I’ve been waiting for these Back to the Future auditions sketches to pop up on Hulu…and now they’re here! They totally cracked me up on last week’s Saturday Night Live. Bill Hader’s Alan Alda impersonation was particularly awesome. Anyway, check ’em out and share your thoughts on these fine comedy sketches.
Author: RPadTV
https://rpad.tv
Perhaps Kinect is Not Racist After All
After a report that Kinect for Xbox 360 has problems detecting the faces of gamers with darker skin, Consumer Reports has claimed this is not the case. According to The Associated Press:
Consumer Reports said Thursday the problem is related to low-level lighting, and not directly to players’ skin color. Kinect’s camera, it says, needs enough light and contrast so it can determine players’ facial features. Then it can perform software recognition and log them in to the Xbox gaming system.
Well that takes all the fun out of it. I was already on my fifth page of “Microsoft hardware is racist” jokes. Damn it.
MetroPCS Launches LTE in Los Angeles and Philadelphia
MetroPCS, America’s fifth-largest mobile-carrier, has announced that its LTE network is up and running in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. While rivals Sprint and T-Mobile are deploying WiMax and HSPA+ networks, respectively, MetroPCS is the only carrier in America with LTE available now. Here’s a clip from the press release:
As the only no annual contract, pay-in-advance service provider offering 4G LTE services, we are building on the successful commercial launches of 4G LTE service in Las Vegas, Dallas/Fort Worth and Detroit with the launches of our 4G LTE service in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. With a compelling handset line-up and a superior network, we deliver unmatched value with flexibility, predictability and affordability that consumers demand.
The Samsung Craft is the only MetroPCS phone that supports LTE at this time. Now that the network is alive in my town, I’m planning to get a test unit and interview a MetroPCS executive to get more info on the company’s unusually aggressive LTE roll-out.
Any of you live in a MetroPCS LTE city? Are you intrigued by the Samsung Craft on LTE?
Adobe Flash Kills Battery Life on the New MacBook Air
Most pundits believed that Apple omitted Adobe Flash from its new MacBook Air due to the Flash vs. HTML5 war the companies are waging. It turns out that there’s a more practical reason for the snub: battery life. According to Ars Technica, the Air gets more than 33 percent more juice without Flash than with it. Here’s the deal:
Having Flash installed can cut battery runtime considerably — as much as 33 percent in our testing. With a handful of websites loaded in Safari, Flash-based ads kept the CPU running far more than seemed necessary, and the best time I recorded with Flash installed was just 4 hours. After deleting Flash, however, the MacBook Air ran for 6:02—with the exact same set of websites reloaded in Safari, and with static ads replacing the CPU-sucking Flash versions.
Prettty crazy, hey? The whole thing has me rethinking my position on Flash-based advertising. What do you think of The Situation the situation?
Does Xbox 360 Kinect Prefer White Players?
According to some tests by GameSpot, Kinect for Xbox 360’s facial recognition works much better for white players than those with darker skin. This supports my theory that Microsoft hardware is racist. I’m joking! Seriously though, here’s the word from GameSpot:
While testing out the Kinect, two dark-skinned GameSpot employees experienced problems with the system’s facial recognition abilities. The system recognized one employee inconsistently, while it was never able to properly identify the other despite repeated calibration attempts. However, Kinect had no problems identifying a third dark-skinned GameSpot employee, recognizing his face after a single calibration. Lighter-skinned employees were also consistently picked up on the first try.
Please keep in mind that the sample size is super small.
Oddly enough, I’m more interested in Kinect than I was seconds before I read this story. I know that Kinect’s sensors get all sorts of whacked out in sunlight, but I want to see if the hardware will hate me because I’m brown. I’m sure it will work for most people, but it will be interesting to see if a significant number of gamers with darker skin have issues with the system. If it does then expect countless jokes on Kinect being racist and a class action lawsuit.
Any thoughts on the matter?
(Thanks to Joey for this excellent photo of him dressed as Ron Washington for Halloween!)
Today’s Poll: Will Xbox 360 Kinect Sell 5-Million in 2010?
Kinect for Xbox 360 is out! Microsoft has already spent millions on a lavish E3 2010 event and a ridiculously expensive launch in New York City’s Times Square. There are still plenty of marketing dollars to be spent and the company is feeling so bullish on Kinect that MS president Don Mattrick has increased internal projections to five-million units sold in 2010.
That said, the reviews have been pretty average. Almost every reviewer is more impressed with the potentiality of Kinect than the actuality. Certainly there will be people that want it because it’s exciting and new (like Love Boat), but will the initial fervor be tempered by not-so-enthusiastic reviews? Do you think Microsoft will snag five-million customers this year? Kindly vote in today’s poll and back up your choice in the comments section.
