Tag: Tech (31-40 of 842)

Sep 19 2012 07:03 AM ET

Ricky Gervais-backed social media app Just Sayin lets you listen in, literally, on celebs' convos

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Ricky-Gervais

Image Credit: John W. Ferguson/FilmMagic.com

One of the more delightful parts of social media has been watching famous people fight, or flirt, in public view. From the recent “four way” “fight” between Octavia Spencer, Retta, and Yvette Nicole Brown over Joe Manganiello, to the “dancing pig” spat of 2011 between Kirstie Alley and George Lopez, seeing bold-faced names go at it in real time over cyberspace has proven to be a fizzy new spectator sport for the 21st century.

But what if you could hear the fight as well as read it?

That’s the promise of Just Sayin’, a new, free, voice-based social media app that officially launches today. Backed by comedian Ricky Gervais — who’s a partner in the venture as well as its creative director — the app allows users to share voice- and video-based messages with their followers via their iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, much like they would post a photo to Instagram. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 17 2012 12:35 PM ET

The Winklevoss Twins are investing in their own social network

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Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Monozygotic entrepreneur wonder twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss finally settled their long-running legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg last year. But the Winklevosses — made famous by The Social Network, where they were played by fellow perfect human specimen Armie Hammer — aren’t just resting on their laurels. The Hollywood Reporter claims that the twins are investing in SumZero, a social network founded by Divya Narendra (played by Max Minghella in Social Network.) Before you start thinking that this is an attempt to challenge their archnemesis Mark Zuckerberg’s dominion in the social networking realm, keep in mind that SumZero is targeted specifically at investors — call it Facebook for Hedge Funders, or LinkedIn for People Who Are Too Rich To Know What LinkedIn is. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 11 2012 06:34 PM ET

Mark Zuckerberg in first public appearance since IPO: 'Everything I do breaks'

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Image Credit: Eric Risberg/AP

Mark Zuckerberg — Facebook founder, architect of the digital human oversoul, and current Wall Street whipping boy — came onstage today at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference, the first time he’s spoken publicly since Facebook’s IPO. You may remember that Facebook’s IPO was supposed to be the most exciting thing to ever happen to our economy, according to people who are supposed to understand how the economy works. Alas, Facebook’s IPO did not immediately transform our world into The Jetsons, and the stock price has consistently disappointed throughout the summer. TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington didn’t waste time, immediately diving into questions about the stock. “The performance of the stock has obviously been disappointing,” he said, before quickly turning the conversation into the promise of Mobile Technology, which will definitely get the stock price to rise any day now, just you wait, oh just you wait. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 7 2012 12:19 PM ET

New Google Doodle celebrates 'Star Trek'

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Calling all Trekkies!

As the obsessives among us surely already know, this year is the 46th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series. To mark the occasion, Google has created a special Doodle — going live right now on Google’s homepage.

Yesterday, EW talked with Ryan Germick, who headed up this particular Google Doodle, about Star Trek’s pop-culture significance. “We often talk at Google about how awesome it would be to talk to a computer and get exactly what you want and have that kind of engagement, where the computer just knows all [like in Star Trek], and that’s what we’re moving toward,” Germick said. “Other than that, it just seemed like a perfect fit. There are so many Star Trek fans, myself included, it seemed like such a fun thing to celebrate.”

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you watch Star Trek growing up?
RYAN GERMICK: I did, yes. I’m early 30s and I grew up watching the original series with my dad, and I kind of realized, the guys on the Enterprise were like family friends to me. I’d watched so many episodes of the show that Spock and the others have a space in my mind like my uncles and my aunts. [I also liked the idea] that technology could be a hope for the future. It was a part of my childhood and it’s awesome to try and bring that to life on the homepage. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 6 2012 04:24 PM ET

Amazon takes on tablet market with new, bigger, brighter line of Kindles

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Image Credit: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

While Microsoft and Google have spent considerable time and resources taking aim at Apple’s dominance in the growing field of tablet computing, all three companies should be keeping a keen eye out for Amazon. The new economy behemoth announced an ambitious line of Kindle devices Thursday — including the Kindle Fire HD, with both 7-inch and 8.9-inch screens — setting them at highly competitive, loss-lead prices just as its competitors plan major roll-outs for their tablet devices. “We want to make money when people use our devices,” said Amazon chief Jeff Bezos at the special presentation in a Santa Monica, Calif. airline hanger. “Not when they buy our devices.”

