Celebrities are complaining lately about looking less-than-perfect (and often times just plain bad) on HDTV. TVPredictions.com's Phillip Swann lists and comments about stars who look best or worst in high-def.


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Labels: celebs

Wish you could watch YouTube videos on your Apple TV? Sometime in June, all Internet connected Apple TV boxes will accept a free software patch that will enable wireless streaming of YouTube videos. YouTube is making thousands of clips available each week until thier full catalog is accessible later this fall.

You'll be able browse the YouTube content on your Apple TV in a variety of ways including: featured, top viewed, recently viewed, history, and even by search. I'm dreading the search option. If you haven't used the Apple TV yet, there's a USB port in the back of the device, but you currently can't use a keyboard for some reason. Entering text on the Apple TV is the equivalent of typing in your initials for the high score screen in an arcade game. Very painful without a keyboard.

So how chewy will these compressed YouTube videos look on your HD TV? I've already ripped a bunch of music videos off YopuTube, converted them to MPEG-4 videos and saved them in iTunes. Honestly, the Flash encoded YouTube videos look like crap on a HD TV. YouTube doesn't even look good when stretched out to its default 480 x 360, let alone 640 x 480 or HD. But YouTube does have thousands of clips and can provide endless hours of entertainment. Fuzzy, but fun.

Apple also announced a new Apple TV model with a 160 GB hard drive for $400. You'll still be able to buy the old 40 GB version for $300, but personally, I think $100 for 4x the storage is a great deal.

You can read more about the Apple TV here: Apple TV Review



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Labels: apple tv

It looks like Google's 2006 acquisition of Neven Vision, a company specializing in facial recognition software, is finally starting to pay off. Google Blogoscoped, a blog dedicated to everything related to Google, got a tip from a Google engineer that Google had secretly added some facial recognition abilities to its image search this week.

The feature remains unofficial and unannounced, but you can add a small query string to the end of your Google Image search URL to see the facial recognition software in action.

For example, do a normal Google image search for "Starbuck Battlestar" and your image results should produce images from the American SciFi TV show Battlestar Galactica. Then try adding "&imgtype=face" to the end of the URL. Your new search results will only contain photos of people and tight shots of their faces. Cool right?


Last August, Google Picasa product manager Adrian Graham had this to say about Google's acquisition of Neven Vision in the official Google blog:

"Neven Vision comes to Google with deep technology and expertise around automatically extracting information from a photo. It could be as simple as detecting whether or not a photo contains a person, or, one day, as complex as recognizing people, places, and objects."

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Labels: tech news

On Wednesday, Apple released an update to iTunes (US) that added DRM-free AAC music files to the iTunes Store. Dubbed iTunes Plus, the new version of iTunes will allow you to either download DRM (Digital Rights Management) files for the standard $0.99 or spend $1.29 on DRM-free songs.

In addition to iTunes Plus, Apple added a new section to iTunes 7.2 called iTunes U, where you can download lectures from various universities around the US free of charge. In addition to lectures, many Universities are offering language lessons, lab demonstrations, sports highlights and campus tours. Participating schools currently include Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Duke University and MIT.

It's probably only a matter of time until someone claims that they graduated from "iTunes U."

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Labels: Music

Google has launched a new home page for Korea that departs from Google's "classic," minimalist home page approach. The new look features animated product buttons below the search box and will become the default home page in the country, a move Google is comfortable with given the near universal presence of broadband.

The new, animated Google Korea home page is intended to help Google better compete in the country where it seeks to gain market share.


When you roll your mouse over the colored dots, icons appear. You can see the animation on the live Google Korea page.

"It was important where our classic minimalism wasn't working that we adapt," Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience at Google, said in a briefing earlier today.

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Labels: tech news

No longer are our magnificent Monday night ‘Heroes’ going to be confined to merely mortal NBC TV (and SciFi Channel reruns). Our favorite Heroes and villains are coming to DVD this August with tons of bonus features.

