Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

Wild Things Trumps Miley in Grammy Switcheroo

12/11/2009 12:59:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Whoopsies. Hope Miley Cyrus can continue to find ways to move her hips like yeah in the wake of today’s discovery that “The Climb” has been removed from Grammy consideration. Initially nominated in the Best Song Written for a Soundtrack category, the Recording Academy has apparently deduced that it wasn’t, you know, technically written for a soundtrack: Although “The Climb” originally appeared on the Hannah Montana movie album, songwriter Jessi Alexander actually shopped it around to several other country artists first. Since Miley didn’t write it (and thus wasn’t actually gonna get a Grammy anyway), we doubt she’ll be too distraught. Still, we hope she keeps in mind her controversial song’s own lyrics: It’s always gonna be an uphill battle. And sometimes you’re going to have to lose.

Meanwhile, stepping up to fill Cyrus’s spot is the next highest vote-getter, and we’re thrilled to discover that lucky lady is none other than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, who wrote the soundtrack for Where the Wild Things Are as “Karen O and the Kids.” First single “All Is Love” scores the nomination, Karen’s second this year — the YYYs’ It’s Blitz! is up for Best Alternative Music Album. Victory for chicks who used to deep-throat Corona bottles!

What do you think, Mixers? Good swap? PR nightmare? Wondering how come Lady Gaga didn’t get nominated in this category, too? Let us know your deepest most personal feelings in the comments.

“The Recording Academy goes to great lengths to review submissions through a meticulous and rigorous screening process, which includes gathering various music industry professionals to evaluate material and ensure the fairness and integrity of this process. Despite this procedure, there are rare occasions where changes are required even after the screenings; this year’s entry of “The Climb” (written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe) has been withdrawn from Category 83 – Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media (a songwriter(s) award) as Walt Disney Records was forthcoming to our Awards department and verified that the song was not written specifically for the film Hannah Montana: The Movie (as eligibility rules state). Based on this information, The Academy has complied with the label’s request. Per our process in this circumstance, The Academy has pulled up the next eligible song in this category, which is “All Is Love” from the movie Where The Wild Things Are (written by Karen O & Nick Zinner). We appreciate the label’s honesty and diligence in bringing this matter to our attention and helping us to preserve the integrity of our awards process.”

Put him down, Mariah! Ms Carey embarrasses husband Nick Cannon with a red carpet smooch

12/11/2009 12:59:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

You'd have thought that these two would have mastered the art of a public kiss by now.

Mariah Carey draped herself all over husband Nick Cannon on the red carpet yesterday as they engaged in yet another nauseating public show of affection.

But unfortunately for the diva, Cannon looked as though he wanted the smooch to be over and done with as quickly as possible.



The couple were attending a special screening of the first ever TeenNick Halo Awards at the Newseum in Washington D.C. last night, and stopped to pose for the cameras as they arrived.

Mariah, 39, clearly proud of her husband, who is the the chairman of Nickelodeon's TeenNick network and creator of the awards, decided to reward him with a big smooch.

But although he responded and planted a smacker on her lips, he looked awkward and uncomfortable as he screwed up his face and tried to pull back from her.


Maybe he was getting his own back after their appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in September, when Mariah turned her nose up at 28-year-old Cannon's attempt to give her romantic kiss live on the show.

She was being interviewed by the talk show queen when Cannon joined her and gave her a peck on the cheek.



After was scolded by Oprah for being boring, he picked her up and bent her over, as she cried, 'don't drop me!'

He then pulled her up to give her a full-on exaggerated smooch before she pushed him away.

The TeenNick HALO Awards, which stands for Helping And Leading Others, awards teens who give something back to their community.

Four teens were honoured during the hour-long special, which will air on TeenNick in the US tomorrow night, by singers Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake, actress Hayden Panettiere and basketball star LeBron James, who awarded the teens for making a difference to others' lives.



Cannon, who hosted the show, said: 'One person can make a difference, and it's my hope that this special will encourage ongoing activism and inspire a new generation of leaders

Kanye West Taylor Swift Billboard Top Artists Of 2009

12/11/2009 12:58:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments

They gave us one of music’s most memorable moments with a now-infamous “stage-crashing” at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, so it’s only fitting that Kanye West and Taylor Swift assume the role of King and Queen of the charts.



According to the Associated Press, the egotistical rap star and the teen country savior have been named by Billboard Magazine’s Top Female and Top Male Artist on 2009. Taylor ruled the charts this year and takes the coveted prize for the year’s Top Artist, followed by Beyonce in second place and Lady Gaga, who rounded out the Top 3.

Taylor’s sophomore album, Fearless, that has sold more than 4.5 million copies to date. The 19-year-old is nominated for eight trophies at the 2010 Grammy Awards next month.

10 IT predictions for 2010

12/11/2009 12:58:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , 0 Comments

Whither the tech economy, mobile mania and Oracle/Sun?

No doubt, a leading IT story in 2010 will be the role that sector will play in the expected economic recovery, as well as how IT markets themselves recover. OK, so that's a no-brainer to predict, but we're latching on to some more specific details in that regard, and we've found a limb or three to walk out on as well. In no particular order we present the 2010 edition of our annual predictions.

We enter recovery

The global economy will limp into the first calendar quarter of next year, with IT playing an important role in the recovery, which will be modest in 2010. Although we don't expect much to happen until midyear as far as jobs creation and hiring, a whole lot of us are in need of new gear since purchases were deferred since late 2008, so hardware will lead the way in IT spending, with mobile telecommunications also important, particularly in developing countries.

IDC is forecasting 3.2% global IT spending growth, returning to 2008 levels of some $1.5 trillion, with emerging markets driving more than half of the projected growth. That sounds about right.

As for IT jobs, Foote Partners research leads analysts there to forecast for the U.S.: "We believe IT hiring overall will not pick up noticeably until late next year, and more likely 2011, despite recent GDP upturns and recovering stock prices in our nation's third straight year of economic instability. Expect the length of the tail on this staffing lag to be much longer than previous economic recoveries."

The needs that companies have for employees with very specific skills will continue to be the focus, Foote Partners predicts, which means training as well as outsourcing and offshoring, along with using managed services.

Apple bites into e-readers

Apple's tablet/e-reader will be unveiled to great spectacle and fanfare in the first quarter of the year. Throngs will stand in line for long hours to be among the first to possess what we predict will be the device to which rivals aspire. Because it's from Apple, it will have a cool design and user-friendly interface, and cost a load of money.

In other Apple news, AT&T's contractual gridlock on the iPhone will be broken, with Verizon entering that lucrative market as Apple eschews future U.S. exclusivity deals, ahead of regulators imposing rules forbidding that sort of mobile telecommunications contract.

Paging Jerry Yang

Carol Bartz will be out as Yahoo's CEO by the end of 2010, as the company continues to struggle and tries to reinvent itself, renewing its focus on technology rather than marketing and branding schemes. (But if the company is still keen on marketing and branding, we would recommend ditching the !.)

Oracle finally gets Sun and other M&A news

The Oracle-Sun Microsystems deal will close. Mindful of not incurring excessive wrath from the open-source community, Oracle will not kill off MySQL. Instead, it will be inserted into a stack along with Oracle's Unbreakable Linux, pitted against Microsoft SQL Server.

