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Incredibles is fantastic but Ratatouille and Wall-E are a special level of genius.

about 7 hours ago on 'Monsters University' review: Pixar makes prequels look easy 1 reply 2 recommends

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How to Train Your Dragon also featured one of my favorite film scores from the past couple years. It’s composed by John Ottman (who usually works with Bryan Singer), and it’s a very old school score, made up of character themes; very ‘John Williams’.

about 7 hours ago on 'Monsters University' review: Pixar makes prequels look easy 2 replies

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Yep, it’s definitely moving in that direction: pay the full price for a mobile app, and still have your usage/metrics monitored and ads pushed to you.
Ex. I paid for an ad-less Friendcaster on Android, but I still get the regular FB ads inside my stream.

Ads are like those creepy posters with eyes that seem to follow you from whatever line of sight you’re standing in.

1 day ago on Microsoft's iAd-like Windows 8 ads could entice clicks within apps 1 recommend

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If you think cable operators will hand over direct access to their customers to Microsoft, you’re delusional.

2 days ago on Microsoft's Don Mattrick defends Xbox pricing: 'We're delivering thousands of dollars of value'

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Yeah, I don’t get this either.

Why not unbundle Netflix, Hulu and such from XBL? They’re separate services that don’t even use Microsoft servers; it’s essentially Microsoft double dipping and collecting a middle man fee for doing nothing.

2 days ago on Microsoft's Don Mattrick defends Xbox pricing: 'We're delivering thousands of dollars of value' 1 recommend

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As somebody famously said: In the long run, we’re all dead.

2 days ago on Microsoft's Don Mattrick defends Xbox pricing: 'We're delivering thousands of dollars of value' 1 reply

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Well this is ‘convenient’. I bet Google were desperate to get some good press out there to counter all the NSA news.

3 days ago on Google to battle child porn with new industry-wide image blocking tool 1 reply 1 recommend

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Windows Phone’s problem, for some, isn’t the lack of apps, but the lack of functionality.
As a former Nokia Symbian user, the closest platform in terms of features to transition to was Android, and Google continues to still add features .

I’ll look again at Windows Phone when it, at least, has feature parity with iOS

3 days ago on Microsoft reportedly paying developers $100,000 or more to build apps

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So, it isn’t new, so what?
People are paying attention now.

3 days ago on More than half of US senators skipped confidential briefing on NSA surveillance 1 recommend

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At one time, owning slaves was in accordance with the law.

3 days ago on More than half of US senators skipped confidential briefing on NSA surveillance

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I agree that popularity isn’t an indicator of quality (see: Michael Bay ‘films’).

My criticism of Windows Phone is that while it does the basics really well, it forgoes a lot of features for more experienced users; myself, I’m coming from both Symbian and Android. WP8 still reminds me a lot of the old first gen iPhone. It looks pretty, and the UI is nice to use, but you quickly hit a wall as far as capabilities.

5 days ago on Nokia Lumia 925 review

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So basically, the Lumia hardware is really nice, as per usual from Nokia, but the Windows Phone software is handcuffing it.

I’ve actually used the OS while I was together with my ex-gf (it was her phone), and although the UI is really nice, I just couldn’t get over deal breaker lack of features. What always annoyed was something as basic as lack of independent volume controls.
Examples, she’d have the speaker turned all the way up while listening to music, then when a call came through and the volume was all the way up, it’d blow out your eardrum. Ditto with playing a game on it—-I turned the volume down on a game a couple times, and her phone calls went to ‘silent’. Annoying.

5 days ago on Nokia Lumia 925 review 1 reply

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Nokia’s problem is, all they can do is slap together yet another iteration of their Lumia 920.
The issue is that Microsoft needs another big feature update to Windows Phone 8, and until they do, every new Lumia is like a band covering an existing song.

