T-Mobile Tells Engadget 'Stop Using The Color Magenta'

No, this is not an early April Fools story. I think.
Deutsche Telekom, owners of the global T-Mobile brand, has sent a legal notice to Engadget Mobile demanding they stop using the color magenta.
David Beigie, vice president of corporate communications for T-Mobile US:

"As a trademark owner, from time to time Deutsche Telekom looks at usage that could lead to confusion in the marketplace. The letter sent by DT merely outlines these perspectives and is meant to simply open a dialogue. Engadget continues to pioneer forums for discussion of wireless industry developments and innovation. T-Mobile respects the role Engadget and its readers play in advancing dialog on these important topics."

Can a company copyright a color? Yes, as it relates specifically to their brand. For example, UPS has a trademark on brown as it relates to their brand and the type of business their brand is known for. Here DT is apparently trying to exercise it's copyright on the usage of a specific color of magenta as it relates to their branding. Whats funny is the magenta Engadget Mobile uses (ed008c) is a different magenta than T-Mobile's (e10370) but I think they take issue more with the way the word 'mobile' is colored with it.
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Britain’s Biggest Meteorite Impact Found

Evidence of the biggest meteorite ever to hit the British Isles has been found by scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of Aberdeen. The scientists believe that a large meteorite hit northwest Scotland about 1.2 billion years ago near the Scottish town of Ullapool.
Previously it was thought that unusual rock formations in the area had been formed by volcanic activity; but the team report in the journal Geology states that they found evidence buried in a layer of rock which they now believe is the ejected material thrown out during the formation of a meteorite crater. Ejected material from the huge meteorite strike is scattered over an area about 50 kilometres across, roughly centred on the northern Scottish town of Ullapool.

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Indiana Jones Widget

Dell Offers $879 Blu-ray Laptop

Dell has added Blu-ray drives to its colorful line of Inspiron 1525 line of notebook computers. I just went to the Dell site and it seems you can already order an Inspiron 1535 15" laptop with a Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM) drive for as little as $879.
They sell this colorful line of laptops for as little as $499. (For that price you get a Celeron processor with Vista Home Basic, but it will be pretty.) Too bad they don't offer a Blu-ray drive with the Ubuntu systems. I doubt that Blu-ray's DRM would be compatible with Ubuntu.
This makes a compelling choice for anyone considering diving into the Blu-ray market right now; especially if you were also in the market for a computer. Set top Blu-ray players still start at $399. These laptops have HDMI ports so you could hook them right up to your main living room system. There are concerns about battery life when using Blu-ray, so if you use the laptop as your Blu-ray player, you would need to plug it into AC power. Since it is a PC, you should also be able to upgrade the Blu-ray firmware to Profile 2.0, which should be a major consideration if you are thinking about a stand alone Blu-ray player right now.

Doomsdayers Sue Over Large Hadron Collider

I've posted about the LHC before; now the builders of the world's biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create a black hole or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet. Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe's CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there's no chance that the LHC would cause such cosmic catastrophes. The LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN's headquarters on the French-Swiss border. It's expected to tackle some of the deepest questions in science; people outside the scientific mainstream are asking other questions: Could the collider create mini-black holes? Could exotic particles known as magnetic monopoles throw atomic nuclei out of whack? Could quarks recombine into "strangelets" that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter?

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Google Goes Black For Earth Hour

From Google:
Google users in the United States will notice today that we "turned the lights out" on the Google.com homepage as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. As to why we don't do this permanently - it saves no energy; modern displays use the same amount of power regardless of what they display. However, you can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative.On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

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Children of Men: The TV Series?

One of the best movies of 2006 may become a television series as David Eick, writer-producer on the Battlestar Galactica is currently writing a pilot script for Children of Men.

“It’s really taking root more in the origins of the novels in that it will focus on the cultural movement in which young people become the society’s utter focus. Much like our culture, whenever Lindsay Lohan does something [and] it becomes the headline of every news show, it’s about how, when you don’t have a responsibility to the next generation and you’re free to do whatever you want, where do you draw the line?” Eick said in an interview with SciFi. “It’s not really a war show like the movie was. It’s more an exploration of that issue.”

I'm not sure if the concept will translate well to TV, as the cinematography and long, involved scenes were one reason the movie worked so well.

