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Dearest CrunchGear readers: I recently had the honor and privilege of speaking to Karen Dyer, who is not only the voice of Sheva Alomar, from
Resident Evil 5, but who also did said character’s motion capture. I hope you
enjoy it on this day, our day of freedom.
Obviously, “K” is for Karen, and “N” is for Nicholas. With that…
N: Well, first off congratulations. Resident Evil 5 was a big hit. It sold something
like 4 million copies.
K: That’s what I hear!
N: Excellent. But before we get into the game, I just wanted to bring up something I saw on your
bio. It says here you’re known for your circus skills, and I just wanted to say how that
awesome that is. And I wanted to ask, where do you study that? Because I don’t know if your
average community college offers that type of training.
K: You might get a juggling course, but maybe not everything that I do. I’ve actually been
doing a bit of circus stuff for a while. I’ve been doing fire eating, breathing, twirling
performance, stilts, juggling, walking ball, and aerial. It started off just kind of knowing the
right people and hanging out with them, and then getting involved with different circus troupes
and doing a little bit of circus myself. Now I’ve kind of created this alter ego, Eva La
Dare, that I get to use as my sexy circus outlet, if you will. [Note: Here's a video of Eva La Dare in action. I'd say it's
mildly NSFW because she's eating fire in a sort of exotic dance setting.]
N: And how’s that working out? Is the circus business booming, or… I have no idea.
That’s a world…
K: It is booming! And you know why? Well it’s just so damn interesting to look at, for one.
You might have noticed Christina Aguileira had some circus stuff in her latest tour. T. Pain’s
whole album was about being the ring
leader, and I was actually on tour with T. Pain doing fire and stilts as my alter ego for his
last tour; I just got off tour in February. And of course now Brittney is on tour with her
Circus album. So it’s not doing
too bad.
N: Alright, well. It was just something that like, wow, that’s sorta unusual. I don’t
really read about that too often.
K: Anything that’s unusual and daring I’m usually into. It didn’t take me long
to want to pick up a few skills. Someone would come along and say, “Hey do you want to eat
some fire?” I’d be like, sure!
N: Who doesn’t!
K: Yeah, you know, willing. As long as you’re willing you’ll learn.
N: Excellent. All right, now I guess we can get to the reason why we’re here, Resident Evil
5. You’re the voice Sheva and you also did the motion capture, right?
K: That is correct, I did both. Quite a wild ride.
N: How did you first get involved with that? Who contacted whom? How does that even go about
happening?
K: Well you know it’s funny. My experience with motion capture beforehand, I had only just
done a couple of small games. Through a contact that I had worked with they recommended me to
Capcom because they were having this search for someone who can handle the activities and the
movement and the voice and everything that they needed for Sheva. And when I met with them I went
through a series of tests. We did some green screen shoots, I went and got some training with
guns and rifles because it was very important that I could do all the activity with my left hand.
I’m a right-handed person and Sheva is left-handed. I had to make it look convincing. They
made me jump through a couple of hoops and in the end they were happy with keeping me on. So I
got the part!
N: And you did a good job, I would say. I mean I beat the game probably like three of four times.
So, yeah, it was very convincing. So I wanted to know how long was that whole process, from the
first day at the office till lights out, go home now. How long did that whole thing take?
K: I think it was a lot longer than most games. I was brought on in September of 2007. Up until
that time they were still making the designs and the look of the characters, the background and
the story. They’d been working on that since earlier in 2007. When I got brought in it was
September of 2007. I went through a series of training with the green screen shoots. I
don’t know how much you know about the background of how they developed this game, but we
went through shooting the whole cinematic script on a green screen process that took the whole
month of December 2007. So between September and December it was more about the training and
getting familiar with the character. In December we did the green screen shoot, and then Capcom
made their changes and decisions about what we would do for the next phase, which was the motion
capture, which we started in January, which we did in phases throughout the year till about
April. I started working on some of the voice earlier in that part of the year in 2008 and
continued coming back for more voice sessions throughout the year all the way till about
September, October of 2008. Between then and the game’s release there might have been a
couple of pick-ups, not a lot. But yeah, a year, over the course of a year working on the same
game which I hear is kind of unheard of. I feel like I’ve been totally spoiled by this
whole experience.
