animation

GPS headsets make sure the cows come home

From the plains of southern New Mexico, we bring you a story of headset-wearing cows. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are teaming up to remotely corral cattle using a wireless device that sends sound straight into the bovines' ears. HDTV-watching pigs can't be far behind.

The solar-powered "Ear-A-Round" is a naugahyde "helmet" held in place by the cow's ears. Atop the holster sits an electronics device hooked to sound-transmitting stereo earphones and containing a GPS unit that could let farmers monitor the animals' whereabouts from afar.

"It's a marriage between biology and electronics," said USDA research animal scientist Dean M. Anderson, who has been collaborating with MIT on the project for the last several years, but has focused on the concept of "directional virtual fencing (PDF)" for more than three decades.

"When I started, the letters 'GPS' meant nothing to me," Anderson said. "But...animal distribution on the landscape has been an age-old challenge. With free-ranging animals, you get areas on the landscape that are overused and other areas that are underused."

The patent-pending device is scheduled to be tested on about nine cows later this month at the USDA's Jornada Experimental Range in Las Cruces, N.M. Anderson noted that not all cattle in a given location will need to be fitted with the instrument--only herd leaders. The animals that will participate in the early testing are currently undergoing a sort of "IQ test for cows" that will identify herd leaders in that group, the researcher said. … Read more

The 404 156: Where we animate Scaley McGrabAss

Our guest today is Stone Newman from Go!Animate, enter The 404 animation contest, Spore porn, pay per sick note, GTA copycat killings, geeks as better lovers, and TV shows on the big screen.

Stone Newman drops by the studio today to tell us about an awesome Web site that allows you to create your own custom Flash animation without all the tech nonsense! Go!Animate is all about simplicity. You can choose from a variety of locations and a ton of different characters, or even upload a picture of your own! Very cool, I can't imagine how many … Read more

GoAnimate puts powerful animation tools in your browser

GoAnimate is a browser-based animation studio. It lets you build multi-scene animated creations, complete with support for music, transitions, and user-uploaded page elements. I spent most of this morning playing around with it and the results are about on par with what you'd find on one of those animated greeting cards.

Like most video editing applications GoAnimate centers around a time line. Everything is drag and drop, so you can pick out characters, props, backgrounds and special effects and simple put them on the canvas where you see fit. Each "scene" can be edited to last as … Read more

Four hard-to-find fixes for common Windows annoyances

You start typing only to realize 10 seconds later that the focus is on the wrong window. You see a Windows notification pop out of the taskbar only to have it fade away before you can figure out what it means. You get distracted by all of Windows' pointless animations. You miss seeing keyboard-shortcut hints on menu entries and elsewhere in Windows dialog boxes.

You could spend hours hunting for the settings that will do away with these four Windows annoyances. At least Vista collects them all in the Ease of Access Center. These usability settings are spread far and … Read more

Auctions could fetch big bucks for cloned dogs

When Lou Hawthorne met Mira, the clone of his dog Missy, he couldn't have been happier. The puppy was just like Missy--and in some ways better because she mirrored Missy in her younger, more playful days.

So BioArts International, Hawthorne's biotech start-up that focuses on animal and human genomics, decided to spread the love.

Starting July 5, the highest bidders in five separate online auctions will win the opportunity to clone their own dogs.

Hawthorne, the company's CEO, said the event is the first step in making his Mill Valley, Calif.-based company's technology available to … Read more

The 404 123: Where DUCK! It's a defective thong!

Would you believe that the 404 gets a little serious on today's show? We push the buttons of the Texas Republican convention, pick apart militant veganism, complain about the PS3, and blow off Jeff's bout with Empathy Deficit Disorder. Don't worry though, it's not all serious--we also introduce a ridiculous new segment in the second half of the show. EPISODE 123 Download today's podcast

Gorillas, meerkats and Mickey get Road Trip 2008 going

ANIMAL KINGDOM, Fla.--And so it begins.

For the third year in a row, I've set out for a lengthy journey through one of the United States' major geographic regions. It's time for Road Trip 2008, several thousand miles of traveling the American South.

Last year it was the Southwest, and in 2006 it was the Pacific Northwest.

And since I've started this trip in Orlando, there's only one way to really begin: total immersion in Disney World.

That's why at about 9 p.m. Sunday--after checking into my hotel and getting situated, I jumped … Read more

Keep Fido off your iPhone

Did Fido eat another iPod? Unless they can burp MP3s, dogs that chew, drool on, or even consume expensive electronics could face a worse punishment than a rolled-up newspaper to the nose.

Kathy Santo, a dog behaviorist who makes organic, dog-related products through her Everyday Pets line, wants to prevent people from getting rid of their pooches due to gadget disasters or shelling out hundreds to replace their chewed up devices.

She alerted us to an updated version of "Don't Chew Dare," a solution meant to ward off dogs with its bitter taste. The all-natural product contains … Read more

Featured Freeware: Jahshaka

If you're looking for a free, professional-level video editor, Jahshaka for Windows and Mac should top your list. With every release, it gets more stable and gains more features.

The list of what the application can do is extensive and exhaustive. It can handle real-time image processing with node-based effects; edit DV, SD, HD and film; do real-time 3D compositing and Flash animation; OpenGL-based paint; and it has a text module. There are also modules for color correction, keying, and tracking, and an array of media support. It comes with JahPlayer, a media player that claims to work with &… Read more

Featured Freeware: Blender

If you've ever thought about making professional-quality animations but decided not to because of the cost of the software, your excuse just got up and walked out the door. For Windows, Mac, and Linux, Blender is a free, open-source 3D rendering program that puts the power of the medium back into the hands of the artist.

Blender features a laundry list of animation essentials that can be broken down into categories: Interface, Modeling, Rigging, Rendering, Animation, UV Unwrapping, Shading, Physics and Particles, Imaging and Compositing, and Real Time 3D/Game Creation. The interface, though loaded with complicated tools, is … Read more