COLLEGE PARK, Md. – You may not know Lee Berger by name, but you may have seen the work of his production teams in many of 2012’s biggest movies: “Django Unchained,” “The Hunger Games,” “Life of Pi” and “Snow White and the Huntsman.”
Berger ’76 is president of the film division of Rhythm & Hues Studios, a Los Angeles-based company that does everything from animating the Chipmunks to creating fantastic worlds (“The Chronicles of Narnia”).
“This is a very competitive industry,” says Berger. “We don’t normally get to pick and choose, and we’re lucky that Ang Lee chose us (for ‘Life of Pi’).” (more…)
Learn about the reasons why social media can be efficient and easy tool in education process!
Students breathe social media; it’s like a drug spreading its tentacles over the younger generation. However, parents and teachers have begun to realize the importance of social media for the younger generation. For instance, they use the Internet databases and social media collaboration as homework writing help tools.
In fact, here is a latest Infographic released by Project Information Literacy on how college students rely on online resources for qualitative study. (more…)
James Wellman, associate professor of American religion in the Jackson School of International Studies, is the author of the book “Rob Bell and a New American Christianity.” He answered a few questions about his book for UW Today.(more…)
PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is driving toward a flat rock with pale veins that may hold clues to a wet history on the Red Planet. If the rock meets rover engineers’ approval when Curiosity rolls up to it in coming days, it will become the first to be drilled for a sample during the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
The size of a car, Curiosity is inside Mars’ Gale Crater investigating whether the planet ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life. Curiosity landed in the crater five months ago to begin its two-year prime mission.(more…)
UD professor works to overcome challenges in harnessing power of multicore computer processors
Computer processors that can complete multiple tasks simultaneously have been available in the mainstream for almost a decade. In fact, almost all processors developed today are multicore processors. Yet, computer programmers still struggle to efficiently harness their power because it is difficult to write correct and efficient parallel code.
According to the University of Delaware’s John Cavazos, to effectively exploit the power of multi-core processors, programs must be structured as a collection of independent tasks where separate tasks are executed on independent cores.
The complexity of modern software, however, makes this difficult. (more…)
One-third consider options other than the store for next purchase; Showrooming drives 50 percent of online sales
ARMONK, N.Y. – 15 Jan 2013: National Retail Federation Convention – A new IBM study of 26,000 global consumers released today at the 2013 National Retail Federation convention (#IBMNRF) found they are diversifying the way they shop for and acquire goods, becoming increasingly open to buying both online and in-store depending on their needs at time of purchase. While more than 80 percent of shoppers chose the store to make their last non-grocery purchase, only half are committed to returning there next time they buy.
IBM’s research finds that consumers are in a transitional state. According to the study, 35 percent are unsure whether they would next shop at a store or online. Nine percent are ready to commit to making future purchases online. Of all eight product categories tracked in the survey, the two most popular categories chosen by consumers for an online shift are consumer electronics and luxury items, including jewelry and designer apparel. (more…)
New offerings deliver on the commitment to help customers and partners deliver cloud services and manage connected devices.
REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 15, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of new solutions to help enterprise customers manage hybrid cloud services and connected devices with greater agility and cost-efficiency. System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1), the enhanced Windows Intune, Windows Azure services for Windows Server and other new offerings deliver against the Microsoft Cloud OS vision to provide customers and partners with the platform to address their top IT challenges.
“With Windows Server and Windows Azure at its core, the Cloud OS provides a consistent platform across customer datacenters, service provider datacenters and the Microsoft public cloud,” said Michael Park, corporate vice president of marketing for Server and Tools, Microsoft. “Powerful management and automation capabilities are key elements of the Cloud OS, taking the heavy lifting out of administration and freeing IT organizations to be more innovative as they embrace hybrid cloud computing and the consumerization of IT.” (more…)
A high-tech robotic fish hatched at Michigan State University has a new look. A new skill. And a new name.
MSU scientists have made a number of improvements on the fish, including the ability to glide long distances, which is the most important change to date. The fish now has the ability to glide through the water practically indefinitely, using little to no energy, while gathering valuable data that can aid in the cleaning of our lakes and rivers. (more…)
