This video draws connections between Fibonacci and fractals in nature and how they are echoed in financial markets. If only they could extend the connection to predicting the Lotto !!
We've tended to think of photography as "capturing a moment in time" but perhaps its worth considering that it could be a sequence of moments in different images and by just positioning two or more images beside each other we can create a synergy - an idea that connects the set of images and creates something new - a new meaning for the set of photos or perhaps a serendipitous side effect.
E.g consider this set of images: ( 1) an image of a photographer taking a photograph, (2) another image of a photographer at work, (3) a shot of a girl posing. Viewed individually and there is no connection between them, however viewed as a set of images gives the impression that the girl is being photographed by the photographers.
Often the connection between photos is just an idea in a viewers head. If the viewer writes their thought as a comment on the set of photographs, then something new has been born. The set of images and the comments become a new entity themselves and can influence subsequent viewers. Its no longer a point in time, rather, its a living growing idea, communicating to people.
In the last 15 years photography has moved from an individual activity to
a global group activity, primarily because of the internet, low cost digital cameras and mobile phones.
So now that everyone can capture 1000's of photographs at every social activity
and instantly share them with the world, the problem is that we are drowning
in a sea of visual mediocrity . How can you see the really interesting images with all that noise?
Content Based Image Retrieval is one solution, and others include Semantic Retrieval (e.g. find pictures of dogs) and Query by Example (find images which are like this sample image). But there's no simple solution, and every day the mountain of new images grows exponentially, capturing every thought and every waking moment. A person could spend their whole lifetime just looking at all the images which were captured globally, on a single day.
Perhaps we are obsessed with documenting our lives and the world around us but only a fraction of it will ever be seen by anyone else. I think less is more: A single important photograph is infinitely better than a million blurry images of party nights, but then, who decides what's important?
Here's an idea, supposing everyone had an upload quota of 1 image per day. It would certainly make you think about what image to publish.
This is an excellent video and timeline of the global recession over the last year produced by Reuters Reuters: Times of Crisis
In-depth multimedia charting the year of global upheaval following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. See how lives everywhere have changed as a divergent world embarks on a new era of historic uncertainty.
Social Media has grown exponentially to become the primary communication method in the 21st century. Check out this video which where its come from and where its going:
Photosynth is an amazing 3-D image stitching application from Microsoft. In this video Blaise Ageura y Arcas shows off the technology and it could utterly transform images on the net, providing image connection, panning and zooming. In essence it links images by their content, opening a new world of possibilities.
The text service from Knowledge Generation Bureau (KGB) boasts that it will answer any question you text to it (for 50 cents) (This service is also available in the UK) The company routes the questions to thousands of Agents who find the answer and text you back. Read more on time.com.
In these days of credit crunch around the world, here's an article on how much you
are paid on minimum wage, in the USA, the richest country in the world. After paying your minimum rent, you have $18 per day, thats about 14 Euro per day, for everything, food, clothes, light, heat, everything !! and, get this, you even have to pay tax at this level of income. Read more here.
Swiss scientists have developed a robot which sweats in order to test new clothing materials (initially for skiing) which allow the evaporation of sweat.