In a related story, to compete with Oracle as it continues on its acquisition trail, SAP will make a major hardware-centric acquisition of a U.S. company that has been a bit down-on-its-heels of late.

In other acquisition news, someone will come along by year's end (Yahoo maybe?) and buy Aol once and for all, successfully merging its content and technologies and quietly dropping the once-mighty brand off the face of the Internet.

And 2010 will be the year Palm is acquired -- our bets are on Microsoft or Research In Motion.

Google gets taken down a notch...

Google will finally stretch itself too far beyond its search engine roots, irritating content providers, regulatory agencies and users enough that Bing, even though it's also run by a monolith for whom love is not lost in many quarters, will keep making search inroads just because people want another option. The company that had as its mission to do no evil will increasingly be seen as devilish, leading top executives to spend more time than ever on image control, especially as it faces more lawsuits aimed at slowing its reach and power and its proclivity to challenge copyrights.

...And so does Intel

The U.S. Department of Justice will file antitrust charges against Intel, with state attorneys general joining in while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission pursues its own action against the chip maker and the E.U. keeps up pressure there as well.

Mobile mania

Google will release its own Android phone in an increasingly competitive market. By the end of 2010, more enterprises will embrace iPhone use, although RIM's BlackBerry will still be the platform of choice for companies that have to be more concerned about security issues.

But because "for most mere mortals, you can manage an iPhone reasonably securely," to quote Mort Rosenthal, chairman and CEO of Enterprise Mobile, Apple will increasingly intrude on the enterprise, whether network administrators like that or not. "I think probably the biggest story for the foreseeable future is how enterprises will manage an increasingly diverse market, with a lot of platforms, that meets a threshold of security," says Rosenthal, whose company specializes in mobile-based messaging implementation and business applications use in the enterprise.

"From a user perspective, this is all good, but from an IT perspective this is challenging," he says, predicting -- and we agree -- that 2010 will bring many of those challenges to a head for IT managers.

Oh, and one more prognostication in the mobile realm -- the launch of Windows Mobile 7 will be pushed back to the first quarter of 2011.

And speaking of security

There will be a new "largest ever" data breach involving e-tailers and a major payment processing company.

E-readers will give hackers an inviting new target, especially as the devices are opened up to third-party application development.

Meanwhile, we think that Websense Security Labs is making a sound prediction that "2010 will prove once and for all that Macs are not immune to exploits."

We also find ourselves intrigued by the Websense view that botnet gangs will engage in "turf wars."

"In addition, we anticipate more aggressive behavior between different botnet groups including bots with the ability to detect and actively uninstall competitor bots," Websense said.

Social networking grows up

This assessment from Foote Partners rings true for us: "Social media may have started out as a fad but it is quickly winning serious corporate converts. The search will intensify in 2010 for IT specialists who can engage audiences in their company's messages, products and services."

We also envision that companies will more actively encourage employees to use Facebook, Twitter and MySpace in those regards, and to focus on the collaborative aspects of social-networking sites. This will, of course, continue to present a security conundrum, but 2010 will be the year that best practices for use of those Internet-based sites take hold.

Online publishers figure a few things out

With e-readers the hot gadget of 2010 (and Apple's entry into that market), revenue-generating models will emerge in online content. The Comcast-NBC Universal deal, which will close next year, is just the beginning of mergers and partnerships in that market. Rival publishers will join forces, particularly in mainstream news media, and by year's end multiple new ventures will emerge that will upset the old carts and usher in -- finally! -- forward thinking. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. will continue to challenge Google and other aggregators and will lead the way in developing online news and content models, though we are not yet convinced that Murdoch's desire to charge for access to online news across his various holdings is going to pan out.

However, the online news and content landscape will look a lot different at the end of 2010 than it does at the end of 2009. To borrow from Monty Python: It's just a flesh wound! We're not dead yet!

G-Dragon could be in deep trouble

12/11/2009 12:57:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Ever since the debut of his first solo album a few months back, Big Bang leader G-Dragon has been surrounded by both fame and controversy as his album became the #1 most sold album of 2009. He was slapped down with plagiarism accusations and also was hit with an age restriction on his album so that it could no longer be sold to minors. But of all the crazy things that's happened to him, this by far could be the worst.


In case you forgot here's a memory refresher: In early November, the Health and Welfare Ministry branch of the government decided that some of G-Dragon's music was no longer suitable for the kids and this prevented any fans under the age of 19 from purchasing his album. The songs most under fire was Korean Dream and She's Gone, which also happen to be my favorite tracks on the album, as it had suggestive meaning of drug use and inappropriate thoughts.

On December 6th, G-Dragon held his first ever solo concert and he performed these two songs. The Ministry of Health and Welfare requested the crown attorney's office to investigate G-Dragon's concert because he sang the restricted songs in question. Like previously mentioned, the songs are labeled as adults only, and the concerts had an age limit of 12 and older and there were a lot of 12 - 14 year olds (under-aged for the song) in attendance. If the song gets rated like that then you're basically not allowed to let minors listen to it. It also didn't help his case when G-Dragon had the controversial said-sexual intercourse routine for Breathe. Officials say that not only were the kids exposed to inappropriate music but also to visual sexual content.

Officials are saying that G-Dragon's music and other content will be under investigation and currently isn't sure how the results will pan out. But if the court rules it against his favor, G-Dragon's work could be prohibited from the Korean public and his albums could no longer be available for purchase for anyone. If convicted, he also may have to pay some hefty fines (almost $200,000). The album already has an R rating but in the Health and Welfare committee's eyes, it's getting out of hand as young kids are still listening and getting their hands on the album.

This sort of reminds me of what America went through in the late 80's and early 90's with the emergence of Gangsta Rap. Government officials, left wing and right wing commentators, and many others did whatever they could to block the material from reaching America's youth, but with all the controversy it just made the genre even more popular. It seems like Korea is going through this transition phase at the moment. I'm curious though, if G-Dragon really does get banned, how do you think fans will react? After all we have seen them do some pretty incredible things...

She's Gone:
Korean Dream:

Dead Michael Gets Grammy for, Um, Lifetime Achievement

12/11/2009 12:57:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Michael Jackson might be dead, but he's already one Grammy up on Taylor Swift this year.

The late King of Pop was the top name announced today as a recipient of a special Lifetime Achievement Award to be bestowed in the run-up to next month's 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. It will be the 14th Grammy of his storied career. (And it might not stop there: The soundtrack to This Is It will be eligible for the 2011 awards.)

Jackson joins the equally deceased Bobby "Mack the Knife" Darin, as well as the very-much-alive Leonard Cohen, Loretta Lynn and conductor André Previn among the honorees.

The special statuettes will be presented at an invite-only ceremony on Jan. 30, a day before the big show airs on CBS.

"Avatar" wows early movie reviewers

12/11/2009 12:57:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Director James Cameron's long-awaited "Avatar" wowed critics at its London premiere on Thursday, with some early reviewers calling it "jaw-dropping," "mind-blowing" and a game-changer in Hollywood for its digital effects.

