Aliens landed on Earth years ago and have been disallowed by humans (governments) to leave the planet. They are placed in District 9, a holding camp for the aliens who no humans are allowed to interact with. Asking “Why can’t they leave?” is the key plot to the movie and it seems the aliens soon become frustrated and begin to do people harm in an effort to leave the planet. This is what I got from the trailer at least.

The movie looks to take a realistic approach, shot in a similar way to what Cloverfield felt like (sans the shaky cam). Visual effects and CG should also be quite awesome. District 9 definitely seems to be an all-in-all promising movie from the director of Lord of the Rings, coming out this August 14. Be sure to check back for more! Here is the latest trailer for District 9.

We’re taking it easy this week to celebrate (party) the United States’ 228th Independence Day on July 4th. I realized how great our country is, despite its recession and downfalls, and how fantastic the people here really are (when they try). We take for granted the vast amount of freedoms that we have, and how far worse some other countries are. We take for granted these freedoms and you won’t truly know what you have until its gone. I am capable of writing this blog with no limitation, no censorship (fuck that!). It is a pleasure.

So go out and have a fantastic 4th of July, celebrate your freedoms and have fun. If you live on the East Coast, I hear that Macy’s is planning one of the largest fireworks display ever on the Hudson River, in order to celebrate Independence, and the 400th anniversary of the exploration done by Henry Hudson. The show will feature 40,000 shells exploding at a rate of more than 1,500 per minute — ridiculous amounts of pyrotechnics. The show starts at 9:20pm on July 4th.

Happy Independence Day!

It is being reported that Michael suffered a heart attack in his home in California, was hospitalized, and confirmed by the Associated Press that the pop singer had indeed passed just before the evening.

His soul will be remembered in the heart of music forever, among many others who have passed before him. Rest in peace, King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

• 512MB of memory
• Android OS
• 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
• 30-days standby time (really?)
• 7-hours talk time (what?!)
• Supports Adobe Flash out of the box

This phone sounds like it will have everything and is an ambitious phone. Leaks from the Internet have spoiled some details about the phone, but all is out in the open – this phone is serious power if HTC can deliver; they have in the past. The phone looks very promising. It will be released first in Europe come July, then in Asia, and finally in North America sometime late 2009, making us wait. Check out HTC’s product page for the Hero. See the HTC Hero in action by watching the video:

Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)

The game was first announced at E3 and there haven’t been many details released just yet. The reception of the game at E3 has been very warm, even becoming nominated as one of the most anticipated games from E3 for the PS3. This game has been delayed since last year, when the game developers took a different road by releasing a “Prologue” to Gran Turismo 5, and we are finally getting to see some completed sections and the game nearing release sometime this year.

From what we see, the developers of the game stay true to their franchise by planning to offer many aspects of racing through licensing agreements from NASCAR and the WRC. From the sounds of this, the game will engulf gamers with race culture from every angle.

The game also offers great visuals and, as always, the huge lineup of cars to sit in and vast amount of tracks to drive on. This game… looks… fantastic. The video below is testament to this:

Forza Motorsport 3 (X360)

The game has become the racing simulator for the Xbox and has evolved from nothing, into creating a great community of racers. Forza 2 offered quite a lot by allowing gamers to buy and sell cars at auction and had great tools for creating insane car paint. We can be sure the same features will be offered, and Forza 3 will be more refined and offer new tracks, cars, and other features that have yet been revealed.

So far big improvements in track offerings (since Forza 2 lacked in this area) and AI are to be strong points for gamers. On top of that, the developers have been working on “certifying” players’ track times. This means that cheating by having a faster car push, drafting another car, “riding walls,” or taking shortcuts is out of the question to get the best times on the Xbox Live leaderboards. Great!

The trailer for the game, while not nearly as exciting as GT5, is somewhat promising and we’re hoping that it doesn’t quite do the game justice.

Compelling Enough To Switch Sides?

Even if you own both PS3 and X360 consoles, it seems there will only be room for one game. Certainly, being a race aficionado and enthusiast, you’d want to be playing the best racing game even if it means you’d have to switch consoles to do it. Would you switch to get the best game (whichever it turns out to be)? Which do you think will come out on top?

