The rush toward virtualization of internal enterprise computing resources and cloud computing can have many advantages, such as server consolidation, but it's largely outracing traditional security and identity management practices.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Lil B Drops I'm Gay
The Based God avoids mentioning homosexuality altogether on his latest release, despite controversial title.
By Rob Markman
Lil B
Photo: Getty Images
Health care reform, Martin Luther King Jr. and self-hate — these are all topics referenced on Lil B's I'm Gay album. But homosexuality? Not so much. Late Wednesday night, the Based God dropped his controversially named LP with no warning but a single tweet at approximately 9 p.m. PT.
"Buy my new project I'm Gay now!" B wrote, with a link to iTunes.
There are no gossipy tidbits or out-the-closet revelations. Instead, B raps of mental slavery over a jazzy loop on the album's intro track "Trapped in Prison." When the Based God first announced the album's title in April at Coachella he drew criticism from rappers, death threats from fans and concerns from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation about whether the album was a gimmick.
In his defense, Lil B said that his intent for the album was to breakdown barriers and show that words don't mean anything. "Don't let a word make you discriminate upon another human," he said when he appeared on "RapFix Live" this past May. "Because at the end of the day, no matter what you do, I should be happy for you, because you're alive. You're living life."
In the commercial sense, there are no records aimed at radio and no kinetic, celebrity-themed anthems (see past Lil B singles "I'm Miley Cyrus" and "Ellen DeGeneres"). I'm Gay is filled with midtempo, soul-sampling tracks. "Unchain Me" finds the Berkeley, California, rapper pondering his place in the world, and on "Neva Stop Me," he addresses the haters. "Words can kill, why he call the album that and how the f--- he feel," he raps with a relaxed tone. "I Hate Myself" is one of B's strongest proclamations, as he says, "I see myself in the mirror, but I don't see nothing," and goes on to address racial profiling and media persecution.
His message is poignant, no doubt, but the album title is misleading as well. In April, Lil B denied any notion of being gay himself, but to barely address the issue on the LP is a glaring omission. "I'm very gay, but I love women," he said at the time, referring to the alternate meaning of the word. "I'm not attracted to men in any way. I've never been attracted to a man in my life. But yes I am gay, I'm so happy. I'm a gay, heterosexual male."
Are you "happy" with Lil B's I'm Gay? Share your reviews in the comments.
Related Videos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666668/lil-b-im-gay.jhtml
'Harry Potter' World Cup: Muggles Target Robert Pattinson
Keep voting over on the MTV Movies Blog to determine the best 'Potter' character of all time.
By Eric Ditzian
Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
Photo: Warner Bros.
The second round of MTV News' "Harry Potter" World Cup — the fan-voted tournament to pick the greatest character in the fantasy franchise — is already under way, but we'd like to pause for a minute to say how damn impressed we are. We offered up this momentous task to you, and you came through in a big way over the first round, voting more than 1.2 million times to make sure your favorite wizards and witches, heroes and villains, owls, elves and werewolves made it through to the next round.
Magical stuff! And it's only just beginning. Round two is shaping up to deliver us some blowouts, some neck-and-neck competitions and one upset that could have fans of another supernatural series up in arms.
On that last point, we're talking about Mr. Robert Pattinson. Before RPattz got mixed up in the "Twilight" madness, he took on the role of Cedric Diggory, a wizard who was only featured in "Goblet of Fire" but whose death changed the course of Hogwarts history and earned the character a #3 seed in our tournament. Cedric coasted through the first round and seemed to have a path cleared for him in future rounds by "Twilight" fans, who knocked Luna Lovegood out in a shocking round-one defeat.
Yet "Potter" fans seem to be fighting back in round two. Cedric now finds himself in a fierce battle with Narcissa Malfoy, the Dark Lord ally who squeaked by Lovegood in round one and could make it two upsets in a row. As of this writing, Narcissa leads the voting 53 percent to Cedric's 47 percent. All this makes for one of round two's most exciting matchups.
And a lot can happen before voting ends July 1 at 12:01 p.m. ET. Will the throw-down between brother/sister tandem George and Ginny Weasley, for example, go down to the wire? Right now, they're locked in a virtual tie. And can Professor Minerva McGonagall, the head honcho of Gryffindor, maintain a razor-thin margin of victory over timid-yet-ultimately heroic Neville Longbottom? Don't count that dude out yet.
Other matches seem already decided. Ron Weasley holds a commanding lead over Quidditch top dog Oliver Wood. Ron's gal pal Hermione and best friend Harry Potter, meanwhile, have each also raced out to nearly impossible-to-overcome leads. Big shock there, right? The big three are going to coast safely into the Sweet 16.
There they'll no doubt greet Severus Snape, the is-he-really-bad-or-maybe-kinda-good wizard who is deservedly a fan favorite. He's far ahead in his face-off with itty-bitty Professor Flitwick. We'll go ahead now and call it: Snape for the win! And let's cross our fingers that Dobby the House Elf, he of the adorable voice and self-sacrificing worldview, maintains his hefty lead over Kingsley Shacklebolt, who honestly is on borrowed time after a round-one upset of Mad-Eye Moody.
So that's where we stand about halfway through the second round. Don't let your personal fave pull a Mad-Eye Moody. Make sure he, she or it gets your support. With millions of votes coming through, it's up to you to vote and vote and vote. And then vote some more before we anoint the greatest character of all time in MTV News' Harry Potter World Cup.
Who is the best "Harry Potter" character of all time? The "Harry Potter" World Cup will find out! Voting is going on now over on the MTV Movies Blog, and you can also get the debate going on Twitter with the hashtag #mtvpottercup.
