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The Boy Genius Report  -
12 hours and 27 minutes ago
In an investors meeting on
Thursday, T-Mobile USA CEO Robert Dotson told investors that the nation’s #4 wireless
carrier is turning to third parties including Clearwire as a potential means of increasing
spectrum as it faces a future filled with 4G offerings from its competitors. Rumors of a joint
venture with Clearwire originally surface last September when Bloomberg reported that T-Mobile
was in talks with Clearwire in a negotiation that involved a cash investment from T-Mobile USA
parent Deutsche Telecom in exchange for access to Clearwire’s growing 4GÂ
network and spectrum resources. Clearwire is in an enviable position having already rolled out an
active and robust 4G network and is armed with ample spectrum. The 4G wireless provider owns up
to 150MHz of spectrum in some areas and has 30MHz chunks that it is using for its WiMAX network.
T-Mobile could license some of Clearwire’s ample spectrum as it begins the arduous and
expensive process of rolling out LTE or, alternatively, T-Mobile could abandon its plans to
pursue LTE and jump feet first into 4G by piggy backing on Clearwire’s 4G network. Though
the outcome of T-Mobile’s decision regarding its future network resources is not known, one
thing is clear: love it or hate it, Clearwire will most likely continue to be an integral part of
our 4G future.
Read
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Ars Technica -
14 hours and 6 minutes ago
Earlier this year, Amazon found itself in a showdown over e-book pricing with publisher
Macmillan, which wanted the ability to set pricing for its works. Amazon initially pulled all of
Macmillan's titles off its virtual shelves but, a few days later,
conceded there was little it could do—Macmillan's works went back on sale, and Amazon
apparently gave up on trying to force its prices on the company. Despite that rousing lack of
success, reports are now indicating that several other publishers may get the same treatment, as
Amazon is threatening to stop selling their works as well.
Indications of an ongoing fight between Amazon and book publishers were apparent
almost as soon as the Macmillan matter was settled. Amazon had been purchasing e-books from
publishers at a wholesale rate, which allowed it to set the retail prices; rumor had it that the
company was selling works at a loss in order to push Kindle sales. Publishers, which have an
obvious interest in keeping prices for their work higher, were certainly not pleased with this
approach.
Read the comments on this post
 
    
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Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica -
14 hours and 6 minutes ago
Earlier this year, Amazon found itself in a showdown over e-book pricing with publisher
Macmillan, which wanted the ability to set pricing for its works. Amazon initially pulled all of
Macmillan's titles off its virtual shelves but, a few days later,
conceded there was little it could do—Macmillan's works went back on sale, and Amazon
apparently gave up on trying to force its prices on the company. Despite that rousing lack of
success, reports are now indicating that several other publishers may get the same treatment, as
Amazon is threatening to stop selling their works as well.
Indications of an ongoing fight between Amazon and book publishers were apparent
almost as soon as the Macmillan matter was settled. Amazon had been purchasing e-books from
publishers at a wholesale rate, which allowed it to set the retail prices; rumor had it that the
company was selling works at a loss in order to push Kindle sales. Publishers, which have an
obvious interest in keeping prices for their work higher, were certainly not pleased with this
approach.
Read the comments on this post
 
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Blu-ray.com - Blu-ray Disc news -
15 hours and 10 minutes ago
The Digital Bits is reporting that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment plans to release the 1982
science-fiction film Tron in November, a month ahead of the theatrical release of its
sequel Tron Legacy. It also revealed that the studio will release The Lion King
on BD in October 2011....
Read full article at Blu-ray.com |
Slashdot -
16 hours and 18 minutes ago
Internal Microsoft documents obtained by Joystiq indicate that its Xbox 360 console will gain
support for USB storage devices some time this Spring. "According to the document, the USB mass
storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. 'The system
partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of
the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller.' Upon inserting a blank USB storage device,
'consumers are offered two choices: "Configure now" or "Customize."' The 'Configure now' option
will use 'the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB,' meaning, regardless
of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable,
non-system storage. The 'Customize' option will allow you to 'preserve some pre-existing,
non-console data on the device' such as music." There have also been rumors of a new, smaller form
factor for the 360, and hacker Ben Heck has given his thoughts on some leaked motherboard pictures.
