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• Mark Your Calendars: MTV Sets Premiere Date for ‘The Shannara Chronicles’ • Comic-Con 2015: The Walking Dead panel teases new zombies, reveals Norman Reedus’ favorite emoji • The Seer has seen season 4 of #Vikings! Watch what’s to come with this sneak peek of the new season. • SDCC: Game of Thrones fans question […]

It goes without saying that MTV is not the network many of us remember from our childhoods. They've branched out with their programming, and The Shannara Chronicles is taking the network in a new direction. The adaptation of Terry Brooks's The Elfstones of Shannara means diving into a world of fantasy – one with elves, magic, etc. The series follows a group of three elves who have to fight against demons as a magical tree that kept the demons away starts to die. Cast members Poppy Drayton (Amberle), Ivana Baquero (Eretria), Austin Butler (Wil), Manu Bennett (Allanon), and John Rhys-Davies (Eventine) and executive producers Al Gough, Miles Millar, and Brooks brought the first trailer for the upcoming drama to Comic-Con and shared a little information about the characters and development process.

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New bits of information about characters serving the dark side of the force, cameos, and creatures were announced at today's Star Wars San Diego Comic-Con panel.

Domhnall Gleeson's character General Hux is in command of Starkiller Base (a homage to Luke's original last name in early Star Wars scripts), the First Order's headquarters.

While Gleeson confirmed that General Hux is evil, Adam Driver said that the team didn't approach his character, Kylo Ren, in terms of being bad or evil, but instead talked about selfishness and justified behavior.

“What’s the difference between being bad and right?" Driver said.

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New details for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the first Anthology film, Rogue One, were revealed at today's Star Wars Comic-Con panel. Here's everything you need to know:

Domhnall Gleeson will portray General Hux in The Force Awakens. We already knew he was cast in the film, but until today, we didn't know his role.

General Hux is in command of Starkiller Base (which was Luke's original last name in early Star Wars scripts, and also the last name of Vader's apprentice in The Force Unleashed games). Starkiller Base is the First Order's headquarters.

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Breaking news out of Comic-Con at the Ash Vs. Evil Dead panel. The series, which will consist of 10 half hour episodes, will premiere on Starz on October 31st. That's right, Halloween.

Stay tuned for more info about the series (panel's actually going on right now), but make sure you check out this interview from earlier today when Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Lucy Lawless stopped by the IGN Comic-Con studio.

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity.

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Liv's world changed drastically over the course of iZombie's first season. The undead lifestyle didn't seem so awful initially, but the charm didn't last. As we head into Season 2, Liv's in a difficult and dark place. Executive producers Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright were joined by cast members Robert Buckley (Major), Rahul Kohli (Ravi), Rose McIver (Liv), Malcolm Goodwin (Clive), David Anders (Blaine), and Aly Michalka (Peyton) at Comic-Con, and they provided some teases about what's ahead.

"Everyone does hate Liv right now." Thomas didn't beat around the bush when it came to Liv's problems. "She, as we start Season 2 -- Major is still not quite over the fact that Liv did not let him in on her zombie secret. Of course, Peyton is still on her walkabout around Europe. And for reasons you all have probably have seen. she's a bit on the outs with any surviving family members she has." Ruggiero-Wright added, "I just feel bad for her."

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"Ant-Man" must be the ultimate underdog movie, because it has had an uphill battle from the beginning. Those struggles don't even consider that while other Marvel heroes shoot arrows and use lightning, actor Paul Rudd's main powers include controlling ants and shrinking so small that Thomas the Tank Engine toys look intimidating. (But if Hydra is hosting a picnic anytime soon, they're going to be in trouble.) Beyond that, original director Edgar Wright left the project, the script has gone through numerous rewrites and Rudd's son even told him, "I can't wait to see how stupid that'll be."

In the face of all of that, early reactions to the film have been positive and it's now expected to shrink its box-office competition.

The journey of one "Ant-Man" theory has been equally inspirational. It showed up on Reddit under "ShittyFanTheories," but, unlike most of the terrible ideas there, this one actually makes sense. Everyone seems excited about it. Commentors called it "amazing," and "Ant-Man" director Peyton Reed even told The Huffington Post he "loved" it too.

The theory: Ant-Man has actually been in all Marvel movies, but he's so small that no one noticed.


