Electronic Labyrinth

Windows 8 and human computer interaction

2011-09-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

This week I started testing Windows 8 Developer release. It is a bold step for Microsoft. They have really bet that the tablet is the future of computing. While I am a huge fan of new user interfaces for computers, Windows8 will be a challenge for computer users that are using a desktop or traditional laptop. Yes Microsoft does include the normal desktop to run applications like Word, Outlook, and other non-touch oriented applications, but the Start menu has been replaced with the Start Page. This might throw people, and may be a steep learning curve. For a tablet user however, Win8 begs you to touch it. It's big colorful blocks of "live" information make it so easy to use your hands and stylist to interact with it, you can't help but want to use it. What I'm looking forward to is seeing how Windows 8 can be used in non-traditional computer situations like, kiosks, way finding, touch aware surfaces etc. I want to see Windows go further than just "cool" interfaces.
Speaking of going past cool interfaces. I think we the people have given up on computers that actually assist us in favor of fashion and flashy graphics. I love UI; but I began to question it when I started teaching my kids programming. Because of TRON they were interested in "programs" so I basically went back to the early days of coding to start teaching. Free Basic was the time machine I used. As an exercise I wrote an recipe program. Now it was nothing fancy just a list of recipes written in the code. But what was fun was the "Print" commands I created. I used very human sentences asking the user questions about what the user wanted to cook. So you see something like:
"Good (evening or morning depending on the clock). What would you like to cook?"
BREAD
"What kind of bread?"
WHITE
"Old Fashion or French?"
OLD FASHION
"Enjoy!"
(Followed by the recipe)
Remember these were just exercises. However these exercises reminded me of what I wanted from computers; a sense of assistance and interaction. I fear that we have given up that dream in favor of fast, flashy UI. If I had to give an example of what I would like to see more of it would be IBM's Watson. I think the Watson project at IBM, and the New User Interface work being done at Microsoft Research which gave us things like Kinect, and Surface is so much more in the right direction. However I think that developers need to be aware of what IBM and Microsoft Research is discovering; we in the technology field need to be more aware of how humans interact with world around them. We use more than one finger and we use more words than "OK" "yes" "next" and "search".

Link between technology and culture...

2011-09-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a great site on a subject I found my self interested in when I started designing applications for Microsoft Surface a few years ago.

In 2007 I was asked to find an interactive multimedia solution for the Special Collections Library's Delcaring Independance Exhibit. I found what was then called "Vienna" at Microsoft Research. Vienna became "Surface". I convinced the Library to spend the money to purchase the unit. They agreed but on one condition; due to lack of funds or desire for in house programmers to learn C# and .NET, I had to program it! I agreed and started down a path into unknown territory. I NEVER programmed anything in my life! Besides learning to write applications I also learned how to design and application that would be used in a 360 degree interface, multiple touch point, multiple "click events" and take into consideration how people interact with digital version of real world objects. At some point it all became very philosophical.

Now I find myself facinated by human computer interaction. The website included here is one of the latest stop in my research. I hope you enjoy. http://www.designingculture.org/release-0711/AcademicAbout.html

Being asked to dream...

2011-08-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've written anything, so I'm forcing myself this morning to post something...anything.

I have been very busy at work. Since my Database Manager joined the team, we've been busy writing scripts and updating databases, and overall doing catch up on projects that have been put on the back burners since before I became the Director of Technology. I won't go into the details because it's pretty standard stuff for tech. departments and I don't want to sound like a whiner.

So....

I want to talk about a few other things I've been working on.

1. Finding time and mental energy to compose music has been very difficult lately. This summer has been very draining mentally for me. So I've been trying different things to jump start or create a spark for my creativity. One tool I played around with recently has been what's called a tracker. see this wiki entry for trackers.
Music Tracker

My experiments were primarily based on creating space ambient tracks. But I found having to build a sample library to use in the tracker was too time consuming and not the way I like to compose. I'm more of an improv, quick capture kind of composer. So Since I'm running Linux these days, I decided to give Freewheeling a try. Think Ableton live for Linux. We'll see how this goes. I'll keep you posted.

2. The second thing was started by a phone call I got at the office that was out of the blue. A local designer is working with a client in Boston to design a new kind of podium. The designer wanted to meet with me to discuss the present and future of presentation technology. We talked about Crestron integration, multimedia, mobile technology, New User Interface, presentation software, the impact that the iPad and Google docs has on presentation creation and presentation; a real Bill Buxton kind of conversation. Luckily I recently took the virtual tour of the exhibit of Bill Buxton's electronic gadget collection. I also watched the video where he personally gives a tour and talks about items in the collection.
The conversation was very cool! To have a designer as you to dream about presentation technology and what you would like to see in a product. No limits! Just dream!
I can't share any designs with you because it's all secret prototype stuff.

Return of the *nix based systems

2011-07-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

If you have been following my posts lately, you'll remember that my main computer system in the studio/office at home died. Motherboard failure. I was left scrambling for a replacement out of the stock of old computers in storage at the house. I really only had 3 to choose from. I grabbed an older Sony VAO and slapped Linux on it. Which of great! I love any *nix operating system. BUT, we don't have cable at the house so we rely on internet services for entertainment. I was using Playon to feed the XBox 360 as a media extender. Payon won't run under Wine because you can't get Media Player 11 to run separately from a Windows installation. Before you say, "Just get Netflix through the XBox directly." We watch more than just Netflix from the internet. with Youtube, Crackle, Hulu, and other independent streaming services, being limited by using just the XBox or an Apple TV just sounded too limiting. Now I do have a copy of Vista Ultimate. That's how things were for about a month.

However even after tweaking Vista to make it faster and more reliable, there were two problems. 1. The computer it was on (the Sony) just wasn't powerful enough to act as a video streaming server. The XBox would often lose connection when streaming. 2. When recording audio, Vista would create dropouts. Keep in mind this problem did NOT exist when the same machine was running Linux. It recorded audio just fine. Plus with Vista there were sound card driver issues. This just wouldn't work!

Chapter 2: Return of the *nix based systems.

Meanwhile at work we've been having serious problems with Windows machines being exploited through backdoors and then scanning other machines on the network. The result has been other machines having Windows Explorer crashes and the inability to connect to mapped network drives. My IT Staff has been losing sleep fighting this breach. Most of my teams days have been spent re-imaging machines that have been compromised. Productivity in departments impacted by these compromises have suffered in there productivity. Windows has produced a bad taste in my mouth lately. Meanwhile I switched back to a Mac at work. I've been an Apple user since OS8 and have always felt better organized and more productive on an Apple computer. When I bought my iMac it came with both OS9 and Mac OSX 10.1 and immediately fell in love with the BSD based OSX. UNIX to the rescue. I've been a Microsoft Research supporter for years now. I have built applications for Microsoft Surface and think that the XBox 360 and Kinect are the best! But when it comes to operating systems Unix based systems like Free BSD, OSX, and their cousin Linux are my top choices.

So back home I have recently resurrected an Apple G4 Tower that a friend have me. It had no RAM, or Hard drive. I found RAM and a hard drive and proceeded to get it up and running. First let me say that finances are such that I can't just run out and buy a new computer. The only other machine in the house needs to be a Windows machine for learning software that my kids use, that doesn't play nice on Linux under Wine. I set the Apple G4 up in the office at home. Ran updates and BAM! I'm working. Plugged my external sound card I use for recording and it instantly shows up in the sound card choices. Plug in my USB M-Audio keyboard and it immediately is available for use in my software. A brief Google search gets me the latest Flash update for Safari. Now I'm streaming vids. Bottom line? An Apple computer that is HALF the CPU power of the Sony VAO is running circles around the Sony running Vista. I'm very happy right now. Plus being a PPC system, I can dig into cool audio tools that I haven't used in a while from back in the day.

Where's the Sony running Vista? Well it's in the living room as a media PC. Again when I can get Netflix streaming on a Linux operating system it will quickly get re-imaged.

Is this a Windows vs Apple thing? Not really. It's more of a *nix based system vs an NT based system. It about how drivers and software connect with the kernel. You can see how much an operating system can impact hardware performance as illustrated by the example above. As much as I like OSX, I'm already planning my next adventure; compiling the Linux kernel for my Apple G4.

May Wrap Up.

2011-06-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

May flew quickly this year. Work has kept me busy. A good kind of busy. At least I'm not watching the clock. Because May was quick I didn't blog much. I was only able to dash off some quick Twitter posts as things happened. So here's the latest Tweet wrap up:

Still having problems getting mail on my Newton. Tried several approaches found on the web. #newtontalk

52 minutes ago

ch9 Microsoft Channel 9

by rmreifenstein

TRON:Legacy - An HTML5 Graphic Novel by Disneyhttp://dlvr.it/Ty6CY

3 Jun

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

2 Jun

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Windows 8 desktop? I ran this look with Rainmeter on a tablet.http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/06/01/windows.8/index.html?hpt=te_bn1

2 Jun

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Black Hole exploit is now free. As if we didn't have enough to worry.http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/24/blackhole_exploit_kit_freebie/

26 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

#uvaotc Finished a great lunch. Sat with Microsoft Live Apps rep. Michael. Covering topics from mobile apps, Win7 Phone & XBox Live.

