Noted by Daniel Rehn

ani-gif: ARXITEKTON by Małgosia Woźnica / V5MT « VIEW...

Thu, 09 May 2013 17:24:41 -0700

ani-gif:

ARXITEKTON by Małgosia Woźnica / V5MT

« VIEW EXHIBITION »

lagamespace: Alexander Peverett × LA Game Space #1

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:35:27 -0700

lagamespace:

Alexander Peverett × LA Game Space #1

Godspeed, Chris Kelly (1978–2013).

Wed, 01 May 2013 23:16:00 -0700

Godspeed, Chris Kelly (1978–2013).

EVL (Electronic Visualization Laboratory) located at...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 11:01:25 -0700

An Electronic Visualization Event (EVE) in the mid 1970s—live, real-time performances featuring computer graphics, video processing, and music.

EVL painter's cap (ca. 1988) • “visualization is our middle name”

EVL (Electronic Visualization Laboratory) located at the University of Illinois at Chicago is a frequent point of reference. I’ve been fortunate to intersect with several EVL alums over the years and to visualize several of their works as well.

This group photograph says it all—it’s an Electronic Visualization Event (EVE) in the mid-1970s, with live, real-time performances featuring computer graphics, video processing, and music.

Inter FacePainter by Pox Party [jon.satrom...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 21:34:00 -0700

Inter FacePainter by Pox Party [jon.satrom + bensyverson] (2013). Boring is out, so download this now!

This is not just a tool; it’s an entirely new methodology for designing interfaces. Inter FacePainter liberates you and your users from device specific design and the draconian grid. Paint beautiful and expressive interfaces that reflect the human condition.

ASCII illustration of a CRT monitor's brightness “ramping up” (from 1992)

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:54:00 -0700

X X X X X X X X
@ @
. .. . ..
. .. . ..
@.. . .. @ @ . .. @
.. . .. .. . .. . .. ..
.. . .. . .. . ..
. .. @ . .. . .. @

Interesting insight from Bob Munck on the Xerox Alto (1973) and...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:59:00 -0700

Interesting insight from Bob Munck on the Xerox Alto (1973) and commercializing it into Xerox Star:

I was involved in an effort to make PARC ideas into commercial products, a project called OIS [later Xerox Star] at Xerox El Segundo. I was given an Alto and plugged into Ethernet, two things that just blew me away.

Unfortunately, the software stunk; it had the look, feel, and quality of something a grad student would throw together to support his thesis. The user tools, word processor, etc., had an interface that only a techno-geek could love or even understand, and they were horribly buggy. Even the underlying compiler, for a language called MESA, was full of bugs. The main reason that Xerox failed to productize their inventions was undoubtedly managerial, but the software certainly didn’t help.

Earlier today, I posted this on WWWTXT: I’ve never...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:34:00 -0700

Bob Munck in 1970

Xanalogical Structures (Ted Nelson, inventor of Project Xanadu, was a Hypertext colleague—he also coined the term “hypertext”)

Hypertext Editing System (HES) console in use at Brown University (1969)

Hypertext Editing System (HES) creator/director Andries "Andy" van Dam showing colleagues the importance of “error messages” (1969)

Earlier today, I posted this on WWWTXT:

I’ve never programmed in C, I’ll let you know how it works out sometime in 2013. ☯90FEB

Afterwards, I set out to find the poster and see if he had ever learned C. He turned out to be Internet pioneer Bob Munck! Here’s his response:

I wrote a bunch of C++ for my first web site, for DARPA in 1994 (it was the third government site and among the first couple hundred total). I was at the time deep in the Ada community, and C++ was so irrational by contrast that I flat-out hated it. Nowadays I write mostly PHP code and am resigned to the horrors of C-like languages.

Incredibly, he worked as a manager (aka the heavy) at the original Hypertext project at Brown University from 1967–73. He first logged into the net in the Fall of ‘72 [41 years ago!] and, although now retired, still responded to my email within an hour of receiving it.

It’s these moments that make me realize WWWTXT has a long life ahead. Thank you, Bob!

ani-gif: Image from ANI GIF 2.2: 13 Compositions by Yoshi...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:12:00 -0700

ani-gif:

Image from ANI GIF 2.2: 13 Compositions by Yoshi Sodeoka (2013)

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“The source code for MacPaint and the Apple QuickDraw graphics...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:51:00 -0700

Bill Atkinson—creator of MacPaint—painted in MacPaint (by Jim DeVona, 2010)

Bill in the early days, at a department store

Bill and the Mac Design Team in Rolling Stone [From left to right, it's George Crow, Joanna Hoffman, Burrell Smith, Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson and Jerry Mannock]

Bill's “hyper” (business) card

“The source code for MacPaint and the Apple QuickDraw graphics library is now available, as is their story, at the Computer History Museum. To celebrate this news, and to illustrate that great tools retain their utility even as they age, I used MacPaint to paint a portrait of MacPaint programmer Bill Atkinson.” —Jim DeVona (2010.07)

Learn more and download the source code at the Computer History Museum website.

It’s worth noting that Bill also is responsible for: “marching ants,” the menu bar, the selection lasso, HyperCard, and Atkinson dithering (aka that MacOS Classic look) [!]. He now works as a nature photographer.

text-mode: Emoticons/emojis created by overlyaing several text...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:00:11 -0700

text-mode:

Emoticons/emojis created by overlyaing several text characters on top of eachother. These instructions are from 1976, and might have been around as early as 1972.

This technique was possible on the amazing 1970s PLATO computer, and probably never again after that? You could also move the text-chars around on a pixel level. Pictures/info from platopeople.com.

