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Week
of April 5
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Fri
9
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Someone claiming to be acting on behalf of
Interactive Pictures Corporation
sent a threatening letter to Helmut
Dersch, author of a set of 3D
panoramic authoring tools called
PanoTouch.
[By
way of explanation, PanoTouch lets you
open and edit QuickTime VR movies, and can
also be used with other panoramic file
formats.]
The
letter claims two things:
- That
he reproduces a photograph from their
site.
- That
IPIX owns "copyright in the format it
utilises to create IPIX panoramic
images that can be viewed using the
IPIX "browser plug-in".
and that
"The Panorama Tools available from your
Site ... amounts to you purporting to
grant permission to UK individuals to
infringe our client's copyright works
in the IPIX format."
The
letter demands the removal of the software
from his site, as well as a list of names
of people who downloaded the tool, and
that he pay "an agreed sum by way of
damages"
Interactive
Pictures has previously gone to court
against another company (and won) so this
is a very real threat. Interestingly,
according to Helmut Dersch he is actually
in the picture they claim he infringed(!)
and though PanoTools does allow you to
edit files, you can't create IPIX files.
The
site, which is currently down and features
only the message and his reply, is at:
<www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch/>
<www.ipix.com>
Looking for a list of FireWire (IEEE
1394) devices? The 1394 Showcase lists
all kinds of devices (not all of them
currently available!
<www.1394showcase.com>
MGI Software Corp has announced the
first in a series of Web content
releases that include Photo Packages
from photographer Jerry Downs, Prop
Packages, Project Packages and new Special
Effects. MGI PhotoSuite II is a photo
correction, manipulation, composition and
presentation tool for home and business
user.
The
Special Effects Area will include a pack
of six new ``Painterly'' effects including
Frosted Glass and Weave. The new Photo
Packages includes over 40 photographs from
the Jerry Down's Collection, Project
Packages with seasonal templates, and Prop
Packages with a total of 47 new props,
such as flowers, butterflies, and musical
instruments.
<www.photostreet.com/CoolStuff>
FILMFILM.COM is hosting a series of
videotaped interviews with established
filmmakers, followed by a live on-line
discussion The video and the chat
discussion will be archived and available
on demand. Interviewees
include:
Christopher
Newman: Oscar-Winning Production Sound
Mixer, Richard LaGravenese: Screenwriter
and Director, G. Mac Brown: Producer, and
Nick Meyers: Music Supervisor/Music
Editor.
<www.filmfilm.com>
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Thu
8
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Sony Electronics will provide
MPEG-2 4:2:2 encoder modules for
"blue.'', a professional non-linear
editing system developed by FAST
Multimedia.
The
compressed MPEG-ES data will interface
directly with Sony's MPEG-based range of
products through the new Serial Digital
Transfer Interface -- Content Package
(SDTI-CP) data transport. SDTI-CP is in
its final stages of standardization at
SMPTE and enables a native MPEG stream to
be transferred to other MPEG-based
products.
Sony
and FAST will jointly demonstrate MPEG-2
bit stream interoperability at NAB '99
between Betacam SX and the "blue.''
non-linear editing system. The newly
introduced SDTI-CP interface card for
DNW-A75/A65 Betacam SX editing recorders
will transcode Betacam SX recorder's MPEG
data to a 50Mbps, I-frame data stream.
<www.sony.com/professional>
Ulead Systems says it plans to
support the new DVxplore MPEG-2
solution recently released by C-Cube
Microsystems in their
VideoStudio software. Users will be
able to create, edit, and playback
DVD-quality MPEG-2 video on low-cost,
mainstream PCs that utilize standard EIDE
hard disk drives.
"Low-cost
MPEG-2 encoding offers exciting new
opportunities for PC and board
manufacturers," said Chris Day, Senior
Director of Marketing for C-Cube's
PC/Codec Division. "The Ulead VideoStudio
offers these developers a consumer video
editing application that is fun and
easy-to-use, allowing for the creation of
home movies on desktop
systems."
