rgbFilter – Page 4 – For the pixel pusher in you.

Computer graphics of a bygone era

May 28, 2012September 26, 2012 Doug Groves 3D, Amiga, Atari ST, computing history, graphics, IBM clone, Werner Randelshofer0 comment

Werner Randelshofer, a visual computing student at ETH Zurich, has taken it upon himself to archive digital artwork from early computer systems that are no longer with us, such as the Commodore Amiga, IBM clones, the Atari ST and many more. The site does a great job of archiving systems by type, and artist. Beside the abundance of game stills and animations, there are some classic demos on display, converted for modern viewing, including an old favourite of mine, Automated Light by James M. Robinson. Randelshofer took the time to…

Arts Film

Star Wars Day TO: Tonight at the Toronto Underground Cinema

May 4, 2012May 24, 2012 Doug Groves May the 4th be with you, Star Wars, Star Wars Day, Star Wars Day TO, StarWarsTO, tdotcomics.ca, Toronto Underground Cinema6 Comments

While the fourth has been around for a while now, today marks the second annual celebration of all things Star Wars, with Star Wars Day TO. Once again, the festivities take place at the Toronto Underground Cinema, and kick off at 7pm. Besides various screenings, there will be a costume contest, trivia (I’m guessing NOT about Game of Thrones, but that’s just a hunch), special guests and prizes. All the proceeds for this year’s even will be going to the SickKids Foundation. You can find out more about the event, as well…

Arts Computing Photography Production

Canon 60D or Nikon D7000: A Filmmaker’s Decision Part 3

May 1, 2012September 26, 2012 kingpinlei camera comparison, camera shoot out, Canon, DSLR, Nikon, Nikon D700016 Comments

It’s been a while since I first embarked on this 3-part article. Since then, life happened as it always does and before I knew it, quite a bit of time has passed and the digital camera landscape has completely changed. But always for the better. Newer and more affordable video and cinema cameras have surfaced that surprised everybody. For the sake of completing this series, I will not discuss any of the new developments. That is best left for another article altogether.

Computing Internet Mobile

SkyDrive updates for PC and Mac / Google Drive launches

April 24, 2012September 26, 2012 Doug Groves cloud storage, google, Google Drive, Mac, Microsoft, OS X, OS X Lion, PC, SkyDrive, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 84 Comments

Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage has been around for a number of years now, providing users with up to 25 GB of free storage, with their Live ID login. Yesterday, they updated the service by releasing an updated Skydrive application for both Windows (Vista, 7 and 8 ) and Mac OS X (Lion). Once installed and you provide the proper login, the SkyDrive folder simply appears as another folder in Windows Explorer and the Mac Finder, much like other cloud solutions such as DropBox. The maximum filesize has also recently climbed…

Computing

Commodore founder Jack Tramiel passes away

April 10, 2012September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Amiga, Atari, C-64, Commodore, Commodore 64, Jack Tramiel, VIC-201 Comment

Jack Tramiel, who founded Commodore International, passed away this past Sunday at the age of 83. Born in 1928, Tramiel survived Auschwitz and a labour camp in during World War II, and later emigrated to the United States and started building typewriters. He later set up Commodore Business Machines in Toronto for supply chain purposes, and branched into computers with the Commodore PET, which was a staple of computer classes in schools at the time. It was the Commodore PET that inspired me to get my first computer, the VIC-20. …

Computing Internet Mobile

The myth of the saturated smartphone market

April 4, 2012September 26, 2012 Doug Groves IDC, marketshare, myth, Nielsen, opinion, smartphone growth2 Comments

Ever since the days of the original Palm Pre, worries about saturated market has permeated many reviews and reports about new entrants in the smartphone ‘race’. A lot of the tech press were raising flags, suggesting Palm was in a “too little, too late” position. Palm was certainly in the “too little” category, I’d argue they were far from “too late”. There were a lot of problems with Palm’s WebOS reboot, few of which had to do with timing. Unfortunately, because Palm (via HP) did crash and burn, it reinforces the idea that “market saturation” is…

