Category Archives: Mind Uploading

Today is Monday. The digest is short, but the reads in the clicks might be long and winding rabbit holes. Youve been warned. Grab your coffee.

1. While you were weekending, Nigeria got a Twitter handle. Anofficial Twitter handle that tweets stuff.Like Sweden, Israel, Canada and a bunch of other countries that use already the social network to promote their culture and positive developments. Check it out.

+ Apparently its called Twiplomacy. Hian

+ First it was a newsletter. Then a podcast. Then they started uploading stuff to Dropbox, blogging, announcing site outages, and even tweeting senate proceedings (far better than watching the stuff on NTA). These are not things Nigerian government bureaucrats usually do.Im pretty sure uncle Tolu(hes the head of Nigerias digital comms) had a lot to do with that.Im here for it, I must say.

2. This is what a typical electronic payment in Nigeria looks like, as told by Paystacks transaction logs. And it doesnt even begin to capture the pain. And dont even ask how bad it was in the pre-Paystack and Flutterwave era, thats not how you want your week to begin.

If you agree with overwhelming your love interestinto saying yes with the power of the internet, you wont mind this ad from Plaqad.com.Link

3.Ire,the god is sponsoring five Nigerian women to complete any Udacity nanodegree they set their sights on. Dont dull.Link

4. The Co-Creation Hubs annual Social Change Summit agenda and speaker lineup is looking very good. Date is the 22nd of June, in Lagos. Link

5. If you are an African startup, and you happen to be sitting on consumer data, the future looks good. The article is lacking the standard dont be evil line that is required where sharing data with third parties is concerned, but otherwise link

6. Ade Olabode is a London-based Nigerian startup entrepreneur that likes to interview other Nigerian startup entrepreneurs. His latest interview is of Lola Ekugo. Enjoy. Link

7. South Africas Telkoms is restructuring. CEO, Sipho Maseko describes the intended outcome as Remgro-style. If you know what a Remgro is, you probably care. Link

Devcenter is a verified community of African software developers. Our developers are tested with the same methods as Google and Facebook. Build your next technology product with us.Link

World Banks XL Africa application.Link

Read the rest here:

Nigeria just got a verified Twitter handle - TechCabal

Where were you in 2007? Maybe you were rendered grief-stricken by the end of The OC. Maybe you lived in a velour tracksuit and Uggs, because Paris Hilton taught you. You may well have been skipping through the good primary school years. Or maybe, like a load of people (and me), you split your time between lying on the sofa at your mate's house, watching System of a Down videos and going on MySpace on your family's desktop, posting passive aggressive bulletins to get your crush's attention when signing out and back into MSN didn't work.

If your life revolved around the latter, you may have identified somewhat as "Emo Under the Cork Tree, while 2006 belonged to My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade. And then, in 2007, came Riot! by Paramore.

From its scrawled cover art which could well have passed as a page of a high school art sketchbook, to the power chord-heavy breakdowns over which powerhouse frontwoman Hayley Williams wailed fatalistic lyrics, Riot! captured that mainstream emo zeitgeist perfectly. For many of us, listening to it now is like an exercise in going back in timeit was so intrinsic to UK emo culture at the time that it's hard to separate the songs from the experiences you had to them (probably while wearing a studded belt). To celebrate Riot! turning 10, we asked some of our friends to tell us about their memories of the tracks on the record. There is nail polish, there are tears, there is rain and, of course, there is a lot of being underage and cheap cider-drunk in public parks. Thank you, Paramore.

Is there a more fire emoji album opener than this in the whole of emo? To this day, when it all kicks in I feel like I could mosh through a brick wall, and those fills throughout are air-drum gold. Even the title is perfect MSN screen name foddera sort of deep, meaningful statement on emotions and, like, stuff, which in reality means sweet fuck-all. Glorious. TOM CONNICK

Remember when a Saturday afternoon used to involve little more than loitering outside a prominent high street shop, playing with your fringe and sneering at adults? That's the entirety of the "That What You Get" video. It's literally just a bunch of people stood around awkwardly for an entire day, poking their Nokias and sending 'XD' faces to each other, and yet I still want to be in their gang. TOM CONNICK

When I lived in halls (or what all of you outside the UK know as on-campus housing/where all your teen posters hopefully go to die), all the sad boy stoners boys had just discovered Jeff Buckley, despite him being dead a decade. There were so many "just listen to this bit" 4AM moments in hazy rooms I lost count. No, put that guitar down and just listen to Hayley Williams belt everything into how hard she's going to try to make her teen love last forever, go away. I still remain that this is the superior Hallelujah, FIGHT ME. KIRBY PARTINGTON

In 2007 I worked at the local ~alt club~. Fridays were both indie night and hell for all of us moshers who worked there. When this song blew up, it managed to penetrate even the indie nights and singing along to that iconic middle 8 was a welcome reprieve from The Pigeon Detectives or whatever crepey, dry-as-woodchips-in-your-mouth act was big, while pouring WKD into plastic cups. On reflection, wow, how gross is this song lyrically? In fairness though, 17-year-old Hayley's internalised misogyny is on a level with 30-year-old Drake's now so I guess I'll allow her. KIRBY PARTINGTON

