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Microsoft came remarkably close to predicting all 24 Oscar winners
Cortana isn't the only part of Microsoft that's interested in predicting the future. David Rothschild, an economist with the company's New York research lab, was behind the team that successfully guessed six of last night's biggest Oscar winners, including the awards for best film, director, actor and actress. In fact, across all 24 categories they only slipped up on four -- original screenplay, original score, animated feature and film editing.
NSA-Snowden documentary 'Citizenfour' wins an Oscar
A documentary that outlined how Edward Snowden revealed the NSA's data surveillance program to the world has just won an Oscar. Citizenfour director Laura Poitras has a track record of serious documentaries, including My Country, My Country and The Oath, but the PRISM documentary marks her first Oscar win. Following the award, host Neil Patrick-Harris made a quick lil' treason joke at Snowden's expense, possibly missing the gravitas of a story that dominated the news agenda for over a year. In response to the award, Snowden said: "My hope is that this award will encourage more people to see the film and be inspired by its message that ordinary citizens, working together, can change the world." We've added the full statement after the fold. (Can you guess who 'Citizenfour' actually was in the end? Hint: It's not Patrick-Harris)
Crowdfunded Project News: The best of Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the rest
Every week, TUAW provides readers with an update on what new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects are in the news. This update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. Note that we're not covering those "projects" on Indiegogo where people are trying to get someone else to cough up money for a new computer or tablet... If a project reaches at least 80 percent of total funding and provides us with review material, we may choose to write a detailed post about it. Here are some of the fun and fascinating products we're following this week. From Kickstarter: Oscar is no longer a grouch. Now, he's an Open Screen Adapter, designed by a group of engineering students from the University of Southampton with software support from a Joint Mathematics and Computing student at Imperial College London. OSCAR is marketed as a "super high resolution 9.7" LCD panel with an Arduino-compatible adapter that connects to your computer." Think of it as a small Thunderbolt Retina display that you can connect to your Mac, and you've got the picture. I could envision using one of these as a portable side display to a MacBook Pro with Retina display. At this point, the team really needs your support -- they're at 52 percent funding with eight days to go. While this idea isn't in Kickstarter yet, it's something that makes a lot of sense. Those little Mac Pros are just packed with power and would make excellent Mac-based servers, but the cylindrical design keeps them from being mounted in racks in server rooms. The ModeMount Mac Pro Rack Mount can hold the device in 4U of rack space when mounted horizontally (what I think of as a "wine barrel" mount), and can also be positioned vertically. The design is open on both ends for optimum cooling of the Mac Pro. You can sign up to be notified when the company's Kickstarter campaign begins. Remember the Carbon, a solar charger that looks like a wristwatch? Well, I was kind of dubious about it, since the last thing I want to put on my wrist is a big solar charger that doesn't do anything but charge my gear. Well, the company did something that I think makes it quite worthwhile -- they've added an analog watch display to it so it's actually a working watch and a solar charger. EnergyBionics, the team bringing Carbon to life, still needs your support. With 18 days to go, they're at 27.2 percent funding. TUAW reader Hal Sherman is always looking out for Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects for us to cover, and this week he found the Prescient AudioCase for iPhone 5/5s. This one has a long way to go, at only 3 percent of its funding goal with about five weeks remaining. The idea? A smartphone case that's also a speaker -- no more carrying around a Bluetooth speaker when you have a speaker protecting your phone. This one got my attention very quickly -- an app-controlled winemaking set up called The Miracle Machine (it turns water into wine...). The description says it all: "The Miracle Machine is the world's first affordable accelerated winemaking device for the home that reproduces great wine with minimal effort and within days." You can sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter campaign goes live. The Miracle Machine is expected to retail for $499. And now, some Aussies want you to clean up your desktop with DeskPal, a beautiful wood desk accessory that holds pencils, wristwatches, keys, and -- unsurprisingly -- acts as a smartphone or tablet dock as well. It's already funded with a month to go, but you can get some of the action starting at AUD$30. On Indiegogo this week: SunSprite is a funded (110 percent with 24 days left) project that is a wearable, solar-powered light tracker. It tracks how much light you're exposed to, letting you boost your energy (most people don't get enough sunlight), improve your sleep, or avoid high UV intensities. Of course, there's an app for that -- developed by the same team that wrote the RunKeeper app. You can pre-order one at a 34 percent discount for US$99, with June delivery planned. And some other crowd funding favorites from outside of the Kickstarter/Indiegogo world: Hey, guys -- if you're going to make a Star Trek: The Next Generation communications badge, at least make it look futuristic. The CommBadge is a $89 Bluetooth 4.0 speakerphone that you can wear, avoiding the dreaded Bluetooth headset while giving you hands-free access to your phone and Siri. Here's video showing why you apparently need one: Our last entry this week is Plink, which isn't the garbage disposal cleaning tablet you're thinking of. This Plink is "an iOS app that lets you upload images and insert them into your blog posts using Markdown or HTML. You can help me build it." Right now the project is 41 percent funded with 16 days to go. If you do a lot of blogging, you should check out Plink and help provide funding starting at just $10. If you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site.
