animation

Netflix is close to reaching an agreement to license content from DreamWorks Animation and a deal could get done as soon as this week, according to a published report.

The news comes with Netflix due to report earnings after the close of trading today and with scores of Netflix customers deciding whether the company's streaming library is worth an upcoming fee increase.

Bloomberg is reporting that Netflix and DreamWorks Animation, the maker of such films as "Shrek," "Madagascar," and "Kung Fu Panda" are still in talks but that it appears Netflix will take … Read more

The Mandelbrot set is a set of points that generates a particular two-dimensional fractal image. Mandelbrot Explorer lets you play around with images produced by both the Mandelbrot set and the similar Julia set. You don't have to be a math nerd to enjoy this program--it's fun to explore even if you have no idea what's going on.

The image created by the Mandelbrot set consists of a circular shape with a cleft in the right side, with several smaller circular shapes and fuzzy-looking bits attached to it. Once you start clicking on it, however, you realize … Read more

To be perfectly honest, we could probably waste the better part of a day online looking at animal photos. Cute animals, funny animals, ferocious animals...we find them endlessly fascinating. If you do, too, consider Animal Desktop Wallpaper Screensaver App. This fun program is a screensaver with a social networking component, supplying a constant stream of high quality animal photos.

Although Animal Desktop Wallpaper Screensaver App is accessible in the Display Properties menu along with all your other screensavers, it also has its own manager. The program comes with six high-quality nature images, but that's just the beginning. Clicking … Read more

In a new phase of its attempt to grow beyond Flash, Adobe Systems has begun showing off a design tool called Edge that lets designers animate Web page elements using standard Web technology.

The tool gives a graphical user interface to Web design to automate programming that otherwise would require more technical knowledge of HTML5, the next-generation version of Hypertext Markup Language now under development, and CSS, the Cascading Style Sheets standard for formatting and now some animated transitions.

With it, designers can drop images or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) elements onto a canvas that's connected to an animation … Read more

Volvo is perhaps best known for protecting human lives in and outside of vehicles, and now the automotive safety stalwart is taking its safety mission one step further by developing technology that will help protect the lives of animals.

The new anticollision system is based on the company's Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake technology that first appeared in vehicles last year. It uses a radar sensor and an infra-red camera to detect animals within the vehicle's range, and alerts the driver to their presence. If the driver doesn't react to the alerts, the car will engage … Read more

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