It’s a Party with Teleparty

Stream with your friends and family with Teleparty

It’s a rainy night, and you want to watch a movie with your friends. However, no one wants to travelLuckilyno one will have to move off their couch or bed to watch a movie or show together with the FREE Chrome extension Teleparty (formally known as Netflix Party). 

 

Once you download the Teleparty extension on Chrome or Edgeyou can watch content simultaneously with friends while using the chat feature to discuss the movie. The extension is compatible with Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max so long as everyone has a subscriptionAmazon Prime has their own version of Teleparty built into their services, and it is compatible with Fire TV and your web browser. 

 

The steps are simple: 

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Leo Herrera

Leo Hererra is a graduate student of EMDD. He currently works as a graduate assistant for the program. His research interests include film and media theory.

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Willo: Tooth Cleaning Technology for Kids

Brush Away Brushing with Willo Teeth Cleaning For Kids

Willo is a new product that completely innovates how you approach and clean your teeth. It discards the toothbrush handle design and implements a mold that fits your mouth and cleans your teeth for you, hands-free! It specializes by making your teeth cleaning more consistent and effective without involving human error.

 

You may have developed routines, and once you have established that routine, you lose focus on the details and take your behavior for granted. Twice a day you brush your teeth, but have you ever considered that we have been using the same method for a hundred years without a revolutionary innovation?

 

In fact, dentists still identify flaws in the current teeth brushing options available. Traditional toothbrushes are a point of concern for many healthcare professionals. are liable to under brush or over brush with traditional toothbrushes. Even battery-operated toothbrushes are dependent on you evenly distributing your cleanliness and will not clean up all the plaque.

 

 


“For my entire career, I’ve been looking in patient’s mouths, adults [and] children, and seeing that for most people, they just can’t get that clean mouth that we like to see when they come in for their check-ups. We need something that’s better, that’s different, that gives them the ability to get their teeth clean every single day.”

Willo’s mouth mold technology locates the bristles based on your shape, preferences, and user history. It pulsates the bristles to brush your teeth, and while doing so, learns the shape of your mouth to increase effectiveness and consistency. All you need to do is keep the mouthpiece in your mouth for the duration of the session, press a button, and the entire brushing is taken care of by Willo. 

 

With Willow, it does not just come with a brushing mouth piece; it also comes with a water tank and rinse pod so when the session is over, you can go on your way.  Willo also features Bluetooth capabilities to choose what session you want to do that day. Sessions include basic brush, sensitive gum mode and other options. You can also track your brushing data with the Willo app to get a deeper understanding about your habits!

 

The technology is very family friendly, too. The mouth pieces can identify unique mouths, will configure to your dentistry needs, and every 3 months Willo will ship you a new mouthpiece to ensure consistency long-term. Before Willo, you were stuck with an electric or regular toothbrush and both required you to be consistent with the timing, placement, and even pressure of your strokes to ensure you were properly clean and did not damage your enamels or gums. Teeth brushing has not had an industry disruptor in decades until today. Now you can begin your journey towards cleaner teeth.

Picture of Leo Herrera

Leo Herrera

Leo Hererra is a graduate student of EMDD. He currently works as a graduate assistant for the program.

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Student Journey: Gabe Eastridge

“There isn’t just knowledge but a visual and physical atmosphere of excitement to learn challenging technology and concepts.” About Gabe Gabe Eastridge graduated from the

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Stop Searching. Just Watch.

Stop Searching. Just Watch.

It’s the end of the work week and you’re ready to watch a movie. You’ve been waiting all day to watch Pulp Fiction, but where can you stream it? This is question that leads film buffs into a frustrating and timely scavenger hunt. 

 

It’s not uncommon to check dozens of service subscriptions before finding your flick. In more unfortunate instances, the movie is not on any streaming service– wasting time and energy (as if you had much left wasted). Throughout the hunt, some users become distracted and compromise for another title to save time and discard original plans. It’s a struggle to find what you want to watch across several streaming services because often you don’t know what’s available unless it’s directly recommended to you.

With JustWatch, movie searches begin and end in one seamless experience. Find where to stream, rent, or buy any movie or TV show. The website shares elements with IMDB.com, but regarding finding streaming options, it is much more comprehensive than IMDB. IMDB is owned by Amazon. The “Watch Options” often pushes Amazon Prime subscription or rent/buy options ignoring other viable options, or they only suggest one of several streaming options. JustWatch may not replace IMDB for movie information, but it does include the IMDB rating, trailer, and film synopsis to explore other movie options within the website.

JustWatch is best utilized as a comprehensive searching browser across your various streaming subscriptions. There are four main tabs where you can surf and explore TV and movie titles across all your subscriptions.

JustWatch is available to download using the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Picture of Leo Herrera

Leo Herrera

Leo Hererra is a graduate student of EMDD. He currently works as a graduate assistant for the program. His research interests include film and media theory.

Share this post

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Student Journey: Gabe Eastridge

“There isn’t just knowledge but a visual and physical atmosphere of excitement to learn challenging technology and concepts.” About Gabe Gabe Eastridge graduated from the

Read More »

Mythcast Spots Unidentified Flying Object

Mythcast Gets Magical

EMDD Blog

Mythcast Gets Magical

Are you impatiently awaiting spooky season? We may have just the thing to hold you over!  Join EMDD’s very own Staci Seber and Nicole Nimri as they explore the mythical world of Harry Potter for the latest episodes of Mythcast. The best news? Both episodes are available right now! From Horcruxes to wand making, these episodes will surely fill your cauldron with an urge to re-watch (or re-read) the HP series.

