Gadgets and Technology

Acer Aspire 4720 Laptop

2009-12-11T05:13:00.000-08:00

Acer Aspire 4720 Notebook PC

* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5250, 1.5 GHz speed
* 2 MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB

* Intel 943 GML Express chipset motherboard with integrated 3D graphics
* 1024-MB DDR II SDRAM, 667 MHz (max 2048 MB)
* 160-GB Serial-ATA hard disk drive, 5400rpm
* 8x DVD Super Multi Double Layer Optical Drive
* 14.1-inch (35.81 cm ) WXGA TFT LCD with Acer CrystalBrite Technology, 1280 x 800 resolution, high brightness 200nits
* Integrated 3D graphics, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950, up to 224 MB of shared system memory, supporting Microsoft DirectX 9.0
* Two built-in Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers, Dolby Stereo Sound
* Integrated Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR
* 1.3 Megapixels Crystal Eye WebCam
* Built-in Microphone
* 5-in-1 card reader, supporting Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick PRO (MS PRO), xD-Picture Card (xD)
* Intel/PRO Wireless 2200BG (802.11b/g) Connection
* 10/100/1000 gigabit Ethernet Network card
* 56 kbps v.92 fax/modem
* Type II PC Card slot
* AC/MC 97 soundcard and modem
* 71W 4800 mAh Li-ion 8-cell battery pack, 3 hrs backup
* Linux OS (preinstalled)
* Dimension: WxDxH – 14.3 in, 10.8 in, 1.3 in
* Weight: 2.4 Kgs
* Licensed Windows Vista Operating System
* Carrying Case

Regular Price: ~~P54,000.00~~
Price on Ebay: P28,000.00

Only at the Gift Alley

Filed Under: Gadgets and Technology
Tagged: acer aspire, laptop, notebook

50 Best Websites of 2008

July 8, 2008 by cd · 7 Comments

TIME Magazine compiled a list of the Top 50 best websites of 2008. The public helped with the ranking via an online poll.

Filed Under: Gadgets and Technology, Headlines, Lists
Tagged: 50 best websites of 2008, time

World’s Cheapest Car

January 10, 2008 by cd · 6 Comments

The world’s cheapest car is now available for only P100,000.00 or US$2,500 and it was unveiled Thursday in India.

Wanted: Old Shoes

2009-12-11T04:21:00.000-08:00

Adidas recently launched it’s Wanted: Old Shoes promo where you get as much as 1,000 pesos discount on your next pair of Adidas shoes. This is for the benefit of the Pamulaan Center. Promo till May 17 only.

DigiFi Opera M7 Waterproof MP3 Player

2009-12-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

DigiFi Opera M7 is one of the latest technology in the line of MP3 players nowadays. This latest gadget is really techie because of its special feature as a Waterproof MP3 Player. The Opera M7 can play your favorite mp3 list up to 12 hours of non-stop playback time. Charging this small gadgets is not a problem, because it has a charging technology known as the Quick Super Charge function allows you to fully charge the gadget’s battery in just a couple of hours. The Opera M7 has also wide range of supported file formats including MP3, WMA, APE, WAV audio playback and features several audio presents (normal, rock, pop, classical, bass, and jazz). This gadget is available in white and black and can be bought in 2GB and 4GB model. This latest gadget cost ($42) and 59,000 Won ($51), respectively.

Latest Gadget: Canon Nova DSLR Camera

2009-12-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

Look at this

Canon has unveiled its latest concept of DSLR camera, the new NOVA DSLR. This latest gadget is equipped with two detachable handles which is very similar in a game controller. In addition to its gaming functions, the handle could easily control the settings of the camera itself, which greatly extends the possibilities of its use. The concept was conceived by Erin Fong, in which the main idea is to allow for all sorts of hand holds thanks to the dual movable arms, and the controls at the fingertips seems surprisingly convenient.

Blu-ray sales more than double while DVD slips

2009-12-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

Blu-ray sales may have encountered a turning point on Thanksgiving weekend by saving a declining DVD market, based on results published today. Home Media Research notes that the HD format more than doubled its revenue in the US that period, climbing 224.04 percent to reach $69.06 million. At the same time, DVD sales actually declined during the normally very active period, dropping 7.89 percent to a still high $491.1 million.

While exact units weren't recorded, the study made clear that revenue from the entire field grew 1.02 percent, to $560.15 million, at the same time.

The contrasting results point to Blu-ray finally getting significant traction in a market that has proven difficult even in the nearly two years since it became the sole HD movie disc format in US stores. It has been helped by rapidly falling Blu-ray movie player prices that during Black Friday promos saw some readers fall below $100. A long-anticipated price drop on the PS3 to $299 has also helped drive growth.

The Mood Chair

2009-12-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Look at this

December 5th, 2009

For many years the mood ring has been a popular accessory. People enjoyed the ring because of the novelty of jokingly detecting a person’s mood and temper. The mood ring worked by changing a different color based on someone’s “mood” and the Mood Chair is designed to work in the same way.

