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Action trailer for “14 Blades” out, Wu Chun still looks like pirate

12/27/2009 01:21:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

It has been well over a month since there have been major developments on news of the all-star casted “14 Blades” action flick, but that has changed with the release of an “action” trailer of the Chinese period flick was released online yesterday. What makes this particular trailer an “action” one is the lack any of voiceover describing the plot or hyping up the movie’s ‘epic-ness’ that is one usually expects to hear for blockbuster-caliber action movies. Sorry, no Mr. Movie Voice this time around.

Instead, the new trailer basically shows highlights of the movie without really giving too much away. We get to see short snippets of each of the major cast members of the movie, ranging from veteran action star Donnie Yen in the beginning, wide-eyed beauty Vicki Zhao around the middle, and international superstar actor Sammo Hung near the end. And there’s Wu Chun, who’s sporting the braided hair and bandana look that still looks more at home on the set of “Pirates of the Caribbean” than a Chinese period flick such as “14 Blades”.

Since this ‘action’ trailer is simply preview of scenes from the movie stringed together, expect to see a more traditional trailer to be shown in movie theaters soon. In the mean time, enjoy watching Donnie Yen kicking butt and some Wu Chun eye candy in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber yiuyan923!

TVXQ’s Changmin in contract dispute with SM Entertainment?

12/27/2009 01:21:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

On the December 26th episode of Entertainment Relay, they had a special segment on "2009's biggest news/issue maker."


TVXQ earned the title of being the biggest issue maker of the year, but on the captions, they listed Xiah Junsu, Micky Yoochun and Changmin as the three members of TVXQ who are involved in a contract dispute with their record label, SM Entertainment.

Fans quickly spotted this error, and we all know Changmin is not involved in the dispute, but rather, Jaejoong. It goes without saying that fans were extremely angered and blew up the Entertainment Relay message boards, demanding apologies and stating their disapproval of the network and their careless mistake.

Will Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson Be Killed Off In “Spider-Man 4?”

12/27/2009 12:20:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Kirsten Dunst’s red-headed alter-ego could met her demise in the next eagerly-awaited edition of the Spider-Man franchise, industry insiders claim.


Mary-Jane Watson will be killed off in 2011’s Spider-Man 4 and replaced with a character played by Oscar-nominated star Anne Hathaway as Peter Parker’s new love interest, movie spies tell Hollywood.com.

“The plan is for her character to be written out, probably by dying. Anne will take over as Peter Parker’s new love interest for this project and for ‘Spider-Man 5′ and 6 which are being written now,” whispers a source. “Anne’s in Los Angeles doing a lot of meetings on the movie, because filming is right around the corner,” the tattle adds.

10 Things You Must Do With Your New Windows 7 PC

12/27/2009 12:20:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments



If you got a new Windows 7 laptop for Christmas, you are truly in luck. But here are 10 things you need to get the most out of it.

1. Take a Spin Around the New Interface: Still glassy, glossy and damn near glittery, the Windows 7 interface is actually a major progression for Microsoft: It's not just easy to use, it's a whole new paradigm with the revamped taskbar and Aero Peek making multitasking with multiple windows more natural than ever.

2. Turn Off Everything You Don't Need: While Windows 7 is missing some odd things, like a mail application, the flip side is that you can turn off pretty much every major feature you don't want. Internet Exploder 8? Gone. Windows Media Player? Poof. And if you're used to tweaking the crap out of Windows, you still can—a lot of the old tricks, like for manipulating context menus, still work.



3. Move All Your Crap from Your Old Machine: Windows 7 actually has pretty decent built-in powers for moving all your crap from your old and busted PC to your new pride and joy, though you need to download Windows Easy Transfer separately onto XP if you're pulling stuff from that.

4. Master All of the New Keyboard Shortcuts: Why deal with flipping around a mouse or scribbling on a trackpad when you do the same thing in a tenth of a second with a keyboard combo? The Start key (oh sorry, Windows key), which I've always neglected as a useless monotasker, is supremely useful in Windows 7, as the underpinning for a metric ton of keyboard shortcuts.



5. Get It to Play Nice With All of Your Gadgets: The good news about Windows 7 is that, unlike Vista, most of your gear that worked with your computer a couple years ago with Windows should still work. And newer gear interacts with Windows in a fancy new way with a big ol' splash graphic and easy access to all the stuff you'd wanna do with it. While even simple things, like adding a second monitor, are more straightforward now, here's a device-by-device breakdown on getting everything to touch Windows 7 appropriately.

6. Share Stuff With Your Other Computers, 'Cause It's Easier Now: The networking UI hasn't just gotten a facelift to make it more accessible, it's actually easier to use with HomeGroups—join a HomeGroup, and all of the stuff you want to share with other computers spreads like herpes to the rest of the HomeGroup, no arduous networking required. Also, network in general—like with Macs—seems to just work better with Windows 7.



7. Stream Your Music and Videos Everywhere: Connecting your PC to a TV sounds so 1999. Well, you might not know this, but your Windows 7 PC is a badass music and video streamer, DVR, photo viewer, video aggregator and everything else you'd want out of a multimedia box, all thanks to Windows Media Center. The living room PC is legit now. Not to mention Play To, which beams music (and video and photos) to any compatible device on your network, no setup required (really!). All it takes it a right-click, and those Sonos speakers on the other side of your house will magically start yelling the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

8. Upgrade Your Netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium: If you got a Windows 7 netbook, there's a good chance you got stuck with the artificially gimped out Starter edition, which sucks. The cheapest way to fix this is to buy Windows 7 for $30 using a valid .edu email address, then follow our guide to installing Windows 7 on any netbook.

9. Set Up Some Network Storage: A fresh computer is a fresh start—meaning it's a perfect time to start a new life with fully networked storage for backup, especially if you're using your machine as a DVR with Windows Media Center. (But skip on faster drives.) One awesome option? A Windows Home Server machine, which can do backups and stream out media to all of your computers.

10. Remote Control It From Anywhere with VNC: While diving deep into the system and futzing with your network at the same time, you might as well set up a VNC server so you can control your computer from anywhere, whether it's to pull files or schedule downloads.

10 Things You Must Do With Your New Mac

12/27/2009 12:19:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments



You got a new Mac for Christmas? Awesome. But don't let Justin Long's smarmy face fool you, it doesn't just give you a warm hug and set itself up. Here are 10 things you need to do pronto:

1. Check Out Snow Leopard's Interface Tweaks: They're not life-altering, but Apple's spiffed up the OS X interface in a couple of ways in Snow Leopard. Notably, there's Dock Expose (which works like Windows 7's Aero Peek) to show you all the windows of open app by clicking and holding on its icon in the dock. Also, giant, scalable thumbnail previews.


2. Move All Your Stuff: The funny thing about switching OSes or moving to a new one is that it's really not hard anymore, since so much of the stuff we do is online. The most complicated gambit for most people, I'd wager, is moving your iTunes library to a new machine—especially going from Windows to Mac—since organizing that stuff (if you're anal about it like me) takes forever. Luckily, there's a hack for that. And if you're going from old Mac to new Mac, well it's pretty easy to move all your crap with the built-in Migration Assistant.

3. Learn What's Actually Under the Hood of Snow Leopard: Apple says a lot of the magic of



Snow Leopard is actually under the hood, so you can't see it, like Grand Central Dispatch, which promises in the future to make applications use all of those cores in your machine that much better to become superfaster. Or OpenCL, which uses your graphics card for non-graphics applications to go more fasterer. And there's a whole bunch of other standards Apple's real big on too.

4. Don't Buy MobileMe, Sync Your Stuff With Yahoo or Google: Don't buy MobileMe. Instead, sync your contacts with Google, straight from Address Book, and use Google Sync to deliver 'em to your phone. Same deal with calendars—use the open standard CalDAV to sync iCal with Google or Yahoo, which is as simple as putting in your account info now. And you can upload photos to Flickr directly from iPhoto. Online storage? That's free too.



5. Install Windows: Whether you do it through Boot Camp so you can play PC games ('cause gaming on a Mac sucks, at best) or use Parallels or Fusions to virtualize it and run alongside your Mac apps, with Windows 7 being $30 with a valid .edu address, there's no reason not to. It's even easier to move your Windows apps and files over that you wanna keep if you're making the slow transition, with Parallels Switch edition, which has a handy USB transfer tool.

