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27.05.08

How to make a ghost

howtomakeaghost.jpgYou stumble upon the strangest things but trust me to follow a link "how to build a ghost" and actually find something amazing behind it. Look to the left now - see the ghost? Follow the link to see how it was made - I am sure you are going to be surprised how easy it actually is. Sometimes simple things are just wonderful.

26.05.08

rP 2.5: radiThillics

rP_25RadiThillics.pngBeim zweiten Mal wird alles anders und deswegen gibt es ganz unlokal einen Gast aus aller Welt - Todd Thille - VJ, Weltenbummler und Netzentwickler. Er erzählt uns - für Roboter operierte Gehirne verständlich - von Radionics und Erdwellen und Fernheilung. Gut aufgefüllt das ganze mit sommerlichen Smirre Dub und Liebeserklärungungen aus dem Internet für Männerversteher und abgehakt mit Kraftfutter gedopten Sandschnecken im Sturm. Das ganze dann noch gut durchgemixt mit wonderhowtos und grandiosen wegwerftellern aus Palmenblättern ist dies ein Sommersonnensontagssendung der Extrachillklasse - fehlt nur noch ein kaltes Mixgetränk, Kopfhörer und Strandkorb...

Wie immer am besten den podcast subscriben (iTunes -> Erweitert -> Podcast abbonieren -> link reinkopieren)

http://www.prototypen.com/radio/index.xml

oder durch den iTunes Music Store abbonieren (muss man nur auf Link drücken und dann im Musik Store auf abbonieren gehen)

Radio Prototypen im iTunes Music Store

oder direkt speichern unter

Als Enhanced Podcast im AAC Format:
http://www.prototypen.com/radio/rP25_radiThillics.m4a

Oder als normales MP3:
http://www.prototypen.com/radio/rP25_radiThillics.mp3

Links des podcast im "enhanced" Teil des MPG4 ausserdem im Lyrics Teil des MP3 und hier:


Musik heute

Hintergrund Musik: Radio Dadio: Smirre in Dub
Musik: Klartext Liebeserklärung
Musik: Männerversteher
Musik: Das Kraftfuttermischwerk - Sandschnecke im Sturm


Free Culture News

Ärzte und das Internet
LotsARobots:Roboter entfernt Gehirntumor
FreeFusionTech: SprühOLEDS mit integrierten Sonnenkollektoren
CradleToCradle: Wegwerfteller aus alten Palmenblättern
Einfach intelligent produzieren: Cradele to cradele: Die Natur zeigt, wie wir die Dinge besser machen können.
FreeEnergy: Superpowerful Mini Windturbine
FreeEnergy: Norwegens Strombedarg wird zum grossteil mit wasserkraft abgedeckt
FreeEnergy: Schwimmende Windkrafträder
FreeEnergy: Universal Poweradapter
FreeLiving: Amerikaner ziehen in den Wald
FreeLiving: Parasitäre Bauten


Interview with Todd Thille

Todd Thille Website
Duncan Laurie Radionics


Links

Serik VJ Tutorial
Portishead Illustrator Time Warp
Die VideoCollectionSeite für alle deine "Wie Mache ich Was?" Fragen

23.05.08

rp25 70 Minuten ins Nirvana!

Wir sitzen hier und weinen, denn eben ist der Übercaster wegen Platzmangel auf der Festplatte abgeschmiert. Diese Sendung werden wir nachholen, aber das ist schon arg demotivierend.

21.05.08

The Qingzang Tibet Railway earthquake prediction system failed?

800px-Qingzangrailwaymap.pngI am mulling over a problem for the last of week when hearing about the China Sichuan Province earthquake. China has just completed the most ambitious railway line in the world going from Golmund Xining Province to Tibet Lhasa. Ambitious railway because it is the highest running railway in the world and needs pressurized cabins so you don´t get altitutude sickness to badly (when going by bus from Goldmund its very certain that you get altitude sickness and this route is not recommended to go into Tibet for first time visitors who have never experienced altitude sickness).

