The future of cameras seem to be heading to is smaller, more portable, more disposable and mirrorless (DSLRs have a mirror). When Nokia’s Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki told 2010 that Cell Phone Cameras Will Replace DSLRs, I could not believe that on time. But it really seems to become more and more to truth in 2014: Nowadays you can take professional level (“good enough photos”) using consumer level cameras and smart phones. Technical quality is good enough for majority. There is going on a rampant replacement of point and shoot cameras of all flavors and varieties with smart phones and their built in cameras. Now the market is being effectively gutted. Gone. Non-existent. Same thing is happening to video as well.
Part of the technical race came to a (maybe temporary) end: “How can I match and exceed the quality of conventional metrics that we used to get from medium format film.” There’s nothing else pressing to solve, technically. Many photographers are fully equipped but uninspired to move forward. We have have set down for “good enough.” The engineering idea is that we’ve hit the sweet spot and to go for a Six Sigma improvement would be costly and unnecessary.
DSLR sales were down in 2013, worldwide, by 18.5% according to CIPA. The total decline in the entire dedicated camera market is closer to 43.5%. The decline will continue. Credit Suisse prediction: “Only those who have a strong brand and are competitive on price will last – and only Canon, Nikon and Sony fullfil that criteria”. Mirrorless cameras are not a big market: According to CIPA is the total sales of mirrorless system cameras in N. America was slightly fewer than 39,000 units. Total.
The challenge will be: How do you bridge that gap between high photo-capture quality and high-quality camera devices and the cloud where every amateur photographer’s images live? The company which has the most innovative post-processing, easy to share photos feature set wins! The future of photography is same as future in pretty much everything: software and connectivity. Camera manufacturers have been slow on those: we are just now seeing cameras with full operating systems like Android The advantages to smart phones are size, constant (annoyingly constant) access, multi-task tool set, and the ability to send your images, electronically, to an audience just about anywhere in the world.
Several smartphone makers have clear strategies to take photography to extremes: 40 megapixel camera is already on the market and several manufacturers are playing with re-focus after shooting options.
Consumer video device trend is that separate classic video cameras have pretty much faded from market. New smart phones have high definition video cameras in them, so for most users there is no need for separate video camera. For special uses there are small “action” video cameras that are so tiny that you can place them almost anywhere and they can take some beating while you perform your extreme sports. If the video quality of those do not suffice, many people use their DSLR to shoot higher quality high definition video. For professional video production there is still some market left for professional and prosumer video cameras.
The world seems to be heading to situation where separate DSLRs and separate video cameras will be more like high fidelity audio, which used to be common selling point in 1970s, 80s and early 90s, but now only some geeks care about audio quality. This will more or less happen to photographs and video.
Connected TV technologies get more widely used and the content earlier viewable only on TV can be now seen on many other screens. Your smartphone is the screen in your pocket. Your computer is the screen on your desk. Your tablet is a screen for the couch. This development is far from ready. Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable.
Video streaming has really become mainstream as Netflix And YouTube Account For Over 50% Of Peak Fixed Network Data In North America. Because of the rise in video services like Netflix and YouTube, peer-to-peer file-sharing has dropped (meaning less piracy of movies and TV series). Netflix remains the biggest pig in the broadband python, representing 31.6% of all downstream Internet traffic in North America during primetime hours in September — well ahead of any other streaming service. In other parts of the world, YouTube is the biggest consumer of bandwidth. In Europe, YouTube represented of 28.7% of downstream traffic.
Post HDTV resolution era seems to be coming to TVs as well in form of 4K / UltraHD. It was introduced in the 2013, and the manufacturers start to push it more in 204 because all LCD makers are looking to move their business models on from cheap mass production to higher-margin, premium offerings. They try to innovate and secure their future viability by selling fewer, but more profitable displays. On this road giant curved TVs is gaining ground: LG announces that it will present the “world’s first ” 105-inch curved ultra-hd-TV in January in Las Vegas at CES. Almost at the same time , however, Samsung also announced the proposal at CES “the world’s first and curved” 105-inch ultra HD television.. TV screens are in fact higher resolution the basic 4k level of ultra hd: Samsung and LG screens resolution is 5120 × 2160 pixels in the image (11 megapixels).
4K resolution ecosystem will get more ready for use. Netflix is testing out 4K video streaming and Netflix’s House of Cards was shot in 4K. Amazon Studios also just recently announced that it will shoot all of its 2014 shows in that format as well.
4K and 4K streaming are definitely coming in 2014 regardless of how many people can actually view it. 4K will still require a lot of work “with the compression and decode capability” to be ready for mainstream use. There are a great many things that need to happen before 4K really becomes a reality or needs to do so.
PC hardware with 4G capable graphics cards is already available, so decoding the stream is not a problem. The biggest issue is that the market penetration of 4K-capable televisions needs to grow, but to that happen the prices must drop to ranges for the average consumer. Many users have already fast enough fixed broadband connection, but can the networks handle peak usage 4K streaming? According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, it won’t require more than a stable 15 Mbps to stream 4K.
Extreme overkill resolution will also push to tablet and smart phone markets. There are already smart phones with full HD resolution. In high-end smartphones we may be moving into the overkill zone with extreme resolution that is higher than you can see on small screen: some makers have already demonstrated displays with twice the performance of 1080-progressive. Samsung is planned to release devices with 4k or UHD resolutions. As we have seen in many high tech gadget markets earlier it is a very short journey to copycat behavior. And we will see also see smart phones that can shoot 4K video.
For a long time music has been listened mainly with small portable MP3 player and such, which for most users provide “good enough” audio quality. The market had already shifted from separate MP3 players to the same functionality included to other devices (smart phones and tablets), so sales of music players sales have plummeted in year 2013 as much as as one-third. Separate music players mostly only used for listening music during fitness hobby, and growing popularity of fitness hobby is full of players saved the market from total collapse. Uncompressed music player to appreciate the need of a decent storage capacity, so some hifi people buy some high-end separate players, but that’s a small market.
