When you think of the government the words “fast paced” and “young” are not what you typically hear. Historically the government has a silly, bureaucratic procedure that is long and seems to never really get through to citizens, even on important topics information can be misreported and forgotten easily. Todays government seems different, however, with its ability to keep up with technology and allow for better reporting of issues and facts and has allowed much more people to understand the way in which the government is working for us.

WhiteHouse.gov has been redesigned to allow for up-to-date and important news, not only to be read more easily but shared and can be followed on many other social networks that have sprung up since the last administration. There is an abundance of official videos from the President, including a feature called “White House Live” where videos are streamed straight from Capitol Hill each day outlining new issues and talking about how the government is planning to address them. Compare this to the last administration, only news was featured when something had actually happened. It was more of a spotlight on where the President was that week.

During the transition period where Barack Obama was sworn into the government, a new group called the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform (TIGR) was formed to overhaul the mass amounts of media and data that the administration had been archiving and create innovative, technology driven applications that would help people understand it and make it accessible. This has since been translated into the Open Government Initiative and is alternatively called eGovernment.

As evidence to this, a perfect example of the way the new government is utilizing mass data in new ways is Recovery.gov, a web site that tracks the economic recovery efforts on a multitude of levels. The web site measures up-to-date information regarding job creation, where the money was distributed and even allows you to download primary source data for interpretations. It includes many FAQs and information for tax payers to make sure they understand how the government is managing the assistance money to minimize fraud and abuse of the system. An even more robust information center has been created at Data.gov, which allows you to get unprecedented amounts of datasets ranging from the locations of active mines and mineral plants and realtime worldwide earthquake tracking, to hate crime and foreign labor statistics.

Just last week (January 19), a blog post on WhiteHouse.gov announced its new iPhone/iTouch application available for free on iTunes. It will allow its users to download current blog posts, videos and photos, and even stream live video content as it is reported from the White House. Not to leave out non-iPhone users, a mobile-accessible web site for the White House is coming in the next few weeks. When you visit mobile.whitehouse.gov, you will get a web site optimized for all other mobile devices. The blog post outlines its commitment to openness:

As part of President Obama’s commitment to an open and transparent government, the White House App makes getting all the latest news and media from the White House easier than ever.  And of course, we’ll continue to look for new and emerging technologies to engage the American people and make information about the President and his administration easily available.

It is real-time government, and a step in the right direction as the Internet generation grows up and expects even more instant information than ever before. Currently, the United States is ranked number four in the UN’s e-Government Readiness Index, under Sweden, Denmark, and Norway which take the top three positions. The significance of this is that it leads the way to better information communication and delivery for people of many cultures to come together and participate in the globalization of knowledge.

Repo Men

Synopsis: Remy (Jude Law) and partner Jake (Forest Whitaker), who works as a repossession man for a company that sells its customers artificial organs. When its customers who buy on credit are not able to make payments, the repo men come after them. Their customers are hunted down for their organs with any means necessary. But when then they are caught, the repo men open them up and take back their hardware in a bloody, unsanitary surgery wherever they are. The story turns when Remy is forced into the organ transplant program after a nasty run-in, and cannot afford it. He becomes the hunted, and his partner turns on him for the commission.

The movie sounds unique, and I applaud the nasty trailer making a point that the movie will be gross. I am a sucker for all-out gore, and this movie has me salivating. The cast is impressive, and I can be sure that the movie will be worth seeing in theaters. I’ll be there to see this movie when it releases (April 2). The official web site: http://www.repomenarecoming.com.

Fashion Forward!

Entertainment companies are trying to push 3-dimensional video into theaters, full force. With an average of a new 3-D movie coming out every few weeks, it seems, the trend is going to continue. Is it really worth it?

First, images popping straight out of the screen and onto the faces of the audience is coming at a higher price to many consumers. Moviegoers are now being charged with extra surcharges, on top of a ticket into movie, for the use of 3-D glasses even if you have your own pair from a previous movie. Many people are unaware though, that the reason for this is mainly for the theater to use the 3-D technology and actually has little to do with the special glasses. Of course, you are able to recycle your glasses at the end of the movie if you so choose, which is probably a good idea to be happy given a fresh pair the next time you see another 3-D movie. Regardless of whether you keep your glasses, surcharges will stay for the theater to cover their costs.

