Synthopticon & The Art of Photosynth

For me, the excitement of releasing Photosynth has always been about discovering what people might do with this new art form. It's been out for a month or so, and already people are coming up with some amazing stuff. Kevin Hanes has been digging through the site to discover the gems that he posts to Synthopticon. Check it out, and if you know any good ones he's missed, drop him a link!

Meanwhile, Matthew Runde has started a Flickr group, The Art of Photosynth, for images and videos inspired by Photosynth exploration. As he says, "Photosynth's unintentional capabilities are nearly endless, and just waiting to be discovered and exploited." Check it out and join the group if you've got something interesting to share!

Capitalism 3.0

I've just finished reading Capitalism 3.0, from Peter Barnes, cofounder of Working Assets. The basic notion is that the negative effects of capitalism as we know it (environmental degradation, exaggerated inequality, etc.) can be fixed within the system by creating a set of property trusts to manage the natural, community and cultural commons. Sounds good to me... now we just have to do it!

Photosynth is live!

The new version of Photosynth we've been working on, where you can create your own synths, is now live at photosynth.com! It's still Windows-only, but definitely worth checking out if you have the chance. I can't wait to see what people come up with!

Gin, Television, and Social Surplus

Clay Shirky, always insightful, has written a great piece on one of the fundamental social changes the world is seeing today: we have an immense cognitive surplus, and we're starting to realize that might be a good thing. I, for one, am happy whenever I can be part of this shift.

The Nice Jacket Goes to India

Matthew, my apprentice for the last year, has begun his multi-month trip around the world, starting in India. He's posting regular updates to his blog, and, well, it sounds like a lot of fun!

Verbal Regurgitation

Me: "I don't know that word. Is it a word you made up?"
Caitlyn: "No, it's a word the cat threw up."

Seadragon in Silverlight

Our Seadragon technology is now publicly available in the new Silverlight 2 beta (available on Windows and Intel Macs)! It's called Deep Zoom, and people are already doing cool stuff with it. I'm excited to finally have this technology in the hands of the people; I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!