Link: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/internet-fail-blockbuster-reportedly-plans-bankruptcy/

We all knew this was coming, apparently the company is going to try and restructure and come out of this but I don't give 'em much of a chance.

Just as video stores once failed to compete with Blockbuster’s larger inventory, the retail chain now can’t compete with Amazon, Netflix, on-demand cable-satellite, and other means of delivering video entertainment that don’t involve going to a store — even as it struggled to keep up, offering DVD-by-mail option.

The irony must be bitter for Blockbuster that as it was preparing for a potential bankruptcy, its once-upstart competitor Netflix was busy ramping up with an iPhone app that streams movies and television shows directly to Apple’s popular devices.

Link: http://globalthoughtz.com/2010/08/diggs-loss-is-reddits-gain/

Have you seen the new Digg redesign? I mean it's a good site and all but it's a far cry from what it was. There's tons of people leaving the service for Reddit (which always was a better community imho)

To make matters worse there was a time when most of Diggs front page articles were from Reddit itself.

Oh, and the site's been down a heck of a lot too as overload and balancing problems persist.

Link: http://www.slipperybrick.com/2010/08/google-launching-a-chrome-os-tablet-on-verizon-arrives-november-26/

There are gonna be a lot of tablets coming out this holiday season, Google's tablet is tied in with Verizon.

The device will be subsidized by the carrier, and much cheaper than the iPad. The rumor says that it has the following specs: An NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform, 1280 x 720 pixel multi-touch display, 2GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G connectivity, GPS, Webcam and Expandable storage.

Link: http://www.bluesnews.com/s/113221/might-magic-heroes-vi-announced

I loved this series since #1 - my kid loves it too. Thankfully the mystical themed turn based game continues with a new installment.

Ubisoft follows the revelation of plans to continue the Heroes of Might & Magic series with the official announcement of plans for Might & Magic Heroes VI, the coming installment in the series that alters its naming convention. The game is in development at Black Hole Entertainment (Armies of Exigo, Mark of Chaos Battle March) for release on Windows PCs in 2011, and they say it "will include all the characters and features that have made this brand a worldwide success, in addition to a wealth of new innovations."

Trailer is pretty spiffy too

Link: http://www.physorg.com/news200736010.html

Ah, the good old days, Atari has been through an awful lot as a company and has a plan for the future. But will it work?

In the next few months, Atari will roll out a major online initiative with updated versions of old favorites such as "Missile Command" and "Centipede" that can be downloaded or played on social networks like Facebook.

It's also building out a licensing program that includes not just consumer products but also movies based on its classic games. Two are already in development at different studios.

Prepare your self for Dig Dug 3D !

Link: http://kotaku.com/5609770/rumor-borderlands-studio-reviving-duke-nukem-forever

The saga that never ends gets an update - and I'd say this is a plausible one. I know Take Two still owns the Publishing rights, and it isn't out of the question they gave the code to Borderlands. It isn't even out of the question that George Broussard is on board with the deal.

So cross your fingers!

One source indicated that a playable demo of Duke Nukem Forever will be available later this year.

Link: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/08/10/malware-reaches-an-all-time-high

You don't have to tell me - I've seen more systems needing repair lately than ever. The problem is that so many new variants are coming out per week that signature based detection just does not cut it anymore. I know Panda A/V has a free cloud based program they are testing and I'm wondering if that isn't the way of the future.

Has anyone used it ?

Link: http://jotman.blogspot.com/2010/08/map-of-fire-situation-in-russia.html

I'm wondering exactly why this hasn't even hit the news here? Russia is going through one of the worst heat waves ever as they stifle in 100+ degree heat. Take a look at the maps of the fires and you'll instantly forget about the heat where you live.

Whats worse is that the many fires are threatening many Soviet era stockpiles of dangerous things.