Of course I’m all about the entertainment factor, but does 3-D take away from the experience? I would say it depends on the film. An action movie that is meant to “wow” you will be good candidates, but I hope to never have to sit through a 3-D romantic comedy because the technology would be too distracting. These are likely limitations to the 3-D trend. I will cry if there is a romantic comedy showing in 3D…

The technology is coming to the Blu-Ray player in your home, too. The Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA) has approved a new specification on delivering 3-D content via disc that will begin to be implemented soon. The PS3 will likely have a firmware update to allow this specification. Whats even better about this, it is also backwards compatible for 2-D movies. Therefore, if you don’t have a 3-D capable display, it’ll just play in 2D.

Wait… 3-D capable device? Yes. As I said, this trend is coming at a great cost to consumers. Since we’re moving from DVDs to Blu-Ray now, 3-D is the movement of the future. Once the life span of your LCD or Plasma television has reached its limit, you’ll probably be looking at new 3-D capable displays to replace the old. More money to spend, more to look forward to in the future, we hope. I don’t think that 3-D is that important for people to be bending over backwards to consume, especially for new, potentially more expensive televisions.

Oh, and did we mention that 3-D imagery is likely also an answer to the much debated piracy issue. Since movies are to be in 3-D, people are more likely to want to go see it in the theater rather than settle for just a 2-D pirated copy. That is why Fox is not concerned with the leak of Avatar into BitTorrent — they argue that it will not impact revenue because people are seeing the movie in 3-D instead of pirating it. Sounds like a good all-around money maker to me, whether or not consumers really want 3-D movies.

It’s only a matter of time before we start seeing uber-”High Definition 3-D glasses!” selling for a fortune at Best Buy and stores alike. Are you ready for 3-D to come in the next generation of technology?

Eyeing that new video game console? Or how about that new camcorder? Maybe its a sweet new LED television. Whatever it is, be sure to tell us. You’ll want to keep checking back for a brand new holiday gift guide. We’ve already got you covered with a Video Game Console guide and some answers when looking for a brand new television with our simple HDTV comparison guide.

Droid is the new brand of smartphone from HTC and Motorola to be offered to Verizon customers coming today. There were a few rumors leading up to these devices, but the smoke has cleared and two new phones officially became available for purchase today, the Droid Eris by HTC, and the Droid by Motorola. These two mobile devices will be a new push by Verizon to compete against the iPhone. Offering competitively prices cellphones, Verizon may be able to finally reach out to customers who have been yearning to use their immensely under appreciated 3G network.

The two Verizon Droid phones, while being developed by two companies, are not so different from each other. Here are some juicy key features of each new phone…

Droid Eris by HTC

• Android OS by Google, version 1.5
• 528MHz processor with 288Mb RAM
• 3.2″ 320×480 HVGA resolution, 262K–color TFT LCD touchscreen display
• 5-megapixel camera with 8Gb of microSD storage (upgradable up to 16Gb)
• Virtual QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 G/B capable
• $99 with 2-year contract

Droid by Motorola

• Android OS by Google, version 2.0
• 550MHz processor with 256Mb RAM
• 3.7″ 480×854 WVGA resolution LCD touchscreen display
• 5-megapixel camera with 16Gb of microSD storage (upgradable up to 32Gb)
• Real QWERTY slide-out keyboard
• Bluetooth 2.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11 G/B capable
• $199 with 2-year contract

While similar, the each phone caters to the kind of user they will be accompanying. If you are more of a power-user, your choice would be the Motorola Droid. If you want a cool phone that does a lot of cool things with a touchscreen, you’ll go for the HTC with its great price.

The areas that Verizon lacks is that its data plans are somewhat expensive. Although you get a fantastic, practically nationwide 3G area, you certainly will pay for it. Even the “unlimited” plan is capped at 5Gbs of data per billing cycle, though it is unclear what happens if you surpass that amount. Tethering for your cell-phone, which involves connecting your phone to the Internet through a laptop or other device, will cost an additional $30/month.

As for applications, Android has a nicely sized marketplace in which you can download free and paid programs that can do anything you dream of. Developer support for the operating system is still somewhat upcoming with a much smaller selection than the iPhone App Store.

So far, these phones have had a great reception and will be promising. Will they be enough to make Apple squeamish, probably not. But its possible a small dent can be made — you have to start somewhere if someone wants to dethrone the iPhone as top gadget.

