After the critical and commercial success of The Amazing Spider-Man last summer, studio Sony wasted no time in fast-tracking the sequel.

However, following the news that the studio have now greenlit a third and a fourth film, star Shailene Woodley has confirmed that she will not appearing in the upcoming sequel.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actress, who is playing Mary Jane Watson, revealed that despite filming scenes that were initially intended for the second film, her introduction has been pushed back until the third installment. (Superhero Hype! has behind-the-scenes photos of a scene with her.)

She said: “Of course I’m bummed. But I’m a firm believer in everything happening for a specific reason, based on the proposed plot, I completely understand holding off on introducing (Mary Jane) until the next film.”

Director Marc Webb, who successfully rebooted the franchise with last summer’s $750-million grossing hit, also released a statement confirming the news.

He said: “I made a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship.

“Shailene is an incredibly talented actress and while we only shot a few scenes with Mary Jane, we all love working with her.”

Earlier this week, Sony announced that the third film will be released on June 10th 2016, with part four following two years later on May 4th 2018.

Vice chairman of Sony Pictures, Jeff Blake, confirmed that the previous success of the franchise, coupled with Webb’s impressive reboot, meant developing future sequels makes perfect sense.

He said: “Spider-Man is our most important, most successful, and most beloved franchise. So we’re thrilled that we are in a position to lock in these prime release dates over the next five years.”

While young actress Woodley will be annoyed that she will not appearing in the 2014 release, the fact is her omission is not totally surprising.

Last summer’s reboot demonstrated that the studio want this incarnation to last longer than Sam Raimi’s trilogy, which despite its excellent commercial performance, ran out of steam by part three.

The next film contains an exciting cast including Andrew Garfield in the title role, along side love interest Gwen Stacey. And, now that Watson will not be featuring, we can definitely expect Parker and Stacey’s relationship to be thoroughly developed in part two.

Another story arc that will be developed in the sequel is Parker’s friendship with Harry Osbron, played by Dane DeHaan. Osborn of course will eventually become the Green Goblin, although not until at least part three.

Taking on the roles of the villains are Oscar winner Jamie Foxx as Electro and Sideways star Paul Giamatti as the Rhino.

The script was created and reworked by James Vanderbilt, who penned the first instalment, Jeff Pinker (Lost), and Star Trek Into Darkness co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) is returning to helm the sequel.

The Amazing Spider-man 2 will be released in May 2014.

Sources: EW, THR

The post Mary Jane Dropped From Amazing Spider-Man 2 In Wake Of Further Sequels appeared first on Doddle.

After two hilarious teasers with the main characters, we finally get the first full Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues trailer. Check it out!

The post New Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Trailer appeared first on Doddle.

“He died last night at the Orange Park hospital at about 12.45 this morning of heart failure,” Roy Beagle told Reuters. “We had a 90th birthday party for him in January and he looked good, but he had been in failing health since then.”

Born Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr., he was self-taught on the guitar and had a string of hits such as “Rose Marie”, “Indian Love Call” and “Secret Love”. Whitman recorded dozens of albums and sold millions of records during his career, which began in the late 1940.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; editing by Gunna Dickson)

The post Legendary country singer Slim Whitman dead at 90 appeared first on Doddle.

Now that Man of Steel has hurtled through the worldwide box-office faster than a speeding bullet, its success has sent the rumor mill into overdrive.

Easily the craziest story came courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, who reported that Man of Steel 2 is being fast tracked for a 2014 release.

And, if that wasn’t enough, the financial publication insists that their ‘sources’ within Warner Bros. revealed that a Justice League film would follow in 2015.

Anybody with knowledge of the movie business, or common sense for that matter, will know that making a $200-250 million blockbuster in such a short period of time, cannot and will not happen.

The only explanation for this would be if the studio have already filmed part of the sequel, much like they did with the original Richard Donner 1979 classic, and its 1980 sequel.

But, the fact that writer David S. Goyer and director Zach Snyder have been relatively open about the development and progress of the sequel, would help pour cold water on this story.

While speaking to BBC Radio 4, Snyder touched upon the future of DC Comics’s quintessential American hero.

He said: “He has no choice but to become global… That literally has to happen. But for me I was really interested in – and maybe it’s because Barack Obama’s president now – it’s okay for Superman to be American. He’s quintessentially an American creature and creation. I wanted to pay homage to the superhero as coming from the heartland of America, and the “Why?” of that.

“I was really interested in just how American he was, and I think in the best possible way, the Kevin Costner cornfield kind of way. Which is why I really wanted Kevin and Diane Lane to play those parts because they really represent a believable America but an America that is also… we do it in the most realistic way we can but still all of the icons are very much represented in a way that I don’t know exists for real. But you want it to. Like a Norman Rockwell documentary… handheld Norman Rockwell.”

Obviously, when fans think of Superman, the image of his main antagonist Lex Luthor is never far away.

And, without giving too much away, Man of Steel was considerably light on Luthor, compared to previous Superman films.

So the introduction of the character in the sequel seems inevitable.

Indeed, Dark Knight writer Goyer revealed to Bleeding Cool that he and Snyder have discussed the super-villain.

He said: “There is musing about Lex Luthor, conversations that Zack and I have had on set, but it all depends on what happens over the next month.

“There are obviously those Lexcorp easter eggs in the film and clearly you can see from that, to the extent to which we can intuit things about Lex, it’s not the Gene Hackman version. This is a Bill Gates-like Lex that is probably worth 50, 60, 70 billion dollars. It’s a very different Lex.”

Goyer also explained his thoughts on Superman’s impact on the world as a whole, given the realistic Christopher Nolan inspired blueprint that the franchise has adopted.

He said: “The challenge for us moving forward is how to depict Superman in a world like this, in a world where Twitter exists, in a world with social media. To me, the interesting challenge is “Could he solve hunger in the horn of Africa? What would he do with the Arab Spring? What would he do in Syria?… Does he have the wherewithal or the knowledge to intervene in something like this?”

“To me, that’s the interesting challenge. It’s easier for Batman because he just exists in this little pocket of the world, he’s not violating sovereign airspace every day.”

Of course, the introduction of a god-like being, who also happens to be morally incorruptible, would have massive implications with regards to world politics and the future of conflicts in general.

However, Goyer also spoke about issues that Superman’s existence would cause within Metropolis and Kansas, and anywhere else Clark Kent decides to frequent.

Anybody who has not seen Man of Steel, please look away now (SPOILERS!).

In the film, Lois, played by Amy Adams, quickly uncovers the true identity of the Man of Steel — she is a journalist after all.

Also, because she is free from any major neurological deficiencies, she is able to recognize Superman, played by Henry Cavill, even when he is disguised as Clark Kent.

While this is a rather fundamental decision for Snyder and Goyer to take, the fact is the whole glasses and hair cut disguise is outdated and, let’s face it, fairly ridiculous.

Goyer has admitted that this is a problem that he is working on, but has yet to solve.

He said: “In our minds there are people in Smallville who know Superman’s secret as well [as Lois], Pete Ross seems to know, there’s probably a couple dozen people who know and we thought it would be interesting if they’re protective of him.

“We were able to sidestep the issue of the ludicrous glasses disguise in this film but going forwards, we’re going to find ourselves in a sticky wicket. Zack and I have definitely talked about ‘Okay, hmm, this will be interesting.’ Clearly Perry White and Steve Lombard see Lois kissing Superman at the end of the film. Perry’s not an idiot. Moving forward, he’s probably going to say to Lois ‘What’s up with that?’ We’re definitely going to have to go through some story gymnastics.”

Stay tuned for more Man of Steel 2 news, and Justice League updates.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, BBC Radio 4 (via Bleeding Cool), Bleeding Cool

The post Man of Steel 2 News and Rumors appeared first on Doddle.

Danielle Bradbery wins The Voice on NBC (Image: TYLER GOLDEN/NBC)

By Tim Molloy - NEW YORK (TheWrap) With “The Voice” finale done (congrats to winner Danielle Bradbery), tell us if this scenario sounds familiar:

A give-it-your-all reality competition becomes a national fascination, and people agonize over whether their favorite competitors will be voted off. Other shows mimic its formula – and eventually another show becomes the nation’s reality spectacle of choice. It outpaces its predecessor and makes many of us forget just how original the original once seemed.

We aren’t just talking about “American Idol,” but also Mark Burnett’s “Survivor,” the show that may be most responsible for launching the reality genre in the U.S. Just as “The Voice” has surpassed “Idol,” “Idol” once overcame “Survivor.”