 
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 
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Slashdot -
16 hours and 18 minutes ago
Internal Microsoft documents obtained by Joystiq indicate that its Xbox 360 console will gain
support for USB storage devices some time this Spring. "According to the document, the USB mass
storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. 'The system
partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of
the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller.' Upon inserting a blank USB storage device,
'consumers are offered two choices: "Configure now" or "Customize."' The 'Configure now' option
will use 'the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB,' meaning, regardless
of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable,
non-system storage. The 'Customize' option will allow you to 'preserve some pre-existing,
non-console data on the device' such as music." There have also been rumors of a new, smaller form
factor for the 360, and hacker Ben Heck has given his thoughts on some leaked motherboard pictures.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 
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Slashdot: Hardware -
16 hours and 18 minutes ago
Internal Microsoft documents obtained by Joystiq indicate that its Xbox 360 console will gain
support for USB storage devices some time this Spring. "According to the document, the USB mass
storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. 'The system
partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of
the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller.' Upon inserting a blank USB storage device,
'consumers are offered two choices: "Configure now" or "Customize."' The 'Configure now' option
will use 'the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB,' meaning, regardless
of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable,
non-system storage. The 'Customize' option will allow you to 'preserve some pre-existing,
non-console data on the device' such as music." There have also been rumors of a new, smaller form
factor for the 360, and hacker Ben Heck has given his thoughts on some leaked motherboard pictures.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 
 |
Comics Should Be Good! -
18 hours and 59 minutes ago
Welcome to the two-hundred and fifty-second in a series of examinations of comic book legends and
whether they are true or false. Click here
for an archive of the previous two hundred and fifty.
Comic Book Legends Revealed is part of the larger Legends Revealed series, where
I look into legends about the worlds of entertainment and sports, which you can check out here, at legendsrevealed.com. I'd especially recommend you check
out this
installment of TV Legends Revealed to find out the story of how Michael J. Fox got "revenge"
on Brandon Tartikoff!
Let's begin!
COMIC LEGEND: Frank Frazetta turned down the opportunity to play
professional baseball to draw comic books.
STATUS: I'm Going With True.
Amazingly enough, the world might have missed out on the artistic talents of Frank Frazetta!
Instead, it is the world of baseball that missed out on the athletic skills of Frank Frazetta!
A few months back, reader Ed wrote in to ask:
I read somewhere, don't remember where or when, that Frank Frazetta turned down a "bonus-baby"
contract to play for the New York Giants baseball team. I think this was from an interview, so
came from his own mouth. I can't find any information about this online. Could it be true, and
would there be any way to verify that the Giants actually offered him a contract, or did he just
have scouts looking at him. This would have been right after WWII.
This story appears to basically be true, although I'm sure there's a little puffery involved.
For instance, on the Frazetta Art Gallery site a few years back, it was said...
Frank did not start playing baseball until he was 15 years old, but within just a few short years
of playing sandlot ball in Brooklyn, he was offered a contract to play center field for the New
York Giants.
That's stretching the truth of the matter a bit, as in the biography section, there is a more
realistic take on the situation...
In this spot on the Frazetta Art Gallery web site,
his baseball almost-career is discussed:
Through his teens, he continued drawing and painting, however he began to slack off due to his
discovery of girls and baseball. In school he set several high school records, and eventually
caught the attention of a scout for the New York Giants professional baseball team. Frank was
offered a position on their farm squad with a good prospect of moving up to the major league
within a season, but he turned them down. " I was involved with a girl at the time," Frazetta
says a little sorrowfully. "And going down to Texas and sweating it out in the minors for a year
didn't seem very appealing. You have to remember that at that time athletes weren't making the
money they do today. They bussed you back and forth and it was just a big disgusting hassle. I
remember that traveling to another state seemed like going to the end of the world, so I told
them, maybe next year. Time went by and before I knew it I was too old. It was just my way of
letting time make the decision for me. If I have any regrets it's that I didn't turn pro. If I
was in my twenties and had it to do over - today, at today's salaries - you better bet I'd do it.
