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Jackie Chan tweets on Philippine hijacking draw ire of netizens

8/27/2010 01:12:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

While Hong Kong celebs continue to heap blame on the Philippine authorities for their mishandling of Monday's bus hijacking in Manila, action star Jackie Chan adopted a more diplomatic stance on the issue.

"If they killed the guy (hijacker) sooner, they will say why not negotiate first? If they negotiate first, they ask why not kill the guy sooner? So sad.

"Hong Kong is a nation built by a lot of different people ... don't worry! We do not hate!" tweeted the actor on Wednesday

Eight hostages were killed on Monday when a disgruntled Filipino ex-police officer hijacked a busload of Hong Kong tourists with an assault rifle.

The hijacker was killed by a sniper's bullet at the end of a 12-hour standoff.

Chan's tweets received praise from Philippine presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda during a press briefing that same day, with Lacierda thanking Chan for "extending his hand of friendship" to Filipinos.




However, the statements were interpreted by many Hong Kong netizens as supportive of the Filipino police's methods and disrespectful to the hijack victims, subsequently drawing a hail of criticism on the Internet.

"Does he even understand the situation? Is he getting senile in his old age?" said micro-blogger Liu Xin Zheng.

Shortly after news of Chan's comments made the rounds on the Internet, a number of Facebook groups such as "Jackie Chan does not represent me! The Filipino police did nothing wrong? Chan says Hong Kongers do not begrudge Filipinos?" sprung up.

The Facebook group currently has more than 1,700 members and some have posted strongly worded criticism of Chan's words.

"Jackie Chan does not represent me. He is cold blooded and uncultured," said Kelly Tam of the action star who is Hong Kong's Tourism Ambassador.

"The shame of Hong Kong, he (Chan) should become a Philippine citizen," wrote Bake Flo.

Chan's son, actor Jaycee Chan, explained to Hong Kong media that he felt these statements were his father's personal opinions and agreed that Hong Kong people "should not hate Filipinos because of this one incident".

Chan's long-time friend, veteran actor Eric Tseng, told Hong Kong media that he felt Chan's statements were inappropriate, when he attended a TVB memorial ceremony Thursday morning.

"This time the mistake is especially big, his words come out the wrong way every time," said Tseng during the event, which reportedly saw more than 1,000 TVB employees turn up to mourn the deaths of the hostages.

Chan had previously caused an uproar among Taiwanese and Hong Kongers for his comments at a business forum in April last year.

The 56-year-old star said that "Chinese need to be controlled" and that the relative freedom in Taiwan and Hong Kong caused society in these two countries to become "chaotic".

"Little Bird" Gillian Chung starts with Benny Chan

8/27/2010 01:11:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Gillian Chung (Ah Gil) is currently busy in Mainland filming for a new drama and wore her Tang dynasty costume to the China International TV Expo" in Beijing. Ah Gil plays a clever patrol and is often disguised as a man. She has many different costumes, she laughed: "I still like female costumes, the Tang Dynasty female clothing are so cool!"

In the drama, Ah Gil will have a relationship with the paladin Benny Chan. As Ah Gil plays a mighty woman, the host asked her to show how a mighty woman is in front of the director. Ah Gil laughed: "Mighty Woman, I am not one in front of the director. Mighty woman? I am not considered one, I'm just a small bird."

Source: Oriental Daily
Translator: aZnangel@asianuniverse

Kristen's On the Road Sex Diet: Threesomes & Hotties! So What's the Big Deal?

8/27/2010 01:11:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments

Seems Robert Pattinson's PDA-heavy trip visit with Kristen Stewart wasn't the only sexy business going down on the Canada set of On The Road.

And before your little Robsten-loving hearts break, we're not talking about anything with Garrett Hedlund or Tom Sturridge. When we say business we mean strictly so:

K.Stew will be able to add to her resume of sexy scenes with this newest flick, as Life & Style reports she "has a threesome with a couple of hotties, asks to watch two people have sex and brags about loving to perform oral sex."

Sexy indeed, but a "shocking change of pace," as the mag puts it? Hardly!

Donning Marylou's poofing panties, as you readers love to call 'em, won't be the first time Kristen takes an on-screen step to the wild side. Hell, it's not even her second time—the gal is practically a pro.

