Fast Company

Symbiotic Green Wall Makes Any Building Project Green

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:00:35 EST

Construction sites are usually just urban eyesores, but Kooho Jung and Hayeon Kelly Choi have designed a space that could one day make people look forward to neighborhood construction. The Symbiotic Green Wall turns the barrier between construction and the street into a living ecosystem, complete with grass pots, birds nests, and pollution monitors.

The wall is completely self-sustaining thanks to a built-in rainwater collection system that gathers water from the roof as well as from the construction site within. Once collected, the water is purified and used as nourishment for the wall. Rainwater is also used as part of a sprinkler system to eliminate dust inside the construction site.

Of course, the Symbiotic Green Wall has never been tested in a real world setting, and it's easy to argue that putting it up is more trouble than it's worth for short-lived construction jobs. But for construction jobs that last months or even years, the wall could provide a much-need visual distraction. And who knows? One day, Symbiotic Green Walls could even be used as vertical vegetable gardens for urban areas.

[Via Inhabitat]

If eBooks Are the Future, Do Publishers Have a Plan?

Lydia Dishman — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:30:35 EST

The numbers are in, and eBooks may very well be the bright spot in book publishing's dim future--but only if publishers can figure out a way to keep the momentum going.

EBook sales accounted for $46.5 million as of the end of September, according to the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), but that number only represents trade eBook sales through wholesale channels. Retail numbers may be as much as double these figures due to industry wholesale discounts, says IDPF. It's a drop in the bucket for book sales overall, which amounted to about $1.26 billion for the month of September, according to the Association of American Publishers (AAP).

What's most astonishing, though, is that eBooks have sold like hotcakes without a marketing or sales strategy. Publishers are moving quick to catch up as new digital innovations come to market.

"Everybody's awake now," says Mike Shatzkin, a 40-year industry veteran and founder of the Idea Logical Company, a firm of digital publishing futurists. He lauds larger publishers such as Random House and Hachette for being way ahead in terms of the mechanics of getting eBooks to market. But one of the publishers' biggest problems, he says, is that their selling strategies are built around book formats, and not about the interests of the people reading those books.

Brian O'Leary, founder of Magellan Media, a publishing industry consultancy, agrees that the approach to finding the eBookworms varies from publisher to publisher. For instance, he notes many of Hachette Book Group's titles have had simultaneous print, audio, and e-book versions that are marketed and sold using common campaigns.

HarperStudio's publisher, Bob Miller, acknowledged that their overall strategy so far, is integrated with their print program because many of their eBooks and digital audiobooks have traditional print versions. This from the HarperCollins imprint that rocked the publishing world recently when they announced a 50-50 profit-sharing deal with authors--a departure from the traditional 7% to 15% royalty-- and publishers of the multi-media "Vook" CRUSH IT!

Miller speculates that commercial fiction categories such as thriller, mystery, suspense, romance, and science fiction will continue to sell briskly in digital format. "Readers of these genres will continue to like the convenience and low cost of this format and are less concerned about having the physical book to keep on a shelf," he says.

But O'Leary suggests publishers such as HarperStudio would do well to take a page from the genre publisher's playbook. Though he's not advocating a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy, he notes that Harlequin has enjoyed much success by marketing short-form digital downloads for Nocturnal Bites separately, and recently announced the start of a digital-only imprint.

Indeed, Harlequin Enterprise Ltd.'s Brent Lewis, vice president of digital and Internet for Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., has been leading the strategic charge of Harlequin's digital publishing and marketing programs that now reach over 50 million readers in ebooks and digital audio, as well as on Harlequin's own site, in mobile distribution, and digital-only content.

Lewis' revealed Harlequin's not-so-secret ingredient in an interview with Fast Company last year: their consumers. "At Harlequin we have a very powerful brand that people have been very loyal and engaged to since the business began."

While Harlequin has its finger on the (ahem) throbbing pulse of its readers, it will be interesting to see what strategies evolve at Random House when industry vet and ex-Amazon employee Madeline McIntosh assumes the newly created position of President, Sales, Operations, and Digital on December 1. Her appointment will "unify their physical and digital sales efforts for adult, children's, and international titles, distribution, publishing operations, IT, and corporate digital-publishing capabilities in an interconnected team," according to a statement from Markus Dohle, Random House chairman and CEO.

They managed to pull out a blockbuster under current leadership. Crain's New York Business reported sales of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol sold 100,000 e-books its first week out, or about 5% of total sales for the book. September ebook sales at Random House (much of which are presumably The Lost Symbol) pulled in $22.6 million, which is a 700% increase over Kindle sales last year. While every month can't be a Dan Brown blow-out, a good marketing strategy to find and retain loyal readers will help shore up the revenue model.