The 7-disc set, available on DVD and HD DVD on August 28, 2007, will include the never-before-aired 73-minute premiere episode and over 50 deleted scenes.

The Heroes Season 1 DVD set is priced at $59.98 and is available for preorder on Amazon.com for $38.99 until July 24, 2007.

Here are some of the Heroes Season 1 DVD extras:

• Unaired Pilot: The Tim Kring cut with audio commentary — A full 73 uninterrupted minutes of the original, unaired, extended pilot episode, as Heroes’ creator Tim Kring first envisioned it, with a character never seen.
  
  
• The Making of “Heroes”: From concept to pop culture phenomenon, a behind-the-scenes look at the hottest new series on television.
  
  
• Special Effects: The secrets behind the eye-popping visuals that give the Heroes their amazing powers.
  
  
• The Stunts: A backstage look at the show’s hair-raising stunts.
  
  
• Mind Reader: Matt Parkman’s mind reading abilities reveal your inner Hero with a series of simple tests.
  
  
• Profile of Artist Tim Sale: A look at the Eisner Award-winning comic book artist (Spiderman, Batman, Daredevil) behind much of the Manga-influenced artwork used in the show.
  
  
• The Score: Go behind the scenes with Wendy Melvin and Lisa Coleman (of Prince’s The Revolution) as they create their ASCAP Award-winning musical score.
  
  
• Extra Scenes: 50 deleted and extended scenes.
  

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Labels: dvd

Birthdate: April 29, 1958

Birthplace: Santa Ana, California

Michelle Pfeiffer was born on April 29, 1958 in Santa Ana, CA. Her father, Dick, was a heating and air conditioning contractor, and her mother, Donna, a housewife. Michelle is the second of four children, and has an older brother, Rick and two younger sisters, Dedee and Lori.

As a child, No one seemed to see her acting potential when she was young. She was a rebellious little girl, and by her own admissions, strong willed, stubborn and dramatic.

Although born in Santa Ana, the family soon moved to Midway City, where Michelle would graduate from Fountain Valley High School in 1976. She spent a year at Golden West College studying court reporting, and did a stint as a supermarket checker at Vons, a large Southern California grocery chain.

She had heard that talent scouts were often judges at beauty pagents, so she promptly entered, and won, the Miss Orange County beauty pagent of 1978. She lost the Miss Los Angeles title, but won the agent she had been seeking. Her first role was a one line walk on for the tv show "Fantasy Island". TV commercials and more bit parts would follow.

The public at large first took notice of Michelle in the 1982 film GREASE II, sequel to the 1978 mega-blockbuster GREASE. But with a weak script and lack of big names, the film quickly bombed. Agent Ed Limato, now the vice-chairman of ICM met Pfeiffer through another agent when both were with the William Morris Agency. Their meeting was brief, as Limato was on the phone at the time, and the two did little more than wave to one another. The following week a casting director told Limato that she was looking for a fresh face to play Al Pacino's drug-addicted wife in Brian DePalma's SCARFACE. He didn't represent Pfeiffer, but told the casting director he had just the actress she was looking for.

For the next few years she worked steadily, she starred in the offbeat comedy MARRIED TO THE MOB and received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for the her portrayal of Madame De Tourvel in DANGEROUS LIAISONS. She followed that in 1989 with her second Oscar nomination, as best actress, for her work as lounge singer Suzie Diamond in THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS. (In 1992 she was nominated a third time for the little seen film LOVE FIELD.)

Michelle Pfeiffer has come a long way since working the supermarket check out lines in El Toro, California. But those days are still clear in her mind. "When I was a boxgirl, all I wanted was to be a checker," she recalls dreamily. "When I became a checker, the only other move was to be a store manager."

Source

Labels: MinxoftheMonth

It's three guys that many thought would never share a stage again. Although Sting has toured regularly since the Police disbanded in 1986, typically performing signature songs from the group's repertoire, a full-fledged Police reunion ups the buzz factor considerably.

