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Only a few hours to go before NVidia’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC) gets into full swing.  I’ll be covering the event live during the week, so you can expect a week of Nvidia-Centric news.  I’ve already got meetings set up with companies like Mental Images, NextIO, Dell, and more so you can expect lots of breaking news and product information over this week.

I’ve also added the #GTC2010 Twitter feed on the sidebar, so you can keep track of the conference while reading all of your regular news.

If you’re here and want to meet up, drop a line!

Graphics, Hardware, Science conference, gtc, nvidia

Surfing the web can get really addictive. Intac shows us the main health issues we face when we overdue our time on the internet. Nowmedia teach us how to never loose an important article, and designer Rosaura Ochoa breaks down the top Twitter apps by users. From Focus comes the current state of Cloud Computing, and Mashable brings the status of charity and technology in the online universe.

Read more…

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

Warner Brothers has announced 6 new 3D BluRay titles comeing out in November, but not a one of them is anything I think people have been waiting for.  The list:

• Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
• Clash of the Titans
• The Polar Express
• IMAX Deep Sea 3D
• IMAX Under the Sea 3D
• IMAX Space Station 3D

That’s right.  Warner Brothers will actually be releasing Clash of the Titans, the movie that almost single handedly destroyed 3D with the atrocious last-minute 2D-to-3D conversion, into homes everywhere in nauseating 3D.

via Warner Announces A Stunning Six Blu-Ray 3D Titles This Year – I4U News.

Graphics 3d, bluray, stereoscopic, warner

At the 67th Venice International Film festival, the Persol 3D Jury gave the award for the most creative stereoscopic film of the year to two films:  James Cameron’s “Avatar” and Chris Sander’s “How to Train your Dragon”.  As for Avatar:

As stated by the Jury:

“A landmark in movie history, as well as a technological wonder, Avatar has done more than any previous film to establish both the commercial and the artistic viability of the new three-dimensional cinema. It is no exaggeration to say that with Avatar, James Cameron has succeeded in projecting an entirely new world for viewers to explore in depth”.

“How To Train Your Dragon, on the other hand, demonstrates what can be done with 3D. More visceral than other examples of 3D digital animation, How To Train Your Dragon uses stereo filmmaking to provide an exhilarating experience. The viewer has the sensation of soaring through space. Narrative is transcended as gravity is defied”.

via La Biennale di Venezia – Persol 3-D Award for the most creative stereoscopic film of the year.

Graphics avatar, award, stereoscopic

ATI (or is it AMD?) has just released the first version of their ‘AGS’ library, ATI GPU Services, that provides an API for querying information beyond standard API’s.

This library provides software developers with the ability to query ATI GPU software and hardware state information that is not normally available through standard operating system or graphic APIs. Version 1.0 of the library includes support for querying graphics driver version info, Crossfire (ATI’s multi-GPU rendering technology) configuration info, as well as Eyefinity (ATI’s multi-display rendering technology) configuration info.

Unfortunately, it’s only available for Windows-based platforms right now.  ATI’s continued absence of anything on the Linux or OSX side continues to lock them out of the high-end space as more users move away from Windows to more open and secure systems.

via ATI GPU Services (AGS) Library | AMD Developer Central.

Hardware, Science amd, ati, sdk

NPR points us to a website “Afghanistan Election Data” that has collected the last several years of election statistics into some fairly powerful visualizations.

AfghanistanElectionData.org is a project of the National Democratic Institute to publish data, visualization tools and documentation to add transparency to national presidential and parliamentary elections in Afghanistan over the past six years.

via Afghanistan Election Data. via NPR

Science afghanistan, interactive

Over at UgoTrade, they have a lengthy interview with Bruce Sterling, famous science fiction author, on his views for augmented reality.  It’s very long and covers a wide variety of topics, but it’s worth reading.

Tish Shute: Interesting that seems to bring us to another kind of repetitive theme in AR, the people tend to pigeon hole it as “merely” a visual interface. But actually, it’s the intersection, isn’t it, of social intelligence and augmentation.

Bruce Sterling: Well, it depends entirely on how you design the system. If I’ve got a military augmented reality, I would expect that to be mostly about urban fighting. It’s going to be about kicking in a door and shooting terrorists. If I pull that helmet off my head and put that on the head of an emergency worker or a cop, I’m going to get a militarized cop or a militarized emergency worker.

via Urban Augmented Realities and Social Augmentations that Matter: Talking with Bruce Sterling, Part 2 | UgoTrade.

Science augmented reality, interview

Nebulae are enormous clouds of interstellar dust and gas. Depending on how they are illuminated, they can be called either reflection nebula or transmission nebula. As its name implies, a reflection nebula reflects the light from nearby stars. On the other hand, a transmission nebula emits light. A nearby star emitting light can cause the hydrogen atoms in a nebula to lose an electron. This causes the gas to become ionized, and as it cools back down, it glows.

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 nebula at the center of this image is called LBN 114.55+00.22. In the lower left corner of the image is IRAS 23304+6147. This red star is nearing the end of its life. The supergiant variable star HIP 117078 is above and to the right of the nebula. Both stars are named after the satellites that cataloged them. Personally, I think that they need to come up with a better names for these stars and nebula.

The colors used in this image represent specific wavelengths of infrared light. Blue and cyan represent light emitted at wavelengths of 3.4 and 4.6 microns, which is predominantly from stars. Green and red represent light from 12 and 22 microns, respectively, which is mostly emitted by dust.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team

via : A Nebula by Any Other Name

Science astronomy, nasa, wise

Alias3D Media has collected a short list of 10 video tutorials for AfterEffects.  They cover light effects, Trapcode Particular, text effects, and more.

10 best aftereffect video tutorials | Free Photoshop Tutorials , 3D Tutorials – Alias3DMedia.

Graphics aftereffects, tutorial

Today, September 16, is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, a commemoration of the day in 1987 when nations commenced the signing of the Montreal Protocol to limit and eventually ban ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other chlorine and bromine-containing compounds. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite acquired data for this map of ozone concentrations over Antarctica July 1, 2010 thru September 13, 2010.

The yearly depletion of stratospheric ozone over Antarctica — more commonly referred to as the “ozone hole” — started in early August 2010 and is now expanding toward its annual maximum. The hole in the ozone layer typically reaches its maximum area in late September or early October. You can follow the progress of the ozone hole by visiting NASA’s Ozone Hole Watch page: ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/

NASA Goddard atmospheric scientists are active members of the International Ozone Commission and the ozone scientific assessment panel for the United Nations Environment Program, which monitors the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol. Media wishing to speak to a Goddard scientist about the status of the ozone layer, please contact: Sarah DeWitt at [email protected] / 301-286-0535.

To view and or download the still file go to: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4994781316/

To learn more or to download this file go to: ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA/GSFC

Science nasa