Apple’s iPod continues to lead an ever-shrinking market of portable media players with a staggering 72 percent of the market for standalone music players. Apple has never been afraid of reducing demand for one of its devices by creating demand for another, in this case iPhone. The future of separate music players looks bleak.
Smartphones have taken the music player market. The growing popularity of smart phones and music streaming services will rise in the future to eat even music players sales. If smart watch will become a hit, the music player may be lost in exercisers shopping list.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
DRM and the Challenge of Serving Users
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/05/14/drm-and-the-challenge-of-serving-users/
The industry is on the cusp of a new mechanism for deploying DRM. (Until now, browsers have enabled DRM indirectly via Adobe’s Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight products.) The new version of DRM uses the acronyms “EME” and “CDM.” At Mozilla we think this new implementation contains the same deep flaws as the old system. It doesn’t strike the correct balance between protecting individual people and protecting digital content. The content providers require that a key part of the system be closed source, something that goes against Mozilla’s fundamental approach.
We very much want to see a different system. Unfortunately, Mozilla alone cannot change the industry on DRM at this point. In the past Firefox has changed the industry, and we intend to do so again. Today, however, we cannot cause the change we want regarding DRM. The other major browser vendors — Google, Microsoft and Apple — have already implemented the new system. In addition, the old system will be retired shortly. As a result, the new implementation of DRM will soon become the only way browsers can provide access to DRM-controlled content.
Tomi Engdahl says:
While Intel waits for manufacturers to adopt its Education kit ideas, it’s already managed to get its RealSense technology built into a bunch of PCs.
Rather than bulky Kinect-style clip-on cameras of before, on show were some Asus laptops, due in the coming months, equipped with built-in dual cameras that track movements to enable gesture control and “depth sensing”. On screen, the software being demo’d would show a ripple effect as you moved closer and crossed the proximity threshold, enabling touch control from thin air.
At the moment, the RealSense apps are little more than fairy dust; however, taking the idea a step further was a curious black box that appeared to project a screen into thin air.
Powered by a laptop and using a RealSense camera array from Creative Labs, the Intel Floating display can also show you what the camera sees in Depth Mode, drawing a surreal image of a person interacting with it.
Behind the illusion is a special piece of glass that refracts light and features multiples layers of mirrors within it
Intel is keen to encourage development and consequently the RealSense software is free. To get going you just need Windows 8., and it will work with AMD processors too, although the chap on the stand quickly added that you wouldn’t benefit from certain “Intel optimisations”, as it is rather processor intensive.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/19/intel_future_tech_showcase_realsense_and_personal_vehicle_experience/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix built a data center in Finland
Finnish PM eXchange FICIX says the U.S. streaming service Netflix committed a significant investment in the iron level in Finland. Netflix broadcast center is connected to the heart of Finland’s information networks , and in practice, in Finland , the company has its newest data center in the world.
- The quality of items expected to rise, FICIX Association’s Chairman Jorma Mellin estimates done on it by Finnish Netflix users.
So far, Netflix has served the Finland from Stockholm.
Telecommunications companies networks are now a true test of streaming services gain ground . Netflix is already by far Finland’s largest producer of traffic , and the second is the Google’s YouTube.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/data/2014/05/19/netflix-rakensi-konesalin-suomeen-verkkojen-tositesti-viela-edessa/20147052/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hyperspectral Imaging With A DSLR
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/18/hyperspectral-imaging-with-a-dslr/
It’s a relatively simple task to find evidence of helium by just looking at the sun; all you need is a prism, diffraction grating, and a web cam. DIY spectrometers have been around for ages, but most of them only produce a spectrum, not a full image complete with spectral data. Now it’s possible to take an image of an object, complete with that objects spectra using a DSLR, some lenses, a PVC pipe, and the same diffraction grating from your DIY interferometer.
The idea behind a hyperspectral imager is to gather the spectral data of each pixel of an image
The authors of this paper (freakin’ huge PDF) used a piece of PVC pipe, three camera lenses, a diffraction grating, and a small paper aperture to construct their hyperspectral imager. Images are captured using a standard, multi exposure HDR method, assembling the raw data from the camera into a hyperspectral image with MATLAB.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Practical Spectral Photography
http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2012/Habel_2012_PSP/Habel_2012_PSP-Draft.pdf
We introduce a low-cost and compact spectral imaging camera design based on unmodified consumer cameras and a custom camera objective. The device can be used in a high-resolution configuration that measures the spectrum of a column of an imaged scene with up to 0.8 nm spectral resolution, rivalling commercial non-imaging spectrometers, and a mid-resolution hyperspectral mode that allows the spectral measurement of a whole image, with up to 5 nm spectral resolution and 120×120 spatial resolution.
We also derive the mathematical methods to interpret and reconstruct spectra directly from the Bayer array images of a standard RGGB camera.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple, Beats and fools with money who trust celeb endorsements
Will Apple’s rumoured buyout improve the bass-boosting headphones?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/13/apple_beats_and_fools_with_money/
Reports suggest Apple is in talks to buy Beats Electronics, which was founded by hip-hopper André Young, aka Dr Dre, for an astronomical amount of money.
Philip Doak (1921-2011), who knew as much about acoustics as anyone alive at that time. And in that deep rumbling voice of his, he warned us that acoustics was “a Cinderella subject”.
That was over 40 years ago, but his comment is still true. The sad fact is that out in the real world the overwhelming majority of places and products remain acoustically challenged and knowledge of the subject is depressingly scarce.
Even worse is that in the hi-fi world, that vacuum is filled by pseudoscience, dogma and fruitloopery to the extent that it resembles a fundamentalist religion.
That’s exactly what we see in hi-fi shops, where loudspeaker performance hasn’t tangibly improved in forty years and vast sums are spent addressing the wrong problems.