In the world of concert promotion, "Sting on his own is a great act that everybody fights over," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry tracking publication Pollstar. "They're going to be fighting even harder to get the Police."

There will be arena shows and some stadium stops, and Sting said the defining attraction would be the reunited musicians on stage, not elaborate special effects or a bevy of backup singers and horns. "Three guys on stage. That's all.

Tell Erik that PimpWiz.com sent you for the hook up. Call 1-877-822-2766


A PimpWiz Exclusive

Labels: events

After months of hype, we finally get to see Michelle Ryan in NBC's new remake of the Bionic Woman. In this clip from Vmix.com, we get to see Jamie Sommers (Michelle Ryan) find out she has bionic parts and freak out. Those are some sexy bionic toes by the way.

It's tough to tell from just a few scenes, but Bionic Woman looks like it’s going to be a fun show. With the success of sci-fi shows like Heroes and Lost, Bionic Woman might just be the next big hit. Plus David Eick from Battlestar Galactica is the Executive Producer. Here's another clip of Eick talking about the strong women characters in his shows.

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Labels: TV, video

According to ABC News.com, the Tennessee Highway Patrol has suspended a state trooper who allegedly received a sexual favor from a porn star and recorded the act with a camera from his cruiser in return for ignoring her possession of illegal painkillers.

The woman, who goes by the stage name Barbie Cummings, said that at a traffic stop on May 7, trooper James Randy Moss found illegal painkillers in her car, but decided not to bust the Knoxville woman in return for a sexual favor.


The incident came to the attention of officials when someone filed an internal complaint against the veteran trooper, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning.

Browning told ABC News that he could add few details beyond a press release issued Friday that announced Moss' indefinite suspension. But a blog maintained by the woman, which recounts sordid details of the alleged escapade, has drawn additional attention to the case, and the department is investigating whether Moss may have violated the law while on duty.

[Via abcnews.com]

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Labels: internet

After purchasing the remaining 40 percent of Cingular last year, AT&T has begun the process of rebranding some 1,800 Cingular stores. The telecom, which will be the sole carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., is undertaking the rebranding move just weeks before Apple's hotly anticipated smartphone hits the market.



"Our branding Email Marketing Software - Free Demo campaign is performing at and above projected levels, and customer response has been very positive," Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chief operating officer, said.

The San Antonio-based phone giant is accelerating its rebranding efforts of one of the best-known brands in the market, and will make the orange "Jack" logo and Cingular name disappear from new devices being sold.

The decision to move to this phase of the branding campaign is based on research that indicates that consumer awareness of AT&T -- one of the best-known, most durable and iconic brands in the world -- is high and ahead of expectations, the company said.

[Via technewsworld.com]

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Labels: apple

There was a bit of a surprise when Katee Sackhoff told reporters that her time on the new NBC series "Bionic Woman" went from "one episode" to "recurring." But all of that can be explained in one simple sentence: Sackhoff simply wowed network executives.

"She absolutely steals the screen in 'Bionic,'" Angela Bromstad, president of NBC Universal Television Studio, told TV Week's James Hibberd.

Some of the clips featuring Sackhoff, best known to genre fans as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica," have been released to the Web by NBC Universal as a way to promote the series, which will make its debut this fall. In it, Sackhoff plays the original bionic woman who gets in a rooftop bionic battle with Jamie Sommers, played by series tar Michelle Ryan.



Sackhoff's character originally was slated to be offed in the pilot, but executives liked her so much that she is now going to be pulling double duty between both shows which are filmed in Vancouver and produced by NBCU.

Sackhoff apparently isn't the only BSG alum to be making the show either... two more actors familiar to "Battlestar" fans who have some type of role in the pilot.

The Bionic Woman airs Wednesdays this fall at 9/8c on NBC. See NBC.com's Bionic Woman web page for more info.