DVxplore
is a single-chip solution for MPEG-2
record and playback in consumer
applications. With DVxplore, PC OEMs can
offer digital recording of television
programs to DVD disc, CD-R or PC hard disk
drive. They can also offer simultaneous
record and playback, allowing consumers to
pause, rewind and fast-forward live
television broadcasts.
<www.c-cube.com>
<www.ulead.com>
Samsung Electronics Co says it will
begin marketing a digital still
camera with a flip-up screen later
this month.
The
device, to be sold under the brand name
NEXCA, has a 1.8-inch liquid
crystal display that can be flipped up and
turned 180 degrees horizontally. It is
about the size of a wallet and can take
and store up to 45 shots using a
four-megabyte memory card.
<www.samsung.com>
CDR
Yamaha Systems Technology will show
at Comdex Spring '99 and Windows World '99
this month the new CRW6416S, which
they claim is the world's first 6X
recorder with 4X rewriteability. For
recording at 6X, the drives use current,
low cost CDR media. The 4X rewriting speed
is executed using 4X compatible CD-RW
media. The CRW6416S uses SCSI-2 I/F,
maximum 10 MB/second burst transfer rate
(synchronous transfer). The new drive is
expected to be available in production
quantities in June 1999.
<www.yamahayst.com>
GRAPHICS
Corel Corporation has announced the
launch of CorelDRAW 9 - the latest
version of its graphics and image editing
suite. CorelDRAW 9 Graphics Suite is
scheduled to hit store shelves in May and
will sell for a suggested retail price of
US $695. CorelDRAW users and users of
competitive graphics suites may upgrade to
CorelDRAW 9 Graphics Suite for a suggested
retail price of US $199. Corel PHOTO-PAINT
9, the paint editor included in the suite
incorporates support for QuickTime 3.0 VR:
Users can create, open, edit and save
single or multiple node QuickTime VR
Panoramas and Objects. It is also
compatible with Adobe Photoshop .PSD files
and MetaCreations Painter .RIFF file
formats.
CorelDRAW
9 requires a Pentium 133 processor, 32 MB
RAM (64 MB recommended), 100 MB hard drive
space to install CorelDRAW 9, online Help,
filters and fonts.
<www.corel.com>
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Wed
7
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If you're interested in new ways to
navigate the web then you might
want to check out <www.newsmaps.com>.
Said to be aimed at "business users with
too much to read" it uses Relational Topic
Mapping (RTM) software developed by
Cartia, that extracts the content of
unstructured text and organizes it onto
interactive maps. Cartia also sells their
tool, called ThemeScape, which you
can use to create your own maps. It costs
"approximately $25,000."
As
can be seen on NewsMaps, the results look
like abstract maps. The greater the
similarity between any two documents, the
closer together they appear on the map.
Peaks appear on the map where there is a
high concentration of documents about the
same topic. The distance between peaks
shows how closely the topics are related.
For example, a map of news articles about
technology might have peaks labeled
"Internet" and "Online Shopping" in close
proximity, but relatively distant from a
peak labeled "Cell Phones."
A
Java applet provides interactive control
and is downloaded when the first map is
selected. Access requires Netscape
Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer,
version 3 or higher. Version 4 browsers
are recommended.
[It
certainly is kind of interesting, but I
found it took forever to load on the
machine I tested it on, and didn't work
very well; so much for 120 MHz Pentiums.
The 350 MHz G3s didn't work at all; I
couldn't get the thing going. Once I saw
the maps - on the PC - since interaction
was so slow, it was difficult to
evaluate-Ed]
<www.cartia.com>
WebKapture, Inc has released
Video 1-2-3; an easy-to-use, video
editing and Internet publishing software
application. Video 1-2-3 costs just
$19.95. A free version, Video 1-2-3 Lite,
is also available.
Using
Video 1-2-3, users can assemble media from
a variety of sources including still
images, camcorders, TV programs, CD music,
and DV. A Wizard guides users through a
series of steps including creating Web
pages and uploading the pages to a Web
site. Utilizing compression technology
from RealNetworks,Video 1-2-3 and Video
1-2-3 Lite enable users to stream still
images and video content across the
Internet. The self-produced movies are
viewed with RealNetworks' G2 Player.
