• LulzSec Hacks Into The Sun With Murdoch Death Notice

    // Gradly // blog, Featured, Hack, lawsuit, News, Rants & Raves, Scandal No Responses

    Hacker group LulzSec has just hacked into one of Rupert Murdoch‘s paper’s websites, putting the mogul’s death-by-palladium note on The Sun page. The group announced the hack with a tweet, saying:

    We have joy we have fun we will mess up Murdoch’s Sun: http://t.co/JArvwg1 | Hi Rupert! Have fun tomorrow at the Parliament! #AntiSec

    Murdoch‘s papers of course, and several of his lieutenants have been implicated in the massive hacking scandal that began earlier this month. Murdoch is scheduled to appear before the British parliament tomorrow.

    Despite previous claims of retirement, LulzSec claimed in a tweet that visits to The Sun‘s homepage redirected to the Murdoch death notice page, though that no longer appears to be the case. And in case it gets taken down soon, here’s the full text:

    Media moguls [sic] body discovered

    Rupert Murdoch, the controversial media mogul, has reportedly been found dead in his garden, police announce.
    Murdoch, aged 80, has said to have ingested a large quantity of palladium before stumbling into his famous topiary garden late last night, passing out in the early hours of the morning.
    “We found the chemicals sitting beside a kitchen table, recently cooked,” one officer states. “From what we can gather, Murdoch melted and consumed large quantities of it before exiting into his garden.”

    Chemicals found in house

    Authorities would not comment on whether this was a planned suicide, though the general consensus among locals and unnamed sources is that this is the case.
    One detective elaborates. “Officers on the scene report a broken glass, a box of vintage wine, and what seems to be a family album strewn across the floor, containing images from days gone by; some containing handpainted portraits of Murdoch in his early days, donning a top hat and monocle.”
    Another officer reveals that Murdoch was found slumped over a particularly large garden hedge fashioned into a galloping horse. “His favourite”, a butler, Davidson, reports.
    Butler Davidson has since been taken into custody for additional questioning.

    Here’s the full page image caught by Gizmodo before it pulled down:

     

  • Microsoft Accidentally Reveals Their Social Network Tulalip

    // Gradly // blog, Microsoft, News, Rants & Raves, Social Networks No Responses

    On Thursday Microsoft accidentally published their new social network which is in internal testing on the web. After realizing that they published it, they pulled it off leaving a message.

    The project is named Tulalip. The project is under testing in socl.com The domain is owned by Microsoft. The new project has got a sign-in option with Twitter and Facebook.

    The service included a teaser promising a new “social search” service by Microsoft. The service also appeared to allow Facebook and Twitter users to sign-in. “With Tulalip you can Find what you need and Share what you know easier than ever”, read a message on the home page.

    The website was live for a short time and have been pulled off now. But the team has left a message regretting their mistake. Here’s what it states now:

    Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn’t mean to, honest.

    Looks like after Google, it is Microsoft that’s trying to make its leap into Social Media. But, let’s wait for the official launch. Until then, stay tuned.

    [via winrumors]

  • Harry Potter is the Biggest Worldwide Debut Ever with $476M

    // Gradly // blog, Movies, News, Poster, Superheroes 1 Response

    Warner Bros. Pictures released the following statement on the record-breaking worldwide debut of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2:

    With an astounding estimated worldwide box office total of more than $476 million, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” shattered multiple domestic and international box office records in a history-making opening weekend. The announcement was made today by Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, Dan Fellman, and President of International Distribution, Veronika Kwan-Rubinek.

    The finale of the globally beloved film series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” earned a stunning $168.5 million at the domestic box office, which not only is the biggest Harry Potter opening weekend but also obliterated the industry’s opening weekend record, including holiday weekends. Among the other records broken were single-day box office (Friday at $92.1 million), Friday box office, and opening day box office.

