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Rihanna unloads new single 'Russian Roulette'

10/21/2009 12:32:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

The wait is officially ova.

Making good on her countdown-clock-underscored promise of big things, Rihanna has debuted her immensely anticipated single, "Russian Roulette," streaming it online this morning at precisely 11:23 a.m. ET. (For those playing along at home, her fourth album, Rated R, is coming out Nov. 23—another 11/23—got it? Good.)

If ever a song's lyrics were up for intense media scrutiny and armchair overanalysis, this is it. So let's jump in, shall we?

"Said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving/I know that I must pass this test," Ri-Ri sings. "So just pull the trigger."

"So many won't get the chance to say good-bye/But it's too late to think of the value of my life," she goes on in her lyrics, rife for the mining by pop-psychologists. Lest we forget, the song is Rihanna's first musical output since her attack last February at the hands of Chris Brown.

As it is, the surefire hit, produced and cowritten by Ne-Yo, has proven true the reports that her new sound is a darker one, what with her oft-repeating chorus of "pull the trigger," and dramatically abrupt ending—a sharp intake of Rihanna's breath and a single echoing gunshot.

Of course, while it's dark, it likely won't be that dark, as the music video is set to debut during prime time on the family-friendly ABC.

So the wait is ova. Was it worth it?

Twilight Cast Hunted by "Vultures" and "Rogues"

10/21/2009 12:29:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments

While Eclipse filming is nearing its end, not all Twilight castmembers are breathing easy.

We recently chatted with a very high up Summit source who emphasized to us the living hell these kids have been going through up in Vancouver.

It's been more than rumored that Breaking Dawn will be filmed somewhere other than British Columbia next year, and the reason has less to do with tax issues and more to do with the sanity of our favorite cast.

"It's not just the media invading [the Twilight cast's] privacy—it's the whole world," dishes a key Summit player.

How so?

It's obvious that we all are seeing Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart way less, and we've told you just how miserable their privacy is up in Canada. But even we have recently learned just how bad it's gotten.

"Civilians are flying in all over the world to hunt down whoever they can find," fesses the concerned power suit. "It's bad. Literally [Rob and Kristen] have no choice but to stay inside."

Apparently the tourist companies up in Canada are also getting out of control. While we're told there are some that are very respectful and keep their distance, more than a few companies and fans (one woman in particular) cross the line.

"Everyone calls them the Vultures," our insider tells us. "The cast hates, hates, hates them. The Vultures actually stalk [the cast]—hunt down every set location and hide out in order to record them everywhere they go off set. It's become unmanageable."

These "rogue tourists"—as Robsten, Summit and the whole Twi group calls them—have had some major impact on how the cast goes about their daily lives (more specifics on that tomorrow).

"These kids are just trying to film a damn movie—wish the world could let them."

Guess counting their millions can only go so far.

With Windows 7 comes Netbook, notebook confusion

10/21/2009 12:29:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Dell, Acer, Intel, and others together are, in effect, creating a muddle of light laptop categories as part of a not-so-well-orchestrated marketing strategy, according to an analyst. This is expected to become particularly acute when a deluge of new Windows 7 laptops hit the market this week.

Acer offered a graphic example of this recently when it introduced a small, inexpensive Windows 7 notebook--the Aspire Timeline AS1810T--that, from all outward appearances, looks like a Netbook. But it isn't--at least as defined by Intel. It's a new category of laptop called an ultrathin.

"There's a lot of confusion that Intel has created and they haven't really segmented the market that well," according to Bob O'Donnell, an IDC Research vice president.

And it gets more complicated. The inexpensive ultrathin is, in turn, competing now with the expensive luxury laptops, like the Dell Adamo, according to O'Donnell. "Ironically, what's actually happening we think is that the (ultrathin) is actually killing the high-end ultraportable," O'Donnell said.

Here's the problem: any given Windows 7 laptop with an 11.6- or 12-inch screen could be a Netbook, an ultrathin, or a high-end ultraportable. "There's too many overlapping products," according to O'Donnell. Intel tried to prevent this from happening by declaring that any laptop with a screen larger than 10 inches diagonally is not a Netbook. That policy is fine in theory but does not carry over to the real world of head-butting competition among PC makers where even the subtlest production differentiation can mean a leg up on the competition.