N: Well it was a very big production. It doesn’t really get much bigger than that.
K: It was a huge production. Doing all the motion capture here in L.A. and using a film director
in the Hollywood business. There was a lot of firsts for them.
N: Do you consider yourself a gamer at all, had you played any of the previous Resident Evil
games? It’s one of the biggest franchises out there.
K: I haven’t played the earlier ones. I played Resident Evil 4 and really enjoyed that one.
As far as games, I can’t say that I’m a hardcore gamer yet.
N: Oh, yet!
K: I say the word yet because now this has totally opened a whole new world to me and I’m
attending a lot of my first conventions. I love the arcade games. I’m a big Time Crisis fan.
N: Oh, really?
K: Oh yeah. I love Time Crisis. Anything that I can actually use the prop in my hand
I’m a big fan of. I’ve gotten used to—shooting real guns? That’s fun, you
know? When I play Resident Evil 5 I get used to using my thumbs; I’m getting
better. Especially with things like the Wii, the more interactive it is the more interested
I’ve become. It’s opened a whole new world to me.
N: That’s actually tremendous. Now they’re developing all these motion controls,
it’s supposed to be more immersive, this that and the third. I imagine more and more people
will be gamers as the years go by.
K: Yeah, I can see it. It’s inevitable because everyone will want to be active in that way.
N: Yeah. Can you take us through the average day of production? Because you watch a documentary
or whatever and you see Hollywood stars waking up at 4am to put on make-up and they’re
working 17-hour days. Was it that arduous for you?
K: For me, I did have a pretty hectic schedule because I was in every scene. For me, and of
course Ruben playing Chris Redfield, we probably had the bulk of the schedule to do. In the green
screen shoot, we had the make-up call because we went through full make-up and full costumes for
the green screen shoot. And the days were long. I would say at least 12-14 hours at the bulk of
it, with the motion capture. My background, physically, has been mostly in dance and circus. I
did sports in my school days and stuff; I’m pretty active. But I still had to get a lot of
stunt training because I did my own stunts in the game.
N: That was going to be my next question. What type of training was involved? I imagine
you’d have to be pretty physically fit to be jumping around all day doing motion capture.
K: Yeah, but I love the jumping around! I’m a pretty tough girl. At first, they were going
to have a stunt double for me, but as we went through the process and they realized that I
didn’t mind throwing myself around, I seemed to do it ok, they didn’t end up getting
a double for me. All the training was basically on the set as we were going though it. When we
would have the fight sequences come up, of course there would be a coordinator who was telling me
how to do this, how to do that, how to make it look convincing. Within those long days they were
very physical at the same time. As you can imagine, with all the gunplay—there was a lot of
running away from zombies.
N: You’re not just sitting behind a desk all day…
K: No, it’s not a behind-the-desk job at all. So there is some truth to that, having the
long days. The setups, too, especially in the motion capture process. They have to be so precise
with the props and the set as far as spacing because it has to match when they put it in
post-production, so there’s a lot of waiting between setups. You know, hurry up and wait.
N: I was literally just going to say that, hurry up and wait, but I didn’t want to
sound…
K: Yeah, hurry up and wait. And when you’re not waiting you’re going full blast, no
pun intended. But it was so much fun, because it really was like playtime. We had such a great
cast and crew. The attitude was always fun, and everyone was focused on getting the game done and
making it the best it could be, so it really was like playtime most of the time. It didn’t
feel like work.
N: Are you now a licensed gun owner now, or did you get specific training?
K: I’m certified to use rifles and pistols. There’s another program that you go
through that allows you to buy weapons. At the moment I’m not really interested in owning
my own weapons. I have enough friends who have weapons that I can go the range. So I’m not
owning any weapons at the moment, but I am certified to use them.
N: That’s awesome. I’m not a gun owner, but I’m not Mr. Anti-Gun, so it’s
all sort of fascinating to me, the whole culture I guess. Now when I was playing the game, I just
sort of classified Sheva’s accent as a sort of British accent. What did you base her voice
on, is it just a generic British accent?