“Survivor” debuted in 2000, drawing big ratings and changing the television landscape. Two years later came “Idol,” which took its inspiration from a British singing series but went on to rule U.S. television for eight years, dwarfing its predecessor and everything else in the ratings to such an extent that executives dubbed it “The Death Star.”

“Idol” owed its success partly to the brutal honesty of Simon Cowell, who was every bit as shrewd as “Survivor’s” first-season winner, Richard Hatch.

Viewers also tuned in for the watch-through-your fingers performances of aspiring stars like civil-engineering student William Hung – who, as a singer, was a really great civil-engineering student.

In the 2011-12 TV season, “Idol” finally fell to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” – which got an assist from a new Burnett show, “The Voice,” which unlike “Idol” didn’t succeed by playing rough. The NBC singing competition, which closes out its third season Tuesday night, took a more encouraging approach (subbing in “coaches” for “judges”) and nearly tied “Idol” for second place behind football.

In the process, it replaced “Idol” on the list of Emmy contenders for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program last year, leaving the original singing show out of the category where it had been a staple for nine consecutive years.

This past season, “Idol’s” 12th, “The Voice” has finally bumped Fox’s phenomenon as the top singing show — though neither sing-off now scores the outsized ratings “Idol” once did. In fact, ratings for “The Voice,” “Idol” and Fox’s “X Factor” are all down.

As its season comes to an end, “The Voice” averages a 4.9 rating over its two nights in the key 18-49 demo. “Idol” has averaged a 4.5, and “X Factor” a 3.6.

But “Idol” still wins in total viewers, averaging 15 million over its two nights. “The Voice” averages 13.9 million, and “X Factor” 9.8 million.

The final numbers for “The Voice” will change slightly with tonight’s finale, but it will end the season as television’s top reality show in the key demo.

To hear Burnett tell it, “The Voice” owes its success to being “a kinder show.” After a decade of reality shows in general getting more down and dirty, the devout Christian producer believes “The Voice” won out with decency. “There’s no humiliation on it,” he told TheWrap. “I feel that that’s important with audiences.”

He added: “Also, our coaches are very, very current in their careers. I feel like it’s become young America’s favorite show.”

No matter how much of a role they truly play, the judges behind the table – or coaches in the spinning chairs – always get the credit or blame for a show’s success or slide. They’re too mean. They’re too nice. Or, as critics said of outgoing “Idol” judge Randy Jackson, they don’t come down hard enough either way.

It’s true that “Idol” began to lose its bulletproof status when Cowell departed after Season 9 for “X Factor”. And though his new show earns respectable ratings, they lag those of Idol and “The Voice” – to say nothing of the “Idol” of old. It’s also true that “Idol” became nicer in Seasons 10 and 11, when Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler took over as judges – and the show still slipped in the ratings.

On the other hand, Cowell may have miscalculated when he decided to turn his “X Factor,” which debuted in fall 2011, into a higher-stakes, tougher “Idol.” In the first episode, the show introduced a newly sober addict, a single mother with dreams of sending her son to a good school and a 13-year-old who said her family has “no money” and dreamed of having her own bathroom. “Get ready for a new bathroom,” Cowell told her. Eleven weeks later, she was sent home in tears.

Burnett’s “The Voice,” meanwhile, beat “X Factor” to the airwaves by five months and had already embraced its nicer approach, becoming NBC’s biggest show besides “Sunday Night Football” in the process.

So, do musical competition shows need to get nicer? Or nastier? It’s one of the big questions facing the replacement for Fox’s president of alternative entertainment, Mike Darnell, who announced in late May that he was moving on. (Darnell told TheWrap that the declining singing show ratings had “nothing at all to do” with his decision to leave, saying “Idol” was “a phenomenon.”)

The much-hyped “Idol” rivalry this year between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey didn’t produce as much ratings heat as Fox may have hoped. And the lower “X Factor” ratings despite the much-hyped addition of Britney Spears in Season 2 suggests that big names can’t guarantee better numbers.

So whatever else it does, Fox seems to be abandoning its superstar approach. Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio have been named the new judges of “X Factor,” and while both are pop stars, neither is a Britney Spears or Mariah Carey. And TheWrap reported last month that all four “Idol” judges will be out next season. (As of now, only Keith Urban remains on the “Idol” panel.)

Is it possible that the shows really are, as the judges and producers always insist, really about the contestants? If so, no one’s going to to blame those contestants for singing shows’ slide. More likely, some viewers think they’ve seen it all.

Burnett hopes fortunes may be changing yet again. On May 8, the 13-year-old “Survivor” caught up to the 11-year-old “Idol” to tie it in their common hour for the first time ever. Both shows had a 2.5 rating in the demo.

“That was the highlight of my year,” Burnett said. “People kept asking me, ‘Do you think “Idol” should be afraid of “The Voice?”‘ And I always said they should be more afraid of ‘Survivor.’”

On the night “Survivor” and “Idol” tied, both were behind “The Voice,” which had a 2.7.

Burnett knows what it’s like to have another show borrow from his format. Does he feel for “Idol?”

“I’ve often thought in the very beginning that had “Survivor” patented elimination, it might be a very different landscape,” he said. “In the end, if you’re given the gift of primetime television in America, it’s a massive responsibility…You have to treat every hour of primetime as if you’re making a $100 million movie.

“I think the moral here is this: You cannot stand still. You’re either going backward or forward.”

The post As Music-Competition Shows Slide, What Does It Take to Make a Hit? appeared first on Doddle.

“Monsters University,” a prequel to 2001 animated film “Monsters, Inc.,” will be released on Friday in U.S. theaters, and director Dan Scanlon told Reuters one of the main challenges was to keep the film fresh and surprising for audiences.

“You’re dealing with the fact that everybody knows how the movie is going to end,” Scanlon said about plotting Pixar’s first prequel, particularly for a film that grossed more than $560 million at the worldwide box office.

A college setting seemed ideal for best friends Mike, voiced by Billy Crystal, and Sully, voiced by John Goodman, Scanlon said, to “explore serious emotional relationship stuff” and “major self-discovery.”

“It’s a maturing process or learning who you are,” Goodman added. “Everybody goes through it, whether you went to college or not.”

“Monsters University” tells the story of how Mike and Sully first met in college as “scaring” majors, learning the prestigious art of scaring human beings in order to harness their screams, which power the city of Monstropolis.

Although Mike and Sully eventually become friends and co-workers at scaring factory Monsters, Inc., their friendship does not have the smoothest start, with Sully’s “party-guy” popularity conflicting with the studious, ambitious Mike.

The film focuses on Mike, whose sole ambition from childhood is to become a “scarer” despite not being very intimidating, and at university, he struggles to find his place among his peers, finally fitting in with a fraternity of outcasts.

“Unfortunately, he lacks a certain undefinable quality to be scary. So now he has to find what it is that makes him special,” said Scanlon.

“What we see as crushing failures in life hopefully lead us to new things – things we never thought possible.”

CRYSTAL, GOODMAN PLAYING TEENAGERS

“Monsters University” producer Kori Rae, who worked closely with Crystal and Goodman on the first film, said she noticed the veteran actors were much more comfortable in their monster skins, and have fun playing their characters as teenagers.

“They got to dig in and explore who these guys were back then,” noted Rae.

Crystal, 65, and Goodman, 60, said they saw a lot of themselves in teenage Mike and Sully.

Crystal likened Mike’s need to have someone to catch him when he flies off the handle to times when he himself needed “someone as grounded as John” when he went off script to improvise. He also empathized with Mike’s ambition, comparing it to his own.

“Mike never stops working to get better and he doesn’t let anything get in his way. He many not like how he stacks up with everybody else, but he’ll work you in to the ground – and I’ve always had that kind of drive,” the comedian said.

For Goodman, Sully’s easy-going likeability was an instant draw.

“(Sully’s) a guy who gets to do what he loves for a living. There ain’t’ enough of that to go around,” Goodman said.

Both men are also open to reprising their roles for a third installment, should one ever come to pass. In fact, Crystal already has ideas.

“Monsters Assisted Living,” he said, before altering his voice to channel an elderly Mike. “Do my ankles look swollen to you?”

(Editing by Eric Kelsey, Piya Sinha-Roy and Jackie Frank)

The post Crystal, Goodman head back to school in ‘Monsters University’ appeared first on Doddle.

Then there are Vestmannaeyja and Porlakshafnar. Those names don’t trip off the tongues of anyone except the hardy residents of Iceland. Surprisingly, this island in the frigid North Atlantic is one of the most golf-obsessed places on earth.

With 65 courses for a population of 322,000, Iceland has more courses per person – one for every 5,000 people — than any other country.

