Management, Review
Guest_Correspondent
Sage Intacct: A Roadmap Review for Financial ...

With a wide range of integration possibilities and reporting flexibility, Sage Intacct might be the right financial management software for your organization. In this review, guest contributor Stewart Urist highlights a few of the key functionalities that have improved his organization's daily workflow and the quality of the financial information available, and flags some pitfalls to keep in  mind along the way.

Sage Intacct: A Roadmap Review for Financial Management Success
entertainment, Review
Taylor Lien
The Bear's Season 3 Epitomizes Prestige TV

Amidst a host of negative reviews, season three of The Bear seems to epitomize the promise of prestige television -- bigger stars, bigger budgets, and higher production quality. Season three is ambitious and challenging, and it doesn’t allow the limitations of the television medium to dictate how the stories it wants to tell should be told.

The Bear's Season 3 Epitomizes Prestige TV
Art Meets Tech, Emerging Technology, Fundraising
Blake Aber
DipJar: The Future of Convenience in Fundraising

At the core of fundraising is the relationship between a nonprofit and those constituents who are most passionate about that organization’s mission. As development professionals it is vital to find touchpoints that cultivate and maintain these mutualistic relationships. Convenience for the donor is critical to getting a first gift that leads to a sustained philanthropic relationship. DipJar offers a unique giving opportunity for organizations “on the road,” those with a facility, or those hosting fundraising special events.

DipJar: The Future of Convenience in Fundraising
Artificial Intelligence, Review
Rachael Gunning
A Midjourney Review: Utilizing Generative A.I. ...

Many have likely browsed the internet long enough to have been fooled by an AI-generated image or two at some point. Text-to-image models like DALL·E , Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion have advanced enough that most people only have about a 50%-60% chance of discerning if an image is AI generated, and the odds aren’t improving - but are these models good enough to forego using human artists altogether? This article provides a comparative review of the various offerings of Midjourney.

A Midjourney Review: Utilizing Generative A.I. for Visual Storytelling
Artificial Intelligence, Art Meets Tech
Staff Researcher
VR Painting Software versus Traditional ...

In the last two years, more than a dozen Virtual Reality tools have emerged, offering artists a wide range of mediums to express their creativity. These VR platforms have allowed every type of artist to showcase their talents in the Metaverse. This article delves into an exploration and comparison of VR, 2D painting software applications, comparing their capabilities against traditional oil and acrylic painting techniques. If you are an artist considering investing in a headset for your artistic endeavors or simply choosing an app, this article will provide a comprehensive side-by-side comparison of these programs with their real-life counterparts.

VR Painting Software versus Traditional Painting -- What Wins?

Review

Sony Portable Reader is Wasted Potential

SONY recently released its Portable Reader device, which is intended to be to books what the iPod is to music. CAMT had the opportunity to play with the device a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd post my impressions, as well as my thoughts on the usefulness of the Reader for arts organizations.

First, the Reader's "digital paper" screen technology is pretty amazing. The digital text truly looks like it's printed on paper, and eye fatigue is greatly reduced in comparison to reading on a standard monitor. Unfortunately, that's SONY's only real win with this device.

My biggest complaints:

1) There is no note-taking function. The one thing I love about paper is the ability to circle things and make marginal notes.

2) The page turn function is slow. If I'm reading 'Pride and Prejudice,' the lag time doesn't bother me much, but if I'm trying to quickly skim through a document, it's a pain.

3) You can't feasibly read a PDF. Measured diagonally, the Reader's screen size is about six inches, and that's the biggest we could make an uploaded PDF document. Obviously, it's not very comfortable - no matter how much the screen looks like paper - to read an 8.5" x 11" document on a six inch screen. Also, even if there is some magical, unintuitive zoom function, who wants to constantly be zooming and scrolling to read a document?

I suppose the Reader was designed simply for enjoying novels, and for that it might work just fine, but I'm always disappointed when new technology fails to live up to its potential. The SONY Reader is like that really smart kid in high school who could have grown up to cure cancer if only he hadn't fallen in with the wrong crowd.

Oh, SONY Reader, why did you fall in with the paperback novel crowd, when you could have become a new way of reviewing documents on the go?

The organization with which we were consulting was hoping their constituents could use the SONY Reader to review manuscripts, but there is no way a human could comfortably read multiple pages of multiple documents on the Reader without succumbing to head-bursting migraines.

Recently, I discovered the iLiad reading device by iRex Technologies, and I'm very intrigued. Once we get a demo model, I will post a review, but the iLiad seems to have both the note-taking and enlarged screen we were seeking from the SONY Reader.