K: It went though a couple of changes. Her parents are from Africa, she was born there. She
doesn’t grow up there, her parents die when she’s really young and she gets shipped
to Europe where she spends most of her childhood. Capcom was trying to find this middle ground of
what she would sound like. There was a lot more African in the beginning but she wasn’t
there for most of her life so they decided to go with a more British accent. It’s funny
because there’s still a hint of African in there, which you know makes sense if
that’s the culture she’s from. So that’s how we came up with it.
N: Do you do other accents? Is voice talent another one of your skills, can you break into a
French accent if you wanted to, or…
K: Probably not a French accent, no. My parents are Jamaican, so definitely there’s a
Jamaican accent in me. I grew up in Miami so I can pull out a Spanish accent. As far as voice,
this credit has been really great in getting more work and opening that door for me more. I
really love doing voice-over and sometimes I’m just using my regular voice in doing
narration in commercial and stuff like that. Yeah this game has opened so much opportunity for me
in that area.
N: Is voice acting something where you need to know someone who knows someone, or can you
literally just show up to auditions and suddenly you’re some big guy.
K: I’ve been an actress all my life, and I’ve always had an agent for theatrical and
commercial work. I know other voice actors who got into the game really early but I’m
finding out now that it is a clique to get into. There are specific voice agencies that handle
most of the submissions for voice-over work. If you’re not with them you’re probably
not hearing about the work going on. It’s very difficult to just show up at a voice-over
audition because most of the time they’re just sent in by tape through the agency or
online. It’s not like showing up at an audition, just showing up at a certain place. It
takes a while to get into as far as getting representation. Some people have done it by credits
with people they know. A lot of it is word of mouth, that definitely helps.
N: Ok, well now I know.
K: Why, are you starting a voice-over career?
N: No, no. My brother, he’s studying dramatic writing at college so now I’m being
exposed to the Hollywood scene, maybe, the production side of it. It’s just sort of
interesting. Now, I just wanted to touch on
the supposed controversy. When you guys were working on the game, did you feel that Capcom
was being racially insensitive by setting the game in Africa, and all that the entails. Was that
ever a concern, or is this all just a bunch of bologna?
K: I’ve addressed this question from day one, as you can imagine. Yeah, it is a bunch of
bologna. I find it funny because if the game was never set in Africa then you’d have people
complaining about that. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. There was a huge uproar a E3
2007, where it was just the Chris Redfield character in the trailer. At that time the development
of Sheva was not even done, and they had started developing that character, and I have all the
notes to prove it, from early 2007, but you know Chris Redfield is an established character; they
already know what he’s about. So by the time I came in September 2007 they still
weren’t done with how she was going to look, she was still being created so there was no
way of being done by that E3. Unfortunately when people didn’t see anything but Chris in
Africa I guess it had a reaction that was not totally all the way positive. She wasn’t an
afterthought. This is a co-op game, it takes a lot more time to just whip that together. It seems
a little bit ridiculous to just do that as a type of reaction and say all of a sudden yeah
let’s make it co-op.
N: Yeah, I just wanted to get a sort of behind-the-scenes perceptive on that. I just read those
things and it’s like, why am I reading this? It’s just absurd.
K: The whole time I was on set there was nothing racial, you know? I did not feel—I cannot
imagine that if I was being offended that I would have stayed for a whole year, you know? That I
was being totally abused racially, why would I have stayed?
N: Ok, I have an answer now, thank you. Now you’ve worked on a number of different mediums
like TV, film and stage. Do you have a favorite? If you could only do one for the rest of your
live would you pick or do you like them all equally?
K: I love being diverse. I love having the variety. With all my little extra skills I never get a
moment to be bored. It seems like every week I’m working on a different project. I love
being challenged, I love having different things to do. Gosh, if I had to pick one I
wouldn’t really want to. I would say at the top it would definitely be film because I also
make my own films, I love to write and produce. It was my first love, getting into the business.
Motion capture, especially with games and film and animation, has become a very close second
because I’m finding that my skills come in handy on a lot of projects in that genre that
would not totally play out on television and film. I have much more freedom in casting character
wise to play different roles than I’d be able to play in television and film if you had to
see my face or be a cetain body type. So I love the freedom in that. So those two would be my
top.
