Comic book legend Frank Miller is hard at work directing the big screen adaptation of The Spirit — the seminal comic book that Will Eisner created. Miller has been gushing about his actors in his blog — and I think his praise is well placed. With actors like Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Gabriel Macht and Paz Vega, what more could a director ask for? This is going to be one ensemble movie that will surely generate a lot of buzz. Actually, I have high hopes for the actors, what I have reservations about would be Frank Miller. I know that he is not necessarily a neophyte on Read more »

The format war is over. As I’ve always told my friends, Blu-ray is going to win and I am quite glad that I actually got it right (imagine the ridicule I would’ve received from them had HD-DVD won). With just one format in the High-Def playground, the Blu-ray group can now refocus its attention to making the format as good as it can get. The reason I say this is because Blu-ray is not yet a fully mature format. There are still some features in the final Blu-ray specs that are not yet fully implemented. And some of these features are actually not supported by first generation players. Blu-ray Profile Read more »

It’s news like this that make me feel like hell has gotten a bit colder. After the numerous complaints regarding the way Internet Explorer 7 was distributed, it looks like Microsoft is going to let everyone will be able to get their hands on the first IE8 beta when it comes out (or at least all the people who follow their obscure URLs and community registrations). The main focus with Internet Explorer 8 is web standards. I thought that was 7′s focus, but using the browser, or developing webpages that look good on it, has proved otherwise. Underneath that nice-looking UI (although that’s debatable) there are some problems that the Read more »

When I opened the Apple store this morning to find the best iPod I could for my friend’s budget I was surprised to see that it was down, so I knew something new was coming, and the “new” products left me going “meh”. Apple upgraded the processors of their “older” laptops to the latest Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn and introduced the multi-touch touchpad to the Macbook Pro line. On the less positive site, they decided to not include the Apple remote anymore, from now on it will be available as a $19 (though that doesn’t bother me too much, as I already have one). “Normal” Macbook owners will have Read more »

While at the Northern Voice conference in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada, I was able to meet up with a few of the folks that work on Flock, the social web browser. I asked them many questions, some harder than others, and they answered them with grace, so much so that I am going to be giving the browser another go starting today. Flock recently released their version 1.0, and I have been hearing great things about it. One of the advantages of Flock over Firefox or other browsers is its ability to make blogging easier. It allows you to bring in your Flickr photos, snippets of content, and your ideas Read more »

While at Northern Voice this year, one thing that was brought up was the quality of online video. I mentioned how I thought Stage6 with their online version of DivX was the best, and unfortunately, it seems I promoted it too late. Stage6 is set to be shut down at the end of this month. The reason they published on their press release was that the site was using up too many resources and that they couldn’t find a suitable buyer. I would be surprised if that’s the full story, as Stage6 has also become a success in the copyrighted video world, and I am sure that those that have Read more »

It’s been a while since I reviewed any product I bought, but it’s been even longer since I purchased one that really made me feel like I got my money’s worth. Thankfully, the VX is probably the most satisfying mouse I have ever bought. Design If you share similar tastes to mine you’ll agree that this is one of the nicest-looking computer mouses in the market. Whilst Microsoft maintains a slightly more “gray” product line with round, and accentuated, curves, Logitech’s products usually have a slicker, more aggressive line, with darker colors. As much as I loved my old Wireless Notebook Mouse, the VX makes it look like a kid’s Read more »

We’ve finally seen a new clip of Ninja Gaiden 2 and it’s a whole six minutes long.  If you’re not familiar with the series, your character is Ryu Hyabusa (who you may recognise from Dead or Alive).  He’s a ninja with some amazing movement abilities (such as a double jump, water running and all manner of other special moves).  He naturally also wields a katana along with a variety of other weapons to deal with other ninja and strange monsters. As you can see from the video, action is both fast and furious.  You’ll also see there’s a heavy emphasis on combat.  If it plays anything like the first game Read more »

Over on GadgeTell there is a great post about the format wars, and how the winner, Blu-ray, came out on top, not from the consumer side, but instead from the industry side. According to an analyst at ABI research the end of the format war was not the true measure of consumer demand when it came to the choice of HD format. The true decision was made by Warner brothers decision to jump ship to Blu-ray. The decision to switch may have been principally decided not by which format the consumers of Warner’s preferred, but by a nearly $120 million payoff from Sony. While I am happy that the format Read more »

Since having a chance to play Silent Hill: Origins on the PSP I’ve pretty much been hooked.  So it was with great pleasure that I took delivery of the highly innovative Patapon very recently – and I’ve had much fun playing it ever since. The storyline follows the Patapon tribe that has lived in a desolate frontier, driven away by the evil Zigoton army.  However, they have a ‘fierce warrior sprit’ that is waiting to be commanded by their God’s war drum.  Finally, the ‘Almighty’ has returned – the player.  You command the Patapon tribe with a variety of different drumbeats.  Get them to attack, defend, power up etc. If Read more »