YouTuber Freddie25 watches a lot of TV. He also knows how to play a guitar and keyboard. And splice himself in two. With this he creates a great TV theme song medley. Enjoy.
Look after the break for the full breakdown of theme songs used in the video.
Continue reading TV theme song medley hits just the right chord
Don’t ask me what this is or where it came from. Just bask in all its glory. And as the final season winds down, we all need something like this to keep spirits high.
Tom Havorford (Aziz Ansari) is the “Ladies Man.” Look after the break for April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) the “Intern” and Ron freakin’ Swanson (Nick Offerman) in “Legend of the Mustache.”
Continue reading NBC pushes out short featurettes on three Parks & Rec characters
Remember when I told you about Spike Jonze’s latest project titled I’m Here, a 30-minute short film about robots in love? After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January, I’m Here is finally available to watch online. Here’s an updated synopsis for you:
I’m Here is a love story about two robots living in contemporary Los Angeles. The sad-eyed robot librarian Sheldon (Andrew Garfield) leads a lonely and methodical life, until he one day meets Francesca, a creative and free-spirited female robot (played by Sienna Guillory). Robot romance develops and the story is just as beautiful as it is unpredictable.
Though it’s sponsored by Absolut Vodka, you won’t find any product placement in the film. When you’re ready to sit back, relax, and pop some popcorn, head over to www.imheremovie.com to watch short film. The site is pretty neat, actually; it all plays out like you’re going to a virtual movie theatre. And get this–the site limits the audience to 5,000 viewers per day. So if the theatre’s all filled up today, better luck tomorrow. Enjoy.
I really don’t know what happened, but actress Dakota Fanning is no longer that little girl from War of the Worlds and Charlotte’s Web. In the biopic The Runaways, Fanning plays rocker Cherie Currie alongside Kristin Stewart’s Joan Jett. Above is the music video for “Cherry Bomb” and it features a scantily clad, microphone wielding Dakota Fanning. Like what you hear? The movie soundtrack is available at iTunes. She’s only 16-years-old, so keep it down a notch, OK?
Disney’s casting call for the next movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise seeks: “beautiful female fit models. Must be 5ft7in-5ft8in, size 4 or 6, no bigger or smaller. Age 18-25. Must have a lean dancer body. Must have real breasts. Do not submit if you have implants.” They go on to warn that there’ll be a “show and tell” day filled with all kinds of test to make sure candidate’s breats are real all around. How fun!
A former casting agent reminices the days of yesteryear: “In the last movie, there were enhanced breasts to give that 18th-century whorish look, and men were pretty well padded too, and no one worried. But times are changing, and the audience can spot false breasts.” Ha! So true.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will find Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) chest deep in a whole new adventure without his trusty sidekicks Orlando Bloom. Penelope Cruz replaces Keira Knightley as Sparrow’s love interest, Ian McShane is set to play Blackbeard, and it’s rumored that Geoffrey Rush will reprise his role as Barbossa. It’s set to hit theatres May 20, 2011.
I’m going on a hunch here and assuming you’ve seen Avatar in theatres. I mean, $737 million in domestic ticket sales doesn’t just spring out of no where. And I bet you can’t wait to get your mits on your own copy. Avatar is set to release on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 22 to coincide with Earth Day (how cute). The April DVD/Blu-Ray release will not include any bonus features. That means no deleted scenes, no behind-the-scenes featurettes, no nothing. Why, you ask? “Sources at Fox said the April disc will come without extra features so that all available storage space can be used for the best picture and sound possible.” So where’s all the extra features then? Apparently they will be packed into a second release (dubbed “The Ultimate Edition”) of the DVD/Blu-Ray packages in November. And what about the 3D version of the movie; when can we watch it at home the way it’s meant to be seen? That won’t come until sometime in 2011. Consumers likely won’t have 3D TVs to play it on until then anyway. So your safest bet is to wait until November to snag all the extras and play the rest by hear; who knows how fast 3D tech in the home will catch on.
