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There are a lot of totally awesome things in the God of War III launch trailer above:
skydiving demigods, mountain-sized Titans, giant blue scorpions, and, of course, everyone's
favorite chained antihero, Kratos -- to name a few. However, we'd like to specifically highlight
the bit of PS3 marketing that ends all commercials for Sony-published games. This time around, it
brags that the console only does "vengeance," "rage" and "everything," in that order.
We're imagining a scenario in which a Best Buy shopper asks a friendly sales clerk which gaming
system would be the most appropriate for his kids ... and which one would be capable of "doing
vengeance" on his in-laws.
There are a lot of totally awesome things in the God of War III launch trailer above:
skydiving demigods, mountain-sized Titans, giant blue scorpions, and, of course, everyone's
favorite chained antihero, Kratos -- to name a few. However, we'd like to specifically highlight
the bit of PS3 marketing that ends all commercials for Sony-published games. This time around, it
brags that the console only does "vengeance," "rage" and "everything," in that order.
We're imagining a scenario in which a Best Buy shopper asks a friendly sales clerk which gaming
system would be the most appropriate for his kids ... and which one would be capable of "doing
vengeance" on his in-laws.
Last fall, Jack
Kirby's estate filed 45 notices of copyright
infringement against anyone making profits on certain Marvel characters, including Disney,
Paramount, Fox, Sony, Universal, and Hasbro. Kirby was co-creator of characters such as Hulk, Thor,
Iron Man, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, and his estate wants the copyrights and a share of the
profits. According to The Hollywood
Reporter, Kirby's estate has now filed a lawsuit against Marvel to terminate their
copyright.
The lawsuit could affect all of the various comic franchises in a weird way. According to
THR, if the Kirby estate wins the copyright to any characters (and the waters get murky
where Stan
Lee is co-creator), the Kirby estate could license competing versions to other
studios. This seems a distant and crazy possibility, though Disney is reportedly gearing up a huge
legal defense to prevent that from happening.
The Kirby estate has also filed a claim under the Lanham Act that specifically targets The
Incredible Hulk and X-Men
Origins: Wolverine. The estate claims the two films were misrepresented in their promotion
because Kirby isn't mentioned as being an author or co-author of the comic characters. The claim is
an interesting case of wringing money out of the fine print, because Wolverine isn't a creation of
Lee and Kirby, but Blob, Cyclops, and Professor X are. (Somewhere, a Fox executive is kicking
themselves for the idea of fun, tie-in cameos!) The Kirby estate is seeking "up to three times the
amount of damages they sustained." Hulk made roughly $263 million worldwide,
Wolverine made $375, so they could end up with a tidy sum if the judge agrees Kirby didn't
receive his fair share and credit. We'll keep you updated on what transpires, and how it may affect
your favorite Marvel franchise in the future.
Our buddies over at Esquire magazine have kicked off their Sexiest Woman
Alive Madnesstournament with some of the sexiest batch of photos of
supermodel (and Popoholic favorite) Candice Swanepoel that I have ever
seen drooled over... not to mention a groovy video of Candice rocking out in a flimsy little
tanktop. Wow, now that, my peeps, is some stiff competition! Enjoy the photos and video, and head
over to Esquire’s website to cast your votes on who you think is
the Sexiest Woman Alive (Megan Fox obviously), and for a whole slew of photos of the hottest celebrity
babes on the planet!
Grâce à Webcam Watcher, vous pourrez visualiser plus de 1500 webcams
disséminées à travers le monde. Le logiciel donne accès à une
base de données géantes et en constante évolution. Vous pourrez
sélectionner vos webcams favorites en les triant par catégorie: ville, paysage,
zoo,... ou en utilisant le module de recherche. Une fois la vue sélectionnée, sur
certaines vous aurez accès à [Lire la suite]
David A. Yovanno is the CEO of Gigya, Inc., a leading social optimization platform
for online business. He can be found on Twitter at @daveyovanno or e-mail dave(at)gigya(dot)com.
Now that most social networks are supporting functionality on third party sites — via
Facebook Connect, Sign in with Twitter, Yahoo! Open Strategy, MySpaceID, and
other similar technologies — entertainment companies are experimenting with a variety of
approaches.
While movie promotions on Facebook, top
sports moments on YouTube, and MySpace music pages remain key fixtures, many
entertainment companies are also now actively focused on how to apply social strategies to their
own sites to deepen relationships with fans and become more relevant. Here are four ways on-site
social features are benefiting both fans and the entertainment industry today.
1. Making TV Participatory
TV has historically been a “lean back” form of entertainment -–
just sit back on your couch and let your eyes and ears take it in. Reality TV shows like
American Idol broke new ground by making TV participatory -– fans can
take action and influence the outcomes — and social technologies are now helping to make TV
a “lean forward” experience.
In the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars, ABC made the voting process social.
Fans could sign-in to abc.com with a Facebook or Twitter account to cast a vote for their favorite couple,
and then donate their status to help support that pair. For example: “Vote to keep Louie
Vito and Chelsea Hightower dancing on ABC!”
In the realm of real-time engagement, another example comes from MTV, which enabled live chat for
previously aired episodes of the popular show 16 and Pregnant on MTV.com, where viewers
could discuss the often controversial content with other fans.
Benefit for fans: Viewers are empowered to not only vote, but get out the vote
among friends. Voting with a Facebook or Twitter identity makes voting a personal, rather than
anonymous, experience. For 16 and Pregnant, teens have a live forum for sharing thoughts
and experiences.
Benefit for TV networks: Fans are highly engaged with the show online, and the
shows gain significant exposure on social networks from donated status updates. Traffic is
generated back to the show online and off. Offering users a choice of networks for participation
appears to boost engagement. For example, data from Gigya shows that for a single episode of
16 and Pregnant, tens of thousands of messages were sent by chat users to their social
networks with the following distribution: 40% to Yahoo, 29% MySpace, 24% Facebook, and 7%
Twitter.
2. Bringing Live Sporting Events to Life Online
In the real world, sports fans experience events together, whether live at the stadium, with
buddies at a sports bar, or with family in front of a new 50” LCD TV. Recognizing this,
sports media are trying to make online viewership a bit more like the real world.
A slew of sports media added live social chat to their event webcasts this year, enabling fans to
participate online alongside the event using their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Yahoo identity.
