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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

China, Socialism & Consumer Behavior: In a Tidal Shift, Chinese Spending More Overseas

Money is moving in a new direction in China — out: Some Chinese are so eager to turn their yuan into other assets that when an online real estate brokerage organized a tour of foreclosure auctions in the United States, it received so many applications that it had to turn away nearly 400 people. In Shanghai, cash-rich Chinese companies are buying high-yield bonds issued by distressed American companies at a time when most investors are steering clear of bonds even from solid companies […]

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Design Innovation Software Trend Watching

“Trends and Technologies in Where2.0” at Web2.0 Expo

Mikel Maron and Andrew Turner gave a presentation at Web2.0 Expo New York on Trends and Technologies in Where2.0. It was interesting to devise a way to cover the Geo-space in the breadth of business to hacking. To do this, they split the 45 minutes into two obvious halves: Trends, and Technology. The Trends cover cutting edge uses of location and geospatial technology in businesses and organizations. By contrast, the Technologies cover the bleeding edge of geohacking done at Burning Man this year.

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Design Information Technology Innovation Trend Watching

Information Visualization: Visual Complexity

VisualComplexity.com — a project derived of an extensive research on the visualization of complex networks, which culminated with Manuel Lima thesis project Blogviz: Mapping the dynamics of information diffusion in Blogspace — intends to be a unified resource space for anyone interested in the visualization of complex networks. The project’s main goal is to leverage a critical understanding of different visualization methods, across a series of disciplines, as diverse as Biology, Social Networks or the World Wide Web […]

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Design Information Technology Software

Autodesk to buy Softimage|XSI

Autodesk has signed a definitive agreement with Avid to acquire substantially all of the assets of Avid’s Softimage business unit for around US$35 million. This will mean that Autodesk will own three of the main 3D suites: 3ds Max, Maya and Softimage|XSI. Autodesk plans to acquire and continue developing the core Softimage|XSI suite, the Softimage|Face Robot facial animation software, the Softimage|Cat character animation plug-in for 3ds Max and the Softimage|Crosswalk ‘interoperability solution’ – which will be integrated with Autodesk’s own sharing technology…

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Design Innovation Readings Software

Super Bowl XLII: Digital Artists Tackle Commercials With Autodesk Solutions

More than 30 Super Bowl XLII TV commercials for Bridgestone, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, FedEx and other advertisers were created using Autodesk, Inc. technology. Autodesk’s visual effects, editing/ finishing and 3D modeling, animation and rendering software were used to deliver computer-generated imagery, including digital animals and environments. ‘With a viewership of over 97 million people, this year’s Super Bowl commercials have exceeded expectations and delivered the inspired entertainment we look forward to year after year,’ said Karim Salabi, Autodesk Media & Entertainment vice president of marketing…