Some Random Dude

Archive for the ‘Art & Ideas’ Category

Prototyping the Future American City

San Francisco is the center of the center of American innovation. The future of software, medicine and transportation is being created within a 60 mile square radius of the city. Based on that, it’s striking to notice at how old the city feels. Everything from its mass transit systems to its architecture seems dichotomous to the “everything-new” energy of the city.

San Francisco is an example of where society is outpacing its habitat. While San Francisco and other urban dwellings are experiencing this phenomenon now, it’s only a matter of time until every town and suburb goes through the same phenomenon. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how we got here. Making any significant infrastructural modification takes considerable time, money and will. The amount of disruption of daily life for its residents would be considerable. On the occasions where projects like these fail, it becomes harder for future projects. Read On…

My Week With the Leica M9

My first camera was the Nikkormat FT2. As far as features go, it was slim. The only luxury it had was a built-it light meter. There was no aperture priority, a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 sec and, obviously, no auto-focus. This camera which I received 11 years ago set the tone for the way that I take photography to this very day. Even though I primarily shoot in digital, I only use prime lenses, most of which are manual focus. I bought the Nikon D700 entirely on the basis that it had a full-frame sensor and would accept all my old manual Nikkor lenses. I prefer the manual/prime lens combination for a few important reasons. The manual experience puts the shooter in much more control over composition. When I nail a shot with a manual lens, I feel a much greater sense of accomplishment than I get with an auto-focus lens. I prefer prime lenses due to their smaller/lighter profile, and general superior image quality (at least without breaking the bank). Read On…

Our Ideas Are Cheap Because We Treat Them Cheaply

I have 30 minutes to write this post. I normally do not write posts in 30 minutes. It usually takes me a long time to write on my blog because I want to make it as polished as possible out of the chute. I feel this way because I know once the content is posted, it will get a decent amount of readership the day I publish with an exponential drop-off from that point forward. No one (figuratively) will read an update on my post, so the incentive to improve or build upon past blog posts is non-existent.
Read On…

Designing Civic Engagement in the Classroom – Our Experiences

This past January, Analisa Lono and myself facilitated a semester-long program at the University of San Francisco. We helped a student team design and build a mobile app aimed to help their local community. This experiment was one of the most challenging and gratifying experiences of my life. With the program now completed, we think this idea has real potential. I wanted to share the idea behind this project, how it worked and what we learned through the process.

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Bridging the Gap—Making Games Conduits to Real Accomplishment

MMOs are a big deal. According to MMOData, there are roughly 20 million players globally. The MMO genre is unique due to its deep social hooks, its never-ending story and its often addictive nature. The addictiveness of MMOs have given the genre (and its players) a bad rap. Many consider MMOs a colosal waste of time. However, I see opportunity… Read On…