    Opening day-and-date in 59 territories, the international box office take was a staggering $307 million, making it the biggest international weekend of all time. Led by record-breaking grosses in the UK ($36.6 million) and Australia ($26.7 million), all markets have performed exceedingly well, including Germany ($25.7 million), France ($23.9 million) and Japan ($21.5 million).

    Globally, it also broke the IMAX opening weekend record with a worldwide gross of $23.5 million, which includes setting a new record in North America with $15.5 million.

    The film began breaking records even before its opening, as unprecedented advance ticket sales gave the first indication of just how huge the box office bow would be. Midnight opening screenings not only met but exceeded those expectations, with $43.5 million at the domestic box office alone.

    Dan Fellman stated, “These numbers are amazing, but they are only part of the story. It is impossible to quantify how thrilled and grateful we all are that both critics and audiences—especially loyal Harry Potter fans—continue to support the film. This is the culmination of an extraordinary decade, and a reflection of the hard work and dedication of many, many people on both sides of the camera, beginning with the brilliant J.K. Rowling, as well as producer David Heyman. We applaud them all.”

    Veronika Kwan-Rubinek remarked, “Harry Potter is truly a cultural phenomenon the world over. Whether in German, French, Japanese, Russian, or any language, international audiences have embraced the Harry Potter films over the years, with the powerful finale punctuating just how special the property is. We congratulate everyone associated with the films on this monumental achievement.”

    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here.

    Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reprise their roles as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, Jason Isaacs, Matthew Lewis, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Julie Walters and Bonnie Wright.
    The film was directed by David Yates, and produced by David Heyman, David Barron and J.K. Rowling. Steve Kloves adapted the screenplay, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Lionel Wigram is the executive producer.

    “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” is the first Harry Potter film to be released in both 3D and 2D. Concurrently with its nationwide theatrical distribution, the film will be released in select IMAX® theatres. The film has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® through proprietary IMAX DMR® technology.

    Opening nationwide on July 15, the film is being distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. It has been rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images.

  • The Avengers Movie Footage, to Play After Captain America, Gets Detailed

    // Gradly // blog, Comics, Movies, News, Superheroes 1 Response

    Captain America producer Kevin Feige, hinted that there is an after credits that will appear on some advance screening of the movie showing the first footage of Avengers. Now, according to several reports on the web the trailer and first footage for the upcoming Joss Whedon‘s The Avengers will indeed play after Captain America: The First Avengers. This will be Marvel post-credits surprise.

    A full description of the scene is below and beware as it contains Spoilers:

    A new scene opened with Cap awaking in the present day. I think we all know what happens here, Cap starts to get confused and runs out in NYC where he meets NIck Fury. Now on to the post-credits scene.

    It starts out with Captain America punching a punching bag until it flies off into a wall, and then enters Nick Fury. They briefly talked about a mission and that they needed to get ready, but they never explained what the mission was. And then it happened. As the music kicked in, scenes of SHEILD, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), & Loki were shown!! It showed a hell of a lot of action! Thor had a brief costume change, just no chainmail under armor and his hair was a bit longer. Iron Man was shown in what looked like the Mark VI or maybe a new Mark VII armor!! I don’t recall who was fighting who or what, but it was a lot of kick-assery!! And at the end of it all, Thor threw Minjor and then it flashed… The Avengers!

    Well at first there was the Avengers themselves in what looked to be a meeting room, Thor was leaning against wall with arms crossed and Cap was sitting down, as Tony Stark and Nick Fury were most likely talking about the mission that was discussed earlier with Cap and Fury and also a shot of Bruce Banner. The action scenes were confusing but from what I remember, scenes with Iron Man flying in the air, and Hawkeye shooting an arrow, along with some explosions and Black Widow kicking ass. As for Captain America only his shield and part of his Costume was shown, so I wasn’t able to tell what suit he appeared in. The last part was in a forest, Iron Man and Thor fighting, but I couldn’t tell if it was against each other or someone or something else. And then, Thor threw his hammer, similar to the way he threw it at the Frost Giants, and then flashed “The Avengers, coming May 2012”

    [via comicscavern]