N: Now, we are a tech site at CrunchGear, so I’m gonna ask you a few tech-related
questions. Nothing too crazy.
K: I hope I can answer them!
N: No, it’s not like how to fix your printer or anything like that. It’s nothing that
boring, I swear. What type of phone do you use?
K: I don’t yet, but I’m gonna get it. I’m really excited by it. I’m sick
of looking at my phone now when that one’s out there.
N: Well, if you have an iPhone what’s your favorite app?
K: I’m so embarrassed to say this. It’s my Scrabble game.
N: Oh, there’s no shame in that.
K: I’m so addicted to this Scrabble game that I got an app for it. It’s that and my
translator because I’m interested in different languages.
N: Well if you have an iPhone you must be a Mac fan right? Or do you not even care?
K: I’m a Mac girl! And I’m really happy to be one because I’m a new one, sorry
Windows. I finally made the switch early this year and I have not looked back.
N: I’ve been using Mac for a few years now so I understand.
K: They’re awesome.
N: And I wanted to ask, do you know who John Biggs is?
K: John Biggs? Not by the name alone, should I?
N: No, you shouldn’t. I guess I have one more question. What’s next for you? What are
you doing now and what are you looking forward to?
K: Well, you know in the video game world you really can’t talk too much, so I can’t
talk about that.
N: Can you say what company it’s for?
K: I probably shouldn’t.
N: Meh, then don’t, no big deal. But it’s a game we now know!
K: Yeah I probably shouldn’t. You think you’re saying little and then all of a sudden
[gasp!] you get that reaction somewhere. But I do work on that Robert Zemeckis film called
Christmas Carol coming
out this voice-over with Jim Carrey and I actually get to use my circus skills.
N: Tremendous. Ok well I don’t want to take up all you’re time so I’ll let you
go now. Thanks for the chat.
K: Well I’m glad everyone enjoy the game, thank you!
Alors qu’il s’élançait depuis la première place sur la grille, le
Belge Bertrand Baguette n’a terminé que 8e de la course de Formula
3.5 disputée à...lire la suite
Klaus Hammerschmidt picks up his new BMW M6 - Click above to watch video after the
jump
How many cars have you owned over the course of your life? Three? Five? Ten? How about 135, and all
from the same company? It may seem like unfathomable customer loyalty, but that's just what one
Herr Klaus Hammerschmidt has done in taking delivery of his latest Bavarian motor work. You might
think he'd mark the occasion with a new 135i, but instead the 73-year-old retiree picked up a
brand-new M6 coupe, complete with the Competition Package, from the flagship BMW Welt showroom in
Munich.
Hammerschmidt says he began driving when he was just 12, taking the wheel of his dad's car while
papa worked the pedals. His first car was a 1800ti in 1963, and since then he's had 26 M cars, 29
Alpinas and another 80 standard BMWs. Before you go pulling out the calculator, that works out to
an average of nearly 3 new cars every year. Not a bad way to spend a lifetime's earnings if you
have the means. And at just 73, he's likely to go through a few more before his days are up. Follow
the
jump for the video.
Maybe some of you still remember my previous posts related to iPhone developer program. Well for
those of you I'd like just say that I still don't have it.
Apple is not able to send me an activation code. I think they lost my fax.
If you live in a country where is not the iTunes store (so I could pay developer program by credit
card) you have hard life... however I really don't have patience to wait for them anymore.
I have unfinished game here, including level editor (it is windows application written in
Delphi).
It is classic 2D plane game, where a player has to carefully fly through the game world in order to
get to finish. Game should have around 20 levels. Level editor is done so it should not be any
problem for you to design levels. Game is also quite done, all collisions tests with effects
including particle effects and optimizations are done. Just levels are not done and enemy units are
not done and anything else you can simply add by your own. For example I also wanted to add various
worlds like underwater ( where player would be no plane of course ) and so on. I think this game
has a good potential.
Level editor is quite advanced. It contains very fast and great triangulation algorithm of polygons
which can be used in many parts.
