9/13/2010 07:56:00 PM
kenmouse
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Samsung Galaxy Tab
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Slow is the drip of Samsung Galaxy Tab pricing information; vast is our desire to get our hands on the Froyo slab. After SIM-free figures for Germany and the UK emerged, the Wall Street Journal is now suggesting that Verizon, Sprint and AT&T have all signed up for their own version of the 7-inch slate. Meanwhile, it seems reps for T-Mobile and Vodafone in Germany were more talkative than they ought to be while at IFA, both revealing some figures of their own.
According to ARMdevices, while at IFA 2010 both carriers confirmed that they’d be offering the Galaxy Tab at €799 if bought without a new, two year agreement. If users opted for the subsidized version, they’d get it for €200-300 outright but be tied into a two year data plan costing €40 per month for a 5GB allowance.
Hairun Media Co. and Beijing Runya Media Co.'s Mainland TV series production <Sword Heroes' Fate> held a media press conference in Shandong on September 10. Lead actors Nicholas Tse, Charlene Choi and cast members Yumiko Cheng, Kenny Kwan, Sun Xi, Wu Ya Qiao, and Sun Zu Yang accepted interviews from the media. Cecilia Cheung who all along has accompanied Nicholas Tse attended a Shanghai event for work the day media arrived. Even though Nicholas Tse personally expressed that he is getting older, and he is less willing to film action movies, the filming this time around should be the happiest recollection for Nicholas Tse. Besides having lovable wife Cecilia Cheung accompanying him, Cecilia Cheung and lead actress Ah Sa are both willing to be Nicholas Tse's chefs.
The characters in <Sword Heroes' Fate> have two identities, with the same actor portraying a life in modern day and a virtual life in ancient times, as both characters constantly alternate. Nicholas Tse plays the part of Zhao Xiao Zhao and Charlene Choi plays the part of Xiao Ye Zi. The two play fiancees in modern day, but the two are separated by time and space and cannot stay together. Nicholas Tse has no choice but to give up his reality, enter the Tang dynasty years, duel with experts at every step of the way, in order to obtain the "Nine Day Mysterious Jade," and reunite with his fiancee.
In the series, Ah Sa acts as Nicholas Tse's sweetheart, and as the Tang dynasty's gentle and soft number one beauty. Afterwards, due to a misunderstanding that arises with Zhao Xiao Zhao, she accidently becomes a member of an evil cult, masters of a unique martial arts. But deep in her heart, she stil loves Zhao Xiao Zhao. Facing the media, when presenting her own character, Ah Sa shyly explained that it's only her character that is a beautiful woman; she doesn't think of herself as a beautiful woman and doesn't have the charm and grace of the Tang dynasty's beautiful woman. However, by her side, Yumiko Cheng and Kenny Kwan loudly said: "You are a beautiful woman," causing Ah Sa to blush.
9/13/2010 07:53:00 PM
kenmouse
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Android
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Froyo
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HTC MyTouch HD
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Mobile News
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T-Mobile
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TmoNews has published a document that seems to shed a little more light on the myTouch HD handset due out from T-Mobile. The document details that the device will have a 3.8-inch screen, HSPA+ radio, Wi-Fi, 4 GB internal memory, micro-SD card slot ( 8 GB card included), 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, front-facing VGA camera, Android 2.2, and SWYPE. The document also touts the handsets “1 GHz dual processor” as a feature. Still no word as to when this bad boy is going to be street-legal, hopefully we’ll have more details to report soon. We’ve got the full document for you after the break.
Lindsay Lohan made her first post-jail and rehab TV appearance, host Chelsea Handler got spanked, Lady Gaga thanked “The Gays,” and after a year of silence Taylor forgave Kanye (at least it seems that way) during Sunday night’s 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
9/13/2010 12:03:00 PM
kenmouse
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Lady Gaga had a reason to sing at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards.
