“No worries, we can watch this movie on my iPad on the plane,” I announced with confidence.
“Oh really? Cool. Let’s do that!” she replied, proud of her little nerdy man.
Yup. I was cool. I was going to rip a DVD that we just bought to watch on my iPad on a long flight to Korea. How amazed would she be when that movie so easily pops up on the Retina display as we ease into complimentary wine and processed air for a good 13 hours!
And then I tried to actually complete the task of getting a movie from a DVD to an iPad.
If you’re looking for an honest deal with a man who makes it his mission to connect to the consumers of the media he produces – and you love blood-filled effects-driven films, of course – RZA’s “The Man with the Iron Fists” release package will be right up your alley. This movie is going to be out on November 2nd, and according to RZA, the simple blacksmith that takes on evil with his own metalworking skills creating a weapon not only inside the film, but out here in the real press-driven film industry. If you head to the IronFists.com release site for the film, for example, you’ll find complete Release Notes with more details than you could possibly need to explore the upcoming epic.
This film promises to take the theater with film quality not unlike that of Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” series with RZA and Eli Roth at the helm. As RZA makes clear, “Hollywood don’t put out these kind of movies, kid. If you want a karate movie, you gotta go get a subtitle joint. This is English speaking with Oscar-winning actors in it.” A mix-up of the quality that comes with the top-brass from Hollywood, that is, with an energy only otherwise found in the best of the best in international kung-fu productions.
You can see RZA speak on the movie briefly in the interview series shown above, hosted by hip-hop legend Funkmaster Flex and working with the director / rapper / producer to reveal not just the ingredients that make the Iron Fists movie possible, but what made the Wu-Tang Clan what it is in the music industry as well. RZA was one of the founding members of that hip-hop / kung-fu fusion group, if you did not know, and it’s from that media staple that the artist has been able to blossom in the film universe.
The Iron Fists movie will be rolling out with superstars such as Rick Yune, Jamie Chung, Cung Le, David Bautista, Byron Mann, and Gordon Liu. With Liu you’ll start to recognize stars from Quentin Tarantino films, Pam Grier, Joe D’Augustine (film editor), Lucy Liu, and Yuen Woo-Ping. This last entry in the star-studded crew was also the fight choreographer for such beastly films as Kill Bill (1 and 2), The Matrix, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Russell Crowe is in the film as well – certainly an audience grabber.
This film will work with characters such as Bronze Lion, Brass Body, and the Blacksmith, so you know it’s going to be a heavy metal sort of party, but the base here is hip-hop. Expect the visual effects that make Brass Body (David Bautista) into a real metal-skinned warrior to be complimented by the musical talents of RZA, the Wu-Tang Clan, Wiz Khalifa, The Black Keys, and and Kanye West. Expect eyes to be flying out of the faces of fighters and blood to cover the walls, also.
UK speaker company AQ Audio will launch the AQ SmartSpeaker in the U.S. market. Priced at just $179 each, this AirPlay-compatible speaker can stream music directly from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod by creating its own Wi-Fi network. The AQ SmartSpeaker draws power from an integrated rechargeable battery, offering up to 10-hour of music playback via AirPlay. [iLounge]
Every generation has had its own dance craze, from the Charleston of the 1920s, the Jitterbug of the 1940s, the Twist (60s), the Hustle (70s) the Makarena (90s) to even the Chicken Dance still a staple at today’s wedding receptions. Those that stood the test of time etch a notch into our global zeitgeist. Such is the case with "Gangnam Style," a song and dance created and popularized by South Korean Rapper Psy.
For those of you not already watching the live video feed of the Felix Baumgartner jump from space down to the planet in a Red Bull stunt for the record books, now’s a good time to start – he’s jumped! This jump had been cancelled earlier in the week due to weather conditions then postponed for the same reason, here working with conditions that allow the jump to go on optimally (so far) straight down from 120,000 feet / 36,576 meters above the ground. If all goes as planned, this mission will break more than one world record, and will be more than just a little bit of a good PR bit for the Red Bull brand.
This mission will (or already has, depending on when you’re reading this) break the record for the first human to break the sound barrier in freefall. That’s a fabulous 690 miles / 1,110 kilometers per hour straight down without any propulsion other than gravity, incase you did not know. It’s already a record-breaker right as Baumgartner exited the craft he was lifted up in as this becomes the highest skydive in recorded history. Not that anyone wouldn’t have recorded such a jump, of course.
You can watch the live feed of this event above, or you can watch the computer generated rendering of the event below. Red Bull made certain to show the event in more than way so that people across the earth could understand the epic nature of it all. Now that the jump has been initiated, Red Bull has only to cross their fingers and hope that it all goes well – Red Bull will be a drink that people will be downing for generations at this!
This mission is just one of several such jumps that’ve been made by Baumgartner in the past in collaboration with Red Bull. This man also did a skydive across the English Channel and dia a BASE jump from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro – if that doesn’t make you feel like the drink gives you wings, nothing else will. Of course if you weren’t convinced then, today’s record breaker – breaking a record 50 years old, mind you – really should.
What do you think? Are you more enticed to believe in the Red Bull brand now that a man has jumped from space? Let us know!
The private equity firm Providence, one of Hulu‘s early investors, has sold its stake for $200 million. The company invested $100 million in Hulu in 2007 with a 10% stake, gaining an independent position in the company board. Providence acted on its option to exercise its shares at double the investment amount.
