Rochester, NY – July 29, 2008 – Vuzix Corporation is excited to release the VR920 Version 2.2 Software, expanding the number of VR920 virtual reality supported titles to 62. The v2.2 software provides the user with superior 3D visual quality and compatibility with virtually any graphics card on a 32-bit Windows XP or Vista system. The 11 new titles include:

• Halo: Combat Evolved
• Lord of the Rings Online
• Far Cry
• Falcon 4.0
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• EverQuest II
• Final Fantasy XI
• PlanetSide
• Spore: Creature Creator
• Quake Wards
• X-Plane 9.0

Additionally, v2.2 software upgrade includes Vuzix 3D Stereoscopy and/or head-tracking expanded support for 20 previously supported games. These titles include:

• Call of Duty (multiple titles)
• Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
• Doom 3
• Quake 4
• Crysis
• Half-Life (multiple titles)
• Team Fortress 2
• The Ship
• Dark Messiah
• Garry’s Mod
• Dystopia
• Hidden
• Hypercube
• Insurgency

For a complete list of titles, please visit www.vuzix.com.

“We are pleased to see our customers’ recommendations becoming a reality,” said Paul Travers, President of Vuzix Corporation. “With our list of supported titles continuing to grow, the VR920 has become the video eyewear of choice for gamers worldwide,” added Travers.

Additionally, Vuzix has distributed the over 800 Software Developers’ Kits the developer community.

“Due to this phenomenal level of interest in Vuzix virtual reality products, the available customer experiences continue to grow,” said Vuzix Product Manager Ron Haidenger. “VR920 users will have more and more compatible titles from some of the world’s largest developers,” added Haidenger.
The new iWear VR920 v2.2 software is shipping in new iWear® VR920 orders and is available as a free download from www.vuzix.com for all existing iWear® VR920 customers.

For every attendee who “gets on board” for a Wii Fit demo, Nintendo will make a donation of $5 (up to $25,000 total) to the American Heart Association in support of its effort to help Americans live healthier. Expect crowds of people throughout the day, plus an appearance by celebrity trainer Ashley Borden.

Featuring more than 40 physical activities and the revolutionary Wii Balance Board, Wii Fit makes fitness fun for the entire household. Anyone can benefit from its mix of aerobic, yoga, strength training and balancing exercises. Following the phenomenal success of active-play titles such as Wii Sports™, Wii Fit gets everyone active and playing together.

WHO:
Hundreds of parents, kids, fitness enthusiasts, American Heart Association supporters and consumers of all ages. Executives from Nintendo and the American Heart Association New York City volunteer leadership.

WHEN:
Monday, May 19, 2008
Event: 8 a.m. — 5 p.m.

WHERE:
Central Park, Merchants’ Gate
Located at the intersection of Central Park West, Central Park South, Columbus Circle and Broadway in Manhattan

VISUALS:

Hundreds of consumers of all ages twisting and tilting their bodies atop the innovative Wii Balance Board
Celebrity trainer Ashley Borden providing personal Wii Fit training session
Wii Fit b-roll available

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has hit the 10 million mark in U.S. sales, being the first next-gen console to reach this number. This may sound impressive but Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 a year ahead of the other next-gen units, and the Wii is quickly catching up to the Xbox 360 numbers with more then 700,000 units per month being sold in the last two months, compared to the Xbox 360′s 200,000.

Since its launch in November 2006, Nintendo Wii has sold close to 24 million units worldwide, and it hopes to ship 25 million Wii’s for the next fiscal year.

Gaming analysts are predicting a increase of Xbox 360 and PS3 sales due to the release of GTA IV. The game was release on April 29th and could drive sales of both consoles though May.

At the center of their offering is the Central Management Server which manages and controls all of the video encoding and decoding devices on a single platform through a graphical user interface. The CMS system manages:

• PC-Based Encoder/Decoders
• Non PC-Based Encoder/Decoders
• Streaming Media Servers
• Mobile Encoder/Decoder

The live content is sent to a Live IPTV Broadcasting Server and then distributed to the viewers via the internet to their computers or TVs with the aid of set-top-boxes. The AAA server allows pay-per-view or subscription-based payment required for users to be granted access to the content.

With computer screens getting less expensive, and larger in size, it seems that the computer screen may well become the small TV screen of the future. Web TV could offer us consumers a whole new world of viewing content, and might actually allow us to hear world news from the people actually in the place where the news resides – and it might even be relatively unbiased! At last corporations will not “own” the news, or at least have to compete with a number of less commercially based feeds. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to mentally filter about everything you hear on network news? Wow – news by the people for the people!

