Beverly Hills, CA (February 18, 2011) – Movie fans, your "All Access" pass for Oscar Night? is now available on Oscar.com (www.oscar.com/all-access), the official online home of the 83rd Academy Awards?. This new interactive feature will provide an experience to the online audience during the live Oscar? show never before available.
Beginning at 3:30 p.m. PT, Sunday, February 27, all Oscar.com visitors will experience Oscar's red carpet through multiple camera positions capturing celebrity arrivals, glamorous fashions, and press activity. During the telecast, users may visit the show's control truck, check out the backstage "Thank You Cam" at which winners continue their acceptance remarks, and watch and listen as the winners take questions from the world's press in the interview room.
For a premium Oscar Night experience, users may register ($4.99) for additional, exclusive viewing opportunities. Multiple "360 cams," a groundbreaking technology that users control with the click/drag functionality of the computer mouse, will be positioned throughout the red carpet, the Kodak Theatre and the Governors Ball, the Academy's celebration immediately following Academy Awards. On the red carpet, users will be able to watch Oscar nominees and presenters mixing and mingling as they enjoy the pre-ceremony champagne reception. Inside the Kodak Theatre, viewers will see the presenters' hair and makeup area, watch the guests interact during commercial breaks and see the Academy's official winner portrait area. The access continues at the Governors Ball, where users will be able see Oscar winners arriving at the party and having their statuettes being affixed with nameplates.
Designed to be perfect companion to the Oscar telecast, over the course of the evening "All Access" users will have the ability to choose from more than 24 strategically placed cameras throughout the venue.
iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can also get their own ultimate insider's view with the new Oscar Backstage Pass App. Available for download at the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore) for $0.99, the Oscar Backstage Pass app includes the same features as "All Access" without the "360 cam" technology.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center?, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
posted Feb 28th 2011 2:45AM 
T-Mobile cares about you. It cares so much that it's spending all its advertising dollars lately making sure you know full well that the iPhone 4 can't do "4G" the way its own phones can. The latest salvo in this crusade of enlightenment includes the above graphs showing just how much faster and further your money can go if you ride along on the Magenta network. It conveniently ignores the fact that AT&T and Verizon offer other phones besides Apple's iPhone, some of which can handle speeds above the 3G threshold, but such is the price you pay when you want to have a really pretty and eye-catching chart. Hit the source link to soak up more of T-Mobile's priceless wisdom. 
It may not sound like the most practical combination, but we've got to hand it to AdvanceTC -- it's shoehorned telephony into a Windows 7 tablet, fulfilling our dark desire for a spiritual successor to the xpPhone. Yes, that's not Windows Phone 7 you're looking at above, but rather full desktop Windows running on a sizable quad-band GSM brick, whose insides hold a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD, a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and a chunky 3200mAh battery to power the whole thing. Calls are handled via AdvanceTC's custom UI layer and there's some software trickery to keep that battery in check, as the device can automatically wake from sleep when it detects an incoming call or text message. We doubt we'd much enjoy navigating Windows 7 on a screen that small, but AdvanceTC also gives the Atrix a nod, claiming that the device can act like a full nettop PC when connected to an HDMI dock. We'll let you know if the company gives us a price, release date, or any indication that it will actually hit retail at all.
As far-fetched as it may seem, rumors that RIM is working on some sort of Android app support for its QNX-based PlayBook tablet have persisted in various forms for months now -- and they've turned up once again in a video posted by development community MobileMonday's Rio chapter taken at MWC earlier this month, where a RIM rep seemingly says "we will also support Android apps" after talking about Java-based offerings. Of course, this could've been staged by some rabble rousers or a rep could've simply been echoing back the rumors he's seen on the interwebs -- but regardless, it adds fuel to the fire. Follow the break to see the video of that. 
If you've got a working Gmail account, you might want to back it up every so often -- as many as 500,000 Gmail users lost access to their inboxes this morn, and some of them are reporting (via Twitter and support forums) that years worth of messages, attachments and Google Chat logs had vanished by the time they were finally able to log on. While we haven't experienced the issue personally, we're hearing that the bug effectively reset some accounts, treating their owners as new users complete with welcome messages. For its part, Google says that the issue "affects less than .29% of the Google Mail userbase," engineers are working to fix the issue right now, and that missing messages will be restored as soon as possible. We'll soon see if this is a momentary setback... or a lengthy wakeup call. 
