Filed under: Digital Cameras, Gaming

AgfaPhoto — you know, the company that used to just make really high-end gear, but now lends its name to lame sauce stuff built by plawa — has a new camera on display at PMA, the DV-5000G. In addition to the regular 5 megapixel camera duties, this thing works overtime as a 720 x 480 video camera — there’s 64MB of built-in memory, but we’re guessing you’ll want to hop to SD or SDHC in a hurry. Of course, most cameras do full-res video, but AgfaPhoto is also pulling a page out of DXG’s book and packing in video games, playable on the 3-inch “960 x 240″ screen (we’re guessing that’s a typo, and this thing is standard 320 x 240 QVGA). Unfortunately, the games are super weak, and there are no emulators in sight. We don’t think PMP or webcam functionality is going to save this one either, and the $260 pricetag seems a bit silly for what you’re getting. Let’s catch up at next year’s PMA, huh Agfa?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Usually we spot console modders adding a few LEDs to their boxen, squeezing in some extra memory or perhaps even changing a form factor altogether, but it’s rare to see these hackers actually hack in some original functionality. Cyberpyrot over at Acid Mods is taking this whole modding business to a whole new level with his voice recognition controller for the Xbox 360, which involves some heavy hacking and a bit of hardware kit wizardry to let you control teh Halos with merely the silky smooth sound of your voice. The mod is ostensibly designed to help out the mobility impaired, but we all know it’s going to be primarily used by slothful nerds (you know, those “purists” that didn’t pick up a Wii) who have decided that even repetitive finger motions are too much of an effort. The current mod can handle 10 different voice commands, check out a video of it in action after the break.

[Thanks, GrandpaSmurf]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Filed under: Drama, Romance, Casting

This is the story of one week in my life. I was seventeen. It was the week I slept in Orson Welles’ pajamas. It was the week I fell in love. It was the week I fell out of love.

I think the above, which comes from Robert Kaplow’s book, Me and Orson Welles, is the best description of the upcoming film that I’ve seen. It sounds more fun than just “learning about life and love,” and it begs the question: How does the kid end up in Welles’ pajamas? As Jessica told you earlier this month, Zac Efron has signed on to star as the kid, Richard Samuels, who comes under Orson’s wing, Christian McKay will play the epic filmmaker, Ben Chaplin is playing George Coulouris, and Richard Linklater is directing from Vince and Holly Gent Palmo’s script.

Now the love interest has been picked. According to Empire, Zac Efron will fall for Claire Danes. First, he certainly isn’t a Jordan Catalano replacement, but times have changed. Second, what is it with Claire taking on roles where she gallivants around New York City with boys much too young for her? (This is like a 1930s-style Igby Goes Down.) According to Publisher’s Weekly (from the Amazon title link above), Richard falls in love three times (busy kid) — first with a fellow student Caroline, then with Sonja, a production assistant who is also canoodling Orson, and finally an aspiring writer named Gretta. I’m going to assume that Claire will probably be Sonja.

Variety, meanwhile, reports that the film will be backed by CinemaNX, and will start filming late next month in England and New York.

Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting

Things certainly seem to be moving quickly for Gentlemen Broncos. Five days ago, Patrick had first broke the news on the follow-up project for Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre creator Jared Hess. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has already announced that Sam Rockwell has signed to star along side Flight of the Conchords creator Jermain Clement for the teen comedy. The story centers on a teen fantasy novelist who has his story ripped off by his idol at a writer’s camp. Michael Angarano (Lords of Dogtown) will play the teen that comes up with the fantasy story with the unfortunate title of Yeast Lords.

Rockwell will play the fictional character in the story and there will be some “book-come-to-life sequences under two guises: one in the teen’s story and one in the author’s story”. Well, if anybody can pull it off, it would be Rockwell — the man has a knack for playing some of the most diverse characters without breaking a sweat. If you don’t believe me, take an afternoon and watch The Green Mile and then Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and tell me those are two pretty impressive ends of the spectrum.