As a teen I had a propensity to take things fairly literally, and as a specifically emo-leaning teen I had a moral responsibility towards feeling #misunderstood. So of course I have a very distinct memory of walking around my local area, alone, in the rain, listening to "When It Rains," my dodgy side-fringe stuck to my face by the wet. I usually reserved Bright Eyes, the sad girl's premium choice, as my music for feeling sorry for myself when it was pissing it down, but this more downbeat Riot! cut also did the job nicely. I learned about being a drama queen early thank you Paramore. LAUREN O'NEILL

Some people would suggest that "Let the Flames Begin" is filler, coming as it does during Riot!'s admittedly slightly saggy middle. Thirteen-year-old me, however, would have had to respectfully and loudly disagree. "Let the Flames Begin" has some of the most emo lyrics on the whole of this gloriously extra record, and that's what real #heads care about. It begins, "What a shame we all became such fragile broken things / a memory remains, just a tiny spark," and I'm fairly sure I had a school exercise book with those very words scrawled across the front, bookended by 'LAUREN O'NEILL.'

This, lads, is what you call a flawlessly constructed emo/pop punk crossover belter. This is having your heart broken in the middle of the summer, thrashing around with a hairbrush in your bedroom and then writing a really good poem about it with a pen and paper and then taking a picture of it next to some sentimental items and then uploading it to emopoetsociety.livejournal.com. It's exactly the sort of tune that would cause me to smash a half-full can on the floor and flip a table over before the vocals even kick in.

At the time, Paramore were usually compared to lighter mall punk bands like All Time Low, You Me At Six or, such was the state of rock criticism, Avril Lavigne, but when you break the arrangements down, Riot!and "Miracle" in particularbelongs more toward the darker, fuller side of the spectrum alongside Taking Back Sunday's Where You Want To Be or Bayside circa Bayside. There. I said it. Fight me, purists. Tenuous connections aside though, the greatest thing about Paramore is the fact that they simply don't sound like anybody else (at least they didn't before they released an album that is extremely *listens to Carly Rae Jepsen's EMOTION once*). Have the emotions of longing, frustration, hope and determination ever culminated in a more satisfying song (that you can fully pit to) than "Miracle"? The answer is, passionately, no. EMMA GARLAND

"Crushcrushcrush" may be about the dark side to having a crush but emo lyrics are essentially formulated to be applicable to anything utterly miserable tbh. I remember the power in angrily singing the mantra crushcrushcrush; to destroy boys I fancied, parents who only had bile in their throats for each other, the sexual power I suddenly had over older men who I was both enamored with and disgusted by, enemies real and imagined, my body running on next to no sustenance, and my mind, already regulated by antidepressants. Listening to that song, I could crush it all. Especially for someone who spent all their time alone as a teenager, the lines "we're all alone now, give me something to sing about" and "nothing compares to a quiet evening alone" soared. This was one last defiant monologue on the album, before the catharsis of admitting that we're all broken. "Crushcrushcrush" doesn't mean all that now but it's still the best Paramore to do pissed karaoke to. HANNAH EWENS

I was lostlike, alone in a crowd, quirky-teen lostwhen I heard this. I was searching for myself. Or God? Either way it was clich. This song snagged on customary teen snark. Lyrics that usually rolled over me locked into me when it played. I cried when I first heard it, like I was in an angsty CW show. It's a hymn. It's praise, it's faith. It's anger and it's a reminder, comfort and catharsis. I wasn't alone, clearly. BOLU BABALOLA

This brings it all back tbh: flailing braids, remote as a mic, a mirrorbeing a teen who didn't relate to what she was meant to. Essentially, a precocious art hoe. WIth my attitude flagrant, this song was assurance. I didn't need people to get me. I got me. You don't need to let them in if you don't want them in, or to be seen as someone you're not to fit in if you see yourself. Art hoe vindication. I was insufferable and empowered. BOLU BABALOLA

One of the best things about Paramore and this album both being so objectively great is that Hayley Williams is a woman. Emo as it existed back in 2007 was dominated by men, and as a young girl who loved it, it meant a lot to me to hear Hayley smashing seven shades of shit out of a song better than any guy I could (and can) think of. "Born For This" is an excellent example of how important she was, not least because even when I hear it now, I think the exact same thought as I did when I first got hold of it ten years ago. When the chorus hits, I have this fantasy where I am Hayley, on stage head-banging my orange hair, one foot on an amp, mic cord round my neck, singing to a crowd. On Riot!, which saw Paramore arguably at the height of their powers, Hayley made emo girls realise that they could be rock stars toothat they could be "Born For This" tooand that alone is an enviable legacy. LAUREN O'NEILL

You can tell Lauren, Emma, Bolu, Kirby, Hannah, and Tom about your 2007 memories on Twitter.

Read more:

Track-by-Track of Paramore's 'Riot!' Read Through Emo Teen Memories - Noisey

What a disaster for Mrs. May. From a majority to a hung parliament. The pound reacted dreadfully on the exit poll, leading to a loss of approximately 200 ticks finding an initial base at 1.2700.

This analysis is for slightly longer term positioning and as of next week I will resume uploading intraweek trades that I shall be taking, well in advance of entry.