Right now, Shatzkin says eBooks are more profitable than print because there is no physical inventory, and in many cases the publisher has negotiated lower royalty payments (and other than the aforementioned specific instances, no one seems to have a marketing plan). As such, he believes Amazon, proprietors of the Kindle eReader, is subsidizing publishers for digital editions because the price they are paying up front for a digital edition is the same as for the print version.

O'Leary believes this too, will change. As publishers gain experience and sales grow, the cost of creating them will fall. "In the last year retail prices for e-books have been set lower than their print counterparts. If those lower prices stick, they will leave little room for retailer or publisher profitability under the traditional publishing model," he adds.

Yet Shatzkin wonders whether good marketing strategies and proper branding of digital books won't keep them from being cost prohibitive to the consumer. "There is plenty out there to read that's free. Will the public plunk down $25 for Ted Kennedy's eBook?" he asks, then responds, "I think it will take a while to answer that question."

Ron Arad Rips Off Richard Serra in His First Major Building

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:25 EST

The path-breaking furniture designer is about to complete a design museum in Israel

Fresh off of a landmark exhibition at MoMA, furniture-designer Ron Arad is rounding on another milestone: In January, he'll complete The Design Museum Holon, in central Israel.

Arad was born in Israel but made his career in London. Though trained as an architect at London's Architectural Association in the 1970s--a hot house period that also saw Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas studying there--his furniture business took off first in the 1980s, after Jean-Paul Gaultier bought one of his chairs, made from the gutted seating of a car. He's toyed with architecture since then, but has never built anything approaching the scale of the Holon museum.

It's hard to miss the fact that the building looks like the love child of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim New York, and a Richard Serra sculpture. The latter similarity goes beyond looks, too: The building is clad in five twisting bands of cor-ten steel, the same stuff that Serra uses in his pieces. It's intended to be the center piece of a 16-year urban revitalization for the tiny city, which lies on the coast south of Tel-Aviv. It's neighbors will include the National Cartoon Museum, theaters, and a libraries.

It would be fun to be a fly on the wall when the famously prickly Serra first gets wind of this one.

A rendering of the building, which gives you a better sense of the overall design:

[For more images, see Design Boom]

The $120K Gold Bicycle, the $15K Hammock, and Other Monstrosities

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:30:25 EST

Yatzer's irresistibly distasteful, ultra-luxurious Christmas list.

Maybe these days the rich are less rich--but there are still enough filthy, stinking loaded people out there to buy outrageously priced gifts, as Yatzer's round-up of ultra-luxurious doodads attests. A few of our favorites: Aurumania's $120K gold-plated, diamond-encrusted track bike (above).

Bless's $15K fox-fur hammock:

And the comparatively bargain-basement $6K Bang & Olufsen Beosound 5. Hey, something has to go in the kid's room, right?

[Full list at Yatzer via Coolhunting]

The Hills Are Alive, in Google's Swiss HQ [UPDATED: New Pics]

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:53 EST

There's lots of perks at Google HQ out in California, but the design itself is a snooze. Things are a lot more interesting at their just-completed engineering offices in Zurich, Switzerland.

The common spaces are particularly zany, and they play off of lots of tropes of Swiss culture. Above: Meeting rooms in the form of ski-lift gondolas.

The library, meanwhile, is very ski lodgey:

The designers, Carmenzind Evolution (who also recently designed an office we just featured) say they undertook an rigorous study of "personality types, representational systems, values and motivational factors." Which I guess is Swiss for, "We tried to think of fun ways to monkey around." The profusion of common areas--from a library to a games room--is meant to tap research (which we've noted here and here) showing that relaxation and water-cooler time is crucial in the innovation process.

Swank as these offices are, they're still not even close to Facebook's.

[For more pics, check out World Architecture News]

UPDATE: Looks like we'll have to eat our words about the Facebook comparison. Arch Daily has secured more pics of the interior design, and it's jawdropping. Warning: Prepare to be sickened with envy.

The massage area:

A mess hall (note the slide in the background--one of many slides and firepoles designed to speed-up how you get from floor to floor):

Games, games, and more games:

Just a bunch of bathtubs filled with foam, for chilling out and watching fish swim:

I'm pretty sure that the Zurich-based Googlers--who call themselves Zooglers--must laugh have laughed if they ever saw the mega-lame Twitter HQ.

View the full set at Arch Daily.

60 Years Later, Everyone's Still Loving the AK-47

Graham Button — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:00 EST

Designed for soldiers wearing gloves in arctic cold, 60 years later the AK-47 is the brand of choice in deserts, the tropics, and urban jungles, too.

