Category Archives: Video

Trailer: ‘Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’

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From Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment (the animation studio behind Despicable Me) comes a film adaptation of one of Dr. Seuss’ most popular children’s stories, The Lorax. Danny DeVito stars as the voice of the orange, furry Lorax and Zac Efron voices the protagonist Ted. Here’s a nice synopsis:

The 3D-CGI feature Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is an adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale of a forest creature who shares the enduring power of hope. The animated adventure follows the journey of a boy as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. Danny DeVito will lend his vocal talents to the iconic title character of the Lorax, while Ed Helms will voice the enigmatic Once-ler. Also bringing their talents to the film are global superstars Zac Efron as Ted, the idealistic young boy who searches for the Lorax, and Taylor Swift as Ashley, the girl of Ted’s dreams. Rob Riggle will play financial king O’Hare, and beloved actress Betty White will portray Ted’s wise Grammy Norma.

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax hits theatres in 3D on March 2, 2012.

Trailer 2: ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’

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Here’s a new trailer for the fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise subtitled Ghost Protocol. Star Tom Cruise comes off as even more badass than in the first trailer! I, for one, cannot wait to watch Cruise as Ethan Hunt scale the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. The action looks incredible. M:I 4 is out December 16.

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 →

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]

Nokia unveils Lumia range of Windows Phone-powered smartphones

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Today at Nokia World in London, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop unveiled the Nokia Lumia range of smartphones. The Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 are the first Nokia smartphones powered by Windows Phone. Remember way back when, when the cell phone manufacturer announced its “strategic alliance” with Microsoft? Well the Lumia handsets announced today are the first products to be born out of the partnership.

The Lumia 800 is the fiercer of the two, sporting a 3.7-inch (800 x 480) AMOLED ClearBlack curved display, a 1.4 GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a graphics processor, 512MB of RAM, an eight megapixel Carl Zeiss optics branded camera lens on the back with a  f/2.2 aperture and 720p HD video recording and playback, and 16GB of internal storage and 25GB of free SkyDrive storage. Quad-band GSM support is included, and users can expect HSDPA download speeds to reach up to 14.4Mbps. The exterior of the super sleek device–which measures 12.1mm thin and is made of durable polycarbonate plastic–isn’t adorned with much. At the top there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and a tiny door that hides a micro-USB charger port and the SIM slot; the right side has a volume rocker, power button, and a dedicated camera shutter button; the bottom houses the speaker; and that’s pretty much it. The traditional Windows Phone icons (back, home, and search) are capacitive and sit beneath the display. As far as availability is concerned, the Lumia 800 is scheduled to rollout across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK in November. It will then be made available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the end of the year, and in further markets in early 2012. Whether or not the United States is included in that “further markets” category is anybody’s guess at this point. The handset is priced at €420, or about $585.

Moving on to the budget-friendly Nokia Windows Phone, the bulkier Lumia 710 sports the same 1.4 GHz processor as the 800, but the 3.7-inch ClearBlack display is WVGA TFT here and misses out on the 800’s crisper and bolder AMOLED screen. Other specs include 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, plus there’s a five megapixel shooter on the back. It’s also worth noting that the Windows icons (back, home, search) are physical buttons on the 710. Availability goes like this: the Lumia 710 will release first in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan in November alongside the Lumia 800, and then it will be made available in further markets in early 2012. Again, we don’t know if this handset will make it to U.S. shores. The 710 will sell for €270, or about $375.

Now we must briefly focus on the software. Obviously the Lumia range will be running Microsoft’s latest version of Windows Phone dubbed Mango. What’s slightly disappointing is that (at least in the beginning) Nokia isn’t doing much to differentiate their line of Windows Phones from the current competition. The Lumia range will come packaged with the following three software additions: Drive, Music, and ESPN Sports Hub. The first will provide users with full turn-by-turn navigation; the second will work alongside the Zune player and feature something called Mix Radio that allows users to stream music playlists; and the third will offer up sports stats and related news. For now, these are the only differentiating factors software-wise for Nokia’s Windows Phones. Can Nokia get by solely with their good looks?