Uh, anyone remember The Runaways? How could you forget!

Kris (alongside underage cutie Dakota Fanning) sparked quite a bit of controversy playing a coke-snorting, lady-lovin' Joan Jett. And the love scene between the two rock 'n' roll babes wasn't exactly PG-rated.

Then there was Welcome to the Rileys, in which Kristen hit the pole to play a down-on-her-luck stripper opposite James Gandolfini. And, trust, she had the bruises to prove it—talk about commitment.

L&S quotes a media expert as saying K. just wants to be taken seriously as an actress so she takes these sexed-up, more adult roles to distance herself from other "bubblegum, cookiecutter teen stars."

Or, here's a shot in the dark: Maybe she takes these roles because she likes to play emotionally complicated, interesting characters because she's a serious actress.

Crazy, right?

Trust, we're sure K. wasn't skimming through the script of On the Road (the friggin' Jack Kerouac classic for those of you whose only daily literature is The Awful Truth) or The Runaways saying, "Damn, I hope this has a good sex scene!"

Please, give the girl more credit than that. Though, might not be a bad thought when she gets the script for Breaking Dawn.

"Hurt Locker" Star Joins "Mission: Impossible" Team

8/27/2010 01:10:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Ethan Hunt has just picked up a new Mission: Impossible team member -- and he's got a specialty in bombs.

Jeremy Renner, who starred in "The Hurt Locker," has been cast opposite Tom Cruise in the next installment of "Mission: Impossible" franchise, which is aiming for a December 16, 2011 release date. Brad Bird is directing the Paramount project, with shooting expected to begin in the fall.

Renner has been on a tear since his Oscar nomination as a bomb-disposal tech in "Hurt Locker" earlier this year. Marvel Studios recently cast him as Hawkeye in its 2012 release, "The Avengers," which is supposed to start shooting in February, and Paul Thomas Anderson wants him for his next film, "The Master."

But the "M:I-4" development is a curious one. As Paramount, Cruise and producer J.J. Abrams, who directed and co-wrote the previous installment, had discussed a new dynamic for the fourth film, the plan was for younger actors to join the M:I team as a hedge if they decided to reboot the series at some point with Cruise's character absent or less central.

Renner is about to turn 40, which makes him just eight years younger than Cruise. If Renner has been cast as a potential successor, that undercuts the idea of carrying on the franchise as a more youthful enterprise.

Deadline New York first reported the Renner casting.

Renner next stars in Ben Affleck's crime drama "The Town," which Warner Bros. opens in three weeks.

Jessica Simpson's Curvy Pics Cause Web Buzz

8/27/2010 01:10:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Jessica Simpson's about to get hit with a serious case of déjà vu. Fresh pics of the singer, looking, uh, very voluptuous, have been released—causing an uproar similar to the now notorious "fat pics" that were snapped of her wearing mom jeans at a concert in January 2009.

Back then, the extra healthy Jess was so devastated by the backlash, she sat down with Oprah Winfrey to explain away the extra ten pounds that caused such a stir...

"The fact I was famous last year for gaining 10 pounds is ridiculous and really sad," the curvy, healthy-looking singer explained. "It would bother any woman, I would think."

But would it bother the same woman twice?

Because blogs and gossip sites are on fire once again, asking if Jessica's barely there belly bump is actually a baby and once again questioning her curvy "new" figure.

The pics causing all the commotion have the 30-year-old in a form-fitting, cherry red scoop neck dress, with her boobs on full display walking outside on her way to a Dior beauty luncheon benefiting Operation Smile at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood today.

We'll leave the digs aside—maybe the knee-length dress is just a tad ill fitting. Jess looks good curvy, and seems she simply puts on a few when she's in love. The '09 chili pics were taken when she was happily dating Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, after all. She was a full-figured brunette when she was dating John Mayer. Now she's gaga for former San Francisco 49ers tight end Eric Johnson and it shows. But she was at her Daisy Duke thinnest when she was unhappily married to Nick Lachey, so let's take it as a sign she's healthy and well.

In fact, in September's issue of Lucky magazine, she admits that we all obsess over body image, but that she's finally come to terms with her hourglass figure.

