Paramount Wants More Paranormal Activity

Is too much of a good thing ever really bad?

Paramount Pictures is willing to test that theory. "We have the rights on a worldwide basis to do Paranormal 2," studio chairman Brad Grey tells the Los Angeles Times of newly released sleeper hit Paranormal Activity. "We're looking to see if that makes some sense."

The out-of-nowhere box office powerhouse cost just $15,000 to produce, and has already brought in upwards of $62.5 million.

Would a Paranormal sequel go the way of the second Blair Witch Project—absolutely nowhere? Only time will tell.

Finally, some answers to Windows 7 upgrade questions

Every day for the past few months, I have received at least one question from readers wanting to know how the Windows 7 upgrade process will work. And in every case, my answer was consistent. I didn’t know. Paul Thurrott and I asked Microsoft repeatedly (and I mean every single damn week) for upgrade media, and the answer was always a polite no. I could have taken some educated guesses and hit the Publish button here, but that isn’t what I learned in journalism school.

My compatriots in the Windows blogosphere weren’t always so discriminating. I read a staggering number of rumors, many of them promulgated by people who should have known better.

So when I got home from the Windows 7 launch event and found four copies of Windows 7 upgrades waiting in my office (thanks, Amazon.com!), I got right to work. Here, at long last, are the answers you’ve been looking for.

If I buy a retail upgrade version, what’s in the box?

You get two DVDs, one 32-bit, one 64-bit. You get a single product key, which you can use to install either version. If you buy the Family Pack, you also get those two DVDs and a single product key, which can be used to activate three PCs in your household.

Is the upgrade DVD bootable?

Yes. In fact, as far as I can tell it is absolutely identical to the full version.

So what’s the difference between the full and upgrade versions?

It’s all about the product key. When you enter the product key, the setup program checks to see whether you installed the product on a clean system that didn’t previously have any version of Windows installed. If the answer is yes, it blocks you from entering that key. Here’s the confusing error message you’ll see:


heard that installation of my upgrade will fail if the previous edition wasn’t activated. Is that true?

Not as far as I can tell, although my testing has necessarily been limited so far. I installed Windows XP SP3 without a product key and then used a custom install of Windows 7 Home Premium over it. Everything worked. I’ll check a few more scenarios later.

What happens if I try to do an install without a product key, then add the product key from my upgrade package later?

It fails. Here’s the error message you see:


Does the double-install trick made famous in Windows Vista still work?

As far as I can tell, yes. The short version goes like this: Boot from the upgrade media and do an installation without entering a product key. Then use the same media to “upgrade” your brand-new installation. I’m still testing this scenario but it seems to be supported. The technique is essentially unchanged from when I wrote about it shortly after the launch of Windows Vista back in February 2007.

How about 32-bit to 64-bit upgrades?

You can’t run the 64-bit installer from an existing 32-bit Windows installation (or vice-versa). Here’s how you have to do it instead. Start your computer using the 64-bit installation media. When prompted, choose the Custom installation option:


You’ll be warned that your current installation of Windows will be moved to Windows.old. That’s fine. Continue with the installation, entering your product key when prompted. Because a previous Windows installation was on your system drive (and is now located in Windows.old), you should be able to activate.

So, does this mean I can install an upgrade version on a new PC I’m building?

From a technical point of view, yes. But from a licensing point of view, absolutely not. The discounted price for an upgrade applies because you already paid for a license on the system you’re upgrading. If you are building a new PC, you need a full license from a retail or OEM package.

Are there any other workarounds?

Paul Thurrott passed along an interesting technique that involves a clean install on a bare-metal drive, followed by a registry tweak and the Software Licensing Manager program (slmgr.exe). Rather than repeat the steps here, I’ll refer you to his post: Clean Install Windows 7 With Upgrade Media.

'Paranormal' tops weekend box office

Paranormal Activity has gone where The Blair Witch Project didn't: to No. 1.

The bedroom-bound chiller won the box office battle of the R-rated horror movies over Saw VI, and, in its fifth weekend, led the the weekend competition with an estimated $22 million Friday-Sunday take.

