Former American Idol judge Simon Cowell takes time to explain his new show The X Factor. He describes it as “a singing competition with a twist.” Auditions are open to anyone, no matter your age. Performers will be separated into the following four categories: young guys, young girls, older singers, and singing groups. Auditions will take place in LA, Miami, Newark, Seattle, Chicago, and Dallas; contenders will sing not only for the judges but also in front of 3,000 to 4,000 audience members. Think of it as Idol meets America’s Got Talent. The grand prize is a $5 million recording contract. Cowell says, “I can assure you one thing: you will have never seen a show like this before in America.”
Officially, Apollo 17, launched December 17th, 1972, was the last manned mission to the moon. But a year later, in December of 1973, two American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to the moon funded by the US Department of Defense. What you are about to see is the actual footage which the astronauts captured on that mission. While NASA denies its authenticity, others say it’s the real reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.
From Dimension Films, producer Timur Bekmambetov, and director Gonzalo López-Gallego comes the sci-fi thriller Apollo 18 and it uses “found footage” to tell the an alternate history story and reveal the real reason why we haven’t traveled back to the moon in some time. Brain-melding aliens! Or something like that. Watch the spooky trailer above and anticipate the Cloverfield-meets-Paranormal Activity flick hitting theatres April 22.
Everybody loves the Google’s little green mascot named Android. Heck, he’s the face of their smartphone-turned-tablet user experience. He deserves some of your affection, and now you can properly show it. With the Androidify app from Google you can customize Android to make him look like you–you can alter his size and facial attributes, play dress up, and even throw on some accessories like shoes and glasses for good measure. So wait are you waiting for? Android users, have at it!
Remember that bizarre demonstration that featured Frenchman Francois Vogel simulating the 3D active shutter process by attaching two modules to the temples on either side of his head? Yep, it was fake. Doubts, confirmed. The culprit: 3D projection in post-production. It was an admittedly intriguing experiment wrapped in suspicion. Now here’s to hoping that someone will actually come up with a glasses-free 3D solution that isn’t so wildly disturbing to witness.
Russian-born 25-year-old Irina Shayk follows Brooklyn Decker as the next cover model of the always anticipated Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Shayk was discovered in 2004 and this marks her fifth appearance in the Swimsuit Issue. Shayk, who claims to work out five times a week (um, I believe it), is currently dating soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. Enough words, am I right? Gaze at the SI cover above, then browse through the gallery of images below. The video (sitting after the break) goes behind-the-scenes of her photoshoot in the Philippines. And there’s more where all this came from; head over to Shayk’s main SI page for even more pics and vids.
Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Sin City, Machete) has teamed up with Nike and its spokesperson Kobe Bryant to direct a fantastic little short called The Black Mamba. Danny Trejo stars as The Crippler, Bruce Willis is Mister Suave, and The Boss is played by none other than Kanye West. “Some take souls, some take scalps…the Boss takes shoes.” For a promotional bit this is so extraordinarily over-the-top in the good kind of way. Can Kobe defeat the sinister West and keep his kicks? Watch and enjoy.
The music video for Kanye West’s All of the Lights has arrived. ‘Ye tapped long-time collaborator Hype Williams to direct, and he also managed to bring featured artists Rihanna (her supple breasts) and Kid Cudi into the mix. The video plays out in a unique manner. It begins in black-and-white, following a little girl walking around a city while the interlude plays behind her. The interlude fades out about one minute in, bright colors frantically flash over the still girl, and the vocals come begin. Before West, Rihanna, and Cudder show up, RiRi belts out the chorus as the corresponding lyrics fill up the screen in various colors, shapes, sizes, and style. After Cudi concludes his bit, the horns come back and we are left without an appearance from Fergie. The chorus sounds again along with the stylized words, and then the video name drops all of the song’s contributors including John Legend, Charlie Wilson, Tony Williams, Alicia Keys, and La Roux. The final fifteen seconds involves a barrage of–what else–flashing lights. If you haven’t picked up My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy yet, what is wrong with you?
It’s true, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Britney Spears since her 2007 meltdown. But I’ve never seen such anticipation for music video like this before. Spears shot the video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund and choreographed by Brian Friedman, in late January and since then “HIAM” and anything relating to it has been trending on Twitter ever since. People couldn’t stop talking about Britney’s followup to her comeback effort (2008’s Circus). The Max Martin/Dr. Luke dance track is lively and technically sound; Spears’ autotuned voice adds some flavor to it. The music video is odd, to say the least. Though the choreography is enjoyable, Åkerlund decided on too many frantic cuts so it was hard to watch Britney do her thing. I did enjoy the battle of the Britneys sequence, and I’m sure you will too. Check it out above, and download the track right here. Her seventh studio album Femme Fatale releases March 25.
