July 1 nVidia put up a new release of its video drivers. These drivers are backward compatible to many older video cards.
New nVidia Driver 320.49 Released
General Computer Stuff
Oculus Rift – VR Update
There is an update on KickStarter.com about the status of the Oculus Rift, which is adopting the name Oculus VR. See the update here: Shipping Update, E3 2013 Recap and Oculus 0.2.3 SDK Release – Update #38 – July 4th, 2013.
This update is about the release of the 1080p developer’s headset.
Scroll down the page to the comments about EVE-VR. This is a tech demo of the EVE Online space adventure game. It blew people away and won awards. The reviewers are raving about the immersive quality of the experience.
Digg Reader Review & Update
I got my invitation to join Digg Reader. This is a review of the Digg Reader from my perspective of a first time user. This is definitely a beta version of software. It works. But, I think the reader is incomplete. That is sort of the point with beta software.
I originally went to the site and put in an email address which lets Digg know I wanted to participate in the beta. The next day I got an email. It had my unique link to Digg Reader. Yay! Excitedly I click and got a page elegant in a simplistic design style. Basically the only information was: Digg Reader – Click to import Google Reader. See the image above. I did that and got an error. After that it got confusing.
Digg Reader Beta Released
Tech Crunch has an article about the Digg Reader. Google Reader shuts down next week. So, there will likely be a bunch of people surprised that their reader doesn’t work. They will be searching for a replacement. Digg is a candidate.
[youtube 1dMxuPfd49w]
See the article here: Digg Reader Is Now Open.
Digg Reader targets power users. It supposedly takes a bit of work to set up feed, or so I read. I have yet to try it.
Digg Reader rollout information. Seems it is by invite only at this point.
In the information they are promising SEARCH. I’ve been using Feedly and I really miss the search that was in Google Reader. So, I will be trying the Digg Reader.
Not all is rosy. Read: Promising, But Still Incomplete. This article gets into the changes coming to Digg since Betaworks bought them. It also gets into the actual working of the reader. Check it out.
Upgrading for Second Life
With the coming of Server Side Appearance (SSA – baking) those using older viewers are going to have to update or suffer never seeing an avatar render again. For many the challenge will be their computer not being able to run recent viewers. The hardware is just too old. But, there are inexpensive ways to upgrade to a computer so it will handle the newest viewers.
Minimum Hardware
Minimum is this case is a very nebulous term. If you read Gwyneth Llewelyn’s blog you’ll know she gets by with some really minimal hardware. I think that would drive me nuts. But, I also use the computer for graphics intense work. So, in most ways it is a matter of personal choice and priorities.
Adobe Creative Cloud 2013-25
Some news is coming in on Adobe’s change to a monthly release plan. It seems it is being well accepted. Adobe’s published earning is beating the street’s estimates. See Tech Crunch for details: Adobe’s Q2 Earnings Beat Street With $1.011B In Revenue, $0.36 EPS, 700K Paying Creative Cloud Subscribers or 92% of their users.
New features are rolling out in the CC version of the software. Below is a Photoshop change in how it works with 3D painting.
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A longer and more detailed Q&A about the new CC is here: Adobe MAX: What’s New in Photoshop CC. This is mostly and audio with slides. And while it uses Photoshop in the title, this is more about how CC works.
I plan to sign up this month.