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Sherman Oaks company fix8 brings the world of computer generated animation to the webcam with software being pitched as “User-Generated Reality”.

fix8 combines video, animation and instant messaging that allows users to create their own partial or full custom avatars that mimic human movement.

At the heart of fix8 is H.E.A.R.T. (Human Expression Analysis and Rendering Technology), which digitizes human expressions, gestures, and movements via webcam, enabling users to create, interact, and share their creations across the web, TV, and soon mobile phones.

fix8 is easy to use and offers limitless creative options. fix8 users can broadcast their video creations over instant messaging services including MSN, Yahoo and Skype or save and post creations to YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook.

It would be easy to trivialize fix8, yet this sort of technology would have cost millions to implement 10, 15 or even 20 years ago. The ability to turn cheap webcams into a hub of animation creation can and will spur a whole new wave of user generated creativity and content. fix8 is a little application with a wow factor to it, I’d even go as far as calling it pretty cool, even if I couldn’t get my webcam to play with Vista so I could trial it.

For a full demonstration view the video on the fix8 index page. A sample is provided below.

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RealNetworks have annonuced a new version of RealPlayer that includes one-click video ripping.

The free downloadable video player will allows users to save and organize video files in all major formats including Flash, QuickTime, RealMedia and Window Media and will support video ripping from sites such as YouTube, Google, Yahoo!, Brightcove, AOL and The New York Times.

The ability to rip online videos is not new. A number of programs are already available that provide a similar service yet this is the first time this level of functionailty has been offered in a high user base product.

The new RealPlayer will not download or record video that is DRM infected but will download everything else, placing it somewhere between headache and law suit for a bevy of content creators. Every content creator will now be challenged by the real possibility that if their product is DRM free, it’s likely to be ripped from the original source site and even burned to CD.

I may be exagerating the problem, and a true anti-DRM advocate would argue that consumers should be free to use content how and where they see fit. Yet content creators can impose copyright restrictions without the use of DRM and should be able to control the context of how and when a video is played back; the offer of free viewing does not automatically extend to an offer of free and unlimited use, take free to air TV or Radio as an example.

The new version of RealPlayer will be released in June. Sorry Mac users, no Real enabled ripping for you until later in the year, Windows only at this stage with support for Internet Explorer and Firefox.

(video via Beet.tv)

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Dell Inc. said Thursday it will lay off 10 percent of its 88,100 workers in a continuing effort to improve profits.

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Mobile banking is slowly catching on among U.S. consumers, mainly because of efforts by the largest 15 banks, a Tower Group analyst said at a conference in Boston Thursday.

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If you get an e-mail telling you that you're under investigation by the IRS, take a breath before calling your lawyer. It's a scam.

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Upcoming John-Carmack-developed game engine will launch a completely new franchise for the company behind Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein.

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Finally - users will be able to see music videos on YouTube.

Ok, well, now at least it’s more legal. EMI Music just announced they have reached terms with Google’s YouTube both to distribute music videos from EMI artists on YouTube and to enable consumers to leverage the EMI music library in their own YouTube video creations.

Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group, said the deal “meets EMI’s objectives to offer consumers the best possible entertainment experiences, to create new ways to connect our artists to fans and to enter into innovative business models that will generate revenues for our business and our creators.”

EMI will use YouTube’s content identification and reporting system to track and monetize its content and compensate artists. The tools also give EMI Music the ability to request the removal of EMI’s copyrighted content from YouTube.

Google has now secured music-license rights with the world’s four largest music labels: Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Group.

In April EMI announced a deal with Apple to start selling its artist content without copyright protection on iTunes.

Of course, just about every music video you care to see is already on YouTube. There’s even a search engine that only indexes YouTube music videos, almost all of which are posted in violation of copyright laws.

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Lumosity is a brain fitness program from Lumos Labs which is designed to improve cognitive function through a series of web-based games and exercises.

In developing Lumosity, Lumos Labs worked closely with leading neuroscientists from Stanford and UCSF to design and experimentally test the program. In a randomized, controlled study, the exercises were shown to have statistically significant effects in improving memory and attention.

Brain games are wildly popular in Japan and Europe, the Ninentendo DS Brain Age has sold millions of copies. The delivery of similar functionality online is the logical next step and although they might not be the most engaging games, that’s not the goal here.

Details of the research and methodology behind Lumosity can be viewd here.

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The same team that created a site on Yahoo about war zones is behind the new People of the Web, a Yahoo property that covers people doing interesting things online. It was announced on the Yahoo corporate blog. An introductory video is above.

Stories include text and video elements and allows reader comments. They’ve also integrated MyBlogLog into the site. Example: here’s a story called “Brokeback Hill” about some guy that is “outing” secretly gay politicians.

The site is intersting, but Yahoo’s forays into content creation continue to baffle me. They should get serious about it, or drop the effort.

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Novell says its deal with Microsoft is helping its Linux business.

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