Roumen.ganeff

After a brief hiatus from his whirlwind New York residency last October, Banksy emerged with at least two new pieces over the weekend. The first depicts a trio of shady government officials crowding around a phone booth using analog recording devices to eavesdrop on conversations. That piece popped up in Cheltenham, a borough of Gloucestershire, England which is not coincidentally home of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The second piece which depicts two lovers basking in the light of their mobile devices just appeared on Banksy’s website and is also presumably in the UK.

Goat GIFs [x]

Previously: Animals Stealing Food

Hey, who ordered the fish to go?

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Just because she's married to Ben Affleck doesn't mean life at home is hunky-dory.

Jennifer Garner stopped by "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday, April 9, and revealed that although Affleck is a wonderful father and husband, he pretty much leaves all the hard work for her.

"Benjamin is good, he's great. I get home Friday and he leaves that day for Batman," Garner told Jimmy Fallon when he asked about his pal, Affleck. "I know, it's going to be awful though because he's been home now for a few months and when he's really home, he's so in dad mode and I think he's going to have a hard time."

"So he's been Mr. Mom when he's home, huh?" Fallon asked.

"Let's not overstate things," Garner laughed. "We are divided down a very mom-dad [line.] If it has to do with making food, or [doing] homework or anything that has to do with actually functioning -- sorry it's true -- that's a mom thing. And then coming in just as you're getting them to bed and picking them up by their heels and swinging them around, that's a dad thing. Anything fun, that is Ben."

Speaking of fun, Garner explained that her husband of almost nine years is loving his "male-bonding" time with their 2-year-old son, Samuel. (The couple also has two daughters, Violet, 8, and Seraphina, 5.)

"He's so psyched to finally have a little boy -- he loves his girls -- but he's serious about his son right now," the "Draft Day" actress said. "So, he taught him about his bits ... he taught him about his "P" and his two "N's." So now anytime we pass a dog who's walking on the street or we're at a zoo or something, our poor little son is crouching down and looking up and he's like, 'Mama, does that have a vagina or a penis with two nuts ... That's what Ben's been up to!"

Still, Samuel is well aware that mommy knows best.

"Sometimes Sam will look at me and say, 'But mama calls them testicles,'" Garner added.

It's now clearly apparent who runs the Affleck household.

All men must pay!

Foxtel, Australia's sole provider of the HBO series "Game of Thrones," is furious with all the online piracy of the Season 4 premiere, and they want everyone to know it. To drive the point home, Foxtel’s head of corporate affairs, Bruce Meagher, wrote an open letter to all Australians titled, "Piracy: At least the Lannisters pay their debts."

Ouch. Even the White Walkers would say, "That's cold, bro."

In the letter, Meagher compares piracy to "justifying stealing a Ferrari on the basis that the waiting list is too long or the price is too high" and urges Australians to think of "the actors, extras, writers, camera crew, make up artists, editors, special effects teams and the many others who make Game of Thrones."

Part of the reason Foxtel may be so angry is that their new business model seems to have backfired. Rather than encouraging Australians to subscribe to their service by putting an end to "Game of Thrones" distribution on iTunes and Google Play, the move may have just encouraged more illegal downloading.

[h/t Gizmodo]

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Samsung has announced its curved 4K televisions will arrive in the UK on Monday, on a mission to upgrade and upscale Brits' home entertainment set-ups.

The 55-inch and 65-inch HU8500 sets, announced at CES 2014, will be available from select retailers - likely to be the upscale department stores like John Lewis, Selfridges and Harrods - on the 14th April.

Samsung is yet to confirm UK pricing, passing the buck to individual retailers. However, the firm recently announced that 55-inch model would cost a relatively reasonable $3,999 (£2,421) with the 65-inch at $4,999 (around £3,026).

The firm also has a 105-inch flagship model on the way, but that will arrive at a later date.

Blu-ray upscaling

So what will those privileged buyers get for their hefty outlay beyond a massive Ultra HD television set with a funky and fresh shape and a premium design?

Well the company claims the 4.2m radius curvature is optimised to fit the average viewing distance, meaning the corners are closer to the viewer. All that is designed to create a more natural viewing angle.

