Hasta La Gadget!

The photo and video editors available on Windows 7 have always been somewhat basic, but Microsoft has today decided to revamp what’s available to users. Windows Photo Gallery and Movie Maker have both been updated for Windows 7 and Windows 8, offering a wealth of new functionality. Movie Maker sees the biggest change, offering some video tweaks that should help you get the most out of your smartphone or camera footage.

The big addition is a Video Stabilization option. If you’re filmed significant amounts of video on your smartphone, you know that things can get a little bit too shaky if you’re moving around or can’t keep a steady hand. The new stabilization tool in Movie Maker automatically corrects the jitters, and you can fine tune it to your specific footage with “low”, “high”, and “auto” settings.

A Music option has also been added that allows to insert tracks from your own collection or the internet. Microsoft notes that anything from your own library might be stripped from YouTube if it falls foul of copyright infringement, so the company has added several free music database such as AudioMicro and the Free Music Archive that lets you find suitable music for your video. Text effects have also been added to Movie Maker, so you can add outlines or enhance text to make it stand out.

Photo Gallery, meanwhile, adds a new Auto Collage option. That takes your available photos and intelligently pieces them together for the best results. When you’re done with your movies and photos, you can publish them straight to Vimeo thanks to a new partnership. It’s an interesting move from Microsoft, and one that Apple made with the release of Mountain Lion as well with the addition of a Vimeo sharing option.

Microsoft releases new Photo Gallery and Movie Maker is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s now not only official that there will indeed be a film called “The Avengers 2″, but that the same man as the first film will be both directing and writing the 2015 feature. While it hasn’t been confirmed directly that this film will be released three years from now, it has been confirmed that Joss Whedon has signed a deal with Marvel Studios (owned by Disney) that will last through June of 2015. In that time he’ll also be working on a live action television series for Marvel Television at ABC and he’ll be working on the ins and outs of the rest of the Marvel-related films popping up in the next few years as well.

Whedon was largely responsible for the first Disney marketed and distributed Marvel Comics film The Avengers which has to date made $1.5 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Domestic box office cash is up to $616.8 million which makes The Avengers the third-highest-grossing film in history behind the movies Avatar and Titanic. Other films currently in development in the Marvel Comics / Avengers universe include Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and an untitled film featuring the hero Ant-Man.

Disney chief Bob Iger spoke during Disney’s quarterly earnings call this week, making it clear that Whedon is in the company for the long haul.

“Joss Whedon has signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Studios for film and television through the end of June 2015. As part of that deal, Whedon will write and direct Marvel’s The Avengers 2 as well as help develop a new live action series for Marvel Television at ABC.  He will also contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s cinematic universe.” – Iger

Those of you looking to catch all of the films that this statement likely includes in the “Marvel cinematic universe” will enjoy knowing that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past will also quite likely be included in the 2014 lineup of films from the comics group, as will The Wolverine which is coming up quick in 2013. Both The Wolverine and Iron Man 3 are currently in filming right this minute!

[via Variety]

Disney earnings confirm Whedon for Avengers 2 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Peter Jackson’s decision to shoot The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at 48 fps and in 3D raised a lot of eyebrows among Lord Of the Rings fans. But not the Tolkien marketing machine who saw an opportunity to cook up these tacky Hobbit-themed 3D glasses for the film’s release. More »

The latest trailer for the upcoming James Bond film SKYFALL has been released, with as much moody lighting, gun fighting, nail biting, and henchman smiting as you’d expect from the blockbuster franchise. The 2m30 clip fleshes out a storyline that has been a source of huge rumor and intrigue over the past months, with 007 rising from the dead to take on another supervillain.

According to the trailer, 007 is believed deceased in the film after being taken out by a sniper – something of an occupational hazard, it seems. You can’t keep a super-spy down, however, and he’s soon back to hunt down a stolen list of undercover MI6 operatives.

New villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is also given more screen-time in the new trailer, rather than the altogether more moody first trailer, as is fellow villain (and love-interest) Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe). Judi Dench returns to reprise the role of M.

As for tech and car fans, there’s no sign of the classic Aston Martin DB5 which we already know will be making a special appearance in the movie, but there is at least one trick gadget. New Q (Ben Whishaw) supplies the spy with a specially palm-coded Walther PPK 9mm short that can only be fired by Bond himself.

SKYFALL is expected to hit theaters on 26 October 2012. That’s coincidentally the 50th anniversary of first Bond film Dr. No.

Update: There’s also a new US-specific trailer which has a few different scenes to the International trailer above:

New SKYFALL trailer: 007, guns, bombs and anticipation is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time for another after-humans full-length movie to hit theaters with its roots coming from that all-powerful soap box and launch point : the Internet. The source of this feature is a short all-CG video called Ruin. This video (also shown in this post) will bring you on a journey through a one-populated human city that’s since become overgrown by nature untamed – can’t wait for the full show!

It appears that The Hollywood Reporter has a tip on the creator of the special effects short, Wes Ball, speaking with Fox to create a full-length feature film. Ball will co-write the film with T.S. Nowlin. McG (Joseph McGinty) will likely be producing the film with Steve Tzirlin from Lucasfilm.

UPDATE: Ball has now confirmed – “I can now reveal it is set up with the good folks at 20th Century Fox to be developed into a full length feature.” Exciting!

The plot in the short centers on a man with a motorcycle attempting to escape a futuristic flying machine not unlike what we’ve seen in the Terminator film series. This short contains a fabulously real looking set of effects including device-mounted camera perspective, light, dark, and shadow effects, lens effects, fabric physics, and of course some explosions to keep it all very lively. Transparent tablet computers, human hair, and a society covered in leaves included.

Should we see this film follow the storyline we’ve seen here, we can expect an evil corporation by the name of Haven Nanosystems to be oppressing the remains of the human race in an impressive display of action and Mad Mad-like environments and technology.

BONUS: Also check out this WebGL music video experiment that Ball participated in called ROME in which his animations – some taken from the Ruin animations – are used in an interactive landscape. Great stuff!

[via The Verge]

Ruin post-apocalyptic CG short gets Fox green light is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.