Circuit Schematic Symbols

2009-12-06T18:34:00.001-08:00

COMPONENT	SYMBOL	ALTERNATE
Ammeter
And Gate
Antenna, Balanced
Antenna, General
Antenna, Loop, Shielded
Antenna, Loop, Unshielded
Antenna, Unbalanced
Attenuator, Fixed
Attenuator, Variable
Battery
Capacitor, Feedthrough
Capacitor, Fixed, Nonpolarized
Capacitor, Fixed, Polarized
Capacitor, Ganged, Variable
Capacitor, General
Capacitor, Variable, Single
Capacitor, Variable, Split-Stator
Cathode, Cold
Cathode, Directly Heated
Cathode, Indirectly Heated
Cavity Resonator
Cell
Circuit Breaker
Coaxial Cable
Crystal, Piezoelectric
Delay Line
Diode, General
Diode, Gunn
Diode, Light-Emitting
Diode, Photosensitive
Diode, Photovoltaic
Diode, Pin
Diode, Varactor
Diode, Zener
Directional Coupler
Exclusive-Or Gate
Female Contact, General
Ferrite Bead
Fuse
Galvanometer
Ground, Chassis
Ground, Earth
Handset
Headphone, Double
Headphone, Single
Inductor, Air-Core
Inductor, Bifilar
Inductor, Iron-Core
Inductor, Tapped
Inductor, Variable
Integrated Circuit
Inverter
Jack, Coaxial
Jack, Phone, 2-Conductor
Jack, Phone, 2-Conductor Interrupting
Jack, Phone, 3-Conductor
Jack, Phono
Key, Telegraph
Lamp, Incandescent
Lamp, Neon
Male Contact, General
Microphone
Nand Gate
Negative Voltage Connection
Nor Gate
Operational Amplifier
Or Gate
Outlet, Utility, 117-V
Outlet, Utility, 234-V
Photocell, Tube
Plug, Phone, 2-Conductor
Plug, Phone, 3-Conductor
Plug, Phono
Plug, Utility, 117-V
Plug, Utility, 234-V
Positive Voltage Connection
Potentiometer
Probe, Radio-Frequency
Rectifier, Semiconductor
Rectifier, Silicon-Controlled
Rectifier, Tube-Type
Relay, DPDT
Relay, DPST
Relay, SPDT
Relay, SPST
Resistor
Resonator
Rheostat
Saturable Reactor
Shielding
Signal Generator
Speaker
Switch, DPDT
Switch, DPST
Switch, Momentary-Contact
Switch, Rotary
Switch, SPDT
Switch, SPST
Terminals, General, Balanced
Terminals, General, Unbalanced
Test Point
Thermocouple
Thyristor
Transformer, Air-Core
Transformer, Iron-Core
Transformer, Tapped Primary
Transformer, Tapped Secondary
Transistor, Bipolar, npn
Transistor, Bipolar, pnp
Transistor, Field-Effect, N-Channel
Transistor, Field-Effect, P-Channel
Transistor, Metal-Oxide, Dual-Gate
Transistor, Metal-Oxide, Single-Gate
Transistor, Photosensitive
Transistor, Unijunction
Tube, Diode
Tube, Pentode
Tube, Photomultiplier
Tube, Tetrode
Tube, Triode
Unspecified Component
Voltmeter
Wattmeter
Wires
Wires, Connected, Crossing
Wires, Not Connected, Crossing

Battlefield 1943 downloadable game breaks sales records

2009-12-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

Look at this

Publisher EA has announced that Battlefield 1943, their downloadable first-person shooter for PlayStation 3’s PlayStation Network and Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade, has sold over 600,000 copies, breaking records for both systems.

The game was released on July 8th for $15 by developer DICE to great acclaim. Additionally, one of the cool features was the ability for the community to unlock a special map and mode based on how many total communal kills players racked up while playing.

The worldwide Battlefield 1943 community challenge to unlock the Coral Sea map began on Friday, July 10 at 19:43 CET. The Xbox LIVE community reached the goal of 43 million kills in just 5 days, with the PlayStation community hitting the mark in 8 days.

Given the success of that little project, you are almost guarenteed to see the trend continue in future games, as EA has already stated they might include something similar in Bad Company 2.

“We are honoured by the reception that the game has received so far,” says Gordon Van Dyke, producer on Battlefield 1943. “Watching and participating in this non-stop multiplayer action has been a real treat for us and we can’t believe how fast our fans reached 43 million kills. We can now truly say that we have set a new standard for what can be done in the downloadable games

category and gamers recognize the endless value that Battlefield 1943 provides for just $15.”

Happy New Year from VGB

2009-12-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

Top 100 Biggest Games of 2009

It’s said that “Anticipation is half the fun.” As such, this list will be based on both factual and indeterminable factors like: hype, a developer’s track record, fanboy anticipation, previous sales if it’s a series, even nostalgia was taken into account. Obviously not every upcoming game could be included or it’d be a top 300, which it was at one point during the 20 hours of researching and editing. So I skipped on expansions to focus on the biggest new releases, but for games to be included they have to have at least been announced or talked about by their developer/publisher. Games that we think are likely to be released outside of Japan this year, or which haven’t been confirmed for release in 2009 yet but have been in development for years, will all be written in italic to make clear it’s our guesstimate it’s coming. The rest of the games have all been confirmed for 2009, but are — as always — subject to possible delay. If you’re looking for the release date and/or media of a certain game, click on its name and you’ll go to a page with the most relevant info on it. With that said…

Latest Mobile Phones

2009-12-06T03:45:00.000-08:00

This is the latest cellphone of year 2010

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness is 4″ x 1.7″ x 0.5″ in dimensions and weighs around 70 grams. It has a Transparent scratch-resistant monochrome 1.8” TFT. It has upto 88MB of internal memory with an expandable external memory of upto 2GB. Internet can browsed on the phone using NetFront Web Browser.

For entertainment purpose, it has a built in FM Radio along with a Media Player which can play MP3/AAC audio files. It also features a special feature called as “TrackID” in which you can record a few seconds of a song and get track, artist and album info sent to your phone within seconds, pretty much like “Shazam”.

XPERIA Pureness supports Bluetooth A2DP, USB connectivity and 3G with HSPA support.The phone has a talktime of 3.5 hours(UMTS/HSPA)/8.5 hours (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) and a standby time of 350 hours.

Latest Mobile Phones

2009-12-06T03:25:00.000-08:00

Look at this

Samsung Mythic has been named aptly as it could only exist in myths a few years ago. The phone boasts all the latest technologies packaged in a smart bundle. The phone, although of block form factor, is indeed quite a looker. It sports a large screen of 3.3 inch, which is fully touchscreen. It has a host of widgets making online life on the move a breeze. As of now, the phone is available bundled with AT&T network only. Not only does it have internet capabilities, it also serves as a decent mobile TV. At present, AT&T offers Comedy Central, CBS, MTV, ESPN, FOX, NBC and many other channels.