It's been a long road for the Karma to reach production, but now it finally has an end in sight: March 21st. That's the date Fisker promises to start rolling its gorgeous PHEV off assembly lines, with deliveries to the first humans to reserve one coming up in April. The price for the 2012 Karma remains a mighty $95,900, though if you ask our brethren over at Autoblog, that's a bunch of pennies well spent. Fisker expects to start producing 1,500 Karmas per month starting in October and to then sell 15,000 a year from 2012 onwards. 
Last week's Switched On discussed Nokia's quest to help Microsoft create a third mobile ecosystem alongside those of Apple and Google. That word – ecosystem – has clearly passed into the pantheon of buzzwords, leveraging many synergies from purpose-built paradigms. And yet, building and maintaining ecosystems is something few companies really understand. True technology ecosystems are more than just successful platforms or throwing many products together simply because they are owned by the same company. They are characterized by strategically implemented nurturing. 
Stop us if you've heard this one before. A mysterious startup company operates in secret for a number of years, raises millions in funding from some of the biggest players in the industry (in this case, Google and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), and announces a breakthrough technology that promises to change everything. In this case the startup is a company called Transphorm, and the breakthrough is a gallium nitride technology that promises to improve AC/DC transformers. While that might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, the company's CEO says that it could not only drastically reduce the electricity wasted by electronics that currently rely on silicon components, but significantly reduce the size of the components as well. One prime example there is laptop charger bricks, which Transphorm says could be reduced or even completely eliminated by building the necessary components right into the laptop itself. The company also sees a huge opportunity with electric cars, and especially data centers, which is one of the first markets it will be targeting. Of course, complete details are still fairly light at the moment, but the company is promising to unveil its first products in just two weeks, and you can be sure we'll be watching. 
If you had any remaining doubts whether the HTC Trophy would be playing for Team Red, you can leave them at the door -- a tipster just sent us a high-res version of the above image, and says it's running the latest version of Windows Phone 7, complete with copy/paste support. Our anonymous source says it seems exactly the same physically as the European version we reviewed in October, save for a last telling tweak -- instead of the orangish-yellow innards, it's got red highlights around back. 
It's been a slow climb since Netflix first announced it was adding closed captioning to the PC and Mac in early 2010, but today's blog post indicates its reached 30% of the available titles. So far platforms on the second revision of its streaming frontend like the PS3, Boxee Box, Google TV and Nintendo Wii support optional captions while the Xbox 360 and Roku players should "later this year." Of course, while its per-episode count is significantly higher, it's still only a few hundred of Netflix's available series, and deaf/hard of hearing users face problems like having some episodes subbed while others aren't. Netflix's new page breaking out supported titles should help, while nc-mac-asl's blog or InstantWatcher.com also can provide a filter. The plan is apparently to have subtitles on 80% of content by the end of the year and here's hoping it gets to 100% soon -- makes our quibbling over 5.1 surround sound seem sort of trivial doesn't it? (But, while we're on the subject, Netflix, where's 5.1 on non-PS3 clients?) 
In the most recent of Xbox 360 hacks, a modder named Morris has crafted a PS3 controller out of none other than -- as ironic as this may seem -- a dead Xbox 360. That's right, somewhere out there, a PlayStation 3 has slain its mortal enemy, mercilessly gutted the internals and now has a modded Xbox as its eternal slave. The case contains all of the buttons you need to partake in a classic beat-'em-up -- a joystick, the four PlayStation buttons, R1 and R2. There's plenty more to gander at in the source link and enough in the way of detail and instruction to get started on your own arcade stick too. 
We know, Archos already makes fairly cheap tablets, but believe it or not, the company's going after an even cheaper segment with its new Arnova 8 and 10. The two have been popping up all around the web -- they stopped by the FCC earlier this week and there was an early spec leak from a Russian site -- but now we're finally getting some real details and hands-on impressions courtesy of Charbax, who is quite possibly the biggest Archos fan in the world. The $199 10.1-inch Arnova 10, which we have to say looks a lot like the Archos 101, packs a 600MHz Rockchip RK2818 processor, resistive touchscreen, 8GB of storage, and Android 2.1 -- but before you gag, know that there should also be a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Rockchip RK 2918 / capacitive touchscreen version coming in April. Meanwhile, the 8-inch Arnova 8 rings up at $150 with the same processor and resistive touchscreen, but only 4GB of storage. If the cut corners don't faze you and you're in the mood for a closer look, we suggest you hit the break for some Charbax video originals.
