Wednesday, January 25, 2006

video Apple to offer speedy lecture podcasts - Jimmy Leach, the Guardian. The forthcoming QuickTime 2 Really Simple Syndication (RSS) technology, a development program to be launched in Europe in the spring, will allow the lecturer to record their own "performance" - their slides, notes and details of student assignments as the [Online Learning Update] -- this may well move student time-shifting past the cusp and open the virtual doors of the classroom making every classroom a channel on the old ipod -- This would be especially interesting when done with MIT open course ware -- BL 8:24:47 PM    comment

video What aspects of facial movement convey emotion?. Disney’s purchase of Pixar makes it clear that computer-generated (CGI) animation appears to be the wave of the future in movies. But one difficulty with CGI animation is conveying realistic emotions. While film animators (whether they use computers or not) can use artistic license to achieve the desired effects, when “emotions” are generated exclusively by computer, it can be difficult to identify the key factors in conveying that emotion. We’ve discussed avatars, for example, as one way that computers can automate human interaction. Artificial intelligence — lifelike simulators of human responses — will also need to mimick emotions convincingly in order to interact effectively with real people. Harold Hill, Nikolaus Troje, and Alan Johnston have investigated two aspects of how CGI animations can effectively express emotion. To view the rest of this article, visit the new Cognitive Daily site at ScienceBlogs.com. [Cognitive Daily] 3:48:56 PM    comment

eCulture A Statistical Review of 1 Billion Web Pages. [Slashdot] 3:42:56 PM    comment