"We all obsess over looking like the perfect Barbie type, and that's not always what's beautiful," she says. "It's about making peace with yourself."

That's a far cry from her post cook off quote, when at the time she said, "It's a really hard thing for me to talk about."

Doesn't matter how much they bash her though—men love it. The girl is sexual napalm after all.

John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston "Are Not Dating Again"

8/27/2010 01:09:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Tabloid rumors swirled this week that John Mayer is back on with Jennifer Aniston.

But during his concert Tuesday in Irvine, Calif., he took time out to set the record straight, MTV reports.

"I'm completely single!" he told the crowd.

Then, in typical Mayer style, he launched a TMI rant about his love life.

Mayer, 32, told the crowd he has a morning ritual of watching naughty Internet videos. (A specific brunette has been his latest obsession.)

Sniped the singer, "That is the dirty truth."

As for those Aniston reports, an insider tells UsMagazine.com: "John is still friends with Jen, but they are not dating again. She was not at the Hollywood Bowl show he played, but it would not mean anything if she were. They remain friends but are definitely not back together."

Mayer's rep does not comment on his personal life.

Eminem's 'Recovery': How did this album get so huge?

8/27/2010 01:09:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Take a moment to consider the genius of the plan that took Eminem’s Recovery to its seventh week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart yesterday. He’s had an incredible summer, leaving his No. 1 perch only twice, when Arcade Fire and Avenged Sevenfold each eked out a slim 4,000-unit win. That kind of chart run doesn’t just happen by accident these days — especially not for a rapper who’s pushing 40 and was presumed permanently retired as recently as two years ago. So what’s Eminem’s secret?

Recovery‘s long-lasting success is the result of a carefully calibrated marketing strategy. In the months leading up to its release, Eminem’s team essentially tore up their own decade-old playbook. Forget the celebrity-baiting stunt singles or fire-breathing interviews the old Slim Shady would have led with. Instead, they opened in April with a simple announcement that his next project would be titled Recovery instead of Relapse 2. This seemingly minor change hinted at his intentions for the new album. Whether or not you already contributed to Relapse‘s enormous 2009 sales, you needed to hear this one. He was done backsliding into musical habits that might or might not connect with 2010′s buying public. Eminem was ready to start fresh.

Two weeks later, Eminem expanded on this sales pitch with “Not Afraid.” At the time I was lukewarm on the single. I’ve since come to admire how succinctly it introduced Recovery‘s key talking points. In case anyone missed that press release, he rejected his previous work even more emphatically: “Let’s be honest, that last Relapse CD was ehhhh.” The song’s anthemic hook made it clear what Em meant to replace all that with. “Everybody, come take my hand,” he sang-spoke. “We’ll walk this road together, through the storm/Whatever weather, cold or warm/Just lettin’ you know that you’re not alone/Holla if you feel like you’ve been down the same road.” Not even 2002′s “Lose Yourself,” the clearest antecedent in Eminem’s catalog for this kind of inspirational talk, had gone so far. The guy who used to flaunt his uniquely twisted personality seemed to have matured into an empathetic everyman, someone capable of seeing his own faults and forgiving yours. People who felt they’d outgrown the nasty, juvenile aspects of Eminem’s earlier work might get the impression that he had, too.

It worked. “Not Afraid” debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 singles chart in May. And when Recovery hit stores on June 18, the pieces fell into place. Recovery sold 741,000 copies that first week — more than Relapse, more than anyone since AC/DC in 2008. Through some combination of shoring up fans who’d held back on Relapse and reeling in brand new ones, Eminem had successfully expanded his commercial reach.

Then came the trickiest part. Even Relapse, with its far less savvy singles, had been rewarded with a heavy first week of 608,000 units moved. Eminem’s name alone pretty much guaranteed that. But Relapse had dropped steeply from there, sinking past the 100,000 sold mark in just its fourth frame. Recovery, now in its ninth week as of yesterday’s chart, has yet to dip below 116,000. It owes its notably slower decline to one thing, and that’s “Love the Way You Lie.”

That Rihanna duet is far from my favorite song on Recovery, but it was a fiendishly smart choice for a second single. By enlisting a mainstream marquee name as his collaborator, Eminem repeated one of his signature moves from the old days, getting his single played on pop and rap radio at once. Nor was this some random guest feature for its own sake (like, say, teaser track “Won’t Back Down,” whose head-banging guitar riffs and Pink hook added rock as well as pop appeal to the mix). “Love the Way You Lie” is a cautionary tale about domestic violence, with a chorus sung by perhaps the single most famous recent survivor of real-life domestic violence. That unrepeatable combination made this song impossible to ignore. Even if you were tired of hearing Eminem rap about his own abuse-warped relationships for 10 years straight, chances are you didn’t feel the same way about Rihanna (presumably) singing about hers. Besides, the millions who concluded that Eminem was in a wiser, more serious phase of his life after hearing “Not Afraid” were primed to embrace him for addressing this topic — far outnumbering people like me, who found Em’s treatment of these issues jarringly shallow. The arresting video starring Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan didn’t hurt, either.

That brings Eminem to where he stands now. As the summer draws to a close, so does Recovery‘s lease on that No. 1 spot. Depending on how strong Katy Perry’s sales are in the coming weeks, Em might make it back to the top for a chart or two in September. But “Love the Way You Lie” won’t be the biggest song in the country forever. The rest of Recovery contains some amazing rapping, but very few conceptual or musical hooks as sticky as the ones on “Not Afraid” or “Love the Way You Lie.” If Eminem spins off another single big enough to bring Recovery back to the top of the Billboard 200 in November, December, or January — well, I’m not saying it won’t happen, but if it does, his plan for this album is even more brilliant than anyone knows.

Lindsay Lohan Writes Her First Post-Rehab Tweet!

8/27/2010 01:08:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab -- and back in the Twitterverse.

On Thursday afternoon, the star, 24, wrote her first Twitter entry in 36 days.

"Clearly.. Paparazzi shouldn't be allowed to take pictures or video while someone's driving or at a stop light. 4every1's sake," Lohan wrote, using the hash-tag "trafficpolice"

After being sprung from UCLA Medical Center on Tuesday, Lohan was photographed for the first time in a Beverly Hills parking garage -- holding an energy drink, ROCKSTAR, in her left hand. She skipped the L.A. premiere of her flick Machete, where cast and crew wished her well.

"God bless her," actor Don Johnson told UsMagazine.com. "I care about her as a person."

Lohan spent 13 days in jail and 23 days in rehab as punishment for violating her probation related to a 2007 DUI. On Wednesday, L.A. Superior Court Judge Elden Fox prescribed strict terms of supervised probation for the star.

Until November 1, Lohan is barred from leaving California and must attend multiple psychotheraphy, behavioral therapy, and 12-step meetings weekly; she must also submit to random drug and alcohol testing at least twice a week. The penalty for a positive drug or alcohol test: 30 days in jail.

Bristol Palin 'Excited' for 'Dancing With the Stars' Gig

8/27/2010 01:07:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Bristol Palin is moving on from her recent breakup from Levi Johnston by hitting the dance floor. Sarah Palin's 19-year-old daughter has officially been cast on season 11 of 'Dancing With the Stars,' E! News is reporting and sources confirm to PopEater.

Although she has never danced before, Palin is looking forward to living in LA while the show tapes and is bringing her son, Tripp, with her, sources at ABC tell PopEater's Naughty But Nice Rob. Her proud mama plans to be sitting in the front row cheering her daughter on.

"Bristol is excited and scared and hopes she gets Maksim Chmerkovskiy as her partner," the source adds.

Last season, he and Erin Andrews turned up the heat on (and off) the dance floor -- but the brash dancer still hasn't taken a star to the top to win the mirror-ball trophy.

According to E! News, David Hasselhoff, Audrina Patridge, The Situation and Brandy have all been cast on the upcoming season, which premieres Sept. 20.

Microsoft To Pay More Than Half A Billion Dollars To Jump-Start Windows Phone 7

8/27/2010 01:06:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Nearly four years after Apple launched the iPhone and two years after Google open-sourced the code for its Android operating system, Microsoft is finally set to re-enter the mobile market this holiday season in a serious way with Windows Phone 7.

It is trying to catch up to those more modern smartphones the only way it can — with cold, hard cash.

