.

Motion capture technology allows actors to emote while fighting video game zombies By Jeremy Hsu, Posted 02.27.2009 Motion capture technology has worked its magic for years by digitally translating actors’ movements into films and video games. But makers of the popular Resident Evil video games upped the ante – they used one of only four existing "virtual cameras" to help create the fifth game in the series. Actors Reuben Langdon and Karen Dyer throw punches and lunge, while the virtual camera's screen shows their real-time movements translated through their video game characters. The camera itself has the appearance of a video game controller, appropriately enough. "When I look at Sheva, I know it's my walk," Dyer told Fox News' Gamers Weekly. "I know it's my voice. I know it's my facial movement." The new camera may not represent a huge technological leap , but it shows the growing ease of using motion capture technology

First, answer these questions to see if you have what it takes By KELLY K. SPORS Thinking about starting a business? Make sure you're cut out for it first. In this bleak economy, lots of people are contemplating striking out on their own -- whether they're frustrated job seekers or people who are already employed but getting antsy about their company's prospects. For some people, entrepreneurship is the best option around, a way to build wealth and do something you love without answering to somebody else. But it's also a huge financial gamble -- and some people, unfortunately, will discover too late that it's not the right fit for them. Building a successful business can take years filled with setbacks, long hours and little reward. Certain personalities thrive on the challenge and embrace the sacrifices. But it can be a hard switch for someone who has spent years sitting in a cubicle with a steady paycheck. So, how can you figure out whether you're suited for s

Three rockets fell Thursday in the area around the Gaza Strip, one in the yard of a Sderot home - just a few reminders that Israel is still far from its declared goal in Operation Cast Lead. Discussion about the military operation's outcome revolves around the term "deterrence." If Israel can enshrine Cast Lead in a long-term agreement, the war will be remembered as a success. But fears are mounting that the operation's military achievements are dissipating. If so, the operation will go down in history as a less-than-successful round in a long war in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces left Gaza with the feeling that it had proven itself, after its debacle in Lebanon in 2006. But it seems that the bottom line will have to wait. In Lebanon, too, it took several months before it could be concluded that although the IDF made mistakes, enough deterrence against Hezbollah was achieved to prevent renewed fighting. Barak, who was quick to criticize what went wrong in L

The border crossings between Israel and Gaza have become a central tool in the struggle against Hamas in the years since it took over the Strip. Security circles claim they have solid proof that Hamas is using raw materials and "innocent" products for the creation of weapons. In addition to the security arguments, Israel makes it difficult for goods to enter the Gaza Strip as a means of punishment and as pressure on Hamas every time it disturbs the peace. Recently Israel added food products, such as pasta, and building materials, such as glass, which are needed for repairing the many buildings destroyed during Operation Cast Lead, to the list of prohibited goods. The experience from the war in Lebanon and the territories should have taught the decision makers that collective punishment of the civilian population is not merely not moral, but also harmful. The residents do not turn their anger against Hamas but rather against those who prevent the food from reaching their child

The Jerusalem Rabbinic Court held expedited divorce proceedings for a 14-year-old girl and her 17-year-old husband this week, after the court ruled the makeshift wedding ceremony the two held did indeed conform to Jewish religious law. The boy had recited the marriage vows in front of friends, who served as witnesses, and even gave the girl a ring. This means the girl is most likely Israel's youngest divorcee, the court said. The boy and girl are both from traditionally religious families in the Jerusalem area. When the boy's parents learned the pair had held a wedding ceremony, they insisted on a "get," a religious divorce, so he could marry in the future. The girl initially refused, insisting that she wanted to live with the boy as his wife, and said she had intended to marry him officially in another three years, once she passed the legal age. She relented only after the groom's parents offered her NIS 10,000. The divorce proceeding was held earlier this week,

By Asif Haroon Raja, Published in Asian Tribune, Feb 25, 2009 It is now getting clear as to why FATA has been declared most dangerous place on earth. After making series of allegations that FATA is the main breeding ground where militants and suicide bombers are trained for launching into Afghanistan; where the entire senior leadership of Al-Qaeda and Taliban is housed; and from where possible attack on US homeland would take off, so far not a single training camp has been located in FATA, nor any high-profile militant leader nabbed or killed. This is in spite of continuous hovering of spy planes and next door US-NATO troops equipped with latest state-of-the-art surveillance and detection gadgets breathing over Pakistan’s neck, and RAW-CIA-Mossad agents having infiltrated into FATA in big numbers. If CIA controlled drones can hit suspected houses, madrassas and Hujras based on intelligence, why have they been unable to detect so-called training sites and the top wanted leaders? Why hav

DANVILLE, Calif. – Susan Wells was thrilled to learn she'd won a $2 million house in a raffle days after her husband had been laid off from his job. "I'm floored," said Wells, who bought the ticket as a surprise to celebrate the couple's 16th anniversary. "I can't believe this has happened. Needless to say, my husband is very surprised." The house is in upscale Marin County, just north of San Francisco. The couple already own a home in Danville, a suburb south of San Francisco, and if they don't want to move they have the option of $1.2 million in cash. They're still deciding what do, but Brad Wells, who had been a sales executive for a Silicon Valley high-tech company, said the winnings are definitely a boost. "I got laid off on Wednesday and the company went bankrupt on Friday," he said. The couple got word of their win on Saturday. "It's been a really rough ride for the last year. This gives us an unbelievable lift."

