No clue as to why. Didn't drop it, no spider cracks, nothing. So, I called the warranty place and asked for another. Luckily, no deductible this time. It came, I switched, back up and running.

A week or so later, the power button at the top of the thing just broke. I couldn't turn it on or off. Again, I had to call the warranty guys. They sent me my FOURTH Pre in under 2 months. I transferred my data (I was getting really good at this step), and crossed my fingers...

Fast forward to early June. I started to notice that the Pre would just sporadically shut down for no reason. I would close and open it too fast and boom, the thing would just go off. The battery was full, no clue as to why. I started to get a sinking feeling. After a few weeks of hoping this would go away, it started to happen more frequently.

Defeated, I decided to start looking into other phone platforms. I ordered my Nexus One 3 days before the built-in speaker and mic on the phone stopped working for me. Now, I can only make calls when I have the earbuds plugged in. Luckily, my Nexus arrives Monday.

So long, Palm. You gave it a great try, and you largely got it right on the OS. But let's face it - your hardware build quality was complete and total crap. I did my best as a loyal believer and rooter for the underdog, but when the thing doesn't even work, it's time to head for greener pastures. Here's hoping HP has a better fate in store for you.

Stuart Brown says play is more than fun

http://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital.html

A great talk about how play is necessary for our everyday lives and the lack of play starves us creatively.

Quick update

It's been ten months since the announcement of the demise of Collideascope Digital Productions Inc. Technically, the company is still around as we wind it down and take care of final accounting, asset allocation, all that corporate jazz... Anyhow, in the wake of the quiet and dignified passing (not the spectacular failure that many had falsely predicted for so many years) of Collideascope, something had to happen, didn't it? After all, though CDP was successful and everything, it wasn't successful enough to let us saunter into the sunset for time immemorial.

So, it's with very little fanfare at this point that I will let slip the news of Neato Entertainment.

Neato is my little chunk of What M-A Is Up To, post-Collideascope. It will occupy the 4th floor, as Collideascope did. It will have the yellow walls, as Collideascope did. It will just focus on things that are smaller than what Collideascope did.

Anyhow, no new email. No new website. No new business cards as of yet. I'll post here when it becomes something more than just a name I'm doing new work under. Just thought that anyone who follows this thing might like to know.

M-A

M-A is up to new things

There is a neato new project a-brewing in M-A land. Or rather, a project of projects. Stay tuned. Interesting things might be afoot...

Collideascope T4s

Hi, all. Not sure if anyone is still checking this space out since things have been quiet lately. However, I've gotten several inquiries about Collideascope T4s. They were mailed out last week, so if you don't get yours by next week, email me and I'll check into them for you. Either way, worry not. Collideascope may have closed, but we didn't flame out, so we will meet all of our commitments to that end. I am always available to any of our former employees to contact about such matters.

All the best,
M-A

And now, what everyone's been waiting for...

Yep, we finally figured out when the party is happening. So, come one, come all! Denizens, friends, and supporters of Collideascope, I cordially invite you to:

OUT WITH A BLAST!

Please join us in celebrating
Collideascope’s great accomplishments
& contributions to the animation
industry as we say our goodbyes
to a great company!!

Date: November 8, 2008
Time: 8pm – 1:30 am
Location:
LOCAS www.locasbar.com
5430 Doyle Street, Halifax
Corner of Spring Garden & Queen Street
Lots of food, drinks & great laughs

For more information
please email
grace@collideascope.com

So, the cat has been let out of the bag

Just so we can keep those crazy ol' rumours at as low a roar as possible, I'm writing this posting to announce the winding down of Collideascope.

Yep, you heard it here first, folks. Well, not really first. We announced to the general community on Monday and things like this don't take long to disseminate. We're closing the company. Why? Well, there's never just one reason for things like this, is there?

