50 Cent Unleashes His Fourth Album Before I Self Destruct
Superstar Also Makes His Directorial Debut with Before I Self Destruct, a 90-minute Original Film
50 Cent exploded onto the music scene with his blockbuster debut Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. Now he’s set to deliver his fourth major label album, Before I Self Destruct Shady Aftermath Interscope, on December 9, 2008.
For the explosive Before I Self Destruct, 50 Cent returned to working closely with Dr. Dre and Eminem as he did on his first album. But Before I Self Destruct is more than an album. The package also includes a DVD with an original, gritty, feature-length movie he wrote, directed and starred in. 50 Cent proves with Before I Self Destruct that no one on the hip-hop scene is more aggressive about putting the street on stage.
With Dr. Dre and Eminem each producing and guesting on tracks, and led by the club-friendly first single, “Get Up,” produced by Scott Storch, Before I Self Destruct is darker and harder than last year’s Curtis. 50 Cent wrote much of the album while he, as Curtis Jackson, was also penning the 90-minute film of the same name that would be his directorial debut.
The film Before I Self Destruct is a coming of age story about an inner city youth raised by a hardworking single mother. When his dream of becoming a basketball player fails to materialize, he finds himself employed in a supermarket. After his mother is tragically gunned down, Clarence (played by Jackson) is consumed by revenge and takes up a life of crime in order to support his younger brother.
“My film captures the harsh realities that reflect so many communities today. There will be some who will greatly identify with the characters and the situations presented and then there will be others who may be shocked at the struggles that go on in the inner city,” states 50 Cent. “I made the film for both groups.”
Before I Self Destruct, both album and film, continues 50 Cent’s phenomenal rise from street culture hero to superstardom. 2003’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ sold 872,000 units in the first four days of its release, making it the fastest-selling debut disc in the SoundScan era (since 1991). The #1 Pop, #1 R&B Hip-hop album was the biggest seller of 2003 and has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.
2005’s The Massacre, again #1 Pop, #1 R&B/Hip-hop, was the second biggest-selling album of that year and has sold more than nine million copies worldwide. With the album’s “Candy Shop,” “Disco Inferno” and “How We Do,” 50 Cent became the first solo artist in Billboard history to have three singles in the Top 5 in the same week.
2007’s Curtis reached #2 Pop and #2 R&B/Hip-hop, selling more than five million copies worldwide. Three tracks reached the Top 40 of the Hot 100: “I Get Money,” “Ayo Technology” and “Straight To The Bank.” Time magazine named “I Get Money” one of “The 10 Best Songs of 2007.”
Thanks to Curtis, 50 Cent was honored as the year’s Best-Selling Hip-hop Artist at the 2007 World Music Awards. His music career has also been marked by an impressive 13 Grammy nominations, from Best New Artist to Best Rap Album.
In addition to his record label, G-Unit Records, 50 Cent has enjoyed enormous global success across a vast array of entrepreneurial ventures, including videogames, books, clothing, footwear, beverages, personal care products, automotive and more. He has also starred in a handful of films, including 2005’s semi-autobiographical Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro’s Righteous Kill and now Before I Self Destruct.
BEFORE I SELF DESTRUCT TRAILER:
AT and T Offers New Sony Ericsson W760a Walkman Mobile Phone
New 3G Walkman Phone Delivers Unique Entertainment Experience on Nation’s Fastest 3G Network
Shake, rattle and rock n roll. AT and T Inc. and Sony Ericsson today announced the availability of the Sony Ericsson W760a Walkman phone the first 3G Walkman phone in the U.S. The W760a delivers one of the most well-rounded, on-the-go entertainment and music experiences today and features an accelerometer that gives customers the ability to interact with the device for enhanced music and gaming.
The integrated accelerometer allows customers to shake or tilt the W760a to fast-forward to the next song or to simulate motion while playing video games. Dedicated A and B gaming buttons also allow customers extra control and interactivity, making this a truly great device for gaming enthusiasts.
“Why use buttons when motion can guide mobile entertainment?” said Carlton Hill, vice president of Devices and Product Development for AT&T’s wireless operations. “Whether using the W760a to play a bowling game by mimicking the action or simply shaking it to listen to the next song in your playlist, the W760a can follow your lead.”
Joining the popular W580 and recently launched W350 Sony Ericsson Walkman(TM) phones at AT&T, the W760a phone integrates the Walkman(TM) music player with the full suite of AT&T Mobile Music applications, including Napster Mobile, eMusic Mobile, Music ID and XM Radio.