This week Microsoft hosted a Windows Phone 7 themed press event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. There they spent time refreshing people’s minds about what differentiates Windows Phone 7 from the rest of the competition; namely they went over the mobile operating system’s smart design, hubs, and glance-and-go live tiles–all of which you should already know about. A chunk of the event, however, also spent time previewing the future of WP7. Multitasking, Internet Explorer 9, broader Skydrive connectivity, and Twitter integration are all coming to the OS later this year; get all the details presented in easy to swallow bullet-point form below.
Multitasking: At launch Microsoft decided not to allow multitasking support for third party apps due to battery life concerns. But now that’s changed because the company has figured out a way to make multitasking work without significantly draining the battery. At the event Microsoft demoed switching in and out of a game. Say you’re playing a game and want to make a phone call. To jump out of gameplay and initiate a call, simply tap the Home button, select the appropriate hub and make the call. After the call is complete, tap the Back button and you’ll instantly be returned to your game. You’ll find that the game automatically paused itself, so you can to resume the session without missing any in-game action. Microsoft also figured out an intuitive way to view open apps at once and quickly switch between them. Press and hold the Back button to bring up a new tasking switching view that displays your open apps in a card-like fashion (think WebOS). You can swipe left and right to see your open apps and tap one to instantly return to it right where you left off. Microsoft highlighted multitasking with third party music apps, too. Music can now play in the background (yippe!). Microsoft demoed Slacker; now you can play a radio station inside Slacker, initiate the task switching view, jump into another app like Email, and the music will continue to play in the background. In addition, music apps are tied to WP7 audio controls, meaning that you can control a third party app’s volume and playback options (play/pause/forward/back) using WP7’s built-in audio controls that are accessible on the home screen when you press the hardware volume buttons.
Internet Explorer 9: The next version of IE is coming to WP7. IE 9 will bring hardware and graphics acceleration to the platform, taking advantage of those speedy mobile processors that are making their way into smartphones. Microsoft pressed the point that the core browsing engine in IE9 that ships on PCs is the same core browsing engine that will ship on phones. This is good for developers because if their site performs well on the PC, they know it will work well on Windows Phone. HTML5 content was distinctly prominent in the demo with no mention of Adobe’s initiative, so don’t expect Flash support to come with this update.
Skydrive connectivity: Skydrive is to WP7 as iDisk is to iPhone. Get it? Skydrive is essentialy Microsoft’s version of Dropbox which allows users to view, edit, and share documents in the cloud on their devices. Skydrive will live inside the Office hub (so there’s no separate app download required) and it brings support for Office documents in the cloud. If you’re already logged into your Windows Live account, there’s no need to login in to access the cloud drive at any time.
Twitter integration: Since launch Microsoft has incorporated Facebook status updates and pictures in the People and Pictures hubs, respectively. With the new update they are welcoming another social network into the fray. Twitter integration is coming to the People hub where it will co-exist with Facebook in a similar manner to it; your contact’s tweets will appear alongside their status updates.
That’s the bulk of new WP7 features demoed at the MWC event. However, there are three other points to make. (1) At the event Microsoft briefly previewed a futuristic demo that ties together WP7 with Xbox’s controller-less motion accessory Kinect. The prerecorded demo featured the Kinect game Rally Ball and it showed one person standing up flailing their arms at the oncoming storm of rubber balls and two others using their WP7 devices to wirelessly control the amount and location of the balls on their respective device’s screens. In essence this is a preview of real-time cross-platform gaming between phones and game consoles, and it’s a neat trick to say the least. Look after the break to see it in action. (2) Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer invited Nokia’s Stephen Elop to discuss the newly formed partnership between the two tech companies. Elop pretty much reiterated everything he previously mentioned at his own event, but some choice quotes stuck out here. He said, “Microsoft and Nokia together represent a natural partnership. People are getting it.” The world is shifting from “a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems” and that with Microsoft they can become a competitive force in this transforming environment. Nokia will “accelerate the adoption of the Windows Phone platform” by “bring[ing] iconic hardware [and] incredible industrial design [to] a leading operating system.” (3) Coming in early March is copy-and-paste functionality (along with CDMA radio support (hello Verizon and Sprint devices), and other performance improvements)!
Go on, hop after the break to find videos demonstrating multitasking, IE 9, and the Kinect companionship.
This, by far, is the greatest trailer for a video game I’ve ever seen. I thought nothing could come close to those beautifully produced Halo trailers (especially this one), but man was I wrong. This trailer for the upcoming survival-horror game Dead Island is so emotionally gripping it really rips at your heart not unlike a traditional theatrical trailer. The slow motion reverse chronology played against a piano and violin backdrop elicits memories of Lost in a chilling and striking manner. Watch it, let it all sink in, then watch it again.