<www.webkapture.com>
ELSA, Inc has announced new LCD
shutter glasses eyewear, ELSA 3D
REVELATOR, offering game players a new
immersive, stereo 3D display of games
action. The ELSA 3D REVELATOR enables
standard PCs and monitors playing
Microsoft Direct3D-based games to display
images with a three-dimensional quality
that is comparable to holography. The ELSA
3D REVELATOR eyewear supplies each eye
with an image from a slightly different
perspective in rapid succession. At 120
times per second (min.) this alternating
image is merged by the brain to form a
true stereo 3D image experience. The ELSA
3D REVELATOR eyewear is available in two
styles: cabled glasses and wireless,
infra-red glasses.
The
ELSA 3D REVELATOR currently supports the
ELSA ERAZOR II and ELSA VICTORY II
graphics boards (ELSA ERAZOR III and ELSA
WINNER II pending). You also need a
computer with at least a Pentium II or AMD
K6-2, and a monitor that can display the
desired resolution at a refresh rate of at
least 120 Hz. The cable version and the
wireless infra-red version of the ELSA
3DREVELATOR glasses will be available in
May 1999.
<www.elsa.com>
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Tue
6
|
CDRW
All things come to those who wait. And
wait...
The saga of my search for a USB CDRW
continues. Sony's own site now
lists the CRX100E/X, but says it
won't be available until April 15th.
<www.sony.com
Model Overview "CRX100E/X"
storage page at "Sony
online
store">
FlashPoint Technology has released
Digita FX, an in-camera image
editor for Digita-enabled digital
cameras, including the
KodakDC220/260/265 and the Minolta
Dimâge ZOOM EX 1500. Digita FX
capabilities include a series of artistic,
effect and texture filters -- including
stucco, water color, mosaic, underwater,
emboss and pixelate -- that can be used to
manipulate digital images. The tool also
includes sharpen, rotate, mirror,
posterize, blur, color balance,
brightness/contrast and hue/saturation
controls. It's available at the company
website for $19.95
<www.flashpoint.com>
Pictographics International
Corporation, a provider of digital
color technology and imaging system
applications, has announced Candela
ColorSynergy 4.0, a Macintosh-based,
ICC compatible, color management solution.
Key additions to ColorSynergy 4.0 include
its support for digital cameras and
enhanced profile editing
capabilities.
Users
can create custom device profiles for
digital cameras under any lighting
condition (i.e. direct daylight, indirect
daylight, tungsten, fluorescent,
electronic flash). A Macbeth ColorChecker
Color Rendition Chart is used to create
the profiles.
ColorSynergy
supports most color imaging devices
including digital cameras, scanners,
display monitors, desktop printers,
large-format printers and plotters,
proofing systems, offset presses, film
recorders and digital photographic
printers.
ColorSynergy
4.0 costs $895. Current ColorSynergy users
can purchase an upgrade to Version 4.0 for
a special price of $245 through May 31,
1999, after which the upgrade price will
be $295.
<www.picto.com>
Digital Origin has a 4-pin to
4-pin IEEE 1394 cable for transferring
video between two DV cameras. This cable
is available in a 2 meter length for $59.
Call if you wish to request a longer
cable. To purchase, call Digital Origin
sales at 800-572-3487 or go to their
online store.
<www.digitalorigin.com
web page "FireWire
cables">
Digital Origin is planning to
provide a directory of professional
videographers and post-production
professionals that use Digital Origin
products. Digital Origin customers that
meet their eligibility requirements and
agree to the terms of the application will
be listed.
Apply
to be listed on this directory by
completing an online registration form. Go
to:
<www.digitalorigin.com
web page "Videographer
application">
And
don't forget to add yourself to our
directory of consultants and
freelancers:
<Multimedia Workshop Consultant
database>
Aurora Design reports a problem in
version 1.8 of their drivers for the
Aurora Video card that will freeze certain
systems during playback. Aurora Design
recommends that users stick with earlier
drivers. If you are using the 1.8 drivers
and are not seeing this problem than you
can continue to use the drivers. Version
1.8.1 drivers will be released shortly
that fixes this problem.
