Apple iPod Announcements

Working and watching the Apple Announcement on my iPad. :) Lots of new iPod models, iOS 4.2, iTunes 10 with PING, and Apple TV so far…

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Twitter the Movie

If you saw the trailer to “The Social Network,” you’ll greatly enjoy this Twitter parody video (also embedded above).

More Info:

If Hollywood can make an overly dramatic film about the early years of Facebook, why can’t we make an overly dramatic movie about Twitter? Or at least the trailer to that movie! Check out the exclusive (parody) trailer for “The Twit Network” right here on Rated Awesome!

Huge thanks to the Gregory Brothers for creating the “I can Tweet” song that plays in the background. Check out more of their stuff and download the full song here.

Gregory Brothers Youtube

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New Spice – Study like a Scholar

I work in a library, so seeing this video inspired by an Old Spice commercial is amazingly hilarious to me!

(Original YouTube link)

To see how they made this video, see their blog.

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Happy Starcraft II Day!

Happy Starcraft II Day! Did you pick up your copy of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty yet? If so, how long did you have to wait until you could install and start playing? I know some people were in a rush to leave work today to play. And some even called it a holiday altogether!

Enjoy, and remember to sleep tonight! Happy Starcraft II day!

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The Guild goes Bollywood! Game On!

The Guild surprised everyone at Comic-Con 2010 with this hilariously amazing music video! It’s called “Game On!” and was written by Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh.

“Zaboo convinces Codex to resume game play by transporting them to a world of inspiring song and dance. Vibrant costumes and a large cast of extras give it an over-the-top look and feel. ”

This Bollywood music video made the fans go wild. Check it out and you’ll see why! For more information about the video and song lyrics, see The Guild’s official website.

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Packing for Comic-Con

I’m just packing for Comic-Con right now… I guess you know what booths and sessions I’m attending. :)

More about Items in the photo: The Guild, Dr. Horrible, Glee

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The Guild Season 4 is Here!

Guildies from all around the world have been waiting for this moment, and it’s finally here! The Guild Season 4 debuted a few hours ago and fans are just going wild for it!

This highly entertaining and geeky web series is about a group of online gamers who meet in real life and all the adventures and drama that goes with it. Get a dose of geek humor, social awkwardness, and even the trials of love and friendship in these 5-8 minute episodes. You’ll be surprised at how much you can relate to the characters!

The first episode of the 4th season is now available, so be sure to watch it now. “The Guild” is also available on Xbox Live in 20 countries, subtitled i 8 languages, and streaming at 1080p resolution.

If you need a refresher of what happened in Season 3, here’s an entertaining auto-tuned recap made by Gregory Brothers. (See video below).

For more juicy bits of what’s to come in Season 4, be sure to see the Season 4 Trailer!

Beatweek recently interviewed Felicia Day, writer of The Guild webisodes. You can read the interview here.

Here are some more links for your Guildie pleasure:

• The Guild Official Website
• Season 4, Episode 1
• The Guild Recaps: Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3
• FeliciaDay.com
• The Guild at Comic-Con 2010
• Season 4 Trailer

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Finger Painting on the iPad

If you ever need a reason to purchase an iPad, here is a great one. Artist David Kassan demonstrates how to finger paint on the iPad using the Brushes app. It’s an amazing video that only shows one of many creative ways what an iPad can be used for. Watch and you’ll see!

Download: Brushes for the iPhone ($4.99) | Brushes for the iPad ($7.99)

Davidkassan.com – A quick Apple ipad live fingerpainting demo that I streamed live from my Brooklyn studio on Monday June 21st. 2010, The model sat for 3 hours as I painted and answered questions on how I use the iPad and the Brushes app. Just thinking of creative uses for the iPad. (YouTube)

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Streamy Awards 2010

The Streamy Awards 2010 Ceremony goes live in just a few minutes. If you’re not attending the event, you’d be happy to know that the award show will be streaming live.

What are the Streamys?

The Streamy Awards is the first and most prestigious awards ceremony devoted to honoring excellence in original web television programming and those who create it. The annual ceremony, and its live online broadcast, brings together top talent, decision-makers and influencers shaping the online entertainment industry. Awards are presented for the past years’ finest achievements in a variety of categories spanning multiple disciplines, including Performance, Directing, Writing, Editing, Visual Effects, Sound, and more.

Felicia Day’s acceptance speech was one of my favorites from last year. It was inspirational and embodied the reasons why talented people are making their own shows.. and not waiting for anyone’s permission.

You can watch the live show at Streamys.org or download the iPhone app and watch the Streamys right on your iPhone or iPad! Good luck everyone!

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The Guild Season 3 and more!

I’m very happy to see my favorite web series, The Guild, just everywhere! The Guild: Season 3 DVD was recently released and comes with so much bonus material! It’s an Amazon exclusive! Bonus material includes Tips for Making a Web Video, Do You Want to Date My Avatar music video, The Making of “Do You Want to Date My Avatar”, Halloween Video, Guild Applicant Rejects, How to Build Vork’s Sword, Interviews with the Axis of Anarchy, Gag Reels, and so much more! My copy arrived earlier this week and I can’t wait to watch Season 3 all over again this weekend!

The amazing DVD cover photo was taken by The Bui Brothers. Catch their behind-the-scenes video of the Guild photoshoot! I love their work.
Read more

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Ninjas Nexus One Unboxing

When it comes to “unboxing”, ninjas know how to handle things…

This animation of ninjas unboxing a Nexus One by Patrick Boivin is fabulous! See more of Patrick’s animations here.

Thanks for the video link Cali!

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Happy Grinchmas!