In second place, the debuting Saw VI ($14.8 million) was the smallest Saw yet, but still relatively big—a phrase that could not be used to describe two other new releases, Astro Boy ($7 million) and Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant ($6.3 million).

Time to drill down into the rankings—and try to find Hilary Swank's missing-in-action Amelia:

• For weeks we've been saying Paranormal Activity cost $11,000 to make, but now we're seeing it may have been produced for as much little as $15,000. Either way, a $62.5 million box office run (and counting) is phenomenal.

• Paranormal's microbudget is what, among other things, invites comparisons to Blair Witch. The $60,000 Blair Witch broke faster and bigger than Paranormal, scoring its biggest gross in its third weekend ($29.2 million—in 1999 dollars, mind you), and breaking $100 million in its fifth weekend. Still, in the box office standings, Blair Witch never rose higher than No. 2, being denied the prize in consecutive weekends by Runaway Bride and The Sixth Sense, per Box Office Mojo stats.

• Paranormal scored its big weekend win despite playing in nearly 1,100 fewer theaters than Saw VI. The movie, in fact, played on fewer screens than any movie in the Top 10.

• The Saw franchise hasn't seen a sub-$30 million opening weekend since Jigsaw's big-screen debut back in 2004. Still, the Saw sequels are Hollywood-cheap, and Saw VI has already cleared its $10 million or so budget.

• The $40 million Astro Boy played in a lot of theaters (3,000 plus). Not that you could tell from the animated adventure's sixth-place debut.

• The $40 million Cirque Du Freak played in a lot of theaters, too (3,000 plus). Plus, it had vampires. Not that you could tell any of that from the fantasy's eigth-place debut.

• Amelia sold more tickets, theater for theater, than Astro Boy or Cirque Du Freak. But the Amelia Earhart biopic bombed just the same—a $4 million, 11th-place opening for yet another $40 million movie.

• Last weekend's No. 1 film, Where the Wild Things Are, didn't nosedive as might have been feared, but it didn't exactly hold up, either. Ticket sales were down 56 percent, to $14.4 million (third place).

• In limited release, the frazzled Uma Thurman comedy, Motherhood, didn't register: $57,744 at 48 theaters.

Here's a look at the weekend's top-grossing films based on Friday-Sunday estimates as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Paranormal Activity, $22 million
2. Saw VI, $14.8 million
3. Where the Wild Things Are, $14.4 million
4. Law Abiding Citizen, $12.7 million
5. Couples Retreat, $11.1 million
6. Astro Boy, $7 million
7. The Stepfather, $6.5 million
8. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, $6.3 million
9. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, $5.6 million
10. Zombieland, $4.3 million

Is Windows 7 the Greatest OS Ever? Let Me Count the Ways

Steve Ballmer recently stated that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows ever. Now that Windows 7 is officially out, the public at large can join that debate and determine if Windows 7 is the best version of Windows yet, or even the greatest operating system of all time. Let's consider the hypothetical question of whether Windows 7 is the greatest operating system of all time.

Before the flaming comments start flowing about what a Microsoft fanboy I am, let me begin by stating that it's a hypothetical question, not a statement of opinion, never mind an assessment of any empirical facts.

How do you even measure such a thing, though? Choosing the ‘best' operating system is a little like selecting the ‘best' religion. They all have their pros and cons and the decision is very subjective because what one person considers a feature, the next person considers a bug.

Windows 7 has been favorably reviewed thus far and it seems to be doing well out of the gate, but, let's take a look at some factors you might consider in trying to choose the best operating system ever.

Price

Price alone can't determine the best operating system, but it can certainly be a factor. You have to be careful about how you calculate the price of the operating system though. For example, the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade edition costs $120, compared with Snow Leopard, the recent upgrade for Apple Mac OS X, which came in at $29. However, comparable hardware to run it on costs two to three times more for the Mac OS X system, and the cost of compatible hardware devices is typically higher as well.

Linux is open source, which means that an operating system like Ubuntu can be downloaded for free. There are some intangible costs to the learning curve if you aren't already a Linux-user, as well as some additional effort to adapt other hardware and software to work with it. But, overall the winner on price would appear to be Linux.