User-centered performance, over and over and over again

It's one of the best tools ever manufactured, a masterpiece of the Industrial Age. My nephew, just back from a tour with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan, tells me you can back a truck over one, then pick it up and use it.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, son of a woman who bore 19 children, started designing it in 1944 and "sold" the prototype in 1947. On November 10, his 90th birthday, President Dmitry Medvedev made him a Hero of the Russian Federation. And last week Stephen Colbert pulled the gun from under his desk and gave it a tip of his hat.

I decided to go to a local gun show to see what the fuss was about.

A gun show, if you've never been to one, is a football field of guns. A Costco with one product. I exaggerate, but just to set the scene. Only the occasional flash of color breaks up the pall of gunmetal grey.

At one stall there were trays full of Brass Knuckle Paperweights. This is a way to round the concealed weapon law. A great franchise idea for Burglary Swag Paperweights, and Pound of Cocaine Paperweights, I thought.

On my way to the AK-47 signs hung high in the hall, I saw beautifully designed things--antiques, concealment holsters, knives. Also some things better not contemplated--plastic hand-to-hand combat devices apparently used by special forces. Brilliant in their design, pennies to produce, banned by the Geneva Conventions.

Then I met someone I'll call AK Dealer #1.

This was a man in love with his subject. "Mikhail Kalashnikov?" he said, and then whipped me through history. From the inspiration--the German "storm rifle," the revered MP 44--to the current Serbian and Bulgarian pulp knock-offs.

"Feel it," he said, handing me the Serbian with the folding stock. "Can I buy one?" I asked. "Sure," he said, "just a quick computer check." I said, "OK with a Green Card?" A flicker passed his face, but only like caffeine on a night shift. "Proof of residency for the last 90 days?"

His T-shirt read AMMO: THE CURRENCY OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM. In the month after Obama became president, Americans bought 1,529,635,000 rounds of ammunition. A run on the currency, fearing a change in the law. Lead is the new gold.

"Does this AK make my ass look big? As if!"

Next I met AK dealer #2.

"This is a Buick AK. We make it right here in town. There are Cadillac AKs and there are Yugo AKs. But this"--plastic grip, plastic stock, $999--"is a Buick. We machine the parts in Bulgaria." He field-stripped it to show me. In the 20 minutes we were talking, a man bought one of the Cadillacs ($1200), and left with the box under his arm.

Dave, Cathay

I headed out, carrying my two purchases--the First Aid For Soldiers field manual ($7.95), and a bottle of Dave's Insanity Gourmet Hot Sauce ($5).

Passing a rack of NOBAMA and PALIN 2012 T-shirts, I stopped at a stall selling Cathay Dolls: ultra-feminine Victorian porcelain figurines. And I wondered whether this was the crying side of Cordite-and-Diesel Man peeking through.

More likely they were for sniper practice.

Read more of Graham Button's Like It or Not blogBrowse blogs by other Expert Designers

Graham Button is a writer from London who worked in advertising for more than twenty years. He took the scenic route to Genesis, passing through agencies in Hong Kong, Toronto, and finally New York, where he was a creative director and executive vice president at Grey Worldwide. He has created advertising in most media for every kind of brand and all sorts of companies, including Diageo, Kaiser Permanente, Molson Breweries, GM, and South China Morning Post Newspapers. Beaver Creek, one of the Vail Resorts brands, chose to follow him to Genesis from Grey. Work he originated as a copywriter or championed as a creative director has been recognized in awards shows in Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, London, Cannes, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney and has been featured on America's Funniest Videos and Larry King Live.

Famed Industrial Designer Konstantin Grcic Curates Two Design Exhibitions

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:00:39 EST

The 44-year-old German designer selects designs that inspire him and functional designs, in an online gallery and a real-world exhibition.

Designer Konstantin Grcic is everywhere these days. Last week, there was news of his first American retrospective--which we gave you a sneak peak at here. Today, he's offering a brilliant collection of inspiring designs, in an online slideshow. If you're at all interested in cutting-edge design, check it out.

Meanwhile, this Thursday, in a show he curated for the Sepentine Gallery in London, Grcic's going in a completely different direction.

Design Real highlights the hyperlogical: Rather than presenting sheer design porn, the pieces on display will range from laptop batteries to airplane cargo containers to artificial hearts to welding helmets. In other words, stuff where the form is pure function. As The Times writes:

Rather than exhibiting the most beautiful, innovative, eco-responsible or whatever product of each type, Mr. Grcic has chosen the most eloquent one. The computer is the XO1 educational laptop designed by One Laptop Per Child for children in developing countries. "I couldn't show any other computer, not even an Apple, because the story behind OLPC is so strong," he explained.

