It's a Brave New World – Blog by Scott Arundale & Tashi Trieu

Obama Disses iPod, iPad, Xbox, Playstation.

We refer to our current crop of students where I teach at Chapman, as the “millenials”.  They have mastered the social networking scene, they want their information 24/7 and up to the minute, and it is easier to raise them on Facebook then have them pick up the phone.  After four years, it is our goal to have shown them how visual storytelling is an effective tool to communicate and I think it is working.

I continue to canvass my students to get a sense if they are “distracted” or have short attention spans.  I’ve notice the abbreviated term “ADD” is something we all use but it was never known to be a common ailment until today. I think we can all admit that multi-tasking is required to get through the day and brevity in terms of communicating is always welcome.

We can look at this time and place and compare it to the beginning of the last century when the countryside was being electrified and the telephone was becoming a common appliance.  How did the advent of technology affect society then?  How did we manage to get through the day before without a phone answering machine, fax machine or pager?

- Scott Arundale

3dvision-blog.com reports on how to use your spanking new 3D display for PC gaming using the new HDMI 1.4(a) specs.  Samsung is leading the way with Panasonic and Sony nipping on their heels.  It will take awhile for feature films and TV to fill the gap which leaves gaming to be the first to the dance.

UPDATE 5.10.10

Michael Grotticelli notes in Broadcast Engineering:

“For those with a 3-D TV, there’s virtually nothing to watch right now. In June, limited programs begin, and the choices will be slim. So make no mistake, when you walk into a Best Buy or other retailer and see the promise of watching 3-D in your living room, those are just promises for the future.”

UPDATE 5.13.10

James Cameron in remarks he made at the Seoul Digital Forum bemoaned the lack of 3D content stating: “If you play all the 3-D movies in existence on your fancy new 3-D TV, it will keep you entertained for about 3 days. This content gap is the biggest hurdle for the rapid adoption of 3D TV.” He still regards 3D as the “premium viewing experience” which  will become the mainstream format for filmed entertainment in the next twenty years.

Hard core gamers will recognize that promises are yet to be kept when Sony realized it could not deliver adequate stereo images in 1080p and so is downscaling to 720p.  But this makes sense as most sporting events on television require a lot of transient fast motion (usually in 720p).  The firmware update is not out yet.  Stay tuned.

UPDATE 5.23.10

Marketsaw’s analysis of the latest patent motherboard for the upcoming 3DS.  We are looking at Wi-Fi along with stereo speakers and drum-roll please: backward compatibility!  Expect a June 15 announcement for rollout during the Christmas season.

UPDATE: 5.10.10

The Associated Press reports on Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata’s comments in an interview on the imminent release of Nintendo 3DS.  Piracy was the number one issue that Nintendo plans to address followed by the health and safety issues of the user.   The new model will be demonstrated at E3 this June to be held in Los Angeles.

It seems like only yesterday that Nintendo upgraded the DS to DSi, adding a camera and wifi capability to it’s wildly successful handheld gaming device, much to the chagrin of parents like myself of two young girls (6 & 8).  My kids always want the latest and greatest and when they learn that the DS is moving into stereoscopic display (and does not require glasses), they likely will be clamoring for them. This means we will have three different models in use around the house, each with a non-matching  power supply. Yikes!  At least they are backward compatible as we have made a sizeable investment in the games. Likely the newest offering will utilize parallax barrier or lenticular-based auto-stereo display with head tracking display.  A sampling of the newest device is shown here and is due this time next year.

- Scott Arundale