Apple’s Mac operating system has reportedly edged past Linux in popularity amongst developers in North America.
Windows OS remains the clear frontrunner for development with 80 percent of developers. However, while 5.6 percent of developers said they prefer Linux, Mac OS has taken second place with 7.9 percent.
“Apple has made tremendous strides in the last few years with innovative products and technologies. [As such], it’s quite reasonable to see developers adopting the Mac and its OS as a development environment,” explains Evans Data CEO Janel Garvin. “Linux has lost some of its luster after years of only single digit adoption.”
Mac OS X is based on the Unix operating system. The latest iteration — Mac OS X Lion version 10.7 — features a redesigned UI to help bridge Apple’s iOS for mobile devices and Mac OS for desktop computers.
Lucasfilm and Sony Pictures Imageworks unveiled Alembic, a computer graphics interchange format, this week at the SIGGRAPH Conference in Vancouver. Version 1.0 is now available for download.
According to Carolyn Giardina of The Hollywood Reporter, Alembic is “an open source system aimed at helping VFX companies easily store and share complex animated scenes across facilities, regardless of what software is being used.”
Sony Pictures Imageworks reports Alembic enables its artists to work 48 percent faster while using significantly less disc space.
At SIGGRAPH, leading software suppliers including Autodesk, Luxology, The Foundry and Side Effects are showing Alembic support for their top products.
American Airlines announced it will roll out Gogo’s in-flight streaming video service to its entire fleet of 767 aircrafts.
The service wirelessly streams movies and TV shows from an in-flight library to Wi-Fi-enabled laptops (at $0.99 per TV show and $3.99 per movie).
The current slate of 100 movies and TV shows will remain accessible for viewing after the flight has concluded. Customers will have access to the movies for 24 hours and TV shows for 72 hours.
The TechCrunch post includes a video demo explaining the service.
Philips announced it will be including streaming set-top and gaming functions in some of its new HDTV sets.
The Philips 4000 and 5000 series, which use the CloudTV platform of ActiveVideo Networks, can access cloud-based games streamed as MPEG files.
Both lines will include Philips MediaConnect, that enables wirelessly connecting the TV and PC.
Other features include NetTV (offering services such as Netflix, VUDU, Facebook, Film Fresh, Pandora and Twitter), V-tuner Internet radio and built-in Wi-Fi support.
The 4000 series features six screen sizes, ranging from 19 to 55 inches, while the 5000 series adds another 10 screens, from 40 to 55 inches.
CNET offers a largely positive hands-on review of Toshiba’s new glasses-free 3D laptop, the Qosmio F755.
A prototype of the 3D laptop was awarded CNET’s “Best of CES” award in January and Toshiba wasted little time bringing the concept to market (the post includes a video review of the prototype from CES 2011).
The $1,699 Qosmio F755 will be available in the U.S. starting August 16.
Toshiba’s new laptop “has a 15-inch 1080p display that uses special eye-tracking software to track the viewer’s head movement and adjust the stereoscopic image accordingly, via the built-in Webcam.”
Features include an Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, 6GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GT540M, a 750GB hard drive and a Blu-ray-RW drive.
According to CNET: “Blu-ray content in 3D looked excellent, but took a resolution hit. Like a 3D TV, it requires a few moments to orient your eyes, especially if you’re not used to watching 3D content. But the eye-tracking allowed for a reasonable amount of freedom of movement, and the 3D effect worked from an off-axis side view.”
Jell-O has unveiled a Twitter-powered billboard on the corner of West Broadway and Grand in New York City, enabling consumers to serve as active participants in the company’s advertising.
The billboard features an enormous distorted face that appears happy or sad depending on the number of positive or negative emoticons posted via Twitter.
It is essentially an outdoor physical version of Jell-O’s Pudding Face website, and is paired with a campaign that distributes coupons to cheer up random downcast Twitter users “whenever overall smileyness dips below 50 percent.”
The billboard, from ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, went up last week.
Researchers at UC Berkeley have found that digital music service Spotify is using a cache cookie method with ETags that still tracks when a user has ‘Private Browsing Mode’ enabled.
According to Digital Music News, the cookie technology “cannot be deleted, still tracks if the user blocks cookies, and even operates in browser stealth mode. In fact, if you try to delete this thing, the cookie dynamically regenerates.”
The cookie is powered by analytics platform Kissmetrics, which Digital Music News explains was also used by Hulu and others.
Spotify is reacting quickly, trying to head off a “Cookiegate” incident. “We take the privacy of our users incredibly seriously and are concerned by this report,” explained a Spotify spokeswoman. “As a result, we have taken immediate action in suspending our use of Kissmetrics whilst the situation is investigated.”
Technicolor announced this week that it would be acquiring physical and electronic distribution assets from Cinedigm Digital Cinema.
The deal, which will enable Technicolor to expand its footprint in physical and satellite delivery, is expected to close in September.
It allows Cinedigm to sell the assets of its noncore business while growing support of key areas of alternative content and digital cinema operational software, Cinedigm CEO Chris McGurk told The Hollywood Reporter.
According to ETCentric contributor Carolyn Giardina of THR: “Technicolor will acquire Cinedigm’s physical and electronic distribution assets, including replication equipment and hard-drive inventory as well as a minimum of 300 satellite roof rights in the U.S. and Canada, resulting in an increase of about 40 percent in Technicolor’s North American satellite footprint, which now will include some 1,100 locations. Technicolor will become Cinedigm’s preferred content servicing partner for postproduction through distribution services.”