Similarly he chose the battery of the Tesla Roadster electric sports car over the vehicle because he was intrigued by how the recent investment in developing cell phone batteries has succeeded in producing one that is small and powerful enough to move a car.

On Thursday the show's site will go live, stocked with backstories for each object.

We'll bring you an update then. In the meantime, seriously, check out Grcic's primo stash of design porn, over at Wallpaper*.

Become a Fan to Lower Prices for All: Is Intel's Facebook Ad the Future of Advertising?

Kit Eaton — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30:47 EST

Intel has teamed up with Sprout Inc.--a company heavily involved with social media-based advertising--to launch a new interactive Facebook promotion that's pretty clever, and which might just indicate one possible future for advertising. An oddly disturbing one, at that.

The attraction of advertising on Facebook is obvious--its legion of users and tight social characteristic measuring capabilities mean advertisers can reach huge numbers of potential clients with greater accuracy than, perhaps, ever before. So for Intel to choose Facebook isn't much of a surprise. What's novel about the campaign is that it's actually interactive.

By becoming a fan of the relevant Intel page--one promoting Intel processor-carrying computers--you actually contribute to a lowering of the device's prices. In other words, by showing Intel you're interested in its product, Intel notionally "rewards" you with a lower price. Of course someone has done the raw mechanical calculation behind this, and he or she decided it'll pay off for Intel in the bigger picture. The company gets to promote itself to those interested Facebook users (who themselves get to feel a little more involved the in the process) and all those users then promote Intel via status updates to their friends' news feeds when they click "become a fan." It's a subtle way of promoting one's company name virally, and presumably it'll do well for Intel when the actual sale of Toshiba, Acer, and Asus ultra-thin laptops kicks off on Monday.

It's also an indicator of how advertising might trend in the future, because it's a more carefully thought out way to exploit viral PR than the usual funny/odd/entertaining viral video route. The ephemeral promise of lower product prices when you become a fan will also pull in many volunteer promoters of the virus. And that's the slightly creepy part of all of this: Advertising has for a long time leveraged clever psychological tricks to better sell you products. But with this kind of interactive social media ad campaign, the hook the ad uses to grab you is a little deeper. And as the technology and advertisers like Sprout get cleverer, these sorts of Facebook or Twitter ads are going to become a part of our psyches as consumers, which means we will do more and more of the promotional work for the companies.

[Via VentureBeat]

As DVD Sales Flail, Can Direct-Mail Help Indie Film Avail?

Zachary Wilson — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:00:45 EST

In a marketing move straight from the late '80s or early '90s, indie film label Oscilloscope Pictures is starting a direct-mail DVD of the month club. (SubPop Singles Club, anyone?) The company, founded by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch and former ThinkFilm VP David Fenkel, will send you the next 10 Oscilloscope DVD releases about a week before the official release date, shipping included, for $150. Members of the "Circle of Trust," as the club is called, also get previous Oscilloscope releases for half price.

As DVD sales slump--at recent industry event Blu-Con 2.0, Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn said he expects disc sales to be down about 12% year-to-year in the fourth quarter--lower-selling indie films are pushed to the side or never picked up for distribution in the first place. A move like this from an up-and-coming indie house like Oscilloscope, which is behind distributing this year's well-received, Oscar-buzzing drama The Messenger, just confirms that smaller houses are begging for revenue anywhere they can get it.

And the indie crowd just might be the perfect set to target. Look at FilmMovement, a 7-year-old company founded on the premise that film lovers will pay for the surprise of an indie film in their mailbox each month. FilmMovement attends festivals around the globe and buys theater and DVD distribution rights, spreading indie magic to those who can't attend for about $11 a month.

A potential problem with Oscilloscope's plan is the oft-blamed brat of the movie industry itself, Netflix. A quick search through the Netflix library shows that most of Oscilloscope's films are available there, some even streaming instantly. Not exactly a push for the direct-mail option, especially since indie film buffs are almost certainly Netflix members already.

The DVD market has fallen 10% since it peaked in 2004, and it fell a 6% to $22.4 billion last year alone. And with Blu-Ray not catching on as hoped, even after three years on the market, the home entertainment industry is flailing. "Nobody's happy," Fox's Dunn said at Blu-Con 2.0, "but you still come to work every day." Hopefully smaller indie filmmakers and marketers can continue to work as well, even if direct-mail is the only option.

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]

Android Gaining Ground in Mobile Browsing Wars

Kit Eaton — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:30:57 EST

Though Apple's iPhone still rules the mobile browsing game, it looks like Google's Android OS--spread over numerous devices now--is beginning to catch up. Admob's stats show its actually overtaken RIM to steal second place.

