In Depth: 9 movies that changed 3D forever

Believe it or not 3D movies have been around since the dawn of filmmaking, quite possibly dating back to 1895. We don't claim to have seen all of them here at 3D Radar but as fans of the format (and cinema nuts to boot) we've followed its journey from the lens to the living room more with the kind of focus normally reserved for a line judge at Wimbledon.
Of course, some 3D movies succeed more than others in their implementation of 3D effects but the hallmark of a truly successful film is how well it blends three dimensional trickery with an involving story. Simple we know, but if you've forked out for a small fortune for the privilege of maybe getting a headache you expect some kind of payback.
Here's our list of all-time top 3D movies:
1. House of Wax (1953)
The first full-colour 3D film from a major Hollywood studio, this glorious slice of horror stars the legendary Vincent Price as the disfigured sculptor behind a House of Wax museum who has a special process that ensures his are the most realistic waxworks imaginable.
The film not only pioneered many familiar 3D tricks (such as a paddleball coming out of the screen), but was directed by Andre de Toth - who was blind in one eye and couldn't actually see 3D effects!

Discovering the Virtues of a Wandering Mind

At long last, the doodling daydreamer is getting some respect.

Viktor Koen

In the past, daydreaming was often considered a failure of mental discipline, or worse. Freud labeled it infantile and neurotic. Psychology textbooks warned it could lead to psychosis. Neuroscientists complained that the rogue bursts of activity on brain scans kept interfering with their studies of more important mental functions.
But now that researchers have been analyzing those stray thoughts, they’ve found daydreaming to be remarkably common — and often quite useful. A wandering mind can protect you from immediate perils and keep you on course toward long-term goals. Sometimes daydreaming is counterproductive, but sometimes it fosters creativity and helps you solve problems.
Consider, for instance, these three words: eye, gown, basket. Can you think of another word that relates to all three? If not, don’t worry for now. By the time we get back to discussing the scientific significance of this puzzle, the answer might occur to you through the “incubation effect” as your mind wanders from the text of this article — and, yes, your mind is probably going to wander, no matter how brilliant the rest of this column is.
Mind wandering, as psychologists define it, is a subcategory of daydreaming, which is the broad term for all stray thoughts and fantasies, including those moments you deliberately set aside to imagine yourself winning the lottery or accepting the Nobel. But when you’re trying to accomplish one thing and lapse into “task-unrelated thoughts,” that’s mind wandering.

Nokia’s do-good Conspiracy

Nokia has joined forces with Tim Kring, creator of hit TV series Heroes, to launch the Conspiracy For Good campaign. The venture combines Kring’s storytelling with the brand’s Ovi platform to create a dramatic experience using interactive theatre, mobile, alternate reality gaming, music and physical participation to ‘do good in the world’.
Participants enter into the story, which fuses reality with fiction, at the Conspiracy For Good website where they can join like-minded folk to fight for social and environmental justice. They can solve mysteries online, play casual mobile games or be a physical participant in the London events that will take place from mid-July until early August.
Participation on Ovi occurs through a series of existing and yet-to-be-launched apps with casual games such as Exclusion which unlock codes to confidential websites, Ovi Maps for guiding characters through the story, and Ovi Music where hidden info within songs can be deciphered to advance the narrative about CFG’s battle with multinational company Blackwell Briggs.
“I believe that storytelling has the power to create positive change in the world,” says Kring. “Audiences today want to be more involved in stories. Our goal with the Conspiracy For Good is to entice, engage, and inspire the audience to drive real-world change through their participation in a narrative.”
“Conspiracy For Good is Nokia’s most powerful example to date for how content owners can blur the lines between the online and real-world to connect people to change,” says Tero Ojanpera, evp, Nokia.

Suit Over Faulty Computers Highlights Dell’s Decline

After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with an unusual reason for the computers’ demise: the school had overtaxed the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations.

Tsugufumi Matsumoto/Associated Press

Michael S. Dell, Dell’s founder and chairman, presented the model of computer involved in the lawsuit in 2002.

Dell

Internal documents show Dell shipped at least 11.8 million computers from May 2003 to July 2005 that could fail.

Dell, however, had actually sent the university, in Austin, desktop PCs riddled with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and causing the malfunctions. Dell sold millions of these computers from 2003 to 2005 to major companies like Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, institutions like the Mayo Clinic and small businesses.

Giveaway – Get your Free Copy of iThemes WordPress Themes

WPBeginner is proud to announce the giveaway of one of the most popular WordPress theme provider, iThemes. Thanks to Cory Miller (@corymiller303) for working closely with us and running this giveaway for you guys. iThemes is one of the leaders in producing high-quality commercial WordPress themes for photographers, designers, and businesses.

Prize

We will giveaway 10 copies of iThemes WordPress theme. Winners get to choose the theme that they like.
iThemes has tons of awesome themes to offer, so we recommend that you check out their store for the full list. Below is just a preview of some of their themes:

How to Win?

What Farmers Know About Community

I grew up in a farm community and while it’s unlikely one farmer thought of themselves as fierce competitors of another, they do provide a market with the same products.
However, I would often witness a sense of community that I think has been lacking of late, even with all of this talk of the word community. What I saw time and again was that if one farmer experienced a hardship, a broken down tractor, loss of livestock, or need to get the crop in before a big storm, they could usually count on the help of neighboring farms without the need to ask or expectation of payment.
Everyone in the community knew that they would probably need this same kind of support and gave a hand willingly. I wonder if today’s small business community could take this view? I wonder if we could take that view with our customers and even our competitors?

Clay Shirky On Cognitive Surplus, And How It Will Change The World

Clay Shirky spoke at Cannes in June as part of a TED Talk, in which he expanded on the concept of ‘cognitive surplus’. Shirky explained the power of people’s collective intelligence, creativity, and efforts – or cognitive surplus – and its ability to benefit the greater, societal good. There were a few ideas and points that caught our attention from Shirky’s perspective: