Android still dominates smartphone sales, Apple gains much ground

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It’s time to take a closer look into the exciting and ever-expanding smartphone market. The NPD Group, a market research company, has done some number crunching for us to determine US smartphones sales for the first quarter of 2011. They break it down by smartphone manufacturer: Android-powered smartphones accounted for 50 percent of smartphone unit sales in Q1 2011 (falling 3 percent from last quarter); Apple’s iOS gained some ground jumping 9 percentage points to comprise 28 percent of smartphone sales; and RIM remains in a distant third place, dropping 3 percentage points to 14 percent for the quarter. Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD, explains Apple’s growth and Android dip (spoiler alert: it’s the Verizon iPhone’s fault): “Apple and Verizon had a very successful launch of the iPhone 4, which allowed the iPhone to expand its market share that was previously held back by its prolonged carrier exclusivity with AT&T. While some of that growth came at the expense of Android operating system (OS), Android models still accounted for half of all smartphones sold in the quarter.” Thanks to the iPhone being available on the world’s two largest carriers, Apple (14 percent) is now the third-largest handset brand in the US behind LG (18 percent) and Samsung (23 percent).

Here are a couple fun facts for you to chew on. This quarter marks the first time a majority (54 percent) of all new mobile-phone handsets purchased by U.S. consumers were smartphones. Woohoo, yay technology! And here are the five top-selling mobile phone in the country: iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and HTC Droid Incredible. Go Apple and HTC!

[Via NDP]

Hulu Plus makes its way to Xbox 360 (free access this week!)

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We all knew it was coming, and now it’s finally here. Hulu Plus is now available to enjoy on Xbox 360. Microsoft joins Sony in becoming the second video games console to support access to Hulu’s collection of TV shows and movies. Now check this: Courtesy of Jack Link’s Beef Jerky (ya’ll remember the Sasquatch?), all Xbox LIVE members (that includes paying Gold subscribers and free Silver members) will be able to access the entire Hulu Plus collection on their consoles for one week, specifically from April 29 through May 6. Setup is simple. Download the Hulu Plus application on your Xbox 360 and you’ll be instructed to enter a code at hulu.com/plus/unlock. After giving Hulu your name and email address (no credit card required!), you’re all set. Free access to Hulu’s mega-collection of popular TV shows and movies from the Criterion Collection right at your fingertips. No, really; Kinect support is live at launch. Check out some stills of Hulu on Xbox in action below and begin your free trial before it’s too late. Once May 6 passes, you’ll have to be an Xbox Live Gold member ($50/year) and a Hulu Plus subscriber ($7.99/month) to continue accessing the content.

[Via HuluBlog]

Continue reading Hulu Plus makes its way to Xbox 360 (free access this week!) →

Production begins on The Avengers

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Here is the very first image from the set of the upcoming super hero epic The Avengers, released by Marvel. Not that exciting, I know; but when you really think about it, it kinda is. Director Joss Whedon has broken ground on the movie that will bring together Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and oh so many more Marvel favorites.

On April 24, the day before principal photography for the film began, Whedon marked the occasion with a short but sweet blog post on the fansite Whedonesque. Here’s an excerpt:

Hi Pumpkins, joss here. Tomorrow we start shooting (I THINK I’m legally permitted to say that). Day one. That’s right. We’ll be shooting the pivotal death/betrayal/product placement/setting up the sequel/coming out scene, at the following address: [Marvel Lawyers rush in, take Joss’s keyboard, blowtorch a picture of his family like in “Stormy Monday”, drink his milkshake, leave the seat up, fluff his pillows, violently unfluff his pillows, leave]

Oh, Joss. You’re going to want to read the rest here. Right! The Avengers assemble in theatres May 4, 2012.

Trailer: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

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Yup, Michael Bay just kicked it up a notch. In a nutshell, Optimus Prime is mad at the human race because we never made him privy to this information: during our mission on the moon in the ’60s, man discovered an entire Decepticon army including Optimus’ long lost predecessor Sentinel Prime. And then all hell breaks loose on Earth. Shia LaBeouf, his new girlfriend Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, and John Turturro’s Agent Simmons all make appearances here.

The third installment of Transformers makes it way to theatres July 1.

Trailers: X-Men: First Class

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Marvel has been releasing new trailers for X-Men: First Class left and right. It’s starting to feel like their losing control of the marketing campaign; attempting to round up all the released trailers has proven tricky. Anyhow, set aside some time to watch the four trailers I’ve managed to find today. A nearly three minute version is embedded above, and the remaining three can be accessed after the break.

