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news<br />
Apple iPod<br />
links cams<br />
Apple has updated<br />
its line of iPod photo<br />
digital music players<br />
with a slim 30GB<br />
model now costing<br />
£212 plus VAT.<br />
The <strong>com</strong>pany has<br />
reduced the price<br />
of the 60GB iPod<br />
photo to £263 plus<br />
VAT – and shown<br />
its iPod Camera<br />
Connector, which<br />
allows digital<br />
cameras to link<br />
to the iPod Photo.<br />
Episode III<br />
new chapter<br />
Four stills from the<br />
forth<strong>com</strong>ing Star<br />
Wars Episode 3<br />
have appeared on<br />
the Web. Though<br />
primarily aimed<br />
at Natalie Portmanworshipping<br />
fanboys, the stills<br />
preview some of the<br />
CGI cityscapes used<br />
in the film, including<br />
a city reminiscent of<br />
Cloud City from The<br />
Empire Strikes Back<br />
and a metropolis.<br />
Explorer to<br />
get updated<br />
Microsoft plans to<br />
release a version<br />
of a new Internet<br />
Explorer browser<br />
by the summer<br />
that better protects<br />
users from scams<br />
and malicious code<br />
while surfing the<br />
Web. “We have<br />
decided to do a new<br />
version of Internet<br />
Explorer,” Gates<br />
said. The new IE 7<br />
will “add new levels<br />
of security,” he said.<br />
8 d<br />
BBC Post Production<br />
gets gold medal for VFX<br />
BBC Post Production London has won a Gold World Medal in the<br />
<strong>2005</strong> Television Programming & Promotion Competition at the New<br />
York Film Festival, the BBC has revealed. It won the award for its<br />
work on the title sequence for BBC Sport’s coverage of the Olympic<br />
Games. The sequence features a giant swimmer rising out of a wave,<br />
a runner generating a sandstorm, and a discus thrower emerging<br />
from particles of rock. The athletes were filmed both on location in<br />
Greece and against greenscreen. BBC Post Production 3D matched<br />
moving athletes and attached custom particle effects using Alias<br />
Maya, to create the impression they emerge from the elements.<br />
Apple Shake was used for <strong>com</strong>positing the discus thrower and<br />
Discreet Inferno for the rest of the effects and final polishing.<br />
Sony shows its next-gen<br />
‘Cell’ microprocessor<br />
Researchers from IBM, Sony, and Toshiba unveiled the long-awaited<br />
Cell microprocessor in February – paving the way for a new<br />
generation of powerful workstations aimed at digital content makers,<br />
and forming the basis of Sony’s PlayStation 3. The three <strong>com</strong>panies<br />
disclosed that its performance should reach ten-times the capability<br />
of current PC processors. The prototype chip shown <strong>com</strong>prised of<br />
one 64-bit Power PC processor core and eight separate processing<br />
cores that the <strong>com</strong>panies call “synergistic processing elements,” or<br />
SPEs. The cores can support multiple operating systems. Multicore<br />
processors can execute instructions in parallel, which means<br />
multiple separate instruction threads can be processed at the<br />
same time. By moving to multiple-core designs, chip designers can<br />
extract more performance from their products while reducing power<br />
consumption and heat dissipation.The Cell designers have figured<br />
out how to push both frequency and parallelism, the <strong>com</strong>panies<br />
said. Cell is capable of running at more than 4.5GHz, but the<br />
<strong>com</strong>panies have not determined how fast the final product will run.<br />
ResFest 2k5<br />
Global festival<br />
FAQ<br />
File formats can be VHS,<br />
DVD, Beta SP or MiniDV.<br />
Deadline is April 15 ($20<br />
entry fee), then May 13<br />
($25 entry fee).<br />
Running time should<br />
not exceed 60 minutes.<br />
Clearances will be<br />
needed from actors and<br />
musicians featured on<br />
your film and soundtrack.<br />
Signed agreements are<br />
required.<br />
T<br />
he internationally renowned<br />
film festival ResFest is calling for<br />
entries for its <strong>2005</strong> global tour that<br />
showcases the year’s best shorts, features,<br />
music videos, and animation in cities around<br />
the world. The tour kicks off in September<br />
<strong>2005</strong>, and is seen as a showcase of the<br />
hottest up-&-<strong>com</strong>ing filmmakers, designers,<br />
and animators.<br />
The festival – which last year included<br />
an in-depth look at the work of British<br />
director Jonathan Glazer (Guinness Surfer,<br />
UNKLE’s Rabbit In Your Headlights, Sexy<br />
Beast), plus music promos from Warp<br />
Records (LFO, Aphex Twin) – is recognized<br />
as a pro-am face-off due to its low entry<br />
fees, and is the largest festival of its kind.<br />
Budding filmmakers, motion graphics<br />
designers, shorts directors, and design<br />
collectives can enter for just $20 per entry<br />
before April 15. Final submission for entries<br />
is May 13, with the winners announced at<br />
the end of July.
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