9/16/2010 07:26:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Top Chef
,
TV News
,
0 Comments
The 'Top Chef' finale failed to disappoint when it came to good food and better surprises.
Maybe it was the unexpected way Padma Lakshmi announced it, bypassing the usual reality tradition of eliminating the second-runner up first. Instead, the first person she targeted out of the three remaining finalists was the winner.
Head judge Tom Colicchio said of the winner, "The Top Chef is the one who took the most risks, but also cooked the best meal." He also said he would have liked to have awarded the top prize to all three of the remaining finalists. With two chefs from New York and one from New Jersey, one thing was certain. It was a guaranteed East Coast victory.
9/16/2010 07:18:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Amazon
,
HTC
,
HTC Desire Z
,
Mobile News
,
0 Comments
A day after becoming official, the Desire Z has received its first price: €549 if bought from Amazon.de. Alas, you still don't have the option to actually purchase or pre-order the unlocked Froyo slider, but at least we've got a relative idea of where its pricing fits within HTC's handset hierarchy. The answer is pretty highly, considering the original Desire, a flagship product in its time, debuted on the same web outlet at €519. And here we hoped the G2's decent US pricing would translate to similar affordability for its sister device. Seems like the usual rule applies: you'd better be patient, rich, or both if you want to have the latest smartphone.
9/16/2010 07:18:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
E-Asian
,
Jung Ji Hoon
,
Kpop
,
Lee Jung Jin
,
Lee Na Young
,
Rain
,
0 Comments
The second poster for “Fugitive” has been released, and it seems the plot won’t be all serious, as the actors are shown in smiles and various comical poses. The wildly anticipated drama was revealed to not only be an action thriller, but also to have elements of a romantic comedy as well.
The main writer and director, who also collaborated on the hit drama “Chuno”, stated that actors Jung Ji Hoon, Lee Na Young, and Lee Jung Jin will be the action and drama for the series, while Sung Dongeen and Gong Hyun Jin will provide comic relief.
Readers can look forward to the first episode on September 29th.
It looks like TMoNews has gotten there mitts on — what appears to be anyway — an accessories guide for U.S. carrier T-Mobile. What sets this list apart from others is that it details the availability of accessories for several unreleased, and even a few unknown, handsets. First and foremost, the sheet lists several cases for the HTC HD7 — a Windows Phone 7 device — as November 1. Want more? How about accessories for the LG Optimus T for November 1, Dell Claire for November 15, BlackBerry Bold 9780 for November 15, and Motorola Begonia for November 1. A phone simply referred to as the “Comet” is also listed with the date of November 1; no manufacturer is listed.
We have a pretty good idea of what the HD7, Optiums T, and Bold 9780 will look like. The Begonia, Comet, and Claire, however, are all new discoveries.
It is important to keep in mind that these are not handset launch dates, but rather dates that accessories will be available; TMoNews doesn’t specify whether that availability is to stores or warehouses or what. Regardless, if accessories are being made, the handsets have to be put into the wild soon. Anything on this laundry list enticing?
9/16/2010 07:16:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Microsoft
,
Microsoft Kinect
,
Technology
,
Xbox 360
,
0 Comments
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg thinks that Kinect launch will be bigger than that of the Xbox 360 itself.
Motion controls are one of the more heated battles in the console war. Nintendo struck the first blow with the Wii, and now Microsoft and Sony are entering the fray with Kinect and Move. Sony has warned that Move sales might start off a little slow, but Microsoft seems more confident with Kinect, predicting that millions of people will buy the system when it launches in November.
Xbox product director Greenberg said that by Microsoft's estimates, Kinect was going to sell three million units over the holiday season. He said that that figure was based on retailer feedback - which Greenberg said was very sophisticated - as well as Microsoft's own research. According to Greenberg, Microsoft is spending more on marketing Kinect than it did on the launch of the Xbox 360, and believes it will be more successful.
