James Cameron is calling for Hollywood to “wake up and smell the coffee” when it comes to 3D. At the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Cameron said that films should be shot in 3D rather than produced in 2D and later converted to 3D.
Cameron recently released “Titanic” in 3D, a work that took 14 months and cost $18 million. “If you are willing do that, fine. But who is willing to make a $150 million movie and then sit on the interest costs for a year while you post produce it in 3D? It is going to be a helluva lot more expensive (than shooting native 3D),” he said.
Cameron is at NAB alongside business partner Vince Pace representing Cameron Pace Group (CPG) to promote a business model for making 3D more profitable.
“With an eye toward live sports, CPG has been offering a Shadowcam ‘5D’ system, meaning that a 2D and 3D production is piggybacked on a single rig,” explains Carolyn Giardina writing for The Hollywood Reporter. “It has already been used on productions including last year’s US Open Tennis Championship and recent The Masters golf tournament. At NAB, the team is extending the camera system, with the introductions of new tools including a Shadowcam handheld camera rig and a Shadowcaster ‘5D’ mobile unit.”
“If I were producing an episodic series, I would produce it like Avatar with one 3D camera system (and extract the single eye for the 2D),” Cameron added in regards to TV production. “I would encourage people to go right to a native 3D and extract the 2D. I think episodic will gravitate toward the feature model.”
According to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the “open Internet” is more in danger of being controlled and restricted now than ever before.
In an interview with the Guardian, Brin noted foreign governments trying to control online access and communication and the entertainment industry, with its support of proposed SOPA and PIPA legislation.
Brin also mentioned tech giants like Facebook and Apple, both of whom he suggests have “restrictive” policies that help to close the Internet rather than open it up.
Regarding governments, he added: “We’ve seen a massive attack on the freedom of the Web. Governments are realizing the power of this medium to organize people and they are trying to clamp down across the world, not just in places like China and North Korea; we’re seeing bills in the United States, in Italy, all across the world.”
With an Internet dominated by Facebook, Brin suggests a Google may not have been created: “You have to play by their rules, which are really restrictive. The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the Web was so open.”
Google continues to expand its movie rental service on YouTube and within Google Play, announcing a deal with MGM to make about 600 of the studio’s movies available.
This is in addition to Google’s deal with Paramount, announced just weeks ago, that brought about 500 movies to YouTube and Google Play.
“Google promises to add more MGM titles to its catalog ‘in the weeks ahead.’ It’s not clear if this deal just focuses on older movies, though, or if more recent MGM titles like ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ will also be included in the YouTube rental catalog,” reports TechCrunch.
Now Google has agreements with five major U.S. studios and more than 10 independent studios.
“Overall, this looks like a good addition to YouTube’s and Google Play’s catalog,” suggests the post. “Viewers, after all, rate streaming services based on the availability of the movies they want to see. As a newcomer in this market, Google still has some catching up to do, but it’s slowly becoming competitive.”
For owners of LG’s Cinema 3D Smart TVs, a new online video store is available — with all 3D content.
Called 3D World, the store offers users access to “a catalogue of entertainment, sports, documentary, kids and lifestyle programming that’ll swell as the company ties down more deals with providers,” reports Engadget.
“3D World is a critical part of LG’s long-term strategy which includes controlling more of the 3D ecosystem that Cinema 3D owners experience,” said Havis Kwon, president and CEO of LG Home Entertainment Company. “With the global roll-out of 3D World, LG is demonstrating its commitment to providing diverse, high quality 3D content.”
For those who have a 2011 model of the LG TV, it’s possible to download the 3D World app. For those with a 2012 model, the app will appear as part of a card system on the Home Dashboard.
Canon, Sony and RED may be getting all the attention regarding new camera announcements at this week’s ongoing NAB show in Las Vegas, but Blackmagic Design also has a new one to announce, and initial reports suggest it’s rather impressive.
“Priced at $2,995, where the company sees this as differing from the competition is its ability to capture film quality video on its 2.5K sensor and output it to CinemaDNG RAW, ProRes and DNxHD file formats,” reports Engadget. “That camera housing can take Canon or Zeiss lenses on the front, contains a built-in SSD within and has a capacitive touchscreen display for control and metadata entry.”
The camera also includes 13 stops of dynamic range, a built-in LCD, and color correction with DaVinci Resolve.
“Many current generation video cameras suffer from a ‘video look’ due to a limited contrast range, a maximum HD resolution sensor, poor quality optics and lenses, the use of heavy video compression for file recording and poor integration with NLE software metadata management,” suggests the company’s press release. “Blackmagic Cinema Camera has been designed to eliminate these problems so customers get a true feature film look, and at an affordable cost can shoot high end television commercials, episodic television programming and feature films.”
Canon will preview its EOS-1D C, a digital SLR camera with 4K support, at the NAB show in Las Vegas next week. The camera is priced at $15,000.
“The company is also developing new cameras for its Cinema EOS system — launched last November targeting motion picture production — including a 4K-capable Cinema EOS C500 for use with EF-mount lenses, and Cinema EOS C500 PL for use with PL-mount lenses,” Carolyn Giardina writes for The Hollywood Reporter.
“Currently expected to cost around $30,000, these Cinema EOS cameras would be capable of recording 4K resolution with 10-bit uncompressed ‘Raw’ output with no de-Bayering, according to Canon.”
“These Cinema EOS cameras will offer a new Super 35mm-equivalent approximately 8.85-megapixel CMOS sensor,” adds Giardina. “A prototype of the C500 camera will be at NAB.”
Canon will also unveil new prototype lenses for EF and PL mounts at the show.
For those interested in knowing more about what kind of information Facebook has stored about its users, the social network is expanding its Download Your Information service to include more than just photos, posts and messages.