Related Videos Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666628/harry-potter-robert-pattinson.jhtml
Deal of the Day ? Dell Studio XPS 9100 2.8GHz Core i7 Desktop with 9GB RAM, 2TB Hard Drive, and 2-Year Warranty
Today?s LogicBUY deal is the Dell Studio XPS 9100 Core i7-930 2.8GHz Quad-core desktop for $949.99.� Features:� 9GB RAM, 2TB hard drive, 1GB Radeon HD 5670 graphics, 16X DVD+/-RW, multimedia keyboard, optical mouse, 15-month McAfee SecurityCenter subscription, 525W power supply to handle the high-end graphics�& processors, 19-in-1 media reader,�Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), and 2-year [...]
Zarkana: Theater Review
Jeremy Daniel
Cirque fans will get what they paid for, but others might find their amazement diminished by the more-is-more relentlessness of it all.
Venue
Radio City Music Hall, New York (Through Oct. 8)
Cast
Garou, Cassiopee
Director-writer
Francois Girard
The latest show, directed and written by Francois Girard, centers on a magician named Zark who embarks on a journey to find his lost love Lia.
NEW YORK ? A branding phenomenon with few equals in global entertainment, Cirque du Soleil needs no help from critics in finding its audience. With seven shows currently running in Sin City alone, there are possibly more employees of the Montreal-based behemoth than slot machines in Vegas. But in good conscience, this review must begin with a full disclosure. I don?t get the whole Cirque thing. I never have, and I get it even less after the company?s new show, the chronically busy acrobatic spectacular Zarkana.
If you?re a fan of Cirque?s patented and by-now familiar aesthetic, feel free to ignore this highly subjective review. If not, be warned: You might already overdose on Quebecois whimsy and start plotting carnage during the preshow. That?s when a gaggle of white-clad performers pose and strut around the deco foyers, staircases and balconies of Radio City Music Hall, wearing funny hats and doing cute things with umbrellas. At times, they squawk, cackle and jabber in nonsense language, an irksome forewarning of a lot more of that to come. For some of us, this is like being thrust into a mime hell jammed with inescapable street performers. For the gawking mob snapping away on their phone-cams, it clearly spells extravaganza.
Aside from touring tent spectacles on New York?s outskirts, Cirque?s Manhattan penetration has been limited to the kid-targeted holiday show Wintuk, which played seasonal engagements at Madison Square. A more recent attempt to gain a foothold with the vaudevillian clown act, Banana Shpeel, was a rare flop for the company. In creating a $50 million show specifically designed for this large proscenium theater, Cirque has reverted to its traditional formula.
About a dozen legitimate circus acts -- from the standard-issue to the more exotic, several of them genuinely impressive -- get stretched, padded and often distractingly undermined by copious dollops of performance filler. This involves more twee cavorting, clowning, posing and noise-making from the eccentrically outfitted ensemble (see: preshow, above).
Zarkana was written and directed by Francois Girard, who staged Cirque?s ZED in Tokyo and whose credits range across opera, theater and film (The Red Violin, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould). Supposedly, there is a story. A magician named Zark (Garou), whose powers are on the fritz, gets trapped in a tenebrous realm that comes to life as he embarks on an odyssey to find his lost love, Lia (Cassiopee). Or something.
Billed as a rock opera, Zarkana has a cheesy score by Nick Littlemore that intersperses tinkly-winkly Danny Elfman-esque strains: There are a lot of bombastic ballads for Zark and torchy numbers of dark deception for Lia?s various sinister underworld incarnations, among them a witchy serpent in a towering funnel dress and a spider woman suspended in a massive web. Canadian vocalist Garou?s songs veer across an ?80s retro spectrum that spans brooding Brit pop, Michael Bolton-style syrup and blustery hair metal. The lyrics, however, are too bland to serve as anything more than aural wallpaper.
?Acrobats and clowns, wake up, dance and fly,? sings Zark. Among those who comply are a juggler, a ladder-climbing balancing trio, another three balance-bar virtuosos, high-wire walkers, hand-standers, flag throwers, aerial hoop twirlers, a sand-painting artist and two Ecuadorian brothers who stroll, jog, leap and tumble around a giant contraption ominously called the ?Wheel of Death? -- basically, twin hamster treadmills on a spinning central axis. Their dexterity makes this death-defying dance with high-speed machinery look effortless.
All these acts show remarkable precision, concentration and discipline. The most beautiful of them are two Chinese rope aerialists and a superb group of trapeze artists, mainly from Russia and the Ukraine, who appear oblivious to the laws of gravity. Those graceful balletic interludes are sufficiently captivating to block out the freak-show frou-frou happening elsewhere onstage, but it?s a challenge.
At one point, a doll-like figure falls into a huge flacon of liquid and turns into a mutant baby with six arms. Another chap gets shoved into a pressure cooker and comes out transformed into Uncle Fester, brandishing a glowing light bulb. A little of the two clowns that appear at intervals goes a long way, though kids in the house appeared to find them funny. And they get major laughs during a protracted bit involving an electric chair and an audience volunteer. One of the clowns gets shot out of a cannon in simulated slo-mo, and in a rare sign of a sly sense of humor at work, he alludes midair to both Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and the Charlie Sheen tour.
But despite Girard?s strenuous efforts to create a bewitching atmosphere of mystery, enchantment and mischief, there just seems to be a whole lot going on to no clear purpose. From the elaborate frames that wrap the stage to the constant wash of imagery over the rear LED wall (floating eyeballs, writhing snakes, you name it) to the carnival-esque jumble of costumes and the bombardment of overbearing, high-decibel music, Zarkana is burdened by inorganic clutter and sensory overload. All of which just pulls focus from the undisputable skill of the circus acts.
