VizWorld.com

Follow on Google Buzz

While the jury is still out on whether Google Buzz will redefine the internet and social media, or fizzle into the plethora of social media options, the buzz on buzz is too big to ignore.  You’ve probably already noticed the neat little “Buzz This” buttons accompanying posts, and those of you using Buzz can now subscribe to our Google Buzz feed.  Simply head on over to http://www.google.com/profiles/vizworld00 and you can see our latest stories and comment on them right there!

So far the only real “plus” I’ve seen about Google Buzz is that it combines the immediacy of Twitter with the conversation threading of FriendFeed, all the while removing the 140-character limit.  So check it out, let us know what you think.

Website buzz, google, social media, Website

I’ve already updated the source article, but yesterday’s story about the Apple A4 processor being an ARM Cortex A9 & Mali is incorrect, it seems. I’ve been contacted by a very reputable source that it’s something different, although the exact details are being withheld for just a few more days.  They assure me they will publish the information soon, and I’ll share it with you guys then.

Just posting it here for main-page readers and RSS Subscribers.

Hardware, Website apple, arm, ipad

I almost missed it, but last Friday was the 1-year anniversary of VizWorld’s first post! From our humble beginnings, discussing the VFX of Benjamin Button,we’ve grown to the site you see now.  Also, Saturday’s special feature on Education in Second Life marked our 3000th story here on VizWorld, as well as over 2,800 comments.

Thanks to all of you for helping to make us a success, and we hope to see you more in the following year!

Website Website

Our coverage of yesterday’s article on PCPro’s impression of Second Life garnered far more attention than we expected, and as such we are going to being our own investigation into Second Life to see what the story is.  However, I’m somewhat new (My last login was 2 years ago) so we need help from you!

We need information from you, the Second Life community, on:

• Where to go
• When to go
• What to check out
• What to avoid at all costs

Also, if you’re up for it, we’ld like some answers to a few questions:

1. Where do you login from (Country), and what time (and specify the time-zone)?
2. About how many people do you usually interact with in a session?
3. If you run an SL business, have revenues been increasing or decreasing?
4. If you run an SL business, has the number of customers been increasing or decreasing?

The actual feature will be a few days out, as we need to gather data on user trends and get a general feel for the space.  One complaint many of you had was that the original author only spent a few hours on a single day at non-peak times.  I hope to do better!  Simply post your answers in the comments (consider it free advertising if you run an SL business), or send them to us directly via the means in our About Page.

So, let us know.. What’s up in Second Life?

Note: I’ll be creating a new user account specifically for VizWorld.  Check back tonight for details necessary to contact me.

Update: Logged in now as “Vizworld Titanium”.

Website feature, secondlife, virtual worlds

Just wanted to let you all know that there’s been a few “under-the-hood” changes here at VizWorld.  I’ve loaded a new Caching system that should improve page-load times significantly, and I’ve made a few changes to the Meebo Bar that should hopefully fix the crashes a few people were reporting yesterday.

So, take a look around and see how things work now.  If you find anything broken or just “not quite right”, post in the comments and let us know!

Website Website

Wow.. I just performed some routine monthly maintenance here and noticed that, for the first time since launching, VizWorld.com broke 1-million pageviews for the month of December 2009. Amazing! (…)

Website Website

See you next year :)

Website 2009, Website

Just wanted to remind you that VizWorld does serve a weekly mailing list!  Compiling all of the feature articles and popular stories of the week, it arrives every Tuesday morning in your inbox.  Formerly it was a bi-weekly email, but we cover so much news that a weekly mailer seemed more appropriate. (…)

Website Website

As 2009 comes to a close, we wanted to take a look back at the big events of 2009 and recap what worked, what flopped, and what amazed us all in 2009.  Companies crumbled and new companies everged from the ashes.  Software died, only to be replaced by newer and better offerings.  Technology changed the face of cinema, the power of the personal computer, and the capabilities of visual effects artists worldwide.  2009 was a big year and the list was huge, much bigger than I had originally expected, so we trimmed it down to a few key events of the last year.

Read on for our recap, and chime in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Read more…

Graphics, Hardware, Science, Website 2009, feature

You’ve seen our “Resource of The Week” posts every Wednesday morning, and now we’ve taken it to the next level with out new VizWorld.com Store, powered by Amazon.com.  The store contains everything you’ve seen in our Resource of the Week category, as well as other books, dvd’s, and hardware.  If you’re in the market for HDMI cables, Graphics cards or equipment, or just training materials, we hope you’ll stop by the VizWorld.com store to see if we have it first. In addition, I’ve created a “Hot Items” category where I imported Amazon.com’s entire DVD, Book, Software, and Electronics categories so you can buy all the things you usually do, but kick back a bit to VizWorld.com.

