You may not have heard of Toonz animation software, but you’ve no doubt seen work it was used in: Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away and Tale of the Princess Kaguya (above), or the animated series Futurama. Now, the Toonz Ghibli Edition used by legendary Japanese filmmakers like Hayao Miyazaki is going open-source, making it free to use by studios and novice animators alike.
Source: Animation software used by Studio Ghibli will soon be free | engadget
One of the coolest collections I have ever heard of!
The most unusual colors from Harvard’s storied pigment library include beetle extracts, poisonous metals, and human mummies. READ MORE: The Harvard Library That Protects The World’s Rarest Colors | Co.Design | business + design
Pompeii has the best press, but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD also buried the town of Herculaneum. Charred scrolls were recovered from the town library in 1752, and Italian scientists just discovered it might be possible to use X-ray technology to read them. Their findings were published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. READ MORE: We Might Finally Be Able to Read Ancient Scrolls Damaged By Vesuvius Eruption | Gizmodo
Emily VanCamp and Elizabeth Olsen just introduced the Captain America: Civil War challenge, an opportunity for girls between the ages of 15-18 to explore science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects that “have the potential of creating positive change in the world.” READ MORE: Marvel launches contest encouraging teen girls to pursue science and tech | Mashable
Internet connections get faster but websites get more complex—and that means we often still have to wait an age for pages to load. Now, a new technique from MIT that helps browsers gather files more efficiently could change that. “As pages increase in complexity, they often require multiple trips that create delays that really add up,” explains Ravi Netravali, one of the researchers, in a press release. “Our approach minimizes the number of round trips so that we can substantially speed up a page’s load-time.” The new system, known as Polaris, was been developed by the University’s at Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. READ MORE: New MIT Code Makes Web Pages Load 34 Percent Faster in Any Browser | Gizmodo
Could a chapter a day keep the doctor away? READ: Good news for bookworms: 6 scientific reasons reading is good for you | PresentNation
Swedish kids (and adults) can get a toy much sweeter than Barbies and Hot Wheels with their Happy Meals this month. Over the weekends of March 5th and March 12th, 14 McDonald’s outlets in Sweden are bundling real, working virtual reality headsets with their Happy Meal boxes. In fact, the boxes themselves were designed to transform into “Happy Goggles.” You just have to cut on the dotted line, fold it a bit, slip in the goggles and your phone to get something similar to Google Cardboard. READ MORE: In Sweden, McDonald’s Happy Meals come with VR goggles | engadget
[Gowers] has debuted a new online mathematics journal called Discrete Analysis. The nonprofit venture is owned and published by a team of scholars. With no publisher middlemen, access will be completely free for all. Can academic publishing actually cost nothing? READ MORE: This renowned mathematician is bent on proving academic journals can cost nothing | Vox
When someone finds out I’m a librarian, they automatically think I know everything there is to know about, well, books. The thing is, I don’t. I got into libraries because of the technology.
My career in libraries started with the take off, a supposed library replacement, of ebooks. Factor in the Google “scare” and librar*s were going to be done forever. Librar*s were frantic to debunk that they were no longer going to be useful, insert perfect time and opportunity to join libraries and technology.
I am a Systems Librarian and the most common and loaded question I get from non-librarians is (in 2 parts), “What does that mean? and What do you do?” READ MORE: I’m a Librarian. Of tech, not books. | LITA Blog
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