5. Kitchen/Grill Dad

You may or may not realize that most daddies can cook. For many it is more of a concealed weapon, but others flaunt it by making killer dishes. Some may be better cooks than others, don’t get me wrong, but dads want to be considered good at whatever they make. If its pancakes they’re the best pancakes you’ve ever had, or the sandwiches he makes in the afternoon are to die for. A good idea is to recognize what your dad likes to cook and how, and maybe there is something to get him to make cooking easier, better, what have you. Think about a new spatula, a pan, a great seasoning for that special dish; these can all work out for cooking dad.

4. Tinker Dad

I have had a hole in my wall since my dad tried installing a new light switch, so I can imagine that “tinkering” dads are very different when it comes to fixing things and doing work around the house. Some are always doing something with a tool or looking to improve the gadgets they have (like their car), so it may be difficult to figure out what this dad needs. Perhaps these dads need to find a way to relax and not worry so much about the work they are always doing. Take them to do something with you or send them somewhere may be a good idea. Or, if you can think of a new tinker tool that your dad may need it is probably a good idea.

3. Sport/Entertainment Dad

Sport dad watches sports all the time. Whether he does so on his prized big-screen HDTV or has amassed a large collection of memorabilia these are two great areas to look for something to buy. You may not realize, but the big-screen HDTV is part of the “man cave” (more for the man cave later) and is off limits unless your gift idea compliments the “manliness” so-to-speak. A new Blu-Ray player if he hasn’t bought one yet, or some sports/movie DVDs, memorabilia, and even decoration (if you’re good at it) for the entertainment center is A-okay.

2. Business Dad

Your dad may be part of a business or own the family business and is constantly in his Blackberry, or a like device, checking his email, and on the phone with his business partners and clients. He doesn’t like to be bothered when he’s on call and may be in and out of the office/home office at any given moment. The best idea for you is to supplement his productivity. A nice personal timekeeper/datebook, new business card holder, Bluetooth device, you can get creative as there are many different businesses and various tools that could be of great use. Don’t be afraid to fuel the business because after all it is providing for the family, even if dad seems sort of unavailable at times. He’ll appreciate it more than you know.

1. “I don’t Need Anything” Dad

He is by far not making it easy for you by saying this and is definitely the most popular type of dad. It is difficult to think of ideas yourself, and is difficult to get any ideas out of him — so what do you do? Do anything but take the easy way (gift cards) and make it personal. He’ll appreciate something simple such as a handmade card, a photo frame, a new book to indulge in, or anything little that is not going to be over-the-top and says that you were thinking about him. No need to be fancy here, just personal.

What is a Man Cave?

Some dudeskis have room in their house where they like to veg or socialize. The man cave is the utilization of this extra space for his personal entertaining and socializing. Its a private space to those who feel as if they need a “no girls aloud” room to do whatever they want. It is important to respect the rules of the man cave. While many dads have gone above and beyond customizing their space, many use the space to tinker and let loose from difficult job stress and to be creative. The space can be small, even a small section in a remote part of the basement (cave-like) to fairly large, theater-sized spaces.

No, its not anti-woman (hopefully), but more of a getaway space. While a man gets a room, the woman may have the whole house. The man cave is marked territory. Watch the video below about the 21st-century man cave.

Recently I have been glad that we don’t cover music. I honestly don’t think I would say anything good about any of (at least) the current top 10 songs in America. Its just noise these days.

People listen to music because it either sounds “good” to them, or they feel engaged with the lyrics. Boom Boom Pow, currently #1 on Billboard Hot 100 by the Black Eyed Peas tries to engage its listeners with their brilliant chorus:

Boom boom boom, gotta get-get
Boom boom boom, gotta get-get
Boom boom boom, gotta get-get
Boom boom boom, gotta get-get

Great. Really inspiring repetition of 3 words which don’t mean much; I think they are talking about someone’s badonkadonk (?). Hopefully Lady Gaga’s Love Games has something to offer as the #2 Billboard song.

Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick
Don’t think too much just bust that stick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

Why are these artists constantly making shit up that doesn’t make sense? Then, when everyone hears it its common knowledge and we all know what it means. An example of this is “Jedi” one of the first movie words to make it into the dictionary (that I know of at least). Its things like this that bastardizes the English language. All this time I have been wondering why I can’t write well and the answer is clear… and the #3 song by Pitbull isn’t even in English, so screw that. This is Jeremih’s Birthday Sex, which does sound like a good deal.

Girl you know I-I-I
Girl you know I-I-I
I’ve been feenin’
Wake up in the late night…dreamin’ about your lovin’
Girl you know I-I-I
Girl you know I-I-I
Don’t need candles or cake
just need your body to make good

The trend is sex. So far Black Eyed Peas wants some ass from Lady Gaga who will ride on Pitbull’s disco stick, and Jeremih, who is “feenin” (Urbandictionary.com definition) for any girl he can get. Or something. Onward!

The #5 by Jaimee Foxx, Blame It, talks about getting drunk and finding some girl who wasn’t as hot as she is now after having downed an apparent bottle of Patron or Grey Goose, fine alcohol. Should be good…

Blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose
Blame it on the ‘tron, catch me in a zone
Blame it on the a-a-alcohol
Blame it on the a-a-alcohol

Straightforward, get drunk. Another trend… the farther we get from the #1 position the less repetition. These songs are just silly. Who are you’re favorite artists? Look out for the latest artists at Billboard.com.

At the Microsoft press conference Konami’s Hideo Kojima briefly appeared to announce a new Metal Gear game that will, surprisingly, get released onto the Xbox 360 as well as the Sony’s PS3: Metal Gear Solid: Rising. A short trailer was debuted that showed Raiden as the main character for the game. While exciting that Microsoft is being considered for the new MGS title, it will not be exclusive. Konami clearly states that it has interest in developing games for both consoles.

The second game is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, to be released onto the Sony PSP. It takes place after MGS 3 and puts you in control of Big Boss in Costa Rica as he prepares “his vision,” Outer Heaven. It is being called the “missing link in the Metal Gear Saga” by Kojima productions.

Track these games on their official site: Kojima Productions.

The term casual implies that a person plays a video game only once and a while. They buy a game and stick with it before moving onto another. However, with games priced in the $50 to $60-range these casual gamers aren’t being enticed to become more avid consumers. People become forced to make many more choices than ever before: “Do I buy Call of Duty, or Halo? I can only afford one, so…”

The video game industry is setting up for some sort of a downfall by leaving the casual gamers to make such expensive decisions. I’d love to own all the sweet games out there, but I cannot afford to buy any more than, say, three a year.

Oh but wait, have they found the alternative in used-game sales? Gamestop, once only showcasing new covered games in shiny plastic, is now displaying “Get it Used!” signs and allowing gamers to trade in old games for more old, reduced-price games. We cannot go into a Gamestop without noticing that there are more used games on display than there are actual new ones. This is why publishers are losing out on used-game sales: their new games are too expensive, and used games are a better deal.

This is a problem for us gamers. I, once a hardcore gamer purchasing 6+ games a year, am now only buying a measly 2 or 3 games… used! Why? Because a new one is too expensive for me and the rewards are limited. The system is thus, broken.

Will the issue of pricing ever be resolved, I don’t know. I’m hopeful, because I do want to buy more games and I feel this is not an isolated case.

The Palm Pre is set to do so again, at least if the device stands up to the throbbing amount hype it has created. Too much hype is surely to hurt the phone if it doesn’t deliver. I’ve already heard of quirkiness from the phone’s applications, despite the phone’s multitasking strength and superb touchscreen.

The cell phone market has been in steep decline, with the recession and the simple fact that everyone and their grandmothers has a cell phone, and Palm is counting on their Pre so that they can sleep better at night. Apple has been raking in the boatloads of cash for so long why would anyone want just another touchscreen that only does a few fancy things… but they chose Sprint so they didn’t have to compete directly with the iPhone. Nice, but it might bite them in the ass in the long run, anyway.