[Via syfyportal.com]

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Labels: TV

New Reality Series from the Producers of American Idol Searches for the Ultimate Musical Group!

The producers behind mega-hit phenomenon American Idol take the musical reality genre to a whole new level when they embark on a quest to find the next American band sensation that will take the nation by storm. THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN BAND (working title) will scour the country, seeking musical groups of all ages, styles and genres, with hundreds of bands auditioning for a shot at stardom.

After the auditions, judges will narrow down hopefuls from all walks of musical life – young and old, family and friends, garage bands and weekend warriors – to 10 semi-finalists who will perform in front of a live studio audience. Viewers will then get a chance to vote for their favorite bands via telephone and text messaging and determine who stays in the competition.

Each week, the bands will be challenged with varied musical themes, jazzing up each of the performance shows as their skills in a wide spectrum of musical styles are put to the test along with their personal and professional relationships.

Finally, in a not-to-be-missed showdown, the final three bands will compete to secure a recording contract. If you think American Idol is intense, wait until you see what a band must go through for its shot at fame.

Click here to find out more about eligibility, submission rules and to print the application form

Want to know who is going to win American Idol? Click Here

Our vote is for the Clipbandits, World's First Web Band. Check them out!

Labels: Americanidol, Clipbandits

Here's a YouTube video showing off a new Apple TV plug-in called "A Series of Tubes." The plug-in allows you to browse YouTube videos on your Apple TV. Sure, the Flash encoded YouTube videos look like crap on a HDTV. YouTube doesn't even look good when stretched out to its default 480 x 360, let alone 640 x 480 or HD. But YouTube does have thousands of clips and can provide endless hours of entertainment.



Not ready to start tinkering around with plug-ins for your Apple TV? You can still save videos off YouTube and convert them for your iPod/iTunes. Check out this tutorial: How to Copy Videos Off YouTube.

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Labels: video

September 14 – 17, 2007 | L.A. to Mexico

USE CODE: JK1117

Come enjoy a weekend experience like no other as we transform Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas into the Kandy Kruise! This remarkable 2,400 guest cruise ship sets sail for the ultimate Baja cruise vacation experience departing from L.A. and cruising to Mexico for three UNFORGETABLE, Adventurous Days & Nights.

The Kandy Kruise is a full-ship charter, meaning we have taken over the entire ship! All of the parties, entertainment and programming for the Kruise are designed to create the ultimate weekend experience.

Body Rock – The Ultimate Pool Party…
… non-stop fun as night turns into day and day turns into night… rockin’ DJ’s spin while 2,400 of the hottest people turn the entire deck into a massive pool party all weekend.


The Main Event
… three nights of concert style production, lighting, & sound under the stars as the largest open-air nightclub at sea will have some of the world’s top ranked DJ’s and a celebrity headliner to rock & groove you.

Ms. Kandy Fashion Competition
… We are calling all beautiful ladies to be our guests aboard the Kandy Kruise and compete in our First Annual Ms. Kandy Fashion Competition [Brought to you by sponsor logo – sponsor tagline]. Our screening process gives the opportunity for all the beautiful ladies of the world to help create not only a representation of the gorgeous feminine aspect of life but to literally paint the Kruise with the presence of pure beauty and class!

Several Winners will be among the hottest ladies from across America and abroad to win Cash, modeling contracts, photo shoots and whoever is dubbed Ms. Kandy wins a new car

The entire ship is ours…
… to Party and Play all weekend.

After Parties…
… aboard the Kandy Kruise the party never stop! World-class DJ’s performing groovy house, ambient, Latin mix, Miami style and all different types of vibes in the many themed lounges around the ship. One giant entertainment filled party all weekend long.

DJ Line-up…
DJ Skribble – still at the top of his game after over 10 years - After numerous MTV shows, TV appearances, countless parties for sports stars and celebrities; DJ SKRIBBLE has continuously been named in the Top 10 of the DJ Times Annual DJ of the Year Competition each year. His name is synonymous for rock n the house.