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Mark Cuban Says The Internet Is Dead

During a cable and telecom conference, Dallas Mavericks owner and HDNet cofounder Mark Cuban stated that the internet has died as a form of entertainment and that HD cable is the new way of entertainment for all. Whatever. This just shows how disconnected the 49 year old billionaire is from consumer reality. While he may have a point regarding HD content and the bandwidth issue, his exceedingly broad statement 'the Internet is dead' as a form of entertainment is ridiculous.

Why do I say this? Younger people are developing or have established different habits regarding the consumption of entertainment. The established model of broadcast or cable TV and its timed 30 minute or one hour segments of entertainment is irrelevant and outdated to them. I would dare to say most of the entertainment they consume is Internet or computer related. Watching short video clips on YouTube or the endless clone sites; using iTunes to listen to/watch entertainment on their iPods; looking at video clips on their cell phones and watching DVDs on laptops or portable players is how young people consume entertainment. (Note that these are all standard definition or worse.) Adults? I know many that already have ditched cable TV (with its 70% of channels nobody watches but you still pay for) in favor of watching TV shows online on the network's own sites, or simply watching them when they are released on DVD.

Does anyone care about HD content? Not as many as you might think. Even though we are approaching 40% of US households that have at least one HDTV, industry research has indicated that anywhere from 40%-60% of HDTV households watch only standard-definition content. Why? Either 1)consumers don’t know any better (this is the most likely one); 2)they haven’t bothered to sign up for HD cable/satellite or even hook their TVs up to an antenna to receive free OTA HDTV; 3)haven't purchased either format of HD player; or 4)do not download available HD content. The recent HD-DVD/Blu-ray 'war' has also shown this mass consumer apathy over HD. In 2007, 99.4% of all packaged entertainment sales were standard DVD. Undoubtedly this number will go up now that Blu-ray has 'won', but many HDTV owners think standard DVD is 'good enough' and still do not plan to upgrade to Blu-ray.

We are only at the beginning stages of getting our entertainment online, not the end as Cuban and his cable TV cronies are making it out to be. Whether or not cable internet throttling will become widespread and change this trend remains to be seen.

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X-Files 2 Clips From Paley Fest

Wednesday night was X-Files night at Paley Fest at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Mulder and Scully didn't show, but Files creator Chris Carter was on hand as well as executive producer Frank Spotnitz and other show writers to answer fan questions in a panel discussion.
To cheering fan reaction, clips from the upcoming film were shown.

World's Oldest Voice Recording

This 10-second recording was made by a Parisian inventor, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville on April 9 1860, when Emperor Napoleon III, the last monarch of France, was on the throne. It was made a whole 17 years before Thomas Edison made his historic message, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on a phonograph, which is the landmark event in the history of recorded sound. Scott de Martinville's gadget, a "phonautograph", was a device that scratched sound waves onto a sheet of paper blackened by the smoke from an oil lamp. However, it wasn't until now that the recording could actually be played back. Using digital imaging to track the tiny groove in the paper, First Sounds, a collaborative US project aimed at resurrecting long-lost early recordings, was able to finally retrieve the recording, which can be heard here.

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New Meteorite Crater Found With Google Earth

We live in amazing times, where anyone with a connected terminal can pull up incredibly detailed images of virtually anywhere on earth. Geologist Arthur Hickman did just that, and using the popular Google Earth program, found a previously undiscovered meteorite crater in the Hamersley Ranges in Western Australia. The area was even mapped by the Geological Survey of WA about 20 years ago, but the crater went unnoticed.
He sent a Google Earth picture of the structure to his colleague Dr Andrew Glickson at the Australian National University, who later visited the area and confirmed that Dr Hickman had found a particularly well preserved meteorite crater.
“Our best estimate at the moment is that the crater is 10,000 to 100,000 years old,” said Dr Hickman.
Look at the crater yourself on Google Maps.

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X-Files 2 Teaser Poster Revealed?

Found this teaser one-sheet for X-Files 2 over at CinemaBlend where Josh makes a good point that this does not seem to be an officially released image. Usually the full size is better quality than this and the text at the bottom right seems too grainy. Nowhere does it refer to the '2' as this is a sequel film and www.xfiles.com is currently a dead link. Hmm. It does sort of look photoshopped now that I look at Mulder and Scully where they cast the shadow.
I call fake on this one.

