tech:

taffy

2013 Katayanagi Prize Winners In Computer Science Also Have Oscars

Batman

Stanford University’s Pat Hanrahan and Cornell University’s Doug L. James, computer scientists whose innovations in computer graphics have enhanced such movies as Avatar, Hugo, The Dark Knight, Finding Nemo and Star Trek, are each recipients this year of Katayanagi Prizes in Computer Science.

Pat Hanrahan

Mr. Hanrahan, the Canon USA Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford, will receive the Katayanagi Prize for Research Excellence. The award recognizes an established researcher with a record of outstanding, sustained achievement. It includes a $10,000 honorarium.

Mr. Hanrahan was the chief architect of RenderMan at Pixar Animation Studios in the early ’80s, a technology for which he shared a 1992 Academy Award for Science and Technology. He won a second Academy Award in 2003 for developing illumination algorithms for simulating realistic lighting, and improving physical models of materials such as skin and hair. In recent years, he has developed a range of tools for the interactive visual analysis of large data sets and co-founded Tableau, a data visualization firm.

Doug L. James

Mr. James, an associate professor of Computer Science at Cornell and a former assistant professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon, is the recipient of the Katayanagi Emerging Leadership prize. The award honors a researcher who demonstrates leadership promise in the field. It includes a $5,000 honorarium.

Mr. James also is an Academy Award recipient, sharing the 2012 Technical Achievement Award for his role in developing Wavelet Turbulence software. The software rapidly generates realistic swirling smoke and fiery explosive effects and has been used in more than two dozen popular movies. Popular Science named him one of its Brilliant 10 young scientists in 2005.

The prizes are presented by Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with the Tokyo University of Technology (TUT), and endowed by Japanese entrepreneur and education advocate Koh Katayanagi, who founded TUT and several technical institutions in Japan.

[Image courtesy: Warner Bros.]

Just in

Apple sued in a landmark iPhone monopoly lawsuit — CNN

The US Justice Department and more than a dozen states filed a blockbuster antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing the giant company of illegally monopolizing the smartphone market, writes Brian Fung, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez.

Google is bringing satellite messaging to Android 15 — The Verge

Google’s second developer preview for Android 15 has arrived, bringing long-awaited support for satellite connectivity alongside several improvements to contactless payments, multi-language recognition, volume consistency, and interaction with PDFs via apps, writes Jess Weatherbed. 

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is paid more than the heads of Meta, Pinterest, and Snap — combined — QZ

Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman has been blasted by Redditors and in media reports over his recently-revealed, super-sized pay package of $193 million in 2023, writes Laura Bratton. 

British AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman joins Microsoft — BBC

Microsoft has announced British Artificial Intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleyman will lead its newly-formed division, Microsoft AI, according to the BBC report. 

UnitedHealth Group has paid more than $2 billion to providers following cyberattack — CNBC

UnitedHealth Group said Monday that it’s paid out more than $2 billion to help health-care providers who have been affected by the cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare, writes Ashley Capoot.