So it’s been a week since I returned from FITC San Francisco and I’ve been extremely busy to say the least. There were so many great sessions, frameworks, demo’s etc. that my brain has been in a state of information overload; quickly jumping from one idea to the next. All the information and demo’s at FITC are great, but by far the best thing about the event is the people. It’s incredible to be around so many creative and brilliant people that are into programming, art, installations etc. If you’ve never attended an FITC I’d highly recommend it.
One of the frameworks that did manage to play with a bit is Megaphone. Megaphone is an amazing framework for creating multi-user applications that can be controlled via touch-tone phone. I’ll let you check out the Megaphone site for a full explanation of how it works but just be aware that there is an AS3 API (with openframeworks coming soon) that makes getting up and running insanely easy. Megaphone handles all of the phone interaction in your application while utilizing Union to enable multiple users. Colin Moock, the creator of Union and author of the AS3 API for Megaphone, gave a session at FITC showing off some of the Megaphone capabilities. I was blown away when he put a game on the screen and said ‘call this number to play.’ Before I knew it everyone in the room was controlling a waving hand on the screen by yelling into their phones to make the hand move. Somehow I managed to win the game and as a prize Colin hooked me up with a copy of his book Essential Actionscript 3.0, a must have reference for any AS3 programmer. It was immediately apparent that I’d be diving into Megaphone as soon as I returned home.
Then Colin showed a demo of Megaphone being used to play trivia on the big screens in an MLB stadium. The video showed people in the stands all playing trivia with their phones, laughing, pointing at the screen. It was then that I saw the real potential of megaphone. I started thinking about my alma mater, LSU, and the huge new HD 80-foot-wide video board they installed in Tiger Stadium 2 years ago. I’d love to make megaphone apps for that. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of customization on the megaphone servers to pull of a job of that magnitude and isn’t quite possible yet for us outside of the megaphone inner circle. Maybe in the near future? I was able to build a quick prototype of my concept though. Check it out below (and yes, there are spelling errors).
Cool right? Anyway, Megaphone was only 1 of the many highlights of FITC. Something else you should check out if you haven’t already is openframeworks by the great Theo Watson. Theo, along with his partner in crime, Emily Gobeille , blew all attendees away with their interactive artwork. I’m just diving into OF now and will hopefully have some blog posts on it in the future. Till then, hollller.