From wikipedia:
The line includes the Tanggula Pass, at 5,072 m (16,640 feet) above sea level the world's highest rail track. The 1,338 m Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest rail tunnel in the world, at 4,905 m above sea level. The 3,345-m Yangbajing tunnel is the longest tunnel on the line. It is 4,264 m above sea level, 80 kilometres north-west of Lhasa.
More than 960 km, or over 80% of the Golmud-Lhasa section, is at an altitude of more than 4,000 m. There are 675 bridges, totalling 159.88 km, and over half the length of the railway is laid on permafrost.

Now when I first read about this railroad line I also read about an earthquake prediction system build into it (and reading above paragraph you know why that is needed). Now Xining province is the neighbor province of Sichuan. The railroad actually uses the the "fault line" mountains to climb to Lhasa. It seems the earthquake prediction system for that railroad has utterly failed to predict the biggest earthquake China has seen for the last 50 years. Makes you feel all better riding on that train. I also have not heard any reports if that trainline is still functioning - because when I was in Tibet I heard that the Swiss engineers have turned down the offer to build the train because they said that even small tectonic shifts would be disastrous. There are no reports anywhere that I could find - either about the failed brand new hightech earthquake prediction system for the railway nor for the fate of the railway itself - I would really like to know.

More on the earthquake prediction system here

20.05.08

Seasons By Ealynn - Sandanimation

SeasonSandAnimation.png
I saw people drawing on backlit sand for the first time last year - they where only "evolving" stills but mighty impressive. Today I saw an animation completely drawn using this backlit sand technique and its flattering. See the full movie on aniboom.

19.05.08

Ubercaster: Credit where credit is due...

Small software developers are great. You communicate with them tell them your wishes your frustrations and they listen, they implement they remain calm they even consider outlandish feature requests and tell you reasons why they might not work - you can engage with them in a chatter and see a program grow to your liking in front of your eyes - and in the end everyone benefits.
Ubercaster qualifies definitely for that. Eberhard - the guy writing the app - has now answered my third feature request filled mail in a row going into detail on every piece - it feels great to be a customer that is not a number and in return be able to do your thing more efficient.

So if you are doing a podcast - especially if you are doing an enhanced podcast I can suggest Ubercaster as a great solution - its not quite 100% there yet but with such an aware developer I am sure this is going to be THE podcast program on the mac hands down when it hits 3.0.

Find more information at ubercaster.com.

Angelique Houtkamp at Nelly Duff Gallery 6th/7th of June 2008 London

ah_flyer_website.jpgI wrote about her before and I really like her art. Its such a great blend of popular styles with enough ornamentals and street credibility that I honor the request of her Gallery and post the flyer for her upcoming gallery show in London on the 6th and 7th of June 2008. I did say that I really like her art didn´t I?

Angelique Houtkamp is a highly respected
Dutch tattoo artist & painter. Her work conjures the graphic romance of tattoos from yesteryear, portraits of half women half animal, freakshow and carnival ladies who are strange, sexy and beautiful... "Folies les femmes" is Angeliques first UK show and will feature her stunning original watercolour painting aswell as new limited edition prints.

Nelly Duff Gallery can be found here: nellyduff.com

Cory Doctorow: Embedded videos are exempt from the Creative Commons License

I don´t want to be mean and have no personal problems with Cory Doctorow or the BoingBoing staff but there is an incident that I want to bring to a broader discussion as I see this as a huge problem for Creative Commons in the long run and seeing the ignorance from those that are front speaker for CC good with a large following I need to call them out on it.
There is this post on boingboing with a video from the great street artist MUTO who makes an awesome animated street art painting. In the beginning of that movie there is a nice handwritten plate - clearly readable and standing long enough to notice that says that the following video is made available under a creative commons attribute noncommercial share alike license. Now we all know that boingboing is an ad supported site that clearly makes money (hey its the number one or two independent blog on the net they have likely tens of thousands page impressions a day and that clearly generates money beyond the hosting costs (or they do something wrong)). So a light discussion came into gear in the first couple of comments prompting the following:

#5 POSTED BY SAISUMIMEN , MAY 15, 2008 3:29 PM
The video says that no "commercial websites" are allowed to post the video. Doesn't boingboing count as a "commercial website" since they have ads and sponsors?

