Tech Society 2.0

Here's a serious techy question...

What kind of wokrstation spec would one expect that produces animated computer graphics for a large scale movie production? Intel Xeon?

We have to do an individual pitch, and come up with a spec to persuade the change to newer technology. Currently, they're using a "farm of networked PCs with Intel Pentium 3 processors on XP"

24GB of RAM and the like

guys, is there any form of wireless usb around?
i.e. i want to connect my camera to my desktop wirelessly, but whatever i search for brings up wireless usb network adaptors

Not that I've ever heard of. Does your camera support Bluetooth? Otherwise I think you're out of luck.

nope, tis a Canon 40D. 5m USB cable is good for moving around, but the trailing cable is an epic trip hazard.

eyeFi?

that's interesting!
http://support.eye.fi/product-info/camera-compatibility/compatibility/known-issues-with-compact-flash-card-adapters/

but if you follow the link:
"UPDATE: The newest Eye-FI cards no longer work with CF adapters. Sorry about this folks!"

ah that's a shame, sounded like it would have otherwise done the job.

basically i'm trying to do a tethered shoot with adobe lightroom.
in the past i've used a 5m usb cable, but this is not good with drunk people and my camera ends up on the floor.

i may try using multiple cards:
take all the photos for a group on a card, swap cards for the next group and the card is dumped onto the computer.

but then again, the photos won't be transferring as i'm taking them

A netbook sounds like it would work for what you want.

netbook?!
the issue is the cable between my camera and computer setup somewhere in the room.
il need a decent screen size to show the pictures to the drunks, and to get the photos onto it quickly.

Connect your camera to a netbook, which is networked (possibly via an ad-hoc network) to your main computer. This way the cables are all contained around the netbook, the photos can be transmitted instantaneously to the main computer.
I don't know precisely how tethered shoots 'work' though - do you set up a camera somewhere in the room and remotely take photos, or wander around with the camera?
If a) position the netbook next to the camera. If b) stick the netbook in a backpack with the usb cord coming round to the front where you're holding your camera.
Of course, a netbook is a bit of an investment for a relatively simple task like this...unless you already have one.

Ubuntu 11.10 will be called Oneiric Ocelot

That's an onerous onomatopoeia.