2.5 million UK homes to get superfast broadband
BT has this week committed to delivering super-fast broadband to 2.5 million UK homes by 2012.
BT originally promised that its Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) would only reach up to a million homes by 2012 due to cost reasons, but has now extended the reach, adding a further 1.5 million homes to its original estimate.
Another 9 million homes will have access to the slower Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) tech by 2012, which still allows a 'top speed' of 40Mbps.
BT plans to use existing ducts and overhead cables to bring fibre to brownfield sites, allowing millions more to enjoy internet connection speeds of up to 100Mbps.
Superfast broadband race
Steve Robertson, chief executive of BT spin-off Openreach, said: "Service providers have asked us for more FTTP and so we have listened to them. The UK already leads the world when it comes to broadband availability and today's announcement will help the UK climb the speed league tables as well."
BT competitors Virgin Media are already trialling speeds of up to 200Mbps in some UK regions.
Andrew Ferguson, Editor of ThinkBroadband, commenting on the recent Digital Britain report that recommended all UK citizens should have access to 2Mbps broadband come 2012, added:
"The broadband world changes so quickly that things happening at civil service pace just simply cannot keep up. Or put another way, how will those with a 2Mbps connection feel when 2 million homes have access to 100Mbps speeds?"
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Gary McKinnon denied trial in the UK
After a long and protracted battle to be tried in the UK, Gary McKinnon has been told by the Supreme Court that his appeal has been turned down.
McKinnon is accused by his prosecutors of the "biggest military computer hack of all time" after he hacked into the US Army's computer system back in 2001.
McKinnon denies his involvement in the hack caused any damage and has pleaded that all he was looking for were secret files pertaining to the government's proof that UFO's exist.
In 2005 extradition proceedings began, and since then McKinnon and his mother have appealed that he stays in the UK to be tried for his crimes.
The Supreme Court revealed this week that it decided his case did not have "points of law of general public importance" – which essentially means his appeal would not be taken any further.
Devoid of humanity
Unsurprisingly, McKinnon's mother, Janice Sharp, is appalled at the result, berating the UK for handing over the hacker, stating: "No other country in the world would so readily offer its citizens to the US as sacrificial lambs merely to safeguard a 'special political relationship'.
"To use my desperately vulnerable son in this way is despicable, immoral and devoid of humanity."
Sharp is hoping to bring in the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the decision.
Because of this, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has staved off the extradition for a fortnight so there is time for a final appeal to take place.
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INQ's Spotify phone rumours increase
INQ, the makers of low cost social networking mobiles, is set to release a branded Spotify phone, according to sources.
TechCrunch is reporting it has spoken to someone within INQ camp and they have confirmed it is in the design stages of such a device.
The phone being spoken about is the branded hardware to be used as part of the new Telia deal in Sweden, but with the UK being one of INQ's core markets, an international version isn't a stretch of the imagination.
Member of the board
Li Ka-shing, the Chairman of Hutchinson Whampoa (which owns INQ and mobile network 3) is now a member of the Spotify board, along with INQ CEO Frank Meehan.
Although neither has spoken of such a device, INQ's handsets have been colloquially known as the Facebook and Twitter phones, thanks to native support for both platforms at a low cost.
Therefore the heritage of cheap handsets making full use of a web phenomenon won't be a stretch. We're currently waiting to hear from INQ on the matter, but we're anticipating a big old 'No comment' on that front.
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Nasa successfully bombs the Moon
Nasa has been successful in its bid to bomb the moon in a search for water, with its LCROSS spacecraft smashing a rocket into the lunar surface earlier today.
Although we are yet to hear if there is actual water beneath the surface of the moon, Nasa streamed the whole explosive affair live on its Nasa TV service, showing workers for the space company whooping and clapping for joy when the empty rocket hit.
Travelling at speeds of 1.6 miles a second, the rockets were propelled from Nasa's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Spacecraft (LCROSS), swiftly followed by a probe rocket.
The probe will be sniffing around to see if any ice or water particles are found as a result of the explosion.
Manned moon base
There is great significance in finding water on the moon, as it could pave the way for a self-sufficient space base which Nasa hopes to build by 2024.
The Telegraph is reporting that Nasa had a great deal of help from Durham University back in the UK in finding the right spot to 'drill' for water, with Dr Vincent Eke, from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at the University of Durham, telling the paper: "Water ice could be stable for billions of years on the Moon provided that it is cold enough.
