Robert Dow

Seeing more

Tablets have screen sizes from 7-inches to 20-inches and sell for $70 to over $1,200. They have PPI ranging from 132 to 339. Factoring that data for some of the more popular devices we produced a chart of the cost per megapixel. Which you can check out at JPR Blogs – Seeing more. The lowest cost tablet, the 7-inch Ematic … Read more

Seeing more

Tablets have screen sizes from 7-inches to 20-inches and sell for $70 to over $1,200. They have PPI ranging from 132 to 339. Factoring that data for some of the more popular devices we produced the following chart of the cost per megapixel. Ironically, the lowest cost tablet, the 7-inch Ematic ($75) got the best score. The chart proves a … Read more

Moto X8 and Qualcomm

Google’s Motorola unit announced a new phone (the Moto X) powered by a new processor. For the new X8 processor Motorola has bought the Snapdragon S4Pro (MSM8960). Qualcomm did not sell IP to Motorola, just a standard product, but worked with Motorola to provide software for the S4 CPU/GPU using some of the new OpenSubdiv algorithms introduced by Pixar at … Read more

Democratization – Report from JPR’s Panel discussion at SIGGRAPH

JPR held its annual luncheon at Siggraph with the help of sponsors Autodesk, Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Lightworks, and Nvidia. As part of the luncheon program, JPR asked the sponsors to weigh in with the ways they’re seeing these market forces play out. After all, they’re building products and plotting strategy according to these forces. The papers are available at … Read more

Ray-tracing – can it be for everyone?

Historically the ability to create a photorealistic render to the level where a viewer is left wondering whether it’s a photograph or a computer generated image has been left to the experts. These were the people that could justify the huge expense of acquiring enough hardware capacity to bring the render time down to less than a day, and were … Read more

It’s never business as usual in the film industry

A ruthless commitment to cooperation drives business The Siggraph show is just about our favorite show of the year. I love movies and Jon knows just about everyone in the business. Come to think of it, by this time we both know an awful lot of people in the graphics industry. I used to say that there are only 40 … Read more

Stop looking at me – WAIT! Look at me

That sullen black eye on top of my monitor, staring at me all day and night, what’s it seeing, who is it sharing it with? There is a big uproar about the Prism project and drones flying over our country. Add to that the security and traffic cameras and you have a narcissists’ delight—me Me ME, it’s all about Me. … Read more

3D needs its Napster moment

Audio has MP3; thanks to Napster it is a global standard. Photos have JPEG, allowing products like Facebook, Flickr, and Photoshop to make creating, sharing, and editing images a global activity. The video standard H.264 is not a household term, but YouTube made sure it is the world’s leading way to share videos. 3D needs its Napster moment. – Imagine … Read more

Tempests in tea pots, real time

Siggraph is almost here. For some this is a small show – and tragically it’s getting smaller, but it’s our favorite show in the world. It’s where our roots are. Over the years the show has been dominated by the Hollywood forces; more’s the pity. Their money is surely green enough, but all their flashy effects and bottom line obsessions … Read more

On being shy

We have really great technology, it’s A-mazing, unbelievable. What? You DON’T believe us? Prove it? Prove it! Are you nuts, if we did that then the competition would know how amazing it is and they might do something, like make a more amazing thing or something. We can’t tell you about it, but we can tell you it is freekin … Read more

Change is what should happen to other people

Jon Peddie has observed that technologists write continuously about the death of the PC but more often than not we’re all using PCs as we write to mourn its passing. Most workers in the western world do their work on PCs and that includes cashiers as well as analysts and airplane pilots. So far, the one thing everyone seems to … Read more