So, we are currently quite muted going into the weekend. I do not expect anything hugely drastic since May has said that she is not going to resign and is likely to form a minority government with the DUP.

You can see from the chart above that the support created from spiral has been breached. Instantly when I saw the drop after the exit poll last night it was a classic 'break of the ice' - a low volume fall through support or resistance in a topping or bottoming pattern. Price faces some resistance early morning (red line) and I was building a short position in my head from then.

Don't get me wrong - longer term, I am bullish cable. I think that in 12-18 months we will regain 1.40 (I have the same opinion on EURUSD if you note my previous article) but I believe that these markets really do enjoy shaking out positions. This is why I have notes the downside zones and the key price level for me is 1.2350/40. This is where I am looking to target. Why? Well my old friend COT positioning on sterling comes to mind.

We can see from the COT data that sterling non commercial positioning long has increased drastically over the last month or so. This uncertainty from political weakness gives a certain viability to traders wanting to hold sterling longs, and it's likely that CHFGBP and JPYGBP will see flows into them short term. This would indicate a fall in price and a cascade of stops pretty quickly. Interestingly, looking at CME options, 1.23 has the highest volume currently. I'm going to be honest and say that I am not an options guy so I don't know the ins and outs, but it seems pertinent so it's something that I'd mention (and if someone wants to give me any lessons on options trading I would be most open to it!).

The upside risk is of course still there. If we have a break above 1.3025 then I'll scratch the trade (where my stop will be) because that we will likely form key support at the high of the late April - current range (similar to how we are forming resistance at the low of the range currently).

So the trade -

Short at market sub 1.2850 (next week)

Stop at 1.3025

Target of 1.24/2350 (the latter if you feel it will extend fully through demand)

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a short position in GBPUSD over the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Read more:

Cable: Where Are We Headed After This Political Meltdown? - Seeking Alpha

Desperate situations do call for desperate measures I agree, but sometimes desperate measures can really prove to be futile. So is the case with H-Metro. H-Metro has been employing numerous tactics of trying to combat piracy and the most recent one is uploading content as images rather than text. I know the issue of piracy is a big problem in this industry and there hasnt been any viable breakthrough that I know of yet, but this resolution actually presents more problems than it solves anything. Lets go through why

So for starters, the idea is bad in that it will not help their SEO since images cannot be read by the Google search crawler and therefore, Google wont know that they have the content.

With everyone getting their news online, its great that H-Metro is online, however presenting their news as images defeats the purpose. Im saying this because for a while H-Metro wasnt actually online, forthis same issue of piracy. Them making a decision to come online is therefore positive. They just need to do it the right way.

Fine, say H-Metro doesnt really mind not having a good onlinepresence, all they want is their content protected but thats still problematic because of the existence of software such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR). OCR software recognises the text on images and PDFs which can then be extracted and converted into editableWord, Excel and Text output formats. And at the end of the day, you realise you really havent done much to address the problem.

Again, this piracy problem has driven H-Metro to upload their content later in the day after most media houses have alreadypublished. But then again, that still is a problem because some online news platforms likeiHarareandNehanda Radio(which basically steals news fromother sites and then protects it the irony!)actually manage to upload H-Metros content before H-Metro itself can.

How? The simplest assumption wed rather go with is that the content thieves buy the H-Metro hardcopy and transfer (by scanning and converting to text) the information contained onto their sites. And of course there was no way H-metro cangamble by delaying their hardcopy too I mean who buys newspaper in the evening??

Anyway, using this logic, youll discover that the new strategy of converting text to images does not help the case since content thieves still have access to the hardcopy.

So in essence: H-Metros new resolutionwill only lead to more frustration and complications rather than solve the initial problem.

View post:

H-metro resolves to protect content by converting text to images: this is why it won't work - Technology Zimbabwe

Forbes

6 Ways To Be More Hirable...And 1 That Could Land A Job Today Forbes But if you're uploading it online, with hundreds of other job-seekers, the material has to be top-notch. And, considering that the average ... And then keep it running through your mind as you're headed in for an interview. 6. Clean up your online ...

Read the original post:

6 Ways To Be More Hirable...And 1 That Could Land A Job Today - Forbes

Weve all been there. Whether telling grandma how to open her email, or being on call for a company across the country to correct a ransomware issue, weve all had to try and describe our own actions to people who are often confused on how to follow. Itd be easier if they could just appear next to you, watch how you do it and then replicate, wouldnt it? Thats where Screen Recorders and Screen Capture software come in. While allowing other users to view your work without adding the security risks of remote access software, these programs make tech support or tutorials way easier. Here, we take a look at the top 10 screen capture software packages for 2017. For the purposes of this list, all listed are free for download at time of writing. The programs are in no particular order, as many people have many different needs and expectations for screen recorders, and thus there is no one true catch all solution for those that prefer options, size, or uploading demands.

Starting off our list is a web based screen recorder which works with both windows and mac machines due to it not needing to be installed to use. Allowing the use of either specific bits or an entire screen, you can not only record the video footage but also microphone audio to give better instructions. There is also a good deal of real time editing features which allows it to be a great choice for those needing to quickly and succinctly send over information. Lastly, Acethinker allows you to download the subsequent video into multiple formats for sending or re-uploading as you see fit.