25 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

#uvaotc now at the session on Microsoft Cloud Services.

25 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

#uvaotc Being able to aggregate the demand seems to be the key in cloud computing solutions.

25 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

#uvaotc 18 month cycle for technology. Applies to the cloud too.

25 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Supercollider at CERN created more data in one year of operation than was recorded in the history of physics.

25 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

About to hear UVA CIO James Hilton keynote on cloud computing.

25 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

On my way to the Office Technology Conference at the John Paul Johns arena in Charlottesville Virginia.

25 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Getting ready to carry our 35 mm film projector out of Newcomb theater at UVA. Then probably a doctor appointment for a hernia! ;-)

23 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Win 8 info. http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/feature/A-first-glimpse-at-Windows-8?asrc=EM_NLT_13914626&track=NL-463&ad=834119

23 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

The Secret World of Alternative Operating Systemstechnologizer.com/2011/05/15/alt… via @technologizer My fav was BeOS, so I'm a big fan of Haiku.

17 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Back into the world of NUI and MS #Surface. This time 'round with University of Virginia Dean of Students. Bringing NUI to Student Affairs!

16 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Happy with JAMin for Linux audio. Did exactly what I was looking for. Good mastering tool. http://jamin.sourceforge.net/en/about.html

13 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

I'm not saying U could code the next great app with it but TouchStudio - Hello World | Peli at RiSE | Channel 9channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Peli/Tou… via @ch9

13 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Chromebooks safe from virus's or not?http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/05/12/is-googles-chromebook-the-death-knell-for-antivirus/

13 May

MSFTResearch Microsoft Research

by rmreifenstein

VIDEO: Microsoft Research’s Bill Buxton shows us his favorite tech gadgets: http://bit.ly/jUKyhq

11 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

After reading the stats; I'm trying out the standing desk at the office. I also continue to be disappointed by Hollywoods use of surround.

11 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

...more mixing tonight. I'm hopeful that I can get the results I want. There is a bit of a learning curve with Linux audio.

10 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Do you think that Android @ Home will find it's way into the enterprise as low cost in house development of presentation tech control?

10 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

I can see building apps for Android @ home. Google getting into the home automation game.

10 May

rmreifenstein Rick Reifenstein

Due to studio computer death. Recording with backup computer running Linux with Jack and Ardour. This weekends recording went very well.

9 May

How Google saved my weekend.

2011-05-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

I love my new day job. I really do. However as with any job where you are replacing someone who has moved on, there are a lot of old projects that come back to haunt you. One of those for me has been the revival of an XML file used to generate an RSS feed for final exercises at the University. The feed is used to notify patrons what locations are open for remote viewing of graduation.
First let me say that most of my experience with mark up languages has been centered on what XAML code I needed to know to write Microsoft Surface applications. So writing XML code to create an RSS feed was new to me. Plus there are several other pressing projects to deal with at the same time as this one. The previous owner of the script that generated the XML file was a PHP coder. So that's what we had to go by. My IT manager and myself are not PHP language people so I was lost. The owner of the PHP code did come back and give us permission , but when my team rewrote and saved; the file was rewritten over night and returned to the previous state. We are pressed for time on this since graduation is weeks away and as I said there are other projects needing to be completed.
I decided that the most efficient thing to do was to discontinue trying to make the PHP code work and start from scratch. Creating the XML that would work as an RSS feed was the easy part. What I wanted was a quick way to update the information in the XML in real time. At first I thought Microsofts XML Notepad would be the answer. However that didn't generate the webpage with an RSS link to subscribe to for updates. After some research on the interweb, I found a little blog post about how Google Spreadsheet could generate an XML file RSS feed that included a URL. Bingo! This sounded like what I was looking for.
I went to my Google account and created a spreadsheet doc. I modeled the XML layout from the previous PHP file, shared it as an XML/RSS feed, copied and pasted the URL to Firefox and Explorer and "bam" there was the same web page that the other script created with the RSS feed subscribe button at the top. Click the RSS to subscribe and the same layout as the spreadsheet appeared. Now when I made changes to the spreadsheet on my Google account, the changes would appear in the RSS feed every 5 minutes. Whether or not we use the generated URL has not been determined. But the other parties that will snag the XML might be open to just grab the RSS from the URL. Here are the steps:
Google Docs XML Feed

Create Google spreadsheet
Share

Publish As Webpage

More Publishing Options

File Format: RSS

Generate URL

How did it save my weekend? Well I felt like I had put a huge dent in a project that may have occupied valuable area in my brain space. With home computer projects, music projects, and overall family time...space is at a premium.

Don't dismiss low-fi tech

2011-05-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Gremlins have camped out at my house. This happens to me every once in a while. They lie in wait until my household budget has reach a point in the year where things are tight. Then they attack. Systems fail all over the house. This time they attacked some key systems in our house. My music studio computer was the first to go down. Now my surround sound system has a dead left channel. So for our family movie night last night I brought up an old stereo system with a psuedo surround dsp chip in it and re-wired my entertainment system. The system is one of those that has surround speakers and uses a dsp chip create false rear imaging. Usually this is done with phase shifting and a bit of echo. I was pressed for time so I just connected the front main speakers. Turned the dsp on and used the "Rock" preset for the eq. Surprisingly I had a better theatrical audio experience with the fake 3D surround then I did with the real surround system. The 3D imaging was fantastic! Not only did sounds appear from the left and right sides but also in the foreground between the couch and TV. The speakers for this system push more air than the other system so the bass was deeper and there was more range in the spectrum. I stopped using this system because it didn't decode Dolby or DTS and I wanted a surround system. With how well this performed for our family movie night, I think I can delay running out and buying another surround system for a while. I'm always surprised by little golden nuggets in low-fi tech.

Main computer in Home Office/Studio dead!

2011-05-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Yes even a Director if Technology can have his home computer die!

I'm almost embarrassed to say that the last computer I bought for myself was a first generation iMac. It was a 600mhz G3 in a wonderful smoky color case. I recorded several self produced recording projects on that machine. I used it for recording up until 2005. Now don't misunderstand me, I've since used faster computers, but they were all hand me downs in a sense. Someone would upgrade and ask if I wanted their old computer. Most of the time their computer was faster than the one I was currently using, so I'd say “yes”. The most recent machine was a Dell XPS 600 that I inherited from my friend and Ships on Fire collaborator L.E. Spry. He upgraded and asked if I wanted the Dell. It has been the main machine for the last 3 years. All the music I wrote for various soundtrack projects in the last couple of years was done on that machine. So know I start the process of moving over to another machine.

Currently my interim computer is a Linux machine that is about 10 years old but since it's running Linux it's actually pretty zippy. The big question is what am I going to use for audio production. I can try to use wine and use the Windows version of Reaper and install my Windows based plugins or I can go the Audacity route. I haven't decided yet. This of course might be a positive thing as it will force me out of my comfort zone in many areas. My work flow for music and technology projects will have to change. This could spark a fresh perspective.

On to some technology ideas. In my department we have a lot of meeting and conference rooms. Right now we post paper sheets with the days event in each room outside the door next to the room on the wall. I know there are digital solutions to place screens that are tied to room scheduling systems that allow for a paperless solution. But that can lead to proprietary systems that are expensive to purchase and to install. I had an idea that centered on using iPads that would show only applications that are designed around the room usage. The applications could be updated through wireless communication. It would provide interactive touch screens at a relative inexpensive price. There are enterprise solutions that would securely mount and protect the iPads. I haven't completed my research but this may be a cool alternative to paper.

Well gotta run. I've got a lot of data to transfer.

Win 8 OS and Learning a Language

2011-04-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

The following post was written a week ago. However with my schedule things got pushed back. I apologize for "old" news.

This mornings coffee reading, was about the leaks that came out surrounding Windows 8. We’re not sure if what we are looking at are really going to be in the operating system, but they are fun to dream and banter whether or not the changes will be good for the system or bad.

Long Zheng over the weekend posted screenshots released by Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20110403/windows-8-explorer-teases-file-syncing-and-web-sharing/ note that the circles are placeholders for the eventual icons that will live in the ribbon and other menus. There of course is talk of having “sync” capabilities with Mesh or SkyDrive storage that is tied to your Live account; these are raising some questions of anti-trust again. Some other ideas that have been floating around is that Windows 8 will borrow more from the Win7 phone model; Making Xbox Live and Kinect features embedded into the operating system.

I personally would like to see more work being done on alternative GUI’s and NUI’s for multiple hardware that might run Microsoft OS’s. It’s more work in the beginning and more to maintain, but I think it would pay dividends, as it would open up different hardware choices. I think this is apparent in Win7 phone GUI’s and especially in the success of Surface. Stripping away the OS’s GUI in Surface allowed a specific and tailored experience unique to the hardware. I belive it is the only way that MS will have any real chance in the tablet marketplace.

