NYC BigApps Winner does AR

Even the slick Wayfinder interface won’t keep you from looking silly waving your cellphone around.

I cover AR (augmented reality) as it’s a new, useful technology that takes one aspect of VR—the generation of another, parallel world—and brings it down to earth. (And it’s cool.)

Or maybe a little lower than down to earth, as Wayfinder, the winner of NYC’s first app competition helps you to find the closest subway entrance. Google Android phone users only at this point, although one of the runner up apps is for the iPhone. Called NYC Way, it bundles “30+” info apps on various useful NYC info for city residents and visitors.

Here’s a NYT blog on the competition results.

A more snarky version of that info from All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka.

Want the actual Wayfinder site?

And the NYC Way runner-up, 30+ NYC iPhone apps.

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

AMC’s “The Walking Dead” was one of many other TV series and films experiencing delays in production following the onset of COVID-19.

With the final season delayed a full year, AMC ultimately decided to order six extra episodes to tack onto its current season that was shot during the pandemic in order to bridge the gap between seasons, with the episodes being written to include a smaller number of characters in each story.

This may be one production workaround during a pandemic, but another format of filmmaking proving useful in the coronavirus era is growing in overall prominence: virtual production.

To read the full article in Variety, click here.

With the completion of the sale of Technicolor Post to Streamland Media earlier this month, Technicolor has stepped away from its legacy business in color and is proceeding with its next chapter — an intention to make visual effects and animation a central part of its business, including an aggressive plan to potentially double the size of its feature animation offerings during the next year and later expand beyond service provider into a content producer.

To read the full article on M+E Daily, click here.

There’s a new union in town: the Producers Union, which is the first all-new Hollywood labor union to be formed in decades. More than 100 indie feature filmmakers have unanimously ratified its constitution, and more than 300 have signed letters of intent to join.

“After decades of working without basic protections, low and/or inconsistent wages, no employer healthcare contributions, and an industry insistence that they should work for free to demonstrate their commitment, film producers are taking a stand,” organizers said in a statement.

The Producers Union website launches today.

To read the full article on Deadline, click here.

The Academy Software Foundation is hosting its third annual Open Source Days on August 4 and 5, 2021. The free, virtual event brings together the motion picture industry’s open source community to collaborate and learn about open source software for visual effects, animation, and content creation.

Attendees will get the latest updates on Academy Software Foundation projects and other popular open-source projects used for visual effects, animation, and image creation.

To read the rest of the article on the website of the Academy Software Foundation, click here.