rgbFilter – Page 86 – For the pixel pusher in you.

Mobile Interface Demos

February 21, 2009April 17, 2009 Doug Groves Android, google, multitouch, resistive, tat, tegra, Windows Mobile3 Comments

Beyond all the new phones at Mobile World Congress this year, there were some really interesting demos of technology that may change the way we interact with mobile devices in general in the future. We’ve already mentioned the graphics power of Nvidia’s long awaited Tegra platform that should appear on both Google’s Android and Windows Mobile in the not to distant future. Beyond processing power, there were some new interfaces demoed at Mobile World Congress in 2009 worth highlighting. Stantum demonstrated their new multi-touch technology, but what makes it different…

Don’t like the new Pepsi logo? Too bad, ‘cuz it’s the pinnacle of human achievement.

February 17, 2009July 25, 2009 Danny X design, logo3 Comments

The thing about being a designer is, often times, you rely on your ability to sling piles of bullcrap in the hopes that some of it sticks and that the client will either believe you, or at least be baffled enough to not be bothered to counter your arguments and just sign the cheque with an exaggerated sigh. Never has this policy been illustrated so well as it has with the concept process that accompanied the new Pepsi logo. As Gawker succinctly puts it: “There’s no way the branding agency…

Climatology of a Cultural Ice Age, core sample #2

February 17, 2009February 23, 2009 Paul L Apple, canada, MPAA, RIAA1 Comment

A trial is convened in Sweden, in which the co-founders of filesharing directory The Pirate Bay face two years in jail and a €100,000 fine for “assisting copyright infringement”. YouTube begins crippling the audio on all of its content, whenever it auto-pattern-matches with any audio pattern claimed by a record company, sparking fears of the ‘End of Mashup Culture‘ and reports of the first massacres of teenage digital dreams. Then, just weeks later, as if to reassure any who might be in doubt as to whether there is room in…

Nvidia ION Platform Windows Certified – See It On Video

February 11, 2009April 17, 2009 Doug Groves HTPC, netbook, Nvidia, SSF9 Comments

Reference design image from trustedreviews.com Nvidia’s small form factor (SFF) computing platform has received Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification for its drivers. What makes this noteworthy is the new platform is both tiny, as illustrated above, and dirt cheap (starting at about $300 US when shipping) and a not insignificant amount of horsepower under the hood. This looks like a break out platform for the growing netbook/nettop device segment, as it provides significantly more graphics power than the current crop of Intel graphic chips ubiquitous to the low-end market….

Wanna Be THE Hitman? It’ll Cost You.

February 11, 2009April 17, 2009 Doug Groves console, Xbox 360, Xbox Live5 Comments

Leaked Dead Rising 2 vid appears to be the real deal

February 10, 2009February 23, 2009 Danny X console, dead rising, leak, Xbox 3602 Comments

Shaky McCameraPhone is at it again. Recently this video appeared on YouTube claiming to be the leaked trailer for the upcoming Dead Rising 2. If you’re a horror-survivalist and a fan of anything Undead, then it’s pretty much a lock that Dead Rising was, for you, some of the most fun you’ve had playing video games in a very long time…provided you’re a 360 owner. Now, after much speculation, Capcom has indeed announced that DR2 is in fact in development, and headed out of the mall and into the streets…

Xbox-exclusive GTA IV expansion gives Silver members a little taste of the Gold life

February 10, 2009February 23, 2009 Danny X DLC, GTA IV, Xbox 3604 Comments

Beginning Feb 17/09, Rockstar Games will be making available for download the new GTA IV expansion pack called “Lost and Damned”. The pack follows the story of Johnny Klebitz, a member of the Liberty City bike gang “The Lost” who’s fresh outta rehab and looking to cause a ruckus. Check out the trailer here. Lost & Damned is the first of 2 new stories announced for the franchise, the second being Chinatown Wars for the DS. What makes this interesting is not just that this is an XBOX-exclusive release, but…

Psychologists [and Watchmen mock newsreel] Demo Propaganda

February 9, 2009February 23, 2009 Paul L trailer, watchmen3 Comments

Psychologists have simultaneously discovered that synchronised behaviour (like, say… marching in step) increases loyalty, and that after being shown propagandistic images, people’s emotional profiles are changed. It’s something I’ve always noticed — people are like mirrors. From the article… Interest in the idea of a herd mentality has been renewed by work into mirror neurons – cells that fire when we perform an action or watch someone perform a similar action. It suggests that our brains are geared to mimic our peers. “We are set up for ‘auto-copy’.” Of course,…

Newtek Announces Lightwave CORE

February 6, 2009April 17, 2009 Doug Groves core, Lightwave, newtek4 Comments

Newtek, makers of the venerable Lightwave, have announced a radical change to their 3D animation package, in the form of Lightwave CORE. CORE is a complete re-write from the ground up, with a completely open SDK, with 3rd party developers using the same software tools as the programmers themselves. One of the potential advantages is transparent interaction between the various physics solutions, which should obviate the need for workarounds that have been the bane of at least one Lightwaver I know. The first advance build should be out by the…

Print Cartoonists declare Armageddon; Microsoft opens up Infinite Canvas

February 1, 2009March 12, 2009 Paul L Derfcity, Diamond Distribution, Infinite Canvas, Neil Gaiman, Scott McCloud3 Comments

Sometimes two or three things come at you in the news in the same week which are such perfect expressions of opposing spirits of the times, that the connection simply begs to be drawn between those points. Take the recent rant on Derfcity, declaring a modern economic End Times for cartoons as a result of the Great Comic Axing at alternative weekly newspaper chain, Village Voice Media… OK. This is it. We’ve reached the apocalyptic final struggle for the future of cartoons. Village Voice Media is the largest group of…

Episode 014 – Van Winkled

January 30, 2009April 17, 2009 Doug Groves BSG, Palm Pre, The Universe, Windows 711 Comments

After a longer than expected holiday hibernation, the latest episode of rgbFilter is here! In this show, we take a look at the Palm Pre, and the Windows 7 beta (quite favourably in both cases). Beyond that, we look at responsibility in blogging, give our takes on the beginning of the end of Battlestar Galactica, and contemplate the substance of the universe.