3D tech to transform smartphones

At this year's BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco, the name of the game was 3D, as a series of new technologies and initiatives were announced that plan to bring smartphones into the third dimension, writes Design Training.

The annual convention of over 1 000 participating software and industrial designers has been the launching ground for several new technologies, software platforms and accessory designs since 2008 - and this year's big announcement was the platform support of OpenGL ES, a program used to support and create 3D graphics, games and animation.

The announcement is seen as a means to combat the popularity of other smartphones, like the iPhone and the more customisable android phones such as the Motorola Droid.

IBM is working to deliver technology that it claims could lead to zero direct emission data centres, said an IBM researcher at a Usenix conference last week, reports eWeek.

At the Usenix Large Installation System Administration conference, Bruno Michel, manager of advanced thermal packaging at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory, said his team is working on new ways to reduce emissions and waste in data centres, including methods such as chip stacking and liquid cooling.

Michel said data centres are consuming more and more energy, with data centre energy consumption doubling over the last four years. "Future data centres will be dominated by energy cost, with half of that being spent on coolant," if nothing is done, he said.

Immersive Media has introduced live, streaming video technology that lets Web site viewers interactively look around to create their individual viewing experience as if they were there, states

Canada NewsWire.

MuchMusic, a Canadian multi-platform network for music videos, live performances, TV shows and interviews, is using the new IM Live to stream live video daily from its MuchOnDemand studio to fans at muchmusic.com to complement on-air programming.

The patented IM Live technology places online audiences in the middle of a live event and gives them full control over their viewing experience. With a simple click and drag of a computer mouse, each viewer can independently control his or her own point of view, looking sideways, up or down, or all around, zooming in or out of the action.