The Flickcast – Page 663 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

First Trailer for ‘Due Date’ Arrives

I don’t think I’m alone here when I say I love Zack Galifianakis. He’s amazingly funny and also has a certain vulnerability you can respect and that also makes him so believable in any role he plays. He pretty much stole the show in The Hangover and is knocking them dead on HBO’s Bored to Death. Now, he’s in a new movie called Due Date and we’ve got a trailer for that film to share with you today.

We started talking about this movie last year when news of it first surfaced. In the Todd Phillips directed film, Galifianakis plays opposite another superb actor we all love, Robert Downey, Jr., in the story of fatherhood as an expectant dad and his unlikely travel companion (Galifianakis) race cross-country in hopes of making it home for the birth of his first child. I know what you’re thinking. Based on The Hangover Galifianakis + baby = Comedy Gold. Let’s hope history repeats itself.

In addition to Downey, Jr. and Galifianakis, the film also features Juliette Lewis, Michele Monaghan, Jamie Foxx and Alan Arkin. It hits theaters on November 5th. In the meantime, check out the trailer after the jump.

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Game Review: “Singularity” for XBox 360

Take the tight first person control of Call of Duty, add the ominous feel of Bioshock, toss in some old school Cold War paranoia and insert some cool time altering powers and you find yourself with a recipe for success in Singularity.

Gameplay:

Especially in a shooter, there is so much importance on quick and reactive control and Singularity nails it. In single player, the player follows a fairly linear path where they must shoot their way through modern day elite forces, underarmed Soviets from the 1950s and a host of mutated monsters made up of the former residents of Katorga 12.

In addition to traditional assault rifles and shot guns, players get to take control of some new and interesting weapons like a remote control rolling grenade launcher and an exploding harpoon gun. Depending on the player’s preference, they will find themselves either relying on the classic tried and true weapons or experimenting with these new ones in combination with the TMD.

The TMD, the Time Manipulation Device, is the crux of Singularity’s unique gameplay. Over the course of the game, the TMD gets upgraded with new powers. At the start, it can only age or renew objects from their modern day to 1955 states. This also works on soldiers and mutants, leaving them with a quick and painful looking demise.

This power also allows players to uncover clues left by an unknown source in the form of messages left on walls in the past. Eventually, players gain the ability to control gravity and create small bubbles in which time stops for them which leads to some interesting combat scenarios.

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NBC Announces Fall Premiere Dates

Like Fox, NBC has announced the premiere dates for its new and returning Fall shows. Also like Fox, the network has quite a few shows  we usually watch and a few we’re looking forward to seeing once they debut.

Some of the new ones we’re looking forward to include The Event, Undercovers and even Law & Order: Los Angeles. We’re also looking forward to the return of some many great shows like Community, 30 Rock and Chuck.

With so much to offer it’s going to be hard to choose priorities on our DVR. Good thing we have at least two of them. Check out the full list of shows and their premiere dates after the break.

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Breaking: Apple Admits iPhone 4 Antenna Problem, Says Common to Most Phones, Offers Free Case as Fix

Today, in a press conference taking place at Apple’s HQ in Cupetino, CA CEO Steve Jobs declared to the world that the iPhone 4 has been having some problems. Jokingly calling it “Antenna Gate” Jobs reiterated the company’s commitment to satisfying all customers. Then he went on to explain that antenna signal loss is not unique to the iPhone 4 and is, in fact, common to the entire mobile phone industry.

He then trotted out some specific examples including the Blackberry 9700, the Samsung Omnia and the DROID Eris, all of which seemed to suffer from the same loss of signal when gripped a certain way. Jobs also said that the iPhone 4 underwent extensive testing nd that Apple knew if the phone was held a certain way the signal bars would drop.

Going on Jobs said that regardless of the rumors and apparent widespread antenna issues only .55% of all iPhone 4 users have actually called AppleCare to report problems with their devices. He also cited return rates on the device comparing them to the return rates of the iPhone 3GS, which were 6% according to AT&T. For the iPhone 4 return rates are at 1.7%, a third of the iPhone 3GS.