The 3D epic adventure by the director of 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" is one of the most expensive films ever at a cost of about $400 million to make and market. It begins its worldwide launch next week, hitting U.S. theaters on December 18.

If initial reviews and Twitter buzz are any indication, it may be money well spent for film studio 20th Century Fox.

"James Cameron has proven his point: He is king of the world," raved showbiz newspaper The Hollywood Reporter.

"As commander-in-chief of an army of visual-effects technicians, creature designers, motion-capture mavens, stunt performers, dancers, actors and music and sound magicians, he brings science-fiction movies into the 21st century with the jaw-dropping wonder that is 'Avatar,'" it said.

Britain's biggest-selling tabloid, The Sun, called it "the most dazzling film of the decade. ... The final battle scene is 20 minutes long and absolutely mind-blowing."

"Avatar" shows the forest-dwelling Na'vi fighting for survival against a colonial mining operation bent on stripping their planet. A crippled ex-Marine is chosen to make contact with the mysterious people as a remotely controlled avatar.

Empire magazine gave the movie five stars out of five, calling it a "hugely rewarding experience" whose new technology "will give directors ... one heck of a sandbox to play in."

Twitter lit up with comments from journalists leaving the tightly guarded premiere. "James Cameron is a freakin' genius! I can't say much but wow, I loved it," wrote Alex Billington of the movie website FirstShowing.net.

The London Guardian's Mark Brown wrote on Thursday that "Avatar" was "really much, much better than expected, (it) looked amazing and the story was gripping -- if cheesy in many places."

"The terrible film that some had been anticipating had not materialized. It was good," Brown wrote.

Microsoft in 2010: Four Challenges That Lie Ahead

12/11/2009 12:56:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

When you're a technology mongrel like Microsoft, challenges are constant - and 2009 was chock full of them. It was a tumultuous year that saw the software giant's first widespread layoffs and its worst quarterly revenue earnings ever.

Yet there were some rays of sunlight flickering through the clouds. Windows 7 survived its many pre-launch milestones and launched successfully in October; search engine Bing debuted with aggressive marketing and innovative features; the launch of Windows Azure pulled Microsoft's cloud computing strategy together; Office, Exchange and Sharepoint software continue to own the enterprise; and Microsoft's public presence on television improved with the Laptop Hunters, Windows 7 and Bing ad campaigns.

But still, due to its massive size, Microsoft has been more affected by the global economic downturn than tech companies of smaller stature. So 2010 is likely to be a rebuilding year for Redmond as the economy slowly improves, say industry analysts.

But Microsoft cannot merely wait out the economy. It must stave off competition and improve on many fronts. Here are four challenges for Microsoft in the year ahead.

Don't Fall Further Behind in the Mobile Race

Windows Mobile 6.5 was met with harsh reviews when it launched in early October, widely regarded as a ho-hum refresh on the road to Windows Mobile 7.

The key mobile question for Microsoft is this: How do you win over and keep customers when there are so many established and well-regarded choices?

It doesn't help Microsoft's cause that Windows Mobile runs on generic smartphones that lack brand recognition and loyalty. Microsoft could change the game by branding its own smartphones. RIM, Apple and Palm have proven that buyers want smartphones from one maker with one name. Microsoft's alleged Project Pink is a plan to develop Microsoft-branded phones that will reportedly include Zune services and be built on top of Windows Mobile 7. But waiting for Windows Mobile 7 means it will be a year until consumers and businesses see these "Windows" phones.

The bottom line is that Microsoft has not been able to compete with the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm or Google Android. Redmond will need to keep WinMo 6.5 from fading into obscurity in 2010 and deliver on the promises of Windows Mobile 7.

"If Microsoft delays much longer on producing a decent mobile platform with software, services and partners," says veteran industry analyst Roger Kay, "then it will be out of the game."

Keep Up Windows 7 Momentum

One thing you can say about Windows 7 so far: It's not Vista. And that's a very good thing for Microsoft.

Vista has been the bane of Redmond's existence for the past two years. At first, Vista was criticized for slowness and incompatibility issues, which gave way to negative perceptions that never let up - with no help from snarky Apple TV ads.

Windows 7 has entered a more diverse PC landscape than Vista, with different Win7 versions designed to run on everything from tiny netbooks to mammoth all-in-one touchscreen PCs. It has received mostly positive reviews, and its early sales are better than those of XP and Vista in a comparable time frame.

The challenge for Windows 7 is to keep marketing Windows 7, even if that means a protracted and expensive slugfest with Apple's "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials. Windows 7 also must contend with frugal consumers and businesses that are hesitant to spend money on computers in a bad economy.

But with research firm Gartner forecasting that PC sales will actually make modest gains this year, Windows 7 is in a good position for growth and new sales when consumers and businesses start spending again.

Watch Out for Google Apps

It's debatable whether Google's productivity suite, Google Apps, or other free offerings like OpenOffice and Zoho are true threats to Microsoft's cash cow, Office.

There has been growing enthusiasm for Google Apps among consumers, but businesses, most of which are built around Exchange servers, still largely prefer Microsoft Office desktop tools.

But this gravy train will not last forever. With Google aggressively going after enterprise business and cloud computing becoming more prevalent, corporate fears about storing company data in a cloud environment are likely to subside even further.

This trend, in turn, puts more pressure on Office 2010, scheduled for release in June of next year. Microsoft is all too aware of the Google Apps threat and has been emphasizing Office Web Apps - stripped-down, Web-based and ad supported versions of Office desktop apps that will launch in tandem with Office 2010.

The challenge for Microsoft is to highlight the corporate advantages of using Office Web Apps without downplaying the desktop version of Office. If an enterprise wants go completely Web-based with their productivity apps next year, Microsoft will have to deliver. Or else it's, Hello Google!

Grow Bing Grow

The goal in 2010 with the Bing search engine is simple: Grow ad revenue and market share. Achieving that could be a different story, of course.

Bing was dubbed "the decision engine" when it launched in June and promised to redefine search engines by organizing more information on a results page than Google and making it easier for users to book flights and purchase retail items.

Bing hasn't revolutionized search, but it is holding its own. Microsoft recently released useful, new Bing features such as full-page weather reports, expanded hover previews showing a snapshot of Web sites, and the integration of Wolfram Alpha, a computational technology that returns deeper search queries.

Bing's market share has grown almost two percentage points since its launch, currently at 9.9%, according to October data from online market tracker comScore. Expect a big market share jump when Bing is rolled into Yahoo as part of the search deal between Microsoft and Yahoo.

Microsoft needs to keep rolling out new features in Bing and market the heck out of them in 2010. Apparently, the checkbooks for Bing will be wide open. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said that he plans to spend $5.5 billion to $11 billion on Bing during the next five years.

And then there are content partnerships. Rupert Murdoch and other publishers are fed up with Google's purported revenue-hogging practices. Microsoft stands to gain some ground on Google by signing exclusive content partnerships, such as the proposed deal to pay News Corp. for the rights to index the publishing giant's content.

Microsoft has denied there is a deal to pay News Corp. for search rights to content, but revenue-sharing deals with publishers could increase Bing's profit and market share.

But Microsoft execs might want to remember that they will have to share the ad revenue, or those publishers will get very, very mad at them.