"If ice is present in the permanently shaded lunar craters of the Moon then it could potentially provide a water source for the eventual establishment of a manned base on the Moon.
"Such a base could be used as a platform for exploration into the further reaches of our solar system."
As long as they call the moon-base Moonraker, whatever they use the space station for is fine by us.
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Blog: Best of CEATEC 2009: the future of TV?
Updated: The future of television has been on view at CEATEC, Japan's top AV show.
Within the halls of the Makuhari Messe convention center, in Chiba City, the world's biggest TV brands have unveiled a (surprisingly) unified vision of tomorrow's TV tech, giving a tantalizing glimpse at the futuristic treats we have in store.
And it's clear that the majority don't see hi-def 3D as a flash in the pan...
Both Sony and Panasonic are jostling for prime position on the 3D sofa, with the latter looking to secure an early lead when it comes to launching screens.
3D will be 'affordable'
Panasonic's CEATEC booth features the first 50inch plasma panel fully-compatible with the upcoming 3D Blu-ray standard. Unlike existing 3D technology, this can deliver 1080p resolution to each eye.
The prototype utilizes new phosphor technology for 'real deep black and unsaturated brightness,' and employ proprietary 3D drive technology circuitry to minimize crosstalk between alternating images. While Panasonic wouldn't be drawn on prices for the new screen, it stressed that the price premium for 3D would not be excessive, and that models should be 'affordable'. Panasonic's Mayuki Kozuka explained: 'We are targeting volume so [the technology] wouldn't be that expensive.'
Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo used his opening keynote speech to stress that 'Panasonic will continue to be at the leading edge for the industry', as well as emphasising his company's focus on ecology: 'The 21st century needs a great revolution to realise sustainable growth and break our dependence on oil. Eco will be the centre of all our activities. We will implement business practices that minimise environmental impact.'
The Sony vision
Sony has eight 3D prototype screens on display at CEATEC, vaguely promising commercial introductions sometime 2010. Sony's pro-division also unveiled a new 240frame/sec high frame rate single lens 3D camera, which promises to bring original 3D programme creation within the grasp of more TV producers, as well as the new SRX-R220 4K digital cinema projector, which incorporates RealD's 3D digital cinema system.
New OLED screens were notable by their absence at the show. Although Sony displayed a prototype 2.5inch flexible OLED screen with 0.2mm thinness that incorporates a flexible organic thin film transistor to drive the display. This Flex OLED screen has a resolution of 160x120 pixels and could be used for personal media players or e-paper applications.
Introducing Cell TV
In many ways, the most interesting next-generation TV at CEATEC is being touted by Toshiba. Its Cell TV, the 50-inch Cell Regza 55X1, goes on sale in December with a launch price of around a million yen. At the heart of the screen is a version of the Cell chip popularized by the PS3. Co-developed with IBM and Sony, it's able to display and record eight hi-def channels simultaneously.
Toshiba says: 'The CELL Platform achieves an arithmetic processing capability approximately 143 times that of our current top-of-the-line REGZA TV, allowing it to support unrivaled image-enhancing capabilities.'
With 3TB of storage onboard, there's plenty of room for all that time-shifted TV. The set itself has a dynamic contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1, and has an LED backlight with local dimming (this divides the images into 512 areas for precise control). The set also promises 'Self-congruency', which Toshiba describes as 'a dedicated process that improves image quality at the edge of the picture.'
Interestingly enough, the screen also has an advanced upscaler for making the most of internet-delivered video. An evolution on the XDE image processing tech seen in its high-end DVD line, this promises to make even YouTube look respectable.
The brand also demonstrated a 3D version of the cell TV platform, running on a 4K (3,840 x 2,160) panel.
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Will Spotify be gone in 12 months?
Spotify could be gone within a year, according to a senior executive at one of the world's largest music groups.
The Times is reporting that the anonymous source has said: "Spotify will be dead within a year if it carries on like this," after questions were raised over whether Spotify could continue in its current guise.
Founder Daniel Ek has also written to The Times, urging music labels to re-think the 'pay per play' model currently imposed on the streaming service, believing the royalties being asked are unsustainable.
"I believe this is something that most people in the industry can agree to, but it can't happen if the industry continues to enforce the per-play fees it has tried so hard to hold on to," said Ek.
