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SANTA CLARA, CA— Extreme gaming just got a whole lot better. On Dec 13, NVIDIA extended its SLI technology, which enables the use of multiple graphics processing units (GPUs) on a single computer, allowing up to three GeForce graphics cards to be used in a single machine.

Now hot, new, graphics-intensive titles, such as Call of Duty 4, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Unreal Tournament 3, can be played at the highest resolution possible, with all the graphics settings cranked to the max, and antialiasing applied for the first time.

NVIDIA’s new 3-way SLI delivers up to a 2.8x performance increase over a single GPU system, giving high-end gamers 60 frames per second at resolutions as high as 2560×1600 and with 8x antialiasing. 3-way SLI technology means you no longer have to dial back the image quality settings on the newest PC games. For example, gamers with 3-way SLI can play Crysis at high resolutions such as 1920×1200 with all the advanced DirectX 10 effects such as motion blur, ambient occlusion, and soft shadows turned on.

The heart of a 3-way SLI system is an NVIDIA nForce 680 SLI MCP motherboard and three GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards. With 3-way SLI, gamers can harness the power of 384 stream processors, a 110+ gigatexel per second texture fill rate, and over two gigabytes of graphics memory for no-compromise gaming performance.

3-way SLI gives gamers the flexibility to scale their graphics processing power with one, two, or three GeForce GPUs, depending on their desired price and system configuration. 3-way SLI systems are available from leading gaming PC system builders and the components needed to build your own 3-way SLI system are available from leading retailers. More at SLI Zone, nVIDIA.

Houston — Dec 05, ‘07 — On August 07, 2008, after 20 years of hype, disappointment, blunders, triumphs and peerless glittering vistas of space and time, and four years after NASA decided to leave the Hubble Space Telescope to die in orbit, setting off public and Congressional outrage, a group of astronauts will ride to the telescope aboard the space shuttle Atlantis with wrenches in hand. Says NYTimes.

That, at least, is the plan.

Servicing Mission 4
NASA managers officially are targeting August 7, 2008, for the launch of the fifth and final space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day flight, Atlantis’ seven astronauts will repair and improve the observatory’s capabilities through 2013.

Mission planners have been working since last fall, when the flight was announced, to determine the best time in the shuttle manifest to support the needs of Hubble while minimizing the impact to International Space Station assembly. NASA also will support a “launch on need” flight during the Hubble mission. In the unlikely event a rescue flight becomes necessary, shuttle Endeavour currently is planned to lift off from Launch Pad 39-B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla. However, managers constantly are evaluating the manifest to determine the best mission options.

Shuttle missions beyond the Hubble flight, designated STS-125, still are being assessed. Shuttle and station program officials will continue to consider options for the remainder of the shuttle flights to complete construction of the space station by 2010, when the fleet will be retired. Those target launch dates are subject to change.

More at NASA, NYTimes.

Nov 27, ‘07 — Naomi Kim of Reuters bring us the Brookstone story, which adds 3rd dimension to the online shopping.

“Consumers looking to avoid crowded malls and the tedium of online shopping can now shop in a virtual 3-dimensional store.

Specialty retailer Brookstone Inc. opened the virtual doors to its 3-dimensional store, which combines a Second Life-like visual experience with real merchandise customers can buy.

The virtual store replicates the look and layout of a real store. Customers can move through the aisles and browse and zoom on products using a mouse and keyboard. Detailed information is available by stopping in front of an item.

“We think it really appeals to a younger audience for us, a demographic probably 25 to 40… because of the almost gaming nature of it,” said Sweeney. Brookstone.com will still offer its wares in the conventional way, but offers the 3-D store as an alternative”. More at Reuters.

Brookstone 3D Online Store (Warning: On the next screen, you have to install -never heard before- Kinset shopping browser in order to browse the 3D store).

Related Story: EveryScape Will Show You the Real World, Online!

Worlds are not born, they are created. This is just the beginning of ours. And yours. Welcome to EveryScape beta — where together the real world is being created, online. Says EveryScape.com

Nov 26, ‘07 — Anne Eisenberg of International Herald Tribune writes an in-depth article on EveryScape,  a website that provides 3-D-like tours.

Three-dimensional mapping programs like Google Earth let people fly over the rooftops of virtual cities, and other online services lead them down individual streets.