I don't know what to mention anymore...if you have any questions ? Just ask here.
btw. I really don't "crying" that apple ignore me or something like that but I really don't have
patience to wait when mr. apple is going to send me what I'd like to pay for. And yes I am
disappointed because of apple..and don't tell that I should call them - already did it twice. Wrote
them about 6 mails and guess what - no response. it's been 3 months already..
Les courses ont lieu ce Dimanche 5 juillet à CHANTILLY . TIERCE-QUARTE-QUINTE dans le Prix
d'ABU DHABI. 3ème course . Départ vers 14H50 . 18 partantes .
The housemania is still running strong in our region. After eight years of complaining about the
quality, the location and the need for more housing in our region, there are still buildings and
houses in just about any place, any how, any where and in any manner; garages below street level
in a region prone to floods, or with no garages or parking space at all in a region where
parking, parking, parking is most essential. According to The
Wave, the Rockaway’s population has increased almost 25% over the past few
years, without one school, store, park or a facility for our seniors added to the
community.
As a matter of fact, there has been a tearing down of a few of those we have had to
make room for - more housing. That started with the Levin Hotel, the closing of the Sunset Diner,
and there is voice that the Beach Club, the pride of Rockaway, will face the same
feat. What will be next?
Once in a while I like to stop at the site of a construction project; it is a habit, a passion
for real estate going back over 50 years.  It fascinates me how
buildings are built these days. No more blocks, bricks, sand and cement and
trowel (except for foundation); no more plastering (except for a few cases) but an
electric screw gun, metal studs, ply wood, plaster board, styrofoam and a lot of insulation.
While I was watching one worker fasten a sheet of styrofoam directly over the metal
studs to a 4″ metal stud he used a regular electric
screwdriver; nothing wrong with that, except that he was using only screws without the plastic
“washer” and beside,  he was missing the studs two out
of five tries. At one point while he was fastening one side, the other
would pop-out with the result that he had to run to the first side and put more nails to it.
Don’ t they know how to use a liner? Don’ t they know that
styrofoam requires a 2″ plastic washer for a better gripe to the studs? If my
vision holds up and I think it does, I saw two 4″ metal studs, with two
3/4″ plaster board at each side, separating two
buildings, enough to record a conversation taking place in the other house. As
for the view, the front of the building faces the 12th
floor apartment houses and the back faces the subway elevator.
As if the above were not bad enough, they are now building housesÂ
in back yards, yes, in places where for years - a
century, we have used it for a little garden, a place where, after
work, one could find a little relaxation or have a party for the children or friends. It looks
like that the upper-echelon in power have decided that we need more housing than a
little relaxation, or a party for our children or friends so they have okay-ed building back
yards.
Across the location where this is taking place, they are tearing down a hotel to make room for
more housings. Being the same owner and the same builder, would it be safe to assume
that they will build in their back yard also? Or, go even farther and
build more housing on the roof, despite the need, not only for a little green, but
also for car spaces? Is there such a demand for housing in our region that they are
building, now, even in back yards? I can’t believe it at all. Go round and we will see many
“for rent” and “for sale” signs even on
buildings that were sold less than a year ago. I wonder the reason, the flood in
their basement, for the little rain we had or the roof blew off with the little wind
of a week ago? No, there is not a scarcity of housing in our region. Look at The Wave, 6, 7, 8 pages of houses for sale and a couple a pages
of apartments for rent. A few weeks ago, one broker, throughout her real estate column, said,
“give me a call, I have a ton of listings” a ton of listings? How many
listings in a ton? How many in ten tons? And she isn’t No.1 broker either...
Can you imagine how many tons of listings a No.1
broker in our region has for sale? Of course, throughout her regular
advertisement, she invites owners to list their property with her because she has
many eager, ready, willing and able buyers waiting (on line?)
As said previously, we are creating a “Coney Island” and I don’t mean a Coney
Island of 50 year ago, when it was the “Play Ground of The World” Stop This
Housemania now, or pay the consequences later. I don’t say that we should
stop anyone from coming to our region, oh, no, we should welcome all of
them, but at the same time we should try to keep the region a “Piece of
Paradise” as described by All Mark of channel 2 during the airline crash
of Nov. 22 2001.