Each purchase contributes a tiny (4%) amount to keep VizWorld.com open.  If you want something from Amazon but it’s not on the store, feel free to shoot us an email and we’ll happily add it for you or give you a customized link, so that you can continue to support us in your purchases.

Graphics, Hardware, Science, Website amazon, feature, Website

Another week has gone, and it’s time to draw our winners.  This week’s winner of a $25 Gift Card from Amazon.com is:
Kevin K

Congratulations!  I’ve just sent you an email, and you have 7 days to respond. (…)

Website contest, survey, Website

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, and Happy Chanukah.  Whatever spirits you enjoy, have fun.
No news tomorrow, back this weekend.

Website Website

As 2009 winds down, VizWorld nears the end of it’s first year in development, and what a HUGE year it’s been!  A few great milestones:

• Went to SIGGRAPH2009 in New Orleans, with several exclusive interviews & video
• Went to SuperComputing2009 in Portland, OR with several more exclusive interviews, including the popular shot of the NVidia Fermi chipset in action and the Intel Larrabee, before it’s demise
• We broke the news that SGI laid off the entire Graphics Division
• An exclusive interview with visualization guru Edward Tufte, and David McCutchen of Immersive Media
• Our successful “What Led to the Fall of SGI” Series
• Held a pair of great contest: Dave Matthews Swag Bag and our $25 Gift Card Drawing

But that’s not all, this year we’ve also brought our new Job Forum online, and our semi-weekly “Resource of the Week“.  We’ve watched readership rise several times over as we close in on the 1-million pageviews a month, and watched the RSS subscribers rise to close to 1000!  In fact, there has been so much interest from vendors, public relations representatives, and providers that we’ve decided to implement a formal advertising campaign.  Our new Director of Marketing will work with companies in the graphics ecosystem to increase their exposure amongst our readership, and maintain the quality of advertising and news you’ve come to expect here.

So, 2009 was a great year for VizWorld, and we hope 2010 will be even better!  Thanks to all of you for making VizWorld the success it’s been!

Website feature, Website

Just a heads up, I’ve integrated the new “Meebo Bar” into the website.  What that means is that you look down at the bottom of your browser window and you’ll see a little bar with quicklinks to areas of the website, twitter, Facebook, and several new options to share stories. (…)

Website meebo, Website

Another week has gone, and it’s time to draw our winners.  This week’s winner of a $25 Gift Card from Amazon.com is:
Eric Gusukuma
Congratulations!  I’ve just sent you an email, and you have until the next drawing (7 days) to respond.. (…)

Website contest, survey, Website

There’s still time!  The third of our 4 $25 Gift Cards will be raffled off at 5:00pm Central today (Check the time I’m using).  Not many entries this week so if you’ve been waiting, Now’s your chance.  Go take the survey now and get your results in before time’s up! (…)

Website contest, survey

Another week has gone, and it’s time to draw our winners.  This week’s winner of a $25 Gift Card from Amazon.com is:

Giri V. V.

(At least, that’s the name they gave, the email address appears valid.) Congratulations!  I’ve just sent you an email, and you have until the next drawing (7 days) to respond.. If you don’t, then the next winner gets it instead!  If you didn’t win, then don’t despair.  Just take the survey again and you’ll be entered to win in the next round!

But that’s not all, as we also have the winners of the 4 Dave Matthews Prize Packs.  The four lucky winners are:

JeremiahW (Apparently he wasn’t joking when he said he didn’t want to win)

Antitrust

Nick

Ana Cordona

Kayla

Just like above, I’ve contacted all of you via the means you provided.. If I don’t hear anything from you by next week’s drawing (7 days), then I’ll reclaim your prizes for my own nefarious means.. You know, like give `em to my kids or raffle them off again.

There’ll be plenty of more contests in the future I’m sure, so keep coming back to VizWorld.com and comment often! You never know when we might just pick a lucky commenter at random for something neat.

For those of you interested:  I used a random number generator to choose between the responses, and the NIST Website to determine the cutoff time.

Graphics, Hardware, Science, Website contest, feature

Time is up and the first winner of the $25 Gift Card from Amazon is :
Josh Ryan

Congratulations!  I’ve just sent you an email, and you have until the next drawing to respond.. (…)

Website contest, survey, Website

VizWorld is nearing its first year of operation, and it’s been a fun one.  The sheer thought has put us in the giving mood so we’ve started the first annual VizWorld User Survey!  I know how much of a pain Surveys can be, but it’s a short one (20 questions, multiple choice).  Plus, if you fill one out you’re entered to win a $25 Gift Card from Amazon.com !  That’s right, we’ll be raffling one off every Friday at 5pm Central Time from now til Christmas (the 25th will be the 4th and final raffle).

The VizWorld User Survey 2009

So go fill out the survey (only once per person, per week!) and enter for your chance to win!

Website feature, survey, Website

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Won’t be many updates tomorrow (From me at least). Regular programming resumes Friday.

Website holiday, humor, Website