With a name that more resembles an Android OS, ISR is an excellent program for new and old computers alike due to its wide support base. While the screen selection is nothing to write home about (not that its bad), there is a fine feature that allows you to draw on the panel to give greater focus to instructions while recording. It also features a Screenshot to URL function, which isnt terribly common these days. In editing there is also a history feature in case a mistake or creative decisions needs a revamping, which makes it handier for a longer form project or recording.

Easy to use, small download size, and direct sharing through Twitter allows Jing to make this list. Outside of this, its about as basic as they come in terms of recordings, with limited editing options. Likewise, this would not work particularly well if you need a great deal of definition, but standard computer screens are recorded well enough. Hotkey support is a good tool for this program, and is easy to use for beginners who basically just need a job done. The user interface itself is remarkably basic, which makes for another reason its a handy tool for those who dont care for the art of recording.

More and more common is the act of recording a lecture, tutorial or recording and immediately uploading it to YouTube. If this is your kind of strategy, EZVID may be your software of choice. As an added bonus, theres no need to edit recordings outside of EZVID as the program comes with its own. Some features in the editing programming include speed control and speech synthesis (though this is typically frowned upon in tutorials if you are looking for views). Simple, easy to use, and free. Whats not to love?

Rylstim is one of the easiest tools to use around. Simply download, select your frame rate, storage location and hit record. It doesnt get much easier than that. As a bonus, theres a mobile app in case you need to record something from your phone, which nowadays is a real possibility. As soon as you are finished recording, the video will appear which you can either save and send, or edit using an outside editor.

Though using an antiquated method of recording (saving your video in a Flash format that Chrome users would now have to manually enable), Webinaria is still a good selection. Free and Open Source, Webinaria is primarily a windows based program, and can allow for the recording of your voice while also recording video from the screen. Editing is not a particularly strong suit with the program, but the basics are certainly there. That being said, it being open source software, there can be incremental community improvements from the community itself which can allow for more features over time.

One of the most popular screen recording programs in the world, CamStudio comes just short of making the top 3 for this years recorder programs. There arent a great deal of features, but its a pretty standard tool and many other programs have no problem using the footage. Streaming is easy with CamStudio, and the cursor hiding tool is handy if youre looking for a slightly more professional look. You can also use pre-recorded audio if thats more your style, which is great if you need to make sure the tutorials are precise, and microphone support allows for impromptu recording as well. If selecting this program, do be careful. There have been many reports of CamStudio being a mule for viruses if you dont download it from an official link, so a pairing with an antivirus may be in your best interest.

Made with education in mind, ActivePresenter by Atomi is great for either in office or prerecorded sessions where recording accurately is a must. One of the more feature dense free products out there, ActivePresenter allows for voiceover, a full graphics option and proper annotations. This makes it SCORM-compliant (the Sharable Content Object Reference Model). Pair this with a projector screen for in person presentation and youve got yourself two thirds of a corporate, polished presentation. Now the only piece missing is you. While paid versions are available, the free version seems to be a good starter program and more than worth the download time.

With a default uploader to Youtube and the ability to handle screen recordings up to 20 minutes, this is definitely one for those looking for low impact programs with the aim to do shorter tutorials. There is a voice over option that allows for recording over the footage, which can be handy in detailing the finer points of a tutorial, and the video itself can be saved as either FLV or AVI. There is an option for 250MB of server storage of videos, though many will find this redundant if not outright useless. The User Interface is extremely easy and can allow for the absolute minimum of set up time.

Coming in to close out our review of screen recording programs is BB FlashBack Express. Not to be confused with BlackBerry, BlueBerry FlashBack allows for a pretty decent amount of options for free screen recordings. With the standard screen selection, FlashBack Express also features a multiple input audio choice format, meaning you can narrate while recording or just have music in the background, or both. The files themselves can be AVI, FLV or SWF in format natively, and the playback controls are easy to use. There is also a feature that allows users to highlight their actions in multiple ways, making it easier for viewers to notice mouse movements. If you are worried about upload speed or size, there are also adjustments that can be made to manage the frame rate for most recordings, just bear in mind that the lower the framerate, the more clunky the movement. Lastly, FlashBack Express allows for full uploads to Youtube, Blip, Revver and Viddler, as well as direct embedding of videos onto your own pages.

This has been our selections for the top screen recorders or screen capture software of 2017. Do you have a favorite program that hasnt quite made our list? If so, please feel free to comment them down below.

Follow this link:

Best Screen Recorders Top 10 Screen Capture Software - Gazette Review

Models available for customising include theCurry 1, Highlight, and ClutchFit Force 3.0

Athletic wear maker Under Armour has launched a new platform allowing consumers to customise its athletic shoes by uploading their own images and selecting prints and colours.

The beta launch of UA Icon, which will see the first footwear shipped mid-July, has been in the works for some time. Customers can upload pictures or other images on Under Armour's website, shrink or expand them, and select the position where they will appear on the footwear.

Models available for customising include theCurry 1, Highlight, and ClutchFit Force 3.0.

"We're giving you the power to really let your imagination run wildbut how is your UA Icon going to fit into the rest ofthe stuff you're wearing? Whether you rep your team or black it out, keep your closet in mind," Under Armour's website reads.

