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Someone thought it would be a good idea to hook up treadmills to their PCs, don brightly-colored wigs and cardboard swords, and race their avatars across about a mile of virtual turf by jogging in place with only a modicum of coordination and zero athletic ability. The folks at Mana Energy Potion were complicit in the event, which failed to prove treadmill gaming is a good idea, but made great strides in proving just how low World of Warcraft addiction has brought certain members of our society.

TrekMovie previously reported that JJ Abrams has completed a first rough cut of his Star Trek movie and now it appears that he is showing it off. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back director Kevin Smith was a guest on KROQ’s Kevin and Bean show this morning and the subject of the new Star Trek movie came up with Smith giving a positive review of the movie, but in a roundabout way.

Kevin talks about what he can’t talk about
Although it was never said explicitly, it appears Kevin Smith was given an early viewing of Star Trek, but he was very much trying to deny that he had, or at least not come out and say anything that would break the ‘cone of silence’ around JJ Abrams ultra-secret project. Early in the show when Kevin joined in, one of the hosts said “somebody’s seen the new Star Trek movie, I understand?” At which point Smith sardonically dismissed the question. Then much later in the show, after recounting his thoughts on his early screening of the Watchmen movie, Smith was asked if he has seen anything else. Here is the exchange:

David Goyer has confirmed that he’s writing a new version of ‘The Invisible Man’ for Universal and his next project could be either that or the ‘Magneto’ movie.

Goyer tells MTV News that the film will be a ‘continuation’ rather than a remake of the classic Claude Rains film with the main character being “a nephew of the first character”. Some of the characters from the H.G. Wells book will also be included.

Goyer claims it’ll push some boundaries - “It’s very steam punk…I took what being invisible could mean to the next logical extreme. We do a lot of crazy things in it that are sort of far beyond what anyone’s done with it yet.”

When Pixar prexy Ed Catmull delivers his keynote at the Siggraph computer graphics confab Aug. 11, expect word of a sequel to an Academy Award-winning Pixar title.

No, not “Ratatouille Too” or “More Incredibles,” but Renderman, version 14.0.

The software, which turns computer data into high-quality images, isn’t as famous as the company’s movies. But for graphics pros, it’s as important as any Pixar title.

And Pixar remains devoted to Renderman, even as the company has morphed into a big part of the even bigger Walt Disney Co.

The Motion Capture Society, an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the art, science and application of motion capture technology, is raffling off an 8-camera VICON MX40 optical motion camera system valued at $80,000 at its annual SIGGRAPH party.

The party will be held at the Redwood Bar and Grill, 312 W. 2nd Street in Los Angeles on Wednesday, August 13 from 7-10 p.m.

Raffle tickets are available at a cost of $100, and can be purchased online by going to motioncapturesociety.com. Click on “purchase a raffle ticket” to enter the raffle. All proceeds from the raffle will go towards supporting the efforts of The Motion Capture Society.

TrekMovie.com has a report saying that the first official screening of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot has taken place at Paramount Pictures and the reaction in the screening room was “far beyond expectations.” Principal photography ended four months ago and with only a few of the 1300+ shots are considered ‘finished’ it appears the idea to move the film from its previous release date of Christmas 2008 to May 2009 was a good move as a trailer for the film has been cut, but the effects on the trailer aren’t even ready yet for public display. Current rumors have the trailer expected to be shown around the release of Eagle Eye on September 26, 2008. Transformers: Rise of the Fallen is also rumored to have a teaser trailer at the same time, a move that could bolster Eagle Eye’s numbers considering the film is certainly a high concept feature that targets a similar audience.

As the ceremony got under way with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird’s Nest National Stadium watched as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks processed gloriously above the city from Tiananmen Square.

What they did not realise was that what they were watching was in fact computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.

The fireworks were there for real, outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the extravaganza decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air.

[Editor's Note: $7000 profit for a single week's sales of two apps is pretty nice. Time to get writing those apps]

John Casasanta from iPhone app shop tap tap tap has released the company’s sales data for the week of 7/28/08 to 8/3/08. John is one of the guys behind MacHeist, and as such has a history of being open about sales figures; still, releasing this information is a bold move.

Although the only available data was for the last week of sales (though the tap tap tap blog says it will be updated if they get access to past figures), it is still really interesting to to gauge the figures and evaluate, at least to a small degree, how one publisher is doing at the App Store.

For tap tap tap’s two applications, this is the breakdown:

Where to Go (App Store link) sold 3193 copies at $2.99 a copy in seven days.
Tipulator (App Store link) sold 353 copies at $.99 a copy in seven days.

Electronista reports on a patent filing for an iPhone/iPod touch dock that could allow you to both charge and play video in landscape mode, simultaneously. The patent was filed on September 5, 2007 — near the time of the iPod touch debut. The so-called “dock” looks more like the tiny holder that ships with the iPod touch, with the exception of a dock connector plugged in.

Apple does, however, file patents that it might not ever use — as do most other companies. What do you think? Could this be a new dock design, or is it the patent for the included iPod touch stand?

No, you aren’t seeing double, and yes, there is an eerily similar (and similarly named) iPhone animation app. This one — Flickbook — lets you create classic-style animations on your iPhone or iPod touch with a basic, no-frills simple UI. There’s a large area of white space for sketching, which is done by drawing a finger across the screen. Create the next image in your sequence by touching an arrow in the bottom right-hand corner.

An ‘onionskin’ hint of the previous image can be seen under the current one, and a slider lets you navigate through your images. Errors are erased with a good shake. Finally, you can select from nine colors.