From bdamer at digitalspace.com Tue Mar 25 09:55:50 2008 From: bdamer at digitalspace.com (Bruce Damer) Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:55:50 -0400 Subject: [DS-News] Spring 2008: DSS 1.0!, Discovery, CONTACT & Yuri's Night Message-ID: <0JYA001OIPP2USG0@mta2.srv.hcvlny.cv.net> Dear DigitalSpace News subscribers, Here is your Spring 2008 newsletter, with plenty of great things to report. Here is a quick summary with details to follow... The Digital Spaces (DSS) was released on November 30th and is attracting a developer community! DSS is our open source framework developed by the team at DM3D Studios Pty, in Maffra, Victoria Australia. DSS was funded by US taxpayers via multiple NASA contracts for the past several years. DSS is released under LGPL open source licensing. See details below. Wherever in the world you are, if your local Discovery Channel is carrying the new four part program "Human Body" DigitalSpace's work for NASA is featured in episode 3 entitled "Brain Power". In upcoming events consider joining us for the CONTACT Conference on April 4-6th at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. On Friday the 4th we will be presenting two years of DigitalSpace/DM3DS/NASA work on simulating future NASA missions. The new "EvoGrid" initiative (artificial life evolution grid) will be presented too. Lastly, if you are in the Bay Area of Northern California on April 12th don't miss Yuri's Night at NASA's Ames Research Center. This is a very exciting event, part of the "World Space Party" honoring the journer of the first space voyager, Yuri Gagarin, 47 years ago. Bruce Damer will be presenting "The Case for NEOs" on stage after 11pm. This will be a journey into humankind's possible space future exploring and utilizing our nearest neighbors in the solar system: asteroids. DETAILED NEWS... ### 1) Digital Spaces (DSS) 1.0 Developer Release Now Available! 2) Bruce Damer and DigitalSpace is on the Discovery Channel 3) CONTACT Conference 4) Yuri's Night at NASA Ames Research Center 1) Digital Spaces (DSS) 1.0 Developer Release Now Available! ************************************************************************* Download and try out the DSS developer release with some really cool physics-based applications (drive a robot around a virtual playground and knock the blocks over!) from our web site at: http://www.digitalspace.com/ or directly from the DSS home page at: http://www.digitalspaces.net/projects/dss-welcome/ Find a full set of documentation, applications, screen shots, and a developer forum all at this site above. Feel free to use this powerful, modern platform, which incorporates best-of-breed open source components such as Ogre3D, ODE physics, CEGUI, OpenAL and Python, to develop your research or creative project. Use the forums to interact with our team and other DSS developers. 2) Bruce Damer and DigitalSpace on the Discovery Channel (check local listings for broadcast times) *********************************************************************** See DigitalSpace founder Bruce Damer in a new Discovery Channel program: Human Body, Pushing the Limits, Episode 3: "Brain Power": http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/human-body/human-body.html Episode #3 described at: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/human-body/episode/episode-02.html This segment shows how a dream inspired Bruce Damer and the DM3DS team to develop a "Lunar Telerobotic Base Construction" simulation we did for Raytheon and NASA. You can see the results of this innovative space architecture work at: http://www.digitalspace.com/projects/sba-viz/digitalspace/index.html 3) CONTACT Conference April 4-6th, 2008 - NASA Ames Research Center Bruce Damer presenting on Friday April 4th on "Simulating NASA's Future" and "the EvoGrid" ****************************** JOIN US FOR CONTACT 2008 APRIL 4-6 NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR FULL CONFERENCE INFORMATION! www.contact-conference.org We invite you to join us for CONTACT 24. The annual CONTACT conference is an interdisciplinary public gathering of scientists, artists and writers. For more than 20 years we have explored human futures in fact and fiction. As always, our full program features a fascinating lineup of speakers and a broad spectrum of symposia and activities. You will hear presentations on art, film, music, astronomy, working in space and cyberspace, education for the future, worldbuilding and more. Full program details are on the website. A special session on Friday focuses on astronomy and planetary exploration. From