Category Archives: News

Gmail takes a bold step forward with new look [Update: official iOS app released]

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Today Google flipped the switch and transformed Gmail with a new look. It was previewed back in July and now it’s ready for primetime. The navigation panel on the left is more customizable;  you can resize the labels and chat areas depending on which section you access most often. Search has been upgraded, too. The search box up top now features a drop box with helpful options that should make finding exactly what you’re looking for easier and faster. You can also create filters from search queries. Emails have been aesthetically transformed to look like streamlined conversations. Profiles pictures for your contacts show up inside emails and unneccesary text has been stripped out of view making reading a conversation a better experience. In addition, Google has figured out a way to make the Gmail window fit your screen perfectly; the spacing between elements on the screen will automatically change based on the kind of display you’re using. In the settings menu, you can play around with display density and manually select “comfortable,” “cozy,” and “compact” views. Last, the Gmail team has added high resolution themes to the mix. They say most of the popular themes have been upgraded to HD, so the switch on your end should happen automatically. The new look has rolled out to everyone today; to enable it simply click the “Switch to the new look” link located at the bottom right in Gmail. There’s a brief video highlighting these changes after the break.

Update (11/3): Today Google finally released an official Gmail app for iOS devices. Google says they’ve “combined your favorite features from the Gmail mobile web app and iOS into one app so you can be more productive on the go.” The Gmail app promises to bring speed, efficiency, and optimized touch input to the table. The iPad version takes advantage of the larger display, naturally. Moments after Google released the Gmail app into the wild, unfortunately, they pulled it from the App Store due to “a bug which broke notifications.” As soon as the app returns to the Store you will be notified.

Update 2 (11/16): And it’s back! Get your download on right here.

[Via GoogleBlog; GmailBlog] Continue reading Gmail takes a bold step forward with new look [Update: official iOS app released] →

GarageBand comes to iPhone and iPod touch

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Mac OS X and iPad users have been creating sick beats and rocking out with Apple’s music creation app for quite some time now. Today the company released a new version that can be downloaded and installed on iPhones and iPod touches. The official press release announcing the news (posted in full after the break) describes the app’s prominent features:

You can plug your electric guitar into iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to play and record through classic amps and stompbox effects, or record your voice or any acoustic sound using the built-in microphone. GarageBand allows you to record and mix up to eight tracks and then share your finished song with friends or send it to your Mac to keep working on it in GarageBand or Logic Pro.

GarageBand for iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S) and iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation) is now available in the App Store for $4.99. If you already purchased it for the iPad, it’s totally free to port it to your other iOS devices.

[Via Apple] Continue reading GarageBand comes to iPhone and iPod touch →

Stop-motion animation studio LAIKA is back with ‘ParaNorman’ [trailer inside]

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Here’s a nice Halloween treat for us all: a teaser poster and trailer for the upcoming stop-motion animated feature ParaNorman. The movie is from Focus Features and LAIKA, the same partnership that produced 2009’s critically-acclaimed Coraline. ParaNorman is directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler; Butler imagined and penned the original story. The voice cast includes Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Elaine Strich, Tempestt Bledsoe, Bernard Hill, and Alex Borstein. The trailer, embedded after the break, doesn’t reveal much of the plot as it includes zero dialogue, but this quick synopsis should suffice:

A misunderstood boy who can speak with the dead takes on ghosts, zombies and, worst of all, grown-ups, in order to save his town from a centuries-old curse. Norman Babcock is an outcast in his small New England town. When a horde of zombies is unleashed on the populace, Norman learns he must use his paranormal powers to make things right again. That’s not an easy task when you’re only eleven. And you’ve just been grounded. 

The movie poster and teaser trailer make ParaNorman out to be a strange, dark, and visually stunning piece of work worthy of much anticipation. It releases wide August 17, 2012 in 3D. Continue reading Stop-motion animation studio LAIKA is back with ‘ParaNorman’ [trailer inside] →

FX renews ‘American Horror Story’ for season 2

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On Halloween afternoon, FX renewed Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s disturbingly brilliant new series American Horror Story for a second season. FX president John Landgraf celebrated the occasion with high praise. “It’s one thing to have the ambition and guts to reinvent a genre in a way that makes it captivatingly fresh for a broad audience — it’s something else entirely to have the craft to back that ambition up,” he said. “Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have hit the trifecta with Nip/Tuck, Glee and now American Horror Story, which will be scaring FX’s viewers to death for many years to come.” The show has been performing extremely well in the ratings for the cable network.  It is averaging 4.2 million viewers per episode, with an impressive 2.9 million in the coveted adult 18-34 demo. In fact, according to FX, AHS is“tracking to become the highest-rated first season of any series ever on FX, certain to surpass Murphy’s award-winning hit drama Nip/Tuck in adults 18-49 and adults 18-34.” There has been much speculation about how Murphy and Falchuk plan to continue the series beyond the current season. Will the Harmons (Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, and Taissa Farmiga) make it to season 2, or will each season feature a new family moving into the haunted house? According to stars McDermott and Britton, no one knows yet. “It’s open-ended – we’re not quite sure about the next episode never mind next year,” McDermott told TVLine. “We’re just sort of like flying by the seat of our pants.” Britton added, “I don’t know that Brad and Ryan know, which I think is really fun.” A 13-episode second season will begin filming next year.