Don’t build any more houses that are not in demand; don’t build any more
house if there are “ton of listings” for sale and not
selling. Overbuilding the region would only cause its decadence.
Angelo J. Guarino
Reprinted with Permission
Angelo Guarino is retired and lives with his wife of 50 years in Belle Harbor, NY. Angelo can be
reached
at AngeloJG at
aol.com
I am currently using Linkshare on my site (Digital Download Game World dot com).
They are providing me affiliate programs for Direct2Download, Callpod, and iTunes USA. Currently I
am generating the majority of my traffic from Canadian sources so iPhone owners clicking through my
game listings are going to iTunes Canada. Linkshare / iTunes is only paying commissions on US
purchases.
I have been told iTunes Canada runs a private program and I have only a single email as a
contact.
Does anyone know if iTunes Canada is part of a different affiliate network? Is anyone here part of
an iTunes Canada affiliate program?
Of course my next hurdle will be attempting to direct my users to the right affiliate button based
on their location. This will be tricky as I have no idea how to do that specific a state detect
within my Joomla CMS website.
July is finally here, proving that the world of Apple can in fact keep turning while Steve Jobs
is away. This week's top Apple news examined the adoption rate of iPhone OS 3.0, a Newton bug,
fraudulent iTunes gift cards, the disappearance of .Mac HomeSites, and more. Catch up here on the
week that was with our news roundup—between throwing brats on the grill and checking out
fireworks, of course.
What's the
uptake on iPhone OS 3.0? How quickly are users of Apple's mobile devices jumping on
the 3.0 bandwagon? Conflicting data points from multiple sources give us anything but a clear
answer. If you want to participate
in our own poll on the matter, though, let us know whether you have upgraded yet and why (or
why not).
Impending Newton Y2K10 apocalypse narrowly averted: A dedicated Newton fan and
hacker has developed a patch for Apple's long-since-discontinued PDAs that will keep them humming
along just fine after this New Year's Eve. The patch isn't for the faint of heart, but then
again, neither is using a 20-year-old PDA.
C'est dimanche à 14h02 que sera donné le départ de la deuxième
édition de la course Les Sables-Horta-Les Sables, course de 2200 milles
réservée à la Class 40, courue en double et en deux étapes, un
aller-retour entre Les Sables-d'Olonne et le port d'Horta, aux Açores.
C'est dimanche à 14h02 que sera donné le départ de la deuxième
édition de la course Les Sables-Horta-Les Sables, course de 2200 milles
réservée à la Class 40, courue en double et en deux étapes, un
aller-retour entre Les Sables-d'Olonne et le port d'Horta, aux Açores.
For the past 3 days I have become active on BHW, and I regret not doing so before. I spend 90% time
here. I have seen many cool methods. I will be going into CPA by next week since I am struggling to
make a site which can help me in getting accepted (I can handle phone call easily).
Now to the point, I see that Ac is a good thing to work on so....
I just need a sort of sample, like what kind of stuff to pour in.
I am good @ English and filled with ideas but I need to erm..have a glance at WHAT is considered as
a good article, of course the term "good article" for everyone is different since they have
different needs. So I just need to know what kind of stuff AC searches in an article.
Also I am unable to decide which topics I should write on...any help will be highly appreciated
:D
I was asked a couple weeks ago to do a paid review of a brand new script (that I really do like)
that you can find at http://www.xaviermedia.cc/twitter/
The script asks the question…
Would you like to get 1000’s of legitimate Twitter followers on autopilot?
The answer of course is… like duh, who wouldn’t!
The script is extremely simple to install, the
strategy is extremely easy to implement and you don’t have to spam or do that much work at
all.
Basically all you do is take 60 seconds to install a simple php script… the result is when
people come to your site they will see an easy opportunity to get more twitter followers (and
since it is on your site you know they will be targeted). All your visitors have to do is simply
enter their twitter ID in a little form and click enter…. then the chain reaction
begins… oh and do not worry, no personal data is stored.
If you for example can get just five people to use it (that is pretty much guaranteed to happen),
you’ll get great results because if they also get five people each to sign up you will get
30 followers (your first 5 and all their 5 followers).