Out of the box, Win 7 less secure than Vista

12/11/2009 12:56:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments

According to a well respected security firm, Microsoft’s flagship Windows 7 operating system is less secure in its default configuration that Vista.

Trend Micros CEO Raimund Genes believes that Microsoft has put usability ahead of security:

“I’m not saying Windows 7 is insecure, but out of the box Vista is better.”

“I was disappointed when I first used a Windows 7 machine that there was no warning that I had no anti-virus, unlike Vista. There are no file extension hidden warnings either. Even when you do install anti-virus, warnings that it has not been updated are almost invisible.”

“Windows 7 may be an improvement in terms of usability but in terms of security it’s a mistake, though one that isn’t that surprising. When Microsoft’s developers choose between usability and security, they will always choose usability.”

Interestingly, Genes believes that the XP Mode feature present in some editions of Windows 7 actually improves security because it makes available a sandboxed OS. Other security firms (in particular Sophos) have criticized XP Mode, labeling it a security risk because it needs to be patched separately.

So, for a more secure Windows 7, Trend Micro recommends upping your UAC setting higher.

Gallen Lo and Sophie Su are getting married in Beijing on Saturday

12/11/2009 12:56:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments



46 years old Gallen Lo and 35 years old Sophie Su are getting married in Beijing this saturday. The couple flew to Netherland to take their wedding pictures. Gallen divorced his wife Fong Mun Yee last year, ending their 10 years marriage. News leaked out only after 6 months of their divorce that Gallen has been dating Sophie. They were engaged very swiftly earlier on in January and had a registry wedding on 9th September 2009. A wedding banquet will be held this saturday. They told reporter that year 2009 has been challenging, but they faced that challenge together. For the time being, they like to share their happiness with everybody.

Gallen told reporter he and his ex wife agreed to be separated in 2007. It was only last year that their divorce was finalized. During that time she met Sophie while they were both working on a mainland series "Perfect Ending". He said it is God's plan that they met, he described Sophie as a very good natured person, she is kind and full of grace. Gallen denied the rumor that Sophie was the third person.


Super Junior releases Sorry Sorry - Answer MV

12/11/2009 12:55:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

After the release of Super Junior's The 2nd Asia Tour Concert CD, we reported that the MV for Sorry Sorry - Answer was going to be released this week. Well, it was finally released today!


The filming, which took place in Namyangju, Gyeonggi, was led by studio director Chun Hyuk Jin, who has directed many other music videos for SM Entertainment. Their MV is similar to the original, as it has a monochrome concept with primarily black and white hues. After watching the MV, you will realize that Kangin is hardly seen, probably due to all those problems he caused.

"Avatar" wows early movie reviewers

12/11/2009 12:55:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments



Touchstone Pictures has released the Official Poster for Miley Cyrus’ forthcoming coming-of-age drama, The Last Song. Based Nicholas Sparks’ popular book of the same name, The Last Song will see Miley as Ronnie, a gifted but rebellious teen girl who reconnects with her estranged dad (Greg Kinnear) and falls in love during a summer in Tybee Island, Georgia.

The Last Song hits theaters April 2, 2010 and will be Miley’s first acting effort outside of Disney’s Hannah Montana franchise.

HP Envy 15 review

12/11/2009 12:55:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments



There are laptops and then there are laptops. The Envy 15 has fallen into that second category ever since we got our hands-on: it's the first PC we've seen that really equals the MacBook Pro's unibody design and it packs a scorching-fast Intel Core i7 processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 graphics and Beats speakers. On paper, this is easily the hottest laptop we've seen in some time, but has HP really managed to deliver on that promise? We spent a few days with this $1,800 monster, so read on to see if it lives up to the hype.

Hardware



Yes, we know -- at first glance, the Envy 15's aluminum body and rounded edges bear more than a little resemblance to the 15-inch MacBook Pro. But HP's latest is actually a bit more daring than the Apple, with a floral-like pattern of laser-etched divots arrayed across its lid. Not to worry, no one's going to get the impression that this thing is sissy -- especially because the magnesium-alloy frame is incredibly solid. It's surprisingly thin and light for a 15-incher at 5.2 pounds and one-inch thick, but it lacks an optical drive, which is built into the slightly heavier MacBook Pro. (You can buy an external standard DVD drive for $75 or a Blu-Ray for $225 when configuring online).

The Envy 15 packs plenty of muscle with a 1.6GHz Intel Core i7-720QM processor, 8GB of RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 and speedy 7,200rpm hard drive. It's a powerful system, but that Core i7 generates a lot of heat -- more on that later. Ports-wise it's pretty much all laid out on the right side of the laptop with a hybrid audio plug for headphones and/or a mic, a eSATA / USB combo jack, two USB ports, HDMI and Ethernet, while an SD card slot is nestled on the front bottom lip. (The Envy 15 actually comes with its user manual on a 2GB SD card, which we... read thoroughly. Right after we popped it into our camera.)

The 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 resolution screen under the lid is incredibly nice on the eyes, and although it's not as intensely bright as the Envy 13, we found it to still be super crisp. Watching a downloaded 1080p clip of a Killers' concert made us feel like we were front row at the show; we could see the beads of sweat beaming off of Brandon Flowers' forehead. We would have preferred if the screen had a flush glass bezel, rather than the thick raised plastic border that surrounds it, however. Above the screen is a a "nightvision" VGA camera that uses infrared LEDs to provide illumination in dark environments. We'll let you, kind reader, imagine what this could be used for, but we will report that the cam lives up to its promise; a Skype call made in the dark was actually visible and our face was illuminated and discernible.



What blows the HD video experience out of the water on the Envy 15 are its stellar Beats Audio speakers. (All the Envys have Beats speakers, but you can also get a $2,299 Beats-branded bundle that comes with a special black paint job, a pair of HD headphones, an ultra mobile audio interface, and Traktor DJ software.) By far the best-sounding speakers we have heard on a laptop in a long time, that same Killers clip sounded incredibly full with a surround quality that was better than any typical cheap headphones or speakers we've heard.

We'll admit that we're happy to see the keyboard deck is void of any finicky brightness or volume touch controls, though you can change those settings with function keys. There's also a column of dedicated shortcut keys for opening the browser or e-mail client. Overall we enjoyed the typing experience; the keys themselves feel sturdy and had a nice bounce as we wrote this review on them. But HP, why no backlight?

The award for most improved touchpad goes to HP's ergonomics team. The trackpad itself is the same glass multitouch unit with integrated mouse buttons found on the Envy 13, but the software's thankfully been updated since our last experience with it -- it takes a bit of getting used to, but most of the issues have been sorted out. Pinching to zoom gestures were responsive, but two-finger scrolling was still a bit choppy in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Still, we generally plugged in a mouse when we used the Envy 15 -- the trackpad might perform adequately now, but the palm rest got hot. Uncomfortably hot. And this wasn't just when the system was under a lot of stress: the wrist rests and bottom would heat up with just a browser open, and temperatures got hot enough after an hour that we took it off our lap and set it on a table. We surmise this is a result of the Envy's very thin design and hardcore performance parts -- there could just be too much going on underneath its short-on-space-hood. We aren't the first to complain of the heat either, users who have purchased the system also find it quite toasty.