The navigation between apps and websites is quick and easy thanks to Samsung's Touch Wiz user interface. It comes preloaded with software apps like AT&T navigator, AT&T Social Net etc. The home screen scrolls left and right to for accessing additional phone application using touch navigation. One of the most important features is that it comes with AT&T's modified Opera browser. It gives you three windows to surf the internet. You can view the World Wide Web in one window; get information about places of interest nearby, maps, traffic alerts, driving directions on the other; and headlines from popular news, sports and entertainment websites on the third.

The Mythic is a good addition to the Samsung's enviable lineup of smart phones. The block form factor is targeted towards the people who dislike the clamshell ones. Among technical features, it has a full bag. The screen is TFT with 262K colors. It has an mp3 player and an expandable memory using microSD or TransFlash memory cards. The PC Sync is available with USB 2.0 specifications. The default web browser is Opera 2.0 and also has GPS navigation provided by AT&T Navigator. As with all the mid and high end phones, it has a speaker phone.

The touch screen user interface might need a little getting used to for people habituated to using actual keyboards. The touch screen keyboard is the only option for typing on the Mythic as it does not have a real keyboard. But once you get used to it, you start to find it much more convenient to use than the normal keyboards. The Samsung Touch Wiz user interface, also seen on some other Samsung phones gives a quick access to your favorite websites such as YouTube and Facebook. If it were not for the Samsung Touch Wiz user interface, the phone could have tuned out to be a drab, but the user interface makes it a really competent phone.

Because of the rich colors, watching web TV is a lot of fun on the Mythic. It can store many video clips, pictures and games due to the expandable memory. This makes the phone very useful not only to business professionals who want to keep abreast of stock updates etc, but also for those who want a smart phone just for entertainment. The Samsung Mythic operates on GSM and UTMS networks.

Ninja Assassin

2009-12-06T01:03:00.000-08:00

MoviesOnline caught up with Korean pop star Rain at the Los Angeles press day for his new film, "Ninja Assassin.” The film is directed by James McTeigue from a screenplay by Matthew Sand and J. Michael Straczynski and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers. “Ninja Assassin” also stars Naomie Harris, Ben Miles, Rick Yune and legendary martial arts performer Sho Kosugi.

Rain plays Raizo, one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge.

The role of Raizo called for an actor with a special intensity, who could convey a lot of emotion in a very subtle way. Rain is not only able to take on the physical demands of the character’s warrior side, but he is also a believable leading man. Rain made his US feature film debut as a race car driver in “Speed Racer,” under the direction of the Wachowski brothers and the film’s second unit director, James McTeigue, all of whom reunite on “Ninja Assassin.” Producer Joel Silver explains, “Rain really is a magnetic personality. You can’t take your eyes off of him, he commands the screen.”

Rain, a top Korean R&B/pop singer, was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World in 2006; in 2007 People Magazine included him in their annual Most Beautiful People issue. His third album, It’s Raining, sold over one million copies in Asia, making it his most successful album to date both domestically and internationally, and the subsequent “Rainy Day” concert tour was a success in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and the United States. Rain’s World, the performer’s fourth album, was released in 2006 and led to the highly acclaimed “Rain’s Coming” World Tour.

Rain’s electrifying performance in “Ninja Assassins” suggests he’s on his way to becoming one of the great new Asian martial arts action stars. We really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us:

MoviesOnline: We heard your English was good.

Rain: Thank you. I'll do my best.

MoviesOnline: So how was it playing one of the world's deadliest assassins?

Rain: You know, when I was young, I wanted to be a big action hero. It's gonna be huge I'm pretty sure. Did you see the movie? It was amazing. I'm so excited.

MoviesOnline: Did you have a hero that you looked up to like Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee?

Rain: Yeah. When I was young, I saw a lot of martial arts films with Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. I loved them. They are my heroes but, [preening and joking] I'm so powerful, I'm so [much] faster. I'm so young and so handsome like a model. I really loved them so they are my role models. I have another model. Al Pacino. He's my hero. My favorite film of his is “Scarface.” I loved it.

MoviesOnline: Did your work on stage as a pop star and your dance movements help you when you went into learning martial arts for this film?

Rain: Yeah, it helped. I think singing, dancing and acting are very similar. I don't know why but it helped. The body just knows. When I finished “NinjaAssassin,” I said 'no more work outs, no more vegetables, no more chicken breasts, no more salmon, no more egg whites.’

MoviesOnline: So, what are you eating now?

Rain: Chocolate! I can eat everything.

MoviesOnline: What if there's a sequel?

Rain: Uh oh. I can eat everything; chocolate, hamburgers, pizza, go to McDonalds, Burger King, KFC. It's all in my body.

MoviesOnline: What did you do to train for this film?

Rain: I had to make my body fit like Bruce Lee. I trained for eight months, five days a week, eight hours a day. I just ate chicken breasts and vegetables, sometimes just egg whites. It was horrible and I learned a lot of martial arts; Taekwando, Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Karate, kick boxing with a sword and double swords, Shuriken (throwing stars), the chain is my favorite. I learned a lot. I had so many coaches.

MoviesOnline: How did you learn to work with the chain? Was that hard and did you hurt yourself?

Rain: Yeah. It was hard. When I was doing stunts, I had lots of cuts on my body because of the chain. Even though everybody took care of me, I still got hurt.

MoviesOnline: Did you ever "chain" yourself by accident?

Rain: Yeah. [he demonstrates swinging the chain around his head and getting cut by the knife at the end complete with sound effects]. I cut myself.

MoviesOnline: What was the biggest accident you had with the chain?

Rain: My nose was cut, my face was cut and my body was cut.

