Introducing the PostSecret App

My Sundays are not complete until I check the new posts on PostSecret. The variety in the secrets cover everything like simple observations, skeletons in the closet, and insights of joy. What started as a simple project has morphed into a huge cult web following that saves lives and connects people across the globe.

It just became even more global and easily accessible with the launch of the new PostSecret App. Watch the trailer here and get ready to share your secrets!

Verizon's First iPhone Ad

I know I never thought this day would come. All the rumors before every major tech show, Verizon announcement, or conference never panned out. But look! First commercial! It's really here! Now all you AT&T haters can change over and maybe that will lighten the load so I can get a decent signal during "prime phone time". At least, I can hope anyway.

[Hollywood Reporter]

Wow, I Feel Old...

I'm only 24 years old, technology I grew up with should not be so archaic that kids don't even know what it is! But yet, that's how quickly technology moves. Watch these French school children as they try to guess what these "ancient"gadgets were used for.



[Gizmodo]

Kevin Bacon's biggest fan is....Kevin Bacon

[News for TV Majors]

Linkulous: MacGruber, Shit My Dad Says, Lost Posters, World Cup and more!

Happy Friday! Below are some great articles I read over the week covering topics from Nike's World Cup ad to Lost to the stories behind viral videos and a whole bunch more. Enjoy the reads and have a great holiday weekend!

How 'MacGruber' Fell Victim to the SNL Curse - I thought it was really funny and should be seen, but this explains just why SNL movies are such bombs nowadays. 

First Look: “Shit My Dad Says” pilot - Starring Shatner and based on a twitter profile, it sounds like the perfect geek hybrid of the old and new.  I just hope it's actually funny.

Lost Series Finale a Twitter Earthquake - The most talked about show on twitter, by far.

The Secret to Getting The Job You Want 

Nike’s “Write the Future” Ad Sets Viral Record [VIDEO]

Lost Posters: Season 6 in Black and White


Author Nicholas Carr: The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains - doesn't necessarily make you smarter, but it does change they way your brain works. Fascinating! 

Watch This: Iron Baby

Boob-Slapping Wedding DJ Didn't Get Paid for Show, Might Sue Video Maker


Mom Convicted After Locking Son Out of Facebook

Did you read any great/crazy stories this week? Feel free to share them in the comments. I'm always looking for interesting reads. 

Linkulous: Canon 5D, Shia LaBeouf, and Iron Man 2

'House' director producing episode with digital camera, memory card

Cannes 2010: Shia LaBeouf: We botched the last Indiana Jones

'Iron Man 2' and the Shared Universe Problem

Harmful Drinks in America

Will it Blend? iPad Edition

The Apple lover in me can barely watch this video.

For more Will it Blend? videos, visit BlendTec. 

Linkulous: More Oscars, Babies in Bars, Tim Burton, and More!

Neil Blomkamp: Game Changer

Brooklyn Brewhaha: Babies in Bars 

7 Essential Multimedia Tools and Their FREE Alternatives 

"The Hurt Locker" is Oscar's Dream Film

Zooey Deschanel is the Mormon Britney Spears!

Is Tim Burton Struggling to Hold onto his Creepy-Cool Imagination? 

How to Really Follow Conan on Twitter

Lady Gaga and Rock Band Caught in a Bad Romance

Why Does Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac? - eye opening chart on how the government is making us fat.

My Secret Diet: A Laxative Abuse Story

Just How Much is Green Screen?

I had no idea just how much of television was green screen nowadays! This technology has really come a long way since those very obvious green screen shots in old movies.

Linkulous: The CW, Lost Fans, and more

This week has been particularly busy, so I didn't get much reading in. Hope you guys enjoy these articles! And be sure to check back over the weekend, I've got a few posts in mind (superbowl commercial write up? movie reviews? who knows!)

How The CW Stays Undead - the little network that could. And no surprise, is doing better than NBC.

PBS Show Scrutinizes our 'Digital Nation'

Surprised fan reaction to leaked "LOST" premiere - Lost fans truly are one-of-a-kind. I definitely avoided all the "leaked" videos and even official promos before the premiere aired.