TNT used it for the NBA Eastern Conference finals and NASCAR Race Buddy
series, CBS for its College Football series, NBA.com for ongoing games, and the PGA for the summer tour events including the PGA
Championship. Fan messages about the game were syndicated to the social networks as news items in
the feed. Even Roddy White of the Atlanta Falcons has gotten into the act on his own website.
Benefit for fans: Live social media integration provides an opportunity to chat
about stats, players, and highlights, and to virtually high-five other fans or friends
–- almost as if they were watching together in person.
Benefit for sports media: Fans participating with real identities adds
authenticity to the socializing. Interactivity means fans are highly engaged, generating more
page views, and messages shared to the social networks drive more traffic back to the online
event, creating a virtuous cycle.
3. Giving Music Lovers an Outlet for Self-Expression
MySpace proved years ago the power of grass roots social efforts to take an artist from obscurity
to household name, with Sara
Bareilles one of the poster children for resisting the traditional label model. Now music
companies large and small are putting social channels to work, and taking a number of new
approaches in the last year.
MuchMusic, a music channel on Canadian
cable TV, incorporated celebrity tweets and live chat into their MuchMusic awards, bringing fans
“backstage” to a behind the scenes interview room. Similarly, MTV incorporated live
social chat into its webcast of the “Hope for Haiti” telethon with the aim of further
engaging viewers for a special cause.
Reverbnation, a music marketing
platform that helps individual artists manage promotion, fan relationships, and other aspects of
the business, built a feature enabling fans to register on the site using their social network
identity, then build and share their favorite playlists into the feed on Facebook, Twitter and
MySpace. Rather than help the artists build a presence on the social networks and send fans away,
Reverbnation has integrated their own site directly with those key platforms to make themselves a
one stop shop for the social music ecosystem.
Benefit for fans: Social integration creates an outlet for communicating with
other fans, and sharing passion for artists and music –- whether in the form
of a comment or their own playlist creation.
Benefit for music sites and artists: Integration provides greater exposure for
artists and tracks as well as increased page views for the site.
4. Driving Word-of-Mouth for Movies
Word of mouth is everything in the movie industry. Buzz puts fans in seats, and is the benchmark
by which the industry gauges traction for marketing efforts. It’s no surprise that studios
are experimenting more with social media far beyond basic trailer promotion.
The movie Paranormal Activity broke new ground by using grass roots efforts and
word-of-mouth to build buzz and gain a wider distribution for the film. They also took advantage
of social media promotion, enabling fans to invite their friends from social networks to join
them at the same time that they purchased movie tickets.
Twentieth-Century Fox, together with MTV, got fans directly involved to promote Avatar. They put on a first-ever live interview with James Cameron and
the Avatar cast, answering questions from fans, who in turn shared their reactions in a
real-time chat via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Yahoo.
Benefit for fans: Movie goers receive greater access to their favorite films and
celebrities.
Benefit for movie studios: The campaigns generate new and widespread buzz before
and during the theatrical release.
Conclusion
When fans connect to a company using a social network identity, they are establishing the basis
for a longer-term relationship. The data shared by these connections will allow companies to
better segment and serve their fans.
For example, in addition to awareness-generating efforts for individual films, a movie studio
could gain greater insight into the specific demographics of those that are responding early to a
release and adjust efforts accordingly. They could also more easily continue the dialog by
remarketing to users around sequels or films in the same genre.
Whichever path entertainment companies choose, integrating social technologies on their own sites
to deepen relationships with fans is a blockbuster opportunity.
3 offices for rent in the Old-Montreal Business Center (OMBC) 96, 124 and 148 sq. ft. including
windows and furniture.
The office number 9 is available from now, and the others are available for April1st.
We can fulfill your office space needs:
·Personalized greetings of your visitors
·Personalized telephone answering
·Personalized voice mail
·Message transmitted by your favorite communication mode (email or cellular telephone)
·Business center facsimile at your disposal
·Possibility of a personalized facsimile
·Registration of your company to the business center’s web site
·Access to our conference room
·Usage of the business center address
·Reception et distribution of your mail
·Maintenance, heating, air-conditioning and electricity included
·High speed internet access
·Access to your office 24 hours per day 7 days a week
·Access to our kitchenette
You don’t need an office all the time? Are you self employed? Is your business located
outside of Montreal?
The OMBC virtual offices gives you access to a large number of services that will be very
useful.
You will be able to have a physical address in the lively neighborhood of the Old-Montreal, knew as
an important part of the economical and cultural life in Montreal.
Don’t hesitate to ask for more information.
Phone : 514-907-9016 Ext.100
Email : bganzoleon@cavm-ombc.ca
Berenice Ganzo
Odl Montreal Business Center
410 St- Nicolas, Suite 236
Montréal (Québec), H2Y 2P5
- I did a monster-long interview
with Eric Enge. I think the interview lasted an hour or something like that, and we covered
several areas in depth.
- Next, take a break and go read this post by Rhea Drysdale. Heck,
maybe send her a donation by Paypal. Rhea took on a big fight for the benefit of the SEO
industry, saw it through to the end — and won! In the process, she earned the sort of
credibility that you just can’t buy.
We now have over 200 videos live on the webmaster video channel, including topics
such as “Is it worth spending time on tags and categories?”
You might want to check out the video channel; there’s a lot of good material there. You
can also follow me or the Google webmaster account on Twitter; we often tweet when new
webmaster videos are released.
Here, artist AgentScarlet imagines Nintendo's mustachioed mascot handled by a modern Western
studio, or Super Mario with a gun. It's predictable, but I bet it would be a lot more fun than
Hotel Mario! AgentScarlet
explains, "Peach is now a scientist that gets kidnapped all the time, and Mario is a veteran spec
ops commando.
Make sure to check out the other AgentScarlet's deviantArt gallery for more
video game-inspired work like Team Fortress pin-ups, Nintendo punks, and more. Of course, I've
included a couple of my favorite fanart pieces after the break:
Before we understand where we’re going, we have to know where we’ve been — and
why we know what’s going to happen. That seems to be the premise, anyway, behind the so-far
intriguing sci-fi thriller Tyranny,
which premiered last week on Koldcast.
Tyranny is slow to start thanks to an extended prologue/credits sequence, but after a
minute or so we get down to business. Opening in Prague in the year 2011, we meet Daniel McCarthy
(John Beck Hofman), whose use of technology to get a glimpse of the future has made him an
outcast, the leader of a rebellion and a prisoner of Dr. Malik (Enrico Piazza).
