AFP - Madonna will perform a special tribute to Michael Jackson during her London show on Saturday, at the venue where he was due to stage his farewell shows, she said in a newspaper interview.

Video Games Live continues touring with a few special shows during the month of July. On July 10, the National Symphony Orchestra (which did two sold-out shows at the Kennedy Center in DC) will perform at the WolfTrap Feline Center in Virginia. Sid Meier, Civilization IV vocalist Ron Ragin and game composer Grant Kirkhope (Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Pinata) will all be in attendance.For Texans, Halo composer Mike Salvatori will make a "special guest appearance" at the Ft. Worth show on July 14. A few days later, The Houston Symphony will perform the show in its namesake city for two shows on July 18, in collaboration with MusiCON 09. The special afternoon show is entitled "Blizzard Live!" and will showcase songs from the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo games. Five Blizzard composers will attend and participate in a Q&A panel.There will also be a performance at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 23 at the outdoor Embarcadero Marina Park, which will include synchronized fireworks. Tickets are available at the Video Games Live site. Check out the full list of July tour stops after the break.

Continue reading Video Games Live to have several special shows in July

Video Games Live to have several special shows in July originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AFP - Roger Federer reached a record 20th Grand Slam final, and a seventh straight Wimbledon title match Friday, while Andy Roddick ended Andy Murray's bid to become the first British champion here since 1936.

Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Upfronts, Reality-Free

NBC isn't exactly engendering a lot of goodwill among people, with their cancellations of shows like Life and Medium, and My Name is Earl. The fact that they're replacing these shows with not one but two medical shows, isn't exactly a confidence booster. NBC hasn't sent screeners of all their pilots yet, hence the "Part 1" in the title. But I have gotten a taste of both their comedy and drama offerings with Community, a comedy starring The Soup's Joel McHale, and Trauma, one of the aforementioned medical dramas.Going into this, I didn't have high hopes for Trauma, and while I wanted to like Community, I had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to be the vehicle that would change Joel McHale from cute host of a basic cable show to primetime star. Now, after seeing both of them, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by one.

Continue reading TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)

 

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US interrogators in prison's early days were inexperienced and security was poor.

Real-time multi-player Powerboat Challenge played between IEEE ICC booth in Dresden and ng Connect Program lab in Ottawa over two LTE networks.

AP - Black Americans are going to have their own version of a Sunday public affairs show like "Meet the Press"

7 a.m. The Early Show 7 a.m. Today: Actor Sacha Baron Cohen ("Bruno"); Today Throws a Wedding; author Patrick Malone ("The Life You Save"); fashion; life after a cancer diagnosis; cooking gadgets. 7 a.m. Good Morning America: Miggs perform; summer foot care. 9 a.m. The Morning Show With Mike & Juliet: Author Scott Hamilton ("The Great Eight"); weight-loss gadgets; astrological theories on ...

Special performances and special guests to compliment record breaking tour.

E! Online - Is it just us, or have all of the So You Think You Can Dance eliminations this season been perfectly righteous and reasonable? We haven't yet had to face the elimination of a really wonderful dancer (Melissa Sandvig) or a totally endearing personality (Evan Kasprzak). All in all, this season has been pretty copacetic, and tonight brought no change to that standard...

Reuters - What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists?

AP - Laughing and loose, Shaq looked right at home. Shaquille O'Neal and his oversized persona debuted in Cleveland on Thursday with a stated goal for next season. His friend LeBron James craves a championship, and O'Neal is here to serve.

We've seen plenty of tiny UAVs (or NAVs -- Nano Aerial Vehicles -- as they're also known), but none quite like the robo-hummingbird that's been in development at DARPA-contractor AeroVironment for the past couple of years. While we haven't heard much about it during that time, the company recently completed its most advanced prototype to date, dubbed Mercury, and it's taken advantage of the opportunity to show off all the progress it has made. As you can see in the video after the break, the bot is able to fly about and hover in place by mimicking the wing movement of a real hummingbird and, of course, be controlled completely untethered. What's more, the firm says that the final version will actually look like a real hummingbird as well, and be able to be controlled from up to a kilometer away -- even inside buildings, where a hummingbird won't look at all out of place.[Via Danger Room]

Continue reading DARPA contractor shows off tiny robo-hummingbird UAV

Filed under: Robots

DARPA contractor shows off tiny robo-hummingbird UAV originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AP - The future of Michael Jackson's children was thrown into question Thursday when his ex-wife emerged and won a delay in a custody hearing while she decides whether she wants to raise her two offspring.

What do loungewear and tarot cards have in common? Nothing really, but The Fashion Show used both for challenges this week, so pull on your PJs, call your psychic friend and lets recap!Its the Mini Challenge that taps the designers to wake up thinking about fashion, with a special delivery of silk bathrobes as their inspiration. Apparently, the morning is no time for looking chic, because most of what the designers turn out is just tired. But Anna manages something the is cute so shes the de facto, really. Isaac tells the designers to meet him on West 29th, and when they arrive they find out they will receive a psychic reading. While I listen to the blood curdling screams of the religious right, James-Paul wonders exactly how creepifying fashion is supposed to be and Reco contemplates possession as a career move. Its no celtic cross spread, but each designers listens to their advice and...

Andy Roddick, Andy Murray's semi-final opponent here this afternoon, sometimes calls himself "the best bad tennis player of all time". The American is just 26, but he won his only Grand Slam title six years ago and has grown used to people suggesting that he has been overtaken by a new generation.