A fellow audio engineer, for whom I have much respect, described hi-fi as “swatting flies whilst ignoring the alligators”. In contrast the TV sets, still and video cameras and computers available to the public have progressed in leaps and bounds.
One of the difficulties is that hi-fi isn’t dangerous, so a failure to perform does no harm and those who have spent a lot of money on a hi-fi accessory that makes no noticeable difference can handle it using denial.
Beats Electronics, founded by hip-hop musician-turned businessman Dr Dre, is primarily known for its headphones, and for its internet streaming service, Beats Music.
The headphones contain something called “by Beats”,
It appears that this is a classic case of celebrity endorsement. In a world of commoditisation and confused consumers, people often buy something that is recommended by somebody they have heard of in the media rather than something that meets a minimum specification – and will apparently pay a significant mark-up for the privilege.
So one doubts that Apple is desperate to acquire a brand of headphones when it could just do what Beats did and have them designed and made externally.
Actually the streaming mechanism of Beats Music is not rocket science and nothing that an Apple programmer couldn’t knock up to order. But what Apple must really be after – if the buyout rumours are true – are the rights to the immense music database that Beats obtained when it bought MOG.
CD no evil, hear no evil
But the key thing about the CD was that it represented an obvious leap from earlier recording media that simply weren’t good enough for delivery of post-produced material to the consumer to one that was.
Once you have made that leap, there is no requirement to go further.
The only drawback of the CD in today’s impatient society is that it’s a storage medium, a format, which means you either have to go out and buy it in person, or you buy it by mail order and it arrives with the jewel case smashed by the postal system. Neither of those factors have anything to do with the sound quality.
The 16 bits of CD were effectively extended to 18 bits by the development of noise shaping, which allows over 100dB signal to noise ratio. That falls a bit short of the 140dB maximum range of human hearing, but that has never been a real goal.
But even if a Pono download could deliver more information than a CD, the consumer still wouldn’t hear any improvement because the quality bottleneck ceased to be the storage or delivery medium with the advent of the CD and the problem became the transducers; the headphones and the speakers; one that Pono does not solve.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Discussions about DRM often land on the fundamental problem with DRM: that it doesn’t work, or worse, that it is in fact mathematically impossible to make it work. The argument goes as follows:
1. The purpose of DRM is to prevent people from copying content while allowing people to view that content,
2. You can’t hide something from someone while showing it to them,
3. And in any case widespread copyright violations (e.g. movies on file sharing sites) often come from sources that aren’t encrypted in the first place, e.g. leaks from studios.
It turns out that this argument is fundamentally flawed. Usually the arguments from pro-DRM people are that #2 and #3 are false. But no, those are true. The problem is #1 is false.
The purpose of DRM is not to prevent copyright violations.
DRM’s purpose is to give content providers control over software and hardware providers, and it is satisfying that purpose well.
As a corollary to this, look at the companies who are pushing for DRM. Of the ones who would have to implement the DRM, they are all companies over which the content providers already, without DRM, have leverage: the companies that both license content from the content providers and create software or hardware players. Because they license content, the content providers already have leverage against them: they can essentially require them to be pro-DRM if they want the content. The people against the DRM are the users, and the player creators who don’t license content. In other words, the people over whom the content producers have no leverage.
Source: https://plus.google.com/+IanHickson/posts/iPmatxBYuj2
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Television Will Look Like in 2025, According to Netflix
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/neil-hunt/
In the future, Netflix will know exactly what you want to watch, even before you do. You won’t have to spend all that time browsing through endless lists of shows on your television.
You’ll Have 48 Million TV Channels
People have traditionally discovered new shows by tuning into the channels that were most aligned with their interests.
According to Hunt, this will change with internet TV.
the recommendation engine will be so finely tuned that it will show users “one or two suggestions that perfectly fit what they want to watch now.”
Most of Netflix’s extensive library consists of shows and movies you’d never want to watch.
“There are no bad shows,” he said. “But there are many shows with small, but devoted audiences.”
“Internet TV can afford to carry those small shows,”
Internet TV will also free filmmakers from traditional television formats, Hunt said, in which they get one half-hour or hour-long slot per week with which to hook a viewer. On the internet, a television episode “can be as long or as short as you want, and it doesn’t have to tease you into the next episode because you can binge right into the next episode.”
The Commercial Will Finally Die
Netflix has already proven that it’s possible to build a big business in television without advertisers. Subscription fees, it turns out, do the trick.
He noted that bringing live sports to Netflix would change the economics of the company. “
Everyone Will Have a Smart TV
In 2014, Hunt said, about 100 million internet-connected TV will sold–or about one for every three homes with broadband internet. And by the year 2025, he told his audience, everyone will own a smart TV.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix’s Neil Hunt Says Personalized Recommendations Will Replace The Navigation Grid
http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/19/netflix-neil-hunt-internet-week/
Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt said today that the streaming video service will eventually evolve beyond its current navigation scheme, where users have to browse a seemingly endless grid of movies and TV shows.
“Our vision is, you won’t see a grid and you won’t see a sea of titles,” said Hunt, who gave one of the keynote talks this morning at Internet Week in New York City.
Instead, Netflix will deliver increasingly personalized recommendations. He suggested it’s “somewhat unrealistic” to believe that you’ll be able to turn Netflix on and it will just play the perfect choice for you — after all, you’re not always in the mood for the same type of program. However, presenting viewers with just three or four choices is “a powerful possibility.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T Says It Wants to Sell Web TV, Too
http://recode.net/2014/05/19/att-says-it-wants-to-sell-web-tv-too/
AT&T’s proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV will accelerate its plans to offer an Internet television service.
AT&T Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said DirecTV holds established entertainment industry relationships that will help speed the company’s efforts to deliver video via mobile devices and high-speed Internet service. He told Wall Street investors that he anticipates offering an Internet TV service within 12 to 18 months of the deal closing.
“This whole idea, this whole vision, of delivering video on all screens — the more we looked at this and evaluated it … the more we need to be scaled in video,” Stephenson told Wall Street analysts on a call Monday. “If you believe you need to be scaled in video, who is the best video play out there?”
