Anki DRIVE. Hot Wheels With A Brain Take Gaming To A Whole New Level.

Anki DRIVE is a racing game like no other. It uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics to take the best of video games and combine it with the best of physical games. It's a video game in the real world. It's real. It's tangible. You hold the cars in your hand, and the track rolls out on your living room floor.



The company was founded in 2010 by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute graduates who sought to create new consumer experiences using technology that was once confined to robotics labs and research institutes. Its first product, Anki DRIVE, is now on sale in the United States and Canada.

Anki DRIVE was first introduced to the public in June at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), seen in the video below:


Named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2013 and featured on Fast Company, HuffPo, Mashable and Barron's, it's been heralded as a literal game-changer.



Anki DRIVE uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to deliver the first video game in the real world. Each car has been engineered to think: It knows where it is, makes decisions, and drives itself. Using your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or iPad mini you can take control of a car to play against friends or AI cars. But watch your back. Anki DRIVE AI cars have been designed to take you out.


above: the $199.99 starter kit comes with the two cars shown above

To experience Anki DRIVE each player must have an iPhone 4S or later, iPod touch (5th generation) or later, iPad 3 or later, or iPad mini or later.


above: Anki DRIVE can be controlled with the iPhone, iPad, iPhone Touch and iPad Mini

With slight aesthetic and technological changes since last June, you can now play Anki DRIVE against your friends, or against an AI-enabled opponent. The more you race, the more points you earn, which you redeem to upgrade your cars' weapons and capabilities. Each one starts with unique skills. Your upgrade choices further customize the car to make it your own.



Highlights:
• You can play Anki DRIVE against your friends, or against an AI–enabled opponent.
• The AI cars own the road; they know your every move—and the more you drive, the more they evolve.
• Similar to a video game, your character evolves over time. The more you race, the more points you earn, which you redeem to upgrade your cars' weapons and capabilities.
• Up to four vehicles can play at once; you and friends use iOS devices to control one to four of the cars. AI controls any cars you don't control.
• Anki DRIVE includes a physical track that rolls out to 3.5 by 8.5 feet and is intended for use indoors.
• You can place the track on any flat surface, though flooring or a low-pile carpet works best.
• Anki DRIVE is suitable for all ages capable of navigating an iOS device.

WHAT'S INSIDE THE STARTER KIT:



• 2 Intelligent Cars + Charging Cases
• 3.5’ x 8.5’ Race Mat
• Fast Charger

To take control of a car, download the free Anki DRIVE app with one of the following:
• iPhone® 4s or newer
• iPod touch® 5th generation or newer
• iPad® 3 or newer
• iPad mini

$199.99, buy it here

Learn more about Anki technology at www.anki.com and stay tuned for more Anki DRIVE™ updates by liking them on Facebook  and following them on Twitter (@anki).

To get the free iPhone app and take a closer look at Anki DRIVE™, go to: www.appstore.com/ankidrive

All The Channels On That Cool Interactive Bob Dylan Like A Rolling Stone Video (and How It Was Done)

If you follow tech, music and media news, you've probably already heard about, if not seen, the engaging interactive music video for Bob Dylan's classic "Like A Rolling Stone."



Created by Interlude (along with Sony Legacy/Columbia who produced the Bob Dylan: The Complete Album Collection V.1), the music video for Bob Dylan's classic "Like A Rolling Stone" consists of various tv shows on multiple channels in which the hosts, stars or participants are mouthing the lyrics.


above: the brand new Complete Album Collection of Bob Dylan was released on Nov. 4, 2013

So what, you say? Lip-syncing is nothing new. But in this case, YOU control the channels. And there seem to be so many! So how did they get all the folks on those tv channels, in game shows, sports and movies to simulate singing the song?

Actual shows in the video:


There are seven 'real' shows: The Price Is Right, History Channel's Pawn Stars, HGTV's Property Brothers, podcast Maron (WTF), MTV's Girl Code, YouTube channel Look TV and sports channel ESPN. For these, especially filmed clips in which the actual hosts participated were executed.

The rest are fake (although many contain cameos by real entertainment personalities) and were created to simulate popular shows and channels on national and cable stations.