SpaceShipTwo First Look

Burt Rutan's new suborbital plane is currently being constructed in a nondescript hangar in California’s Mojave Desert. The first spacecraft expressly designed for tourists is set to begin test flights in 2009.

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Shipyard, Shuttles, and Uniforms Oh, My!

Pics from the JJ Abrams Star Trek shoot at the Pastoria Electric plant outside Lebec, California.
Images were first posted on AICN. Enjoy before Paramount makes me take them down!
We see a Starfleet shipyard, a shuttle, a shuttle console and our first look at a uniform tunic!
Update: My first takedown notice! A milestone.
[images deleted due to takedown notice from Paramount Pictures. Sorry. But hey, you're here, take a look around.]

Netflix To Credit Customers For Outage

If you tried to access Netflix on Monday, you may be aware of the outage the site experienced which lasted for 11 hours. This of course prevented many of it's customers orders from being processed and sent out, resulting in a one-day delay for people expecting to receive DVDs on Tuesday.
Today Netflix announced it will provide a 5 percent credit on the monthly bills of customers whose shipments were delayed by the outage. Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey:

"The key thing here is: This was completely proactive on Netflix's part. There's no requirement for Netflix to do this, no obligation. There was no request for it. We thought it was the right thing to do."

Fortunately Mondays seem to be a lower volume day for the company. It seems the rating system portion of the site was down until Tuesday morning. This is the second-longest disruption since Netflix launched its service nine years ago. Last July the Netflix site was down for more than 18 hours when it lowered it's subscription prices.

full AP story

The New $5 Bill

Yes, I know this made the rounds a month ago; I just saw this story. Has anyone seen the bill in circulation?

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Meet Dave

This has to be better than Norbit...

Craigslist Hoax: Everything Is Free!

A hoax ad placed on Craigslist offered an Oregon man's belongings to anyone willing to come pick them up. The only problem was, the owner didn't place the ad. The hoax led to people carting away nearly everything accessible from his property ... stopping just short of taking his horse.
The man was out of town at a nearby lake when he got a phone call from a woman who stopped by his house to claim his horse. Heading back home, he saw trucks loaded with his property passing by. He stopped one, and inquired as to what was going on. "I informed them I was the owner, but they refused to give the stuff back," said Robert Salisbury. "They showed me the Craigslist printout and told me they had the right to do what they did." When he got home there were close to 30 people rummaging through his stuff. Everyone seemed to be armed with a printout of the Craigslist ad, as if that justified their continued ransacking even as the homeowner stood there telling them to leave.
This kind of thing has happened before about a year ago. I wonder what kind of legislation lawmakers will try to pass as a result of this.

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XM-Sirius merger approved by DOJ

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) cleared the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. Further approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is now likely to follow suit, said analysts, which would give a green light to the long-awaited merger valued at $5 billion.
“It’s very rare that the FCC would have a contradictory ruling,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank. He said approval could be in “days or the next quarter. My sense is the FCC is going to move relatively quickly.” It is also possible the FCC could place stipulations on the deal, including that the companies be required to rent out a slice of spectrum to other parties, he noted.

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Coolest Movie Theater In Hong Kong

The AMC Pacific Place Cinema opened on December 9th 2006 in Hong Kong, China. The newly designed space houses six theaters, featuring a total of 599 seats. Pacific Place is considered “Asia’s most technologically-advanced cinema." The hallways look something like Star Trek:TNG meets modern skating rink. The theater's seating and interiors definitely look Star Trek inspired, boasting sumptuous French leather seats and 'Hong Kong’s best three-way SRD-EX audio system.' More cool pics when you hit the link below.

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Regal Cinemas To Add 31 Imax Screens

The Regal Entertainment Group, which owns the nation’s largest movie theater chain, will add 31 new Imax screens to it's theaters. Regal will share the cost of installation and revenue with the Imax Corporation but they decline to give any specifics of the business arrangement. Regal's primary competitor, AMC Theaters, announced a similar deal with Imax in December. This will double the current count of Imax screens in the United States from 150 to over 300 by 2010.
These deals attempt to combat the decade-long boom in home entertainment. Even though last year saw a record $9.6 billion in ticket sales in the US and Canada, theatrical attendance was flat with the same 1.4 billion attendees from 2006. Meanwhile, the home theater experience is getting better with widescreen HDTVs, high definition movies, and increased choice in entertainment options making staying at home a more attractive option.