"
And yeah, that's basically the "rub" of the story - while yes, Frazetta most likely WAS offered a
baseball contract (he was a very skilled baseball player in high school)...
what a "baseball contract" was in 1946 is very different than what you would think of a baseball
contract today.
In 1946, the New York Giants had a whopping SEVENTEEN minor league baseball affiliates!
They were all over the country, in cities big and small!
Minneapolis
Danville
Trenton
Manchester
Hickory
Springfield
Anderson
Oshkosh
Jacksonville
Bristol
Jersey City
Erie
Peekskill
St. Cloud
San Francisco
Fort Smith
Richmond Colts
With that many affiliates, the amount of players who were offered "professional baseball
contracts" was a lot higher than it it is now (not to mention the fact that pro ballplayers were
chosen almost entirely from white people at the time) and with that many affiliates, your average
player was not exactly making a lot of money.
And while Frazetta was a great physical specimen...
there was no guarantee that he would actually make the majors (he wasn't a prospect along the
level of, say, a Whitey Ford - just to name a major prospect signed around the same time).
And even if he were to buck the odds and MAKE the majors, even THEN he would not be guaranteed a
hefty salary!
So when you add in very little upfront money and a lot of travel, all with the promise of MAYBE
making the Majors, it was not exactly a great job offer if you had steady work at the time.
And comic books in the late 1940s/early 1950s had a lot more definitive work for a guy like
Frazetta, so it's not surprising at all to see him choose drawing comics over playing minor
league baseball. So, coupled with the many accounts of his baseball acumen from the people who
knew him as a youth, plus the fact that Frazetta has consistently told the story over the years
(with just the specifics moving a bit as time goes by), I'm willing to say that yes, Frazetta
did, indeed, turn down a professional baseball job to draw comics.
And from his perspective at the time, it surely seemed to pay off...
By the end of the decade and the beginning of the next, Frazetta was all over comics...
  
  
And when comics stopped paying, Frazetta moved on to comic strips, and then to book covers, which
is where his real worldwide fame began, as his science fiction and fantasy paintings are famous
the world over.
And it all could have gone very differently if he had said yes to baseball as a teen.
Thanks to Ed for the question!
COMIC LEGEND: A black and white EC Comics reprint uncovered a decades-old
X-rated prank.
STATUS: True
Late last year I did a Comic Book
Legends Revealed installment on how an issue of X-Men, when reprinted in black and white for
Marvel's Essentials format, had some slight nudity where nudity was never meant to be shown
(inker Terry Austin added some female anatomy for the sake of definition - it was intended to be
covered up when the book was colored).
Well, a similar situation occurred in 1979 when Russ Cochran did the EC Archives Edition of Tales
From the Crypt, with black and white reprints of the original series.
Here's a page from Tales From the Crypt #29....
Here's a panel from the issue...
Nothing weird, right?
Well, here's that same panel in black and white (you can click to enlarge it a bit more)...
And here is a detail of that panel....
Of course, in this instance, it was an intentional joke by original artist Joe Orlando that was
intended to be colored over so that it would never be visible.
The best part about this story is that a few years after the collection came out , someone
noticed the prank and informed Bill Gaines, who then wrote to Orlando to "complain" about the
prank (Gaines was a noted prankster himself, so it's highly unlikely that he actually cared,
almost certainly he was writing to acknowledge the decades-old prank).
And Orlando replied to him feigning outrage at the suggestion.
The great Bhob Stewart featured the prank on his great web site here. Stewart has a copy of Orlando's full
letter to Gaines (written on DC Comics stationery) at that above link. It's a great read - well
worth reading. Heck, Stewart's whole site, Potzrebie, is a great read as a whole and well worth
reading.