Software, performance and battery life



When you boot up the Envy 15 you have two choices – you can enter the instant-on HP QuickWeb OS or head right into Windows. The pre-boot environment is a nice touch and we had no problems getting connected to a WiFi network to check our Gmail, but we doubt we'd spend much time in this interface when it takes just 20 seconds more to get into Windows 7. Speaking of Windows 7, we continue to wonder why HP feels the need to brand the entire operating system with its colors and themes. More peeving is the amount of junk on the system itself, including Norton pop-ups, semi-automated HP software updaters/assistants and HP's MediaSmart toolbar and software -- after a while we were longing for our pristine install of 7 Home Premium. We'd even go as far to say that it would take less time to install a clean version of the OS rather than uninstall each of HP's preloaded craplets.

Software complaints aside, multitasking was incredibly snappy; running iTunes, TweetDeck, Skype, a number of tabs in Firefox all while a DVD played in the background was no challenge for the Core i7. Though not a likely scenario, playing a 1080p video in QuickTime with a DVD playing in HP's MediaSmart software didn't cause either of the videos to lag. As for gaming, our WoW gnome his new 1080p life, running around quite happily at 35fps. Of course, playing games meant the system once again got insanely hot -- we simply couldn't use the Envy on our lap while slaying orcs.

Performance comes with battery sacrifices, however. While writing this review in Google Docs with a few additional Firefox tabs open, the system lasted just under two hours on a charge. That's pretty abysmal for a larger laptop: the Core i7-equipped Dell Studio 17 gets close to three and a half, while the 15-Inch MacBook Pro gets just about 4 hours. And without the ability to switch off the discrete graphics, there are no battery saving measures. We'd be more forgiving if the power brick weren't so damn large and heavy. It's the kind of charger that belongs underneath a desk, rather than stretched across a bed. Sure, you can always get HP's neatly designed nine-cell slice which fits right on the bottom of the laptop, but that will cost you an extra $125 bucks, and add additional weight and size.

Wrap up



We don't mean to sound like a broken record, but we're just as conflicted about the 15-inch Envy as we were about its 13-inch little brother. The multimedia and gaming experience blew us away -- rarely do we see such performance out of a laptop this sleek and thin -- but all that power results in incredibly high temperatures and below-average battery endurance. If you're willing to put up with hot metal and less than stellar battery life for a pretty awesome multimedia experience, the Envy 15 may be worth a try, but in the end it's hard for us to recommend a laptop that actually became uncomfortable to use and hampered our everyday computing experience. Unfortunately for HP and us, these sorts of dealbreakers seem to be a common trend across its products these days.

Yahoo joins the real-time search parade

12/11/2009 12:54:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Not to be outdone by its rivals, Yahoo is getting into the real-time search business as well.


Days after Google announced its plan for integrating content from sources such as Twitter and blogs, Yahoo on Thursday plans to launch its own feature to integrate tweets into search results. Microsoft already displays Twitter results for queries placed on its Bing search engine, although they displayed on a separate page that is not directly integrated into the main search results.

Yahoo will join Google witih integrated results as of Thursday, said Larry Cornett, vice president of product management and design at the company. But in a crucial difference between the two approaches, Yahoo has not cut a deal with Twitter for access to the "firehose," an automated feed of data from Twitter. Instead, it's using Twitter's public API and adding its own algorithms to figure out which tweets are most relevant to the query.

The thorniest problem with real-time search is relevancy. So much content is created every second on the Internet--from tweets to status updates to new blogs to new news stories such as this one--that it's a challenge to simply capture that data, let alone decide which sources of data are more relevant and authoritative than others.

Yet there's clear demand for answers to the question, "What is happening right this second?" And search engines are presumably in the best position to deliver those answers, but unless they are able to find a way to harness the flood of real-time information and make sense of it, these services are unlikely to be very useful.

For hot topics, such as Obama or Tiger Woods, Yahoo plans to use the Twitter tab it added to the News Shortcut feature already found in Yahoo search results. For other topics that are gaining traction but don't necessarily have a huge amount of news, photos or videos already associated with that query, Yahoo will surface three tweets related to the topic and chosen by its algorithms, Cornett said.

The main problem with Yahoo's approach is that it's not exactly real-time: the most recent results surfaced during a demonstration were 15 to 20 minutes old, and the user must manually refresh the page to get new results. Google's approach not only refreshes automatically due to its use of Twitter's firehose feed, but it also brings in content from sources other than Twitter.

The other major problem for Yahoo, of course, is that its search share is dropping, something Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz blamed on expiring toolbar deals during an investor conference Tuesday. While Yahoo says it is committed to remaining a player in the search market by coming up with new ideas for search presentation, this week shows just how easy it is for Google to take a similar idea (real-time search) and put out a similar-if-not-better take on the same idea.

Yamashita Tomohisa and Girlfriend Exchange Clothes

12/11/2009 12:54:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

After appearing together in the drama Buzzer Beat, Yamashita Tomohisa and Kitagawa Keiko's onscreen romance has blossomed into real life. Last month, Japanese magazine Josei Seven took photos of them holding hands in the rain. Afterwards, Yamashita clarified that it was only the angle of the shot, as they are only friends. However, this month's issue of the magazine once again caught them on a date earlier in the month.






On that day, the two were seen leaving Kitagawa's place. Afterwards they went for a meal together. It was evident in the photos that Kitagawa was holding onto Yamashita's arm. They seemed very comfortable with each other and looked like an actual couple on a date. Approximately two hours later the two left the restaurant. Reporters found out the pair had switched their jackets. Even if they are insistent that they're 'only friends', their actions seem to prove otherwise.

YG releases apology for G-dragon’s antics

12/11/2009 12:54:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

YG Entertainment has released their official statement on the case of G-Dragon’s controversial solo concert.


“We came in contact with an article that said the Korean Family Health Department requested that G-Dragon’s solo concert be examined in further detail for violating the child protection law and sexual promiscuity performance,” said YGE.

“We should have considered the extreme impact popular culture can have on young adults. We are sincerely sorry for the controversy and have no intentions of putting the blame on other people or making excuses in order to refuse responsibility. YG will cooperate willingly with any investigations, and we accept all responsibility for the controversy.”

“Also, although this is a separate matter from the controversy, we would like to mention that for a lot of artists, a solo concert is a big dream as well as a big pressure for them. Usually on music programs, they perform a couple of songs, whereas in a solo concert, an artist must lead the audience for more than 2 hours by himself. We feel that artists feel pressured to show extreme performances in some cases due to the huge amount of expectation put on them.”

“In the concert DVD, all controversial scenes that were deemed inappropriate will be excluded or edited. We apologize once again for the trouble caused, and will take extreme caution to avoid causing any sort of controversy similar to this in the future. Thank you.”

Hmm, pretty heartfelt stuff no? Of course, the question is raised, who reviewed the choreography for the concert? Were no bells going off when there was a girl tied to a bed getting humped?

Either way, YG has officially apologized for the actions of the Big Bang leader, regardless of whether or not he did anything wrong. I'm sure fangirls are less upset over the dry humping than they are over the fact that the concert DVD will be edited to remove sexual fap material "inappropriate" scenes.