Back in March AdMob's statistics showed quite how dominant the iPhone was, with 50% of the U.S. smartphone OS market--RIM's BlackBerrys came next at 21% share, and Android lagged in fifth place behind both Palm and Windows Mobile with just 5% share. Now, all of that has changed.

Apple's actually consolidated its position with another 5% of the market. But RIM's share has dropped to just 12%--despite the arrival of sophisticated iPhone competitor BlackBerrys like the Storm. And Android has stormed to 20% of mobile browsing requests passing through AdMob's servers (the metric the company uses to calculate these statistics.) The HTC Dream is the most popular Android handset, it seems, but among the numbers it's the Motorola Droid that's the real surprise--it's so freshly available, but AdMob's November statistics show it's responsible or 24% of Android's mobile browsing figure.

Will Android's growth continue? Its strong performance this far suggests it might gain market share as the public buys more and more Android phones, and the ones that arrive are better designed--continuing the trend Droid seems to have begun. If the rumors of the Googlephone prove true, it's certain Android will gain more traction. Whether or not it'll challenge the iPhone depends on how popular the iPhone remains in its current incarnation, whether Apple allows more carriers in each nation to sell them, and how popular the upcoming fourth-gen device is. Its hard to see Android toppling it from its perch any time soon.

[Via ZDNet]

Chicks With Bricks: The World's Tallest Female-Designed Skyscraper

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:11 EST

Chicago's 82-story Aqua Tower is also a milestone for architectural flamboyance that improves the bottom line.

A new icon has risen in Chicago: Studio Gang Architects have completed major construction on the 82-story Aqua tower. It's already being hailed as a masterwork for the young firm, which previously has made it's name on excellent, small-scale buildings. And, as the Chicago Tribune reports, it's a milestone for women in architecture, the tallest building designed by a female-owned firm, and the first edifice by Chicago's Jeanne Gang, 45, of Studio Gang Architects. The story continues:

Aqua also is a real estate miracle: Its financing documents were signed in late August 2007--just before the credit crunch hit it. Had the tower been delayed by 60 to 90 days, says the building's architect-of-record and co-developer, Jim Loewenberg, it might never have been built.None of this would matter without Gang's singular design, whose three chief components are hotel space (for now, without an occupant) on floors 4 through 18, apartments on floors 19 through 52 and condominiums from floors 53 to 81. There are also shops, parking and townhouses.Essentially, then, Aqua is a residential skyscraper, a place to live (or sleep) rather than a place to work. And it fully takes advantage of the aesthetic freedom afforded by that identity, which means it doesn't have to be tidy and buttoned-down, like a corporate headquarters.

All that came at a relatively cheap price: The tower's signature feature are the undulating balconies, which because of their curving, bulging shapes, cantilever anywhere from 2 to 12 feet outwards, thus affording city views that would otherwise have been impossible to appreciate. They cost a scant 1.5% of the building's $325 million construction cost.

And that, above all else, makes Studio Gang worth watching: Architectural flamboyance at a reasonable price is always a rarity; flamboyance that increases the bottom line is almost unheard of.

Remarkably, the tower also has PETA's stamp of approval.

Read more at The Chicago Tribune; check out more pictures at Design Boom; See Jeanne Gang's 30 Second MBA.

Rampaging Elephant Gadget Inspired by 'Star Wars'?

Kit Eaton — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:30:54 EST

Rampaging elephants may not be a particularly bothersome problem around your neck of the woods, but they are in India. Instead of anesthetizing them, an inventor's come up with a neat solution that's seems to have sprung from repeated obsessive Star Wars viewing.

Elephants are revered in the Hindu faith (thanks to elephant-headed god Ganesha) and they're a big part of many religious observances--as well as being a tourist attraction all by themselves. Animals, of course, are similarly used throughout the world, but when the beasts get ticked off, bored, or suddenly threatened, it's a much more serious problem than, say, an irate goat or ornery horse. The current solution is to fire an anesthetic dart into the elephant, but it's not ideal--the effect can sometimes add to the stress the elephant is experiencing, and in a panic, several shooters can fire multiple darts into the elephant's flank and that can result in a dangerous overdose.