9/16/2010 04:43:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Diaspora
,
Facebook
,
Technology
,
0 Comments
A post has just gone up on Diaspora’s blog revealing what the project actually looks like for the first time. While it’s not yet ready to be released to the public, the open-source social networking project is giving the world a glimpse of what it looks like today and also releasing the project code, as promised.
At first glance, this preview version of Diaspora looks sparse, but clean. Oddly enough, with its big pictures and stream, it doesn’t look unlike Apple’s new Ping music social network mixed with yes, Facebook. A few features they note:
- Share status messages and photos privately and in near real time with your friends through “aspects”.
- Friend people across the Internet no matter where Diaspora seed is located.
- Manage friends using “aspects”
- Upload of photos and albums
- All traffic is signed and encrypted (except photos, for now).
9/16/2010 04:42:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
America’s Got Talent
,
Michael Grummer
,
TV News
,
0 Comments
Michael Grummer won the grand prize on Wednesday night’s America’s Got Talent Season 5 finale.
The bluesy crooner is trading his fedora for a national tour, a shot at a show on the Las Vegas strip, and a prize with $1 million.
The Waveland, Mississippi native was revealed as the winner of the NBC variety competition just 24 hours after fans cast their votes at the conclusion of Tuesday’s show. Early in the competition, Grimm impressed judges with his rendition of Jann Arden’s ‘You Don’t Know Me.” During his Top 4 performance on Tuesday, Michael earned a standing ovation from the audience for his rendition of “When A Man Loves A Woman.”
9/16/2010 04:41:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Justin Bieber
,
Movie News
,
0 Comments
Save the date, Beliebers: On Wednesday, Paramount Pictures set a release date of Feb. 11, 2011 for the buzzed-about Justin Bieber concert film, a 3D excursion offering fans a behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest pop stars of today.
“[It's] a movie for his fans, a movie for people who don’t know him, and we’re gonna tell the underdog story of where he came from,” says Step Up 3D director Jon Chu, who will also be stepping behind the camera for the Bieber film. “Because it’s a really fascinating story and it has a lot to do with our sort of digital lifestyle now. He was able to do what corporations try to do now when they use YouTube and they don’t even know what to do with it yet. It’s a pretty cool story for our time.”
9/16/2010 04:41:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Dmitri Medvedev
,
Mobile News
,
0 Comments
In this video exchange between Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and state technology official Sergei Chemezov, the country's first ever domestically-developed 4G phone is showed off with pride. And the kicker? Two screens!
9/16/2010 09:50:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Celebrity-Gossip
,
Keri Russell
,
0 Comments
Former Felicity to Femme Fatale! Former teen star Keri Russell believes in the “No Pants” Rules – Check out her steamy photos & video for the October issue of Esquire Mag!
Keri stars in the new FOX comedy Running Wilde. The mom has teamed up with Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz to appear as the object of affection for a wealthy “manchild,” played by Will Arnett. The show premieres the same day the curly-topped beauty’s stripped down appearance in Esquire hits newsstands: Tuesday, Sept. 21.
9/16/2010 09:50:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Apple
,
Apple iPad
,
iOS
,
iOS 4
,
Technology
,
0 Comments
It's a revelation. It's the way the iPad always should've been. With iOS 4.2 there's multitasking, a unified inbox, folders and... Helvetica in Notes.
We are talking about a beta that's two months from a final release, so not everything's done. But iOS 4.2 on iPad already feels so good, even if it is things we're just used to by now on the iPhone.
9/16/2010 09:49:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
IE
,
IE 9
,
IE9
,
Internet Explorer 9
,
Microsoft
,
Technology
,
0 Comments
Among the many partners touting the new version of Internet Explorer on Wednesday was the rock band The Killers, which has a new HTML 5-based Web site that screams in Microsoft's latest browser.
But the Killers haven't always been such big fans of Redmond's work.