Trying to sort out the credits on Tyranny might give you a bit of a headache, as
the official site makes a big deal about how the series is
the unfinished work of McCarthy, who “disappeared” in 2009, but had left behind
enough raw footage for his friend Max to assemble. (In truth, Hofman, who is uncredited as the
series star, is also its creator.)
This sort of deceit is admirable for trying to play with the concept of narrative online, not to
mention introducing a potential ARG element. Unfortunately, that
“backstory” doesn’t correspond at all with the actual series, which is
conventionally filmed like fiction — did Daniel use a three-camera set-up to capture video
of Dr. Malik’s interrogation? The approach would make sense were the show a
lonelygirl15-style vlog drama, but doesn’t match with the series as it stands.
Daniel’s journals, which
track a filmmaker’s career and his excitement about Tyranny as an upcoming feature
film, only add to the confusion.
However, the genius of setting your show in the extremely not-too-distant future is that
it’s usually not too hard to pull off the look, visually — production design
doesn’t require too much alteration from a modern look in order to be believable. And
Tyranny is one of those shows that looks great despite clearly not being a massive
production, with many locations feeling found rather than constructed and minimal yet effective
touches of world-building. The effect is similar to other relatively low-budget thrillers with
sci-fi twists, such as the complex indie favorite Primer — proof that you
don’t need a lot of money to tell a story in this genre.
Tyranny is taking the web series to feature film approach, pinning its hopes for
distribution on how the series performs. And for a project that has a lot of feature film DNA,
it’s pretty well-structured episodically. However, it’s very hard to get a sense of
how Daniel’s claims that he’s the leader of an underground resistance movement
connect with the actual narrative so far, which is taking its sweet time to unfurl.
In the three episodes provided for review, the focus is on Daniel’s experiments with the
human brain – how the world began crumbling, and whether Daniel could have done anything to
stop it, are the show’s big unanswered questions. Audiences eagerly needing answers may
find their patience tried.
hi all, i was looking forward to buying another 5770 for crossfire, but i was disappointed to find
out that my favorite game doesn't benefit much from crossfire, hence it would be pretty much a
waste. The game in question is Dawn of War 2, which is a pretty big AAA game. Is AMD addressing
this or will games like that never benefit from crossfire? The game's been out for a year now, so
will there be any updates regarding this? Thanks in advance.
What's funny is the game has the AMD logo on it, so obviously AMD and them have a good working
relationship, but currently Crossfire doesn't do anything for it. Why is that?
Next week, the first issue of Titan's WWE Heroes comic series comes out and, being a big
wrestling and comics fan, I wanted to get some more info on the series, so I went straight to the
most logical source: Keith Champaigne, the writer of the book. He provides some background on the
series and how it fits into the WWE Universe below the cut.
Chad Nevett: For those unaware, what's the
basic premise of WWE Heroes?
Keith Champagne: First off, thanks for your interest and help in promoting these comics, it's
much appreciated.
WWE Heroes is, more than anything, concerned with the eternal rivalry between two
brothers: The Firstborn and The King Of Shadows. Since the dawn of time, these two have been
fighting for dominance and their conflict has actually helped to shape recorded history. For
instance, it's inferred that the fall of Rome was largely brought about by the machinations of
the King Of Shadows.
So there's a mythology that we've created for this series and it actually has a deep connection
to the WWE, something that will pull our favorite WWE Superstars and Divas smack dab into a war
they could have never imagined.
What makes it different from the weekly WWE TV shows?
I'd say the stakes are much higher than the typical RAW or SMACKDOWN match. We have a lot of
wrestling action, don't get me wrong but here, the matches are an important part of the story, a
tool of a sorts in the over-arching story that becomes more increasingly important as we go,
something that envelopes the entire roster.
It's not unlike the build up to a pay-per-view show in terms of structure. We just approach it
from a different way.
How are you approaching the characters? How loyal to their on-screen personas are you
remaining?
Wrestlers switch allegiances quite a bit so I'm not so concerned with portraying individuals as
good or evil, but as real people who have been swept up in a horrible situation. If there's a
long standing relationship, say between Triple H or Shawn Michaels, I try to texture that into
the story but I'm really approaching the WWE superstars as the men and women behind the tights,
not their public characters.
Are there any specific WWE superstars you'll be focusing on as the leads?
Primarily the most well-known, main event players: Triple H, Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels
probably get the most attention. Vince has a large role. Big Show and John Cena are prominent.
And I try to get face time for as many of the mid-card guys as I can but the spotlight is
definitely on the biggest names.
Is there a specific time in the WWE's history that you're working from
continuity-wise?
Nah. WWE continuity changes so much, so quickly that trying to tie it into a specific period
would drive me mad. We're creating our own continuity.
Having said that, I would like to do something that begins in the boom of the 80's, hits the peak
in the 90's, and concludes today. It's tricky to pull off because of likeness rights but it's not
impossible.
With wrestlers changing from heel to face
(or vice versa), obviously some allegiances wouldn't be possible in the WWE now -- do you think
that will be problematic for readers? Was that at all problematic for you as a writer? (For
example, since the comic appears to have been written and drawn prior to Batista's heel turn, him
working with John
Cena would fly in the face of their current feud.)
This is one of the biggest reasons why we decided to create our own continuity for the comics.
Every turn would force continual re-writing and recasting of rolls in the comic and force me to
jump off a building. We took the safer, saner path.
Have you consulted with any WWE superstars on their characters in the comic?
No, but I'm told that more than a few of the WWE superstars are excited to see how they're
treated in the comic. So for the record, Big Show? I'm sorry. It was for the story.
The WWE superstars are welcome to contact me if they have ideas for their characters they'd like
me to try to implement.
Wrestling is very action-oriented, often quickly paced with fluid movements whereas
comics are a more static medium. What can happen in the ring in two or three seconds could take a
page to convey. How have you approached the in-ring action in the comic to make it work for the
medium?
A good wrestling match tells a story and I've tried to approach that the same way in the comic.
In some cases, the context of the match is defined by the story. In others, the match becomes the
story we're telling. But every match is designed to peak and valley and unfolds with its own
rhythm. The matches have been ridiculously thought out.
Is there a specific audience you're writing for? Obviously, like any fan community,
wrestling fans look for different things. Since the WWE has been targeting kids strongly in the
past year, is the comic aimed at children more than, say, smarks who read the dirt sheets and
online sites for spoilers, rumours, and backstage gossip? Or are you trying to appeal to as much
of the fanbase as possible?
