Technology

Every industry has its own singular set of problems. So has the animation industry, fledgling as it is as yet in Bangalore. The animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (or, AVGC for short as it is popularly known in the industry) sector in the city is roughly 10 years old, though the first players had probably started tricking in some 18-20 years back. It took a while for the early explorers to grope around and get a feel of things. It was only around six years ago that industry leaders...

The lesser-known cousin of Bangalore’s IT/ITes industry, the animation-visual effects-gaming-comics sector, or AVGC for short, is looking out for that great leap forward. The promise to that effect came from minister for information technology, biotechnology, and science and technology, SR Patil. The minister, who inaugurated a two-day industry meet in the city on Wednesday, asserted that his government would do all it takes to make the city the most preferred and lucrative outsourcing...

No, the Karnataka animation industry is not planning to catch them young. That may come in later; but it will nevertheless start with those who catch the young – faculties. The state government, in collaboration with the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI), will launch a Train-The-Trainer Institute in the city next month to train up faculty members from across the state who teach animation techniques to young professionals. The institute, which will be located in HSR Layout, is...

If you thought the catchphrase “taking it to the next level” was one of the most exasperating corporate clichés you had heard, you might want to do a rethink. Rajiv Chilakalapudi, the man behind the biggest success story of the Indian animation industry – Chhota Bheem, wants to do exactly that: take his story to the next level. He wants to do this by enlarging the 2D animation legend on to a 3D canvas. For one, the next version of Chhota Bheem, reckoned to be a Rs 200 crore brand now, will have...

Prominent players of the digital content industry will gather in the city next week to participate in the annual summit of the Association of Bangalore Animation Industry (ABAI). The AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics) sector forms a significant portion of the fast growing digital content industry. This segment in India was pegged at $685 million in 2011 by Deloitte and NASSCOM, growing at 18-20% CAGR. In recent years, the Karnataka government has been launching initiatives to...

Non-profits, as the urban legend goes, are supposed to be averse to technology. But that is only an urban legend, and Google wants to demolish this myth once and for all. On Monday, Google launched its Google Impact Challenge in India with little fanfare, as is characteristic of the company. A post on Google India's official blog said the US-based Internet giant is asking Indian non-profits how they would use technology to tackle problems both in the country and around the world. The four...

This should be a rebuff of sorts to sceptics who have been insisting that IT companies are increasingly flocking to other states given the civic mess that Bangalore finds itself in. IT major Dell on Tuesday announced the inauguration of a new state-of-the-art Firmware Lab at its R&D centre in the city. The lab, which will be responsible for developing Dell’s embedded systems management products that form a part of its PowerEdge enterprise servers, is being described by the company as an...

Indian smartphone users are way smarter than their American counterparts. And they are heavier users of social networking sites too. In spite of having less than 50% of users that the US has (245 million), Indian smartphone consumers use their gadgets more than US citizens. Fifty-six per cent of Indian smartphone users go online multiple times a day (more than thrice) compared to 53% in the US. In fact, 94% of Indians connect to the Internet at least once a day compared to 88 per cent of...