Affinity Zero and I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! May you and your families have a wonderful and joyful holiday season! And with that note, here is Affinity Zero’s rendition of Mr. Grinch.

From YouTube:

Affinity Zero’s rocked out version of You’re A Mean One Mr Grinch. Recorded live December 2009.

Al Morita – vocals/guitar/bass, Chris Oufiero – drums, Genevieve Wolff – guitar. Percussion: Chris, Produced/Mixed – Al.

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Goodbye 2009, Google Wave Style

Wow, Whirled uses Google Wave to say goodbye to 2009. This is incredibly ingenious! Thanks for tweeting about it Robert!

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iPhone App Review: I Am T-Pain

Written by: Al Morita

I’m a big fan when it comes to music apps, especially ones that let you be creative. “I am T-Pain” has two modes – one lets you sing like T-Pain on his songs and a freestyle mode that is worth the $2.99 alone. When connected to a speaker, the freestyle mode lets you use the app like an auto-tune machine. You have the option to have the auto-tune setting set to T-Pain or you can customize the tuning to major, minor, and even chromatic scales. This app works great for non-singers and singers alike as it automatically adjusts your voice to the nearest note in real-time.

The “I am T-Pain” app includes 14 songs to sing along with. Five of them are instrumental versions of T-Pain songs including the hits “Bartender” and “Dreamgirl.” Three are Christmas karaoke songs, and the other six are T-Pain beats you can freestyle with. You can also purchase additional T-Pain songs in the app for $0.99 – $1.99. None of the songs are installed by default, so you might spend some time downloading the songs if you have a slow connection. I found the karaoke interface to be very good with easy-to-read lyrics on the screen. If you mess up, you can easily restart the song. By default, all your songs are recorded onto your device so you can listen to them later. You can also upload your audio track to the Smule server and also add an audio player with your songs to MySpace and Facebook. They also updated the app so you can sing along to any song in your iTunes library, which is a cool feature. The only limitation in this mode is that you can’t upload it to the server.

This app has many hours worth of entertainment with the auto-tune feature and a good list of songs to sing along with. I applaud Smule for updating the app with new features and songs. They made an excellent product even better. The possibilities are endless, who knows – you might see someone using the “I am T-Pain” app at your next karaoke party. I know I will.

Pros:

• Excellent auto-tune feature in real-time
• Good selection of songs with app
• Share your songs via the upload feature
• Ability to sing to any song in your iTunes library
• Solid karaoke mode
• Good recording quality

Cons:

• Needs vocal recording level option

Learn more about the I Am T-Pain app in the App Store

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iPhone App Review: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Name: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (iTunes Link)
Written By: Oceanhouse Media
Category: Books
Price: $3.99

Size: 9.6 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch
Version: 1.0.1
Rate: 5 out of 5 Stars

The holiday season wouldn’t be complete without the Grinch. If you haven’t read the book yet, there’s a fabulous app that will read it to you! And if you have read it, you’ll love all the memories this app brings to you and your little ones.

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” is the first official Dr. Seuss ebook and it’s tons of fun! You have the option of the book reading to you, or reading it yourself. The pages are filled with the original book artwork and the animation is just spectacular. It’s perfect for young children learning how to read, and big kids who loved this book as a child.

In the “Read to me” mode, the book will read to you. As it reads, the words are highlighted in red.

In the “Read it myself” mode, the audio is turned off. If you would like to hear the audio, simply tap on the text and the app will start reading that phrase.

There is also another fun and interactive element in the app. If you tap on the page’s illustrations, the object or item’s name will appear in big red letters, and a voice will say what it is. This app is a great reading tool for children just learning how to read as well as big kids like you and me! It’s definitely a must-have for any Grinch fan. The iPhone/iPod Touch app is currently on sale for $3.99 and well-worth it.

This review was originally published in iProng Magazine issue #56.

Disclaimer: I’ve received a promo code for “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” iPhone app from Oceanhouse Media in exchange for a review.

Screenshot

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Free Holiday Music!

What’s the holidays without a little bit of holiday music? I found some great holiday music for you, and best of all, they’re free!

Amazon 25 Days of Free Holiday Music

Amazon has 25 Days of Free Holiday Music where they give a new Hoilday mp3 each day before Christmas. Free music includes songs from Lady Gaga, Tori Amos, Casting Crowns, and more! Amazon also has a free Sampler Claus album as well!
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Screencasting Tools

I attended a “How-to Screencast” session at the library, and here were the free tools demonstrated in the workshop.

The screencast software that were demonstrated were:

• Screencast-o-matic
• Windows Media Encoder
• Jing

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Katharine McPhee’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”

Take a listen to Katharine McPhee’s sweet voice as she sings her rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” It’s beautiful, very soothing, and perfect for the holiday season.

The song is also available in the iTunes store for free, so get your copy now.

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Back to the Future Trilogy

I loved Back to the Future! I guess my age shows when I tell you that these movies were on VHS tapes when I was a kid. But not to worry, the complete trilogy is now available on DVD format and for only $10.49! It’s a great gift for the “Back to the Future” fan.

Purchase Back to the Future – The Complete Trilogy (Widescreen Edition) from Amazon.com.

Note: There are some reports of framing issues on Disc 2 and 3. Here is an update on the issue.

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Cali Lewis on Verizon Commercial

Screenshot from Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” commercial

I was watching TV last night and the “There’s a Map for that” Verizon Commercial (also embedded below) came on. As the girl checks her tweets… I noticed the familiar avatar. That’s Cali Lewis from GeekBrief.tv! Yes I notice geeky little details like this. I just thought it was awesome. ;)
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