[DS-News] Spring 2008: DSS 1.0!, Discovery, CONTACT & Yuri's Night

Tue Mar 25 09:55:50 PDT 2008

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/>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 <http://www.longnow.org/>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.)

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###
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
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