Image: Giphy


The theory comes from Redditor The_Last_Castoff. He explains:

Ant-Man has been running around trying to help in every Marvel movie, but he is stuck in Ant mode so no one can see him.

In the Marvel comics, Ant-Man is actually a founding member of the Avengers, so it would make perfect sense for him to have been involved in -- or at least observing -- the action in some way. He doesn't even have to be "stuck in Ant mode" for this to work. He just wouldn't reveal himself.

This could mean Ant-Man helped the Avengers stop Loki in New York, he could've had a hand in defeating Malekith in "Thor: The Dark World" and he might've even helped Captain America take down Hydra in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." Also, given his aforementioned ant powers, this would explain to Hydra why all their company picnics have been so terrible.

Is this really possible though?

The evidence:


Image: Giphy

HuffPost asked "Ant-Man" director Peyton Reed, who replaced Wright last year, for his thoughts on the idea, and he was as excited as anyone. "I love that theory," laughed Reed. "I think it’s a funny theory. I’m not quite sure that the timeline works out, but I like the idea of it."

If the theory is true, Reed wasn't giving anything away. The director's enthusiasm was encouraging, but his thoughts about timing are a legit concern.

In the movie, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is the inventor of the Ant-Man technology and takes Scott Lang (Rudd) under his wing to be the new Ant-Man. Given that scenario, it's unlikely that Rudd would have been involved with any avenging, since "Ant-Man" is said to take place after the events of "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Still, that doesn't mean Douglas' character couldn't have been involved.


Image: YouTube

There's even possible evidence of this in the first trailer. Douglas tells Rudd, "I've been watching you for a while," and he appears to have some sort of tricked-out observation station. (Like, seriously, has West Coast Customs been pimping that out or something?)

With all that technology, are we really supposed to believe the original Ant-Man has not been observing the Avengers as well? Or even possibly doing some of the avenging himself? Adding some support, Lego reportedly has toys featuring both Lang and Pym in the Ant-Man costume, so it does seem like we'll see Douglas suit up as Ant-Man at some point.

Nothing is certain yet, but if you rewatch the other Marvel movies and start noticing that a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engines keep getting knocked over, all bets are off.


Image: Giphy

"Ant-Man" hits theaters July 17.

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The Sherlock panel at Comic Con 2015 wasn’t full of revelations , because Steven Moffat hasn’t started writing a fourth season yet, and consequently we don’t even know when that fourth season might shoot. But there is special episode coming up, in which the cast of the modern-set series takes on a case set in the Victorian era. A great clip from the special was shown at the panel, and you can see that below.

Additionally, this Sherlock special will be even more unusual than you might have expected, as a theatrical release of some sort is planned for the one-shot.

First, here’s the Sherlock preview, via PBS:

After showing the clip, Steven Moffat said “and didn’t [that] look good on the big screen.”

He went on to say that the Sherlock special “will play in selected cinemas around the world on the big screen.” Whether that will be like a regular theatrical booking or something more like a Fathom event in the US we don’t know. Given that Sherlock episodes tend to run 90 minutes, it would be right at home in a theater. Moffat said “details to be announced later… because I don’t know them right now.”

Sherlock producer Sue Vertue echoed that uncertainty later in the panel, though both were clearly excited about the prospect for a theatrical showing.

About the special itself, Moffat deadpanned, “We discovered there was some precedent for doing Sherlock Holmes in the Victorian era.” Carrying on, he joked “we looked at the books, and realized we’d got it all wrong [on the show].”

He also mentioned that one constant early comment when doing the series was “how can Sherlock possibly survive in a world with an iPhone?” Later, doing the Victorian-era special, that was twisted into “how can Sherlock get on without his iPhone?”

“It’s the same show,” says Moffat. This clip makes that quite clear. But just in case, Sue Vertue echoed his sentiment. “It is unmistakably our show.”

The post ‘Sherlock’ Special Will Play in Some Movie Theaters, See the First Clip appeared first on /Film.

Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel was the big event in Hall H on Friday of Comic Con 2015, and director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy did not arrive empty-handed. In addition to a roster of cast and crew, the two brought a behind the scenes reel that ran a few minutes. Even better, the Force Awakens Comic Con reel is online, and you can watch it right now.

