4/19/99
BILL FERSTER’S VIDEOGRAPHICS NEWSWIRE
ISSUE 99-11
ABOUT THIS NEWSWIRE
Bill Ferster’s VideoGraphics NewsWire is published weekly and summarizes the important events in the convergent worlds of multimedia, video, animation, chips, mass storage and computers.
Please feel free to forward this NewsWire to someone who might appreciate an item, or heaven forbid, might want to subscribe to it. Please refrain, however, from continually mailing it to others on a regular basis. You can visit my website for more information, as well as read and search past issues of this NewsWire, at http://www.stagetools.com/bill.
NAB
Next week's issue will contain a wrap-up of what's new at the NAB '99 show.
Business
---> RealNetworks to Acquire Xing Technology
Streaming video and audio provide their RealNetworks (http://www.real.com) will acquire pioneer MPEG and MP3 software provider Xing technology (http://www.xingtech.com) in a pooling of interests stock swap valued at $75M. The Xing has recently come to the forefront for their MP3 encoding and decoding technologies which presumably is the basis of the deal.
---> IBM Develops New Memory Chip Technology
IBM (http://www.ibm.com) and grand announced a new random-access storage technique that requires no refresh electricity as do traditional DRAM chips. The new technology called tunneling magnetic junction random access memory (TMJ-RAM) has major implications for future computer designs and is an offshoot of IBM's basic research in quantum physics.
---> Video Servers Market Report
Leading market research for Frost and Sullivan (http://www.frost.com) astutely predicted that everything is becoming digital. Duh. On the more practical side however, they reported that the video server market in 1998 was up 45% with sales of $532M. That figure was divided into two camps, with $423M associated to dedicated systems, and $110M attributed to PC-based systems. It is interesting to note that the PC systems increased 103% last year, while dedicated systems rose only 35%.
MASS STORAGE
---> Sony Intros New MO Technology
Sony (http://www.sony.com/storagebysony), the leader in magneto-optical disk technology has increased be storage capacity of their 5 1/4" MO drives to 9.1 GB per disk. The new drives are backward compatible with all previous ISO MO drives and media. Sony plans to introduce even faster and larger MO drives by next year.
3D TECHNOLOGY
---> 3D Characters with Motion Made Available to
Credo Interactive (http://www.credo-interactive.com) is offering the series of 3D characters containing KeyFrames motion, from motion capture for use in all major 3-D modeling packages. The $49 "PowerPak 1" has a number of moves from break dancing to kid's play, fights and gymnastics, and can be download from their website.
---> MetaCreations Program Makes 3D Models from Photos
Leading software maker MetaCreations (http://www.metacreations.com) has announced the fruits of their acquisition last year of Conoma, with the release of a new product by the same name that can create 3D models from 2D photos. The $499 program uses images shot from various angles to create 3D geometry, after which the faces can be interactively painted on.
IMAGING
---> Program Recognizes Facial Expressions
The Salk Institute for biological studies as well to computer program that is able to recognize facial expressions more accurately than human observers. By using a series of "templates," the program can determine the true expressions using a neural net that mimics the visual cortex.
BROADCAST / POST PRODUCTION
---> Pinnacle Acquires Shoreline Studios Technology
Pinnacle Systems (http://www.pinnaclesys.com) has acquired some technology from Shoreline Studios, a developer of 3D graphics software used in live broadcasts. The $750,000 deal has prompted the company's founders to join Pinnacle to further develop live broadcast graphics products.
---> Puffin Designs Makes Plug-in for After Effects
Leading rotoscope and compositing tool maker toolmaker Puffin Designs (http://www.puffindesigns.com) announced two plug-in's for Adobe's the After Effects compositor. Puffin has been long known for its innovative work in speeding up the compositing process using RAM. The new packages "Composite Wizard" and "Image Lounge", help automate color correction, feather-edges, particle effects and other tools. They are available for the Macintosh version of After Effects for $695.
BOOKS
---> "When Things Start To Think" by Neil Gershenfeld
You could think of this book as a follow-up to Stewart Brand's "The Media Lab", which chronicled the interesting research projects and personality parade in the 1980's. It is well written and provides a present day view of what's going on there now. His particular focus is on "Things That Think," objects that have some embedded processing and/or communication capabilities. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805058745/stagetoolscom)
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CYA DISCLAIMER: The preceding NewsWire represents my best efforts to gather the facts and the offering of my opinions. Although I try to describe the world as it appears me, I make no representations as to the accuracy of the reports within, which are gleaned from press releases, print and online magazines and the Inquisit Information Service.
