In which our business manager makes his way to Burning Man and comes back, shall we say, enlightened. More
Arts & Culture Media & Marketing
Techonomy@SXSW: Advocating for Quality Journalism
In a time when the integrity of the press is more important than ever, major organizations are taking steps to combat fake news and improve news literacy. This discussion from SXSW explores how brands and marketers can build more informed communities. More
Artificial Intelligence Arts & Culture
Techonomy@SXSW: When AI Takes Over the Arts
Get a taste of SXSW with this discussion on the relationship between technology and the arts. It gets at the heart of what it means to be human -- and if that is, in fact, uniquely human. Will technology augment the creative process or replace it? More
Analytics & Data Arts & Culture From the Magazine
R. Luke DuBois: An Artist Who Just Happens to Use Computation
R. Luke DuBois is a man of many talents: musician, visual artist, and data scientist. In a recent interview with Techonomy's David Kirkpatrick, he spoke about his inspirations and gave a behind-the-scenes look at his unique dual video portrait of Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. (From the latest issue of Techonomy Magazine) More
At Eyebeam, Tech Meets Poetry and Aesthetics
A hadron collider for art and technology, Eyebeam is a Brooklyn incubator that launches companies and art projects, benefitting both. Its aesthetic centers on the rapid-moving world of technology. This institution doesn't care if you call yourself an artist or an engineer, so long as you're making things that matter. More
Man, Machines and… Fashion?
If you are eager (as we always are) to do something Techonomic this weekend and are in New York, check out the amazing show Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It closes on Labor Day, so don’t delay. More
The Bleak Emotional and Social Premise of Pokemon Go
The original Pokémon television show stressed friendship and loyalty. So why does Pokémon Go feel more like digital dogfighting? Pumping Pokémon full of "stardust," caging them in pokeballs and only bringing them out again for combat: Pokémon GO offers a far bleaker narrative than previous iterations of the franchise. What does it mean when our technology starts to cast aside the standards of decency and morality we hold dear? More
Building a Universe in a Video Game
A tiny video game studio in England has reinvented the cosmos. The game No Man's Sky, set to be released this summer, uses procedural generation to create an entire explorable universe. Complete with 18 quintillion planets and all the geography and biodiversity to go with them, No Man's Sky pushes the limits of what a video game can be and what virtual simulation can achieve. More
Reflections from Ross: Go Pokémon!
In under a week, Pokémon Go has taken over phones - and lives - everywhere. As the world scrambles to catch Doduos and Bulbasaurs, our program director gives the game a try on the streets of New York City. It may be buggy, and it's certainly distracting, but could Pokémon Go be ushering in a new era of mass consumption for augmented reality? And just why, exactly, has the nostalgia-driven remake of a Gameboy classic taken over the mobile world? More
Arts & Culture Learning Manufacturing
Five Ways AR and VR Will Improve Our Current Reality
A flood of investments into the new tools of reality continues to fuel innovation. Virtual and augmented reality, from the original Google Glass to the latest Oculus Rift, has continually shaped the technology market,and will grow substantially in the coming years. AR and VR will impact the world around us in a number of interesting—and beneficial—ways. Here are five things to look forward to. More
Analytics & Data Arts & Culture
The Coming Age of Creative AI: From Roboadvisors to Roboartists
Data scientists are creating robo-artists out of digital neuron clusters called recurrent neural networks. They use machine learning and artificial intelligence to reverse engineer visual art, generating images that resemble Picassos, Van Goghs and Munchs. Now that our software progeny are transcending their humble beginnings they just might become real artists, amplifying and robotizing creativity. More
Arts & Culture Internet of Things Society
Reflections from Ross: Art, Culture and Tech
Last week DLD was in New York for their annual shindig, and the city was treated to its first Creative Tech Week. CTW brought together artists, designers, makers, creators, entrepreneurs, developers and new media folk to show off their work. And DLD, a wonderful marriage of German and American sensibilities, included two museum curators who spoke about some digital challenges facing art. More
It’s Complicated: TechnoHeritage Marries Tech and Cultural Heritage
The use of tech to preserve, reproduce and recreate antiquities and items of cultural value is not new. Apple's The Virtual Museum CD-ROM (remember that?!) came out way back in 1992. Now ancient ruins across the globe are being destroyed by war, terrorism and natural disasters. While tech offers incredible ways to recreate treasures, an article in The Boston Globe underscores the complex cultural, ethical, legal and political questions that raises. More
Arts & Culture Media & Marketing Society
Without Design, Innovation Doesn’t Happen: A Conversation with Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture & design and director of R&D at The Museum of Modern Art, is a passionate advocate for the importance of design in society and business. Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick conducted this extensive interview with her over lunch in New York. More
Arts & Culture Cities Startup Culture
Reflections from Ross: Art, Tech, and Civic Life in NYC
I’m writing this week's post from Civic Hall in NYC, a fantastic co-working, gathering, and events space just around the corner from Techonomy's office on West 22nd Street. There I bumped into organizers of the first NYC Creative Tech Week, April 29-May 8, a full week of programming on the intersection of tech, media, creativity, art and design. Here are some Techonomy links that demonstrate this intersection. More
Arts & Culture Bio & Life Sciences
Glowing Rabbits and Sculptures That Breathe: The Rise of BioArt
“BioArt” is a growing movement that involves either using living organisms as part of a work of art or imitating life processes and biological research to create art that critiques or embraces life sciences. Artists have created glowing bunnies, sculptures that breathe, and even encoded sexual drawings in living cells. More
Arts & Culture Startup Culture
Rock Stars of Tech
Standing in a dark club during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, among CEOs and political leaders, we all wait for The Killers to take the stage. I strike up a conversation with the person who just happens to be standing on my left–cultural icon and music superstar will.i.am. He shows me a device he's wearing, a sort of watch being developed by a company he started called i.am+. I can see how proud he is of it. He walks me through the functions, highlighting the user interface and how you can connect to the Internet without needing a phone. He pauses, looking for an indication of my thoughts. He's just one of a number of music industry veterans now finding their way into tech. More
Mad Max with Flowers and Margaritas: How Burning Man Points to the Future
Burning Man is a serious thing. It is obviously a ludicrous stupor-inducing steam-punk fashion gala appealing to the lesser instincts. But it is also a full-blown futures laboratory. Don’t underestimate what we can learn from ourselves in this outlandish context. Burning together, we may rise more humane. More
Arts & Culture Techonomy Events
Ross Reflections: Looking Towards Detroit, and Some Amazing Bio/Artist/Designers
It’s been a busy couple of weeks as we continue to fine-tune the program for September’s Techonomy Detroit. If you’re in Detroit September 15 you should stop by—we’ll be interviewing Mark Bertolini, the refreshing, bead wearing, yogi-like CEO of Aetna. We’ll also be interviewing Carl Bass, the wood carving, boat- and furniture-making CEO of Autodesk. Tiana Epps-Johnson, Executive Director of The Center for Technology and Civic Life, will present on “Civic Tech and the New Digital Divide,” longtime tech entrepreneur and thinker Peter Hirshberg will present on “A Maker City Is a Jazz City,” and "Edge" theorist John Hagel will talk about how companies and cities are successfully “Learning from Movements.” More
With a 3D-printed Instrument, This Musician Is Composing the Future
Often, it begins in the dark. When the LEDs light up—in red, yellow, blue, green, and purple—the face inside the mask becomes faintly perceptible. But before the gathering crowd can identify the man, the music comes on. It comes in swells and ribbons. It comes as a devouring chaos, as a frenetic torrent of notes and phrases, looping back into new motifs of sound. Onyx Ashanti invented the instrument he plays, which he calls the exo-voice. He also printed it with a 3D printer he built himself. More
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