Hasta La Gadget!

Facebook has been taking advertising more seriously than ever recently . Now it’s taking things to the next level though—by using its data to sell targeted ads on third party sites.

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While there are plenty of smartwatches to choose from at the moment, if there is one troubling feature that most of these wearables have is that their battery life is extremely poor, and are usually pegged to last about a day. In fact even the beautifully designed Moto 360 is no exception to that rule, but thankfully Motorola has done something about that.

According to reports, it seems that Motorola has recently issued an update to the Moto 360 that has brought about rather impressive battery improvements. According to some users on Reddit, they are seeing battery life of 53% left even after 30 hours of use, which we have to say is mighty impressive as far as smartwatches are concerned.

For those who own the Moto 360, the update in question carries the build number KGW42R and the Android Wear version should be 1.0.1.1448224. If you are not running this version then you should probably check to see if there are any updates available for your watch, after which you can download it and get the same battery life that everyone else is enjoying.

In the meantime for those who have updated their Moto 360 smartwatches, have you found your device’s battery life to have greatly improved with the update, or is there no difference?

Moto 360 Update Reportedly Brings About Improved Battery Life

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

As we’re sure most of you guys already know, Nokia’s mobile phone division is currently and officially owned by Microsoft, which means that Nokia Finland has pretty much washed their hands on that part of their company, or so they thought. According to a report from Reuters, it seems that there is an issue over in Mexico in which the Mexican courts have ruled that Nokia is still responsible for some of their phones.

It seems that there have been some issues with faulty Nokia Lumia handsets, and the Mexican courts have ruled that because these devices were purchased before Microsoft had acquired the company that Nokia is still liable to pay out any damages or offer replacements for said devices.

In fact the lawsuit against Nokia was actually filed in 2010 which was way before Microsoft even announced their plans to acquire Nokia’s mobile phone division. The court went on to state that customers who had purchased a Lumia handset from Nokia that was still giving them problems are eligible to file a claim against the company.

Profeco, the consumer protection agency in Mexico, is asking Nokia to reimburse the cost of the handset to the purchaser and to pay their customers at least 20% of the costs their incurred from the faulty device. Interestingly enough Microsoft was not mentioned in the ruling. Neither Nokia Mexico nor Profeco would comment on the ruling at this point in time.

Mexican Court Rules That Nokia Mexico Still Liable For Faulty Handsets

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-led coalition warplanes bombed Islamic State group positions overnight across four provinces in northern and eastern Syria, hitting a grain silo as well as the country’s largest gas plant, activists said Monday.

Washington and its Arab allies opened their air assault against the extremist group last week, going after its military facilities, training camps, heavy weapons and oil installations. The campaign expands upon the airstrikes the United States has been conducting against the militants in Iraq since early August.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said coalition forces hit Islamic State group facilities overnight in Aleppo, Raqqa, Hassakeh and Deir el-Zour provinces. It said there were casualties, but that it did not have concrete figures.

Among the facilities hit was the entrance to Syria’s largest gas plant, Conoco in Deir el-Zour province, and grain silo in the extremist-held town of Manbij in Aleppo province. It said the gas facility itself was not damaged.

Another activist group, the Aleppo Media Center, also reported the strike on the grain silo in Manbij, northeast of Aleppo city. It said the attack ignited a fire at the facility.

There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. or its allies on the reported air raids.

More strikes Monday morning hit the town of Tel Abyad on the Syria-Turkey border, according to a resident on the Turkish side on the frontier.

Mehmet Ozer told The Associated Press by telephone that the raids hit an abandoned military base and an empty school, sending pillars of smoke and dust into the air. He said Islamic State fighters cleared out of the military about three or four months ago.

“They (the coalition) must not have fresh intelligence,” Ozer said.

The Islamic State group has seized control of a huge chunk of Syria and neighboring Iraq, and has declared the establishment of a self-styled caliphate ruled by its strict interpretation of Shariah law there. Its brutal tactics, which include mass killings and beheadings, have helped galvanize the international community to go after the militants.