(just wondering)

Interesting point right?

#7 POSTED BY POHJIE , MAY 15, 2008 7:10 PM
As far as I know, commercial sites are those that charge for access, not sites that use sponsors or gain revenue from ads. No money is being made from the sharing of this video, as clicking on an ad is not mandatory.

at that point I could not hold myself as the notion that a "not for pay" website equals a noncommercial website is so flawed and could not be standing on its own so I wrote a staunch honest unpolite reply (its how I am and I can´t help it):

#16 POSTED BY FALK , MAY 16, 2008 1:42 AM

BULLSHIT. Boingboing generates money through ads which comes from visitors to this site which come to see the content that is on boing boing - I really think the hypocrisy on this blog about bloaking how great creative commons is and then show full work of art (not a citation) is just mind-boggling. Boingboing is about as commercial as it gets for a blog and still there are so many cc violations. I wonder how Cory would feel if I post a copy "Little Brother" in full on a special blog that has adverts in between the text put a small link at the very end to corys blog... Or better yet I distribute a printed copy in an ad supported dead tree version of aforementioned blog with full little brother in it.

I really think the boingboing staff needs to get a grip on where they stand - either make money but then leave CC "non commercial" stuff out or kill the ads - you can´t have it both ways and remain credible...

Now the work of art is great (and a link to the artist website and a pic of the video would have done the artist more of a favor).

And then came the moment of revelation that I would not have expected from a man that I thought was highly intelligent above the fray and a fighter for the good:

#18 POSTED BY CORY DOCTOROW , MAY 16, 2008 8:21 AM
Falk, you need to look up the difference between embedding and copying. But of course, that would mean you'd have to discuss the facts, rather than grinding your personal vendetta axe.

Right so if I put up a CC licensed video on a video sharing site it looses all its rights? Well I let it speak with my own words:

#19 POSTED BY FALK , MAY 18, 2008 4:30 AM
Cory first of all - I have nothing against you or your site or whatever - I like it thats why I am coming here. Still I am a video artist and if I publish a piece under CC I do not want - even an embed - to be used to make other people rich.
I am sure you will explain to me the difference (its bits and bytes and doesn´t matter where they come from)... Its content from someone else inside your container - how about I embed the rss feed of boing boing into a an add supported "cool website" together with say some others make some editorial adjustments to it (say kill some less convincing stories) but otherwise do nothing else... I really do not see a problem with distributing content but when it says "not for commercial reuse" it means it and in add supported blog is commercial no way you turn it.

I am highly aware that this is one of the great controversies of CC and it has not been vetted in court but I see this as a problem - especially since you not even link to the guys webpage or make it a story in any way about him - you just plainly putting up his stuff on your website that generates money - embed or copy. He gains nothing. I would even say you didn´t attribute to him as your whole post does not mention his name once. Even so the begging of the movie asks very nicely about attribution and non commercialism.

I think its more an ethic thing then something that has to do with law. I am not against you embedding this piece per se but frame it accordingly make sure that the guy gets some attention that is more then this video (he has well deserved it) you know just things that you preach every day on this blog. This post is perceived by me (as a video artist sometimes publishing CC movies) as a rip-off - and perception sometimes forms opinions - yours may differ but I can´t see from your answer that it is well informed or thought about.

I was trying to stir up an informed debate and not a flame war and was actually wanting to get an opinion where your staff stands on this issue rather then getting a dog bark back personal offensive things. Maybe it was to harsh (and I know that I am too honest and forward speaking my mind without making it political correct) still some stand other then "its an embed stupid" (like I am commenting on creative commons and don´t know what an embed is or have not thought about embeds) would have been great and furthered the debate as I see this as an issue and its even more an issue with video then it is with text imnsho. there is a lot more too it but I am sure this comment is lost in time anyway - if you want to further a debate about it I invite you to do so - you say how and where ;)