We've known for some time that RIM is going all-in on NFC (isn't everyone?), but we didn't realize they were going retroactive, too. A NFC payment trial coming up involving RIM and Bank of America will allow selected testers to get an NFC-capable back for their Curve 8520 or 8530, Tour 9630, or Bold 9000, 9650, or 9700 -- in other words, most of the company's portrait QWERTY models from the last couple years. You'll also need an active Bank of America account, at which point you'll be able to tap your 'Berry on NFC terminals to get your pay on. The trial starts this spring; no word on when it might be open to everyone. 
Intel's spent the last nine months prepping its Oak Trail silicon to improve the battery life and performance of Windows 7 tablets, and come the end of next month we should finally have some slates with the new 1.5GHz Atom Z670 chip inside. While Fudzilla has heard that the tablets will hit in the general March time frame, the eagle-eyed guys at Netbook News spotted the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 press materials stating that the new platform will launch on March 30, 2011. That seems to line up with what we've heard on timing, since both the Oak Trail-powered Samsung Sliding PC 7 and MSI WindPad 100W were announced with March availability. Chances are we will hear more about it all at CeBIT next week, but honestly, at this point we're just really eager to get one of these in our hands to see what Chipzilla's really improved. 
As you'd expect, developers have wasted no time in tearing apart the Mac OS X Lion preview, and in so doing they've allegedly discovered some intriguing things -- namely, support for the SSD-wiping TRIM command, and a series of high-DPI display modes which would allow for icons and UI elements with twice the graphical detail -- which could mean a PC-sized Retina Display. The former doesn't sound like the most exciting upgrade, but it's truly a boon for Mac users with solid state storage, as TRIM can greatly improve write speeds in compatible drives. As far as the improved pixel density rumors are concerned, it's not clear whether Apple's actually looking at doubling display resolutions in new computers (9to5Mac imagines a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 2880 x 1800 screen) or whether Apple's simply moving to maintain icons that are precisely the same physical size across all its displays -- which would make fantastic sense for a touchscreen UI, by the way. 
This as-of-yet-unnamed mini computer was fashioned as an implantable eye pressure monitor for glaucoma patients, but its creators envision a future where we're all crawling with the little buggers. Taking up just over one cubic millimeter of space, the thing stuffs a pressure sensor, memory, thin-film battery, solar cell, wireless radio, and low-power microprocessor all into one very small translucent container. The processor behind this little guy uses an "extreme" sleep mode to keep it napping at 15-minute intervals and sucking up 5.3 nanowatts while awake, and its battery runs off 10 hours of indoor light or one and a half hours of sun beams. Using the sensor to measure eye pressure and the radio to communicate with an external reader, the system will continuously track the progress of glaucoma, without those pesky contacts. Of course, the mad scientists behind it look forward to a day when the tiny device will do much more, with each of us toting hundreds of the computer implants all over our bodies -- looks like a bright future for cyborgdom. 
We've been hearing reports about Nexus S' Android 2.3.3 update adding a yellow tint to the screen and even washing out its colors, but according to Google's Ry Guy, said patch is indeed intended to tweak the display's color temperature. Here's the full quote from Google's support forum:
If you've been paying attention to the state of search as of late, you'll know that Google's between a proverbial rock and hard place right now. Some individuals and companies claim Mountain View's beloved search engine is losing to the spammers, squatters, scrapers and content farms by failing to weed them from the system -- though you can now do that on your own -- while others say it's squashing the little guy by unfairly downranking competitors in search results. We're not sure if either is truly the case, the company's made a mildly controversial move this week: it's tweaked the search algorithms to "reduce rankings for low-quality sites," and "provide better rankings for high-quality" ones. As ever, Mountain View's not talking about what that change mathematically entails, though it says about 11.8 percent of queries will be affected as a result. In short: some will be happy, some sad, some angry, and many won't notice at all. 
Leave it to Microsoft Research to show off some cool stuff that may or may not actually happen on any thing you ever actually buy. Check out the video after the break to see the latest, Director of Microsoft Applied Sciences Steven "Stevie B" Bathiche showing off a variety of interesting interfaces. It all starts with gesture controls that take you well beyond the touchscreen, relying on a retro-reflective sash and a camera to detect hand position. But, things quickly progress to a flat lens called a wedge that can enable holographic-like imagery. Pair that with a Kinect and perspective shifts come into play, tracking your face to enable you to peer around like looking out a window. It's all just waiting for you below -- and maybe IRL sometime in the future. 