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My Blog Log Claim

This post is to confirm that I am asserting claim to this site for My Blog Log profile.

HD-DVD Player Supply Drying Up

Average retail prices of the entry-level HD-DVD player price saw a big drop on Thursday: Some stores are selling the HD-A3 for less than $60. Data collected from Pricegrabber.com also suggests that inventories are declining quickly, with less stores carrying HD-DVD players every day. It appears that Toshiba’s estimate that channel supplies of HD-DVD players will gone by the end of this month could be about right. Pricegrabber.com showed a huge drop of average retail prices for the entry-level HD-A3 model. The availability of all three HD-DVD models declines quickly and the high-end HD-35 has virtually disappeared from the market.
Update: Amazon still has some HD-A3 players in stock for $97.72.

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She'll Be Back-Sarah Conner Preparing For Season 2

It looks like she'll be back. Michael Ausiello from TV Guide is reporting that Fox's in-limbo Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles has quietly begun staffing up for the fall. Apparently Fox has given producers the green light to start booking directors for next season's first three episodes.
Of course, this is not a guarantee that T:SCC is returning, it's a good indication. At least this is far better than how Jericho is faring.

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CBS Cancels Jericho - Again

CBS has officially canceled Jericho. Again. A statement by CBS reads:

"The March 25th episode of Jericho will be the series finale. Without question, there are passionate viewers watching this program; we simply wish there were more. We thank an engaged and spirited fan base for keeping the show alive this long, and an outstanding team of producers, cast and crew that went through creative hoops to deliver a compelling, high quality second season. We have no regrets bringing the show back for a second try. We listened to our viewers, gave the series an opportunity to grow, and the producers put a great story on the screen. We're proud of everyone's efforts."

So be sure to tune in Tuesday night as the last episode airs. There is a slim chance the show could be picked up by a cable network like USA or SciFi, but it needs to happen soon before the principal actors and producers move on to other things.

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Sony Retracts Bloatware Removal Fee

Yesterday it became known that Sony started offering 'crapware' free versions of certain Vaio models. The 'Fresh Start' option would 'safely scrub' your new computer free of trial versions of software; often called bloatware or crapware; for an additional $50.
As of today, Sony is retracting the 'Fresh Start' upcharge and offering the option free.

"We want Vaio users to have the best experience possible with our PCs, and we believe Fresh Start will help ensure that happens right out-of-the-box," the company said in a statement.
Sony earlier justified the fee by saying it covers removal of the unwanted software before shipment.

The Vaio TZ2000 and Vaio TZ2500 notebooks with the Windows Vista Business OS are the models Fresh Start is available on. Customers who buy these laptops are already paying an additional $100 to upgrade to Windows Vista Business OS from Windows Vista Home Premium.
What a difference having an issue posted on Engadget or Digg makes.

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2007 YouTube Awards

AP- And the winner for best music video: "Chocolate Rain." Tay Zonday morphed from an unknown musician to an Internet superstar who got booked on national TV shows after his song "Chocolate Rain" -- an amateur clip of his baritone crooning -- went viral last year. Now he's among the 12 winners of the second annual YouTube Video Awards, recognizing the top user-created videos of 2007.
YouTube users voted on six nominees for each category: music, sports, comedy, instructional, short film, inspirational, commentary, creative, politics, series, eyewitness and "adorable." "It's the new Emmys," Zonday, 25, said of the video-sharing site's awards in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It's the next Oscars. The next People's Choice Awards. It'll be interesting to see what happens five years, 10 years (from now)."
Who didn't win? Chris Crocker (Leave Britney Alone! I'm serious!); Obama Girl, aka Amber Lee Ettinger (I Got A Crush On Obama); the "Don't taze me, bro" incident; otters holding hands; and Naked Gay Ted all failed to win awards.
See all the winners.
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Biggest Gamma Ray Burst Ever

Scientists have detected an interstellar explosion so bright that it was briefly visible to the naked eye—from 7.5 billion light-years away. Viewers looking at the right patch of night sky on Wednesday would have seen several afterglows from the massive gamma-ray burst, slightly brighter than the faintest visible stars. NASA's Swift satellite captured the unprecedented spectacle using its X-Ray Telescope (left) and Optical/Ultraviolet Telescope (right). The burst was named GRB 080319B, because it was the second of four bursts detected that day—a first for Swift.
Gamma-ray bursts occur when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse, rapidly pouring out enormous amounts of high-energy radiation and particles. Acting like high-power cosmic blowtorches, the particle jets can also heat interstellar clouds to create bright afterglows, according to scientists.
Researchers are still unsure why GRB 080319B was so bright. Some theories include an originating star with an unusual mass, spin, or magnetic field or an especially concentrated energy jet.

