This reel of awesome green screen effects from Stargate Studios reminded me of a presentation I saw at CFTPA Primetime last year by Sebastien Bergeron of Anthem Visual Effects. Anthem was producing shows entirely shot on green screen sets and seamlessly creating realistic worlds around the footage.

With the potential to invent virtually any kind of setting using green screen technology, studios like Stargate understand that using mundane images we completely take for granted can be the most mind-blowing.

TechCrunch reports today that “AIR is currently used to create desktop applications, but it will soon be used to create Android and Blackberry apps as well. These mobile AIR apps will be able store data locally on the phone, access other data on the phones such as photos, and be distributed as regular apps in the Android and Blackberry app stores. Not only that, but the same apps created with Flash developer tools will be exportable as iPhone apps.”

Adobe AIR took Flash on to the desktop and it looks to be making a move for the mobile market as well.  Everyone in this app space is craving a standardized SDK but in the shadow of a new Windows Phone 7 to compete with Android and iPhone’s platform, the industry doesn’t seem as eager.  Adobe has a chance here to leverage the massive growth in Flash application development and maintain its dominance as a consistent development platform with this move.  We’ve worked with many teams that could make this jump overnight if this announcement is realized and it certainly lowers the barrier to mobile app development even further – accentuating the crowded marketplace already but perhaps creating a consistent experience for all mobile users.

Friend of Stitch, David Clark has an installation on display at Whistler Canada Olympic House for the duration of the 2010 Olympics and Para-Olympics. Waterfall is an interactive video sculpture commissioned by Canadian Wildlife Federation to address the issue of water use. David with Kim Morgan, Rachelle Viader Knowles and David Ogborn created Waterfall by gutting a vending machine and replacing the snacks with videos showing different uses of water. Pressing the machine’s buttons make the images fall away revealing a waterfall. The vending machine is a cool way to connect the commercial consumption of water with a powerful image of its source. Check out this Coast article on the project.

Rhett and Link, from the awesome I Love Local Commercials videos, have posted a great stop-motion short using 220 unique T-shirt designs. The video is impressive and they are making good use of the excess shirts by selling them.

Sometimes deadlines and time constraints can inspire great design and execution. Nick Brunt and Ian Conrad of Say Hi There take that challenge and deliver a really great site and a cool video in the process.

Also be sure to check out this handy iPhone app care of Say Hi There as well as Nick’s design of the Third Wednesday Halifax website.

Drawing of Scharpling by Mike Holmes

Every Tuesday night at 8pm EST, Tom Scharpling hosts the legendary “Best Show on WFMU” for three hours of what he describes as “mirth, music and mayhem.” The Best Show is essentially a free-form call in show populated by talented comedians and musicians, regular folk and an assortment of characters voiced by Jon Wurster. Read more »

I’m not going to beat the dead horse here – everyone knows that Apple finally put an end to all the rumours surrounding their new tablet and officially revealed the iPad. The presentation was, as far as I’m concerned, anti-climactic at best. Granted, I don’t really see a purpose for e-readers (I’m a book collector) or tablet PCs in the first place, but any new release from Apple usually gets me pretty excited.
Usually.

I had hoped Apple’s newest gadget would have totally blown my mind and convinced me of my need for a tablet. I had hoped it would have been so well designed that whether or not I needed it or had a legitimate use for it, I’d still be compelled to buy it or at least play with it at the Apple store. I had hoped it’s features would have completely revolutionized computing the way the iPhone revolutionized cell phones. I guess I was getting greedy. I guess the Apple lover in me got an ego.

Do you hear a hint of disdain in this fan-girls voice? Well, lets get to it then. Top 5 reasons I won’t buy the iPad. Read more »

We’re just listening to the first track to drop from Caribou’s new album Swim – available for free to all who join the Caribou army with your email.  Odessa mixes big beats with airy vocals and diverse instrumentation, and we’re pretty sure it’s going to be bouncing a dancefloor near you soon.

It’s also nice to see Caribou launching big with their social media campaign this time via Facebook and Twitter and YouTube alongside an ingenious plan to benefit from the inevitable download frenzy with this single.

We’re feeling very privileged to have heard a sneak preview of this track a few months ago pre-mix as Caribou and Stitch are collaborating on our latest project, Redress Remix.  Caribou’s earlier dreamier work has been a perfect soundscape for our ‘living documentary’ and we’re very proud to know that they’re about to take the airwaves over again.