And after all the work we did to describe and transcribe this during the panel! This is great stuff, and we’re psyched that everyone can see it.

Big points:

• It’s great to see reverse “crew-eye” angles of shots we’ve seen in the teasers, such as the stormtrooper lineup from the first teaser, and the shot of Rey and Finn running from the explosion/TIE attack from the second teaser.
• Just as there was during the panel, here we see a huge emphasis on practical sets and effects. The message is clear: that reliance on CG that everyone complains about from the Prequels? Not a factor. (And, yeah, we know there is much more practical work in the Prequels than people typically give those films credit for.)
• How rad is the gimbal that the Falcon’s gun turret is mounted on? That’s super cool to see.
• I love the smaller shots of the new cast, like Oscar Isaac being led by a stormtrooper in the on-set dolly shot.
• Simon Pegg! The other creature and costume shots are great, but this confirms those rumors of Pegg playing a role of some sort in the movie.

*** 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters on December 18. Footage via Starwars.com.

The Force Awakens is directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan & Abrams, and features a cast including actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. They join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker. The film is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk. John Williams returns as composer.

The post See the Great ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Comic Con Reel appeared first on /Film.

A lot of people were killed off in the "Game of Thrones" Season 5 finale, but fans were still left speculating whether or not all of those deaths were set in stone.

Now the official word is in: yes, Stannis Baratheon is, in fact, dead. He's not sorta dead or maybe dead -- he's flat out gone. "Mother's Mercy" director David Nutter confirmed the death to Entertainment Weekly at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. “From the very beginning, and [through] the script process, that was the intent -- he’s dead,” Nutter said.

In the Season 5 finale of the HBO series, Stannis (Stephen Dillane) was seen wounded and defeated after his battle against Ramsay Bolton. Brienne approached the Lord of Dragonstone to fulfill her vow to end his life after he caused Renly's death. But before "Thrones" actually showed Brienne's Oathkeeper fall on Stannis, the episode cut away to a scene with Ramsay. This led many fans to speculate whether or not Stannis was actually dead, and if so, why didn't the series show his actual murder?

Apparently, showing the actual death scene felt "gratuitous." Excuse us for a moment while we spit out our wine. For some reason, showing Cersei forced to walk naked in public wasn't "gratuitous," nor was showing Sansa Stark's clothes ripped off by Ramsay before she was raped by him, and seemingly, neither was showing Theon's repeated torture scenes.

 

Sorry, Nutter, but if every other violent or grotesque scene ever displayed on "Thrones" is acceptable -- and there are a lot -- then showing one more male character murdered by the blade of a woman's sword is certainly not anything close to what one would consider "gratuitous." Let's also not forget that this same man who was killed off also had just recently allowed his young daughter to be burned alive. If HBO could include Shireen's screams and cries as she burned offscreen, they could've at least given fans the satisfaction of watching Stannis be defeated. We have one word for you, Nutter:

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Khaleesi is the Mother of Dragons, but Lena Headey is now officially the mother of two!

On Friday, the "Game of Thrones" star tweeted the exciting news that she had given birth to a baby girl: 

The 41-year-old is already mother to 5-year-old Wylie, whom she had with her ex-husband, musician Peter Loughran. 

Headey announced her second pregnancy in February, and revealed that she was expecting a baby girl when she guest-blogged for Plan International USA, writing a post titled "My Daughter." 

Headey, who plays Cersei on the HBO series, is extremely protective of her privacy and has not revealed the identity of the father of her second child.  

 

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The "Star Wars" panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday brought together a handful of original cast members.

Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford joined several other actors from the franchise on stage. It marked Ford's first public appearance since the actor was injured when his plane crash-landed in March. Fisher and Hamill had previously reunited at the "Star Wars" Celebration event earlier this year alongside former co-stars Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels, but it was truly a treat to see Luke and Leia with Han Solo.

And for the record, Ford says he's feeling "fine":

Although "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" director J.J. Abrams said the new trailer won't debut until the fall, a behind-the-scenes reel was shown during the panel. The video featured a look at "The Force Awakens" cast on set, including Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Lupita Nyong'o.