Half of the country, most of its populated part, is on fire. Some pics and videos are quite apocalyptic in nature. Authorities are proving next to useless - even a The Russian Navy's materiel base was reportedly seriously damaged, and as of yesterday there were reports of a fire approaching a nuclear research center in Sarov (former secret town Arzamas-16). The current situation is both a result of the past years' cutback of firefighting services in rural areas, and an illustration, along with man-made disasters of the recent past, just how badly the Russian infrastructure has deteriorated.

Link: http://pelwaves.com/2010/07/27/legal-to-jailbreak-your-cell-phones-rip-dvds-in-america/

I'm sure Apple is fuming at this decision - even with the restrictions.

In a historic new ruling today, the Library of Congress has allowed unlocking or jailbreaking all cell phones and bypassing a DVD’s CSS, all legally under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Before all you tech savvy kids get over excited, there is obviously a catch, well a few actually. You’re only allowed to tweak and jailbreak your phone to install legally obtained software and companies are still allowed to put in all sorts of protections to ruin your endeavours. What’s more, they can still take action against you for illegal infringements and it’s still illegal to distribute any “technology, product, service, device, component or part thereof that’s primarily designed to break access controls”.

Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/13/blackberry_tablet_rumors/

Rim is really on fire lately with news and developments - and the news on their tablet is making headlines again.

Supporting video conferencing with 2 cameras and hardware accelerated flash

Kumar's research report noted that RIM is "trying to pull forward the launch of the 7-inch touchscreen tablet from early next year to year end" — which, of course, would enable it to cash in on the inevitable holiday gadget-buying frenzy. Betanews's sources didn't provide release-timing details.

The only negative here is that the thing has to be tethered to a blackberry phone - which I think is a big mistake. Other than that though, RIM to iPad - "Boom, headshot!"

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20010427-266.html

This would make so much sense I'm amazed that it hasn't been done two years ago.

According to the FT report, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse told the news agency that he sees "logic" in a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile USA, if the two companies were using the same 4G technology. He declined to comment further on merger talks. And Deutsche Telekom CEO René Obermannhas ruled out any "multibillion" euro deals this year. Deutsche Telekom owns T-Mobile USA.

Sprint Nextel has partnered with Clearwire, which is currently building a nationwide 4G wireless network using a technology called WiMax. The network is now in 43 markets.

Tmobile users everywhere are crossing their fingers ....

Link: http://heatvision.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/07/peter-jackson-meeting-with-actors-for-the-hobbit.html

It seems he is taking on the directors role and going ahead with casting despite the fact that the studio has not officially greenlighted him yet.

"The Hobbit" still has not been officially greenlighted, but director Peter Jackson is in Los Angeles this week quietly meeting with actors. The casting trip, which also included stops in New York and the U.K., underscores the progress being made on a complex series of deals to bring J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel to the big screen.

Sources say Jackson's pact with Warner Bros. to direct the two-part "Hobbit" adaptation is close to done, but the sticking point continues to be the dire financial situation at MGM, which holds half the rights to the property.

Link: http://mashable.com/2010/07/10/google-games-zynga/

What can we expect from this ? Googleville?

Google is reportedly partnering with FarmVille and Mafia Wars game-maker Zynga to launch a hub where you’ll be able to play social online games.

The source of the rumor is the tech blog TechCrunch, which claims to have confirmed the story with multiple sources. The search giant has allegedly invested between 100 and 200 million dollars in the massive game company, which already sits with Google (Google) in the small club of web companies that are valued at much more than $1 billion.

Link: http://theepicsandbox.com/press/blog/2010/07/12/spore-sequel-exposed-darkspore/

If you're feeling like you want to continue the Spore experience there is good news for you today.

Turns out some information has leaked ahead of ComicCon regarding EA and Maxis big reveal. The followup to Spore, a new game described as “Sci-Fi Action-RPG based on the DNA of Spore,” seems to take the game in a more combat direction. Following EA’s registration of Darkspore.com

Link: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/07/06/netflix-signs-movie-deal-with-relativity-media

There's no slowing Netflix down -

Netflix says the deal marks a continued shift in the distribution of major motion pictures in the U.S. Under the agreement movies previously distributed to pay channels such as HBO, Showtime and Starz will become available to be streamed from Netflix just months after their release on DVD.