Topic Shift-

Learn a language! I remember hearing that phrase when I was in high school. So I tried Spanish and failed miserably. As a technologist I here that same phrase come out of my mouth to young people all the time. This time I mean a programming language. I have learned the importance of learning at least one programming language. I learned XAML and C# so that I could write code for programs running on the Microsoft Surface that the Harrison Institute at University of Virginia Library purchased back in 2008/09. I dabbled with Java before, but didn’t have the do or die type scenario that I had surrounding the Surface programming. Since then I’ve needed to learn Java, PHP, and for my personal computer based creativity Processing (java’ish) and now Impromptu (Lisp). Being that I was familiar with C#, which shares C as an ancestor with Java, it was a more shallow learning curve. It’s similar to learning any language with Latin somewhere in it’s roots.

Some of the languages I have been exploring and learning and some cases re-learning lately have been:

Scheme: Which is part of the LISP family of languages. I've been using it in a music and video program called Impromptu as a way to create auto-generated music.

BASIC: As a way to get back to my roots and this time take it seriously.

SimpleBasic: Again as a way to take more time with the building blocks of future coding. Also what I intend on teaching my kids.

Processing: It's more of an all in one IDE/Language type situation. It is derived from Java so it's a good way to have fun while learning some Java syntax.

Happy coding.

code as art

2011-03-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

I hate when the weather report says a chance of thunderstorms, causing me to take an umbrella and a raincoat, only to sit all day and watch nothing but blue sky occur. UGH!
While we were trying to systematically figure out some network drive and server hardware failure at work today; I thought it would be a good time to revisit "Processing" If you are unfamiliar with Processing, it's like a sketch book for programmers. It leans a little more to the "programming as art" side of the programming world. Here's the official description: " Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to create images, animations, and interactions....initially developed as a developer sketchbook and to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context.'
I had caught a lecture and demonstration by Ben Fry one of the founders of Processing, and was impressed with what it can do with large data sets. the out put can be really very pleasing to the eye.I've worked with it before, but didn't have the time or a plan on how I was going to use it. What's changed? Well I have a little more programming experience under my belt and more drive to learn a new process. No pun intended. I'll keep you posted on my experience. Who knows if it all goes well I may revisit "Impromptu"

music, project, and coffee...

2011-03-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

I’ve been hobbling around on a sore ankle for the last 10 days for no reason. I say no reason cause I don’t know how it got injured. I did walk around a technology showcase in Richmond the day before , but it was fine. It’s feeling a bit better today. I think the weekend in Pittsburgh visiting family and doing nothing really helped.

I submitted Lux Atrum for consideration for a job through Music Dealers last week. They were looking for a Rocktronica type piece. I felt Lux Atrum was what they were looking for. Not sure when I'll hear about whether it was selected.

Posted on the site a new track called "Moonlit Bits". It was inspired by the soundtrack Daft Punk did for "Tron". The drums were done using Reactor. I want to do more work in Reactor this year. I have always liked the depth of the sounds coming from Reactor. I plan on using it a lot in the latest project in the studio right now; music for mediation. My therapist friend from California is working on her second book, which will have a portion of it focusing on meditation. She asked me to compose some music that one would use for mediation.

Goal this week is to spend more time playing guitar....and synth....ok spend more time in the studio period. Bring on the coffee. Speaking of coffee, I think I may have to break down and purchase a new coffee maker. Ours is slowly dying. It makes terrible "spurting" noises and leaks around the base. Plus after reading Linus Torvalds blog about how his counts how many units it's brewed I am now jealous.

I received some cash for my birthday this year; always the right color and size right? Well I'm kind of torn on how to spend the money. One thought is to purchase the coffee maker stated above...but the house budget should buy that right? So the second project on my list is Home Automation. You have to start somewhere so I'm thinking of getting a few modules and start small; maybe some lights and the coffee maker. Yeah...make the house make me coffee!!!

New job, new challenges...

2011-02-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the long delay between posts. I will hope to not fall behind as much in the future. As the title of this post indicates I have accepted a new position at the University of Virginia. I will start as the new Director of Technology and Audio/Visual Services in the Office of the Dean of Students on Feb 14. While I'll be continuing to draw on my passion for new interactive technology and bringing those technologies to light, I will also be heavily relying on my experience as a Production Manager, and media producer. There are several live event spaces that the Office of the Dean of Students has, and new venues being created. I refer to these spaces as venues because in my mind that's what they are. While these venues may not always have some entertainment associated with the activities taking place in the venues; there is still an element of showmanship that takes place by the presenters, speakers and sometimes performance oriented student activities. Like a theatrical roadhouse, these venues should be capable of a level of technical support that enables the organizers, speakers, presenters and performers to create "showmanship". Support comes from both people with technical knowledge and customer service skills; and from the technology itself. I'm really excited to be able to continue what I started at the Harrison Institute which is to bring together and mash up two passions, cutting edge technology and entertainment/media production.

Kinect…

2010-11-10T11:42:00.001-08:00

I played with the Kinect for a little over an hour last night. Wow! It does everything Microsoft said it would. There was nothing I needed to excuse away as what you get with cutting edge tech. No! Kinect is awesome! Even though I ordered a few of the other games for Kinect, I only played all the games on “Adventures” to start with. After the first round of “Rally Ball” I was ready for a short break and a glass of water. This thing gives you a whole body work out. I suspect that the fitness games for the Kinect will make the Wii Fit games look like retirement home exercises. Of course Kinect also allows you to use gestures and voice to control movies and navigate through the dashboard. All was easy to do and learn. Instructions pop up on the screen. I found the voice recognition to be very good.

Despite being a little sore from yesterdays Kinect session; I plan on trying out the Kinect Sports tonight.

Following the Interactive conference at Saarbruken Germany

2010-11-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

Fall has come to Virginia painting wonderful colors in the sky and on the mountains. While I have taken the time to enjoy them this year, I have also been very busy looking at upcoming New User Interface advancement both in the areas of computers and gaming technology. I am waiting for my Kinect to arrive. The downside it’s a Christmas present for the family so I’ll have to play with it in secret.

I think that the impact Kinect will have with the computing world will be felt much broadly then just gaming. Motion capture will surely be integrated into the next Windows OS Win8, which will enable it’s use for small gestures and facial recognition as well as large scale manipulation of objects and data like we saw in the movie “Minority Report”. Microsoft Research is already working with this technology in the lab in the form of prototypes. It’s important to keep in mind though that these advancements take time. I’ve followed two Microsoft Research projects from just research to full production models. Microsoft Surface (then Vienna) was the first and Kinect (then Nadal) was the second. Before we can use new interfaces we have to understand how people are going to react to working with computers in a more natural way. There is just as much psychology about future tech as there is technology .

Believe it or not people I have talked to feel that using fingers, hands and full body movements to interact with computers are un-natural . They tell me that working with a mouse is natural. My response? That to your hands that are tingling because of the un-natural way you have to hold them in order to use the mouse and track pad. After only a week I found that I can’t work on a computer as well WITHOUT a touchscreen. But there is still a lot of research needing to be done on how to set up NUI based screens and computers that will allow a shallow learning curve and ease the fears of users. That is what a lot of the papers presented at ITS 2010 in Germany this week. What is the best design for an interactive application? How do people interact with a large interactive table, or surface? How do they want to learn about HOW to interact with the interactive surface or device? If your interested surf over to the ITS 2010 web page for the papers concerning design and implementation of interactive tables and surfaces.

My touchscreen addiction...

2010-11-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

I love NUI's! I know Steve Jobs said that it's unnatural to have a touchscreen on a laptop because of arm fatigue. To a certain degree he's correct. But you don't constantly have your arms up at the screen. You do bring your arms to a resting positon. Teachers do it everyday when using black and smart boards in todays schools. After several weeks of using my new 20 inch HP multitouch screen at work, being forced to use a trackpad or a mouse is like going back to the stone age. I find that when I'm working at home on the laptop or at somone else's computer my natural instinct now is to use my fingers to move windows, close programs, touch and hold for the right menu choices. At first it doesn't seem natural because are used to using a mouse or a trackpad. It seems almost primative to think about using your fingers. But using your fingers to move things around and to select choices are the most natural. It's what we want to do in most situations if you were to let yourself go.
Getting back to the arm fatigue subject, I would prefer to have the table be the multi-touch monitor; but have the table angled in a similiar way to an architects drawing table might be. The angle should reduce neck, arm and shoulder strain.
One final note; I want to wish my collegues in Saarbruken Germany attending the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surface all the best. Stay warm! Wish I was there.

Silverlight media creation

2010-10-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

I spent much of today creating media to be played in a Silverlight player for the latest interactive kiosk in the Harrison Institute main gallery. This is v.2 of the kiosk. The aim of this version was to create a full screen player with a playlist that a user could navigate easily by touch. While Windows Media Player has big buttons for touch screens; the playlist is a little too tight for navigation by finger. Silverlight has some great tools built in that allow for large easy to navigate playlists. I also decided that I wanted some movment on the screen, but something that wouldn't seem out of place or distract the listener. I decided to create little movies based on slideshows using the cover art of the CD that the music was pulled from. Using the latest Windows Movie Maker software I created a neat little slidshow with fades and title FX. The slideshow was then imported into Expression Encoder 4 as many times as there were tracks. Then using the overlay feature each song video I added the audio track from the CD. I then edited the video to end with the song. Each track on the playlist was pulling the default meta data from the single video file, so each track in the playlist was named the same thing. I edited the meta-data for each track by adding the name of the track. Once all the above was completed I encoded the project as a single player with a 15 song playlist with accompaning video slideshow. I'll be adding the player to the kiosk tomorrow. Then moving on to version 3. This will be Mac Mini hardware running Windows 7 with the same set up as the current main exhibit interactive installation.