Under Armour's new customisation platform prices the Curry One at US$160, Highlight at $160 and the ClutchFit Force 3.0 at $250.

However, the company notes: "Ourcapacity is a bit limited right now and we can only make a limited number of shoes a day. Be sure to save yourdesigns by sharing themwith yourself. All orders placed at this time will start shipping mid-July."

More here:

Under Armour launches its first customisable shoes - just-style.com (subscription)

"Published by The Life Science Institute"

Artificial Intelligence Expert Dennis Lee Foster Reveals the Future of Civilization Entwined with Supercomputers, From Technological Chaos to Uploading a Mind to a Machine

In a revealing new book, Artificial Intelligence expert and best-selling author Dennis Lee Foster chronicles how civilization has entered a period of profound social and technological transition in which developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are completely transforming life and death. In Your Obsolete Brain: Life and Death in the Age of Superintelligent Machines, the author vividly depicts the future of human society as it inevitably becomes entwined withand possibly molded bysuperintelligent computers.

Advanced technologies that might solve the planet's most dire problems have also spawned autonomous killing machines and nanorobots capable of spreading lethal viruses indiscriminately. As superintelligent machines ascend, will they inherit human drives to compete, exploit, and dominate? Will people someday achieve immortality by uploading their minds into computers? Who will be the real masters of future civilizations: humans or machines?

In Your Obsolete Brain, Foster provides the most likely answers, drawn from recent breakthroughs and groundbreaking research, to these and other questions about the most important human quest of modern timespossibly, of all time. While dispelling many of the myths and misconceptions about AI, the book also reveals how civilization will be impacted by autonomous weapons, planned obsolescence, stock market manipulation, the Internet of Things, and current research aimed at uploading a human mind to a computer.

According to Foster, "One event is certain: ultimately, the quality of life and possibly the entire fate of everyone who lives on Earth will be forever impacted by artificial intelligence from birth to death-and possibly beyond. Of all the traits that contributed to the rise and eventual dominance of humans over the planet, ingenuity was perhaps the most profound. Yet, it is our very rise and dominance that produced the coming clash between civilization and technological chaos. In the end, ingenuity may prove to be either our demise or our salvation."

In Your Obsolete Brain, readers will learn how AI can:

Save lives but also kill; empower but also obsolete Solve planetary crises, or hasten the collapse of civilization Bolster or devastate the global economy Enhance or enslave the human brain

Your Obsolete Brain is published by The Life Science Institute, a global think tank devoted to research, education, and information dissemination on scientific, economic, and social issues affecting the perseverance of civilization.

Dennis Lee Foster is a computer scientist, author, educator, and consultant, known as a pioneer in the development of artificial intelligence in educational technology, medical diagnosis, and robotics. Involved in AI research, development, and deployment since 1974, he is the author of more than 60 published books about computers and programming, behavior science, finance, health care, sociology, and communications.

Related:

Artificial Intelligence Expert: It's Too Late to Prevent Thinking Machine Chaos (http://www.usfinancialnewstoday.com/story/58022/artificial-intelligence-expert-its-too-late-to-prevent-thinking-machine-chaos.html)

The AI Insider (http://www.dennisfoster.com/blog)

Author Bibliography (http://www.dennisfoster.com/bibliog.htm)

Book Excerpt (http://dennisfoster.com/nonfiction.htm)

Media Contact Company Name: Life Science Institute Contact Person: Dennis L. Foster Email: lifescience@mail.com Phone: 8088544938 Country: United States Website: http://lifescienceinstitute.com

Originally posted here:

Your Obsolete Brain: Life and Death in the Age of Superintelligent Machines - Digital Journal

Originally from Greece and based in London, Eva Papamargariti reflects and analyzes the rapidly transforming relationships between material and immaterial matter in our new digital world. Papamargaritis work contains complex visual (and often audio) collages in which impossible organic forms constantly evolve, mutate, and entwine.

No matter how utterly alien her work can seem, it retains consistent feelings of a deep human familiaritywhich only adds to its uncanny sensibilities. Lurking behind the works gratifying bright colors and psychedelic surrealism lies an unsettling emotional depth that never really allows the viewer to get a firm handle on what exactly it is they are experiencing. Papamargariti reveals, illustrates, and renders a third plane that now exists somewhere between all of our physical and digital realities.

Papamargaritis solo show Precarious Inhabitants, a series of works addressing issues of symbiosis and transformation between human, AI machines, animals and other organic and synthetic bodies, is currently showing at Transfer Gallery through July 8.

Christian Petersen: How has your relationship with computers changed since you started using them?

Eva Papamargariti: I started using computers at the age of 12 and my main activity was to play games on5-inch floppy disks with my brotherso my relationship with them changed a lot since that era. Back thenI could never imagine that they would become the first object I would touch every morning when I wake up and also I could never even remotely think that I would use them as the main tool to create art.

CP: What were your early online experiences like?

EP: It was an exciting era specially because you would feel the mystery and charm of something that was still unknown to a majority of the users. Now most of our online activities seem predictable, or to say it better, I believe the element of surprise is missing a lot.

CP: You studied architecture at one point. What influence has that discipline had on your art?

