I will admit it, none of these things has anything to do with each other, except for the fact that they are all things we have discussed in class and I found interesting enough to want to share because I thought you all might enjoy them.

QR Codes

As I said in my posting when we created a QR code, mine was in a rather prominent position–right out there on the poster for the Portrait Gallery along 7th Street at Gallery Place.  I thought my intellectual vandalism would surely be removed by now, but as I work nearby, I wandered by just to check if it was still there.  And it was!  This is when I really regretted not having registered my QR code just to see how many people have checked it out in the ensuing weeks since I taped it up there on a cold, rainy day.  Since then, the sun has come out & spring breakers have descended on DC like the 17-year cicadas that are about to take over in a few weeks.  Surely somebody has been curious enough to scan it.

Interactive Books

Is it a book?  Is it an app?  Is it a film?  Well, it’s all three.  The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore was the winner of the Best Short Film of 2011 at the 84th Academy Awards.  But it was simultaneously released as an iPad app that was a book.  But wait, there’s also an actual book.  So which is it?  There’s no simple answer really, other than that’s it’s all three.  All I can tell you is, it’s worth checking out.  You’ll be amazed at the ways the reader/viewer/iPad user becomes part of the book/film/app.

Mapping

Talk about making your mark on the world and making Google Maps go crazy!  An Australian couple recently saw the Google Street View Car about to drive by and decided they wanted to make mapping history.  What better way than to simulate sex on the hood of the car while chugging a Corona?  Now when you check out Duke’s Highway, you’ll also get the sight of this “inventive” couple.