Oscar escapes to a dream world invaded by reality
Constructing a fantasy to escape reality is no game - unless that game is Oscar by Team Sharkeye. In Oscar, players take on the role of a young girl - Oscar - who explores a bright and colorful dream world with her stuffed elephant, Flynn, held tight in her arms. As Oscar's journey progresses, the hint of a real world pain creeps into her fantasy. Oscar, in other words, is a game about how we use created worlds - not unlike those we experience by playing video games - to escape real-life pain. Of course, before it can teach us how to deal with our problems, Oscar has its own obstacles to overcome - specifically, the fact that it needs $40,000 on Kickstarter to be funded. It also appears that lead designer Josh Long hasn't chosen a release window: "As with any project it can be hard to pinpoint a release date," Long wrote on the game's Kickstarter page, "but shipping something imperfect is something you come to accept as an experienced developer; I treat Oscar as the beginning of a career-long pursuit of games that convey mature human experiences. The game is intensely personal but at a certain point you learn more from shipping a title and applying what you learned on the next one." Oscar is planned to release on PC, Mac and Linux. The game will be available on tablet devices as well - iOS "for sure," while Android support is "up in the air." [Image: Team Sharkeye]
Pantech Flex user manual discovered: Easy Experience mode shown in detail
And just like that, our pleas for more details about the Pantech Flex have been answered. We've come across the full 108-page user manual for AT&T's newest LTE device -- also known as the P8010 or Oscar -- which offers a heap of screenshots, included features and plenty of other tidbits. In it we learn many of the details concerning the manufacturer's new Easy Experience mode, which is geared toward first-time smartphone buyers. Look below to find the manual in its entirety, and past the break we'll break down some of the most important or interesting factoids we uncovered in the manual. %Gallery-164202%
Jukebox Heroes: Chance Thomas talks about scoring Turbine's expansions
For many Lord of the Rings Online players, the name Chance Thomas is synonymous with the feel of virtual Middle-earth. From the earliest days in the game, explorers have traversed the Shire, Moria, and beyond listening to Thomas' melodies. So we were excited to hear that Turbine is bringing Thomas back to score not only Riders of Rohan (his first soundtrack for the game since Mines of Moria) but also Dungeons and Dragons Online: Menace of the Underdark as well. Thomas is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning composer who's been working primarily in the field of video game music since 1998. Being a huge fan of MMO soundtracks, I made it a personal quest to talk with him about these two new scores and how he feels about working in this genre. In the weeks ahead, I'll be reviewing both Rohan and Underdark's soundtracks, but today I wanted to focus on the man behind the music. Join me, then, as we embark on a voyage to worlds far away, sailing on the wings of a song. Geez, that's cheesy, ain't it?
OSCar eO build finally finished, electric offroader prepares for the mountains of South America
It's been a few months since we first heard about OSCar eO and its plans to tackle the (arguably) most difficult task in motorsport: make it from the start of the Dakar Rally to the finish. Well, the race starts in about a month and a half, and the Latvian team building the rugged EV has finally finished its arduous task. Aside from countless welds to create a formidable frame, there was also plenty of wiring and programming involved in getting the range-extended EV ready for the coming off-road battle. Winston Battery packs provide 52kWh of juice to the electric motor, which can produce up to a massive 335kW of power on command. Should a lead-footed driver tap into that tire-shredding ability too much, a 60kW generator driven by a Nissan V6 is there to pick up the slack. You may be wondering just how hard it is to build a machine that can conquer the Andes while powered by humble electrons? Find out for yourself in the video after the break. [Thanks, John]
OSCar eO will bring EVs to the Dakar rally (video)
The Dakar is the most grueling race in the world and, while that historic location is no longer the destination, the race itself still serves as the most brutal punishment a car (or bike) can take. If you can cover 5,500 miles across some of the roughest terrain in the world you know you built it right. The Rīga Rally-Raid Team has done just that in the past, and for its next attempt it'll make things more interesting with a series hybrid powertrain. Its car is called the OSCar eO, an EV with enough batteries to make it between 150 and 300km on a charge. However, most Dakar stages are well longer than that, so the car also carries an on-board generator, a Nissan-sourced engine fueled by a 200 liter fuel tank. That's 53 gallons worth of the good stuff to keep this thing going over the kind of terrain you can see in the video below, with regenerative dampers helping to add juice as well. Will the whole contraption make it all the way to Dakar Lima? We're hopeful, but then again we all know how well sand and electronics get along.