Market Share

This is arguably one of the more widely-accepted measurements for ‘best' operating system. However, there are subjective ways to measure it. Is market share determined by the number of systems sold with a given operating system? Many users report having purchased a system with Windows Vista, but wiping it and replacing it with Windows XP, or some variant of Linux. How about the number of virtual systems running a given operating system, or the number of users who have multiple operating systems?

According to netmarketshare.com, Windows XP has 71.51 percent of the operating system market, followed by Windows Vista at 18.62 percent. Lumping versions together, Windows has 92.77 percent, followed by Mac at 5.12 percent, with Linux coming in third at just under one percent. Judging by those numbers, the market share winner is easily Windows, or more specifically Windows XP.

Vulnerabilities / Stability

Maybe price and market share are too arbitrary? You can argue that you get what you pay for and that free doesn't mean good, or that just because corporations deploy Windows XP by the tens of thousands doesn't make it ‘best'. How about the most stable operating system, or the one with the fewest vulnerabilities and patches?

Fair enough. I have two caveats to point out for this measurement. First, the number of patches can vary greatly from the number of vulnerabilities and may be misleading. On Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday one Security Bulletin or update often addresses a number of outstanding vulnerabilities. Similarly, some updates for Mac OS X patch a large number of holes all at once.

The other caveat to consider is to look at the big picture. When Microsoft releases updates each month it includes patches for Windows, Microsoft Office software, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and other Microsoft software like SQL Server and Exchange. An operating system like Ubuntu may be able to boast fewer vulnerabilities, but unless you are only using the core operating system you have to include the vulnerabilities for the web browser, media player, productivity software, etc. that make the system as a whole functional.

I'd call this one a draw.

Device / Software Support

Continuing the perspective that it's the system as a whole that provides value, not just the core operating system, another measure of best operating system could be the number of compatible hardware devices and software applications available to use with it. No operating system is an island, and the flexibility to install a wide range of additional hardware and software greatly enhances the overall ownership experience.

Judging by what I see on store shelves at Best Buy, or what I can find online from retailers like Amazon, or CDW, I would say this category easily goes to Windows, but figuring out specifically which version of Windows would take a lot more digging.

Longevity

Any vendor can crank out a new whiz bang operating system every year or three and capture the attention of users. The new operating systems also become the de facto standard installed on new hardware purchases which gives them a decided advantage. So, when a legacy operating system still commands a significant share of the market, it says something about how capable and respected that operating system is.

Given that Windows XP users outnumber Windows Vista users almost 4 to 1, and that three out of four users still use the older version of Windows, the reigning champ in this area has to be Windows XP.

The bottom line though is that only you can determine what is the best operating system for you. Determining the ‘best' operating system is, in fact, a matter of subjective opinion. Surveys and statistics may be useful, but what matters is how it works for you to do what you want a computer operating system to do.

It is too early to measure Windows 7 against most of the factors I listed, but I do think given time it could emerge as the best version of Windows and maybe even the best operating system.

Now you can commence flaming.

M.J : Did you 'Thrill the World'?

Halloween came early this year for Michael Jackson fans.

Mere days before the release of his highly anticipated film, This Is It, King of Pop devotees gathered around the globe Saturday night to participate in a dance-a-thon of sorts known as "Thrill the World."

Over 6,000 enthusiastic fans gathered at Los Angeles hot spot L.A. Live to take part in the global attempt to break the world record of most people simultaneously dancing the routine to Jackson's seasonally on-point classic, "Thriller."

M.J. impersonators and the overzealous "living dead" whipped out some of their best moves alongside dancers from the upcoming big-screen release, who were on hand to emcee the event. Miley Cyrus BFF Mandy Jiroux and Dancing With the Stars groover Chuck Liddell were also there to support the ambitious undertaking.

"Thrill the World" kicked off at 5:30 p.m. in local cities, as well as 37 countries around the globe. Numbers are still being tabulated, but Saturday's thrilling boogie-down moment is expected to top the previous record, set by 13,597 people in Mexico City Aug. 29, on what would have been Jackson's 51st birthday.

SBS 'You're Beautiful' OST Album sales continue to rise.

It seems like SBS weekly drama 'You're Beautiful / You're Handsome' is becoming more popular as the series' OST album is on the music market, causing a scene.