I consider myself a lifelong wrestling fan and I'm writing a wrestling comic that I'd like to
read. That's really my only gauge for any of this. There's nothing in there that would preclude
the younger audience from enjoying it and there's nothing in it that would alienate the older
demographic. But mostly, I asked myself what I'd like to see in a wrestling comic and started
from there.
I don't know how to ask this without seeming too snarky, but you've said online that
you're a wrestling fan, so how about we conclude things with a few quick 'prove your fan cred'
questions? Favourite wrestler of all time? Favourite current wrestler? Favourite match of all
time? (If it helps, I'd say my favourite wrestler of all time is Bret Hart, my current favourite
is Chris Jericho, and my favourite match is the 1991 Intercontinental Championship match between
Bret
Hart and Mr. Perfect.)
My all-time favorite wrestler is Andre The Giant. Kind of an obvious choice but I just always
loved Andre when I was young. I make no apologies for it. I was also a big fan of Mil Mascaras
and the original Tiger Mask.
Keeping things focused on WWE, as far as in-ring work, I think it's really hard to top Shawn
Michaels. He's one of the all-time greats. As far as characters, Rick Martel as "The Model"
always cracked me up. His blindfold match w/ Jake Roberts is a classic!
Of the current, newer crop of wrestlers I like David Hart Smith, I'm interested in seeing where
he and Dibiase Jr go with their careers.
And my all-time favorite match? It's tough to narrow it to just one, maybe one of the 60 minute
Flair/Steamboat classics from the 80's. Steamboat/Savage from Wrestlemania 3. The Rock and Triple
H had a great ladder match at Summerslam 98, which I was backstage for. Does that give me
wrestling cred?
***
Thanks to Keith and Titan. WWE Heroes #1 is on sale March 23 and you can view the
trailer for the issue here.
Click above to view the trailer
after the jump
Of all the fictitious captains of industry and superheroes ever to grace the silver screen, Tony
Stark's got to be one of our favorites. Why? Well aside from flying around the world in his
super-suit and kickin' terrorist butt, he's also a hardcore car guy. Just look at the Audi R8, Saleen S7 and the poor old Shelby Cobra he nearly ruined in the first episode. Now
the sequel is almost upon us, and Tony is taking to the track in a Stark Industries-sponsored
single-seater. (See for yourself in the trailer
after the jump.) But though the company and its eponymous chief may be fictitious, that won't
stop them from actually sponsoring a real race car of their own.
As you can see from the photo above, Iron Man 2 will be sponsoring Stephan Verdier's
Crawford Performance-prepped Subaru Impreza in
this season's Formula Drift series. That's nothing new: Movies, superhero movies especially, often
sponsor racing teams. (Just check out David Coulthard on the podium in a superman cape or Jarno Trulli
riding the bat-pod to see what we mean.) But if you look closer, you'll see the Stark logo on
the quarter-panel. So while we wait to see Stark's on-screen heroics in the upcoming movie, we can
enjoy Verdier's on-track heroics in Formula D as well. Top Tip, Andy!
Our list of almost perfect cars doesn't satisfy some of you readers. Now it's your turn to weigh in
on your favorites -- and why your pick tops your list.
In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our weblog writers take an in-depth look
at The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, recent changes in Xbox Live policy and feeling more like
a part of the industry. Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while
invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development
professionals. Our favorite blog post of the week will earn its author a lifetime subscription
...
"At Microsoft MIX10 today the Windows Phone 7 Series team are handing out a very special
picture book all about our favorite user interface, Metro. There is 47 pages full of beautiful
text and icons that explain where Metro comes from, what Metro represents and what guide
Metro."
Doing the rounds at MIX10 is Microsoft's picture guide to Metro, the UI driving Windows Phone 7
Series. Want a look? Head over to istartedsomething where Long Zheng has delivered a slideshow of this 47-page book in
all its page-by-page glory.
For an actress who's been working regularly for more than 35 years (since the age of 9), and who
comes from a Hollywood family (her father was actor Vic Morrow and her mother is screenwriter
Barbara Turner), the great Jennifer
Jason Leigh seems severely taken for granted. It's possibly fitting that outside her
Best Villain win at the 1992 MTV Movie Awards, her most prestigious non-critic or
non-festival-based awards have come through being part of ensembles. Unlike some great performers
regularly likened to chameleons, she's more comparable to a camouflaging lizard for her ability
not to stand out too much while doing her job perfectly -- I don't consider it bad that I
forgot she's in Synecdoche, New York, for instance.
Try to name her best performance, or her best movie. It's not easy, whether because she's
consistently brilliant or because she's not exactly in many truly brilliant films. And honestly, I
may not have seen her "greatest" performance, whether it was in Miami Blues, The
Hitcher, Rush, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Georgia,
Dolores Claiborne, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn or maybe
her first prominent and memorable film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I'm particularly
fond of her as the quirky avant garde filmmaker Lydia in The Big Picture, and one of the
few films of hers I really enjoyed is Cronenberg's eXistenZ -- that and The Hudsucker
Proxy, though she's probably my least favorite part of the Capra-like Coen brothers film.
"Today, Opera Software released the final versions of the world's most popular mobile Web
browsers, Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10. Now, nearly any mobile phone can support an
Opera-driven Web experience, complete with unmatched speed, style and cost savings. Simply go to
m.opera.com/ to download it directly to your phone today. Today's release puts the finishing
touches on the Opera mobile-browsing duo. The focus is on delivering the best Internet experience
on nearly any mobile phone, along with a unified look and feel and innovative favorite features,
such as Speed Dial, password manager and tabbed browsing."
Opera Mini 5 for Windows Mobile is actually still in beta, though Opera Mobile 10 has indeed lost
its beta tag and is now available as an official release. Head on over to Opera and grab it. It's free and widely seen
as a better alternative to Internet Explorer.
Pink is one of those series that, frankly, I
should have reviewed a long time ago. The adventure/drama focuses on Natalie Cross (Natalie
Raitano), who kills people for a living — and is very good at it. But Natalie is haunted by
her biological clock, memories of her tough-as-nails father and some occasional qualms about her
chosen career path.
Created in 2007 by Blake Calhoun and Mike Maden, the show’s enjoyed a remarkable amount of
success, with three seasons finding distribution across all platforms, including, most recently,
Hulu. In addition, Calhoun beat out a talented
group of experienced web series directors to win the Best Directing in a Drama award at the 2009
Streamys.
