visual

The aim of this article is to pass on some professional tips and suggestions on making wooden house signs so that, with the aid of visual references such as sign-makers websites (including our own) you will be able to undertake the very satisfying project of carving one in the traditional manner.

FTA: "Retirement of J# language and Java Language Conversion Assistant from future versions of Visual Studio. Since customers have told us that the existing J# feature set largely meets their needs and usage of J# is declining, Microsoft is retiring the Visual J# product and Java Language Conversion Assistant tool to better allocate resources..."

"For today's movie critics, videogames are the new MTV musicvideo, a shorthand insult for any movie deemed too heavy on effects and visual panache at the expense of plot and coherence. Anyone who has spent much time playing videogames knows the comparison is both artistically demeaning and substantively wrong." Great article.

The "Casino Royale" DVD looks so good, Q must have personally supervised the transfer. Here's another case where MGM's home-video connection with Sony (and its A/V wizards) pays off big time. From the high-grain b&w intro to the color bursts in paradise, the visuals are all stunning. The 6-D soundstage comes across like a cluster bomb in action.

TIGRS (The Independent Game Rating System) is a way for the creators of indie titles to give a rating to their games without having to go through the ESRB or pay any fees. The system has been active for a few years now but recently received a visual overhaul that also serves to simplify the rating process.