The OST album, having been released on October 14 2009, has already produced over 20,000 copies due to the amount of praise it has been getting in the public.

Not only that, the publisher of the album believes that album sales can reach over 15,000 since more orders are steadily coming in.

'You're Handsome' OST album is currently recieving good response ever since album sales were release on Hanteo charts. Not only that the song has been rising on popular charts such as Bugs and Mnet. No wonder the album is getting a good response from the audience.

Though the OST is currently gaining popularity due to their strong album sales, it seems that the series is not getting praise due to its low tv ratings. However with its solid audience and its musical background series, more audience will soon be captivated.

The album consists of 11 tracks including songs from FT Island, Lee Hong Ki, A.N.JELL and other various artistes.

'You're Handsome / You're Beautiful' is currently airing on channel SBS on Wednesdays and Thursdays till end of November.

Apple punts on lower-cost MacBook

By not coughing up a low-cost MacBook, as some had expected, Apple has ceded a potentially huge market to PC makers. But is this just all part of Apple's marketing genius?

The announcement Tuesday of the $999 white polycarbonate MacBook was pretty ho-hum as product refreshes go (same price, same color as before) but the implication was important: Apple is surrendering a large, emerging laptop market to Microsoft and its coterie of PC makers.

Not that it's necessarily a bad strategy. Market researcher Gartner said recently that Apple's shipments in the U.S. grew year-over-year by 6.8 percent to total 1.57 million during the third quarter, putting it right behind Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Acer. Comparatively, overall PC shipments in the U.S. grew by 3.5 percent from a year earlier.

But among those unimpressive overall PC numbers (HP's third-quarter shipments grew only 2.7 percent), was an impressive statistic for Acer: buoyed by Netbooks, Acer's shipments grew by 61.4 percent year-over-year, and it blew past Dell to become the No. 2 PC maker worldwide based on this growth.

Granted, Netbooks are a relatively low-profit segment (i.e., profit on a $400 Netbook is going to be a lot less than that on a $999 laptop). Nevertheless, they're a hot market. Intel CEO Paul Otellini has stated numerous times that Intel was able to create a market that grew faster than either the iPhone or Nintendo Wii. Case in point: Windows 7-based Acer Netbooks are now big on the Home Shopping Network--which claims to have sold more than 5,000 in one segment on Saturday.

And that's not the only market Apple is punting on. A new category of inexpensive, thin laptops has emerged with the roll-out of Windows 7 on Thursday. Like Netbooks, these laptops are light (typically 4 pounds) and don't include an optical drive. But they are relatively powerful and full featured. The 15.6-inch Acer Aspire Timeline, for example, with a 320GB hard disk drive and dual-core Intel processor is fairly well-endowed at only $500.

Apple is not receiving a lot kudos in the mainstream business press by sticking to its $999 guns. The Wall Street Journal said that users can get roughly equivalent laptops for a lot less at Dell and HP. And other publications have said that Apple is not just ignoring new market realities but, in fact, ignoring the Mac lineup as a whole in favor of the iPhone.

So, do consumers lose by not getting the chance to buy a competitive low-cost Apple MacBook? The short answer to that rhetorical questions is yes--because Apple offers no alternative to, for example, a thin, light $650 HP Pavilion dm3 laptop.

But an apples-to-apples (pun not intended) comparison shows that while Apple skimps on a couple of white MacBook features, it's not an egregiously bad deal for $999. Let's do a quick side-by-side of the cheapest MacBook with a mainstream HP laptop.

• For $999, you get white polycarbonate wrapped around a 13.3-inch 1280-by-800 LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, a 250GB (5400RPM) hard disk drive, an optical drive, and the standard wireless features. All in a 4.7-pound package.

• For $997, HP will sell you (online) an HP Pavilion dv3t series with a 13.3-inch 1280-by-800 LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory, a 500GB (5400RPM) hard disk drive, an optical drive, and the standard wireless features. Also, in 4.7-pound package.

Apple beats the HP by a hair in the processor category and loses in the memory and storage departments. If polycarbonate is, in fact, better than the plastics HP uses, then that aspect of the design would be a win for Apple.