Update: Sorry 3D fans, this update does not push forward the Avatar in 3D release. But it does fix the no bonus features ’til November fiasco. A fresh press release reveals The Avatar Program: “Connecting the two releases in April and November is “The Avatar Program,” an interactive consumer experience that offers an online hub for exclusive content, discounts and more.” The Avatar DVD/Blu-Ray release on April 22 will come with a unique code that can be used to access bonus features online and adopt a “virtual hometree.” Full PR after the break.
[Via Reuters; Gizmodo; BoxOfficeMojo; Engadget] Continue reading Avatar in 3D coming home to a 3DTV near you in 2011 [UPDATED]
Watch as 23-year-old Franklin Page sets the Guinness World Record for the fastest text message on a touchscreen mobile phone. The phone used is the Samsung Omnia II which is the first to feature Samsung’s new text entry technology called Swype. Page, a Swype intern, set the new record at 35.54 seconds, beating out the previous record of 40.91 seconds. He won the crown typing: “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” That’s the 160-character phrase Guinness uses for all text-messaging records. And the deed was captured on camera and made into an exciting commercial for Samsung.
[Via SeattleTimes; Gizmodo]
This itty bit of news has just made my week. Remember that game SkiFree that came preloaded on Windows 3.1? It was a very simple game; you used the arrow keys to direct the skier speck to the bottom of a hill, trying your best to not run into obstacles like trees and rocks. Today gameplay utilizes iPhone goodies like the built-in accelerometer for steering and the touchscreen for jumping. The developer promises a future update will add a new slalom mode, easter eggs from the original SkiFree, and the absent and totally necessary Snow Monster. That little basterd would always get me once I reached near the bottom of the hill! Download SkiFree here; it’s free!
[Via BusinessInsider; Gizmodo]
We all knew this was coming. The latest Internet meme is now featured in an app for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Edward Anatolevich Hill is ‘The Creepy La-La-La Guy’ you’ve seen belt out those lalala’s and get impersonated by the great Christoph Waltz. You can now bring the nightmare-inducing man to your iPhone with the Trololo app. In it Hill sings his tune over and over again as you try to unlock the following powers: Applause, Funny Hat, Tone Invasion, Lava, Earthquake, and Chicken Of Death. Normally priced at $1.99, the app is free today! So go on and download it. Or don’t.
Meet Anna, Miles, and Luca. They are the ficticious family Microsoft has decided to use in their first commercial spotlighting their brand new mobile OS. Windows Phone 7 Series is shown off in all its panoramic glory by way of enlarged heads up displays. Thought it’s nothing spectacular, Microsoft gets it right by featuring the OS’s most prominent features like the connected people hub, photo sharing, and Xbox Live. With WP7S devices due out this holiday season, let the marketing blitz begin.
[Via Engadget]
This past week Microsoft revealed more details surrounding its brand new mobile phone platform, Windows Phone 7 Series. During their WP7S launch event last month, Microsoft showed off all the UI basics and promised more information to come this month at their annual conference held for developers and web designers called MIX. And boy did they deliver. MIX’10 proved to be a highly informative conference, focusing on how developers will get their applications onto WP7S devices.
Technical details. Third-party developers will have access to XNA and Silverlight tools to create applications for WP7S devices. Microsoft is offering free dev tools, providing Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone and Expression Blend for Windows Phone, to get things started. In addition to these programs, developers also have access to many services like Microsoft Location Service, allowing devs to make their apps location-aware, and Microsoft’s Notification Service, a push notification system much akin to Apple’s that allows devs to send notifications to users of their apps, regardless of the app being open. Notifications slide down in a tray at the top of the screen (less obtrusive than Apple’s pop up way of doing it). Other prominent services that devs are given include multitouch, accelerometer, and camera & microphone support. If you are a developer or know someone who is a developer, Microsoft is offering free beta versions of the dev tools today at developer.windowsphone.com.
Where will all the apps be sold, you ask? In the Windows Phone Marketplace, of course! Just like the rest of the hubs, the Marketplace hub will be “panoramic,” meaning menus are opened with left and right slide gestures. Microsoft is encouraging all developers to create trial versions of their full apps. The Marketplace supports credit card purchases, operator billing, and ad-supported content. Purchased apps can be pinned to the user’s home screen for easy access. Finally, the revunue split: 70% goes to the publisher, 30% to Microsoft.