Venue: Radio City Music Hall, New York (Through Oct. 8)
Director-writer: Francois Girard
Artistic guides: Guy Laliberte, Gilles Ste-Croix
Cast: Garou, Cassiopee, Maria Choodu, Anastasia Dvoretskaya, Victoria Dvoretskaya, Dmitry Dvoretskiy, Di Wu, Jun Guo, Frederico Pisapia, Giuseppe Schiavo, Vincenzo Schiavo, Marco Senatore, Carole Demers, Johnny Gasser, Yuri Kreer, Ray Navas Velez, Rony Navas Velez, Roberto Navas Yovany, Erika Chen, Anatoly Zalevskiy
Direction of creation: Line Tremblay
Set and props designer: Stephane Roy
Costume designer: Alan Hranitelj
Lighting designer: Alain Lortie
Music: Nick Littlemore
Choreographers: Debra Brown, Jean-Jacques Pillet
Image content designer: Raymond St-Jean
Acrobatic performance designer: Florence Pot
Presented by iShares
Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/zarkana-theater-review-206954
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Jay-Z And Kanye's Watch The Throne Is 'Ready To Go'
'They might put it out yesterday,' G.O.O.D. Music's CyHi the Prynce jokes to Sway on 'RapFix Live.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Kanye West and Jay-Z
Photo: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images
The anticipation for Jay-Z and Kanye West's joint album Watch the Throne coupled with the lack of information surrounding the project has created the perfect storm for rumors.
Earlier this month, The Source magazine reported that the album would be dropping July 4. With Independence Day coming in less than a week, those chances are looking as slim as the girl in Calvin Klein pants is. But on Wednesday's (June 29) episode of "Rap Fix Live," G.O.O.D. Music artist CyHi the Prynce did give fans a bit of hope.
"They are ready to go. Right now, all the music and everything is done," CyHi told Sway. "But you know my guy — we over here with [Kanye], so 'Ye is gonna add his last little pizzazz, and it's going to be ready for you guys soon."
On Tuesday, the Fourth of July speculation continued to swirl as AllHipHop.com ran a rumor report that said that the album will come Monday as a digital-only release to avoid leaks. CyHi would neither confirm nor deny that report, saying he wasn't privy to that information.
"I don't know the business of the logistics of it," he said, dodging the question with a veteran's poise. "Those are the bosses. You never know what they gonna do and how they gonna put it out. They might put it out yesterday.
"I don't know. 'Ye can do something, and he can just do it how he wanna do it," CyHi continued. "He can just put it out tomorrow if he wanted to, and that's what 'Ye want to do."
Until then, we'll continue to watch.
Are you on the edge of your seat for Jay and Kanye's album? Let us know in the comments!
Related Videos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666640/jay-z-kanye-west-watch-the-throne.jhtml
Mivizu Sleek Leather Case in Black Stone for iPhone 4 Review
I?m reviewing an iPhone 4 case from Mivizu called the Sleek Leather Case in Black Stone. It is part of a collection of cases from Mivizu with 11 different finishes, including carbon fiber, that center on a flip cover case design. I spent a week with this as my only case to get a proper [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/06/29/mivizu-sleek-leather-case-in-black-stone-for-iphone-4-review/
Deal of the Day ? HTC Evo 3D Dual-core Android Smartphone for Sprint with Free Activation
Today?s LogicBUY deal is for the HTC Evo 3D Android Smartphone for Sprint for $161.99.� Features:� Dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon cpu, 4.3? 540X960 qHD Super LCD 3D display that offers a glasses-free 3D experience, dual 5MP rear cameras to capture in 3D, 1.3MP front camera, 3G/4G connectivity, hotspot capability, 1GB built-in memory that?s expandable via microSD [...]
SGI, Intel plan to speed up supercomputers 500 times by 2018
Silicon Graphics International hopes by 2018 to build supercomputers 500 times faster than the most powerful today, using specially designed accelerator chips made by Intel, SGI's chief technology officer said.
SGI hopes to bring a massive performance boost to its supercomputers through highly parallel processors based on Intel's MIC (many integrated cores) architecture, said Eng Lim Goh, CTO at SGI. In conjunction with Xeon server CPUs, the MIC chips will run millions of threads in parallel, which will help scale supercomputer performance.
Eminem Taps Sway For Shade 45's New Morning Show
MTV News correspondent kicks off 'Sway in the Morning' on Sirius XM next month.
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666515/eminem-taps-sway-shade-45s-new-morning-show.jhtml
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
'Transformers' Director Michael Bay Calls 3-D A 'Technical Nightmare'
'I've slowed down my style on this one,' he tells MTV News of adjusting to 3-D for 'Dark of the Moon.'
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Michael Bay on the set of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Photo: Paramount Pictures
Toward the end of February of last year, as James Cameron's "Avatar" was crossing the $700 million mark at the domestic box office on its way to a record-shattering worldwide total, "Transformers" director Michael Bay was still not convinced that 3-D was the true future of popcorn moviemaking.
"I've seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage... in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens," he said at the time by way of revealing that he was considering a 3-D treatment for the third installment of his alien robot franchise.
The fact that he'd even arrived at such a testing phase is a credit both to Cameron and "Transformers" exec producer Stephen Spielberg. "Jim Cameron, he's like, 'Mike, you got to do it in 3-D,' " Bay told MTV News recently. "Stephen Spielberg, he says, 'Michael, you should do this in 3-D,' and I'm like, 'I don't know about the technology.' "
In the end, Bay became convinced that the tech was solid. For "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," he shot, by his own estimation, 60 percent of the finished film using 3-D cameras, another 15 percent consisting of all-digital 3-D shots and 25 percent footage converted from two dimensions to three. And while the director remains happy with the results, he did not mince words in talking about the challenges of working with 3-D cameras.
"It's hard with my style of shooting and taking [a camera] and strapping it to guys who are skydiving off buildings, and helmet cams," he said. "It's a technical nightmare. You don't even want to tell your viewers how technically complicated this stuff is."
