Back in the early days of the Sundance Film Festival, when video was considered an emerging technology, there were independent filmmakers, and there were technologists. The two didn't typically go hand in hand.

Fast forward to this year's festival, which starts Thursday and will for the first time feature a 3D film, and indies and techies are one and the same. These days, it's near impossible to be the former without being the latter, what with the conveniences and opportunities that come with the likes of high-definition cameras, advanced editing software, and the Internet as a distribution tool.

So it's no surprise that the 2008 festival--an increasingly star-studded 10-day indie-film showcase in snowy Park City, Utah--has stepped up its technology-related programming.

Prasad Group film & TV academy

Prasad Group, Asia's largest provider of post-production services, has announced the launch of L.V.Prasad Film & TV Academy in Chennai being set up at a cost of over Rs 5 crore. The academy, which is named after the group's founder, .L V.Prasad, has been taken up in the golden jubilee year (50th year) of the Prasad Group to produce professionally trained film-makers and TV producers with a global perspective.

Tom Savini, Legendary Special Effects Make-Up Artist, Actor and ...

MONESSEN, Pa., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Douglas Education Center (DEC), a creative career school located just 30 minutes south of Pittsburgh, is already home to Tom Savini's monstrously successful Special Make-Up Effects Program, which began in 2000 and has graduated hundreds of students from all over the country. DEC offers many other programs besides make-up effects, including graphic design, illustration, cosmetology, and starting in February, Tom Savini's Digital Film Production Program. "Our film students are going to have the opportunity to collaborate with all of these other programs on their productions," said Savini. "They will be surrounded by talented individuals, just like in a professional studio, from the very first day they step on campus."

Each student entering the 16-month program receives a video camera and a laptop computer fully equipped with software for all their filmmaking needs.

Bulls gore Stormers in thriller

The Northern Bulls kicked off their defence of the Super 14 title they won in 2007 with a thrilling 16-9 win over the Western Stormers at Newlands Stadium on Saturday. While the Bulls trailed 9-0 after half an hour, they scored 16 unanswered points from then on to run out comfortable 16-9 winners. It was a remarkable turn-around for the visitors considering they are without World Cup stars Victor Matfield and Gary Botha, who're now playing abroad, while they have a new coach in Frans Ludeke. "The guys showed a lot of character to come back from 9-0 down," said Bulls captain Fourie du Preez afterwards. .

The Local launches in Germany

Telecoms giant Ericsson also contributed to a rough day of trading. Porsche swallows Volkswagen as VW grabs Scania (3 Mar 08) Volkswagen makes Scania swoop (3 Mar 08) Scania's main union welcomes VW deal (3 Mar 08) Despite a positive start, the OMXS index shed 2.2 percent of its value, closing at 308.4 points. Scania continued to tumble after Monday's major deal. Mats Qviberg, CEO of investment company resund, characterized as "objectionable" the fact that not all shareholders in Scania were offered the same price, 200 kronor per share, that Investor received from Volkswagen. Shares in Scania fell by 6.3 percent to 129.25 kronor. Ericsson's long-suffering shareholders saw the company's stock drop to its lowest point since December 2003. Shares in Ericsson lost 3.1 percent of their value and are now worth just 12.56, a 17.2 percent drop since the beginning of the year.

Snowstorm rolls in after record-setting warmth

And most of the globally 'hottest' years on record have been within the past decade and a half. The correlated link between atmospheric CO2 levels and the global temperature is delayed- meaning that if all CO2 and methane outputs were to stop right now the global average temperature would continue to rise for decades, and likely centuries before it stabilized. In fact, this snowpack is more of a mark of climate change as well- towns in Colorado are paralyzed as they've already blown through their snow removal budgets. 'Global warming' doesn't mean that we're not having winter- it just means that whatever weather we get, we're going to get more of it in a shorter span of time.

Parenting Inc: Non-Toxic Tots: Parents Pay Dearly for Safety

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Bills report: Inside slant

Wilson said the move is being made to cultivate new fans and corporate support in North America's fifth largest city, making the Bills more viable in Buffalo and Western New York.

Rogers owns the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Communications that owns the Rogers' Centre, where the Bills will play. He is Canada's third-richest man with a net worth of nearly $5 billion. Tanebaum is chairman of the board of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NHL's Maple Leafs and NBA's Raptors.