<www.auroradsgn.com>
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Mon
5
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CDRW
I've been waiting for a USB CDRW
drive to be released. Que
<www.qps-inc.com>
has the Que! drive which they were
saying would be available in the third
week of March. Just a couple of days ago
the announcement on their website changed
to say the drive would be available in the
third week of April.
Meanwhile
Sony has announced the
CRX100E/X, which is a USB CDRW
which is also supposed to be available in
March. I haven't found anyone with them in
stock. <www.onsale.com>
and www.buy.com
both list them, but there's no
availability date.
I just did a little research into the
price and availability of a Nikon
CoolPix 950. Like the CDR drive, it's
supposed to be available "soon," though
estimates range from 4 days to two weeks.
<www.egghead.com>
seems to have the best price ($770.37) and
also doesn't charge your credit card until
the order is shipped. EggHead says the
camera will be available in 14 days.
Surprisingly, <www.buy.com>,
which normally has good prices (though
they charge your credit card immediately)
are quoting a price of $999 for the
camera, much more than other discount
sellers. They don't list availability. I
think they don't want to sell anyone the
camera. <www.cameraworld.com>
is also quoting $999, a bit of a surprise.
Ritz camera is charging $999 at their
online store, which I assume is the price
they charge at their real
stores.
<www.outpost.com>
lists the camera as shipping in 4+ days
for $899.95 (which I guess just means it
will be at least 4 days, but could be a
lot longer.) I've had good experiences
with Outpost, but it's hard to ignore a
$100 price difference.
The
Onsale At Cost section of
<www.onsale.com>
lists the camera as "Out of Stock" with no
estimate of availability. The price is
$807.84, plus a payment processing fee of
$21, and a transaction fee of $10, making
a total of $838.84 (plus postage.) Their
shipping cost is lower than EggHeads, and
they don't charge extra for a signature
fee. But even so, the net price is higher
than EggHeads, and Onsale charges your
credit card immediately.
The
issue of a company charging your credit
card immediately even if they don't have
the product in stock seems irrelevant as
long as they ship the product within a
week or two of order, but there's
something about it that doesn't sit right
with me.
Now,
if I could just find someone who would
sell me a TRV-900 at cost!
ELECTRONIC
PUBLISHING
Adobe has made available Acrobat
Reader 4.0. Meanwhile, Acrobat
4.0 is expected "soon" (sometime this
month) at $249, with upgrades costing $99.
Unfortunately for Macintosh users, many of
the new features in Acrobat 4, including a
utility for converting web pages to PDF
files, will not be available (though Adobe
says they may appear later.)
<www.adobe.com
download page "Acrobat
4 Reader">
StageTools has a new tool called
Moving Picture for making real-time
pans and zooms on high-resolution still
images. MovingPicture uses the OpenGL
rendering standard to allow users to
create smooth, pans and zooms on images up
to 4,000 by 4,000 in resolution.
MovingPicture is priced at $495. An
evaluation copy can downloaded.
<www.stagetools.com>
You can enter for a chance to win a copy
of Digital Origin's EditDV, the
desktop DV editor. They will be giving
away a copy each day at NAB, and you don't
have to be there to win:
<www.digitalorigin.com/nabcontest>
Strata has announced a new
development initiative dubbed "DevNet3D,''
an effort to license key new technologies,
share development efforts with industry
allies, and open up Strata's products to
users and developers.
Strata
and modeling company Spatial Technologies
have agreed on a licensing and development
plan to apply Spatial's ACIS 3D modeling
technology in StudioPro, and Evans &
Sutherland has signed a letter of intent
to license the Strata source
code.
Another
key component of DevNet3D is the software
development kit (SDK) for StudioPro.
Strata will soon make the SDK available
for download by the DevNet3D developer
community. Registered developers will gain
direct access to all libraries and source
code necessary for
developing
extensions to StudioPro. All developers
must have internet access and be
subscribed to a dedicated development
discussion list and website.
<www.strata.com>
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