AT&T joins Sony and Dish in the list of big, well-capitalized companies with content relationships who say they want to sell TV over the Web. That doesn’t mean any of them will actually do it, though.
Tomi Engdahl says:
As TV Battles Heat Up, Comcast Launches New Web Delivery Service
https://www.theinformation.com/As-TV-Battles-Heat-Up-Comcast-Launches-New-Web-Delivery
As regulatory battles and mega-mergers roil the media business, Comcast is preparing to offer a new service for Web content companies that will enable them to bypass network middlemen and deliver their services directly to Comcast Internet customers.
The new service allows companies publish their content inside of Comcast’s network so that it is closer to Internet subscribers, something they haven’t been able to do in the past. John Schanz, Comcast’s chief network officer, said in an interview that the offering is currently being tested with some customers and is expected to roll out broadly if all goes well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco’s plan: A $1500 videoconferencing device on every desk
http://www.citeworld.com/article/2156047/social-collaboration/cisco-hopes-to-put-a-1500-videoconferencing-device-on-every-desk.html
Hot on the heels of its lower-priced videoconferencing gear for conference rooms, Cisco is now hoping to sell personal videoconferencing devices on every company desktop. But at an estimated street price of $1,000 to $2,000 per device, this is a tough prospect.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The post-Oculus boom: Survios raises $4M for free-moving virtual reality
http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/19/the-post-oculus-boom-survios-raises-4m-round-for-free-moving-virtual-reality/
Oculus VR, the virtual-reality startup that Facebook bought for $2 billion, has some new company. Survios, a younger VR startup that is following in the wake of Oculus, has raised $4 million in funding so that it can fulfill its dream of building the ultimate VR system with both proprietary software and off-the-shelf hardware.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine Face Royalties Claim From Beats Headphones Co-Founder (Exclusive)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/dr-dre-jimmy-iovine-face-706013
Steven Lamar is upset over an alleged breach on the 2006 deal he worked out with Dre and Iovine.
As the rumored marriage between Apple Computers and Beats Electronics remains stubbornly awaiting its “I do’s,” a royalty dispute that looks back at the beginning of the headphones giant is heating up.
Who is Lamar?
According to his cross-complaint, he’s not only the founder of Jibe Audio, but also the founder of Beats Headphones. He’s also been called the “father of Beats headphones” by others.
“The proposal was to sell Beats Headphones in Apple stores,” continues the cross-complaint, unintentionally foreshadowing the Beats-Apple discussions years later.
Ultimately, Beats decided to go with Monster, LLC as its distribution partner. According to Lamar’s legal filing, at the time, Iovine and Dre were to get a 20 percent royalty and Lamar/Jibe a five percent royalty.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix to launch in six European countries this year
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/21/us-netflix-europe-idUSBREA4K03D20140521
Netflix Inc will launch its online movie and TV subscription service later this year in France, Germany and four other European countries, in a major push into new markets.
The other new countries Netflix will enter in late 2014 are Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, the California-based company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Americans Hate TV and Internet Providers More Than Other Industries
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/14/05/21/0248242/americans-hate-tv-and-internet-providers-more-than-other-industries
“According to a new report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, subscription TV providers and ISPs were the industries Americans disliked the most over the past year.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Press Release Telecommunications and Information 2014
ACSI: Subscription TV and ISPs Plummet, Cell Phone Satisfaction Climbs
http://www.theacsi.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/press-2014/press-release-telecommunications-and-information-2014?_ga=1.19451131.2109435641.1387387551
Subscription TV and Internet service providers (ISPs) sink to the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index in its annual measure of communications industries.
“The Internet has been a disruptor for many industries, and subscription TV and ISPs are no exception,” says Claes Fornell, ACSI Chairman and founder. “Over-the-top video services, like Netflix and Hulu, threaten subscription TV providers and also put pressure on ISP network infrastructure. Customers question the value proposition of both, as consumers pay for more than they need in terms of subscription TV and get less than they want in terms of Internet speeds and reliability.”
Customer satisfaction is deteriorating for all of the largest pay TV providers. Viewers are much more dissatisfied with cable TV service than fiber optic and satellite service
Cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable have the most dissatisfied customers.
Internet Service Providers at Rock Bottom Without Much Incentive to Improve
High prices, slow data transmission and unreliable service drag satisfaction to record lows, as customers have few alternatives beyond the largest Internet service providers. Customer satisfaction with ISPs drops 3.1% to 63, the lowest score in the Index.
Tomi Engdahl says:
JJ Abrams and Star Wars: I’ve got a bad feeling about this
No original ideas? Can’t finish a story? Come right in, Mr Abrams
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/21/star_wars_jj_abrams_overrated_director/
“Boys are only interested in pirates and Star Wars,” my daughter tells me. She is four and speaks with the confidence and clarity only a four-year-old can manage.
Her proof? The games played, toys brought in and the clothes worn by the boys in her class at pre-school.
Star Wars is doing well: pirates have been swashing a buckle and terrorising the high seas for centuries. Yet Star Wars is 37 years old.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Will Soon Detect What You’re Watching and Listening To
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/facebook-will-soon-detect-what-youre-watching-and-listening-to/
Facebook will soon automatically identify the TV shows you’re watching and the music you’re listening to, making it easier to join online discussions involving your latest bit of entertainment.
The move will help Facebook get a leg up on other social networks fighting to push their way into your TV and movie time. Twitter and Yahoo’s Tumblr have touted their networks as vital online hubs for TV and movie fans. But on those networks, inserting your comments into a broader discussion about a particular show isn’t the smoothest of tasks. Typically, it involves identifying a particular hashtag and manually adding it to your comment.
