There’s been a bit of hype around a new “rollable” electronic display being used in a device called Readius (Link). It’s from a company called Polymer Vision, “the rollable display company” and a division of Philips according to what I just read on C|Net (Link). I first saw this device yesterday on the Open the Future blog (Link) but didn’t understand how it actually worked; seemed a little boxy and I was expecting something with a cylindrical form at least somewhere in the design. Now that I’ve seen the animation on their site (Link), I’m less impressed. When someone says “rollable”, I want rollable. This is an unfolding, flexible display. Still cool, but they’ve made it less cool and disappointed me by raising expectation and not delivering on the promise.

Oh well. Next.

{Image Copyright (c) 2005-2007 Polymer Vision}

I caught an entry over on C|Net (Link) early this morning about the soon-to-be-released report from Sony on how their “experiment” in the virtual goods market fared over the past year. Well, it appears that Gamasutra is also covering this story and has both an interview with SOE’s John Smedley (Link) and a link to the document (Link – in .doc format). Both articles are worth reading with C|Net also providing some insight from virtual worlds economist Edward Casonova and Gamasutra also providing a “key points” outline of the paper.

I haven’t yet read the white paper, but it should prove to be an interesting report. Not that there’s been much question that Sony’s venture has proven worthwhile (recall that they’ve already indicated as much and promised a free MMORPG based on their early experience – reLink). Even so, as suggested in the C|Net article, detailed data may change some rabidly anti-RMT minds if not some actual design documents. We’ll see.

{Just wanted to point out that somewhat expectedly Raph Koster has posted an entry on this topic (Link)}.

For a few years now I’ve been occasionally peeking in on the work of Kerry Bonin and his effort to create an upgraded version of the X3D modeling standard. You might remember my mentioning him in a couple of earlier posts (reLink 1, reLink 2). Well, last night I noticed some traffic coming my way having something to do with his VScape project (Link) – the umbrella under which, as I understand it, the model format was being developed – and made my way over to see what was happening. Turns out that the site is in the process of getting a major upgrade. Here’s what the first news item, “Welcome”, has to say:

You have reached the home of the VScape platform, which is:

* A user created massively multiplayer online virtual universe.
* A game development platform, open to everyone.
* Own what you create, control how it is seen, shared, even sold!
* Cross platform, scalable, and secure!

This isn’t quite what I understood the original effort to be when we traded emails way back when, but I’m happy to see another developer officially enter the virtual world fray. If this is still browser-based, VScape could solve a problem that is starting to get some attention. So needless to say I’ll be keeping closer tabs on how VScape matures.

Better late than never. I caught an interesting post on the CGTalk forum yesterday (Link) relaying news that IMAGTP (I’m not really sure who they are) has licensed the CryENGINE 2 game engine for use as an architectural and urban planning tool. One of the links in the post goes to a site for something called IMAGINA/07 (European Digital Content Creation Event). Apparently the CEO’s for both IMAGTP and CRYTEK GmbH are (were) speaking. From the page covering their talk (Link):

Should the future of communication about architecture and urban planning projects come from the videogame development?

That’s actually what we bet at IMAGTP and it is therefore the reason why we have set up a business partnership with CRYTEK GmbH making it finally possible to design, visit and modify a 3D project, in real time.
Imagine a 3D computerized model which can carry on and integrate the successive evolutions of your project, being a decision making tool as well as a public communication support and allowing an easy and full understanding of the project and its stakes.
All that is now possible thanks to the unique possibilities coming from the videogame world.

Interesting development. Not sure if this helps in the merging of videogame technology with PLM applications, but it might.

A couple of years ago a freelance footwear designer on the Core77 design forums suggested to an aspiring designer that they download some pirated software. I was tempted at that time to copy this designer’s Core portfolio, repost it under a new name and then alert everyone that what goes ’round most certainly will come round. Especially for designers who are, just like software developers and anyone else creating something of value, vulnerable to intellectual property theft.

I didn’t do it, though it still seemed like a good idea… still good because I’ve not seen anyone directly steal another designer’s portfolio piece. Until now, that is. I just caught a post on the Core77 forum (Link) by South Korean designer Changduk Kim (Link to Core profile) who claims that an entry into a Core77 design competition (Link) was his work; apparently stolen by a Columbian designer named Margarita Valdes (Link to Core profile). I’m not sure that’s the same Margarita Valdes or even if she did any ripping off, but I expect the folks at Core might have some means to straighten this out. If they do, I’ll update this entry. Whether it’s resolved or not, I suspect at least some designers are going to be considering how they intend to deal with bad karma.

{Update: As I thought it might be, this has turned out to be nothing more than a clerical error. But I wonder if the possibility that it might have been for real has opened a few designer eyes. I know that when I see the portfolios of some firms (especially those overseas), I sometimes wonder if I’m seeing their work or the work of some uncredited individual who was just an intern for a couple of months… and the piece itself was just the student project they submitted to get that position. It happens.}

{Image Copyright © Changduk Kim}