The phone uses the latest Android by Google operating system and the user interface looks fantastic. It has a 5.0 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and comes with a 2gb microSD card. We said the phone could have a talk time of 7 hours, but it has been downgraded to 5 hours of talk time. The Hero retails for $479.00 without a contract, and just $179.99 for new service contracts. Go to Sprint’s official page for more specs!

Lets start with the stupid mix of elements that this movie had. Yes, Megan Fox is the lead role as Jennifer and plays “the hottest girl in high school” which every guy drools over. She acts sex-addicted and falls for a band who is playing at the local bar. This is all accurate, but the story that follows is basic thriller-movie dumb.

From there, the movie takes a comical, unserious move to get the audience to laugh at the same time they are supposed to be at the edge of their seats. They throw in odd jokes for the hell of it, which turn out to be actually funny if you are quick enough to catch them while you are trying to pay attention to the real action. The comical aspects of the movie make you wonder what the movie is supposed to be accomplishing, do you laugh or be scared? I understand the movie attempting to be different, but this movie almost plays with your emotions in a dumb way; comedy and thriller just don’t mesh, and I don’t think they ever will.

The thriller elements of the movie were good at times, though they fall short when someone decided the movie should also be funny. I have to admit, I was freaked out when you first see Jennifer after her incident, and several scenes were scary enough for me to not want to talk to girls for two hours after the movie. They just weren’t good enough to have a lasting impression that I’ll remember. Being thrilled is what I went to see the movie for, after seeing the very creepy trailer, and it did the job alright.

The gore is non-existant except for two or three corpses that were chewed out. The fact that there was no gore, no “holy disgusting” moments made the movie a long bore. Moments of the movie felt tedious and time-consuming filler content. It felt like it was dragged on to be a full-length, 104 minute movie — they tried really hard… too hard. The movie got boring.

As for the storyline, there might as well not have been one. The story didn’t really matter and I don’t think anyone truly cared about it anyway, you know you just want to see it for Megan Fox. Clearly the producers realized this and pieced together the worst sequence of story imaginable and threw in jokes and a creepy aspect. It also tried to be mysterious — you are sort of brought to wonder what the hell is going on with Jennifer, but it still felt as if the producers didn’t care at all for the story. The movie sums up what happened in one scene towards the ending in the most basic, unemotional way. Yes, a good way to put it, this movie was emotional in an unemotional way, if that makes sense.

If you wanted to see this movie for Jennifer’s body, you won’t see it. Actually, you won’t see anyone’s body as there is no nudity whatsoever, although there is an awkward sex scene going on while someone is being eaten alive and having a creepy hallucination. Wild, no really, it is ridiculous. Go see this movie, or don’t. It is solely up to you because I can’t say its worth seeing. But on the contrary, I’d say you’d be missing out on what I thought was the weirdest movie-going experience to date. If you like that sort of thing, go for it. If you wanted a good, emotional movie definitely don’t see this.

Jay-Z, as a true hip-hop artist, has a lot of inspiration to work off of from the likes of New York City (Empire State of Mind, featuring Alicia Keys), and the faults of other rap artists, particularly for overusing a technique called auto-tuning (D.O.A. Death of Auto-Tune). His sounds are heavy at times, mixing various styles of simple computerized beats but also including softer instrumental parts using pianos and strings that make this music feel lively.

The album includes an array of accompanying artists that also help make the sound diverse, and look forward at his career and the world at hand. Musical appearances include Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Young Jeezy, Kid Cudi, Drake, and Kanye West who also helped produce the album.

Like the music, the album wasn’t produced by just one artist. While it is evident that Kanye West and Timbaland have taken the reigns, No I.D. have made an appearance in recognition of the more traditional rap style that Jay-Z is known for. The album is flowing with a lot of inferences and ideas pointing to the future of hip-hop and rap.

If hip-hop is your style, you’d certainly love Jay-Z’s latest album, The Blueprint 3, out now. Check out the music video for D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune):

Lets put things into perspective. People still swear that vinyl still holds the quality that CDs cannot compare to. The music burned onto the CDs is compressed into zeros and ones and uses technology to interpret the data into playable music. A vinyl on the other hand requires sound physics that involves vibrating a little needle to produce sounds — this is sort of like a cricket in that they rub their legs together to make noise, the needle on a turntable rubs against grooves burned into the vinyl. A preamp takes the sound from the vibrations and amplifies the signal so that it is audible.