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Mad Scientists Create Borg Moths

It’s awfully difficult to build a flying robot with spy gear built in, so why not just implant the gear in a living bug?
DARPA's Hi-MEMS program aims to implant place micro-mechanical systems [MEMS] "inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis," the agency explains. That way, as the bugs get older, tissues grow around -- and fuse together with -- the tiny machines. Ultimately, DARPA wants these MEMS to remote-operate the insects, either through "direct electrical muscle excitation, electrical stimulation of neurons, projection of ultrasonic pulses simulating bats, [or] projection of pheromones," the agency says. The ultimate goal would be to have the cyborgs "carry one or more sensors, such as a microphone or a gas sensor, [and] relay back information."
Creepy.

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Wall-E - Final Trailer

Wall-E - Final Trailer [VO]
Uploaded by K3vin

Disney/Pixar has released the final trailer for Wall-E. It's the cutest one yet.

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Battlestar Galactica Premiere and Prequel News

The wait for season four is almost over! BSG junkies can get their fix online 10 hours before the show airs on TV. Offices across America might as well close down from Noon to 1pm as the final season premiere will stream live on SciFi.com at that time. Also a two hour prequel movie is in the works; Caprica, which takes place 50 years before BSG, will begin production this spring and will air in the fall.

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First Starfleet Academy Spy Shots

Ain't It Cool News has posted several spy photos from a location being used to film scenes from the now-delayed Star Trek film coming in 2009. Above is one of them, follow the link below for the rest. Look carefully and you'll see the Starfleet arrow symbol on the light posts.The location is the Oviatt Library at California State University.

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Writer Arthur C Clarke Dies At 90

Legendary British science fiction writer and futurist Sir Arthur C Clarke has died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90.
One of the most prolific writers of our time, over 100 books as well as many short stories are credited to him; including the '2001' series, two of which were adapted into feature films. He authored many non-fiction books and papers as well; a 1945 paper titled 'Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?' thoroughly described the concept of geostationary telecommunications satellites. During World War II he served in the England's Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was involved in their early warning radar defense system. In that same era, he also predicted that man would reach the moon before the year 2000.
His 1972 novel Rendezvous with Rama is currently in pre-production as a major feature film.

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Daily Dilbert

When Black Holes Explode: Measuring 5th Dimension Emissions

From Universe Today:
Primordial black holes are remnants of the Big Bang and they are predicted to be knocking around in our universe right now. If they were 10¹²kg or bigger at the time of creation, they have enough mass to have survived constant evaporation from Hawking radiation over the 14 billion years since the beginning of the cosmos. But what happens when the tiny black hole evaporates so small that it becomes so tightly wrapped around the structure of a fifth dimension (other than the "normal" three spatial dimensions and one time dimension)? Well, the black hole will explosively show itself, much like an elastic band snapping, emitting energy. These final moments will signify that the primordial black hole has died. What makes this exciting is that researchers believe they can detect these events as spikes of radio wave emissions and the hunt has already begun…

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Regal Theaters To Allow Red Band Trailers

From The Hollywood Reporter: The Regal Entertainment Group announced this weekend that they would begin to allow restricted (aka "red band") trailers to be shown before screenings of their more adult-themed features. Red Band trailers start with a red MPAA rating screen at the beginning, as seen in the image, instead of the green one you usually see. The red band trailer is only approved to show a restricted audience, so it would only be put in front of an R-rated movie.
Previously Regal Cinemas and other chains would not show red band trailers, one obvious reason being the possibility of a mix-up in the projection booth resulting in one being shown to an inappropriate audience, which has happened before. Even the wrong movie has been shown to audiences at times due to projection booth errors.

As an industry leader that operates 6,388 screens in 39 states and the District of Columbia, Regal's policy change likely will lead to similar decisions at a number of the nation's other major chains.
"This is going to be hugely helpful for us when we want to give targeted moviegoers a true sense of the kind of movies we are offering," said Adam Fogelson, Universal president of marketing and distribution. "I couldn't be happier or more grateful to the people at Regal for continuing the dialogue that has led to this decision."