Technicolor is also acquiring Laser Pacific — the noted post facility that provides feature film, TV, restoration and visual effects services. (Laser Pacific was purchased by Kodak in 2003 for $30.5 million, and was sold to HIG Capital in 2010.)
In related news, ETCentric recently reported that Technicolor and Deluxe have entered into agreements whereby Technicolor will subcontract its 35mm print business to Deluxe in North America, while Deluxe will farm out its 35mm print distribution business in the the U.S. to Technicolor.
In an effort to help emerging artists reach wider audiences, the Sundance Institute has partnered with online video outlets including Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, iTunes, YouTube and SundanceNow.
The deals are not exclusive to any one platform, so films can be made available simultaneously on competing sites.
Films will be packaged under the Sundance name as part of its recently launched Artist Services Initiative. Marketing guidance will also be provided to filmmakers through the new Web-based program.
New Video will serve as the aggregation partner for online distribution, taking a small cut of the revenues. However, the online services will not purchase the movies, enabling the filmmakers to retain their copyrights.
Sundance hopes that the online initiative will provide an audience for films that typically do not find conventional distribution. First to be distributed: “Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology” by Tiffany Shlain and “On the Ice” from Andrew Okpeaha MacLean.
Twentieth Century Fox has announced a new service that will offer Fox movie downloads on Android devices as early as October. This is a first for the Google Android OS.
Due largely to the lack of playback and copy-protection technologies, Android has so far taken a backseat to Apple’s iPhone and the convenience of the iTunes store.
These issues should be addressed now that Google has acquired rights-management company Widevine.
Digital Trends points out that the service won’t enable downloading directly to phones: “Customers will need to initially buy a physical Blu-ray disc of a Fox movie. Afterward, they will be allowed to download a digital Android-friendly copy of the movie from Fox’s website to a computer, which can then be side loaded onto the Android device.”
Smartphone screens may continue to get larger. Hitachi announced it has developed a high resolution 4.5-inch, 720p display that the company hopes will be used for portable TVs, phones or handheld game devices.
The 1280×710 resolution may enable 720p HD movies to be viewed in native resolution on phones — and the backlit LCD would be an IPS-based display, allowing for a wide viewing angle like that on the iPhone.
Additionally, this new 3D-capable display uses a lenticular lens (rather than a barrier approach) that would enable glasses-free 3D.
ETCentric contributor Phil Lelyveld points out: “3D is driving the display industry towards higher and higher resolution phone screens, since 3D effectively halves the resolution. Resolution has become a marketing point in this highly competitive market.”
Sony’s Mick Hocking talks about what they’ve learned about 3D in the last year at Sony Computer Entertainment. Hocking has been responsible for spearheading the 3D games enterprise.
The main lesson involves the need to educate developers in how to produce quality 3D. “We’ve actually now got a guide with 10 points for producing technically correct 3D, it’s our 3D 10 Commandments if you like, and we also have lots of resources now to help developers creatively with 3D as well.”
Last year 3D had a “wow factor.” This year there are many 3D capable devices becoming available.
Sony has 50 million 3D-enabled PlayStation 3 units and over 50 3D games in the market. In addition, there are 3D Blu-ray, 3D MP4s and 3D Camcorders and 3D HDTVs. Sony may look to build 3D on a handheld. Virtual reality may come back with Sony’s head-mounted, twin-OLED 3D display.
Despite what critics are describing as waning interest from consumers, Hocking emphasized that 3D remains a long term strategy for Sony.
Twentieth Century Fox’s “Rise of The Planet of The Apes,” premiering next month, made extensive use of performance capture techniques in its exterior shots.
Visual effects house Weta Digital, that developed motion capture techniques for “Avatar,” considers this the next step in the technique’s evolution.
“Avatar” was shot largely on enclosed sound stages, while “Rise” shot motion-capture performances on exterior sets.
Weta Digital created a portable performance capture rig teamed with special LED markers placed on the actors, enabling the production to take place in broad daylight.
“It was like the final step of mixing live-action and digital filmmaking,” explains senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri.
Actor Andy Serkis, a veteran of several performance-capture films, is developing a studio and academy to teach the technique, with the goal of making it more affordable and accessible even to lower-budget films.
Ford recently demonstrated a “short-range” Wi-Fi network that allows vehicles to communicate in a private cloud with other vehicles.
One key application is to alert drivers of potential crash situations in time to allow them to respond. The cloud technology has significant advantages over radar systems.
The technology could also enable communication with a traffic management system to help avoid traffic jams, thereby saving time and fuel.
Ford hopes to have its intelligent car technology in production as early as 2013.
Most media and entertainment company senior execs believe they are not fully leveraging customer data that would make it possible to deliver customized content, suggests a new study by consulting firm Accenture.
The research indicates that 91 percent of these executives are not taking full advantage of the data, and as a result, are not adequately prepared to identify revenue opportunities related to current and future digital technologies. Additionally, 95 percent do not have strong digital customer relationship management capabilities.
If fewer than 10 percent of the companies have a fully integrated view of their digital consumers, a new operating model may be necessary for sustainable digital growth (Accenture recommends a shift from legacy vertical, channel-oriented structures toward a horizontally-layered operating model).
Only 55 percent said their companies had a clearly defined social networking strategy in place, while 80 percent believe the industry is still in a state of flux. And 42 percent anticipate that advertising will serve as their main source of revenue in the next two years.
Accenture’s “Global Media & Entertainment High Performance Study” canvassed 130 executives across Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific from industries including television, gaming, film, music, publishing, portals and advertising.