So it’s popular — let’s talk about whether or not it’s good. Sitting down
with the show again for the first time since it premiered, I remained impressed by its
high-quality production value. The only exception being some of the larger-scale action scenes
(such as Natalie shooting at an off-screen helicopter at the end of Season 1), which felt a little
awkward in execution.
In terms of the acting, I remember Raitano fondly from the campy good time known as the Pamela Anderson series V.I.P.,
and she’s a competent lead. Matthew Tompkins, who plays her father as a ghost and in
flashbacks, is pretty over-the-top, though, taking the hillbilly stereotype to almost an alarming
degree. Otherwise, though, the casting is pretty good, and I enjoyed the addition of Katy Rowe as
Bunny in Season 2.
The show’s flashbacks are the writing’s major weak point, as they’re too
numerous at times and just weigh down the modern-day narrative, which is actually quite
interesting. The flashbacks also work too hard to drive home points that would be better made
subtly; which is a shame, given that one of my favorite things about Pink is the
attention it pays to one woman’s psyche, giving the character real life and depth.
That leads me to one of my least-favorite things about Pink, though, but an element
which may be key to its popularity. It’s logical to assume that Pink picks up a
fair number of views thanks to the way in which Raitano is objectified over the course of the
series, but that same objectification simultaneously weakens the show’s power. There are
numerous shots which pan lovingly over her body, and most of her interactions with anyone not
related to her are given an unnecessarily sexy edge (such as the kill in this speed-dating episode). It’s an obvious
compromise, but I’m just naive enough to believe that it isn’t necessary.
Michel Gondry spoke at SXSW to a packed house; it was fantastic to see one of my favorite directors
speak about his creative process. During the talk, he mentioned a project he did where fans could
buy portraits of themselves, sketched by Gondry himself, for only $20. He did about 1,000 of these
portraits before he ended the deal, saying
that while some portraits took only 2 minutes, he started getting fancier and fancier as time
progressed, and eventually he didn't think that was a good business to continue it. When he said
that, a collective, sad sigh was felt across the conference room, since I'm sure I was not the only
one in the room who wanted a hand-drawn Michel Gondry portrait -- and if $20 wasn't the right price
to make sense, business-wise, surely there was an appropriate price point that would make
sense (and, in looking at his site, it appears that he raised the price to
$99.95 with a copy of his DVD). Now, while it is true that Gondry is a famous movie director,
surely a few hundred dollars for minutes of work is enough to get him interested, especially when
he considers that this portrait further serves to endear him more to his most passionate fans, who
are incredibly appreciative that he would ever even think to offer such a deal: It's amazing
enough that Michel has the time to draw thousands of portraits a week amidst his incredibly busy
schedule and his "Green Hornet" workload. Hopefully this commitment will urge other filmmakers to
devote similar generosity towards their fanbases... So, contrary to what Gondry thought, his
portrait offer most certainly made good business sense and was a great example of an RtB deal,
since it was soaked in his charmingly quirky artistic personality. Then again, perhaps another
example of Gondry's unique understanding of the business world is with this strange
notice that he sent out to the purchasers of the portraits, sometimes well after they had
purchased the image, telling them they could not resell the image ever. "By
placing your sketch order, you hereby acknowledge... that the sketch is for your personal use only
and you shall not have the right to sell the sketch for any commercial purpose whatsoever." To
ask this of his truest fans (especially after they have commissioned a sketch) is not only
most likely unenforceable
legally (case law here is still a bit messy, but courts have said that you can't just give up
your right of first sale based on one side's declaration), it also serves to sour the goodwill and
affection that Gondry's true fans have bestowed upon him. Now, that's bad business.
While Umair did ask a lot of questions, some thought that he did not ask enough tough questions
about the future of Twitter. Perhaps that’s why Twitter’s CEO decided to answer more questions via the
microblogging site:
“I heard on the backchannel that people want me to answer tougher questions. What’ya
want to know? Will answer 10. Go.”
The result was a flood of questions — and a flood of answers, including a few gems,
including a definitive answer to: “Will Twitter be sold or merged in the next 2
years?”
The Questions
Before I dive into analysis, what I’m going to do is actually repost the first 12 questions
and the answers Evan Williams gave in chronological order. Most of the questions he answered were
superfluous or humorous, but I’ve bolded some very interesting questions and answers:
Q1: @ev why is location an after-thought?
A1: @bitcollector we didn’t start with location but are making serious in roads with it
right now. It will be a major part of Twitter soon.
Q2: @ev when will you expand your capacity? The whale is cute and all but I see him way too
often! Thank you!
A2: @MadysonsMallows we expand it every day. But we can do better.
Q3: @ev Here’s one: why is your api team so unresponsive?
A3: @mickhagen they’ve been really flooded and are getting more resources (2 new developer
advocates this month). Also: come to Chirp
Q4: @ev OK, not a profit question. Soccer. Who will win the World Cup this year?
A4: @MatthewLumby sounds like you’re conflicted.
Q5: @ev What do you think is your next Aha! idea?
A5: @vivekunc always hard to know that ahead of time
Q6: @ev How do you see things settling out among Google, Facebook, and Twitter? Am interested
because our daughter now works at Facebook.
A6: @BobMetcalfe she should probably apply at Twitter.
Q7: @ev What am I thinking right now?
A7: @TMDavenport @ladygaga
Q8: @ev Will @anywhere put API developers out of work?
A8: @steyblind only if they can’t think of what o do on top of it. It should allow them to
create more value.
Q9: @ev what is your favorite bourbon?
A9: @thewebdawg now THAT’s a good question. I like Evan Williams Single Barrel, but
that’s probably too obvious.
Q10: @ev Why would I ever, ever want a newspaper to @anywhere link to @anildash instead of using
HTML to link to anildash.com?
A10: @anildash It’s not an either/or. It’s a hover action. Link still exists. Will
result in more followers and ultimately traffic
Q11: @ev Why hasn’t Twitter named me as their Spirit Promoter since I made a Substancial
Entity for Dialogue and Connection out of just tweeting
A11: @RoseProphecy um… Yeah. Have to think about that one.
Q12: @ev will Twitter be sold or merged in the next 2 years?
A12: @ds5384 No.
The Big Question Still Remains…
We’re still looking through the questions people asked and answers Mr. Williams gave, but
we can say a few things:
- We like this transparent step by Twitter’s CEO with his very interested
audience. He was perceptive of the audience reaction to his keynote and essentially opened up the
floor to questions.