On any degree, Palm has a lot of challenges to overcome before we can start praising them for a job well done. Certainly the phone looks fantastic and I’d love to own one myself, but if I were the company I’d be a little bit nervous. Hype is only hype in that it doesn’t mean everyone is prepared to go out and buy one. My guess is that people will first think its cool and dream about playing with one instead of actually making the purchase.

The Palm Pre officially comes out as a Sprint phone on June 6th. If you don’t have Sprint, you’ll have to wait six months or more to find it on Verizon or AT&T.

Photo from Microsoft

Fantastic, it looks fabulous. Microsoft is trying to differentiate this new product against the Ipod by offering outgoing connectivity from the Zune player. This means that you will be able to carry around your media and hook it up to your television to watch shows and listen to music. The Ipod can’t do that, and I think Microsoft may finally be on to something with this offering. We may finally be able to bring out movies anywhere we want on a small device that could easily hook up to a television.

Although there are no official statements regarding the Zune HD’s capacity, it could be said that capacity should be significant in order to hold enough high-definition content.

One thing is for certain, the competition is still very, very hot. With Apple coming out with new products every so often, it will be soon before they come out with something similar, and possibly better. Sitting in the dark for so long will leave Microsoft much to be desired, particularly without a popular “App Store” or music marketplace quite like iTunes. Microsoft knows this, and have stated they are prepared for a fight against the Ipod. I am particularly excited about the HD radio tuner. As far as we are concerned, this is to be the best pocket radio yet.

It could do well if Microsoft puts a lot of effort into the Zune HD. It looks sleek and offers quite a bit in comparison to other devices. Only one question remains… do they really need the touchscreen, or is Microsoft going with the trend of things? Seriously.

Final notes: Microsoft is preparing to transform digital distribution with its Zune marketplace. It has heard the people complain long enough that we have to pay $x for a movie that only lasts 24-hours and can only be played on one device. Microsoft wants us to be able to make a purchase and take it with us like we could do with hard media (e.g. DVDs you can put in any DVD-player). It makes no sense to have an Internet where this is all capable and be so confined. Hopefully Microsoft will make use of its brains (finally) and throw us digital consumers a bone.

Official Zune HD web site: http://www.zune.net/en-us/mp3players/zunehd/default.htm

Terminator started off well, although it quickly fell into the “movies that have too many CG effects” category, and began to get stale the second time Arnold said “I’ll be back!” Granted, the movie looks sweet and true fans of the series should be very pleased, there is no doubt about that. But others just chiming in on the Terminator story might as well be tired of hearing about robots taking over the world. If you haven’t heard, zombies are the new “it” thing; robots are very much last year.

Putting that aside, Terminator has the fan base and audience that loves explosions to help it do well as a movie. The television series on Fox, however, was already canceled. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was into its second season when it got the axe, supposedly because the show failed to engage with new audiences as the plot thickened, and you simply had to have watched the show from the beginning to understand where it was going. I can’t say this is a sign of things to come for Salvation, but it’s likely that the audience that failed to care about the television show may be the audience that forgets about the movie as well. Not cool.

In the end, the movie comes out May 21st (today), for those of you who are going to watch it even without Arnold’s face in the picture. The final trailer, I might add, is hardcore awesome.

Since no one cares to comment on rumors, as they are simply speculation, rumors don’t just come flying out of nowhere. Its the absurd rumors you have to worry about. The simple reason we think a slim PS3 is highly plausible is because Sony has made their Cell processor chip smaller, and is able to make the insides more compact because of this. A redesign of the PS3 would make better use of the extra room, e.g. make it smaller. A smaller system also means… that they can make it cheaper!

However, with Sony staying firm on their price of the PS3 (its still $399.99), we could say that an updated version would definitely become an easy possibility for them to maintain value — while introducing a redesign, they can offer the older models for a cheaper price. Gamers are anxious for a cheaper PS3 and this would be the perfect time to make it happen. Sony currently seems to be enjoying being at the bottom of the barrel in this generation of gaming consoles, while both Microsoft and Nintendo reap the benefits of Sony’s expensive hardware. But, lets figure if Sony were developing a slim PS3, they could release it and offer their older model at a discount. This would be similar to what Microsoft has done with their Xbox 360s — they offer the entry-level “Arcade” that is cheaper than a Nintendo Wii, the Premium sits in the middle, and the Elite as the high-end model. It would work for Sony especially because they are the most expensive.