MoviesOnline: Were they worried about covering it with make-up?

Rain: Yes. But I didn't need make-up [in the scenes where he is beat up and bleeding]. It was real. Cut, cut, cut!

MoviesOnline: What was the hardest stunt you had to do?

Rain: Actually, the hardest part is foot [using your feet?]. I'm skidding. The hardest was the bathroom sequence and rooftop sequence. Those were amazing and it was hard.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about working with James McTeigue, your director?

Rain: There's nothing to talk about. He's the best. He is always humble to everybody. Always friendly and, yeah, I love his directing style. I love him and the Wachowskis too.

MoviesOnline: Was he very specific?

Rain: Yeah. I learned a lot from him.

MoviesOnline: Your character has to hold his emotions inside or hide them and you are a very outgoing guy so was that hard for you?

Rain: It's good acting, right? [he laughs]. Before this film, I had a Ninja expression coach so I learned a lot of my inside acting and expression acting from him.

MoviesOnline: You studied that?

Rain: Yeah.

MoviesOnline: From other films or an acting coach?

Rain: I had an acting coach, an English coach and martial arts coach. So many martial arts coaches: chain coach, sword coach, Kung Fu coach, a lot.

MoviesOnline: Rick Yune was saying you didn't have much time to do anything off set when in Berlin. Is that right?

Rain: I love Berlin but I'm not interested in partying. I wanted to focus on “Ninja Assassin” because this is a big opportunity for me so I did my best. I made it.

MoviesOnline: What did you think when they said you were going to be the star of this big action movie?

Rain: Oh yeah! It's gonna be huge. I'm gonna be a big star! So, I'm ready. It's hard walking in the streets in Asia and here I hope to do the same if people like this movie.

MoviesOnline: You really hope it's the same? That you can't walk the streets here? That people will be chasing you like they are in Asia?

Rain: In America? Yeah, why not? Yeah!

MoviesOnline: At the premiere, people were in the aisles screaming for you. Are you ready for that?

Rain: Yeah. I'm ready for the paparazzi! I'm kidding.

MoviesOnline: What do you have coming up?

Rain: I have three scripts; first one is a big action film, second one is a romance and third one is comedy/action and I haven't decided yet.

MoviesOnline: Are they all in America?

Rain: Yes. Hollywood films. I would definitely like to continue my career in Hollywood, work hard and do my best.

MoviesOnline: Are you planning to make a sequel to this?

Rain: Do a franchise?

MoviesOnline: Yes, a “Ninja Assassin 2”?

Rain: Yeah. [kidding] Ninja Assassin in McDonalds! Ask James or ask Joel. I don't know yet.

MoviesOnline: Would you like to have a more romantic love interest in the film?

Rain: In "Ninja 2"? Yeah.

MoviesOnline: Who is your dream actress that you would love to have as your leading lady?

Rain: I love Megan. Megan Fox! She's lovely and Naomi too.

MoviesOnline: What crazy fan encounters have you had?

Rain: I went to China a few years ago and this one fan claimed that she had my baby. It was crazy and so scary. [He holds his hands over his head as if holding up a baby] 'I've got your baby! I've got your baby' at the airport. I was horrible.

MoviesOnline: Are you mobbed if you go out when you are home?

Rain: I love my home, just playing games [indicates operating like a Playstation with his hands] and just sleeping. No matter where you go, nothing is better than sleeping. I love sleeping!

MoviesOnline: Could you take on Jackie Chan or Jet Li in one of these movies? You are younger.

Rain: Yeah. I want to work with them. They are my heroes.

MoviesOnline: Would you feel bad about beating them up though if they are your heroes?

Rain: [laughs] Keep watching me.

MoviesOnline: Are you on a music tour now?

Rain: Yeah. I'm doing a tour. I have a concert in Las Vegas Christmas Day, in Hong Kong this month the 27th and 28th, in Jakarta and Shanghai, Beijing.

MoviesOnline: To support your latest album?

Rain: A new album? I'm preparing my new album. I want to focus on “Ninja Assassin” for now but after this film, I will release [the album] in the U.S. market.

MoviesOnline: Would you want to move to Los Angeles?

Rain: Not yet. I'm so busy with a lot of interviews. I want to go to the beach. There are so many girls!! Woo hoo! [he uses his hands to indicate curvy girls].

MoviesOnline: How demanding is it to go on tour for your music? Is it as demanding as filmmaking for you?

Rain: Between concert making and filming, filming is very similar so I just enjoyed it. It's my job.

MoviesOnline: Did it ever concern you that you might get type-cast as the new hot action guy from doing films like this?

Rain: The Asians have their own broad and unique culture. More people have been interested in the martial arts side of it than others and that's why many Asian actors have been cast that way. But movies are changing in the way people view Asians. We can show you other sides as well; romance, comedy because I'm so young and handsome [big grin] and my body is so sexy so look at me! So, Yeah!

MoviesOnline: Don't eat too many McDonalds hamburgers though.

Rain: Okay. Thank you.

MoviesOnline: Do you have a girlfriend now?

Rain: I don't have a girlfriend but very soon. I'll go to the California beach after this interview.

MoviesOnline: You have a great sense of humor. Where goes that come from?

Rain: I’m so happy. I’m just enjoying it. Thanks for the interview. I love you guys. Thank you. [he takes off his cute newsboy cap and does a little bow].

“Ninja Assassin” opens in theaters on November 25th.

The Princess and The Frog

2009-12-06T00:46:00.000-08:00

You wacth this movie

MoviesOnline sat down with executive producer John Lasseter, directors Ron Clements and John Musker, and composer Randy Newman to talk about their new film, “The Princess and The Frog.” The film is a return to the timeless world of hand-drawn animation at Disney from the revered team who created “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” and features music by Oscar-winning composerRandy Newman.