American Horror Story airs Wednesday nights at 10PM on FX.

[Via EW; TVLine]

‘In Living Color’ reboot coming to FOX midseason 2012

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Do you remember the sketch comedy series In Living Color that aired on FOX from 1990 to 1994? It was created by the second eldest Wayans brother Keenan Ivory Wayans and it featured a cast that was predominantly black including big stars like Wayans’ family members Damon, Shawn, and Marlon, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier, Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lopez was introduced to the world as one of the Fly Girls. Well news broke that the show is coming back to FOX as the network is celebrating its 25th anniversary later this year. Keenan Ivory Wayans is back as executive producer and this time he will play host, too. FOX has ordered two half-hour primetime specials that will air in midseason, and they picked up a series option. This means that if the sketch show performs well in the ratings, FOX can pick it up to series and allow Wayans to pump out additional episodes. (Re)introduce yourself to one of my favorite characters from In Living Color after the break, Homey D. Clown.

[Via Deadline] Continue reading ‘In Living Color’ reboot coming to FOX midseason 2012 →

Kanye West & Jay-Z go on tour, give fans a backstage pass

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Kanye West & Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne tour kicked off last week on Friday in Atlanta, and so did their all-access pass website called VOYR. The Throne teamed with ad agency GlobalHue to create a video-based portal that gives fans inside access to behind the scenes during the length of the 26-city tour. The cost of entry is $4.99/month, and according to Complex that gives you “a 720-degree look of the stage, rehearsals, personal exercise routines, an exclusive Kanye documentary, and an animated series based on Kanye’s Runaway film.” Five episodes of behind the scenes footage will be uploaded to VOYR each week. Visit VOYR to watch a couple previews and you’ll find a link to sign up and subscribe there, too. Paying anything to view BTS footage from a music tour might be steep for most people, but if you consider yourself to be a big fan of Kanye and Jay-Z’s collaborative effort and missed out on purchasing tickets for the tour, this kind of exclusive content should do you some good.

[Via Complex]

Preorder PS Vita “First Edition Bundle” and get it one week before the official launch

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Sony is giving its most loyal customers an opportunity to snag a PS Vita one week before the powerful handheld officially launches in North America on February 22. To get your sweaty palms and greasy fingertips on a PS Vita February 15, all you have to do is preorder the “First Edition Bundle” which comes with the Vita (3G + Wi-Fi model), a limited edition case, a 4GB memory card, and the Little Deviants game. The bundle costs $349.99 (that’s a hundred dollars more than the standalone 3G + Wi-Fi model) and it’s up for preorder now at select retailers including Best Buy and Amazon. Want a chance to play with the next generation portable before everyone else? This is it.

[Via PlayStationBlog]

Google+ gets trending topics, among other additions

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Updating Google TV just wasn’t enough for the G-Men. Around the same time Google announced the forthcoming GTV updates, they flipped a switch and introduced four additions to their social network project known as Google+. First, they’ve stolen a page out of Twitter’s playbook and Paris Hilton’s vocabulary to come up with a “What’s Hot” trending topics section. Users can now search and view the most popular items being shared on the network. Next, Google is giving users the opportunity to watch shared content spread across the social network with Google+ Ripples. Described as a “visualization tool for public shares and comments,”  Ripple will allow users to zoom in on shared events and identify top contributors. If this “experimental” feature sounds interesting to you, give it a spin! The Google+ Creative Kit has been added to the Photos section of the site. The kit provides users with more ways to edit and personalize uploaded photos. Last, the company has announced that Google+ is now available to all Google Apps customers worldwide. Read more about it at Google’s Enterprise blog. All of the new updates described here have already rolled out to users, so if you’ve got an account check ’em out. Video after the break.

Update (11/3): Today Google baked YouTube functionality inside Google+. Login to your Google+ account and you’ll find a new YouTube icon hanging out in at the top right of the screen. When you wave your cursor over it, it’ll expand and ask you “What would you like to play?” Enter a query and Google will automatically play a related video and generate a playlist of related videos in a separate window. You can easily share YouTube videos with your friends on the network, and they in turn can open a related playlist directly from your post. Also, YouTube playlists will now reveal themselves in Google+ search results.

Update (11/7): And the Google+ updates keep on coming. Today Google rolled out Google+ Pages worldwide. In simplest terms, Pages are profiles for businesses and brands. They look and function almost exactly like individual profiles. A shiny badge is plastered on Pages to distinguish them from regular users. Beyond that, sharing information, circle relationships, Hangouts–it’s all the same. Pages will now show up in Google+ search results. Additionally, Pages will show up in standard Google search results when you add the “+” before your query. For example, when you type “+Pepsi” in Google and hit enter, you will instantly be taken to Pepsi’s Google+ Page. Google’s calling this Direct Connect. Watch it in action after the break, then give it a go on your own.