There's also an Auto Depth Enhancer to supposedly "surround and delight your senses," along with the usual promise of deeper blacks and purer whites through the firm's in-house dimming technology.

The HU8500 also brings a quad-core processor to power the Smart TV experience and neat multi-tasking skills. It's also future proofed through the UHD Evolution Kit, which Samsung says will enable buyers to renew their television as standards 4K continue to develop.

But what about the lack of any real 4K content? Well, Samsung reckons it has buyers covered through its four-step upscaling technology, which it says will bring live TV and Blu-ray discs up to the UHD resolution.

Will you indulging in Samsung's curvy 4K delights next week? If so, can we be your friend?

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Unfortunately, having now been one of the first to watch Ultra HD streamed live from Netflix servers, my beloved Full HD just doesn't look that great any more.

The old acuity-meter has been irrevocably upgraded. Yes, 4K over the internet really is that good.

Unlike previous exposure I've had to Netflix 4K, this latest viewing experience hasn't been on a show floor, with all the inherent connection problems or fudges that might entail, nor in a lab or hotel demo suite. It was at home, feet up on a sofa, dunking biscuits as you do. In other words, as real world as it gets.

The set I've been using is Samsung's curved 65-inch UE65HU8500, connected by Ethernet to my home network. Incoming 4K HEVC-enabled screens from LG and Sony will also offer the same service.

Provided you have a fat enough pipe, mine was a 100Mbps fibre connection, you'll be able to get the 15.6Mbps 4K Netflix stream.

Actually, said 4K content took a while to find. The grand plan, as outlined to me by Netflix director of corporate communications Joris Evers, is for 4K content to have its own discovery bar, in between Because You Watched Howard the Duck and Incomprehensible Martial Arts Movies on the Netflix landing page.

At present though, probably because the service hasn't officially launched, these thumbnails aren't available. So instead I merely searched House of Cards.

Easy as 4K pie

The Netflix servers, recognising that I was viewing on an HEVC-capable 2160p display, automatically offered season two of the show in Ultra HD 4K.

We talk blithely of 4K content but to enjoy it live, on tap, is nothing short of revelatory. The sheer quality of what streamed forth blew my tiny freakin' mind.

If you think four times Full HD will manifest itself as a minor quality bump, then you're in for a huge surprise. House of Cards looks positively epic (appropriate given the cameras it was shot on).

The fine detail in every scene is sublime, from the location footage around Capitol Hill to the interiors.

Is that paint job on the wall meant to look so shabby, I found myself asking? Big close ups of Spacey's jowls have dermatological clarity. He really needs to ease back on the slap.

Native 4K TV content proves to be literally mesmerising. Immediately after watching this visual splendour, I went back to Full HD - and was both shocked and dismayed by the perceived quality collapse. 1080p was suddenly looking fuzzy. There it was, television ruined.

4K is the future, but what about curves?

Just how much, you may wonder, did the curvature of the Samsung's screen contribute to this splendiferous viewing experience?

One point repeatedly made by Samsung boffins is that the curve actually creates a panoramic effect that makes the screen appear wider and more immersive.

Conversely, I found the opposite to be true. The curving edges mildly contract the apparent width of the image, not expand it. The panoramic effect does happen, but only when you are very near to the screen and the image more or less fills your field of vision.

Try it for yourself with a sheet of A4 paper, the effect is easy to replicate. That said, sitting close to a 4K screen is actually a good thing, as you can perceive the detail better, however this won't be a practical solution for most users.

Although one show isn't enough to judge any technical standard on, especially this early in its development, fears that only packaged media will do justice to 4K are clearly unfounded.

What's more, 4K naysayers (yes, there are some) who maintain viewers won't be able to see any differences are about to seem very foolish indeed.

Depressed by the sludge that was HD, I took solace in YouTube's 4K channel (which also plays out just fine on the big bendy Samsung) where I gorged myself on snakes and puppy dogs.

Here the compression artefacts are all too visible, but that intoxicating detail is still there to be enjoyed. House of Cards season three can't come around soon enough.