When I worked at a movie theater, red bands were more common than in recent years, but still were somewhat infrequently used. The amount of red bands produced by studios dramatically reduced after the new millennium started when an FTC report was released that criticized the entertainment industry and it's advertising practices.

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New Star Wars Movie, TV Shows On The Way

George Lucas offered a glimpse into the latest creation in his sci-fi universe at the theater-owners convention ShoWest Thursday, showing a sequence from "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," a computer-animated movie due in theaters August 15. It will be followed by a TV series of the same name, to air on the Cartoon Network and TNT this fall.
The movie came about as an afterthought while Lucas was developing an animated TV show of the same name. That show debuts this fall, but Lucas figured it was ripe for big-screen treatment, too.
Set in the years between episodes II and III -- "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith" - the movie and series present fresh adventures of Jedi warrior Anakin Skywalker, his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and other colleagues. Lucas said he plans to produce at least 100 hours worth of TV episodes of "Clone Wars."
He also is moving forward with a live-action "Star Wars" TV show focusing largely on new characters removed from the Skywalker family. That show will be set in the decades between "Revenge of the Sith" and the period when the original film, 1977's "Star Wars," takes place.

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HD Format War Costs Toshiba $1 Billion

Holy. Cow.

Japan's Toshiba expects to post nearly one billion dollars in losses this year as it shuts down its HD-DVD business after losing to rival Sony's Blu-ray format. Toshiba Corp. is expected to see total HD-DVD losses to as much as nearly $986 million said the Nikkei business daily. Toshiba declined to confirm specific figures. "The company is currently assessing the possible losses," a Toshiba spokeswoman said. "If we need to revise an earnings report, we will make an announcement at an appropriate time."

The rest of the report is superfluous to anyone who reads this site. Possible losses? Possible losses?? I would not want to be a Toshiba stockholder right now.

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The Incredible Hulk Trailer

Finally a trailer for this movie. Looks promising, more accurate to the source material than the previous film. The storyline seems similar to to the book when Bruce Jones was writing it a few years ago.

Hulu Goes Public Today

After private beta for almost five months, Hulu, the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corporation, goes public today. It's not a viral video site like YouTube. Instead, it focuses on professionally produced content like The Simpsons and Family Guy from Fox and The Office and 30 Rock from NBC. Even older stuff like Battlestar Galactica classic and Hart To Hart are found. There's even about 60 movies you can watch free like The Simpsons Movie, The Usual Suspects, and Moonstruck. Clips and episodes can be embedded in your site as you see above.
There are limitations to the site. The TV series available are somewhat limited and not all series have all episodes. For example, Family Guy only shows three full episodes but 221 popular clips from the show. Futurama is clips only, no episodes. The classic series Rockford Files shows only episodes from season one on the site, far less than the six seasons it ran. Still, this is a step in the right direction. Perhaps one day all TV will be available to watch online like this.

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Wal-Mart Ends Test of Linux in Stores

I'm not really surprised at this. No Wal-Mart employee I talked to at any store knew anything about the G-PC. I guess I don't live near any of the 600 test market locations. They are still selling it online, however.

Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows didn't attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday. "This really wasn't what our customers were looking for," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien.

Yes, lets not sell easy to use, free operating systems that are not targets for viruses and malware to our customers. Instead, we will sell other cheap PCs with Vista Home Basic installed and let Grandma deal with User Account Control.

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Mankind's Secrets To Be Stored On Moon

In addition to the Doomsday seed bank, now plans are being drawn up for a “Doomsday ark” in which hard discs holding information such as DNA sequences and instructions for metal smelting or planting crops would be contained. This Doomsday Ark would be kept on the moon. It would be buried in a vault just under the lunar surface and transmitters would send the data to heavily protected receivers on earth. If no receivers survived, the ark would continue transmitting the information until new ones could be built. The vault could later be extended to include natural material including microbes, animal embryos and plant seeds and even cultural relics such as surplus items from museum stores.

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Saving Jericho: Season 3

Bjo Trimble is a name I haven't thought of in years. She is, however, an expert on campaigns to save TV shows. Bjo and her husband were the driving force of the original 'save our show' campaign in 1968. Without her efforts, we might never have had a third season of the original Star Trek, and consequently, enough episodes for a successful syndication and subsequent movies and new TV series.
Here at the Jericho Monster site, Bjo and Michael Hinman of SyFy Portal weigh in on further efforts to save the CBS show Jericho. Again.