Though many are just nine holes, that’s nearly twice as many courses per capita as Scotland, according to a 2007 survey by Golf Digest. The magazine said Scotland had the most courses per capita but it didn’t count countries with fewer than 500,000 people.

About 10 percent of Iceland’s population plays golf – a higher rate than the United States or Britain – making it the country’s second most popular sport, after football.

In contrast to America and Britain, golf club membership in Iceland is still growing, albeit more slowly than before the country’s banking bubble burst five years ago.

“We joke that if just three or four people are living near one another, they’ll probably start a golf club,” said Haukur Orn Birgisson, a young attorney who serves as vice chairman of the Icelandic Golf Union.

Indeed, some clubs have as few as 20 members, dedicated souls who will upkeep the course themselves.

Birgisson’s club, Golfklubberinn Oddur, just outside Reykjavik, is among the country’s largest, with 1,300 members. Like most clubs in Iceland it is open to the public as well as members, charging a guest fee of 6,900 Icelandic krona (36.5 pounds).

Iceland’s golf season includes the annual Arctic Open tournament, scheduled this year for June 27 to 29. Open to amateurs and professionals alike, it’s played at the Akureyri Golf Club in northern Iceland, which boasts of being “the most northerly 18-hole golf course” on earth.

LAVA BEDS, TERNS, AND WINDS

Golf is popular in Iceland despite the obvious drawbacks. The season lasts just four months, from mid-May to mid-September. Summer temperatures rarely venture above 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) and even then occasional days of wicked winds and steady mist can keep all but the most foolhardy or dedicated off the course.

Call me both, because I played in exactly those conditions during a recent visit to Iceland. But I’ve played in even worse weather on past visits to Scotland.

Iceland does offer unique advantages and challenges to golfers. Most notably, in June, July and August, golfers can play virtually 24 hours a day.

Golfklubburinn Keiler in suburban Reykjavik is booked solid all summer with starting times from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.. Playing under the midnight sun – as I discovered – can be surreal and sublime, with my first day starting time 10 p.m..

Another advantage: Iceland’s cool, moist climate makes for lush, green fairways. Also, golf courses don’t have trees to disrupt errant shots. Trees aren’t native in Iceland.

Iceland does, however, have lava beds, volcanic rock from past eruptions. They dominate the rough on many courses and are filled with crevices that can swallow golf balls like a whale gulping down krill.

The lava beds also are nesting sites for Arctic terns, birds that migrate from pole to pole. Golfers hitting near a tern’s nest will find themselves playing their next shot under aerial bombardment from the ill-tempered birds.

Formidable lava beds line the course on Heimaey Island, population 4,500, about three hours by car south east of Reykjavik. A lava flow from a 1973 volcanic eruption almost choked the harbour, but today cruise ships bring bird watchers, nature lovers and, yes, golfers.

The sheer cliffs, lava beds and sea vistas made it “the most dramatic course I have ever played”, said Kimber Bilby, an American from Michigan who played the course recently in calm weather with her fiancé, Bob Prust, a physician. One of their favourites was the par three 17th hole, which requires a tee shot across a sea inlet and lava beds to reach the green.

On the day the couple played, most golfers on the course were local Heimaey residents, many of them children of high-school and even grade-school age.

“I was watching the kids practice their chipping and putting, and they were awfully good,” said Prust. “It was obvious they had played the course many times.”

As for why golf is so popular here, Birgisson cites the Icelandic character.

“We always seem to go ‘all in,’ and golf is no exception,” he explained. “That mentality didn’t serve us well leading up to the banking crisis, but it has taken us far with golf.”

- Paul Ingrassia, managing director of Reuters, has played golf in many venues but never in Iceland until earlier this month.

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

The post Golfing in Iceland’s midnight sun – lava beds, angry birds, winds appeared first on Doddle.

Loki in The Avengers

Second Chapter Assembles Around a New Threat

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

I know everyone was hoping that we’d see a rematch between the Avengers and Thor’s deviously chaotic brother Loki, but all alas it won’t be in the cards.  Writer/director Joss Whedon has confirmed in a recent interview that the villain who put together the invasion of Earth by the Chitauri is not in the script he’s writing for the second chapter of our favorite team of Marvel Super Heroes.

“Everyone is going to be looking for the Loki-Hulk smash moment and you’ll be looking for [a quim moment]. First of all, imitating what I did before is the surest way to do it not as well. Second of all, Loki’s not there to say those terrible things. Although I do think we should bring the word back, not as an insult, it’s just a nice word.”

Thanos, seen in the first end-movie clip in The Avengers (click for larger)

While some may be uttering collective disappointment, remember that Tom Hiddleston is reprising his role as Loki in “Thor: The Dark World” and it may be that the story line prohibits Loki from being around to torment his brother and his new earthly best friends for the second chapter of the Avengers. We also know from the end of the Avengers that the intergalactic villain Thanos is going to have a central role in Phase III of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to Screen Rant, Loki was being aided by Thanos in his invasion of Earth and it may be that his fate is tied to what happens in Thor 2: The Dark World when the brothers are forced to set aside their differences and take on who Kevin Feige says is the “grand daddy of badasses who’s in love with death.”

But although we may see Thanos take on not only Thor and Loki, but the Guardians of the Galaxy, Joss Whedon also says that there’s no crossover between the Avengers sequel and Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s going to be cool.  But what will happen with Loki?  Well, I have a feeling he’ll meet his destiny in Thor 2.

Course, I’m secretly hoping that because what I really want to see is Tom Hiddleston become the 12th Doctor in “Doctor Who” and in doing so, there’s no way he’d be around to shoot the Avengers sequel anyway.  That’s just fanboy speculation, I admit, and there’s even a Facebook page dedicated to the notion.

“… (Joss) has to sit down and turn this into a movie, Marvel President Kevin Feige told MTV News, but there are already seven things in there that are worth the price of admission alone.”

Either way, you can bet that both Thor: The Dark World and the Avengers 2 are going to be very exciting. And hopefully, they’ll be far better than the disappointment that was Iron Man 3.  And if you look at the comment above by Kevin Feige, he seems to think so.

The post Whedon Confirms No Loki in Avengers 2 appeared first on Doddle.

Huang told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday that licensing graphics cores and visual patents would help Nvidia take more advantage of the booming market for smartphones and tablets and tap markets it could not reach through selling its own chips.

“The bottom line is the world has changed and we’re expanding our business model to serve markets that we historically could not serve,” Huang said.

With its core PC market struggling, Nvidia in recent years has established itself in the fast-growing mobile market, creating processors for tablets that take advantage of its graphics expertise.

But Nvidia has faced tough competition from the much larger Qualcomm, limiting its success. Apple designs its own processors for the iPhone and iPad, and top Android smartphone maker Samsung Electronics increasingly uses its own processors in its devices.

Licensing its graphics technology to those or other companies could help Nvidia, with a market capitalization of about $8 billion, reach further into the mobile industry than it has been able to do on its own.

“We grew up in the PC era. … The easiest way to monetize our technology was to sell chips. As we think beyond PCs and cloud and mobile, new business models have to emerge. We have to be thoughtful and flexible,” Huang said.

The move will put Nvidia into direct competition with UK-based Imagination Technologies, whose graphics technology is used in Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy S4 smartphone and other devices. Apple and top chipmaker Intel own stakes in Imagination.

Nvidia will also be competing against UK-based ARM Holdings, which licenses processor technology to chipmakers including Nvidia and is increasingly targeting graphics as well.

Qualcomm uses its own graphics technology on its mobile processors.

“This is a maturation in their mobility play,” Pat Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, said of Nvidia’s licensing plans.

“It widens the aperture for them because now they can look at Samsung and Apple, and HTC, and basically everyone who doesn’t use Qualcomm.”

Top chipmaker Intel has been slow to modify its powerful PC chips for low-power smartphones and tablets, but its newest crop of mobile chips is expected by many analysts to show major improvements and lead to even more competition in the already crowded mobile chip market.

Nvidia plans to start by licensing its Kepler architecture that it uses to make high-end graphics chips for PCs.

Global PC sales plunged 14 percent in the first three months of the year, the biggest decline in two decades of record-keeping, as tablets continue to gain in popularity and buyers appear to be avoiding Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 8 operating system, according to IDC.

In a major break from its traditional business of designing chips, Nvidia later this month plans to begin shipping a hand-held game device using its Tegra 4 processors, a bid to use its appeal with PC game enthusiasts to challenge console makers like Sony Corp and Microsoft.

Also underscoring the urgency of finding new markets for its chips, Nvidia this year has shown off new graphics-intense server products for games and offices, also made with its processors.

