Check me out on Facebook and/or Twitter for all your media needs!
Archive for February, 2010
Google Buzz Bridges Social Media and Gmail – I.E., Google is attempting to duplicate it’s own version of Facebook or Twitter
Googl
e has certainly generated more than its share of buzz regarding its plans to get deeper into social media. On Tuesday, the search giant revealed those plans: Google Buzz, which takes a big step into Facebook and Twitter territory while keeping one foot firmly planted on its Gmail foundation.
While the initial version of Buzz released during a press conference and demonstration at the company’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters focused on consumer-friendly uses — status updates, comments, link and media-sharing, either at a desktop or via smartphone — Google made it clear that there will also be a future place for Buzz in its enterprise goals.
“I think a lot of past services have focused on just friends and entertainment,” Google cofounder Sergey Brin told the audience. “I found personally a huge amount of productivity in using Google Buzz internally, and therefore I think the bridging of those worlds is very powerful.”
Corporate-centric versions of Buzz would be coming soon, added Google Vice President for Product Management Bradley Horowitz. “We’ve been testing Buzz in the context of our enterprise products,” Horowitz said. “We found it invaluable, and it changed the way we communicate.”
Consumers who are on Gmail will get the first shot at the new features over the next few days.
New Funny Youtube Video of The Week is: Well, it’s people getting hurt .
I’m not even sure what language these fine folks are speaking, but this is funny. Check it out on the homepage too.
-Lazy Idiot-
The Stepfather available on DVD and Bluray 2/9
STARRING: Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, and Amber Heard
PLOT: When Michael returns home from military school to find his mother happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, he seems a little less than enthused. As the two men get to know each other, he becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helping, or perhaps, not so helping hand.
Saints win Superbowl XLIV by a score of 31-17
So the New Orleans Saints won the big game against the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday. It was “destiny” as the Saints would call it, but it seemed as if the Saints’ defense showed up against a Colts offense didn’t. Drew Brees managed to pick up the game’s MVP award with 288 passing yards and 2 TD’s, while Peyton Manning had a pretty good game himself with 333 passing yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. The Colts were able to run the ball much better than the Saints with Joseph Addai rushing for 77 yards and scoring a TD on the ground. But the Saints and their “bend but don’t break” philosophy on defense allowed a lot of yards with little net result for the Colts. The Saints were not able to muster much of a running game on the flip side, with Reggie Bush staying pretty quiet with a measly 25 yards rushing while Pierre Thomas only put up 30 and no TD’s for either of them. Overall the Saints came to play, and the Colts did not. Not too bad for a team that has never even been to a Superbowl before, let alone having ever won it. That’s good work on head coach Sean Payton’s part by prepping his team very well against a very good Colts team. You can view all the stats and see all the pics at here at www.nfl.com. I am glad that they won personally, because I am sick and tired of the Colts being so good all the time. It’s much like the Patriots were a few years back.
Ha ha Peyton Manning, YOU LOSE!
-Lazy Idiot-
Microsoft is ending it’s backwards compatibility with original Xbox games.
Microsoft sai
d on Friday that it plans to discontinue support for playing original Xbox games on its online service.
In a blog posting, Microsoft’s Marc Whitten said that after April 15, users of the Xbox Live service will no longer be able to play titles like Halo 2 that were created for the first Xbox console.
“This isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community,” Whitten said. “And as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games.”
Whitten said Microsoft will be reaching out directly to those affected by the change.
In the note, Whitten referenced the company’s work to support the upcoming Project Natal add-on that will bring gesture and voice recognition to the Xbox 360 when it makes its debut later this year.
“We’ll share more details soon, but in the meantime I want to assure you that the best is yet to come for Xbox Live,” he said. “I believe we’ll look back on 2010 as a landmark year in gaming and home entertainment, and I couldn’t be more excited about what we have in store.”
