On The Desktop is devoted to information of interest to those working in the fields of TV, Film, and Multimedia. It includes commentary, news, tips, publication links, announcements, and other resources that have recently come across the editor's desktop.
SOUND BITES: NEWS AND INFORMATION
DVD format war looms. Chances are slim that consumers will be spared a DVD format war between Blu-ray standard and rival HD DVD. At stake is the multibillion dollar market for DVD players, PC drivers and optical disks.
Blu-ray promises higher capacity DVD disks (up to 50 Gigs). The HD DVD format claims to be a cheaper technology compatible with current DVD and CD players. Read Full Story.
Opera web browser thinks small. The web browser Opera is celebrating its 10th birthday. Commanding a 0.49 % of the browser market one would think that pulling the plug might be the best thing to do when competing with the likes of Internet Explorer that serves 87.2% of the people browsing the Internet. But Opera isn't about to fade away. It serves a strong and growing number of users and the company is expanding its vision of the future. If you are interested in small-guy does well stories your enjoy this article on BBC News. Read Full Story.
Google tools cater to tastes. Google Inc's fortunes have risen on its ability to entice digital consumers, gauging their desires based on their online travels. Its latest products -- Google Desktop and Google Talk -- continue in that vein by attempting, with minimal user input required, to satisfy Internet user cravings for information and personal contact. Source: CNN. Read Full Story.
Breaking Connections: Computers and the Death of Childhood. Computers in classrooms are dramatically altering the way our children experience the world, fostering a manipulative, exploitative attitude toward others and toward the environment. What's more, they don't even improve academic performance! Orion Magazine author and educator Lowell Monke ponies up in "Charlotte's Webpage." Read Abridged Article.
Frank V. Ross |
Braintrustdv: Interview Frank V. Ross. After spending $12,000 on his first two feature films, Frank V. Ross made a third feature, Quietly on by, for several hundred dollars. He aimed his DV cameras at bright windows and encouraged his actors to talk over each other. This reckless iconoclasm has paid off as one might predict: Quietly on by has gone quietly on by film festival gatekeepers, who have disparaged everything from its sound design to its character development. Despite its shortcomings, Quietly on by is strikingly perceptive and brimming with a high-caliber honesty which is impossible to fake. Read Interview. |
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Braintrustdv: Interview Carlos Atanes. In "FAQ," writer-director Carlos Atanes envisions a Europe dominated by a hygiene-obsessed matriarchy. Digital video and the Internet have become the tools of the resistance; criminals are forced to choose their own grisly punishments. A Spanish production shot in Paris in order to increase its alienation effect, "FAQ" belongs to an older tradition of cerebral science fiction which tends to shun visual effects in favor of provocative ideas. Read the Carlos Atanes interview in English or Spanish. |
'Myst' game producer lays off staff. The Spokane based Cyan Worlds which produces the computer games 'Myst' and 'Riven' has laid off about twenty four workers because of declining sales of its games. Only three em0ployees remain with the company started in 1987. Over the years nearly 15 million copies of the company's games have been sold.
Apple's Musical Cellphone. Apple Computer, Inc. has combined the cellphone and iPod concept into a new product called ROCKR. The phone, made by Motorola Inc., uses iTunes software and can store 100 songs. Visit the Apple site for details about ROCKR and Nano, a super small iPod that uses flash memory instead of a hard drive.
The Telluride Film Festival Gallery. Filmmakers came to Telluride over Labor Day weekend for a grand celebration of cinema. Scan an online photo gallery or watch video clips from this first class film festival.
Cellphone Radiation:What's behind those SAR numbers? Cellphones are safe - according to the companies that make them. Not everyone believes that.
Depending on how close your cellphone antenna is to your head, you could be absorbing as much as 60 percent of the microwave radiation generated by your phone. Some of that radiation will seep as far as two to four centimeters into your brain. Source CBC. Read Full Story.
