Hasta La Gadget!

The next Star Trek big-time motion picture event “Star Trek Into Darkness” has been announced to be working with none other than Dolby Atmos for superior sound. The production teams at Bad Robot and director J.J. Abrams have let it be known that they’ll be integrating the Dolby Professional Reference Monitor PRM-4200 into their pre and post-production workflows and that the Dolby Atmos audio system will bring the whole Star Trek into Darkness soundtrack experience to a whole new galaxy. This film has been announced to be hitting theaters on May 17th, 2013.

This announcement has Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom Inc., bringing this news to ShowEast 2012 where they’ve made it clear that they’re aiming for the latest in technical achievements as well as cinematic storytelling with this new beast of a film. With the Dolby hardware and software they’ll be using here, the biggest and the best can be a reality, especially since Academy Award winner Andy Nelson and multiple Academy Award nominee Anna Behlmer are up in the re-recording mix laboratory for the Dolby Atmos mix.

Academy Award winner Ben Burtt and multiple Academy Award nominee Matt Wood are the supervising sound editors for this project as well, bringing a revolution to the sound experience with a “new level of creative control” afforded by Dolby. This experience is said to be bringing the “full impact of the sound mix” regardless of the configuration of the theater in which you’re experiencing Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013.

“We are in the incredible and lucky position to have access to the latest technology, the best possible tools, and the most talented artists in the business. We are therefore thrilled to announce that we will be employing the amazingly immersive Dolby Atmos audio system to bring the Star Trek into Darkness soundtrack to life.” – Abrams

Oddly this does not mean that every theater will have a certified Dolby Atmos experience – a list of theaters selected to show “Star Trek into Darkness in Dolby Atmos” will be released closer to the release date of the film. This film was written by Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci and is produced by the same trio along with Abrams. The film will be produced by the four through Bad Robot Productions and, again, will be directed by Abrams. SlashGear will be continuing to cover Star Trek Into Darkness until it’s released – stay tuned!

Star Trek Into Darkness teams with Dolby Atmos is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time for a new kind of app for the smart universe, on that focuses on the child in you – or your child, of course – and brings your toys to life with augmented reality: it’s ToyTalk! The three folks behind this project were all formerly at Pixar in different positions – Martin Reddy was a lead Software Engineer, Oren Jacob was CTO, and Bobby Podesta was a supervising animator, and with their combined expertise, we’re about to see speaking toy enter the smart space. The whole project is set to launch at the start of 2013, but just today they’ve released their first cinematic trailer.

Martin Reddy is currently the CTO of ToyTalk and was also (in addition to working at Pixar) part of the team building geospatial visualization technology at the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International. SRI is the group that created Siri, the personal assistant software that currently lives in the iPhone and the iPad. This team also has Renee Adams, currently ToyTalk’s head of operations – Adams worked for several years at Apple working on logistics and retail operations. ToyTalk’s “Senior Speech Scientist” is Brian Langner, Carnegie Mellon PhD.

Though that’s not the entire team they’re working with, you can start to form a picture of the final product: artificial intelligence for kids. And not just that – applied to the toys that the kids own and play with on the daily. Have a peek at the trailer they’ve created to see what they’ve been cooking in the lab.

Sound like a strange enough situation to be excellent to you? We’ll be finding out more on this app – and the ecosystem that surrounds it – sooner than later! Stick with SlashGear to see the whole situation unfold as it unfolds – it’s going to be a good time!

Former Pixar and Siri developers join up for ToyTalk to make Teddy speak is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

George Lucas has taken the opportunity here in his lifetime to make a deal with Disney this week to sell his company Lucasfilm and all rights to the Star Wars empire, this ushering in news that nearly as large: a new Star Wars movie will appear in 2015! The Lucasfilm company is being transferred to Disney for an agreement in cash and stocks for $4.05 billion USD, a number strikingly similar to the total amount of cash the Star Wars franchise has earned in box office cash to date: $4.4 billion. Don’t get those two numbers mixed up – meanwhile, get pumped up for Star Wars Episode 7 in less than three years!

The next Star Wars movie has no real details surrounding it at the moment other than the fact that it will, indeed, be housed in the same Star Wars galaxy (of course), and that it’ll almost certainly be made with real-world actors. By 2015 though, there’s no knowing what that could entail – having seen the advancements in movies like Tron: Legacy, we wouldn’t rule out Mark Hamill and Carrie Fischer coming back for another jaunt. As the official release on the subject goes, the episode will expand the universe “well into the future.”

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

With the visual effects in films advancing at an exponential rate, by the time 2015 rolls around, we’ll have a new Star Wars film that’s advanced beyond our wildest imagination. George Lucas will continue to help with the process, but from there the sky is the limit. New directors can be brought in, and as Lucas has made clear:

“It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products.” – Lucas

The next generation is coming, Star Wars fans! This is good news unless you’re one of those in love with the original trilogy – classic forever. If you haven’t let go of the idea that everything outside that first set of three is sacrilege, now would be a good time.

Star Wars Episode 7 scheduled for 2015: yes, really! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Kenwood has announced the availability of the UD-NF7 And UD-F5 mini Hi-Fi systems in Japan. Both mini Hi-Fi systems feature a 50Wx2ch output at 4-Ohm, a CD player, EX.BASS and an FM/AM tuner. The Kenwood UD-NF7 is a higher-end model that supports Wi-Fi, DLNA 1.5 and AirPlay. Both models are compatible with MP3 and WMA files. The Kenwood UD-NF7 and UD-F5 mini Hi-Fi systems will be released in early November for 60,000 Yen ($750) and 38,000 Yen ($476), respectively. [Akihabara]

Outdoor cinemas were all the rage in the past, and it looks like they’re making a grand comeback. I’m not talking about drive-in theaters though. Rather, I’m talking about the Hot Tub Cinema.

Yeah, the pictures don’t lie. The Hot Tub Cinema is a traveling screening event that’s currently making the rounds in East London, and it looks like it’s been a huge hit so far. I mean, who doesn’t want to watch a movie while taking a bath with hundreds of other strangers, right?

This particular one was held on the rooftop of Netil360, where classics like Top Gun and Anchorman were screened against London’s grand skyline.

Hot Tub Cinema began privately about seven years ago. Since then it has grown in increments, reaching the stage of a handful of hot tubs in a garden in Stoke Newington about 18 months ago at which point we realised it was time to find some new & exciting venues for our expanding endeavors.

The Hot Tub Cinema has a couple of events scheduled for the Halloween season, which you can check out here. They’re all going to be held in London though, so if you happen to be there, drop by for a truly one-of-a-kind movie-watching experience.

[via Pop Up City]