EP: I graduatedfrom architecture five years ago. The transition was quite natural cause I was already studying at a school that had a quite wide curriculum mixing new media, art, and architecture. We actually had many tutors that were artists themselves. When I was doing my diploma thesis I started uploading some very simple gif animations on Tumblr just because I was really fed up with architecture, to be honest. During this period and after my graduation, gradually I started uploading more and more stuff while I was taking a break from anything that was architecture-related. That helped me understand that maybe my ideas could be better communicated through art.

I wasnt the kid that always wanted to be an architectI was just searching for something, and I considered architecture to be diverse and more open thematically in terms of what the courses provided compared to other studies, so I went for it. The influence that it had on my practice and art is really important and I think I am lucky to have experienced architecture at this specific school where we were encouraged to get out of the normative and stereotypical way of thinking. A recurring theme in my work is an attempt to dissolve, distort, and understand space through embodied experience through the use of digital mediums. Architecture is still present in what I do.

CP: What was the first artwork you made using a computer that you recognized as digital art

EP: I guess it was my first series of animated gifs that I did while playing basically on 3ds Max. They would always be some fragments of space, objects, and bodies moving in frenetic ways. I think it was around 2012 that Lorna Mills somehow saw my work on Google+ and contacted me to create gifs for the Sheroes series in Canada created by Rea McNamara and co-curated with Lorna. I was super excited with this when it happened!

CP: Its interesting looking at your Tumblr archive and seeing your progression from experimental video and photography, to gifs to glitch art,to 3D digital art. How would you describe that journey?

EP: My work now feels so much different than what I was doing five or six years ago. The answer is simple: I was trying things in order to find what was, at that particular moment, the best way to express my state of mind. As I was creating more I felt the need to change the tools and means that I was using, because each of these has their own materiality and rules. Its totally different to talk about a subject through video versus gifs, for example. But I also like to get involved in things and situations that are new to me.

Lately I try to create more sculptural work and I also film in real locations. I feel that right now I can filter, support, and build my work more effectively through a combination of mediums and dynamics instead of using only 3D design. Video, photography, drawing, 3D design, gifs, etc. are tools that I use according to the outcome and intentionI want to achieve each time. I dont feel that I should be bound to one medium in order to create art. I changed a lot through these years personally and creatively, so my art and how I make it would inevitably change along with me.

CP: Your bio says that you explore the relationship between digital space and (im)material reality. What is that relationshipand how is it changing as the digital space expands?

EP: This relationship is mainly defined by the way our body and mind stands and perceives these in-between conditions whose boundaries are continuously amplified but also blurred as the simultaneity of the two states becomes more and more pronounced through the use of digital devices. Our eyes and hands are getting used to existing in a dual situation as digital space expands to objects, surfaces, and interfaces. These days its not only our body parts that start to experience the difference but also our mind has altered in terms of how we read, absorb, and redistribute information through and to our surroundings. This relationship that I am trying to explore through my work is always n-dimensional and palimpsestic. What interests me more is this process of re-writing on this in-between area of material and immaterial, and the traces that both physical and digital actions leave as we move forward.

CP: Theres always a lot of elements to your work, a hyperactive spirit. Is that a reflection of your personality?

EP: Yes and no. It certainly reflects my personality but my body sometimes reacts and gets slow. When I was in architecture school I had an amazing tutor that was telling me that my personality is somehow multifocal. Back then I couldnt understand what he might have seen to say something like that; it just didnt make sense. As years went by I totally realized how right he was. I am somehow dispersed between states, references, ideas, balancing between thought and action; I always do multiple things simultaneously and I get easily bored by situations. When this restlessness becomes a feature of my work it is detached from the personal level andmainly reflectsa state of non-stop, complex procedures that we are facing in the physical and digital realm.

CP: People that work in 3D reference rendering a lot. How would you describe your relationship with rendering?

EP: Intense! I refer to rendering all the time and my friends that are not involved in digital art and 3D design still wonder how it can be so complicated. Its a process that involves time and that factor is enough to understand how problematic but also charming it can be. As technology advances rendering times and processes are becoming shorter. With game engines and specific renderers, you can render in real time.

There is a magic element to it that attracts me though, since we build something and then, in order to actually see this creation, we need to pass through these layers and make the invisible visible somehow. I have cursed many times because of rendering, but I kind of enjoy it also.

CP: Your work has become more organic over the years. What interests you about trying to create biological forms digitally?

EP: I am very much interested in the way technology looks at nature and biological forms and the tense areas that are being created while this gazing takes place. My work the last two years deals a lot with themes that connect human action, natural surfaces, tech biomimicry, and animal behavior. I am really intrigued by the condition of observing and mapping natural ecosystems in order to collect data, information, and knowledge that then come back to us in different forms and procedures.

There are many interesting paradoxical and contradictory situations embedded in these processes from a scientific point of view, but also through a more vernacular lens. For example, I find night camera trail footage fascinating, especially when it isused to pattern movements of animals. I find the particular momentswhere the animalsaccidentally look at the camera extremely intense, almost revealing a relationship built on the action of watching and being watched.

CP: Your work often uses very bright colors, but I feel a sense of discomfort or even darkness behind that.

