Venice
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Aronofsky's VR project 'Spheres' will premiere at Venice Film Festival
Darren Aronofsky's three-part virtual reality series Spheres -- bought for a seven-figure sum at Sundance earlier this year -- will make its world premiere at the upcoming Venice Film Festival. Adding to its sci-fi credentials is the announcement that Millie Bobby Brown, aka Eleven from Netflix series Stranger Things, will be lending her voice to the final instalment of the trilogy, Spheres: Chorus of the Cosmos.
BlackBerry's Android phone will be known as the 'Priv'
BlackBerry's upcoming Android phone has been called "Venice" for quite some time, but that's apparently nothing but a moniker meant to be shed and replaced by its real model name. According to Evleaks and N4BB, it will be released as the BlackBerry Priv, presumably due to its privacy features. Evleaks also revealed a new stock photo of the phone, which you can see below the fold. Don't expect to see anything new, though: it's still a QWERTY slider with a curved screen and an 18-megapixel camera. Hopefully, we'll find out more about it and its release date soon. If the device turns out to have killer features, then it doesn't matter what it's called: after all, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
BlackBerry's Android-powered Venice phone surfaces in the wild
BlackBerry's Android-based Venice smartphone isn't just a figment of someone's imagination... at least, if you believe Vietnamese resident Ba Minh Duc. He claims to have photos of the slider in action, complete with its hideaway QWERTY keyboard, 18-megapixel camera and curvy screen. This isn't quite the phone you remember from 3D renders (or the once-teased BlackBerry 10 version), though. BlackBerry appears to have moved the power button to the side, and the body isn't as slender in person as the renders would suggest. This is undoubtedly a work in progress, and it won't be surprising if the Venice design changes more between now and release. Still, this is exciting stuff if you've been yearning for a phone that melds BlackBerry's hardware and services with Android's customization and wider app selection.
BlackBerry's Android phone should include a ton of BB10 features
BlackBerry's repeatedly leaked Venice slider may look like it's running stock Android on the surface, but new leaks suggest that there's a lot more going on underneath. Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) has posted both animations and file lists hinting that there could be a load of features borrowed from BlackBerry 10 and the BlackBerry Experience Suite. The centerpiece would be BlackBerry Hub that merges all your conversations, but you'd also get unified calendars and contacts, custom apps for basic features (such as notes and tasks) and BlackBerry mainstays like BBM. In essence, Venice shouldn't just be an AOSP device with a few nods toward BlackBerry's roots -- it'd be a showcase for everything the company can do, and proof that much of the modern BlackBerry experience isn't dependent on an in-house platform. While there's a good chance that some of these features could change or disappear by launch, it won't be shocking if they're the big highlights for Venice whenever it arrives.
BlackBerry's Android-powered slider phone gets shown in motion
Want a closer look at Blackberry's rumored, occasionally leaked Android, keyboard-toting smartphone? Evan Blass (of @evleaks) has unearthed some device videos that offer a closer look at that all-important sliding keyboard, as well as that increasingly obligatory segmented-here's-all-the-parts-of-the-camera-lens-render popularized by Nokia a few years ago. If the return of a physical keyboard wasn't weird enough any more, then how about if the phone, codenamed 'Venice' landing in two different iterations? Certainly, two devices are shown in the video, lining up along each other. Crackberry muses that Android and BlackBerry 10 iterations could land alongside each other, although there's no other hint that back up the notion of smartphone twins.
BlackBerry's 'Venice' Android slider is coming to AT&T (update)
Rumors of a fully Android-powered BlackBerry device popped up again last month, and today Evan Blass aka evleaks has posted a picture showing a glimpse of the phone. Specs for the alleged "Venice" popped up on N4BB a couple of weeks ago, calling it a slider with a 5.4-inch screen, 18MP rear camera and 1.8GHz Hexa-core CPU. According to Blass, the Venice will run Android, and is coming to AT&T first. Update: We're told the picture is of the old Passport with the screen mocked up, but the "Venice" is coming, and should have a more sensible profile.
North Korea's vision of the future looks like classic sci-fi
When a country is essentially cut off from the rest of the world, peculiar things can happen. In Cuba, the half-century-plus trade-embargo means antique Chevy Bel Airs roam the streets like pigeons, and apparently North Korea's communist ideology translates to some pretty interesting views of the future. A tourism firm in the region gave a state-employed architect free reign to imagine how the mountains of Myohyangsan would appear with a high-rise bridge connecting them in one instance, and what a floating house/hovercraft hybrid (seriously) or a hotel and gondola in Nampo's port would look like in others. The whole of the idea was to experiment with what a "sustainable tourism model" might resemble, according to CNN. And, if you ask us, the four-year project has a certain pulp sci-fi vibe to it. The concept drawings will be on display at Venice's Architecture Biennale until November if you'd like a first-hand look, otherwise hit the source if you can't make it to Italy by then.