Win This…
…exotic car by showing your skills in the Karma Royale Poker Tournament. Drink Choice Liquors, Smoke Fine Cigars, Eat Decadent Cuisines, and Play!

The Kandy Kruise is limited to ONLY 500 Staterooms available for the Gentlemen. Get your deposit in soon since we have already sold out 3 stateroom levels – don’t get left on the dock!

USE CODE: JK1117

A PimpWiz Exclusive

Labels: KarmaFoundation

Trying to find a good credit card? Check this breakdown site.

You can apply for Rewards Credit Cards online in 3 steps:

1. Compare current offers from Visa®, MasterCard®, Discover®, and American Express®.
2. Click Apply. A new browser will open.
3. Complete the online application and BLAM! ;-)

Credit card rewards allow you to earn points with every purchase. These points can then be used to obtain everything from cash rebates, vacation packages, and airline tickets to flatscreen TV's, DVD's, or movie tickets.In general, airline rewards tend to offer the most free points when you sign-up, but often charge an annual fee. Cash rebate and merchandise rewards cards, on the other hand, generally do not charge annual fees and usually offer very low interest rates"

The Pimpwiz.com Spin: This guide breaks all the travel reward credit cards down and makes it easy to make an informed decision.

Many inventions are quite useful in everyday life, but these 5 (link) could quite possibly be the most outrageous ever...


Then again, there's always Japanese Chindogu.

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Labels: geek

ClipBandits became instant YouTube sensations as the world's first web band with the release of their first video, "Internet Killed the Video Star". ClipBandits videos have been viewed 3 million times on YouTube. ClipBandits had never met each other, didn't know each other's names or where each other lived. They only knew one another's YouTube user names and created their original music by syncing each other's YouTube videos.

ClipBandits have since been featured on Good Morning America, ABC News, were invited to meet and perform for the first time on the Tyra Banks Show, received "Honorable Mention" in the national Cingular Wireless Underground Band Contest, were the #1 featured video by YouTube at the top of their main page, have been covered by TV news in Italy, Singapore, Russia, Venezuela, India, Canada and Brazil, as well as countless print and internet articles around the world. Nokia-Brazil selected ClipBandits Channel as recommended content for wireless Internet devices.

ClipBandits have released a follow up video entitled, "Higher". Visit ClipBandits YouTube Channel for more videos.




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Labels: Clipbandits

This past Wednesday, Google unveiled a new "universal search" function that integrates text, photos, video, news, scanned books and blogs in a single list of results. The search engine will automatically check Google Video's archive and allow users to click on a "watch video' link that will embed the video right on the search results page.


Other video sites publishing clips or full-length versions also appear. Several companies have been working to improve video search on the net, but none with Google's pedigree or market share.

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Labels: Google

The Concord C1 watch made its debut at Baselworld 2007. The C1 has a 44 mm case with a very rugged look. The rubber on the watch helps absorb shocks and make the watch sturdier. It has a transparent case-back that reveals a decorated oscillating weight.

It has an official Swiss chronometer. The movement is the automatic ETA Valgranges A07.211 with 25 jewels, beating at 28,800 bph and with a 48 hour power reserve. The dials is made of carbon fiber and machined metal with sunken applied hour-markers filled with luminescent material. There is a 3.30 mm thick sapphire crystal and a crown of rubber, composite and steel.

The watch comes in either steel or 18K rose gold.


Source

Labels: Watches

According to Yahoo.com

"After a nearly $10 million bid for a car made famous by "The Dukes of Hazzard" fell through,
John Schneider learned his lesson: Sell only to pre-screened bidders.

Schneider, who played blond heartthrob Bo Duke in the '80s TV series, said the winner's account on the eBay auction Web site was hacked as a joke, so he wasn't the one bringing up the bid for a version of the iconic 1969 Dodge Charger. The online auction was held earlier this month.