COMIC LEGEND: Dreadknight was originally going to be the mysterious
Masters of Evil member in Amazing Spider-Man #283.
STATUS: I'm Going With False
In the other
week's Comic Book Legends Revealed, I discussed how Tom DeFalco was planning to introduce a
brand-new Spider-Man villain during his run on Amazing Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #283, but
since he left the book soon after, he brought the character to his run on Thor.
Well, apparently there is some matter of debate over whether that was the ORIGINAL intent for
that character in #283.
Readers Omar Karindu and trajan23 both wrote (respectively)...
The rumor I always heard was that the MoE-to-be was supposed to be Dreadknight.
Dreadknight was listed as a Master of Evil in the Marvel Handbook a few months before the Under
Siege story began, and I think Roger Stern said somewhere that he wanted the evil Black Knight's
successor in there somewhere.
and
The Marvel Appendix also goes with the Dreadknight as the intended MoE-to-be as well.
As to the first point, here is the page from the Handbook...
Note the circled part.
And here is the quote from the
great Unofficial Marvel Appendix site on the Masters of Evil...
The mystery member of the Masters of Evil in Amazing Spider-Man I#283 was almost certainly
supposed to be the Dreadknight, who was from Europe, was a good match-up for the Black Knight,
and had been named as a member of the Masters of Evil in the Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe Deluxe Edition #4. However, Tom DeFalco decided to make it his newly-created villain the
Mongoose instead. He was also intending to set up the Mongoose as a Spider-Man villain, but wound
up establishing him in Thor after his abrupt departure from the Spider-Man titles.
Well, awhile back, someone asked Roger Stern about Amazing #283 on his web forum, and he
replied:
No, Tom DeFalco wrote AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #283. The last issue of ASM that I scripted was #250.
However, Tom and I coordinated events between AVENGERS and ASM so that the Absorbing Man and
Titania bounced back and forth between the comics and stayed consistent.
(Believe it or not, there was a time when this was common.)
I believe that Tom and Ron Frenz intended the mystery villain to be a new Spider-Man foe. But
they ran into editorial problems and left the book shortly after that issue. I believe they later
used the mystery villain during their run on THOR, but I don't remember who he was.
So it sure seems that the Mongoose was always intended to be the mystery character, as Stern does
not even hint at anyone other than a new Spider-Man villain being the character in #283.
I think it's clear enough that I'm willing to go with a "false" here!
Thanks to Omar Karindu and trajan23 for the suggestion and thanks to Roger Stern for the info
(and Dicky El for asking Roger the question)!
Be sure to check out the Unofficial Index to the Marvel Universe, while you're at it! It's a
great site!
Okay, that's it for this week!
Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for this week's covers!
And thanks to Brandon Hanvey for the Comic Book Legends
Revealed logo!
Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My
e-mail address is cronb01@aol.com.
As you likely know by now, last April my book finally came out!
Here is the cover by artist Mickey Duzyj. I think he did a
very nice job (click to enlarge)...
If you'd like to order it, you can use the following code if you'd like to send me a bit of a
referral fee...
Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed
See you all next week!
|
Ars Technica -
22 hours and 22 minutes ago
Microsoft began to talk about Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 today, though the
company wasn't yet ready to announce a beta or release timeline for the service pack. Rumors
pegged SP1 beta for arrival this month. For
Windows Server 2008 R2, the company revealed two new features that directly affect Microsoft's
desktop virtualization platform.
Microsoft Dynamic Memory is an enhancement to Hyper-V that will allow users to adjust the memory
of a guest virtual machine on demand. IT administrators will thus be able to pool all the memory
available on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to virtual machines running on that
host as necessary. Based on changes in workload, VMs will be able to receive new memory
allocations without a service interruption.
Microsoft RemoteFX, which is based on the IP that Microsoft acquired and continued to develop
since acquiring Calista Technologies
over two years ago, enables users of virtual desktops to receive a rich, 3-D, multimedia
experience while accessing information remotely. It functions independently of any graphics stack
and supports any screen content, including Windows Aero, full-motion video, Flash and Silverlight
content, and 3D applications. Because it uses virtualized graphics resources, RemoteFX works on a
wide array of target devices, which means it can be deployed over both thick and thin client
hosts and a wide variety of network configurations.