[poll id=”83″]
T-Mobile myTouch 4G Sizzle Video
T-Mobile has released a sizzle reel for its upcoming myTouch 4G phone. The video is snappy and cute, but I’m mostly unimpressed with the phone. It looks plastic-y and I detest the “Genius Button”. Then again, I was unimpressed with the T-Mobile G2’s announcement and the phone is one of my favorite Google Android handsets of 2010. Check out the clip and let me know what you think (please)!
Coffee Talk #240: Thank God for Zackery Morazzini
After reading the transcript of the Schwarzengger vs. the EMA Supreme Court case, I believe that gamers across the nation should be immensely thankful for the ineptitude of California deputy attorney general Zackery P. Morazzini
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your Derek Jeter contract estimate (years and dollars, please), Stumptown’s Guatemala Finca El Injerto Pacamara Varietal, or Demi Lovato hitting the triumvirate of hotness (cute, rich, and vulnerable), Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
After reading the transcript of the Schwarzengger vs. the Entertainment Merchants Association Supreme Court case, I believe that gamers across the nation should be immensely thankful for the ineptitude of California deputy attorney general Zackery P. Morazzini. For the most part, he came across as an ineffectual litigator that got his JD from Legal Hut. For the most part, the Justices made him look silly. Here are some of my favorite quotes.
Justice Ginsburg: What’s the difference? I mean, if you are supposing a category of violent materials dangerous to children, then how do you cut it off at video games? What about films? What about comic books? Grimm’s fairy tales?
Why are video games special? Or does your principle extend to all deviant, violent material in whatever form?
Justice Sotomayor: One of the studies, the Anderson study, says that the effect of violence is the same for a Bugs Bunny episode as it is for a violent video. So can the legislature now, because it has that study, say we can outlaw Bugs Bunny?
There are people who would say that a cartoon has very little social value; it’s entertainment, but not much else. This is entertainment.
Justice Sotomayor: Could you get rid of rap music? Have you heard some of the lyrics of some of the rap music, some of the original violent songs that have been sung about killing people and about other violence directed to them?
Justice Scalia: I’m not concerned about the jury judging. I’m concerned about the producer of the games who has to know what he has to do in order to comply with the law. And you are telling me, well a jury can — of course a jury can make up its mind, I’m sure. But a law that has criminal penalties has to be clear. And how is the manufacturer to know whether a particular violent game is covered or not?
Does he convene his own jury and try it before — you know, I really wouldn’t know what to do as a manufacturer.
pwned.
Check out the transcript (posted below) if you have a chance. It’s hard to say for sure without hearing how the lines were delivered, but from reading it, Morazzini is surely the Glass Joe of the California Attorney General’s office. I encourage all of you to drop Zackery P. Morazzini a line to thank him for sucking.
Kevin Garnett Allegedly Uses “Cancer Patient” in Trash Talk
The Boston Celtics’ Kevin Garnett — a player known for his trash talking — allegedly called the Detroit Pistons’ Charlie Villanueva a “cancer patient”. Villanueva has a condition called alopecia universalis, which prevents his hair growth. He recently posted two tweets that said:
KG called me a cancer patient, I’m pissed because, u know how many people died from cancer, and he’s tossing it like it’s a joke,
I wouldn’t even trip about that, but a cancer patient, I know way 2 many people who passed away from it, and I have a special place 4 those
Calling the whole situation a “miscommunication”, Garnett released a statement that said:
My comment to Charlie Villanueva was in fact ‘You are cancerous to your team and our league.’ I would never be insensitive to the brave struggle that cancer patients endure. I have lost loved ones to this deadly disease and have a family member currently undergoing treatment. I would never say anything that distasteful. The game of life is far bigger than the game of basketball.
That’s the lamest explanation I’ve ever heard. “You are cancerous to your team and our league,” doesn’t sound like anything a world class trash talker like Garnett would say. I hope someone posts tape of him using the term “cancer patient” and exposes his sorry ass.
Microsoft Ups its Kinect Estimate to 5-Million Units
Microsoft is feeling pretty good about Kinect for Xbox 360 — so good that it has upped its estimated units sold this quarter from three-million to five-million. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business president Don Mattrick has revised the company’s estimates.
Microsoft Corp. boosted its forecast for the Kinect motion-control device for the Xbox gaming system to 5 million units this quarter, predicting the most successful Xbox product debut by sales.
Based on pre-sales, retail orders and consumer interest, the company expects to exceed a previous forecast of 3 million units, Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, said in an interview today. The device, which lets players control games with motion and voice, goes on sale tomorrow.
It looks like this will be one of the rare times that Michael Pachter is correct (I kid, I kid). What do you think of Microsoft’s numbers? Is the company being overly optimistic? Or is Kinect going to take over the world?!? Will Sony’s PlayStation Move come close to matching Kinect’s numbers?