In a new eBay Inc. auction set to begin Saturday, the orange coupe with "01" on the doors will be listed to bidders who must prove upfront that they can pay, the 47-year-old actor told AP Radio News."

For more Dukes of Hazzard fun, check out Cooter's Place.

"The Dukes of Hazzard" aired from 1979 to 1985.

Labels: CribEssentials

The Federal Communications Commission approved Apple's iPhone, clearing the way for the combined phone and music player to hit the shelves. Apple expects to begin selling the iPhone in late June.

Some of the FCC documents confirm a few features of the phone, including it will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and will operate in the 1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands.

That means that despite the phone's high price, users won't be able to roam with it into Europe, where operators use different frequencies. The phone uses GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology and the EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) wireless data standard. Apple has said the phone will ship initially only in the U.S. but many GSM phones today, even on the low end, are capable of operating in both Europe and the U.S.


Eager potential users who hoped for a faster data connection will be disappointed that the approval is only for EDGE. Many operators, including Apple partner AT&T, have upgraded their networks to deliver download speeds of about 500K bits per second or more, more than twice as fast as EDGE.

[Via PC World]

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Labels: iphone

Trying to impress your new chica, make up for being an ass to your woman or hook your mom up with a belated Mother Day present then consider a Broadway show.

If you are in New York, it is one of the most popular tourist attraction that
you can do.

The current shows running in various Broadway theaters are:

110 in the shade

This musical has been directed by the writers of The Fantasticks. It
stars Audra McDonald who has won the Tony not once or twice but four
times. Audra McDonald returns to stage as Lizzie Curry after she gave
an award winning performance as Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun.

A Chorus Line

This musical has won the Tony Awards® for an unbelievable nine times. It
was awarded in the category of "Best Musical" and also received the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is the longest-running American musical
ever.

Moon for the Misbegotten

In this show, Oscar award winner Kevin Spacey comes together with
director Howard Davies, after they gave an award-winning performance in
another O'Neill classic, The Iceman Cometh. Kevin Spacey returns to
entertain at the Broadway in this masterpiece Eugene O'Neill drama.

Beauty and the Beast

There are few stories that retain their charm and freshness from one
generation to another. Beauty and the Beast is a classic that belong to
that genre. This musical has been enticing audiences for the past
decade. It is amazingly adapted from its animated counterpart. The
beautiful sets, brilliant costumes, and amazing special effects – all
in all it is an experience of a lifetime that you must not miss at any
cost.

Altar Boyz

The Altar Boyz is a musical comedy that has been highly appreciated and
declared a hit in the New York Musical Theatre Festival. The musical
has stars with brilliant voices, stunning dance performances linked to
a touching story.

Shakespeare in the Park

This is an open-air event that is held every summer in the city of New
York. Free tickets for the show are given out on the day of the event.
Every individual can get a maximum of two tickets per head. In case of
weather anomalies, the show may face delays.

Broadway
Tickets

Labels: events

Yesterday, the NPD Group released video game hardware sales data for April. Nintendo's Wii and DS consoles were again the big winners, as both platforms dominated all competitors. This marks the 4th month in a row that Nintendo has nabbed the top spots with its respective systems on the hardware sales charts.

The Nintendo DS was the overall best-selling system of April with approximately 471,000 units sold -- more than twice that of the Sony PSP, which only managed to sell 182,000 units.


Despite being in limited supply, the Nintendo Wii was the best-selling console for the month. More than 360,000 new consumers purchased Nintendo's home console in April. The second best-selling home system was the Sony PlayStation 2 with 193,000 units sold. Microsoft's Xbox 360 managed 174,000 units sold and Sony convinced only 82,000 people to purchase a PlayStation 3 for the month, lower than all analyst estimates.

Nintendo was also the #1 software publisher for the month, releasing the top 4 best-selling games -- Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl for DS, and Super Paper Mario and Wii Play for Wii. The Pokemon titles sold a combined 1.7 million games in about a week.