An old article published in CNN on Jan 18, 2002 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's president says he thinks Osama bin Laden is most likely dead because the suspected terrorist has been unable to get treatment for his kidney disease. "I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason he is a ... kidney patient," Gen. Pervez Musharraf said on Friday in an interview with CNN. Musharraf said Pakistan knew bin Laden took two dialysis machines into Afghanistan. "One was specifically for his own personal use," he said. "I don't know if he has been getting all that treatment in Afghanistan now. And the photographs that have been shown of him on television show him extremely weak. ... I would give the first priority that he is dead and the second priority that he is alive somewhere in Afghanistan." U.S. officials skeptical In Washington, a senior Bush administration official said Musharraf reached "reasonable conclusion" but warned it is only

A Turkish Airlines plane carrying 127 passengers and seven crew members on board has crashed while attempting to land in Holland. The crash happened at around 9.30am local time on Wednesday when flight 1951 from Istanbul to Amsterdam missed the runway at the capital's Schipol Airport. The Turkish transport minister said there were no fatalities following the crash, although at least 20 people are believed to be injured. The plane split into three parts after it hit the ground next to the runway. Yusuf Sharif, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Turkish capital Ankara, said the plane landed around 3km before the start of the runway. "Passengers were shocked... the weather was fine... [they] have told Turkish media that at least 20 are injured," he said. Sharif said the plane did not explode on impact and that there were no signs of fire from the wreckage. Chris Yates, an aviation expert with Jane's Defence Weekly magazine, said that because the plane was so close to

A recent U.S. National Intelligence Council report suggests Egypt has lost its superior status among Arab states, and that leadership in the Middle East is passing to Saudi Arabia despite the kingdom's efforts to avoid it. The study, "Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan: Policies on Regional Issues and Support for U.S. Goals in the Middle East," is based on a workshop held last summer, but was released only in December, after U.S. President Barack Obama was elected and senior intelligence officials in his administration took office. The National Intelligence Council describes itself as a center for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the U.S. intelligence community. It is subordinate to the Director of National Intelligence, and provides intelligence estimates to the president and senior decision makers on foreign policy issues. While the council is a government agency, the report emphasizes it does not necessarily reflect the administration's foreign policy.

The Anti-Defamation League on Monday blasted Amnesty International as denying Israel the right to defend itself after the human rights organization urged a global freeze on arms sales to Israel. "In calling for an arms embargo of Israel, Amnesty International is doing nothing short of denying Israel the right to self-defense, an internationally accepted right of every sovereign nation," said ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman in a statement. Amnesty called for the embargo in a report released Monday that claimed more than 20 countries sold Israel weapons and munitions whose use during its offensive in Gaza could constitute war crimes and might pose serious infractions of international law. "Indeed, with this pernicious and biased report, Amnesty International has now become the research arm for and a proponent of the extremist anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement," the Jewish-American organization's statement said. "The manner in whic

The latest International Atomic Energy Agency report was greeted with ennui by the Israeli media, deemed not especially exciting compared to the twists and turns of coalition talks or the tongue-lashing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad. But the political and security echelons' attitude to the report, which states that Iran has managed to accumulate a ton of enriched uranium and is heading quickly toward a nuclear bomb, is a different story. The report confirms the assumption, shared for some time by the intelligence services of Israel, the United States and Europe, that Iran is closer to the bomb, with mid-2010 as the likely date it will reach its goal. Iran was a major topic of conversation between Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and U.S. senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman on their recent visits to Israel. From Israel's perspective, President Barack Obama is a key player in the Iranian dr

When does eight equal more than 1,000,000? Only on Oscar night. "Slumdog Millionaire," the fairytale story of an impoverished boy from Mumbai who wins the grand prize on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" scored an embarrassment of riches during Sunday's Academy Awards. It took home eight of the 10 statues for which it was nominated, including the grand prize, Best Picture. Once threatened with a direct-to-DVD release, the film was an underdog story on the screen and behind the scenes. But it became an underdog no more as it piled up accolades at numerous awards shows, making its Oscar haul, for all intents and purposes, inevitable. Oddly, the longshot was leading nominee, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," with 13 nods; although it won for Best Makeup, Visual Effects and Art Direction, it was shut out of all major categories. Consider Slumdog for a moment: It was shot under hectic, unpredictable conditions in India, with unprov