Nvidia is integrating Long Term Evolution (LTE) features on upcoming versions of its Tegra chips, making them compatible with high-end carrier networks. Its lack of LTE technology has kept Nvidia out of the high-end smartphone market, dominated by Qualcomm.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

The post Nvidia to license out graphics technology: CEO appeared first on Doddle.

A vast majority of those advertisers are small business owners who have flocked to the world’s No. 1 social network.

Facebook executives are hoping to net even more small advertisers since 16 million local businesses, ranging from jewelry sellers to clothing stores, set up free pages on the network.

While pinpointing how much money small advertisers spend only online is difficult, in total they spent approximately $32 billion during 2012 in the United States, according to market research firm eMarketer.

“Most small business owners start off as Facebook users, then migrate to become page owners, and from there migrate to become advertisers,” said Dan Levy, Facebook director of small business.

He said that Facebook does not plan to start charging businesses to set up pages.

Advertising accounts for 85 percent of Facebook’s revenue – which also includes dollars from the world’s largest brands and advertising agencies. But the company is trying to spark its ad growth following a sharp slowdown last year.

Last quarter, Facebook reported first-quarter revenue of $1.46 billion. Advertising revenue rose 43 percent, the fastest growth rate since the end of 2011.

Facebook declined to break out how much ad revenue comes from small businesses and did not indicate how long it took to reach the 1 million milestone.

It has introduced several initiatives to help boost growth, including an overhaul of its newsfeed and changes to how advertisers buy ads on the network in order to simplify the process.

Small business owners are “critical” to Facebook’s success, said Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group.

“Once they launched new ad products targeted to small businesses in the middle of last year, they were able to significantly accelerate their revenue growth,” he said.

Kim Caulfield, a small business owner in Orange County, California who sells custom jewelry made from horse tail hair, started using Facebook advertising to reach more customers for her company Tail Spin.

“You only can invite so many of your friends over and most of them don’t own horses,” she said.

She now spends approximately $25 a day with Facebook on advertisements directed to horse enthusiasts with the potential of reaching over 5 million people.

Facebook also reaches out to local businesses order to help them through the process. Dallas-area clothing boutique owner Lucy Huang said she was part of a Facebook incubator program to mentor businesses and walk them through the ad buying process.

Huang said she spends roughly $50 a month advertising Accents retail stores with Facebook, saying it is cheaper and more effective than print or online rivals like Yelp.

More than 50 percent of small business owners use Facebook pages to promote their products, but only 16 percent use Facebook ads, according to BIA Kelsey, a research firm specializing in local advertising.

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

The post Exclusive: Facebook reaches 1 million active advertisers appeared first on Doddle.

Adobe Offers 40% Discount for Upgraders through July 31

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

Adobe Creative Cloud has gone live with new subscription versions of all major creative apps including Premiere Pro CC, After Effects CC, and a new updated version of Photoshop CC to headline the live launch. And to celebrate, the software subscription service is offering a 40% upgrade discount through July 31st. The launch comes after Adobe turned heads at MAX to announce that all of its apps would be available with a Creative Cloud subscription and Photoshop is the latest to join the Creative Cloud Pantheon. And users will be able to choose whether to subscribe to the entire Creative Cloud Suite, or go piecemeal.

All-new desktop versions of your favorite creative tools and services, check. Immediate access to new features and updates, check. And that’s just the beginning. With Creative Cloud™, everything you need to create intuitively and collaboratively is included. All-new tools and services will be available in June. – Adobe Creative Cloud website

With the addition of Photoshop CC, the entire Creative Cloud Suite includes:

• Premiere Pro CC
• After Effects CC
• Audition CC
• SpeedGrade CC
• Prelude CC
• Media Encoder CC
• Story CC
• Illustrator CC
• InDesign CC
• Dreamweaver CC
• Muse CC
• Acrobat Pro
• Bridge CC
• Encore
• Fireworks
• Flash Builder Premium
• Flash Professional CC
• InCopy CC
• Lightroom

And that does include services like Adobe Edge, Story CC plus for collaborative screenwriting and film scheduling, web animation through Edge Animate CC, as well as file sharing and other publishing services and more.  And it also comes with up to 20GB of cloud storage for individuals.   And all for $49.99 a month for an all you can eat subscription.  And then you toss in the 40% off discount for early adopters through July 21st, and you’re getting the entire suite for only $10 a month more than the ala carte price of $19.99 per title.  I think that for professionals, the Suite subscription is a bargain, and until July 21st, it’s a steal.

And for those who only want to subscribe to the new Photoshop to take advantage of new features like the Shake Reduction Filter or the Smart Sharpen upgrade would still be insane not to take advantage of the sale price and get everything, even though they can get a single title for $10 a month.   The New Photoshop’s killer features include Smart Sharpen, which is able to take an out of focus picture and sharpen it by fine tuning the clarity and minimizing noise and halos.  Then there’s the Shake Reduction Filter which sports photographers will olove because it can compensate for camera shake due to long focal lengths.  It works by analyzing the trajectory of the shake and then uses an algorithm to kind of go the other way and restore a steady look. Very cool.

Team subscriptions are slightly more in price, coming in at $70 a month per user, but existing Team Plan users can upgrade to the all in one price for $40 a month until August 31st.  And that comes with all programs, as well as 100 GB of cloud storage, centralized billing and deployment, and 2 expert support service calls per subscriber.  Educators can get CC for $20 a month per student for the first year, and $40 a month per user in a team.  But you have to pull the trigger on that sale price pretty quickly on the individual student/teacher rate as it ends on June 25.

So just to sum up the due dates … Creative Cloud upgrade subscriptions are 40% off through July 31st.  If you’re a new user, you’ll have to pay the standard $49.99 monthly rate (still a great deal).  Team Plan upgrades are $40 a month through August 31st. And Student/Teacher discounts are $19.99 through next week (June 25th).

So if you’re thinking of going into the Cloud, now’s the time.  If you’re still unsure (and how could you be), then try Adobe’s a 30-day free trial and see for yourself.

#####

Press Release:

Major Update to Adobe Creative Cloud Now Available

Includes Next Generation of “CC” Desktop Applications and Delivers New Community and Publishing Capabilities

SAN JOSE, Calif. — June 17, 2013 — Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that a major update to Adobe® Creative Cloud™, the company’s flagship offering for creatives, is now available. Unveiled at Adobe MAX, The Creativity Conference, in early May and packed with new features, this Creative Cloud release re-imagines the creative process through a stunning set of “CC” desktop applications and sophisticated cross-device collaboration and publishing capabilities. Creative files can be stored and shared, via Creative Cloud, on Mac OS, Windows, iOS and Android; and Behance, the world’s leading online creative community, is now integrated with Creative Cloud, so customers can showcase work, get feedback on projects and gain global exposure.

“We’ve added a ton of new innovation to all our CC desktop apps like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. These apps include new features that increase productivity, streamline the effort to build mobile content and showcase some stunning new imaging and video science. And in addition to the traditional areas of innovation these apps are now connected to the powerful publishing and community features integral to the Creative Cloud experience,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Media, Adobe. “And with even more great updates coming to Creative Cloud throughout the year, we can’t wait to see the incredible work our customers are going to deliver.”

With Creative Cloud, publishing finished work has never been easier, with enhanced services that build and power websites, mobile apps, tablet publications, online portfolios, and content for virtually any medium and device.

Adobe Creative Cloud Powers Frictionless Creative Workflows
This milestone update to Creative Cloud simplifies the entire creative process. Core features include:

• Creative Cloud Experience on the Desktop. With the new Creative Cloud desktop app, your entire creative world is synced and organized across your desktop, website, and mobile device. You can stay connected to work on Behance; track feedback; and install and manage apps and updates. More features will be added soon to manage your files and desktop fonts within this same experience.

• Integration With The World’s Leading Creative Community. With Behance now integrated with Creative Cloud, members are able to publish their own portfolios, follow other creatives, publish work-in-progress from within a growing number of CC apps and solicit feedback from the worldwide creative community. Over 1.4 million creatives globally are part of the Behance network.

• Store, Share and Collaborate. All files and assets can be shared between the desktop, cloud and mobile devices. A designer can take a photo on their iPad, use Photoshop® Touch to refine the photo while on the go, then access that file, via the cloud, and use Photoshop CC on their Mac or Windows PC to further enhance the image. Designers can send files to view, download or comment. Individual members receive 20GB of storage.