The pop star, nominated for a record-setting 13 trophies, took home top honors, winning video of the year for "Bad Romance" – and seized the opportunity to trill for Cher, who presented her with the Moonman trophy.
"I never thought I'd be asking Cher to hold my meat purse," a tearful Gaga said at the podium in a bacon-colored outfit.
"I promised that if I won this tonight, I'd announce the name of my new record," she said. After exhaling, Gaga revealed it is titled Born This Way. Then, she belted out a refrain as Cher looked on. "God makes no mistakes," she sang. "I'm on the right track baby. I was born this way."
Halo: Reach isn't the beginning, it's the end.
Sure, Microsoft might continue to churn out Halo game after Halo game, but this will be the last one that Bungie will ever have a hand in developing, or so we're told. And that's exactly how Halo: Reach feels: Like a swan song.
Halo: Reach is meant to be a prequel, the table setter for the Halo trilogy that put Bungie, and in many ways the Xbox, on the map. In it you take on the role of a faceless space marine, the newest member of the United Nations Space Command special operations unit Noble Team. As Noble 6, you're an unwelcome replacement in a unit that always seems in need of fresh blood.
As the game opens you're given a dramatic look at the world of Reach, a planet you'll spend the next eight or so hours of gaming, fighting to defend.
Loved
9/13/2010 10:12:00 AM
kenmouse
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PlayStation Move
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We're still a couple days away from the PlayStation Move's September 19 launch date, but hey -- who said Best Buy has to follow the rules? One of our readers picked up a Move at a Best Buy in Benton Harbor, Michigan today, and we'd expect the trickle to turn into a flood by the time the "official" launch finally arrives. So -- who's buying one?
9/13/2010 01:02:00 AM
kenmouse
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Celebrity-Gossip
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Liam Hemsworth
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Miley Cyrus
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1 Comment
Mere weeks after announcing their split, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth are an item once more, a source close to the couple confirms to UsMagazine.com.
Spotted grabbing Starbucks together Saturday in Los Angeles, the pair reunited after Cyrus, 17, returned from filming her new flick, LOL, in Paris.
Cyrus and Hemsworth, 20, met in 2009 on the set of The Last Song, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel.
At the L.A. premiere of Last Song in March, the Aussie actor told Us they had "a lot of fun" filming the romantic drama.
"It was pretty much jokes every day," he said. "Jokes and shooting on the beach -- there wasn't much to complain about!"
The same month, Cyrus gushed to Parade: "[Liam has] become my best friend in the whole wide world. I love him. He really respects me for who I am because coming from Australia, he really didn't know me as the celebrity I am here. I got to tell him about myself on my own terms and my own way. He had no preconceived notion of who I was supposed to be."
9/13/2010 01:02:00 AM
kenmouse
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Box Office
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Featured Stories
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Movie News
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Four movies in, there's no sign of franchise fatigue for "Resident Evil."
The newest big-screen adaptation of the hit horror video-game series, titled "Resident Evil: Afterlife," opened to $27.7 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. It was the first film in the franchise made in 3-D.
"Resident Evil" was the only new movie to open nationwide this year on the traditionally slow weekend after Labor Day. Total receipts for all films were the lowest for any weekend so far this year, according to Hollywood.com.
Google's shouting loudly about it's new almost-as-fast-as-you-think Instant search powers, and it is indeed clever. But a programmer worked out how to do this for Microsoft a year ago. Could Bing have beaten Google?
The clever geeky search guru we're talking about here is Long Zheng. A year ago, he wrote a front-end engine for Microsoft's own search engine, using existing APIs and coding tricks, that does almost exactly the same sort of "updating as you type" tricks that Instant does on Google. Check it out by clicking this link, and entering any old search phrase that comes to mind.