This, my friends, is a travesty if you ask me! I have always been a bit more partial to the Xbox than the Play Station consoles for years, but things like this continue to slowly sway my judgment negatively towards Microsoft. Why would they do such a retarded thing such as discontinue support for the original games that got them where they are?? They should have built the 360 with full backwards compatibility from it’s incepion if you ask me. Sony did it, and Play Station fans loved the idea. I think after 5 years or so of being on the market that the Xbox 360 should have been completely updated with all games, not just the 350 or so they did manage to upgrade. They claim that the Xbox Live service is going to keep getting better and better, well if you ask me, the one solid way to help improve on it is to drop the price by at least 50%. Sony has offered the Play Station Live service for free for years and again, the fans love it. Not only that, but Sony still has a huge corner on the market for exclusivity rights on a ton of game titles. Yes Microsoft has Halo and other titles that have helped it along, but they need to step up by leaps and bounds if they are going to continue to compete. It’s becoming ridiculous!! All I can say, is this rumored “Project Natal” better be the best thing since sliced bread!
-Lazy Idiot-
Google and phone maker HTC are prepping for competition with the Apple iPad.
So apparently the internet search giant GOOGLE has again partnered with cellphone design company HTC, and is in the developmental stages for their own version of the iPad. Google’s tablet would be running the CHROME browser, which is proprietary to Google, and the main physical design will be coming from HTC (who designs several phones for Google). I can say that I like the way Google does things better than Apple for at least one reason: OPEN SOURCING. Apple is SO proprietary that devices can hardly modified or customized because their software just simply won’t allow for it (not without completely re-programming the device). Google on the other hand, praises open source apps and customized programming for it’s products (mainly the droid phones running Google’s operating system). The two areas I believe Apple has the upper hand, is sleekness of design and innovation. They have perfected the art of making their products very sleek, slim, and lightweight, and in this day and age, smaller is considered better. They have also cornered the market with innovation in that they seem to come up with a lot of great ideas first, leaving everyone else to follow in their shadow, trying to improve on their design. I would certainly be willing to put these two side by side, and see who outperforms who. But I guess we’ll just have to settle for tinkering with the iPad for now, since Google has yet to release such a device. Read more tech info on the Google tab here:
http://gizmodo.com/5438716/google-and-htc-working-on-a-chrome-os-tablet
-Lazy Idiot-
Netflix to come to the Nintendo Wii early spring of 2010!
So apparently Netflix will be coming to the Wii early spring 2010. It is made possible by inserting a Netflix play disc in the Wii console and hooking the console up to the internet to stream content. Many of you who’ve already been doing this on the PS3 know what I’m talking about here as far as the disc goes. It’s a good idea to enable the Wii to play Netflix content, as there are a lot of kids movies and other such content available on their servers. I’m sure that eventually they will all come with this feature built in, just like the Xbox 360. You should be excited if you own a Wii for this software roll out. Bye the way, the disc is free if you already have a Netflix account and you can pre-order it from www.netflix.com
-Lazy Idiot-
New on bluray and DVD 2/2: AMELIA
STARRING: Hillary Swank, Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor
PLOT: Amelia Earhart, a Kansas girl, discovers the thrill of aviation at age 23, and within 12 years has progressed to winning the Distinguished Flying Cross for being the first woman to pilot a plane solo across the Atlantic Ocean. At age 39, she sets out on an attempt to circumnavigate the globe, an adventure that catapults her into aviation myth. Written by Jim Beaver {jumblejim@prodigy.net}
This movie looks like a biopic flick about the life and mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart. It also looks as if they have inter-twined a love story in the mix as well. It may prove to be a tearjerker for all you that are in to that sort of movie.
-Lazy Idiot-
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Feb. 2nd: Love Happens
STARRING: Jennifer Aniston, Aaron Eckhart and Martin Sheen
PLOT: Heartbreak and past pain threaten the budding romance of a florist and a therapist in this romantic drama. DR Burke Ryan (Eckhart) makes his living telling people how to live their lives in the present, but the death of his wife three years ago still haunts him. Meanwhile, Eloise Chandler (Aniston) struggles with the pain of failed relationships and has decided to give up on love. But a chance meeting between the two begins a romance that neither of them can fight.
Looks to be mildly entertaining, but I usually don’t have too much to say about romantic comedies unless they are REALLY good. If anyone does see this, please let me know how it is.