• Seamless Publishing. Creative Cloud members have access to the services necessary to publish highly personalized portfolio websites using Behance ProSite, high-impact digital publications for iPad using Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) Single Edition, and PhoneGap™ Build to create and publish mobile apps for any device. Adobe Typekit features an unmatched library of old-classic to new-favorite fonts for use on websites and, coming soon in an update to Creative Cloud, creatives will also be able to quickly find the perfect fonts in the growing Adobe Typekit library, sync them to their computer, and have them immediately available for use in any desktop application. Full Creative Cloud members will soon have access to over 700 fonts, installed with a single click.

New Family of CC Desktop Applications Available Exclusively to Creative Cloud Members
This update to Creative Cloud includes the next generation of 15 Adobe desktop applications — including Adobe Photoshop CC, InDesign® CC, Illustrator® CC, Dreamweaver® CC, Premiere® Pro CC and more. Adobe Creative Cloud includes more than 30 tools and services that enable professional-grade content creation and delivery across print, web, mobile apps, video and photography.

Hundreds of new features are included in these latest versions of Adobe’s industry-defining desktop tools.  Innovations include:

• Photoshop CC ships with new sharpening technologies and designer workflow enhancements. Camera Shake Reduction deblurs images that would have otherwise been lost due tocamera movement. All-newSmart Sharpen makes texture and detail pop, and Adobe Camera Raw 8 adds even more powerful photographic controls to straighten and perfect images. Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC are the first Adobe desktop applications to include theability to post files directly to Behance, showcasing work immediately andintegrating peer feedback into the creative process.
• For designers, the Touch Type tool in Illustrator CC offers a new level of creativity with type. Move, scale, and rotate text characters knowing that it remains editable. This feature works with a mouse, stylus or multi-touch device. Illustrator also enables painting with a brush made from a photo. Art, Pattern, and Scatter brushes can contain raster images, so designers can create complex organic designs quickly, with simple brush strokes. And IllustratorCC features integration with Behance, so work can be shared directly to Behance to get feedback and showcase projects. A new, modern architecture for InDesign CC turbocharges performance, and in-browser editing in Adobe Muse™ CC — a tool for designers to create and publish HTML websites without writing code — allows clients to make edits to a published website, which can then be reviewed, approved, and updated by the designer.
• For video customers Adobe Premiere Pro CCincludes dramatic new editing features, customizations and improvements to help editors work efficiently. Premiere Pro CC integrates powerful color workflows, with the addition of the Lumetri™ Deep Color Engine to easily apply rich color grading looks.A high-impact version of Adobe After Effects® CC brings motion graphics and visual effects artists more creative possibilities and allows them to work more easily in 3D with the new Live 3D Pipeline with Maxon Cinema4D integration. There are also all-new versions of Adobe SpeedGrade CC, Audition® CC, Prelude™ CC and Adobe Story CC Plus
  .
• Web designers and developers can look forward to significant advances in Adobe’s family of Edge tools and services.  The latest Edge Animate CC lets web designers create animated and interactive content with amazing ease and precision, using native HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Dreamweaver users can look forward to the most up-to-date CSS and properties via the intuitive visual editing tool, CSS Designer. And Adobe Flash® Pro CC features a modern, modular 64-bit architecture rebuilt from the ground up to be fast and reliable.

Adobe Create Now
To mark this introduction, Adobe has also launched Create Now: a Celebration of Creativity. Over the course of the program’s first month Adobe will host a variety of collaborative art projects, commemorate the birthday of a design icon and provide a forum for creatives to use Adobe tools to express themselves in fun, engaging and unexpected ways. More information is available at: http://adobe.ly/createnow.

Membership Plans and Availability
This major update to Creative Cloud is available now. Current Creative Cloud members receive all of this innovation as part of their existing membership, at no extra cost. Special promotional pricing is available to existing customers who own CS3 or later. Individual, education, team, government and enterprise membership plans are available. For pricing details, visit: https://creative.adobe.com/plans.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

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Toshiba wants to make its TV operations profitable this year by overhauling its global production network and raising prices after the business lost almost 50 billion yen on a consolidated basis last business year, the Japanese daily said.

Several hundred workers in the sales and design departments of the TV business are to be transferred to growth operations such as infrastructure and medical equipment, the daily said.

The company will also overhaul design specifications so that its TVs use more common parts, which would make it easier for factories to trim costs, the business newspaper said.

($1 = 95.5950 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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Icahn said in an open letter to Dell shareholders that he and Southeastern Asset Management would still seek to stop founder Michael Dell’s buyout offer for the company, and if successful, elect new directors to the board at a shareholder meeting scheduled for July 18.

Those directors in turn would implement a $14 per share tender offer, he said in the letter. Icahn and Southeastern would agree not to tender in that offer.

Icahn plans to fund the tender offer with $5.2 billion of debt financing, together with $7.5 billion in cash available at Dell and $2.9 billion available through a sale of Dell receivables, leaving around $4.9 billion of cash available for ongoing Dell operations.

Icahn said a major investment bank had indicated its willingness to make available $1.6 billion and that Icahn and his affiliates would make available $2 billion if necessary.

Icahn told cable television network CNBC on May 10 that investment bank Jefferies would contribute $1.6 billion to the $5.2 billion bridge loan needed to finance his deal.

Icahn said the move was a response to fears regarding available financing for his proposal to recapitalize Dell.

A presentation by Dell’s special committee on June 5 had challenged Icahn, saying the activist investor is almost $4-billion short of the cash needed to fund his proposal for a $12-per-share special dividend.

By the committee’s reckoning, Icahn’s cash allocation did not factor in Dell’s debt service, expected cash flow shortfalls and various termination and other fees related to the Michael Dell/Silver Lake deal.

In addition, Dell Inc’s largest independent shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, said it planned to sell about 72 million shares to Icahn, making him the company’s largest external shareholder.

Icahn and Southeastern together hold about 13 percent.

(Reporting by Nicola Leske; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Bernard Orr)

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Disney’s newest feature film is Frozen, from co-directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. It looks like a classic Disney animated film, and I’m sure kids everywhere will dig it. Check out the trailer.

The post First Look: Disney’s Frozen appeared first on Doddle.

With Man of Steel pulling up trees at the worldwide box office, Warner Bros, are fast tracking plans for a proposed Justice League movie.

While writer David S. Goyer has intimated that a Superman sequel is the priority, there are already rumors that the studio is currently developing both Wonder Woman and Aquaman standalone projects.

According to ComicBook.com, (via TheWrap) WB are keen to establish other superheroes within the Justice League universe.

But while a Wonder Woman project has been muted for some time, the news of an Aquaman film, given his unusual appearance and powers, is somewhat surprising.

Of course, Warner Bros. have dealt with such resistance before.

Indeed, Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) quickly removed any thoughts of the camp 1960s TV show. The studio will be confident that, with a little imagination, Aquaman can be updated for the 21st century.

In an interview with BleedingCool, writer Goyer revealed that the events within Man of Steel will serve as a platform for others heroes within the universe.

He said: “It is our intention that, in success, [Man of Steel] would be the zero issue and from this point onward, possible films could expand into a shared universe. In our world, the Man of Steel world, Zack has gone on record saying that we’re implying there are other superheroes in this world.

“But I don’t know that they’ve come forward yet. The idea is that Superman is the first one. There might be people helping people, but not in costumes, and that Superman comes forward and announces himself to the world. In him announcing himself, he’s the one that changes things.”

Interestingly, another key component of the Justice League is The Flash. And, just like Wonder Woman, it seems the studio have tried and failed to successfully adapt the subject matter to the big screen.

Charles Roven, who produced Man of Steel, confirmed to /Film that he and Goyer had previously worked on a Flash script that was shelved indefinitely.

He said: “That script that was written years and years ago was a David Goyer script and that script is not…We haven’t moved forward with that script right now. That script is still… At a certain point I was taken off the Flash project.

“Warner Brothers asked me when they were doing their consolidation thing and they put together their first Justice League group that was going to…I think it was probably around the time just after George Miller fell out of Justice League, they announce a consolidation of their DC brand and maybe when Diane Nelson took over and Jeff [Robinov] asked me, he said “Hey, we’d just like to bring everything back other than The Dark Knight.” And I said, “No problem. You guys are my partners. If that works for you, okay.” So I haven’t had any conversations about The Flash since that point.”

Stay tuned for Justice League news, including Man of Steel 2 updates.

Source: ComicBook.com (via TheWrap), Bleeding Cool, /Film

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Bradley is stepping aside as executive vice president of the printing and personal systems unit, which also includes tablet computers, and will report directly to Chief Executive Meg Whitman in his new job as vice president for strategic growth initiatives.