6. Back Up to Any NAS With Time Machine: Time Machine, OS X's built-in backup, is indispensable. Unfortunately, if you wanna do it over the network, it's kinda limited, unless you know what you're doing. After you figure out your network storage of choice (HP's Windows Home Server with Time Machine compatibility is a damn good option; and for those on a budget, there's Iomega's ix2 200), it takes just a few minutes a couple of lines of code in Terminal to get your Time Machine backup going on any NAS you please.



7. Make It Play Nice With PCs On Your Network: If you get a NAS, you obviously don't have to worry about moving crap back and forth directly between your Macs and PCs, but if you want a method that will work every single time, this is how to do it. It's progressively easier with newer versions of Windows—stuff seems to just work more often.

8. Forget Apple TV, Stream to Your Xbox or PS3: If you've already got an Xbox 360 or PS3 (who doesn't?) there's no reason to bother with another media streamer, even if you're ditching Windows. The programs Connect 360 and Rivet will stream music, movies and photos from your Mac to your Xbox for $20. For the PS3, there's MediaLink, from the guys who make Connect 360, which does pretty much the same deal, but with slightly better integration with iTunes and iPhoto. The P2P app Vuze—which is free—also streams videos to Xbox 360 and PS3 from any OS it runs on, but obviously it's a little less feature-rich.

9. Download the Best Free Software: At first, there seems to be less freeware on a Mac, but you just need to know where to look. Lifehacker's essential free apps has you covered on everything from the best IM app (Adium) to better disc burning (Burn) to video playback (VLC, of course).



10. Remote Control It: Sure, you could shell out for MobileMe to use Back to My Mac—except, you shouldn't—but why bother when you do the same thing and remote control your computer from anywhere with VNC? An afternoon and you're done.

Microsoft My Phone helps find a lost HTC Pure

12/27/2009 12:19:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments



It is a slow post-Christmas Saturday, a perfect day for a feel-good piece courtesy of CBS News and Microsoft. The short video segment showcases the Microsoft My Phone service which, amongst other things, allows users to locate and retrieve a lost mobile phone. Watch as host Natali DelConte tosses her AT&T HTC Pure into the back of a cab as it drives straight into the heart of New York City. Laugh Be concerned when the GPS signal fails and the phone is no longer traceable, seemingly lost forever. Smile when her phone is returned to her, not through some fancy GPS locating service, but through the kindness of others who responded to her phone’s “I’m lost, call Natali” distress message. No, it’s not the caliber of It’s a Wonderful Life but for a tech blog on a Saturday, it is about as heart-warming as you can get.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Funny Celebrity Christmas Wishes Form Hollywood Gossip

12/26/2009 11:26:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , 0 Comments

Merry Christmas to all. We wish you the most joyous of holidays, and hope that all of your hopes and dreams are soon realized.


What did you get for Christmas? Was it all that you hoped for?

We certainly hope so. On a similar note, our interns recently checked with Santa and asked the big guy himself what certain celebrities wanted this year.

The rotund one's list may surprise you ...

Miley Cyrus: A stripper pole in her bedroom.

Amy Winehouse: To see Christmas 2010.

Jessica Simpson: A new set of candles.

Tiger Woods: A mulligan... or 15.

Adam Lambert: Eye shadow.

Mischa Barton: Protein.

Sarah Palin: A new visor.

Pamela Anderson: A bra.

Kate Gosselin: A new man to degrade.

Justin-Bobby: A bar of Irish Spring.

Lindsay Lohan: Some pants. And/or morals.

Lil Wayne: Condoms and cigarettes.

Robsten: Privacy.

Paula Abdul: Fewer drugs.

Jake Pavelka: Everlasting fame love on reality TV.

Michael Jackson: None, thanks to you, Dr. Conrad Murray.

Lady Gaga: More ridiculous fashion; Fewer hermaphrodite rumors.

Kim Kardashian: An engagement ring; A red carpet in her bedroom; For certain gossip websites to stop mentioning how hard she took it from Ray J on video ...

Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag: A Santa-themed bikini photo shoot on the beach in Malibu, after Pacific Coast News just happened to run into them there.

Britney Spears: Freeeeeeeeeeedom!!!!!

Brad Pitt: Another baby.

Angelina Jolie: The slow, painful death of Jennifer Aniston.

Charlie Sheen Jailed on Domestic Abuse Charge

12/26/2009 11:26:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Charlie Sheen finds himself in trouble on Christmas Day, arrested in Aspen on charges related to domestic violence.