For Windows 7, SP1 includes only minor updates: mostly hotfixes already delivered through Windows
Update. SP1 will, however, feature an updated Remote Desktop client that takes advantage of
RemoteFX introduced Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Microsoft says it will be giving more detailed
information regarding SP1 over the next several months.
Read the comments on this post
 
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Engadget -
1 days and 3 hours ago
 We don't
like to stir up the nearly constant barrage of "so-and-so is getting the iPhone" rumors unless
we've got a great reason to do so -- and we'd argue that a Financial Times report
involving statements from Deutsche Telekom's CEO qualifies. The British rag was chatting up DT's
boss over the prospects of its American unit -- T-Mobile USA -- and stressed the company's
long-term commitment to turning around T-Mobile's fortunes in the face of recent spinoff
rumors, saying that it's all about rapidly building out a speedy 3G network as part of an
effort this year "to lay the foundation for future growth."
Here's where it gets juicy: referring to the iPhone, the report goes on to say that "T-Mobile USA
is hoping to start selling the popular smartphone later this year or next year" while focusing on
Android in the meantime, as if Android is merely a stopgap measure to make it through to the
singular device that can save America's number four carrier from going down the tubes. It's not
clear whether FT got the chief exec making a statement to that effect on the record or it's merely
gleaning this knowledge from other rumors, but the only way this would be able to happen is if the
next iPhone were to come in an AWS-compatible
version -- and that seems unlikely considering that AWS coverage represents a trivially small
fraction of 3G subscribers around the world. Of course, wireless CEOs of all walks of life
regularly make statements saying they'd
be more than happy to carry the iPhone if the opportunity presented itself, so this could be
little more than off-the-cuff blather anyway.
T-Mobile
USA eyeing iPhone launch this year or next? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink  iLounge
|  Financial Times
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The Boy Genius Report -
1 days and 3 hours ago
Apple may be bringing two heavy hitters to the market early this summer according to some rumors
fresh from the pages of AppleInsider. First up is a potentially gorgeous 27 inch, 2560 by 1440
resolution LED-backlit Cinema display which will be a handsome upgrade from the current 24 inch
model. The 27-incher has reportedly been gracing the halls of Apple for some time now, waiting
for market prices to drop to an affordable level for launch. For those with a cash flow that
seemingly has no end, there will also reportedly be a new Mac Pro on tap for June which will
feature not one, but two Xenon 5600 hexacore chips from Intel. This dodeca-core monster machine
will be accompanied by a single chip Mac Pro model which is expected to launch in 2.66GHz,
2.8GHz, 2.93GHz, and 3.33GHz configurations. Those rumored
Core i7-980X Mac Pros are not off the table but that configuration is highly unlikely given
the recent release of the Xenon 5600 processor line and the compatibility these processors offer
with the current generation of Mac hardware.
Read
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Ars Technica -
1 days and 7 hours ago
The Xbox 360 all but requires a hard drive to download games, patches, movies. Indeed, all the
features of a modern console can become very dependent on having large amounts of memory.
Microsoft has long required users to buy expensive and proprietary memory devices and hard
drives, but documentation
obtained by Joystiq shows that you may soon be able to use your own USB storage on the
device.
 Image courtesy Joystiq
It's still not a perfect solution. If the data here is to be believed, and Joystiq is claiming it
has been verified by two sources, you'll be able to use up to two devices, and up to 16GB of
storage on each one. That means you'll max out at 32GB of storage, but you can use that storage
for anything that you'd use the hard drive for. "USB storage devices may, however, have far
greater memory capacity than [memory units] (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB),
and may therefore support previously infeasible operations—such as installation of a full
disc-based title," the documentation says.