MacRumors found three interesting patents that point to various new interaction techniques. The most interesting is the fingerprint ID directly on the screen so that the iPhone can see which finger you're using and accept gestures appropriately.

The fingerprint ID also, of course, can theoretically act as a security device so that only you can activate your phone. There's also haptic (physical) feedback when you're hitting things, as well as using the touchscreen as an RFID reader. None of the three are really mindblowing in themselves, on the surface, but if implemented intelligently might make for a big step forward in the iPhone product line. [Macrumors via Boy Genius]

The spread of malaria infection in Southern region has shown dramatic decline thanks to the coordinated efforts made on the part of the Ministry of Health, the region administration and the general public, according to Mr. Abraha Woldeslasie, head of malaria control department in the region.

Gov. Sanford's wife releases a new statement.

Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Programming, OpEd, Upfronts

Generally speaking, CBS had a strong 2008, developing one bona fide hit drama -- The Mentalist -- even though shows like The Ex-List never found an audience or a critical plaudit. Ironically, I liked The Ex-List based on the screener I reviewed last summer, so go figure. Sometimes a preview can inform you about a show's potential and sometimes it's just the best it'll ever be.CBS has shared previews for the new season and we've had a chance to take a look. There are star vehicles for Jenna Elfman, Alex O'Loughlin and Julianna Margulies, which would seem logical based on the success of Simon Baker as The Mentalist. CBS is counting on familiar, popular TV stars to win over audiences. Will the strategy work? It's probably too soon to tell.Still, we've watch these advance peeks and here are our thoughts -- bearing in mind that things are liable to change before the shows air.Three Rivers (Sunday at 9:00PM ET)Premise of the screener: Dr. Andy Yablonski is a dedicated doctor, the leader of the team of surgeons at Three Rivers Center for Transplant Medicine, a prestigious Pittsburgh hospital that specializes in transplants. Working against the clock to save patients, Three Rivers explores not only the doctor's trials, but the lives of organ donors and recipients of the organs, often dealing with questions of ethics and efficacy.Allison says: Alex O'Loughlin is the centerpiece of Three Rivers, and if fans feel that CBS didn't come through for the star with Moonlight, the network has made every effort to give him a success with this new medical drama. The show is not edgy or caustic in the style of House or Nurse Jackie. Three Rivers is just the opposite. It's earnest and contemplative. It poses ethical questions about transplants, giving the viewpoints of those donating organs as well as those receiving the spare parts. While there's some mention of Dr. Andy's troubled home life in the screener (he's living in a motel instead of his house), the focus of the show is the hospital, the patients and the life or death race to get the transplants done. Considering the quality of this initial offering, as well as the prime Sunday time slot, Three Rivers will have a solid send-off and could very well be an early hit.Accidentally On Purpose (Monday at 8:30PM ET)Premise of the screener: Dharma and Greg comic Jenna Elfman is back in sitcom world, this time as Billie, a late-thirtysomething San Francisco film critic who has a brief fling with a younger man and winds up pregnant. Fearing that this is her only chance to have a baby, Billie decides to have the baby, only to discover that her boy toy, Zack, wants to stick around and help her through the pregnancy.Joel says: I like Jenna Elfman. Really I do. She has comic chops that are close to if not the equal of the best comic actresses on TV. But she continues to choose projects that are lame at best. The premise of the show is supposed to make Billie look like a 21st century "in charge" woman, but just because she sleeps around with younger guys doesn't mean she's "in charge." They want her to be an artistic Murphy Brown but the flat jokes make her look more like someone desperately trying to hold on to her youth. Ashley Jensen does a nice job as Billie's best friend, but she needs to be portrayed as more than the boozy friend if we're going to see the same woman we loved in Extras and Ugly Betty.Oh, and don't the writers realize that that the newspaper film critic is a dying breed?The Good Wife (Tuesday at 10:00PM ET)Premise of the screener: Emmy-winner Julianna Margulies stars as Alicia Florrick, the good wife and mother of two who has to restart her legal career after her politician husband's -- Chris Noth -- very public sex and corruption scandal lands him in jail.Allison says: The set up for The Good Wife is ripped right from the headlines, in particular the story of New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, but what makes this show a likely hit is the superb cast -- Margulies, Noth, as well as Josh Charles and Christine Baranski -- and the compelling situation. Alicia is caught between a rock and a hard place, starting over by returning to the law, but still attached to her disgraced, imprisoned husband. Just when she thinks she's moving on, her life as the "good wife" pulls her back. There's a lot to like in The Good Wife -- including the Aaron Sorkin style walk-and-talk dialogue -- and I suspect that audiences will tune in for the premiere and keep coming back for more.Undercover Boss (midseason)Premise of the screener: What happens when the CEO of a company experiences the business from every angle by going undercover in lower positions? That's the idea behind Undercover Boss, an unscripted series that's part documentary and part reality drama.Allison says: This isn't a new idea. I've seen it before and you have, too, most likely. However, that's not to say that Undercover Boss doesn't work. The preview was definitely a good watch. But even as I liked what I saw, I wondered how other episodes wouldn't fall into the same formula. Wouldn't every boss discover how hard the employees beneath him/her are working and want to improve their lot? Won't the cameras sort of dictate that result? The jury is still out on the long term potential for Undercover Boss.

 

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