• Transformers: Dark of the Moon Birdmen Featurette

    // Gradly // 3D, blog, Featured, Movies, Superheroes, Tech., Trailer No Responses

    Paramount Pictures has released a new behind-the-scenes featurette for the highly-anticipated sequel Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which hits theaters nationwide on June 29. The video showing a glimpse at skydivers a.k.a birdmen with their wing suits used in the movie. Watch it below:

    The movie directed by Michael Bay and starring Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Malkovich, Patrick Dempsey, John Turturro and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. The voice cast includes Leonard Nimoy and Hugo Weaving.

    Official Synopsis:

    The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are back in action, taking on the evil Decepticons, who are determined to avenge their defeat in 2009’s Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. In this new movie, the Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a perilous space race between the U.S. and Russia, and once again human Sam Witwicky has to come to the aid of his robot friends. There’s new characters too, including a new villain in the form of Shockwave, a longtime “Transformers” character who rules Cybertron while the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out on Earth.

    Dark of the Moon is set to be released in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on June 29. Check out all of our Transformers coverage HERE.

  • Microsoft Unveiled Windows 8 With Tile-Based Touch Interface

    // Gradly // blog, Featured, Gadgets, Microsoft, News, Rants & Raves, Software, Tech. No Responses

    Microsoft offered the first glimpse of Windows 8, a sneak peek that reveals much about both the influences and the strategic goals of the major overhaul of Microsoft’s 25-year-old operating system.

    At the heart of the new interface is a new start screen that draws heavily on the tile-based interface that Microsoft has used with Windows Phone 7. All of a user’s programs can be viewed as tiles and clicked on with the touch of a finger.

    Windows 8 essentially supports two kinds of applications. One is the classic Windows application, which runs in a desktop very similar to the Windows 7 desktop. The other type of application, which has to be written in HTML5 and Javascript, looks more like a mobile application, filling the full screen. Internet Explorer 10, which is part of Windows 8, has already been configured to run in this mode, as have several widget-like apps for checking stock prices and weather.

    Although Windows 8 is clearly influenced by the iPad and other mobile devices, the plan for the new operating system has been in the works since Windows 7 shipped in July 2009–several months before the iPad was first shown. Watch the demo below:

    Microsoft has also done work with the classic Windows desktop to make it more touch friendly, including using a new kind of “fuzzy hit targeting” to adjust for the fact that fingers are far less precise than a mouse. The goal, says chief designer Julie Larson-Green, is that classic apps, though designed for a keyboard and mouse, work well with touch. Apps taking advantage of the new programming layer, she said, are designed for touch first, but also work well with a keyboard and mouse.

    [via AllThingsD]

  • Michael Bay and James Cameron Discussing 3D in Transformers 3

    // Gradly // 3D, blog, Featured, Movies, Rants & Raves, Tech. No Responses

    James Cameron and Michael Bay talking about the future of 3D technology. Both directors sat down for the first time to have an extended public conversation about the technology and its use in the new movie industry. Here is the full 15-minute version of that video courtesy of THR.  check out the video below:

    Here is a snippet from the video above of Bay talking about the cost of 3D:

    The bottom line is, if you want to do good 3D, it’s very expensive. The camera equipment is expensive because it comes with a lot of techs, the labor. When you’re doing special effects, you have digital artists, but they have to do about a third more work when they have to match two eyes. So depending how many shots you have, that incrementally increases. And there’s a lot of tech fixes — it’s not easy shooting 3D. It’s never technically perfect, like where you shoot film and you get it back from a lab and it’s like, “Oh, that’s great.” It doesn’t come out like that with 3D….Bottom line in terms of financial impact, it’s about $30 million to the budget.

    For the full transcript of the event click here.

  • Google Wallet Announced, Your Phone is Your Wallet

    // Gradly // blog, Featured, google, Mobile, News, Tech. No Responses

    At an event today, Google, Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint announced and demonstrated Google Wallet, an app that will make your phone your wallet so you can tap, pay and save money and time while you shop.

    Today, we’ve joined with leaders in the industry to build the next generation of mobile commerce,” said Stephanie Tilenius, vice president, commerce and payments, Google. “With Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint we’re building an open commerce ecosystem that for the first time will make it possible for you to pay with an NFC wallet and redeem consumer promotions all in one tap, while shopping offline.

    At launch, Google Wallet will support payments with two payment solutions: a PayPass eligible Citi MasterCard and a virtual Google Prepaid card. Most people who already have a PayPass eligible Citi MasterCard can simply add it to Google Wallet over the air, using First Data’s trusted service manager service. Or, they can fund the Google Prepaid card with any payment card.

    Google Wallet uses near field communication (NFC) to make secure payments fast and convenient by simply tapping the phone on any PayPass-enabled terminal at checkout.

    MasterCard has pioneered mobile payments with our PayPass technology and we’re proud that it is at the heart of Google Wallet,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer, MasterCard. “We’re excited to partner with these industry leaders today and committed to continuing to play a leadership role in the development of mobile payment technologies.

    Google Wallet is currently in a field test and will be available to consumers this summer. The first release of Google Wallet is expected to be released on the Nexus S 4G on the Sprint network. Additional devices with NFC capabilities will follow.