GoPro Gets Into Tiff with Amazon

If you tried to order the new GoPro Hero5 camera via Amazon.com, you might have been stymied. The company is thought to have halted Amazon sales after the retailer offered the camera below GoPro's preferred minimum price — potentially creating price-matching headaches for the rest of GoPro's retail channel. (The Hero5 is still being offered by third-party Amazon Marketplace sellers.) Also worth noting: the DJI Mavic Pro is listed for Amazon pre-orders; the competing GoPro Karma is not. GoPro stock, already under pressure, fell further on the news. [InvestorPlace] 

Nine Out of 10 Pre-1914 U.S. Films Are Lost, Says Gaumont President

Seydoux told attendees at Lyon's Lumiere Festival that 90% of U.S. movies made before 1914 are thought to have "disappeared" before they could be restored and preserved. He said emerging digital distribution channels are creating new markets for restored classic films, noting that French TV broadcasters actually air restorations. "They demand quality of the highest level, which is great for the audiences," he said. "If we want young generations to watch movies that correspond to the idea that we have of cinema, it would be indecent if they are not the same quality as their videogames, which are very good." [Variety] 

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How the Art of VFX Has Changed Since Jurassic Park

Two "rebel" VFX artists who helped convince Steven Spielberg to use CG techniques instead of stop-motion for Jurassic Park's dinosaurs reflect on how the VFX business has changed as VFX techniques — and studio expectations — have stabilized. [Cartoon Brew] 

RIP Studio Ghibli Color Designer Michiyo Yasuda

Michiyo Yasuda, credited as color designer on films including director Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke, has died. Yasuda had worked with Miyazaki at Toei Animation, and joined Studio Ghibli on its founding by Miyazaki in 1985. She was 77. [BBC Newsbeat] 

Whatever You Do, Don't Buy a Mac

Amid all the sustained corporate excitement about iPhones, iPads, and iWatches, Apple is letting its computer business slide. In fact, the only computer line that Apple has bothered to update in the last year is the basic MacBook, not exactly a pro's notebook of choice. According to MacRumors, Apple's flagship hardware models, the Retina MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro, have languished for 514 days and 1,030 days, respectively. Tech writer Adrian Kingsley-Hughes calls the situation "a disgrace." [ZDNet Hardware 2.0]