Author: Serkadis

Sunday night brought 20-year-old country superstar Taylor Swift her first Grammy win.

“This is my first time walking up those stairs to accept a Grammy on national television,” Taylor said as she accepted the award for Best Country Album for the platinum-selling LP Fearless. “I just keep thinking back to like when you’re in second grade and you sing at your talent show for the first time. People joke around and they say, ‘Oh maybe we’ll see you at the Grammys someday.’ But that seems like an impossible dream,” Taylor said during her acceptance speech. “And I just feel like I’m standing here accepting an impossible dream right now and I just thank you so much for that.”

Earlier in the day, Taylor won the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance award for the song “White Horse” and the Best Country Song award for the same track at a pre-televised Grammy event.

“This my first Grammy, you guys! This is a Grammy,” the surprised young star beamed with pride. “I live in awe of the people that I was nominated against in this category.”

Miley Cyrus introduced a musical medley by The Black Eyed Peas at tonight’s 2010 Grammys.

We didn’t think we’d see an iPad surface so soon… If you were keeping up with the Grammys, you were probably just as shocked as we were when Stephen Colbert pulled one out to present Song of the Year. And of course, the iPad’s cameo wouldn’t be complete without a little gloating from Colbert himself. “Jay Z, did you not get one of these in your gift bag? Am I cooler than you?!” Bravo, Stephen Colbert. Hit the break for a video clip.

Read

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Pink — who is already a three-time Grammy winner — turned in a fiercely-rousing performance of “Glitter In The Air” at Sunday’s 2010 Grammy Awards.

February is here and the new month brings us the final season of Lost – the one show we can count on to keep us scratching our head wondering what’s going on all the while we watch week after week.  There’s a few other new premiers and returning shows this week as well so read on.

Don’t miss the Ultimate Guide to the 2010 Winter TV Season Premieres with free downloads by premiere date & by show name!  I’ve updated this guide with some additions and network changes.

 

If you’re a fan of Lost or even a friend or family member of a Lost addict, you might enjoy the parody above by the FineBrothers.  Thanks to TVSquad for pointing it out!

Sunday, January 31

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards (8pm on CBS – Available in HD) – Music awards show with Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce and other musical acts performing

Camp Woodward (8pm on FuelTV) – Season 3 premiere

The Cleveland Show (8:30pm on Fox– Available in HD) – Season 1 returns.

Family Guy (9pm on Fox – Available in HD) – Season 8 returns

American Dad (9:30pm on Fox ) – Season 5 returns

 

Monday, February 1

Kell on Earth (10pm on Bravo) – This new show follows NYC PR queen Kelley Cutrone and team as they work to build hype and buzz for the fashion industry clients that hire them.

The Secret Diary of a Call Girl (10pm on Showtime) Season 3 premiere

Blood, Sweat & T-Shirts (10pm on Planet – Available in HD) – New realityTV show

Worst Cooks in America (10pm on Food) – Season 1 finale

 

Tuesday, February 2

Lost (9pm on ABC – Available in HD) – After a review of the past seasons of Lost 9pm brings us a 2-hour premiere of the sixth, and final season of Lost

Kitchen Impossible (9pm on DIY) – Season 3 of the “how to make "fill in the blank” for your kitchen show.  Not food – but kitchen design.

Psychic Kids (9pm on A&E) – Season 2 finale

Austin Stevens Adventures (10pm on HDNet) – a new series on HDNet

 

Wednesday, February 3

The Woman Who Stops Traffic (8pm on Planet Green) – A new series

American Greed (9pm on CNBC) – Season 4 premiere

Launch My Line (9pm on Bravo) – Season 1 finale

Living With Ed (9pm on Planet Green) – Season 3 finale

Steven Seagal Lawman (10pm on A&E) – Season 1 finale

Shear Genius (11pm on Bravo) – Season 3 premiere

Thursday, February 4

Important Things With Demetri Martin (10pm on Comedy) – Season 2 premiere

The Sarah Silverman Program (10:30pm on Comedy) – Season 3 premiere

Friday, February 5

Smallville: Absolute Justice (8pm on CW – Available in HD) – a 2 hour Smallville movie

Saturday, February 6

Down Home with the Neelys (11am on Food) – Season 7 premiere

Frontline: Digital Nation (9pm on PBS – Available in HD) – A newsmagazine special about us – the folks who are “addicted” and very-connected to the digital realm.