“We’re excited to offer a full portfolio of Walkman(TM) devices at a variety of price points for a broad range of users and are excited about the continued growth of our relationship with AT&T,” said Najmi Jarwala, president of Sony Ericsson North America. “With the availability of the W760a Walkman(TM) phone, U.S. consumers now have a full range of Walkman(TM) devices to choose from that fit their budget, their style and meet their desire for mobile phones that provide a robust entertainment experience.”
The W760a has a long list of features including Mobile Email, instant messenger, full HTML Web browsing, a 3.2 megapixel camera and AT&T Navigator for turn-by-turn directions and mapping functions. New W760a customers can demo AT&T Navigator with a 30-day free trial(1).
The W760a will be available for $129.99 after a two-year agreement and mail-in-rebate(2) and comes in red, black and silver, with silver exclusive to RadioShack for a limited time. Consumers can roam the globe in more than 200 countries and still stay connected thanks to the W760a Walkman(TM) phone’s 3G mobile broadband speeds that make it quick and easy to download media, share pictures and surf the Internet on the nation’s fastest 3G network from AT&T.
(1) Users must cancel within 30 days or be automatically subscribed at a cost of $9.99 per month for unlimited routes. You can cancel from the “My Accounts” portal on your handset or call AT&T customer care. Standard data charges apply, depending on your plan.
(2) For the Sony Ericsson W760a pay $179.99, and after mail-in rebate, receive $50 AT&T promotion card. A two-year service agreement is also required. AT&T promotion card valid wherever major credit cards are accepted and for 120 days after issue date. May be used to pay wireless bill. Not redeemable for cash and cannot be used for cash withdrawal at ATMs or at automated gas pumps
Additional Disclaimer Information
Internet services may require a fee. As with all wireless products, actual performance will vary depending on environment.
Compatible wireless service required for some features. Additional charges may apply. See rate plan brochure for details.
Facts and features may vary depending on local variant.
Kit contents and color options may differ from market to market. Any product features, specifications or statements in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual product features, specifications or forward-looking statements are subject to change.
About AT and T
AT and T Inc. is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, ATT operating companies, are the providers of ATT services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world’s most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation’s leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT and T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the ATT brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, ATT is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, ATT again ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list and No. 1 on America’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list. Additional information about ATT Inc. and the products and services provided by ATT subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.
About Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson is a top global industry player with sales of over 100 million phones in 2007. Diversity is one of the core strengths of the company, with operations in over 80 countries including manufacturing in China and R&D sites in China, Europe, India, Japan and North America. Sony Ericsson was established as a 50:50 joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in October 2001, with global corporate functions located in London. For more information about Sony Ericsson, please visit http://www.sonyericsson.com/
(C) 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
The Liquid Identity logo is a trademark of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB. Sony, the WALKMAN logo and symbol are trademarks of Sony Corporation. Ericsson is a trademark of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. (C) 2008 Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.
Source: AT&T Inc.
NEIMAN MARCUS Reveals the 82nd Edition of its Legendary Christmas Book
The 2008 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book Features Gifts Offering Once-in-a-Lifetime Experiences, Including a Limited-Edition BMW, Life-Size His and Hers LEGO® Sculptures, Jack Nicklaus Golf Course Design and a 35-Year Collection of 45 RPM Records
Neiman Marcus Selects PLGA Foundation as this Year’s Featured Charity
The 2008 Christmas Book was unveiled today by luxury retailer Neiman Marcus in Dallas. The 82nd edition of this world-renowned book continues Neiman Marcus’s longstanding tradition of offering its customers the ultimate in awe-inspiring gifts.
This year’s edition of the Christmas Book caters to a broad range of consumer tastes and interests with gifts sure to delight both customers with the most discerning eye and shoppers in search of luxurious items to incorporate into their everyday life. A new selection of extraordinary fantasy gifts includes an array of amazing items and packages, including His and Hers life-size LEGO® sculptures, a Dallas Cowboys® Texas Stadium® end zone, the M-Velope® transformable structure, and medieval and Renaissance-era rings. This year’s featured car is the NM limited-edition 2009 BMW? Individual 7 Series sedan.
First published in 1926 as a 16-page booklet, the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book was initially intended as a Christmas card to the store’s best customers. Building on tradition through the years, the book has maintained its personal touch while evolving into a legendary source for alluring and mystical gifts. The arrival of the book has come to mark the official start of the holiday season for many of the Christmas Book’s subscribers.
“This year’s collection of remarkable fantasy gifts is sure to capture the imaginations of our loyal customers who have come to expect the unexpected from the Christmas Book and from Neiman Marcus,” said Burt Tansky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Neiman Marcus Group. “Every year we seek to exceed the expectations set by the previous year’s selection of gifts, and this year will surely not disappoint.”
