Adam Hudson on Wednesday, Dec. 26th
Adam Hudson writes about the military and military technology for us here at Turnstyle, he sent in these predictions for 2013.
Considering past events and recent trends, there are a few things to look out for in the year 2013.
1. Drawdown but not a complete end to the war in Afghanistan: the Obama administration plans to withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Next year, that means the combat mission in Afghanistan will be scaling down. However, special operations forces will remain in Afghanistan to conduct counterterrorism operations against suspected terrorists in the region and train the Afghan military. In addition, Afghanistan will be used as a hub for the U.S. to carry out drone strikes in Pakistan.
2. Continuation of drone strikes and targeted killing: Obama escalated drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia during his first term. Some of these strikes (largely carried out by the CIA and JSOC) killed American citizens, including a 16-year-old boy. There is no sign that this policy will abate anytime soon. In fact, just the opposite. The Obama administration set up its own “disposition matrix”, a database with names of suspected terrorists around the world. This means the U.S. will keep adding names to its kill lists for years to come. As a result, the practice of global targeted killing will be entrenched in U.S. national security policy.
3. Indefinite detention of U.S. citizens will remain: last year, the Obama administration signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. This act, under Sections 1021 and 1022, allows for the indefinite detention (essentially incarceration without due process) of U.S. citizens, which violates core civil liberties. The act drew a lot of outrage from activists and people within the civil liberties community. There have been challenges against the act, such as a lawsuit and congressional legislation. Just recently, however, top Republican and Democratic lawmakers killed an amendment that would have outlawed indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. The amendment was problematic in that it did not apply to all persons within the United States, as outlined by the Constitution. However, considering that there is very little challenge to this bill from Congress or the courts, it is safe to say that indefinite detention of U.S. citizens will remain legal in 2013.
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Happy Holidays!
While we’re off stuffing our mask-holes with cakes and pies we’re still committed to bringing you a little something extra every day. Later in the week we’ll be getting around to some predictions for 2013, but right now we’re going to spin out a little “Best of Turnstyle”. Our theme for the day: gaming.
We’ve assembled some of our favorite stories from the past year from the realm of games:
Saving ‘Republique’: Turning Around A Stalled Kickstarter- we talked with producer Ryan Payton about the still in progress campaign to get his innovative game funded. Spoiler alert: they pulled it off at the last minute.
Year of the Indie Game? Our Chat w/ Stephanie Barish, CEO of IndieCade- Sometimes the headline says it all.
IndieCade Dispatch #1: Hidden in Plain Sight, Couch Co-Op, Vornheim- Part of our tour of IndieCade this past October.
Halo 4: A Hero Evolves- Our version of the NPR story we filed about the release of Halo 4, featuring interviews with the game’s producers.
Episodic Gaming Has Its Revenge- A short feature about the rise of episodic gaming and its possible future.
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Turnstyle on Friday, Jul. 6th
We’re taking a little well earned R&R this week, but we’re still thinking about you, loyal reader. So we’ve gathered some of our favorite posts from the past year into these handy-dandy Best of Turnstyle News pages. One for every day this week. (more…)
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We’re taking a little well earned R&R this week, but we’re still thinking about you, loyal reader. So we’ve gathered some of our favorite posts from the past year into these handy-dandy Best of Turnstyle News pages. One for every day this week.
Here’s some of our best technology related stories from the year so far:
Drones, Now Recording A Rooftop Near You–Or Worse and Drone Technology Eases the Slide Into War– a two part opinion essay series by writer Adam Hudson on how the use of military drones is changing our relationship to war, and how that tech may effect life here in the United States.
Searching For Sunken Treasure, Discovering a DIY Community– the world of OpenROV explorers.
A Mobile App Skeleton Key to James Joyce’s Ulysses– take a tour of Dublin, even from the comfort of home, with this innovative app.
Our Two Part Interview with NationBuilder CEO Jim Gilliam (PART I, PART II)– the inspiring, unlikely story of one of the game changers of the online political arena.
Start-Up Lessons From SocialCam’s CEO- what more do you need to know?
