At around 10:30 last night, I saw a tweet on Facebook about an earthquake in Italy. It was the first news to come out of the area, and I was straight away reading the #earthquake tweets for updates, as twitter was the first to have any coverage at all. By 11:00 I was in contact with my friend in Tortorento, 50 km from the epicenter. He was okay, although he was quite scared. I am so happy that I found out so quickly and was able to assuage my fears for my friend, but now my thoughts are with the victims struggling to recover their friends and family members.
There's been a lot of talk about Twitter as a news service. While it can't be so formal as NYT or CNN, it definitely beats them out for timely broadcasting. Last night's info blast from Italy was no exception.
Designer Martin Lihs developed this open-ended game, in partnership with Montana Paint, in an effort to "give graffiti a new virtual level surpassing tactile boundaries of the tangible world." I think the guerrilla aspect of graffitti is lost in this concept, but nevertheless, I dig it for two reasons:
1) Its simplicity. No instructions are needed to interpret the console, so users are free to explore the possibilities on their own -- ie. get creative faster. The simplicity of the program is what gives it fluidity, makes it easy to get from concept to creation.
2) Its cleanliness. One can tag up their wall until there's no tomorrow without inhaling any xylene fumes or covering themselves in toxic paint. This is more of a plus for someone who is an actual graffitti artist because they can practice and plan their pieces without mucking up so many walls and brain cells. In that light, I guess it's a plus for moms as well.