Oscar.com offers 'all access' pass to the Academy Awards, for a cost
Sure, you could just watch the Oscars for free along with a bowl of popcorn and your favorite Twitter commentary, but the folks behind the Academy Awards are hoping you'll try something even more "interactive" this time around. Those that head to Oscar.com this evening will be treated to a few different live cameras that are freely available to everyone, but to really see to everything you'll have to fork over $4.99 for the "all access" pass. That will give you access to a number of "exclusive viewing opportunities," including multiple 360 degree cams that you can control, and numerous cameras along the red carpet, backstage, and at the Governors Ball afterwards. And if that's not enough, you can also download the Oscar Backstage Pass app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch -- it'll run you an additional $0.99.
Motorola hands out gold Xooms to Oscar hosts, nominees
Motorola may only be offering the Xoom in basic black to the general public, but it's cooked up something a little extra special for the Oscars this Sunday. It will be handing out these limited edition gold Xooms -- complete with a custom leather envelope case -- to the hosts and the nominees in the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director categories. Guess stars aren't just like us after all.
MS Point-buying dog gets Gamertag, owner gets refund
Remember Greg Strope? No? Perhaps you'll remember his dog, Oscar, who purchased 5000 Microsoft Points -- worth $62.50 -- last week while his owner slept. At the time, we reported that Strope was out of luck thanks to Microsoft's "no refunds" policy. As it turns out, Microsoft contacted Joystiq to inform us that it will refund Strope's money after all, and will be "providing extra for good measure." In addition, Microsoft is sending Strope an extra controller and an Xbox Live subscription just for Oscar. The company even set the dog up with his own Gamertag: Oscar The K9. Now, if Microsoft would just introduce a canine Avatar model, Oscar would be set for life.
15 Minutes of Fame: Player nabs an Oscar and Sarth 3D, too
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Last week, WI reported about Oscar-winning WoW player Steve Preeg, a.k.a. Ramases the Undead Rogue and usual GM of on Stormscale-US. Steve's got some pretty lofty geek cred: a 2009 Oscar for Visual Effects (along with Eric Barba, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron) on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; work on films such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, King Kong and I, Robot -- oh, and a nice, fresh kill on Sartharion-3 Drakes. With cell phones bleeping and his publicist chuckling in the background over the sheer nerd factor of our conversation, 15 Minutes of Fame visited by phone with Steve in L.A. about his WoW/life balance, what he admires about Blizzard's work, and what keeps him coming back for more.
Guild leader wins Oscar
I didn't have any interest in watching the Oscars last night (so no, I didn't get to see Wolverine singing and dancing), but there was one piece of WoW-related news to come out of the big event. Steve Preeg is a visual effects artist who's worked on films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I, Robot, and last night, he won an Oscar for his team's work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And that's not his only achievement: he's also done everything but Sarth 3D with the guild he leads.Yup, we've heard from one of his guildies that Preeg is a guild leader in the game -- he plays a Combat Rogue with 450 Enchanting and Inscription, and runs a progression guild that's downed everything but the big black dragon and his three companions. he's even done all of the holiday events so far (though he's rolling with the "Champion of the Frozen Wastes" title).So he's picked up some excellent loot, both in and out of game (Oscars are epic at least -- the drop rate is pretty low). Congrats to Preeg and his team on the Oscar, and to his guild, good luck with Sarth 3D. Maybe if Anne Hathaway showed up for that you'd have him down by now.
