Author: Doug Groves

dougplanet.com is his personal blog, which is withering on the vine. If you poke around it, you’ll find out that he’s an animator and broadcast designer by trade, usually pushing pixels in either After Effects or Lightwave 3D. If he absolutely had to pick a favourite all time writer, it would be Harlan Ellison more days than any other. If you don’t know who Ellison is, then Doug weeps for you. Doug also likes long walks on the beach, mainly to collect improperly discarded medical waste for an undisclosed project of epic proportions.

Flash 10.1 Update announced for (almost) everything

October 5, 2009 Doug Groves Adobe, Android, Flash, ION, OMAP4, Palm Pre, Snapdragon, Symbian, tegra, Windows Mobile3 Comments

As the above video demonstrates, it looks like hardware acceleration for Flash video and websites is finally about to become a reality. Adobe announced this week that the Flash 10.1 beta will support a number of mobile platforms, including Nvidia’s ION and Tegra chipsets as well as OMAP4 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor. The ION GPU provides advanced graphics for low powered and low cost devices such as netbooks and small form factor PCs like the Acer Aspire Revo and ASRock ION 330. Both the Tegra and Snapdragon are high powered…

Bell and Telus To Launch iPhone In November

October 5, 2009October 7, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, iPhone, Rogers, rumour, Telus10 Comments

As long as quasi-substantiated rumours are to be believed, anyways. The iPhone will be available from Bell and Telus in November, breaking a year plus exclusive deal with Rogers. November also marks the nation wide launch of the joint HSPA network from Bell and Telus, well ahead of the original schedule, which suggested it would be available around the time of the Olympics, and probably starting in Vancouver so the two telecom companies could take advantage of international roaming fees racked up by visitors from around the world. It’s little…

Toronto Zombie Walk 2009 – Update of the damned

October 1, 2009 Doug Groves zombie walk, Zombies0 comment

Last years Toronto Zombie Walk was attended by over 3000 shambling corpses. With only 3 weeks to go until the sidewalks of Toronto become splattered with the blood of the undead once again, it’s time to dish all the details, straight from the official site…

Microsoft Security Essentials: Worth The Price And Then Some

September 30, 2009October 2, 2009 Doug Groves anti virus, Microsoft, Security Essentials1 Comment

I’ll be the first to admit that I hate anti-virus software so much, I never use it, except in test cases. I’ll also admit that I would NEVER recommend anyone NOT run anti-virus on their PC. Part of the reason I don’t run it is anti-virus is that historically it’s interfered with specialized software I use at work in post-production. The other part is that I generally don’t tread on the dangerous side of the internet. To put aside fears of being infected, I do run regular system scans with…

Network Outage

September 30, 2009September 30, 2009 Doug Groves 1 Comment

Just wanted to send out an apology to our readers about the down time today. Our ISP had a major networking issue which kept the site offline for about 6 hours.

The Canadian Broadband Wars Heat Up

September 24, 2009September 24, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, broadband, CRTC, net neutrality, online rights, Telus2 Comments

A new initiative was recently launched to battle the CRTC rulings regarding Bell and Telus and access to network infrastructure. Competitivebroadband.com, which is comprised of a wide range of independent ISPs and coalitions, is aiming squarely at making the consumer aware of, and getting them involved with, the proceedings. From their mission statement… Following the decision by the CRTC, which was released on 11 December 2008, MTS Allstream decided to petition the federal Cabinet, which has the power to reverse this decision. Others have also made their views known in…

Acer Aspire AS 1410 aka Timeline Review

September 22, 2009October 19, 2009 Doug Groves Acer, AS 1410, Aspire, netbook, review, thin and light9 Comments

Ever since the netbook market took off, tech pundits have been asking “What are the defining characteristics of a netbook?” Is it price, size, storage or some combination thereof? I can safely say that Aspire AS 1410 (also known as the Acer Timeline in Europe but oddly rebranded here) should not only be considered on the fence between netbooks and ‘thin and light’ machines. It pretty much IS the fence. With an 11.4″, 1366 x768 display and a full sized keyboard that feels as expansive as the prairies compared to…

Fan Expo 2009: Robert Duncan McNeill

September 21, 2009 Doug Groves event, Fan Expo 2009, interview, Toronto0 comment

Robert Duncan McNeill was kind enough to take a few minutes to talk with Ryan about both some of his past work, as well has his role as an exec producer and director on the fan fave show Chuck.

Flickr Generates Virtual Cities

September 18, 2009 Doug Groves 3D, visualization1 Comment

Last year, Microsoft released its Photosynth application, which allows users to build 3D environments based on their photo libraries. Now, computer scientists at the University of Washington’s Graphics and Imaging Laboratory have one upped Photosynth by using the same imaging algorithms to create full, virtual cities of Venice, Rome and the Croation city of Dubrovnik, by analyzing thousands of photos posted on Flickr. The same labs created the algorithms for the Photosynth software, but have now been drastically enhanced to take pools of photos ranging up to the 100’s of…

Wacom Bamboo Touch Tablet

September 17, 2009 Doug Groves Bamboo, hypothesis, Wacom5 Comments

It’s been a long time since there’s been a major change in a product line from tablet maker Wacom. All that has changed though. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, Wacom makes tablets that allow you to draw naturally on a computer. Using a piezoelectric pen, the harder you press on the surface, the thicker the line, or the heavier the ink flow, which makes the old days of trying to draw with a mouse seem positively comical. The last time Wacom introduced something revolutionary as opposed to…

Fan Expo 2009: Montage!

September 16, 2009September 16, 2009 Doug Groves Aaron Douglas, anime, bloopers, Bruce Campbell, Comics, event, Fan Expo 2009, gaffes, Gaming, horror, leonard nimoy, random silliness, science fiction, Toronto, walter koenig1 Comment

The whole rgbFilter crew had a blast at Fan Expo 2009, and in the midst of putting together our interviews, we’ve cut together this montage of bloopers, gaffes and random silliness. There’s still more interviews to come after this, so stay tuned!

Brutal Legend: In The Beginning…

September 16, 2009September 16, 2009 Doug Groves Brutal Legend, PS3, Xbox 3603 Comments

A corporate merger, lawsuits and counter lawsuits couldn’t keep Brütal Legend finally making its way onto your gaming console. The action game starring the voice and caricaturized semblance of Jack Black, sees the demo released for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 tomorrow, Sept 17th. The above video, of the first five minutes of the game (no axe shredding gameplay) will either have you hitting refresh on your Demos page, or saying “Too much Mr. Black, Jack”, depending on your sensibilities. Personally, I’m leaning towards the former. [via Joystiq]