The 'Two and a Half Men' star now spends Christmas night in the Pitkin County Jail after he allegedly shoved wife Brooke Mueller, according to a source of Radar Online.

The star of CBS' "Two and a Half Men" was taken into custody on suspicion of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies, along with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, an Aspen police spokeswoman told the AP.

Police arrested the 44-year-old actor after responding to a 911 call regarding a report of domestic violence at 8:34 a.m. at a historic house up for sale for $7.5 million. The alleged victim in the case, whose name was withheld, did not have to be taken to the hospital, police said.

Police said Sheen will be held without bond until his first court appearance in this ski resort town about 200 miles west of Denver. The court was closed for Christmas, and no date for his appearance has been set.

Jail officials said Sheen wasn't available to comment. After-hours messages left for his managers weren't immediately returned.

Dasaro said Sheen would be advised of any bond conditions when he appears in court. Colorado law requires protection orders between people arrested in domestic violence cases and their alleged victims.

TMZ reports that Mueller called 911 claiming Sheen assaulted her, but that Sheen told law enforcement that Brooke was the aggressor and he was just fending her off.

Brooke Mueller Sheen gave birth to the couple's first children, twin boys, in March. They married in May 2008 following Sheen's bitter divorce from Denise Richards.

Charlie Sheen's screen credits include "Platoon," "Wall Street" and the "Hot Shots!" movies. He nearly died of a drug overdose in 1998 but received court-ordered rehabilitation.

A source of RadarOnline.com says that Sheen and Mueller have been having significant marital problems.

Sheen flew to be with Brooke for Christmas, despite their problems but things got out of control almost right away.

The Wonder Of Apple’s Tablet

12/26/2009 11:26:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

In 2007, just prior to its launch, I was absolutely positive I wasn’t going to buy an iPhone. My rationale was that I didn’t even like using a cellphone, so why would I want a $600 one? What I wanted was a touch screen iPod — basically, an iPhone without the phone. In other words, I wanted an iPod touch, but that didn’t exist yet, so I would sit back and wait, I told myself. Then came iPhone launch day: June 29, 2007. Curiosity about the launch day hoopla drove me to an Apple store. There was a line around the block just to get in. So again, there was no way I was getting an iPhone. But then I started to wonder why so many people were lined up for this device — what was I missing? A few hours later I returned to the Apple Store. I waited in a much shorter line to get in. I walked up to the iPhones out on display, picked one up, played with it for all of 10 seconds. I left the Apple store $600 poorer.

My point in telling that story is that all signs indicate that we’re closing in on another new Apple product, a tablet computer. And the hype around it is already palpable. But so is the skepticism among many — skepticism similar to what I felt with the iPhone. “Why would anyone want a tablet computer?” “It will be way too expensive, no one will buy it.” “This is all just nonsense Apple hype.” Those are a few of the more common reactions against the still-mysterious device. But I’m not going to be tricked again. Conventional wisdom suggests that Apple will not be able to succeed where so many others have failed. But Apple makes billions defying conventional wisdom.

The truth is that most of us don’t understand the allure of a tablet computer because they’ve all sucked up until now. It’s the exact same reason that I didn’t understand the iPhone at first. My cellphones leading up to the iPhone ranged from “okay” to “junk.” The idea of getting one with such a high price tag was insanity to me. But within seconds of using the iPhone, I was able to tell that Apple had made something completely different. It wasn’t a cellphone as I had known them. It redefined the category. And while there are no sure things in the tech world, I would bet that Apple’s tablet will do the same.

If an outsider were to look at the tech news coverage of the past few days, they’d think there is an oddly disproportionate amount of Apple tablet talk. Why is that? The lazy answer is that everyone is a bunch of Apple fanboys. But the reality is that it’s dozens of blogs and all the mainstream media sites covering this news about a product which no one is even 100% sure exists. Everyone is covering it because there is a huge amount of interest about the device among each site’s readership. And it goes far beyond that. People outside the tech world, those who don’t ever read tech blogs, have been asking me about it recently. And Apple’s stock is at an all-time high based on the rumors of this device.