New annual Oswald awards to premiere at BlizzCon '08
In a sign that machinima is becoming increasingly well-known and respected, Blizzard has decided to give out special Oswald award statues at BlizzCon this year for the best machinima videos. (Wondering what machinima is? Check here to find out.) Yes, I am aware that the Oswald award itself is a silly gnome in goggles, but you have to admit that it is made of metal in the form of a humanoid, and it does begin with O, just like that other famous awards ceremony you might have heard of. It may be kind of a spoof, but it's still really neat and it should be a great time! Besides, it's something much more solid than a certificate, or whatever they gave out in previous years in addition to the prizes. It really is something they can put on a shelf in their home and admire proudly for years to come.The Oswalds will be awarded for the best in three categories: Action/Adventure Comedy Drama/Romance If the sight of this statue is just the sort of thing that inspires you to get out there and machinimate something right away, I'm afraid it's too late to submit your entry this year, so you can't be one of the first winners of the award unless you've already got something in. Good luck to all the Oswald hopefuls this year
Warner delivering Academy screeners on Blu-ray, starting with Batman
Confirming earlier indications The Dark Knight's IMAX sequences would remain largely intact -- full widescreen with the rest of the movie letterboxed --on Blu-ray, director Christopher Nolan pushed for Academy members to receive that version as a screener (why not give them a guided tour via BD-Live?), prompting Warner to mail them ahead of time offering the option of Blu-ray or DVD. The Hollywood Reporter mentions other studios are thinking about making the switch -- notably Sony regarding Will smith's upcoming Seven Pounds -- but haven't done anything yet, with concerns about cost and piracy. We wouldn't be surprised to see watermarking systems like the one Fox recently adopted come into widespread use, as much as studios want to avoid leaks they still want their productions seen in the absolute highest quality, right? Still, the first hurdle is making sure people can actually watch them, the report ends mentioning several members tossed the letter since they don't own a Blu-ray player yet.[Via MovieWeb]
No Country for Old Men gets reviewed on Blu-ray
It's no surprise that this year's winner of Best Picture is garnering quite a bit of buzz on Blu-ray, so we figured it prudent to pass along a review for those still on the fence about adding it to their collection. Without giving away any of the plot, reviewers seemed quite pleased with the HD transfer, noting that the plethora of special effects were "highly defined" and the beauty of the location was able to really shine. As for audio, nothing was really frowned upon, but it was stated that the lossless track didn't add much over the Dolby Digital track considering the film's heavy reliance on dialogue. Unfortunately, the shining review headed south when we came to extras, as this disc has SD bonus features that do little to excite. Still, fans of the film are likely to find enough here in the feature presentation alone to make it worth owning, but those curious simply because of its recently acquired accolades may be better off renting first.
ApolloIM creator interviewed on iPhone development
Chris F was kind enough to send along his long (and dare I say, a little silly-- look at that "cupcake deliciousness growth over time" graph at the bottom) interview with Alex Schafer, creator of what Erica called "the first native IM client for the iPhone," ApolloIM. After a short chat about the game that's got my vote for Game of the Year, Portal, they get into how Alex does his developing and how ApolloIM came together.He calls IM the "one glaring omission from the iPhone," and says that while they're taking their time making sure things are just right (not to mention that he's got the sword over his head of third-party development), they're planning to come up with a product that fills that role of IM on the iPhone. Whatever Apple's plan for third parties turns out to be (Schafer says he's hoping for at least a socket and "20k of r/w space" for Apollo to work), he says his team is doing as much in advance as they can.Definitely an interesting interview to check out. I hope Schafer gets his 20k and more-- instant messenging is definitely the thing I miss most on the iPhone as well.
United Pepper unveils eco-friendly webcam, USB hub
At first glance, suckers for all things cute may fall for Lili and Oscar even before knowing the story behind them, but these two peripherals not only provide animalistic replacements for those vanilla USB hubs and webcams, they promote eco-friendliness, too. According to United Pepper (which is partnering with EuroTech), Oscar (the USB hub) and Lili (that'd be the webcam) arrive in four different colors, are constructed from recyclable materials, and are produced "in a fair trade environment." Moreover, the webcam touts a 1.3-megapixel sensor and a built-in microphone, while Oscar boasts four USB 2.0 ports for connecting up an array of input peripherals. Both creatures are slated to land in the UK this month, and while Lili will cost £30 ($60), Oscar will be available for just £20 ($40). [Warning: PDF read link][Via SciFiTech]
Geoffrey Rush fulfills obligation
The Google translation doesn't really help, but we've seen enough of these celebrity pressers to know what's going on. Pirates of the Caribbean costar Geoffrey Rush was presented with the Wii game based on his movie at a Japanese press event, and asked how he likes it. His badly mangled thoughts: "Present ......Don't you think? you do not play almost. The son who becomes 11 years old is in me, but it is as for my finger that way in order to be able to move quickly, because it is not developed, (laughing). As for I being able to play 'pack man' extent kana."We just wanted to share this in case you thought life would be amazing and glamorous if you had an Oscar. Right now, having never been asked to play the Pirates game, we're feeling pretty happy about our situation in comparison.
Academy: no cameraphones at Oscars. Moto: that sucks
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- better known to most as the Oscar people -- are apparently promising to come down hard on the use of cameraphones at this year's event with a complete ban. That, in itself, is not surprising; the last thing our friends in Hollywood want is a flood of grainy, bootleg footage getting MMSed across the lands in real time. What is surprising, however, is that Motorola's been called out as a bit of a freeloader here. As you might recall, Moto had been trumpeting that some super-duper version of the MOTORIZR Z3 would be handed out to the "top 25" nominees at the event -- problem is, it turns out that the company isn't even sponsoring the show in any capacity, leaving them with zero leverage to override the Academy's ruling. We suppose they could mail out the phones before or afterwards, but how lame is that? Don't fret though, Moto, your efforts aren't for naught -- send those Z3s on over to us and we'll make sure they find loving homes.