Computing Hardware Science

Nano quadroters in autonomous action

March 2, 2012September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Kinect, KMel Robotics, nano quadrotor, quadrotor, TED, TED 2012, University of Pennsylvania, Vijay Kumar0 comment

The University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab has been working with quadrotors from some time, demonstrating how the flying robots can be used for everything from assembling structures to flying through moving hula hoops. Back in January, they put out a video demonstrating the capabilities of their minaturized ‘nano quadrotors’ flying in formation. Vijay Kumar of U Penn gave a talk at TED 2012, and the video above goes into greater detail about the hows and whys of quadrotor development and application. The second half of the video shows even more complex…

Arts Computing Featured Mobile Photography

Nokia impresses at MWC with 41 megapixel PureView 808

February 27, 2012March 2, 2012 Doug Groves Lumia 800, Lumia 900, Nokia, PureView, PureView 808, Rogers, Symbian, Symbian Belle, Telus, Windows Phone0 comment

Nokia, which has long held the crown as ‘best camera on a phone’ with their 12 megapixel N8 today upped the ante with the announcement of their PureView 808 phone. The phone will ship with a custom 1/1.2″ sensor, much larger than most smartphone cameras. While this leads to a noticable hump on the back, the results make up for it, as it sports a 41 megapixel sensor, enabling it to capture images up to 38 megapixels in size.

Computing Featured Gaming Mobile

Windows 8 and why the Zune brand needs to die

February 24, 2012May 29, 2012 Doug Groves Metro, Metro UI, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Office, Office Web Apps, Windows Media, Xbox, Xbox Live, Zune56 Comments

Microsoft has taken a lot of flak for their horrible naming conventions and overly long names, and deservedly so. When first announced, Windows Phone was called Windows Phone Series 7. They officially chopped of the “Series” by launch, and now just advertise it as Windows Phone. It just makes more sense.

Similarly, they last year rebranded their paid Office cloud service to Office 365. Office 365 makes sense. It’s Office, all the time. Do you know what they called it previously?

Business Productivity Online Suite.

Featured Science video

Swiss satellite to clean our cosmic front lawn

February 16, 2012February 24, 2012 Doug Groves CleanSpace One, EPFL, satellite, space debris3 Comments

Life imitates art, right? That doesn’t have to mean it’s good art to result in a good cause. In that vein, the Swiss Space Center yesterday announced that they’ll be launching the CleanSpace One project, with its first goal to build and deploy a “janitor satellite” named CleanSpace One, with the singular task of tracking down the detrius we’ve left stranded in our solar front yard. The space junk will then be carried back towards Earth, with the goal of burning up during re-entry.

Arts Featured Gaming

Puddle game review

February 13, 2012February 16, 2012 Doug Groves Konami, Neko, PS3, PSN, Puddle, review, Xbox 360, Xbox Live0 comment

Back in 2010, six French students won the GDC Student Showcase award for the liquid physics puzzle game Puddle. Konami later picked up the title, and after development by Neko Entertainment, Puddle was released on both the Xbox Live Arcade and PSN a couple of weeks back. The premise of the game is straight forward. The player guides liquids through hazardous environments, while trying not to lose so much volume that you have to start over. In the early levels, this means navigating water through pipes filled with fire and heated…

Animation Arts Featured Film Gaming

Deus Ex – The Title Sequence

January 31, 2012February 13, 2012 Doug Groves Art Of The Title, Deus Ex Human Revolution, interview, PC gaming, PS3, Xbox4 Comments

The always wonderful to read “Art of the Title”, which focuses on the craft of creating effective title sequences, generally using film and TV, has posted its first game sequence, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Included is an extensive interview with both Paul Furminger from Goldtooth Creative (director of the sequence) and Jean-François Dugas from Eidos-Montreal (Game Director).