Just How Man Women VC’s Are There In The Valley?– looking at the gender gap amongst the rainmakers in Silicon Valley.
Bureaucrats and Technophiles: A Love Story– open government and tech make googly eyes at each other.
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We’re taking a little well earned R&R this week, but we’re still thinking about you, loyal reader. So we’ve gathered some of our favorite posts from the past year into these handy-dandy Best of Turnstyle News pages. One for every day this week.
Transmedia. A word both loved and loathed by Hollywood executives and Madison Avenue marketers. The art and science, if you will, of making all our disparate media technologies work together to articulate an over-arching vision. Well, when it’s done right at any rate.
What excites us most about transmedia here at Turnstyle is that it is a new frontier. A still uncharted territory that is constantly evolving in practice, content and theory. Even the definition is constantly morphing. Yet that is probably the least interesting thing about transmedia. It’s the work and the people who are doing it that are the most exciting. Here’s some of the highlights from the year so far:
New Media Breaks Through: Fourth Wall Studio Launches RIDES– The Culver City based Fourth Wall Studios is on the cutting edge of transmedia. This report, which was turned into a Marketplace piece, peeks behind the curtain of the studio to show how the creators of the Alternate Reality Game genre are looking to use their storytelling mojo to reach a broader audience.
Transmedia @ WyrdCon: Interviews– Some of the best and brightest minds in transmedia were brought together in Costa Mesa for a series of panels. While there we harvested some quick interviews that reveal the eldritch ties between transmedia and that red-headed step child of the geek universe: Role Playing Games. Featuring Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner Entertainment, Alison Norrington of the StoryWorld conference, and Mickey Neilson of Blizzard Entertainment.
CLANG!– Okay so this isn’t really one of OUR best pieces. It’s just a whole lot of fun. Check out the video for a Kickstarter campaign from author Neal Stephenson for a sword-fighting video game set in the Foreworld universe. This is part of a larger DIY-style transmedia project that Stephenson, fellow author Greg Bear and a host of others are working on at the Subutai Corporation. We talked with Subutai CEO and Chief Creative Officer Mark Teppo back in 2010, on the eve of their first project being launched.
Unveiling the Mystery of ‘The Institute’– perhaps the best known “art of art’s sake” Alternate Reality Game is the fabled “Games of Nonchalance”. A multi-year project that featured the fictional and sinister “Jejune Institute” that was documented by filmmaker Spencer McCall. We got to sit in on a sneak peak of the film, which should be hitting the festival circuit this year, and interviewed McCall in the wake of the screening.
Inside the Mind of “Bear 71″– transmedia doesn’t have borders of any kind, really. This interactive documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada was present at Sundance’s New Frontier gallery this year. We spoke with co-director Jeremy Mendes about this moving blend of documentary footage and user directed discovery.
Bonus from 2011:
Storytelling’s Next Step is a Pandemic– still a favorite here at the office, this is a look at transmedia pioneer Lance Weiler’s Sundance 2011 project Pandemic 1.0. If you want to see where things are going, you need to look back at this piece.
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We’re taking a little well earned R&R this week, but we’re still thinking about you, loyal reader. So we’ve gathered some of our favorite posts from the past year into these handy-dandy Best of Turnstyle News pages. One for every day this week.
Monday: The Emerging World of Transmedia
Tuesday: The Indie Film Landscape
Wednesday: Turnstyle Tech
Thursday: The Complete Crowdfunding 201
Friday: The Complete Black Folk Don’t
Turnstyle News will return, ready and rarin’ to go on July 9th with brand new stories and reports. In the meantime we really do want you to check out the best of what you’ve missed this year!
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As you all undoubtedly already know, Google Glass is finally here.
Sponsors
Now streaming: the archive of our Google Hangout On-Air with Jesse Vigil of Psychic Bunny, one of the designers of the new audio adventure game FREEQ (iOS/Android).
We’ve featured dancer Matt Luck’s work before.
I first encountered Sifteo Cubes back at IndieCade last October, and spent some time playing around with the little blocks which I first mistook for iPod Nanos.
Over the weekend I was having a conversation about the new Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Museum that’s been announced.
