philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Splunk Introduces Industry-First 100 Percent Uptime Service Level Agreement for Splunk Cloud

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), provider of the leading software platform for real-time Operational Intelligence, today announced the industry's first 100 percent uptime service level agreement (SLA) for Splunk(R) Cloud, along with new lower prices and new cloud service plans. Splunk Cloud, the enterprise-ready cloud service for machine data, is the world's first machine data analytics service so reliable that Splunk is guaranteeing a 100 percent uptime SLA. Experience the power of Splunk Cloud firsthand through the free Splunk Online Sandbox, where you can be up and running in minutes or watch the video to learn more.

"Organizations cannot afford downtime on data platforms that monitor their applications, infrastructure and services. With Splunk Cloud, customers get best-in-class enterprise-ready reliability, an unequaled breadth of features and ease-of-use that enables rapid time to value," said Guido Schroeder, senior vice president of products, Splunk.

See the full PR at http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140805-907073.html

Computer Programming Is a Trade; Let’s Act Like It

See the full story here: http://online.wsj.com/articles/computer-programming-is-a-trade-lets-act-like-it-1407109947

5 clever apps and games that leverage the 3D screen in Amazon’s Fire Phone Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/apps-games-using-amazons-fire-phone/#ixzz39MKpFlsU Follow us: @digitaltrends on Twitter | digitaltrendsftw on Facebook

In reviews, one of the biggest knocks against the new Amazon Fire Phone is that it’s full of gimmicks. It has a handful of new features like 3D lockscreens (called “Dynamic Perspective“) and tilt-to-reveal capabilities that look neat, but for the Fire Phone to really ignite ordinary people’s interest, it will need a robust app store and exciting apps that take advantage of its unique features.

“The idea of angry tofu delights me,” he said before demonstrating the game. In it, players maneuver a character through levels while collecting blue orbs and avoiding obstacles along the way, with the goal of saving Fortune Kitty.

Tilting the phone gives players new views and perspectives of the level. Terry Haynes, a producer with HotGen, said working with Amazon Game Studios “graciously guided” them through the “often choppy waters of video game development,” giving them the chance to “shine as a studio.”

See the full story here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/apps-games-using-amazons-fire-phone/#!buF168

Nvidia Designs New Pixel-Dense LCD Panels for VR Headsets

Researchers at Nvidia have found a trick that solves the problem of users being able to see the pixels in their VR headsets. By using a “cascaded display” involving two LCD panels, the researchers found that they could quadruple the pixel density of the headset, making pixels invisible to the eye even at close range. The cascaded displays also have a faster frame rate, making images appear smoother, and a reduced brightness, which is not a concern for the displays in VR headsets.

The cascaded display works by utilizing two LCD panels and the tiny shutters on the panels that control the visibility of each pixel. The shutters from one LCD panel are removed and placed over the shutters of another panel. The extra layer of shutters is installed in an offset position, effectively turning each pixel into four.

See the full post here: http://www.etcentric.org/nvidia-designs-new-pixel-dense-lcd-panels-for-vr-headsets/

and here: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529201/lcd-hacking-trick-could-make-virtual-reality-more-real/

Now at RadioShack: Connect-Your-Stuff-to-the-Internet Kits

RadioShack (RSH) said this spring that it would attempt to shore up its crumbling retail empire by providing shelf space to crafty inventors whose gadgets might lure people into the stores. The first items will show up in stores next month, but they aren’t exactly gadgets; rather, they’re kits designed to help people make their ownInternet connected doorbells and toy houses with remote controlled lights.

The idea comes from New York startup LittleBits, which makes a series of brightly colored components that can be snapped together to create Rube Goldberg machines for the digital era. The company has already been selling sets that allow users to connect, say, a small sound detector to a LED light, allowing you to illuminate a small space every time you turn on the radio. Starting Wednesday, LittleBits is selling a kit that connects these things to the Internet. It will be available in a small number of RadioShack stores in August and in 2,000 of them by the fall.

The LittleBits pitch is simplicity. It says its electronics strive to be as easy to play with as Legos. A starter kit costs $99 and is designed to be useful in the hands of complete novices but also offers more advanced tools, such as APIs, for those who want to write code for the gadgets.