According to VG Chartz, the Nintendo Wii has sold 2.5m consoles in Japan, 2.8m in the US and 1.79m in the rest of the world since its official launch late last year.

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Labels: games

This coming this Thursday (tonight) is the season finale of the American version of The Office. Here's a teaser trailer and 10 things we learned from last week's episode of The Office.

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10. Buffoons (like Andy and Dwight) do not need to wear sumo suits to appear more buffoonish. In fact, the hilariousness of the sumo suit is inversely proportional to how funny the character is in his regular officewear. However …

9. The fact that a sumo suit enables Andy to float away on the ebbing tides of Lake Scranton is completely fascinating. How does physics explain this?

8. Michael notes that Lake Scranton is America’s eighth largest indigenous body of water. Ignoring the fact that this is patently false, we’d like to believe he was creating a metaphor for America’s unsustainable reliance on reservoirs and the corresponding danger to the ecosystem. Or a metaphor for being an idiot.

7. Contrary to Michael’s assumptions about Oscar’s beachwear, it’s actually gayer to wear designer jeans to the beach than a Speedo or leather pants.

6. If one employee at Dunder Mifflin could actually win Survivor, it’s Creed. Did you see the two-second shot of him toeing out into the lake and catching a fish with his bare hands? Jeff Probst would be proud. Poor fish. Who knows where those hands have been?

5. Jim is not as good of a boyfriend as we thought. What kind of guy tries to distract his girlfriend while she’s lobbying for a promotion? Then again, why is Karen competing for the same job as her boyfriend? Did we miss something?

4. Pam thinks that she has the most boring job at Dunder Mifflin. We'd give that honor to Stanley … if we knew what Stanley did.

3. No matter what anyone says, we still like Karen better than Pam. Karen goes out and gets what she wants (Jim, a better job, a fake tan). Pam has to walk through a field of burning coals to work up enough outrage to confess her feelings for Jim, and even then, she stops short of saying what she's really feeling (burning flesh).

2. If you’re going to walk across a field of burning coals, go fast, and remember “The mind has to wrap around the foot.”

1. Not even The Office's writers are immune to jerking us around during May Sweeps. They hadn’t gone near the Pam-Jim-Karen love triangle for weeks when suddenly, Pam dropped her bombshell (if you can call wanting to be “best friends” with Jim a bombshell). This is all leading up to next week’s season finale, when Michael, Jim, and inexplicably, Karen, head off to New York to compete for the same job. We’ll give two-to-one odds Karen gets the gig, thus putting an end to the ménage tension and taking a little piece of our heart with it.

[Via nymag.com]

The season finale of The Office airs on NBC at a special time 8/7c. Don't forget to double check your TiVos and DVRs.

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Labels: TV

Tired of the boring movie trivia slide shows that theaters play before the movie? How about an interactive game that the entire theater can play at the same time?

MSNBC.com has this live video game experience called NewsBreaker Live that has entire theaters acting like Human Joysticks.

NewsBreaker Live is modeled after the classic video games like BrickBreaker and Arkanoid. The game combines live msnbc.com RSS newsfeeds, the movement of the audience as a human joystick, and the big screen as a game board. Groundbreaking motion-sensor technology dubbed "CrowdGaming" tracks the entire audience’s collective movement (watch video clip). Audience members control the game by moving in sync to smash up msnbc.com’s colorful brick spectrum of news with a bouncing ball and paddle.



As far as I know, this is the first in-theater, audience participatory video game. And honestly, I think it's pretty cool. Way better than being forced to stare at slides of movie trivia and ads for local used car dealerships. You can play an online version of NewsBreaker Live at newsbreakergame.com.

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Labels: games

The person who packed up and shipped this TV must have been a professional... idiot. They might as well have shipped this HDTV using bowling balls or, I dunno, hammers as padding.

For future reference, here's a photo tutorial on how NOT to ship a Plasma or LCD HDTV.



More Photos: How NOT to Ship a HDTV


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