Naveen Jain, CEO of Oakland-based Sparkart, which designs the band's Web site, says a huge chunk of his time in the past was spent testing and tweaking the site to make sure it worked with Internet Explorer.
"Historically, as Web developers, my team hasn't had the best relationship with Microsoft," he said. "From a QA (quality assurance) perspective, we used to have to do all sorts of custom work to support IE6."
9/16/2010 09:49:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Cpop
,
E-Asian
,
Fahrenheit
,
0 Comments
Fahrenheit celebrated their five year anniversary by going cycling on the 15th – to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide as part of promoting awareness to global warming because it's...."Super Hot". After five years of being together, Wu Chun laughed, “We’ve become more talkative in these five years! I find myself having a growing interest in behind the scenes work. I hope to try out screenwriting in the near future.” Jiro Wang on the other hand expressed, “This fifth year anniversary is only the beginning. We will work hard to achieve the same level of success as S.H.E!” Fahrenheit reconfirmed that there will “definitely be a next album.”
Calvin Chen was rather emotional and stated, “I thank our company very much for giving the four of us, Fahrenheit, the chance to be on stage, and always making a balanced decision on what is needed in the market and what we want to do for our music.”
9/16/2010 09:47:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Mobile News
,
Nokia
,
0 Comments
Care for a little more insight into Nokia's smartphone development habits? In an email to our pal John Gruber, a former Nokia software engineer has laid out his perspective on why the Finnish phone maker seems to be struggling in that lucrative high-end smartphone market:
"Here's the problem: Hardware Rules at Nokia. The software is written by the software groups inside of Nokia, and it is then given to the hardware group, which gets to decide what software goes on the device, and the environment in which it runs. All schedules are driven by the hardware timelines. It was not uncommon for us to give them code that ran perfectly by their own test, only to have them do things like reduce the available memory for the software to 25% the specified allocation, and then point the finger back at software when things failed in the field."
9/16/2010 02:48:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Celebrity-Gossip
,
Drew Barrymore
,
0 Comments
In the October issue of Harper’s Bazaar, actress Drew Barrymore opens up about her on-again/off-again romance with Going The Distance beau Justin Long and her lifelong battles with body image.
Just in time for New York’s acclaimed Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Drew is captured by photog Mark Seliger posing in an assortment of dazzling gowns designed by Givenchy, Chanel Haute Couture, and more.
9/16/2010 02:48:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Mobile News
,
Palm
,
Palm webOS
,
WebOS
,
0 Comments
irst things first -- before you jump on past the break and mash play, mute your speakers. Mute. As in, off. Alrighty, now that you're prepared, you've got two minutes and 14 seconds of teasing just a click away, as some sure-to-be-yelled-at developer has leaked a sneak peak into the wide, mysterious world of webOS 2.0. Not that we haven't seen a cornucopia of screenshots already, but at least this emulation vid gives you a better idea of how things will actually flow once it gets released to end users. Oh, and as for those DropBox and MobileMe integration rumors? Looks like that's just QuickOffice being QuickOffice.
Microsoft launched the beta of Internet Explorer 9 on Wednesday, promising to use the whole power of the PC to set Web sites free from the constraints previously imposed on them.
"The Web is about sites," Corporate Vice President Dean Hachamovitch said at an event here. "Browsers should be too. Today, Web sites are boxed in."
The new browser features a minimalistic user interface, hardware acceleration, and broader support for Web standards including HTML 5 and CSS 3.
For Microsoft, the arrival of IE9 is an attempt to compete more fully with Mozilla's Firefox, Google's Chrome, and other browsers. Although various flavors of Internet Explorer are still used for one in three Web site visits, Microsoft has been losing share for years as rivals have moved ahead technically.