I deeply believe this needs a debate rather sooner then later - I am reconsidering the use of CC (and I have been a supported since year one) because I do not want other people make money of my stuff and I know for fact other artists think the same (not even to mention that exactly this topic comes up when I speak to artists about how they should use CC in the first place - like "but people are just going to copy my stuff on their blogs and I don´t even get clicks or anything out of it - and they might even make money with their ads from my content" - I am not making this up I can name you three artists around here that have exactly responded the same and I couldn´t even defuse them as I am unsure where this leads as well)

I am not expecting a reply back as the comment is probably lost in time yet still interesting there are others who share my view further down:

#21 POSTED BY JFLEX , MAY 18, 2008 6:10 AM
I find Falk's contention interesting. I'm not sure if Cory's response is accurate. Speaking directly to the restrictions:

"You are free to copy, display, distribute this work for non-commercial purposes only."

puts BoingBoing in violation. The ads on this site are paid on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis. These impressions are contracted on a total-buy basis, meaning that an advertiser books a set number of impressions. Therefore, anyone viewing this page uses contracted impressions, fulfilling the advertiser's contract with BoingBoing, and getting BoingBoing (or, to be precise, Federated Media) one step closer to being able to invoice the advertiser.

In that sense, this is absolutely a commercial website and puts this video in violation of the expressed terms.

Now let's take the second clause:

No commercial websites or televisions are allowed to display this film without the author's permission.

We don't know enough information to address this. The author's authorization almost certainly trumps the first clause of the license. Therefore, if the author gave expressed permission to use this film on this site, BoingBoing has done nothing wrong.

Perhaps Cory can tell us if they contacted the author.

Perhaps... (I would bet that he didn´t but I like to be proofed wrong - its also not the general theme of the debate and also that would have prompted a "posted with the permission of the author" type of line in the blog post).

Quite generally this topic needs a discussion - what is a commercial website - were does it start? Does CC only apply if you are an "old economy" media institution but if you are a cool hip website generating money CC does not apply? Are all ad supported website commercial (I do not think so generally - especially when they are run by a nonprofit org who needs to pay their hosting bills). How can this issue be raised out in the open? Are subtle violations like this going to spell the end of CC because CC artists are unlikely to go after those sites for litigation. Its a big issue that needs discussing. BTW its one of the main reasons I keep ads of this site - because I do not want to violate CC and would like to post CC noncommercial content from time to time.

UPDATEAs fellow prototype mogreens points out a similar discussion almost came off on the big germany class A "Spreeblick" as they posted the same video - and guess what I consider Spreeblick as commercial as boingboing (its a company - they are paying people to post they have ads the generate money - its a commercial site - its like SPON (spiegel online) or similar would post the video and then I know these sites are out front in calling them for it and demanding all sorts of things (pull down, litigation with EFF etc etc). THIS NEEDS DISCUSSION GUYS - ITS NOT OK!

UPDATE 2 Thanks Cory for taking the time to post here in these comments. The discussion goes on :) For the rest of you coming here: Do you think embeds are just links or actually the content itself (that is ethically and in law)?

10.05.08

Attack on Iran in the next days?

Its seldom that I link to a blog called "The American Conservative" but the headline and the text made me worry and if a large conservative blog is writing the following you would think this is something not of a "conspiracy theory" right? If the person writing the blog post - Phil Giraldi - is a former CIA man you get more worried:

There is considerable speculation and buzz in Washington today suggesting that the National Security Council has agreed in principle to proceed with plans to attack an Iranian al-Qods-run camp that is believed to be training Iraqi militants.

The US demanded that Iran admit that it has been interfering in Iraq and also commit itself to taking steps to end the support of various militant groups.

The perceived Iranian intransigence coupled with the Lebanese situation convinced the White House that some sort of unambiguous signal has to be sent to the Iranian leadership, presumably in the form of cruise missiles.

The President will still have to give the order to launch after all preparations are made.

I leave it standing as it is. There are no other sources that I could find that write about this and I remain skeptical that the US would do such a foolish thing at this point in time but you never know with that insane government over there which has its back against the wall (financial crisis, oil at all time high, president has worst rating then ever, all local elections recently have gone squarely to the democrats). Hillary Clinton and John McCain both fully support a war in Iran with their vote for the Kyl-Lieberman bill that makes the al-Qod forces a "terrorist organization" and authorizes the president to go into combat against Iran.