Marketplace partners. Microsoft announced the first slew of app partners and they include exciting picks like Pandora, Sling, Shazam, EA Mobile, Namco, Foursquare, and the Associated Press. Look after the break for a full listing of all partners. A majority of the demos show that at least this initial batch of apps will deeply integrate with the WP7S look and feel (think panoramic views and shiny, sleek interfaces). Many of them show off 3D animations, incorporate images and video, and they can reach into your local content (like a photo editing app opening up a picture you took). The most interesting app demo came from Netflix. They demoed a prototype app that supports Watch Instantly, allowing a subscriber to browse and watch their Netflix collection on the go. Unfortunately this was being pushed as a concept, and we likely won’t see anything like it for some time. Another exciting app demo showed off the gaming capabilities of WP7S devices. The Harvest is a 3D Xbox Live-supported title that excited developers with its gorgeous graphics, destructable environments, and Xbox Live in-game leaderboard, gamerscore, and acheivement support. Look in the gallery below for screenshots from some apps.
Lingering questions are answered.
Multitasking: WP7S will not support true multitasking. Microsoft’s first-party applications will run in the background when exited, but third-party apps will remain in a suspended state until the device needs additional resources. For example, Microsoft apps like Internet Explorer and the Zune music player will run in the background, but other apps like Yelp will be forced to quit when not in direct use at any point without notification when you start opening other apps and the device needs to access more resources. This “intelligent app management” is also purportedly found in Google’s Android OS.
Copy & paste: Following in the footsteps of its big competitor, WP7S will not support the copy & paste function at launch. Apparently this was a conscious decision made by Microsoft; they believe cell phone users do not use this function very often. Instead, Wp7S devices will use a data detection service that recognizes text input like phone numbers and addresses. Hopefully they won’t take as long as Apple did with bringing clipboard functionality to its mobile OS.
What’s contoso?: Contoso is the placeholder name Microsoft added to the Marketplace UI, and now we know its purpose for being there. Microsoft has alloted a space in the Marketplace for phone carriers to put their own branded store. So this is a separate place where Verizon Wireless can sell their content to users, for instance.
Hardware minimum requirements: capacitive touch; A-GPS, accelerometer, compass, light and proximity sensors; 5 megapixel camera with flash and an independent camera button; 256MB RAM, 8GB Flash; DirectX 9 & codec acceleration; an ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion CPU; and Back, Start, and Search face buttons. Initially Microsoft will require all handsets to boast a 800 x 480 (WVGA) resolution screen. An update will allow for 320 x 480 (HVGA) screens at a later undisclosed date.
Exsisting WP7S devices: At Mobile World Congress, we were introduced to the Asus model. At MIX, two new devices were unveiled–a Samsung slate and LG slider (the first with a keyboard).
All in all, MIX’10 was a huge invitational for all developers and Microsoft welcomed them with open arms. Microsoft is making it extremely easy for developers to jump into Windows Phone 7 Series by offering free dev tools. With their stringent hardware minumim requirements and terriffic initial batch of app partners, the apps out of the gate should look great and function well. With graphics-intensive games like The Harvest linking Xbox Live to cell phones, Microsoft could very well raise the bar for mobile gaming, giving the App Store and its growing number of sub-par games (and even the likes of DS and PSP) a tremble in their boots. I am really digging Microsoft’s start-from-the-ground-up mentality and I am excited to see what developers can do with their brand new mobile platform. However, as many have pointed out, Microsoft is stuck in a classic case of Catch-22: Microsoft wants customers to choose WP7S phones and developers to write programs for them. But developers won’t bother pushing their apps into the Windows Phone Marketplace if customers aren’t attracted to WP7S phones, and customers won’t purchase WP7S phones if they don’t offer a wide-ranging marketplace of apps! Microsoft still has more work to do. Priority number one? Come up with a good marketing campaign.
[Via Engadget, here, here, here, here & here; Gizmodo; Slashgear]
Continue reading Microsoft details WP7S at MIX’10: developers, developers, developers