Some of the faux shows in the video:


All The Available Channels in the Interactive Bob Dylan Video:

• Music 1 Classics (a spoof on VH-1)
• Music 1 BASS (a faux music show featuring real rapper Danny Brown)
• Shop TV (a spoof on HSN, the Home Shopping Network)
• History Network (a parody of The History Channel)
• Love Is Love (a made up Rom-Com)
• Bachelor's Rose (a spoof on ABC's The Bachelor)
• MTC- Financial News (a fake financial show)
• Cooking Show/ Cuisine (a faux cooking show)
• Pawn Stars (a real show on the History Channel)
• Look TV (a real youtube channel)
• Girl Code (a real show on MTV)
• The Price Is Right (a real game show, duh)
• Maron (WTF) (a real podcast with Marc Maron)
• Tennis Match (a simulated tennis match)
• Property Brothers (a real show on HGTV)
• Zoey and Socks (a phony animated children's show)
• BCC News (a spoof on CNN News)
• ESPN (the real sports show with Steve Levy)

The video itself was created with Interlude's own self-service HTML5 web app, Treehouse:


You can sign up and get started with Treehouse to create your own interactive videos here.

A lot of people put time and effort into this very cool production and below are ALL the credits for each channel and cameo appearance.

FULL CREDITS
Written & Composed by Bob Dylan (C) 1965 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
Created By Vania Heymann
Director & Additional Editing, VFX and Cinematography: Vania Heymann
Writer/Producer: Natan Schottenfels
Executive Producers: Lihu Roter, Tamara Harel-Cohen
Produced by Pulse Films and Walter Pictures
Producers: Lia Mayer-Sommer, Stacy Vaughan

Interlude
Executive Producers: Yoni Bloch, Alon Benari
WPP Strategy Director & CEO: Mark Read
Design: Tal Baltuch, Alizarin Zroob
Programmers: Eric Baukhages, Patrick Griffith
Creative Technologist: Austin Beer
Interactive Supervising: Hilah Almog, Therese Moriarty
Interactive Director: Tal Zubalsky
Interactive Engineer: Tomer Lahav
Creative: Daniel Barak
DP: Michael Blecher
Additional Editing: Roy Kafri
Concept Advisory: Gon Ben Ari
Production Manager: Elise Majorossy
Producers In Israel: Shir Zehavi, Amir Tal
Production Designer: Nicholas Tong
First Assistant Director: Marc Kelly
Costume Designer: Melissa Vargas
Art Director: Brian Rzepka
Hair: Ami
Make Up: Hiro Yonemoto
Gaffer: Aaron Smith
First Assistant Camera: Dave Brickley
Second Assistant Camera: Mike Ashley
Best Boy Electric: Justin Deary
Grip: Joachim Glaser, Charlie Pearson
Art Assistant: Thiago Martins
Wardrobe Assistant: Melissa Infante
Production Assistants: Charles Carter, Darryl Akins, Brandon Polanco, David Bain, Sabrina Sahraie, Adam Chitayat
Drivers: Eric Bellomo, Kyle Clark, Matt Iafe
Post Production Services: The Artery VFX
VFX Executive Producer: Yfat Neev
VFX Supervisor: Vico Sharabani
Post Producer: Lynzi Grant
VFX Artist: Jake Nelson
Graphic Design: Carlos Soler
Animating & Compositing: Adam Deutsch
Editors: Danielle Katvan

Channel Credits

Music 1 Classics
Filmed by D.A. Pennebaker, Edited by David Tedeschi
Re-Edited: Vania Heymann

Music 1 BASS
Starring Danny Brown
Animation: Dima Tretyakov, Nadav Embon
Composting: Chem Weinberger
VFX: Vania Heymann

Shop TV
Female Host: Darly Wayne
Male: Steve Garfanti
Editor: Bill Stepanoski

History Network
Prof. Martin Child: Martin Pfefferkorn
Prof. Sarah MatterHorn: Victoria Nahorn
Dr. Michael Ryder: Joseph Cornacchia
1930's Don Juan: Roy Kafri