To accommodate the limitations of a 3-D presentation, Bay ended up adjusting his often-kinetic approach to filmmaking. "I've slowed down my style on this one," he explained. "There are longer shots, there are evolving shots, some shots are 45 seconds long, where you're going in and through things. Where people say, 'Oh, I can't watch action with 3-D,' it's where 3-D was done poorly and your eye goes in and out, and if it jumps fast, it's when you get bad 3-D, because it screws with your head. Shot by shot, we're transitioning the viewer. You can really feel the action in this. It's much more experiential."
Check out everything we've got on "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666563/transformers-dark-of-the-moon-3d.jhtml
ClamCase updated for iPad 2
ClamCase has developed a nifty product to make you iPad 2 seem and feel more like a netbook. �This product has been around for the iPad, but has �received a makeover to become iPad 2 specific. �The case’s shell has cutouts to�accommodate�the back camera and built-in iPad speakers. �It has four unique positions: �keyboard case, [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/06/25/clamcase-for-ipad-2/
Vanity Mirror Watch from Gadgets and Gear
If you like to always have a mirror at hand, perhaps one on your wrist will suffice. �The Vanity Mirror Watch from Gadgets and Gear looks like a polished mirror until you need to know the time. �Press a button on the watch to light up red LEDs that display the time. �The Vanity Mirror [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/06/24/vanity-mirror-watch-from-gadgets-and-gear/
How security became mission impossible
It's been quite a month for network and computer security folks. Sony's network was cracked -- what, a half-dozen times? I've lost count. Then apparently everything from the CIA's website to your grandmother's embroidery blog was successfully compromised. It's almost like someone wants to prove a point.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Julie?s Surgery ? Update
Julie’s surgery was today. �The surgery is over, and the report is that things went well. �She’s waking up in recovery now. �She’ll be home soon, and she’ll have more information for us then. Join me in wishing Julie the best as she kicks cancer’s butt! 6/24/11 Update from me (Julie) Thanks to everyone for [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/06/22/julies-surgery-update/
Maxpedition Multi Purpose Bag Review
Are you a marine in need of carrying all your weaponry?� Or are you a Gadgeteer in need of a awesome gear bag for all your tech toys?� Either way, Maxpedition?s Multi Purpose Bag would be perfect for you! Maxpedition?s Multi Purpose Bag is made of light-weight ballistic nylon fabric coated with Dupont?s Teflon to [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/06/27/maxpedition-multi-purpose-bag-review/
The WebGL Battle in the Great Browser Wars
Even on the sunniest, most peaceful days here in the Linux blogosphere, it's a pretty safe bet that the Great Browser Wars are still being waged somewhere, whether or not we can actually overhear the particular skirmish of the moment. Last week, however, the din of the battle roared loud enough for all to hear as Microsoft and Mozilla come to blows.
Securing SCADA Systems: Where Do We Start?
Many leading industrial and governmental network infrastructures employ SCADA systems to automate, monitor and control crucial physical processes, including manufacturing and testing, electrical transmission, water and fuel transport, and traffic signal operation. Because of their crucial importance and prominence in the field, SCADA systems have increasingly been the target of criminal and terrorist activities.
This is SO going to be on my (pre-)Christmas List!!!
I originally saw this over on CNET.com and thought it newsworthy. LEGO just announce that it will be releasing a limited edition Star Wars model: Darth Vader’s personal flagship, the Super Star Destroyer EXECUTOR. This 3,152 brick model will be the longest Star Wars Lego model ever, measuring 50 inches in length. This behemoth will [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/06/22/this-is-so-going-to-be-on-my-pre-christmas-list/
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Dell plugs hole in virtualization stack
Dell has filled the last big hole in its virtualization stack through a partnership with Netuitive, which makes analytics software for managing virtual infrastructure, Netuitive and industry analysts have confirmed.
One of the challenges with a virtual infrastructure is the dependencies that exist between its many discrete components, making management of the overall system complex.
MongoHQ Raises $417K From Y Combinator, Lerer And SV Angel
Data hosting platform MongoHQ has raised $417K in financing in order to expand their hosting configuration service for developers who use MongoDB for data storage. Paul Graham's Y Combinator, Start Fund, SV Angel and Lerer Ventures took part in the funding. First on the MongoDB database hosting scene, MongoHQ is in the same space as MongoLab�and differentiates itself by adding enterprise level functionalities, aiming to provide users with the maximum amount of uptime with its new replica set feature, which gives developers the option to create databases across three EC2 boxes in three different availability zones. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xnf4AxcPiso/
MongoHQ Raises $417K From Y Combinator, Lerer And SV Angel
Data hosting platform MongoHQ has raised $417K in financing in order to expand their hosting configuration service for developers who use MongoDB for data storage. Paul Graham's Y Combinator, Start Fund, SV Angel and Lerer Ventures took part in the funding. First on the MongoDB database hosting scene, MongoHQ is in the same space as MongoLab�and differentiates itself by adding enterprise level functionalities, aiming to provide users with the maximum amount of uptime with its new replica set feature, which gives developers the option to create databases across three EC2 boxes in three different availability zones. Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xnf4AxcPiso/
These Car Prototypes Built By Kids Can Do Close To 2,000 Miles Per Gallon
What's more impressive than a car that can do over a thousand miles per gallon? One that was designed by school kids. In the UK, students from regional schools and universities took part in the annual Mileage Marathon Challenge near Leicester, England, each team vying to set new gas mileage efficiency records in a race around a track. Cars were allowed to coast, but had to maintain a minimum speed of 15 miles per hour. Students worked on the vehicle prototypes, many in partnership with design and engineering firms.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/TA83ZYqnnyE/
Michael Jackson's Legacy, Two Years Later, By the Numbers
Legendary singer's impact continues to blossom in the two years since his death; MTV News breaks down the figures.