The buyout was announced in April of this year, and last month, a leaked Hulu memo showed that the company was setting up contingency plans in the event that CEO Jason Kilar would leave his position shortly after it happened, reading: “Outline transition plan for new CEO. Discuss potential candidates and process.” Kilar is now free to cash in on his shares, which, according to an inside source, would gain him about $100 million. Hulu has not offered a statement on the leaked memo.
Back in August, a source said that the Hulu board was in talks with CEO Kilar about his plans, but that nothing had come from it thus far. At the time, no one had been approached to replace Kilar, and a search committee had not been formed. Whether any of this has changed since then is unknown. Some speculate that Kilar may leave due to the altercations he has had with the board, which has always been a tumultuous relationship.
Hulu’s future is unknown. Some speculate that the exclusive content currently on Hulu by its three major broadcast companies (NBC, Fox, and Disney) could come to an end soon, as the companies seek to increase profits by licensing the content to more than one distributor. With Hulu’s revenue already tottering along in the “moderate” range, such a change could harm the company, throwing it into a downward spiral as the number of shows available decreases, and the wait time for access to the ones that remain potentially lengthen to longer than next-day availability.
Back in 2007, the script for the not-gonna-happen-anytime-soon fourth installment of Jurassic Park was reviewed by Ain’t it Cool, revealing just how strange and different and potentially awesome the movie could be. Fast forward a few years, and production art for the script has surfaced over at NeoGAF, showing walking dinosaurs with an attitude and dino-human hybrids. Industrial Light and Magic denies that the rendered images came from its studios.
The images are a mixture of drawn and rendered photos, and they seem to match up with the review posted of the Jurassic Park IV script. For those unfamiliar, here’s a basic synopsis of the film: Main character Nick Harris travels to Isla Nublar on a secret mission for John Hammond, where he is captured by excavaraptors and security working for Grendel Corporation, who owns the island. Harris is then taken to a facility in Switzerland, where he discovers that Hammond has the brilliant ideal to (illegally) mix dino DNA with dogs and humans, creating some pretty formidable beasts.
The five hybrids are called deinonychus, which kinda sorta resemble a T-rex, only they’ve been laced with dog DNA to make them obedient. In addition to perhaps being loyal, the deinonychus’ are also super strong and fast, with keen hearing and smelling abilities, and improved forelegs, since we all know those are a T-rex’s weak spot. Specifically, the hybrids have longer, more dexterous fingers and stronger forelegs. The best part? They’re bugged with an implant that offers a shot of adrenaline or serotonin when needed.
At the end of it all, the script makes room for Jurassic Park V, and, according to Ain’t it Cool’s review, involves set pieces “much bigger than anything we’ve seen in the other films.” After all this, it isn’t surprising to see why the movie was nixed. After all, human-dog-dinosaur hybrids with adrenaline-shooting implants, ripped biceps, and a face only a mother could love being used to destroy the existing dinosaur population seems both awesome and entirely insane.
The folks responsible for designing the user interface for Netflix must have had smiles on their faces when they realized that they’d be able to create a Windows 8 flavoring for their archives. The new release of Netflix made specifically for Windows 8 is up for download right this minute, and incase you did not guess, yes, it is made specifically for the touchscreen. Of course you’re not going to have to use a touchscreen to make it work, but you’re definitely going to enjoy the process more if you do.
This update brings the same access to a top 10, new releases, and genres galore that you’re used to from Netflix Instant as well as a whole new way to access it all. The setup replicates closely what you’ll be doing with Windows 8′s own panel-based user interface for touchscreen devices, complete with swipe to the left to drag your whole collection. This update includes the same set of content as any other Netflix Instant offering, here allowing your desktop to make the best of the whole situation.
Netflix viewers on Windows 8 with this update and no touchscreen will be clicking and dragging rather than pulling on scrollbars. This may well bring up some ire in the userbase as we must assume that not everyone in the Windows universe will be wanting to use the touchscreens Microsoft intends them all to use. What we’ll see instead, more than likely, is an update that includes more than one interface – or a scrollbar – if the user does so desire. We’ll just have to wait and see.
The Netflix update for Windows 8 is available from your Windows Store as you would any other app, here bringing with it a couple extra updates outside the user interface as well. This update also brings with it what Netflix describes as a lessening of CPU usage as well as less of a drain on the battery life of your notebook computers. Netflix also notes that “this fall” they’ll be updating the app once again specifically – for now, time to watch True Grit!
Clarion has proudly introduced the ZP1, the world’s first portable full digital speaker that is equipped with solar battery modules. Measuring 192mm × 115mm × 39mm and weighing 550 grams, the speaker connects to your gadgets via Bluetooth connectivity. It is compatible with any Bluetooth-enabled gadget. The Clarion ZP1 provides three 32mm speakers, offering a max. output of 4.2 Watts. Its rechargeable battery provides enough juice for 30 hours of operating time. Recharging time is approximately 5 hours. The Clarion ZP1 solar-powered portable digital speaker will be released in December 2012. [Akihabara]
Bang & Olufsen is ready to release the BeoPlay A9 2.1 bass reflex loudspeaker system. The speaker comprises of two 3/4″ tweeters, two 3″ mid-range units, two 80-watt Class D amps and an 8″ woofer. The speaker also features a fine-tuned DSP processor and patented Adaptive Bass Linearization technology. If you are interested, you can buy the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A9 for $2,699. [Press Release]
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
![Winning The Presidential Election, Gangnam Style: Obama v Romney [Videos]](https://i0.wp.com/inventorspot.com/files/imagecache/ContentHalfWidth/blog1/e81e1b742328b1cce30a35190baa0d4d.jpg "Winning The Presidential Election, Gangnam Style: Obama v Romney [Videos]")