Nic Cage's Sorcerer's Apprentice: Worth the Hype?

12/11/2009 12:53:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments



Most of the talk around Nicolas Cage's flick Sorcerer's Apprentice has focused on its seemingly cursed production. At this point, it has a double-digit casualty rate—fortunately no serious injuries—and we can only imagine how many victims postproduction will claim.

But all that hype puts the movie under an unfair microscope; people start looking for proof of how the final product suffered because of the accidents. Now with the trailer out, we get a first look at what the filmmakers came up with when they weren't busy triaging coworkers...

The tagline is "It's not a myth, it's not your imagination." And they're right. This is an actual, real-life mess of Bruckheimer blowups, cheesy Nic Cage whisper-talking and knee-slappin' one-liners from our eager apprentice.

And even without the accidents, we're pretty sure the same meh, I'm-just-in-it-for-the-paycheck flick would have resulted. So was it worth the trouble? The crew would probably say yes. Sorcery fans will flock to theaters because because, as the trailer shows, the girl our apprentice is wooing provides the ultimate payoff: That's right, her "whoa, magic is hot" face. Our verdict: Totally worth it.

Motorola Milestone's ad campaign less likely to leave you in a bloody heap than Droid's

12/11/2009 12:53:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments



Motorola's European version of the Droid -- the Milestone -- is on the verge of release in the UK, so it's not surprising to see ads starting to pop up. This is the first we've seen, and we'll say that the approach is... interesting. In contrast to the over the top, explosive (literally -- did you see that banana?!) Verizon Droid ads, the Milestone ad is all about information, delivered in a soothing, sophisticated tone. "Intelligence and versatility converge" here, and we have to say we much prefer this approach over the it's a "frickin' robot" one taken by Verizon. Decide for yourself -- the video is after the break.


Vodafone reportedly ditching the HD2 as iPhone launch looms (update: nope!)

12/11/2009 12:52:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments

Here's an interesting one. Vodafone, which is one of the few carriers in the world right now with access to HTC's HD2, is reportedly not going to stock the handset any longer once its current supply evaporates. The reason? Why, that's a fantastic question! According to a company spokesperson, there has been a "massive amount of interest" in the big-screen mobile, with initial stock "selling out quickly and subsequent deliveries used to fulfill backorders." Call us crazy, but it seems a wee bit foolish to can a product that's selling well -- unless, of course, Voda has a certain amount of iPhones that it'll be required to sell just a few months from now (or else buy 'em itself). Whatever the case, we're told that the operator "will not [be] re-stocking the HTC HD2 for general consumer sales once current stock runs out," so if you're jonesing for one, ten minutes ago would've been a great time to buy.

Update: Here's the latest from Vodafone: "We haven't recalled or stopped selling it, at the moment we have simply ran out of stock. When our next batch of stock arrives, this will be used to fulfill our outstanding back orders but we won't be taking any additional orders via Telesales."

Update 2: HTC pinged us directly and apologized for being unclear. Here's the bottom line: "[The] HD2 will continue to be available on Vodafone, even after the iPhone launches."

Chen Qiao En waited for eight months to be "Miss Jia Qi"

12/11/2009 12:51:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

The 30 episodes idol drama <<Lan Se Jia Qi>> that is co-financed by Shanghai Chuang Yi Culture Co. Ltd, Hunan ETV and Hangzhou Hua Ce is currently filming in Hangzhou. This drama is adapted from the novel <<Jia Qi Ru Meng>> written by the queen of tragedy, author Fei Wo Si Cun. The novel focuses on the love relationships between the female lead You Jia Qi and Meng He Ping as well as Ruan Zheng Dong; telling the love story of how to love a person by letting her live better. Popular Taiwanese idol drama queen Chen Qiao En takes on the role of You Jia Qi. Ruan Zheng Dong and Meng He Ping are portrayed by Roy Qiu Ze and William Feng Shao Feng respectively. The director is Shen Yi who excels in directing romantic pieces.

Chen Qiao En waited for eight months to be "Miss Jia Qi"

The production team had Chen Qiao En in mind when they were writing the script for <<Lan Se Jia Q>> and found a opportunity to describe the story to her. Chen Qiao En loved the story when she heard it and agreed to act in the drama. However the script writing and pre-production process took eight months and Chen Qiao En did not negotiate any new dramas within this period; choosing to wait for the script to be completed while she was filming a Taiwanese idol drama. There are several times when she was worried that she will miss the role due to the jobs on her schedule. She even turned down the chance to act in a Chinese movie in order to wait for the role of Jia Qi. Before this, actors that had acted with Chen Qiao En in her previous dramas like Ming Dao and Blue Lan had already ventured into the Chinese market with numerous dramas to their credit but Chen Qiao En did not match their pace. <<Jia Qi Ru Meng>> is her first foray into the Chinese market. The production crew revealed that due to the cold temperature in Hangzhou, Chen Qiao En fell sick to flu not long after she joined the drama team. However she still carried on working and was full of energy despite a nasal voice. In private, Chen Qiao En is an easy-going and fun-loving person but very serious when it comes to work. Because Chen Qiao En calls herself Miss Jia Qi on set, now the staff all start calling her Miss Jia Qi too. Veteran television producer and artistic director He Xiu Qiong said that she has watched Chen Qiao's performances and is very satisfied with her portrayal of her character. There was a scene where Jia Qi met her first love Meng He Ping. Chen Qiao En's unique and delicate acting successfully portrayed the character's inner feelings of heartbreak while having to maintain a calm exterior. Chen Qiao En is called idol drama called rating queen but her acting career wasn't smooth. Firstly she does not have natural talents and was once ridiculed at for her awkward dancing. Once she was even frozen by her company. Chen Qiao En once wrote "The days of waiting are long. In order to live optimistically, we have to learn to live and let live." He Xiu Qiong said that she is thankful to Chen Qiao En for waiting eight months and said that this stage is Chen Qiao En's "Jia Qi" (translation: Happy days) in both her life and career. The days of waiting are nutrient to her, allowing Chen Qiao En to portray the role of Jia Qi with depth.

The basic tone of blue is romantic and sad, props and scenery are of finest quality

Fei Wo Si Cun is a popular internet novelist. Her novels are often sad and touching tragedies. The drama <<Lan Se Jia Qi>> took note of the romantic and beautiful form found in her writings and chose to use blue as basic color. In addition, Hangzhou is a classical water town in Jiangnan. Therefore the style of the drama is like an idol drama. Director Shen Yi said: He is very confident about <<Lan Se Jia Qi>>. Even though the structure of the drama sounds like a typical idol drama, <<Lan Se Jia Qi>> has a solid storyline. The drama pace will be faster and tighter compared to other idol dramas. The characters of Jia Qi, Meng He Ping and Ruan Zhen Dong and even the supporting characters are well written. As a director, he is also concerned about the reactions of viewers when he is directing the drama and therefore uses a more youthful and joyous tone while directing the first half of the drama. The ending is a tragedy and from a certain standpoint, this gives it a greater sense of sadness. The reporter visited <<Lan Se Jia Qi>> filming location and observed the realistic props on set. For example, the decoration of the home of the female lead Jia Qi has soft colors and is simple but fashionable. The match used in the meeting between the male and female leads is also very exquisite.