Intel says look at performance and price. "Which offers the best performance overall? That's important," said Intel spokesman Bill Calder. "Pricing is a factor too. While some ultrathin laptops including 11.6 and higher are very affordable, none are in the $249 to $399 range that typically defines a Netbook," Calder said.

Some consumers might say it's not a big deal. But it's not just a nomenclature or arbitrary categorization problem. There are big differences--not only in price--despite the aesthetic similarities.

Netbook:

* Under $400
* Low-performance single-core Atom processor
* Low-performance graphics
* No optical drive
* Limited memory and storage
* Good battery life
* Build: plastic
* Examples: HP Mini 5101, Dell Latitude 2100

Ultrathin:

* $400 to $800
* Dual-core Pentium, Core 2 Duo, or AMD Neo processors
* Mainstream laptop-class integrated or discrete graphics
* No optical drive (typically)
* Mainstream laptop memory and storage
* Good battery life
* Build: plastic
* Examples: HP Pavilion dm3, Acer Aspire Timeline

Ultraportable (luxury laptop):

* $1,200 to $4,000
* High-performance Core 2 Duo processors
* Mainstream laptop-class integrated or discrete graphics
* Optical drive (internal) in some models
* Mainstream laptop memory and storage
* Average to good battery life
* Build: metal or plastic
* Examples: Dell Adamo, Toshiba Portege R600

By sight alone, Acer has blurred--if not buried--the line between Netbooks and laptops with the introduction of Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810T. In addition to the Netbookish 11.6-inch screen, it is about 1-inch thick and weighs only 3 pounds.

But instead of a meek Atom processor, it uses a dual-core Core 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz) processor paired with Intel's laptop-class 4500MHD graphics chip. Other specifications are also typical of mainstream laptops, including 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard disk drive, and 802.11n Wi-Fi.

It also ships with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium and that 11.6-inch screen is high resolution at 1366 x 768, with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Again, neither of these features would ever ship with a Netbook.

And like Netbooks, battery life for ultrathins is relatively long. The Timeline claims up to eight hours of battery life, about twice that of standard laptops.

The Timeline's price of $599.99 will give prospective Netbook buyers pause. By contrast, a 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One Netbook, for example, is about $350 with a single-core Atom N280 processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard disk drive, and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. Cheaper than an ultrathin but not necessarily a better deal.

CEOs are not helping the Netbook cause either. Last week, during Intel's earnings conference call, Chief Executive Paul Otellini made a point twice during the call to underscore that mainstream laptops--not Netbooks--are on a sales tear, adding that Netbooks are merely "additive." There's a lot of semantic wiggle room in the word "additive" but it's clear that Netbooks are not a high-priority market, comparatively, for Intel.

Michael Dell was more blunt. Dell offered up a critique last week of the Netbook saying that the screens are too small and the performance unsatisfactory.

Though Dell's opinion is not quite as harsh as the "junky" remark made by Apple's COO Tim Cook, the consensus seems to be--even by the companies selling these devices--that the appeal is limited.

Allison Iraheta's 'Just Like You' album cover: EW's exclusive first look!

10/21/2009 12:29:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 1 Comment

Friday I will not be over this…no way in hell. In fact, the Idoloonie within may never quite be the same after getting an exclusive first look at the cover art for Allison Iraheta’s debut album, Just Like You, due December 1 via 19 Recordings/Jive. I’d compare my current condition to someone who just dove into a swimming pool holding a plugged-in extension cord, except for instead of getting a lethal dose of electricity, I’ve been fried by pure joy. Call me crazy, but after watching Allison’s amazing season 8 trajectory — from that sizzling and unexpected first impression on “Alone” to that beyond-her-years take on “I Can’t Make You Love Me” to that gut-wrenching exit performance of “Cry Baby” — it’s a beautiful thing to see her dreams of music stardom on the brink of being realized.