Started building new touchscreen installation in exhibit gallery...

2010-10-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

I started working on the new touchscreen installation for the main exhibit gallery this morning. The original touchscreen failed to restart after a power glitch during a storm last week. The machine was due to be replaced anyway. I dismantled and removed the old machine from the pedestal. It will be replaced by an HP touchscreen run by a computer in the cabinet of the pedestal. However much to my disappointment the Bose speakers that are built into the pedestal take up too much space inside the cabinet of the pedestal to allow for a regular sized PC in side. At first I thought of using a small form factor Dell that we may have in surplus; but my colleague suggested a more devious plan. You see Apple doesn't have support for true multitouch for displays without a home brewed solution like Lux. Plus because of my development work for our Microsoft Surface located in one of our other galleries, I'm getting more comfortable and familiar with XAML and C#. SO.. the devious plan is to force a Mac Mini to run Windows 7, use it's native touch capabilities, combined with the latest Surface run time for Win7 beta, mix in a little XAML and C# and we've got a cool multitouch installation. I hope!
I'll be testing the HP touchscreen and the proposed runtimes on my MacBook Pro that is boot camped with Windows 7. I'm hoping their aren't any weird issues with drivers. You never can tell what's not going to jive correctly between Windows drivers and the Apple hardware.

Working on new multi-touch applications

2010-10-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last week and this week have been centered on the creation of interactive touch computer programs. For the University Library I've been working on a plan to use moble devices and Microsoft tagging software to create an augmented experience in our exhibit galleries at the Special Collections Library. I'm also working on multi-touch based programs that would allow visitors to explore interactive maps and other learning programs centered on the archeological research that was done at the Flowerdew Hundred farm in Virginia.
I have also been working on multi-touch software that would aid in the teaching of children with learning struggles. My wife and I homeschool our children and are always looking for new and exciting learning tools. NUI designs are actually an easy choice for children that require a tactile approach to learning. The hands on learning that can be achieved through touch computing combines both tactile learning and computer aided learning.
I've decided to use the new Surface runtime that was realeased by Microsoft for the Windows 7 OS as well as the latest C# Express 2010. using the ScatterView and Surface paint tools I'm attempting to have something assembled in the coming months.

Latest interactive kiosk deployed today...

2010-09-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'm deploying the latest interactive kiosk I've designed and set up for the new exhibit at the Mary and David Harrison Institute and Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. The interactive display is running a media player that visitors can use to select and listen to African tribal music. It's part of the larger Global Collections exhibit at the Harrison/Small Library. More information on the exhibit can be found here...Global Collections Exhibit

My major goal in this installation was to strip away the Windows desktop and replace it with a desk top with only the media player icon. The reason was so that I could achieve total lock down on the machine AND even after a reboot, only the media player with the current play list was available.

Microsoft Surface Video...

2010-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

I had a great Labor Day weekend. Spent time with the family. Just hanging around the house. I did get some time in the studio and recorded some new material that I will post before too long.

As you know I also am involved in some NUI (New User Interface) development at part of my work at the University of Virginia. I produced the following video to show of the Microsoft Surface computer table that I developed some applications for as part of the "Declaring Independence" exhibit at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Snippits from my Twitter

2010-09-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post a few entries from my Twitter feed that might be interesting for you guys.I wrote the guys who makes the MIDI controller. I'm really excited about the Fantastic Voyage re-work. I loved that movie when I was a kid and can't wait to show my kids. I'll wait till the renewed soundtrack and DVD come out.
The David Lynch movie was cool. Not a biography but more of a film about what life would be like just hanging out with David.

Lunch time discoveries: MIDI Controller http://youtu.be/M3Zad5_eWVA about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck
Restoring the Weird Interior Sounds of Fantastic Voyage http://bit.ly/cb8ajD They are using Cedar plugins and a SADiE system. Fun read. 10:00 AM Sep 1st via TweetDeck
About to sit down and watch "Lynch" documentary. Looking forward to a night of hanging out with David Lynch. 11:10 PM Aug 27th via web.

Atomic City animation test

2010-08-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Learning how to do camera tracking and some animation using Blender and Voodoo. It not too difficult. In a normal production having a story board and shot list would make things easier when you trying to keep track of where you are during the animation process. Plus I was doing this at home so there were some interruptions. This example didn't have a lot of tracking for Voodoo to do. It was a still shot which and was pretty steady. I have another example which I'll post later that shows footage shot with my iPhone and tracked. Then flew in a model from "Sol Command". It turned out OK. I want to next work on creating some atmosphere effects as well as some blender "camera" focus effects. Not bad for an hour or so of work.

test shoots in the new video studio today...

2010-08-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

Planning on doing some test shoots in the Digital Media Labs new video studio today. Testing audio from the Countryman mics, through the M-Audio console to the camera. While tape is rolling might as well test the new green screen backdrop installed this summer as well. I hate doing things with out any direction. Maybe I can come up with a little skit or subject to shoot around.

In this picture you can see the new studio, the DeSisti lights in the grid, the SmartBoard in the background, and of course the Sony DVCAM with the new teleprompter attached.

Award winning "The Solar Watcher" video now posted...

2010-08-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

While it's been availabel on YouTube for a while; I thought I would post it at the bottom of the blog page. It's in HD so you can enjoy all of LE Spry's great computer generated 3D images. The images include images created by the SDO (Solar Discoveries Observer) probe from NASA. We took first place with this video in a NASA sponsered contest, and got some pretty cool swag from NASA's Goddard facility.

In other news just got word from Gary Streiner that this years Living Dead Festival is canceled. I'm deeply dissapointed and hope we can all look forward to a good scare in 2011.

Busy July ends with suprise...

2010-08-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

July has been a busy month and one that went by at light speed. July was very busy at work. Kaltura video and audio content editing and delivery software has been a tool that is being adopted very rapidly here. Faculty are using in Wordpress sites for their classes, and departments are using it for delivery of content for websites about specific projects. I have been part of the team helping the a a couple of the first "test" cases. Eventually the whole University will be using Kaltura as a piece of the newly designed Collab (Sakai). I finally get to use my 14 years experience in audio production for web delivery. All of the above has made for a lot of meetings! I have also bee involved in getting our telecine machines up and running. I've been leading a team in figuring out what we need to get the telecine operations working. We have a very talented student doing the heavy lifting. After a few phone calls and hours of trial and error we think we are where we need to be to start on some film. If you've never read about how the whole telecine process happens; I would recommend it. It's really interesting and NOT as easy as you'd think.

Next on the list for the Digital Media Lab is to finish getting the new video studio ready for the fall semester. Writing light board presets, setting up audio mixing and recording, and setting up the teleprompter system.

On the music scene, I've got another short film coming to the studio. I mentioned it earlier in a post. Should receive it this week sometime. I finished a remix of a song I wrote for the licensing catalogue. Used some newly learned mastering techniques that really made the mix sound great.

Last but definitely not least; my Brother and his Wife welcomed their first child into this world. We are all excited! My Wife and I packed the kids up and traveled the 300+ miles to Pittsburgh to see my new Nephew, Luke. Then spent the night at my Mother in Law's and travelled back to Charlottesville. 600 miles in 48 hours! Whew!!

the good in a shrinking music budget...

2010-07-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

My wife and I watched "The Book of Eli" the other evening. I really liked the film. What really stood out for me of course was the music. The music was stark and other worldly, which fit with the visuals on the screen. What was really great was that the music was done by Atticus Ross, who until now was only known by the fans of industrial electronic fans. No I can't say that a small music budget was the reason for choosing Atticus Ross as the composer, but it got me thinking about how we are seeing more and more relative newcomers to the motion picture scoring scene. Could it be that with budgets for movies getting smaller and smaller that producers and directors are looking into untapped resources for music? Maybe forcing them out of the traditional "Hollywood" score and venture into the world of the independent musician with a room fool of synths, guitars, drums, and other weird auditory oddities? The result is not only a smaller expense report in the area of music, but perhaps a new and fresh sound for the film.
Now I love a Hans Zimmer score as much as the next person, however coming in from a different angle can sometimes take a project from being another good film to a great fresh film. As a composer I too have to remember that being traditional might kick you out of a project. Instead of trying to recreate and compete with Zimmer, Horner, Howard etc.; maybe I should take a lesson from Diego Stocco and do what it is I do best and put it out there for the film maker who is looking for something different and beneficial to the bottom line to discover. See if I write an orchestral score then the next step is to have it recorded with a live orchestra. When it comes to an orchestra, nothing beats the real thing. But if the score is pianos, guitars, drums, synths and weird oddities and there is no need to re-record it. Granted not every movie can use the previously described list of sound making devices to create it's score. But if it's a sci-fi film? Come on, after Jerry Goldsmith, and John Williams is there anything else to add in sci-fi orchestral scores?