She further writes, “Now, one company is planning 3-D-like tours of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other cities that not only venture down streets, but also inside some businesses. Tourists to this virtual Cambridge will be able to click their way along a Brattle Street rendered in realistic detail and move through the computer-generated interiors of dozens of nearby shops and institutions.

EveryScape in Waltham, Massachusetts, will start virtual tours of streets and businesses in Cambridge and Lexington, Massachusetts, in December, said Mok Oh, founder and chief technology officer of EveryScape.

So far, a limited number of street tours in Boston, New York, Miami Beach and Aspen, Colorado, can be seen on a beta version of EveryScape’s Web site.

EveryScape’s service may be attractive to companies that want to expand their online presence beyond a standard Web listing, said Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association.

Online visitors will be able to take the tour when they go to the Harvard Square Business Association site, www.harvardsquare.com. A preliminary version of the tour, already posted, lets visitors navigate local streets, but not the interiors of businesses.

The Harvard Square site is popular, Jillson said. It gets about 2 million hits a month, about 37,000 of them first-time visitors, up from about 1.3 million and 30,000 new visitors a year ago.” More at IHT.

CHICAGO, IL –BUSINESS WIRE– Nov 25, ‘07 — Today, at the 93^rd annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, Royal Philips Electronics unveiled its latest innovative healthcare products and technologies including the 256-slice Brilliance iCT scanner, allows radiologists to produce high-quality images with exceptional acquisition speed, including complete coverage of the heart and brain.

It is so powerful it can capture an image of the entire heart in just two beats, while incorporating Philips technology that has reduced radiation doses by up to 80 percent.

Brilliance iCT and a new 64-channel system both feature Philips Essence technology, consisting of new X-ray tubes, detectors and reconstruction design elements. This technology can provide detailed and clear 3D images of an entire organ, including the heart and brain, and can also show changes over time.

All images also can be accessed on any computer in a hospital or by colleagues and researchers remotely, to make it easier for the whole team to share information. To date, more than 30 CT systems with Essence technology have been shipped.

The scanners deliver key clinical insights for a wide range of applications in the radiology and cardiology settings, while the enhanced visualizations will be valuable for doctors diagnosing and treating problems within the heart.

The Brilliance iCT scanner is also designed to reduce patients’ exposure to X-rays. The scan is much quicker, as the machine’s X-ray emitting gantry – the giant ring-shaped part that surrounds the patient – can rotate four times in a single second, which is 22 percent faster than current systems. More at Philips Medical Systems.

Los Angeles — Nov 25, ‘07 — In a computer lab at UCLA, the worlds of cyberspace and Medieval Europe merge.

Paloma Esquivel of LA Times writes a detailed article on Computer re-creation of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral portrays the building as it looked in the 13th century — which took only seven years to construct.

“A large group of computer engineers, scholars, students and other experts at UCLA have built a virtual cathedral — a computer re-creation of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral as the building probably appeared when it was dedicated in northwest Spain in 1211.

Projected onto a screen curving nearly a half-circle, the image looks as if it belongs in the virtual world of a video game. Animated granite bricks rise up to form massive towers and Romanesque arches, and cartoon clouds fill a flawless royal blue sky.

“If we could just proceed toward the altar at ground level and then we’ll fly up later on,” John Dagenais, chairman of the Spanish and Portuguese Department at UCLA said, giving instructions to undergraduate student Meghana Reddy, who was operating the simulation. “Let’s slide on down that column.” He turned to his visitors. “Prepare yourself for a big drop. Boom,” Dagenais said, as the images flew quickly by, creating a roller-coaster sensation.

For centuries, the real cathedral, which is still standing and is said to house the bones of St. James, rivaled Rome and Jerusalem as a destination for Christian pilgrims. In recent years, modern pilgrims have rediscovered Santiago; this year, government representatives said they expect that 200,000 pilgrims will pay homage at the cathedral.

In its virtual realization, the cathedral and parts of the surrounding town are projected onto the curved screen in a specially designed theater; visitors can wear 3-D goggles that create an experience reminiscent of a ride at Disneyland.

“I’m not a Catholic,” he said. “I’m interested in what Medieval people thought, what they believed, how they behaved. For me it’s this amazing human phenomenon that impresses me, that makes me think this is worth understanding.”" More at LATimes. Photo Credits: UCLA