"The new model is about figuring out how to increase the revenue per user between the different models, not squeeze as much as possible out of every single transaction."
Time needed
In the letter Ek said he believes the company should be given more time to prove itself as a business model, instead of asking for overnight success based on its popularity.
"It would obviously be wrong for me to compare Apple's success with iTunes to Spotify. We are two very different companies in two different phases of a company's cycle."
"I'm also very aware (and we are regularly reminded) of the digital music graveyard where many start-ups are to be found dead and buried. Yet whatever the business, big success takes years to build and there are very few counter examples."
New branches
However, it would be wrong to assume that Spotify is simply going to continue online growth and simply hope it eventually becomes profitable.
In the last few months, the music streaming service has launched a mobile portal on the iPhone and Android phones, and has recently announced a deal to bring Spotify to TVs as well (in Sweden, although the expectation is it will extend to other countries too).
While the likes of Twitter and Spotify are very much in early investment cycles, their success has increased calls to show how they will be self-sustaining. Whether Spotify can buck the trend and become the beacon of the new internet-based models remains to be seen.
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Come to Google "and change the world"
If you happen to become employed by Google, Eric Schmidt has warned that the company's 'perk' culture is not a reason to work for the company, citing that you should see the job as "changing the world" and not focus on the freebies.
Speaking at a Google press conference held this week, Schmidt explained that because of the recession, even the biggest search engine in the world has had to batten down the hatches when it comes to money, but this doesn't mean that Google employees shouldn't stop being passionate about what they do.
The company in recent months has disbanded some of its perk culture, including childcare and some free food, but if this was the reason Googlers came to work then they've got it all wrong.
"Google pays very well. Google is clearly a growth company, by any metric. And people at Google don't work for those reasons at Google," Schmidt explained.
"We don't want them to come to Google for those reasons. We want them to come to Google to change the world."
Life is short
After this, Schmidt's speech got even more profound, almost making you forget that it came from the mouth of an on-paper billionaire.
In it he explained that if you work for Google then expect to be paid handsomely for what you do: "Life is short. And everybody here understands that. Life is short; you should work on the things that are most important. If you want to work on what Google is working on – cloud computing, search, all the things that we talk about all the time – then come to Google and we will pay you well."
Reset the culture
Backing up his cohort, co-founder Sergey Brin also said that the perk culture at Google had to be changed, but this was only a natural thing, explaining: "I think it's important to reset the culture from time to time. And I think several years ago we did that.
"Clearly, people had extrapolated from our past practices what the vision might be. And having actually been there, and knowing the rationale… we decided to, for example, significantly cut down all the snacks that had been available."
As the cold winter of economic discontent bites all around us, at least we are all now safe in the knowledge that Google as a company is more focused on "changing the world" than having a little snack.
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In Depth: Xbox Project Natal: 10 things you need to know
Microsoft announced its latest bit of game-changing tech at this year's E3, with Project Natal being the talk of the show.
Indeed, TechRadar can't remember a new gaming technology that truly captured the imagination of gamers since Nintendo unveiled touch-control with DS back at E3 2004 and motion-control with Wii a year later in 2005.
So read on – you'll learn the 10 essential things you need to know about Microsoft's game-changing Project Natal.
1. It's an odd thing to say
It's pronounced nah-tahl – as in, it sounds a bit like tennis player Raphael Nadal and not at all like "antenatal" – this is key if you wish to avoid potential tech embarrassment when you are telling all your mates everything you're just about to learn about Microsoft's future games console in the pub tonight.
2. It's controlled by gestures
Natal is no mere copycat response to Nintendo's motion-control tech introduced with the Wii. And while Xbox certainly wants to make serious moves into the burgeoning casual market that's currently owned by the Mario factory, Natal's "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" requires no controllers at all and is instead controlled by body movements, gestures, speech and pretty much any object you care to wave around in front of the telly.
3. It overcomes the barrier of the controller
None other than Steven Spielberg turned up at Microsoft's E3 presser to sing the praises of this revolutionary 3D motion sensor that is set to overcome "the barrier of the controller". He told the assembled gaming hacks how he was "often asked how interactive entertainment could become as approachable as any other form of entertainment." The Hollywood director added: "The vast amount of people are too intimidated to pick up a games controller. 60 per cent of people do not own a video game console so the only way was to make the tech invisible and then they can shine in the spotlight. It's not reinventing the wheel, it's about no wheel at all."
