The Engadget Show 36: John Hodgman, iPhone 5, Improv Everywhere, Samsara and the New Museum

It can be tough to shake the notion that art and technology are conflicting forces -- that is, until you're confronted by a concept that lives at the crossroads of these seemingly dissonant concepts. For this latest episode of the Engadget Show, we set up shop right there, in order to explore what it means when technology itself is a work of art. We're starting things off at the New Museum on the Bowery in Manhattan, where Tim and Brian will be diving deep into the "Ghosts in the Machine" exhibition, to check out pieces like Stan VanDerBeek's Movie-Drome, a dome dreamed up in the mid-60s that foresaw a world in which the viewer is bombarded by visual stimuli. We'll also discuss how the museum is harnessing the power of the web to open its offerings up well beyond its gallery doors.

We speak to the founder and principal players of comedy performance art group Improv Everywhere about the role technology has played in the rise of the group and some of its most famous (and infamous) pranks. As ever, we're breaking out the Gadget Table to discuss the month's latest and greatest (and not-so-greatest), including the iPhone 5, Amazon's Kindle Fire and Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, before Brian heads out to the private (annex) library of comedian-turned-deranged-billionaire John Hodgman to discuss how technology is impacting the publishing industry and his upcoming books "That is All" and "The Complete World Knowledge Boxed Set".

While we're at it, we'll be speaking with the producer and director of the classic film Baraka and its newly released spiritual sequel, Samsara and paying a visit to the gang at Breakfast New York, who have worked with the likes of Google and Conan O'Brien to turn advertising into art. All that and the introduction of our latest feature "Ask @hodgman." Welcome to the new Engadget Show.

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The Engadget Show 36: John Hodgman, iPhone 5, Improv Everywhere, Samsara and the New Museum originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast’s super-speed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome (video)

This superspeed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome

TNT wanted to launch its new crime show Perception, in style, and we have to give it to 'em, this is pretty cool. Working with professional technological tinkerers, Breakfast, they created a 23 x 12 foot display made up of 44,000 electromagnetic dots. Imagine those ticker boards you see at train stations, jazzed up with a little modern flavor. The dots are white on one side, black on the other, and move at 15 times the speed of their typical rail-station counterparts -- giving a real-time effect. The installation is set up in Manhattan's Herald Square until July 29th, and is fully interactive. When pedestrians walk past, the board updates to reflect their movement, and this "silhouette" interacts with words and images on the screen. Extra sensory stimulation also comes from the noise the board makes, literally letting you hear your movements. If a picture paints a thousand words, then 44,000 dots in a video paints even more. Head past the break to see the beast in action, plus more details on how it was done.

Continue reading Breakfast's super-speed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome (video)

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Breakfast's super-speed reactive electromagnetic display is 44,000 dots of promotional awesome (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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