Joystiq guesses that with rumors and images of a slimmed down motherboard floating around the
Internet, we may soon see a version of the system without slots for memory units at all. Whatever
happens in the future, USB storage has become cheap; this news may cause a newfound interest in
the Xbox 360 Arcade hardware.
Read the comments on this post
 
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Gaming Section - Ars Technica -
1 days and 7 hours ago
The Xbox 360 all but requires a hard drive to download games, patches, movies. Indeed, all the
features of a modern console can become very dependent on having large amounts of memory.
Microsoft has long required users to buy expensive and proprietary memory devices and hard
drives, but documentation
obtained by Joystiq shows that you may soon be able to use your own USB storage on the
device.
Image courtesy Joystiq
It's still not a perfect solution. If the data here is to be believed, and Joystiq is claiming it
has been verified by two sources, you'll be able to use up to two devices, and up to 16GB of
storage on each one. That means you'll max out at 32GB of storage, but you can use that storage
for anything that you'd use the hard drive for. "USB storage devices may, however, have far
greater memory capacity than [memory units] (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB),
and may therefore support previously infeasible operations—such as installation of a full
disc-based title," the documentation says.
Joystiq guesses that with rumors and images of a slimmed down motherboard floating around the
Internet, we may soon see a version of the system without slots for memory units at all. Whatever
happens in the future, USB storage has become cheap; this news may cause a newfound interest in
the Xbox 360 Arcade hardware.
Read the comments on this post
 
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Media Matters for America -
1 days and 8 hours ago
Fox & Friends perpetuated the false claim advanced on right-wing blogs that
President Obama was incorrect in stating during a Fox News interview that Hawaii suffered an
earthquake in 2006 -- a disaster Fox News itself reported on at the time. In a 2007 memo, a Fox
News executive reportedly warned staff that "seeing an item on a website does not mean it is
right. Nor does it mean it is ready for air on FNC."
Obama cites earthquake in Hawaii during Fox News interview
Obama: Medicaid fix "also affects Hawaii, which went through an earthquake."
During an interview that aired during the March 17 edition of Fox News' Special Report,
Obama discussed certain provisions in health care reform legislation that would affect various
states and said of a proposal to adjust Medicaid reimbursement rates for states affected by
natural disasters, "It also affects Hawaii, which went through an earthquake."
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Hawaii on October 15, 2006. As
Media Matters for America's Adam Shah noted in response to right-wing bloggers who
claimed Obama was "making up" an earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey
states that Hawaii suffered a magnitude 6.7 earthquake on October 15, 2006.
Right-wing blogs: "What earthquake in Hawaii?"
Jim Hoft: "Um... What earthquake in Hawaii?" At 6:54 p.m. on March 17,
right-wing blogger Jim Hoft wrote a Gateway Pundit
post that stated, "Either Obama's completely making up stuff now or we all missed some
horrible devastating earthquake in Hawaii." He later wrote: "In 1868 there was a major earthquake
in Hawaii that killed 77 people. In 1975 an earthquake in Hawaii killed 2 people."
Breitbart.tv links to Hoft. At 10:18 p.m. on March 17, Andrew Breitbart's
website Breitbart.tv
linked to Hoft's post and displayed the headline, "Puzzling statement: Obama says 'Louisiana
Purchase' will help with the earthquake in Hawaii."
Drudge links to Breitbart.tv post. From the
Drudge Report:
Hot Air follows Hoft focusing on 1975 earthquake. At 10:20 p.m. on March 17,
HotAir's Cassy Fiano embedded video from the Fox News interview and
wrote: "This moment, from Bret Baier's interview on Fox News with Obama, might just be one of
the biggest 'WTF?!' moments from Obama's presidency yet. Obama is either completely making things
up, living in an alternate reality, or really, really confused."
Malkin links to HotAir post. At 12:15 a.m. on March 18, Fox News contributor
Michelle Malkin linked to HotAir's post on the Hawaiian earthquake in her
blog, posting the following passage from HotAir:
Cassy Fiano and Allahpundit intrepidly attempt to
decipher:
Apparently, there was a devastating earthquake in Hawaii that we all somehow missed.