Moving Canvas. Moving Canvas is a collection of several proposals. They all have emerged from a reflection on the visual and symbolical importance of trains in an urban context and the possibility of exploiting their short-lived prominence as brief communicative moments. Innovative artists Frédéric Eyl, Gunnar Green and Richard The, have created a unique video projection box which can be attached to a subway train and when activated shows moving images on the bare walls of the subway tunnel. Learn More.
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Free Online Music Lessons. Berkleeshares.com, Berklee College of Music's database of free online music lessons, just doubled its catalog to more than 170 high-quality downloadable music lessons. Berklee faculty and alumni developed each individually self-contained music lesson to share openly with the music community.
Browse through the catalog of lessons by topics (such as Production & Technology, Songwriting & Arranging, Music Careers & Business, Music Education or Music Improvisation) or by instruments (such as Bass, Brass, DJ & Turntable, Drums & Percussion, Guitar, Keyboards, Voice or Winds). Of particular interest to readers are the lessons on the use of sound recording and editing. Source: The Scout Report. |
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D Break out those 3D glasses. You're going to need them for the IMAX feature "Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D," presented by Tom Hanks. Virtually explore the surface of the Moon and hear what it was like from the extraordinary Apollo astronauts.
"Magnificent Desolation," features never before seen photographs, CGI renditions of the lunar landscape and previously unreleased NASA footage. Enjoy the trailer in high-definition
H.264 video (QuickTime 7 required). Source: Apple HD Gallery.
Keeping Your Résumé Out of the "No" Pile. "The last time you applied for a job and didn't get an interview, was your résumé tossed on the “no” pile after someone skimmed it for only a few seconds, or did the employer read it carefully and you just missed making the cut?" Learn what you can do to make yourself noticed in this informative MSN Career article based on the opinions of those who read résumés and make decisions who is asked in for an interview. Learn More.
Chicago Manual of Style. In 1906, the first edition of The Chicago Manual of Style was published by the University of Chicago. Over the past one hundred years, the Manual has been revised and edited fourteen times, and is now in its fifteenth edition. On this site, visitors may register for free and gain access to the search tool for this latest edition. While this feature is certainly helpful, there are a number of equally useful aspects of the site. The first is the area that gives a number of examples of Chicago-style documentation, such as the humanities style and the well-known author-date system. Equally helpful is the "Q&A" section where the editors answer such timely questions as "If someone has a PhD and is a professor at a university, is their title Doctor or Professor?" Source: The Scout Report. Learn More.
Cyber Journalism. CyberJournalist.net was founded in 2000 by Jonathan Dube, a print and online journalist who wanted to provide a site that offers news and resources on "how the Internet, convergence, and new technologies are changing the media". The site contains helpful tips, news and commentary about online journalism, digital storytelling, and how the Internet can be used as a reporting tool. One rather compelling feature of the site is the Great Work Gallery, which highlights very effective examples on online journalism, thematically organized into such areas as Breaking News, Student Work, Use of Flash, and Civic journalism. The site is quite pragmatic as well, as it also contains extensive job postings in the field. Not surprisingly, the site also features "The Weblog Blog", which is, in fact, a weblog about blogs and their use in journalism. Source: The Scout Report. Read More
Independent Media Institute. The Independent Media Institute works to "empower people with independent journalism, information and media tools to change the world." To that end, the organization oversees four related projects, including AlterNet.org and WireTap. Visitors may want to start by browsing through the AlterNet site, as it contains compelling Web-based journalism coverage of a wide variety of newsworthy events, organized through what is termed the "infomediary." The site notes that its role is to serve as a way to sort through the masses of information made available on the internet in a timely manner. Visitors to AlterNet can also peruse the homepage, which contains a number of interesting blogs and opinion pieces. WireTap is also worth a look, as it serves as a place for young people to voice their opinions on a host of topics, including online gambling and the future of higher education/ Source: The Scout Report. Read More.
Items from The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2005.
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