To some, the arrival of the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE is even more momentous than the recent announcement of the Samsung Galaxy SIII. Count me as one in this camp.

As a Verizon customer I’ve been waiting for something cool to hit the network which sports a lot of great new features and runs on Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich). This new device from HTC just may fit the bill.

For various reasons, we are not at the CTIA conference in New Orleans right now. However, the folks at Droid Life are and they managed to get some pics and video of the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE (that’s a mouthful) and have graciously shard it with the world at large.

According the site, their initial reaction to seeing the device in the flesh (so to speak) was: “Smallish device with some great specs that will be a winner if priced right.” That pretty much jives with what we thought.

I would also agree with Droid Life’s assessment that this device isn’t the HTC One X or even the S. It fills a different segment of HTC’s market and will probably do pretty well.

If I didn’t hate AT&T so much I would consider an unlocked HTC One X or, perhaps, even this one with Verizon. However, for the moment, I will stick with the Galaxy Nexus unlocked on T-Mobile and my trusty iPhone 4S. I think that’s a great couple of devices.

Anyone have any other opinions? Also, be sure to check out the video after the break.

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With big name film festivals like Cannes and Sundance often dominating the news, people sometimes forget that there’s a great film festival right here in the heart of the filmmaking community. That’s right, the Los Angeles Film Festival is coming next month and today the fest announced the full lineup of films and shorts showing in competition and having their premieres at the fest.

Among the highlights are Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love, which will open the fest, the world premiere of Alex Kurtzman’s People Like Us, starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks and Olivia Wilde, and Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, which will close the festival. For all the scoop on the fest, check out the full press releases after the break.

The Los Angeles Film Festival runs June 14-24 at downtown Los Angeles’ LA Live complex.

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Add me to the list of people a bit perturbed about not being able to get a ticket for Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June. Sure, I could have been more diligent or woken up super early to make sure I got a ticket. However, with tickets selling out in under two hours, it might not have made a difference anyway.

Plus, Apple could have also taken its West Coast developers into a bit more consideration when deciding the release schedule for tickets too. After all, Apple is a West Coast company, so that should count for something. Amiright? Maybe not.

Anyway, for those of you in the same boat who did not manage to get a ticket for WWDC, an alternative has presented itself. No, Apple hasn’t released more tickets for its event. Instead, some enterprising developers in San Francisco, who’ve dubbed their organization Indie Developer Labs, have decided to put on an iOS developer conference of their own.

“Indie Developer Labs is an open area where developers are provided with space to work, free Wi-Fi, and an open environment to connect with other developers. Our mission is to help foster the collaborative spirit of the Apple developer community,” the organizers said on their website.

The event will take place from June 12th to June 15th in San Francisco, during the same time and just blocks away from where Apple’s event will be held at the Moscone Center. We wish them well.

Developing apps for the iPhone, iPad and other iOS devices is a booming business. There’s also money to be made developing apps for the Mac and Mac OS X as well.

There’s so much to gain, and Apple wants to keep developers as happy as they can, that the company holds an annual developer’s conference in San Francisco to make sure everyone is on the same page and to help developers get all the tools they need to create great apps. In fact, the company just announced that its Worldwide Developer Conference will take place in San Francisco from June 11th to June 15th.

For the event, Apple is providing over 100 sessions on iOS and OS X, in addition to a student scholarship program. If you’re a first-time developer of apps for the iPhone or a seasoned veteran, this even surely offers a great deal of useful information and contact building.

Read on for all the details from Apple’s official press release.

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It’s only the first real work day back from the New Year’s holiday (aka January 3rd) and already speculation about Apple and its upcoming products is well underway. This time around that speculation is directed at a media event insider sources are saying will take place in New York at the end of this month.

According to AllThingsD, the event won’t be centered around an iPad 3 announcement or have anything to do with a the television Apple is supposedly developing. In fact, as the event will reportedly be hosted by Apple’s Senior VP of Internet Software Eddy Cue, it’s much more likely it will concern publishing or advertising.

That’s probably a pretty good bet considering New York is still regarded as the advertising and publishing capital of these United States. Let’s assume, based on this info, the event will center on publishing and advertising.