With the company’s goal of driving users to its online marketplace made crystal clear, Bezos also announced a suite of enhancements to its content experience, including expanding its book store to include serialized novels; integrating audiobooks into the print reading experience; and a “FreeTime” feature that allows parents to delineate exactly how long their kids can read a book, play a game, or watch a movie.

EW got some hands-on experience with several of the new Kindles — here are the highlights:  READ FULL STORY »

Sep 5 2012 04:32 PM ET

George Clooney in FarmVille? EW talks to FarmVille designers about FarmVille 2 -- EXCLUSIVE

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Image Credit: Zynga/FarmVille

Is George Clooney popping up in FarmVille?

While the actor himself may not be addicted to the popular social game (which over 100 million people have played on Facebook since its popularization in 2010) the design and art director of FarmVille got on the phone today with EW to talk about how Clooney inspired a character, the animation ideas they got from Disney and Pixar, and what’s new in FarmVille land — specifically with the launch of FarmVille 2 Wednesday.

FarmVille 2 will look pretty different to fans of the game. It comes with a host of upgrades, including a jump from 2D to 3D animation. You can download and play FarmVille 2 on  Zynga.com and Facebook now, and read below for EW’s chat with the designers.  READ FULL STORY »

Sep 4 2012 04:24 PM ET

'Angry Birds' creator announces new spin-off game: 'Bad Piggies'

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Image Credit: Rovio

Every great story has a hero and a villain, and the vast majority of stories are told from the hero’s point of view. And yet, it is only natural to wonder what those same stories would look like from the villain’s perspective. Indeed, many of the most important works in our cultural history adopt the point of view of the antagonist: Think of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, or John Gardner’s Grendel, or Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, or Nintendo’s nihilistic masterpiece Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. To that list we can now add Bad Piggies, the upcoming spinoff to Rovio’s ludicrously successful videogame Angry Birds. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 4 2012 03:04 PM ET

Apple strongly hints iPhone 5 coming next week

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The iPhone 5 is no longer just a myth. Beloved utopian super-company Apple has just sent out an invitation beckoning various media professionals to a September 12 event in San Francisco. As reported by CNN, the invitation seems a bit cryptic, featuring only one vague phrase — “It’s almost here” — over a large “12,” to mark the date. But as you can see from the image above, this invitation actually marks a rare non-cryptic moment for the tech giant. The “12″ casts a shadow of a “5,” which seems like a relatively straightforward indication that the iPhone 5 will finally hit stores, thus fulfilling centuries of prophecy. Either that, or Apple just wanted to create an homage to that awesome Phantom Menace poster, which was made back when it was possible to write “awesome” and “Phantom Menace” in the same sentence without laughing and then crying. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 31 2012 11:20 AM ET

Moleskine partners with Evernote for Smart Notebook

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Print is dead!

Well, not exactly. Moleskine, the renowned manufacturer of journals and diaries, has partnered with digital scribes Evernote to produce a new tech-compatible notebook. Called the Evernote Smart Notebook, its physical pages can be digitized with Evernote’s iPhone and iPad programs, allowing users to search and organize them as though they were digital documents. (The new notebooks have special inked lines that allow your scribbled notes to be easily scanned and digitized by a smartphone or tablet’s camera.) READ FULL STORY »

Aug 16 2012 12:58 PM ET

Julian Assange granted asylum by Ecuador

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Image Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up in London’s Ecuadorean Embassy since June, waiting for the South American nation to respond to his request for asylum. Today, Ecuador came through: It granted Assange asylum, guaranteeing him protection from arrest as long as he’s on Ecuadorean territory, writes the New York Times.

Of course, in order to get to Ecuador, Assange will have to leave the embassy — and Britain has no intention of letting him. Britain’s highest court ruled last year that Assange must be extradited back to Sweden, where he will be questioned about an alleged rape and an alleged molestation.

READ FULL STORY »

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