Impressive, isn't it? Notice how similar it feels to using Google's Instant powers. Zheng wrote it in his spare time too. The Web paid a modicum of attention to the invention, back in August 2009, and this week Microsoft's got all excited about it. Bing's director Stefan Weitz has even spoken to USA Today about it—noting that Google's Instant "interface itself isn't anything new. There was a site put up last year that does the same thing with Bing APIs." Then he talks some smack about how Bing is a "decision engine" (even though we all know it's no Wolfram Alpha!) and while speed and fewer clicks are all very good from a user convenience point of view, but the real game is "not about giving you much more links faster, it really is about getting you the information you need to make a decision faster in the format that makes the most sense." Stefan blithely ignores all the thinking about how much of a boost this will give to the online advert trade, but at least he does acknowledge that "speed is important."
9/13/2010 01:01:00 AM
kenmouse
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Android
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Froyo
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Google
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Mobile News
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Time to get down and boogie if you think the Android fragmentation issue is overblown. Google has dropped its latest platform version stats and Android 2.2, aka Froyo, has managed to corner a healthy 28.7 percent of all active Googlephones (those that accessed the Market within the two weeks leading up to September 1), rapidly closing the gap on version 2.1 and nearly matching in number the handsets still stuck on the Cupcake or Donut diet. When you consider that back in May those pesky 1.5 and 1.6 versions were on a whopping 62 percent of Android mobiles, you'll probably agree that phone makers seem to be getting their act together in terms of delivering Google's latest wares in a timely fashion. Who'd have thought it, the more practice they have, the better they're getting at their jobs!
9/13/2010 12:59:00 AM
kenmouse
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Cpop
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E-Asian
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Elva Hsiao
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ELVA Hsiao’s new album doesn’t hit stores until September 24th, but all eleven tracks from "Miss ELVA" are already available online. Although there were some concerns that the songs were leaked, her company reassured it was not the case. They revealed she has actually been chosen by China Mobile to be its featured star, so fans can now sample the full album on their website.
To compensate those who have preordered a hard copy, each edition will come with a 24-page 36 x 26 cm photo book, as well as a MAC waterproof eyeliner or a pair of colored contact lenses. The bonus gifts will set her company back another 18.75 million NTD, but they are confident that fans will preorder a copy after listening to it online.
9/13/2010 12:59:00 AM
kenmouse
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Cpop
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E-Asian
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Jolin Tsai
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Jolin Tsai will be celebrating her 30th birthday on the 15th. She will be rewarding herself with a five day vacation after all the non-stop promotion she’s been doing. Since Jolin is always the topic of gossip, the media asked if one of her birthday wish was to have less gossips, but Jolin laughed, “Gossips are like my love relationships. I make wishes regarding them every year, but it’s no use. I’m not going to waste my birthday wish on those this year.”
She originally planned to go to Thailand for her birthday vacation, but because she was afraid of getting even more tanned than she is now, she might go shopping in Tokyo Japan instead.
Jolin revealed that one of her future goals may be to go into acting, “I don’t have set plan for it, but I’ve received an invitation to act. It’s an opportunity to learn something new.”
9/13/2010 12:58:00 AM
kenmouse
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iPod Shuffle
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It didn't take much effort for Apple to design the new iPod Nano and iPod shuffle. All they did was cut the old iPod nano in half.
[reddit via thedailywhat]
9/13/2010 12:58:00 AM
kenmouse
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E-Asian
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Kpop
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SNSD
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Although it has been three days since SNSD released their Japanese debut single “Genie“, their album sales ranking has continued to rise.
On the 8th, SNSD debuted at 5th place upon the release of their single. According to the Japanese Oricon charts on the 11th, SNSD’s “Genie” rose to 2nd place on the daily singles chart.
SNSD’s potential to succeed in the Japanese market is confirmed by the Oricon charts. Although their Japanese debut wasn’t necessarily explosive, they have continued to rise on the Oricon charts. A day after their debut, they rose to 4th place and continued to rise until their current placement at 2nd place.
