Usher Gets 'Emotional' On David Guetta's 'Without You'

DJ/producer calls their collabo the 'biggest record' on his just-released Nothing but the Beat.
By Akshay Bhansali


Usher
Photo: Todd Williamson/ WireImage

David Guetta recently told MTV News that the Usher collabo "Without You" is the "biggest record" on his just-released Nothing but the Beat.

It's a rather bold statement, considering his latest album also features Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, will.i.am, Akon, Timbaland, Nicki Minaj and Jennifer Hudson, just to name a few. But Guetta has a soft spot for the cinematic team-up with Ush, which he says is equal parts sentimental and hands-in-the-air euphoric.

"It's just totally emotional," Guetta said. "Some of the record is a proper ballad, and then it goes to that crazy dance beat. It's perfect for him, because he's famous for his ballads. And he's also now famous for those big club records that he comes with. He's an amazing dancer, so I felt like he was the artist that I needed."

Usher and Guetta first previewed the song in Ibiza, Spain, earlier this summer, with the crowd demanding an encore performance of the sure-to-be-hit song.

"It was amazing," Guetta gushed. "We were not supposed to do this. I always do these kinds of stupid things, playing records when I'm not supposed to play them. And Usher was so excited for this time to be in Ibiza performing in front of those people. He called me onstage and said, 'Come on. Let's do it.' So we did it, and, yeah, they loved it. We had to do it again! They asked for one more."

For some, the combination of Usher and Guetta might seem out of left field. While the DJ/producer works with a variety of artists, he has a pretty tight-knit musical family — but it may come as a surprise that Guetta has known Usher the longest.

"I actually speak very often about how thankful I am to will.i.am because he called me to produce 'I Gotta Feeling'; Akon, when we started to work together, because I wasn't famous in America; Kelly Rowland and all those guys that came to me when I was not known yet," Guetta said. "But I have to say that the very first time when someone big from America asked me if I want to work with him, it was Usher. Like, a really long time ago, but we never had the time to do it. So I was so happy to be finally in the studio with him, because he spotted me when I was really not famous yet."

Usher and Guetta already shot the video for "Without You" in Ibiza. The song will follow up Guetta's current single, "Little Bad Girl," which features Ludacris and Taio Cruz.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1670301/usher-david-guetta-without-you.jhtml

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Cueboy Quest is an adorable 8-bit style physics game

cueboyquest
Yes, that's right, I said adorable. Because Cueboy Quest really is!

You play an 8-bit cowboy whose goal on each level is to get to the door (and thus to the next level), but the door is often locked. To get it to open, you must shoot at one or more targets, and those targets aren't always in your line of sight. For example, on one level the the target is a balloon which is stuck all the way at the other end of the screen. You must first nudge it free, and then watch it float up and try to shoot it before it floats clear off the screen. Your bullets are chunky pixels that have some weight - the have arcing trajectories, so you don't always hit exactly where you aim.

There's another level where you must jump on the balloon as it floats up, use it as a platform to get to the other end of the screen, and then turn to shoot it very quickly before it flies away. Each level is very short, and most of them are quite easy. And not only are the graphics 8-bit blocky, but they're large too. Simply beautiful!

Cueboy Quest is an adorable 8-bit style physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/cueboy-quest-is-an-adorable-8-bit-style-physics-game/

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How 'Paranormal Activity 3' Killed It At The Box Office

Industry experts say franchise succeeds by giving moviegoers what they want.
By Eric Ditzian


Photo: Paramount

The "Saw" franchise is no more. The "Scream" series didn't exactly take off when it was relaunched earlier this year. Recent reboots of "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Halloween" and other classics haven't sustained consistent and lucrative runs at the box office. After its record-setting opening weekend, "Paranormal Activity" now stands as the undisputed horror-franchise champion.

The stats for "Paranormal Activity 3" are staggering. The sequel's $54 million haul is not only the biggest fall opening ever, but the largest ever for a pure horror movie, according to Box Office Mojo. It averaged an impressive $16,266 per screen, a 29 percent rise over "PA3," reports Gitesh Pandya of Box Office Guru, bringing the franchise's worldwide gross to $450 million "while the combined production costs have amounted to a puny $8 million."