Dion Weisler, currently senior vice president for the printer and personal systems business in Asia Pacific and Japan, will take Bradley’s job as executive vice president for the division. He will also report to Whitman and join the company’s executive council.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Statham, 45, walked the red carpet with his supermodel girlfriend Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in London’s Leicester Square on Monday for the world premiere of “Hummingbird” in which he plays an ex-soldier living on the streets in London.

As Joey Jones, he becomes the macho enforcer for the Chinese underworld while seeking vengeance for the murder of a friend in the film being released under the title “Redemption” in the United States.

Seizing the opportunity to move into an apartment vacated for three months, he transforms into an avenging angel while forming a relationship with a nun played by Polish actress Agata Buzek.

Statham, best known for “The Expendables” and Guy Ritchie’s crime films such as “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, said he enjoyed taking on roles that challenged him, such as more emotional parts.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy what I’m already doing, but it’s always good to push yourself in different areas and this sort of comes that way,” he told Reuters Television on the red carpet.

Statham has admitted before that he would do a romantic comedy if the right film came along.

Statham said he enjoyed returning to London to be part of a film set in the heart of the capital.

Much of the movie was filmed in London’s West End theatre district and around Covent Garden, Chinatown and Soho, involving the crew spending four weeks shooting at night.

“Hummingbird” is screenwriter Steven Knight’s directorial debut and is the final part of a trilogy that began with “Dirty Pretty Things” and “Eastern Promises”, both written by Knight but directed by Stephen Frears and David Cronenberg.

Knight said the film was an attempt to show audiences that there are people in all circumstances trying to do good where they can, with Statham’s character ensuring he helps people living on the street when his luck turns.

“I think he’s Robin Hood … and he’s trying to do the right thing and he’s trying to get justice,” Knight said.

“In a world where sometimes if you’re weak then you can’t get justice, he’s someone who uses his strength to get that.”

The title “Hummingbird” refers to the surveillance drones used by armed forces and is a metaphor for observation and judgment throughout the film.

The film was originally scheduled for release in May and has had its UK release date pushed back twice, now coinciding with its June 28 release in the United States.

(Reporting by Reuters Television, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith and Paul Casciato)

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Third Point, a $13 billion hedge fund founded by billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, last month proposed that the struggling electronics maker conduct an initial public offering for its profitable music and movie business. It said such a move could boost Sony’s share price by as much as 60 percent.

In a second letter to Hirai on Tuesday, in which he again offered to put a Third Point representative on Sony’s board, Loeb added to his proposal by suggesting that Sony adopt “a semi-independent governance structure”. Loeb argues that the electronics maker has failed to find the synergies that the shift into entertainment had promised when it bought Columbia Pictures 24 years ago.

Loeb again urged “brisk change” at Sony amid the backdrop of economic changes being wrought by Japan’s prime minister that are aimed at ending years of deflation and call for leaner and more agile corporate governance.

“A choice to separate the entertainment unit could be a reasonable idea. Sony may have to make a decision whether to keep the business or to sell off,” said Tetsuro Ii, president of Commons Asset Management in Tokyo. “I feel this kind of move is a positive move for the entire Japanese share market.”

Sony shares were up 4.5 percent as of 0535 GMT (0135 EDT), outperforming the benchmark Nikkei average, which was flat. They have more than doubled since the start of the year and hit a two-year intraday high on May 22.

Sony on Tuesday reiterated that its board would give appropriate consideration to Third Point’s spin-off proposal, but declined to comment on the latest letter, which came two days before Sony hosts its annual shareholders meeting in Tokyo.

Third Point said it had increased its stake in Sony to 70 million shares, or about 7 percent, valued at $1.4 billion. That was up from 64 million shares previously, adding pressure on Hirai and his board to take notice of its largest shareholder.

Loeb also welcomed Sony’s reported decision to retain financial advisers to help it assess Third Point’s proposal. Sony has hired Morgan Stanley and Citigroup to help it look at options for its entertainment business, cable television network CNBC reported in May. Sony declined comment on the report.

The challenge that Hirai faces in reviving Sony’s electronics business was highlighted last month when the company scaled down its sales targets for digital cameras and smartphones for the year ending March 2015 by 13 to 17 percent and shrank its operating profit margin goals for its gaming business.

Third Point said it now has 46 million ordinary shares of Sony valued at $944 million and 24 million shares valued at $492 million through cash-settled swaps.

(Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo and Reiji Murai; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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Motorhead, best known for its 1980 hit “Ace of Spades”, received the Golden Gods awards at the 11th annual ceremony for making a significant contribution to the rock and heavy metal industry over nearly four decades.

Black Sabbath won the award for best album for “13″ which soared to No. 1 in the British charts on Sunday, giving the band its first number one album in nearly 43 years which is a record interval between chart-toppers.

The band, which is scheduled to begin a U.S. tour this summer followed by concerts in South America and Europe later in the year, also won the award for best UK band.

“From honouring the lords of our world Black Sabbath and the crown princes of rock and roll Motorhead as well as today’s most cutting-edge acts, there’s simply no other event like it,” said Alexander Milas, editor of Metal Hammer magazine that organises the annual awards.

Motorhead frontman Lemmy, 67, who is the sole constant member of the band set up in 1975, received the Golden Gods award from members of Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver, and Loaded bassist Duff McKagan.

The best new band award went to Bleed From Within who formed in 2005 while the best international band was named as the U.S.’s Stone Sour from Des Moines, Iowa.

French metal band Gojira, previously known as Godzilla, won the award for best live band while the best song prize went to the American rock band Coheed and Cambria for “Dark Side Of Me”.

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

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The lawsuit filed on Monday in Delaware Chancery Court accuses Dish of trying to “fool” and “coerce” Clearwire shareholders into tendering their shares, and rejecting Sprint’s competing effort to buy the 49.8 percent it did not already own of the wireless broadband provider.

It came one day before a deadline for Dish to sweeten its earlier $25.5 billion bid to buy Sprint, which has endorsed a competing bid by SoftBank.

Sprint said Dish’s offer would leave non-tendering shareholders owning stock in a company “handicapped by unlawful corporate governance restrictions, onerous debt provisions, and potentially … subject to massive money damages claims payable to Dish – an entity which has everything to gain from a failure of Clearwire.”

The lawsuit also names Clearwire as a defendant.

Last week, Clearwire’s board urged shareholders to accept the Dish tender offer, which values Clearwire at $4.40 per share. Sprint has offered $3.40 per share for the Clearwire stock it does not own.

Dish spokesman Bob Toevs said: “We are reviewing the complaint and considering our options.”

Clearwire spokeswoman Susan Johnston said that company does not discuss pending litigation.

JUNE 18 DEADLINE

The lawsuit adds a new complexity to a takeover battle in which SoftBank and Dish are bidding for Sprint, while Dish and Sprint are bidding for Clearwire.

Last week, SoftBank raised its offer for Sprint to $21.6 billion from $20.1 billion, which would give it a 78 percent stake in the Overland Park, Kansas-based company.

The new offer includes $16.6 billion of cash, and would be the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company.

Sprint then gave Dish, a satellite TV provider controlled by billionaire Charlie Ergen, until June 18 to sweeten the $25.5 billion bid, which it said is not “actionable,” and make its best and final offer.

Dish is based in Englewood, Colorado, and Clearwire in Bellevue, Washington.

WIRELESS MOVES

Known for pursuing fierce takeover battles, Ergen is interested in Clearwire to expand into wireless amid a maturing of Dish’s traditional pay-TV business.

Sprint, meanwhile, hopes to use Clearwire to help it better compete in mobile communications with larger rivals AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless.

SoftBank had approved the Sprint bid for Clearwire, but said it would be content even if shareholders rejected that bid because Sprint would still control a majority of the company.

The Japanese company is controlled by billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, who is known as a risk-taker despite his country’s normally cautious corporate culture.

Shareholders of Sprint are scheduled to vote on the $21.6 billion SoftBank offer on June 25.

Paulson & Co, the hedge fund firm run by billionaire John Paulson and Sprint’s second-largest shareholder, has said it would vote for the SoftBank transaction.

The lawsuit was announced after U.S. markets closed. In Monday trading, Sprint shares closed down 10 cents at $7.22, while Clearwire shares were unchanged at $4.63.

The case is Sprint Nextel Corp et al v. Dish Network Corp et al, Delaware Chancery Court.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Andre Grenon, Stephen Coates and Chris Gallagher)

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J.K. Shin, also co-chief executive of the world’s biggest technology firm by revenue, said the phone would be sold in South Korea as early as this month.