How were these things done? Well, on PLATO, you could press SHIFT-space to move your cursor back one space — and then if you typed another character, it would appear on top of the existing character. And if you wanted to get real fancy, you could use the MICRO and SUB and SUPER keys on a PLATO keyboard to move up and down one pixel or more — in effect providing a HUGE array of possible emoticon characters.

ANI GIF is an online gallery for artists to explore the...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:11:45 -0700

ANI GIF is an online gallery for artists to explore the creative possibilities of the Animated GIF file format. After a year-long hiatus, ANI GIF is back for an entire year (12+ exhibitions) curated by myself and Sarah Caluag.

noteNdo by Jeff Donaldson is open now—go go go! (http://ani-gif.com/2.1)

The source code for Adobe Photoshop 1.0.1 has been...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:01:54 -0800

The source code for Adobe Photoshop 1.0.1 has been released!

Software source code is the literature of computer scientists, and it deserves to be studied and appreciated. Enjoy a view of Photoshop from the inside.

This recent wave in code-releasing is a great movement, and one that will continue for a long time to come.

Bill Budge, the developer of 1983’s Pinball Construction...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:54:37 -0800

Bill Budge, the developer of 1983’s Pinball Construction Set, has open-sourced the game’s code today. This is in preparation for a post-mortem he’ll be giving at GDC this year (along with the creators of Myst, Crystal Castles, etc). As I’ve said before, the value of post-mortems cannot be underestimated and LA Game Space will place a strong emphasis on them by offering talks and exhibitions alike.

The quote above is taken from the June 1984 issue of ᴋ-ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ (which coincidentally I’d been reading this week for WWWTXT). Bill spent a day with a then 17-year-old programmer who looked up to him, and when he asked what Budge’s personal goals in programming were, his reply was:

I don’t consider myself a graphics expert. What I’d really like to do is write programs that are useful, instead of just entertaining. My main interest is artificial intelligence.

My next project may be a “Construction Set Construction Set” which would let players create all sorts of games, and then play them.

The game was first self-released and eventually published by a very youthful Electronic Arts. It was developed after Budge released the popular Raster Blaster pinball game for the Apple II.

(Thank you Kevin Fowler for the heads up!)

The Talking Heads Talk Software (ᴋ-ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ 1984) Synthesound 64...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:41:57 -0800

The Talking Heads Talk Software

Synthesound 64

The Talking Heads Talk Software (ᴋ-ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ 1984)

Synthesound 64 (HesWare) is more like what the Talking Heads are used to. It converts the Commodore 64 into a synthesizer and produces a tremendous variety of musical notes and noises. The keyboard alters tones and plays like a piano keyboard.

They thought Synthesound 64 was a bit intimidating, though. There’s a lot of reading that has to be done befor eyou can do anything on it. And you have to know your way around a computer keyboard to get good results. But they thought the Commodore 64’s sound was better than Apple’s. And they felt it was very important to be able to manipulate the tones to get away from simple computer “beeps” and “boops.”

wwwtxt: AcidWarp meets the KLF’s “Chill Out”...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:09:31 -0800

wwwtxt:

AcidWarp meets the KLF’s “Chill Out” ☯1992/1990 (recorded by Daniel Rehn in 2013)

AcidWarp is a 2D demo originally written for DOS in 1992 by Noah Spurrier and Mark Bilk. It periodically generated over 40 different patterns on the fly by plotting 2D mathematical formulas, and then animated them through palette rotation. It was notable for its speed on early x86 processors that lacked a floating point unit. (more at Wikipedia)

The KLF’s Chill Out is an ambient house concept album from 1990, it portrays a mythical night-time journey up the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas into Louisiana. The album is a continuous composition, in which sampled music (including Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Acker Bilk and Tuvan throat singers), vocal samples and sound effects are overlaid with original music. (more at Wikipedia)

The Drum (BZE) by Igor Ivanov (2012). A slimy, shiny,...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:35:02 -0800

The Drum (BZE) by Igor Ivanov (2012). A slimy, shiny, and paradisiacal cosmos.

Notable Game Box • A superb, thoughtful, on-going collection of...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:07:12 -0800

Notable Game Box • A superb, thoughtful, on-going collection of videogame boxes + ephemera—many are enhanced prior to posting!

obscurevideogames: Deus Ex Machina (Automata UK - C64 -...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:14:56 -0800

THE MEMORY BANK ▱ DEUS EX MACHINA

THE CELL PRODUCER ▱ DEUS EX MACHINA

THE INCUBATOR ▱ DEUS EX MACHINA

obscurevideogames:

Deus Ex Machina (Automata UK - C64 - 1984) (port of a title originally created for the ZX Spectrum)

This “game” reminds me of those interactive music CD-ROMs that people like Prince and Peter Gabriel used to put out in the 90s. But since this was long before CD-ROMs, it came with a music cassette which you had to sync up to the video.

Selected works by Richard Anuszkiewicz (1979–1988). (images...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:30:29 -0800

Richard Anuszkiewicz ▱ Translumina-Blue Edged | 1988 | 84" × 84" | Painted wood

Richard Anuszkiewicz ▱ Aqua Temple of Spring Light | 1984 | 60" x 72" | Acrylic on canvas

Richard Anuszkiewicz ▱ Red Edged Smoky Gray Square | 1980 | 48" x 48" | Acrylic on canvas

Richard Anuszkiewicz ▱ Rainbow Squared Pale Blue | 1979 | 60" x 60" | Acrylic on canvas

Selected works by Richard Anuszkiewicz (1979–1988).