Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, the hosts of the hit television series MythBusters, will be stopping by NVISION to test some conventional wisdom – as is their modus operandi. In an untraditional appearance, the pair has announced they are planning on not just showing up – but on shooting or blowing something up.

Jamie and Adam are well known for their special effects savvy, so we are sitting on the edge of our seats wondering what mind warp they might take us on this time! Hope you can come to watch. They will make their appearance on the final day of the show, Wed., 8/27, as a part of the closing ceremonies.

NVISION attendees will have the chance to hear from iconic astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Eileen Collins.

- Buzz, a former Apollo 11 astronaut and the second man to walk on the moon, will be on hand to introduce a new animated 3D film, “Fly Me to the Moon.”  In this family-friendly movie (showing on Mon., 8/25 at 8:00 p.m.). Buzz plays himself in a live-action cameo.

- Eileen, the first woman space shuttle pilot and commander, will share her perspectives on how visual computing is transforming next-generation space initiatives. She is speaking on Tues., 8/26 (as part of the Day Two Keynote).

Speaking of space, did you know that NASA turned 50 today!?

Today we announced that industrial design pioneer Bernard Charlès, president and CEO of Dassault Systèmes, will speak at NVISION on Tues., 8/26 (as part of the Day Two Keynote). Dassault Systemes is well known for its work in modern 3D design and simulation. Its customers include Boeing, Toyota Motorsport, and the Royal Canadian Mint. Mr. Charles will discuss megatrends in 3D design.

The NVISION Segway team rode down the busy streets of downtown LA, turning heads and making cars honk their horns, while handing out premiums and making chants about the “Great Big Computing Show“ that NVIDIA was hosting in San Jose.

Those eager to attend won’t have to wait long as NVISION is only a month away!

Many leading companies are looking towards NVISION 08 as a venue to foster innovation in the visual computing industry, and we couldn’t agree with them more! Today we unveiled our NVISION sponsors who are helping us put together this amazing event. Leading the list of sponsors and key contributors for the conference are Christie Digital Systems, EVGA, HP, Microsoft, and PNY Technologies.

Other NVISION 08 sponsors include Adobe, Antec, ASUS, Autodesk, Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, CyberPower, Dassault Systèmes, Digital Storm, ECS, GIGABYTE, iGames, Jetway, Maingear, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Morgan Stanley, MSI, Namics Technologies, Newegg.com, OCZ Technology Group, Palit Multimedia, Patriot Memory, Phoenix Precision Technology, Qimonda, RR Donnelley, Softimage, STATS ChipPac, Superworld Electronics, TAGAN, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd., Thermaltake, TigerDirect.com/CompUSA, ViewSonic, ZOTAC.

NVISION 08 is hosting NVScene, the largest-ever US gathering of gaming enthusiasts and visual masterminds!  There will be three focus tracks and NVScene: demoscene, machinima animation, and digital art. Prepare to immerse yourself in a world of visually compelling digital art, film, and creativity.

• Demoscene: Savor the spirit of demoscene -  a community of graphic artists, coders and musicians working together to create animated excellence in a competition guaranteed to break artistic boundaries.  Experience the birth of new ideas presented by the top European demoteams responsible for some of the greatest demos in recent memory.

• Machinima: You’ve played Halo 3 and dipped into the virtual world of Second Life, but that was only the beginning of what embodies machinima animation.  This emerging art form has reached a new level of visual stimulation that will be exclusively showcased to those attending NVISION.  Witness artistic revolutions as machinima innovators compete for $5,000 in prizes and more by turning their favorite video games into machinima films.

• Digital Art: Stroll through the galleries of the most groundbreaking visual art – The NVArt collection, built out of a competition sponsored by NVIDIA and the CG Society, will be showcased on display at NVISION. You will find award winning entries from artists from around the worl, who were invited to submit computer-generated imagery of "awe-inspiring fusions" of architecture and landscapes.

NVISION is not only a big milestone for NVIDIA, but it is also a big deal for the city of San Jose. We were all very excited here as late last week the city began putting up over 300 NVISION pole banners around town.  A NVISION team member was driving around and happened to snap a picture, check it out.   

We launched NVISION because the world is becoming more visual. Just look at popular applications like Google Earth and iTunes. As we began digging into the ecosystem of visual computing we found so many small companies that are trying to make a big footprint in the visual computing world, by using the power of GPUs for both visual and high performance computing applications

• Cooliris, which created an exciting new method to search images called PicLens.
• NaturalMotion, an up and coming video game company which is taking advantage of the PhysX engine to create games with extremely natural and realistic character behaviors.
• Elemental Technologies, who is using CUDA to develop a faster way to get videos on to your iPod
• And those are just the beginning…

We “discovered” all these really interesting companies and we wanted a way to spotlight all the great things they are doing to move the needle in the world of visual computing, and help others discover them too. We decided we could highlight these companies at NVISION, which eventually turned in to the Emerging Companies Summit. The two-day summit will include presentations by more than 60 companies, as well as panel discussions and a “fireside chat” with Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA president and CEO. In addition to the three companies I mentioned above, you can see a full list of participating companies here.

(image via source)

You have already heard about the giveaways for gamers at NVISION, which adds up to big bucks for the winners of ESWC and GeForce LAN tournaments.

Now NVIDIA is adding in something to sweeten the deal for professionals – when you register for a full conference package (US$995) at NVISION 08 before August 18, 2008, you can qualify to receive a complimentary next-generation NVIDIA® Quadro® FX high-end professional graphics board valued at US$1999.00 MSRP!

Quadro has some pretty impressive graphics power for professionals, enabling new realms of visual computing experience. Quadro takes the leading computer-aided design (CAD), digital content creation (DCC), and visualization applications and makes them more interactive by enabling unprecedented capabilities in performance, programmability, and precision.

You can read the official rules and other requirements to qualify here, but don’t forget to register by August 18^th, or you are out of luck...

Last night was the Season Premiere of Burn Notice on USA Network, and wouldn’t you know it, Tricia Helfer better known as “Number 6” on the hit show Battlestar Galactica, has joined the cast to play "Carla."   

Tricia will be joining us at NVISION at the opening keynote on August 25^th, in a Q&A on visual computing on stage with Jen-Hsun Huang.