Michael Bay & James Cameron Talk 3D from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.
So who do you think has more expertise working with 3D technologies, Cameron (Avatar) or Bay (Transformers)? Spoiler alert: It’s the guy who dreamed up Pandora.
In related Transformers news, Paramount has shifted the premiere of the third installment from Friday, July 1 to Wednesday, June 29. Catch the latest trailer after the break. Continue reading Michael Bay & James Cameron talk 3D
Yesterday and today Google hosted its renowned developer’s conference dubbed Google I/O 2011. Literally thousands of developers flocked to San Fransisco’s Moscone Center to find out what Google’s been cooking up on their end. This year’s event proved to be leaps and bounds more exciting than last year’s conference. Google introduced their new cloud-based music service called Music Beta; they unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Android that promises to bridge the gap between Gingerbread and Honeycomb; Android is going into the home automation business with Google’s impressive initiative Android@Home; Chrome OS is finally ready for the big leagues–Samsung and Acer are prepping Chromebooks for mass consumption; and Angry Birds has landed in the browser!
So much to discuss–it’s all a hop, skip and a jump after the break. Continue reading Google I/O 2011: Music Beta, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Android@Home, Chrome OS, Chrome Web Store
YouTube’s been offering movies to rent since 2009, but the streaming service never really popped due to lack of popular content. Things are about to change. Thanks to super-duper partnerships with major Hollywood studios like NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. the collection of rentable movies from YouTube just got a whole lot more exciting. In a press release, YouTube says that customers can expect classic films such as Caddyshack, Goodfellas, Scarface, and Taxi Driver to blockbuster new releases like Inception, The King’s Speech, Little Fockers, The Green Hornet and Despicable Me to start making their way into the video store shortly. New titles will continually be added to the library every week. The renting process is simple and works similarly to competitors out there (read: Apple TV, etc.). Sign into your YouTube account, browse the movies library, and rent a movie with your credit card. Pricing ranges from $2.99 to $3.99 depending on SD/HD resolutions and new releases vs. older selections. Interestingly the press release notes that the site supports video in up to 4k resolution, but I don’t see studios uploading that kind of quality in the foreseeable future. Once a movie is rented, customers will have 30 days to begin watching and once the movie is played it will vanish from existence in 24 hours. Note that movies are strictly streamed over the Internet and not downloaded locally. They are viewable on PCs and Google TVs only for the time being. YouTube is trying to differentiate itself by including “YouTube Movie Extras,” free behind-the-scenes videos, cast interviews, parodies, clips and remixes from YouTube’s unique community of content creators alongside the rentable movies.
Head over to youtube.com/movies to check out the new and highly improved movie selection. Full PR with FAQ after the break.
[Via YouTube 1, 2] Continue reading YouTube adds 3,000 movies from major Hollywood studios to its stable
Located on the Redmond campus, the Microsoft Home was first opened in 1994 and since then it has given private parties a glimpse into the future. Three to fifteen years into the future, to be somewhat more precise. Though the Home is closed to the public, Channel 9’s Steve Clayton was recently invited inside with a camera crew and his all-too-brief tour is available for everyone to watch in the video embedded above. Microsoft’s Flora Goldthwaite is the tour leader and she admits that the technology inside the house is at the prototype stage; though Microsoft envisions these technologies to be possible in the near future, perhaps they won’t be used the way in which the Home demonstrates them. Anyhow, all of the quick demos are intriguing to say the least. From conductive charging plates that display UIs to next-gen media centers and kid’s rooms that project incoming text messages and Twitter updates, Microsoft’s home of the future certainly tickles the imagination.
[Via Channel9]
Wow neat is this? A man known only by his Internet handle “cranberryzero” has integrated an augmented reality experience into his arm! If you’ve purchased Nintendo latest handheld the 3DS, you’d know that the system comes bundled with a pack of AR Cards. When you point the 3DS’ outer cameras at the cards an augmented reality game or a bunch of classic Nintendo characters come to life. Here, cranberryzero apparently walked into a tattoo parlor and came out with one of the AR Cards imprinted on his wrist. Now when he points his 3DS at his arm his personalized Mii grows out of it. A little bizarre, but still super cool right? Head over to the source link to watch a video of the magic in action.