Love Is Love
Male Lead: Ben Kahre
Female Lead: Kat Seelos
Waitress: Susan Feiman

Bachelor's Rose
Contestants: Perla Murray, Anastasia Vazhava, Ty Hayes, Chi Chi Obi, Nadine Van Ashbeck
The Bachelor: Soren Du Hoffman
Editor: Tamar Glezerman

MTC- Financial News
Anchor: Paul McGuire
Field Reporter: Marisa Bramwell
Producer: Kerry Vaughan

Cooking Show
Host: Adeena Sussman

Pawn Stars
Hosts: Rick Harrison, Austin “Chumlee” Russell
Seller: Derek Stonebarger
Editor: Tamar Glezerman
Executive Producers: Brent Montgomery, David George, Matthew J. Braley, Joel Patterson, Rick Harrison
Supervising Producer: Peter Van Pelt
Director: Jairus Cobb
Director of Photography: Joe Murgia
Producer: Shannon Biggs
Field Associate Producer: Nawara Blue
Audio: Ben Sortino
Production Assistants: Jill Delaney, David Gardner, Chase Johnson, Sam Zapiain

Look TV
Host: Victoria Floethe

Girl Code (on MTV)
Hosts: Carly Aquilino, Nessa, Nicole Byer, Jessimae Peluso, Tanisha Long, Shalyah Evans
Executive Producers: Paul Ricci, Darin Byrne, Ryan Ling
Talent Manger & Casting: Lauren Zins
Production Manager: Katie Schwartz, Dan Kuvalakis

The Price Is Right
Starring: Drew Carey, Rachel Reynolds, George Gray
Contestants: Ty Fanning, Theresa Robinson, Jason Sarayba
Editor: Will Reyes
Production Supervisor: Raphael Laski
Production Coordinator: Ruth Du
Associate Director: Rich Preuss
Stage Manager: Jonathan Marks
Technical Director: Glenn Koch
Video Operator: Rick Labgold
Camera Operators: Wayne Getchell, Ed Nelson, Quinn de Varona, Brent Roberts
Jib Operator: Bob Smith
Recordist: Glen Penland
Post Associate Producer: Jazmine Eckenberg
Hair & Make Up: Carol Wood, Annet Ackerman

Maron (WTF)
Marc Maron & Ryan Singer
Cinematography & Production: Raphael Laski
Camera Operator: Daniel Batteles
Assistant to Marc Maron: Samantha Varela
Editor: Bill Stepanoski

Tennis Match
Anchor: Steve Levy
Diovesky: Shahar Rot
Plotnivich: Doron Amit
Bench: Niv Majar, Nimrod Rothem
Production Team: Eyal Goldman, Tamuz Roberman, Dana Standel,
Achiya Schatz
Casting: Sharon Angelhart
Wardrobe:Anat Svirsky

Property Brothers
Drew Scott, Jonathan Silver Scott
Boyfriend: Michael Davies
Girlfriend: Jennifer McKune
Sub Contractor: David Banks

Zoey and Socks – JUST FOR KIDS
Animation: Leigh Lahav
Editing: Or Paz

BCC News
Anchor: Danny Kushmaro
Weather: Gemma Harvey
Producer: Amir Tal
Director: Natalie Ezra
Executive Producer: Anaelle Heymann
Camera Operator IL: Camel Ibrahim
Camera Operator US: Austin Beer
Media: Yoav L. Wazana, Ziv Ben Gal
Sound: Nir Saado

ESPN
Producer: Tim McHugh

Special thanks go to:
The BBYO Beyond Group, The Israel Tennis Center-Ramat HaSharon, Eyal Taoz, Israeli Television - Channel 2 News

Buy the Bob Dylan: The Complete Album Collection V.1

Greatness Has Arrived In The Form Of The New PlayStation 4 Launch.

With the new highly anticipated arrival of Sony's PlayStation 4 (whose formal launch is less than 24 hours away), gamers everywhere are drooling as they await the PlayStation 4: Launch Edition new sleek console and slew of games.




Today's Event:
As part of the PS4 launch, the Standard High Line in NY has been taken over by PlayStation beginning this morning at 9am, where they lit up the hotel with PS4 game images and icons and are offering some for purchase, demos and more.