The real win, though, is for Apple the company. It avoids the cut-throat sub-$900 laptop market and still sells--quite profitably--a lot of laptops. But will Apple be able to snub this growing market of inexpensive Windows 7 laptops indefinitely? We should know in about six months when Gartner reports first-quarter 2010 numbers.

Lindsay Dropped by Label, Works for Low, Low Lohan Wages

Picturesque trainwreck Lindsay Lohan might not be able to afford many more lip injections if reports of getting dropped by her record label are true. And that's the good news!

According to FoxNews.com and the New York Post, not only has onetime singer Lohan been dropped by Casablanca Records, it has also been revealed that her high-profile (and widely panned) fashion gig for Ungaro is a freebie. The Post's Page Six column reports that Lindsay even paid for her own hotel and flight to Paris for her recent appearance for Ungaro's Paris Fashion Week show—though she did reportedly cart off $100,000 worth of Ungaro clothes.

What's a girl to do when her main job is a glorified internship? Well, what about a reality show?

It could be happening. According to reports, Lindsay was being followed by a camera crew in Paris at the Vogue party and later when she hit a ton of clubs around town. If Balloon Boy doesn't get his own show, how about Balloon Lips?

THSK's Vocal Abilities Recognised In Japan! "They're Not A Dance Group, They're An Acapella Group."

On 23rd October, MBC's "Star The Secret" did a coverage on THSK's popularity level in Japan, saying that THSK is a group that ensured that "Any product that they endorse is sure to sell; as long as they release an album, it'll immediately be safe in the number one ranking in 5 minutes; to get a ticket for their constantly sold-out concerts, fans have to go into mouse-wars; they are the group that has the biggest fanbase in the company."

Something that caught everyone's eye recently: THSK is a hot group in Japan, and their vocal abilities are recognised in Japan. Production crew and staff who have worked with THSK, as well as Japanese fans all say that "We've always known that THSK is an acapella group. In Korea, they are recognised as an idol group for their dancing and singing, and their vocal abilities are now being shown off in Japan."

It was only when the production crew for the show was checking on THSK's popularity in Japan, did they realise that THSK's popularity in Japan has long exceeded their expectations by far, in fact, they've climbed to unimaginable heights.

Pinky candy, endorsed by THSK, is now selling nationwide in Japan. In the biggest Japanese music sales arena, the whole place is filled with large posters of THSK and The Beatles. The person in charge told the programme crew "THSK's albums are popular in the first place, so we will put up a special selling booth in the middle of the arena, and of THSK's albums will be sold there. As long as THSK put out a record, it's almost confirmed that they will reign in the charts, they are really popular."

A staff from Japanese station KNTV said this about THSK's popularity to the production crew, "THSK, whose popularity is shooting skyhigh in Japan, is different from the Hallyu starts that enjoy popularity here. THSK didn't use the Hally wave and didn't come to Japan as Korean stars; debuting instead, as a JPOP group in Japan, formed by 5 Koreans. During their debut period, like all new artists, they went around and did small-scale activities, and the members of THSK even went to the broadcast stations personally to promote their albums."

When they first debuted, they stood on a platform and performed in front of 30 people. Ironically, when they were experiencing this in Japan, it was at a time when they were at the height of their popularity in Korea, sweeping all the awards in the ceremonies, and becoming Korea's top stars in 2006.

They relinquished their positions as top stars, as well as their pride, and started doing activities in Japan from the bottom. After almost 4 long years of working in Japan, THSK finally performed on their dream stage, the Tokyo Dome, with their own concert, and are unanimously acknowledged by the Japanese audience: THSK is the most successful Korean artist in Japan.

Facebook Makeover: The Good, the Bad, and the Backlash

Facebook gave its homepage a makeover ...again. Last Friday the social networking site quietly rolled out some fairly significant changes to the way information is displayed on your homepage. The updates make the default feed more like it was before the last major homepage overhaul, but the changes aren't without some issues, and they have sparked some backlash among Facebook users.

The Good

When Facebook changed the homepage earlier this year, it went to a more Twiiter-like feed of real-time status updates. Basically, every status update from your network of friends is displayed in as it is entered without any filtering.