Weekend writing in the studio...

2010-07-12T12:21:00.001-07:00

Good weekend in the studio. I needed to get back to writing new music for my licensing catalog. I needed to write in a new direction. I wanted to get back in touch with my progressive rock and electronic music background and combine that with the latest direction I've taken with writing music for film and TV.

I started with good hard rock n roll drums. I had been wanting to get back into writing guitar based modern progressive rock riffs again, so I started there. I had borrowed the main riff from a song I wrote back in the early 90's with the rock band Prodigy. I was able to do with this cue what I wasn't able to do back when I performed this song originally which was add a string section, synths, and layers of arp'd percussive synth. I'm very happy with the result. I wanted soemthing Tool "like" but with my personality and I think I got that.

What's next? No new projects in the studio yet. I am continuing to write for my licensing catalog. Mixing Hard Rock and Orchestral elements is the theme currently.

SDO contest and "Payoff" soundtrack

2010-06-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

June was a busy and exciting month hear at the studio. In the beginning of the month I composed and recorded an electronic score for a short film that was entered in the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) "Capture the Sun" Contest. L.E. Spry and I took first place in our category. We were very happy with the results and it fueled our desire to do more.

The film "Payoff" came in from Jack Russo's Film School. "Payoff" is the result of students work over the semester. It was a fun film to work on. The temp track had only about 4 cues, but I saw the need for a few more. The film put me in mind of what would be the first 12 minutes of a TV crime drama. Something along the lines of a CSI or Law and Order. That feeling actually pushed me in the direction of a mixture of synthesizers, rock, and orchestral elements. Two of the cues allowed me to flex musical muscles I hadn't used in a while. The temp score had some industrial electronic or house electronic cues. So I dug deep into some synth and drum machine patches I had and dragged out the detuned Les Paul for some hard and heavy riffs.As always I was tweaking the soundtrack all the way up through the mixing process. I would hear things I wanted to change, so I was re-recording passages and changing synth patches all the way up to 1am the night before the delivery date.

Of course no recording session is complete without technology issues. The main machine was showing how Vista is NOT the OS for scoring. Most of the issues were ill written soundcard drivers for Vista. Most of my gear is about 4 years old so XP drivers were what worked best. So the machine was reformatted with XP Pro later Friday afternoon and configured as a lean mean film music machine. It worked flawlessly. Running a dozen or more instruments along with a high definition video track without a hiccup. I very confident moving forward on projects with this current setup. Of course a new studio computer with Win7 is on the to do list; but for now there's no reason to fix what isn't broken.

What's next? After a short break visiting out of town guests for Independence Day weekend; writing music for film and TV licensing continues as an ongoing activity. There are new opportunites being sent out weekly from one of the licensing companies I use. When the new "Living Dead Festival" site moves to it's permanent home; I'll be writing more music for that too.
For faster updates on my activities you can follow my tweets at: http://twitter.com/rmreifenstein

Little bits of update.

2010-06-07T10:16:00.001-07:00

June 07

Little bits of update

Time to shut down out on the deck. Watching a video on writing music for TV licensing. See ya behind the mixing console! :-) 11:39 AM Jun 5th

Can't really plan anything today. Running audio for an event at the University from 1-3pm today. Maybe work in the studio tonight. 9:27 AM Jun 5th

Small project I composed music for SDO "Capture the Sun" Contest. The video http://bit.ly/bcyxke The audio track alone http://bit.ly/bl44IS 12:44 PM Jun 4th

Sent song title and credit info to Ships on Fire image guru L.E. Spry for the music I wrote for our entry in the SDO competition. 11:36 PM Jun 3rd

Rig of choice in the studio tonight. http://tweetphoto.com/25140073 10:31 PM Jun 1st

Summer Projects, Music Submissions

2010-05-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Email filled morning here at HQ. Blocked off this morning to have coffee and breakfast in the office so I can catch up on contacting some people regarding possible scoring projects. It looks as if the late spring will be a lighter than I first thought. So I'm looking for some new scoring opportunities. Basically... I'm available!
Earlier this month I submitted "Kings Chamber" to Music Dealers for consideration to be in a feature fantasy film. I was kinda of shoehorning the song into what they were looking for; but I think it was close enough to be legitimately considered for the song.

L.E. Spry, my partner in crime at Ships On Fire, came to me with a new short project. He is creating a 3d animated short as part of a competition surrounding the solar probe project that is headed up by NASA. We've got 2 weeks; so when I get the animation I'll have maybe a week. I love it! If know me then you'll know I LOVE pressure. I do my best work when the project I am working on was do yesterday and I just got it today! It keeps me from second guessing myself and keeps me focused. If I have too much time I tend to experiment and play to the point of distraction. Play is good because it can cause you to stumble on some pretty cool stuff.
Pressure can do the similar thing by forcing you do push the envelope and try something out of desperation.

After the solar project with Ships On Fire, the projects thin out. Besides the occasional one off writing for licensing opportunities with Music Dealers, I'm pretty open. So I'm working on landing some scoring projects with a few filmmakers this summer. One thing I need to remind myself is that things take time and people have crazy schedules. It's tough to remember that when I'm in the studio noodling on a synth patch or a great riff with strings, thinking '...this would be great for a horror, or sci-fi film!'. I have contacted a few promising leads with some film makers, but as I said they are busy either in preproduction, production or post production on projects so I'm trying not to wait by the phone so to speak.

I have blocked off October for performing at the Living Dead Festival this year. My plan is to perform with the guitar synth this year, along with some looping software. My goal is to do more dynamic music this year. I also plan on having CD's available for purchase. If your a fan of the Night of the Living Dead, you don't want to miss the festival. Details of date and time have not been finalized.

Off to finish up in the office this morning.

Music Business Day...

2010-04-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today was "Music Business Day" in the Office/Studio. There were several new pieces that were ready to be included in the catalogs of both Jingle Punks and Music Dealers.While Music Dealers has always been online for as long as I have been using them; Jingle Punks used to be snail mail centric until a few months ago. I was really excited when the Punks went electric on the submission process. I know feel like I don't have to wait till I have a full CD's worth of music before I burn and ship to New York. This round of submissions were full of diversity. Some orchestral with a beat. Some very ambient almost atmospheric. Two that were more Windham Hill acoustic piano and guitar pieces. Unfortunately other issues came up here at the house so only Jingle Punks got the new music. Music Dealers updates will have to wait till tomorrow.
I haven't heard from John Johnson at Darkstone Entertainment as to whether he received my CD or if he has had a chance to listen. I understand he had some rewrites on the Plan 9 script so I'll be patient.
I got an email from Gary Streiner this morning. More of a "touching base" kind of email. He let me know that I'm still the composer in residence for the Living Dead Festival and that I am more than welcome to play live again this year. This year I WILL have CD's!!!

2010-04-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

The birds are singing and the trees are slowly putting on their green. It's mornings like this and the evenings that follow that refresh my energy when things get busy. They are about to get busy.

In an earlier entry I wrote about the possibility of my job changing a bit. Well it appears those changes are green lit. Starting...when ever I can swing it, I'll be spending half my time at the Digital Media Lab at the Univeristy of Virginia putting my 23 years of experience in music and audio production to work. I am excited to have the opportunity to do some instruction. The DML is the place on grounds for students, faculty and researchers can go and use and recieve instruction on how to use, digital media equipment. There are all kinds of projects being worked on. Audio, Video, Photography, Art, Virtual Reality, and Interactive Software Development, are areas that the DML works in. I'm very excited about the opportunity to be working in this team.

I have some other things cooking regarding music for film, but I don't want to say anything until it's solid.

Enjoy your Spring.

Spring is around the corner...

2010-03-04T08:41:00.001-08:00

After a long, cold, and snowy winter in Central Virginia it looks as if Spring may be around the corner. This weekend’s temperatures are expected to be in the high 50’s close to 60 degrees. For me this year Spring will bring more than sunny days and warmer weather. It is also bringing two student films to score and possible changes in what I do at the University of Virginia.

Russ Streiner, currently at the helm at the Pittsburgh Film Office and most famously known as Johnny from “Night of the Living Dead” and one of the producers of the film, has recently contacted me about working with film students at DuBois Business College in DuBois Pennsylvania. The idea is to get young filmmakers thinking about post production audio like soundtracks, not at the last minute but part of the overall planning of the project. On my part it is a great chance for me to make some connects with young and talented filmmakers.

Spring is also bringing opportunities to do more work with students and faculty at the University of Virginia who are producing audio and video projects. The Digital Media Lab located in the Robertson Media Center at the University of Virginia Library, is interested in having me be the technical director of their department. I would be assisting in audio and video production, curriculum, and instruction. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to bring more of my 20+ years of experience in entertainment into my work at the University.

Yes spring is shaping up to be VERY busy for me; it work I enjoy and love. I also will make sure that besides working hard; playing hard will also be included!