When these people refer others via their own referral pages you will get new followers too, and
the best part is that you’ve only referred five people but are getting fresh followers all
the time:
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3 625 Level 4 3,125 Level 5 15,625 Grand total:19,530
All you did in the above example was referring 5 people!
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It's not uncommon
for spambots to get the boot on Twitter for doing
things like following hundreds (or thousands) of people, or blasting out messages non-stop. One
woman managed to unintentionally fool the Twitter security systems into thinking she was one of the
offending bots by sending too many hand-typed Tweets (as opposed to automated updates from a blog
or music service like imeem) in the course of an
hour.
Bonnie Smalley is a customer service rep for Comcast. The New York Times reports that she reaches out to the frustrated masses via social networking services, rather
than sit around waiting for frustrated callers and angry e-mails. She spends time on Facebook, MySpace, Second Life and LinkedIn, but the real action is on Twitter. Here,
Bonnie tracks Tweets about Comcast contacting customers before they reach out to customer support
via the company's Web page.
It's now a holiday weekend here in the US, but that doesn't mean last week wasn't exciting.
Here's a recap of the Week That Was.
The big news, of course, was the
long-awaited release of Firefox 3.5. With support for HTML 5 tags like <video> and a
high-performance JavaScript engine, 3.5 is lightning fast and ready for the future.
While Firefox was busy showing us the possibilities of the future, science was busy showing us
just how petty we can be. Turns out that people will even
reject free money if they think that they can screw over a rival by doing so.
As similar as the two industries are, there aren't as many automobile/motorcycle crossovers as you
might otherwise think. A handful of carmakers (Honda, Suzuki, Peugeot, BMW, Triumph once upon a
time...) also make motorcycles. Ford has their Harley-Davidson edition F-Series pick-up trucks.
Some small sports cars use motorcycle engines, and there are some big motorcycles (really big) that
use car engines. Fiat sponsors world champion Valentino Rossi's MotoGP Yamaha bike. And, once in a
while, we see a custom chopper decked out to look like a particular automobile. We've eyeballed our
share of Ferrari-inspired motorbikes, but this is something else entirely: a Bentley chopper.
Of course, there's nothing particularly Bentley about this chopper other than the trim, so don't go
expecting a 6.75-liter V8 or a twin-turbo W12 sprung between two wheels. But the fit and finish
look rather impressive. The greenish-grey paint finish is complemented by a soft tan leather saddle
and capped with a "Flying B" emblem on the gas tank. Pretty sweet ride from the look of things, and
even if it is a one-off, it's one more link between between motor vehicles with two wheels and
those with four.
Police in Clare, Michigan have decided that rather than just eat doughnuts, they should sell them
as well.
The decision to buy the local doughnut shop came after the local police department heard that the
shop was closing down. Given the possible rift in the space time continuum that would occur if
they didn’t have a ready supply of doughnuts, they wrote a check and bought the store on
the spot.
Of course a freshly purchased store needs to be staffed, and who better to staff it than their
best customers…the police themselves. But it gets better according to local media, because not only are the police working in the
store, they’re volunteering to do so without pay
They’ve also changed the name of the store to (wait for it)…..Cops & Doughnuts.
You can even buy t-shirts from their website here.
It's now a holiday weekend here in the US, but that doesn't mean last week wasn't exciting.
Here's a recap of the Week That Was.
The big news, of course, was the
long-awaited release of Firefox 3.5. With support for HTML 5 tags like <video> and a
high-performance JavaScript engine, 3.5 is lightning fast and ready for the future.
While Firefox was busy showing us the possibilities of the future, science was busy showing us
just how petty we can be. Turns out that people will even
reject free money if they think that they can screw over a rival by doing so.
July is finally here, proving that the world of Apple can in fact keep turning while Steve Jobs
is away. This week's top Apple news examined the adoption rate of iPhone OS 3.0, a Newton bug,
fraudulent iTunes gift cards, the disappearance of .Mac HomeSites, and more. Catch up here on the
week that was with our news roundup—between throwing brats on the grill and checking out
fireworks, of course.