Also? That belt? A jangly delight! The hair? A perfect explosion from the fuchsia end of the Crayola box! And the slight hint of a smirk? I like to think of it as a not-so-subtle message to a certain Idol judge who never quite gave her the respect she was entitled to. (No, we will not sully this moment with his name.) What’s more, and as I’m sure is obvs to everyone, the heat of Allison’s music is melting the paint on the wall behind her. Yes? Yes. Now, let’s go straight to the slow clap. Rocker saved. Rocker signed. Rocker pre-ordered.


Yahoo lap dancers make wrong moves

10/21/2009 12:28:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Company issues apology for racy entertainment for developers in Taiwan

Yahoo has apologized for its use of scantily clad lap dancers to entertain mainly male software developers and engineers in Taiwan last weekend. The Internet search company Monday acknowledged its politically incorrect step.

"I wanted to acknowledge the public reaction generated by the images of female dancers at our Taiwan Open Hack Day this past weekend," said Chris Yeh of Yahoo's Development Network on the company's blog.

"Our hack events are designed to give developers an opportunity to learn about our ... (programming) and technologies. As many folks have rightly pointed out, the 'Hack Girls' aspect of our Taiwan Hack Day is not reflective of that spirit or purpose. And it’s certainly not the message we want to send about our values here at Yahoo! Hack Days are about making everyone feel welcome, including women coders and technologists."

Yeh said that what happened is "regrettable and we apologize to anyone that we have offended. Rest assured, it won’t happen again."

The dancers, wearing bras and miniskirts, performed before the male audience during what has been described as a brainstorming meeting. "Honest, honey, she was just showing me her social networking APIs" was the headline on one blog today.

Photos and videos showing the women pretty much throwing themselves on the men were initially posted on photo-sharing site Flickr, but have since been marked for only "private" viewing.

All Things Digital columnist Kara Swisher noted, "Perhaps worst of all, this kind of thing is not new for Yahoo’s hack events in Taiwan, at least, where there seems to be some history of this sort of Pussycat-Dolls-meets-geeks tone.

"It is not clear why all the thumpa-thumpa music and dancing gals did not engender complaints last year," but photos from this year's event may have made a difference.

Web development expert Simon Willison shared some of the images on his blog, writing how upset he was with the Hack Day event, which he has attended at various places around the world since 2005.

"I’ve also been to every one of Yahoo!’s Open Hack Day events in London," he wrote. "They’re fantastic, and the team that organises them should be applauded.

"As such, I care a great deal about the image of hack day — and the videos that emerged from last weekend’s Taiwan Hack Day are hugely disappointing."

Adam Lambert: Not Above Kissing Women

10/21/2009 12:28:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

We blame Lady Gaga for this.

After working with her on his new album (the rather lamely named For Your Entertainment), Adam Lambert now says his lips are made for smooching—either sex.

"I am gay, but I like kissing women sometimes," he admits in the new issue of Details. "Women are pretty. It doesn't mean I'm necessarily sleeping with them."

This little revelation came after a groupie encounter during the Idols Live Tour.

"There was one woman in Jersey who was actually gorgeous," says the singer. "She had obviously had a couple of cocktails, and during an after-show meet-and-greet, she just slithered up next to me and started kissing my neck. I was cool with it. But then it started to get a little weird because she was, like, moaning. She gave me a note that said, 'I want to make out with you, here's my number,' and I was like, wow, this is crazy. Of course, had I been the one drinking the cocktails, I probably would have made out with her."

Naturally, the cynical side of us can't help but wonder if Adam is simply saying all this just to further his appeal with both genders to sell more copies of his upcoming album.

Then again, after seeing these photos inside the magazine, maybe we stand corrected.

TVXQ's Yunho, "It's Lonely."

10/21/2009 12:27:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

TVXQ's Yunho (real name Jung Yunho) is currently acting in MBC's drama "Heading to the Ground". He shared his thoughts on being away from the group and entering the acting career.

Yunho said this in response to an interview he did with fashion magazine "W", for their November issue, where he also did a gravure photoshoot. Yunho said, "It's difficult since its a heavy role, but I'm putting a lot of effort into acting", and showed the spirit of acting.

Coming from his background as a singer, when asked on how he felt about debuting alone as a new actor, Yunho answered, "Lonely. But I think this is just the process of growing pains. I have to grow."

Officials from "W" magazine informed that, "Although it was very difficult to do the gravure photoshoot and interview after his drama filming and rehearsals for their Shanghai concert, he was bright and full of energy on the set."