Old Reliable Roland GR-1

2010-02-01T14:02:00.003-08:00

Last night I decided to hook up and power on an old reliable piece of gear that I used very often in the 90’s and a bit in the 00’s. The Roland GR-1. Before purchasing it; I would dream of the many doors this guitar synthesizer would open for me. I had Fripp/Belew dreams. I used it in Prog. Rock, Hard Rock and Industrial bands. However for the last 5 years it has sat untouched until last night. I literally blew the dust off it last night and powered it on. I forgot the rich tones that can be produced and some pretty good imitations of other gear in Roland's rich history. I had to trigger the synth with a midi feed from another keyboard. The GK-2 pickup cable that’s used to connect the guitar has seen much better days and after repeated accidental stepping on the the cable it has start producing many errors and terrible sounds from the synth. A new one will be ordered asap. Soon new pieces of music will be produced using the Roland GR-1 so stay tuned.

In other news one of the companies that I use to license my music for film, games and TV, Jingle Punks, has started enabling it’s artists to upload digital versions to the their catalog. That’s great news! I don’t have to wait for a whole CD’s worth of music to happen before shipping a physical CD to New York. I can release material hot from the mixing console!

Winters last grip...so I mix and post.

2010-01-22T09:25:00.001-08:00

Winter is planning it last hoorah last night and today here in Virginia. Snow and ice are expected. I was planning on staying home today anyway. Staying home and enjoying a 3 day weekend with the wife and kids as well as some time in the studio/office will nice.

I had a late night session last night til around 2 am. Finished up "Reflections of the Soul". I was having a real tough time finding the right synths and the right sounds, but was able to settle on something deep in folders of Kontakt. I also had some success with a little known simple but spot on synth called A Synth. Ran A Synth through Guitar Rig on the "Tomita Rig" patch I wrote which worked very well. I'm gonna have to remember that.

There is a lot of my time that is being scheduled for non-music projects in the coming spring. My work at the University of Virginia, Harrison Institute will be keeping me busy in the worlds audio/video engineering, and interactive software development. My hope is that there are enough spare neuron sparks left at night to allow for music creation. I have a few tracks that will qualify for a release; but there is also the non-music music business to sort through like posting on websites and internet radio. Currently I am back into the Ambient, Space trip music. I love it! Writing orchestral music is fun, but my heart is in space. I am also revisting algorithmic composition and the results are better than before. By pulling information from various sources and plugging them into formulas like Wolfram for example; I am seeing some very interesting results. There are of course going to be several live to disk recordings scheduled soon as well. These will most likely be in the form of improvised guitar through racks of gear. I'm planning on rebulding my Cyberia era pedal based FX rig, virtually using Guitar Rig 3.

Posted 4 new pieces on http://soundcloud.com/rmreifenstein feel free to check them out.
Latest tracks by rmreifenstein
I also uploaded few tracks to Music Dealers today for inclusion on future submissions for Film, TV and Games.

Back to work after the Holidays

2010-01-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day back at the University after having 14 days off. I wasn't planning on 14 days but with the big snow fall we got in Virginia, I was snowed in for 2 of those days. Of course while everyone in my office was at home; as geeks we checked email, read forums, followed blogs and checked twitter feeds dealing with the latest IT news. So it's not so strange that most of our discussions were about ubiquitous computing, smart homes, tablets, Microsoft Surface and Microsoft's Natal Project. Heck even my meetings today with my supervisors were about Surface and Interactive Computing. Building mobile phone apps has also been put on to my todo list for the new year. All the while visions of the latest Richard K. Morgan novel I'm reading is dancing in my head.

In the studio we're still in set up and bug squashing mode. I set up the Juno 106 up and ran it through Guitar Rig3. Only trouble is that the synth is dieing a slow and ugly death. Lot's of digital dirt living in the circuits. I then thought I would experiment with a virtual version of the 106 I picked up. I then ran it through the same Guitar Rig preset and was impressed with how accurate it was to the original.
I have been evaluating the Reaper sequencer and was happy with it until recently. It started getting buggy and crashed on my several times. So I switched and installed an old version of Sonar that I had laying around and ran it's VST wrapper scan only to find that under Vista, Sonar 3's VST wrapper doesn't work. Thanks! I had a free vst wrapper around here somewhere....hmmmm gotta look for that again.

I'm fighting a possible cold so I'm wrapping this up, drinking plenty of water, and zone out working on the computer.

Adventures in Movie Maker and Microsoft Surface

2009-12-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

About a week ago I was asked by another department who was putting together an annual report if I could create a 1 to 2 minute video about my work with Microsoft Surface here at the University of Virginia. So I wrote up a script recorded a voice over and even included some of my own music. I shot the video myself on an inexpensive digital camera and included some still I shot. Since the subject was going to be a Microsoft product; I thought I would put the whole thing together using Microsoft Movie Maker versus iMovie (I hate the new one anyway). Movie Maker was decent enough to work in. It had all the editing and special FX tools you would expect. When I was done I exported it as a High Definition WMV. Here’s the kicker. The department putting the online annual report together asked for the file to be in H.264. Movie Maker only does WMV’s and Flash for YouTube. So I put the movie together in iMovie and saved it as an H.264. The iMove file was pixelated and the audio was full of spots of static. The high definition WMV was simply gorgeous. Below is the standard definition. In the area of Surface application development; our grad student working on the project is quickly putting information together that will be used in the applications. Things like metadata about the material in the applications. Transcripts of the letter from the various signers of the Declaration of Independence are also being worked on. Me? I’ve been working on the button array that will be used to access information about the Signer you’ve accessed. I am also working on using the new Menu Element that SP1 for Surface brought us. I also would like to include a sound scheme to this batch of software. We will see about that. The good thing is the release schedule has been extended to I can take some time on this. There is only my own crazy need to get some new programs on the Surface unit soon! :-) Microsoft Surface at the University of Virginia Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.

Microsoft Surface, Dead Computer, No Music, No Time...

2009-12-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

This week as been mostly dominated by computerizing in one form or another. My current projects are surrounding phase II of application development for the Microsoft Surface unit in the “Declaring Independence” exhibit at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collection Library at the University of Virginia. I've been writing code all week. I am also writing and producing a small video about the use of Surface at the University Library. I will also be providing the music.
Speaking of music; music production has come to a halt since the studio computer has decided that it didn’t like one of its hard drives. This is at a time when I was all set to finish the latest compilation of music to send to Jingle Punks as well as start to assemble CD for release online through iTunes and other online distribution. That’s the way it goes sometimes. So this weekend will be a continuation of computerizing by reformatting hard drives and reloading software, as well as possible resurrection of my wife’s computer that has been sitting idle in the basement waiting for someone (like me) to give it life once again. Since we moved to Harmon House in the country my wife has been using one of my laptops. Being tied to a desk is short of torture for her. ;-) However she is missing having “her” computer to abuse as she pleases. While I have planned this Saturday to be the time set aside for domestic geekdom; Kung Fu sash testing, Christmas parties, and present shopping is trying to derail the planned adventure to geek land. Sunday does offer some possibilities however my schedule does tell me that I have some volunteer board meetings to attend in the early afternoon. So later afternoon and evening looks like when the train to geeksville wil be leaving. Good thing a new bag of espresso beans came home with use from central Pennsylvania this Thanksgiving; because I’ll making good use of them I can tell you. Oh yeah did I mention we might get the first blast of winter weather here in Virginia? Did I also mention that the family has been vocalizing the need to put up Christmas decorations this weekend too?? Who said artists/techies are lazy???

Full Day in New Studio/Office

2009-11-24T05:56:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a day off from the University and a day home in the new studio/office. This was the first full day in the new studio/office. I have noticed being on the main floor of the house meant more coffee consumed during hours spent in the studio/office than normal. HHMMM I think there is a correlation there. :-) Most of the hours were spent working on an arrangement of music for the Library at the University. However it proved too difficult a task for the amount of time I have. During that same time period I have to produce a video showing off the Microsoft Surface installation in our "Declaring Independence" exhibit at the Harrison Institute. I spent the morning putting together the monitoring system and loading some more software on the computer. Mostly yesterday was trying to figure and configure which ever DAW system I was going to use. I have an older Cakewalk Plasma DAW, but it doens't support VSTi's; I also have the latest Reaper DAW. Reaper crashed serveral times on me which lead to me not wanting to use it. I have the whole day was frustrating in that I couldn't get VSTi's to work with hardware consistantly. I actually was thinking of chucking the whole virtual synth stuff and use my vintage gear and record digital audio with FX in the box. I realize that may be limiting but less frustrating. I did record a few tracks in Plasma before running into a problem with it allowing me to record audio on a 4th track. Very strange! All of this will have to wait till after Thanksgiving.

Whew! Busy last couple of weeks!

2009-11-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

The Living Dead Festival 2009 really grew this year. They were however plagued by rain all week so arrangements for performances had to change. The crowds were smaller than expected; but the ones who came were big fans of the movie. One of my favorite parts was the exhibit by Andrew who has collected NOFLD for over 20 years. Probably the best moment for me was a conversation with Russ Streiner who was of course Johnny in Night of the Living Dead but was also the films producer. He and I talked about me getting in touch with student and indie film makers to provide free licensed music for films. He and I along with Jack Russo will be discussing in the coming months how best to work with their students at DuBois college Film making course to deliver fresh original soundtrack music for their works. If you are or know someone who is looking for original music for soundtracks for a film please contact me. I am willing to wave licensing fees!

