You'd be amazed how brazen some companies can be in the process of invading other people's privacy. Two weeks ago, my editor forwarded me an e-mail from NeoEdge Networks, an advertising company that's working on developing software to integrate in-game ads into both casual and mainstream games. He wasn't really interested in doing anything with their blatant PR pitch, but he knew that I'm a pretty avid gamer, so he passed it along, and I greedily accepted the company's request for an interview during which they could "brief [me] on trends in optimized distribution of integrated game and in-context ad content."

As the final day of ACM's SIGGRAPH 2006 graphics and animation conference rolls around, I wanted to sit down and examine three different technologies showcased at the Boston convention that, given just a bit more development time, could theoretically be used together as the veritable Voltron of virtual reality experiences. True virtual reality -- Star Trek's holodeck, The Matrix's faux world, Tron's CG environment -- is obviously still a long way off, but we can already create much of what would be necessary for a VR experience that's almost there.

Wednesday, August 2, marked the fourth day of activity at ACM's SIGGRAPH 2006 graphics and animation conference in Boston, and after all the commotion of the initial days of the show, yesterday saw attendees finally settling into a routine. Though the convention remained a constantly bustling hive of technological revelation and wares-peddling, the amazed faces so abundant during its first few days were replaced with visages of introspective interest in the future of technology.

As I mentioned in my last post, much of the content in the various exhibition halls at SIGGRAPH falls into a few recognizable subcategories of what is admittedly a very broad 'graphics' theme. Having already covered examples of next-generation input devices and future developments in game-related technology, I thought I'd spend some time today touching on the show's 3D VR offerings.

As I noted in past posts, my experiences on Sunday and Monday of this past week were eye-opening, to say the least. ACM's SIGGRAPH 2006 graphics and animation conference has been in session since the weekend, but yesterday marked the opening of the real treat: the main exhibition floor, a cavernous showroom that's overflowing with monolithic "booths" showcasing everything from motion capture technology to advanced VR rigs to innovation in 3D modeling and animation suites. It's the place to be if your hobby or profession is visually-centric.

Though graphics and animation are obviously the overriding themes of SIGGRAPH 2006, there are several sub-themes that unite the various showcased technologies into mini-groups. For example, there are numerous innovative touch interfaces throughout the conference, both in the Emerging Technologies hall and on the main floor (the Multi-Touch Wall I mentioned yesterday being one of the stronger contenders in the area). One sub-theme of the conference is, unsurprisingly, game-related technology; considering the fact that computer and video games so often drive the development of video tech, many companies on the show floor are using games to show off their individual products, while others are simply showing off their games.

Yesterday was my second day at ACM's SIGGRAPH 2006 conference on graphics and animation, and it's been a whirlwind of a ride so far. A spectacular keynote address given earlier in the day by Joe Rohde, Disney's head Imagineer and the gentleman responsible for the company's new Expedition Everest attraction, really solidified the experience for me, and utterly convinced me that I simply must visit the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World as soon as is humanly possible. Expedition Everest looks to absolutely rock the world of roller coaster experiences.

The conference keynote, however, was not the only attraction of interest. I journeyed once again into the bowels of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and onto the Emerging Technologies show floor, and once again I found myself delighted that I'd been granted the opportunity to attend. I probably spent more time than I should have playing with New York University's Multi-Touch Interaction Wall, a 16-foot-long monstrosity of a user interface. It may sound outlandishly large, but let me tell you, it's worth every inch.

Today's post marks the first in a series of entries covering ACM's SIGGRAPH 2006 conference in Boston's aptly-named Convention and Exhibition Center. Throughout the coming week, I'll be providing updates of the goings-on in the various exhibition halls of the BCEC, conversely skipping from coverage of SIGGRAPH's Emerging Technologies exhibit to its main show floor, stopping along the way to do some interviews with various folks that may or may not make it to your computer screens. To start things off, I've detailed the happenings of my first day's visit to the convention, from its illustrious beginning to its foot-aching end. If you've got the time and inclination, sit on down and stay awhile. I even brought cookies.

You may or may not recall that I study at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a university somewhat unique in that it's mostly composed of students who either a) couldn't get into MIT, or b) could have, but didn't actually want to. What this nets you is a very large population of average college students who also happen to be pretty darned smart -- and a fair number of folks whose idea of entertainment is reciting Pi to forty digits* while downloading a screener of some movie weeks before its theatrical release.

Consider, for a moment, the college student's natural craving for all things free and open. Be it music, videos, high quality feature-length films, or the very operating systems on which they do the downloading, free is the only option for many a college youth. WPI is no different; students want whatever they can get their hands on, and with a yearly tuition, room, and board total in excess of $43,000, WPI's studentry wants free stuff more than most.

It's happening. The web is being ripped apart by goodness-knows-what galactic forces and piled onto an errant garbage dump floating off Io's southern pole. Don't believe me? Check out Computerworld's recent news article, and weep.

Replacing pay-per-click ads with cost-per-action ads may not seem like a big deal at first, but hang on a bit. Take a look at all the ads on this page: the banner up top; the tower down the left side; the box to the right; the sponsored links that engorge the page's footer; and the Flash ads that spring to life in the middle of the screen every so often. Don't have a pop-up blocker? I pity thee.

As you may or may not know, I recently had a difficult experience with my Alienware notebook PC. It was a monstrous contraption, advertised as a desktop replacement with all the gaming power a kid could ever ask for. At first, when I bought it, I was in heaven. I didn’t stay in heaven very long.

To make an extraordinarily long story short: my computer stopped playing games about two months out of warranty; I owned a machine that had to be raised up on stilts and cooled with an industrial fan just to work as advertised; I discovered I was not, by a long shot, the only one with this particular issue; and I realized that I was an idiot for not having purchased a warranty that lasted more than a year (though much good it would have done me, I later found out).

I am an intern.

If you can get past that line and somehow keep yourself from shuddering, then have someone nearby give you a pat on the back. A lot of folks are too wrapped up in their own egotistical eccentricities to realize that sometimes, those of a younger generation might actually have something to say worth listening to.

Like many people my age, I possess a particular fondness for gaming. However, unless you work in the industry, you likely dismiss its existence. Indeed, you may very well perceive games as little more than the rigorous pastimes of teenagers, twenty-somethings, and the occasional (but much reviled) forty-year-old. If this is the case, then please, allow me to be blunt with you:

I am most certainly not here to change your mind.