Samsung was in talks with several overseas carriers to take the phone, Shin told Reuters in an interview at Samsung’s headquarters in Suwon, just south of Seoul. He declined to name the carriers.

“We’ll be the first with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone,” Shin said.

The new S4 will use LTE-Advanced 4G technology, an upgrade from conventional 4G called LTE, or long term evolution. LTE-Advanced offers data transmission at up to twice the normal 4G speed. The phones will be powered by Qualcomm chips.

A movie download that takes 3 minutes with conventional 4G would take slightly more than 1 minute, Samsung said.

Samsung’s shares have lost almost $20 billion since June 7 after analysts cut forecasts for Galaxy S4 sales by as much as 30 percent on industry data that showed the high-end smartphone market was getting saturated.

The same problem is hitting sales of the iPhone 5, made by Samsung rival Apple Inc.

Samsung’s market capitalization is still a hefty $195 billion. Its shares closed down 0.2 percent on Monday.

Shin showed little concern about sales prospects for the S4, which hit stores in late April. The mobile devices division is the company’s biggest profit generator.

“S4 sales remain strong. It’s selling far stronger than the (Galaxy) S III … and the new LTE-Advanced (4G) phone will be another addition to our high-end segment offerings that ensure healthy profit margins,” Shin said.

Shin declined to provide forecasts for S4 sales. He said the new S4 would be slightly more expensive than the current one.

The South Korean firm hopes the addition of hardware offerings such as faster data transmission, along with its widely anticipated move to introduce models with unbreakable or flexible displays, will help it protect margin growth.

“As operators seek to provide more data-centric mobile services, I think this will become mainstream 4G technology globally in the coming years,” Shin said.

Shin also said sales of Samsung’s tablet products in the U.S. market jumped 3.3 times since it installed brand shops within Best Buy’s stores in April, and is now considering expanding the format in Latin America and Britain. Samsung declined to name potential retailers.

EYES ON NETWORK BUSINESS

Having conquered the smartphone market that Apple virtually created with the iconic iPhone in 2007, Samsung is seeking to do the same in the network business with the booming 4G mobile equipment market, challenging bigger rivals such as Ericsson, China’s Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Many countries need to upgrade mobile base stations to handle not just 3G but also 4G, or build them from scratch to support 4G connections.

Shin said the network gear market was one of Samsung’s fastest growing businesses, mainly thanks to 4G equipment sales which had been rising more than 30 percent a year since 2010.

The new phone would help this part of Samsung’s business, he said.

“Such technology leadership will set the pace for the competition and help us become a major player in the network gear market,” Shin said.

Samsung has won some 4G network deals from all major South Korean carriers, U.S. Sprint Nextel Corp and Japan’s KDDI Corp and Hutchison Whampoa’s British unit, but it needs to crack China to close the gap with traditional vendors in the overall gear equipment market.

Shin said there had not been much progress in Samsung’s push to penetrate China’s 4G equipment market yet, but it was increasing investment in the country.

China’s three mobile operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – plan to spend a combined 345 billion yuan ($56.3 billion) this year on network upgrades. That includes investment in 4G, which multiplies mobile broadband speeds by up to five times for users of iPhone and Galaxy phones compared with 3G.

Many analysts believe Huawei and ZTE Corp – already big suppliers of China Mobile since only 10-15 percent of 3G network contracts went to foreign vendors – will be winners, leaving others to fight for smaller bits of the pie.

Samsung hopes to show Chinese clients that 4G networks with new technology can be built faster and with lower operating costs.

(Editing by Dean Yates and Alex Richardson)

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Broadcast ENG Cam Has 3 HD CMOS Sensors

by James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

Calling it the ideal camera for broadcast producers and corporate event camera operators, Sony has announced the PMW-300 XDCAM camcorder, a 50Mbps behemoth that comes with three 1/2-inch type Exmor HD Sensors that can record anywhere from 1 to 60 frames per second. The compact prosumer camera, which can record in both NTSC and PAL formats, has a semi-shoulder design and is housed with both built in stereo mics and an external microphone holder. But there’s more…

The PMW-300 XDCam shoots in Full HD MPEG-2 HD 422, and is future proofed to handle XAVC 4K recording in the near future.  It records in standard MXF files with 24-bit 48 kHz, 4-channel audio and also supports MPEG-2 HD 420 in Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 35 Mbps.  The camera comes with both a 14x Fujinon HD zoom lens and a larger 16x zoom lens. Both lenses include a focus ring for quick switching between auto and manual focus.   Additional lenses with EX mounts from 1/2-inch and 2/3-inch are also supported.

Other features include:

• enhanced HD-resolution 3.5-inch colour LCD viewfinder (960×540 pixels)
• Multi-camera operation with 8-pin remote control with genlock in and timecode in/out interface
• HD/SD-SDI and HDMI interfaces
• WiFi Remote control with optional adapter
• Cache recording
• 2 SxS memory card slots plus room for memory sticks, Sd card and SXQ storage options
• Automatic metadata recording
• i.link input/ouput
• multi language system setup
• 4 neutral density filters
• power on quick recording – turn on and record with the record button
• Robust magnesium metal exoskeleton/
• Continuous recording with multiple starts and stops

The PMW-300 was designed with customer feedback who asked for a semi-shoulder design with a rotary hand grip for comfort over long recording times.   “The PMW-300 incorporates all the market leading features from our XDCAM family in a semi-shoulder HD422 50Mbps camcorder,” said Bill Drummond, Strategic Marketing Manager, Sony Professional Solutions, Sony Europe. “From working closely with our customers we know there is strong demand for a truly versatile semi-shoulder camcorder that has been designed to meet the needs of the broadcast, production and corporate event worlds.”

#####

Press Release:

Sony introduces the PMW-300 semi-shoulder mount camcorder – bringing a new workhorse to broadcast, productions and corporate events

Sydney, Australia – June 12, 2013: Sony today announced the PMW-300 XDCAM camcorder, equipped with 1/2″-type Exmor™ Full-HD 3CMOS sensors capable of delivering incredible images even in low-light conditions. The PMW-300 is ideal for broadcast producers and corporate event camera operators who require a flexible semi-shoulder mounted camcorder that can easily be adapted to suit a wide range of production environments.

An evolution of Sony’s industry leading PMW-EX3, the PMW-300 is able to record 50Mbps HD material in MPEG HD422, meeting broadcast standards around the world for HD broadcast acquisition. The high bit rate ensures excellent capture of fast moving objects, while its chroma subsampling is perfect for a wide range of video encoding areas such as VFX and green screen applications. The camcorder can also be upgraded in the future to support Sony’s revolutionary XAVC codec, extending the lifecycle of the product to ensure maximum return on investment*.

The 1/2″-type Exmor™ Full-HD 3CMOS sensors offer high light sensitivity and low image noise. As a consequence, it delivers clear high-resolution images even when filming in low-light conditions. The camcorder also includes Sony’s advanced signal processing technology, which suppresses noise effectively and thus creates noticeably clearer images.

“The PMW-300 incorporates all the market leading features from our XDCAM family in a semi-shoulder HD422 50Mbps camcorder,” said Anthony Kable, Senior Product Manager, Australia and New Zealand. “From working closely with our customers we know there is strong demand for a truly versatile semi-shoulder camcorder that has been designed to meet the needs of the broadcast, production and corporate event worlds.”

The PMW-300 features the same EX-mount interchangeable lens system as the PMW-EX3, making it compatible with a wide range of 1/2 inch and 2/3 inch lenses. There are two types of lens packages planned to be available for the PMW-300. One is with a 14 times zoom lens (PMW-300K1), and the other is with a 16 times zoom lens (PMW-K2). Both lenses have a focus ring for quick switching between auto and manual focus, in addition to the dedicated zoom and iris rings.

An HD-resolution 3.5-inch colour LCD viewfinder (960×540 pixels) enables precision focusing for HD filming, while the 8-pin remote control and multi-camera operation capability allows the PMW-300 to be used in 3D configurations and high-end camera systems.

With HD-SD/SDI and HDMI outputs, the PMW-300 connects not only to broadcast infrastructures, but also to consumer devices equipped with HDMI inputs. Timecode and genlock interfaces enable use in multi-camera setups and 3D configurations. The 8-pin remote connector allows for remote adjustment from a remote control sold separately.

Based on customer feedback the PMW-300 features an innovative semi-shoulder design that has a rotary hand grip, allowing comfortable recording over long periods of time. Its magnesium metal body ensures the camcorder is robust and like its predecessor, the PMW-EX3, can withstand even the harshest production environments.

