Idaho-based Rohinni is aiming to reinvent ultrathin LED lighting with its Lightpaper technology, which essentially prints lighting and applies it to almost any surface. Lightpaper mixes ink and tiny LEDs and then prints them on a conductive layer, which is positioned between two other layers and sealed. When current runs through the tiny diodes (about the size of a blood cell), they light up. Rohinni envisions the tech being used for everything from illuminated logos on CE devices to vehicle headlights. Continue reading Rohinni Develops Printable Lighting with Ultrathin Lightpaper

ETC@USC begins its coverage of the 2015 International CES with a special Entertainment Technology Roundtable featuring Dr. Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and senior director of research for the Consumer Electronics Association, on December 4 at the ETC quarterly meeting at Paramount Pictures Studios. DuBravac is expected to highlight leading CE trends and innovations and preview indicators from his State of the Industry Report, the traditional kick-off of CES media briefings. Continue reading CES 2015: CEA’s Shawn DuBravac to Brief ETC December 4

Cisco announced last week that the Internet requires a greater amount of control, and companies will work with governments to make that happen. Cisco and its partners have been developing the “Intercloud,” a proposed network designed to enable the next generation of standardized cloud applications by offering high performance, improved security and more control. The network intends to help companies comply with regulations involving the data that moves within their borders. Continue reading Cisco’s Intercloud and the Argument for More Internet Control

The Entertainment Merchants Association will hold its Digital Media Pipeline on October 8 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Celebrating its sixth year, Digital Media Pipeline is a one-day B2B event that brings together thought leaders to discuss digital delivery of home entertainment. ETC’s Phil Lelyveld will be a featured speaker as part of a next-gen technology panel. ETC community members are invited to attend the conference at the discounted EMA member price of $295. Continue reading EMA to Hold Sixth Annual Digital Media Pipeline Next Week

ETC’s Phil Lelyveld recently moderated a media panel on the “Ultra High Def Revolution.” Presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at CBS Studios, panelists included Oscar- and Emmy-winning DP Dave Stump of the ASC, Sony Pictures Television’s Phil Squyres, and award-winning DPs and lighting experts Bradford Lipson and Greg Gardiner. Vendors demonstrating UHD solutions included Advantage Video Systems, AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Design and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Continue reading Panel: Film and TV Production Experts Discuss UHD Revolution

Day one of Media Management in the Cloud, a two-day conference co-produced by NAB and the ETC, opened Tuesday morning to a standing-room only crowd in the Convention Center’s South Hall. After a brief welcome by ETC CEO Ken Williams, ETC’s Erik Weaver began the day’s events, noting that almost everything happening at NAB this year seems to have some connection to the cloud. Day one presentations and panels focused on key areas related to cloud services, such as cost, scalability, security, production and storage. Continue reading NAB Cloud Conference Opens to a Packed House in Las Vegas

Ken Williams, executive director and CEO of ETC@USC, moderated a Disney/ABC Television Group panel at NAB called “Creating the Watch ABC Product.” From the SPROCKIT stage Monday in Las Vegas, the panel included Albert Cheng and Skarpi Hedinsson of the Disney/ABC Television Group, Ralf Jacob of upLynk and Doug Knopper of FreeWheel. The discussion focused on content creation, advertising, distribution workflow, technology integration and vendor relationships. Continue reading From the NAB SPROCKIT Stage: Creating Watch ABC Product

In partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters and the World Series of Startups, SPROCKIT is a program that shines a spotlight on interesting startups through the NAB Show and SPROCKIT Sync, the exclusive community of entertainment and media decision-makers that meets three times a year. The July 2014 meeting will take place at ETC@USC. The other meetings are October 2014 in conjunction with NY TV week, and January 2015 in Silicon Valley. Continue reading Startups From SPROCKIT Program Deliver Pitches During NAB

The first Saturday morning session of SMPTE’s Technology Summit On Cinema at NAB focused on factors that could impact the UHD TV rollout, including research on what humans are able to see and observe. During a panel titled “Understanding the Human Vision System,” Dr. Jenny Read of Newcastle University Institute of Neuroscience set the stage by discussing four parameters of vision: spatial resolution, temporal resolution, dynamic range, and color perception. Related studies from Dolby, EBU and EPFL were presented. Continue reading SMPTE Tech Summit: Understanding the Human Vision System

The Entertainment Technology Center@USC will host “Eventually OpenStack” on Monday, March 17 in Santa Monica. The event, scheduled for 6:30-8:30 pm and open to all, will examine how open source and cloud technologies are impacting the media and entertainment industry. Presenters include Yahoo’s Sean Roberts (board director at The OpenStack Foundation), DigitalFilm Tree CTO Guillaume Aubuchon, and Steve Hallett of Symantec. For more information, contact Erik Weaver at ETC or visit the event’s registration page. Continue reading Production in the Cloud: ETC to Host OpenStack Event Next Week

Bran Ferren, creative consultant to the Envision Symposium taking place September 19-21 in Monterey, sat with ETC for an exclusive look at the issues and context that inspired and provided the guiding principle for this first of its kind gathering of leaders and visionaries in the fields of storytelling, performance, cinema, television and games. This is the second and concluding part of our interview with the legendary designer and technologist. Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Bran Ferren Q&A Part 2 — We’re Just Getting Started

Bran Ferren, creative consultant to the Envision Symposium taking place September 19-21 in Monterey, sat with ETC for an exclusive look at the issues and context that inspired and provided the guiding principle for this first of its kind gathering of leaders and visionaries in the fields of storytelling, performance, cinema, television and games. The legendary designer and technologist is the creative consultant for Envision, with designer Bob Bonniol serving as co-creative consultant. Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Bran Ferren Q&A Part 1 — The Oldest Profession

This year’s Silicon Beach @ USC event is scheduled for September 17-18 at the Tutor Campus Center. The event is organized by The Institute for Communication Technology Management and the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC’s Marshall School of Business, and the Entertainment Technology Center at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Silicon Beach @ USC will feature game-changers and thought leaders from Hollywood studios, technology startups and academia. Continue reading Industry Leaders to Gather at USC for Silicon Beach Event

The Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional honorary society, released “The State of the Global VFX Industry 2013,” a comprehensive strategic analysis of the business drivers impacting all sectors of the VFX industry working in film production and presentation of solutions to mitigate instability. Initial recommendations focus on improving business and financial management acumen among artists and facilities management through training programs and new standards and practices. Continue reading VES Publishes Analysis: The State of the Global VFX Industry

The Entertainment Technology Center @ USC will announce the launch of “Production in the Cloud” today, a new project that brings together key media and cloud-resource leaders to develop guidelines and accelerate innovation and adoption of next-gen cloud-based content creation, production, and distribution tools and processes. Senior executives from the six major studios in coordination with Rackspace, EMC, EVault, Dell and other cloud companies convened recently to serve as governing body to collectively guide this process. Continue reading ETC Announces Launch of Production in the Cloud Project