 

So if you didn’t care for the Lost parody above, check out this one from last year.  A cross between Star Trek and Lost.  So true it’s funny…

 

If you follow GeekTonic just for the TV Premieres and news, you’ll want to click Here If You Would L-ike to Get a Regular E-mail for GeekTonic TV Premieres & News

You’d have to be a real “American Idiot” not to love Green Day!

Girls Aloud’s Cheryl Cole in the World Video Premiere of “Parachute….”

2010Jan31-2009Nov1: Three monthly mean maximum temperature anomaly for Australia, calculated with respect to the average over the 1961-1990 reference period (National Climate Centre, Commonwealth of Australia, 2010).

Reference: National Climate Centre, Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Bureau of Meteorology http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/index.jsp?colour=colour&time=latest&step=0&map=maxanom&period=3month&area=nat

Image Description: see case description. Product of the National Climate Centre. Image Location: Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Bureau of Meteorology http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/index.jsp?colour=colour&time=latest&step=0&map=maxanom&period=3month&area=nat Image Permission: This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. However, it is believed that the use of this work to illustrate the subject in question, Where no free equivalent is available or could be created that would adequately give the same information, on Interlinked Challenges, hosted on servers in the United States by Michigan State University, qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law.

Sure, the iPad happened this week, but we also caught sight of several hot green gadgets and clean tech innovations this week that stand to shape the future of green consumer technology.

First off, design star Philippe Starck brought haute design to clean tech with two novel designs for home wind turbines. Starck’s high-profile products have made him a household name, so we’re interested to see if his latest creations kick off a trend towards “designer” wind power.

We were also impressed by researchers at Princeton University who recently found a way to integrate piezoelectric chips into flexible, durable rubber-based circuits. We’ve seen piezo power sources before, but applications for the new chips are sure to put bounce in your step: energy generating shoes, movement-powered microsurgical devices, and self-charging pacemakers are right around the corner.

Interest in green transportation is building as Florida rides high on the government’s recently announced grants for high speed rail — the sunshine state is set to blaze a trail with $1.25 billion in funding. And for those with a soda habit, Takara Tomy’s cola-powered RC car is one sweet ride. The biobattery-powered car can convert any sugary liquid to energy, so pour in some Jolt and you’re good to go.

Finally, love it or hate it — the launch of Apple’s iPad has dominated the newswires all week. While we appreciate the device’s e-book reading, toxin-free, recyclable construction and impressive battery life, but we have to ask: is it really green?

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: turbines, rubber circuits, and cola-powered cars originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

…and he took it to the 52nd Annual Grammys. Nice product placement, Apple. Video of the whole thing after the break. Say, what kind of pocket did that come out of?

Continue reading Stephen Colbert has an iPad… (video)

Stephen Colbert has an iPad… (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

Superstar singer Beyonce won the coveted Song of the Year prize at the 52nd Grammy Awards on Sunday. Her smash diddy “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It.)” brought the former Destiny’s Child frontwoman her fifth Grammy of the night — beating out competition from Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” Pretty Wings by Maxwell, the Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.”

2010Jan31: January 2010 temperature departure from the 1971-2000 normal – United States (NCDC, NOAA).

Reference: NCDC, NOAA http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html

Image Description: see case description. Image Location: NCDC, NOAA http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html Image Permission: This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken or made during the course of an employee’s official duties.

She’s a monster! Heavily made-up music icon Elton John and pop sensation Lady Gaga performed a highly anticipated duet of Gaga’s smash single “Speechless” on stage at tonight’s 52nd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

In related news, the platinum-blonde oddball picked up her first Grammy Awards for best dance recording (“Poker Face”) and best electronic/dance album for her debut album The Fame.

Rihanna will make an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this Monday. Sporting a colorful flamenco dress, the 21-year-old pop star talked about her bounty of tattoos and her well-publicized love life.

Ellen: You do know how many tattoos you have, right?
Rihanna: Approximately 13.
Ellen: And what is the new one that you have?
Rihanna: The newest one is across on my chest.
Ellen: What does it say?
Rihanna: It reads, “Never a failure, always a lesson.” Basically saying, it’s OK to make a mistakes just don’t make them twice.
Ellen: That is good to remember. And, she did…backwards so that you could read it.
Rihanna: … In the mirror to myself.
Ellen: I have one that says “Right side up” always reminding me.

We reported on Friday that all Macmillan book titles, modulo a few stragglers, had been removed from Amazon.com’s U.S. site. The books were still listed, but you couldn’t buy them from Amazon, and still can’t. Only links to third-party sellers are available. If you want to buy the bestselling tell-all about John Edwards, The Politician, that’s all over TV and radio talk shows this weekend, you’ll have to go somewhere else.

Even Macmillan titles on Kindle owners’ wish lists magically disappeared.

What happened, we’ve learned via forwarded communications from Macmillan and Publisher’s Marketplace, is this: Macmillan went to Amazon last week and told them that they earnestly believe Amazon’s $9.99 pricing for Kindle copies of books — a loss-leader price designed to jump-start Kindle sales and use — was bad for Macmillan, bad for their authors, and bad for the book business at large.

From now on, Macmillan representatives said, Amazon would no longer be a retail outlet for Macmillan books. Instead, Macmillan would require all e-book sellers to use what’s called an “agency model.” Amazon would act as an agent of Macmillan. Macmillan would set each book’s sale price individually. Macmillan books would be priced at $14.99 to $15.99, with a few $12.99 new titles.

As an agent, Amazon would get a cut, say 30 percent, of each sale. But Amazon wouldn’t be allowed to knock down prices to move units. Macmillan’s public stance was that Amazon would make more money per book from the agency model, so everyone should be happy.

Amazon’s public stance on Friday was: Take a hike, Macmillan. If that’s the only way we can sell your books, we won’t sell them at all. Not even the print versions. See? We just delisted them all. Sorry, did we break your concentration?

Today, Amazon changed their stance. In a post on the Kindle forum, an official company post says:

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the “big six” publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it’s reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don’t believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

New York, US | Museums and Collections

Steve Erenberg, aka Radio Guy, has what could only be described as a one-of-a-kind collection.

The collection includes anatomical models, armor, scientific instruments, and objects that are nearly indescribable. But many of the items share a common theme: they are strange objects worn on, or illustrating, the head.

Among the amazing head contraptions in the collection are shock therapy masks, an optmophontome, a radio wave helmet, a bizarre light therapy mask, terrifying dental mannequin, and an English smoke rescue helmet which will be featured in the upcoming movie “The Sorcerers Apprentice.”

The collection is in a private home, and is closed to the public, however it will be open to a small group on Obscura Day, March 20, 2010. Stay tuned.

One of the more interesting aspects of the annual Game Developers Conference is the Independent Games Festival, a showcase for some of the best and brightest people and ideas in the industry. Hidden among the next big indie games is the Student Showcase. Here, 10 student-developed games compete for the top prize and $2,500, and past Showcase winners have gone on to create games like Portal, Flower, and de Blob. This year featured a record 190 entries, and the chosen 10 showcase a bright future for the video game industry.

Let’s take a look at what students are bringing to the world of gaming; the breadth of ideas is impressive.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

Fabian Hemmert [fabianhemmert.com] tries to solve the question “How to Make Digital Content Graspable?” in a quite original way. In his short TEDx talk, and the according movie which you can watch below, you can check out his innovative inventions to depict and interface with data on a mobile phone through three different ways.

The weight-shifting method allows a phone to communicate to users where to walk by dynamically changing its gravitational center along two axes. The shape-changing method is able to convey where more information is located outside of the screen by changing the thickness of a phone at its corners. And lastly, the ‘living‘ method allows a mobile phone to display emotional states due to a continuous heartbeat and breathing-like motion that can be felt ambiently in your trouser pocket.

See also Physical Weight of Data, DataMorphose and ce.real.

Filed under: Motorsports, Renault, Racing

On Sunday the Renault F1 team revealed its 2010 race car with a color scheme that hearkens back to the team’s debut in the late 1970s. The yellow-and-black livery was the traditional pattern used by Renault on its Formula One and Le Mans sports cars before the company began taking on title sponsors.

Of course, the downside of the retro look is that the team still has not signed a title sponsor to replace insurance company ING, which called it quits last summer after the team was found guilty of having Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crash during a race in late 2008.

The automaker now owns only a minority stake in the team after having sold most of it to Genii Capital.

At the launch of the new racer, Renault also announced that Russian Vitaly Petrov will run alongside ex-Sauber driver Robert Kubica in the second car. Petrov is the first Russian to get a full-time F1 drive. A video and press release are included after the jump.

[Source: Renault]

Continue reading Renault F1 launches R30 with back to the future livery [w/video]

Renault F1 launches R30 with back to the future livery [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article