The Fabulous Launch Commercial:


A follow-up to the widely popular PlayStation 4 trailer from last June, this wonderful PS4 commercial by BBH New York coincides with the launch of Sony's "Greatness Awaits" website.

In this one minute ad, two young men role-play battle via scenes from the Elder Scrolls Online, Driveclub and Killzone: Shadow Fall, all to the tune of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day."



The song is a wonderful juxtaposition to the battle scenes, and serves as a nice tribute to the recently deceased music legend (full credits at the end of this post).

The Greatness Exchange:


The Greatness Exchange allows players a shot at winning items used in the latest PlayStation commercials amongst other thing:



First there was Bid For Greatness, rewarding the greatest gamers around. But what about everyone else? All you need is one gold trophy to take your shot. Winners randomly selected and verified. Trophies are not lost from your PSN profile.
Introducing Greatness Exchange.

To learn more about the new PlayStation 4, go here

Buy the PlayStation 4: Launch Edition

LAUNCH COMMERCIAL CREDITS:
Client: Sony PlayStation 4
Agency: BBH, New York
Chief Creative Officer: John Patroulis
Executive Creative Director: Ari Weiss
Interactive Creative Director: Tim Nolan
Creative Directors: Gerard Caputo, Chris Maiorino
Lead Senior Producer: Jennifer Moore Bell
Senior Producer: Kate Morrison
Head of Integrated Production: Justin Booth-Clibborn
Head of Account Management: Armando Turco
Account Director: Melissa Hill
Account Executive: Jon Moll
Senior Broadcast Business Manager: Sean McGee
Copywriter: Ian Hart
Art Director: Dave Brown
Visual Designer: Rahim Masunu
User Experience Designer: Kelly Bignell
Lead Producer: Martin Mlekicki
Digital Producer: Victoria Fishel
Chief Strategy Officer: Sarah Watson
Strategist: Kendra Salvatore
Strategist: Angela Sun
Head of Comms Planning: Julian Cole
Comms Planner: Ben Zoll

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Matthijs Van Heijningen
Director of Photography: Joost Van Gelder
Executive Producer: Scott Howard
Producer: Donald Taylor
Production Designer: Robin Brown

Production Partner: HAUS
Creative Director: Rasmus Blaesbjerg
Technology Lead: Dino Petrone
Senior Producer: Claudine Nichols
Digital Producer: Tracey McAvoy

Editing: Union Edit
Executive Producer: Caryn Maclean
Senior Producer: Sara Mills
Editor: Jono Griffith
Assistant Editor: Megan Swados

Visual Effects, Finishing: The Mill
Executive Producer: Sean Costelloe
Senior Producers: Charlotte Arnold, Will Mok
Assistant Producer: Juan Handal
Color Producer: Heath Raymond
Shoot Supervisors: Gavin Wellsman, Joji Tsuruga
Colorist: Fergus McCall

Music: Lou Reed
Additional Music Arrangement: Human
Sound Design: Human
Mix: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Tom Jucarone

Buy the PlayStation 4: Launch Edition

Cool Concrete Docking Stations for the iPhone 5.

Modern and industrial looking, these are concrete docking stations for the iPhone. A minimalist design created by Jordan Castro of the Massachusetts-based company Zeitgeistfactory, it is handcrafted from a proprietary blend of cement and recycled stone dust which is a by-product of the countertop industry. Each dock is designed to stand vertically or horizontally. The removable concrete peg fits snugly into place via two silicone o-rings.

In white concrete:





In dark concrete:





dimensions: W6.5" X D3"

White or dark concrete. $35
buy it here

"The Developer", A Beautiful Samsung Gear Spot Celebrates A Real Project by The Messi Foundation.

More and more, traditional :30 and :60 second spots from large marketers are paling in comparison to their branded content that they are calling "short films" - if you can call a two minute digital video a short film. The latest is this beautifully produced musically-inspired spot for Samsung (who also recently released "Dreams," a 2:57 minute digital short for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, that was cut down to a minute long tv commercial for air, and is shown at the end of this post).



Told from a child's perspective, "The Developer" is a musical short film by Samsung featuring world-renowned footballer and Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, Lionel (Leo) Messi, and the hit single "Royals" by hot New Zealand Pop Star Lorde.


above photo of Lorde by Simeon Patience.