Be sure to get a closer look at the Lumia 800 (available in cyan, magenta and black) and the chunkier Lumia 710 (available in black and white with black, white, cyan, fuchsia and yellow interchangeable back covers) in the galleries below. Videos and press releases are after the break. If/when these phones make it to the U.S. I’ll let you know. At some point in the near future (likely by 2012) Nokia will be selling Windows Phones in the States, so rest assured.


[Via Engadget 1, 2, 3] Continue reading Nokia unveils Lumia range of Windows Phone-powered smartphones →

‘Fringe’ prepares you to “witness the return” of Peter

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Fringe fans, check out this new teaser video released by the top-notch marketing team at FOX. At the conclusion of last week’s episode “Subject 9” Peter Bishop finally returned into the fold with a (literal) splash. The show is taking a break this week and when it returns Friday October 28 at 9PM we will “witness the return” of Peter into the lives of all the characters who forgot he ever existed, namely his Fringe division partner-turned-lover Olivia Dunham and his estranged father Walter Bishop. In the clip embedded above you will see some brand new footage from next week’s ep “Novation” and if you’re slick you might just be able to catch the series of shots that fly by at the end. Now everybody say it with me: Welcome back, Peter.

‘Fear Factor’ returns to NBC this December

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That read that right, folks. NBC is rebooting Fear Factor, the reality game show that originally ran from 2001-2006. Host Joe Rogen is back and so are the disgusting and adrenaline pumping tasks the human competitors must face. Paul Telegdy, NBC’s president of alternative and late night TV, marked the occasion with these words: “We have taken the groundbreaking Fear Factor franchise that many fans remember fondly and have ramped it up to make it even more challenging and competitive than ever before. Once again, the contestants will have to face their ultimate fears to prevail — and the tension and drama of that process will make for some riveting television.” Watch a 2-minute preview of what’s in store for the new season above. Fear Factor returns December 12 and will air Mondays at the 8PM-10PM timeslot.

[Via Deadline]

YouTube musical sensation Karmin release first official single “Crash Your Party”

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The infectious musical duo known as Karmen–comprised of vocalist Amy and keyboardist Nick–just released their first official single called “Crash Your Party.” Amy and Nick are best known for their unique covers of popular songs they upload to their YouTube channel. Shortly have they posted the amazing cover of Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now” earlier this year, they exploded overnight. The video went viral and some time later they signed with Epic Records. Check out their first single in the video above to get a taste of some Karmin originality. The duo describes their music as “hip-pop” and this song, in my humble opinion, manages to fuse together elements from both genres in a fun (and downright catchy) way. Don’t act so surprised when you hear this track on the radio; Karmin has to potential to explode yet again…this time on a more mainstream scale. Expect their debut album to release in 2012.

PlayStation 3D Display is out November 13 for $500

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The PlayStation branded 3D Display that was announced and detailed at Sony’s E3 press conference earlier this year now has an official release date. The PlayStation Blog reveals that the $499.99 set, which comes bundled with one pair of 3D Glasses, MotorStorm Apocalypse 3D-capable game, and an HDMI cable, will go on sale November 13. Early preorders offered a copy of Resistance 3 and Sony clarifies that if you put in an order on or before September 30, 2011 you will still be receiving that game. To refresh your memory, the 24-inch LCD display outputs 1080p HD picture and features 2D/3D support, high contrast (5000:1), a wide viewing angle (176 degree) and high response time (4ms GTG average) with a slim design, high quality sound with an integrated subwoofer, and two HDMI ports. And it’s got one really cool trick up its sleeve. Sony describes the SimulView feature like so: “This special two-player feature is unique to the 3D Display in that it significantly enhances two-player mode in select games. Ordinarily, two-player mode is played in split-screen format. With this unique two-player feature, each player gets their own full (2D) HD screen while wearing the 3D Glasses for the 3D Display.” The active 3D glasses contain the special sauce to perform the trick. Be aware that Sony will sell compatable 3D glasses separately at $69.99 a pop. If you want to learn more about the technologies powering the 3D Display head on over to the PS Blog where you’ll find an informative FAQ that should answer most, if not all, of the questions you might still have. Product images sit in the gallery below and an introductory video sits after the break.

[Via PlayStationBlog] Continue reading PlayStation 3D Display is out November 13 for $500 →