That means we might expect an announcement about new magazines joining Apple’s Newsstand initiative or maybe we can look forward to an updated app that combines iBooks and Newsstand into one, much like Amazon does with its Kindle app for iOS. That would be nice.

Whatever ends up being announced, you can be sure some people will be happy and others will lament that the event wasn’t all about a brand new iPad 3. Rest assured people, Apple will release an iPad 3. It’s just a matter of time.

Until then, try to enjoy your iPad 2 and remember there are people much less fortunate than you are out there. I’m talking about, of couse, those people still using the original iPad.

Poor bastards.

The comic book world is abuzz with anticipation of next year’s battle royal between the Avengers and the X-Men. The event series kicks off with a prologue issue that sets up two of the most critical characters in the series, Hope Summers and The Scarlet Witch. The issue is written by Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron with art by Frank Cho, a veritable dream team of creators.

“This March, fans worldwide cannot miss the prologue to the biggest pop culture comic event of the year as Marvel is pleased to unveil the trade dress and cover to Avengers VS. X-Men #0! Just before the Avengers and the X-Men go head to head, superstar creators Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron & Frank Cho set up the crucial roles of the Scarlet Witch and Hope Summers in the coming storm.

With all eyes on Wanda and the Mutant Messiah, both sides have already made up their mind on where allegiances SHOULD lie …but what about those caught in the middle? The drums of war are beating and fans should be ready for the essential opening to the event that will change everything you know about the Marvel Universe in Avengers VS. X-Men #0!”

Check out the awesome full cover after the jump.

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If you’re a fan of cars and outrageous stunts you’re probably a frequent watcher of the BBC’s very popular series Top Gear. After a relaunch in 2002, the show has taken off and is now one of the most popular motoring series in the world.

Fortunately, we get it here in the States as well and have become big fans of those funny, crazy and occasionally controversial presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. With the new season of Top Gear in full swing the boys are set to try something new this year to further entrain their fans.

That something is Top Gear Live. In short, it’s a live version of the show featuring the presenters and, of course, The Stig. It wil also feature a huge indoor track and racing, explosions and more.

But really, why listen to me talk about it? Let Jeremy and James explain it to you instead. Click through for a video that does just that.

Top Gear Live is in Birmingham from the 11th – 13th of November and in London from the 24th – 27th. Yes folks, that’s in England. Sorry Top Gear fans in the U.S. and elsewhere, there’ no plans for a Top Gear Live in your area . . . at least not yet.

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You’ll hear a lot about all the cool games, tech, and gadgets you’ll get to try out at the PAX East show floor, but you won’t hear much about is everything beyond the show floor. PAX prides itself on offering the all-encompassing gamer experience, which includes a wide variety of things to do when you’re a little tired of trekking through the mobbed expo hall or have some time to kill between panels.

Here’s all the “other stuff” I found worth checking out around the convention center this weekend.

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The SXSW Film Festival (March 11-19) has announced its short-films lineup for 2011 with a comprehensive list of 150 shorts (chosen from 3,089 entries), submitted by a vast array of established and up-and-coming directors, and ranging from narratives to documentaries to music videos to even local submissions.

As usual, the full list can be found at the SXSW website. The full press release announcement, including recaps of the narrative features, documentary features, and headliners, follows:

Austin, Texas – February 10, 2011 – The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce features in the complete short films lineup, which will debut at this year’s Festival, which runs from March 11 – 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas.

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Yesterday, the SXSW Film Festival (March 11-19) announced its lineup for 2011, and, once again, it’s a pretty big showing. Among the headliners is Jodie Foster premiering her film The Beaver, indie-favorite James Gunn and the U.S. premiere of his superhero comedy Super, and the North American premiere of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s latest film, Paul.

The full list can be found at the SXSW website. In all the festival will screen 130 features, including 60 world premieres, 12 North American premieres, and 16 U.S. premieres. The full press release announcement, including recaps of the narrative features, documentary features, and headliners, follows:

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce the features lineup for this year’s Festival, March 11 – 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas. The 2011 lineup continues the SXSW tradition of tapping into the cultural zeitgeist, highlighting emerging talent and breakthrough performances and supporting first-time filmmakers. The Midnighters and SXFantastic feature sections, along with the short film program, will be announced next week.