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Mark Zuckerburg Disaster Interview At SXSW

AUSTIN, TX- At the SXSW Interactive Festival yesterday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared in an anticipated keynote interview with columnist Sarah Lacy. By all accounts, the interview was pretty much a disaster, as even the audience turned on Lacy before it was over. Her meandering stories and oddly laid back, flirty style during the interview seemed to rub the audience the wrong way.
Live comments on Twitter were slamming Lacy as the interview progressed. "I've never seen such a bad interview of someone on stage here. Totally disappointing" Twittered Robert Scoble. Other Twitter comments included:
"Sarah Lacey is conducting the worst interview I've seen at sxsw"...
"This interview is embarrassing #sxsw. Let the guy talk"...
"The train wreck of that interview will become a part of SXSW mythology. 'I was there.' will be a badge of pride."
Before the interview was over, Zuckerberg and Lacy seemed to be exchanging jabs. At one point, as he was answering one of her questions, she began to talk over him, only to notice his reaction. "I kind of cut you off," she said. "You kind of had this hurt look, like, 'I was talking.'"
At another point, Zuckerberg accused Lacy of making up an anecdotal story about him.
In the end, she let audience members lead the rest of the interview and ask their own questions.
You can watch part of the interview in this clip.

New Awesome "Indiana Jones 4" Poster

SlashFilm has posted the (possibly) final theatrical movie poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! By legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan, it features the first official close-up look at the alien-like Crystal Skull and a snake crawling out from the foliage around the Mayan ruins in a design that evokes memories of the Last Crusade film.

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Doritos Ad To Be Beamed To Ursa Major

From the Telegraph via EnvironmentalGraffiti: Doritos is paying UK astronomers to broadcast a 30 second ad to constellation Ursa Major. No, this is not an Onion article.

Although each and every television advert already broadcast has leaked into the heavens, the caper marks the first time one is to be targetted at an other worldly market, a zone in the constellation Ursa Major that could harbour alien worlds, the snack manufactuer Doritos announces today.
For broadcasting the advert into space, encoded as ones and zeros that clever aliens should be able to figure out, Doritos will make an undisclosed donation to astronomers and academics from Leicester University and Eiscat (The European Incoherent SCATter Scientific Association).
The space-bound ad will broadcast from a 500MHz Ultra High Frequency Radar from the EISCAT Space Centre in Svalbard, Norway, used to study the atmosphere and northern lights, which has escaped a savage round of cuts because its five year renewal contract has been signed.
The transmission will be invisible to earthlings and is being directed at a solar system 42 light years away from Earth with planets that orbit its star '47 Ursae Majoris' (UMa). 47 UMa is located in the 'Ursa Major' Constellation, also known as the Great Bear or Plough.

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Final "Iron Man" Movie Poster!

Need another fix of "Iron Man" goodness in anticipation of the movie's big release on May 2? Look no further than this awesome new poster released today! Featuring the alluring images of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Terence Howard as Jim Rhodes, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane and the irresistible Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, May 2 can't get here soon enough!

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Local Bomb Threat Closes Shopping Center

For local readers, River Oaks Shopping Center and adjacent businesses were closed for over three hours this afternoon while authorities inspected a suspicious package that was found under a bench in front of the former Ricks Furniture building. The package was addressed to two judges in Washington, D.C., according to the Kerrville Daily Times.
Authorities closed off Plaza Dr. from Junction Hwy to Guadalupe St during this time as well as about 20 local businesses including Blockbuster, Dollar General, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, Taco Casa, and the remaining businesses in the shopping center.
Representatives from the Department of Defense arrived on the scene shortly before 1pm with a bomb disposal robot and bomb squad personnel.
The package was inspected by the robot and determined to not be a threat as what looked like several shirts and a towel or blanket were removed from the cardboard box shortly after 2pm. Very quickly after that the tone on the scene changed, as fire department trucks and other vehicles began to leave the area. At 2:21 pm local police were calling business managers to inform them the area was re-opened.
Bomb disposal robot arrives in front of bench to examine package.

Authorities start to inspect the package as the robot begins to leave the scene.

Media from San Antonio NBC affiliates on the scene.