Google's Street View maps the watery roadways of Venice
Google's Street View has taken us all the way up (to the Burj Khalifa) and all the way down (to the Great Barrier Reef), so where else is there to go but the world's most romantic city? That's right, the search giant has taken its backpack-worn Trekker units to Venice, letting you explore its canals, tight streets and hundreds of connecting bridges from the comfort of your home or office. In its behind-the-scenes look, Google lets you see how the city has changed since 1838 with the help of a 175-year-old street map and explore locations that inspired famous works of art. If punting was never your thing, hit up Google Street View to begin your personal guided tour -- minus the unique odor.
Boost Mobile announces the LG Venice: a $220, 4.3-inch handset with Ice Cream Sandwich
It's only been a few days since we saw those leaked shots of what was rumored to be Boost Mobile's own variant of that Optimus L7 -- and, well, today the LG handset sees its official debut on the prepaid carrier. The LG Venice, as it'll be more commonly known around these parts, boasts a 4.3-inch, WVGA screen alongside a 1GHz CPU, a 5-megapixel camera on the rear (VGA quality on the front) and a video mode capable of shooting up to 720p recordings -- of course, this is all running LG's UI 3.0 flavor of Ice Cream Sandwich. As we've become accustomed to, Boost Mobile is pricing its new Android handset at a decent price ($220), with the device expected to start hitting "exclusive" shelves on October 10th and other "select" retail shops later the same month.
LG Optimus L7 leaks for Boost Mobile as the Venice
The merriment continues at evleaks, which just spilled another smartphone via Twitter. This time it's the LG Venice for Boost Mobile: a rebadged version of the Optimus L7 that just so happens to sport a handsome silvery backplate. This is the second version of the Optimus L7 to be geared for US shores, the first being the Splendor for US Cellular. Absent any drastic changes, shoppers can rightfully expect to find an Android 4.0 smartphone that's paired with a single-core 1GHz CPU, a 4.3-inch WVGA display and a 5-megapixel camera that'll capture video at 720p. Unfortunately, pricing for the Venice remains up in the air, which makes it difficult to know whether it'll provide much of a value proposition within Boost's lineup. Likewise, the all-important release date is also a mystery, although with the carrier actively refreshing its fall lineup, a near-term arrival is certainly within reason.
The same as it ever was: Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD screens and partial level list
Look, we're not going to sit here and pretend the Pro Skater series wasn't as much of a staple of our adolescence as everyone else's. We loved poppin' sweet kicks in 1999 and we expect to love it just as much 13 years later with Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD; especially after looking at these spot-on reproductions of the Warehouse and School 2.Besides the Warehouse and School 2, the Mall, Phoenix, Hangar, Marseilles and Venice have also been confirmed for the remake. But honestly, we'd rather Robomodo focus on getting this soundtrack situation sorted out before they move on to paltry trivialities like "levels" or "characters" or "physics" or "skateboards."%Gallery-145293%
OTTO slices beats, has no effect on tin cans
Electronic musicians are always looking for new ways to do the same old things. Case in point: OTTO, developed by Luca De Rosso at the IUAV University of Venice for a master's thesis. Based on an Arduino and Cycling '74's Max / MSP software, you can drop an audio loop in it (via USB) and manipulate it in real time by moving your hands around the touch surface. Sure we've heard these kind of edits before, but never on a device that somewhat resembles the old Simon memory game. That has to count for something, right? Suffice it to say: we want one. Be sure to check it in action after the break.
AMEX Digital announces Venice-V38HD media player
AMEX Digital doesn't seem to have found a gadget that it doesn't like, and it looks like media players are no exception, as evidenced by the company's new Venice V38HD device. Based on Sigma Designs' SMP8635/4 chipset, this one looks to pack just about everything you'd want short of a full-fledged media PC, including a hefty 2TB of storage, support for all the major video codecs, DVD backup / playback (no Blu-ray, though), HDMI output at 1080p, NAS support and other networking options, and your choice of silver or black color options, to name but a few highlights. No word on pricing or availability just yet, unfortunately, but you can at least get a closer look at the port situation after the break.