Reese Talks Cucumbers, Cozy Time With Jake

10/21/2009 12:27:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

There's a reason why Reese Witherspoon is one of the craftiest broads in Hollywood.

Even though we know we're being manipulated with each interview into thinking of this pixie as the sweet girl next door (which she ain't), she does it in a way that makes us still like her. Jennifer Garner take notes, by all means.

Reese covers In Style next month and totally takes a play outta the Brangelina interview book.

Like opening up about her sex life, perhaps?

Hardly. Unless growing a garden is considered foreplay for Gyllenspoon.

"Jake is a great cook," Reese tells the mag. "He does a lot. We spend the weekends outside L.A, in Ojai, where I have a farmhouse. We have chickens and we grow cucumbers and tomatoes. I love it."

Boring.

Come on, Brad Pitt had no problem pointing out one of his and Angie's secret sex spots in their stone grotto. What, Gyllenspoon doesn't get frisky? Guess they're just more the undercover-lover types.

But Reese did have one major thing in common with Brange: claiming she wants to cut back on work.

"My ideal scenario is to do one movie a year. But as an actor, I don't think you can do an awful lot of planning. In fact, my new philosophy in life is I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

At least Reese is more realistic about it than Brad is. Still, don't expect R.W. to be going anywhere anytime soon. She's made all the right moves to get to the top, and she's not giving it up that easily.

10 things you need to know before moving to Windows 7

10/21/2009 12:26:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Windows 7 officially ships on Thursday, which means end users and administrators running Windows XP (and to a lesser extent, Windows Vista) have some interesting decisions to make.

Test of Windows 7

To help you make those tough choices, here are 10 things you need to know, based on our hands-on testing of Windows 7.

1. Windows 7 is faster

Win 7 performance is better than Windows XP SP3 and Vista SP2, but only if you run 64-bit Win 7. One potential gotcha: Much of the performance gains are reliant on having up-to-date 64-bit hardware drivers and components. That may mean buying new hardware, as older hardware may not have the necessary components and updated drivers.

2. Buy Microsoft's Desktop Option Pack

It's only $10 a seat, and well worth it. MDOP contains important components, such as Microsoft's Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT), which helps users and support personnel deal with catastrophic machine failures. There's also Advanced Group Policy Management, which allows for active and "pushed" policies to users and groups. This feature can prevent damage from zero-day failures and fine-tunes policies for system admins. And there's Asset Inventory Service, which tallies software inventories for both compliance and provisioning purposes. Other MDOP components address application and desktop virtualization.

3. Win 7 offers a clean start

There's a school of thought that says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." In other words, why not stick with good old XP? Our answer is that where Windows on the desktop is needed, Win 7 is the way to go. Win 7 has the inherent architectural changes that secured XP, but it also doesn't have the estimated 1,300 patches (including Microsoft Office patches) that XP SP3 has. The user interface has improved dramatically with Win 7, we found that it's Microsoft's best-behaving operating system since Windows 2000, and migrating to a fresh environment rids machines of the clutter that has built up over the years.

4. Upgrading from XP on the same hardware will be tricky

If you're considering upgrading from XP to Win 7 on the same machine, Microsoft doesn't directly support this, and recommends that a fresh installation be made on new hardware. Any attempt to upgrade will move the directory structure known as Documents and Settings into the new, Unix-like "user" directory structure, and registry settings for Win 7 will break many applications.

Many applications will need post-Win 7 upgrade adjustments, or even re-installation. Win 7 also needs at least 5GB of extra space to perform an in-place upgrade from XP temporarily.

Of course, it is possible to upgrade. We tried it and found that upgrading a single machine from XP could take up to two hours.

5. Consider Windows Upgrade Advisor

Microsoft is offering a free download of an upgrade tester beta called the Windows Upgrade Advisor. It's good but not infallible, we found, especially when upgrading from XP 64-bit editions. Because it's beta, some of its foibles may be fixed by the time it's offered as a production app.

It's installed, examines a machine, and annotates a list of what will and won't work in an upgrade from XP and Vista editions. (However, Microsoft makes clear on its Web site that Upgrade Advisor is recommended only for Vista users and that XP users should buy new hardware.)