The physics involved in a vinyl makes more sense to connoisseurs of music, and more particularly audiophiles. The audible sound is fuller and genuine simply because it comes from actual vibrating material. Ask yourself this, what would sound better: making a crystal glass vibrate to produce noise, or listening to a computer replay a recording of that? I’d want to listen to the real thing (so to speak).

People are yearning for the kind of quality that Blu-Ray is able to offer videophiles. In the same sense, CDs have not even come close to the kind of uncompressed quality that vinyl has been able to produce for audiophiles. The same people who are buying top-quality Blu-Ray and high-definition music are probably looking into buying top-quality music, and vinyls are the fallback.

Future of Music

For one, Internet music is on the rise. With the amount of sales of iPods and similar devices, it should be clear that people do not want to buy media on CDs because they could get the same quality music from the Internet. If these consumers could get better, if not, equal quality compared to the vinyl, record companies wouldn’t be having such an odd problem of “technology fallback”.

Blank CDs that Look Like Vinyl?

The other factor to take into account is the uniqueness and nostalgic effects that vinyls hold. Vinyls are classical and hold actual meaning in comparison to the flavorless CD. You probably don’t own any hardware to burn your own records, which makes them a one-of-a-kind deal in your library. It shows your commitment to a band to own something not as mainstream as the CD. Each vinyl has its own personality of scratches and imperfections — people can refer to this as the live-effect. It is the imperfections that make the music feel live, as if you were listening to an orchestra and heard someone cough.

Selling uncompressed albums on the Internet would be fantastic for business. Currently, iTunes allows people to purchase songs at an upgraded compression quality. But the battle is strong against the all-physical vinyl records, and there is no saying if new technology is being developed to make CDs better. If DVDs were able to agree on new formats, why can’t music companies offer a new medium for bigger, better audio in the same on-the-go format? This doesn’t seem like too much to ask. Spice up music, because the industry is getting stale.

I’m excited for the phone, but I’m a little upset that, as consumers, we have to worry about which cell carrier gets the latest phones, and if the deal is exclusive people committed to contracts could never be able to get a phone they really want. Its bad business in my opinion. But, rest assured Sprint has been committed to its network and improving it with good technology making it one of the fastest wireless Internet providers around. You won’t be stuck onto AT&T with their poor networking capabilities and iPhone congestion.

You can catch this phone in stores October 11th in the United States.

All Saints Day will bring its viewers along on a mission against the mob who has killed the MacManus brothers’ beloved priest. They make a bloody mess tracking down the culprits in Boston to bring them to justice once and for all. The movie will be familiar with a new plot and new action hoping to jibe with the cult of Boondock fans.

The cast will be very familiar, introducing only a few new characters along with the original actors who made the first movie as unique as it is, as well as a story by the original writer, Troy Duffy. Be sure to catch Boondock Saints 2 in theaters October 30.

I began using Snow Leopard, the latest release of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system, this weekend and have been messing around with it every which way that I normally do. I’m a heavy computer user so it’s important that everything works as it would and there has been enough talk about this release to make us all sick.

Firstly, the update will cost you $29 if you already have Leopard installed. Which means if you had Tiger, you’re out of luck and will have to pay the full $169 for a box set which includes Snow Leopard, iLife and iWork ‘09. Not a bad deal if you haven’t yet upgraded to the latest operating system, and it’s certainly cheaper than purchasing Microsoft’s Vista Home Basic for $199.

Since this isn’t a movie review, I’ll try to be thorough with my explanations. There is a lot going on in Apple’s software already — they try to think of everything and make their features obscure at times. I would suggest looking over the manual so you can understand where these updates are and how to use them.

Good Feature Refinements

For example, one new feature is something that has been available to Window’s users since the beginning of time: window management. In the past if you had multiple windows open in a program, some could get lost in the background of numerous programs on screen. If you go to the dock, and click-hold the icon of the program which you’re trying to find a particular window that was lost, OS X will organize the windows for that program neatly in Expose. You should always find what you’re looking for.