EP: I agree. As I mentioned before, I am quite challenged by the idea of containing multiple meanings in my work and observing the same in the work of others. Using a bright color palette doesnt mean that the work itself emits happiness or uncontrolled energy. I am very much tempted by intense contradictions in art, and people even. I prefer it when ideas can make themselves visible through a slight process of digging and color certainly dictates a mood, but I will never consider it to have a protagonistic role in what I do. It is always a factor that works in combination with other things. To say it better, color in my work is usuallyused as a concealment factor rather than a revealing factor.

Facticious Imprints (Extract)

CP: Do you think your work is political?

EP: Yes, although most of the time this happens in a more subtle than loud way. I believe work that is being created these days inevitably is political one way or another. There are so many urgent issues around us happening on multiple levels that is impossible not to get affected. Choosing not to get affected is also a political decision, I guess, although dangerous. But still, it is a decision that reflects a certain conscious stance.

I definitely believe that political involvement is quite crucial nowadays. Important parts of my work deal with how we position ourselves toward others and through the constantly altering surfaces and spaces that surround us socially, technologically, and environmentally. So the political aspect is there intentionally for sure. I would never deal with themes that dont trigger a sense of immediacy inside me, but I would also never create work just for the sake of being political. This would be totally dishonest towards myself and whomever would engage with the work.

CP: New media has become a vital home for the expression of feminist and gender ideas. What about the medium makes it a particularly interesting way to explore those issues?

EP: I think new media can be very dynamic and vibrant and its true what you said: we have seen some great new media works related to feminism and gender. In those cases, I believe the medium totally matches the intention, which is a very important factor while exploring issues that need to be communicated in a quite clear and bold way.

Also, new media is characterized by a certain peculiar kind of flexibility and fluidity. It can take different forms and contain multilayered ideas. Plus it is more easily disseminated and adaptedit seems more open, inclusive, and receptive as a condition, while at the same time it can create more effectively a sense of collective perception and action. At the same time, its less male-dominated in comparison with sculpture or painting, though I have seen some really intriguing sculpture, performative, and even spoken word work lately that deal with the same issues. In the end its a matter of how you attempt to express your ideas and the actual content of them, not only the medium through which you are expressing them.

CP: How would you define the current difference between working as a digital artist and a traditional artist?

EP: I would say the most striking difference is the pace at which the tools of digital artists are shifting. It feels almost like the tools sometimes choose and act before us. I dont like very much to distinguish artists and art in general but I would say that the challenges to this medium have to do with the relation between the initial concept and the final execution. When you dont deal with many tangible forms then there is a slight danger of getting lost in a stream of endless probabilities.

Its important to find the right balance and mechanism to link idea and outcome in order to achieve a result that is not just taking superficial advantage of the digital features, but embeds their characteristics and structure giving actual meaning to the work.

Despite that, this process contains much openness; it is quite liberating not to have rigid limitations from the medium, and that is an important element that differentiates digital art from traditional art in my opinion. On the other hand, the sense of corporeality in traditional mediums is sometimes unbeatable, although I believe VR, for instance,gives us the potential to overcome this. Still, the way the majority of VR work is being made somehow leaves this feature out or deals with it in a rather facile way, and this is certainly something that needs to be reconsidered seriously.

Always a body, always a thing - Trailer

CP: Tell us about your new show at Transfer Gallery.

EP:I am very happy to have a solo show at Transfer Gallery. Kelani Nichole is doing great work there all these years. I am showing a three-channel adapted version of my last video work Always a body, always a thing, and a sculptural video piece combining four screens on the floor of the gallery. The space has been transformed to an immersive dark projection cave. The title of the show is Precarious Inhabitants and it deals with a series of interconnected issues surrounding amorphy, liquidity, invasive species, plasticization, biomimetic behavior, body malformations on amphibians based on real cases, and the ontology ofrecording and tracking devices.

The three-channel projections construct a system of three parallel narrations. One is a narration of amorphous amphibians that are trying to define and sense their bodies and limbs; the second is a dialogue between humans and invasive species; and the third is a monologue from the side of the human solely. I have used a mix of techniques and materials for the videos which include 3D-rendered environments, game engine simulations, footage I shot in different natural locations, found archival material, and micro-camera, endoscopic recordings from critters, synthetic, and organic surfaces. I would say it is one of the most complete, if not the most complete, and diverse work I have done so far.

CP: What else do you have coming up?

EP: I have another show running in London, at Assembly Point gallery, Obscene Creatures, Resilient Terrains, a collaboration between me andTheo Triantafyllidis. I am participating in a group show in Milan that starts June 8 called Non Standard, curated by Mattia Giussani,and features new and recent mixed media works by myself, Lea Collet & Marios Stamatis, Anne De Boer, Joey Holder andAnna Mikkola. I am also participating inTRANSFER Download atHeK,taking place during Art Basel, and then I am working on three projects I will announce soon; I am trying things for them I have never done before so they feel very interesting and challenging!

Christian Petersen

We run an online magazine, so of course, we're interested in what's happening with art on the web. We invited online gallerist, founder, and curator ofDigital Sweat Gallery, Christian Petersen, to write a bi-monthly column for us. Every other Wednesday he selects a Web Artist of the Week.