A slim PS3 is exactly what we could expect from Sony. They performed the same operation with the PSOne and PS2; naturally a PS3 slim is right up their alley.

Furthermore, some leaked pictures from China have been suspected to be the slim PS3 in production. However this wouldn’t make any bit of sense because Sony is a Japanese company. Another big, dead give-away is the font of the PS3 logo… well, lets just say it looks like a knockoff. Its supposed to say PlayStation 3. Sony is very good at branding, Saying “PS3″ would really not coincide with their marketing techniques.

Looks a lot different…

Although the service is targeted at small businesses, the $99/month price tag isn’t so terrible for typical users that require a lot of bandwidth. Compared to Verizon’s FiOS service, customers have a maximum of 50Mbps download and 20Mbps upload for around $140/month, half of what Cablevision is going to be offering.

Seeing as this is a significant step toward increasing the country’s broadband capabilities, we’re wondering if other companies will soon follow suit. Not because of any recession, the United States lags in availability and speed of Internet access, yet pay the highest for service in comparison to other countries.

In the United States, we pay an average of $41/month for 2MBps, while Japan pays about $35/month for service 15x as fast, as reported by The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (itif.org). Ridiculous!

Cablevision’s newly directed business speeds are a foot in the door towards better speed and, hopefully, an invitation for competition down the road from other providers. Already, Verizon spokesperson ,Eric Rabe, has come out with a statement, according to NYTimes Bits Blog:

We can go to 400 mbps with the technology we are now deploying -– without giving up TV channel space. We can add higher speeds at the time of our choosing, but no announcement to make today.

This sounds like a challenge, Verizon, and for the sake of everyone we hope they fight it out to offer better broadband at better prices. It makes me sad that our momentous country gets the hand-me-down when it comes to Internet, a huge part of society and business together. We need our LOLcats and ROFLcopters at the speed of light, why are we paying so much for so little?

Some things you can do for Earth Day 2009:

1. Turn off the lights, open the shades. There is plenty of sunlight
2. Turn off, and unplug things you don’t use. Even leaving appliances you use rarely plugged in uses some energy. While fractional, its still wasteful to leave them plugged in.
3. Turn down the thermometer, wear a jacket if its cold inside. You have blankets too, I’m sure.
4. Reuse your bottles, and cups. If you are still on plastic water bottles, fill them up again with tap water. You can do this a few times, but plastic leaks chemicals after a while, so don’t reuse them too much.
5. Plant a tree. They consumer Co2 and produce Oxygen, how great does that sound? Its free air and less of the bad stuff.

Each year, to fuel the car enthusiast in me, I attend the New York International Auto Show. So far, each year I am easily amazed by the new technology and sweet concept cars companies bring out, and it proves to be a good outlook on the future of transportation (much like other shows, but this one is closer for me to attend). The show lays down a road map for consumers to look out for in the future of automobiles.

This year was different, though. Given the current economic climate (very cloudy, and somewhat daunting), the auto show demonstrated just how hurt these companies are by the lack of new innovation that was shown this year — it has come over them like a virus. GM, as well as others, have been stunted completely. Still showing their relatively unchanged Volt concept, that is in hellish waters right now as the company runs into manufacturing problems. Overall GM’s displays were unpersuasive for me to purchase one of their 2010-modeled cars (with the exception of the Chevy Camaro Transformers display).

Other, more notable, displays came from companies like Volkswagen and Audi, and Hyundai had an unusually large crowd around its new line of really cheap cars, such as their heavily marketed (and well intended) Genesis. Audi had a subtly impressive display of their normal line-up. Each of their cars were a signature white with their powerful R8 and TT displayed in flashy red. Volkswagen showed off its latest pocket rocket that is the GTi.

Hyundai had a surprising amount of interest from the crowd. It seemed people were looking for information on the Genesis, and wanted to see it in person. Perhaps people are looking towards them as their cars are more affordable at this time. Who knows, but there was immense interest.