The script was written by the husband and wife team of Jared and Jarusha Hess, and will be produced Mike White and Ben LeClair. Both White and LeClair worked with Hess before on Nacho Libre. So it looks like Patrick’s prediction came true and the cast is going to be an ‘indie’ affair, but with the addition of Rockwell and Clement there’s just a smidgen more of ‘hipster’ cred. Gentlemen Bronco’s is scheduled to start production this March and arrive in theaters some time in 2009.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Action, Romance, Casting, Sony, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand, James Bond, Remakes and Sequels, Daniel Craig

Is Gemma Arterton feeling the heat for having recently (apparently) blurted out a key plot point involving her character in Quantum of Solace? Seems that way. “You have to work out what you can say and cannot say,” Arterton tells Reuters in a recent article. “It’s quite hard for me who has a bit of a motor mouth. I’ve been learning for the last six months to think before I speak.” As she continues to work on her problem, Arterton also continues to give away more plot details for the upcoming film, intimating in the same Reuters piece that oil — “a lot of oil” — is what the villains are after this time, and South America is apparently where they’re looking for it. Arterton also tells IGN in another new interview that her character does become sexually involved with Bond — there’s a kiss, at least — and that something happens to her in a “scene which is an homage to something iconic, but I cannot tell you what that is. But it will be remembered.”

What is she talking about? Let’s speculate. Given what Arterton has already let slip about her character’s destiny and given that in this IGN interview she mentions Diana Rigg more than once — noting her as one of her favorite Bond girls and saying “my hair is reminiscent of Diana Rigg’s hair” the most obvious answer is that perhaps the “homage scene” is a climactic one for her and is something similar to the climactic scene in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. That would fit in with everything she’s saying, but it wouldn’t seemingly fit in with Bond’s journey at this point, since it would be so similar to the ending of Casino Royale. Although, it might work if Arterton’s Agent Fields is only a minor character, which she appears to be. A minor character could be resolved in such a way. Gemma, you’re making my head hurt!

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Share This

Check out the PX-3600 console that hails from where else but China. It probably needs to see a shrink as it can’t decide on whether it wants to be an Xbox, a PS2, a PS3, or even something totally revolutionary. Chances are near non-existent that it will be able to handle current or even past gen console games, but ought not to have any problem with titles from the 8- and 16-bit eras. You will be able to run your own shady clone console shop only if you order a thousand of these or more, although I’m not too sure just how many customers you will get.

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

Share This

I personally think that clocks and watches should take the minimalist route and not bother with trying to come up with the most puzzling designs. That’s the mistake the Tik Tak clock has, although I’m sure its designer has some sort of deeper meaning behind the time. There’s nothing more irritating than trying to tell what time it is while you’re running late, only to be greeted by some undecipherable timepiece. Would you pay £89 to hang something like this on your wall?

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

Share This

No, you don’t need Prince to announce the Purple Magic cell phone as it was introduced today, being based on the NXP Nexperia Cellular System Solution 7210 for 3G, along with the Purple Labs Linux suite. This is but a reference phone as at time of publishing, but it is already been described as a “fully integrated, turnkey solution” - so in all probability, other handset manufacturers might be working on their own versions of the device already. It is hoped that this handset will further drive down the cost of ownership for a 3G handset. Which is your favorite 3G phone to date, and why?

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

Share This

Word on the street has it that Google is currently planing to work together with Dell on launching a cell phone sometime down the road. It seems that this plan will be unveiled to all and sundry at the 3GSM conference at Barcelona next month, although Google insiders do mention otherwise.

If true that might be a tough entry for Dell, which doesn’t really design or manufacture phones. It has been a long time since the Dell PDAs were hot, and the company is already in enough trouble as it is, with plans to shut down all other kiosks throughout the US.

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

Share This

For those who are interested in seeing the soon-to-come Mozilla Mobile browser, they can always check out some mockup designs from the team (as shown above). Currently, there are two vanilla prototype UI’s that are available for you to test, where the first is meant for non-touch screen devices while the latter loves being touched. Do you think these browsers will end up better than the iPhone’s Safari?

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

Share This