And the Academy Award goes to… a 3D printer

This year at the 82nd annual Academy Awards (3/7), movie stars will be sharing the spotlight with breakthrough technology.

Avatar, nominated for best picture – along with art direction and visual effects – and Coraline, nominated for best animated feature film, were brought to the big screen thanks to innovative 3D printing (or rapid prototyping) technology by Objet Geometries.

For Avatar, James Cameron relied on Objet-created models to plan how his characters fit in Pandora’s lush environment. With 3D printing, the production company Legacy Effects made detailed figurines of each blue-skinned humanoid (see images at right) to test lighting for every camera shot in the movie. The company also used the technology to create a Transformer-like, walking battle armor complete with cockpit.

For Coraline, LAIKA productions used Objet to create thousands of models ranging from cars to doorknobs and food spreads. The technology helped the movie break new ground in stop-motion animation, allowing the character Coraline to exhibit well over 208,000 facial expressions – an extremely significant jump compared to the 800 possible expressions in one of the last stop-motion films to generate buzz, The Nightmare Before Christmas, created in 1993 by the same director.

A leader and innovator in the rapid prototyping industry, Objet 3d printers are changing the way the films we love are made.

Ultimate 10 Uses for Red Kabbalah String

Where would the Holywood gossips be without Madonna, Britney and Kutcher with their Kabbalah weirdness? After much thought about why and what they get up to with their red string passions, I've compiled a Top 10 uses for Red Kabbalah String (after the intro below)

This is a crazy crazy world we live in. 2009 has passed with more action and adventure than we’ve ever seen before. Economically the world teetered (and perhaps still does) on the precipice of bankruptcy, militarily the world is bogged down on so many fronts (and considering many more) that historians are already referring to this period as the Cold 3rd World War. Spiritually however the world is moving towards a new understanding and appreciation of the self and those around us.

This is not to say that we’re all becoming better people and truth, honesty and respect are making resurgence, they’re certainly not. However it is safe to say that in a number ways world religions are making a break into mainstream life.

This is nowhere more evident than in Judaism, where the ancient belief system called ‘Kabbalah’ (roughly translated as ‘Receiving’) has found its way into Hollywood celebrity lives and consequently through the media into the homes of both Jews and non-Jews all over the world.

These funny little pieces of Holy Red Kabbalah String wrapped round your wrist are making headlines every week. But the funny, weird red string is not limited to the wrist as ancient scriptures devote chapters to other uses, merely holding and owning a piece of this string can bring peace and focus into your life.

So here’s my Top 10 Uses for Kabbalah Red String

1. Wrap it round your wrist in the classical way.


2. Make it into a fancy piece of fashion jewelry, maybe a necklace with a pendant.


3. Bling up the Bracelet with fancy jewels, gems and charms


4. Sew it into your wedding dress


5. Sew it into your lucky work tie


6. Attach it to your Dogs collar and bring Kabbalah into your canines life


7. Attach it to your Cats collar and bring Kabbalah into your felines life


8. Gift a gift of red string to a newborn baby


9. Tie it to your mobile phone to screen out the unholy calls


10. Tie it to your pillow and enjoy a night of luminecent dreams.

Disclaimer. This list was compiled from thousands of customer testimonials received from KabbalahGift.com where site visitors were surveyed on what they use their Kabbalah String for. There were many more I wanted to add, though for reasons of decency and respect to the religion I decided to omit from the final list.

Site Selection for Telecom Towers

Establishing a new communications site is not an easy task. There are many things that, if not done properly, can result in a site that can become costly and require lots of attention over time. The things that are likely to require decisions are: site selection, tower type, tower manufacturer, foundation, contractor selection and tower/site maintenance.

Mer Telecom provides Wireless Turnkey Solutions at the cutting edge - from network planning, design, manufacture, to site construction, installation and maintenance. Mer telecom towers presents superior solutions, a combination of cost effectiveness, short lead times, customer service excellence and breakthrough engineering techniques - delivered with a strong commitment to client satisfaction.