4. It even works in a busy environment
While many at E3 were worried that the technology might not work so well in a typically cluttered lounge environment, TechRadar managed to get some hands-on time and all such doubts and scepticism about the tech immediately disappeared. Our reviewer simply described it as "effectively having a motion-capture studio in one's home... it locks onto human bodies and tracks their movements in such minute detail, and with such responsiveness, that developers can use it to let players control their games with the tiniest of gestures."
5. It was the ultimate reveal
Microsoft is not only learning about disruptive technologies from the likes of Nintendo, it's also learning a lot about the art of the 'ultimate reveal' from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Witness, for example, the company's sleekly produced drama that was the opener to E3 2009, Microsoft started with the two living members of the greatest band of all time on the stage (*cough* The Beatles) yet managed to trump even that with the "and finally" moment which was the revealing of Natal.
6. It enables characters to react to emotions
If upstaging Paul and Ringo, followed by Steven Spielberg's supportive words, didn't suggest the immense potential of Natal, then the fact that one of the world's greatest living videogame designers is already making demos and games with it did. Lionhead's Peter Molyneux has developed a (slightly creepy) virtual friend called Milo that can react to emotions the Xbox's new camera can see on your face. Pure sci-fi genius.
7. It'll most likely be part of Fable III
Mr Molyneux has also dropped some serious hints more recently that Natal control is going to be implemented in his forthcoming Fable III, cryptically telling press that: "I am going to say it's going to use a controller. But I've never said it's not going to use Natal." Peter then let the cat out of the bag by adding: "Do you really think … knowing me … I wouldn't want to use something like Natal? I mean that's just mad, man."
8. How does the tech actually work?
The Xbox version of the device shown off at E3, GamesCom and the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) features an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and a custom processor running proprietary software. The camera looks for your body, locks onto it, measures the positioning in 3D space of 48 key joints in your anatomy and ignores everything else. Simple! So you can forget about the annoyances of poor lighting or furniture messing up the image calibration, which was perhaps the greatest disappointment with Sony's PlayStation EyeToy technology.
9. It can take up to four players
It will support four-player multiplayer gaming in the same room. Although you're going to need a crib the size of an American hip-hop star's if you're really going to get the most out of four-player sessions on Natal-enabled beat-em-ups next year.
10. It gives us new possibilities
Natal is not ONLY a gaming or Xbox 360 technology. For many, Natal marks a key development stage in the gradual shift towards breaking down the barriers in human-machine interfaces. Marry Natal control to a full stereoscopic 3D gaming or interactive experience, for example and... well, you can imagine the possibilities.
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Review: Opera 10
Opera 10 is fast and easy to use, and the ability to expand tabs into previews is handy.
There's also integrated email and RSS reading, a download manager and a BitTorrent client, and the impressive 100 per cent Acid test compliance means Opera renders websites well.
The interface is different from other Windows apps; you'll either love it or hate it.
Opera Turbo – which optimises pages when it detects slow connections – is only really useful for mobile phone or overloaded Wi-Fi connections, and Opera lags behind other browsers with JavaScript: it took 4s to carry out the SunSpider benchmarks, compared to 1.6s for Firefox and 0.7s for Chrome. That's still faster than IE, however, which took 5.5s.
But for everyday browsing, all four browsers feel equally speedy. You won't save much in resource terms either.
On our test PC, Opera needed 22MB of RAM to display a single page, compared to 26MB for Chrome, 26MB for IE and 21MB for Firefox.
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Review: Serif PagePlus X4
Serif PagePlus X4 is a worthy upgrade to the X3 version, and Serif has been keen to turn it into a jack-of-all-trades DTP tool.
The new PhotoLab module builds on the introduction of the Logo Studio and Image Cutout Studio in X3.
Other new features include 'dynamic magnetic snapping', which can cleverly auto-align page elements such as headlines and callouts as you move them around the page.
Additionally, there's the ability to anchor an image to a specific piece of text, column, frame or margin.
Serif has also bulked up the importing options in PagePlus X4. Microsoft Word documents can be imported straight onto the page, while OpenOffice.org and Photoshop files are also supported.
There's also a powerful PDF import and editing feature, though it's worth noting that this does come with a small print caveat warning that "imported PDF and PSD files may not always import and may contain differences from the original files." Try it, but double-check the results.