A few key details about the upcoming film also were revealed on Friday. Adam Driver, Domhall Gleeson and Gwendoline Christie all came out as members of the Dark Side during the panel. While we knew Driver will play a bad guy named Kylo Ren and Christie will play Captain Phasma, we learned that Gleeson is also an evil character. The "Ex Machina" star will play General Hux, who's in command of Starkiller base, a new location that's an homage to Luke Skywalker's original last name in the "Star Wars" scripts. 

It was also confirmed that Simon Pegg will indeed be in "The Force Awakens." However, we won't see his face, since his character will be hidden in a costume. 

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is out on Dec. 18.

 

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We already got a look at the pilot episode from Amazon's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, but now it's time to get ready for the series. At Comic-Con Amazon is presenting the first two episodes, which you can watch live onli...

No, you're not at Comic-Con, but that doesn't mean you have to skip this preview of Star Wars Episode VII. Disney previewed video from The Force Awakens interspersed with behind-the-scenes chatter tonight in San Diego, and you can watch it after the ...

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

The bigger picture of Mr. Robot continued to unfold in the third episode. Until now, Evil Corp was a nebulous villain. The company as a whole is greedy and bad, and it was enough for them to be the big bad generic business. But their evil has been personified with Terry Colby being implicated in the deaths of his employees and with the violent and manipulative Tyrell Wellick. Elliot knows some of Colby's history but has no idea about the coldness of Tyrell, and that has the potential to be a huge problem.

"D3bug.mkv" spent a fair amount of time with Tyrell, and it was chilling. On the Joffrey Baratheon scale of demented, Tyrell would be an equal to the bratty king. He pays a homeless man to take a beating from him when he's upset. The word awful doesn't cover it. What pushed it over the edge and made it harder to watch was how calculated and emotionless he was.

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MTV is moving from the contemporary horror/comedy re-dos of Teen Wolf and Scream to realms of fantasy.

The channel has bankrolled The Shannara Chronicles, based on Terry Brooks‘ long-running series of fantasy novels. The first season is based on the second book, The Elfstones of Shannara, from when Brooks was still borrowing even more heavily from Tolkien than most fantasy writers of the ’70s and ’80s did.

Now we’ve got the first Shannara Chronicles photo, featuring the three actors who play some of the series’ lead characters.

Below you’ll see Ivana Baquero as Eretria, Austin Butler as Wil Ohmsford, and Poppy Drayton as Amberle Elessedil.

Unveiling the first pic from @MTV's The Shannara Chronicles! Look out for more updates this week at #SDCC! #Shannara pic.twitter.com/ff3tR721Ju

— Shannara on MTV (@Shannara) July 7, 2015

So, uh, who are they?

In short, there’s a world where elves created a spell to banish demons, and also created a tree to maintain the spell to keep the demons away. Now the tree is dying, and demons are making their way into the world.

Wil Ohmsford has family heirlooms called Elfstones, which contain magic enough to create a new tree. Amberle Elessedil is from a royal line, but has bailed on her heritage; her family line is also key to restoring the big Elven anti-malware spell that will keep demons at bay, and which can only be created in a specific place. And Eretria is a tough and plucky type who digs Wil and is game to help him out on the quest to get this job done.

That’s just the beginning. There’s also an old Gandalf-like wizard who guides, prods, and occasionally lies to characters, and then a whole B-plot about a mass of demons being held back by Elves as the kids try to complete their quest. If that all sounds complicated, especially for an MTV show, yeah. It is. So we’re curious to see just how it works.

The good news is that Jon Favreau and former Smallville showrunners Miles Millar and Al Gough are working on the series. We’ll likely see more at Comic Con, and hopefully get a sense of how well this has come together.

Here’s a larger version of the image:

This is the book jacket copy for the novel, which helps summarize the plot further.

In the far future, unbeknown to humankind, an apocalyptic war is brewing. Fearsome, vengeful Demons rage at the boundaries of the world, held at bay by a spell called the Forbidding. But now that barrier is dying. Evil is beginning to break through. And only the Chosen can banish the Demons back to their realm.

Wil Ohmsford is a healer, not a fighter; a man of duty, not great deeds. But this epic battle seeks him out, for he holds the Elfstones: mysterious protective talismans passed down by his grandfather. Wil is recruited to act as guardian to the Elf girl Amberle, who must venture far to deliver a seed that will help the Forbidding to grow again. The fate of civilization rests upon her shoulders—and the completion of her mission rests upon Wil’s. Now, as the forces of darkness descend, Wil and Amberle embark on a perilous journey, placing their faith in each other to survive the bloodthirsty terrors that await.