Any additional material on watch it now is pure win.

Link: http://www.dailytech.com/Pirate+Bay+Hacked+4+Million+User+Records+Looted+Site+Is+Down/article18978.htm

The site was down yesterday (it's back now) after a hacker exploited an SQL vulnerability and got the userlist / passwords/ ip addys of the site.

Researcher involved said he briefly considered selling the data to the RIAA/MPAA but decided not to

In an interview with security blog Krebs on Security, Argentinian researcher Ch Russo revealed that he and two of his associates discovered multiple SQL injection vulnerabilities on the world's most popular torrent site, The Pirate Bay. They successfully exploited these vulnerabilities to gain 4 million users user names, e-mail, and internet addresses.

Question is will that list stay secret now - I'm sure the RIAA / MPAA will make offers - and they can spend.

Link: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-43585-Entertainment-Reviews-Examiner~y2010m7d6-REVIEWniverse-exclusive-Beavis-and-ButtHead-creator-Mike-Judge-working-on-30-new-episodes

This would be rather awesome, it's not greenlighted or confirmed yet but rumor is....

Mike Judge is currently outlining 30 new episodes of his iconic animated comedy Beavis and Butt-Head for its native network.

Judge plans on retaining the show's original ghetto-tech aesthetic, right down to the faded color palatte. The source also reveals that the Extract director intends on keeping B and B's format identical to its original sketch-videos-sketch incarnation, but with more contemporary music clips for the cartoon slacker-duo to skewer.

Link: http://m.nbcconnecticut.com/m/device/article.php?summaries=yes&mid=1&CALL_URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcconnecticut.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftelevision%2FJambi-Grants-a-Wish-New-Pee-wee-Movie-on-the-Way-97557459.html

It's been a long time since Pee Wee had his adventures. The good news is that a new movie is in the works!

The 1980s cult-TV star played by Paul Reubens will make his way back to the big screen via a collaboration with Judd Apatow, the director/producer behind comedy successes "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," according to Daily Variety .

"Let's face it, the world needs more Pee-wee Herman,"

Link: http://geeksofdoom.com/2010/06/25/ray-bradburys-the-martian-chronicles-heading-to-the-big-screen/

Finally, something I can totally agree with - I remember this from a made for TV series years ago and it should make one heck of a great movie.

The basic premise of the book is that Earth is well on its way to becoming all but uninhabitable, and the human species has come to the conclusion that they must colonize Mars. When they arrive many complications arise, including trying to make the red planet a new Earth, a worldwide nuclear war looming back on their home planet, and the differences between them and Mars’ native inhabitants.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/06/hulu-plus-debuts-999mo-with-ads-but-on-more-devices.ars?comments=1

We all knew this was coming... one major downer is that you still get all the ads...

Hulu has finally announced its long-rumored subscription service, Hulu Plus, though it won't be ad-free as some expected. Instead, Hulu is treating the new service as an extension of the Hulu website for TV-lovers—those who want to take Hulu's content outside of the browser sandbox and onto their mobile devices or, even crazier, onto their TVs.

For $9.99 per month, Hulu Plus subscribers can watch streaming content on Samsung Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players, and on the iPad, iPhone 4 or 3GS, or third-generation iPod touch.

not exactly what was predicted though, so for now there are no new limits on watching shows for free.

Link: http://gawker.com/5571172/a-fond-farewell-to-candy-cigarettes

I think everyone I know got these as a kid and our parents didn't think that there was anything wrong with that. The good ones had a lot of powdery sugar in them and you could blow into them to make "smoke".

If you've got some of these around the house or if you find them at a flea market or tag sale - they might be worth hanging on to for Nostalgia or someday maybe they might have some value.

