Friday, April 1, 2005

Apple Adopts Windows Media for iTunes, iPod: "In a surprise move, Apple Computer announced Friday, April 1st, that it was licensing Microsoft's Windows Media platform for use with both the iTunes Music Store and the company's market-leading iPod music player. Apple will be replacing its proprietary FairPlay DRM scheme and AAC codec with Microsoft's Janus platform, allowing the company to leverage the more open nature of Microsoft's Windows Media platform across its burgeoning consumer electronics product line." (Via The Mac Observer.) 6:39:52 AM

A quick look at Apple's QuickTime - Computerworld: "I've taken the past few months to research some new technologies and work on implementations with the goal of sharing what I've learned. This month's topic is QuickTime. I've chosen it because a new version is expected with the much-anticipated release of Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), and because there are so many facets to this technology that are not widely understood." (Via ComputerWorld.) 6:36:54 AM

Forbes.com: : "While Harms and her husband were among the virtual reality pioneers, the use of videos and virtual reality goggles as a means of improving the dental care experience is now becoming standard practice in offices across the country" Virtual reality is also helping to ease the pain associated with more serious conditions. Dr. Hunter Hoffman, a pain expert at the University of Washington, Seattle, said virtual reality devices have worked wonders for patients recovering from severe burns. (Via Forbes.) 6:28:44 AM

Marketplace - A World Wide Panorama Last weekend over 250 photographers, mostly strangers to each other, collaborated on an international photography project. Working in 44 countries around the world they each photographed and prepared a VR panorama on the theme of "marketplace". The results show amazing imagination and variety. If you have never experienced a VR panorama this is an excellent way to find out what it is all about. These computer images spin around 360°, sometimes also straight up and down, allowing you to look in any direction. It is as if you are "virtually" there. The web site produced by this effort is available at worldwidepanorama.com. You may need to download and install QuickTime software (free, from Apple Computer) if you do not already have it. The World Wide Panorama series of events, sponsored by the Geography Computing Facility at the University of California Berkeley, is now starting a second year of quarterly events. This time it was held the weekend of the Equinox, March 20, first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere. Participating photographers were free to choose any interpretation of the theme "marketplace" that appealed to them, from actual local farmer's markets to abstract concepts of marketplaces of ideas. 6:24:49 AM

Nikon D70s: "Rob Galbraith has a story confirming not only the new D50 from Nikon but also mentioning another PDF that has been leaked from Nikon for another DSLR - the Nikon D70s. There are no details of this new DSLR..." (Via Digital Photography Blog.) 6:21:54 AM

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