Oh, wait, no. That's right. There was no earthquake, and Obama is just totally clueless, as
usual. In fact, the last earthquake in Hawaii to cause any deaths at all was in 1975, and two
people died.
In any case, why is he using this argument, anyways? He's turned this health care bill into a
one-size-fits-all solution for everything. Not only will it fix our health care, but it will
apparently create jobs and give disaster relief around the country!
...Update (AP): ...My guess is Obama meant to say that Hawaii went through a tsunami caused by
the quake in Chile and got distracted in his irritation at Baier. But who knows what goes on in
his mind at this point? This is a guy who thinks universal health care is going to reduce the
deficit.
Internet's earthquake falsehood spreads to Fox News
Doocy follows talking points from right-wing blogs. During the March 18 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host
Steve Doocy played the quote in question from Obama's interview and responded: "Hold it. What
Hawaiian earthquake? There was an earthquake in 1868 that killed 77. There was an earthquake in
1975 that killed two."
Ex-FNC VP for news Moody: "Seeing an item on a website does not mean it is
right." Fox News has a documented pattern of news reports based on
Internet rumors that turn out to be false. In January 2007, after Doocy retracted his false
assertion that Obama "was educated in a madrassa," then-Fox News' vice president for news,
John Moody,
reportedly said in a memo to Fox News staff: "For the record: seeing an item on a website
does not mean it is right. Nor does it mean it is ready for air on FNC. The urgent queue is our
way of communicating information that is air-worthy. Please adhere to this."
      |
-Daily. Gay. News.- Towleroad: a premium site for modern gay men. -
1 days and 9 hours ago
She don't give a damn 'bout her bad reputation.
 NATHANIEL ROGERS
...would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at
the Film Experience.
YOUR FEATURE PRESENTATION
If you've seen any music biopic you know the plot of THE RUNAWAYS.
Talented musicians struggle, rise to the top, then come undone from messy emotional lives
involving everyone's favorite cocktail: sex, drugs and rock n roll. Usually there's a redemptive
epilogue (in this case the band's MVP Joan Jett went on to great success in the 80s). But plot
isn't everything. The hook of The Runaways then (the band) and now (the film) is that they were
girls when girls weren't rock stars. And at least one of them (Cherie Currie played by Dakota
Fanning) was underage. Both the band and Cherie herself used that in their favor crafting their
biggest hit "Cherry Bomb".
 Though the film
gets repetitive (as all music bios do), it's largely successful, buoyed by committed
eyebrow-raising performances from Dakota Fanning, exploiting herself as enthusiastically as
Cherie did, Kristen Stewart, who thankfully drops some of her familiar performance tics to take
on Joan Jett, and Michael Shannon as their cynical scene stealing Velvet Goldmine-like
manager. But the MVP in The Runaways is the woman behind the filthy 70s curtain.
The visually gifted director Floria
Sigismondi (who rose up in the music video world with work like "Beautiful People" for
Marilyn Manson and "Fighter" for Christina Aguilera) makes sure that The Runaways is
always intriguing to look at. There's great use of lighting, color and 70s detail and a
refreshing candor about the band's sexuality that rescue this one from the doldrums of the
familiar narrative.
Let's hope it's a huge success so that someone will finally get a GO-GOs biopic off the ground.
It'd be like a sequel in its own way, only sunnier.
Also Opening: Delicious Jude Law attempts to toughen up his screen persona in
the action flick REPO MEN and Gerard Butler continues to carry the banner of regressive
heteronormativity -- watch him make women swoon by treating them very badly (again!) in THE BOUNTY
HUNTER
BONUS SCENES
What do Lady Gaga and Elle Driver have in common?
Find out AFTER THE
JUMP...
Wildly Speculative Probably Unfounded Rumor Alert! Does Quentin Tarantino wants Lady Gaga
for Kill Bill Vol. 3 ? Well, she does love to poison people in her videos. We love
Gaga but when it comes to poisonous blonde amazons, Elle Driver will be difficult to top even if
Tarantino does return to those DiVAs (Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) for a third volume. This
new burst of chatter must have sprung from that Kill Bill "Pussy Wagon" homage in
"Telephone".
