After five years in development, Microsoft’s mixed reality miracle has arrived. By definition, ”HoloLens is the world’s first fully untethered, self-contained holographic computer.” This elegantly designed wearable device renders holographic 3D objects and information in the context of your own “real” environment. Unlike Virtual reality, you’re not isolated in a completely virtual world; you can move freely in your own familiar space. But the HoloLens does more than place graphics within your environment. It actually reads and reacts to the walls, furniture ... Read more

It takes awhile for content creators to learn the ropes of any new media, so it’s not surprising that many of the VR samples I’ve viewed fall short. We’re still getting used to viewing video in 360°, and few have mastered producing it yet. That’s why we’re seeing directional arrows to turn viewers’ gaze away form “dead zones” and toward the “action”. And why so many examples leave viewers unimpressed (or worse…nauseous). But regardless of the medium, good content has a strong, significant message. ... Read more

Maker Space.  At a Manufacturer’s conference this past Spring, employers were discussing the aversion of college students to jobs in “Manufacturing”. This word, they feared, represented blue-collar “grunt” work and that’s misleading, as manufacturing jobs today require high-level programming, engineering and other scientific skills. “We’ll have to start calling ourselves 'Makers',” the speaker said. I thought, wow, that’s so artsy-craftsy, how could that possibly work? But further exploration quickly revealed collaborative facilities where really smart people get together to play with hi-tech tools and solve ... Read more

Kevin Kelly crystallizes our technological past, present and future in a vision of exquisite clarity. I recommend The Inevitable to anyone struggling to understand why everything is suddenly different, again. Flash back to a family conversation about addiction to Facebook. A client’s post about hive mentality.  Are we all becoming one multi-souled organism, hungry for experiences, itching to evolve? Is it true we are birthing the next paradigm shift, VR? It’s easy to imagine Virtual Reality taking the place of, or at least ... Read more

Facts and figures go a long way in selling products, especially in a comparison-shopping scenario. Free shipping? Check. Used by hundreds of thousands world wide? Check. Choose from four fashionable colors? Check. Reminds us of our favorite song? Ahh, now we start to differentiate. Buyers meander through a forest of data, discounts and deductive reasoning. But what makes us want to buy? Is it about offering the lowest price? No, actually, too low a price makes us suspicious. One notable--and desirable--characteristic of a ... Read more

The stock photo that was used for the comp had an urban ambiance, a casual cool that we knew would be hard to capture in suburbia. But there was barely a budget for the model, let alone travel and location fees in the city. Main Street in West Babylon was close enough, and the rustic balcony had a shabby chic about it that actually took the shot to another level. Short though, the railing was barely above the knees of the tall ... Read more