The company could spend a half-billion dollars or more in marketing costs and payments to developers and handset manufacturers to subsidize the expense of building phones and apps, so that the Windows Phone 7 ecosystem is well-seeded at launch.

Jonathan Goldberg, a telecommunications analyst at Deutsche Bank, estimates that Microsoft will spend $400 million on marketing alone for the Windows Phone 7 launch. That doesn’t include the millions it has already committed to pay for “non-recurring engineering” costs that help offset development costs for handset manufacturers.

“This is make-or-break for them. They need to do whatever it takes to stay in the game,” says Goldberg. “It’s still wide open. They don’t have to take share from Android or Apple, so long as they can attract enough consumers switching from feature phones.”

On a visit earlier this month to the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Goldberg says company executives told him that Microsoft, along with its carrier and manufacturing partners, would likely spend “billions” of dollars in the first year for marketing and development. Another source familiar with Microsoft’s manufacturer and carrier agreements says the company will spend $1 billion on the launch, half on marketing and half on other development costs.

“We have a long-term view and Microsoft has been in this position before in other businesses where we’ve had to take a long-term view,” says Microsoft senior product manager Greg Sullivan, who would not comment on the estimates. “The mobile phone market is growing by leaps and bounds, but it’s still in the early stages.”

In some cases, potential manufacturing partners have accepted payments only to later back out.
Out of the original eight handset manufacturers that Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7 with in February, there’s serious traction left at just three—HTC, Samsung and LG, according to Goldberg. (The others were Dell, HP, Sony-Ericsson, Garmin-Asus, and Toshiba). Sullivan didn’t comment on the launch partners either. But HP, which was set to design and sell Windows Phone 7 handsets up until it acquired Palm in April, had a contract covering development costs over several years that could have been worth up to $20 million, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Sullivan declined to comment on the nature of its deals with handset makers. “We have a broad range of interactions with our partners and sometimes that involves our engineers working closely with their engineers,” he says.

Not only that, Microsoft has been offering financial support sometimes in the form of revenue guarantees to developers so that there will be enough apps in its store at launch, according to Microsoft senior product manager Anand Iyer. Apple and Google, in comparison, have accumulated enough natural momentum for their mobile platforms to attract developers for free.

Iyer counters that already there has been 300,000 downloads of Microsoft’s development tools, suggesting strong interest. Indeed, Microsoft has hundreds of thousands of developers it can tap through the relationships it’s built over the years with the Xbox and Windows.

But the reality is that Microsoft has been outmaneuvered by a team a fraction of its size over the last five years at Google in a space it rightfully should have owned. It initially focused on enterprise consumers when RIM commanded the smartphone market with the Blackberry, but had to switch gears once Apple blew open the doors with the ultra, consumer-friendly iPhone. It also originally focused on phones with resistive touchscreen interfaces (the kind that work with a stylus) and only recently started supporting capacitive touch, years after Apple launched it.

Its most recent efforts in the mobile space have bombed. The company took the much-hyped Kin phone off the market after reportedly selling fewer than 10,000 units. Furthermore by spending hundreds of millions of dollars, it is effectively competing against its own business model. It licenses out its software for a fee of roughly $15 per OS shipped to manufacturers, unlike Android, which is free and lacks the same software restrictions. A big question for Microsoft is whether it will be able to keep its licensing model afloat (Even at $10 per device, 100 million Windows 7 phones will have to ship before it recoups $1 billion in marketing and engineering subsidies, not counting revenues from search advertising or its cut of app sales).

That said, Microsoft has come from behind before. It entered the console market years
behind Sony and Nintendo; the Xbox is now the top-selling console in the U.S. this year and Xbox Live, its online gaming service, generated an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue last year.

Windows Phone 7 has also won positive reviews from tech blogs across the board with its
sleek interface. MobileCrunch’s Greg Kumparak praised the OS, calling it “the little girl who was kind of a punk to you in second grade somehow managed to grow up kind of cool — and to top it off, she’s actually sort of hot.” Many manufacturers also don’t necessarily want to be wholly dependent on Android and want to diversify by supporting Windows phones.

Sullivan says the company’s OS would marry the best of Apple’s tightly-controlled platform model, with a consistent user experience and elegant design from device to device, with the best of Android’s horizontal model, which lets consumers choose their handsets and carriers.