The beautiful 2 minute branded content was created by Leo Burnett, Chicago and is a dramatic retelling of an actual project completed by the Leo Messi Foundation. Directed by Adam Hashemi the film has wardrobe designed by Paco Delgado, who was the costume designer for the film version of Les Misérables.



In case you didn't understand what's happening in the spot (and I'm not trying to be pedantic here), a mysterious stranger arrives in a low income neighborhood and captures the imaginations of the children who live there. He is "The Developer" and the children view him with a deep suspicion.

Together with his Samsung GALAXY Note 3 and GALAXY Gear, The Developer effortlessly masterminds a secret construction project. Using the latest in Samsung technology including Action Memo, Pen Window, Scrapbook and hands-free call capability on the Gear, The Developer orchestrates and executes his mysterious mission.

The children watch in awe. They reflect on their current situation by singing New Zealand Pop star Lorde's breakout hit "Royals," a song about overcoming her own humble beginnings.

The spot concludes with a beautiful new pitch that has been constructed in the toughest part of town. The Developer is revealed to be the world's reigning football star, Lionel Messi, fulfilling his personal mission* to help under privileged children.



The events in this story are a dramatic retelling of actual projects completed by the Leo Messi Foundation.

* The Leo Messi Foundation

CREDITS
Client: Samsung
Spot: "The Developer"
Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago
Executive Vice President, Creative Director: Shannon McGlothin
Senior Vice Presidents, Creative Directors: Brandon Rochon, Adam Kennedy
Creative Directors: Guy Seese, Brian Murphy
Senior Vice President, Account Director: Radim Svoboda
Account Director: Benjamin Haynes
Account Executive: Cameron Zick
Senior Vice President, Executive Producer: Jen Dennis
Producer: Keith Jamerson
Vice President, Music Director: Gabe McDonough
Senior Music Producer: Chris Clark
Senior Vice President, Global Strategy Director: Huw Gildon
Senior Vice President, Strategy Director: Steven Yuan
Senior Strategist: Marton Harsanyi
Production Company: Furlined
Director: Adam Hashemi
Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins
Editing: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Mikkel EG
Executive Producer: Carol Lynn Weaver
Music Supervisor: George Drakoulias
Sound Designer: Gus Koven, Stimmung
Mixer: Loren Silber, Lime Studios
Music Production Support: Amber Music
Postproduction: The Mill


"DREAMS"
In case you haven't yet seen the complete cut of Dreams, here it is:


Credits for Dreams:
Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, L.A. / Chicago, USA
Global Chief Creative Officer: Mark Tutssel
Creative Directors: Shannon McGlothin, Brandon Rochon, Adam Kennedy
Designer: Luis Farfan
Creative: Sarah Kraus
Account Director: Radim Svoboda
Account Director: Benjamin Haynes
Account Executive: Cameron Zick
Executive Producer: Jennifer Dennis
Producer: Sean Pinney
Production Company: Prettybird
Director: Roc
Editorial: Peepshow London
Editor: Andrea MacCarthur

For more information about the GALAXY Note 3 and Gear, click here.

Concrete Audio - Elegant Speakers Made of Cement, Sand and Water.

Concrete Audio is a Loudspeaker factory in Germany whose founders love music. They design and produce unique loudspeaker systems of timeless elegance and impressive dynamics - housed in, you guessed it, concrete. These speaker systems are produced in a limited edition in Germany.




The following information is from their website:
The Materials


Cement, water, sand are the essential ingredients of a material whose recipe was already known during the Roman Empire - concrete.



Refined by a variety of additional ingredients, concrete in modern times has evolved into a high-tech product with highly varied properties and applications. Resilient, durable, and pourable into almost any form and especially, largely resistant to vibration.

Concrete forms, by its very nature, the perfect base for the housing of our loudspeakers.



The curing process makes each a unique loudspeaker - identical in shape and surface quality, but individually in terms of the grain.

The surface provides for several options of sealing to emphasize the natural feel of the material.