I found this to be one of the more useful features because it was always a hassle trying to find windows, especially if you are running a lot of programs. Another useful feature can be found when using Stacks. Stacks gives you the ability to keep a folder of items on the dock, and when you click on the folder it will show you the contents of the folder, fanning out from the dock. But now, instead of only showing the first couple of items in the folder, you can see all of them in a scrollable Stack overlay. Apple went a step further and also added the ability to open a sub-folder inside of a Stack in the overlay display. Difficult to explain, but its just an easier way to navigate your computer without having to open window after window.

When you are going through folders and navigating your computer using Finder, you’ll notice the ability to display your icons twice the maximum size (now 512×512 images), and you’ll also be able to open PDF files and play videos through Quick Look. Simply highlight a file and press [spacebar] to use Quick Look to preview a file before you commit to opening it completely. A useful feature if you are unsure of which file you need to open. Again, now with PDF and video support, on top of document and audio support.

You’ll notice menu bar changes (if you look for them), such as Air Port will display signal strength to listed Wi-Fi locations and the “Services” menu will only show relevant options depending on which application you’re in. I also noticed that switching Spaces yields a much better icon display to let you know which space you’re in.

Fast as Lightning

Everything is a bit faster as well. The entire operating system has been revamped to allow for better 64-bit application support, and has been refined to allow for quick response from the operating system. You’ll experience faster start up and shut down times, as well as applications opening and closing takes less time. One thing I noticed (if I’m not going crazy) is that my trash bin empties much quicker. Everything is simply faster from opening folders to scrolling, to connecting to wireless Internet.

Safari 4, which has been out for several weeks before Snow Leopard, even got quicker under the new 64-bit capabilities. I cannot believe how fast it is at loading javascript and pages. I am completely, completely applauding them for this. Safari 4 must be the fastest browser available. Firefox has nothing on it (okay, except for maybe program add-on support). I have switched from Firefox to Safari recently because of this. I cannot say how cool it feels to be this quick.

Apple Meets Corporate

Another feature that has been widely announced is Microsoft Exchange support. Exchange support is a feature I had no idea anyone really cared about, but I’m assuming its more of a corporate business feature. I do not use it so I cannot offer any usage review, but I can offer some insights. It allows you to sync your iCal and Address Book and Mail with a Microsoft Exchange server/service. This way you’ll always have the same contacts and events no matter what computer you’re on, Windows or Mac. A great feature to mend the ties between a Microsoft business world, and maybe an upcoming Apple business world. The sole ability to be able to sync things between Microsoft and Apple is a great way for users to maybe have Windows at work and an Apple at home, where its better used. Or perhaps we’ll see more Apple corporate support in the future. We’ll have to see what comes out in terms of doing business with the Apple operating system.

Its good to get along in this sense… we the consumers are winners in the end!

Just a Few Gripes

With new things come new gripes. I noticed that several applications became broken after upgrading to Snow Leopard. The only explanation of this is the rewritten 64-bit compatibility support is to blame. My Logitech mouse software no longer recognizes my mouse! There have been several reports of small applications becoming dead after the update. I suppose we just have to wait for everyone to adopt to the new OS before developers start rolling out updates for their programs. If I cannot get my mouse to work, I’ll be really upset.

Adobe made a crude comment saying that its CS3 programs will not be supported on Snow Leopard. This made people fidget about upgrading, but its safe to say that these programs do work on Snow Leopard. Their comment was referring to no longer supporting CS3 updates, and intends to focus on its latest CS4 programs. As I said, don’t fret, Adobe programs still work fine.

For a fantastic list of which programs are supported and which are needing updates, consult with snowleopard.wikidot.com. My damn mouse doesn’t work, what the hell…

In the End…

I cannot stress enough that the sole purpose of this update was to make the current Leopard OS a notch better. It isn’t a major step in usability or interface, but it is a major step in accessibility and refinement. Snow Leopard will make way for an even better operating system somewhere in the near future. Apple made the right move in only charging $29 for this update, and even better: its only $25 on Amazon.com. I think it is a great update. I just wish my mouse worked…

Warner Brothers, the owners of the Batman series, have come out and said, “It’s not true. There is no script. There is no project to be cast in.” Such a rumor-busting comment appeared on People.com first, in an attempt to manage the big stir that occurred on the Internet last night.

You all wanted her to be Catwoman, but I’m sorry she won’t be. Consensus from various sources seem to be mixed as to how people would react to the story being true and the movie had come out with Megan Fox as the Catwoman. Some say that she would kill the roll because she is talentless, but others believe she could do it well (while wanking to the screen). I for one, do believe that Halle Berry played a wonderful Catwoman, and Megan Fox as a replacement would be a big step down. They are nicely-sized shoes to fill and Megan would not fill them properly.

