After spotting the new trailer for the new movie, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, I found myself thoroughly delighted and eager to see the movie itself. The comedic stylings of Simon Pegg and Jeff Bridges are plenty enough, but now, as it turns out, I have another reason. No, really, I’m sure it’s gonna be a great movie. Yezzir.
Namco is bringing one of my personal arcade favorites, Pole Position, to the iPhone and iPod touch in the form of Pole Position: Remix. This new iteration of the racing classic, featuring three different control modes and unlockable items like themed race tracks and new vehicles, is available now in the iTunes App Store.
Despite the fair amount of warning (in the form of scathing reviews and horrible box office performance), and going against all semblance of common sense and gut feeling, I rented and watched two fairly unimpressive yet highly puzzling movies this last weekend, 88 Minutes and Deception.
Of course, these criteria aren’t exactly all-encompassing and don’t always apply to every situation, but if you’ve managed to hit all of these, then yes–YOU’VE SOLD OUT. It’s cool. We can dig it. Don’t be ashamed about it (not that you would be), and whenever you think about the choices you’ve made or the reasons why, you can kick back and just think about all the bank you’re making! Fantastic!
A new venture called slotMusic aims to change the way consumers pick up their music by changing the medium from CDs to microSD cards. At first glance, it seems like an innovative alternative to the languishing compact disc format, offering consumers high-quality (320kbps), DRM-free music with the possibility of additional content like liner notes, album art and videos and the ability for users to modify the contents of the SD card itself, all on a platform that works with most computers and mobile devices.
With big music labels like Sony BMG, Universal and Warner behind it, retailers like Best Buy and Wal-mart are set to start selling slotMusic selections this holiday season, but in today’s world of digital delivery, whether slotMusic can become a viable option is yet to be seen.
Pretty awesome announcement from Internet Movie Database today that users can now watch over 6,000 movies and TV shows for free at imdb.com. The selection includes episodes of shows like 24, Heroes, CSI, The Office, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and movies like Master and Commander: Far Side of the World, Raising Arizona and Some Like It Hot. Check out the action at imdb.com.
Telestream, makers of Flip4Mac, today unveiled Drive-In, a new Mac application that allows a user to create a disc image of movie DVDs to be stored on their computers for easy storage and access. Unlike other apps like MacTheRipper, Drive-In seems to be more MPAA-friendly in that it has certain measure built-in to prevent piracy and all that jazz. According to Telestream, “Drive-in locks the software to the owner’s computer and locks the images to the software. Drive-in allows users to play movie images on computers that they own, but it does not allow users to share their images with others.” Hrmph, interesting. Read the press release for more details.
Just in case anyone hadn’t noticed (because aren’t magazines dead, after all?), the 75th anniversary issue of Esquire is about to hit newsstands with a unique approach to cover design. How unique? It’s being produced with an electronic ink process that could either revolutionize (or further trivialize) magazines and printed publications in the future.
There’s something truly spectacular about what’s happening with the Web these days in regards to social networking. While the Web was built on the principle of unfettered, worldwide communication and reached for new levels of complexity for the sake of commerce over the last couple of decades, it’s the advent of “Web 2.0″ and personal connectivity that are taking the Web to new heights. Thanks to advances in hardware and the global nature of the Web itself, the level of “connectedness” between users is something previously unseen in any other technology or medium. Using sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and a score of others, it’s easier than ever to keep up with your friends, your favorite “things” and just about anything that anyone in the world might take an interest in.
Just a five years ago, it was a common practice for someone to have to search and find their friends online, and then resort to other, more-traditional forms of communication (e-mails, phone calls, etc.) just to interact with them. These days, traces of personalization, transparency and social interactivity are finding their ways into sites of all purposes. It would seem that in its relatively short history, the Web has gone from being a place of open communication and discussion to a promising-yet-ultimately-busted marketplace to a dazzling new hybrid. A hybrid where users can communicate and connect with each other and where companies are able to get in on the game and become more approachable by “networking” with customers. Same puzzle, same puzzle pieces, but somehow, it’s all a much happier combination.
And yet, I think I’ve hit my limit.