- With that said, he did not reveal all that much. Questions like the one below dominated his
answers:
- The biggest piece was something we already suspected: That Twitter is not selling anytime soon.
- Another piece of news: Twitter will be revealing more details about how it
will fight Facebook Connect at the Chirp conference. He provided this answer to
GigaOm’s Om Malik.
- Twitter lists could be much better, and the team is working on making them a stronger feature.
Still, there are a lot of questions we have, including one we had hoped he would answer during
his keynote today: Is there a Twitter advertising platform, and if so, when will it
launch?
Hopefully we’ll get our answer soon. If not today directly from @Ev, then most likely at
the Chirp conference next month.
When
hundreds of clueless commenters decided mid-February that ReadWriteWeb was the place to log in to
Facebook, alerts went off in my personal network like alarms at a fire station. For the past few
years I've been doing research on misunderstandings online; since it's the subject of my doctoral
thesis, all my friends know I eat, sleep, and breathe this topic, and was likely to be so buried
in it that I'd miss new developments.
It's a good thing they woke me from doctoral sluggishness; with thousands of comments, this is
the biggest such thread I've seen. The ReadWriteWeb/Facebook thread looks a lot like previous
threads, but it has some interesting new developments.
Sponsor
Guest author Gillian Andrews is finishing Gumbaby.com. She channels her Internet literacy energies into the
hacker radio show The Media Show on YouTube, an irreverent,
puppet-fueled stab at mass education.
As ReadWriteWeb readers have learned, misunderstandings like these never fail to entertain and
astound. They've been a repeat topic of interest on community blogs; MetaFilter, for example,
has
scratched its collective head about this many a time. Accusations always fly: these
"strangers" (as I've come to call them) are idiots, illiterates, came from AOL, shouldn't be
allowed out on the Internet without someone to hold their hand. Less often, a few voices speak up
from the development community and say, Wait a minute, we build the software the Internet runs on
- isn't this partly our fault?
The ReadWriteWeb thread lays the blame to some extent on search engines, as ReadWriteWeb writer
Mike Melanson has already written. But it also points to the rise of social networking services
as a culprit.
Social Networking Software Changed the Landscape
Examples of misunderstandings abound in listservs, blog comment threads, newspaper article
comment sections and even Wikipedia. Blogs where people ask to get an account canceled are pretty
common. The login fiasco on this website is the first time I've seen a firestorm of
misunderstanding sparked specifically by people trying to log on to an unrelated
website.
But then, the ability to log into a service from an unrelated website is only a few years old. Is
it any surprise that people are thrown by it? These commenters arrived from a search engine,
looking for Facebook. At the bottom of the page where they landed, ReadWriteWeb offered them the
opportunity to "Sign in with Facebook." They did - many comments link directly to a Facebook
profile. What happened when they signed in? They were dropped right back on the ReadWriteWeb page
where they started, with no indication of what had happened save for the line "Thanks for signing
in, X. Now you can comment."
Text Boxes: They're Confusing
When commenters signed in to Facebook on ReadWriteWeb, it rewarded them with a text box labeled
"Comments (You may use HTML tags for style)." Where do these comments go? It doesn't say. It's
down at the bottom of a huge window, which means when you're looking at it, you can't see most of
the page's identifying information at the top of the page. (Except for the URL, but I'll get to
that in a minute.) Many text boxes around the Web are woefully under-labeled.
When I was beginning my research, a guy who worked at Blogger said to me, "People will put just
anything in a text box," and it seems to be true. Evidence abounds that people interpret comment
boxes in any number of ways. Some think they are sending private email. Some think they're
sending a chat message, and get belligerent when nobody responds right away. A few seem to think
it's a word processor, and "Submit" means the same thing as "save."
A comment which really blew my mind was posted to a blog by a woman who appeared to confuse
comments on a blog with "online prayer" - an Internet activity which is probably unfamiliar to
most denizens of high-tech blogs. Google it, though, and you'll find numerous pages, with
Pat Robertson's organization ranking among the top ones.
Online prayer sites provide a form that lets you include your name, contact information, and a
comment about what prayers you need - a form which looks startlingly like a blog comment form.
The idea is that your message will be sent to Robertson or other church staff, and they will pray
for you. Sometimes the form includes a promise that your message will be kept confidential; other
times, there is no such promise, but it seems to matter little to those who don't understand
where a comment form goes anyway.
Online prayer may be new to you. Logging in to Facebook through another site is new to most of
us. It's worth keeping in mind that the vast majority of people alive today were never taught to
read a webpage in school, the way they were taught to read the title, author information and
pages of a book. This brings us to another theme in the ReadWriteWeb thread which is repeated
across most other misunderstandings of this type.
Literacy is Not the Problem - New Kinds of Literacy Are
ReadWriteWeb readers and other "natives" call errant commenters any number of nasty names (and
use an upsetting amount of eugenic language, suggesting these "idiot" commenters should be
"weeded out of the gene pool.") One favorite insult is "illiterate."
As stated, this is a little unfair when most of these people never had a chance to learn Internet
skills in school, where skills might be broken down into simple elements that most of us don't
even remember learning. (When you learn to read a book, for example, you learn which way to
hold the book, how to turn pages, reading left to right, chunking letters into phonemes
and words into sentences.)
But beyond being unfair, it's not wholly correct to call them illiterate. They do read and write.
They just don't always do so in ways that are considered appropriate by the technologically
skilled (and the code they write).
Literacy has never been a single monolithic skill. It involves both reading and writing, and
these two skills are independent of each other. More to the point, literacy involves reading and
writing differently in a range of situations. You may consider yourself literate because you have
read Shakespeare, or because you can write a coherent quarterly report. But you don't write your
quarterly report as a sonnet. Different forms of literacy apply at different times, and people
can be good at some kinds of literacy while needing assistance in others.
Basic decoding (reading) and writing are rarely the problem in these misunderstandings. While
many comments left by strangers on the threads I have studied are misspelled, use bad grammar, or
are written in all-caps (or, even more confusingly, All Initial Caps), plenty can't be
distinguished from the comments left by tech-savvy commenters when it comes to writing skill.
In fact, "strangers" are more likely than natives to write their comments in ways we all learned
in school. In most of the threads I have studied, they make it clear who they are addressing
("Dear Facebook,") who is writing ("Thanks, Linda") and even how to understand where they are
coming from geographically. They do this to the point of redundancy, sometimes entering this
information into more than one comment field.
