Category Archives: Event

Holodeck?

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Digital Den hosted Which way to the holodeck? on Friday, August 22 at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. Around twenty attendees got to have fun chatting with each other and playing with some geeky toys like the Oculus Rift. The evening included a presentation by Mary Hopper in which she gave her entertaining take on the current state of Virtual Reality. The talk concluded with an announcement that Digital Den is evolving away from an initial focus or research and event hosting and moving towards more of a focus on development of original software (i.e. doing the “D” in R & D :-) )

 

VR@MS.NERD

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Check out our newest upcoming event for August!

Which way to the holodeck?
Friday, August 22, 2014
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Microsoft NERD Center
1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

Have you heard? VR is back! Or is it? Is it hype or real? Can you really feel like you are walking around Paris, Egypt, the Moon or Mars from the comfort of your chair? Come find out, and better yet, try it! You will also hear about what is going on in the local area and even find out how to make your own VR experiences. You MUST RSVP to attend!

VR Meetup!

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Digital Den and a number of other individuals and groups shared their fun virtual reality related toys at the Boston VR Meetup held on Wednesday, July 23 from 6:00 pm – 9 pm at hack/reduce in Cambridge. The event was also covered by Kyle Alspach for the Boston Globe’s Beta Boston and appeared as a story the next day under the title The virtual reality revolution arrives in Boston.

Digital Den’s most popular exhibits included an iRacing Test Track game using a Logitech Driving Force GT gear with an Oculus Rift as well as a vintage Nintendo Virtual Boy.

We are really looking forward to taking new demos to the next Boston VR Meetup in August and perhaps even hosting one in the Fall. Please stay tuned…

Immersion 2014

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Digital Den took their Immersive Interfaces exhibit to LA for this year’s Immersive Education Initiative’s Immersion 2014 conference that ran over the weekend June 6th – 8th. The conference was hosted by The Getty (J. Paul Getty Museum) and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution and the Western USA Chapter of the Immersive Education Initiative (iED West). It was a wonderful event where many fantastic speakers shared their perspectives on the state of immersive education today, and the exhibits all gave attendees a taste of the current state of the art. Special thanks to Nick Potvin for helping to make the Digital Den exhibit a great success!

VCF SE 2.0

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Wow, what a great time! I’ve just returned from Vintage Computing Festival Southeast 2.0 that was held Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4, 2014 in Roswell, GA. It was sponsored by the Atlanta Historical Computing Society and Computer Museum of America. I gave my presentation Computer Museums: Here and there, now and then… then had fun visiting with Lonnie Mimms (Computer Museum of America), David Greelish, Alan Hightower and Brian Stuart (Atlanta Historical Computing Society).

Here is another attendee’s very well done photo gallery of the VCF exhibits…
Retro Innovations Store’s Photo Album

The Computer Museum of America’s Apple Pop-Up Museum was particularly inspiring…
Computer Museum of America’s Apple Pop-Up Exhibit

There was one point where I even found myself holding this Apple I in my lap!
AppleI

All in all, it was a very impressive event!

“Sampler”

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Digital Den hosted two “New Computer Museum Sampler” events on Friday, March 14 at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. Around 35 guests attended to see a sample of the New Computer Museum’s exhibits over the course of the day. An afternoon session featured playtime with Digital Den’s collection of fun interfaces, vintage games and educational software, while an evening session included a presentation about the exhibits, progress, plans and potential partners such as the Cambridge Historical Society and Cyberarts. In addition to Digital Den’s Vintage Computing, Children’s Machines and Immersive Interfaces exhibits, there were also exhibits provided by Adam Rosen of Vintage Mac Museum and Dan Hermes of Art Technology New England. Adam Rosen of Vintage Mac Museum was also kind enough to help sponsor the catering in the evening. Many thanks to Adam, Microsoft for the space, and of course, all of our attendees for your continued support!

Here is a gallery of the festivities!

Spring!

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It’s finally almost spring and time to return to celebrating computer history in the Boston/Cambridge area — please join us for one of these events on March 14th!

New Computer Museum Sampler, Afternoon Introduction & Playtime
Friday, March 14, 2014, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Microsoft NERD Center 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

Come see and hear about a sample of the New Computer Museum’s exhibits! The afternoon session will feature a short introduction starting at noon and then playtime with Digital Den’s collection of cool interfaces (Power Glove, Kinect, Oculus etc.), fun games (NES, Wii, xBox etc.) and educational software (Logo, Oregon Trail etc.). This session is ideal for students and newcomers who have never seen the collections. Lite lunch will be available.

New Computer Museum Sampler, Evening Update & Social
Friday, March 14, 2014, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Microsoft NERD Center 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

Come see and hear about the New Computer Museum’s exhibits, progress and plans! The evening session will start with a brief presentation followed by playtime with a sample of collections provided by a variety of exhibitors. This session is for dedicated supporters and stakeholders as well as newcomers and students. Lite snacks will be available.

Watch for more spring events to be posted soon!
Please join the New Computer Museum Meetup & RSVP… more …

NEW Meetup!

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Happy NEW Year!

I hope this finds everyone having had a wonderful holiday break, a great Happy New Year and very good luck weathering the recent New England Weather.

Please join us for our first Meetup of 2014!

Computer Museums: here & there, now & then…
Sunday, January 19, 2014, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Microsoft NERD Center – Adams Room (1st Floor)
One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA

Come test drive our newest meeting location (it’s warm and has great views!), see the results of the year long survey of computer museums and vintage collections, and then recess for conversation and adult beverages across the street at Champions.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
You MUST sign-in with government issued photo ID!
Space is limited to 15. Be sure to join & RSVP ASAP!

Champions at Marriott, Cambridge – 1 PM…
We will recess to Champions at the Marriott in Kendall Sq. for beer and conversation sponsored by Adam Rosen of The Vintage Mac Museum. GO PATS — 3 PM :-)

Playtime!

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Digital Den sponsored a NEW Computer Museum Meetup on Saturday, December 14th, and there was a good turn out despite the descending snow storm.
 
There were both old and new faces there to play with Digital Den’s interface collection.
Attendees
 
Digital Den team member Nathaniel Pierce helped attendees with the Oculus Rift!
Nate
 
Exhibit-oculus
 
There was also a complete Rock Band setup …
Exhibit-rockband
 
…and the hands-free interfaces were up and running too!
Exhibit-force
 
Thank you to everyone who came out and made the event a great success!