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Weird Tech: America declares WAR on the Moon
On the day that Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize, crazed NASA scientists have declared WAR on the Moon, with our rocky neighbour due to come under fierce attack right about now by evil interplanetary NASA warlords.
The American space operator's LCROSS satellite will be deliberately smashed into the planetoid's surface today, with the heinous act of aggression broadcast live on NASA TV to boost the morale of Earth forces.
MOONBASE DAMAGED: The Apollo missions were sent there to set up huge targets
The official reason for the assault? Something boring about seeing how much water's there by analysing the dust cloud that floats up after the impact. The unofficial reason we're putting about on internet conspiracy theory forums? NASA's out to make those stupid Moon people PAY for daring to make our seas move. It was George W. Bush's last official order.
Plane crash? There are some plasters in the bathroom cabinet
You know what you really need when Flight 8000 plummets from 30,000 feet and crashes into the sea in two pieces, both of which are on fire? An air-bag. That will help. That's the conclusion of the US Federal Aviation Authority, which has toughened up its safety requirements for on-board plane seating.
BRACE: Stewardesses still required to put their heads between the knees of first-class passengers [Image credit: NASA Images]
With most aeroplane crashes apparently happening at relatively low speeds during take-off and landing, it's thought that having an air-bag in each seat could save lives. And in the event of not crashing on take off, you could punch the seat in front of you and use the inflatable as a nice pillow.
Ban all internets yesterday
Mainstream scare-monger resource the Daily Mail managed to turn a story about internet use into a grooming/paedophile special this week, thanks to a survey about children using the web.
Apparently, one fifth of children between the ages of five and seven use the internet without parental supervision, which was all the Mail needed to ram the words "paedophile" and "grooming" liberally throughout the piece, as if everyone on the whole internet is a sick pervert.
PERFECTLY SAFE: Daily Mail Island's latest object of fear
The disclaimer? The Mail said adult material could "potentially" be viewed by children through the web. Just like the daily rag could "potentially" cause death if it was rolled up and rammed down someone's throat.
"...Tweeted the star from intensive care"
More proof that anything anyone famous says is NEWS in these desperate times arrived yesterday, with ageing actress Liz Taylor hitting the headlines thanks to her suspiciously coherent and regularly updated Twitter account.
GOOD LUCK: And get the surgeon to TwitPic your chest cavity [Image credit: IMDB]
The now wrinkly star revealed via the inconsequential chat medium that she's about to have open heart surgery, before going on to criticise the press for needlessly exaggerating the facts of her illness. Calm down, Liz, you'll give yourself a... never mind.
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Xmas number one game in 2009: odds-on favourites
Paddy Power has just published its odds for the Xmas number one videogame in 2009, set to be Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 according to the leading bookmakers.
Of course, EA and Ubisoft are always close behind Activision's major holiday franchise, with both Assassin's Creed and FIFA 10 only slightly behind the new Call Of Duty in terms of the odds.
"When the full weight of Activision's marketing machine kicks into gear we're in no doubt that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will enjoy the lion's share of the games market this December," a Paddy Power spokesperson told MCV.
FIFA 09 owned the Christmas chart last year. Here are the full odds for 2009. Place yer bets!
Paddy Power's odds:
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - 13/8
Assassin's Creed II - 9/4
FIFA 10 - 6/1
Halo 3: ODST - 10/1
Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games - 12/1
Wii Fit Plus - 14/1
New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 18/1
Need For Speed: Shift - 18/1
Planet 51: The Game - 20/1
James Cameron's Avatar: The Game - 25/1
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All of Epic Games' titles to support Natal tech
Epic Games – the house of Gears of War and Unreal Tournament – are set to support Microsoft's forthcoming Project Natal gaming tech in a big way.
That's according to Epic boss Mark Rein, who has said that he intends that ALL of his studio's future games will support Microsoft's body-as-controller technology that wowed the crowds at E3, GamesCom and TGS this year.
That is quite a bold commitment for a major gaming developer to make to what is, as yet, an unproven technology due for a commercial release to gamers later in 2010.
Epic Games' VP Mark Rein told OXM, "we always want to have something that exploits the unique capabilities of a platform.
"We're just sitting down with [Natal] in the next two weeks, I think, to bring our studio guys in to have a look," Rein added.
