Entertainment – Page 7

Augmented Reality, Entertainment, Movies

Inside the bitter war to bring Tupac and Michael Jackson back to life

May 20, 2018

Dead celebrities reincarnated as holograms are big business – and, for two startups looking for fame and fortune, a source of untapped millions

A black curtain raises, the sound of a helicopter rotor fades and there he is. Surrounded by body-painted dancers, wearing a gold jacket and sitting on a throne at the centre of an ornate tableau. A flash brings the scene to life before Michael Jackson, five years after his death, makes his way down the steps on to the Las Vegas stage and proceeds to sing and dance his way through a previously unreleased song called “Slave to the Rhythm”.

Continue reading… “Inside the bitter war to bring Tupac and Michael Jackson back to life”

Entertainment, Great New Product, Transportation

Don’t call it a dingy: Jet capsule is a luxurious ‘compact yacht ‘ for the rich

April 28, 2018

Well, 2018 is shaping up to be a pretty awesome year on the water. First, we told you about a flying hydro-jetpack. Then, there was the flying Jet Ski and the electric surfboard. Now, it appears we’ll need to make room for yet another aqua toy in The Manual boathouse.

The Jet Capsule Compact Yacht is designed for the sort of well-heeled hotshot who just won’t stand for owning anything called a “dinghy.” For those times when you need to go ashore in style — when you need to roll up to the marina in a Star Trek-worthy vessel — this one-of-a-kind capsule has you covered. It’s ideally designed for short jaunts, but there’s no reason you couldn’t head offshore with 11 of your closest friends for an all-day capsule party.

Continue reading… “Don’t call it a dingy: Jet capsule is a luxurious ‘compact yacht ‘ for the rich”

Business, Coding, Entertainment, Game Development

Indie game publishers are the new indie rock labels

April 11, 2018

A new wave of boutique publishers is helping indies create better games.

In 2008, Vivendi, the parent company of Sierra Entertainment, merged with game publisher Activision. The result was a new, monolithic corporation called Activision Blizzard, that was now home to some of the biggest games in the world, like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. At the time, Sierra had a number of upcoming games on its slate, including an exciting heavy-metal adventure from Double Fine, the studio of game design legend Tim Schafer. The game was called Brutal Legend, and it starred Jack Black in the lead role. It was also one of many games to be canceled following the merger. What followed was a protracted process in which EA signed on to publish the game instead, only for Activision to sue Double Fine, followed by Double Fine filing a countersuit. During the toughest moments of game development, those last desperate months when the small details finally come together, Schafer and his team were distracted by legal matters.

Continue reading… “Indie game publishers are the new indie rock labels”

Children, Entertainment, Human Behavior, Internet, Latest Trend

Generation Z is already bored by the internet

April 6, 2018

Teenagers today have unprecedented access to technology, and yet many report that they’ve never been so bored.

There is a notion among older people that teens, with their smartphones and unlimited internet access, never experience boredom. CNN and other media outlets have repeatedly declared that smartphones have killed boredom as we know it. “Today, we don’t have time to daydream. Waiting in the doctor’s office or standing in line, we can check our email, play Angry Birds, or Twitter,” a media consultant once declared in HuffPost.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Entertainment, Games

Fox to kick off the human-robot war with a new AI-based game show

March 13, 2018

As children, most of us humans are taught not to be a “sore loser” by throwing some kind of tantrum when we lose a competition. The idea of gracefully accepting defeat forms the basis of friendship, democracy, and game shows, but Fox is risking the sanctity of all of that by developing a new show in which humans must compete against malevolent entities that know nothing about the danger of being a sore loser. We are talking, of course, about evil robots—or at least neutral robots that have the potential to become evil.

Continue reading… “Fox to kick off the human-robot war with a new AI-based game show”

Electric Vehicles, Entertainment, Transportation

Radinn’s second-gen electric wakeboard is faster and cheaper

March 11, 2018

The G2X wakeboard pushes itself along at up to 36 MPH.

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App, Business, Employment, Entertainment, YouTube

YouTube is the most lucrative platform for creators — with Etsy and Instagram trailing behind

February 28, 2018

The internet has sparked a new kind of economy, as creators find new ways to directly reach their audiences and customers. Services like Etsy, WordPress, and Amazon’s Twitch don’t have a lot in common, except for the fact that they give creative people ways to make a living doing what they love.

Continue reading… “YouTube is the most lucrative platform for creators — with Etsy and Instagram trailing behind”

Artificial Intelligence, Entertainment, Machine Learning, Robotics, Robots

Disney has begun populating its parks with autonomous, personality-driven robots

February 17, 2018

The process of making a Disney park feel alive is most easily encapsulated in animatronic figures. These hydraulic, pneumatic and now electric figures have been a fixture at Disneyland since the 60s. Since then, massive advancements have been made in control systems, movement architecture and programming. The most advanced animatronic figures like the Na’Vi Shaman in Disney World’s Na’vi River Journey are plain and simply robots. And very sophisticated ones at that.

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Drone, drones, Entertainment, government, Hot Issues

Illegal drone use over New York City is steeply rising

February 17, 2018

Within a single year, illegal drone sightings in New York City have increased by 68 percent.

When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed to establish the state’s first drone-testing corridor, this is probably not what he had in mind. New York City has seen an increase in illegal drone use of 68 percent from the first three quarters of 2016 compared with the same period in 2017.

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Computer Security, Corporate Manipulation, Entertainment, Hackers, Hacking

Your smart TV is watching you watching TV, Consumer Reports finds

February 10, 2018

Consumer Reports reported that Samsung and Roku Smart TVs were vulnerable to hacking through a web-based attack.

Millions of smart TVs sitting in family living rooms are vulnerable to hackers taking control — and could be tracking the household’s personal viewing habits much more closely than their owners realize, according to a new Consumer Reports investigation.

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App, Business, Entertainment, mobile apps, Music

Spotify disrupted the music world, now it’s doing the same to Wall Street

January 18, 2018

If Spotify’s non-IPO goes forward this spring, it will be unusual in that it will be a “direct listing,” wherein the current shareholders will sell their shares directly to the retail-investing public on the NYSE, vs. to institutional investors. Spotify is the first company of its size to propose such a listing. If the listing yields a lucrative exit for existing shareholders, it will encourage other nascent high-growth firms to follow in Spotify’s footsteps.

Continue reading… “Spotify disrupted the music world, now it’s doing the same to Wall Street”