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The article highlights the 31st annual conference of the Special Interest Group on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) of the Association for Computing Machinery held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California from August 8 to 12, 2004. A couple of decades ago, conference attendees could count on seeing a couple things at SIGGRAPH that had literally never been seen before in human history, such as textured 3D objects or hierarchical human animation. SIGGRAPH 2004's total exhibition area was smaller than the hallowed days of yore, composed mostly of software companies, some boutique specialty hardware outfits, schools, and graphics board manufacturers. Walking the show's exhibit floor provides ample evidence that the industry's major players have changed in recent years. One reason the show floor's smaller is that there's been considerable consolidation in both the hardware and software graphics industries over the last few years. There were several indications this trend is still in full swing. One class of hardware that wasn't in evidence at the show was tablet computers. There's exactly one attendee using a tablet, compared to hundreds of laptops of every size and description. If the SIGGRAPH community's resisted adopting tablets as mobile work devices, one wonders if there's any hope for them in the wider community, at least until they become as thin and light as paper.

The article focuses on the first annual conference and exhibition held by the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) at the Los Angeles Convention Center, California from August 8 to 12, 2004. The show drew 27,825 attendees, down from its high of nearly 50,000 seven years ago, but up from 17,000 two years ago. SIGGRAPH remains the Mother of All Imaging Conferences, featuring a unique mix of science, art, commerce and education. With a wide selection of panels, papers, films, and innovative exhibits, SIGGRAPH rarely disappoints. SIGGRAPH 2004's total exhibition area was smaller than the hallowed days of yore, composed mostly of software companies, some boutique specialty hardware outfits, schools and graphics board manufacturers. Walking the show's exhibit floor provides ample evidence that the industry's major players have changed in recent years. One reason the show floor's smaller is that there has been considerable consolidation in both the hardware and software graphics industries over the last few years. There were several indications this trend is still in full swing. Alias Systems Inc., makers of Maya 6 third-dimensional visualization and animation software, announced the acquisition of Kaydara Inc., makers of character animation and motion editing tools. Nvidia Corp. also announced that Gelato, its graphics-card-accelerated renderer, is now available as a native renderer within Maya, which we hope to evaluate soon.

The article focuses on the first annual conference and exhibition held by the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics (SIGGRAPH) at the Los Angeles Convention Center, California from August 8 to 12, 2004. The show drew 27,825 attendees, down from its high of nearly 50,000 seven years ago, but up from 17,000 two years ago. SIGGRAPH remains the Mother of All Imaging Conferences, featuring a unique mix of science, art, commerce, and education. With a wide selection of panels, papers, films, and innovative exhibits, SIGGRAPH rarely disappoints. SIGGRAPH 2004's total exhibition area was smaller than the hallowed days of yore, composed mostly of software companies, some boutique specialty hardware outfits, schools, and graphics board manufacturers. Walking the show's exhibit floor provides ample evidence that the industry's major players have changed in recent years. One reason the show floor's smaller is that there's been considerable consolidation in both the hardware and software graphics industries over the last few years. There were several indications this trend is still in full swing. Alias Systems Inc., makers of Maya 6 third-dimensional visualization and animation software, announced the acquisition of Kaydara Inc., makers of character animation and motion editing tools. Nvidia Corp. also announced that Gelato, its graphics-card-accelerated renderer, is now available as a native renderer within Maya, which we hope to evaluate soon.

Presents updates on the computer industry as of November 17, 2003. Information on the 2003 Microsoft Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles, California; Features of the Longhorn software; Importance of reports about computer crashes and glitches for the development of software at Microsoft; Use of Denial of Service attacks on anti-spammer Web sites.

The article focuses on various events related to computer industry as of July 7, 2003. A picture of the recent gathering in New Orleans that was dedicated to the largest outsourcing deal ever, the Navy Marine Corps Intranet project. When the deal was first struck, lawmakers questioned whether a contract this large could be managed on time and on budget. Another fact that should be raising taxpayer blood pressure is that the contract has been shuffled under the purview of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities of the House Armed Services Committee.

Reports on the battle of Los Angeles and San Francisco both in California for the bragging rights of the title `new-media capital of the world.' Efforts of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to make their city suited for the title.

Highlights the outcome of the computer vendor-run Sapphire 1998 conference in Los Angeles, California. Emphasis on the market performance of the Service Advertising Protocol business applications; Participants of the conference; Information on the sales of Hydro Agri North America. INSET: More rock, more talk at Sapphire `98.

This article presents information on upcoming events related to the computer industry. Macworld Conference & Expo Boston 2004, will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, from July 12-15, 2004. SIGGRAPH 2004, will be held in Los Angeles, Californian from August 8-12, 2004.

Presents an update on the computer industry as of December 2003. Aim of the International Challenge for Eclipse contest; Task group created by Ecma International to oversee development of a standard set of language extensions; Lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, California against computer companies over alleged deceptive labeling of hard-disk drives.

Reports on the interest expressed by computer programmers in the code-named technologies that Microsoft Corp. demonstrated at its Professional Developers Conference in 2003 in Los Angeles, California. Expectations on the commercial release of Longhorn, a Windows operating system; Information on a developer preview version of Longhorn distributed by Microsoft; Other technologies introduced by Microsoft at the event. INSET: Cracking the Code Names.

Discusses the extended data representation dynamic random access memory (XDR DRAM) technology designed by Los Angeles, California-based Rambus Inc. Features of the XDR DRAM technology; Limitations of the XDR technology; Application of the technology in personal computers.

Reports the plan of Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. to release the version 7.0 of its SPECviewperf in Los Angeles, California. Test for digital content creation and CAD/CAM application; Purpose on the update of the test; Introduction of several computer software.

Covers information on the Powersoft Conference 1998 in Los Angeles, California. Concern of users brought to Sybase Inc.; Comments from Victor Reinhart, developer at PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.; Information on Jagdish Karira, a project manager at systems integrator TRW Inc.