That’s why Facebook is rolling out its new audio fingerprinting tool, detailed on Wednesday with a company blog post. With audio fingerprinting, you needn’t go looking for a hashtag. Instead, you click a button on your Facebook mobile app, it listens to the TV show you’re watching, and then it automatically links your comments to the right online forum–at least in theory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spotify Hits 10 Million Paid Users. Now Can It Make Money?
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-21/why-spotify-and-the-streaming-music-industry-cant-make-money
Competition was inevitable in such a popular space, but when Beats Electronics launched its own subscription service, Beats Music, in January, it seemed more like a validation of Spotify’s model than a threat. The two companies offer the same basic service: a $10-a-month subscription that gives users the ability to stream songs from the company’s servers.
Spotify will announce today its 10 millionth paying subscriber, and an additional 30 million people listen for free. Ek says that as long as Spotify accomplishes its main task—getting people to stream more music—free users will continue to upgrade to paid subscriptions. “We know if you do that, you’re going to be like, ‘Hey, 10 bucks is nothing. It’s like two beers,’” he says. “In Sweden, it’s actually less than one beer.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Embedding Vision: Training Resources
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322403&
As with all new technologies, embedded vision is moving beyond the innovators to the early adopters. Crossing the chasm requires education, improvements in enabling software, and a robust ecosystem. All these are interrelated and require a catalyst, which is exactly the role that the Embedded Vision Alliance has been fulfilling.
Learning through startup
In addition to my role as executive director of the alliance, I jumped in with both feet and started a company, Auviz Systems, which is developing accelerated middleware and IP for embedded vision applications on FPGAs. Our development team already had experience implementing vision algorithms on PCs, but reorienting our engineers to address heterogeneous processor platforms required learning OpenCL, FPGAs, and their tool flows while developing new ways to implement algorithms.
It has been a bumpy ride over the last six months, particularly with the tools, since the standards and APIs are new and evolving.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Developing Tablet With Advanced Vision Capabilities
Tech Company Plans To Produce About 4,000 Prototype Tablets Beginning Next Month
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303749904579578833557306544-lMyQjAxMTA0MDIwMTEyNDEyWj
Google Inc. GOOGL +1.05% is developing a new, cutting-edge tablet as it continues to experiment with advanced vision capabilities for mobile devices.
The company plans to produce about 4,000 of the prototype tablets beginning next month, according to people briefed on the company’s plans. The device would come with a 7-inch screen and will be equipped with two back cameras, infrared depth sensors and advanced software that can capture precise three-dimensional images of objects, said these people.
The tablet is being developed as part of a Google research effort dubbed Project Tango, according to a person familiar with that effort
Tomi Engdahl says:
Streaming music services saved the radio star
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/042e3e84-c646-11e3-ba0e-00144feabdc0.html
At first glance, the recent annual report from the IFPI, the music trade body, made for grim reading. Global music sales were down 4 per cent in 2013, a depressing slip for an industry that had hoped to put a decade of decline behind it.
But hidden in the report was a possible key to music’s future. Income from streaming services rose 50 per cent to more than $1bn last year, a sign that music fans are moving from digitally downloading music to own in favour of an all-access subscription model.
European music services such as Spotify are leading the innovation charge and record labels are, for the first time in more than a decade, looking to the future with optimism. Subscription music provides a steady and growing revenue stream, instead of a business model built around a cycle of releases by individual artists.
“What the subscription model does is take volatility out of the record business,”
subscription becoming the main way people listen to music. “It’s only a matter of time; it’s an absolute inevitability,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
German court rules ex-lovers must delete explicit photos of partners after a break-up
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-court-rules-exlovers-must-delete-explicit-photos-of-partners-after-a-breakup-9419009.html
Couples should delete intimate or revealing photos and videos of their lovers when their relationship ends if their ex-partner asks them to, a German court ruled on Tuesday.
When their relationship ended, the woman insisted that all of the images and videos she appeared in be deleted.
The court agreed that any privately recorded nude pictures and footage which she appeared in should be deleted or withdrawn on the grounds of personal rights, which are considered higher than the ownership rights of the photographer, the Local has reported.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The world’s first omni-directional electrostatic speaker?
Canadian Muraudio wanted to hold on to point sound source and use electrostatic elements. The result is an omni-directional (360 degrees horizontal, 16 degrees vertical) hybrid (electrostatic + subwoofer elements).
Patented technology has its own name: High Output Continuous Curve ESL technology, which according to the manufacturer makes the world’s first speaker elektrostaattimonopolin where the rear radiation is not invalidated. Staattiosaa is 5000cm2 and the film was 3.8 μm mylar.
Source: http://www.hifimaailma.fi/uutiset/maailman-ensimmainen-ymparisateileva-elektrostaattikaiutin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon Now Has Plenty of Fire TVs, and May Let You Try One for Free
http://recode.net/2014/05/22/amazon-now-has-plenty-of-fire-tvs-and-may-let-you-try-one-for-free/
Remember when Amazon sold out of its Fire TV boxes, just a few days after introducing them?
Now they have more. And perhaps they have a few extra: Amazon is telling some of its customers that they can try the $99 set-top box for free for a month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Facebook Spent a Year Learning to Listen in on Your TV Shows
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/facebooks-year-tv/
If you’re watching TV or listening to music and you feel like discussing it online, Facebook believes, nothing should stand in the way. Not even a few keystrokes.
The social networking giant spent more than a year developing its new audio sampling system, which can listen to a TV show or a song and then automatically mention it in your next Facebook status update. And for Facebook, that’s time well spent.
According to those who built the tool, the aim was to remove every last bit of friction from the way we reference bits of pop culture on the social network.
Facebook already lets you add structured media tags in other ways. Using a drop-down menu, you can indicate you’re “listening to” or “watching” or “reading” something, and the social network will give you list of suggested shows and songs and other media. All told, more than 5 billion status updates have included this kind of structured data. But the company wanted to go further.
The solution involved audio fingerprinting–listening to several seconds of sound from a song, show, or movie, digitizing it, removing the noise introduced between the audio source and your smartphone microphone, and running the result through a large database of audio fingerprints. The popular smartphone app “Shazam,” launched in 2002 as a dial-in service for regular mobile phones, uses the same basic technique.
The system also grabs more detailed information about what you’re doing.
Facebook hasn’t hidden the fact that it sees a huge business opportunity in dovetailing with what you’re watching and listening to.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Disney learned to stop worrying and love copyright infringement
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/23/how_disney_learned_to_stop_worrying_and_love_copyright_infringement/
For years, Disney was notoriously heavy-handed in defense of its intellectual property. Then along came “Frozen”
The numbers that define “Frozen’s” cultural and financial success beggar description. It is not only the highest-grossing animated film of all time; it has also registered the most Blu-Ray DVD sales and paid digital downloads of any movie ever. The soundtrack to “Frozen” has sold 2.7 million copies. According to the Wall Street Journal, some 60,000 fan-made versions of “Let It Go” have been watched more than 60 million times. The authorized film clip featuring the song has been viewed over 147 million times. A shortage of affiliated merchandise — even Disney did not anticipate quite how big “Frozen” would get — has incited Cabbage Patch/BeanieBaby levels of hysteria
Frozen is a once-in-a-generation phenomenon and there are many reasons for its success, including, but not limited to, its mildly feminist take on the classic princess tale and the obvious influence of Pixar genius John Lasseter on Disney’s creative process. But one of the most interesting things about “Frozen” can be glimpsed in the popularity of “A Frozen Father” on YouTube. Disney’s expertise in nurturing, co-opting and, most of all, not cracking down on the many ways fans have embraced “Frozen” online is a template for how to thrive in a digital, copy-promiscuous, consumer-empowered environment. Disney, long one of the fiercest and most powerful defenders of strict intellectual property control, has learned how to let copyright go.
Well, at least a little bit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Frozen” Unleashes Avalanche of YouTube Creativity
http://www.verdinmarketing.com/marketing/frozen-unleashes-avalanche-of-youtube-creativity/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nintendo wants revenue-sharing deal for YouTube videos
http://www.develop-online.net/news/nintendo-wants-revenue-sharing-deal-for-youtube-videos/0193344
Console firm tries new tactic to make money from videos using its games
Nintendo has revealed a new affiliate program that we see the company take a share of YouTube videos that use its content.
The console giant suffered a backlash last year after it began issuing content ID match claims to videos in which users played its games, resulting in content creators no longer receiving revenues for their work.
Nintendo had seemingly backtracked following widespread condemnation, but has now revealed a new scheme in which it hopes to generate money.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Beats Breakdown: Apple Paying $2.5B for Beats Electronics, $500M for Beats Music
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/05/29/apple-beats-3b-payment-breakdown/
Apple yesterday announced plans to acquire both Beats Electronics and Beats Music for a combined total of $3 billion, but a new report from The Wall Street Journal breaks those numbers down further.
As it turns out, Apple is paying slightly less than $500 million for the Beats Music streaming service, with the bulk of the money ($2.5B) going towards the purchase of Beats Electronics, which includes the company’s popular line of headphones and speakers.
At yesterday’s Code Conference, Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine revealed that the service has 250,000 subscribers in the United States, a small number compared to Spotify’s 10 million worldwide listeners.
Leveraging iTunes and iTunes Radio, Apple may be able to grow Beats Music significantly in the coming months.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple didn’t want Beats, it needed Beats
As music downloads dwindle, streaming is the new king
http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/29/5760886/why-apple-needed-beats-as-music-downloads-dwindle-streaming-is-the
Onstage at the Code Conference last night, Apple’s Eddy Cue and Beats’ Jimmy Iovine answered some questions about the marriage of their two companies. Beats is best known for its headphones, the product that built its brand and accounts for most of its revenues. But Cue made it clear that hardware was the less important part of the equation. “You just heard why we did this deal — it’s about music,” he told the crowd. Beats Music, he said, was the “the first music subscription service done right.”
That’s a big compliment for a product that launched less than six months ago and claims 250,000 customers
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Apple-Beats deal: What the analysts are saying now
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2014/05/29/apple-beats-analysts-acquisition/
Wall Street weighs in on Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Dr. Dre’s and Jimmy Iovine’s Beats.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Beats go on at HP (at least until 2015)
http://www.cnet.com/news/the-beats-go-on-at-hp-at-least-until-2015/
Consumers looking to buy an HP machine with integrated Beats Audio have a year and a half before the companies dissolve their partnership.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple TV vs. Amazon Fire TV: Cost Comparison
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1322511&
Can the two-year-old Apple TV product still compete with the 2014 Amazon Fire TV? At Teardown.com, we priced it chip by chip in detail.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Magnet moving on connector body and reed switch inside connector help to avoid pops and squeals when plugging/unplugging audio instruments:
Neutrik silentPLUG
http://ph.mouser.com/new/neutrik/neutrik-silent-plug/?utm_source=supplyframehackadayroadblock&utm_medium=online&utm_campaign=newneutrikneutrik-silent-plug&utm_content=300×250
Neutrik silentPLUG automatically mutes an instrument cable to avoid pops and squeals when changing the instrument under load. The integrated silent switch is based on REED-technology and guarantees a lifetime beyond 10’000 mating cycles.
silent PLUG | functional principle
http://www.mouser.com/pdfdocs/NeutriksilentPLUGfunctionalprinciple.PDF
The silentPLUG automatically mutes (shorts) an instrument (guitar) cable to avoid pops
and squeals when changing the instrument under load.
ATTENTION!
For use with instrument (guitar) cable only. Damage may occur if connected to amplifier output
Tomi Engdahl says:
Are your streams buffering? YouTube wants to help
http://www.cnet.com/news/are-your-streams-buffering-youtube-wants-to-help/
YouTube releases the Google Video Quality Report, a tool that shows how your video-streaming quality compares to your neighbor’s.
The Google Video Quality Report is available to people in the US and Canada, where it launched in January. It compares your streaming video quality to three standards: HD Verified, when your provider can deliver HD video consistently at a resolution of at least 720p without buffering or interruptions; Standard Definition, for consistent video streaming at 360p; and Lower Definition, for videos that regularly play at less than 360p or often are interrupted.
Google says it will expand the report’s range to more countries in the coming months, although perhaps the real solution to buffering problems will be the expansion of gigabit Internet access in the coming years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Curved TVs Nothing But a Gimmick
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/05/29/2048237/curved-tvs-nothing-but-a-gimmick
” In the end, the TVs don’t offer better picture quality. In fact, they offer a degraded view to anyone sitting off center. Samsung and LG claim that the curve provides a cinema-like experience”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Curved screen TVs expected to quickly flatten out
Curved TVs are mostly gimmicks that don’t provide a better viewing experience, analysts say
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9248652/Curved_screen_TVs_expected_to_quickly_flatten_out?taxonomyId=229&pageNumber=1
Curved screen televisions are nothing more than a gimmick, and one that will quickly die off once users realize anyone watching from the periphery has a sub-par view, industry analysts said this week.
“You see a whole load of pseudo-scientific claims that get made for why curved TVs are a good thing. I think they’re designed to bamboozle,” said Paul Gray, director of European TV Research for DisplaySearch.
Gray and others see a saturated TV market that’s not growing, so manufacturers are scrambling for the next gimmick to spur sales.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Energy Saved By Ditching DVDs Could Power 200,000 Homes
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/05/29/1926217/the-energy-saved-by-ditching-dvds-could-power-200000-homes
“The environmental benefits of streaming a movie (or downloading it) rather than purchasing a DVD are staggering, according to a new U.S. government study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. If all DVDs purchased in 2011 were streamed instead, the energy savings would have been enough to meet the electricity demands of roughly 200,000 households. It would have cut roughly 2 billion kilograms of carbon emissions.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Energy Saved By Ditching DVDs Could Power 200,000 Homes
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-energy-saved-by-ditching-dvds-could-power-200000-homes
If you still buy DVDs, you’re killing the environment.
Maybe that’s a little extreme, but the environmental benefits of streaming a movie (or downloading it) rather than purchasing a DVD are staggering, according to a new US government study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
If, like me, you’re thinking, “who buys DVDs anymore, anyways,” the answer is “a lot of people.”
Despite the advent of hi-res streaming sites and hi-res digital downloads, Americans still spent $7.78 billion on physical DVDs and Blu-Ray discs last year; they only spent $4.35 billion on digital versions of movies and subscription streaming services such as Netflix. Of course, both are trending in the expected ways: Physical media sales dropped 8 percent in 2013, and digital movie sales were up roughly 47 percent. But people are still buying a lot of DVDs, roughly 1.2 billion last year.
According to the study, published in Environmental Research Letters, even when you take into account cloud storage, data servers, the streaming device, streaming uses much less energy than purchasing a DVD.
“Data center energy use—both operational and embodied within the IT equipment—account for less than 1 percent of the total video streaming energy use,” the study said.
Most of the energy use comes from actually getting the video to you—the internet connection itself—and the device you’re streaming with.
Watching one hour of streaming video requires roughly 8 megajoules of energy, compared to 12 megajoules for watching a DVD.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Get UNCRACKABLE quantum keys – from a smartphone
Would take ’1018 times the age of the universe’ to guess
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/30/get_uncrackable_quantum_keys_from_a_smartphone/
Your smartphone is a quantum device that can be used to generate truly random keys, according to boffins at the University of Geneva.
The authors say that smartphone CMOS cameras are now sensitive enough to take the place of expensive kit. “Their readout noise is of the order of a few electrons and their quantum efficiencies can achieve 80 per cent”, the paper states.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Only Beats Can Teach Google Glass How to Be Cool
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/honan-glass-learn-from-beats/
When Apple dropped $3 billion on Beats this week, it was pretty clear Cupertino was more interested in the software and people than the hardware. That’s no surprise. From the get-go, Beats cans have been almost universally maligned in the tech press as poor performers, both for their low fidelity and their cheap build quality. The styling is suspect, too—the headphones often are cast as garish and gauche.
But as it turns out, the buying public cares more about what Weezy wears in the studio or what Kobe wears on the private jet than what some nerd in San Francisco wears at his desk. And while Apple maybe wasn’t that into the hardware, it was the headphones business that enabled Beats to buy MOG—which formed the basis for Beats’ on-demand streaming service that Apple clearly does want, badly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Computex: Pixelworks Debuts Mobile Video Post-Processing IC
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322575&
As mobile devices have become the video-watching “first screen,” for more consumers, the gadgets have revealed a glaring weakness: They can’t reliably display HD content on their high-resolution screens without video artifacts.
Large-screen living-room HDTVs are equipped with a video post-processing IC designed to enhance images, but mobile devices come with no such processing pipelines today. They frequently produce images with motion blur and judder.
Pixelworks is the first chip vendor to address this issue. It has developed a small, hardwired mobile video display processor that sits between a mobile SoC and the mobile device’s panel. The co-processor uses MIPI for input and small eDP for output.
Expect other vendors (including MediaTek, Qualcomm, Imagination, and NXP Software) to join the mobile video post-processing race, but with vastly different approaches.
Race to bring HD video to mobile screens
Naturally, Pixelworks isn’t alone in paying attention to the lack of video display processing capabilities in mobile devices. MediaTek is pushing what it calls Clear Motion technology by running video display processing in its octa-cores pipeline.
Similarly, Qualcomm is promoting a video processing engine called Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) for a broad range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, set-tops, and TVs.
In January, Tony King-Smith, executive vice president for marketing at Imagination Technology, called good display processing or video post-processing “absolutely an important area” in mobile devices. “The right way to handle it [post-video processing] is in the graphics pipeline,” he told EE Times.
NXP Software has been pitching the idea of “bringing the living room HDTV experience to mobile” by running the company’s video sharpening software algorithms on mobile platforms.
