With modern consoles offering gamers graphics so photorealistic that they blur the line between CGI and reality, it's easy forget just how cartoonishly blocky they were in the 8-bit era. In his new book, Creating Q*Bert and Other Classic Arcade Games, legendary game designer and programmer Warren Davis recalls his halcyon days imagining and designing some of the biggest hits to ever grace an arcade. In the excerpt below, Davis explains how the industry made its technological leap from 8- to 12-bit graphics. Santa Monica Press©2021 Santa Monica PressBack at my regular day job, I became particularly fascinated with a new product that came out for the Amiga computer: a video digitizer made by a company called A-Squared. Let’s unpack all that slowly.The Amiga was a recently released home computer capable of unprecedented graphics and sound: 4,096 colors! Eight-bit stereo sound! There were image manipulation programs for it that could do things no other computer, including the IBM PC, could do. We had one at Williams not only because of its capabilities, but also because our own Jack Haeger, an immensely talented artist who’d worked on Sinistar at Williams a few years earlier, was also the art director for the Amiga design team.Video digitization is the process of grabbing a video image from some video source, like a camera or a videotape, and converting it into pixel data that a computer system (or video game) could use. A full-color photograph might contain millions of... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2021-12-25 16:30:11 UTC ]
Grab your coloring instruments and get your art on with these free coloring pages from over 100 museums and libraries worldwide. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-27 10:39:16 UTC ]
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The University of South Florida has created a coronavirus-tracking map that shows users both the cases and deaths that occur from the virus spreading across the world. The tool was created by USF Libraries and the GIS unit of the digital heritage and humanities collections. It came to be after... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-03-26 11:30:43 UTC ]
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A librarian recounts giving an education on libraries and the book check out process to a young library patron. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-25 10:33:21 UTC ]
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If you're stuck at home and bemoaning the absence of libraries from your life, don't fear! Here are some great books available on Hoopla right now. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-24 10:40:03 UTC ]
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Shuttering public libraries puts a strain on communities—even if it’s the only way to keep people safe. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2020-03-23 20:35:01 UTC ]
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More and more public libraries are temporarily closing shop across the country to limit the spread of coronavirus, but their Wi-Fi can still be a valuable resource for communities, the American Library Association said Monday. Libraries that close should leave their Wi-Fi open to the public... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-23 18:01:46 UTC ]
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We're still early in this new coronavirus crisis, but it's not too early to think about what we want—and what we'll need—for our libraries in the future. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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'Write once, run anywhere' was the promise that Sun Microsystems made for Java in the mid '90s. But front-end development trends suggest that it's really JavaScript -- and its fast-evolving libraries and frameworks -- that are executing on that promise today. To learn more about the JavaScript... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2020-03-19 11:48:08 UTC ]
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THESE TIMES: Italy’s answer to coronavirus is a classic published almost 200 years ago · Big-hearted strangers are turning Little Free Libraries into Little Free Pantries · Ina Garten and Samin Nosrat are here to help with your lockdown cooking. | Lit Hub An environmentally ethical argument for... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-19 10:30:29 UTC ]
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Are you desperately searching for proof that there is, in fact, still goodness in this crazy, mixed-up, pandemic-cowed world? You are? Well then, might I direct your attention to this Chicago neighborhood street corner? Seen in my Chicago neighborhood. Sign says “To help our neighbors affected... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-18 17:26:32 UTC ]
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Libraries Connected is calling on the government to issue "clear" guidance about closing libraries in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, highlighting "it is equally important that library staff are safeguarded during this period". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-18 08:33:36 UTC ]
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Macmillan has abandoned its controversial lending policy on e-books for US libraries in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-18 05:44:27 UTC ]
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The Uncensored Library — Reporters Without Borders built a library in Minecraft, in which you can read banned books. (via Gizmodo) Shmoocon 2020 Talk Recordings — everything from email addresses to Verilog by way of Zero Trust, social media, and choose-your-own-adventure ransomware. Differential... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar
[ O'Reilly Radar | 2020-03-16 12:07:03 UTC ]
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How one school librarian has addressed fake news in his curriculum -- and how it can be replicated. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-15 10:31:27 UTC ]
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Help build the libraries of schools around the country by donating a few bucks to these DonorsChoose projects. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-13 10:40:37 UTC ]
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This morning, both the Chief Librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library and the President of the New York Public Library released statements announcing that they would be cancelling public library programs for the rest of March, in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 and encourage social... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-12 16:51:47 UTC ]
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I draw, write, speak about, teach, facilitate and organise events about comics. After graduating with a degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Sussex, I attended art college and worked as a freelance illustrator. In 2008, I began to incorporate comics into my practice. I also... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-03-11 13:11:13 UTC ]
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The use of libraries for community activities rather than just as a repository for books has led to a fall in their use rather than an increase, according to a new report by campaigner Tim Coates. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 22:33:22 UTC ]
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Quibi, the new short-form video streaming service led by Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, has released a list of 51 shows that will be available when it launches next month. Quibi plans to offer 175 original shows and 8,500 short-form episodes called “quick bites” within its first year. When... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2020-03-10 11:05:18 UTC ]
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MLflow — an open source platform to manage the ML lifecycle, including experimentation, reproducibility, and deployment. It currently offers three components: tracking, projects, and models. Eventing Facets (Tim Bray) — the word “eventing” makes my skin crawl, but this series of posts has A+... Continue reading at O'Reilly Radar
[ O'Reilly Radar | 2020-03-10 04:01:00 UTC ]
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