Drives are expected to be available in Q2, 2007. Bit-tech.net has the news.

Holographic techniques are being used to store 300 times as much data as current DVDs. New Scientist Tech has the news.

Lucid Movement is a new video blog documenting the world at 2,000 frames per second. Some great footage to use as reference. Check it out!

3DEmotions.com has an interview with the founders and artists of Keytoon Animation Studio. (English|Spanish)

The Area has some interesting interviews with Korean artist Soa Lee, Israeli artist Ziv Qual, and Düsseldorf-based Ground Studios. (Login required.)

People around the world exchanging virtual materials for virtual objects. Who'd have thought just a few hundred years ago that things would get this virtual for humanity? V-Ray materials is a non-commercial project that offers free materials from V-Ray users for V-Ray users. The MXM Gallery is a meeting point sponsored by Next Limit for those who want to share Maxwell materials. Both repositories have already accumulated hundreds of materials.

According to a recent post at Autodesk's forums, Shawn Hendriks has been handed the Area in the past few weeks and is trying to put it back on track. He's asking for feedback and suggestions from users.

More great shorts created with Max coming from Supinfocom Arles: Story Ville by Krafft Patrick, Mounie Florian and Nove Marion, and Making of by Chapotot Remi, Tournaire Damien and Valery Aurore. There are many other notable ones, find out more at Supinfocom-arles.fr.