Apple shows off new Reminders and Notes features in iCloud beta

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Internet, Storage,

Apple released a beta version of the iCloud web interface yesterday for developers to get caught up on the upcoming changes that'll be rolled out to the public this fall. Once logged in, users see beta tags on the Calendar and Find My iPhone app, as well as the addition of the Reminders and Notes apps as well, both in beta. Find My iPhone adds Lost Mode, as well as a battery life indicator for your device, and and we haven't yet found the differences in Calendar yet. Notes and Reminders both provide similar interfaces to what you find in the OS X Mountain Lion and iOS counterparts. Mail, Contacts, and iWork don't show any changes at this point.

Read More | iCloud beta

Netflix streamed over 1 billion hours of video in June

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment, Internet,

We've gotta hand it to Netflix. The company has just announced a pretty major milestone--there were over one billion hours of video content streamed from Netflix in the month of June. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made the announcement on Facebook, stating that he expects that upcoming Netflix exclusives like House of Cards and Arrested Development season four will help "blow these records away."

Read More | Facebook

Samsung Galaxy S III on sale at Verizon on July 10th

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Handhelds,

While other carriers have released on-sale dates for the Samsung Galaxy S III, Verizon hasn't given any specifics until now. Those waiting for the Galaxy S III to hit big red can now mark the calendar for July 10th, just a week from today. One nice thing about the smartphone on Verizon's network is that it supports its 4G LTE network, so you get all that speedy goodness for the same $199.99 that you'd pay on competing carriers.

Read More | MarketWatch

Apple expected to update iMac line in October, possible Retina display

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Rumors,

Many expected Apple to release an updated iMac during the WWDC 2012 keynote, but the company decided to focus squarely on its Mac notebooks instead as it pertained to hardware. It's now been 427 days since the iMac last saw a refresh, and DigiTimes is reporting that we'll see the new models ship in October. Of course, no one but Apple and its manufacturing partners know all the details, but we've got our fingers crossed that we'll see a Retina display model on store shelves by the time Halloween rolls around. At the very least, expect Ivy Bridge architecture with Mountain Lion as the shipping OS.

Read More | DigiTimes

Windows 8 upgrades will cost $40 for XP, Vista, and Windows 7 users

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Software,

The launch of Windows 8 is just around the corner, and Microsoft has finally confirmed upgrade pricing. Users runing Windows XP, Windows Vista, and/or Windows 7 will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99. That's a big change for Microsoft, as upgrade pricing was previously $99 for Pro OS upgrades, and is a welcome change for consumers. Apple has been releasing major OS updates for under $30 for years now, with Mountain Lion launching later this month for $19.99, and we'd been hoping Microsoft would follow suit and drop the price.

The $40 upgrade fee applies to the digital download. If you prefer a DVD, that'ss run you $69.99 in stores. Also, both of those prices are just for a limited time, running through January 31, 2013. After that, we expect Windows 8 upgrade pricing to double.

Read More | Windows Blog

Beats Electronics acquires MOG music service

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Music, Portable Audio / Video,

The rumors have been swirling for months, and now it's official--Beats Electronics has acquired MOG. Beats Electronics is the force behind the Beats by Dr. Dre headphone line and the Beats Audio profile, while MOG is a fledgling streaming music service that, while popular, has been in an uphill battle against services like Spotify, Rdio, and Rhapsody. The purchase means that Beats Electronics now has an end-to-end solution, controling both the hardware for listening to music, and the service to consume it as well.

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Read More | USA Today

iPhoto will auto import your MobileMe galleries

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Software,

Apple's MobileMe has been discontinued, but there are still a few stubborn users who have yet to migrate their data. Luckily, Apple is making it as easy as possible. For example, when you launch iPhoto, you'll get a prompt that lets you know that, since MobileMe is gone, the software will grab any photo galleries you had stored on the service and move them to your computer so that you don't lose them. Much better than losing those precious memories simply because you forgot about the deadline, or had Apple's reminder emails hitting your spam folder.

Weekend Reading: Frazz, Doc Savage and Spike Milligan

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Reviews,

To everyone suffering through the summer heat wave, wind and electrical storms and power outages in the U.S., my heart goes out to you. If you’ve still got the internets, here are some things to help ease the pain.

Daniel Best reports on trouble at Oz Comic-Con in Australia this weekend.

With convention season in full swing, the critic Bill Sherman reviews Rob Salkowitz’ Comic-Con And The Business Of Pop Culture, an account of the 2011 Comic Con International in San Diego. “Salkowitz approaches his topic as both a business analyst and a longtime fanboy -- and he shows a commendable breadth of knowledge about both the medium and the somewhat clannish fan culture.

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Frazz, Doc Savage and Spike Milligan

Comic Con International: Ultraverse & Malibu Comics

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials,

Okay, so this is happening.

My good friend Paul O’Connor who used to write for Malibu Comics back in the day and is now one of the founder partners of the app company Appy Entertainment (and creator of the Longbox Graveyard blog), dropped me an email a couple of months ago. He wanted to host a Malibu Comics panel at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego.

2012, it turns out, marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of Malibu Comics; the company opened its doors in January 1987 and released its first three books in July of that year: Libby Ellis #1, Stealth Force #1 and Dark Wolf #1.

2012 also marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Ultraverse, Editor-In-Chief Chris Ulm's big idea to launch a writer-based super-hero universe. He started to implement his UV vision in the summer of 1992. The convention season that year was spent rounding up the seven creators who would become the Ultraverse Founders - Len Strazewski, James Hudnall, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, Mike Barr, Gerard Jones and James Robinson - which culminated in the first Ultraverse Founders Conference in Scottsdale, AZ.

Click to continue reading Comic Con International: Ultraverse & Malibu Comics

Google+ Events aims to make parties more collaborative and fun

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet,

The newest Google+ feature announced at Google I/O is Google+ Events. The social network is aiming to become your one-stop shop for inviting your friends to a get-together, bringing in photos from your attendees into one place, and having a spot to go after the event is over to check out how everything went down. We've gotta dmit that it looks great in theory, the only problem is that we still don't see that much activity in Google+, while our Facebook news feed is flooded constantly with updates. Still, it's worth checking out the intro video that shows how it all works. Maybe if enough people get excited about it, we'll see a bit more traction on the Google+ side of things, right guys? Guys...? Hello?

Click to continue reading Google+ Events aims to make parties more collaborative and fun