After a year of envy I caved in yesterday and headed to the Apple Store to get the new iPhone 3G. Figuring there was nothing better to do, Danielle and I showed up at 9am to a tremendous line. After a wait of about 20 minutes we went to the local AT&T store and found they were already sold out of the model I wanted. We headed home, played some Wii, watched a few episodes of House, took a nap, and then went back to the mall around 4:30pm. 3.5 hours later I was in the store figuring I would be good to go quickly, but of course we had problems keeping me there another 2 hours on and off the phone with AT&T. The woman helping me, Karen, was running on fumes, but we finally got it worked out and literally had the store erupt in applause.

I’ve been accepted into the illustrious beta testing development program for creating iPhone apps, but am still deciding if the $99 is a wise decision currently. Either way, I’ve had fun over the last 15 hours downloading from the App Store and playing with all the fun pretty buttons. And yes, I named my new phone miPhone.

On Friday night we drove a couple hours from the cabin to Yosemite Valley and started our hike around 12am (yes, AM). With nobody on the trail, we made good time and by 4am were at the top of Nevada Falls. Sadly for me, I ended up getting sick (see: altitude, food, dehydration, or just being a pansy) and threw up all over Little Yosemite Valley then had my legs completely cramp up. I tried giving myself a jolt of potassium from a banana and some electrolytes but they just came back out the same way they went in, and by 4:45am at the base of Half Dome I wasn’t able to keep going - so the rest of the crew charged up to the top while Danielle escorted me to the nearby Ranger Station. We slept for a couple hours there and then after being checked over by an EMT and getting cleared to go (despite worries on their part of having to fly me out or take me out on horseback like a couple other hikers in the last month) we met up with the other 4 and hiked back down the mountain.

By 1pm we were at the car and heading back to the cabin. On the way down there were thousands of families heading in the opposite direction, so we knew we made the right decision hiking the night before. I’ve decided to diagnose myself with Patriotitis due to mockingly listening to far too much Toby Keith the night before (hurray July 4th).

I didn’t get a lot of great pictures, but here’s a set on Flickr.

How cute… and tasty.

Information on Conflux:

The art and technology festival for the creative exploration of urban public space.

Conflux website
- previous years: here, here and here
- Conflux program 2007

New York (April 25, 2008) - Conflux, the annual New York City festival that draws artists, technologists, psychogeographers, urban explorers and experience designers from around the world, will be moving back to Manhattan for the fifth anniversary of the festival. From September 11-14, 2008 over 100 artists will transform New York City into a laboratory for exploring the urban environment with a program of art installations, street art interventions, interactive performance, bicycle and public-transit expeditions, DIY media workshops, lectures, a film series and live music. Submissions are now open and are being accepted until May 31st through the Conflux website (www.confluxfestival.org). In June, an accomplished curatorial team will select the projects to be included in the 2008 lineup.

After two years in Brooklyn, Christina Ray, Festival Director, decided that it was time to bring the event back to Manhattan. “Returning to our roots on the Lower East Side will allow us to re-examine this neighborhood that has undergone drastic changes over the past several years and explore how our own community of artists will apply new concepts, strategies and technologies in response to changes in the physical, political and artistic climates.”

Conflux has grown over the past five years to be a respected event that supports artists working across a wide range of media to re-imagine the city by creating a platform and space for creative action. The first confirmed panelist for 2008 is new media expert and award-winning blogger, Régine Debatty. “I had such a fantastic time there last year, it is THE most stimulating, fun and smart people-infested event I attended in 2006,” says Debatty. Flavorpill, the email magazine with a reputation for uncovering the city’s cultural gemstones, agrees – they have signed on to be the Conflux 2008 media sponsor.

In 2007, Conflux featured over 100 artists from across the US, as well as Australia, Canada, Japan and many European countries. This year, Ray expects to receive hundreds of entries from both acclaimed and emerging artists from around the world. A team of fourteen professionally recognized curators will choose projects that are representative of the most innovative work being produced in the fields of public-space arts and contemporary psychogeography (the exploration of the physical and psychological landscape of cities). Together, the curators explain their mission: “Our aim is to foster the growth of what we call an “action-tank” by bringing together a group of international artists and creative thinkers working collaboratively to model new and valuable approaches to urban living.”

This year’s curatorial team includes: Jeffrey Barke, Tamir Chen, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Amanda McDonald Crowley, Odin Cappello, Winnie Fung, Gilbert Guerrero, Brian House, Tianna Kennedy, Amy Owen, Sal Randolph, Michael Sarff, David Felix Sutcliffe and Radhika Subramaniam.

As the event continues to expand, Conflux is at a critical moment in its life cycle. According to Ray: “We’ve operated for five years with little outside funding, relying on the enthusiasm and goodwill of our artists and partners. As a growing organization we’re taking a number of important steps, including registering as a non-profit organization with 501(c)3 status, strengthening partnerships with academic and community institutions and creating an eco-friendly festival.”

Although not the first touch-less musical instrument. The Theremin was originally made in 1919 and is one of the very first electronic instruments and the very first that is touch-less.

Two prime posts about the issue: Advertising Age and Webicratic

Lebowitz is CEO of Big Spaceship, currently touting a front page expounding on his statement:

We are brimming with enthusiasm over HBO Voyeur’s performance at the 2008 Cannes Lions Festival. Of the many Lions awarded to Voyeur, four highlighted the project’s interactive experience in particular: a Gold Cyber Lion, a Grand Prix for Best Integrated Promotional Campaign, and a Gold and Silver in Integrated Film and Use of Digital Media, respectively.

By transforming traditional media into a living, breathing urban panorama, we turned viewers into voyeurs. Congrats to HBO, BBDO New York, RSA Films and Asylum.

After having quite a few ITP alumns working with Big Spaceship and other speakers discussing the Voyeur campaign last year (prior to Cannes) it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Newsvine - Berkeley tree-sitters hanging on, 18 months in

In the past two weeks, the mood has swung wildly.

Protesters howled, flung excrement and shook tree branches as campus-hired arborists cut supply lines and removed gear.

But by late this week, campus police were conducting delicate negotiations with tree-sitters, offering to provide food and water if protesters would lower their waste on a daily basis in the interest of hygiene.

Campus officials ended up giving up the water without concessions; protesters declined to yield their urine.

The problem is that the word design is often confused with the word decoration.