By Gil Kaufman
Michael Jackson
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
Like Elvis, Bob Marley, Notorious B.I.G. and Frank Sinatra before him, Michael Jackson's influence has continued, and grown, since his untimely death on June 25, 2009.
On the second anniversary of the King of Pop's passing, MTV News took a look at the enduring appeal of MJ's music, videos and imagery, which continue to fascinate and attract fans across the globe thanks to a series of posthumous albums, a movie, video games and two upcoming Cirque du Soleil live shows.
Where Were You Two Years Ago When You Heard the News? Tell Us on Facebook
$72 million: According to Box Office Mojo, Jackson's posthumous concert film, "This Is It," has grossed more than $72 million to date domestically and $189 million in foreign markets for a worldwide take over more than $261 million. It ranks as the #2 music documentary of all-time behind Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never." The film has also generated nearly $45 million in DVD sales in the U.S.
16: In May, Jackson lodged his first #1 on the Billboard magazine Dance/ Club Play Songs chart in 16 years with the latest single from his posthumous Michael album, "Hollywood Tonight."
2: Number of posthumous albums that have been released since Michael's death in June 2009. Last year's Michael has sold just over 510,000 copies to date, while the This Is It collection has moved nearly 1 million copies to date in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.
15,000: The number of videos submitted by fans since March for the crowdsourced video for "Behind the Mask." After they were edited down by a five-person team over two months, the resulting clip used submissions from more than 1,600 participants from 103 countries.
3 million: The amount of copies sold of the Ubisoft "Michael Jackson: The Experience" video game worldwide.
$57 million: The reported cost of Cirque du Soleil's traveling MJ show, "The Immortal World Tour, which is slated to kick off on October 2.
$1 billion: That gaudy figure is the reported amount the Jackson estate had generated by last June on the first anniversary of the singer's death. According to Billboard, the revenue was generated by a combination of music sales ($429 million), film/TV revenue ($392 million), music publishing ($130 million), licensing ($35 million) and a $31 million recording contract. (A spokesperson for Jackson's estate declined to provide updated figures for this story.)
$310 million: The amount of gross earnings reported by the executors of the estate in a December 2010 court filing detailing the progress made in paying off the $400 million in debt run up by the spendthrift singer during his lifetime.
16.1 million: MJ was always a big singles artist. Yes, Thriller is one of the best-selling albums of all time, but even in death, fans can't resist cherry-picking some of Michael's best songs. That explains why he's sold more than 16 million digital tracks since June 28, 2009, the first sales week following his passing, according to Nielsen SoundScan. To put that in perspective, from the time Nielsen began counting digital tracks in 2004 until the week before Jackson's death, the singer had sold just over 8.1 million digital tracks, a figure that has doubled in just the past two years.
2013: The projected launch for a second, non-touring Cirque show celebrating Jackson. The yet-untitled show is slated to open in the spring of 2013 at a new theater being built at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
$25 million to $50 million: That's how much Jackson's estate takes in on an annual basis thanks to his stake in the half-million-song Sony/ATV catalog, which includes titles by Elvis, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Beyoncé and Bob Dylan.
Share your memories of Michael Jackson in the comments.
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666426/michael-jackson-anniversary.jhtml
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The Sauer Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine is the Energy of the Future
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sauer Energy for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. The cost of all forms of energy we use daily is going up. The continually rising price of gasoline seems to be driving up the cost of everything we use. The energy we need to [...]
Mozilla and Firefox 5: Upgrade or Die!
Mozilla released Firefox 5 earlier this week, just three months after rolling out Firefox 4 and a month after it released version 5 in beta. Version 5 has "more than 1,000 improvements," which include the "Do Not Track" privacy feature and support for the CSS Animations standard, among other things.
Michelle Obama Has 'Profound' Meeting With Nelson Mandela
We get an inside view of the first lady's meetings with South African leaders.
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Lola Ogunnaike
Michelle Obama and Nelson Mandela
Photo: Whitehouse.gov
All this week, first lady Michelle Obama has been touring Africa with her mother and daughters as part of her ongoing work to engage and empower young people at home and abroad. Journalist Lola Ogunnaike has been covering the entire trip for BET as part of an upcoming special, "Impact on Africa: On a Mission With the First Lady." Ogunnaike called MTV News to share her insight and exclusive information about the experience. These are her words.
First lady Michelle Obama met with Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela's wife, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation earlier this week. It's clear to me the two of them enjoy a genuine rapport. Graça really seems to have an affinity for our first lady. She walked her around the museum, and the two of them looked at everything from old diaries to old itineraries to books to letters that he'd written.
One of the facts that seemed to take Obama aback was that at one point while Mandela was incarcerated — because he was incarcerated for 27 years — he was allowed to write only one letter every six months. You could see her face recoil. Can you imagine being able to communicate with the outside world only once every six months? I think it was something she was amazed by and which moved her in a profound way.
The first lady's mother and two daughters were there, and she joked with her daughters that they were going to be quizzed later on everything they'd learned. That got a cute laugh from the crowd.
The first lady also met with Nelson Mandela. It was a private meeting, but when I spoke about it with her during our interview, she said it was like meeting with family. It was one of the most profound moments of the journey for her. It was clear to me that it was a moment she'll hold dearly in her heart forever.
When she spoke about meeting him, her eyes lit up. She never thought she'd have the chance to meet him, let alone to have the opportunity to have her family meet him. To be sitting there with someone who was so instrumental in changing the direction of the world — and that's not an overstatement — was both a full-circle moment and a call to action for her.
Related VideosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666403/michelle-obama-nelson-mandela.jhtml
Why Are New York Bagels the Greatest? It's Not the Water [Science]
science
Alyssa Bereznak ?