The post It’s Elves and Torches in MTV’s First ‘Shannara Chronicles’ Photo appeared first on /Film.

Fox is getting back into the Comic Con game in a big way with a new Die Hard Nakatomi set that houses all five films in the franchise within a plastic replica of the series’ signature building, the tower in Nakatomi Plaza. (Which, in real life, is located in Century City in Los Angeles, and is now Fox Plaza, and the official home of 20th Century Fox.)

This set, which is available for pre-order at Comic Con, will street on October 13, with blu-ray and Digital HD copies of all five films, from the 1988 Die Hard to 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, in addition to a full suite of special features, some of which are new to this set.

And, hey, if you really hate the idea of owning the fifth movie, you can always leave it in the tower and set the model on fire, thereby recreating the great climax of the first film and getting rid of that pesky fifth movie at the same time. Check out a larger image and the full specs below.

Fox hasn’t issued a price yet for this set, but expect it to be around $150. We guess that because, curiously, this was first announced as a Polish blu-ray release, with a price of €130. (That’s about $150 US.) That edition sold out quickly, but we can expect this one to be very similar.

Click this to enlarge:

And here’s a photo that accompanied the original Polish announcement, showing how the discs are stored in the tower. Expect the US set to be similar, if not identical.

Here’s the press release copy about the set:

Every limited-edition set comes with all five films on both Blu-ray^™ and Digital HD as well as an explosive hour-long featurette that celebrates this iconic franchise with filmmakers and talent interviews. The Nakatomi Plaza also honors Hans Gruber and the vanquished villains from the series with collectible cards only found in the box set. And if that wasn’t enough, check out the 32-Page, behind-the-scenes book on all the secrets of the movies that even the most die-hard fans may not even know!

• Blu-ray & Digital HD Versions
  • Die Hard
  • Die Hard 2: Die Harder
  • Die Hard: With A Vengeance
  • Live Free or Die Hard (includes Unrated Version)
  • A Good Day to Die Hard (includes Unrated Version)
• Blu-ray Bonus Disc: “Decoding Die Hard”
• 5 Exclusive Villain Collectible Cards
• 32-Page Behind-The-Scenes Booklet on the Franchise

The post Check Out the Great ‘Die Hard’ Nakatomi Plaza Blu-Ray Box Set Packaging appeared first on /Film.

It’s Christmas in July! BBC One has unveiled another new look at the upcoming Sherlock Christmas special, which as we previously reported will send the modern detective and his trusty sidekick to crack cases in late 19th century London.

Consider it a return to their roots. Although Sherlock takes place in the modern day, Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories about the character were written and set in Victorian times. See the Sherlock Christmas special image after the jump. 

BBC One shared the new Sherlock Christmas special image, featuring stars Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch, on Twitter.

Shut up everybody, shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breathe. A new #Sherlock Special image has landed… pic.twitter.com/ZoCX8P4S9S

— BBC One (@BBCOne) July 8, 2015

Nice to see the guys look as dashing in Victorian garb as they do in modern-day wear. Watson’s mustache is especially fetching. Sherlock’s deerstalker hat is nowhere to be seen here, but earlier set photos have confirmed he’ll don the old-timey headpiece.

While theories have run rampant about what the Victorian episode might mean for the Sherlock continuity, series co-creator Steven Moffat has said that he intends for the Christmas special to be a one-off:

The special is its own thing. We wouldn’t have done the story we’re doing, and the way we’re doing it, if we didn’t have this special. It’s not part of the run of three episodes. So we had this to do it — as we could hardly conceal — it’s Victorian. [Co-creator Mark Gatiss] and me, we wanted to do this, but it had to be a special, it had to be a separate entity on its own. It’s kind of in its own little bubble.

No release date has been set for the Sherlock Christmas special, but for obvious reasons we can expect it sometime around the end of the year. Expect even more details to come out of the Sherlock Comic-Con panel later today; we’ll update you as we learn more.

The post ‘Sherlock’ Christmas Special Image: Holmes and Watson Go Victorian appeared first on /Film.