9/16/2010 02:46:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Apple
,
iOS
,
iOS 4
,
Mobile News
,
0 Comments
If you're an iOS developer (or good friends with one), today is going to be totally awesome. Apple has just let loose the official iOS 4.2 beta builds for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch -- meaning that someone somewhere is going to be experiencing multitasking on the 'pad (sans jailbreaking, of course). Additionally, Apple has decided to bestow a name upon its new printing experience (the direct-to-printer tech the company showed off at its fall event). And that name? AirPrint. In a piece of PR just issued by Apple, it's noted that owners of HP products with ePrint tech will be the first to take advantage of the new tool -- so that's something.
Of course, all that news should be lost in a cloud of excitement over 4.2. As usual, we're going to take the OS for a spin on our developer iPad here and see what's what, and then report back to you cats and kittens about whatever nuggets of joy we find. Stay tuned!
9/16/2010 02:43:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Apple
,
Technology
,
0 Comments
The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Apple is planning “a new subscription plan for newspapers” for their iDevices that will be launched “soon.” The paper does not cite specific sources, but claims the service will have a similar pay structure to the one used in Apple’s App Store, with content providers will keep 60% to 70% of generated revenues. “The Cupertino company has agreed to provide an opt-in function for subscribers to allow Apple to share with publishers their information, which includes vital data that news organizations use to attract advertisers,” writes the Mercury News. We’re interested to know, would you purchase a newspaper subscription on an iPad or Android tablet?
So you own a Desire and want to know whether its new brandmates -- the Desire HD and Desire Z -- will represent an ergonomically appealing upgrade? We've got you covered with both a gallery of shots below and a neat video after the break encapsulating the size differences between the three models populating Desireland. Okay, we couldn't resist, we threw in an iPhone 4 for comparison's sake as well.
Adobe Systems released a preview version of its widely used Flash Player plug-in that catches up to newer trends in Web browser development: 64-bit designs and support for the newly Internet Explorer 9 beta. 
American Idol has entered the MySpace era (aka 2006), and is tapping into the powerful musical legacies of Toni Basil, Billy Ray Cyrus, and the Crash Test Dummies. Nope, I’m not pulling your leg. For the first time in its ten-season history, Fox’s behemoth of a singing competition is giving contestants the chance to audition online at myspace.com/americanidol from now through Oct. 6. Hopefuls between the ages of 15 and 28 (as of July 15, 2010) can submit 40-second videos in which they belt out one of 90 pre-approved tracks (listed below). Idol producers will then invite a select number of online auditioners to the next round of callbacks in Los Angeles. (For the record, the callback round is the first portion of the Idol process that takes place in front of celebrity judges; the open-call auditions that have been taking place at stadium-sized venues across the country for the last month occur in front of producers, who narrow down tens of thousands of contestants to more manageable numbers.)
Since when does Lady Gaga get to fly mostly naked on a public airline? Or did she have to cover up at the last minute after the paparazzi left?
No cheers here: The day after Lindsay Lohan taped her pro-sobriety VMA guest spot with Chelsea Handler, the fresh-out-of-rehab star, 24, was back to her old habits, a source tells Us Weekly.
Sara Bareilles earns her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Kaleidoscope Heart. Her sophomore effort tops the chart with 90,000 copies sold. Eminem‘s Recovery lifts one rung to No. 2, selling 81,000 albums. The Now 35 compilation drops one to No. 3 and 63,000 units moved, while Katy Perry‘s Teenage Dream keeps its No. 4 spot with 59,000 copies sold.
He may be the King of Mandopop, but Jay Chou's no drama king.
How would a meat dress hold up in South Beach?
Against a backdrop of Nokia-blue screens, the company’s head of markets Niklas Savander tried to command the stage on Tuesday morning at London’s ExCel center. He was no Steve Jobs, opting for a conservative khaki suit and bungling a few words, but at the end of his opening address, he tried to deliver his last line with gusto: “Today is all about here and now, it’s about three words: Nokia is back.” Although seemingly sincere, these are strange words for a company that seems anything but “back.”
In the October issue of Shape, LeAnn Rimes explains why she cheated on husband of six years, Dean Sheremet.