New York bagels are the best. Deal with it. The legend, according old city folk, including Larry King, is that there's just something in the water. But Slate's Brian Palmer claims they're wrong.
Water chemistry is only a tiny factor in producing a deliciously crisp and chewy bagel, though the Big Apple's water supply does have lower concentrations of calcium carbonate and magnesium than other metropolitan locales (for the former, it's around 19mg per liter in New York vs. 200mg per liter in parts of LA). The harder the water, the stronger the gluten (and the tougher the bagel).
But the real secrets of the classic NY bagel? First, they ferment their dough, letting it sit overnight in wooden containers, growing yeast and producing flavor compounds. Then most of mom-and-pop shops poach their wares before they bake them, a process that gelatinizes the dough to make it chewy. To cut corners, the less-loving bagel purveyors brush their stuff with water and baking soda, as you might a pretzel, then blast it with steam.
So, sorry Larry and the rest of you Brooklyn bagel water enthusiasts. The proof is in the process. [Slate, Image: Shutterstock]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5815434/why-are-new-york-bagels-the-greatestt-its-not-the-water
The Stomach-Churning Prospect of Installing Linux
Ninety percent of today's Linux distributions "can be easily used by just about anyone when properly configured and presented with a couple minutes of explanation to the new user," wrote Thoughts on Technology blogger Jeff Hoogland in a post on LXer provocatively titled, "Anyone can use the Linux operating system."
Friday, June 24, 2011
Julie?s Surgery ? Update
Julie’s surgery was today. �The surgery is over, and the report is that things went well. �She’s waking up in recovery now. �She’ll be home soon, and she’ll have more information for us then. Join me in wishing Julie the best as she kicks cancer’s butt! 6/24/11 Update from me (Julie) Thanks to everyone for [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/06/22/julies-surgery-update/
Gartner: New security demands arising for virtualization, cloud computing
The rush toward virtualization of internal enterprise computing resources and cloud computing can have many advantages, such as server consolidation, but it's largely outracing traditional security and identity management practices.
Lindsay Lohan Dodges Jail After Probation 'Violation'
Judge rules that under plea terms, actress was no longer required to undergo alcohol testing.
By Gil Kaufman
Lindsay Lohan leaves the Airport Branch Courthouse after her probation hearing in Los Angeles on Thursday
Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Despite reports that she violated her probation from a 2007 DUI case by testing positive for alcohol this month, troubled actress Lindsay Lohan was able to avoid getting sent back to jail yet again on Thursday (June 23) when she appeared in court on the allegations.
In this case, the actress dodged a legal bullet on a technicality, one that will seemingly allow her to serve out the rest of her home confinement on a recent misdemeanor theft charge without having to go behind bars. TMZ reported that judge Stephanie Sautner ruled on Thursday that the prior judge in the case only required controlled-substance testing from January 3 to February 25 of this year.
According to the site, Lohan's probation report made a strong recommendation that the actress be sent back to jail because she seems unable to stop partying. The report, submitted to Judge Sautner, says that Lohan failed an alcohol test on June 13 — the day after she was photographed partying on the roof of her Venice, California condo with friends — and also refused two prior drug tests, on May 31 and June 2; it noted that she passed another drug test on June 9.
"The defendant's behavior indicates she is not attempting to change. It appears that the defendant does not view being on the electronic monitoring program as a privilege," wrote her probation officer, who recommended that Lohan should serve "suitable time in custody" as a result of the alleged violations.
As a result of the information in the report, Sautner said Lohan is now restricted to having one friend at a time at her Venice loft, in addition to family members, and no parties, for the remainder of her house arrest. Sautner said the only thing Lohan was guilty of was "extremely poor judgment."
In an unusual twist, the hearing also revealed that the probation department can't test Lohan for drugs or alcohol anymore because there is no court order allowing them to do so, which appears to clear the way for the rehab veteran to consume alcohol again as long as she doesn't drive after drinking.
Lohan's lawyer could not be reached for comment on Thursday's proceedings at press time.
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666346/lindsay-lohan-jail-probation-violation.jhtml
Buju Banton Sentenced 10 Years For Drug Charges
Dancehall reggae fixture Buju Banton was earlier today sentenced to serve 10 years in Miami where the singer first incurred his cocaine charges in 2009.
Buju Banton
Photo: Soul Brother/ FilmMagic
Related Artists
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666328/buju-banton-sentenced-10-years-drug-charges.jhtml
Lil Wayne On 'Stan' Redo 'Dear Anne': 'I Just Don't Like It'
Weezy reveals to XXL that the Swizz Beatz collabo was intended for 2008's Tha Carter III.
By Alvin Blanco
Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz in 2007
Photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage
Lil Wayne is his own biggest critic. Although the Swizz Beatz-produced "Dear Anne (Stan Part 2)" leaked online weeks ago to generally positive reviews, Lil Tunechi is not particularly fond of the song.
Swizz Beatz talked to Mixtape Daily about his collaboration with Weezy last year, mentioning that the song's beat was originally intended for Eminem. But after Em passed on recording a "Stan 2" for his Recovery album, Weezy recorded the song and Swizz hoped to include it on his upcoming Haute Living album. However, Weezy told XXL that "Dear Anne" is a holdover from his multiplatinum 2008 album.
"That was actually a record for Tha Carter III that just leaked," Wayne told the magazine. "It leaked out, and everybody's thinking that it's going on Tha Carter IV 'cause I was actually gonna put it on Tha Carter IV. But I had been listening to it and didn't like it. I don't like it 'cause the song, all the verses are old. And me being a perfectionist, I hate going with old verses."