9.05.08

rP 2.4: MikroFreiheit

Die Sendung ist mit Abstand die aktuellste, denn ein Himmelfahrtskommando entführte einen der Hauptprotagonisten für mehrere Tage in ein anderes Bundesland. Wir haben neue Indizien ausgegraben, welche gegen das allgegenwärtige Geldsystem sprechen und somit die 6 Milliarden Starke Jury wieder etwas mehr überzeugen dürfte im selben Zuge gleich auf Solarenergie umzusatteln. Dank einer prototypischen Zeitmaschine gelang es uns der Berliner Videokunstszene in einer therapeutischen Gesprächsrunde umfassende Geständnisse abzuringen. Radiodadio aus der Schweiz war unser Kronzeuge und begleitete den Prozess durchgehend. Roboter heiraten bald, ein physisches Pixel hat 6 Seiten und das ist gut so.

Wie immer am besten den podcast subscriben (iTunes -> Erweitert -> Podcast abbonieren -> link reinkopieren)

http://www.prototypen.com/radio/index.xml

oder durch den iTunes Music Store abbonieren (muss man nur auf Link drücken und dann im Musik Store auf abbonieren gehen)

Radio Prototypen im iTunes Music Store

oder direkt speichern unter

Als Enhanced Podcast im AAC Format:
http://www.prototypen.com/radio/rP24_MikroFreiheittemp.m4a

Oder als normales MP3:
http://www.prototypen.com/radio/rP24_MikroFreiheittemp.mp3

Links des podcast im "enhanced" Teil des MPG4 ausserdem im Lyrics Teil des MP3 und hier:

Musik Heute

Hintergrund Musik Heute: radiodadio
Musik: Jahtari Roots Defender Blaze Dem


Free Culture News

FreeKonzeptsWarum wir sklaven sind
FreeKonzepts: Barter System
FreeKonzepts: Bäckerei honor payment

Free Energy: Sun Cube Super Effizeinter (35%) Sonnenenergiecollector
Free Energy: Wievel Platz braucht man um mit Solarzellen die ganze welt mit strom zu versorgen
Free Energy: Deserect Strom aus der Wüste

LotsARobots: South Korea Baut Roboter Themenpark bis 2013
LotsARobots: Sich selbst zusammenbauender Roboter

Freie Kunst: Solar betriebenes LichtGraffity


Thema Heute: micro:avit

micro:AVIT @ DMY
Film Veranstaltungstip: Sa10.05.08: Miss Bagdhad im Karakusch


Links

Anaologe Selbsgebastelte "Tape Delay" Maschine
Instructables
Bilder aus Rubriks Würfeln
3D Pixel Kunst im echten Leben
FastMotion Video Malen
Flame Warriors

Filmtip: Miss Baghdad

poster_net.jpg
I got a good Filmtip for people in Berlin tomorrow. Its an independend green screen only theater like production depicting the Berlin vibe with irony and wit. Sounds great so far has a great poster and piped my interest. Tomorrow Saturday 10th of May 2008 at the Karakusch, Friedelstr.17a, Berlin. Read more about the film on the official website:

MissBaghdad.com

or listen to our (in german) podcast released tonight....

