Category: Featured News

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnAEsnjA8kE]

Two photographers have taken the mobile technology to a new level and created a fascinating exhibition.

Two photographers, named Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman, have joined efforts to create a photographic exhibition that they have entitled “Geolocation” due to the use of this form of mobile technology as they pursued public tweets and snapped images of the places where they took place.

In a unique and modern form of capturing the moment, this new style has drawn considerable attention.

The geolocation project is ongoing, as the artists continue their efforts to match moments with the places in which they occurred. The two photographers create the pieces by scanning through Twitter for messages that consist only of text, but that also include their location data. The next step is to actually travel to the precise spot that they feel that the tweet originated.

Once they find the place, the geolocation photograph is taken in order to provide a visual for the Tweet.

The result is a fascinating combination of everything from curious to clever and from sweet and touching to haunting and bizarre. Once the artists use the geolocation technology from the chosen tweet, it will usually take them a week or two to actually reach the precise spot. That said, there have been times that they have been able to find the place and take their photograph of the situation within an hour of having chosen the tweet that inspired it.

These contemporary artists make their best efforts to use the latest in geolocation to help to capture the situations that are generating the messages that are being publicly tweeted.

One picture, taken of the front of an auto parts and service shop came with the tweet caption “Cars are nothing but money pigs #hateit #waitingsucks #impoor”. Another shot of a car in a hotel parking lot that is otherwise mostly empty was captioned “Tell me I’m not making a mistake. Tell me you’re worth the wait.”

The photographers have already traveled in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada using geolocation technology and the social network posts. They hope that they will also be able to add the Middle East, Russia, South Korea, and Kosovo to their list.

Digi-Capital reviews the game industry in 2012

Digi-Capital, an international investment firm, has released a new review of the game industry, which may help shed some insight on the growing popularity surrounding mobile gaming. The review offers an expansive look at the industry, documenting its breadth and the activity of the domestic and international gaming markets. Mobile gaming is highlighted in the review, as are social gaming investments and the trends that are emerging to affect the future of the game industry as a whole.

Game industry breaks previous M&A records

Digi-Capital found that the game industry beat out all of its M&A records that had been set in the past in 2012. The review shows that the industry accounted for more than $4 billion in total M&A for the year, an 18% increase in transactional value from what the industry had been in 2011. The game industry did see fewer blockbuster releases in 2012, but the few blockbuster titles that were released performed exceedingly well in the international market.

Investments for 2012 total $835 million

The industry saw more than $835 million in investments throughout 2012, 31% of which found its way to the mobile gaming sector. Approximately 35% of these investments went toward the gamification of websites and other services, making them more attractive to those using PCs and mobile devices. Though investments were significantly lower than they had been in 2011, they still managed to give the game industry a boost through a tumultuous year. This boost proved especially beneficial for the mobile gaming sector.

Social and mobile gaming expected to pick up steam in coming years

The review from Digi-Capital suggests that social and mobile games are likely to continue gaining momentum in the coming years. Social games have only recently begun to come into their own, thus account for modest transaction value. The review shows that the transaction value of mobile games continues to grow, but the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game sector is likely to dwarf both social and mobile gaming in terms of M&A.