Crime dramas and other TV shows can sometimes be a bit boring. But someone on YouTube decided that it might be fun to “enhance” them. Check it out:
Clash of the Titans Trailer #2
The first trailer was ok, but the second one is totally epic. Check it out:
Clash of the Titans is an upcoming 2010 fantasy film which is a remake of the 1981 film of the same name, itself loosely based on the Greek myth of Perseus. The film is directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Sam Worthington. Filming began in April 2009 for release on March 26, 2010.[1] The music will be composed by Craig Armstrong.[2] Matthew Bellamy of Muse has also stated that he will be working on the music.
Don’t forget to hit the full screen button after pressing play!
Don’t Step in the Hot Mag.ma!
By Jimmy Rogers (@me)
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
When social media first emerged, it was more or less a chaotic system where the most popular content floated around through many, many blogs and websites. Nowadays, though, a majority of that content is hosted on the “big names” of video storage: YouTube, Vimeo, and others. This makes finding cool new videos more predictable, but you still have to jump from one site to another to get everything.
Magma is trying something new. Instead of trying to convince content producers to host everything on their site (a battle most everyone loses to YouTube), they simply use the pre-existing embeddable players from each big site and put everything together in one place. This has been tried before, but what makes Magma special is ability for users to create their own accounts, share a feed of favorite videos, and follow what other users are watching. If you’ve ever used YouTube’s profile and “friending” features you’ll understand why there’s some space for improvement.
Personally I’m interested in Magma, not only because of all the potentially great community tools available, but also because of who’s responsible for it: Rocketboom. I’ve been watching Rocketboom’s video podcast for YEARS and, in my opinion, they really “get” the web as a social space. Watching the following video, they really convinced me that there is a hole in the heart of the web into which Magma fits perfectly.
Already I’ve found myself using the easy bookmarklet almost daily. I like how it can even recognize videos embedded in regular blogs! If you’d like to follow me on there, check out my page on Magma.
What do YOU think of this new social network? Will it soar or flop? Leave a comment!!!
All Hail Vectron! [Video]
By Vectron’s kindly claws, a lot of religions have probably started in a similar way, don’t you agree?
[Via VideoSift]
Ever Wonder What English Sounds Like to Foreigners?
By Jimmy Rogers (@me)
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Well you could ask our French-speaking blog boss, Yan, for his take…but why waste a perfect opportunity to watch a viral video?
This crazy song was written by Adriano Celantano in 1972 to show English-speakers what they sound like to un-comprehending foreigners. If you kind of zone out and let your mind go, you might actually mistake it for English. That’s because the song is composed of English phonemes (the sounds that make up our language) that have been jumbled up into jibberish.
How did this video strike you? Let us know in the comments!
[via Boing Boing]
FCC wants universal broadband, universal accessibility and universal boxes
The Federal Communications Commission has unveiled some of its ideas for strengthening the US broadband network to help the economy. The changes could include subsidies to improve provision in rural areas, measures to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, and a one-box solution to rival cable and video-on-demand services.
The report issued this week (PDF file) is only a preliminary set of ideas and is designed to promote discussion. The final plan is to be published in February and will detail how the FCC intends to use funding provided for broadband from the economic stimulus package passed earlier this year.
One of the main proposals is for the government to build broadband networks in areas where current providers don’t think it is profitable to do so. Under the plan, the money for this would come from the Universal Service Fund. This money, which comes from a levy on phone lines, is currently used to ensure everyone in the country has access to phone service.
The plan also deals with disability issues when accessing internet services, though it appears this will be merely through promoting better designed websites and more equipment such as screenreaders, rather than any legal changes or increased funding.
There may also be more details available to customers about the performance of rival broadband providers, the idea being that this will increase the likelihood that people will jump ship to get the best service.
Another goal is to finally settle an ongoing debate about the best way to use the wireless spectrum. This could involve reallocating the frequencies used by TV broadcasters where wireless internet services could use the space more efficiently. It could also mean finding ways to take advantage of currently unused “white noise” between frequencies which are already allocated.
