Mia Wasikowska is beyond amazing! If I could only ever watch her and Keira Knightley’s movies, I would still die happy. The upcoming gothic horror film she is cast in, Crimson Peak by Guillermo del Toro, sounds creepy and intriguing…to be released October 2015 and also stars Chastain, Hiddleston and Hunnan.
Author Archives: infophile
A New Streaming Service Just for Classic TV and Film Launches Today — And It’s Free | Vox
I tried accessing ShoutFactory! content this morning (Thursday, February 5) but content is not yet playable/accessable on my desktop or iPad. I’m interesting in checking out Twilight Zone, Bushido Man and Dreamscape. An error comes up “Sorry, the requested video is not yet available on this device.” Content may be accessible later this afternoon or there may be an issue with accessing content from Canada. The About Us page states “SHOUT! FACTORY TV is a free-to-the viewer, ad-supported video offering containing full-length television shows, movies, specials, and original content viewable through desktop computers, mobile, tablet, and “over-the’top” devices such as Roku…In addition, Shout! Factory maintains a vast digital distribution network which delivers video and audio content to all the leading digital service providers in North America.”
The big four broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC — don’t really have specific brands. They’re nebulous, offering drama, comedy, reality, and whatever else they put on the air. They’re the giant department stores of TV. Cable channels are more like specialty stores. ESPN is for sports fans. Nickelodeon is for kids. TNT knows drama.
The same is now happening with streaming services. We have a “big three” — Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. We have offshoots of TV networks, like HBO Go and Showtime Anytime.
And now we’re starting to see the rise of specialty streaming services, like one launching from Shout! Factory. Previously known for releasing DVDs of films and TV shows other studios didn’t want to, Shout’s new streaming service carries the same philosophy to the world of online TV. It’s filled with classic shows and movies that are hard to find elsewhere. It’s got more of an eye toward curation than building a platform. It’s built off of others’ software.
And it’s completely free.
READ MORE: A new streaming service just for classic TV and film launches today – and it’s free | Vox
10 Gadgets for the Bookworm in Your Life | Mashable
Everyone knows one of them. They always have their nose stuck in a book, they don’t go anywhere without one and they are perennially asking you if you’ve read the book version of that movie that just came out. Bookworms. Book lovers. Bibliophiles.
Although book reading has historically been an analog and solitary activity, 2015 brings with it a new appreciation for digital gadgets, and the book industry isn’t exempt from the wave of tech innovation. READ MORE: 10 gadgets for the bookworm in your life | Mashable
Beyond History Books: Trove of Rosa Parks Memorabilia Opens to Public for First Time | Mashable
Rosa Parks was more than just the woman who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 1955. Letters and photos that belonged to the civil rights activist offer new insights into her complexities. Parks legacy has been somewhat simplified by the history books.
Her archive goes on display for the first time on [February 4, 2015] at the Library of Congress, after long legal disputes hid the documents from public view for years. Researchers and the public will have full access to Parks archive of letters, writings, personal notes and photographs for the first time. About 7,500 manuscript items and 2,500 photographs from the civil rights activist, including a pocket-sized Bible, letters from admirers and her Presidential Medal of Freedom, are part of the collection.
READ MORE: Beyond history books: Trove of Rosa Parks memorabilia opens to public for first time | Mashable
Raspberry Pi 2 runs free Windows 10, costs $35 | CNET
Microcomputing fans take note — there’s a new Raspberry Pi in town. The all-new board brings a host of new hardware, including a Broadcom 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor and 1GB of RAM. Those upgrades, the Raspberry Pi Foundation says, make the Pi 2 Model B a much more powerful computer — not just a good computer for its $35 price.
The Raspberry Pi is an extremely simple computer that can be yours for very little money. It looks and feels very basic, but can be built into any number of geeky projects, and is designed to get youngsters interested in coding…
…Raspberry Pi is on a collision course with Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 operating system. “For the last six months,” the Raspberry Pi Foundation writes on its blog, “we’ve been working closely with Microsoft to bring the forthcoming Windows 10 to Raspberry Pi 2. Microsoft will have much more to share over the coming months. The Raspberry Pi 2-compatible version of Windows 10 will be available free of charge to makers.”
READ MORE: Raspberry Pi 2 runs free Windows 10, costs $35 | CNET.
Iraqi Libraries Ransacked by Islamic State Group in Mosul | KVVU
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN and SAMEER N. YACOUB
Associated Press
Posted: Jan 31, 2015 12:12 AM MST
Updated: Jan 31, 2015 2:33 AM MST
BAGHDAD (AP) – When Islamic State group militants invaded the Central Library of Mosul earlier this month, they were on a mission to destroy a familiar enemy: other people’s ideas.
Residents say the extremists smashed the locks that had protected the biggest repository of learning in the northern Iraq town, and loaded around 2,000 books – including children’s stories, poetry, philosophy and tomes on sports, health, culture and science – into six pickup trucks. They left only Islamic texts…READ MORE: Iraqi libraries ransacked by Islamic State group in Mosul | FOX5 Vegas | KVVU
Publishers Know You Didn’t Finish “The Goldfinch” — Here’s What That Means For The Future Of Books | BuzzFeed News
Millions may have held their suspicions, but last month the Canadian e-reader company Kobo confirmed it: Most people who buy The Goldfinch don’t actually finish it. According to the company’s data, less than half of Canadian and British Kobo readers in 2014 made it to the end of Donna Tartt’s behemoth novel, one of the best-selling of the year.
How did Kobo know this? Like every e-reader and reading-app maker today, the company, a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce titan Rakuten, has access to a comprehensive suite of data about the reading behavior of its users. In a white paper titled “Publishing in the Era of Big Data” and released this fall, the company announced that “with the onset of digital reading … it is now possible to know how a customer engages with the book itself — what books were left unopened, which were read to the very last word and how quickly.” In other words, if you read books digitally, the people who serve you those books more than likely know just what kind of reader you are…READ MORE: Publishers Know You Didn’t Finish “The Goldfinch” — Here’s What That Means For The Future Of Books | BuzzFeed News.
Windows Holographic: Microsoft Goes Full Throttle Into Virtual Reality | Mashable
Microsoft introduced Windows Holographic, a technology that gives us a “world with holograms,” during its Windows 10 event on Wednesday. It would let a user transform one’s living room into a “surreal gaming environment,” according to the company.
There are no wires. No external cameras.
It works with Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, which allows users to wirelessly view holograms. Both the HoloLens and Windows 10 are slated to be available this fall.
READ MORE: Windows Holographic: Microsoft goes full throttle into virtual reality | Mashable
James Patterson’s New Book Will Self-Destruct In 24 Hours | Co.Create
I have not read any Patterson books in the last decade or so, as I’m not a fan of his collaborations with other authors to churn out titles. That being said, this is a fantastic book promotion concept. Very creative…and ‘thrilling’ idea.
He’s got bazillions of fans, sold hundreds of millions of books, and has been called the best paid writer in the world. But this is probably the first time James Patterson will release a book that will actually explode.
READ MORE: James Patterson’s New Book Will Self-Destruct In 24 Hours | Co.Create | creativity + culture + commerce.
X-ray Reveals the Secrets of Burned Vesuvius Scrolls | CNET
Scrolls that were damaged, but not destroyed, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius may now be read for the first time in nearly two millennia.
READ MORE: X-ray reveals the secrets of burned Vesuvius scrolls | CNET
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