Witches, wizards, and muggles, get lost in the magic with Staci and Nicole today.

Available Episodes

Dr. Kevin Moloney Speaks to Designing in an Age of Uncertainty

EMDD Blog

Dr. Kevin Moloney Speaks to Designing in an Era of Uncertainty

This summer, the 24H Worldwide Design Conversations event held its second edition to narrow in on the concept of “Designing in an era of uncertainty”. In this conversation, designers across the globe join forces to investigate current and future conditions of design. Of the guest panelists, EMDD assistant professor Dr. Kevin Moloney brings his expertise in transmedia storytelling, design thinking, and photojournalism. Check out this groundbreaking conversation with leading designers in the video below. And remember, we are not alone in an age of uncertainty: “no designer is an island“.

24H Worldwide Design Conversations

24H Worldwide Design Conversations is a live, 24-hour streaming event dedicated to design practices of various disciplines and research. The event is promoted by the Polimi Design System, and includes the Department of Design, School of Design and POLI.design.

Mythcast in Westeros

EMDD Blog

Mythcast in Westeros

Whether it’s a herd of white walkers or a dinner with King Joffrey Baratheon, never you fear. EMDD’s very own Rex Huffman and Aidan McBride are here to guide you through Westeros of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones.  Stream both episodes wherever you get your podcasts! 

Available Episodes

Mythcast Trailer

EMDD Blog

Mythcast Trailer

Welcome to Mythcast from the students at the Center for Emerging Media Design & Development at Ball State University. List for a murmur from under the pandemic blanket-fort recording studio to hear how our process went…

Listen to the full trailer

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Mythcast Episode 1 Released

EMDD Blog

Mythcast: Episode One RELEASED

How to Train Your Demodog

How might we train a demodog? This adolescent form of a demogorgon from Stranger Things storyworld proves to be a compelling (and troublesome) challenge for students at the Center for Emerging Media Design & Development. Listen to how they apply design thinking and usability research to (hypothetically, anyway) train one! They get some important help from zoo keepers and wolf-dog owners. 

Listen to the full trailer

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Can We Improve Video Game Movie Adaptations?

EMDD Blog

Can We Improve Video Game Movie Adaptations?

Written by Leo Herrera

Common forms of transmedia storytelling are film adaptations of books and video games. In fact, the relationship between video games and movie adaptations is quite infamous. Research shows that the majority of movies based on video games are not well-received by viewers. These films usually accrue insignificant box office, terrible reviews, or both. There are only four video-game-to-movie adaptations to earn more than $200 million in the worldwide box office and have a Rotten Tomatoes score higher than 50%, respectively:

Rotten Tomatoes Scores
Detective Pikachu (2019) 68%
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) 63%
Rampage (2018) 51%
Tomb Raider (2018) 51%

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Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a review website for movies and TV shows. Ratings are given a score using the Tomatometer, a form of measurement based upon the quality of a tomato; Good reviews receive a fresh tomato. Bad reviews receive a rotten tomato.

In 2017, the highest Rotten Tomato score for film adaptations of video games was 48% for Mortal Kombat (1995). With a score of 37%, both Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) tied for second highest rating. The average score across all 38 titles was 19.9%. It’s safe to say that the history of video game adaptations transitioning to the silver screen was ill-advised.

With several dissatisfying films at the wayside, production studios were forced to revamp and refresh their efforts. Through tumultuous trial and error, a set of best practices were used to structure and present narratives pulled from video games storylines. One corporation took note of these changes and set out to make a plan that could change film adaptation as we know it.

Sony Leads the Way

*Sony has entered the chat*

Sony is the only corporation to have a department for both motion pictures (Sony Pictures Releasing) and video games (PlayStation, Sony Interactive Entertainment). Despite these resources, Sony has only produced a movie adaptation for one video game, Ratchet & Clank (2016). Unfortunately, this film did not beat the odds, producing little in box-office sales and receiving a mere 22% Rotten Tomato score.

However, this failure did not stop Sony.

Tony Vinciquerra, Sony Pictures Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, recently announced the One Sony program, a collaborative effort between Sony departments for project development. The current objective for One Sony is to produce three movies and seven TV shows based on video games exclusive to the PlayStation.

The One Sony project is an opportunity to promote PlayStation across with their distribution and production companies. PlayStation exclusives are a huge advantage for the One Sony program. Video game exclusives, such as God of War, Uncharted, Jak and Dexter, The Last of Us, and Bloodborne, can only be manufactured and distributed by Sony.

So, What Happens now?

There is hope! The future of entertainment is ready for a new era of well-produced video game adaptations. As of today, there are two exciting video game adaptations scheduled for release. This includes the film Uncharted, starring Tom Holland, and HBO’s The Last of Us series. 

Perhaps the stigma may shift from always-bad towards often-good, and studios become motivated to adapt more of our favorite video games and expand beloved story worlds.

Picture of Leo Herrera

Leo Herrera

Leo Hererra is a graduate student of EMDD. He currently works as a graduate assistant for the program.

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