Among those following the Academy Awards with baited breath were hundreds of slumdwellers from the impoverished Mumbai neighbourhood that supplied the child stars who helped make Slumdog Millionaire the evening's outstanding winner. Scores of people gathered to watch the Oscars ceremony on television in the tiny ramshackle hutments of Garib Nagar, the area where the film's British director, Danny Boyle, found Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, and Rubina Ali Qureshi, 9, who play the film's lead characters as children. The announcement that Slumdog had won the award for best picture was greeted with whoops of joy by locals who hope that that the film's success – it won eight awards in all – will rub off on them. Rubina's mother told The Times: "It is not just important for my daughter that the film won, though she did work really hard: it was important for all of India. Yakub Abdul Sheikh, a neighbour of Azharuddin's family for 40 years, said: "We prayed t

Gilad Shalit could have spent this weekend at home in Mitzpe Hila. The bitter fact is that he could have been released a very long time ago. The cat was let out of the bag by none other than the prime minister himself. "There is no reason Israel should lose what remains of its national pride," said Ehud Olmert at a cabinet meeting, as he surprisingly toughened Israel's stance in the negotiations. The soldier Shalit, it now appears, is rotting in jail as a service to returning lost pride to the nation. He never signed up for this flawed and perverted task, his parents did not volunteer their son for this, and it's even doubtful whether the majority of Israelis would support such a cruel and futile view. Olmert, and the others faithful to the nation's lost honor, are welcome to sacrifice themselves for their cause, rather than shoulder it on to others. The nation's honor was lost in the Gaza war, fought under Olmert, as the ghastly footage of our soldiers' a

This time we are not dealing with an intelligence assessment based on shadowy sources, or statements by politicians on the eve of elections, but rather a technical report by United Nations experts, who examined findings in the field and whose credibility is beyond reproach. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran has crossed the "technological threshold," and has built up one ton of enriched uranium. If the material undergoes further processing at the Natanz enrichment facility, it will be sufficient to produce one nuclear bomb. The new findings heighten the sense of urgency to deal with the Iranian nuclear program while highlighting the failure of previous attempts to stop it through Security Council resolutions and economic sanctions. From Israel's standpoint, the increasing threat requires that it tighten its diplomatic coordination with the new U.S. administration. All the options at Israel's disposal depend on an understanding with

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the conservative Likud Party, has been chosen to form Israel's next government, Israeli President Shimon Peres announced Friday. At a joint news conference with Peres, Netanyahu said he accepted the task and he is willing to work with the moderate parties of Labor, led by Ehud Barak, and Kadima, headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "We have different approaches in different areas, but we are all together in our desire to act for the good of the state," Netanyahu said. "We will be able to find the common ground to lead the state toward security, prosperity and peace." He said Israeli leaders need to unite as the country faces "great challenges," particularly from Iran, which he said "is developing nuclear weapons and poses the biggest threat to Israel since the war of independence." A U.N. report released this week found that Iran has enough uranium for a single nuclear weapon, but the uran

The company that first told you to ' Pump it Up ' is launching a new 2-in-1 design that converts from a running shoe to a cross trainer... with nothing more than your footsteps The original Pump sneaker (which we all remember well) was intended to optimize the shoe's fit; the new Reebok SmoothFit SelectRide goes the extra mile, offerering both the stability of a trainer and the cushion of a running shoe; and you don't even have to untie your laces. Launching next Wednesday, and available for $149.99 only at Champs Sports, the SelectRide is the second attempt by the footwear industry to design an intelligent shoe. The first attempt, the Adidas1, received a surge of press coverage but garnered only average sales. Reebok, which is now actually owned by Adidas, expects that the SelectRide will meet with much greater success. " One thing we wanted to improve on for our shoe was the public perception. With the Adidas1, while you can put it on an impact machine and me

German scientists turn the average finger into remote control and simultaneously break the how-lazy-can-we-be ceiling Lose this remote control you've got a serious problem. In two short weeks, a group of German scientists will unveil the iPoint 3D, which allows users to communicate with a 3-D display through simple finger gestures. The technology doesn't require a data glove, 3-D glasses or any contact with the screen. On the down side it doesn't negate the need to actually lift your arm. So how does it work? iPoint 3D is essentially a recognition device about the size of keyboard that is suspended from the ceiling or integrated into a coffee table. Two cheapo video cameras connected via FireWire pick up any movement from a couch potato's hands or fingers and transmit the data in real time back to the device. No physical contact or special markers are involved. Ok, so maybe spuds and gamers aren't the only potential beneficiaries. According to Paul Chojecki, a rese

By DAVID E. SANGER Published: January 8, 2009 TO GET TO THE HEADQUARTERS of the Strategic Plans Division, the branch of the Pakistani government charged with keeping the country's growing arsenal of nuclear weapons away from insurgents trying to overrun the country, you must drive down a rutted, debris-strewn road at the edge of the Islamabad airport, dodging stray dogs and piles of uncollected garbage. Just past a small traffic circle, a tan stone gateway is manned by a lone, bored-looking guard loosely holding a rusting rifle. The gateway marks the entry to Chaklala Garrison, an old British cantonment from the days when officers of the Raj escaped the heat of Delhi for the cooler hills on the approaches to Afghanistan. Pass under the archway, and the poverty and clamor of modern Pakistan disappear. Chaklala is a comfortable enclave for the country's military and intelligence services. Inside the gates, officers in the army and the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligenc