VizWorld.com

Infographics are on the rise – and I mean worldwide. The Spanish news aggregator HagoClic.com, part of the La Vanguardia Group, released today (31/08) a new Infographics category in their Communication section.

In this section, it will be possible to find the latest news and designs from some of the most interesting sources from the internet, as well as tips, tutorials, resources and other content related to the data-visualization world.

According to the site: “The new “Infographic and Interactive” section covers one of the most growing fields in the digital information industry. The Media is investing more and more in this sort of resources as a complement to the news itself, especially because its the type of content that seems to be well received by the online audience”

The sites selected for the time being are: Information is Beautiful, FlowingData, Lainformacion.com, Cool Infographics, WallStats.com, Infografistas, VisualJournalism, Stamen Design, GOOD.is, VisualEconomics.com and (yours truly) Visual Loop.

The publishing team of HagoClic.com has selected these reference websites for their quality and interest, using the search engine especially developed for adding and organizing periodically the most important news about the ambience of the visualization of the information in Internet.

The result is an up-to-date compilation of infographics that will, for sure, make a lot of data-viz fans quite happy – and occupied!

Source: HagoClic.com lanza una sección de noticias sobre infografía e interactivos

Graphics infographics, list

In a move guaranteed to make millions of Apple fanbois jump up and down with joy, Autodesk has announced that the next version of AutoCAD (2011) will return to the MAC, and even be accompanied by a new version called Autocad WS for the iPad and iPhone.

“The release of AutoCAD for Mac marks the return of professional design and engineering software to the Mac platform and an important convergence of power and design,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business. “Over 5000 customers have helped develop this product through our beta program and they are delighted to have the choice of a native Mac version of AutoCAD.”

It will support everything the windows version has, and even add in some new features for the new gesture-friendly interfaces Apple has released like the Magic Mouse and the Magic Trackpad.

via Autodesk launches AutoCAD for Mac, iOS | Graphics & 3-D | Creative Notes | Macworld.

Graphics apple, autocad, autodesk, mac, software

Check out this fun free iPhone and iPad app that allows you to navigate cityscapes of famous areas in impressive 3D.

Maps redefined. Fully searchable, tappable, beautiful maps. Available in full 3D for New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Boston, Washington DC, and Austin — with more cities coming soon. Watch our demo video here: http://bit.ly/bumCo.

It’s a free app available for both iPhone and iPad.

Graphics ipad, iphone, software

I wanted to take another step away from our usual content and ask that you head over to the Pepsi Refresh project and vote for the “Make Juvenile Myositis a Memory” project. I know someone (names withheld for privacy) with a child with JM, and it’s a hard disease for not only the kids but the parents. Today is the last day for voting, and they are bouncing between #1 and #3. #1 and #2 both receive $250k, so we just need to keep it out of #3!

With the possible money they could win:

This project will allow the CureJM foundation to continue critical research. Funding the center of excellence will allow JM researchers to combine clinical evaluation with drug research targeted at combating the devastating effects of this disease. Many researchers believe that there is also a genetic predisposition to autoimmune diseases. As such, they feel that a child afflicted with JM is likely to have a blood relative who suffers from another autoimmune disease such as diabetes or arthritis. Continuing to fund this vital research is of paramount importance to fulfill CureJM’s goal to make sure that no child suffers another day with JM.

They’ve in the running for the big reward, the $250. Just visit their website, or click the badge here to cast your vote. You can vote every day, and help find a cure.

via Make Juvenile Myositis a Memory | Pepsi Refresh Everything.

Graphics, Hardware, Science offtopic

NGC 2237 just does not have a romantic ring to it. However, if you call it the Rosette nebula and place it within the constellation Monoceros, or the Unicorn, then it sounds much better.

NGC 2237, or the Unicorn’s Rose, is a large cloud of gas that is approximately 5,000 light years away from Earth. Within this large nebula, many new stars are being formed. The Unicorn’s Rose is too faint for the eye to see. However, at its core lies NGC 2244, which is a cluster of young stars. This cluster can be seen through a small telescope.

This is an image captured from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope. This space-born telescope has a 16 inch diameter and surveys light in the infrared wavelengths.

The streak seen at lower left is the trail of a satellite, captured as WISE snapped the multiple frames that make up this view.