Over the last seven years, Marvel has filled its cinematic universe with larger-than-life heroes and villains. A super soldier from another time, highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D agents, a staggeringly brilliant billionaire, an unstoppable giant rage monster, and a God make up their collective Avengers team. So it is with great curiosity that we’ve anticipated the arrival of Earth’s Tiniest Hero.

Ant-Man. Despite the fact that audiences have embraced a re-animated fallen comrade in Winter Soldier, all manner of green and purple aliens, a talking raccoon, a big-hearted plant (Gunn says Groot’s a plant, not a tree, but I digress), and pretty much anything else that the studio has thrown our way, many were left scratching their heads and saying, “Yes. Sure…But ANT-MAN?” Here’s what may surprise not only general audiences, but also established comic fans: Ant-Man is one Marvel’s most accessible movies to date and the title character an entirely relatable hero.

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Sherlock executive producers Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue brought a very brief to show the breathless crowd in Comic-Con's Ballroom 20, and though it provided little information about the story viewers will see, it was certainly fun to see the characters that we've come to know as modern ones portrayed in the era that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle originally wrote them in. And while we still don't have an air date, Moffat did announce that the special would have a limited release in theaters, similar to the Dr. Who: Day of the Doctor screenings.

The Victorian special will be a standalone story with no connection to the modern-set series continuity. It will however be the versions of the characters that Moffat and his actors have created. Rupert Graves, the only actor in attendance, said it was fun to choose moth-eaten vintage clothing that suited his interpretation of Lestrade.

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Uber really couldn't be more of a magnet for controversy. When it's not being banned or prompting sometimes violent protests from traditional taxi competitors, it's being scrutinized for the behavior of its drivers. The company added a panic button t...

What Hacking Team did Sold intrusion and surveillance software to governments and law enforcement around the world Full-service surveillance suites, including network infection, phishing, on-site training, monitoring, reports, and crisis manageme...

Yes, Google Earth and Street View are great for impromptu armchair traveling. But if you prefer taking a virtual jaunt somewhere literally out of this world, you might want to visit NASA's Mars Trek website instead. It's exactly what its name makes i...

NASA has selected four veteran astronauts to work with both SpaceX and Boeing in preparation for commercial spaceflights. It's a major step for both NASA and the US government towards returning space launches to the USA: in recent years it's had to d...

Just a month after iPad glitch caused havoc for American Airlines passengers

Appeases fears that we could have next Heartbleed on our hands

File under: Latest News

Photo credit: Tesla Seemingly not content with rattling the cages of taxi drivers the world over with its revolutionary crowd-sourced ride-sharing app, Uber is now looking to remove drivers from the equation altogether, and has expressed an interest in Tesla's upcoming self-driving car. continue reading

Through the voice of Satya Nadella (pictured below), its CEO, Microsoft today unveiled some bad news for a significant portion of its employees. In an email actually addressed to Microsoft employees, Nadella announced that up to 7,800 jobs will be slashed globally, primarily in the company's phone business. That's the one it acquired from Nokia in 2013. But the bad news related to this deal and Microsoft's standing in the smartphone world doesn't stop there. The company has also unveiled that it "will take an impairment charge of approximately $7.6 billion related to assets associated with the acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business in addition to a restructuring charge of approximately $750 million to $850 million". That's basically the entire amount Microsoft paid for Nokia's phone business. The aforementioned write off obviously comes as Microsoft hasn't been able to reach any reasonable market share numbers in the smartphone space throughout the world with its own handsets. And, of course, Windows Phone itself isn't doing better either. That leads us to another point in Nadella's message. Apparently it's time for Microsoft to focus its phone efforts "while driving reinvention". There will be a move "from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family". So presumably Microsoft wants to churn out less own-brand devices and see more partners adopt its mobile OS. As for its own smartphones, those will address three customer segments: businesses, value phone buyers, and Windows fans (who will get "the flagship devices they'll love"). This doesn't leave a lot of room for mid-range offerings in Microsoft's portfolio in the...

Spanish street artist Pejac Pejac (previously) recently toured Asia with stops in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo where he created a number of murals and temporary installations that incorporate cultural references meant both as praise and critique. You can see several additional pieces posted on his website. (via Street Art Utopia)