Shake® 4.1, by Apple®, the first Universal version of its compositing software and cut its price from $2,999 to $499. Final Cut® Studio editors can now take advantage of Shake for 3D compositing, keying, image tracking and stabilization for the price of a plug-in.
Shake 4.1 complements Final Cut Studio by providing a full range of operations from simple re-touching to complex 3D compositing. Launched directly from the Final Cut Pro timeline, Shake uses state-of-the-art optical flow image analysis to re-time, track and stabilize shots with precision. Particle effects from Motion 2 can be dropped directly into the Shake process tree to add elements such as smoke, sparkles and fire to sophisticated multi-plane 3D composites. High resolution work can flow from Motion to Shake by rendering with the shared OpenEXR format for pristine film quality reproduction.
Shake 4.1 delivers significant performance gains on the new Intel-based Macs providing artists and editors with desktop level experience on the new MacBook™ Pro* notebook computer. Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common tasks such as color correction, warping and the application of filters are processed up to 3.5 times faster on a MacBook Pro than on a PowerBook® G4. Artists and editors can start compositing with HD, 2K and even 4K shots directly on location.
A new Windows®-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotic applications for a wide variety of computing platforms. The community technology preview of the Microsoft Robotics Studio is available for download at http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics.
Today’s improved processors and lower-cost sensors are fueling the development of robotics applications for a broad variety of devices, from household vacuums to unmanned vehicles for search and rescue missions. Microsoft Robotics Studio provides a common development platform for robotics innovators to overcome one of their biggest remaining hurdles: the fragmentation of the robotics industry caused by today’s incompatible platforms.
Networks and computers at the service of consumers and business is a cherished and long-held promise that has so far failed to deliver. No longer. An emerging software model supported by the European Commission and the software industry may mean that networks and computers become, finally, at your service.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a model for a new approach to information technology. "SOA is really a philosophy, a way of approaching software development around the concept of providing services," says Mike Papazoglou, author of a Web Services textbook, due out in December, and acting chair of the International Conference for Service Oriented Computing (ICSOC).
The Idaho Bureau of Land Management and several weed control groups are fighting back with new software that uses NASA satellite imagery and complex computer programs to show the location and growth of this noxious plant that has invaded the arid West from desert lowlands to high mountains.
The technology is available to local and state agencies through the Pacific Northwest Regional Collaboratory, the partnership of scientists and engineers from area universities and Department of Energy national laboratories that developed the software.