The U.S.-led campaign aims to roll back the extremists gains in Syria and Iraq, and ultimately to destroy the group.

The coalition includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan. Several European countries also are contributing to U.S. efforts to strike the Islamic State group in Iraq, including France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Britain.

The Observatory says at least 19 civilians have been killed so far in coalition airstrikes.

On Sunday, Human Rights Watch said that it had confirmed the deaths of at least seven civilians — two women and five children — from apparent U.S. missile strikes on Sept. 23 in the village of Kafr Derian in Idlib province. The New York-based group said two men were also killed in the strikes, but that they may have been militants.

It based its conclusions on conversations with three local residents.

“The United States and its allies in Syria should be taking all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The U.S. government should investigate possible unlawful strikes that killed civilians, publicly report on them, and commit to appropriate redress measures in case of wrongdoing.”

___

Associated Press writer Desmond Butler in Antakya, Turkey, contributed to this report.

THE OLD MAN AND THE OLD MOON *** 1/2 out of ****
NEW VICTORY THEATER

I’m crazy about PigPen and soon you will be too. They’re a great rock band that also happens to put on delightful theatrical shows. Or they’re a great theatrical troupe that also happens to release terrific albums. Take your pick.

The guys met at Carnegie Mellon and formed their troupe in 2007. Since then, they’ve been crafting unique and wonderful shows built around folk tales, puppetry of all sorts, great songs and their skill as actors. They play with imagination and flair to create an entire world on stage with the simplest of tools, like a mop head, a milk jug and a bolt of blue cloth. The guys usually play multiple roles in every show, trade off lead vocals and generally have a blast.

Seven years on and they’re just hitting their stride. Their debut album Bremen was one of the best of 2012. And they’ve toured the country both as a rock band and with their show The Old Man and The Old Moon. I reviewed it when the show debuted here and it was a delight to see it again because it revealed another skill of this group: they know how to get better. It’s very hard to have perspective with your own work, especially after you’ve shared it with the world.

But PigPen has edited and tweaked and simply grown more confident in their skills. And now this newly tightened and trimmed show is yare, as only the best sailing vessels you’ve grown comfortable with can be. They’ve eliminated the intermission, focused the storytelling in ways large and small and made a very good show even better. If you saw it before, you’ll want to see it again. If you haven’t, now’s the time.

Here’s a video of the song “Bremen,” which is a highlight of the show and the title track on their debut CD. It’s not footage from the show, but the playful puppetry on display gives an idea of their sensibility and the visual look of the show.

The story is an original folk tale, in this case one that explains why the moon waxes and wanes. Turns out it didn’t always do so, thanks to an old man who lived on a cliff near the moon. Every day the moon leaked a bit of liquid light, the old man caught it in a bucket and topped off the celestial orb every night so its brightness would never dim. But the old man’s wife grew bored with their unchanging routine and his unwillingness to head to town or spend even a day away from his charge. So she took off in a boat, he took off after her and there hangs a tale.

It begins simply with the men on stage playing instruments, jamming casually with one another and then slowly slipping into a full bodied number as a little boy near me wondered, “Has it started?” Yes it has. The story is full of pirates, sea creatures, mythical cities on the horizon, fabled sailors, simple bravery (which is never that simple), lies that help, truth that hurts, balloonists and much more. It’s rousing, silly, sweet and bursting with good songs, ranging from folk ballads to one awesome Tom Waits-like number that feels like an electric jolt to the evening.

I haven’t singled out any of the PigPen members, because they truly feel like such an ensemble. Oh sure, you’ll have your favorites. But as each member dives into a new role, as three or four of them playfully jump together and declare they’re a ship! and you think, yes of course, a ship! and they move little cut-out characters behind a lit-up scrim to illustrate a character walking on a journey, you’ll laugh with each and every one of them at some point. And as they raise their voices in song, you’ll think this or that fellow has an especially lovely voice but always, always they sound better, stronger and more special when their voices join in unison.