Link: http://kingofgng.com/eng/2010/06/22/intel-says-farewell-to-pci-bus/

the new chipsets for motherboards based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture - that Intel will introduce in the last part of 2010 - won’t have support for the old PCI bus also known as “Conventional PCI”, implementing all the communications between peripherals and subsystems inside the chipset via the PCI Express bus. The parallel PCI standard is too old and too slow compared to the bandwidth offered by the various PCIe versions

Yep, makes me a little nostalgic, and you know you're a geek when a bus connection method brings back happy memories of cards that you owned ... sigh.

Link: http://www.nrel.gov/features/20100611_ac.html

This is pretty cool - and pardon the pun there.

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has invented a new air conditioning process with the potential of using 50 percent to 90 percent less energy than today's top-of-the-line units. It uses membranes, evaporative cooling and liquid desiccants in a way that has never been done before in the centuries-old science of removing heat from the air.

Within a few years we will start to see consumer devices sporting this advancement - and maybe all of us will sweat a little less - or at least stay cool without paying a small fortune.

Link: http://globalthoughtz.com/2010/06/google-to-offer-paid-news-content-system-soon/

As all major news sites now move to a premium model of offering content to the readers, Google too is plunging into the paid content business soon, reports reveal. According to an article in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica , the search giant is reconsidering its plans of building a kind of paid content system for publishers that may be expected to launch by the year end.

You know what this is going to do right? It's going to force webmasters like me to pay to read content and then re-post some form of it for free... Which then will be read by millions and completely bypass the websites that the paywalls are built for.

Link: http://scifiwire.com/2010/06/sam-raimi-to-head-down-th.php

Disney is tring to reboot the series - with the first movie to be a prequel....

Sam Raimi has signed to direct Oz, the Great and Powerful for Disney, according to Deadline. The 3-D prequel to the original Wizard of Oz (it's kind of hard to write that, actually) will start with the character in his pre-wizarding days, when he's just a circus performer who suddenly gets whisked away in a hot air balloon by a tornado to the land of Oz and ... well, you can figure out the rest, right?

Link: http://www.clubdevo.com/news/new-devo-album-on-colbert-site-more-tv/

If you want to hear the album before you go and lay down some hard earned cash for it - you can listen to it all week for free.

Electro-pop icons DEVO are pleased to announce the release of their first full-length album in 20 years, "SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY," this coming Tuesday, June 15, 2010. To celebrate the album's release, fans can hear the album in its entirety beginning today, June 10th, exclusively at www.colbertnation.com for one week only. This will be the first complete airing of the full album anywhere, so be sure to log in!

There's also a host of TV appearances in the article.

Link: http://movies.ign.com/articles/109/1096751p1.html

Leave it to Gandalf to make things better.

The only Knight we know of to have a Twitter account, McKellen recently Twitter'd that "Hobbit sets are ready, script ready and movie is casting this month. Fans are not to worry."

The actor then added that he believes shooting will start at the end of 2010. If any of this pans out, fans could presumably see the first half of The Hobbit saga in 2011, or at the latest 2012.

Link: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1683209/novell-triumphs-sco

No new trial for SCO - they might as well pack up.

In an 11 page decision supported by a 61 page findings of fact and conclusions of law, Judge Stewart denied SCO's request for a declaratory judgment, denied its claims for specific performance and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and denied its motion for judgment as a matter of law or alternatively a new trial. He also ruled that Novell is entitled to waive SCO's claims against IBM, Sequent and other licencees of SVRX Unix. In other words, Novell won resoundingly, SCO lost with the finality of the crack of doom, and the case is closed.

We can finally put this one to bed.