Samsung's been waffling on Google TV for quite some time -- prototypes aside -- and now Bloomberg thinks it might know the reason why. According to an anonymous source, Mountain View's been requiring that OEMs use Intel's CE4100 chip in their television products, and as any self-respecting chipmaker might be expected to do, Samsung declined. Now, with Google TV's efforts to break into the living room floundering, the search giant has allegedly lifted the restriction and allowed Samsung to use its own silicon, meaning we'll likely see Google TV running on a certain dual-core ARM in the months to come. Anything to save us from Smart TV, right? 
Considering nabbing a $99 OnLive Game System to connect your TV to the company's game streaming cloud? Here's another thought -- pre-order THQ's Homefront on OnLive instead for $50, and get a voucher for a free MicroConsole (and a free game) in the bargain. That's the deal OnLive announced the other day, which runs through March 14th, though the fine print says supplies are limited, shipping costs extra, and you won't actually receive the hardware until after the deal expires no matter when you pre-order the game. We're not sure what it says for OnLive's ongoing viability that the company finds itself having to give hardware away for less than half its worth, but we won't look a gift horse in the mouth! 
Clockwise from the top left, that's the the Sprint Arrive, the likely-for-Verizon Merge, the Sprint Evo Shift 4G, and the T-Mobile G2. If we had to rate them, we'd say the Arrive has the best key feel, followed by the Merge, the Evo Shift, and finally the cramped G2 -- although the super cheap-feeling hinge on the Evo Shift knocks off several points. We'd also say the physical keys on the G2 feel better than the mushy keys on the Merge, but the G2's cramped layout doesn't do it any favors. In any event, picking one of these is a pretty great problem to have, don't you think? 
Dan Mead, Lowell McAdam's successor at the helm of Verizon Wireless, has told the Wall Street Journal that we'll "see more coming from Apple on LTE. They understand the value proposition of LTE and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it." No further details were forthcoming from the chief exec, such as timing and the particular shape of Apple's participation in Verizon's LTE plans, but at least we now have an indication that Cupertino is actively working toward 4G connectivity. Mead's comments came as part of an interview discussing the iPhone 4's launch on his network, which has already seen the device bust through Verizon's opening sales record. Notably, at the actual launch of that phone, Tim Cook said an LTE version of the iPhone would have required too many compromises, so we suspect those compromises are exactly what Apple's working on right now. 
HTC also brought along a Sprint-branded Arrive to our San Francisco reader meetup, and while we're already familiar with this Windows Phone 7 slider from our time with the HTC 7 Pro it's still nice to see a CDMA WP7 device in the flesh. Oh, and the keyboard is pretty fantastic -- not only does it feel great, but the dedicated number row alone is reason for keyboard fans to give this thing a look. The best part? The demo unit was loaded up with the Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update, which is the first time we've seen it in the wild. The system worked well, but we noticed that you once you paste out of the clipboard your text is gone, so you can't multiple paste. It's a little odd -- we'll have a video up shortly. 
That satisfying clunk of the mirror swinging up and away, the rapid-fire clatter of DSLRs going into burst mode, could be on its last legs. Well, for Sony Alphas at least. The company has confirmed that its translucent mirror tech, most recently confirmed to be coming to the A77 and earlier shown on the A55 and A33, will be coming to the entire Alpha line. The sensor actually captures light through the mirror itself, which is just reflective enough to allow for real-time focusing even while capturing video. It's something of a bold move in the generally stoic DSLR market, and only time will tell whether it helps to boost Sony's street cred up to Canon and Nikon levels. 
We can totally picture how this went down: AT&T appears to have made it not worth LetsTalk's time (or Wirefly's time) to sell its phones anymore, which means they're parting ways staring next month. LetsTalk -- wishing to end its AT&T relationship in the most spectacular fashion imaginable -- has elected to sell the Motorola Atrix 4G / Laptop Dock bundle for $250 on contract after rebates, essentially half of what you'll pay through AT&T directly (LetsTalk runs Walmart's wireless store portal, which we've linked). The fire sale might not fix some of the dock's flaws... but it certainly makes them a little less painful. 
We're drowning in interchangeable lens options, but that's far from being a bad thing. For those that finally caved and picked up Panasonic's Lumix DFC-GF2, we're interested to see how you'd change things if given that golden opportunity. Are you satisfied with the size, weight and design? How's the low-light performance? Would you alter anything about the lens selection? Introduce a version that changes colors with the seasons? Go on and get creative in comments below -- the GF3 needs some ideas, you know?