Prior to this production, I’d seen them in funky venues in Brooklyn or Off Broadway settings. Now here they are at the New Victory Theater, a jewel box of a house that is devoted to fare for family audiences. As anyone who’s had the pleasure to see a show at New Victory, it’s a great space and their best shows would appeal to anyone. That’s certainly true of this show, which runs through October 13.

But just because kids can have fun, don’t confuse this with a children’s show that adults can enjoy too. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) You might say the same of the Tony-winning show Peter and the Starcatcher, which had a similarly playful tone. The Old Man and the Old Moon makes perfect sense here, but it would also fit right in at the high art stages of the Brooklyn Academy of Music or with an open run on Broadway. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is missing these talented performers in action.

THEATER OF 2014

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical ***
Rodney King ***
Hard Times ** 1/2
Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead **
I Could Say More *
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner **
Machinal ***
Outside Mullingar ***
A Man’s A Man * 1/2
The Tribute Artist ** 1/2
Transport **
Prince Igor at the Met **
The Bridges Of Madison County ** 1/2
Kung Fu (at Signature) **
Stage Kiss ***
Satchmo At The Waldorf ***
Antony and Cleopatra at the Public **
All The Way ** 1/2
The Open House (Will Eno at Signature) ** 1/2
Wozzeck (at Met w Deborah Voigt and Thomas Hampson and Simon O’Neill)
Hand To God ***
Tales From Red Vienna **
Appropriate (at Signature) *
Rocky * 1/2
Aladdin ***
Mothers And Sons **
Les Miserables *** 1/2
Breathing Time * 1/2
Cirque Du Soleil’s Amaluna * 1/2
Heathers The Musical * 1/2
Red Velvet, at St. Ann’s Warehouse ***
Broadway By The Year 1940-1964 *** 1/2
A Second Chance **
Guys And Dolls *** 1/2
If/Then * 1/2
The Threepenny Opera * 1/2
A Raisin In The Sun *** 1/2
The Heir Apparent *** 1/2
The Realistic Joneses ***
Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar & Grill ***
The Library **
South Pacific ** 1/2
Violet ***
Bullets Over Broadway **
Of Mice And Men **
The World Is Round ***
Your Mother’s Copy Of The Kama Sutra **
Hedwig and the Angry Inch ***
The Cripple Of Inishmaan ***
The Great Immensity * 1/2
Casa Valentina ** 1/2
Act One **
Inventing Mary Martin **
Cabaret ***
An Octoroon *** 1/2
Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging ***
Here Lies Love *** 1/2
6th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition
Sea Marks * 1/2
A Time-Traveler’s Trip To Niagara * 1/2
Selected Shorts: Neil Gaiman ***
Too Much Sun * 1/2
Broadway By The Year 1965-1989 ***
In The Park **
The Essential Straight & Narrow ** 1/2
Much Ado About Nothing ***
When We Were Young And Unafraid
Savion Glover’s Om **
Broadway By The Year 1990-2014 ***
The Lion ***
Holler If Ya Hear Me * 1/2
The Ambassador Revue ** 1/2
Dubliners: A Quartet ***
The National High School Musical Theater Awards *** 1/2
Wayra — Fuerza Bruta * 1/2
Strictly Dishonorable *** 1/2 out of ****
Between Riverside And Crazy ***
The Wayside Motor Inn ***
Bootycandy ***
Mighty Real ***
This Is Our Youth ***
Rock Bottom * 1/2
Almost Home * 1/2
Rococo Rouge **
Love Letters 1/2
The Money Shot ** 1/2
The Old Man and the Old Moon *** 1/2

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Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the founder and CEO of the forthcoming website BookFilter, a book lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every step of the way. It’s like a fall book preview or holiday gift guide — but every week in every category. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.

Note: Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understanding that he will be writing a review. All productions are in New York City unless otherwise indicated.