Native Instruments introduced ABBEY ROAD 50s DRUMMER, a new KONTAKT instrument featuring the sound of two classic drum kits from the 1950s. The kits provide the distinctive drum sound of the era, which was necessary to compete with the electrified instruments gaining popularity at the time. Recorded with both state-of-the-art and period equipment at Abbey Road Studios in London, 50s DRUMMER also includes a groove library, mixer presets, and a new set of brush articulations, delivering the authentic feel of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country, and jazz from the 1950s. ABBEY ROAD 50s DRUMMER is available at the NI Online Shop for $99 US / 99 EUR. [source]

The new Kinect sensor that will be delivered as part of Microsoft Xbox One later this year, will be followed by a new generation of Kinect for Windows next year, announced Bob Heddle, director of Kinect for Windows on the Kinect for Windows blog. The new Kinect will include a high-definition color camera as well as a new noise-isolating multi-microphone array, Microsoft's proprietary Time-of-Flight technology, expanded field of view, improved skeletal tracking, and new active-IR capabilities. More here. [source]

Autodesk announced Extension 1 for its professional video editing software for the Mac, Smoke 2013. It is expected to be available beginning May 29, 2013, and will feature numerous enhancements to help improve functionality, add flexibility as well as increase speed. The Smoke 2013 Extension 1 release will introduce support for Blackmagic video IO devices, including DeckLink (PCIe video boards), UltraStudio (Thunderbolt boxes) and the Intensity product lines. The Extension 1 will also add new Trim View and new dynamic trimming tools for faster editing; support for SonyRAW footage from Sony F5 and F55 cameras; improved performance in MediaHub when navigating large data sets; or better 3D compositing performance in Action when working with 3D objects, shaders and textures. Autodesk Smoke 2013 Extension 1 will be available to Autodesk Subscription customers. New customers can purchase a standalone Smoke license for $3,495 US with an additional $675 US for Subscription. [source]

Microsoft Research hosted its biennial D.C. TechFair. World-class scientists from Microsoft Research demonstrated how new discoveries in computer science and information technology are not only enhancing Microsoft products but also helping to overcome some of society's biggest challenges. One of the research projects at the event literally brought a new dimension to the now-familiar touchscreen. Titled Actuated 3-D Display with Haptic Feedback, the project builds on the touch experience enabled on flat, 2D surfaces by introducing pressure sensitivity to enable interaction of 3D environments. Other demonstrations on display during the 2013 D.C. TechFair were s 3D surface-reconstruction technology Kinect Fusion; Real-Time, 3D Scene Capture and Reconstruction; or SketchInsight: Telling Stories with Data via Freeform Sketching. More here. [source]

A new vision for the future of gaming comes to life as Microsoft Corp. unveils Xbox One , the all-in-one gaming and entertainment system created for today and the next generation. To create the most advanced Xbox system ever designed, Microsoft created a state-of-the-art gaming operating system and fused it with an equally powerful entertainment platform. An eight-core, x86 processor and more than 5 billion transistors helps make lag and load times a thing of the past, so users can instantly jump between a game and their entertainment at lightning speed or run a host of apps right alongside the game with no loss in performance. Xbox One will launch in markets around the world later this year. [source]

Apple announced that customers have downloaded over 50 billion apps from the Apple App Store. Customers are downloading more than 800 apps per second at a rate of over two billion apps per month on the App Store. The 50 billionth app was Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC. The App Store opened in July 2008 with 500 apps. Since its introduction, Apple's developer community has created an app for doing almost everything imaginable on an iPhone, iPad and iPod touch - the App Store now offers more than 850,000 iOS apps in 155 countries around the world, with more than 350,000 native iPad apps available. [source]

The Blender 2.67a update features over 100 bug fixes since the 2.67 release. Read a complete list of changes here. Download the new binaries for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux at blender.org. [source]

Wacom announced Bamboo Loop, a new app for iPhone and iPod Touch. It combines principles of photo sharing and messaging in a unique way: digital, paper-like photocards are sent ("looped") to friends, family members and close colleagues. Unlike many apps in which a photo is added separately to a text message, in Bamboo Loop photos take centre stage and can be illustrated and personalised with the built-in editing tools. Sketch, scribble or write on the photo with the finger or a Bamboo Stylus (e.g. the Bamboo Stylus mini that can be attached to the jack of the iPhone), loop it back to the creator, send it on to someone new or share it with social networks. The app currently runs on iOS 5 and higher, and supports iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPod Touch 4, and iPod Touch 5. [source]

Digital Tutors released a new Introduction to Maya 2014 tutorial for its subscribers. It contains over 10 hours of introductory training to get familiar with the latest release and learn about tools and techniques for modeling, texturing, rigging, animation, dynamics, lighting, rendering and more! [source]

RE:Vision Effects announced the initial release of RE:Match for 64-bit versions of The Foundry's Nuke (5.0 or later) and eyeon Fusion (5.2 and up). RE:Match takes intuitive color and texture matching to a whole new level by addressing common problems on multicam and stereo shoots. RE:Match is a set of plug-ins to match one view of video or film to another so that it looks as if it was shot with the same camera and settings. RE:Match assumes that both image sequences are taken roughly at the same location but perhaps were not shot at the same time or from the same point-of-view. RE:Match for OpenFX hosts Nuke and Fusion, is priced at $395 US, floating licenses are $592.50 US. Volume discounts available. [source]