[Via IHeartChaos]
Back in February, HP formally introduced three new WebOS-enabled devices imagined by the Palm godfather Job Rubinstein. The HP Veer, the smallest of the bunch, is hitting the market first and it’s coming to AT&T. Described to be the size of a credit card and no thicker than a deck of cards, the newly branded HP Veer 4G goes a little something like this: 2.6-inch (320×400) glass touch display, an 800MHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera, full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, built-in GPS, WiFi 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth, 8GB of storage, accelerometer, proximity, and light sensors, Adobe Flash Player support, it can act as a mobile hotspot supporting up to 5 WiFi-capable devices, HSPA+, one USB port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It runs WebOS version 2.1 and comes in black and white variants. When it drops May 15 the palm-sized handset will set you back an affordable $99.99, two-year contract with AT&T required. Full PR after the break, as is an image that shows you just how pint-sized this thing really is.
[Via Palm] Continue reading HP Veer 4G comes to AT&T May 15 for $100
After almost five years on the market, Nintendo has finally decided to drop the price of the Wii from $199.99 to $149.99, effective May 15. In addition, the Wii Sports + Wii Sports Resort bundle will no longer be available. The lower priced Wii, still available in black and white, will come packaged with Mario Kart Wii and matching colored Wiimote (with built-in Wii Remote Plus functionality), nunchuck, and Wii Wheel accessories. The new black Wii Wheel will also be made available for purchase separately for $9.99.
On that same May day, Ninty will launch the new Nintendo Selects collection of Wii games. The companies most popular Wii games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Mario Super Sluggers, and Wii Sports will sell for a low $19.99.
[Via Nintendo]
This week Apple temporarily shut down their online shop and when it came back it was freshly stocked with the brand new iMac. Just like the last product refresh, things look the same on the outside. On the inside, however, Apple has raised the bar for the all-in-one package. The new iMac features “Sandy Bridge” Intel quad-core processors across the line, next-gen AMD graphics, and it joins the MacBook Pro in sporting the speedy Thunderbolt port. Pricing starts at $1,199 for the base 21.5-incher and $1,699 for the 27-inch model.
Hop on after the break for the full rundown.
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]
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]
Is this the greatest zombified video game trailer after Dead Island? I think so. To promote the latest DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops, Activision put together this insanely awesome trailer that stars Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Danny Trejo (Machete) Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead), and the father of zombie films George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead). The DLC content pack is called “Escalation” and it’s described like this: “Set in a mysterious, ice-covered, remote Siberian island and inspired by legendary writer and director George A. Romero, a group of four fearless explorers fight for their lives amidst an army of bloodthirsty Soviet zombies.” Watch the Robert Rodriguez-inspired (Planet Terror) trailer above and anticipate Escalation’s May 3 release.
[Via Joystiq]
The day has finally arrived. Apple figured out how to make an iPhone 4 a color other than black. In June 2010 at WWDC Apple announced the latest version of the iPhone and showed off the beautiful hardware in two colors: black and white. Claiming manufacturing problems, the company delayed the launch of the white model on numerous occasions, to the point where everyone started to suspect Jobs & co. would simply wait for iPhone 5 to introduce the new hue. Well now we can all put those worries to rest; today Apple released a press statement (located after the break) saying that the white iPhone will arrive in stores tomorrow, April 28 around the world.
Says Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing: “The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful. We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.”
And here are the deets: White iPhone 4 models will be available from Apple’s online store, at Apple’s retail stores, AT&T and Verizon Wireless stores, and select Apple Authorized Resellers. The following countries will see phantom handset in their stores starting tomorrow: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and the US. Besides change in color, the hardware remains the same as the black model and so does pricing: $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB–on contract with a wireless carrier.
Hip hip….now when’s iPhone 5 coming out?
[Via Apple] Continue reading iPhone 4 to receive new coat of paint tomorrow