One stranger, trying to reach Maury Povich on a classic thread dug up by
MetaFilter, writes a spellchecked-perfect traditional letter, right down to the formatting of the
date and greetings. (When was the last time you spellchecked a hastily written comment?) Other
errant commenters are published authors, or even have advanced degrees. Again, their problem is
not traditional literacy; the problem is that the Internet demands new kinds of literacy, and
they haven't had the training yet. Mocking them in a comment thread doesn't improve their skills.
Reading-wise, there are plenty of indications in my data that strangers have read other parts of
the page. There seems to be a general trend that they are less likely to directly address a
celebrity (for example) when the comments right above their own come from natives who say "ommfg,
this is not Maury Povich's website!" My favorite example of a stranger demonstrating her reading
skills is a commenter on a thread where a blogger wrote
about his joy at learning that all kinds of things - M&Ms, ketchup bottles, soda, etc - could
now be customized. The blogger titled his post "Ketchup of the People." The commenter wrote:
I found the order for custom printed m & m's in the coupon section of the providence
journal sunday paper. It said nothing about ordering ketchup first or anything about the blog. All
I wanted was to surprise my 80 year old aunt who loves m & m's with this special custom order.
What is this a scam or something? If it is, it's pretty cruel? Please respond.
Through some referral-log forensics, the blogger and his readers determined that this commenter
had, in fact, entered the URL provided by her newspaper. The problem was, the offer had expired,
and the only remaining reference to this URL was on the blogger's page, where she landed. So she
set about trying to make sense of what she found in the best way she could. Would she have to order
ketchup first? Was the blog somehow a gatekeeper to the order? This all sounded fishy - was it a
scam?
Presented with apparent nonsense, all of us do our best to make sense of it; that's just what the
human brain does. On the Web, people don't always have the information they need to understand
what's going on.
Next page: What is a URL? What is a URL?
One of the most important elements errant commenters aren't using, which the tech-savvy have at
their command, is a page's URL. Internet-illiterate commenters generally don't know what "URL"
means, or what one does. Check the URLs attached to their names in blog comments; you will often
find they have entered an email address, subject line, their name, or something to the effect of
"I don't know what this is" in the URL field that went with their comment.The fact that many
errant commenters seem to enter "Facebook" into Google's search field to get to the page also
suggests that URLs aren't a part of their Internet literacy skills.
Interface designers aren't helping. Most URL bars now resolve into search results. This may seem
like a good UI solution, but it is a catastrophic mistake from a literacy perspective. URLs
aren't just how we get to a page; they are involved in how we judge its content, accuracy, point
of view, and most importantly who owns it.
Obscuring or drawing attention away from URLs keeps people from understanding how to judge the
quality of material on the Internet. Considering that most people have not had schooling to help
them understand the Internet - and it's unlikely that even kids in school today have formal
opportunities to learn about URLs, considering the number of schools which limit Internet access
- these steps taken by UI designers simply compound the problem.
Which leads me to my final point:
They're Not Illiterate - You Are
As crazy as it sounds, Melanson makes a certain amount of sense when he lays the blame for
the Facebook flap at Google's feet. Google is the best search engine going right now, but
it's not perfect. The shift to real-time results and its underlying popularity-contest mechanic
make it ineffective in specific settings. ("Specific" being key; the other problem with search
engines, and the subject of extensive research in schools of information, is their inability to
respond to a given user's context. But that's a topic for another article.)
Facebook - and even ReadWriteWeb - are also somewhat to blame, considering how the cross-site
login service is presented to users; as I noted, the messages sent to those signing in are
unclear (thanks for signing in to what? Now you can comment where? What does it mean to sign in
to Facebook on ReadWriteWeb, anyway? Is this a scam?)
Literacy is a two-way street. They may be dumb for not reading the pages right, but some of the
code, search algorithms, and interfaces involved aren't perfect, either. Not to mention the way
"savvy" commenters and other bloggers write. The more people linked to the original ReadWriteWeb
thread with the words "Facebook login" in the link, the more the ReadWriteWeb thread appeared to
Google to be relevant to Facebook login.
As has been noted, blog posts with "Facebook" in the title were likely to see more unwanted
traffic as well. This even spread the problem to other blogs linking to ReadWriteWeb, some of
whom also started to see login requests in their comment threads. Usability guru Jakob Nielsen
has noted bad titling among a number of we see what you did there) is not the same thing as a
solution to the problem.
You know who's great? Women. Seriously, they're one of my favorite genders. And you know who agrees
with me? Ken Wardrop,
whose adorably sweet documentary His &
Hers presents life through the eyes of about 70 different Irish women. I should
caution you that if you watch this movie, you will be struck with an overwhelming desire to go hug
your wife, sister, girlfriend, mother, or daughter, whichever beloved female is closest and will
tolerate being hugged by you.
Wardrop's concept is simplicity itself. Having rounded up all these Irish lasses, ranging in age
from 4 to 90, he has each one talk to the camera and describe her relationships with the men in her
life. The footage is arranged according to the age of the subject, starting with a toddler talking
about her daddy, all the way up through a nonagenarian discussing her late husband. In between,
teenagers talk about their boyfriends, young women describe their fiancés, middle-aged women
tell us about their sons and husbands, and so forth.
While this may sound like an extremely chauvinistic concept -- you give these women a forum, but
all they're allowed to talk about is MEN?? -- it's actually the exact opposite. What emerges is an
appreciation for the clear and indisputable fact that women exercise incredible influence over the
men around them. Starting in the womb, ending at death, and usually at several points in between,
every man's life is impacted significantly by his mom, his sisters, his grandma, his girlfriends,
his wife. The women in the film represent a cross-section of those important females.
You've seen Jonah Hill in
movies like Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and
Accepted, and he's a very funny guy. There's a tendency to expect hilarity when he comes
onscreen (my favorite unexpectedly funny scene with him is in Rocket Science), but the guy
has some dramatic legs that he's only begun to stretch. In Cyrus he does just that.
It's not to say the movie isn't funny, because it has plenty of comedic moments, but this is
definitely not the Jonah Hill you're used to seeing.
Besides being an actor and a writer, he's a self-proclaimed movie fan, and he spends plenty of time
on the web reading sites like Cinematical. He's just as excited for movies as everyone
else, and read on through to see what his upcoming recommendations are. He also talks about what
life is like for him post-Superbad, what it's like being known as "the funny guy," and
everything else he's up to. If you could bottle his enthusiasm for just about any topic, we
wouldn't need to invent cold fusion.