(All images: Courtesy of the artist)

See original here:

Wednesday Web Artist of the Week: Eva Papamargariti - ArtSlant

DASH cams are the fastest growing car accessory with new models released every month fitted with more and more features offering you peace of mind in an accident.

The market is now so big, theres a choice of dash cam to suit every budget from entry level models that do basic recording through to wifi-enabled top-of-the-range cameras.

Crash for cash incidents are big business and fraudulent claims cost insurers millions each year. Having a dash cam can help insurers identify what happened and determine who was at fault.

Thats why some policies will offer discounts if you have a dash cam fitted. So you can pay up front for a cam and reap the yearly rewards.

And some police forces are now even using footage from owners dash cams to cut down on reckless drivers.

Dash cams attach to your windscreen and film whats going on ahead.

Whats clever is that instead of needing huge memory cards to store videos, itll automatically delete the oldest footage on a rolling cycle.

If youve had an accident, though, the dash cam sensors will recognise it and automatically lock the clip and save it so it can be viewed later.

Most cameras will have an on-bard memory card that you can plug into your computer to download footage while newer models will offer wireless uploading.

No. While many newer, more expensive models have a decent-sized screen for playback this must be switched off while youre driving many will turn off automatically.

The law states motorists must not be able to view video-playing devices while driving.

Theres an exception for parking cameras but this doesnt apply to dash cams.

Most dash cams run off the 12V socket so youll need to wire it around the headlining to avoid draping wires.

If youve got a sat nav or regularly charge a mobile phone through the 12V socket then pick up a multi-socket adaptor.

Alternatively you can get a hard-wiring kit to run off a cars battery. Some retailers, like Halfords, will also install the dash cam for you.

The camera needs to be forward facing with a good view of the whole road ahead.

It should intrude no more than 40mm into the swept area of your windscreen wipers and cant be mounted above the steering wheel.

Wed recommend slotting it next to the rear-view mirror.

There are several key players in the dash cam market including Nextbase and Garmin and each manufacturer offers something for all budgets.

Pricier models have higher quality video and more advanced functions like wifi and cloud storage.

Sun Motors has rounded up the latest models on sale from leading manufacturers to help you buy the right one for you.

Latest prices

At the top of the range is the Nextbase 512GW which records in 1440p HD across 140-degrees and with built-in wifi you can upload footage straight to your smartphone or tablet.

At the other end of the spectrum is the 112. The viewing angle is just 120-degrees and recording is done in 720p. But for around 100 less, its a great entry-level value product.

Somewhere in the middle is the 312GW combining price and features.

Latest prices

Better known for sat navs, Garmin has entered the dash cam market and to good success.

One option is the35 which offers HD recording and a three-inch display. Its a driver aid, too, offering forward collision warning alerts and red light/speed camera detection. If thats too pricey, consider the 30 with its 1.4-inch display that does away with driver alerts.

At the higher end of the marketare the 55 and 65W the latter with a 180-degree viewing angleand a Go driver alert.

Latest prices

Mios range of MiVue dash cams have been around for several years with latest models featuring an innovative touchscreen.

The range-topping MiVue 658 WIFI has ultra-HD recording, integrated wifi, a 140-degree viewing angle and a parking mode to collect footage when you leave your vehicle.

If you want an eye-witness at the back of your car and have the cash to spend, then the MiVue 698 makes sense, recording in full HD both front and rear.

Theres safety camera warnings, too, and a parking mode but youll have to plug into your PC to review footage.

The cheaper 618 is a very impressive entry level option although its still pricier than some rivals.

Latest prices

Headlight specialist Philips has two dash cam options available. Both the ADR610 and ADR810 offer full HD recording, automatic collision detection and a fatigue index.

Theres an instant replay function to clarify responsibility on the spot of an accident with proof-stamped evidence to support insurance claims.

The pricier ADR810 adds night view and a wider viewing angle.

Latest prices

Transcend was one of the first companies to market with dash cams and excels in compact designs.

Its DrivePro series features just one the 520 that comes with a screen and front and rear facing cameras. Its got wifi, 1080p recording and a night mode making it a good if pricey all-rounder.

Its most basic model is the DrivePro 50 that does away with all extras except 1080p recording at a 130-degree angle with app streaming.

The middle of the range the DrivePro 220 is probably the best combination of gadgets plus price.

Latest prices

Another headlight specialist delving into the dash cam market, Ring operates at the cheaper end of the market.

Even its range-topping RBGDC200 which offers a full HD 140-degree angle is sub-100. However it does away with a lot of the clever tech like parking modes and driver alerts found on pricier rival models.

Rings range goes right the way down to the mini 1.5-inch RBGDC15 which is a real budget-buster.

Latest prices

Breakdown provider RAC also dabbles in dash cams with two models in its range the 210 and 205.

The pricier 210 has 1080p recording quality, speed camera alert notification and built in wifi to connect directly to a smartphone app.

The cheaper 205 does without alerts and wifi but still offers full-HD recording and a 140-degree viewing angle.

For in-depth product reviews visit our sister site Driving.co.uk.

Follow this link:

What are the best dash cams in 2017? Buying guide, reviews and all you need to know - The Sun