Collideascope recently celebrated 13 years in operation. We started out as a little, 2 person shop cranking out web pages for people who wanted to put their businesses onto the "information superhighway", and thereby become multi-bazillionaires in the process. We also made commercials and broadcast graphics for the local TV business. It seems we came a long way since. At our peak last year, Collideascope was employing about 120 people on long term full time contracts. To me, that's a lotta people, eh?

13 years of running any one thing is a long time. Reason #1 is that I'm just ready to go off and find something else to do.

Reason #2 is more related to the timing of this announcement than the decision itself. I'd been working for a long time on a project that was slated for a Fall '08 start date. The project has experienced a delay that meant the start date was now delayed indefinitely. As this project was my main one slated for the fall, I decided that I really wasn't interested in putting Collideascope into hibernation, pending what might come through later on.

There are, of course, lots of things that go into making a decision like this. These 2 points are just some good ones to toss out to satisfy people's curiosity. Just know that the decision wasn't made quickly, though it looks like it was.

Of course, when bad news comes, there's inevitably the search for who the bad guy is, and the rumour mill has a surprisingly efficient way of magnifying conjecture in order to cast that role. In this case, there's the temptation to have Steve take that place on stage. However, even though both he and I have occupied our good cop and bad cop roles over the years, it would be wrong to lay the closure at Steve's feet. He's been a huge reason for Collideascope's success over the years, and his contacts brought the steady stream of work in that we enjoyed. However, as I said, 13 years is a long time to be running any company (plus almost 3 years for a company we ran immediately before Collideascope), and the truth is at this time, we're both pretty tired and neither of us has the energy anymore to want to deal with the latest moves made in the industry. Between the shift in broadcasters' more aggressive approach to CRTC regulations and a quite sudden and surprising shift back to Asian studios last year, these were changes that, while not insurmountable, require a retooling that we didn't want to go through.

Nonetheless, I think now is the time for Collideascope to be able to make a graceful exit, for Steve and me to finish it on an up note, and to be able to do right by the people who are finishing the projects on the slate. I've got to say, since the news came out, I've been gratified by people writing to say how they've enjoyed their experience at or working with Collideascope. It hasn't always been an easy ride, but we've always made it the priority to do business in an upfront and honest manner, so it's nice to see that acknowledged. After all, being the boss, I don't get performance reviews. It's nice to see that at the end, some people think I've done a good job.

And of course, this message wouldn't be complete without thanking everyone who's been a part of the Collideascope experience, whether that was working at the animation studios, being part of our small but mighty new media crew, helping keep the infrastructure of the place running, or everyone on the outside who helped and cheered us on. That's what made this a great 13 years for me. Of course, I must single out Ron, who may just be the best person who ever ran an animation studio. His dedication to the place has inspired everyone who ever worked with him, and was a huge factor in giving Collideascope the reputation we gained as a place people wanted to come to work at. Thank you, Ron.

One last thing - it's not Collideascope unless there's a party involved, so everyone is invited to our last blowout. I don't have the exact date yet, but I'm planning for early October, and I'm shouting out to recent employees, alumni from far back, and all of our friends in the extended community to join me for the send-off. I'll post more details here once it's firmed up.

All my best,
M-A

LA is an interesting place

I participated in a trade mission of Nova Scotian producers to Los Angeles last week. Went everywhere from Burbank, where the major studios are, to Santa Monica Boulevard, where the more boutique operators live. I had 12 meetings over the course of 3 days. Great people down there, and some interesting opportunities presented themselves, both to pitch and to partner. Of course, as is standard in such things this was an exploratory mission, set up to shake hands and meet new people. No one was waiting at the airport with a contract and a bag of cash, ready to say “animate!” However, it’s a true cliché that relationships are what make this business (any business, really) work, so the more people we meet, the more opportunities we have at developing new properties and getting them picked up. As is my recent mantra, “development, development, development” will pay longer term and more sustainable dividends in terms of work. Did I mention that we’ve got a treatment together to pitch our first feature? I did not? Well, we do. Exciting times!