“The Princess and The Frog” is an ageless fairy tale, but with a fresh twist that combines everything we look for in great stories: comedy, adventure, music – and most of all, the kind of heart that always sets Disney animation apart. In this telling of the story, the girl still kisses a frog, but the result is quite different. It’s only one of dozens of surprises in this mix of wacky humor, thrills, melody and emotion.The film features Disney’s newest princess, its next great fairy tale and the Studio’s return to the Disney musical, reminiscent of classics like “Beauty and the Beat,” “The Lion King” and “Aladdin.”

Here’s what John Lasseter, Ron Clements, John Musker and Randy Newman had to tell us about what it was like returning to the classic art form of hand-drawn animation and creating an all-new score for the feature in a range of styles, including jazz, blues, gospel, Dixieland and zydeco.

Q: Randy, how was it to embrace, play and reinvent all these musical traditions that are such a big part of the movie – zydeco and jazz and all of that?

Randy Newman: It does embrace a lot of styles. It’s 1925 also. Luckily, I love the music that was happening. I love Cajun stuff and the jazz of the period, so I took to it well and it interested me. Even if it hadn’t interested me, I would have done it. (Laughs) It was a fairly painless experience writing the songs.

Q: John, could you talk about going back to this kind of animation? Was it hard to find people who could still do it and is there any CGI?

John Lasseter: You know, when I was up at Pixar, when all the studios down here decided that they were not going to do hand-drawn animation any more, it broke my heart, because never in the history of cinema has a film been entertaining to an audience because of the technology. It's what you do with the technology. I really felt like they were blaming poor performance of their movies on that it was hand-drawn as opposed to computer animation. When the merger of Disney and Pixar happened and I returned to the Disney studios, the very first decision we made was we're going to bring back hand-drawn animation. Then we hired John Musker and Ron Clements back to the studio. As we started working onthe film and getting people to come back, it was so exciting, because some of the artists had left the studio that were working on hand-drawn animation because they didn't want to be retrained forcomputer animation . Some of the artists were retrained. So we brought both of those groups back together, and never ever in my career have I worked with a group of artists that had more to prove to the world that this art form is spectacular.

When you see the film, it is just gorgeous from beginning to end. I believe strongly that there are certain kinds of things you can do with hand-drawn animation that you still can't do with [computer animation]. When you watch “The Princess and the Frog” and look at the amazing animation of Louis The Alligator — I'm not sure that would be quite the same way in computer animation. I always say that you look at “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and the animation of the dwarfs themselves is something that's pretty much impossible to achieve incomputer animation — that fluidity, that squash and stretch, that kind of stuff, it just works in hand-drawn animation. Also, the rich painted backgrounds.

As we got the artists together, we took a look at the films that Walt Disney made, because I asked them to aim high. I said, let's make great art. So we chose two films — “The Lady and the Tramp” and “Bambi” are the two. “Bambi” for the bayou scenes, the nature, the way that was represented in there, almost an impressionistic point of view at times, and then with “Lady and the Tramp,” the scenes of the humans and the architecture of the character design was the pinnacle of Walt Disney's personal style.

John Musker: I would add just one more thing. Not only was it not a problem finding the staff — people were so eager to work on the movie, it was actually a dream staff of the best artists you could imagine. We got -- in terms of animation clean-up, background painting, effects — everybody who had worked in the medium, no matter what they were doing, and if they'd moved to something else, wanted to come back and do it again. It was pretty much across the board. So it was really one of the strongest staffs of artists I think we've ever had.

Q: What was the inspiration for the “Almost There” sequence?

John Musker: Actually, it's inspired by Aaron Douglas who was one of the great African-American artists during the Harlem Renaissance. The “Almost There” sequence has a very stylized art deco look to it. We really wanted to do something which was of that period, of the 20s and 30s, so we had this illustration and Sue Nichols, one of our visual development artists, had brought Aaron Douglas's work to our attention. He was a great artist who drew in that very geometric style, and we thought it really reflected that period and would make that song kind of distinctive and separate it from the rest of the movie. I think what's cool is that at the climax of the movie we get to see Tiana's dream realized in this kind of real world. You take those kind of stylized restaurant and art deco shapes and we made them dimensional, so you've got both her fantasy and then the actual reality of it. You get to see it from two different points of view. So it was fun. Eric Goldberg, the great animator, supervised the animation of that sequence, and he really enjoyed working that kind of stylized unreal thing. It was very signature, I think.

Ron Clements: Eric Goldberg animated the genie in Aladdin and he did Louis in this movie. John (Musker) was referring to Louis. [Eric] is one of the star animators that we had.

John Lasseter: It was also great storytelling by John and Ron in the use of style. Everything in the film is there to help tell the story, and the fact that her dream is wrapped around that one piece of paper that her father gave her — right at the very beginning ofthe film , she carries it with her constantly, so as her dream through the song unfolds, it works so well to then take the style that was in that piece of paper, and blow it out to the whole sequence. I think it was just beautiful storytelling.

John Musker: We were really happy with Terrence [Howard] playing the father. He was sort of the emotional fire that kept Tiana going through the course ofthe film , the anchor for her. And Terrence's performance, we were so smitten with it. It was very warm and very heartfelt and he really helped propel her dream.

Ron Clements: Terrence did his [part] in one session. It was election day a year ago that he did his recording.

Q: Randy, what kind of guidance were you given by Ron (Clements) and John (Musker) about writing the songs? Did you have the script or did they tell you “we need azydeco song here and Cajun there” or what? Also, I believe some of these songs may be up potentially for an Academy Award. Which ones do you favor as potential nominations?

