Vancouver Film School selects HP Z Workstations with AMD FirePro professional graphics

HP today announced that Vancouver Film School (VFS), Canada's premier post-secondary entertainment arts institution has installed 775 HP Z420 Workstations with AMD FirePro W7000 professional graphics. 

 The workstations are being used by students in the animation, film, game design, programming, digital design and foundation programs. A winner of four consecutive School of the Year Awards (2010–3) at the CG Student Awards, VFS uses approximately 300 HP Z420 Workstations throughout classrooms in its Animation & Visual Effects department alone.

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Google Canada adds new ‘Explore’ feature to Google Maps apps

More than search, Google is trying to give users options for exploration and finding relevant information based on location, time and context. As Google says, "the new ‘Explore’ feature helps Canadians uncover their surroundings with the tap of a button, whether they’re searching for a new lunch spot, travelling to a new country or wondering what time their train is scheduled to arrive." This is a convenient way to expand one's horizons beyond pure search. Hit jump for more details.

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TechBlocks wants to develop your app for free, worth $30,000

Does your business need a mobile app?

TechBlocks wants to develop your app for free, worth $30,000. TechBlocks, a full-service consulting and development agency with locations in Vaughn, Ontario and Calgary, Alberta is accepting ideas from any North American business or charity with a bright app idea. Businesses can submit their idea here: http://promo.tblocks.com/mobile-contest and receive up to $30,000 towards their app’s development.  The key criterion is how popular your app idea is with your audience. So the sooner you submit the sooner you can start sharing! A panel of TechBlocks judges will then pick the winner. 

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Compress and convert PDFs for easier sending with SmallPDF

If you’re in the business of sending PDFs through email, you’d want to reduce the file size as much as possible. That’s where SmallPDF comes in. The site is capable of combining and shrinking PDFs from the cloud to make sending the files easier. It can also convert PDFs to other file formats and vice versa. The disclaimer of the service is they store your files for an hour so it’s best you don’t use this for confidential files.