There are 2 new projects that just got put on the calender for me. The first is producing a 2 minute short video demo of the Microsoft Surface unit in the Declaring Independence exhibit at the UVa Special Collections Library. I'll be producing the film as well as the sound design. I also have been asked if I could record an arrangement of "a laventure" which is part of a song book that resides at the Special Collections archive at UVa. The piece of music was recently scanned and digitized. The library would like a audio sample of the piece to put online. We'll see if I can do it. I only have 3 weeks and half of next week is taken up with Thanksgiving and travel.

I have a NEW studio space. It's a new space and a new computer! I love the new space and should be producing out of it very soon.

Pictures of the 2009 Living Dead Festival and the new studio space are coming soon.

Living Dead Festival

2009-10-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

A reminder that I'll be performing at the 2009 Living Dead Festival in Evans City Pa. where the movie was shot. The ONLY festival organized and approved by the original cast and producers including Russ Streiner, Judith Ridley and Jack Russo writer of the movie "Night of the Living Dead".
I'll be performing live cinematic horror music that will get everyone in the mood for classic horror. As spooky darkness approaches; the tone of the music changes too. Soundtrack music created live for the ghouls as they wait for the original cast to take the stage before the movie. I'll start around 5pm.
http://www.thelivingdeadfest.com/

I'm starting rehearsals this week.

Living Dead Festival 2009!

2009-10-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night I had a great conversation with Gary Streiner about the 09 Living Dead Festival. Seems like it's really grown this year. It's a 2 day event with a festival like atmosphere on both days. There will be live music and DJ's. The second night will have the same stuff going on; but the big event is the outdoor screening of the movie. Gary asked if I would play live before the movie again this year. I really enjoy doing it. Live ambient electronic horror music on a spooky Halloween night! Can't get better than that. I'm planning on a slightly more involved set up so as to allow for a deeper sound. Maybe some sound samples from the movie as we get closer to the screening. Head over to I should be starting somewhere around 5pm or so.

Meanwhile back in the studio to continue on the latest set of cues to send to Jingle Punks. This weekend I completed 2 really great exciting cues that should feel at home in an action game promo or maybe a History or Discovery Channel show. I've been listening closely to some of the reality shows and I think that some of the new tracks will fit that kind of thing too. "Hell's Kitchen" for example has some cue that sound like what I'm writing now.

Living Dead Festival video score...

2009-09-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

As we head into one of my favorite months; I started thinking about last year during October I was up to my faders in horror music. Director/Producer Gary Streiner was putting together a video montage for the 2008 Living Dead Festival in Evans City and asked me to compose some music for it. The video was made up of previously unseen photographs and posters from the movie. We were working long distance and had many late night Skype chats as I composed the music. As with many projects it came down to the wire. He was dealing with getting time in the post house to put the video together as well as new material coming in that he was hoping to shoe horn into the video while I was composing. Usually notes to me were..."Sounds great , but I need a couple more seconds cause we added a new photo to that section" or "We need to shorten the music under the titles because the program doing the titles only has one damned speed!" Gary was great to work with and enjoyed talking shop with him about past projects and of course "Night of the Living Dead". I've worked with directors before as a sound designer in the theater so it didn't surprise me when Gary said one night, "I don't know what I want, but I know what I don't want." I was said when I sent the last audio files in to be added to the video, because I wouldn't be visited by those ghouls again. I did get to play live at the festival as people came and as we all waited for the screening of the film. It was a could night; but I think that made it more memorable. So far I have not been asked to play at the event this year. To be sure I will be thinking about all the freezing ghouls in Evans City Pennsylvania. Here is the video. Enjoy!

ISAO TOMITA and studio update

2009-09-23T09:18:00.001-07:00

Before I give an update on projects in the studio I want to talk about Isao Tomita. When I tell Electronic Music students today that he is one of my major influences they always ask "Who?" It surprises me how many people don't know this man. His albums I think are just as important as Wendy Carlos. Maybe more so. He didn't just redo the classics with a synthesizer he arranged the pieces for synthesizer and used sounds that ONLY a Moog can make. I used to sit for hours reading the back of my fathers LP's, memorizing the list of equipment Tomita used. It's where I started my electronic music self study and research. What other 12 year old would know what a Bode Ring modulator does. Or that a Roland Space Echo was a must have item. Thanks to Mr. Tomita I did. His human voices singing were other worldly. His strings lush. His music is the stuff of fantasy. I found a few videos of him working in his studio and I was like a kid meeting his favorite superhero. He is the reason why I have a Moog. He is also in my head influencing the music I compose. Maybe not the notes or sound but the ambience and feeling his music creates.

This week is a conference laden week for me. I'm running sound and video for conferences every day this week including Saturday. I'm hoping that I'll have the stamina to hit the studio a couple of times. The History channel is using the Jingle Punks library a lot lately and I want to get more cues into the system. With the new hybrid stdio set up I'm excited to get some long hours in. Next week the family will be out of town and my sound engineering schedule is light so I may be able to book some all day sessions in my studio.

Mac/Windows Hybrid studio system...

2009-09-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

OK so before someone says "That's not really revolutionary!" I'd like to qualify that the goal was not to spend extra money with new sound cards. The idea was to use my existing 2 systems; one Apple based and one Windows based and get them working together with Logic as the master program. The result was using my master keyboard controller as the link. Logic sends MIDI information out to the keyboard through USB then the keyboard passes the information to the Windows box running a VST host by using a regular 16 pin MIDI cable. The audio from the Windows box them comes back to the Mac running Logic and records it on an audio track. The result is I can continue to write using MIDI whether I'm using an Apple past softsynth or a windows based softsynth. I now have the best of both worlds; with Logic Pro as the center of the sonic center of the universe.

I gave the previously mentioned set up a test by writing a new cue for the next set of cues for Jingle Punks. I created a channel strip set up similar to my live recording rig designed for the band Architects of the Atmosphere. What was great about that rig was that I used delays to create syncopated rhythms that I would loop then build on; giving Architects of the Atmosphere a complex and rich foundation for Dave and I to play over. With this channel strip I created a syncopated cello stem that inspired a driving and tension carrying percussion track. Then dialed in a couple of awesome ambient electronic patches from a Windows VSTi and triggered those from Logic. The set up worked so well that I will be re-cataloging and evaluating my Windows softsynths. After 12 years of using softsynths in Windows I have TONS!

In the studio update...

2009-09-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy lately. I got an email from Justin at Jingle Punks last Friday that gave me some direction for future music. The Punks will be pitching my music to the History Channel and other clients who are looking for dramatic, and moody music for upcoming shows and promos. So Justin was letting me know more of the dramatic moody stuff from me would be great. Since the weekend was a holiday weekend and family was in town visiting; I didn't get into the studio till Tuesday.

This weeks studio session were more about experimenting with set up rather than actual recording. Although actual recording did happen; it happened purely by accident as I was trying different systems, and blowing dust off of others. I have two complete recording set ups from different era's. I have a Windows set up with tons of software and hardware to match, but it's from 6 to 10 years ago. I also have an Apple rig put together just last year, but it's a mobile laptop based rig. So I've been testing to see which one works the best right now. So far the Apple MacBook Pro based system is working the best because of sheer horsepower. Logic is also very good! However the Windows machine allows me to take advantage of the years of collecting various software synthesizers and effects that would cost me thousands of dollars in the real world AND don't exist for Apple sequencers. Until I can upgrade the Windows side of the studio to a more powerful machine; I'll be using Logic as the main sequencer and then drive the VSTi and DXI synths living in the Windows box with a MIDI feed from Logic through my controllers MIDI out capability. Then record the audio from the Windows box. Ya Savvy? I may not be pretty, but it should work.

On another topic my Moog Prodigy is suffering from a non functioning pitch wheel. Very sad.

Family visits and cues for History Channel shows

2009-09-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend my Dad and Stepmother came to visit for the weekend. A nice 3 day weekend given to us by Labor Day has developed into a great time! As always great food and drink appeared. Dad and I had some quality time together watching the movie "Les Paul Chasing Sound". We had several long conversations about the film industry. (Dad was film editor during the 70's and early 80's) Now that I've been writing cues for film,TV, and games, we talked a lot about music libraries of old and what as an editor he would look for in music cues. On Sunday he and I went to a golf course located on the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains and killed the afternoon with 18 holes of scenic golf. I didn't do too bad being that golf like twice a year. They leave today sometime after lunch.

I will probably go into the studio this evening for a while. I got an email from Justin and Jingle Punks on Friday asking for some dramatic moody cues for some upcoming History Channel shows as well as some game industry clients. Since Dramatic and Moody are definitely within my comfort zone. I can't wait to dive in. I have some new libraries to try out as well as some system upgrades to the studio computer. I also want to give the Reaper sequencing software a spin. It can handle DX and DXi as well VST and VSTi plugins. It also has some beat slicing ability. We'll see how the workflow allows be to work.

Well coffee is done, zucchini bread is out of the oven and eggs and bacon are about to hit the skillet. HMMMM!