Plus, the marketing dollars do make a difference. The $100 million Goldberg estimates that Verizon, Motorola and Google collectively spent on marketing helped turn the Droid line of phones into a serious stable of competitors against the iPhone. (Compare that to Google’s fizzled Nexus One launch, where the search giant pinched pennies on marketing.)

So a half a billion could do even more. At this point, Microsoft doesn’t have any other choice.

[TechCrunch]

Fully-functional Android port for N900 threatens to beat N9 to market

8/27/2010 01:06:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

The NITDroid project has been slogging along this year in an effort to get Android fully ported to Nokia's N900, and the progress has been promising so far -- but wouldn't it be nice if you could, you know, make calls? Looks like these guys are making some solid progress there with a new video showing both incoming and outgoing calls doing... well, something or another on the N900 side. Cellular data's coming along nicely, too, as you can see on the video after the break -- so here's the million-dollar question: when this is rock-solid and ready for prime time, are you jumping ship or sticking with Maemo?

Verizon HTC Droid Incredible Froyo build leaks, official update starts tomorrow

8/27/2010 01:05:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Froyo update season continues. It’s now Verizon’s oft-delayed HTC Droid Incredible that should be getting the Android 2.2 love as early as tomorrow.

Yes, you read that right. Earlier today a Froyo build for the Droid Incredible was leaked, and now an internal Verizon memo leak has it that the update will start rolling out over the air tomorrow. (Some Places Today)


If you really can’t wait until you get the update OTA, you can always install the leaked build. However, that’s not really advisable at this point. That may not be the final build that will get pushed to everyone else, and as such you may end up having to re-update at a later date (which is what happened to Sprint customers that were impatient about the HTC Evo 4G Froyo update).

Good news may come your way tomorrow, or in the following days, if you’ve managed to purchase a Droid Incredible. So make sure you don’t let it out of your sight, for at any time it might inform you that there’s an update available.

The main points of what this update will bring new are:
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 support in the web browser
720p HD video recording
WiFi 802.11n
3G mobile hotspot
rotate the screen 270 degrees – either to the left or right
text message widget
automatic app updates

Clearly an update to look forward to, this.

Via Android Central and Droid-Life

Facebook Is Trying To Register The Word “Face” As A Trademark

8/27/2010 01:05:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

First Facebook didn't want anyone else to have the word "book" in the name of his or her online community and now it doesn't want anyone to have the word "face" either.

Facebook has apparently taken over the trademark application for "Face" from a company who operated a site called Faceparty.com and is trying to pursue the trademark. It won't be an easy task though, because Aaron Greenspan—the fellow who took Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to court over the creation of Facebook—is opposing the application according to TechCrunch:

Greenspan now has his own company, Think Computer, which is behind the mobile payments app called FaceCash (watch the TCTV interview with him).

If Facebook gets the trademark for the word "Face," that could spell trouble for FaceCash. "The possible registration has implications for my company (not to mention hundreds of others, including Apple, Inc.), so I've decided to ask the USPTO for an extension of time to oppose it," he explains in an email. Apple, of course, owns the trademark to "Facetime," the video calling feature on the latest iPhones.

Although Greenspan owns the trademark to "FaceCash", he wants to protect his ability to use the word "face" in future products. He also wants to make sure Facebook won't go after him. Given it's track record of vigorously defending its trademarks (which it is encouraged to do by the law or else risk losing them), that could become a very real possibility.

Can't wait to see how this drama plays out.

[TechCrunch]

Sony execs talk PlayStation Move expectations, PS4 details

8/27/2010 01:04:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , , 0 Comments

The PlayStation Move is now less than a month from hitting stores shelves, and it looks like some Sony execs are already busy starting to manage expectations. Speaking with Eurogamer this week, Sony Computer Entertainment senior vice president Ray Maguire chose to compare the Move's launch to that of the EyeToy for the PlayStation 2, saying that "exactly as with EyeToy in the PS2 days, it's a product that needs to be sampled. You need to get your hands on it. You need to understand it. You need to try it." Maguire further went on to say he's "not particularly" expecting "massive" day one sales, but that he expects sales to grow as word of mouth spreads. In other PlayStation news, Sony's Kaz Hirai seems to have effectively ruled out a download-only future for the eventual PS4 in an interview with MCV, with him saying that a "digital future is over ten years away." Hirai then went on to note that "we do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn't as robust as one would hope," and that "here's always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium." No word if that also applies to Sony's future handhelds as well.