6 days ago on Nokia plans NYC event to 'reinvent zoom,' likely announce 41-megapixel 'EOS' Windows Phone 2 replies 3 recommends

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Print as far as printed books sold at book chains is on the way out.
The book writing/selling business though is better than ever.
Exhibit A, due to its topical nature, George Orwell’s classic 1984 recently sold a record number of digital copies.

6 days ago on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predict ‘massive implosion’ in film industry 2 recommends

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So basically, good scripted drama will still be around, but the big changes will come in distribution?
(Thinks for a second)
Yeah, I have no problem with that.

6 days ago on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predict ‘massive implosion’ in film industry

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Apple’s biggest challenge in smarphones is that the growth is in full price pre paid phones.
And no, I don’t think Apple can produce, or even wants to, a $99 iPhone without contract.

6 days ago on 'Can't innovate anymore, my ass': Apple's bravado clouds the company's real challenges

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Wasn’t there something about the Canadian Defense Minister claiming that the U.S. has been secretly working with aliens for years?

Obviously, it sounded like something from an X-Files episode, and not sure who this guy really was or the news source.

7 days ago on Contact: are alien-hunting scientists going to trigger a planetary invasion? 1 reply

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That’s actually going to be extremely difficult. The infrastructure requirements to broadcast a station with a 4K feed to cable subscribers is immense.

The only place that’s probably set up for this is likely South Korea.

7 days ago on Is 3D TV dead? ESPN 3D to shut down by end of 2013 1 reply 1 recommend

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Well, the Verge is more of a tech culture site, encompassing gadgets, the PRISM news stories and things relating to geek culture including science fiction and comic book film adaptations.

I remember them even running news stories about the Arab Spring protest movement, as the many of the region’s populace used Twitter and basic cell phone SMS to organize and get the message out.

7 days ago on 'Man of Steel' review: finally, the Superman we deserve 1 recommend

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I don’t think that Nintendo is being completely candid. They are playing the long game, but I think that they will eventually get on mobile platforms, including smart phones and tablets.
They’re likely just holding out for the exact right opportunity/deal for them.

Nintendo is more like Apple, in that they want to control both the software and the hardware, with exclusivity. In a bit down the road, I can even see them merging with a Samsung/LG/Nokia and provide their gaming titles to just that particular hardware.

7 days ago on A link to the past: why Nintendo won't make games for smartphones 1 reply

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How about pulling a Paul Miller and simply unplug? We got along fine with that, pre the mid-1990’s.

8 days ago on United front: Facebook and Microsoft join Google in asking the US to relax data collection secrecy 1 reply 1 recommend

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While the services work fine in the States, I’m surprised that the Xbox sells at all outside the U.S.
(It’s likely mainly concentrated in the U.K., France and Germany)
Region locks and lack of XBL services don’t make an Xbox a great option in, say, Finland, Italy or anywhere in Asia.

8 days ago on EA denies lobbying for Xbox One used game restrictions, calls Online Pass program a mistake 1 reply

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This is probably the biggest culprit for the Xbone debacle.

8 days ago on EA denies lobbying for Xbox One used game restrictions, calls Online Pass program a mistake 2 recommends

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Yeah, except Steam doesn’t charge $60-$100 for a game. Average price of a Steam game is the price of a day’s lunch or a bagel with coffee.

8 days ago on Xbox One won't hit Asia until late 2014, Japanese release confirmed 1 reply

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You can smell the fear emanating from Silicon Valley, Mountain View and Redmond.

They’re all scared to death that users will slowly start migrating away from their services, due to privacy concerns.

8 days ago on United front: Facebook and Microsoft join Google in asking the US to relax data collection secrecy 2 replies

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Well, sure, that’s the official marketing line, straight out of Microsoft PR offices.

And then there are the counter arguments….

8 days ago on Don't flinch: the new Kinect could be the end of motion gimmicks

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Plus, it comes with the added benefit of a special NSA and Advertiser Surveillance and plug-in!

8 days ago on Don't flinch: the new Kinect could be the end of motion gimmicks