Gears of War 3
"I have no idea what we're going to do from a game standpoint, but from an engine standpoint, it's definitely cool stuff and we will support it. I think any future Xbox games we make will have some Natal support," he added. "We always want to have something that exploits the unique capabilities of a platform."
"I think everyone will do something that exploits Natal once it's out there and everyone has it," Said Rein. "So will people be able to benefit from it? Yes. And then if they want to make that 'oh my god' really cool Natal experience, well, we've got the engine for that. I'm pretty psyched about it."
Roll on Gears of War 3!
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In Depth: The making of Pixar's UP
Pixar's latest film UP opens in the UK today. It tells the story of a retired widower called Carl who uproots his house and flies it to Venezuela, suspended from a canopy of helium balloons.
During the five years the film was in production, Pixar employed new rigging, animation, shading and rendering techniques to overcome the challenges the movie brought to the table.
Like the house in the film, the technology to create UP was anything but a light load. The challenges included defining intricate rigging and simulation to reproduce the balloons convincingly, and inventing a clever workaround to overcome the inherent difficulty of rendering iridescent feathers.
NEW PIXAR: UP is the latest movie from the CGI giant to grace our screens
The solution for Pixar was to develop new shading techniques that would push its industry-standard RenderMan rendering software to new heights. Supervising technical director Steve May explains: "The balloons were the biggest problem. Managing the complexity of the balloon canopy required some new techniques."
The solution was to use a physics-based simulation. In September 2007, FX technical directors Jon Reisch and Eric Froemling were tasked with transforming the canopy from the static model it was at that stage to a secondary character in its own right. "We needed to figure out a way to either simulate or animate the balloons. It required a massive effort to rewrite our rigid body pipeline from the ground up," says Reisch.
Reisch and Froemling started with the shape of the canopy, and a balloon was instanced on each of the points within that defined shape. Froemling set up the Open Dynamics Engine rigid body pipeline and wrote a Python layer on top of the ODE.
Then the Python procedural setup was abstracted into nodes in a Maya interface designed by Reisch. This enabled them to manage the amount of bounciness the balloons would have when they collided, and to vary the sizes of the individual balloons depending on where they were in the canopy.
TIME CONSUMING: Painstaking modelling has created a very impressive effect
The final balloon count was 10,297. Each was attached to the chimney of the house by a string with thousands of interactions going on. "The entire canopy is filled with balloons," says Reisch. "We didn't just simulate the outer shell." The result was not so much a balloon rig as a Python program that ran under the artists' tools.
Trick of the light
As if the balloons weren't enough, the bird character Kevin posed another set of challenges that were no less complex. The first challenge was to give the bird's iridescent feathers a soft, fluffy appearance.
In past Pixar features, feathers were modelled as either fur, as single hairs, or as single pieces of geometry shaded to look like feathers. Pixar used this method as a base to grow an additional set of hairs, and in some cases they added a third.
Kevin's feathers number in the thousands, and the number of hairs used to construct them were in the millions. Pixar created a curved plane full of hairs with added supports within the illumination model. The artists could illuminate the feathers as either individual hairs or as a surface, which offered a great deal of flexibility to explore soft and hard textures on different parts of the bird. This technique achieved the desired soft and fluffy look, but it also created the second challenge: how to make the feathers iridescent.
Iridescence is a complex optical phenomenon caused by the spacing between tiny, microscopic fibres. If you examine an iridescent surface under a microscope, you'll see multiple layers of different shapes. As light reflects off these different surfaces, the different wavelengths of light interfere with each other, resulting in colour shifts.
In nature, iridescence occurs when the spaces between these structures are adjusted, such as when the organism moves. The problem was that there wasn't enough information on the surface of Kevin's feathers to reproduce this effect, since they were multiple pieces instead of coherent shapes derived from single pieces of geometry.
Pixar's solution was to create a simplified simulation of iridescence using the same idea, but based on the incidence of the light and the viewing angle. A system was designed that enabled iridescent highlights to move in a plausible manner, but the actual colours were painted in texture maps.
By using the angular difference between the feather and the location of the light in conjunction with the camera location, the angle of the reflected light allowed for lookup of a specific colour. The specular highlight was the same shape whether or not it was iridescent; the difference was in how the highlight was tinted.
The artists made a colour selection for one of the texture maps, then masked it according to the location of the specular highlight. The location of the light in relation to the camera defined which colour to use; then the specular highlight would cut out a shape from that colour.
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This is an extract of a longer article which appeared in issue 118 of 3D World.
3D World is the leading international magazine for 3D artists, covering the fields of animation, visual effects, illustration, game design and architectural visualisation.
Images copyright Pixar Animations Studios
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Review: Asus Bravo 9500
Nvidia's 9500 chip in the Bravo is certainly not bad for the home cinema enthusiast. You won't be playing high-end games on it (although it will handle them), but it plays video very well and includes HDMI and DVI-out for connections to a digital television.
The light sensor is good, but not great – you can't beat a properly-calibrated monitor. The remote serves its purpose, but more specialised media centre remotes are far better at the job.
Asus has included some software, which needs to be installed to access the Splendid light calibration function.
The media centre software is appalling – Windows Media Center performs a lot better. If you're building a budget media centre PC from scratch, we would recommend the Bravo.
If you've already got a set-up, the only thing to really recommend is the Splendid light sensor, which we're sure we'll be seeing included with upcoming Asus graphics cards anyway.
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YouTube has 1 billion view makeover
YouTube today unveiled a new masthead, which brazenly shows off just how many people visit the site on a daily basis.
Google, the owners of the video-upload website, have been tweaking YouTube almost as much as Facebook changes its style lately, but this new re-jig isn't about making the site easier to use –
it's merely one big brag.
Billion view baby
If you click on YouTube.com, you will see that its logo has changed to show that the site gets 1 billion hits. A day.
That's right, 1 billion videos are viewed in 24 hours – that's the equivalent of a sixth of the world's population logging on to watch a cat jump around in a funny way, or to see the latest failure/winner on X-Factor.
A quick look doesn't actually bring up any new functionality. The only big change is a massive amount of advertising for Disney Pixar's latest offering UP – quite apt, given just how high YouTube's stats actually are.
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TechRadar Choice: Top 5 Core i5 mobos for your next-gen PC
Intel's new Lynnfield Core i5 CPU is a winner. Its performance is near-as-dammit on a par with the more exotic Bloomfield Core i7 processors.
At the same time, it promises to be a whole lot cheaper both as a chip and as an overall platform.
OK, the branding is a bit fubar, what with the confusing use of both the new Core i5 and existing Core i7 monikers. But the idea of quadcore Nehalem with added Turbotastic goodness and all at a lower price than ever before is a bit of a no-brainer.
We want one and we're pretty sure you'll want one, too. Branding aside, however, there is one further significant snag.
You're going to need a new motherboard if you want to jump on board the Lynnfield Express.
It requires both a new chipset and a new CPU. Lynnfield, you see, is a very different processor from the Bloomfield Core i7, the first CPU based on Intel's latest Nehalem processor architecture.
Sure, Lynnfield and Bloomfield share the same execution cores and hence precisely the same raw processing power. But in terms of what industry wags call platform partitioning, Lynnfield is a very different proposition indeed.
Asus P7P55D Deluxe
First up is the Asus P7P55D Deluxe. It's a stylish board in the typical Asus idiom. The P55's single-chip architecture is also immediately apparent.
Thanks to the space freed up by the absence of the usual northbridge chip, it's also a very uncluttered design with between 5mm to 10mm more breathing space between the socket and DIMMs than the other two boards.
It's also absolutely rammed with features. The biggest head turner is the plug-in TurboV overclocking remote control.
It's designed to provide easy access to both on the fly and pre-stored overclocking settings without the need to jump into the BIOS.
We look forward to getting to know just how effective it is, but our early experience suggests that the best results still come from getting down and dirty with the BIOS settings.
Enthusiasts are also going to love the P7P55D thanks to DIP switches that allow the various voltage safeguards to be overridden.
Read the full Asus P7P55D Deluxe review
Gigabyte P55-UD6
In its own very different way, Gigabyte's P55-UD6 will be just as exciting a prospect for performance junkies.
It's a seriously imposing and expensive, if rather conventional, looking item, stacked with cooling pipes, chunky heat sinks and slick, flush-fitted MOSFETs.
In fact, by placing the PCH in the traditional northbridge location, it shares its basic cooling layout with a conventional two-chip board and is therefore a little more cramped around the CPU socket than the Asus.
But the stand-out feature has to be the presence of six memory-DIMM slots. If you're wondering what devilry has allowed Gigabyte provide three memory channels, think again.