Link: http://www.inhabitots.com/2010/06/11/85-of-kids-drinks-snacks-could-contain-high-levels-of-lead/

Quantities of lead in bottled juice, juice boxes, and packaged fruit could exceed federal limits for the lunchbox-toting set, according to the Environmental Law Foundation. The Bay Area-based environmental nonprofit, which enlisted the aid of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-certified lab in Berkeley, tested nearly 400 samples from 150 branded products marketed to children, including apple juice, grape juice, packaged pears and peaches (including baby food), and fruit cocktail mixes. The alarming results: 125 out of 146 products—or more than 85%—contained enough lead in a single serving to warrant a warning label under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Prop. 65

Full list of offending drinks in the article.

Link: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/06/09/hulu-subscription-service-launch-said-to-be-month-or-two-away

Rumored for some time - it appears it's coming true, but it's not as bad as it could be.

Reuters talked to several people who opted not to have their names printed, and the good news is that not everything is supposed to be locked behind a pay wall. Hulu "will continue to offer newer episodes of shows like Fox's 'Glee' free of charge, but it will also charge viewers a monthly fee to see older episodes and other content, two of the sources said."

And some bonus news....

The more interesting info is the "month or two" timeframe, then, and a tidbit about the subscription service being "rolled out on multiple devices," including the Xbox and iPad.

I'd like to see it on the Wii as well - guess that's a bit more of a wait tho.

Link: http://mashable.com/2010/06/09/bing-adds-facebook/

Think twice before leaving your privacy settings loose on Facebook - that late night drunken wall post will now show up on Bing.

Facebook search will go live later today at bing.com/social and will include the full Facebook firehose complete with non-Pages content.

Microsoft’s search engine will combine both Facebook and Twitter (Twitter) results into one search experience. Results will include Facebook Page updates, as well as popular shared links from Facebook in aggregate form.

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20006879-261.html

As expected -

The music industry has asked a federal court in New York to order a shutdown of the LimeWire service, according to documents obtained by CNET.

Lawyers working for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the four top record companies, filed documents on Friday requesting that a U.S. District Court in Manhattan grant them a permanent injunction against the country's largest commercial file-sharing service.

It won't be long methinks before this abomination goes the way of Napster - and I am not sad to see it go - if I had to count the number of machines I've fixed because of viruses / malware gotten by Limewire....

Link: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/07/obsidian-and-square-enix-announce-dungeon-siege-3-will-include/

Everyone's favorite super sparkly donkey fest is back - with co-op play mode!

The threequel, which is set for release on 360, PS3 and PC, will remain true to the series' roots, giving players access to a catalog of highly customizable RPG archetypes that will participate in some action-oriented ... dungeon sieging. Players will also have access to an "all-new co-op multiplayer mode,"

Link: http://www.drdemento.com/

I used to listen to the Doctor back when he was on Sunday nights on local radio - he's been doing his show for 40 years and will be calling it quits this Saturday. There is some good news though, he will be making new shows and offering them free online! Way to go Dr.

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT...
This weekend, the Dr. Demento Show will have its final broadcast on KIYU, KLOO, WLVQ (QFM96), WRKH (The Rocket) and KOZT (The Coast).

This was a very painful decision for the Doctor...he really hates to let it go after almost 40 years...but he has come to agree with his manager and his family that it's necessary. The broadcast has been losing money for some time.

THE GOOD NEWS -- Dr. Demento intends to continue producing new shows every week for www.drdemento.com for the foreseeable future. A new one will be available Saturday morning, June 12, and more new shows will be posted every Saturday thereafter.

Link: http://consumerist.com/2010/06/freecreditreport-looking-for-new-house-band.html

You know those scumbags at Free Credit Report - the ones that offer a free service once you pay for their scam service? Well, they've been busted by the FCC and changed their name to FreCreditScore.com - and they are looking for a new band.

Our friends at FreeCreditReport.com, now required by to change their services by the FTC, plan to rebrand as FreeCreditScore.com. They're also looking for a new house band, to play a whole new set of insipid and misleading but catchy credit-related ditties. Your band, if you have one, can enter. If you don't, you can vote.

Remember - you are entitled to one free credit report per year from the US government at AnnualCreditReport.com - don't get hosed.