All this box-office growth comes against the backdrop of a Hollywood reality. "Typically, when films reach the threequel stage, momentum wanes," said Jeff Bock, box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. "What Paramount has done so expertly with this series is stay true to the original grassroots feel of the first. They didn't try to reinvent the wheel with each successive installment. They didn't recast, reboot and retool their original formula. The creators of 'PA' and the studio know exactly what they have with 'PA,' and they are dishing out exactly what fans are craving: cheap thrills."

That "Paranormal" has even reached this point is a feat in and of itself. "The Blair Witch Project," the found-footage horror flick to which "Paranormal" is always compared, turned from a Sundance sleeper to a $250 million blockbuster in 1999. But a year later, the sequel bombed at the multiplex, grossing just 19 percent of the original. "PA2," by contrast, opened with $41.5 million a year after the first film caught on with the public, breaking the R-rated midnight record then held by "Watchmen" ($4.6 million).

This time around, filmmakers continued to heed the lesson of "Blair Witch": They didn't mess with success. "Paramount could have taken the third film and added CGI creatures or something. They didn't. Fans respond to that," said Phil Contrino, editor of Boxoffice.com, adding that "Paranormal" diverges from many other horror franchises in one key way: "Less truly can be more when it comes to this genre. I think a lot of moviegoers are turned off by excessive gore. These films have a very strong understanding of one simple truth about horror: If you allow your audience to use their imagination, it'll be scarier than anything you can put onscreen. That's why the 'Paranormal Activity' franchise feels like a breath of fresh air."

There's a lesson here for other franchises — not just horror ones — a lesson "The Hangover" kept in mind for its $581 million-grossing sequel earlier this year. "Give the audience what they want," Bock said. "They liked it the first time, so don't tweak it too much. Advance the story, but don't reinvent the wheel. Sometimes less is more, and audiences are very peculiar when it comes to big changes in film series that they like. Whether you agree with it or not, the general public wants the same thing, just a little different."

Now we await the inevitable announcement of "Paranormal Activity 4," wondering if the series can continue to stay true to its storytelling roots while also inventing fresh scares and unexpected ways of capturing the found-footage action. That's a fine line to keep on walking Halloween after Halloween. "The brilliance of this franchise isn't just that it's made on the cheap, but that they slowly and methodically answer questions that explore and expand the mythology of the series," Bock said. "The fact of the matter is, 'PA' will succeed wildly until a new brand of horror show is deemed worthy. The haunting will never end until something else goes bump in the dark and captures audiences' imagination."

Check out everything we've got on "Paranormal Activity 3."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673071/paranormal-activity-3-movie-box-office-analysis.jhtml

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iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes

iSites -- a zero-code cloud-based 'app creator' -- can now generate HTML5 apps that work on iOS devices. With this new feature, dubbed 'InstantApp', you can now design a single app in your browser and publish it natively on Android and iOS, and as an HTML5 iPhone app.

We haven't looked at iSites before, but it shot to fame last year when it launched with native iOS and Android support. Self-publishing Android apps wasn't a problem because Google does very little moderation of the Market, but iSites ran into trouble with its iOS apps. Thousands of people signed up for the service after it was featured on Mashable and TechCrunch, and you can imagine Apple's chagrin as thousands of cookie cutter apps flooded its approval queue.

Genwi, the developer behind iSites, realized something had to be done -- it had to circumvent the App Store approval process. Genwi, of course, turned to HTML5 Web apps -- which can be pinned to the iPhone home screen and which can be shoehorned into almost behaving like native apps.

Read on for our experiences with iSites' new InstantApp HTML5 iOS app creator.