Enter Zachariah Mathew and his Violent Elephant Control Gear, which is essentially a heavy box that is strapped to one of the elephant's hind legs. Normally the $500, 7-kilogram box poses no worry to the animal at all. But if it gets distressed, the mahout can remotely trigger the device which then fires a nylon belt out and around the other hind leg. Yes--it sounds almost exactly like how the snow speeders bring down ATATs in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. It sounds dangerous, but the animals are apparently pretty savvy to the damage their own mass can cause to themselves, and thus stops more gracefully than a rampage would've involved. Trials have been conducted on agricultural elephants, and the hope is that it'll find use across India and the world. The sad thing is that elephant rampages are on the rise as their natural habitat is eroded. This is a case of treating the symptom not the cause of a bigger problem.

And a threat to wildlife is behind another animal/technology story at the moment, but this is an even sadder one. St Louis Zoo is preparing its holiday season exhibits, and part of the affair is to have polar bears on show. Sadly the zoo's polar bears died in captivity, so the animals on display this Christmas will be robotic, animatronic facsimiles.

[Via Physorg, Inhabitat]

Inside James Cameron's Head: Avatar, F-Bombs, and Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

Diane Mehta — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:00:54 EST

The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron, a biography of the director by former Time magazine Hollywood correspondent Rebecca Keegan, starts with the director's ancestors in Scotland and takes readers through post-production on the much-ballyhooed Avatar. The book hits stores December 15, the week the movie is released. Keegan told FastCompany.com about the man behind the camera, his inventive use of the F-word, and why Avatar is unlike any movie you've ever seen.

Tell me how the concept of the book came about and what fascinated you about Cameron at the time.

I visited the Avatar set in early 2008 for Time, and it was like no other movie set I'd been on. Normally there are tons of people, costumes, makeup, and props--all on a grand scale. This just looked like a weird post-modern play because it was so spare--it was in a real warehouse, but only had the gray triangles and polygons the actors were using to mimic terrain or vehicles. It was so bizarre. But what's astonishing is that when you looked in Cameron's camera lens, you saw something totally different. You saw a lush, vivid jungle, and Sigourney Weaver as a tall blue alien version of herself. It was unlike any other movie-making experience I've had.

What was it about Cameron himself that intrigued you?

I spent more time on the set because I became fascinated with this guy who invented all this technology, and then disappeared for twelve years after the highest grossing movie of all time [Titanic]--did he go all JD Salinger on us? Clearly this person likes doing things that are really hard, and making the kind of movie that has not been seen before.

What was Cameron trying to show the world by creating this film?

Cameron wanted it to be a proof of concept for a bunch of different technologies. Part of the reason he chose this film was because he thought it would be a big enough movie to get Hollywood to embrace 3-D. It started in the early 90s, when he wrote a digital manifesto! It was before Peter Jackson made Gollum, before Jar Jar, and before Titanic. He wanted a way to do really believable, intricate creatures using computers. At the time, no one had done it. He wanted to write a movie where characters exist halfway between humans and weird creatures. It would be weirder than something you do with makeup, but not so fantastical that they can't be played by human actors.

Cameron was responsible for several groundbreaking CG characters...

The first CG character that looked totally organic was in Cameron's Abyss in 1989, and the CG character that changed everything was the liquid metal man in Terminator 2 in 1991. And in the Titanic, the way he was able to do some of those stunts--like people falling off the ships--was with a very early use of motion capture and performance capture. He tried to do it with physical actors, but people were getting hurt. That was the beginning of digital stunts.

How high-tech was the set, and what were the most important technologies in play?

There are three important technological movie advances. The first is 3-D. The second is the little cameras mounted in front of the actors' faces, kind of like a sound boom but with a camera that images their faces. And the third is the camera that Cameron uses--it's a virtual production system. So while he's filming a CG movie, instead of just seeing actors running around in lycra bodysuits he can actually see their alien/CG selves while they're filming. This required creating a whole virtual production pipeline, from the camera to the editing to the way the images were bounced back and forth with Weta Digital to the motion capture company (Giant Studios) that provides the suit. One of the things that's different about the movie is that right there on set is an editor with an entire Avid editing bay--so they were editing as they were shooting.

Is the process totally different when you have cameras imaging the actors' faces instead of just using standard motion capture technology?

The body and facial movements are imaged, or captured, by these cameras, and then are imposed on these templates that Cameron and his team have created, which they send to Weta. Then Weta takes this information from a flat image--which would look like something from a 1980s video game--and turns up the level of detail. They do that by using the captured images of the actor's original performance, and animating on top of that.

What's Cameron's process for concepting and making a film of this magnitude?

He has different stages of his process. When he's writing, he totally bunkers himself. He works mainly at night so he's not interrupted, and he retreats--he has multiple idyllically located vacations homes. He's always got some fabulous place that he goes off to and he writes at night alone. I think he finds that process very painful, and it's his least favorite part of making a movie. When he's done with the writing, he enjoys diving into the physical aspects of making the movie, and actually shooting and getting into production.

