Interactivity is clearly the future. Drew Barrows, an NYU student has developed a virtual girlfriend for the Interactive Telecommunications Program Spring Show at the Tisch School of the Arts. This “girlfriend” uses INBED technology, and reacts to her “partners” every move. If he lies on his back, then she curls up onto him, if he curls up into the popular fetal position, she will join him. Although this 2D projection doesn’t speak, it interacts to people’s movements.

Could Flapi, our Internet celebrity, eventually turn into a walking and talking boyfriend? If this existed when I was a kid, then my imaginary friend who lived in the attic could be seen, heard and interacted with, and I might not have been labelled as a lonely only child - just a nerd.

Source: New York Magazine ; Drew Burrows (Image)

According to our correspondent, Go-Kart expert Mariana Salgado, Wednesday’s race had a great turn-out. Rookie Rui Malvarez impressed the crowds with his flashy reflexes pulling off the quickest reaction time at the starting line, and shooting ahead of YVeterans Antão Almada and Tiago Fonseca. He managed to stay in first place for the first three laps but was eventually ‘deterred’ by a slight pile up on the runway, finishing up in third place but not bad for the new kid on the block!

First place was a toss up between Peter Figueiredo and João Frazão with both guys intent on taking home the most coveted Karting trophy. In the end Peter took the race by staying slightly ahead of João for most of the laps. Way to go Peter ‘Alonso’ Figueiredo.

The ladies, not to be outdone, also put in a great performance with Silvia Santos coming in 17th and Helena Rocha and Teresa Brás following shortly behind.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for the company’s next official Go-Kart event. All are welcome, and from the way some of you pull into the company parking lot I know you’ve got what it takes See you at the track!

YVeteran Antão Almada looking calm, cool and collected before the big race

Now what we’ve all been waiting for – the results!

Go-Kart Royalty

1st Peter Figueiredo, best lap: 1:06.47
2nd João Frazão, best lap: 1:06.38
3rd Rui Malvarez, best lap: 1:06.57
4th Tiago Fonseca
5th Vítor Duarte
6th Alfredo Saboga
7th Antão Almada
8th Bruno Neto
9th Luís Alberto
10th Filipe Tavares
11th Armindo Silva
12th Pedro Matos
13th Miguel Gomes
14th João Dornellas
15th Afonso Tavares
16th Sérgio Barata
17th Sílvia Santos
18th Luís Carvalho
19th Helena Rocha
20th Teresa Brás
21st José Danado
22nd Ranjeet Kumar
23rd Ricardo Luiz

The ladies’ winning circle

After a good clean race the gang rounds up & heads off to celebrate

* Special thanks to Helena and Mariana for the fun pics!

Often we’re asked to imagine futuristic scenarios for possible products and projects. Often the first ideas are stuck to already available technology. So I also often remember a great article on the Whole Earth Review 25th anniversary edition (1993).

The article in question was titled Unthinkable Futures. The authors, Kevin Kelly (Wired magazine editor) and Brian Eno (musician), show how to open our minds beyond what’s technologically predictable.

One of my favorite quotes:

News is understood to be a creation of our attention and interests (rather than “the truth”) and news shows are redesigned “thinktanks”, where four interesting minds from different disciplines are asked the question, “So what do YOU think happened today?”

Some “moving out” moments as we get ready to move to our brand new headquarters:

Boxes emporium at Alcântara’s Offices, 10 am:

On the other side of the river, at Caparica’s main room, YDreamers finish playing a real life game of Sokoban:

And then they celebrate!

Production room finds some lost bottles amidst the moving and also celebrates! In sepia tone!

By then YLabs is also celebrating the discovery of a new revolutionary technology (their daily routine) and the fact that they have figured out how to seal up the moving boxes

People at Alcantara’s offices open up umbrellas, defying bad luck and paying tribute to all the floods they have been subjected to during the last year

In the meanwhile, someone forgot to tell the HW department that they should be engaging in silly celebration and phototaking, so they stare in disbelief at their PC screens when celebration pictures start circulating on the internal mailing lists

And speaking of silliness, someone found out that thinking out of the box is really the way to go

In the very near feature we’ll have a new version of the Virtual Sightseeing Scenic Viewer, our Augmented Reality landscape exploration device. Here’s a teaser, courtesy of Pedro Cardoso, our Art Director:

Dance and instrument playing games have been a huge success and are a good example for our interactive applications.

“Pump It Up”

It’s a game that uses a platform with 5 sensors (switches), each with a symbol. Sequences of symbols are displayed on the screen and the player has to step on them accordingly. The player can just step on these symbols or freestyle dance…

Pump it Up Video:

“Guitar Hero”

Guitar Hero uses the same concept applied to a guitar. The player holds a fake guitar with five colored buttons and it has to press the sequence displayed on screen.

Amazing Guitar Hero 2 Video:

“Rock Band”

A full rock band version of Guitar Hero, with a lead guitar, a bass guitar, drums and a lead singer.

Rock Band Video:

“Frets On Fire”

An open-source version of Guitar Hero that can be played on a PC with a regular keyboard.

Frets on Fire Video:

It was the morning after the Christmas Party and this was Production room at 11 o’clock in the morning (courtesy of one early software engineer):