Randy Newman: Oh gee. I’d like to talk about the Academy for about a half an hour, if you don’t mind. (Laughs) I know it’s not about me, but... Not really! (Laughs) No. I have no idea. I liked “Down in New Orleans” quite a bit. The waltz turned out very well. But I have no preference or expectation. I had fairly explicit instructions. It’s what I asked for. You know, the type of song is almost suggested by the assignment itself. It was obvious that Ray is from Cajun country and that’s the kind of thing that he would get. But they were specific as to the more adjectives I can get, no matter how simplistic it is. Like with “Almost There,” ‘This is a happy song. It’s meant to show who Tiana is, that she can see her goal and her goal is in sight.’ They were very specific. I often gave them back what they put on the page, essentially.

Ron Clements: We wrote the Facilier song. We did write a scene version of that where he’s basically doing a card reading and Randy took that and he musicalized the thing and added way more. I mean, the great stuff of “C’mon, shake my hand, shake a poor sinner’s hand,” that’s all Randy and his idea for that. And “Friends on the Other Side,” that was his title, his concept for that song, to have that be that title. We talked about a general style of song. We knew he wanted to do a reading in the scene, but then Randy took it from there and really invented all the rest.

John Musker: We were surprised. We were originally thinking that the scene would have music and then go into dialogue as he did his Tarot card reading. Randy actually musicalized the entire thing and put all the information within the music which is very, very tricky to do. He did a beautiful job with that. It wasn’t what we were expecting but it was better than what we expected.

John Lasseter: And the inspiration of his lyrics for “Friends on the Other Side” actually kind of informed the character as a whole and kind of his arc. We kept pulling that in. It really started with Randy and we kept pulling that in all the way through his comeuppance at the end. And then we had the idea to reprise the song for his comeuppance. That’s one of the things about animation. You don’t just write a script and make the movie. It’s this constant journey in plusing the story and evolving and refining. I think working with Randy, and all the years I’ve worked with Randy, it should give him the adjectives, give him the emotions, to talk about the underlying emotion of what’s going on and he needs to know. In this case, it’s a breakdown in song and musical so he needed to know story-wise what’s going on and all those things he gave. And then, we were inspired by him and by what he did and changed things, and he would take it and go “Let me tweak this because I’m inspired now by what you guys did.” So, it was this real wonderful give and take.

Q: I think this is one of the best scores you’ve ever done for a film. I’m interested in your reaction to when you see your songs realized on the screen, when they’re given utterance by a character like Louis, the Alligator, for example, how do you feel?

Randy Newman: I feel and am cognizant always – despite the abilities of the actors and the voices that they give to the characters – how miraculous it is that human beings are capable of that kind of animation. It’s just a beautiful looking thing. It’s too small to say that the song is enhanced by what it looks like and what the people sound like. But certainly, in every case, Anika’s (Anika Noni Rose) song and Jim’s (Jim Cummings), they did really well by the songs. I couldn’t have asked for a better representation and all of it is subordinate to the picture. I had no thought of anything standing alone or “God knows you’re not going to find somebody to sing ‘If I Were a Human Being,’” No, though some people could legitimately do that. (Laughs) I’m glad, first of all, that both Johns (John Lesseter and John Musker) and Ron think that the score served the picture. I hope that’s true.

John Lasseter: I just want to add one thing. What’s very important for me in making these films is that we wanted to make a Disney animated film, something that, on the one hand, feels like a very classic Disney animated film, yet is brand new. To me, these films are like an engine that pulls a big train. There’s no other company like the Walt Disney company to take your characters and make them come alive and stay alive beyond the boundary of the film. I had the fortunate opportunity just last week to go down to Disneyland and see. They have this show called Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee at Disneyland and it’s so amazing to hear Randy’s songs in some Mardi Gras parade that comes out of New Orleans Square and goes down to the Mark Twain Steamboat and they use the Steamboat as a stage and it’s the most perfect setting. Talk about synergy. It’s just unbelievable how wonderful this is. It brought tears to my eyes to hear Randy’s songs now sung at Disneyland and you realize how these songs are so perfect for the movie, but also perfect for the longevity of these characters within the Disney Parks and the books and the records and the toys and everything that’s going on, and it’s just exciting that this is the beginning of it.

Q: Randy, I’m interested in your process. How did you prepare for this production as opposed to how you would prepare for another one? Did you have a model in mind as a lyricist and a musical creative person in this genre?

Randy Newman: No model in mind that I can think of. But whatever picture I do, I listen to – if it’s a period thing, which many of them have been, I can’t get out of the 20s lately – I’ll listen to a band of Fletcher Henderson or of Bennie Moten or King Oliver, The Hot Five, The Hot Seven, Louis Armstrong, I’ll listen to a great deal of Cajun music, and then those function as models for you. It’s clear what to do. It’s very well delineated how the songs had to be, what type of song. I mean, you’re not going to have “Ray, the Firefly” sing a song and have a -- well I had a little orchestra with him but I mean it’s not – it still sounded like one violin and an accordion and a harmonica. I listened to Bessie Smith who’s about the best singer I’ve ever heard. I’d heard her before. But, like that, in a way I sort of knew where to go for it.

Q: In the process of creating the score for this film, what was it like for you to work with such a talented group of musicians and singers?

Randy Newman: It was, for the most part, a pleasure. There’s some creative friction at times, but you know very little. I just did what everyone told me to do. (Laughs) It was a pleasure. I was worried. There were things that happened. The girl’s original name was Maddy and I wrote a song for Maddy, a couple of them, and they changed the name to Tiana. And the reasons are, is that it’s a fairytale. I said, “Whoa! Is this a science fiction movie? Can you find a Tiana in the New Orleans phone book in 1925?” And, you know, that’s really not the point, subjecting things to that kind of journalistic verisimilitude. It is a fairytale. I think it’s telling that Anika talked about Snow White and she wanted to see a chocolate brown [Snow White]. If it does something like that, that would be a fantastic thing.

