How Google Pulled Off Their Live Video Skydiving With Glasses Demo. Google won the Internet by pulling off a truly impressive Google Glass skydiving stunt, twice, during their I/O event. Skydivers in wingsuits 4,000 feet above San Francisco delivered the high tech glasses to the Moscone stage in just four minutes, with help of 25 cameras, a zeppelin and a helicopter, stunt bikers and someone rappelling down the side of the convention center. The whole thing was shown on live video in a Google Hangout from the skydivers’ and bikers’ glasses to the surprise of developers in the audience and those watching on YouTube. This was Google’s winning answer to Steve Jobs’ “One More Thing” and for the moment, it made Apple’s ground-based surprises seem less dramatic. Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin began the demo saying “This can go wrong in 500 different ways, so tell me: Who Wants to see a demo of Glass?”
Despite the many ways it could go wrong, it didn’t. How in the world did Google do it? Google tells TechCrunch the idea was hatched 6 weeks ago. Photos: Riots, fire, destruction after Vancouver’s loss | Posted. From Brian Hutchinson: Blood in our streets. I saw people on the ground, bleeding. Shattered glass everywhere. Police cars set alight. Major bridges are now closed, preventing public access into the downtown core. Transit is plugged up, there’s no way out. More police and fire crews are arriving, from the suburbs, but again, it seems too late. And as I write this, the sun has just set. Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesPeople pose in front of a burning vehicle on June 15, 2011 in Vancouver. Rich Lam/Getty ImagesPolice on horseback ride through the street past a fire on June 15, 2011 in Vancouver, Canada. Ian Lindsay/Postmedia News ServiceLooters carry merchandise out of the the Bay store past one of the burning cars on Seymour north of Georgia after the Canucks lost game seven of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup final, June 15, 2011 in Vancouver.
Mark Nykolaichuk/ReutersSmoke rises from downtown Vancouver as rioters burn cars following game seven of the NHL Stanley Cup Final, June 15, 2011. Amorous protestors, lost in the heat of Vancouver riots. By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com When one of my colleagues alerted me to this image by retweeting it this morning, my gut instinct was to shout "No way! That's fake! " But minutes later we discovered that the image was shot by Getty Images photographer Rich Lam. I was beside myself. The "too-good-to-be-true" element of this photo is the juxtaposition of the riot cops and the couple who made a bed out of the littered street following last nights' Stanley Cup Playoffs in Vancouver.
We've got an interview with Lam coming up around 2pm ET to find out just what was going on that led to this photo. UPDATE: 6/16/2011, 2:20pm ET -- I just had a conversation with Rich about this image. After shooting the final game for Getty Images, Rich Lam headed to the streets to photograph the protests. “We were in front of the bay where looting and burning was taking place,” he said. Police started pushing everyone out of the streets. “I looked back and thought someone was injured and I shot that. Interview: The Story Behind Rich Lam's Infamous Vancouver Riot Kiss Photo. When the Vancouver Canucks lost in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, it sent their home city into tumult. Riots broke out, leaving buildings destroyed, cars burned and people injured. But, out of the chaos, photojournalist Rich Lam was able to capture a truly unique image, one that has blown up far beyond what this veteran shooter could have imagined, on the web and in the news.
What was your actual assignment the night of the riots? I was shooting the hockey game for Getty Images. My background is a wire photographer working with the Canadian Press. I started working with Getty last season. How intense was the atmosphere once you got out into the streets? The situation was pretty tense. How did you first spot the couple in the street? When the police finally started moving us, they were really trying to get us right out of the area. We stopped when they stopped and I looked back and saw two people on the street. I've been reading online stories, too. A different frame of the couple. Vancouver riot's 'kissing couple' tell their story - British Columbia. Vancouver Rioters Hunted On Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr - Gawker.
I was downtown in the middle of this crap trying to help my American friends get back to their building safely. It was unbelievable how people were acting. I literally cannot fathom why someone thinks smashing windows or burning cars is a rational thing to do. Literally less than 5 minutes after the game you could see huge billowing smoke clouds rising from downtown. How the hell do people light cars on fire so quickly? The only thing I can imagine is that they just came to watch the game and figured, "hey, might as well bring along some molotov cocktails! " I tried to calm a few people down, but feared getting MY face kicked in.