The new Facebook homepage News Feed brings relevance back to the main feed. Rather than displaying everything from everyone, the News Feed uses a Facebook magic algorithm to display only the posts and status updates that your network is interested in. The more likes, comments or interactions a post within your network has, the more likely it will appear within your News Feed.

Robert Scoble, a technology evangelist and social networking guru, described the change on his blog "This makes Facebook much more useful because you only see the items that your friends have found important enough to comment on or "touch" in some way. Overnight my news feed went from something that looked pretty cold and lame to something that has tons of ‘warmth.'"

The changes, which merge the Highlights back into the News Feed, also allow for the Events box in the right panel to move higher on the page. That is great news to me because frankly I never saw it with the previous design so it has been months since I have known if it was someone's birthday today.

The Bad

The complete real-time stream still exists, but now its called the Live Feed. While you are viewing the default News Feed, a bubble next to the Live Feed link keeps a running tally of the number of posts you're missing in the Live Feed.

You can click over and view the real-time stream. One problem though is that the Live Feed continues to refresh as new posts are entered. Each time that happens the screen changes focus and you have to scroll to figure out where you were when your reading got interrupted. Facebook needs to figure out how to stream the updates without refreshing the screen or changing focus while you're in the middle of reading.

There is also a problem created by the new News Feed. You have your network of friends on Facebook because those are the people you are interested in networking with. But, because Facebook displays the comments from your friends, as well as comments from their friends, you end up with comments from users you are not networked with and excess noise to read through.

Scoble points out "Twitter, on the other hand, doesn't have comments. So you can't easily have a back and forth conversation about something like you can over on FriendFeed or Facebook. But it has a HUGE advantage: I only see items from people I invited to get on my home screen."

The Backlash

It seems inevitable that any change in the way Facebook displays information is met almost instantly with some sort of organized backlash. It is both ironic and apropos that users leverage the social network, using Fan Pages and Groups, to organize grassroots uprisings to complain about Facebook changes they don't like.

The majority of the backlash seems to boil down to users who simply don't like change. It doesn't matter if the change is good or bad, what matters is that it forces them to alter the way they use and interact with Facebook and they don't appreciate having a new learning curve. There are also some legitimate issues as well though, like those I pointed out above.

The thing is, with over 300 million users you can't please everyone. Facebook says the changes were made based on feedback from users and possibly in response to the organized grassroots backlash from the last homepage update. Many users like the new changes, but over half a million have already joined the group CHANGE FACEBOOK BACK TO NORMAL!!

The changes made by Facebook make the default stream more ‘cozy' and foster more interaction. The Live Feed is good too, but displaying the posts that are getting the most attention within the network helps engage more users in the conversation or get more users to connect and participate rather than just reading the status updates as they stream (quickly) past.

I have bad news for those whose day gets ruined when Faceboook doesn't look the same: it will continue to change. Everything does. Social networking in particular is a rapidly evolving medium and entities like Facebook and Twitter are aggressively trying to stay ahead of the curve and define how people use social networking.

Taeyang returns with “Where U At” On Inkigayo

Last week, Big Bang member Taeyang released his new single 'Where U At'! This song marked the start of his solo comeback since last year's solo hits 'Look Only At Me' and 'Prayer'.


However, 'Where U At' is only a "prelude", a quick sample, of his upcoming album so this is the only live performance you'll see of this song. And even though it's not the title track of his album, it's still good and it really raises anticipation among fans for his latest album. But since that's some time away, check out his one and only 'Where U At' performance on the latest episode of SBS Inkigayo! Have to say, the guy's still got it.

Taeyang's new upcoming album and title track 'Wedding Dress', will be coming out next month in November with full on promotions until the end of the year, so stay tuned!

Brad Pitt's Bike Crash: What Really Happened?

Did you hear the one about Brad Pitt's motorcycle mishap?

Countless Rashomon-like reports of the chopper spill circulated in cyberspace all day Saturday, and while both Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Police departments confirm that there have been no accidents reported, here's what we know.

Sources tell E! News that the incident wasn't much of an accident, but rather Pitt's mirror nicked the mirror of an adjacent car and he lost balance on his bike. His motorcycle reportedly wouldn't start after it fell to the ground, so the star called his security team for a lift.