6. Another option: Third-party upgrade tools

Third-party tools like Laplink Software's PC-Mover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant allow you to upgrade from XP to Win 7 on the same hardware. But, of course, the Laplink software isn't free, so that's an additional expense and an additional complication that you would be adding to the equation.

7. Check for hardware compatibility

Fresh Win 7 installations on new hardware will likely be successful if the hardware has Vista support, as most Vista drivers can be used successfully in lieu of Win 7 drivers, and drivers are the biggest portion of compatibility -- unless running XP is desired.

Remember that a 64-bit installation is what we recommend, and the drivers need to be 64-bit to gain best performance.

A trip to a hardware vendor's Web site to explore it for specific machine drivers is worth the effort. Some vendors, such as HP, have Win 7-specific information on compatibility, while others have promised Win 7-specific drivers -- especially for 64-bit kernel use.

8. User Access Controls are much improved

Underneath the surface of Win 7 is a reformed kernel that's similar to Vista's in construction. Userspace is now separate from kernel space in strong ways, a policy that shocked and rocked the world at the advent of Windows XP SP2, and was then manically manifested in Vista's User Access Controls (UAC).

The UAC was designed to isolate bad behavior caused by viruses/malware from the basic components of the system and apps running above userspace. This isolation alone stopped many forms of badware. This same protection can be found in Win 7, but it won't drive you as ballistic as the constant nervous messaging to the user found in Windows Vista. By comparison, it's calm and its UAC messaging can be largely disabled.

9. Virtualization allows XP on Win 7

If you buy Windows 7 64-bit Professional version and higher, then XP can be run on Win 7 in a virtual machine. That's if you have a V/VT-compatible CPU in your machine and you remember to add additional memory (a gigabyte will often do) for running an XP session. XP must still be secured separately in this configuration as though it were stand-alone.

10. Go for 64-bit

We can find no reason to recommend running Win 7 on existing 32-bit hardware, since the 32-bit version of Win 7 has little performance advantage over Vista or XP in our comparative tests. The 64-bit version, however, can be much faster.

Eminem's Relapse 2 Is 'Comin' Out Good,' Just Blaze Says

10/21/2009 12:25:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

'I've been quietly goin' back forth from New York to Detroit the past two months,' producer reveals.

Eminem has said that the forthcoming Relapse 2 will be more "emotionally driven," and pointed out that he's working with some new collaborators.

"[The album] is gonna be a lot different than people expect," Eminem said in an interview on his Shade 45 satellite-radio station last week. "As far as the contrast from the last album to this one, I got a couple of tracks with [D12's] Mr. Porter, two tracks with him so far. Four, possibly five with Just Blaze. The overall basis of this record, I went back to songs that are more emotionally driven. The last record I made, I think I was concentrating more on spitting. On this album, I feel like there's some of that, but I went back to songs with [feelings] to them as opposed to just rap records."

Blaze — who has worked in the past with Jay-Z, Kanye West, Usher, Mariah Carey, and many others — talked about working with Eminem during an interview with Distortion to Static that was posted on Monday.

"Now that he's put it out there, I am working with Eminem on his new album," Blaze said. "We are working on Relapse 2 pretty heavily. As of yesterday, we've done about six or seven records. I go back in with him in a couple of weeks and do three or four more maybe. I've been quietly goin' back forth from New York to Detroit the past two months, just gettin' a feel for it and gettin' a feel for working with each other. He hasn't worked with too many people outside his camp. I haven't worked with him before. We got a good working relationship now, a good friendship now, so the records is comin' out good."

While Eminem has kept a fairly low profile in the weeks since the first Relapse was released, he told Shady 45 that he'll decide whether to go on tour after the second album is released.

"During the process of me getting sober and starting to record again like I used to, I got so excited about making music again that I wanted to concentrate [just] on that," he said. "I started recording so many records that we thought about putting out two albums. Then that became my motivation. I wanted to stay grinding and keep making music. But the time I got engulfed in [Relapse 2], it just kind of worked out this way, where I wanted to fall back from live performances for right now and concentrate on making the best music I could make. After this record comes out, we'll see what happens from there."

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