Lost Premiere - don't want to say anything about the premiere, but this was a great write up!

Man vs. Food Guy Talks About Post-Food Challenge Challenges

The New 'Alice' says this 'Wonderland' is more like a sequel than a remake

(500) Days of Summer, Bright Star, Where The Wild Things Are: What Went Wrong? - good reasoning behind why these movies were left out of the oscar race.

iPad: Woman's Best Friend

It's too bad MADtv isn't around to reap the benefits of all this publicity for their sketch. Oh wait, you mean the iPad is a REAL Apple product? Well then.

[via Mediabistro]

Wii Fit Plus!

This looks very promising! It lets you make playlists of routines so you're not stopping after every move, which makes it feel like an actual work out. This was my main complaint with the Wii Fit. It also gives you calorie counts and comparable food items to that. This is really smart because now the calorie count isn't just a number, it gives the player a point of reference so they know if that snack break is worth it. It comes out October 4th, and I'm definitely going to buy it! It's only $20 if you have Wii Fit and the Balance Board already.

D23 Wrap Up

Yesterday, KT and I went to D23 aka Disney Con! It was a lot of fun, like a mini Comic Con. Here's a review of everything we saw.

Muppet Presentation
One of the heads of Jim Henson came to chat about what the Muppets have been up to recently, and what they're going to be doing soon. I've been a muppet fan since I was kid, so it was great to see that they're still going strong! I was really impressed with their digital work - check out Muppets.com for their viral videos and other content. This video of theirs won a 2009 Webby and is pretty funny.



I'm sad they didn't touch on The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made more than just a throwaway mention. I guess getting Jason Siegel to come chat about it would've been too much, since they're filming How I Met Your Mother in NYC.

Toy Story Mania Wii Game
It's just like the game at California Adventure! It's a lot of fun, and they even had it in 3D! My only complaint is that there were so many objectives to complete within the game, that it was hard to keep track. I ended up just shooting at everything instead of trying to specifically complete the tasks. But I had a whole lot of fun anyway!

103 inch 3D Home Theater
They showed some 3D Disney trailers on tv sets that will be available starting next year. The trailers weren't anything new, but it was really neat to see them on an home television set instead of a large movie theatre. The screen we watched it on is one of only 4 screens released in the entire US. While it was really impressive, and a great idea to have 3D capabilities at home. I just don't know if it'd be worth all that extra money.

Modern Family
This show was hilarious! It's sort of in that documentary style, but not as obtrusively as The Office or Arrested Development. I still see Al Bundy whenever I see Ed O'Neill, though. I would watch this show, but it's on Wednesday nights at 9pm and that's when Glee is on. Wednesday is looking to be my most packed TV night with America's Next Top Model, So You Think You Can Dance, Glee, and maybe Eastwick. But, that's what hulu is for, I guess. If you're Wednesday nights isn't as packed as mine, I recommend you check it out.

FlashForward
The hype around this show is completely deserved. It was an engrossing hour with great acting from Joseph Fiennes and John Cho especially. I'm intrigued to see what's going to happen next. I hope this gets viewers, because if this show lives up to its potential I could see it becoming the next LOST. Tune in for the series premiere on Sept 24th, 9pm. I'll probably watch it when it airs, just because it was so good.

Toy Story Panel
The Toy Story panel is the main reason I went to D23! We got to see an extended, never-before-seen clip from Toy Story 3 which was AMAZING. It ended way too soon and I am so excited to see the rest of the film. We also got to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D weeks before it's October 2nd release in theaters. The movies looked great, but you can tell they weren't originally designed to be in 3D just because there are no scenes that truly take advantage of the medium. Toy Story 3 probably won't have that problem though, since it was always intended to be in 3D.

Overall, it was a great day! I wish I could have gone for more since they had some great panels with Robert Zemickis, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and for Prince of Persia. Maybe next year I'll go for more than just the one day.

[image courtesy of Disney]

Hell Hath No Fury...

I don't know who I feel worse for - the girlfriend who now has the whole internet worried about her sanity when it comes to boyfriends, or the boyfriend who had to deal with the whole thing. We've all sent emails/texts we regret, but not all of us have had a video compilation made of all of them. Just something to keep in mind before sending out those drunk text messages or angry emails.