Despite Wayne's trepidation, some heads in his YMCMB camp think the song should be a go. "Mack and Tez and them, they love it," Wayne said, referring to Young Money president/artist Mack Maine and his manager Cortez Bryant, respectively. "They be like, 'Man, you trippin', you killed it.' I be like, 'Did you hear what I just said? I don't wanna do that anymore.' But I heard that the 'Anne' song has been getting buzzed up and everybody's buzzin' about it, so it might end up one of those you might have to put on the album, you know what I mean. But I ain't trippin' on it like that; I don't like the song. I love the beat; I love the idea. I don't like my execution. I don't like what I did. I don't like how I delivered on it. The idea that I had for it, I didn't accomplish that, what I thought I was gonna do. 'Cause I was tryna make it a situation song. And I just don't like it."
Wayne may have to decide whether "Dear Anne" makes the cut sooner than later. Reportedly, the "How to Love" rapper's long-delayed Tha Carter IV's release date has been moved up by a week to August 22.
Lil Wayne is on the cover of XXL magazine's July/August 2011 issue, hitting newsstands July 12.
What do you think of "Anne"? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666319/lil-wayne-dear-anne-xxl.jhtml
Thursday, June 23, 2011
How Bad Could It Be? The $100 Arnova 7 Tablet
Make sure your parents don't mistake this for an iPad at Christmas
You know how the only non-iPod MP3 players that people buy are those $10 pieces of junk in dime stores, or by the checkout in cheap supermarkets? I have a feeling that the tablet market is going the same way.
With all the major players struggling to match the iPad?s aggressively low price, it may be left to junk like the $100 Arnova 7, a seven-inch tablet packed with all the latest tech ? if we were living in 2005.
The tablet runs Android 2.2 Froyo, has a whopping 4GB storage, a mystery-meat processor, and an 800�480 pixel screen. The screen is ? laughably ? resistive, just like the ones we used to enjoy on our tablet PCs back in the day. Data can be gotten onto the machine via USB or microSD card, and you can sit back and relax as you watch movies at up to 720p (not bad, if it works without skipping).
And that?s it. What did you expect for $100? You want to know the battery life? Well, it seems that Arnova is too embarrassed about this to tell us. The product specs give both music and video playback time as ?up to hours.?
It would be easy to laugh this off as a toy that nobody will ever buy, but the truth is infinitely sadder. Imagine poor little Johnny waking up excited on Christmas morning, tearing the wrapping paper off what he thinks is an iPad, and finding that his clueless parents have bought him this piece of tat instead.
Arnova 7 [Arnovatech via CrunchGear]
See Also:
- New Archos Tablet Is a Kid's Toy, Not Suitable for Adults ?
- Kobo Comes to Next3 Android Craplet, Will Probably Sell a Ton ?
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/06/how-bad-could-it-be-the-100-arnova-7-tablet/
Ringleadr Raises $500K, Launches Service To Let Users Create Their Own Deals
Hot on the heels of Loopt's announcement that it is moving into the daily deals space with U-Deals, a young startup called Ringleadr is chiming in with its own user-generated deals service. Rather than fall back on deals that are already being offered through the hundreds of deals sites across the Web, Ringleadr wants to let its users make the deals. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/F6qgqEIvtgk/
BMC buys software from vendor that lost IBM legal battle
BMC Software said Friday it has acquired a range of IMS (information management system) database software and related customers from Neon Enterprise Software, which recently lost a legal battle with IBM over a mainframe-related product called zPrime. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Google Invests $102 Million More Into California?s Alta Wind Energy Center
According to an official company blog post today, Google is increasing its investment into California's Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) by $102 million, bringing its total investment in the renewable energy facility to $157 million. The AWEC is being developed by Terra-Gen Power, primarily. The first development within the massive facility is the Alta-Oak Creek Mojave Project. Google's latest funding commitment would go to build an extension at the facility. The AWEC has a transmission line, the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, dedicated to it which makes it distinct from many, large-scale renewable energy projects that have been proposed in the U.S. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Di87hHI1AP0/
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
LightSquared Fiddles With Dial to Cut GPS Static
LightSquared is moving forward with its plans to create a faster 4G wireless network by switching airwaves after tests showed its previous system interfered with GPS systems, the company announced Monday. The network innovator will use spectrum controlled by satellite company Inmarsat. "Inmarsat is operating within approximately 2 megahertz.
Two-Headed Hacker Monster Declares Open Season on Governments
Two ad hoc hacker communities often in the headlines of late -- LulzSec and Anonymous -- announced on Monday they intend to team up to attack government websites worldwide. In its "Operation Anti-Security" manifesto, LulzSec said the top priority of this operation is "to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation." Anonymous had on Friday tweeted its solidarity with LulzSec.
Some Mobile Programmers Skeptical About Adobe?s Flash Utopia
The BlackBerry PlayBook, which launched April 19, supports Adobe Flash. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
It?s no secret: Adobe wants to see Flash everywhere. The company wants everyone to write programs with Flash, and for all customers to rely on Flash for their software needs.
With a set of new tools launched this week, the company continues to make an aggressive push in that direction ? though it may have a tough time convincing developers to buy into its vision of a Flash utopia.
Monday?s release of two software tools for mobile developers, Adobe Flash Builder and Adobe Flex 4.5, creates a single platform programmers can use to make applications that work across three major mobile platforms: Android, iOS and the BlackBerry PlayBook.
Both of these tools allow a developer to write software in Adobe Flash, then automatically recompile their creations into native apps that can be sold on three major mobile platforms.
According to Matthew Fabb, senior mobile developer at StickerYou.com, cross-platform tools like Adobe?s, and another popular one called PhoneGap, serve a need.
?Companies want to reduce their costs in creating mobile apps across platforms, rather than making them all natively,? Fabb says. ?I know some companies have outsourced a lot of their mobile development,? he says, as a result of needing external talent to handle code with which in-house developers may not be as familiar.