Twilight New Moon

2009-12-06T00:34:00.000-08:00

You wacth this movie

The film has been unleashed upon the masses and the tween-shrieking has subsided. Records have been broken, and boatloads of cash have been made. The big topic on everyones' lips this week is about a certain series of vampire films that don't contain the word "Blade" in the title. Everywhere you go, the words "New Moon" adorn theater marquees and Hot Topic stores and fast food burger joints. People are sporting shirts that read "Team Edward", and I don't even know what the hell that means. Frankly, I don't care to know what it means, either. This is one of the few times I truly am happy to not be part of the conversation.

I ask you this: Do you, the readers of this fine site who keep me afloat in Shasta Cola and Mexican Twinkees (They're like regular Twinkees, but cheaper, staler, and filled with strawberry creme) really need to know what my opinion is of The Twilight Sage:New Moon? Seriously, now.

This is not a question stemmed from my near-legendary laziness, it's a genuine query. Do I really need to see it? For you adoring "Twihard" fans, do you really care one way or another if I see the movie? Your opinion is already made up onthe film without having seen it. All you will do is wildly disagree with my inevitably negative panning of the motion picture with a whole slew of misspellings and/or webspeak. And if I wind up mildly tolerating the film, or Odin-forbid enjoying it, I'll never hear the end of "Told-yas" from fans and incredulous disbelief from haters. (Not to mention the incessant ridicule I will no doubt receive from my friends and family if I like it).

Note upfront, this is not a condemnation of the fans of the series. I am a nerdy fanboy, I understand the obsession with the fictional world. In my closet you will find a browncoat, a lightsaber, a fedora that a certain archeologist/explorer wears, and a Pac Man outfit. (Greatest Halloween costume ever). I realize I'm a nerd-fanboy archetype, and I've gladly accepted my role in life. And I'm all for young girls finally being represented into this mix of fandom, and having a blockbuster movie to call their own that doesn't involve robots. I do not believe that this film should not exist, far from it. I'm all for it. I just don't want to have to see it if I'm already pre-disposed to not enjoy it.

Why don't I want to see it? There's a myriad of reasons, the least of which would be it would be a giant waste of everybody's time. There's also the fact that I don't fit the demographic intended forthe film , in age and gender. (I may not act like a man in my 30s, but I certainly feel like one sometimes). But the main problem is I watch the previews for both films, and all I glean from it are trees. Every scene involves brooding teens in trees. There are trees everywhere. There are so many trees, I'm waiting for Ewoks to show up and ruin things. If I want to see trees, I'll go outside, and if I want to see brooding teens I'll hang out at the high school. (Once the restraining order has passed it's time limit).

These factors all add up to a moviegoing experience that you could most definitely call biased. Much like I know the upcoming Ninja Assassin will kick supreme amounts of ass, based on the sole fact that the movie is outright called "NINJA ASSASSIN", I know I will not enjoyNew Moon . I will probably not enjoy the previous film, or later installments of the "saga". It's a Romeo and Juliet tale, now with vampires and werewolves. If they weren't able to entice me with that premise in THREE Underworld movies, how can you possibly conceive of getting me to begin to consider spending my time with Bella Swan and the sparkly teen bloodsucker? And those movies had the unfair advantage of women in tight leather outfits performing acrobats and two-fisted gunfights!

In the end, when all the excitement has settled down, what matters is YOUR opinion of the film. No matter what I say about a movie, it will not influence your feelings regarding it. But with all the hype and money and attention, wouldn't my keen perception of films be best used towards the plethora of films gracing cinemas that could use the attention? Wonderful films, with strong female leads, like An Education, or smaller films that wouldn't normally get the chance for a wide audience, like the new film from Pedro Almodovar, Broken Embraces? Or Precious, which will no doubt be up for many awards in the near future. Films that you may not know about, that could broaden your horizons and expand your definition of cinema.

The Twilight Saga is an unavoidable phenomenon, and I've come to terms with that. Not every movie this year can be District 9, afterall. Please come to terms with my not wanting to view this film, to be left out of this pop culture tango. If you cannot do this, at least try to find a way to convince me to watch these movies without using the term "LOL". Please?

2009-12-06T00:33:00.001-08:00

Build and Design

2009-12-06T00:09:00.000-08:00

Build and Design
The Dell Latitude XT2 has a very professional or industrial appearance with an all dark-grey design, sharp lines and edges, and even exposed screws. This notebook is definitely not targeted towards those looking for the next designer laptop. Instead, it is aimed squarely at those who just want to get down to business. The brushed metal surfaces are actually specially painted covers that give the look of metal but with the ease of maintenance that paint gives. The finish resists smudges and is much easier to wipe clean than most brushed metal exteriors. If it was painted matte black and had a Lenovo logo printed on it, you would swear it was a ThinkPad.

I personally love the side profile of the Latitude XT2, which is almost perfectly square at all corners. It has no sloped surfaces, no rounded sides, and sits very low to the desk surface. If you are carrying the tablet around in one arm it takes up such a small amount of space that you really don't mind holding it.

Build quality is excellent, and probably the best construction I have ever seen on a Dell notebook. Panels feel solid with very little creaking or squeaking plastic, and fit and finish are impeccable. Surfaces meet with clean lines and nothing feels out of place. Paint quality is great on every part of the body, with no specs of dust, unpainted edges, or any type of imperfection. The screen hinge is tough and rugged ... giving you the sense that it should hold up well over time. The chassis feels very durable with barely a hint of flex if you squeeze the palmrest or put heavy pressure on the keyboard. The screen lid has some minor wiggle, but the screen doesn't show any signs of color distortion unless you really try to twist the panel

Access to user-serviceable components is easy through two areas. The hard drive is located underneath the battery and has four screws and a frame holding it in place. The RAM, Wi-Fi card, and WWAN card are located under a single access panel held in with two screws. Most upgrade needs can be taken care of in less than five minutes or however long it takes you to swap out a component. One interesting feature that Dell puts front and center under the access panel is a user removable BIOS chip (with a handy pull tab). This lets companies replace it in the event of a failed BIOS update, instead of sending the entire machine in for repair.