Few in the electronics industry question the rapid growth of mobile video over the next several years. Cisco predicted this year in its Visual Networking Index that video will handle as much as two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic by 2018. More specifically, it said mobile video use will increase 14-fold between 2013 and 2018, accounting for 69% of mobile data traffic by 2018.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Future Of Music Business Models (And Those Who Are Already There)
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091119/1634117011/future-music-business-models-those-who-are-already-there.shtml
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung, Chipzilla in 4K monitor price cut pact
Tooling around to drop costs to $US399 so a whole family can fondle one slab
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/intel_and_samsung_in_4k_monitor_price_cut_pact/
Intel and Samsung have created a “collaboration” to help the latter company slice the price of 4K monitors.
In a pre-Computex briefing call Lisa Graff, Chipzilla’s PC Client Group veep and general manager of the Desktop Client Platforms Group opined that PC buyers are aware of 4K but that monitor costs are so high they’re scaring punters away.
That’s no good for Intel: punters won’t buy a new PC packing this year’s 4K-capable Core CPUs and graphics if 4K monitors are so expensive they make a new purchase too pricey.
But why Samsung came to Intel’s party isn’t clear especially as it won’t be the only beneficiary: the Korean company’s monitor-making division supplies displays to plenty of other companies.
Graff said cheaper 4K monitors will mean users whose phones start to include 4K cameras will consider new PCs to display their newly-captured images can be seen in all their glory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kickstarter cup-rattling, light-dimming Internet of Stuff upstart takes on Sonos, Bose
Music biz may even water your plants
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/kickstarted_musaic_aims_to_outsmart_sonos/
Kickstarter-funded Musaic hopes to outsmart Sonos and beat Bose with speakers that play higher fidelity music across normal Wi-Fi, support Bluetooth and integrate with home automation lighting and security products.
Wi-Fi is becoming the smart home network. Sonos, the streaming speaker king, takes advantage of that but implements its own proprietary Wi-Fi implementation which needs a Bridge box Ethernet cabled to the home’s router. Sonos speakers play music streamed in from the internet, wirelessly transmitted from smartphones and tablets or from notebooks and desktop computers where a cable connection to the Bridge seems best.
The speakers are controlled from apps on these smart devices.
Mid-Fi music listeners say the sound is great while real top-end Hi-Fi buffs say it isn’t as good. Both would say the Sonos convenience factor is terrific.
Meanwhile, Musaic, a small British startup, is trying to muscle in on the Sonos speaker crowd with its own product. It has a pair of speakers, or “music players” as it calls them: the 36W RMS MP5 entry-level for small rooms like kitchens and the 60W RMS MP10 for larger rooms like lounges.
The players each have an Ethernet connection plus analogue input via a 3.5mm stereo mini jack port on the back of a player.
Music players integrate with home automation systems using AllJoyn technology. They can control dimmers, bulbs and switches from LED lighting brand LightwaveRF, which produces WiFi-connected lighting units.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nexus Q replay: Motorola’s $50 Moto Stream flings music wirelessly in your home
http://gigaom.com/2014/06/03/nexus-q-replay-motorolas-50-moto-stream-flings-music-wirelessly-in-your-home/
Google tried and failed to create a wireless home music streamer two years ago for $200. Now, Motorola may have the answer for one quarter of the price. Even better: It doesn’t just work with Android devices.
Like the Nexus Q, you connect your own wired speakers to the Moto Stream for playback, effectively turning your woofers and tweeters into wireless speakers. You can play purchased music or tunes from streaming services such as Spotify, Google Music and Pandora.
I like the idea of Heist Mode which connects multiple devices to the unique looking music streamer: It lets several people play DJ to spin tunes.
Pairing devices to the Moto Stream can be done through simple NFC tapping to simplify the connection process.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AirPlay on iOS 8 doesn’t need a network to stream your media
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/03/peer-to-peer-airplay/
Right now, Apple’s AirPlay media streaming requires an established WiFi network to fly. That’s fine when you’re at home, but do you really want to ask for a friend’s hotspot password just to show vacation photos on their Apple TV? Mercifully, iOS 8 will let you skip that hassle.
The basic concept is old hat, as you might suspect. DLNA has done this for a while, and third-party apps on various platforms can pull this off.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pixar To Give Away 3D RenderMan Software
http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/14/06/03/1917235/pixar-to-give-away-3d-renderman-software
‘The 3D rendering software behind films such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc and Harry Potter is to be given away free for non-commercial use.”
Pixar to give away ‘Toy Story’ 3D RenderMan software
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27677712
The 3D rendering software behind films such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc and Harry Potter is to be given away free for non-commercial use.
RenderMan, which is developed by Pixar, has faced increased competition from rival animation rendering programmes such as VRay and Arnold.
Although Pixar, which is owned by Disney, produces its own films, it licenses RenderMan to rival studios.
The company has also cut the price of its software for commercial use.
In a statement, the firm said it would release a free version of RenderMan “without any functional limitations, watermarking, or time restrictions”.
“Non-commercial RenderMan will be freely available for students, institutions, researchers, developers, and for personal use,” it added.
The new version of RenderMan was unveiled in London, which has become a global hub for the visual effects (VFX) industry.
Press Releases: Pixar Animation Studios Announces Monumental Innovations In Film Rendering
http://renderman.pixar.com/view/DP25846
Advanced Global Illumination, New Pricing, Free Non-Commercial Use
Effective immediately, Pixar is also announcing that the price of the current version of RenderMan is $495 per license for commercial use, with customized peak render packages offering built-in “burst render” capability.
free non-commercial licenses of RenderMan will be made available without any functional limitations, watermarking, or time restrictions.
The new RenderMan is being released in the timeframe of SIGGRAPH 2014 and will be compatible with the following 64-bit operating systems, Mac OS 10.8 and 10.7, Windows 8, 7, and Vista, and Linux.