  The
cast of The Smurfs movie, which will be a live action/animation hybrid (like Who
Framed Roger Rabbit) keeps on expanding. And it sure is gay-friendly. Jayma Mays from
Glee, Neil Patrick Harris, Alan Cumming, Katy Perry as Smurfette and Hank Azaria as Gargamel.
 The
debate about Precious Gabby Sidibe's future career prospects due to her weight rages on. I think she'll do just fine (especially if she goes the
comedy route where plus sized bodies are more familiar). But I do think we need to clear up one
thing: Oprah did not discover her as some articles suggest. Winfrey signed on
after the movie was already showing at festivals. That's the type of false assumption
that will become truthy if it's publicized enough. When you rule the universe, you tend to get
credit for everything.
         |
The Tech Report: News -
1 days and 10 hours ago
For a good while now, we've known AMD is cooking up six-core desktop processors code-named Thuban
and officially branded Phenom II X6. The rumor mill even gave us some model numbers and a launch
date (April 26) last month, but specifications have thus far eluded us. Luckily, TC Magazine now...
|
Web TV Wire -
1 days and 23 hours ago
 Google looks set to venture into the living room with Google
TV, an Android-based set-top box capable of delivering the best of the Web (and online video) to
your television set. And it’s partnered with Sony and Intel to make Google TV happen.
Google
Google is, without a shadow of
a doubt, the biggest name on the Internet right now. The search giant controls the search sector,
is making gains with its Chrome Web browser, has Maps, Street View, and all those other cool
apps, and, of course, owns YouTube.
Google has also made the move to smartphones with its Android operating system. But it’s
yet to venture into the living room, at least until now.
Google Living Room
There have been rumors of Google attempting to enter the living room by way of a set-top box for
a while now, but nothing was really known about the efforts, and whether they would actually
amount to anything.
But the New York
Times is now reporting that Google TV is its name, it’s very real, and Google already
has partners lined up.
Google TV
Google, Intel, and Sony are alleged to be jointly developing the Google TV platform. Google TV
would take the form of both hardware (set-top boxes) and software (built into TVs) and bring
Google right into the living room.
Google TV would be based on the Android operating system and be open to software developers. The
intention being to create a similar buzz and number of applications as experienced by the Apple
App Store and other smartphone app platforms.
Google TV would allow users to browse and search the Web, watch online video via Web-based apps
including YouTube and Hulu
(although
Boxee’s efforts to do the same thing have
been shuttered), and play downloadable games.
Google isn’t doing this for nothing: it would allow the tech giant to place ads on the
system and put it at the forefront of the move to connected TV platforms, of which there are
an increasing number.
Conclusions
Google has enough clout to not only make this happen but to sweep away all the other connected TV
platforms
already out there or
emerging from development. But it cannot afford any mistakes on this score, and there’s
still no real evidence that people want these platforms in any great number.
More details, and an official announcement from Google and/or its partners are definitely needed
before I’ll be getting too excited.
    |
InternetNews Realtime News for IT Managers -
2 days ago
Motorola's Droid smartphone looks to be in store for a long-anticipated upgrade this week, with
rumors swirling that the device will step up to version 2.1 of the Android operating system.
 
 |
The Boy Genius Report -
2 days and 2 hours ago
After rumors about the HTC Supersonic have been swirling around the Internet for a
few months, it is now time for the Wall Street Journal to chime in and contribute to the hype
surrounding Sprint’s
first WiMAX handset. According to people “familiar with the matter,” Sprint is
expected to announce the HTC Supersonic next week during a presentation by Dan Hesse at CTIA. The
timing for such an announcement fits in nicely with Clearwire’s promised 1H
2010 delivery date for the first WiMAX smartphone and we certainly have seen enough spy shots and
hands-on videos to whet our appetite for this Android-powered 4G smartphone.
Read
 |
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