Jobs also cited AT&T’s dropped call rates per 100 calls indicating that the iPhone 4 drops less than one call more per hundred than the iPhone 3GS. Although, he seemed to attribute that to fewer cases being available, including Apple’s own “Bumper Case,”  for the iPhone 4 than the 3GS.

Finally, Jobs again stated that Apple cares about all customers and he wants all customers to be happy. To ensure that, he said “There is no antenna gate” and outlined Apple’s plan of action to combat this perceived issue:

• iOS 4.0.1 update which fixes the inaccurate signal strenthg reporting on the iPhone 4

• Every iPhone 4 owner will receive a free case from Apple. Log in and choose a case at Apple’s website next week and they will send it to you. Users who already purchased the “Bumper Case” will receive a refund.

• If the customer is still not satisfied, simply return the iPhone 4 for a full refund.

• The Proximity Sensor will be fixed in the next update.

Well there you have it. Apple says the iPhone 4 has an antenna problem, just like most smartphones,  and offers a free case to fix it. Until they design a new iPhone that doesn’t have this kind of issue or, as Jobs said during the conference “rewrite the laws of physics” I guess a free case is going to have to do.

If you’re an iPhone 4 user having the antenna issue, is a free case enough for you or do you want more? Sound off in the comments.

UPDATE: The full video of the presentation is now online at Apple’s website.

SDCC10: Countdown to San Diego Comic-Con 2010: Q&A With Paul and Storm of W00tstock

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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First Trailer For Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town’ Now Online

Ben Affleck may get a pretty bad rap for his acting, but that was certainly redeemed (mostly) when he stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct Gone Baby Gone. The film was nominated for tons of awards, including Best Actress for Amy Ryan.

Affleck is at it once again with his latest directorial effort The Town. You can tell that he’s got some recurring themes, much like his buddy Kevin Smith, such as a gritty town in Boston and female abduction. This time, Ben himself is stepping in the male leading role, instead of casting his brother Casey.

The movie is based on the Chuck Hogan book Prince of Thieves about a bank robber who becomes infatuated with a witness that his gang is convinced will talk. The movie also stars Blake Lively, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner.

Check out the new trailer after the jump. Catch Ben Affleck’s The Town in theaters on September 10th.

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Apple Releases iOS 4.0.1 Update

Just in time for Apple’s press conference today that will supposedly address the iPhone 4 antenna “issue” comes an update to the latest operating system to grace the iPhone, iOS 4.0. According to the release notes, the software updates the OS to version 4.0.1 and “improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display.”

The update works with iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4. Like with all updates for these types of devices, to install simply sync your iPhone to iTunes and click the Update button. To install, simply sync your iPhone to iTunes and click the Update button.

It’s kinda funny how Apple is passing this off as a simple mathematics error. If so, why have a press conference at all? Unless it’s to reaffirm the problem is simple software and then point on the fix they just issued? Only Steve Jobs knows for sure and he’s not saying — at least until a bit later today.

Review: ‘Inception’

I guess statistically speaking, it was bound to happen.  If you see enough movies, eventually you are going to witness a great movie that just doesn’t do it for you.  Such was the case with Inception.  I was poised to love the movie and declare it a cinematic masterpiece, if not one of my favorite films of the year.

I walked out seeing people high five each other and hug each other in a joyful embrace, no doubt exalted by the awesomeness of the film that they had just witnessed. How I envied them.

I left  frustrated, angry and annoyed. I desperately wanted to belong to that group of blissfully happy movie-goers, but I couldn’t fake it.  I just didn’t enjoy the movie.

Is that to say that it was not an excellent film?  Of course not.  On a purely technical basis, the film is amazing. It is also wildly imaginative, smart and original, all the things I clamor for during the summer film schedule.  Try as I might, though, I couldn’t get engaged in the story.  I never connected with any of the characters, and as a consequence, I never felt any urgency or peril regarding their situations.

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