“This is the most exciting moment for us. After a fantastic festival of discovery in 2010, we can finally unveil the line up for this year’s event,” says Film Conference and Festival Producer Janet Pierson. “SXSW prides itself on taking chances, sifting for films that are the seedlings of the next generation of must-see artists. This year’s line up is full of emerging voices and filmmakers who transcended the resources they had on hand, often with an alchemist’s touch.”

Over the course of nine days, 130 features will screen at SXSW 2011. The program consists of 60 World Premieres, 12 North American Premieres and 16 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 1,792 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,323 U.S. and 469 international feature-length films. SXSW saw a 23% increase in its overall submissions over 2010, with a record number of nearly 4,900 total.

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Austin is home to some great festivals and other events. From SXSX to Fantastic Fest the town certainly has more than its share of pop culture events. Another event coming up is the Austin Comic Con which starts this Friday and goes through Sunday at the Austin Convention Center.

The event features speakers such as writer/director Tim McCanlies, Harry Knowles, Bionic folk Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner, Billy Dee Williams, Walter Koenig, comic art superstar Joe Madura and Buffy’s Clare Kramer and Nicholas Brendon. For more info, check out all the details in this full press release for the event.

Celebrity Q&A panels, Film Screenings, “Drink & Draw” and Costume Parade highlight Austin Comic Con This Week
Austin Film Festival Screenwriters Panel, Artist Panels, Masquerade Ball and AMC’s Walking Dead Episode Preview Also Set

NEW YORK and AUSTIN, Texas—November 10, 2010 – A wide variety of entertaining and informative panels and comic industry sessions are among the programming offerings scheduled at Wizard World Austin Comic Con, this Friday through Sunday at the Austin Convention Center. Featured panels include Austin-based heroes such as screenwriter and director Tim McCanlies, film critic and pop culture guru Harry Knowles and filmmaker-wunderkind Emily Hagins. Austin Comic Con is sponsored by Austin Books & Comics, Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Chronicle, 101X FM and Dragon’s Lair.

Day programming begins on Friday with the popular “Wizard Art School,” as noted Marvel and DC artist Greg Horn leads a discussion on digital art, beginning at 2 p.m. in Room 9. Indy art sensations Rob Guillory (Chew) and Kody Chamberlain (Sweets) discuss their breakout Image hits in “The Art of Chew and Sweets” at 3 p.m. in the same room. Also at 3, in Room 8, “The Incredible Hulk,” Lou Ferrigno, sits down for an exclusive Q&A about the classic show and his status as a pop culture icon. At 4, the Women of Wrestling take the stage, as Torrie Wilson, Amy Dumas, Lisa Marie Varon, Christy Hemme and Jackie Haas discuss their special role in the sport of wrestling, in Room 8.

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Last week in ‘Countdown to …’ The Flickcast talked with Melody Severns, a veteran skater with the L.A. Derby Dolls who has worked on ‘King of the Hill,’ both ’The Simpsons’ TV show and ‘Simpsons Movie’ as well as being the founder of GirlsDrawinGirls, a group of over 90 active female artists.

This week, we change things up a bit as we talk all things ‘W00tstock,’ the definitive geek variety show, with both Paul and Storm (The Internet, Da Vinci’s Notebook).

For decades, geeks were ostracized, picked on, laughed at and punished by the sun’s harmful UV rays. But there is only so long that a people can be kept down before they rise up against their oppressors; and, indeed, the dawn of the 21st century has seen the ascendancy of geeks and geek culture.

W00tstock celebrates nerds, with 3 hours of geek and music, and features television host/special-effects artist Adam Savage (MythBusters), actor/author/blogger Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stand By Me) and of course, music-comedy duo Paul and Storm. W00tstock 2.4 is set to storm San Diego Comic-Con, with a special off-site show Thursday the 22nd at the Gaslamp’s 4th and B.

We wanted to find out what the Con is like from Paul and Storm’s perspective, what are some of their likes and dislikes regarding the Con itself and what sort of surprises w00tstock has in store at this year’s SDCC 2010.

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