Why does writing suck so bad?

A lot of good writers hate writing. It's like giving birth for a lot of people, and it's kind of lonely. So despite Cameron's rep of being tyrannical and tough to get a long with, he does like having people around to bounce ideas off and talk with. He's still making a very collaborative media, and when people muster up the courage to bring something up they often have a really interesting dialogue. He does often take peoples' suggestions and make their changes if he thinks they fit.

What's Cameron's MO on the set?

He's very intense, and he has the most colorful use of F-bombs of anyone I've ever been around. He also has the ability to laugh at himself. He'll go on a rant about something, but then make fun of his own obsession. At one point I was sitting in on one of these video conferences he does with artists at Weta in New Zealand. Cameron was sitting in a dark room looking at shots on the screen and pointing the laser pointer, saying, "I hate this tree limb! This bandage wrapped on the character's arm is driving me insane!" At one point he looked at me and said: "That's worth $50 million domestic gross." Clearly he was mocking the complete lack of importance those things had, though to him those details are important and that's what gives a movie its signature.

Nothing that happens on a James Cameron set that he doesn't have a say in. He's more hands on than any director I've ever seen--down to the most minor detail. At the Avid, he's the one holding the mouse. He's the one holding the camera when they're doing shots of Sigourney Weaver as alien, not a cameraman. He's very different from most directors, like Scorsese, Spielberg, or Lucas. He's more of a knob twister than anyone I've ever seen. Most people say he drives them insane--in the course of making a movie they want to kill him ten times, but at the end of the day they do the best work they've ever done for anyone.

That sounds like a pretty intense work environment.

For me, it was an enormous amount of information to process. I felt like these guys needed an extra lobe in their brain to take in all of that information at once. But the goal was to make the best movie out there--because you can design where to put the character or set and because you're not limited by physics or anything that limits you on a normal movie set. But what that does is create millions of little choices the director has to make. For some it's crippling, but for Cameron it's freeing because he likes to have a hand in every aspect of his movie.

Is the cinematic style closer to live-action or to animated films?

The camera Cameron used let him retain his own camera style--if he wanted to go in over a monster's shoulder, he could go in across the monster's shoulder. It's not like a traditional CG movie where a lot of it's done in post [production]. He was able to preserve a lot of the natural cinematic qualities you have in a live action movie within a CG environment by using the virtual production system they created for the film.

How does the story hold up?

In many ways it was like a sci-fi stew, and a lot of it is based on ideas that have been bouncing around in his head for decades. He's a diehard sci-fi lover, and brings to bear all the images in play in his head since he was teenager reading sci-fi novels. Fans of scifi literature will see a lot that's familiar in a way they'll like. What's different, though, is that it comes entirely out of Cameron's brain--it's not tied to novels like Harry Potter or comic books like Spiderman or toys like Transformers. There's no pre-existing Intellectual Property (IP), which is what made it a little risky from Fox's perspective.

People have tossed out different numbers--$250 million, $500 million--for the film's cost. Can you give us a ballpark?

Hollywood accounting is very entertaining. One thing they do is find ways to shift numbers to one section of the budget to another. When people talk about production budgets--Titanic cost $200 million--that doesn't include marketing costs. The $500 million number floating out there includes marketing costs. But a fair comparison is production costs to productions costs. At end of day it's a James Cameron movie--it's going to be really friggin' expensive. As far as production, the number I was hearing that was most accurate was $220 to $230 million--that was about a month ago. There are other partners with the film besides Fox, then there's the fact that Cameron funded some of the R&D on the cameras and whatnot himself--you can ask yourself, 'Is that part of the production budget?' I'm sure the people from Fox will be busy moving things from one column to another to make it to their advantage.

From a financing perspective, is that crazy?

From the studios' perspective, these movies are less risky. Avatar is sort of in a category in its own. But most movies in its price point--Spider-man, Harry Potter, Transformers--they know those are a slam dunk. There's no way those movies are not going to make hundreds of millions of dollars. Studios gotten out of the business of making smaller and mid-price movies, which is a shame from a creative standpoint because they're missing out on a whole category of movie and I don't know, business-wise, if that makes sense. The thing is, the giant movies have so many ancillary properties, like video games and action figures, and all the other ways studios can make money from them, that they actually see these movies as less of a risk than spending $45 or $60 million on another movie where you could be just pouring it down the drain.

Where does Avatar stand in the evolution of CG characters?