It’s like having your own personal composer, i.e., Hans Zimmer-in-a-Can; and you don’t have to be a Beethoven to use it. Its a new software product, called “Abaltat Muse”, from the Ireland based company, Abaltat (www.abaltat.com). They call it the “worlds first video-driven soundtrack composer”.

First, you import your video segment into the program. Muse can use several methods for formulating your composition; In the demo we were given at the NAB convention, Siun Ni Raghallaigh, the companies CEO, chose “color” as the key for the program to use in constructing it’s unique composition. Neuronets can also be used by the software to construct melodies (one primary, and one secondary melody), and other musical decisions needed to complete the composition. Using either of these techniques, in theory, will never give you two compositions that are exactly alike. We selected the color “red”, since the video’s main visual topic is a red sportscar. The software is also “smart enough” to take the time length of your video, and will adjust the composition to fit exactly in the video’s time frame.

You then select a number of other parameters, such as compositional “complexity”. The user has the flexibility to zero in on a particular time segment for the increased/decreased intensity, or use the same intensity for the entire composition.

Next, one selects a musical style, such as “classical”, “rock”, or “atmospheric”, the beats-per-minute (BPM), and the time signature (3/4 for a waltz feel, or the more typical 4/4 rock style).

Finally you set a parameter called “jingle”. This is slider that controls the degree to which the melody will repeat: set the slider to a low value, and the melody will repeat often, set it high, and it will will repeat rarely, if ever.

You are now ready to hit the “compose” button. With your selections made, Muse chooses the appropriate instruments with 4 “players” in all, 2 playing melodies, a bass instrument, and a rhythm player. The user can mute out, reduce the volume of, or add various “players” at any point during the video.

I was impressed by the results. The demo produced a composition that went well with the video, and would certainly compare favorably with any “off the shelf” soundtrack. And best of all, no royalties or other contractual paperwork to worry about – ii’s YOUR composition!

Once your are happy with your composition, you can export the project as a MIDI file, or AIFF sound file. This is a good feature, since, in my opinion, the sound samples used weren’t of the best quality.  In the demo, the “flute” sounded like a violin to me.  However, the MIDI export would allow you to enhance or otherwise change your composition further by using some of the pro-audio software tools, such as Cubase or Apple’s Logic Pro, as well some the high-end sound sample libraries available. The Abaltat Muse playout works with Mac’s own soundcard or with the standard editing third party cards such as Blackmagic.

The Muse software retails for around $480, is available on Apple, and will be available for Windows this year. Their “Express” version sells for around $220 (Apple only), and has fewer features than Muse but can still take you from A-Z resulting in a decent sounding track. For more information about the two versions, and other offerings from Abaltat, go to www.abaltat.com.

It’s nice to see some movies still using real sets and not depending entirely on Computer Generated Imagery and Green Screens. Watchmen’s world gets built in real life; part of NYC gets a blast from the 1980’s as a few city blocks go up. Letting the outdoor sets sit and age creates a more believable setting helping to bring the vision to life.

When an ex-superhero has been murdered, a vigilante named Rorshach begins an investigation into the murder, which begins to lead to a much more terrifying conclusion. And also uncovers a plot to discredit and murder various heroes. Rorschach discovers a far wider ranging conspiracy involving his colleagues’ past which could completely change the course of history.

Staring: Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl), Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach), Matthew Goode (Ozymandias), Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian) and Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre).

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Dell incorporates Broadcom Media PC technology to allow PCs with integrated graphics to play high definition video, Using a dedicated hardware accelerator in a mini-card slot.

The notebook is available today at Dell.com

Additionally it is expected that iPhone users will now be able to download and customize there ring tones, by downloading music from the iTunes store, they will also be able to convert songs that are previously downloaded though itunes.

The ring tone feature is likely to be unveiled as an enhanced download at the iPod announcement next week, according to the New York Post.

“IPhone users will have the ability to choose any part of the song they want as their ringtone,” the Post said, observing that previously purchased iTunes songs will also be able to be converted.

[Via AFP]

Media buffs will love Interact-TV’s MediaPool with 3.75 Terabytes of data storage, there is room for 750 DVDs or thousands of CDs and recorded shows. Disk space is upgradeable up to 5 TB in raid 10 configuration redundant media storage that is safe and simple to manage.
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