Highly anticipated, Hunan TV has a high chance of airing the drama

Shanghai Chuang Yi Culture Co. Ltd is a subsidiary company of Hunan TV and Hunan ETV is also a major channel under Hunan Broadcasting. But <<Lan Se Jia Qi>> does not follow Hunan ETV's standard method of production and instead was produced according to market operations. He Xiu Qiong said that <<Lan Se Jia Qi>> already attracted a lot of interest from investors during the initial stage of script writing. In the end, they chose Hunan ETV and Hangzhou Hua Ce because they share the same views on the artistic direction. She also said that Hunan ETV has read the script and liked it very much. Hunan ETV have expressed interest in buying this drama and so they will consider giving Hunan ETV priority when selling the drama. However, she does not rule out the possibility of selling it to other stations as this is a drama that is jointly financed by many parties and therefore need to follow market rules.

The Wonder Girls to tour US in January

12/11/2009 12:51:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Wonder Girls Launch Korean Music Invasion.


The Wonder Girls, a five-member, all-girl band from South Korea, took the hit reality show “So You Think You Can Dance” by storm last night (Dec. 9) and may well launch the Korean invasion of U.S. pop music.

The oldest Yubin , 21, joined band in late-2007. Sunye (Sun) is the leader and Ye-eun (Yenny) is the group’s newest member. Both are 20 years old. At 17, Sunmi (Mimi) and Hyunah are the youngest members.

The band’s performance on last night’s show gave them their first exposure before a major U.S. audience, but they have already caught the attention of the music industry, including Dave Stewart, formerly of The Eurythmics.

Stewart is producing their first album, set for release in February.
The group is also planning to launch a headlining U.S. tour in January.

The Wonder Girls became the first Korean singers to ever enter the U.S. singles charts in October, landing at 76 on Top-100 singles charts with virtually no promotion.

They performed the hit “Nobody,” with Kris Allen, the season eight “American Idol’ winner. Allen also performed his newest single “Live Like We’re Dying.”

The girls are already major pop stars on the Korean peninsula and were introduced as a “pop sensation” on the Fox program’s Web site.

“They are the striking chord with a young U.S. audience,” their producer and manager, singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young, said in a release.

The girls also have opened for the Jonas Brothers on the North American leg of the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009 and have two No. 1 hits in Korea, “Tell Me” and “So Hot.”

The Wonder Girls appeal to young tween fans because of their cute and easy-to-follow dance moves and lyrics.

In a testament to their potential, the group has signed a management contract with the Jonas Group and Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency (CAA) which will rep them in the United States.

Stewart announced his collaboration with the Wonder Girls on Twitter over the wekened along with a short demo of “Always Without Me,” which will be on the Girls’ new album.

The Eurythmics, which included Stewart and Annie Lennox, had a string of hits in the 1980s including “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” and “Here Comes the Rain Again.”

'Never a failure, always a lesson': The words Rihanna has had tattooed back to front on her collarbone

12/11/2009 12:55:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Rihanna's fascination with body art is developing into an obsession - after the gun inked onto her ribcage, she's had a proverb tattooed onto her collar bone.



The empowering message appears to be entirely for her own benefit, however, because it's been etched on back to front.

The tattoo reads: 'Never a failure, always a lesson' and she'll be able to take strength from it every time she sees it in the mirror.

The hard-working 21-year-old had it done earlier this week in New York before she flew to London, where she had a date at the Westfield mall yesterday.

Owner and artist Keith 'Bang Bang' McCurdy, who drew the tattoo at his East Side Ink parlour, told U.S. magazine OK! Weekly: 'She told me in advance she’d be coming, and then when she got there, she told me what she wanted: "Never a failure, always a lesson," but written backwards.



'I asked her why she wanted that and she said, "It’s kind of my motto in life for everything. Instead of considering things to be mistakes, considering them lessons.”

Because this piece of body art is so personal to Rihanna, the popstar decided she didn’t want this new ink to be as obvious as the ones she already has.



'She said that she wanted to do it in grey, rather than black, because she wanted it to be more subtle,' Bang Bang explained. 'She didn’t want it to draw too much attention.'

But attention is just what Rihanna needs right now, as she sets about plugging her new album Rated R, which went to No.4 last month on the U.S. album charts.

It has now slipped 10 spots to No.14, having sold 59,000 copies this week, compared to Susan Boyle's offering, I Dreamed A Dream, which remains at the top spot having shifted 527,000 in two weeks.

Rihanna is surely one of hte most tireless self-promoters on the circuit.

She was only in Britain a week and a half ago performing on the X Factor but she flew back in to announce the dates of her UK arena tour at Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush.

In between times, she appeared at a Rated R party in New York and on Saturday Night Live in the U.S. singing Hard with Young Jeezy.

She also put in an appearance at the launch of a music video website, VEVO, at Skylight Studio, in New York City, with Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift, and even found time to watch the New York Knicks basketball team at Madison Square Garden.

Despite all the gruelling travelling, the Barbadian looked absolutely flawless as usual in a white faux fur cardigan, bling necklace and black leggings.

Tickets for the UK tour go on sale at 9am on Friday December 11 and she will begin the shows in Birmingham on May 7 before ending the run in Glasgow on May 19.

She will also play gigs at the Liverpool Echo Arena, London's O2, Sheffield Arena, Nottingham Trent FM Arena, Manchester MEN and Newcastle Metro Arena.

Bye-Bye Curls, Hello Bangs! Taylor Swift’s Hair Makeover

12/11/2009 12:54:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Taylor Swift is celebrating her latest milestone - with a new hairdo!


The singer - who turns 20 Sunday - was spotted with straight hair while heading out to dinner in NYC.

Earlier in the day, Swift Twittered: "Photo shoot all day, followed by dinner with [actress] Emma Stone. Then we wandered around a candy store like wide-eyed little kids."

Swift -- who just landed eight Grammy nods -- recently wrote on her MySpace blog that the holidays are her "favorite time of year. Hands down."


"I love everything about this time of year, but mostly the way that people find ways to be with the ones they love," wrote Swift, who is dating New Moon hottie Taylor Lautner. "And I love sweaters. Everyone is wearing sweaters right now."

She has been in New York City lately for Friday's Z100 Jingle Ball, where she will perform.

While in the Big Apple, she said she's been "just wandering around looking up at the sparkly store displays and stuff."

Apple orders 4th generation iPhone from Foxconn

12/11/2009 12:54:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that manufactured all of Apple’s iPhones until now, has reportedly received orders for the next generation iPhone (which, if we look at the release dates of the older 3 iPhone models, should be launched sometime in the summer of 2010).

The info comes from Mobile-review’s Eldar Murtazin, who usually knows what he’s talking about.

Unfortunately, there are absolutely no details regarding the new features that Apple will include in the 4th generation iPhone.

Maybe the new iPhone will come with a front-facing camera (for video calls), a 1GHz processor, LTE and a higher resolution display (although, if this happens, the old iPhone apps will probably not work with the new smartphone, since they’re made for the 320 x 480 pixels resolution). Or maybe with a hardware QWERTY keyboard? That’s actually hard to believe.

