We still know almost nothing about the first live-action Star Wars movie in a decade, but now we may have gotten a glimpse at one of the movie’s big special-effects sequences. A redesigned Lucasfilm website includes a photo of a production meeting, where you can glimpse some concept art. Read more…
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First Concept Art of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: Episode VII?
Japan’s answer to Amazon, Rakuten , has just got into the mobile communications business by purchasing internet calling app-maker Viber for $900 million. Viber was one of the first to introduce 3G VoIP on the iPhone, and now lets you call any land-line or mobile phone, send messages and even push-to-talk . The app is available on all major mobile and desktop platforms, and is one of Skype’s biggest rivals with over 300 million users worldwide. According to the WSJ , Viber’s global userbase helped draw Rakuten, which is trying to expand its business interests beyond Japan’s shores. It also recently purchased a huge stake in Pinterest and bought e-reader maker Kobo . Rakuten’s CEO confirmed that Viber “perfectly compliments” its goals and said the acquisition “will enable it to penetrate new markets with multiple digital content offerings.” Filed under: Cellphones , Internet , Mobile Comments Via: WSJ Source: Rakuten
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Skype rival Viber purchased by Japanese e-commerce giant for $900 million
Why sleep listening to white noise or ocean sounds, when you could hear the Starship Enterprise in flight? Or the interior of the TARDIS? Read more…
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Go to sleep while listening to comforting starship engine sounds
You undoubtedly remember those slick renderings for the Lowline , the still-in-progress underground NYC park tentatively scheduled for a 2018 opening. The renderings were done by architect Kibum Park, a partner at James Ramsey’s RAAD , a firm that “[focuses] on single and multi-family residential, commercial and hospitality projects.” Well, turns out Park’s got a Coroflot page , loaded up with renders of some bee-yootiful hotels, restaurants, houses and apartments, the latter being the ones that most caught our eye. The clients are of course anonymous and text descriptions are largely absent, but the images do most of the talking. Check out this NYC penthouse with its crazy, sun-dappled, yurt-like master bedroom with elevated library: (more…)
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Flotspotting: Kibum Park’s Awesome Urban Residences
Microsoft marketing chief Tami Reller announced that the company has sold 200 million Windows 8 licenses in the 15 or so months that it has been on the market. This number includes only OEM and retail copies of the operating system and excludes volume licenses. The company previously announced that Windows 8 had reached 100 million copies sold in May of last year, a rate of sales that matched Windows 7. That operating system, however, reached 240 million sales within the first 12 months, demonstrating that Windows 8 is clearly not selling as fast. Still, in a PC market that’s shrinking—and which started shrinking even before the release of Windows 8—200 million copies is perhaps not too shabby. PCs as a whole are not selling as fast as they were during Windows 7’s heyday, and both Windows and Office are suffering as a result. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
William Cormier III was convicted this week of killing journalist Sean Dugas, burying his body in a concrete-covered pit in Georgia, then selling off his rare Magic: The Gathering playing cards , part of a set valued at $100,000. Defense attorneys said during closing arguments that prosecutors didn’t prove that Cormier killed Dugas, and instead suggested his twin was responsible. Cormier’s twin brother, Christopher, pleaded no contest to charges of helping his brother move Dugas’ body from Florida to Georgia. Christopher Cormier has not been sentenced yet. Dugas’ body was unearthed more than a month after his 2012 death in the backyard of Cormier’s father’s home in Winder, Ga., which is about 300 miles northeast of Pensacola. Cormier was the only witness to testify for the defense. He told jurors Wednesday he was acting under the direction of his twin and that he did not know Dugas’ was dead when he sold more than $12,000 of his cards and cleaned out his home.
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Murderer buried victim in concrete and sold off his Magic: The Gathering trading cards, then blamed twin
Getting your friends to pay you back for dinner just got a lot easier. Square Cash , the company’s super-simple service that lets you pay friends by sending an email, added the ability to request money Thursday. Now you can ask to get paid back by sending an email to your buddy (or reply all to a group of friends) with the amount you need in the subject line and copying request@square.com on the message. When your friends receive the request and tie a debit card to their email, a reply that copies cash@square.com will pay you immediately. If you’re waiting for a group to pay you back you can also track the status of your requested payments, so you know which of your deadbeat friends needs another shake down. Those still waiting to get reimbursed for last weekend’s night out can start their own collection service now using an email address , or Square’s Android or iOS app. Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless Comments
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Square Cash makes bill collecting from your friends less of a hassle
It’s official: Confirming the leaks from last night, Comcast has announced it will acquire Time Warner Cable . This combination of the country’s #1 and #2 cable companies will stretch from coast to coast, as TWC controls markets like New York City, LA and Texas, while Comcast strongholds include Philadelphia and Washington DC. TV isn’t the only medium in play either, since as Gigaom points out, the two companies together cover not only 30 million+ cable TV subscribers, but also around the same number of internet connections, and about 15 million phone lines. So, what’s the likely impact for customers as a result of the deal? Right away, probably not much, and for several reasons. It will take time for the combo to gain regulatory approval from the FCC and Justice Department, like the lengthy acquisition process we saw when Comcast snatched up NBCUniversal a few years ago. Despite that, both parties expect the deal to close by the end of this year. As part of the announcement, Comcast says it’s “prepared to divest systems serving approximately 3 million managed subscribers, ” and expects to gain about 8 million net subscribers with the move. Comcast is still trying to roll out its new X1 TV platform including cloud DVR access, while Time Warner Cable brings its own setup, complete with StartOver and LookBack VOD features that let viewers go back in time without a DVR. Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet , HD Comments Source: Comcast , Time Warner Cable
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Comcast and Time Warner Cable’s $45 billion merger puts 30 million customers under one roof
Sure, Netflix has a multi-billion dollar deal with Disney , but Star Wars content is noticeably missing from its sizeable catalog. That’s about to change, however, after the streaming giant announced it has signed an exclusive agreement to bring the final series of The Clone Wars , dubbed ” The Lost Missions , ” to all 44 million of its subscribers on March 7th. Netflix says the 13-episode season will be accompanied by all five director’s cuts of the previous five Clone Wars seasons and the feature film, making it the only subscription service to offer such content. We’ve already started to see more Disney content on Netflix, but we’ll have to wait until 2016 until we see first-run live-action and animated films come to the service. There’s no word on whether we’ll see the Star Wars feature films come to the catalog in the future — we’ll just make sure to enjoy the launch of multiple Marvel mini-series while we wait. Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet Comments Source: Star Wars
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Netflix’s first taste of ‘Star Wars’ coming with exclusive ‘Clone Wars’ series in March
Take 300, 000 computer-controlled mirrors, each 7 feet high and 10 feet wide. Control them with computers to focus the Sun’s light to the top of 459-feet towers, where water is turned to steam to power turbines. Bingo: you have the world’s biggest solar power plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System . Read more…
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The World’s Largest Solar Plant Started Creating Electricity Today