Toyota and Honda had a typical display showing their usual line-up. Civics, Accords, and an emphasis on fuel economy was apparent from these two companies. Lincoln and Cadillac, on the other hand, had lame, uninteresting floor of cars. It showed, no one crowded that area and there were no lines of people waiting to have a seat. Certainly sad. Ford had a good display of Mustangs and showed promising efforts through their new Taurus. I loved the Fusion as well.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz had their usual display of lovely cars. However, there was a noticeable skimp amount of high profile cars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini, who usually have something awesome to show, but c’mon, nothing? Ugh.

The Future?

Among the fog of economic downturn, ideas are still somewhat brewing. At a meeting of top automotive executives, a decision was reached to develop a universal recharging cable for electric cars. While I’m a hardcore conservative of gasoline automobiles, electric power is inevitable as more and more people need transportation. In order for consumers to get the full thrust of electric-powered cars, automakers need to decide how they will all be powered.

It’s certainly annoying having two of, essentially, the same product that has two different incompatible plug-ins to recharge them. If you need a quick recharge, such as the next-generation of gas stations, it is important that cars have the same method to be plugged in — otherwise efficiency is lost and money is wasted by everyone. Adapters, add-ons, a whole smörgåsbord of problems could exist in the future if automakers didn’t agree on this topic. But, most of them happily did.

Manufacturers including Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Fiat, Toyota, and Mitsubishi, have already agreed on the standard that will be used to charge electronic automobiles. Perhaps we can coin the term e-car… please no.

“Think about it, if you have no reservations or confusion about charging your vehicle, you’re probably going to be more likely to drive one,” says Gery Kissel on the GM FastLane blog. I completely agree. If you needed a square gas-pump and the gas station only had a triangle one that didn’t fit, you’d get upset and probably run out of gas before you could refuel. Same thing goes for electric-operated cars of the near future.

While a universal plug wasn’t shown at the auto show in NY, it will turn up eventually. Perhaps not this year, but next year — whenever the economy and people decide to make more purchases.

As for 2010 automobiles, there is still slow movement toward electric and more fuel-efficiency, and the downturn has stunted any type of innovation. Saddening, but I’m not ready to give up fuel just yet.

Sometimes we come across a new gadget that makes me wonder if the future is really here yet. The future will never come (duh), but the Scarpar looks like a step in the right direction for personal mobility gadgetry. Aiming to become a new genre of motor sport the Scarpar powerboard looks like a personalized mini-tank — versatile and capable of all-terrain trecking and potentially racing.

In an innovative way the Scarpar uses two treads powered by a single 4-stroke gasoline engine that is controlled through a tethered remote control. Capable of speeds up to 35mph (currently) with the capability to be modded for more power and speed by anyone. The company is also working on an electric version that you’d be able to charge and go. If you choose the gas engine, though, the Scarpar has a maximum range of about 20 miles which is just enough to have serious fun through the woods, or on snow.

If you’re interested, take a gander at their web site — Scarpar.com. Or if you are an investor, the company says they are struggling with finding capital to fund their project. We’re no investors, but we think this product is something we could see become a popular motor toy.

Receiving good reviews from gamers so far, who rate the game in the 8.5-9.0 range out of 10, is a breathe of fresh air for the publisher considering the previous game didn’t fare as well. However, this game’s release may be slightly pinched as the economy is on crutches and Atari isn’t exactly what it used to be. Certainly low marketing efforts may keep this game from selling out, if it ever had any intention to do so (we don’t think so).

Critics, on the other hand, have been reviewing the game harshly, giving an average score of about 8.2. We think reviewers may be comparing the game to the previous Riddick game in terms of gameplay, and while similar, Dark Athena has much more features. Multiplayer is the biggest new feature introduced, along with an overhauled graphics engine that looks superb in comparison.

Purchase this game at your own leisure, we can’t be too sure how the storyline and multiplayer will play out for average gamers. If you are a fan of the series, definitely purchase this title. Otherwise, casual gamers should be directed to the demo currently available before they make a commitment to purchase the game.

Take a look at the official web site at RiddickGame.com. Oh, and check out the latest trailer: