GPS Pet-Tracker Lets You Stalk Pooch

Photocopied “lost dog”" flyers taped to lampposts and stapled to telegraph poles are so 20th century. The modern day approach to a mislaid canine is GPS tracking. Specifically, the Tagg Pet Tracker. The Tagg is a collar-mounted tag with GPS and cellular radios. Using it, you can track pooch on a map and find him, wherever [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/09/gps-pet-tracker-lets-you-stalk-pooch/

Ali Larter Alice Dodd Alicia Keys Alicia Witt Amanda Bynes

Cloud Girlfriend will use a swarm of females to satisfy men

The social network Cloud Girlfriend
Cloud Girlfriend, despite what it sounds like, doesn't really have anything to do with cloud computing. Rather, it uses a cloud of women to pose as your girlfriend on Facebook, or your favorite social network of choice. The service is scheduled to launch 'soon,' and there's no indication of how much it will cost.

With the tagline 'The easiest way to get a girlfriend is to already have one,' Cloud Girlfriend promises to be a very interesting startup indeed. The brains of the operation, David Fuhriman, speaking to CNET, says it's all about fulfilling Maslow's hierarchy of needs. "CloudGirlfriend.com can fulfill Maslow's higher needs, even though the users know that the interaction is virtual. They will interact with a real person and see real profile images of the girl with whom they interact. This interaction can build confidence and esteem as well as provide real training experiences in navigating a friendship and a relationship."

Our concern, of course, is that it's very nearly April 1. We're also worried by the fact that Fuhriman has a name that sounds ominously like a social subculture that we've grown strangely attracted to here in the Download Squad bunker.

Finally, just stop and think about it for a second. Because your cloud girlfriend will be entirely virtual, she could be based anywhere. She could be underage -- or overage -- or she might be someone who you know in real life. She could even be a relative of yours, and you'd never know.

Let's not forget this is the Internet we're talking about, folks. Worst case scenario, she could turn out to be a hairy, male truck driver from Texas. Such as... your dad, perhaps?

Cloud Girlfriend will use a swarm of females to satisfy men originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/cloud-girlfriend-will-use-an-army-of-females-to-please-lonely-me/

Izabella Scorupco Jaime King Jaime Pressly Jamie Chung Jamie Gunns

Secondhand iPad ? A Good Idea?

Since the launch of iPad 2, many iPad first generations went on sale in the secondhand market. There are things to consider when purchasing a pre-loved iPad. Scrutinize closely all the features of the device and not just the exterior appearance. Here are some quick tips to check the performance of the secondhand iPad. First, make sure the device turns on with no glitch. Check if the speaker is functioning properly and if the output is clear. Also, try the [...]

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/secondhand-ipad-%e2%80%93-a-good-idea/

Jennifer Morrison Jennifer ODell Jennifer Scholle Jennifer Sky Jenny McCarthy

Mobb Deep Announce New Deal With Sony's RED Distribution

'After almost 20 years in this industry, it was inevitable for us to take matters into our own hands,' Prodigy says in a press release.
By Rob Markman


Mobb Deep
Photo: Robert Adam Mayer

The Infamous is back in the house once again. MTV News has learned that Mobb Deep have signed their Infamous Records with RED Distribution, the independent distribution system of Sony Music. Havoc and Prodigy will drop their self-titled ninth album as well any others that they sign and any film projects they choose to take on under the new deal.

"After almost 20 years in this industry, it was inevitable for us to take matters into our own hands. We feel that RED is the perfect home for our brand," Prodigy said in a press release issued to MTV News. "We know who our fans are and what they want from Mobb Deep. We're excited to take a new step in our career," Havoc added.

President of RED Distribution Bob Morelli offered his support of the newly inked group and label. "Mobb Deep is an iconic act, having been on the cutting edge of music and social commentary for years. We are happy and excited to distribute the next chapter in their musical career."

Read what Havoc said about Mobb Deep's initial plans to stay independent.

This isn't the first time the group has been in the Sony fold. After releasing their debut album Juvenile Hell on 4th and B'way in 1993, M-O-B-B signed on to the Sony-affiliated Loud Records and dropped their breakout album The Infamous two years later. They remained under Sony up until the release of their 2001 album Infamy. Since then, there has been an indie deal with Land Speed (2003's Free Agents), a deal with Jive (2004's Amerikaz Nightmare) and one with 50 Cent's G-Unit Records (2006 Blood Money), but ever since Prodigy's release from prison for gun possession in March, the group has been without a label.

The group has managed to stay in the news this year thanks to Prodigy's tell-all book "My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy." Many rappers, including N.O.R.E., his partner Capone and Ja Rule, took exception to P's accounts of certain events described in the book.

Though there is no release date for the Mobb Deep album. The duo is currently on the road as part of the Rock the Bells Tour alongside Lauryn Hill, Nas, Common and Erykah Badu.

What do you think of Mobb Deep's new deal? Tell us in the comments.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1670192/mobb-deep-sony-red-distribution.jhtml

Angelina Jolie Anna Faris Anna Friel Anna Kournikova Anna Paquin

'Our Idiot Brother': The Reviews Are In!

Paul Rudd, in the title role, walks away with much of the critics' praise in this ensemble comedy.
By Terri Schwartz


Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks in "Our Idiot Brother"
Photo: Big Beach Films

Even with strong performances from the ensemble cast in "Our Idiot Brother," the Sundance darling is being heralded as Paul Rudd's movie. Reviews for the comedy, which opened on Friday (August 25), are heralding Rudd's turn as one of the best of his career. And although the response has been generally positive, critics did take issue with some of the other idiotic parts of the movie.

Some found the script's approach to the characters too formulaic: Rudd's character might be an idiot, but he is actually a commendable guy when compared to his three jaded sisters, his hippie ex-girlfriend and his wine-drinking mother. Others thought the movie was a bit unconvincing despite its well-meaning message. Still, the jump from "My Idiot Brother" at Sundance to "Our Idiot Brother" in wide-release seems to imply a more inclusive element to the film that resounded with critics.

So will "Our Idiot Brother" charm you? Here's what the critics had to say:

The Idiot Brother
"Though the ensemble cast is uniformly strong, this is Rudd's film. His inherent likability and genial manner are ideal for the character. He plays laid-back especially well. (His aging surfer dude in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' was a variation on Ned.) Watching Rudd bring dimension to what could have been a clownish caricature is the best reason to see this good-natured family comedy. 'Our Idiot Brother' is as irresistible and easy to love as a golden retriever." — Claudia Puig, USA Today

The Characters
"Peeking out from a curtain of shaggy hair and a beard, Rudd invests Ned with every ounce of the effusive, natural warmth that has become his trademark. And like so many movies in his career, he makes Our Idiot Brother much more tolerable than it deserves to be. Screenwriters Evgenia Peretz and David Schisgall play up Ned's innocence by making his sisters thoroughly unappealing: Emily Mortimer plays a dowdy, sad-sack hausfrau married to a pompous documentarian (played with withering contempt by Steve Coogan); Elizabeth Banks flails in a misguided brunet pageboy as a ruthless Vanity Fair reporter; and Zooey Deschanel lends spaced-out self-absorption to a lesbian tempted by a similarly navel-gazing male artist." — Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post

The Script
"You want to laugh at this, except the movie is forcing you to do so. Adultery and dysfunction are cute problems. Deschanel's character shares a loft with her girlfriend (Rashida Jones, underutilized again and still the best thing here) and a gang of bohemians who don't get up to anything interesting. Though Deschanel's compulsion to play another Quirky Performance Artist is satisfied. Banks (shrill careerist) and Mortimer (neurotic wimp) conform to type, too. Ned makes their relationships harder than they already appear to be. He's a gimmick, and yet without him the movie is just Hanna-Barbera and Her Sisters. Either way, it's all emotionally counterfeit, and that bogusness infects the comedy." — Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe

The Direction
"Efficiently directed by Jesse Peretz, (Ms. Peretz's brother, evidently quite capable), Our Idiot Brother is a thin, unconvincing movie made likable by the charm and skill of its cast and by a script (by Ms. Peretz and her husband, David Schisgall) peppered with wit and insight. ... A handful of scenes — a visit to a cultish self-help seminar, a family game of charades with Mom (Shirley Knight), a profile interview gone off the rails — are sharp, funny and surprising. But the filmmakers mostly look for humor in obvious, picked-over places. Can we please have a moratorium on private-school interviews? Like yoga classes (which this movie blessedly leaves alone), they are hard in real life and suspiciously easy in movies." — A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The Final Word
" My Idiot Brother might have made Ned more of a symbol and less of a person. Where the filmmakers, and Mr. Rudd, go right is making him such a round and sympathetic figure, rather than the desperate, pathetic and/or slapstick character he might have been in different hands. Our Idiot Brother — not My or Your or Their idiot brother — is goofily funny, and silly, and in many ways follows the currents of contemporary comedy into the gulf stream of inanity. And yet Ned turns out to be a strangely moving figure, a comic foil worthy of affection, perhaps even respect." — John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal

Check out everything we've got on "Our Idiot Brother."

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

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669773/our-idiot-brother-paul-rudd.jhtml

Ana Paula Lemes Ananda Lewis Angela Marcello Angelina Jolie Anna Faris

Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Win Grammy Album Of The Year

Raising Sand, from Led Zeppelin vet and bluegrass superstar, wins five Grammys on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery with MTV News staff


Alison Krauss and Robert Plant accept the award for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards on Sunday
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

"I'm bewildered," Robert Plant said onstage as he accepted the Grammy Album of the Year award with Alison Krauss on Sunday night. "In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it's a good way to spend a Sunday."

He was probably one of the few who were surprised, because Raising Sand, which won five trophies at Sunday night's show, is in many ways the perfect Grammy album. It features two respected veterans, a critically lauded producer, some sandpaper-and-velvet vocals and a baker's dozen of time-tested standards.

You're probably familiar with Robert Plant from his Led Zeppelin days, and you might be aware of producer T-Bone Burnett's work on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack (it won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002). And if you don't know who Alison Krauss is, she possesses a haunting set of pipes and is one of the meanest fiddle players in the world. Oh, and she's won 21 Grammys, more than any other female artist and the seventh-most in history.

Really, she's the key to Sand's success, and not just because of her voice (or her fiddle playing). She and Plant first met in 2004, at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tribute to legendary bluesman Leadbelly, and the former Zeppelin man was amazed by her knowledge of American Roots music — so much so that they began kicking around the idea of recording an album together. Three years later, Sand was released.

And while Plant possesses the more famous voice, the album's finest moments radiate from Krauss. Whether she's getting bluesy on Little Milton's "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" or entwining with Plant's husky voice on songs like "Please Read the Letter" and Roly Salley's winsome "Killing the Blues," she more than carries her end of the bargain.

And perhaps that's also due to producer Burnett, who handpicked the 13 songs the duo cover on Sand. His arrangements are sparse — giving the two voices ample room to breathe — yet dense, warm and crackling at the same time. It's a testament to his work that he's often given just as much billing as Plant and Krauss on the project ... and it's certainly justified.

To date, Sand has sold more than 1 million copies, heaped tons of acclaim and actually earned a Grammy last year — "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" took home the award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.

One expert was surprised not by the album's success, but by the fact that it's actually quite a good album.

"At first, the album seemed like a vanity project. ... Two names, clearly a one-off record, didn't have to be any good, you know?" New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica said. "Led Zeppelin fans would buy it because of Robert Plant, Alison Krauss would get a check. But it actually turned out to be a really thoughtful, really good record. So when you combine all that with the fact that the Grammys love to lionize one of their own, I could really see it taking home some awards."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604582/plantkrauss-win-album-year-grammy.jhtml

Bianca Kajlich Bijou Phillips Blake Lively Blu Cantrell Bonnie Jill Laflin

Opera 11.10 includes improved power saving features

opera 11.10 battery power
Just recently, the Opera 11.10 release candidate was made available for download. It brought a handful of important feature additions -- like HTML5 File API support and IMAP enhancements -- and loads of bugfixes. Nestled in amongst the other details in the Opera team's announcement is one more interesting tidbit: Opera 11.10 offers improved battery optimizations.

The timing here is certainly interesting, what with Microsoft's recent report on how much power the top five Web browsers consume. In its findings, Opera 11 was fairly low in the standings. While we've not seen any new benchmarks yet, we're curious to know whether the Opera 11.10 RC offers any significant gains.

If you're running Opera 11.10 on a laptop, let us know if you're seeing an improvement in your battery life while browsing!

Opera 11.10 includes improved power saving features originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/opera-11-10-includes-improved-power-saving-features/

Anna Faris Anna Friel Anna Kournikova Anna Paquin AnnaLynne McCord

LG Hom-Bot 2.0 Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner hands-on (video)


Smile, you're on Vacucam! LG's Hom-Bot (RoboKing in the US) was zipping around its own special playpen on the stage at the company's IFA booth today, picking up the occasional speck of dust and using its dual cams to spy on bloggers and Germans, while also diligently avoiding a plastic family dog along its ten-square-foot cube of real estate. The bot's Smart ThinQ technology enables it to interact with an Android or iPhone app, which you'll use to watch a live video feed from its built-in cam, send it rolling to a specific point in the house in "Patrol" mode, or adjust settings. You can also log in remotely, assuming your Hom-Bot is powered up and has a WiFi connection. Official US and Euro pricing and availability hasn't been announced yet, but an LG rep suggested we'll see it in the €500-700 range (about $710-995 US). Cameras and interactivity are nice and all, but that's a lot to spend on any vacuum cleaner. Today's trade show sneak peek is probably the closest we'll be getting to this pricey little vac, so roll past the break for some super action footage.

Continue reading LG Hom-Bot 2.0 Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner hands-on (video)

LG Hom-Bot 2.0 Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/02/lg-hom-bot-2-0-smart-robot-vacuum-cleaner-hands-on-video/

Amber Heard Amber Valletta America Ferrera Amerie Amy Cobb