X-Men: First Class starring James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto hits theatres June 3. Continue reading Trailers: X-Men: First Class →

TV preview: Josh Holloway in ‘Community’

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The man known ’round the world as James “Sawyer” Ford is about to make a visit to Greendale in the upcoming paintball episode of Community. Lost actor Josh Holloway plays Black Rider, “a mysterious stranger who’s thrown a wrench into the paintball game,” as described by show creator Dan Harmon. NBC plans to air the Community finale in two parts. The next paintball epic will begin May 5 in the episode titled “A Fist Full of Paintballs,” and Holloway will make his mark here. Part 2 airs May 12.

In an interview with EW, Harmon details how the two-parter will work. “It’s designed to exist both as one story but also two separate episodes. [The first] one has a Sergio Leone Western motif, so there’s more emphasis on tension, scarcity of ammo, and who might draw on who. But the second one erupts — the Western motif falls away and an out-and-out war happens. There’s a kind of an epic, wartime, band-of-rebels-against-a-larger-force Star Wars feel to the second one … If we only did the Western one, there might have been some people who said, ‘Oh it’s great, but it’s not ‘Modern Warfare.’ And then there’s other people who, if we had only done ‘Modern Warfare,’ would say, ‘Eh, same thing again.’”

Watch the brief but titillating preview featuring Black Rider’s first interaction with Alison Brie’s Annie. Tune into Community Thursday nights at 8PM on NBC.

‘The Cape’ is dead and gone

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And here is your proof. TVShowsOnDVD has managed to get their hands on this image of the DVD packaging for NBC’s failed series The Cape. Notice the branding: The Cape: The Complete Series. Typically networks release DVDs with the marking “The Complete First (or second or third) Season,” and as you can see that is not the case here. Nail, meet coffin. We all saw this coming, didn’t we? First the network decreased the show’s episode count by three, and then it refused to broadcast the series finale and put it online. I never want to even think about this show ever again. Yes, it was that bad.

[Via IGN]

TV Reminder: Steve Carell departs ‘The Office’ tonight

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Oh, I can already feel the tears swelling up. Tonight’s episode of The Office is called “Goodbye, Michael” and it will be the final episode starring the brilliantly talented Steve Carell.

The Office boss is going out with a bang, thankfully. The super-sized episode is extended from a half hour to fifty minutes in length; it will air from 9PM to 9:50PM, followed by a beefier episode of Parks and Rec (9:50PM-10:30PM) to soften the blow.

Don’t miss Michael Scott’s swan song tonight (4/28) at 9PM on NBC. The Office will attempt to forge on without him; two more episode will follow, then the season seven finale airs May 19. Perhaps this impressive slate of upcoming special guests will have you excited for the final three episodes. Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, Ray Romano, James Spader, Catherine Tate, Will Arnett, and Jim Carrey will all be vying for Michael Scott’s managerial position at Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch! Continue reading TV Reminder: Steve Carell departs ‘The Office’ tonight →

TV Reminder: South Parks returns tonight at 10PM on Comedy Central

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HUMANCENTiPAD

The boys of South Park return tonight! For the season fifteen premiere, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have something quite disturbing in store for us. What do you get when you bring together Apple’s iPad and the Dutch horror film The Human Centipede. Well, um, the “HUMANCENTiPAD” of course! And that is the title of tonight’s episode. It’s bound to be a riot. Watch a cartoony Steve Jobs introduce the revolutionary new product in the preview above and tune into Comedy Central at precisely 10PM for the goods.

Lord of the Rings coming back to theatres this June, Director’s Cut in tow

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LOTR fans, check it: To celebrate the ultimate Blu-ray release of Peter Jackson’s masterpiece, AMC is going to screen all three Director’s Cuts of the Lord of the Rings films this summer! They will be release chronologically over the course of three weeks leading up to the Blu-ray collection release date that is June 28. Here’s the plan. Each movie will be see new life in theatres for one night only. Fellowship of the Ring will play on June 14th, The Two Towers June 21st, and the trilogy will conclude with the screening of The Return of the King on June 28th. Tickets can be ordered today. Head over to AMC’s website and see if the extended cuts will be playing near you. And if you’re curious, the twice aforementioned LOTR ultimate Blu-ray collection is up for preorder at Amazon; it’ll cost you $83.99. So worth it! Should hold you over until Jackson’s next journey to the Shire.

[Via TheOneRing]

Trailer: Immortals

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300 meets Clash of the Titans in this trailer for the upcoming Greek mythological epic Immortals. Looks fun and stylistically gorgeous. Henry Cavill (soon to be the Man of Steel) and Mickey Rourke star as the Greek warrior Theseus and the mad King Hyperion, respectively. Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), John Hurt, Kellan Lutz, Isabel Lucas, Luke Evans and Stephen Dorff round out the cast. The Tarsem Singh-directed Immortals hits theatres November 11, 2011.