Google: 1 million Gmail calls during first day

8/27/2010 01:03:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments

Google Wave and Google Buzz may have had troubles attracting usage, but the new ability to place calls from Gmail appears to have caught on quickly.

"Over 1,000,000 calls placed from Gmail in just 24 hours!" Google tweeted Thursday, evidently pleased with the number.

For comparison, there are somewhat more than 300 million people in the United States. If the average person makes 10 calls per day--research in 2008 put the number at 208 calls per month--that means about one out of every 3,000 calls in the U.S. went through the service on its first day.

The service lets Gmail users make free calls to U.S. and Canada and inexpensive calls to phones in other countries. It uses Gmail as an interface and optionally can integrate with Google Voice to receive calls as well.

(For a full description of using Gmail to make phone calls, see Jessica Dolcourt's hands-on review.)

To be sure, a lot of calls are placed daily in the United States, where the new Gmail feature was activated initially. But the figure indicates that a sizable number of the millions of Gmail users at least gave it a whirl even if they didn't decide it was time to stop paying for their other phones.

I had two successes with the service the day it launched, both unplanned. First, somebody called my mobile phone and my computer "rang" as well. I had the pleasure of conducting an interview via headphones and my computer's microphone rather than trying to squeeze my mobile phone between my shoulder and ear for an hour.

I've done plenty of interviews over Skype, but this time the call came in from the phone system without my having to get somebody to sign up for Skype or for me to pay for a SkypeIn phone number.

Second, I came back to my desk to see a missed call announced on my Gmail screen. I clicked the phone number to call back and had a quick chat through my computer. Nothing fancy, but no mobile phone minutes were consumed in this process, and I didn't have to tell anybody anything except my Google Voice phone number.

Given the vast number of phone calls made daily, I'm reluctant to draw any grand conclusions. But the fact is that I used the service twice yesterday without actively seeking to do so (granted, I already signed up for Google Voice and installed the required chat plug-in). That indicates to me that it's a matter those in the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) realm or more traditional telephony will need to take seriously.

Se7en picks Korea’s best dancers

8/27/2010 01:03:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

On this week’s SBS radio show, Gorilla, YG Entertainment’s Se7en gave his opinion on who the best dancers in Korea are.

The host asked him who the best male and female dancers were, but Se7en couldn’t limit himself to just one choice and asked if he could pick multiple candidates.

After jokingly picking himself as the best male dancer in Korea, he went on to name Big Bang’s Taeyang, BoA, After School’s Kahi, and Jay Park.

To see the interview for yourself, check out the video below:

Rain & U-Kiss for Intensity in the Philippines

8/27/2010 01:03:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Many K-pop stars have been making their way over to the Philippines to put on a number of special performances, and the trend continues with a special event titled Intensity presented by Smart and TV5.

Worldwide superstar Rain and popular idol group U-Kiss will head on over to the Philippines on September 11th to perform for fans at the SM Mall of Asia at 8PM promptly, including special guest Christian Bautista.

It’s a night to remember, so if you live in the area, be sure to check out further information in the promotional poster above!

Kim Hyun Joong to release an album next year

8/27/2010 01:02:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

It has been announced that SS501’s Kim Hyun Joong will release an album next year with his new label Keyeast.

On the 26th, a press conference was held for the drama Playful Kiss.

At the conference, Kim Hyun Joong stated, “The reason why I moved to Keyeast was because I could act and sing at the same time.”

He then revealed his future plans to continue as a singer, stating, “It’s not for sure yet but I am in training for an upcoming album. I do not know if it will be a solo album or a group, but by the looks of it, there will be a higher chance of being it a solo.”

A reporter asked about his status with SS501, which he replied, “Nothing is decided. No one knows if we will come out with an album in the future, so I don’t know why everyone keeps saying we disbanded.”

There is a good possibility that the album will be with all five members. Stay tuned on allkpop for more information about this matter.

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