adaptive optics and the world?s largest telescope to updates on the Mars Exploration Rovers and previews of the Mars Phoenix mission, we have a full and exciting day awaiting you. Our keynote presentation Saturday night by CONTACT veteran Carlo H. Sequin will be, ?Modeling Our Universe... and Other Things ? Originally a physicist, Carlo has been a professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley since 1977. For the last 20 years he has been interested in computer graphics, geometric modeling, and computer-aided design tools for circuit designers, architects, and mechanical engineers. During the last ten years he has also collaborated with artists, creating several designs for geometric sculptures. For this activity he has coined the term "Aesthetic Engineering". In 2003 he received the "IEEE Technical Achievement" award for his early work on charge-coupled devices for solid state cameras and for his more recent activities in computer-aided design. Included in your registration will be daily continental breakfasts before the morning presentations, lunches in the conference center, the Friday night reception for the art show, and the Saturday night banquet. Register soon so we can plan banquet seating and lunches. Please visit our website for full information on the program, registration, lodging and travel directions: www.contact-conference.org 4) Yuri's Night at NASA Ames Research Center (April 12th, 2008) - Bruce Damer on main stage after 11pm presenting "the Case for NEOs" ************************************************ Calling all cosmonauts, inventors, dreamers, and explorers ... tickets for Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 are now on sale! http://yurisnightbayarea.net Yuri's Night is back! We're bigger and better than ever and we need your help to spread the word! Yuri's Night Bay Area 2pm - 2am, April 12th, 2008 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA This year the San Francisco Bay Area will be home to the largest Yuri's Night celebration ever. At the NASA Ames Research Center over 8,000 people will join astronauts, artists, musicians, scientists and engineers to learn, celebrate, and pay tribute to our global space heritage. Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 is a one-of-a-kind local community event: a perfect fusion of celebration and tribute, technology expo, Maker Faire, art exhibition, and music festival; all rolled into one. Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 includes: * A world-class lineup of musical artists, ranging from the electronic breakbeat sounds of AMON TOBIN, TIPPER, and JOHN TEJADA to rockin' live performances by FREEZEPOP, PARTICLE, and the very special debut of TELSTAR, featuring PHIL LESH of the Grateful Dead. * Experience an out-of-this-world visual space journey by documentary-style visual artist CELESTINE STAR with visual support by ED ELLSWORTH. Dance under the starry skies with our light spinning crew, KOSHO, SATSI, CAROLUNA TERRY ESTIOKO and many more of your favorites! * A mind-expanding series of speakers, including STEWART BRANDT, founder of THE LONG NOW FOUNDATION and creator of the WHOLE EARTH CATALOG; and world-renowned video game designer WILL WRIGHT, creator of SimCity, SimEarth, The Sims, and many other games including his exciting upcoming game of life, evolution, and exploration: SPORE. * Live performances of all kinds, from dance and acrobatics by CAPACITOR (San Francisco's ground-breaking interdisciplinary dance company) to aerial demonstrations featuring Yuri-Gagarin-era AEROBATIC AIRCRAFT. * Dozens of art and science installations spanning everything from NASA research ROBOTS to the unveiling of the newest fire sculpture by the FLAMING LOTUS GIRLS. * Discussions and forums where event attendees will get the chance to take on some big questions surrounding Space Exploration, Radical Sustainability, and the Future of Humanity in our Festival of Ideas. * ...and much, much more! Browse the partial list below! Tickets are available on-line for $40 (plus applicable fees). A limited number of tickets may be available for $50 at the door -- check the website for status. We hope to see you there! - The Yuri's Night Bay Area Team (Please feel free to forward this email.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ### Thats all for now, see you in the next update! bruce DigitalSpace 343 Soquel Avenue, # 70 Santa Cruz CA 95062-2305 USA http://www.digitalspace.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://debbie.digitalspace.com/pipermail/ds-news/attachments/20080325/646a696e/attachment.htm