Heaing Message DVD review...

2009-08-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the latest reviews of the Healing Circle Message DVD that I wrote the music for. "...distinct and expressive; music was original and soothing; and the organization was good, I particularly liked the 'with' and 'without' instruction sections. I can't wait to get home and try it."
~ Steven B, ND

I'm continuing to work on the next set of cues to send to Jingle Punks for licensing, I'm also looking at other companies to license music through. However Jingle Punks still seems to be the best!

In this new set of cues I am going to continue to explore the mix between ambient electronic and symphonic scores.

The "magic" of music...

2009-08-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

I took the day off from the studio last night. I just wanted some quality time with the kids and my wife. We watched some of our favorite shows. I made some nachos using peppers from the garden. Boy you can't beat fresh peppers.

After dinner I watched a great video from TED 2008. I can't remember the name of the conductor that gave the lecture. The point was however that no one is tone deaf and anyone can enjoy classical music. It was great! He got everyone in the audience understanding a little more about not only classical music but I believe music in general. Music is more than notes. It's more than sound. It emotion encoded. It's visions encoded. It's memories encoded. Encoded with tones and sound. Sound that has the power to evoke memories that have been lost or repressed.

He also used a piece from Chopin to show a little about the thought process in music composition. He showed how we as human listeners know instinctively where the "home" chord is in a piece. How we instinctively know what the next note should be. However the composer, knowing this, can stay away from home until the end of the piece. Giving us a natural resolution, gives us a sense of peace. After explaining that he played the piece a final time asking audience members to think of a lost loved one while he played. The result was stunning.

While a lot of what we do as musicians and composers can sometimes feel like magic; there is also a process that requires thought. It's the "work" part of the process; the concentrated effort and thought process of what notes to put when and where that people sometimes over look. That "overlooking" may actually be why people don't feel they need to pay for music. Because they feel it "...just happens"

Les Paul...

2009-08-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

I know I am going to one of many writing about Les today. My Father turned me on to Les Paul and all that he did for recording. I took that initial introduction and ran with it. I wrote papers on Lester and listened to hours and hours of recordings of interviews and studio sessions. When I could buy my first electric I bought a Les Paul copy. Almost immediately after hearing Les talk about playing with the phase of the pickups I took screw driver to pickup and flipped the neck pick up around. When played with the rear I got a totally different sound than any one else my age. His influence didn't end with the guitar. With only a 2 track reel to reel tape recorder I used his techniques to do sound on sound recording in my bedroom. His desire to explore new sonic territory will be his lasting influence on me.

Les Paul will be greatly missed.

Final mixes for Jingle Punks CD Vol1

2009-08-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend was mainly about getting masters together to send to Jingle Punks to be included in their Jingle Player. After spending most of the day outside catching up on much needed yard work; the studio lights were turned on the equipment lit up around 7:30pm. There were a lot of session to get through. most of them were recorded during the Living Dead Festival writing sessions last summer and fall.

One of the things I realized I was listening for were instrument lines that would interfere with potential voice overs. since some of what Jingle Punks tracks have been used for are promos I wanted to be sure that I didn't have instruments that were in the sonic range of the human voice. It would interfere with any voice over that may be laid on the track. I was making sure that each cue was a good "bed" for what ever maybe over top. There were a few violin lines, and percussion lines that just didn't need to be. Of course one thing I struggled with was fatigue and over familiarity with the music. Ear fatigue happens more often that most people realize. I think it's like 2 hours or something. So I made sure coffee breaks were taken often! :-) Over familiarity is a big thing with me. I've been with this particular group of music for 10 months and the saying familiarity breeds contempt can also be used with music and composing. I can sometimes start over thinking what I've composed. Start messing with the recording and sometimes the notes themselves. Occasionally this constant changing ends up bringing the whole piece down like a house of cards. Other times however I can hear something in my head that I hadn't heard before. Then I add that element and the piece becomes better. This did happen Saturday night where one cue caused me to hear in my head a chunky metal rhythm guitar line. It doubled the cello section. I grabbed the 7 string guitar ( I needed to make a low D power chord) and dialed up a nice chunky metal sound and laid it in. Nice! I did exactly what I wanted. I'm also a sucker for the rock band/orchestra hybrid sound anyway! Thank you Hans Zimmer!
To end what was a great night in the studio I checked in with Jingle Punks and saw that EA games and Starz are new clients! WhooHoo!

Sunday studio time was later than planned. However Sunday was just a listening day. Now the hard part; determining track titles! Jingle Punks reserves the right to change names of cues to better fit their customers searches. Which is fine by me anyway. Anything that would make i easier for a music supervisor to find my stuff.

Listened to the mixes in my car and in the family room on the home theater system and I like what I'm hearing. I'll burnt the CD tonight and ship it out tomorrow or Wednesday.

Last night's master review session...

2009-08-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Last night's session in the studio mainly focused on determining what would be sent to Jingle Punks to be licensed. I had a pretty good idea, but needed to go back and listen to the actual session recordings. There were a few surprises like tracks muted because they didn't fit the original idea feel, but may work as an underscore for someone else. There was a lot of "Why the hell did I mute that? That sounds great?" There were plenty of "Why did I label that session that way?" There were a lot of "I gotta create a better system for labeling sessions!" There was even a session that I completely forgot about that was a great piece of music. I tried to stay away from mixing or re-mastering last night. It was tough. I did end up tweaking some stuff and even laying down a timpani roll. For the most part I just listened. At the end of the night I wasn't very tired so I fiddled with a vsti string rompler to compare it to Logic's samples for the EXS24. Not bad. I like the easy set up to divide the keyboard and the best thing? Glissando FX! Sweet if you love to write thriller/horror themes! :-)
I now have a list of titles I want to master and send off to Jingle Punks. I'm planning on a weekend session to do the mastering. Tough thing is there are a lot of "around the house" things that need done.

Licensing though Jingle Punks

2009-08-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

I heard from Jingle Punks yesterday. I'm in! I'm really excited and look forward to working with them. I am also excited about finally having my ASCAP membership do something for me. Up until know the biggest thing that my membership provided was a card to use as a scraper for my car wind sheild when it would ice up in the winter. Just kidding ASCAP. It's not their fault. I just didn't have a reason to send stuff to get protected under a PRO before. Jingle Punks is a young company. Young but growing. I feel like I won't just be lost in the shuffle of artists.

Last week was our vacation back up North. We visited with family, drank beer, played cards and made some great salsa! Oh yes! Once you make fresh salsa you will never go back to stuff in a jar again.
OK back to work. A lot to catch up on!

Submitted demo's to Jingle Tracks

2009-07-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

I just sent 2 demo tracks to Jingle Tracks for review. One question I always pause at is genre. Not that I'm trying to be all rock and roll and say that "you can't label me man."; it's that to call my tracks classical is not correct. There are symphonic elements, but there are Rock and Electronic elements as well all mixed together. When I'm composing something to be used as a soundtrack; I choose instruments according to sound and how that sounds supports the overall feel of what I am trying to achieve.

I also updated my Gamsutra page and included blog entry too.

New Guitar Student...

2009-07-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

I took on a new guitar student and gave his first lesson last night. One thing I really focused on in our first lesson was posture. While I don't believe my carpal tunnel problems were caused by playing the guitar, I am more aware now about the effects of tension in the arms and hands while playing. Immediate fatigue is one thing but the long term effects can more harmful and leave one drastically impaired. As a result the student told me today that my lesson was the first one (out of many in the past) he felt gave him any sense on how to hold the guitar. He felt more comfortable and capable to play the guitar than in past lessons. I am so pleased. Learning an instrument can be both rewarding and frustrating. The former usually out ways the latter.

On to studio news: I've been working on compiling tracks to send to a licensing company. The trick for me is always deciding on which tracks to include. They are asking for two. Now which two? Not much work as been done on the Evans City Historical Society DVD; but I have been listening to what I have so far and charting out what needs to be done. WW2 and post WW2 music is what I know definitely needs written. Which means my first crack at writing big band music.

Future Technology in the Academic Library

2009-07-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

I was asked recently now technology 5 years from now may change the way students use the library. Below is my response.

More computers will come with alternative user interfaces like multi-touch screens, better voice and facial recognition so humans can interact with computers in a more intuitive and natural way.

The reference desk becomes an interactive touch screen with optical components that can read a students ID card and instantly bring up past books checked out, books due, fines, etc. The librarian can check a book out by placing the book on the desktop then drag a tag to the students ID card with information about when the book is due back. This would trigger an email to the student a few days ahead of the due date.

A researcher could take a book from the stacks go to a touch screen with optical components and see the metadata attached to the book. The researcher can make a more informed decision on whether the book they found will actually have the information they need.

Going into a reference room a student can place his or her ID card on a surface top and bring up class schedule, library schedule, virgo, etc. The student can then pull information from the library cloud to the ID card which just goes to their cloud structure which can be in the form of an email or virtual disk space. Another bit of information could be in the form of suggested reading material based on a students class schedule.

Two students could place their ID cards on a surface top and swap information like email and schedules.

OLED paint that will allow any surface to be a monitor.