This image is a four-color composite created by all four of WISE’s infrared detectors. Color is representational: blue and cyan represent infrared light at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is dominated by light from stars. Green and red represent light at 12 and 22 microns, which is mostly light from warm dust.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team

via : WISE Captures the Unicorn’s Rose

Science astronomy, nasa, wise

“Viral”. Now, that’s a buzzword everyone knows about. Or don’t? See the differences between Viral and Spreadable marketing in Engage Science‘s infographic, and you might even be surprised. Another great piece came from Author Rachel Botsman, about the history of sharing, and also with that look at the Past, the history of the Cell Phone is illustrated by Milo. Sketchee asks if Print is Dead after all, looking at the recent rise of tablets and e-book readers, and Bundle shows us where are the best (and worst) places to get sick in America – congratulations, Massachusetts!

Read more…

Graphics, Science design, economy, environment, infographic, infoviz, Visual Loop, visualizations

Hurricane Earl is now the second major hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic season with winds of 125 mph. While the consensus track keeps it away from landfall on the United States, one must remember that hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable. The Weather Channel has posted a 3-D image of the eye of Hurricane Earl as of early Monday afternoon from the Puerto Rico radar site. If you click on the link, you can see time lapse radar imagery of Hurricane Earl passing near Puerto Rico.

via : Hurricane Earl

Science hurricane, weather

Nvidia has released their latest WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) graphics driver. Guru3D has taken a deeper look into the driver and has found that it mentions new middle-range and low-end graphics cards. The driver also mentions several variants with an “M” on the end. One can suppose that those will be mobile versions of the graphics chips.

• NVIDIA_DEV.0E23.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GTS 455)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DC4.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DC5.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DC0.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 440)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DE1.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 430)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DE2.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 420)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0E30.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470M
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DD1.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DD2.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DD3.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DF2.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DF0.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DF3.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DF1.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M)
• NVIDIA_DEV.0DEE.01 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 415M)

NVIDIA 259.47 WHQL show new GTX 400 Cards @ Guru3D

Hardware fermi, nvidia

HDGuru has posted their annual article on what to look for in high definition television sets, and where to find the best deals on HD TVs. Of course the big news this year is the 3-D models for televisions. Just remember that for 3-D models you still need the source material, that is, a 3-D signal from satellite, cable, or a 3-D Blu-Ray player.

The start of the football season traditionally marks the beginning of the TV selling season. With the economic slowdown continuing HDTV sales have not been up to set makers’ optimistic projections, resulting in swollen inventories. This is great news for consumers. Dealers are offering dramatic price drops aided by factory sponsored deals to try to get sales back on target.

Looking back at our 2009 selling season article, sale prices this year are 20%-25% lower than last year’s equivalent models, with the 2010s offering better performance (such as higher contrast ratios) and more features.

via : 2010 HDTV Selling Season Begins

Hardware hdtv

Think of Earth’s great life forms and images of cheetahs, whales and dinosaurs come to mind. Towering redwood trees, majestic plains of grasses on Asian steppes: Earth’s living glow fills the eye with diversity, resilience, and endless Darwinian invention.

But arguably one of the most essential populations on Earth would have no chance if pitted against others in a contest based on looks alone. More than any other kind of life, the Earth lives and breathes because of the profound success of lowly phytoplankton.

Phytoplankton is a broad, catch-all name for a wide category of simple organisms living primarily in the world’s oceans. Floating in vast fields of billions of tiny individual plants, these essential life forms make up a colossal proportion of the Earth’s total biomass. It’s also vital to the overall web of life on Earth. Phytoplankton serves not only as the base of the aquatic food chain, but also as the principal source of atmospheric oxygen worldwide.

As global climate continues to change, a complex set of forces begins to push and pull on the ability of phytoplankton populations to thrive. Changing global ocean temperatures have enormous influences, as does changing ocean chemistry. But while this may present itself as a subject of purely academic interest, phytoplankton populations may present one of the most vital bellwethers for practical changes beginning to take hold of a planet in transition.

NASA’s SeaWiFS spacecraft is one of the most powerful tools in keeping up with these trends. A small, low cost vehicle and instrument package, SeaWiFS monitors the colors of the world everyday. As a proxy for bioproductivity, color is the key to understanding how these oceanic lifeforms are faring…and changing.

via : Life’s Signature Colors, Captured by Satellite

Science nasa