What you're looking at is a dual-channel setup, with three slots per channel. It also sports a Marvell SATA controller with 6GB/s support, handy if you harbour hopes of a super fast SSD array in the future.
On the downside, Gigabyte has strewn the power, reset and clear-CMOS switches rather randomly around the board.
Not a huge issue, but it does make you wonder whether the scatological engineering has spilled over into areas that could impact performance.
MSI P55-GD80
Our third candidate is MSI's P55-GD80. It's another big iron board with a mega feature set. Indeed, it has its own very particular take on the enthusiast friendly vibe.
Like the Asus board, it has buttons for tweaking both the base clock and accessing an auto overclocking function.
However, MSI has located them directly on the motherboard, rather than a plug in-remote. Whether that's a better approach is a question of personal taste. However, what we can say is our first impressions of both features are underwhelming.
You still get much better results with manual BIOS tweaking than either the base clock buttons or the OC Genie auto-overclocking switch, despite the fact that the latter is enabled by a dedicated processor chip that is claimed to detect the best clock and voltage settings for both the CPU and memory.
The enthusiast community will also welcome the presence of MSI's V-Kit package which includes voltage check points for the CPU, memory and memory controller along with hardware DIP switches for overriding voltage safe limits. Fiddle with these at your peril.
Anyway, each of these three board has plenty going for it. But which is quickest?
Head-to-head
At stock clockspeeds, the Asus and Gigabyte boards come out on top thanks to superior management of Lynnfield's Turbo Boost.
Shift the focus to overclocking and the pecking order changes once again.
We can't quote outright figures here, but we can tell you that the Asus and MSI motherboards outpaced Gigabyte's P55-UD6 by no less than 300MHz.
BIOS optimisations and the quality of voltage regulation are probably factors here.
In fact, because the performance of the revised Turbo Boost feature can offer up to 666MHz of additional grunt, which is at least partially down to the motherboard's control, plus the potential for general flakiness that comes with the arrival of any significantly new CPU architecture, you could say motherboards matter more than ever before.
Still, as interesting as this initial trio of P55 boards is, we look forward to more affordable alternatives appearing in the coming months.
After all, the most attractive thing about Lynnfield is the prospect of Core i7 performance for Core 2 cash. These boards do prove that there's plenty of power on offer from the off.
Asus Maximus III Formula
Good ol' ROG (Republic of Gamers), you can rely on him to chuck out a top-end mobo as soon as a new chipset rolls around, sporting all the bells and whistles you could want from a serious gamer's board.
The P55 chipset proves no different with Asus and ROG hitting the ground running just after launch with the Maximus III Formula, the P55 version of Asus flagship, PC gamer brand.
The standard, high-end P55 board from Asus isn't exactly feature-light, but the added extras on the Maximus III Formula set it apart.
The stand-out feature is the ROG Connect. This is an extra USB port on the board into which you can plug any note/netbook running the software from the bundled driver-disk grants access to hardware-level overclocking sliders.
Where most mobo manufacturers, Asus included, have been bundling software utilities for the purpose of overclocking on the fly, this option allows you direct access to the hardware with no software layer getting in the way.
It's by no means perfect and doesn't give you the same options that the fairly comprehensive BIOS does, but it makes base clock and voltage-tweaking a simple matter of moving a slider.
Read the full Asus Maximus III Formula review
Gigabyte P55-UD3
The Gigabyte P55-UD3 is more like it. So far, we've seen the high end of the burgeoning P55 spectrum; mobos lurking dangerously close to the آ£200 mark and all more expensive than a host of existing, bandwidth-heavy X58 boards.
Still, performance with a likewise top-end Lynnfield CPU onboard was excellent and had us drooling over the possibility of the more bargainous mainstream boards to come. Here's the first.
Granted, if you spend آ£100 on a P55, آ£220-odd for the 2.8GHz Core i7-860, plus the probable expense of forking out for a DDR3 kit, it still adds up to between آ£350 and آ£400 for the set.
That's not exactly cheap, sitting pretty close to the cost of setting up a cheap X58 and Core i7-920 D0 system
But at close to half the price of the UD6, this latest board is still a belter. We managed to garner performance that was an atom's fart away from more expensive P55s. With the same components (RAM and CPU), we managed to get an impressive overclock without any of that unpleasant voltage tweaking too
Read the full Gigabyte P55-UD3 review
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