Brilliant on so many levels, right? The realism is simply stunning. Now let’s move onto some background info concerning this now-hotly anticipated title. Dead Island was first imagined in 2007 by publisher Deep Silver and developer Techland (Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood), and they’ve been working on it ever since. Techland describes it as a “first-person zombie-slasher/action-RPG.” So what does that mean? It’s hard to say since the developers are keeping mum on the game mechanics for the time being. Here’s what we know. The game takes place at the fictional Royal Palms Resort based on the remote island of Banoi in Papua New Guinea. The island is a tourist-magnet and you play a guest vacationing at the hotel. A zombie outbreak takes place during your stay, and its up to you a the remaining uninfected to find a way to escape the island. During your journey you’ll begin to discover the secret behind the mysterious outbreak. Gripping story so far, huh? In addition to fighting zombies you’ll come to discover how–and most importantly why–it all started. Speaking of combat, the developers are taking a uniquely different approach to the survival-horror zombie game. Instead of having a massive arsenal of guns and ammo at your disposal, things will be much more realistic in that you’ll be forced to use objects like knives, axes, broken pipes and other items you would find on a tropical island to fend off the flesh-eating undead. Think of it as survival horror with a melee action twist; combat will be more intimate that what you come to expect from a game like this.
According to the publisher up to four players can drop in and out of the game. But though co-op is supported, a single player mode will be there too. What we know about the RPG elements of the game only go so deep. You start the game as a simple tourist with no prior knowledge of zombie survivor skills, and as you fight your way through the infection you’ll gain skills and they will be tracked in some sort of leveling system. The game’s being developed for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC and is expected to release sometime this year.
If the game can at least live up to the trailer, Dead Island is primed to become the next best zombified project since AMC debuted The Walking Dead.
BioWare, the studio behind the role-playing game franchise Dragon Age, has tapped web series guru Felicia Day to produce a brand new series based in the world of the game. Dragon Age: Redemption takes place in Ferelden, the same environment Bioware’s original Dragon Age and upcoming Dragon Age 2 games are set in. Day, who penned the story, will play Tallis an Elven assassin who she describes as being “headstrong, she fights dirty, and she has a really sarcastic sense of humor.” She adds, “I wanted to bring a modern sensibility to a fantasy character in a fantasy world.” Day teamed up with director Peter Winther (associate producer of Independence Day), cinematographer John Bartley (Lost‘s DP), and props extraordinaire Greg Aronowitz to up the ante in terms of web series creation. “They are going to take this a step above what we have seen on the Web before,” says Day. Comedy web series The Guild this is not. Expect higher production value and kick-ass action sequences to boot. More than serving as a marketing device for Bioware (and parent company EA), Redemption will further propel the art of the web series into an entirely new realm of respectability…certainly if Felicia Day has anything to say about it.
Last night Day was a featured guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and there she premiered a teaser trailer for the series. Watch the trailer above and click after the break to find the Fallon segment. Dragon Age: Redemption is slated to begin its six-episode run this summer.
In early January at CES 2011 Motorola and T-Mobile took their respective stages to announce the upcoming Honeycomb-powered tablets. While Moto’s Xoom was almost fully fleshed out (exact release date and price are still up in the air), T-Mobile did not provide any details surrounding LG’s G-Slate besides saying it will be the “first 4G Android 3.0 powered tablet.” Well I happy to report that since then both the carrier and the manufacturer of the mysterious tablet have come out with hard specs and a release window. Lets get to it. The G-Slate (otherwise known as the LG Optimus Pad across the pond) packs a 8.9-inch (1280×768 WXGA) multitouch display and runs on a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor. Other specs include 32GB of internal memory, built-in WiFi, gyroscope, accelerometer, and adaptive lighting, and Adobe Flash support. But don’t let me bore you to death; the G-Slate features something the other Honeycomb launch tablets don’t have–2 cameras at the rear for stereoscopic 3D video recording. Working together the two rear-facing camera can capture 1080p HD content that can be viewed on the slate itself (the display is in fact 3D-capable, limited to 720p HD, however) and 3D video (in 1080p resolution) can be pumped out to an external 3D-capable HDTV through HDMI output. One of the rear cameras doubles as a 5 megapixel camera for standard photo capture (with flash) and there’s a third 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. It’s important (and rather unfortunate) to note that pesky glasses are required to view 3D content on the slate’s display. Oh well–but it still remains a differentiating factor when it comes to making a purchasing decision between this, the Xoom, and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The G-Slate will release this spring (likely in March) exclusively on T-Mobile’s network in the States, and as mentioned before it will take advantage of T Mo’s “4G” HSPA+ speeds. To end things on an even brighter note, the slate’s expected to ship as a Google Experience device, meaning it will come preloaded with a fresh version of Honeycomb, free of any LG and T-Mobile bloatware. Cheers to that! Pics below, video and PR after the break.