8.05.08

Autodesk buys Realviz

AutoDeskLogo.pngWell everyone ever comlaining about the lack of development on the 3D tracking market can rejoice. Autodesk just bought out Realviz - known mostly for their Matchmover 3D tracking software but recently also for their Stitcher VR panoramic stitching application (you know shoot photos all around and get a QTVR stitch - the new hype in 3d animaton at the moment) and their pretty new Movimento Motion Capturing Solution that works with real camera input (instead of the expensive other mocap solution called VICOM that uses highspeed infrared cameras to try and capture body movement).
Seeing that matchmover will not coma as a standalone product anymore under the autodesk brand it gives hope that we see this technology integrated into the two flagship autodesk 3d programs - Max and Maya. As for Maya finally replacing the "Maya Live!" tool that has not been updated for over 5 years (and is about the worst solution if you want to do any serious 3d tracking that you can find).
I really think that is one of the first aquisitions that I read on in a long time that actually makes a lot of sense and will actually help moving things forward - especially since matchmovers interface and core program also lacked development even so the underlying algorythm are said to be some of the best out there. I really look forward to have a 3d tracking solution that works inside Maya - the confusion with scale, different interpretation of how 3d cameras work, 3d data exchange that still has no real standard that actually works etc have been driving me nuts. Working integrated uncomplicated 3d tracking together with a simple and cheap motion capturing solution is one of the last core things missing before the whole 3d world can move to realtime rendering ;)

Read the press releasehere.

Bosch Air Lever (wasserwaage) für MacBook and MacBookPro

BoschWasserwage.pngThis is the greatest software invention since the wordprocessor - well almost. Firstly why I am so exited? Well I am REALLY bad with tools of any kind - I tend to be their arch nemisis. I loose them, I break them, missuse them because of the lack of the right one. Tools and me just don´t get along with my two left hands add glue paint oil+sand to the mix and you know what the few World War II tools that I inherited from my grand dad look like. But salvation has come at last - the era of fully digital tools - tools that are virtual but interface with the real world - kind of like "mind robots". I was extremely delighted to find out today that the german tool maker company BOSCH has released an application (as in software application - a thing that I never loose even over 15years and beyond, those things that rarely break on my always running computers). The application is a full functioning Air Lever - or Wasserwaage (water scale) as we germans call it. It uses the sudden motion sensors in a Macbook or MacbookPro and has a display that looks like your good old lever with simulated airbubbles as well. And yes it works - the installation is also surprisingly simple - via a Javawebapp that you can then instruct to write out a normal .app onto you local computer (because you ain´t having much of internet on most construction sites.
Now apple just needs to release a rugged MacBook that withstands an actual construction site day without a scratch and we have a tool that ain´t going missing so easy :)

You can get it at the official Bosch site (in german but the download link is called "download" and a lever is universal in language I guess ;) Oh and its free as in beer.

2.05.08

Announcing μ:avit at DMY

Visual Berlin + DMY = AVITs!
Flux from visualberlin.orgjust notified me on the upcoming micro mini avit berlin - for the first time in conjunction with the DMY.

microavit.png

"Since the successful AVIT>C23 in December 2006 we’ve been looking for opportunities to continue our Berlin vj conferences. With the Chaos Computer Club we’ve been in tents in the summer and underground in the winter. Now in the form of DMY, a crew who organizes annual design tradefairs and exhibitions around the city and beyond, we have a partnership that should allow us to go even further.

VisualBerlin participated at DMY in 2007 and it worked out really well. This year DMY is hosting video installations and VJ showcases curated by VisualBerlin and we have decided to organize a one-day mini VJ conference alongside the festival - the microAVIT at DMY. For 2009 the micro will change into a macro and we are already making plans for a big AVIT event…"

Read more over here. Or head over to the main site at dmy.avit.info.

Video of how to DIY a multitouch interface

Well we all know what good stuff you can do with a multitouch interface. The only problem is that there are not many commercial versions out there and the DIY versions that have been presented before a re HUGE installations rather then "take it with you" projects. The movie below shows you how to make a small multitouch box to take with you on the road.

The Generation War

The politcial commentator for "The Atlantic" Andrew Sullivan posts a comment one of his reader made to his blog. That comment is so on the spot and reflects the feelings of so many youth not only in the US but also elsewhere in the world that I would want to question: Are we heading to a generational war?