The source says the other car involved in the mix-up belonged to the paparazzi, but it was Pitt who got too close.

But wait, there's more...

Elsewhere, reports of the cycle spill vary. TMZ says Pitt was weaving in and out of stopped traffic and damaged his ride after clipping a parked car, while X17 has a much more elaborate version of events involving the mega-movie star falling to the ground on his bike after a too-close-for-comfort pap cut him off.

The report claims Pitt exchanged heated words with the shutterbug, telling him to be more careful, then escaped the commotion by running into a nearby apartment complex to wait for his ride.

Finally, Radar Online says that their reporter witnessed the minor mash-up, stating that a paparazzo bumped Pitt's bike from behind, forcing his motorcycle into the rear of the car ahead. Pitt reportedly kept his cool in the aftermath, even interacting with onlookers.

The common thread here? Pitt is A-OK, uninjured and on his merry way.

And regardless of what went down today, Pitt will live to bike again.

Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Upgrade Install Snafu

Microsoft has confirmed a problem that hundreds of users have reported with downloading Windows 7, according to its support forum.

The company is currently investigating the reports, but has not yet come up with a solution.

"For those that have purchased Windows 7 from Digital River and receive the error 'We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded' when going through the 'Unloading the Box' [step]...Microsoft and Digital River are aware of the issue and it's being investigated," a Microsoft support engineer said in a message posted yesterday .

"We will post back to this thread when we have additional updates," added the engineer, an 11-year veteran of the company identified only as "Michael."

Minneapolis, Minn.-based Digital River powers the downloading of Microsoft's $29.99 Windows 7 upgrade offer to students . Digital River handled the electronic purchasing and downloading for Windows Vista and Office 2007 in early 2007.

Users began reporting problems with installing downloaded copies of Windows 7 within hours of the operating system's launch yesterday. In a thread that contained more than 320 messages as of 1 p.m. ET Friday, users complained that they were stymied by the issue. "I double click on 'Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe' and I get the message 'Unloading the Box'," said "Darkfrye50" early Thursday morning. "Once the status bar reaches the end, I get the error."

"What a freakin' mess," exclaimed another user, "Goaliegeek" on the same thread.

Many of the users said that they were students taking advantage of Microsoft's discount upgrade.

Rather than provide customers with a disk image, or .iso file -- which could easily be burned to an installation DVD -- as Microsoft did with the Windows 7 previews it supplied users this year, Digital River delivered an .exe file named "Win7-P-Retail-en-us-x64.exe" and two additional files with the ".box" filename extension.

When users launched the .exe file -- which was supposed to unpack the .box files -- they received the error Microsoft's Michael mentioned.

Microsoft suggested that users try one of the workarounds spelled out by others in the support forum. At least one of them, which required users to fire up a command-line tool called "Oscdimg" to create an .iso out of the downloaded files, did the trick, people reported. Oscdimg must be downloaded from the Microsoft Web site; it's available as part of the "Windows Automated Installation Kit" for Windows XP and Vista.

The Download Squad Web site has also published a set of instructions on converting the downloaded files to a disk image.

But users continued to post complaints. "Any updates at all on this? This is a horrible 'new start' for Windows," said "gozeemer" on the long thread.

"This is also ******* me off," griped "James388" on the thread. "Seems like my download is corrupted also, it won't let me download it again. WTF?!?"

Sheren Tang and Wayne Lai to film "Rosy Business" sequel

Following the hugh success of "Rosy Business", Wayne Lai and Sheren Tang are working on the sequel by most of the original cast called "Women's fierce and ambitious" (tentative name). The series will start filming next March. the background of the series will be the same era as "Rosy Business". Wayne and Sheren were at the TVB city filming promotion trailer for the new series. Wayne was wearing the costume looked like Chai Gau.

Sheren revealed that Kiki Sheung, Ron Ng and Suki Tsui will not be in the new series, instead, Fala Chan and Raymond Wong will be joining them. Reporter asked if there is love between them in the storyline this time. Wayne said there will be, but he doesn't know the outcome yet. Sheren said the success of "Rosy Business" was due to lack of actual love involvement between them. She said "In fact, love without even a kiss is the highest level." Wayne agreed with her, they share the same sentiment, they will leave the viewers to have their own imaginations.