Screen and Speakers
The 12.1" screen on the Dell Latitude XT2 looks great and is one of the better tablet screens I have seen in person. With the multiple touchscreen and pen input layers that tablets need over the actual display panel, most tablet screens look very hazy or cloudy compared to a standard notebook screen. The 1280 x 800 display on the XT2 looks slightly hazy compared to a normal display, but much nicer than the average tablet screen. One important feature of a tablet or slate screen is wide viewing angles for using the screen from multiple positions without having lots of color distortion. The display on the XT2 is above average in terms of horizontal viewing angles, but still suffers from some distortion when viewing the screen in landscape mode and pushing the screen back.

Backlight levels on this screen are about average with other business notebooks, but not as good as "sunlight readable" displays. Dell does offer a brighter panel for daylight use ... which should hopefully be bright enough to not be washed out in direct sunlight.

The Dell XT2 includes a capacitive touch-screen with a built-in digitizer for pen input. The pen gives excellent traction and feedback on the screen similar to a ball-point pen over a glossy hard cover book. The texture allows precise movement, and it stays consistent across the entire screen. Oils from my fingers touching the screen didn't seem to affect the pen traction too much, although for the best writing surface possible I would suggest taking a microfiber cloth to the screen first. The pen includes two side-mounted buttons for the second mouse click and erase functions. I found them to both work well but the second mouse button is slightly too sensitive ... activating with the slightest touch.

The XT2 supports two-finger multitouch with its capacitive touch display. We didn't see much improvement between the multitouch environment in Windows Vista compared to Windows 7. Scrolling and zooming in Internet Explorer 8 still feels choppy, which makes it very easy to overshoot your intended mark. Switching to other web browsers didn't seem to help much and Google's Chrome only interacted with the zoom feature. I feel when it comes to multitouch Apple's hardware and software support is by far the best. Dell also didn't include any OEM-specific touch software on our Latitude XT2 besides ControlPoint which felt out-dated and redundant compared to Windows 7's own controls.

The audio system on the XT2 consists of a single mono speaker located on the left side of the chassis. It works well enough for listening to the occasional song or movie, but it sounds really off-center because the single speaker is located on one side. Peak volume is pretty loud, but it also distorts when it tries to produce bass or midrange audio. Headphones are a must.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The XT2 keyboard looks and feels great with slim keys and high visibility labeling. The layout is easy to follow with full-size primary keys and appropriately sized function keys. Compared to other notebooks the keys have a shallower throw, which is a side effect of the thin chassis. I actually found the keyboard to be quicker to type on compared to the ThinkPad X200, since the shorter throw means less travel before a key activates. The individual keys have no wiggle when you try to move the top of the key side to side.

The touchpad is an ALPS model running proprietary Dell software. Compared to the average Snypatics model it does show some minor lag, but it still feels responsive and easy to use. I think Dell could have gone with a larger touchpad surface, since the XT2 has enough space to incorporate it if you move the buttons more towards the lower edge of the palmrest. Dell also includes a pointing stick, which worked, but doesn't feel as fluid or responsive as other alternatives I have used.

Ports and Features
Port selection is excellent ... even when compared to larger notebooks. The Latitude XT2 offers two USB ports, one eSATA/USB combo, audio in/out, FireWire, VGA, LAN, and a proprietary power socket for some Dell accessories. If you need more ports or an optical drive, the docking station gives you four USB ports, serial, DVI, VGA, LAN, headphone out, and of course an optical drive. The docking station feels extremely well built, and has one of the nicest latching mechanisms I have seen. It has a sturdy metal latch arm, which when extended and released has a delayed motion where everything slowly clicks into place.

Front: Lower edge of battery

Rear: AC Power, VGA, LAN, one USB + power jack, tablet controls on display lid

Left: Pen holder, one USB, FireWire, speaker

Right: Wireless On/Off, Wi-Fi Catcher, USB/eSATA combo, SD-card slot, ExpressCard/54, headphone/mic, Kensington Lock slot

The World Smallest Camcorder

2009-12-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

Look this

When Camcorder joins our daily life, capture all our precious moments, even company us traveling around the world however because of the size of the oldies camcorder which was big, we got trouble in taking care of it. However now, Panasonic launched SDR-S10 “The World Smallest Camcorder” measures 1.2 x 2.5 x 4.5 inches, 10x optical zoom, 2.5-inch LCD. With the ability to record on SD/SDHC format, Panasonic reveal that a 4GB SDHC memory card will allows 100 minutes recording time whereas the 2GB SDHC memory card will allows 50 minutes recording time. SDR-S10 designed in a stylish look, easy shooting that allows you to shoot your precious moment comfortably in the palm of your hand. Watch the stunning pic of the smalles camcorder after the break.

The latest notebook latop

2009-12-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

One of latest laptop
Look at this

color: black silver and red
Graphics Card Type: Dedicated Graphics Card
Processor Brand: Intel
Screen Size: 17 Inches
Widescreen: Yes
Hard Disk Capacity: 250GB Or Above
Model Number: hkj;l
Network Technology: Wireless
Fob Price: US$199-250xiamen
Port: xiamen
Payment Terms: L/C,T/T,Western Union,MoneyGram
Minimum Order Quantity: 2 Piece/Pieces
Supply Ability: 210 Piece/Pieces per Day
Package: original binding
Delivery Time: 3days to 5days

Things We Hate About Laptops

2009-12-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

It’s one thing to complain about a notebook’s short endurance, wimpy speakers, or finicky touchpad during the course of a review. But it’s a whole different ball game when you need to live with that issue (or issues) after you’ve purchased a laptop. We’re here to help. Read on to find out how to deal with the biggest pet peeves we have with portable PCs, both through quick fixes and affordable upgrades. And to make sure you never make the same mistake again, we’ll provide the shopping advice you need to get a machine that works the way you want it to right out of the box.