Pixar began as a computer graphics lab at a New York college before George Lucas and Steve Jobs backed it

pop & funWikipedia1974 · New York, USA

Pixar began as a computer graphics lab at a New York college before George Lucas and Steve Jobs backed it

the gist

Pixar started in 1974 as the Computer Graphics Lab at the New York Institute of Technology, where a small group of computer scientists set out to make the first computer-animated film. Lucasfilm hired the team in 1979, and in 1986 Steve Jobs bought the group from George Lucas and made it an independent company. Pixar's early focus was a hardware product, the Pixar Image Computer, because computing power was not yet sufficient for a feature film. Its software and animation work, including techniques such as the alpha channel invented by Catmull and Smith, eventually made possible Toy Story.

so what

Pixar shows how computer animation was built step by step, from basic techniques to hardware and then full-length films. Its founders had to wait for computing power to catch up with their ambition, which is why the company spent years selling machines before making movies.

fun fact

Jobs paid $5 million of his own money to George Lucas for the technology rights in 1986, and Pixar's early backers included people who had rejected Smith and Catmull's pitches.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