Found via The Frisky.

The Future is Today

XBOX360 and Microsoft debuted Project Natal at E3, the gamers equivalent to Comic Con. It got rave reviews and sounds amazing! Check out this clip to see it in action. I hope it works this well in real life and not just in the commercial. It's almost enough to make me want to get an XBOX360, even though the Wii owns my heart.

The Race of Mobile Internet

I just read an article all about how users of mobile internet are not those we stereotypically think of. We think of these users as affluent, middle-aged, white men. Well, this is now proving to be wrong. The ethnic group adopting mobile internet the fastest is actually African Americans!

African-Americans the most active users of mobile Internet, they are also the fastest growing group to adopt the technology: the percentage of African-Americans using mobile phones or another type of connected gadget to share e-mail, exchange instant messages and access the Internet for information on an average day has more than doubled since late 2007, jumping to 29 percent, from 12 percent.

While it's surprising, it's great to see that in some areas, the racial divide is weakening and becoming non-existant. Now if only this would happen in all areas.

Not only is the color of mobile internet changing, age is as well. This isn't a big surprise though, since it is becoming more and more normal for teens and young adults to be at the forefront of the technology landscape.

Apparently, while home computers/laptops and monthly broadband charges can be out of the reach of some homes, mobile internet is not a huge additional cost if just added on to an additional phone line. This is how African-American and Latino mobile internet usage is on the rise.

What Recession? Apple's Not Feeling It

iPhone sales passed 5 million units sold, for this quarter alone! Apple seems to be defying the odds by not only maintaining their market share, but growing! Apple products are more expensive across the board than other brands, yet it is able to grow thanks to a great brand that people trust.

For more hard figures, check out this article.

I just got my iPhone a week ago and I'm totally in love with it! While it's a big cost, I was lucky enough to get it as a grad gift. I've had some time to play around with apps and I'm loving the Lose it! app. It's a pretty boring app, but it's so helpful in terms of keeping track of my diet and exercise. I'm also addicted to Rolando, a fun game that utilizes the gravity function of the phone. Other apps I use all the time: Twitterific, Facebook, and Shazam. KT uses Labyrinth and The Price is Right a lot.

One type of app that I wish there were more of: Movie/TV Studios. Right now, the only one I've really found is Sony Pictures, where they have trailers and news for their films. I also have the Sci Fi Wire with updates on all sci fi news and projects. I wish there were more out there like this! I would totally use a Warner Bros. one to follow updates on Chuck and Harry Potter!

Well, hopefully this is about to change. Movie studios are starting to realize the marketing potential of the iphone and blackberry. We keep these phones on us at all times, it's the perfect way to get ads to us at any time of day. Movie studios are just starting to pick up on this idea: Bruno apps where you can touch him to get him to talk dirty to you, Harry Potter app where you can play with a wand and put your face in The Daily Prophet. While these are great, I wish more studios would have one app for all their projects like Sony Pictures does. I would PAY for a Disney/Pixar one!

Would you guys pay for a movie app? Or what other apps do you feel are lacking?

(photo and more info at The Wrap)

Motion Posters: The Next Norm in Movie Marketing

With advertising moving more and more online and digital, it's no surprise that Motion Posters are starting to crop up. I'm actually surprised I haven't seen more! They're much more engaging than pop ups and definitely no where near as annoying. Here are a few neat motion posters:



I can't find the embed code for this one, so click here to check out the Terminator Salvation Motion Poster.

Online shopping is about to get so much better!

So, I don't know about you, but I hate shopping for clothes online. It's super convenient, you get the best deals, you get more options, but I just don't like to buy clothes without trying them out. I recently bought some very cute clothes online from Forever 21, but have to return some of it because I'm one size in shirts, but apparently a different size in jackets. It's annoying and troublesome to have to return something because it doesn't fit right, where if I had bought it at the store, I would have known immediately that it wouldn't fit.

Well, the solution for this all-too-common problem is just around the corner thanks to technology! This company Zugara has developed software so you can virtually try on clothes using a webcam. Here's the demo video if you want to check it out:



[via Digitally Approved]