Users choosing to download their information will also have access to stored IP addresses, previous names used, friend requests made and even more to come.
Facebook is rumored “to collect 84 different categories of information about you (85 if you count all those Instagram photos it just bought),” reports Engadget.
“In a posting on its privacy blog, Facebook said the expanded archive feature would be introduced gradually to its 845 million monthly active users. It goes beyond the first archive made available in 2010, which has been criticized as incomplete by privacy advocates and regulators in Europe,” explains The New York Times in a related article.
The Washington Post has launched a real-time advertising campaign, one that pulls live content from social networks.
In order to do this, the publication is using Trove, it’s news aggregation technology that was previously used to launch reading services like Social Reader and Personal Post.
TechCrunch explains that “it’s using this technology for a campaign from the Cleveland Clinic, which is the official sponsor of the TEDMED event in Washington, D.C. The ads will automatically pull headlines and tweets about the TEDMED conference into the clinic’s display ads.”
While real-time advertising is not a new concept, the Washington Post’s approach is original in that Trove is its very own system, giving the company a chance to sell ads directly and not through an ad tech company or network.
Verizon has long been the only wireless carrier of the “big four” to allow upgrading for free. No longer. Starting on April 22, Verizon will begin charging a $30 upgrade fee whenever an existing customer wants to extend a contract with new hardware.
According to a released statement, this new fee will be used to help Verizon “continue to provide customers with the level of service and support they have come to expect.” According to TechCrunch, “that apparently includes Verizon’s online support tools, their in-person Wireless Workshops, and ‘consultations with experts who provide advice and guidance on devices.’”
AT&T bumped up its fee from $18 to $36 earlier this year, which is about equal to Sprint’s. T-Mobile’s upgrade fee still stands at $18 for now.
“In fairness, it’s a fee that doesn’t come into play but once every two years or so (unless something tragic happens to your device before that), but it makes for an unsightly bill that can temper the joy of new phone ownership,” comments TechCrunch. “Families in particular will have it rough — the bill for a bog-standard four-person family plan could easily double if everyone gets a new phone at the same time.”
YouTube Live has now been around for a year and to celebrate the milestone, YouTube added some new features on Tuesday.
“Most of these (new production software, improved publishing flows and real-time analytics) are mostly of interest to video producers,” reports TechCrunch. “The most important new feature, though, is the addition of pay-per-view as a monetization option for all publishers.”
Additionally, publishers will be able to see how many users are watching their live stream in real time.
“It’s worth noting that Ustream and a number of other live streaming services have offered pay-per-view as an option for a while now,” explains TechCrunch.
It was also announced that there will now be a special YouTube Live version of Wirecast available to its partners — “a professional webcasting solution that generally retails for around $449,” explains the post. This will make it easier to produce live events and give them a more professional look.
Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has issued a memo to his staff, outlining a “new organizational structure and a focus on commerce initiatives,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
This memo comes after Yahoo laid off 2,000 employees last week. According to THR, that move and the start of this new plan indicate that “Thompson is looking to return the Internet giant to prominence, with commerce revenue being one key focus.”
Thompson said he would split the company into three groups with different objectives. “They are a consumer group, which includes Yahoo’s media sites and commerce-related, search and email services; regions, which is broken up into the Americas, Europe and Asia divisions that work with advertising partners; and technology.,” explains the article.
According to Thompson’s memo, the overall goal of focusing on commerce is “driving higher [return on investment] for advertisers and agencies that reach users on Yahoo by closing the loop for them between user interests, advertiser spend, consumer intent and purchase behavior,” reports THR.
Yahoo currently generates about $1 billion in annual revenue via commerce partnerships.
New York City is preparing to upgrade its mostly unused payphones with 32-inch touchscreens, which will “offer a quick connection to 311 for requesting info and filing complaints, as well as interactive guides to the neighborhood,” explains Engadget.
Presently, the payphones are essentially useless to a society filled with smartphones, but soon the booths will transform into a mechanism for gathering restaurant suggestions or locating local landmarks.
The organization City24x7 is providing 250 of the new touchscreen devices free of charge as part of its pilot program.
“If all goes well, the company and the city will split revenue generated from ad sales following an expanded roll out,” explains the post. The touchscreens are expected to be available in May.
The newly released Nokia Lumia 900 smartphone is already topping the charts on Amazon’s cellphone bestseller list.
Both the black and blue models of the Lumia 900 (ranked 1 and 2, respectively) are currently outselling the Droid Razr Maxx and Galaxy Nexus.
According to CNET, Nokia and Microsoft have a lot riding on this phone: “Microsoft is looking for the Lumia 900 to break Windows Phone into the mainstream, while Nokia sees its phone as a way to get into in the U.S. market.”
AT&T has also promised to bring out the big guns with its launch campaign of the new phone.
“Amazon, of course, only makes up a small percentage of total sales — AT&T still sells most of its phones directly to customers through its stores and Web site,” adds the post. “And the Lumia 900 is a brand new phone, likely generating more attention than phones that have been out for a few months.”
Netflix is updating its Xbox 360 application this week, “the biggest update to arrive since the integration of Kinect gestures and voice control back in December of last year,” suggests TechCrunch.
According to the post, “the most notable changes involve improvements to Facebook sharing in select markets and single sign-on support using your Xbox LIVE credentials,” meaning users can sign in with their personal logins on devices other than their own.
Netflix has also improved Facebook integration for international users, allowing them to see what friends have watched and rated on Netflix.
TechCrunch adds that “unfortunately, these social features are not available in the U.S. at this time due to legal issues surrounding the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act, which prevents users’ movie rental activity from being shared.”
Additional updates include: improvements to the Skip Forward and Skip Back buttons, a zoom for enlarging letterbox to full screen, and enhanced contrast for more vivid colors.