If you want to see Megan she is starring in Jennifer’s Body, which is set to come out September 18, a movie about a possessed cheerleader who begins killing off her classmates.

Again, as of now, and until more credible information shows up from Warner Brothers or a similar source, this rumor is false. Megan Fox will not be playing Catwoman in the next Batman.

As I keep saying, I love cars and rarely get to speak about them. But this week there was a particular gem that made its way to various web sites, speaking to me saying that I have to tell people. The Aston Martin One-77 is a car of grizzly, monstrous proportions.

Getting right into this supercar’s fast spirit, it has an English-made 7.3-liter V12 engine capable of over 740 horses and an unofficial estimated 553 lbs-ft of torque. The numbers get ridiculous from here. In comparison, your top-of-the-line Lamborghini Murcielago has 487 lbs-ft of torque. An engine similar to this Aston Martin’s was capable of towing a Boeing 747 commercial jet. Intense, indeed.

Furthermore, the most intense part of this car is that the One-77 is set to easily become the number 2 most expensive new car with a price tag at $1.8 million. This comes second only to the new Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport (which retails at a lovely $2.2 million), this is the convertible that can go 253mph with the top down. Competition yes, but the Aston Martin is something different. While the Bugatti clearly has the idea that it is the fastest production car on the planet, the Aston Martin says “because we want to.” The One-77 aims to be a package of luxury and speed, as well as innovation inspired from F1 racing.

Most of the car is complete with carbon fiber material to make it one of the lightest luxury supercars with a footprint of 3,308lbs. Almost everything in the car is made of lightweight materials from carbon fiber and aluminum. The parts that are not metallic are high quality, hand stitched leather and other fabrics to complete this car’s interior, which is my only gripe — it looks terrible.

Aside from the interior, this car is truly a beast of a car. And its Aston Martin styling will turn so many heads, if you’d be so lucky to even see one. Only 77 are going to be produced, which makes this car a very limited edition. Here are some pictures of the One-77 courtesy of Autoblog.com.

District 9 takes on a style similar to Cloverfield with shaky-cam footage mixed in with documentary style commentary from actors. The style was not your typical movie, and it sort of took away from the great story that unfolded. This is probably the only issue I had with this movie because it made it difficult to stay immersed in the story about the aliens. They simply used the documentary shots too much to introduce too much story when it might have made more sense to go about the story ‘head on’ without the commentary.

From the beginning you are introduced to a character who you know nothing about and don’t care for at first. He leads around the aliens serving eviction notices until something goes wrong. How the aliens got to Earth is not explained, or not explained well enough for me to understand early in the movie; this makes the rest of the story dry because I felt it hard to see the point in why the human’s were being the way they were to the helpless aliens, “prawns” as they are derogatorily called.

The alien race, being stuck on Earth are treated terribly, forcing them to live in a slum known as District 9. The slum scene’s were very realistic. The alien’s had interesting characteristics unlike we’ve seen with other alien movies. They aren’t “all-powerful” or demanding. Rather, the aliens are living in a ghetto with no possessions and are socially frustrated and segregated from human contact. They don’t try to take over the planet. They don’t irrationally kill people. They just want to go home.

As I’ve stated, the story is very believable, but it makes me wonder why the humans wouldn’t be more hospitable or helpful. Maybe we are selfish and only think for ourselves. The reason is revealed (go see the movie) and everything somewhat makes sense. The way the story is outlined kept me at the edge wanting to figure out more — the film sort of had a mysterious feel to it. The audience was not flat out told what exactly was going on in District 9 and was forced to pick up little pieces of story to put the film together.

The movie uses great CGI that make the aliens realistic and even had my friend jokingly say “this isn’t real, right?” which I’d say is quite an accomplishment. The more realistic the CGI, the more believable the movie. For the nature of this movie, if the CGI quality was sub-par, it would not have had the same “wow-ing” effects. District 9 was a great example of how CGI should be used to enhance the realism of unreal subjects.

The gore and blood is really awesome, although it is not stomache-upsetting or nausea inducing. There is a lot of swearing, almost to the point of annoyance. District 9’s actors are all unknown (due to budget) but, again, this makes the movie as believable as it is.

