Gizmodo Australia » the matrix

The Matrix Put A Bit Of Doubt In All Of Us

Mark Wilson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:40:00 +0000

Anyone who’s a fan of Jorge Cham’s PhD Comics should enjoy this first of what looks to be Cham’s new series called R.O.B.O.T Comics. [Willow Garage via BotJunkie]

You’ve Never Seen The Matrix Like This

Nick Broughall — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:00:34 +0000

I have no idea whether this clip of a Bollywood adaption of The Matrix is real. I have no idea whether it’s actually part of an Indian version of the film, or just some clip that wound up on YouTube. But dear god it’s addictive. Like heroin laced candybars.

Likewise, I have no idea if this Bollywood mashup of The Matrix and Terminator 2 is part of the same film or something very different. Either way, once seen, you can never unsee it.

Total awesomeness, or tragic destruction of creativity? Discuss.

[Thanks Kevin!]

Toshiba Advances Bullet-Time to Next Level In Ad Filmed By 200 Camcorders

Kit Eaton — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:45:00 +0000

Toshiba’s new “timesculpture” advert takes The Matrix’s Bullet Time film technique one bizarrely cool step forward by animating within the freeze-frame. It was filmed with 200 Gigashot camcorders arranged on a special rig, recording a mahoosive 20 terabytes of data from which the ad was composed. Check it out—it’s like a weird moving Bullet-Time ballet, and then check out the making of clip to learn how it was made.

The ad was created for Toshiba’s new low-definition to high-definition upscaling tech built into its LCD TVs, DVD machines and laptops. But it’s amazing all by itself: whereas the Wachowski-brothers’ technique used static images in Bullet-Time, this new style uses looped video clips, digitally compiled together for the final result. Apparently the 200-cam 14-meter diameter filming rig used “the highest number of moving image cameras ever used in a film sequence” and took three days to just focus up and align. All 200 cameras were triggered by a single remote, and it took four weeks to process the image data. Four weeks! The $US4.7million ad’s showing in Europe currently. [Toshiba]

What if The Matrix Ran on Windows?

Adam Frucci — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:20:45 +0000

The crew at CollegeHumor have outdone themselves with their latest short, The Matrix Runs on Windows. The concept is pretty self-explanatory: the movie The Matrix if the construct was run on Windows XP. It’s incredible that content shot for the web is reaching the quality of the movies that it spoofs. Seriously, how good does this look? [CollegeHumor]

Ultimate Matrix Collection On Blu-ray October 14

Jason Chen — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:39:59 +0000

The previously DVD and HD DVD-only Ultimate Matrix Collection is headed to Blu-ray October 14, which will be pretty much the same as the HD DVD version. It’ll have 35 hours of extras, picture-in-picture commentary and a price tag of US$130. If you were that big a Matrix fan to spend US$130 on this, you probably already own it on HD DVD. [high Def Digest]

Scientists Working on Matrix-esque Brain-Computer Interface

Gizmodo US Edition — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:20:00 +0000

A team at Caltech is working on a MEMS-based robot probe that will be able to slowly creep electrodes into your brain to connect up to specific neurons. Creepy indeed, but with potential uses for advanced control of prosthetic limbs, Luke Skywalker-style. But the idea has greater potential for “state-of-the-art experimental techniques for electrophysiology.” according to team-leader Michael Wolf. And that’s just got me picturing the neural probes of The Matrix.

The device would sense its way in, using MEMS motors to carefully push in multiple electrodes into the brain and detecting electrical activity at their tips. When the system senses an activity spike, the robotic probe would adjust microscopically, and then either stay put or move on to find a better signal. The micro-mechanical part is still in development, but the team says the software side of the device (that would enable it to find the right neurons and adjust the probes locations if signals faded) is all but complete. It uses an algorithm inspired by one the US military uses to track aircraft.

It’s heady stuff, but apparently a real Matrix-esque brain probe is a long way away, as even this first-gen version of direct neural interfacing is “far off” from a ready-to-insert in brain device according to Wolf. [Make via Medgadget]

FrogConcept Facemask Makes Any Dystopian Future a Happy Funtime Land

Gizmodo US Edition — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:00:00 +0000

When the future goes to crap in the next 10 years or so, and anarchy rules as humanity falls into a deep, dark pit of despair, this alternate reality mask concept from Frog Design will be there to soften the blow. Invoking mental images of cowed sheep, Aldous Huxley’s soma and even the Matrix, Frog Designs describes its FrogConcept mask as an escape for the doomed people of the future, complete with a “re-skinned” reality.

The visual design casts the mask as a lifestyle product of the future, as it plays with a glaring, exaggerated coolness of the wearer. It gives an almost robotic appearance, and suggests a diversion from what we define today as “normal” physical human interaction.
Within the mask, smells, sounds, even air quality would be imitated to create a full sensory experience. The facial expressions of those wearing the device would be detected and projected onto personal avatars visible to others also living behind the shield of the mask.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been wearing my own version of this “next-gen” technology for a while now. It’s called beer goggles, courtesy of my good friend Sam Adams, and it’s been turning the bar scene into a beauty pageant for the past seven years. [Frog Design via Boing Boing]

Family Guy Enters The Matrix

Mark Wilson — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:30:00 +0000

If someone had asked me right when I woke up this morning if I expected to see an superbFamily Guy/Matrix trailer mashup—I’d probably have searched YouTube for it later—but I’d have done so quite incredulously. [via newlaunches]