What's the
uptake on iPhone OS 3.0? How quickly are users of Apple's mobile devices jumping on
the 3.0 bandwagon? Conflicting data points from multiple sources give us anything but a clear
answer. If you want to participate
in our own poll on the matter, though, let us know whether you have upgraded yet and why (or
why not).
Impending Newton Y2K10 apocalypse narrowly averted: A dedicated Newton fan and
hacker has developed a patch for Apple's long-since-discontinued PDAs that will keep them humming
along just fine after this New Year's Eve. The patch isn't for the faint of heart, but then
again, neither is using a 20-year-old PDA.
Avant
de prendre place dans la Renault F1 R28 pour l'exhibition ING Renault F1 Team, devant un public
nombreux, Marcos Martinez (Pons Racing) réalise une bonne opération en remportant sa
quatrième victoire de la saison en Formula Renault 3.5 Series, accentuant ainsi son avance
au classement général. Il précède aujourd'hui le Malais Fairuz Fauzy
(Mofaz Fortec Motorsport) et le Britannique Oliver Turvey (Carlin Motorsport).
La grille inversée pour la première course profite à Bertrand Baguette (...) -
World Series /
Fairuz Fauzy, Brendon Hartley, Jaime Alguersuari
La 96ème édition de la Grande boucle débute aujourd'hui avec un
contre-la-montre de 15 kms dans les rues de la Principauté de Monaco. 180 coureurs sont au
départ, de 32 nationalités. Le Tour emmènera les participants dans 6 pays
différents au cours des trois prochaines semaines. Dans le peloton, l'incertitude est
grande, avec un Lance Armstrong à la recherche d'un 8ème titre après une pause
de 4 ans ! RTL fait le point sur la course toutes les 30 minutes, dès 16h. Ce soir, Club
Jalabert exceptionnel, de 18h15 à 19h30.
Memory of fallen honored in Tehran cemetery 7/3/2009
-- --- ----
On the twentieth day of the nationwide uprising in Iran, thousands of people in Tehran gathered
in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery at 18:00 local time to honor the memory of those killed by the
regime’s suppressive forces in the course of the uprising. They paid their respects by
placing flowers on the martyrs’ graves. The memorial ceremony took place despite a heavy
presence of suppressive forces in the cemetery, who tried hard to stop people from joining the
families and loved ones of those slain by the regime. The number of people gathered in the
various sections of the cemetery (nos. 254, 256, 257, 259, 263, and 264) grew by the minute, as
anti-regime chants rung out from the crowds as an expression of popular rage and anger towards
the religious fascism ruling Iran.
           Â
Youth arrested in Tehran communities as "hooligans" and "thugs" 7/3/2009
Arrested youth in Tehran
To intensify the atmosphere of fear and terror, the Iranian regime has begun to arrest a growing
number of youth in various Tehran communities under the guise of “hooligans” and
“thugs.” On Wednesday, July 1, the special anti-riot forces carried out a violent
raid in the Vali-e Asr neighborhood, western Tehran, and arrested a group of youth in the
process. The ferocious suppressive measure met angry reaction by local residents. July 2, 2009
Tehran Bazaar goes on strike 7/3/2009
Tehran's Bazaar- file photo
On the twentieth day of the Iranian people’s nationwide uprising on Thursday, July 2, a
large portion of Tehran’s Bazaar went on strike, with the majority of owners either
refusing to open their shops or closing shop by noon. Agents from the clerical regime’s
Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and plain-clothes agents
had attempted to preclude the strike through intimidation and imposition of pressures. On
Wednesday, portions of the Tabriz (northwestern Iran) Bazaar, including jewelers and shoe
traders, also went on strike. July 2, 2009
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The script is extremely simple to install, the
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It's not uncommon
for spambots to get the boot on 
Avant
de prendre place dans la Renault F1 R28 pour l'exhibition ING Renault F1 Team, devant un public
nombreux, Marcos Martinez (Pons Racing) réalise une bonne opération en remportant sa
quatrième victoire de la saison en Formula Renault 3.5 Series, accentuant ainsi son avance
au classement général. Il précède aujourd'hui le Malais Fairuz Fauzy
(Mofaz Fortec Motorsport) et le Britannique Oliver Turvey (Carlin Motorsport).
Recommandations
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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