Well, for now we can only wait for more leaked info about the new iPhone to show up, and hope that Apple will deliver a breakthrough device (unlike the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, which are just updates of the first generation iPhone).

By Extension, Chrome Battles Firefox

12/11/2009 12:54:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Mozilla and Google share a common enemy: Microsoft. They also share a lot of money (Google invests millions of dollars in Mozilla and is responsible for most of its revenue). And it would seem that ideologically they share the same belief that the web is the platform of the future. All of this has blunted a lot of the talk that Google’s Chrome browser was competing with Mozilla’s Firefox browser. But with the launch of extensions for Chrome it’s pretty hard to deny it at this point.



Perhaps Firefox’s biggest selling point is that it has an expansive library of extensions that work with the browser. Even as Firefox gets beaten in performance tests, and people complain about its bloat, the extensions are always the thing that users go back to as the reason that they can’t switch. But now Chrome has those too. Sure, not as many yet, but they’re coming — fast.

And fast is maybe the main key to this. As Google demonstrated tonight at a Chrome Extension launch event at its headquarters in Mountain View, it is very, very easy to make extensions for Chrome. “Extensions are just web pages,” Chrome engineer Erik Kay noted at one point before he and fellow engineer, Aaron Boodman, made an extension live on stage in all of five minutes.

Later on in the event, Google had third-party extension developers come up and describe just how easy it was to create them for Chrome. Obviously, those guys are all going to say the right things on stage, but I had conversations with a number of different extension developers after the event — every single one of them gushed about the ease of making a Chrome extension.

Not only did they gush, but many made the obvious comparison to making an extension for Firefox. Again, every single one of them noted just how much easier it was with Chrome. This is largely thanks to the fact that Chrome extensions really are built simply using web languages as Kay noted. Creating a Firefox extension is a much more involved process.

But perhaps even more problematic for Mozilla is the extension submission process. With Chrome, for the majority of extensions, once you submit them, they are instantaneously live in the Extensions Gallery. The exceptions are if they use native code or access the file system, Google reserves the right to review them (which basically amounts to the developer signing an agreement that they have no malicious intent, and sending it to Google).

The process for submitting a Firefox extension can take longer — in some cases significantly longer, I was told by multiple developers. The few I asked wouldn’t go so far as to compare it to Apple’s App Store review process, but they said it’s not entirely dissimilar either. Google, on the other hand, is much more open. And that’s gaining them a lot of fans in the extension developer community.

One of them is James Joaquin, the CEO of Xmarks, one of the most popular extensions for Firefox (it was formerly known as Foxmarks), that just launched a Chrome version. Joaquin could not believe just how quickly you can get an extension out there with Chrome compared to what it’s like for the other browsers.

Michael Galpert, one of the founders of Aviary, makers of another new Chrome extension was also amazed by the extension updating process. Much like Chrome itself, extensions auto-update, removing a problem that developers often find annoying: That most users will not take the time to update, even when prompted. Some users may be uneasy that developers can push updates at their extensions as they please, but Galpert thinks the trade-off is definitely worth it.

It’s also worth noting that thanks to this auto-updating feature, Google is able to remotely kill any extension that is found to be doing bad things to people’s systems. Yes, Google has a kill switch, much like Apple does for iPhone apps.

Also significant is that for the installation and updating of Chrome extensions, no browser restart is necessary. Again, with Firefox, that is the case. “It just works,” Kay noted in a very Apple-like way.

But in terms of the extensions themselves, nothing is more important than performance. With Firefox, unfortunately, that’s been an issue. The more extensions you have, the worse the overall browsing experience seems to get. Google is promising that Chrome extensions will not suffer from the same fate.

Kay noted that the team installed 50 extensions on one browser to see how it would affect things like startup time and page load time. At first, they did a slow page load times, but Google went to work and made some tweaks to get the load times running in line with regular Chrome load times — again, with 50 extensions running.

Every Chrome extension is also its own process. At one point Kay and Boodman showed off a “badly behaving extension” that was designed to wreak havoc on a system’s CPU resources. While it did that, the other tabs and extensions remained running, unfazed. Using the Task Manager within Chrome, they simply shut down the offending extension and continued browsing as if nothing had ever happened.

Google has also developed a new technology that it calls “Isolated Worlds,” which allows them to keep the scripts a webpage normally uses separate from the scripts an extension may run. This is important from a security perspective.



Basically, the gist I got from tonight was that Google has perfected browser extensions. Again, obviously Google is going to be selling that message, but it’s actually the third-party developers who seem even more excited about it. At one point early on, Google thanked Mozilla and Firefox for making extensions something that people demanded. They then dove into their presentation about how they’ve made them better.

Thanks to Mozilla and Firefox it’s now something people demand and want.

Over the past several months, Internet Explorer has continued to lose market share as Firefox and Chrome gain it. But at some point, with the extension excuse now out of the way, I’m starting to think Chrome will begin eating into Firefox’s share as well.

Yes, right now Chrome is just a single-digit sliver of the market, but it has a few very compelling things in its favor. First, it’s now available on all the major platforms (Windows, OS X, Linux). Second, it offers the best performance (though some tests have Safari slightly ahead). Third, it has extensions — that third-party developers seem to love making already.

Sure, it may not be Google’s stated goal to take on Firefox. In fact, they would undoubtedly say their goal is simply to create the best overall web experience for end users. I’m sure they wouldn’t even admit to trying to battle Internet Explorer. But when you’re saying your browser is the best, you’re also saying that someone else’s is worse. And now that Chrome Extensions have equalized things, Google is making the case that its browser is the best, and Firefox is worse. And developers already seem to be in agreement. That’s not good news for Mozilla.

2009 Golden Disk Awards Winners

12/11/2009 12:53:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments



The highly anticipated 24th Golden Disk Awards was held on 10th December, and here are the list of winners on the night of this established and prestigious awards ceremony to reward deserving musicians of 2009.

Congratulations to all the winners on the night!



DISK DAESANG AWARD

Winner: Super Junior



DIGITAL DAESANG AWARD

Winner: SNSD



Disk Bonsang Award (similar to best album)

Winner: SUPER JUNIOR - Sorry, Sorry
Winner: Drunken Tiger - Feel Ghood Muzik : The 8th Wonder
Winner: 2PM - 1집정규앨범 - Hottest Time of the Day
Winner: Lee Seung Chul - Mutopia
Winner: Baek Ji Young



Digital Bonsang Award (similar to best single/best digital single)

Winner: DAVICHI - Davichi In Wonderland
Winner: Son Dambi - Type B
Winner: SNSD - Gee (The First Mini Album)
Winner: Baek Ji Young - My Ear's Candy
Winner: Lee Seung Gi



Rap / Hip Hop Award

Winner: EPIK HIGH



Samsung YEPP Popularity Award

Winner: SHINee
Winner: Super Junior



Rock Award

Winner: Jang Gi Ha and Faces

Newcomer Award

Winner: 4minute
Winner: T-ara

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
powered by Blogger | WordPress by Newwpthemes | Converted by BloggerTheme