[Via GoogleBlog 1, 2, 3] Continue reading Google+ gets trending topics, among other additions →

Google TV gets an update

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Google admits that their initial attempt at meshing television and the Internet “wasn’t perfect.” On Friday the company laid out their plans for Google TV 2.0 and their hope is that with the new software additions and refinements, customers will be more enticed to purchase a GTV box or compatible TV set if they haven’t already done so. At the official Google TV blog, the development team divided the changes into four categories. First, the user interface has undergone a cosmetic facelift and is now “much simpler” to navigate. The new customizable home screen displays favorite apps across the bottom of the screen and an “all apps” folder allows users to quickly browse every pre-installed and added app. Next up is refined search. There’s a new app called “TV & Movies” that allows users to “easily browse through 80,000 movies and TV episodes across cable or satellite, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and many other sites.” Before, the search box allowed users to type a query to make it easier to find a specific TV show. While that search box remains present, the TV & Movies app–which aggregates content from all kinds of services including live TV and Internet-based locations–makes exploring and discovering content in one place a reality. Third is an enhanced YouTube experience. YouTube videos are now available to watch in HD and the video service is more closely integrated with Google TV search. For example, when users search “hysterical baby” they will be able to save the search results as a “channel” to access any time. And last but certainly not least is the addition of Android Market. Google says that “Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV.” Obviously apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony will not be made available for download on Google TV devices, but Google claims that “50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps” made specifically for use on a TV. As in all app markets, the selection will grow over time. Another update to GTV includes the ability to view online pictures in a new Photos app.

According to Google the update to Google TV will rollout to compatible devices made by Sony first starting this week and then it’ll make its way to Logitech’s Revue sometime after. Google promises that more software updates are on the way, “as well as new devices on new chipsets from multiple hardware partners.” With Google’s TV efforts evolving and speculation that Apple is about to enter the fray, the Internet on the TV initiative is just heating up. See what the new Google TV interface looks like in the gallery below. Video after the break.

[Via Google TV Blog] Continue reading Google TV gets an update →

HP’s PC division isn’t going anywhere

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In August when HP announced the discontinuation of WebOS, they also hinted that the company’s “board of directors [had] authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG).” Well last week the speculation concerning HP’s decision to spinoff their consumer-oriented hardware division to solely focus on software development can be put to rest. A new press release–in full after the break–reveals the company’s intention to keep the PC division under the same roof. HP executive Todd Bradley on the matter: “As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry’s broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more. We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better.” Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is now the head of HP and she believes that keeping the PC division where it is ultimately is “right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees.” And that settles the matter.

[Via Engadget] Continue reading HP’s PC division isn’t going anywhere →

TV reminder: ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ return tonight at 10PM on MTV

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The wait is over. Beavis and Butt-Head, the snarky animated comedy from Mike Judge (King of the Hill) which originally ran from 1993-1997, returns to the airwaves tonight. It was back in July 2010 when Judge expressed interest in bringing the cult series back to MTV. One year later at Comic Con he had multiple episodes completed and was ready to unveil Beavis and Butt-Head 2.0 to hundreds of fans. I happened to be in attendance when Judge screened scenes from upcoming episodes and you can read my reactions here. I had concluded that watching this series again today is nostalgically enjoyable and it happens to be quite refreshing. B & B is known for its ability to satirize and ridicule music videos. When they return, the delinquent teens will also attack the slew of horrible reality shows that surfaced during their time of absence, including The Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant. What’s great is that just like the music videos of the past, MTV is allowing Judge to play with the network’s own reality programming. You can expect the couch scenes and the original stories that take place away from the boys’ TV screen (Cornholio is back!) to be wholly satisfying and amusing. Beavis and Butt-Head return tonight (10/27) at 10PM on MTV. Watch a trailer after the break. Continue reading TV reminder: ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ return tonight at 10PM on MTV →

Teaser trailer: ‘Grim Night’

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Check out this teaser trailer for Grim Night based on a spec script penned by first-time feature writers Brandon Bestenheider and Allen Bey and produced by Bryan Bertino (The Strangers) and Adrienne Brittle. According to Deadline, there was a heated battle over the script among the big movie studios and in the end Universal Pictures purchased it making a deal “in the high six- or seven-figure range.” The plot is creepy all the way to its core, and horror fans are eating this up. The teaser trailer introduces us to a world where there is one day every year when creatures known as “Grims” terrorize and murder people on Earth. The scariest bit is that the Grim attacks are extremely violent and senselessly random. The movie will focus on a family in small town America defending themselves against the hooded Dementor-like Grims. Since it’s so early in development, there is no telling how much the final product will look like the teaser embedded above. If the young writing duo and veteran producers are smart, they won’t deviate too far from what they already have. The scary, apocalyptic, gritty and viral-video feeling here is very reminiscent of recent flicks like Paranormal Activity, District 9, and Bertino’s own The Strangers. More as this story develops. Oh, and good luck sleeping tonight after watching this doozy.

[Via Deadline]