With his new variety show in brewing, Jay Chou has already arranged many of his buddies to go on; but when asked if he would be inviting Jolin Tsai, he said, “No because people only cherish what is rare,” indicating that fans won't be seeing these two superstars collaborating any time soon. Jay revealed that they still chat every now and then ever since their famous Double-J stunt at his concert.
We've been anticipating this for a long time, but it appears that YouTube is really and truly ready to give live video streaming a try in a test Monday and Tuesday with partner sites.
The 2010 MTV VMA's were held today at the Nokia theater in Los Angeles and Eminem and Lady Gaga were among some of the early winners. 
Taylor Swift “surprised” the audience at the VMAs (though word of the performance leaked last night) with a song “about” Kanye West’s now-all-too-infamous stage-crashing incident at last year’s ceremony. And a good thing word leaked yesterday, or we’d barely know this song she sang was vaguely, possibly, inspired-ish by said lapse in manners. The replay of the incident at the beginning of her appearance helped make it clearer, but then it was all moody lighting and red lipstick and sparkles. She looked gorgeous, as she is wont to do, but, um, the actual song was a pretty opaque: She seems to be saying Kanye “lost [his] balance on a tightrope” and “lost [his] mind trying to get it back” and also “who you are is not where you’ve been,” thus he is “still an innocent.” Perhaps the clearest reference to the rapper was when she said “32 is still growing up now” — lo and behold, he was that very age when he crashed the stage.
After Spencer Pratt insisted in a dubious missive to TMZ that he'd been apprehended south of the border, legal paperwork now apparently proves that he was indeed arrested in Costa Rica over the weekend, as he was making his way back to the U.S. 
Are PC gamers who choose fighting wars on terrorism or slaying aliens with an overclocked, liquid-cooled desktop elitists who thumb their noses at those whose gaming interests tend toward building farms? A polemical post on the Games Brief blog argues just that.
A-Mei Chang’s alter ego Amit has had nothing but success ever since her debut in 2009. The GMA's Best Female Singer is stepping down to make way for the real A-Mei. Amit held her last show for the time being at Legacy Taipei. In contrast to the stadiums and arenas she’s accustomed to, this venue can only hold 1000 fans. She misses the atmosphere of performing to a smaller crowd, but said, “(I’m) afraid, (I) can even hear your breathing.”
The director Sofia Coppola, above, was awarded the 67th Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion prize for best film on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. “Somewhere,” Ms. Coppola’s drama about a Hollywood star who realizes how empty his life is after reconnecting with his 11-year-old daughter, stars Stephen Dorff (“Public Enemies”) and Elle Fanning, younger sister to Dakota. The festival jury was unanimous in its decision to award the prize to Ms. Coppola, said the director Quentin Tarantino, who served as this year’s jury chairman. “This film enchanted us from its first screening,” he said. The movie covers familiar territory for Ms. Coppola. Her widely praised 2003 film, “Lost In Translation,” shared similar themes, and Ms. Coppola spent much of her childhood moving around with her father, the director Francis Ford Coppola. Among the other prizes given out on Saturday were the Silver Lion, for best director, and the Osella, for best screenplay, both of which went to Álex de la Iglesia of Spain for his movie “Balada Triste de Trompeta” (“A Sad Trumpet Ballad”). A special jury prize was given to Jerzy Skolimowski for his film “Essential Killing,” which also earned Vincent Gallo (“The Brown Bunny”) an award for best actor.
Chow Yun Fat's seen it all in the entertainment circle, but he still loves it, why is that? Because he loves being an actor, even if he's playing an elderly like a grandfather, he does not feel belittled. Chow Yun Fat accepted an exclusive interview with Oriental Daily. (TN: Only part 2 of the interview is translated.) 
On Saturday, singer Ai Otsuka (28) held a live performance in Yokohama, her first concert since announcing her marriage to RIP SLYME rapper SU (36) in June. During the concert's encore, right before her final song, she revealed to her fans that she is currently pregnant and is expected to give birth in spring of next year.