Gooding & Company, the internationally-recognized auction house, garnered more
than $16.1 Million* in sales, with a total of 58 out of 71 lots sold, at its inaugural
Amelia Island Auction on Friday, March 12, 2010 at the Amelia Island Plantation.
The auction’s top-seller was the star 1931 Voisin Mylord Demi-Berline that sold for $2.75
Million, an outstanding sale and world record for the Best of Show 2009 Amelia Island
Concours d’Elegance winner.
“One of my favorite moments at this auction was watching the incredible 1931 Voisin Mylord
Demi-Berline set a world record up on our stage,” says David Gooding, president and founder
of Gooding & Company. “With more than $16.1 Million in total sales this evening and a
strong showing by many of our collectors and clients, I am very pleased with the results from our
debut Amelia Island Auction.”
Many collectors and enthusiasts from around world attended and expressed their enthusiasm for
Gooding & Company’s new presence in Florida, eager for the auction house to build Amelia
Island into its annual auction calendar as a permanent fixture. The highly respected classic car
collector Michael Schudroff stated, “Gooding & Company did a wonderful job this
evening...The presentation and production was high class and a great crowd attended. We definitely
look forward to seeing them in Amelia Island next year.”
In addition to the top-selling 1931 Voisin C20 Mylord Demi-Berline, two other cars sold for more
than $1 Million on Friday evening: the 1961 Porsche RS61 at $1.705 Million (Lot 55) and the 1932
Bugatti Type 50 Drop Head Coupe at $1.1 Million (Lot 66). The excitement of Gooding &
Company’s debut Amelia Island Auction is an outstanding achievement following the success of
its last two auctions, which collectively garnered an outstanding $85 Million for 243 collector
cars sold at both the 2010 Scottsdale Auction and 2009 Pebble Beach Auction.
Continua leyendo "Gooding & Company 2010 Amelia Island Auction Results"
I used to have a
long-running complaint that there were certain directors who
just didn't work as often as they should. In the case of David Fincher, I grudgingly
accepted it because his uncompromising nature as a director resulted in some of my all-time
favorite films. But, judging by the news-wire these days, I may have to take Fincher off my list of
"cinematic teases." Variety is now reporting that
Fincher is in talks with Colombia Pictures to direct Pawn Sacrifice, a chess drama about
the great Bobby Fischer and his life leading up to the legendary match against Boris Spassky.
According to sources, Steve Knight's script has garnered plenty of attention in Hollywood from
other A-list directors, and was quickly snapped up by Tobey Maguire to produce, and
possibly star.
The news of Fincher's potential involvement with the chess flick came days after word had surfaced
that he was still looking
for a studio for his Heavy Metal re-imaginingand was also in talks to direct The Girl
with The Dragon Tattoo. It's certainly a change for the usually slow-paced director, who
has proven that he isn't afraid to walk away from a project rather than abandon his principles, and
it was probably that same attitude that led to Fincher's previous battles with Paramount.
Variety even speculates that perhaps Fincher has found a new home at Colombia, having
already started work on the Facebook drama Social Network for the studio.
I've been a fan of Fincher long enough to know that he isn't afraid to pull the plug, so until
these movies are in production, I won't hold my breath. Then again, maybe I should try and be a bit
more optimistic, and I can only hope that Fincher has finally caught the productivity bug.
Whether you're looking for backgrounds for your desktop, Creative Commons licensed photos, or just
scanning eyecandy, Flickr is an excellent place to find beautiful digital images.
Need a simple way to download multiple images? Check out Downloadr (screencast after the break!), a free program with
loads of options which makes short work of bulk downloading from Flickr.
Downloadr is packed with search options and fully plugged in to Flickr -- so it can locate and
download everything you've added to your favorites. Authentication is also supported, meaning you
can download private images to which you have access.
Fire up a
download task, and Downloadr asks you where to save the images and spawns a progress window. It
also supports Windows 7's Superbar progress indicator, so you'll see a bright-green background when
the job completes. A few
things worth noting: Downloadr is considered beta, so you're probably going to encounter the
occasional bug here and there. I had a few error boxes pop up, but no actual crashes -- searching,
authenticating, and downloading all worked just fine.
Attached
here is a how-to video showing how one can easily add their favorite web apps to Windows Media
Center (Vista / 7) using Prism by Mozilla Labs and Media Center Studio (hat tip to halcion1). Note
that for a better user experience you may want to track down web app interfaces that have been
[...]
A website that sorts everyday the most relevant information to you.
Vote for the news and Matoumba will learn your tastes and the information that you like the most.
It is all FREE!
Find here the history of the stories you found interesting.
Show this to people who share the same interests as you,
and if they use Matoumba, their own votes will fine recommandations to you.
Last fall, Jack
Kirby's estate filed 45 notices of 
David A. Yovanno is the CEO of 
In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our weblog writers take an in-depth look
at The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, recent changes in Xbox Live policy and feeling more like
a part of the industry. Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while
invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development
professionals. Our favorite blog post of the week will earn its author a lifetime subscription
...
A few
hours ago, 
When
hundreds of clueless commenters decided mid-February that ReadWriteWeb was the place to log in to
Facebook, alerts went off in my personal network like alarms at a fire station. For the past few
years I've been doing research on misunderstandings online; since it's the subject of my doctoral
thesis, all my friends know I eat, sleep, and breathe this topic, and was likely to be so buried
in it that I'd miss new developments.
I used to have a
long-running complaint that there were 
Whether you're looking for backgrounds for your desktop, Creative Commons licensed photos, or just
scanning eyecandy, Flickr is an excellent place to find beautiful digital images.
Fire up a
download task, and Downloadr asks you where to save the images and spawns a progress window. It
also supports Windows 7's Superbar progress indicator, so you'll see a bright-green background when
the job completes. 
A few
things worth noting: Downloadr is considered beta, so you're probably going to encounter the
occasional bug here and there. I had a few error boxes pop up, but no actual crashes -- searching,
authenticating, and downloading all worked just fine.
Attached
here is a how-to video showing how one can easily add their favorite web apps to Windows Media
Center (Vista / 7) using Prism by Mozilla Labs and Media Center Studio (hat tip to halcion1). Note
that for a better user experience you may want to track down web app interfaces that have been
[...]
Recommandations
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