But such tools come with their own set of problems. Some critics say using tools like these result in decreased performance, compatibility problems, and generally mediocre software. So, as convenient as the idea of ?write once, run anywhere? sounds, it?s just not that simple.
Poor performance is the most often-cited problem with cross-platform development tools.
When you create an application using code that?s not native to the device you?re targeting, the authoring software you?re using sometimes needs to tack on an additional layer of code called a runtime. The runtime enables the device to interact with your non-native code, but a common side-effect is a more sluggish app.
?Generally, the additional runtime is a performance hit, and it?s another layer to worry about,? says Mike Novak, Android engineer for Group.me. ?I prefer native environments for the lack of a middle man.?
Also, cross-platform tools may miss some of the intricacies of each mobile OS, says mobile developer James Eberhardt.
?The biggest complaint that I have with third-party tools like these is that they?re focused on lowest common denominator features,? Eberhardt says. ?The iOS SDK has a feature that allows in-app purchases, while some of the third-party tools don?t support that.?
Problems with performance and compatibility aside, Adobe has been pushing to get its software on all mobile platforms, especially the iPhone. In 2010, Adobe added the ability to create Flash apps for iOS in its Creative Suite 5 Professional software.
The company trumpets the fact that its software helps developers get their creations into multiple app marketplaces more quickly.
?If you?re deploying a mobile app, you want to reach every one of your customers on whatever device they?re on,? Greg DeMichillie, director of product management for Flash Platform tools at Adobe, tells Wired.com. For companies building everything in native code, that can take ?up to three times longer to bring the apps to market,? according to DeMichillie.
Flash, along with the companion technology AIR, has long been Adobe?s flagship cross-platform environment for application development, but Adobe has struggled to implement the software consistently across different computing platforms. Most famously, Apple CEO Steve Jobs blamed Flash for frequent crashing and battery drain on Macs, and he says similar limitations have kept Apple from supporting Flash on its iOS platform entirely. On other smartphones and tablets, Adobe continues to face challenges in getting the technology to work consistently across different devices, including Research In Motion?s PlayBook tablet, which runs QNX and the Motorola Xoom tablet, which runs Android.
There?s also an entirely different snag that?s tied to device compatibility: each class of devices has its own app store.
Unlike the centralized marketplaces like Apple?s App Store and the Android Market, there isn?t an efficient app distribution channel for applications built in Flash or AIR.
?For small guys peddling smaller web apps or services it?s a lot harder,? says Phillip Ryu, developer of the best-selling iOS game The Heist. ?And there aren?t many turnkey monetization services or effective sales channels to just tap into.?
This is the problem Adobe?s new tools are effectively trying to solve, by giving Flash developers an easier way to get their creations into the multiple app marketplaces rather than rely on ad hoc distribution.
Another issue: Adobe may not be able to keep up with continuous feature updates from the different mobile platforms. Android, for instance, currently maintains a six-month release cycle, on average. Just like hardware manufacturers struggling to keep up with the platform developers, Adobe may not be able to keep its tools updated at the same pace.
That?s a non-issue for native coders. ?If you go right to the source you?ll always have the option to be cutting edge,? says Group.me?s Mike Novak.
Developer James Eberhardt echoes this sentiment.
?It doesn?t matter how good the technology is,? he says. ?If it doesn?t support some of these important features, it?s dead in the water.?
See Also:
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/06/adobe-flash-flex/
OCZ releases new customizable enterprise-class SSD
OCZ Technology today released a new enterprise-class solid-state drive (SSD), the Deneva 2, which comes with SandForce's latest controller technology, almost doubling the performance over its last iteration of the drive.
Like the original Deneva SSD, the Deneva 2 is a customizable product, coming in two series with multiple form factors, interfaces and NAND flash memory types, from high-end single-level cell (SLC) flash, and enterprise-class multi-level cell (MLC) flash to consumer-grade MLC.
BMC buys software from vendor that lost IBM legal battle
BMC Software said Friday it has acquired a range of IMS (information management system) database software and related customers from Neon Enterprise Software, which recently lost a legal battle with IBM over a mainframe-related product called zPrime. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
ToutApp Adds An Intelligent Content Manager To Your Email Client
There have been a number of startups that have helped users manage contacts within email clients, such as Gist or Rapportive, but what about an app that helps you better manage the content of your emails. Enter ToutApp (part of the 500Startups Summer Accelerator program), which is is canned email responses on steroids. The startup is announcing they've closed an $350,000 seed round from 500 Startups, Esther Dyson, Eric Ries, Daniel Eskapa, NYC Seed Fund, Joshua Baer, and others. ToutApp aims to solves the repetitive email problem intelligently. The app is really aimed for users who send a large number of outbound emails that have similar content. When you sign up for Tout, and integrate your Gmail account, the app will parse through your emails and identify the different types of mass emails you send. So if you are an entrepreneur, Tout will separate your email pitches to journalists from your email pitches to investors. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Q0NUH0di-fM/
OCZ releases new customizable enterprise-class SSD
OCZ Technology today released a new enterprise-class solid-state drive (SSD), the Deneva 2, which comes with SandForce's latest controller technology, almost doubling the performance over its last iteration of the drive.
Like the original Deneva SSD, the Deneva 2 is a customizable product, coming in two series with multiple form factors, interfaces and NAND flash memory types, from high-end single-level cell (SLC) flash, and enterprise-class multi-level cell (MLC) flash to consumer-grade MLC.
HP's Vertica adds developer-level access
Hewlett-Packard's Vertica has updated its flagship parallel columnar database so other programs can instigate analysis directly on its database clusters.
For Vertica Analytic Database 5.0, HP has included an SDK (software development kit) that developers can use to have their programs make direct method calls to the Vertica database.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)