Like all of Sony’s solid-state XDCAM camcorders, the PMW-300 has the most flexible choice of recording media in the market, allowing customers to choose to record on Sony’s professional SxS memory card as well as other media such as SD, Memory Stick and XQD cards depending upon their budget and application.

Sony today also confirmed that an optional wireless adapter currently in development will enhance proxy recording, wireless transfers, Wi-Fi viewing and metadata input.

An ideal companion for the PMW-300 would be the new UWP series of wireless professional audio products.

The PMW-300K1 with a 14 times zoom lens will be available from October 2013.
The PMW-300K2 with a 16 times zoom lens release date is still to be confirmed.

*XAVC support for HD will be available in 2014

The post Sony Announces PMW-300, a 50 Mbps Camera appeared first on Doddle.

The trailer for Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street will excite fans of the director’s faster paced, more mainstream fare.

Indeed, the New York filmmaker looks to have returned to the fast editing and fast talking style that he popularized in the sublime Goodfellas (1990), and then successfully replicated in Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006). Here’s the trailer:

And, while Scorsese has become synonymous with Mafia tough guys, the Oscar winner now seems that have turned his attention to gangsters of the ‘white collar’ variety.

Belfont’s story takes place in the hedonistic days of 1980s Wall Street, which is of course even more pertinent now since the financial crash in 2007-8.

The trailer, which is brilliantly soundtracked by Kanye West’s Black Skinhead, shows Belfont’s rise to wealth and notoriety.

Unsurprisingly, for a Scorsese project, the film is dripping with talent, and boasts a budget of $100 million.

Boardwalk Empire creator and Sopranos writer Terrence Winter penned the screenplay, with Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Matthew McConaughey (Mud) and Oscar winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist), supporting DiCaprio on screen.

Scorsese once again decided to shoot the film digitally, after the success of his last film Hugo (2011).

The Wolf of Street is scheduled for release on November 15th.

The post Trailer: The Wolf Of Wall Street appeared first on Doddle.

Original Programming Will Position DirecTV as Competitor to Netflix

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

The news broke late last weekend that DIRECTV is on the verge of buttoning up a deal the sale of Hulu. The acquisition will position the satellite provider quite nicely to compete with Netflix for the emerging video on demand steaming market. DIRECTV is rumored to have beaten out rival suitors that included Time Warner Cable, Yahoo, and AT&T as part of a partnership with the Chernin Group and the sale price is rumored to be around $1-2 billion. Considering how much apps are getting these days in acquisitions, I’d say Hulu is a bargain, especially considering they turned down double that from Google last year.

Buying @hulu is like buying a house lease in London. You can live there, but it ain’t yours. – Jason Hirschhorn, a href=’https://twitter.com/JasonHirschhorn/statuses/338004540815187968″>Twitter

With more than 20 million satellite subscribers and revenues of over $20 billion annual, DIRECTV stands to be a heavy hitter when it comes to getting into original streaming content.  And according to Pando Daily, they’ll have to, since the news is that with the purchase, all streaming content from NBC, Fox and ABC will have to either be renegotiated, or lose exclusivity.  And that will put DIRECTV over a barrel with content providers looking to take advantage.

Currently, Hulu has a few original programming options that includes “The Awesomes,” an animated series co-created by Seth Meyers, “The Wrong Mans”, a comedy thriller by James Corden, the French Chrome Drama “Braquo,” and the Eva Longoria series “Mother Up!”  Sophomore series include hit Israeli series “Prisoners of War,” britcoms “Pramface” and “Fresh Meat,” and the fourth season of cult reality drama “The Only Way is Essex.”  Hulu also streams episodes of the former ABC soaps “All My Children,” and “One Life to Live.”

The acquisition, which will come with 4 million subscribers of Hulu+, will give DirecTV a presence though, there’s no denying that, and if it allows their 20 million subscribers access to Hulu+ content, then almost overnight, DIRECTV is in competition with Netflix and its nearly 30 million fans.  So you can bet that the streaming category will be heating up, and fast.

But I tell you what worries me, and that’s if DIRECTV turns Hulu into another HBO Go, or ESPN3, where you have to have a subscription to the satellite provider in order to log in and enjoy the online content.  I hate that and it runs counter to the very reason why Hulu was created in the first place.  To be an alternative to dealing with the rising prices brought about by providers.  And that means less choice for cord cutters who don’t want to have a subscription in the first place.  But if DIRECTV treats Hulu like Google treats YouTube, as a separate entity which gives them a presence in the emerging market, then there’s hope that cord cutters who just want to stream their TV over the net via a Roku Box or AppleTV.

But one thing is sure, no matter who ends up buying it, Hulu needs a far more diverse lineup of original programming with some serious star power to compete with the likes of Kevin Spacey’s “House of Cards” and “Arrested Development.”  Especially with news that Netflix has sowed up a deal with Dreamworks Animation as well.

The post Has DIRECTV Won the Bid to Buy Hulu? appeared first on Doddle.

HMQ30 Records quadrants of images to 4 separate SD cards

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

JVC announced a new 4k camera a few days ago which has a confusing feature set for camera production. Apparently, the engineers thought that it would be a cool feature to record the H.264 4K signal by 1080p HD quadrants, and then save each quadrant to a separate SD card.  Huh?  I’m sure, though, that the HMQ30 looked good on paper.

Other than the strange saving option, the specs of the HMQ30 look rather compelling on their face:

• 8.91 million pixel CMOS Sensor
• Image area: 4K2K: 829 million pixels
• HD: 829 million pixels (dynamic zoom OFF)
• 2.07 million pixels 8.29 million pixels – (dynamic zoom ON)
• Lens Mount: Nikon F-mount
• Shutter: 1/15 to 1/4000 (auto shutter range 1/60 to 1/4000)
• Gain: 0dB, ​​2.5dB, 6dB, 12dB
• LCD: 920,000 pixel 3.5-inch LCD, 16: 9, color, touch panel
• Viewfinder: 260,000 pixel 0.24 type LCOS, 16: 9, color
• SDHC / SDXC (Class 6/10 recommended), SD slot: × 4
• 4K2K setting: 3840 × 2160/60p/50p/24p
• 4K: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (. MP4) // HD: AVCHD (. MTS)
• VBR, 144Mbps (Max) MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, Audio: AAC 2ch 48kHz 16bit 384kbps
• HD set: 1920 × 1080/60p/60i/50p/50i
• 60p/50p mode: VBR, (Max) 28Mbps
• UXP Mode: VBR, (Max) 24Mbps/XP Mode: VBR, (Max) 17Mbps /
• SP Mode: VBR, (Max) 12Mbps/EP Mode: VBR, (Max) 5Mbps (1920 × 1080i)
• Audio: AC3 2ch 48kHz 16bit 256kbps
• Frame rate: NTSC setting 4K2K: 3840 × 2160/59.94p, 23.98p
• HD: 1920 × 1080/59.94i, 59.94p
• PAL setting 4K2K: 3840 × 2160/50p HD: 1920 × 1080/50i, 50p
• Mini HDMI output × 4 (4K: HDMI × 4 HD: HDMI × 1)
• MIC, +48 V / LINE — (has built-in stereo microphone) XLR × 2
• USB 2.0

But there are a few head scratchers that catch the eye, including USB 2.0?  That’s a bit 2003, isn’t it? Especially considering that 4K would take forever to transport over it.   Then there’s the smaller 1.25″ CMOS sensor that records 4K at a resolution of 3840 × 2160.   That’s a sensor that’s smaller than micro four-thirds, which at least would bring a bit more real estate to the party.

But let’s get back to the 4xSD card storage.  Imagine being out in the field and attempting to manage 4 SD cards while recording long form interviews in 4K.  You’d have to bring along an assistant to catalog each card and change them out.  That’s seriously cumbersome.  Then there’s the issue of having to stitch the four files together in the edit bay in order to get even get started on workflow.

My guess is that JVC has an automatic stitching utility that will then re-render the final file to import into your NLE.  But that’s going to be both time consuming, and don’t even get me started on potential sync issues.  And it’s leaving me to wonder if one man users would just end up shooting 1080p to eliminate the hassle.   And it’s not like size is an issue on this rig for an SSD drive, so I just don’t get it.

One saving grace, at least for Nikon, is that the HMQ30 has a Nikon F-Mount.   But with a smaller CMOS sensor, those lenses are going to be cropped.   With a price tag listed or 1.7 Million Yen ($18,000 USD), I rather expect that the HMQ30 will have a limited release in Japan, and that’s just about it.  There are far more low maintenance options out there for ENG and digital cinema like the Blackmagic 4K Cinema Camera, which takes the sane route of using SSD drives.

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