See the full story here: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-23/diy-home-radio-shacks-connect-your-house-to-the-internet-kits

Experts: Metadata More Important Than Ever

Matt Turner, CTO of media and publishing for San Carlos, Calif.-based NoSQL database company MarkLogic, relayed a story where he visited a studio, spending six weeks investigating how the company was using metadata across dozens of systems, covering the entire lifecycle of the company’s workflows.

What he found was inefficiencies, liabilities and the potential for more revenue if metadata was better handled.

When metadata is accurate and consistent (and, especially, easy to access) it contributes to efficient business processes, Turner stressed. But when the quality, efficiency and accessibility to those processes erode, “we found that [projects] get bloated, costly and redundant, and can have an impact on quality.”

Mike Green, managing director for Avalon Consulting, said media and entertainment companies need to look at metadata as resources almost on par with the content, “rather than data that defines the assets.”

“Metadata is becoming less and less ‘meta’ every day, instead becoming a more integral part of products and services,” he added.

See the full story here: http://www.hollywooditsociety.com/blog/experts-metadata-more-important-than-ever/?utm_source=Hollywood+IT+Society+List&utm_campaign=d8a59fb30a-my_google_analytics_key&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a1da921628-d8a59fb30a-87442969

Space Needle Aerial Drone Footage In Seattle

[Philip Lelyveld comment: drones could become like mosquitoes, hovering around tourist attractions and public vistas.  Adding visual pollution to the views of the people on the ground.  The scale of the impact will make the arguments about the visual impact of wind farms seem trivial.]

See the full story here: http://tinyurl.com/mdoo5c6

BSkyB Doubles Down on Virtual Reality Cinema Tech

Fresh off its move to build “Sky Europe,” British Sky Broadcasting Group  Monday said it has invested a further $400,000 into Jaunt, a one-year-old U.S. technology firm developing 360-degree virtual-reality cinema.

It follows a previous $350,000 equity investment made in December 2013 by BSkyB into Palo Alto-based Jaunt.

Jaunt says its technology offers broadcasters an “immersive virtual reality experience” through headsets rather than traditional flat television screens or devices. It uses the headsets made by Oculus VR Inc., which was acquired by social media U.S. technology giant Facebook in April.

The investments will “provide Sky with additional insight into developments within the field,” the company said in a statement.

See the full story here: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/07/28/bskyb-doubles-down-on-virtual-reality-cinema-tech-firm-jaunt/

Google (Opera) Glass Makes Debut in Puccini’s Turandot in Italy

In what is being touted as a first, the opera house in Cagliari, the capital of the Italian island of Sardinia, will have some of its singers and musicians wear Google Glass Wednesday night when they perform Puccini’s Turandot, with the images from the digital devices sent in real time to the organization’s Facebookpage.

“It gives you a completely different view of something you’re familiar with and used to watching, like having a soccer player wear Google Glass during a game,” said Mauro Meli, the general manager of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the Sardinian city’s opera house.

This is not the first digital initiative of the Cagliari opera house, which this year has boosted season tickets 40% and overall ticket sales by 57% in part by other moves aimed at getting the attention of the 20-35 crowd. The opera house is an active user of Facebook, Twitter , Google+ and Instagram, and the organization’s website site has the feel of a hip concert promoter rather than an opera house.

See the full story here: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/07/30/google-opera-glass-makes-debut-in-puccinis-turandot-in-italy/

Prototype Display Lets You Say Goodbye to Reading Glasses

Researchers are developing technology that can adjust an image on a display so you can see it clearly without corrective lenses.

The technology uses algorithms to alter an image based on a person’s glasses prescription together with a light filter set in front of the display. The algorithm alters the light from each individual pixel so that, when fed through a tiny hole in the plastic filter, rays of light reach the retina in a way that re-creates a sharp image. Researchers say the idea is to anticipate how your eyes will naturally distort whatever’s onscreen—something glasses or contacts typically correct—and adjust it beforehand so that what you see appears clear.

In addition to making it easier for people with simple vision problems to use all kinds of displays without glasses, the technique may help those with more serious vision problems caused by physical defects that can’t be corrected with glasses or contacts, researchers say. This includes spherical aberration, which causes different parts of the lens to refract light differently.

Ramesh Raskar, an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab who coauthored the paper, says that if researchers used a display with a high enough resolution—about double the 326 pixels per inch of the iPod Touch used in the paper—the technology could be made to be used by more than one person at once.

See the full story here: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529191/prototype-display-lets-you-say-goodbye-to-reading-glasses/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140731