Perhaps the most radical measure is to overhaul the way people get set-top boxes. At the moment most viewers either rent a box from a cable or satellite provider or receive it free with their subscription. The FCC believes this provides no incentive for manufacturers to produce better quality boxes with innovative features. Its proposal is to force all service providers (including those offering video-on-demand) to make their technology available so that firms can produce and sell boxes which are compatible with all TV and internet services.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (pictured) said reaching the plan’s aims would be a taunting task: “But its difficulty merely increases the urgency of advancing now toward our ultimate goal of creating a ubiquitous broadband infrastructure that addresses the growing costs of digital exclusion and that will allow every American to enjoy the extraordinary benefits that high-speed Internet access can provide.”
A Fabulous Journey Through The Known Universe
We’ve posted similar videos a few times here on Geeks are Sexy, but nothing as cool or as awesome as this one.
The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.
Now please, after hitting play, do yourself a favor and be sure to select the full screen option on the bottom right of the video player below.
The Chrome Wars
So Google’s little browser, Chrome, has knocked Safari out of the third-place position, making up 4.4% marketshare among browsers, just barely eking it out over Safari at 4.37%. Sure, those are small potatoes compared to Internet Explorer and Firefox, but still significant. The jump is mostly due the release last week of Chrome for Mac, typically the bastion of Safari users. But, as the CultofMac article says:
At the end of the day, though, I doubt this means much: at least on the OS X platform, Safari still reigns supreme, with Chrome only accounting for 1.3 percent of all browsers used on OS X last week. Chrome only beats Safari when you take PCs and Linux into account.
But what is Chrome like for a devout Mac user who’s been using Firefox all along? How does Chrome stand up in that case? Personally, I’ve never warmed to Safari, for whatever reason. So, curious for other options, I decided to take Chrome for Mac for a cruise, especially since so many people have been suggesting it.
My first impression was that it was slower than Firefox, taking longer to load by a few seconds. But not really anything that would impede general surfing. The themes are a cute addition, but most of them obscure the tabs or make the download bar impossible to read so, even with clever advertising and some rather lovely landscapes, I finally picked something on the simple merit that it made it easier to see what I was doing. (Although it is cute.)
I like the large display space, and the fact that everything just feels minimal in a totally good way. Less between me and content. I absolutely love that I can tab through various windows, and as far as display goes I haven’t seen any issues to speak of (and I do a great deal of browsing). Built-in Goole Search is absolutely integral, too, and that makes searching a cinch. The find feature is fabulous, far better than with Firefox, and gives a running count of occurrences on a page in the upper right hand corner instead of the bottom. The highlighting is helpful, too.
The problems are, generally, in the Google Realm itself. For whatever reason, when I’m running GChat, the browser seems to hiccough. Yesterday afternoon the entire browser actually crashed to the point where I had to Force Quit… over a GChat session. And Wave? While it’s tolerably slow on Firefox, my experience let me to give up entirely when using Chrome. The group I was chatting with went for Meebo instead.
Another inconsistent issue, and something I have to use every day, is text formatting shortcuts (command I, command B, etc.). In this case they do work in Gmail, making email sending a cinch, but not in WordPress. Considering I’m writing this from WordPress (on Firefox), you can imagine how irritating that would get after a while. I’ve become very dependent on the smooth toggle back and forth for italics and bold and, while this may seem like a little detail, it’s enough to make me grumpy.
Sure, a browser is a browser, and the differences are minimal. I’m still using Chrome, still working my way around it. I’m aware that it’s in beta, so there are still some kinks (thankfully not as many as in Wave). I think it’s still a contender, but I really hope Google works out its own issues relating to compatibility with its own products. Otherwise, what’s the point to go all-Google?
[Image from Daily Contributor)
Tags: browser, browsers, Chrome, google, Google Browser
Visualizing the 4th Dimension
Today, for our science videos of the day, we have 3 short clips that will help you visualize what it would be like to see a fourth dimension, if such a thing could be possible. The first features one of our favorite modern scientist, American astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan, and the second, a disembodied, computerized voice, which seems strangely appropriate for explaining such a complex problem. The third and last one will finally show you a 3D representation of what an object coming from the fourth dimension would look like as it would pass into 3D space. Enjoy!
Official Iron Man 2 Trailer
Here’s the official trailer for Iron Man 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2008 superhero movie, Iron Man. Iron Man 2 is currently planned for release on May 7, 2010.
The world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces. Source: Wikipedia.