I think it's the next step beyond Gollum. Historically the problem with CG characters that are humanoid has been that you couldn't get emotion across--the goal was to get more emotion and avoid having that flat, blank look of typical CG characters. What was revolutionary about the Gollum character Andy Serkis played in The Lord of the Rings movies is that you really saw his performance. He's a Shakespearean actor, and the furrowing of his brow or the scrunching of his eyes completely came across. The Navi character [Zoe Saldana] and the Avatar character [Sam Worthington] are the next iteration of that. When Sam Worthington's or Sigourney Weaver's character is grimacing, you can really see the actor's performance in there. It's getting to the point where you now get more and more human qualities in the characters.

What's the 3-D like? Is it as good as the hype?

The movie isn't totally done for another two weeks, so I've just seen large chunks of it. But it's very different from any movie-going experience I've ever had. While you're watching these scenes of a jungle on Pandora, the alien planet they're on, you're seeing floating mountains and it all feels incredibly immersive, like you can reach across and pull a jungle branch over to the side. But it's not like the older 3-D; it's more subtle, like you've been pulled inside the environment-- sort of like you're watching a documentary on another planet.

The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron, by Rebecca Keegan, arrives in stores December 15. Avatar lands in theaters December 18.

Infographic of the Day: The Cost of Getting Sick

Cliff Kuang — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:30:04 EST

Where does all the money go, when we're caring for chronically ill patients?

After a year of debates and inflammatory rhetoric, we're finally nearly the 11th hour for health-care reform: Over the weekend, the U.S. Senate voted to begin hearing debates on a bill designed to bring health care to the uninsured.

The most bruising fights lie ahead, since the ensuing debate will shape the final bill--but this was an important procedural milestone.

So given that, today we bring you a spectacular health-scare graphic, designed by Ben Fry, a demi-god in the discipline. "The Cost of Getting Sick" illustrates exactly where we spend all out money, in managing chronic disease.

The data is drawn from both 500K records from GE's databases and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a blue-chip study of medical expenses.

Though the graph looks simple, it belies a mammoth amount of information. Each section of the pie chart is devoted to a different chronic disease, from hypertension to depression. And each section has four--count 'em--data elements. The height represents the yearly cost of managing an average person's condition; the width represents the total cost to the system, on all those people combined. The color coding inside the section tells you how much cost is borne by insurances companies, versus individuals. Meanwhile, what's even cooler: A slider at the bottom lets you look at the data by age.

From simply a data-visualization POV, it's amazing stuff. Ben Fry is no joke.

But with respect to the current debates, the graphic highlights a couple important points. You'll see, using the slider, that the highest chronic health-care costs occur among the elderly. No surprise there. But the elderly also happen to be covered by Medicare.

So why is it so important to cover more people with health insurance? Simply because if you don't maximize the people participating in an insurance plan, you can't achieve the economies of scale required to lower prices, system wide. And if health-care costs continue to rise, our economy is facing disaster.

The uninsured are largely either young or middle aged--they don't pay for insurance, but when they do get sick, it tends to be catastrophic, and extremely expensive. To manage that risk, you need those people inside some sort of insurance system.

They might not look like a big consideration in the graph above, but really, the debate right now centers on them.

[Via Flowing Data]

Intel Health Guide Brings Virtual Doctor Visits to the Mainstream

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:30 EST

It may sound a little creepy, but Intel thinks that virtual doctor visits are the future of health care for the elderly. The Intel Health Guide, launched in the U.S. last year, is a simple white box with a screen that includes a video camera for doctor-patient communications, on screen reminders for scheduled sessions, and connectivity for a variety of vital sign monitoring machines (glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, etc. Essentially, the Guide keeps patients out of the doctor's office by helping to detect potential medical events before they happen.

Even though the Guide was only released last year, the idea for a virtual doctor system was kicking around Intel for about a decade. "We had social scientists looking at applications of computing technology in the hope of identifying the desire and need of people who wanted to use computers to manage their health care," explained Charles Goodwin, the Director of Market Development for the Intel Health Group. In 2005, the Intel Health Group was formed for just that purpose.

The Intel Health Guide moved out of the pilot stage in November 2008, but customers are still figuring out how the doctor-patient relationship changes with remote patient monitoring. A patient with a chronic health condition, for example, might be able to avoid constant doctor visits if they remain vigilant about using their Health Guide-attached vital sign monitoring machines.

Soon enough, virtual doctor visits will become commonplace. Intel and GE recently announced a $250 million partnership to develop health care and IT technology, and the companies believe that the home monitoring market will balloon from $3 billion today to $7.7 billion by 2012.

Next up for the Intel Health Guide: expanding outside of the U.S and U.K, and establishing connectivity with other back-end systems. "We want to be able to connect the Health Guide with electronic medical record systems in hospitals," Goodwin said.

[Intel Health Guide]