Personnel begin to leave the area after the package was determined to be non-threatening.

Sony, Microsoft Planning Blu-ray Drive For 360?

From FinancialTimes via Engadget: According to Stan Glasgow, Sony Electronics US president, "Sony is in talks with console rival Microsoft about offering a Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360." This doesn't necessarily mean anything other than that they are talking; but it would be an interesting development if the rival to the PS3 were to offer an add-on drive to play movies on Blu-ray Disc. Currently Blu-ray playback is built into the PS3, making it the only game system that plays HD movies out of the box. Microsoft had offered an HD-DVD drive as an add-on until it was recently discontinued after the HD-DVD format was killed by Toshiba.

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Superhero Movie

AppleTV About 600 Movies Short

At MacWorld this year, when Steve Jobs announced iTunes Movie Rentals and the update to AppleTV, he promised 1000 titles by the end of February, with over 10% being in HD:

"iTunes Movie Rentals launches today and will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV."

Now its March 5 and counts have differed over just how many movies there are to rent on iTunes; Macworld and AppleInsider report just over 350, with 91 in HD. The feature to show all movies appears to have now been disabled. Even though Apple's HD goal is close, a look at the actual movies offered in HD shows 21 of them are from the 80s or earlier decades and don't really benefit from being shown in HD.
Apple hasn't really commented on the issue and time will tell when they will reach their original goal of 1000 movie rentals.

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Paramount Releasing Final HD-DVD Titles Today

The end of the HD-DVD format truly begins today as movie titles 'Things We Lost In The Fire' and 'Into The Wild' will be Paramount's final releases in the format. After that, the studio will be switching over to Blu-ray Disc exclusively for high definition packaged media. The studio has canceled the previously scheduled HD-DVD releases of 'Bee Movie', 'Sweeney Todd', 'There Will Be Blood', 'The Kite Runner' and 'The Jack Ryan Collection'. All remaining scheduled releases from Paramount and DreamWorks Animation are DVD only, with Blu-ray versions of most films expected to be announced soon. In a related note, Universal's final HD-DVD release will be 'Atonement' on March 18. Paramount and Universal were the last two studios supporting the now-defunct HD-DVD format after Warner Bros announced their intent to drop the format on January 4.

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Disney Producing Tron Sequel For 2011

Disney may be booting up the Master Control Program again, if reports are correct about an upcoming sequel to the 1982 film Tron. According to film site Dark Horizons, Disney is also gearing up to release sequels to Cars, National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean for that year.
Tron was one of, if not the first, big studio film to extensively use computer graphics and animation. Tron had only moderate success at the box office in 1982, fighting E.T., Star Trek II, and Blade Runner that summer, and gained more of a following on home video and television airings. The film spawned an arcade game (which I played numerous times in the 80s) and several home computer and console games. The film was snubbed by the Academy Awards that year, they refused to nominate the film for visual effects, reasoning that the filmmakers 'cheated' on the effects by using computers to achieve them. How things have changed.
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Pioneer May Pull Plug On Plasma

In a move sure to freak out plasma TV fans everywhere, industry sources are reporting Pioneer is finalizing plans to stop production of it's own plasma display panels. Known for manufacturing quality, award winning plasma TV panels, Pioneer would have to purchase panels from other manufacturers like Panasonic (Matsushita) or Hitachi if it continues to produce plasma TVs. Pioneer spokesperson Ema Suzuki confirmed the company is reviewing its plasma display business due to sluggish sales, but stressed that no decision had been reached as of today.
Pioneer will unveil its latest business plans at a press conference this Friday.

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NASA Spacecraft Photographs Avalanches on Mars

A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has taken the first ever image of active avalanches near the Red Planet's north pole. The image shows tan clouds billowing away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have just cascaded down.
The High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took the photograph Feb. 19. It is one of approximately 2,400 HiRISE images being released today. Ingrid Daubar Spitale of the University of Arizona, Tucson, who works on targeting the camera and has studied hundreds of HiRISE images, was the first person to notice the avalanches. "It really surprised me," she said. "It's great to see something so dynamic on Mars. A lot of what we see there hasn't changed for millions of years."
"We don't know what set off these landslides," said Patrick Russell of the University of Berne, Switzerland, a HiRISE team collaborator. "We plan to take more images of the site through the changing Martian seasons to see if this kind of avalanche happens all year or is restricted to early spring."

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