Art Film Talk

David Tamés talks with David Rose, President of Ambient Devices, a Cambridge, Massachusetts start-up developing Internet appliances based on the concept of calm technology and tangible media. A recent article titled "Meet the Life Hackers" by Clive Thompson appeared in the October 16th issue of The New York Times that discussed the rise of interruption science and how the many communication devices we use affect our behavior. David Rose was quoted in the article saying, "Information is no longer a scarce resource–attention is […] computer-based interruptions fall into a sort of Heisenbergian uncertainty trap: it is difficult to know whether an e-mail message is worth interrupting your work for unless you open and read it–at which point you have, of course, interrupted yourself." The article asks many questions and interviews some researchers in the area, however, it did not cover the work that Ambient Devices is doing. David Rose shares with us how Ambient Devices is working on a solution. Items mentioned in the interview inlclude: Apple's Dashboard, Microsoft's Gadgets, Yahoo!'s Konfabulator and Ambient's current products: the Orb, Weather Beacon, Dashboard, and the new 5 Day Forecaster.

Direct access to interview: artfilmdesign-2005-10-25 (MP3, 25:02, 10.87MB).

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David Tamés talks with Cynthia McKeown about One in Eight: Janice's Journey, her first feature length documentary. For nine years Cynthia followed the life of Janice Fine, from her initial diagnosis with breast cancer, through her treatment, recovery and search for answers. The occasion for this interview is that I Have Breast Cancer: Janice's Journey (a version of the film edited for broadcast) will have its premiere on Discovery Health on Thursday, October 20th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Two screening with panel discussion events are currently scheduled for the Boston area for those who are interested in seeing One in Eight: Janice's Journey, the director's cut of the film. Listen to the interview (MP3, 15:22, 6.3MB)
       

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David Tamés talks with artist Bren Bataclan about his Smile Boston Project. Two years ago, Bren began leaving his paintings of happy, whimsical, characters all over the Boston area for people to take with a note that says the painting is free if you promise to smile at strangers more often. Bren regularly exhibits his art work in galleries. Before becoming a painter Bren worked as a graphic designer in the dot-com world and prior to that taught computer graphics and design at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Boston Museum School. Listen to the interview (MP3, 14:50, 6.5MB) and visit his web site to learn more about his work.

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David Tamés talks with Federico Muchnik about his film, Touching History (2005, 30 min.), which premiers at the New England Film and Video Festival on Friday, October 7, 2005. The film recounts the contentious relationship between The Cambridge Savings Bank and the legendary Tasty Diner during the redevelopment of Harvard Square. Muchnik's numerous film credits include Raul Ruiz's The Golden Boat (1992, co-writer, actor) and Between Heaven and Hell (2005, writer, director). The New England Film and Video Festival, the longest running regional film festival, is celebrating it's 30th year.

Direct access to interview: artfilmdesign-2005-10-04 (MP3, 11 min., 5.2MB)

(note: there is a problem with the flash player for this episode, it plays too fast, the Flash player can't play VBR MP3 files, we'll fix this someday).

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