animation

To get the visuals it was looking for in L.A. Noire, its new detective game, video game maker Rockstar Games used 3D motion-capture technology called MotionScan.

In this video, GameSpot's Dan Chiappini sits down with Oliver Bao from Depth Analysis, the company that makes MotionScan, to get a deeper look at how the technology was used--and where it can go from here.

Animated Water Drop Desktop Wallpaper is a free app from Artdocks that creates a realistic effect of water droplets slowly moving down your screen. While it does vary your screen's pixels somewhat, it's not a screensaver; it's a wallpaper enhancement that you can use with your usual background images. The effect is attractive and subtly soothing.

We activated Animated Water Drop by clicking its desktop icon, though there's also a Start Menu entry as well as icons in the Artdocks folder, which also contained an uninstaller for the wallpaper. You can't access the program from … Read more

Mozilla released a beta version of Firefox yesterday, its first on a new quick-release plan intended to bring features to browser users and Web developers sooner.

Firefox 5 beta's big new feature is support for CSS animations, which let Web developers add some pizzazz to actions such as making dialog boxes pop up or switching among photos. Also in the new version is canvas, JavaScript, memory, and networking, according to the release notes and bug-fix list.

That may not sound like a dramatic overhaul for a whole new version number, and indeed it isn't. Mozilla is following in … Read more

Artdocks' Animated Fish Desktop Wallpaper is freeware that animates your desktop wallpaper with a realistic-looking tropical fish. The fish swims around your desktop in an overhead view like you're looking down into a pond. The program's own background image is a soothing view of water, but you can use the fish with your own wallpaper pictures, too.

Animated Fish Desktop Wallpaper can be activated from its desktop icon, a Start Menu entry, the system tray, or the program's Start Menu Folder, but not from the usual Desktop Background control on Explorer's Personalize menu. Opening the program … Read more

How do you know if a girl is interested in you? If she's wearing Necomimi robot cat ears, you'll know right away. Whether you'd be interested in girls who wear cat ears is another matter.

A Japanese group called Neurowear has been promoting this high-tech headband, which consists of a pair of motorized, fuzzy feline ears and a brain wave sensor.

The ears feature in Japan's otaku subcultures centered on anime and manga fandom. They're seen in catgirl outfits worn by cosplay enthusiasts.

It's easy to find cat-ear headbands in Japan, but Neurowear has taken them a step beyond. The Necomimi forehead brain wave sensor makes the ears stand up when the wearer concentrates. They turn down in response to a relaxed state.

In the rather ridiculous PR video below, the ears stand up when a woman passes a man who catches her eye. Meanwhile, guys have also been trying Necomimi, as seen in the vid here, shot at a recent demo in Tokyo. … Read more

Today's Google doodle honors choreographer Martha Graham's birthday--and with animated dancers revealing it, the doodle also showcases the company's push to build a more dynamic Web.

The only problem: some people find it's slowing their machines. That's hardly the outcome that Google--obsessed over every millisecond of delay in delivering search results--could have wanted.

The dynamic doodle is a rarity for Google, but you can expect more as the company tries to draw attention to what can be done on the Web, not just to the subjects of its doodles. Indeed, Google had a whole session … Read more

Animal rights group PETA has unveiled its own iPhone app as a way to counteract what it sees as the animal cruelty expressed in an Android app that pits dogs against each other.

Originally dubbed "Dog Wars," the app, made by Kage Games and found on the Android Market, touted itself as a way to train virtual pit bulls to fight other dogs and pick up "street cred" along the way. But the game quickly upset members of People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals and other animal rights groups who called for it to be removed from the app store.

After temporarily being taken down from the Android Market, the $2.99 app quickly resurfaced with the new name of KG Dogfighting but the same theme, proclaiming that "the controversial dogfighting Android "DogWars - Beta" app by Kage Games LLC has been renamed and uploaded here to the market as a paid app!"

Also boasting that the "app will never appear in the iPhone app store"--a reference to Apple's more stringent guidelines--Kage says that the goal is to feed, water, train, and fight your virtual dog against other players.… Read more

The thought of an animal bar code scanner generates some primal worries.

Do lions, tigers, and bears need bar code scanners? What would they be trying to price--antelope shanks? Are pet shop clerks skimming hamsters across laser scanners like so many cans of discount tuna?

Relax. No one is scribbling black lines onto goldfish with Sharpies. The bar code scanner in question is StripeSpotter--a serious tool in the tracking and cataloging of animals in the wild.

Just as no two human fingerprints are alike, the markings on zebra, giraffes, tigers, and other be-striped creatures are unique. StripeSpotter can identify such animals by scanning their markings off photographs. Once an animal is captured in an image, the software can identify the animal from any photograph by reading its markings. The system can even pick individual beasts out of a crowd. … Read more

Once you post a video of yourself shooting an elephant dead--especially if you happen to accompany that video with AC/DC's "Hell's Bells"--you might anticipate a little more excitement.

So it has proved.

Should you have been unaccountably detained by the Mounties, you might not know that GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons adorned his blog with a video of his good self killing an elephant.

The video wasn't entirely suitable for lunch and explained that the elephants eat sorghum that is sorely needed by starving Zimbabwean villagers.

Naturally, animal activist group PETA rebutted Parsons and … Read more