What The Old Farts Don't Get

A reader writes:
Your old farts really do miss the point completely, don't they? These younger people were convinced that political involvement was useless because the the system was so broken. They came of age anywhere from the second Clinton term (Lewinsky) through the disaster of the Bush years. They have no reason to believe that politics can work, or that it is possible to effect any large scale change, so they work locally or just opt out.
This is what Obama has tapped into. The reason all those thousands of young Dems registered for the first time and voted in a primary was because he made them believe honorable politics was possible. And if someone like Obama gets chewed up by the system because the forces arrayed against him are too strong -- just look at the sworn enemies who are teaming up to bring him down, united by nothing more than a vested interest in the status quo -- then they will conclude that the system is as broken as they thought it was.
The mistake is reading this as an Obama personality cult, in which case "grow up" would be appropriate. But the Obamaniacs I meet are nothing like that...
they don't sing his praises, they sing their own. They are intoxicated by the idea of a politics where things they thought were not possible become possible, and people talk to each other like adults. They don't think he's going to fix things, they think they are.
What the old farts might want to consider is that these young people who have no particular vested interest in the current system might be seeing the rot much more clearly than the fogeys who have been entangled in it for decades. And the mature folk might want to accept that the burden of proof is on them to show why such a viscerally disgusting political game is worth playing.
Opting out of that is not immaturity, it's intelligence.

1.05.08

The beginning of movable type book printing in the middle east

calli_100_4562-1.jpgEveryone knows that book printing in europe was "invented" or at least made commercially viable by Gutenberg around 1450. Yet I personally did not know or realize how difficult this concept of movable letters actually is in other scriptures around the world - take chinese for example - you need 7000+ letters in a box to make movable type work - everyone seeing a 26+ letter old school print shop can attest that this is not viable. Another scripture with similar problems is arabic. There are not soo many letters in the arabic alphabet but there are hundreds of different ways the calligraphers use these letters to make beautiful written pages and these are subconcious desicions about what ligatures to use under what circumstances. Today I stumbled over a text that explains the history of the arabic (ottoman turkish) foray into movable type printing and its inventor Ibrahim Müteferrika.


To produce such a typeface, Müteferrika knew he had to analyze Arabic script. Calligraphers might learn to make the correctly shaped letter combinations by practice, without conscious application of tens of thousands of rules, but for machine reproduction of the script, deciphering those rules was exactly what was essential.

Using the limited technical resources of his time, Müteferrika succeeded in producing an Arabic typeface that gave primary importance to the nature of the Arabic script. Indeed, that had been part of his instructions from the Ottoman religious authorities, whose permission was essential for his project: He might mechanize existing calligraphic styles, he was told, but he was not to produce a bastardized, derivative form, and he was not to devise any new font designs. His font was the best produced to that time, says Milo.

The articles goes also into detail about the computerized version of this problem.

Read it all here.

Web Typography in CSS 3 - Your input is asked for by the working group

Jason C. Teague is a member of the CSS3 working group and responsible for the new and upcoming "CSS Fonts" and "CSS Web Fonts" modules. He asks designers in his blog for input on WHAT is really important for you - the designer if you are one - regarding typography and webpages.

In the comments section of this blog, tell me what you think are some of the font styles and features missing from the current specification. What do you expect to be able to do with typography on your Web pages that you can not do now? What are you doing now with kludges that you would like to see simpler ways of doing? Keep in mind that we are talking about font properties and how to style the characters. This includes things like bold, italic, and even outline and emboss which effect how each glyph is rendered.

And no emboss is NOT a priority I guess ;)

Go over to his blog and post a comment if you care for how fonts and typography is treated in 3+ years on the web.

BTW CSS3 will allow downloadable fonts - so prepare to see font rich webpages in the not so distant future. They have not figured out yet how to "protect" the fonts - I really really hope that modern font designer step up the mic and say something along the lines "we don´t want to hinder progress and therefore we support a license where once you buy a font it can be embedded on a webpage". Its not gonna happen - so I also see a bright future for open source - free fonts as I would never use a font in my normal day to day usage if I could not use that font on the webpage as well...
Anyway great times ahead for webdesigners as the days you have to render fonts in pixels and put them as a pic on the web seem to be over very fast. WebKit (safari) already implements font downloads via the web (and its working great) and I think (so dangerous half knowledge ahead) Firefox does so as well in their 3.0 betas.

Anyway I strayed off point again - I know that there are some Typo addicts out there reading this - head over to Jason Teague´s blog and tell them what you think...