Or have you become an obsolete programmer? Fear not, IBM is working hard to ensure that your skillset remains viable.

Jokes aside, it’s a very interesting paper that highlights the Cell’s architecture from the point of view of code generation, which means it’s probably the most practical article on Cell programming that you’re going to find in the near term. Yes, for a long time we have been able to ignore the requirements and techniques involved in multiprocessor programming, but that time is over.

The interesting aspect of this is that for the next 5 or 10 years at least, optimizations and compiler directives for multiprocessor programming are going to be specific to each platform. At least the architectural issues are more generic.

Shameless plug coming up: Ilion Studios, a feature film animation studio, which is sort of a sister company to Pyro Studios. You can watch some frames of the CG film they are working on. I have seen some of the in-progress work they have done, and I can attest that the quality of the modelling and animation is astounding.

Best of lucks friends!

The chaps at New York University have been building a really neat set of experimental applications for their force-sensing, multi-touch drafting tablet. The results are fascinating.

I just watched Munich from Steven Spielberg. Now, I have been sorely disappointed by every single movie from Spielberg since, I don’t know, the first Indiana Jones? All of them contain a few touches of brilliance among too much fluff, too many scenes that are either uninteresting (A.I.), pretentious (Schindler’s List) or plainly mediocre (The War Of The Worlds). In most other movies I don’t care too much and just enjoy what good is there to enjoy, but with the talent for storytelling and production that Spielberg posesses, the contrast is just too sharp.

In Munich, storytelling takes the front seat. Character development is as flawed as ever (who are they and why do they do what they do?), but the story, filming and pacing are flawless. Still far from perfect, but very worthy of your time.