All-in-all the movie does an alright job at creating a visually appealing and emotional story about aliens. As Neill Blomkamp’s first true rodeo, he has done a good job. Hopefully his next movie will include a bigger budget and a better story for him to spread his wings into science fiction. District 9 was one science-fiction movie that is sure to be remembered among the likes of Alien. See it in theaters to have a great experience, for sure.

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The slim PS3 will not only be 32% smaller, it includes all of the features of the original model as well as a nice upgrade to a 120Gb HDD (from the 80Gb). The new gadget is smaller in every way to better fit in your entertainment center and consumes 34% less energy! To top off this great deal, Sony has dropped the price of the original PS3 by $100 as well. So you can get an old model for $299 or you can wait until the slim PS3 hits shelves sometime in September and pay the same $299 for a better package. Here is a comparison of the old and new PS3s:

And here is a sweet spec-sheet, courtesy of Engadget.com:

• Product name: PlayStation 3
• Product code: CECH-2000A (Charcoal Black)
• CPU: Cell Broadband Engine™
• GPU: RSX
• Audio output: LPCM 7.1ch, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD, AAC.
• Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
• Hard disk: 120GB 2.5″ Serial ATA
• USB 2.0 ports: 2
• Networking: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T), IEEE 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 (+EDR)
• Controller: Wireless Controller (Bluetooth) x 1
• AV outputs: HDMI x 1, AV MULTI OUT x 1, Digital out (optical) x 1
• Resolutions: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i (for PAL 576p, 576i)
• BD / DVD / CD drive (read only): BD × 2 (BD-ROM), DVD × 8 (DVD-ROM), CD × 24 (CD-ROM)
• Power: AC 220 – 240, 50/60Hz
• Power consumption: Approx. 250W
• External dimensions (excluding maximum projecting part): Approx. 290 × 65 × 290 mm (width × height × length)
• Mass: Approx. 3.2kg
• Included in box: PlayStation 3 system × 1, Wireless Controller (DUALSHOCK 3) × 1, AC power cord × 1, AV cable × 1, USB cable × 1

We’ll keep you updated! Enjoy.

The LifeCam Cinema connects easily via USB 2.0 and minimally requires a 1.6Ghz dual core computer to work well. Microsoft recommends, however, using a 3.0Ghz dual core computer with 2Gb of RAM — these specs are probably not your typical notebook computer or is a more high-end desktop. If you’re going to want this 720p web cam, make sure your computer can handle using the device to its full potential. Otherwise, you can risk having sub-par video quality and make you wish you had upgraded your computer instead of plopping down $79.99 for to do video conferencing with the LifeCam Cinema.

Other features of the camera include an auto-focus lens with 4x digital zoom, a built-in noise-canceling microphone, a call button for one-touch access to Windows Live Messenger, and a technology called ClearFrame that was introduced a ages ago by Toshiba as an anti-motion blur feature for its televisions:

To avoid possible motion blur with fast motion video, ClearFrame doubles the  frame rate to 120 frames per second, or 120 Hz. While there are many possible methods for creating the additional 60 frames, ClearFrame utilizes superior Motion Vector Frame Interpolation (MVFI) technology. MVFI analyzes Frame A and Frame B and creates a new Frame A+B. By evaluating the speed and direction of multiple picture elements within the frames, this advanced system virtually eliminates motion blur without decreasing image brightness or adding flicker.

The package comes with a mount that can be used for both desktops and notebooks. Either you can clip it to your flat screen or it will stand on a flat surface. The mount also allows the camera to pivot around, panning and tilting as needed. As mentioned the device will retail for $79.99 in the US on September 9th, 2009.

Today there are many models of the Gibson Les Paul guitar, but they all have the same characteristics – a single formed body, no sound box chamber, and it relies on electronic equipment to create audible sounds. It was the first of its kind when it was built in 1952.

The Gibson Les Paul created sounds that no one had ever heard before and musicians were quick to follow in its path, creating a new genre that incorporated such unique sounds as fretting, chording and doing trills, all electronically. These new musical experiences became known as rock and roll and has since been attributed to the legendary musician who oversaw the guitar’s creation, Les Paul.

While the creation of the instrument remains controversial, Les Paul was the man who had brought the guitar to life with his musicianship and style. He created sounds that inspired, and an instrument to be remembered for life. Rest in peace, Les Paul (1915).

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