The Croods

The trailer:



Saw this rather entertaining animation last weekend and I came out with two things that keep going round and round in my mind: The character Belt's "Ta ta taaaaaaaa..." and Thunk asking his odd looking kind of a dog pet Douglas to roll over.

The movie has its funny moments and I'd say is above average, has caveman antics meeting a more modern, evolved Guy with the occasional drama in-between. There's also the part where Grug, the father, telling his daughter Eep it's dangerous to do something and got rebuked but she immediately listened to her new found boyfriend when he told her the same. Sounds like something you can attest to?

Disney's Pixar is no longer the ONLY animation studio that could come out with beautiful feature length animations. The competition's tough and that's good for us audiences, right? Ta ta taaaaaaa!

Something for the family? 3/5
Adult funnies? 3/5
Children funnies? 2/5
Drama? 3/5

Flag Men Conversations

Barry: We need a raise and higher insurance premium!

Larry: Yeah! Those cars are mad! They just come speeding despite all the warning signs!

Genetically Modified Microbes Possibly Consume Carbon Dioxide, Creates Fuel

Russell McLendon, a blogger on the Mother Nature Network blogs about how researchers from the University of Georgia have discovered a way to possibly genetically modify the microorganism pyrococcus furiosus to take in carbon dioxide and incorporate the gas into creating fuel.

Sounds like a good thing but not when the blogger also hinted that this could replace trees. Be wise in the implementation! Nonetheless, a miraculous discovery.

via @GuyKawasaki.

Cool Mobile Wallpapers

While surfing through Feedly, I came across these bunch of cool wallpapers (50 of them!!!) via AppStorm meant for Android but I can't resist to use a couple of them for this iOS mobile phone that I'm using. XD

These two are the ones that I picked out of the pile:

Awesome Jumping Cat

This is one awesome cat jumping video recorded with style and cool slow motion! And the cat... truly athletic.



via core77.

More Star Trek Into Darkness

Look! Paramount released the official TRAILER!



So is the villain really Khan? Empire has this to say:

Nobody addresses him by the widely disseminated name of John Harrison (although he's definitely called that onscreen), but we're told by Weller that the man responsible for the attacks on the Federation is "one of our top agents". And Cumberbatch's own assertion, "I am better at everything", is only more fuel for the theory that we might eventually learn that he's been eugenically enhanced...

And IMDb has "Khan (rumoured)" in the credits.

Hmmm...

Petition to SAVE Google Reader!

Lets see if this petition can change Google's mind and safe Google Reader (go here if you are not sure what's happening)! As of this posting, there are over 120,000 signatures.

via Android Community.

Samsung Galaxy S 4 vs. Apple iPhone 5

It's inevitable that these two be compared. I'd say it's the first thing in most people's minds. Marketing has to prevail and according to Mashable, Apple launched a web page detailing why iPhone 5 is unique. I love my iPhone 5 and I agree it's great but I don't think I'll agree with the battery life nor the LTE because Malaysia's current bandwidth is not supported though there are rumours that our commission responsible might release the one that the iPhone 5 supports in the near future. That'd be great. :)

For the enthusiast, Mashable has a table with the Samsung compared with the iPhone 5, HTC One and Nokia Lumia 920 here.

via Mashable.

Update: There's also a poll going on at androidcentral. Which one will you be picking up? The Samsung or the HTC One or neither? As of this writing, the HTC One is winning by 8,000+ votes to 4,000+.

Star Trek Into Darkness

A new generation of actors, the last movie was a reboot of sorts that tells of a timeline that got messed by a Romulan from the future hell bent on revenge. There was more action than the traditional movies and series.

This new movie continues from that messed up timeline and based on the trailers, is another action packed one with a rather powerful looking villain that is rumoured to be Khan. We'll have to wait and see. Below is the latest teaser trailer and somewhere along, Kirk and Spock seems to be flying a Millennium Falcon kind of spaceship through some sort of Star Wars-like obstacle... Or I may just be a little too sensitive knowing J. J. Abrams will be directing the next Star Wars...

New Samsung Flagship Bad News For HTC?

With the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S 4, Engadget paints a sombre picture for HTC's new flagship, the HTC One, and ultimately, the company's future.

...not every David is lucky enough to match up with Goliath, right?

But who knows? History tells of every reign will have its time at the top and, unfortunately, will also eventually topple... If not today, perhaps tomorrow.

Google Reader - The End Is Near

I was caught by surprise when I read that Google will discontinue Google Reader, the most used Google product EVER... for me, at least. I was in a state of shock and at a lost. My one and only source of news collection will be no more come 1 July 2013. I guess I shouldn't be because I've read somewhere before that RSS is at a decline but still...? HORRORS!

I've been using Flipboard and Feedly on my iOS devices to grab my Google Reader feeds and thankfully, Feedly will be offering a seamless transition as Google Reader sets into the horizon on the first day of the second half of 2013. Feedly has a Google Reader API clone called Normandy that will do all the work in the background. Alternatively, Google offers a way to get all of its Reader's data via Google Takeout.

Whichever way, RIP Google Reader for being there for so many years. :'(

Am I a smartphone geek? And you?

All About Symbian put up a quiz for its readers to find out for themselves how much of a smartphone geek they are. I tried and apparently I'm a mixed bag. Not too geeky! Phew! How about you? By the way, you don't need to be a Symbian user to try out the quiz.

Why An Intel-Apple Mobile Processor Coop Might Be A Bad Idea

While cyberspace is rife with rumours that Apple might be working with Intel to produce its mobile processors, Cult of Mac has a feature that looks at the whole idea in a different light:

For Intel:

"Intel is a business, and making other people’s chip designs for them just doesn’t make a lot of money."

"Even worse, if Intel started making ARM chips for Apple, it would be signalling that they had given up on pushing x86 in mobile."

And for Apple:

"Right now, Intel provides all of the processors for the Mac side of Apple’s business. Even if Apple and Intel had a falling out, it would be almost impossible for Apple to take its business elsewhere at this point: Intel’s chips are simply that much better than everyone else’s. The entire experience of using a Mac would notably degrade.

If Intel started making chips for Apple on the iPhone or iPad side of things, it would be great from a technical perspective. But it would give Intel total control over Apple’s destiny."

via Cult of Mac.

Nikon Coolpix A Compact APS-C Sized Camera

Finally, Nikon has joined in the foray of large sensor compacts. Various... if not all, photography-linked websites are talking about it. The basic specs: 16 megapixels of cropped DSLR goodness (?) with no anti-aliasing filter, 28mm equivalent f/2.8 lens. Not too spectacular and considering it came out way after Fujifilm, Sony... came out with their large sensor compacts, it may be too late to make a difference, but depending on how the stars align, maybe not. Lets wait and see.

ps. It retails at US$1,100. That's pretty expensive with so many competitors around.

The Conjuring Teaser Trailer

Ever watched a trailer that's so damn scary? For me, I think this is one of them...

An Arm and a RAM Chip After Lightning

A strange thing nonetheless but who is to deny Apple thinks and in this case put stuff out of the box? An ARM chip with 256MB of RAM in its Lightning to HDMI cable!? Wonder if it's a good thing. The people who found out think it may be Lightning can't output RAW HDMI and needs the little computer to help.

via MacRumours.