Talking about this years nomination for the TV best actress award, that Charmaone Sheh and Tavia Yeung are very strong candidate. Sheren immediately said "There are more, what about Teresa Mo in "Off Pedder"? Don't take her for granted!." This year's award ceremony is in December, but people are already speculating who would be the award winner. Sheren has been the hot favorite, but recently, Tavia and Charmaine seem to join in the race. Sheren doesn't think much about the two, on the contrary, she considers Teresa as the front runner for the race. She also praised Teresa as a very good actress.

eviGroup Pad Windows 7 UMPC live photos spotted

French MID/UMPC manufacturer eviGroup have released a few preliminary images of their upcoming Pad touchscreen tablet, and while we’re far from making up our minds about the Windows 7 slate yet, it’s looking reasonably attractive in a “digital pictureframe” sort of way. The eviGroup Pad has a 10.2-inch 1024 x 600 resistive touchscreen, WiFi a/b/g and integrated 3G, and bundles a new “AI UI” called Seline which promises less pecking with a finger or stylus and more straightforward access to data.


Grunt is courtesy of a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU paired with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive, so we’re expecting regular netbook performance from the slate. There’s also three USB 2.0 ports, an integrated webcam and microphone, ethernet port and a multiformat memory card reader.

eviGroup expect the Pad to come in at under €500 ($745) with Windows 7 and Seline, though we’re still unsure as to when it might arrive. Pictured in this second shot is the Pad with eviGroup’s Wallet MID, a 5-inch Android-based touchscreen handheld.

Most recent of JaeBum revealed on KBS ‘Sunday Night’

JaeBum’s current situation after 2 months has been revealed.

On the first episode of KBS ‘Sunday Night’, the show has met up with JaeBum who is currently in America after leaving group 2PM and Korea following his MySpace controversies.

What was special on the episode was that fans got to see JaeBum after the 2 months where he did not show his face. JaeBum was seen at a dance battle in Seattle. The dance was similar to that when he was promoting in Korea, and JaeBum has sought for familiarity there at the dance battle. He was seen at ease.

After failing to get an interview with JaeBum, the production team tried to get JaeBum again. And when JaeBum discovered the camera, he had seemed nervous, and left the venue. When asked questions by the production team, JaeBum would decline by saying “Sorry”.

The next day, JaeBum left a 2PM CD with the message saying, “I can’t speak a word. So sorry to have you come down from so far away.”

Meanwhile, the production team got to know that JaeBum has been doing well in Seattle. JaeBum’s younger sibling said, “He is doing well. He is spending time at home.”

JaeBum’s father said, “He’s doing well. There is not much issues raised by our child.”

Also, a priest at the church which JaeBum attends regularly recall, “He is a very gentle child. He is a child who knows how to respect his parents and have good relationships with othe member. I see that the Korean society is still sensitive to the American Koreans 2nd generation from the responses I see. For example there is a problem in the military where people will say, ‘You live a special life in the States, we live in our narrow country’, people can be still very sensitive about it.”

JaeBum’s high school teacher also revealed, “When JaeBum first reached Korea, it was tough for him. The food was not right for him, and there was no one for him.” explaining the reasons to JaeBum’s MySpace messages back then.

HTC You ad campaign unveiled



HTC's definitely been a major name amonst the gadget cognoscenti for a while now, but it looks like the company's gearing up to go mainstream -- this is the first print ad from the new HTC You campaign that's launching today. Considering HTC's recent slew of high-profile handset launches like the Hero, HD2, and Tilt2 and equally-promising upcoming products like the Dragon and Droid Eris, we'd say this marketing push hasn't come a moment too soon. As for the ad itself, while it's not exactly a knockdown punch, it certainly suggests that HTC sees Sense UI as its ace in the hole -- we'll see how that plays out as Android 2.0 phones like the Motorola Droid come out and make stock Android sexy again.

powered by Blogger | WordPress by Newwpthemes | Converted by BloggerTheme