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Category Archives: News
Xbox 360 price drop is official
Microsoft is ready to go head-to-head with their arch-rival Sony in the video games business. The Xbox 360 Elite console will match the PS3 Slim costing $299.99 (from $399.99) this Friday. The Xbox 360 Pro console (now $249.99) will phase out after inventory gets flushed, making the Elite and Arcade ($199.99) the only Xbox 360 SKUs on the market. In somewhat related news, Microsoft has stated that the upcoming Project Natal accessory “will work with every Xbox 360 sold today and tomorrow.” Neat-0.
[Via Engadget]
Megan Fox to play Catwoman
Today The Sun is reporting that Megan Fox will fit into the tight suit and play the role of Catwoman in the next installation of Batman. Her “slightly darker edge” should fit the role just fine. Also according to this source, “All the other stars who have reinvented the Batman films are back on board – Christian Bale, Michael Caine and director Chirstopher Nolan.” Shooting begins next year and a release date will come soon after in 2011. So looking forward to this.
[Via The Sun]
Megan Fox is hosting the season premiere of SNL
Life and Style picked up the scoop from “an insider close to the star” that Megan Fox will be the host of the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. The source says, “Megan is psyched to have gotten this opportunity. She has a lot of surprises in store for the audience. This is the perfect opportunity for her to show off her comedic skills, as she’s launching her new movie Jennifer’s Body [on Sept. 18].” The source also hinted that she will star alongside funnyman Andy Samberg in the season’s first SNL Digital Short. I am so excited, I cannot wait for–…and I just jizzed in my pants. Be sure to catch the 34th season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 26 on NBC.
[Via IGN]
97% of iPhone users love their device; 55% say AT&T/carrier lock-in is lame
Music Video: Jay-Z – Run This Town (Feat. Rihanna & Kanye West)
Jay-Z’s latest album The Blueprint 3 drops September 11. The album will feature Rihanna, Kanye West (on two tracks), Kid Cudi, Luke Steele, Young Jeezy, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beats, Drake, Pharrell, and Mr Hudson. DAMN! Look after the break of the album cover and backside for the track listing.
[Via KanyeBlog; DatNewCudi]
Continue reading Music Video: Jay-Z — Run This Town (Feat. Rihanna & Kanye West)
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of Day ‘scene’ list
As we get closer to the debut of Kid Cuid’s first album Cudder himself has unveiled the final version of the “scenelist” for Man on the Moon: The End of Day. Notice that the album does not have a track list; Cudi is purposely setting up his album to play like a movie with individual scenes, not traditional tracks. The first two singles off the album are “Day N’ Nite” and “Make Her Say.” On his blog Cudder tells his fans to “stay tuned on Twitter for a sneak peak of the movie poster” and the next single will be “Pursuit of Happiness.” Look out for will be an impressive and unique album experience when it drops on September 15.
[Via DatNewCudi; KidCudiBlog]
CBS & PepsiCo to make video-embedded ads a reality
The future has arrived, people. Video advertisements will start to populate your magazines this fall!* In a joint venture with PepsiCo, CBS will be promoting its fall TV season lineup in the September 18th issue of Entertainment Weekly with an interactive video advertisement. More specifically, the ad will promote the CBS Monday prime-time lineup and PepsiCo’s PepsiMax soda. They call it “Monday to the Max.” This issue will feature the first video ad to appear in print, said George Schweitzer, CBS marketing president.
The battery-powered advertisement is manufactured by LA-based Americhip. CNET has the details on the technology: “the screen, which is 2.7 millimeters thick, has a 320×240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged, believe it or not, with a mini USB cord–there’s a jack on the back of it. The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate. It’s a product that has been in development at Americhip for about two years.”
Advertising Age got the scoop on how it’s going to work: “When Entertainment Weekly readers open the magazine to the ad pages, they will see a small screen flicker on and start to load a video. A brief segment featuring actors from “The Big Bang Theory” will explain how to use the player, while talking about features from Entertainment Weekly and the different video selections a reader can choose. By pressing one of five different buttons, readers can watch a video montage of [the CBS Monday lineup programs].
*The insert advertisement will only appear to EW subscribers in the New York and Los Angeles areas. Subscribers from elsewhere and newsstands will receive regular print versions of the ad. So if you want to be one of the first to witness the potential future of advertising, find a friend who is a subscriber to EW in those areas…or move and become one!
Schweitzer: “It was axiomatic: If you ran an ad in TV Guide, people would watch your program. Not anymore.” Does this new ad tech seem gimicky? Yes. Could it potentially be the future of ads? Who knows. Although no pricing was specified, I am sure the decision to use video technology on a battery-powered chip in a magazine did not come cheap. Let this first try be a test run for marketing companies. I am interested to see if such a promotional ploy could work. Be on the lookout this September and decide for yourself.
[Via Gizmodo; CNET; Advertising Age]
Cheaper, slimmer PS3 is official, finally!
Let’s get right to the details of the PS3 Slim:
- 32% smaller, 36% lighter, 34% less power than its chunkier brother, the original PS3
- Boasts all the same features of the bulkier PS3, so still no backwards compatability with PS2 games
- Adds one feature: BRAVIA Sync – you can browse the PS3 XMB with your Sony TV remote, PS3 will power down when TV shuts off (if both devices are connected via HDMI)
- Removes one feature: The ability to install an operating system (like Linux) is gone.
