Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve set up shop in a conference room above Third Avenue in Manhattan, a Canon 5D trained on Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson. I find myself apologizing awkwardly for the setup, several times. There’s a long boardroom table in the middle and a customary junket breakfast spread to the right. It’s about as plain as meeting rooms come, save for a few movie posters lining the walls, advertising films distributed by the indie film company that owns the space. Hardly ideal for our purposes, but here were are, all clumped into a single corner, with the director and producer of Samsara flanking a cardboard poster for their movie, leaned atop a stand. It’s not the welcome befitting the creators of a big, beautiful sweeping cinematic masterpiece. But they’re tired — too tired to care about such things, perhaps. They dismiss such apologies, clip their lavaliere microphones on over their shirts and sit down.

Fricke motions to the single SLR seated atop a tripod, explaining that he used the same model on a recent commercial shoot. “We have a solid background grounded in shooting in film, and that just stays with you,” he adds. “When I’m shooting like with a 5D, like what you’re using now to shoot this interview, I’m working with it like it’s a 65 camera. It’s my frame of reference, my background. I’m just wired that way.” The world of filmmaking has changed dramatically in the two decades since the duo first unleashed Baraka on the world, a non-narrative journey across 25 countries that became the high-water mark for the genre and a staple in critics’ lists and film school syllabi.

Continue reading ‘Samsara’ creators Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson discuss the digital filmmaking divide (video)

Filed under: Cameras, Home Entertainment

‘Samsara’ creators Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson discuss the digital filmmaking divide (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Call of Duty Elite is a separate service that works alongside the Call of Duty games to provide stat tracking, social options, monthly map updates, and more. The service is dropping its paid premium plans and will be going completely free for Black Ops II gamers when the new title officially launches on November 13.

For $50/year, Elite subscribers had all of the basic features of the free subscription, but also had access to certain challenges and competitions, increased video storage space, and guaranteed early access to DLC map packs. All of this will become free to all subscribers of Call of Duty Elite who buy Black Ops II.

There is one small caveat, though. It seems that early access to DLC is no longer available in Elite, but Activision is giving Xbox 360 gamers the ability to purchase a “season pass” for $50 (or 4,000 Microsoft Points). This will give gamers access to four map packs throughout 2013. Each map pack by themselves normally cost $15 each, but season pass holders will be able to grab them all for $50, saving a total of $10.

As of August, Call of Duty Elite had 12 million subscribers, and 2.3 million of them were premium subscribers. Those 2.3 million subscribers will automatically transfer to the new free service when their subscriptions for Modern Warfare 3 run out. The new Elite services will launch concurrently with Black Ops II next month.

No $50 season pass has been announced for PS3, Wii U or PC yet, but Activision notes that “season pass and DLC map packs may not be available on all gaming platforms.” Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be available for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, and PC.

[via Joystiq]

Call of Duty Elite for Black Ops II will be completely free is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Ooma’s Telo telephony device is pretty wonderful all by itself, but pairing it with the company’s soon-to-be-released HD2 handset and Linx peripheral presents a whole new opportunity to the VoIP crowd. The HD2 — the second generation Telo handset first introduced at CES 2012 — offers some smartphone-esque functionality to your home phone: syncing with contacts across various social media services, for one, and profile photos popping up in the 2-inch color screen as identification on incoming calls. It launches very soon — October 17 — at US and Canadian retailers with an asking price of $60, despite previously being given a March 2012 launch window.

The Linx — which was outed in an FCC filing earlier this year — adds a much more quaint ability to the Telo: the ability to plug in any normal landline phone (yes, even that free football phone you got with your Sports Illustrated subscription in the mid-’90s). The Telo can handle up to four connected phones, in the HD2 handset or Linx-connected devices (including fax machines, also from the mid-’90s). Linx connectors are also available as of October 17 at US and Canadian retailers with an asking price of $50.

Filed under: Misc, Handhelds, Household, Peripherals, Wireless

Ooma HD2 handset and Linx adapter available on Oct.17 for $60 and $50, respectively originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m not sure that I could bring myself to pull out a knife and start slicing into this gory skinless human head cake, but it’s still pretty awesome.

It was made by the guys over at Conjurer’s Kitchen, and offers a disturbing amount of anatomical detail. It looks like one of those “visible human” models I used to build when I was a kid, showing off all its muscle and blood vessels after its skin was peeled back. Delicious.

This gruesome, handpainted dessert was actually based on an old anatomical wax mold from the late 18th century. You can check out more pics of this disturbing, yet amazing cake over on the Conjurer’s Kitchen Facebook page. There’s no word on what the insides look like, but if I wouldn’t be surprised to find edible grey matter and blood.

[via Boing Boing via Obvious Winner]

Windows 8 doesn’t officially launch until October 26, and while you can download the release preview now, you’ll have to wait until next week in order to grab the full, complete version. Or will you? It turns out one person spotted copies of Windows 8 on sale at a local Walmart that turned out to be on sale and ready for purchase.

The person who spotted the copies on Walmart shelves didn’t end up buying a copy, but he was told by Walmart employees that the copies were, in fact, available to purchase, but the store just wasn’t fully promoting them yet, even though the shelves were fully stocked with Windows 8 copies and all. Whether or not Walmart franchises across the country have all done this is not yet known.

Then again, this isn’t the first time retailers have jumped the gun on various Windows 8 products. The Home Shopping Network did it with a few Windows 8 computers about a week ago on their website, and Best Buy started to load up their computer section with Windows 8 laptops of their own. However, Best Buy is doing the smart thing and aren’t letting their customers buy one until the official release date.

Currently, Windows 8 is available for pre-order right now. You can grab an upgrade version to Windows 8 Pro for $69.99, or get full OEM versions starting at $99 for Windows 8 regular or $139 for Windows 8 Professional. Many online retailers have the new OS up for pre-order, and will ship copies on October 26.

[via The Verge]

Windows 8 copies on sale at Walmart is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.