Part of it is that Apple has a sterling record with consumer-oriented products. Sure, there are some duds, like the Mighty Mouse. And yes, there are some slip-ups, like my new iLemon. But overall, Apple commands attention in the consumer space because more often than not, they nail it. Going deeper, Apple is not afraid to step outside of the traditional comfort zones to try to create a new product — even if others have failed there before, as is the case with tablets. While this stirs skepticism in some, in many more people, it creates a sense of wonder. What if Apple can do it right this time? It’s exciting partially because it’s no sure thing. It’s exciting because the payoff is potentially huge. By this time next year, we may have a whole new genre of computing. It’s an undiscovered country.

But it’s also familiar. There’s a quote from the first season of Mad Men that I think applies in this regard. “But he also talked about a deeper bond with the product. Nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent,” Don Draper says leading up to his Kodak Carousel presentation. The core idea of a tablet is interesting to people on a fundamental level. At least as far back as Moses with the Ten Commandments, it has been a part of the human psyche. It’s something that couldn’t be simpler. It’s a slate that displays information. It’s not a computer with a mess of peripherals and/or physical buttons. If a media and web-centric computer were being designed today with no thought to what the computing norms of the past were, it would be a tablet.

It also points to the future of interacting with computers. The mouse and keyboard will one day die and everything will be touch and gesture-based. We’ll be living in a future with Minority Report, Star Trek, and Avatar interactive technology. To many of us, few things are more exciting. To others, that concept is foreign and as such, scary. Regardless, it will happen and the tablet computer is the latest, and perhaps most important step in a line of technology taking us there.

I think a lot of people understand that, even if they don’t realize it. That’s why we saw so much interest in the CrunchPad. It was to be a simple, touchscreen device that you could surf the web on. For many people, that’s more than enough of a computer.

And the truth is that Apple has already proven the concept. The iPhone is a tablet computer, just smaller. Recently, a former Apple employee was quoted in the New York Times as saying that much of the early work on the tablet exists today in the iPhone. The iPhone is the computer I use the most now day in and day out. And again, I never thought I’d want one. So while the immediate use of the tablet in our homes already riddled with computer may not be apparent just yet, I have no doubt that it will prove itself to be very useful.

I have no idea what the tablet will be called (Robin lays out a comprehensive tale of why it may be the “iSlate”), what its specs will be, or how much it will cost. But I’m not going to make the mistake of dismissing it like I did with the iPhone simply because its practicality isn’t immediately apparent. If it succeeds, it will likely redefine the role of computing in our lives just as the iPhone has. That’s exciting. And that’s why we care so much about it.

China blames online games for drugs, murder, teen pregnancy

12/26/2009 11:25:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , 0 Comments

China's state news channel has blamed hugely popular online games for problems including drug addiction, teen pregnancy and even murder this month as regulators crack down on allegedly harmful content in games.

In a program titled "Confession of a Murderer -- Focus on Pornography and Violence in Online Games (Part Two)," China Central Television (CCTV) on Thursday reported on a Beijing juvenile prison where one man was serving a life sentence for murders he committed to obtain virtual equipment in an online game. Up to 80 percent of the violent criminals in the prison turned to crime because of online games, the report said.

"He himself killed five people, and the reason he took the path to crime was addiction to violent online games," it said.

The program follows other CCTV reports this month that have blamed social ills on online games and given voice to concerns among some Chinese parents that excessive time spent on games and social-networking sites is interfering with their children's schoolwork.

The reports, which also come amid a wide-reaching government campaign against Internet pornography, show how erratic political conditions can threaten companies operating in China. Chinese regulators this year have shut down dozens of online games designed overseas and ordered developers to stop including "lowbrow" content like monster-hunting in games. A struggle between government agencies for the right to regulate online games has further roiled the industry and helped send the hit game World of Warcraft offline for three months earlier this year.

Chinese state media have long criticized online games. The last installment of the CCTV series told the story of a 14-year-old girl purportedly influenced by an online dancing game to start having sex with people she met online. The game, called "Audition," was said to encourage one-night stands and the girl to have had two abortions.

CCTV this month also aired a report on teenagers who became addicted to cough medicine and then drugs like methamphetamine as a way to keep their energy up during all-night gaming marathons. The boys were said to spend their time in Internet cafes, which are often filled with chain-smoking young men using instant-messaging programs and playing online games.

China has the largest number of Internet users in any country with at least 338 million people online. Over 210 million of those people play online games, according to a government survey.

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