- Matte finish
- 120GB HDD
- 2 USB ports (down from 4)
- Price- $299; release date – early September
- UPDATE: According to Engadget, the power and eject buttons on the front of the console are physical buttons that press down now; the HDD is swappable; the PS3 logo does not rotate; feels siginifcantly lighter in hands compared to the old PS3. Also, according to Gizmodo, Sony plans to change the PS3 logo and reformat the PS brand name from PLAYSTATION 3 to Playstation 3. That’s better!
Arriving concurrently with the PS3 Slim hardware is the 3.0 firmware update:
- XMB redesigned
- Information Board replaced with “What’s New” – populated with news and information from the world of Playstation (latest and greatest games, videos, etc); you can launch immediately from recently played games
- Playstation Store game and video sections placed under the Games and Video icons in the XMB, respectively
- Animated themes are available in the PS Store (themes can change with time of day, etc.)
- Upper right hand corner – space for avatar, friend icon w/ # of friends online, mail
- More avatar selections available through the PS Store (free and premium)
- Available via a free download on September 1
At the GamesCon in Germany, Sony had additional announcements concerning PS3, PSP, and the Playstation Network (PSN):
- Effective today, all PS3 systems will cost $299; that is a $100 price drop. Once the PS3 Slim releases in early September it will take the place of its thicker older brother.
- Sony introduced Minis; they are “bite-sized” games that will be made for the PSP & PSP go! and will sell as digital downloads only in the PS Store. The titles will have a 100MB size limit. The first bunch of Minis will be made available on October 1, the same day as the release of the PSP go! Sony has planned to release 15 Minis for launch, and about 50 games for the remainder of 2009. Some of these games include Tetris, Field Runners, Hero of Sparta and Minigore.
- PSN video store and PSN cards will be available to access and sell, respectively, in Europe this fall. The video store will initially sell movies only, and will expand its library from there. The PSN cards will sell in 20 and 50 euros demoninations.
- Sony announced the PSP Digital Reader; the plan is to digitize a bunch of comics, sell them in the PS Store, and make them available to read on the PSP. Sony’s first major partner is Marvel and they plan to have “hundreds available, including the Marvel Comics stable.”
- Three new PSP color variations will be sold in Europe this November: “Turquoise” blue, “Lilac” purple, and “Blossom” pink.
See the galleries below for: (1) official PS3 Slim shots; (2) Engadget’s PS3 Slim unboxing shots
Look after the break for: (1) a video tour of the PS3 3.0 software; (2) firmware 3.0 full details; (3) a video of PS President Jack Tretton talking about the new announcements; (4) PS3 Slim spec sheet
[Via Engadget; Gizmodo; Joystiq; PlaystationBlog]
Apple to build a HUGE data center, but why?
In an interview with Cult of Mac, Rich Miller, editor of Data Center Knowledge, said “Apple is planning about 500,000 square feet of data center space in a single building. That would place it among the largest data centers in the world…This would qualify as a big-ass data center.”
So Apple is planning on building an extremely large data center in the near future for their company to use. The lingering questions remains: Why? Could it be for the potential implementation of cloud computing? Are they planning on introducing a new product and/or service that would utilize so much power that it would require such an expansive data center? So many possibilities, it’s quite exciting, actually. Sound off in the comments below and share your opinions. Let everyone know what you think!
[Via Gizmodo; Cult of Mac]
Study: Moviegoers have synchronized blinks, miss up to 15 min. of footage
A recent study has gathered interesting findings of people’s blinking habits and when they blink during a movie. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have found that “the flow of visual information to the brain is halted by up to 450 milliseconds with every blink, and we lose up to 6 seconds of information every minute.” New Scientist relays this information in layman’s terms: “This means moviegoers who sit through a 150-minute film have their eyes shut for up to 15 minutes.” It was also found that people tend to blink in unison during the same parts of a movie. A researcher noted that “”This is the first study to demonstrate that blinks are excellently coordinated during video playback.” After several tests, the researchers went on to conclude that these synchronized blinks occur during “non-critical” moments, so at the end of an action scene or as Gizmodo humorously noted, “whenever Megan Fox is off screen.”
[Via Gizmodo; New Scientist]
Dr. Dre + HP = revamped “digital music ecosystem”
Computer-maker HP, musical genius Dr. Dre, and Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine have announced a joint collaboration to make audio sound better, from what you hear on your computer to the earbuds or headphones you use on the go.
Iovine to CNET News: “We have to fix the entire chain. Our position is to go to all the sources and try to improve sound and educate people…We can’t put anything weak in the line. Whoever puts out things that sound bad shouldn’t be as cool as something that sounds great.” Iovine added: “I just want our product to sound better. The record business committed many, many mistakes in the last 10 years, and I’m right in there. One of them was letting its product get degraded. It’s one thing to let it get stolen, it’s another to allow it to be degraded because then you really don’t have a chance…video games and TV quality are getting better and the quality of our work is getting lower. If that happens, then music will become disposable. That’s something we can fix.”
This is very interesting news for the music industry. In today’s digital age of the MP3 format, iPods, and computers, it is very important that the sound of music quality does not disintegrate. The iPod earbuds that ship with every iPod, for example, do not produce good enough sound for the listener. Also, many computers are not constructed with speakers than can boast the proper bass and sound required for MP3s to be played at their potential. In the end, it is all about music being played the way they were meant to be heard and I believe that this alliance between HP, Dre, and Interscope will lead the way in incorporating premium sound capability in all mediums from MP3 players to PC laptops. Sources spilled to CNET News that “HP will release premium-priced laptops, headsets, and software featuring the “Beats by Dr. Dre” brand sometime this fall.”
[Via CNET]