DreamWorld Studios

MAXON Unveils CINEMA 4D Release 13

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:24:30 +0000

Today, MAXON announced CINEMA 4D Release 13, the next generation of its industry- leading 3D motion graphics, visual effects, painting, and rendering software application. With all new character tools, integrated stereographic capabilities, stream-lined multi-artist collaboration and physical rendering, CINEMA 4D Release 13 builds on the company’s 25-year legacy of enabling digital content creators around the world to produce highly engaging content quickly and easily for a variety of industries.

As MAXON commemorates its 25-year anniversary and its most successful year to date in 2010, Harald Egel, MAXON founder and CEO, observes that today’s work environments are marked increasingly by designers creating content in remote locations, working on various platforms and production pipelines, as well as producing more 3D stereoscopic material.

Via: Maxon

State of the Word

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:47:57 +0000

This has been an exciting year for WordPress. They have grown to power 14.7% of the top million websites in the world, up from 8.5%, and the latest data shows 22 out of every 100 new active domains in the US are running WordPress.

WordPress conducted their first ever user and developer survey, which got over 18,000 responses from all over the world:

They found a few interesting tidbits from the survey responses, including that 6,800 self-employed respondents were responsible for over 170,000 sites personally, and charged a median hourly rate of $50. In tough economic times, it’s heartening to see Open Source creating so many jobs. (If each site took only 3 hours to make, that’s $29.5M of work at the average hourly rate.)

Via: WordPress Blog

The History of The Internet – Made Simple

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:37:10 +0000

“History of the internet” is an animated documentary explaining the inventions from time-sharing to filesharing, from Arpanet to Internet. The history is told using the PICOL icons, which are available on picol.org. You can get news about this project on blog.picol.org

Scientists Say Workplace Social Networking Increases Productivity

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:30:56 +0000

Can you believe that using social networking sites at work can increase your workplace productivity? A new study just published by Australian scientists found that taking time to visit websites of personal interest, including news sites and YouTube, provided workers a mental break that ultimately increased their ability to concentrate and was correlated with a 9% increase in total productivity.

Via: RedWriteWeb

50% of Marketers Increase Spending on Social Media

admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:53:02 +0000

In a recession, budgets are tightened, jobs are cut, and those who remain are expected to do more with less. Given this type of economic reality, it’s surprising to hear of an industry reporting an increase in spending on anything, much less on something as new as social media. Yet that’s exactly what’s occurring. According to a new Forrester Research survey of 145 global interactive marketers in both B2B and B2C companies with more than 250 employees, the use of social media as a marketing tool is on the rise. What’s more, Forrester reports that over 50% of marketers said they will be increasing their spending on social media marketing in the coming months.

Part of the reason for this increased spending is thanks to the low cost of social media tools. Compared with larger expenditures like that of advertising for example, social media requires much less investment. In fact, three-quarters of those surveyed who knew their budgets said they allowed for $100,000 or less for social media tools over a 12-month period.

The Average Teens Spend 31 Hours a Week Online

admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:16:44 +0000

They spend some three and a half hours communicating with friends on MSN, and around two hours on YouTube and in chat rooms.

Just over an hour is devoted to looking up cosmetic surgery procedures such as how to enlarge breasts and get collagen implants, an hour and a half is spent on family planning and pregnancy websites and one hour 35 minutes is spent investigating diets and weight loss.

One in four teenagers of the 1,000 polled said they regularly spoke to strangers online but thought it harmless.

One in three admitted trying to hide what they were looking at if a parent entered the room.

But children also use the internet to help them with homework, with at least three hours a week spent searching for such information.

The research was conducted by www.cybersentinel.co.uk, which provides software solutions allowing parents to block access to certain sites.

Spokesman Ellie Puddle said: “The alarming thing is the survey shows teenagers are obviously exploring all sorts of topics as a result of modern-day pressures.

“Talking to friends on social networking websites can be completely risk-free, good fun. But there is also the danger of online predators.

“Teenagers and parents need to realize the dangers of talking to strangers online but parents must not overreact by denying access to the internet. The internet is a fantastic resource for learning and development.” Via: The Telegraph