Continue reading iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes

iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/isites-overhauled-now-lets-you-publish-cloud-based-html5-iphone/

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The DIY Wizards of San Quentin [Video]

Prison Hacks are the big house's answer to Gizmodo's homemod. Prison is designed to be uncomfortable—it's prison, after all. But even incarceration can't lock up the spirit of human ingenuity. What prisoners do with extremely limited resources is incredible. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0kpk0ljLT1Q/the-diy-wizards-of-san-quentin

Diane Kruger Dido Diora Baird Dita Von Teese Dominique Swain

Mac OS X Lion Preview 2 released, introduces mega exciting leather bound iCal skin

This is one of those posts that could probably be condensed into a tweet: Apple has released the second Preview of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. If you're running Preview 1, it looks like you'll first receive a small update via Software Update, and then you can download Preview 2 from the Mac App Store.

There has been some speculation that Apple is getting close to a release or Golden Master build, but judging by 9to5 Mac's initial findings there's definitely some way to go. The Golden Master will probably appear at, or just before, the Apple WWDC in June.

So far, it's looking like the only changes in Preview 2 are the leather bound iCal skin that you can see above, and the main iChat window now combines your AIM, Bonjour and Jabber contacts, like Adium. We're sure that more details will emerge throughout the day, though, and there's bound to be lots of invisible changes, too. We'll update this post when we find out more.

Mac OS X Lion Preview 2 released, introduces mega exciting leather bound iCal skin originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/mac-os-x-lion-preview-2-released-introduces-mega-exciting-leath/

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Start your week with the Greatest Android Podcast in the World!

Android Central PodcastDon't know about you, but we certainly can't get enough of last week's blockbusters double-billing of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. And if you haven't caught up with the Greatest Android Podcast in the World, well, time's a wasting! We break it all down in handy recorded form.

The Android Central Podcast is your weekly peek into the world of Android, where we break down the news that really matters, and explain what's just a bunch of hype. Plus, we answer your e-mails and voicemails. You don't want to miss it. Check out the Android Central Podcast.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ayNFHroPIZ8/android-podcast-reminder

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'Paranormal Activity 3': The Reviews Are In!

Critics are generally positive, although most point out similarities between latest entry and its predecessors.
By Kevin P. Sullivan


Paranormal Activity 3
Photo: Paramount

This Halloween is the third in a row that the shaky-cam, faux-documentary series "Paranormal Activity" has released an entry into theaters, and critics agree that "Paranormal Activity 3" shares more than just a filming style with its predecessors.

While the critical consensus is generally positive, most reviews note how similar the new "Paranormal" is to the two that came before it. This could be seen as a good or bad thing depending on how you feel about the first two films. There are new scares filling out a quiet, homespun frame, but not much else.

Check out our roundup of the reviews, and be sure to read MTV News' five reasons to check out "Paranormal Activity 3."

As a Sequel
" 'Paranormal Activity 3' is a prequel, revealing that the characters in 'PA1' and 'PA2' had already been through the all-night video surveillance ordeal. At least in this film they are undergoing it for the first time, which is less than can be said for us. The formula for the films involves pallid characters, perfunctory dialogue and very long waits for something to happen." — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The Director
"Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost have fun with the archetypal image of a white-sheeted costume ghost, but mostly what they're aces at is timing. They know just how to thread a handheld camera up the stairs, down a hallway, and into the scattered bric-a-brac of a middle-class children's bedroom, settling at just the right moment upon a talking teddy bear that plays as a joke, even as a part of you momentarily thinks: Is that bear possessed?" — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The References
"Having been handed the entirely uninspiring challenge of fattening up the 'Paranormal' origin story (pop culture mythology in the making, or not), directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (the doofuses behind the 2010 is-it-or-isn't-it-a-sham-doc-about-an-Internet-sham, 'Catfish') reach into their kit bag of plot elements from, and references to, a whole bunch of older horror movies that most of their target demographic likely hasn't seen. A bit of 'Rosemary's Baby' here, 'The Shining' there, 'Poltergeist' there, not to mention some Japanese stuff, and, of course, 'Blair Witch' itself, particularly at the end." — Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies

The End
"As usual, the climax, in which the family makes the mistake of retreating to the sweet grandmother's (Hallie Foote) house, replaces the air of mystery with an all too explicit explication for what's been going on. But it does effectively fulfill its requirement of setting things up for the inevitable next installment. One doesn't need a Ouija board to discern that it will probably arrive sometime around next Halloween." — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter

Bottom Line
"Like its predecessors, the movie is more clever than good, and if you feel as if you're being manipulated by the filmmakers, it's because you are. That's the fun of these movies, something you know going in. The point is to manipulate you in the scariest way possible, and 'Paranormal Activity 3' does a good job of that." — Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

Check out everything we've got on "Paranormal Activity 3."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1672994/paranormal-activity-3-reviews.jhtml

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Survival Lab is a fun pixelated game where dying doesn't matter

Survival Lab
In most games, dying is a bad thing. You have to start all over again, or at least revert to the last save point and lose some progress. Not so in Survival Lab: in this pixelated gem you play as a lone individual pitted against ruthless weapons in a sealed chamber. You have to run, jump and duck, collecting little yellow things (I have no idea what they're called).

For each donut-like yellow thing you pick up, you gain a bit of experience. If you manage to collect several in a row without getting hit, this counts as a combo. You can see my mad combo skills in the screenshot, of course. Collecting combos is a good thing, because a ten-point combo gives you for more experience than just collecting ten dounts one by one (getting hit in-between).

Having experience is useful, because once you die, you get to a screen where you can upgrade your skills. You can learn to run faster, double-jump (and then double-jump higher), and duck. You can also gain more armour so that getting hit won't kill you so quickly.

What makes this simple game so addictive is that when you die, your experience doesn't reset. You just go back to the same level, or another level of your choosing, and keep accumulating more and more experience. Lots of fun, especially if you're into the whole retro-gaming thing.

Survival Lab is a fun pixelated game where dying doesn't matter originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/28/survival-lab-is-a-fun-pixelated-game-where-dying-doesnt-matter/

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Exclusive: Lady Gaga 'Inspired' By HALO Honoree

Taylor Swift, Jessica Biel and David Beckham are also teamed up with teen humanitarians for TeenNick's November 6 awards show.
By Jocelyn Vena


Lady Gaga
Photo: Nickelodeon

The TeenNick HALO Awards are weeks away from kicking off, but the celebrities involved are already spreading the word. In a new PSA for the event, airing November 6, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, David Beckham and Jessica Biel have joined forces to let viewers know about the show.

"Anti-bullying became something that I am now very passionate about," Lady Gaga said in a statement about being involved with the show. "I was bullied in school, and for a very long time, I kept those feelings inside. Today, I feel grateful and happy that I was able to get through these struggles and have friends, family and people around that inspired me — people like Emily-Anne."

Emily-Anne Rigal, 17, has been paired with Gaga thanks to her work to help stop bullying. She started the WeStopHate.org website, helping to shed light on the cause.

Swift will be paired with 19-year-old James O'Dwyer, who started the Magnolia Disaster Relief, an aid program that aims to offer relief to rural areas hit by tornadoes.

"I think James and I have a lot in common, and I'm really glad I got to meet and surprise him at my concert," Swift said. "Judging from the things he's been able to accomplish, he's one of those people who does the work without looking for or taking any of the credit.

"What really impressed me about James is how he stepped up to the line as soon as he heard that people were in trouble," she continued. "He saw first-hand how their lives had been destroyed and instead of getting frozen in that moment, he posted a message on Facebook to rally anyone who could bring supplies and food to those who lost their homes in tornados."

Meanwhile, Biel is paired with Shanoah Washington, an 18-year-old who created the Sista2Sista program, which aims to motivate young women. Finally, Beckham was paired with Kyle Weiss, 18, who started the organization FUNDaFIELD, which builds soccer fields in Africa.

The show will be hosted by Nick Cannon. It all takes place at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on October 26. The broadcast will air November 6 on Nick at Nite, with an encore November 7 on TeenNick.

Don't miss the TeenNick HALO Awards on Sunday, November 6, on Nick at Nite.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1672494/lady-gaga-taylor-swift-halo-awards.jhtml

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