The Idea


The idea of a housing made out of concrete came to us during a conversation about the ultimate sound for loud-speakers. We concluded: concrete is perfect yet hard to restrain. Thus an equally elaborate and passionate experiment began, executed and carried out by superb hand-craftsmanship and attention to detail.



After several years of development and numerous test runs, we finally found the ideal solutions for the design of the mold, the construction and the special mix of the materials and founded the Loudspeaker factory Concrete Audio.



The design of the model N1 consistently meets functional requirements without neglecting the demands of a timeless, aesthetic use of forms.

Each individual piece is worked on individually until it meets requirements for the highest quality.

The Sound
The sound of a loudspeaker driver (sound generator) decisively depends on the quality of the loudspeaker housing.



Unlike, for example, the body of a musical instrument, a good loudspeaker enclosure should not vibrate because modern high-performance drivers operate linearly, reproducing exactly the sound information, which electrically has been transmitted to them.

Commercial housing made of wood or plastic, have their own resonant frequency. Yet at certain points of frequency bands, the housing starts to oscillate, i.e. vibrate, and thus reinforcing exactly that particular frequency. Additionally, this phenomena forms integer multiples of this particular frequency creating additional vibrations (overtones). This facilitates unnatural changes of the overall frequency spectrum. The result is a distorted sound by means of basically, a flawed housing.

We manufacture the housing of our loudspeakers made from special concrete with a compressive strength of at least 30 N/mm². This is harder than conventional concrete curbs. The amorphous structure and the high specific gravity of this material reliably prevents oscillation of the housing. By means of a special casting process, the housing is cast out of one single body with all sides closed and sealed.



This monolithic structure is lined internally with different sound-dampening material made of tightening yet elastic layers to prevent any reflections.



For reasons of sound, we build our housing completely sealed and without a bass reflection-tuning. This way, we achieve an extremely low factor of distortion and superior accuracy even at very high levels.

The drivers, or undercarriage used, in addition to the characteristics of the housing, determine the quality of the loudspeaker-system decisively.

We use the Scan-Speak drivers.
The Danish company Scan-Speak is known worldwide for its high level of innovation and uncompromising quality. Their high-end drivers, built into our systems, are characterized by absolute accuracy and fidelity. This allows us to equip the signal path with a very small number of selected components. We use a 6dB filter of very high quality, fitted with copper foil coils and silver-gold capacitors.



The result is a largely loss-free signal path and a very direct control of the linearly coordinated and selected pairs of precision-drivers. Combined with our high-strength concrete housings, we produce a high quality loudspeaker system –

TECH­NI­CAL DATA for Concrete Audio® MODEL N1.
Housing: Concrete, monolithically poured
System: 2-way closed-box, passive
Frequency range: 34 Hz – 40.000 Hz
Power handling: 100 W
Sensitivity: 83 dB (1 W/1 m)
Total Harmonic Distortion:
< 1% bei 90 dB SPL (1 m) für f > 100 Hz
Nominal impedance: 4 Ohm
Crossover frequency: 6 dB/2,000 Hz
Ports Single-wiring/bi-wiring
Components: Scan-Speak, Kimber Kable, Mundorf, WBT
Dimensions: Height: 110 cm (43,3 in)
Width: 23 cm (9,1 in)
Depth: 33 cm (13 in)
Net weight: 80 kg (176 lbs)

The tech­ni­cal data of the Concrete Au­dio ® N1 is the re­sult of an ex­ten­sive acoustic sur­vey by the Fraun­hofer In­sti­tute for Dig­i­tal Me­dia Tech­nol­ogy IDMT, Il­me­nau. The data was charted us­ing a low re­flec­tion cham­ber of the Class 1 (ac­cord­ing to DIN EN ISO 3745) to Re­quire­ments of DIN 60268-5.




Experience CONCRETE AUDIO
Convince yourself of the quality of CONCRETE AUDIO Loudspeaker-Systems and make an appointment for an exclusive listening-test of the N1 in our showroom in the city of the Classics, in Weimar. They offer you the opportunity to experience our loudspeakers in your own rooms.

Concrete Audio®
Eduard-Rosenthal-Str. 30
99423 Weimar
Germany

Telefon: +49 36422 20 48 51
Telefax: +49 36422 20 48 54
info@concrete-audio.com