Among the selection of extravagant gifts in the 2008 Christmas Book are some amazing items, including:
TITANIUM FIGHTER MOTORCYCLE
There’s the startling design that fuses raw power with crisp simplicity. It’s an evolution of the machine, at once taken back down to its core elements while being reinvented and re-engineered for optimal performance. It’s our street-legal sci-fi dream come to life, in the form of the limited-edition Fighter Motorcycle. Ours exclusively courtesy of Confederate Motor Company®, the first ever Fighter packs 190 mph of performance into its cutting-edge carbon fiber, titanium, and aluminum chassis. There’s the 62″ wheelbase, 27″H seat, integrated braking system, lots of high-tech bells and whistles, and custom NM edition features. Only 45 of these raging, right-on machines are available.
($110,000.00; page 69)
DALLAS COWBOYS® TEXAS STADIUM® END ZONE
You can put 530 square yards of sporting history into your own backyard: An entire Cowboys Texas Stadium end zone. Our exclusive package also includes the VIP treatment for the last regular season Cowboys game in Texas Stadium. Your crew gets pre-game photos in your zone with Jerry Jones, a luxury suite for the game, a once-in-a-lifetime post-game tailgate party (with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders) on your soon-to-be new backyard, autographed memorabilia from Cowboys legends, and a VIP package to attend the opening of the new stadium in 2009. The Jerry Jones family and Cowboys organization will generously donate the entire purchase price to The Salvation Army®. A limited edition of 380 framed 26″ x 36″ collages with a touchable section of end zone is also available.
($500,000.00 and $500.00; page 70)
THIRTY-FIVE YEAR COLLECTION OF 45 RPM RECORDS
In this age of soulless digital downloads and MP3 mumbo-jumbo, we gleefully turn to that treasured icon of our American pop culture childhood: the 45 RPM vinyl single. We present our exclusive, definitive collection which contains each and every 45 RPM vinyl record that was listed on the Billboard Top 100® Rock and Pop charts from Jan. 1, 1955, through Dec. 31, 1990. Absolutely every disc for 35 years, every No. 100 up to every No. 1. There are some 18,400 records total. There are literally hundreds of extremely collectible 45s - Elvis, Joplin, Hendrix, you name it.
($275,000.00; page 71)
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE-ERA RINGS
We’ve teamed up with Les Enluminures of Paris to put history in your hands, quite literally, with our exclusive collection of extremely rare original medieval and Renaissance rings. Hand-braided eleven centuries ago, our gold ring is a museum-quality example. Our 15th century English signet ring bears an engraving of the faithful and vigilant pooch. Our 16th century Western European ring graced a maiden’s hand with a sparkling, mysterious 13mm step-cut tourmaline set in enameled gold. Each arrives with its pedigree spelled out in writing.
($25,000.00, $35,000.00 and $45,000.00; page 72)
M-VELOPE® TRANSFORMABLE STRUCTURE
The M-Velope is a 15-foot high by 14-foot wide by 17-foot deep creation of functional art built with a steel frame. All its hinged wood panel frames open, move, and close at your whim. Michael Jantzen, an internationally famous architectural pioneer/artist, created it and is crafting just 10 structures for us exclusively. He’s a leader in rethinking how we live, and he’s been green since ‘71. He builds each M-Velope with new Accoya® wood products that are durable and completely sustainable.
($100,000.00; page 73)
HIS & HERS LIFE-SIZE LEGO® SCULPTURES
Acclaimed artist Nathan Sawaya fills his New York studio with more than 1.5 million LEGO? bricks, and he can sculpt anything out of them. Given the skill and depth of his devotion to his art, it makes perfect sense to immortalize your own magnificent self with our 2008 His & Hers gifts. Send in detailed photos and measurements, then Nathan gets to snapping and BOOM! One-of-a-kind, life-size sculptures of yourselves in LEGO? bricks. We priced our exclusive gift individually, so Nathan can “brickalize” you and/or anyone else you obsess about.
($60,000.00 each; page 74)
JACK NICKLAUS CUSTOM BACKYARD GOLF COURSE
Yes, THE Jack Nicklaus. Jack will study topography, aerial photos, and landscape maps for the site, then send his team to survey the property. He’ll create a formal design plan and color renderings for up to three holes and a practice area. Your construction crew builds from it, with supervision from Jack’s world-class design team. When the course is finished, the Golden Bear himself will stop by to play the first round with you, personally. He’ll sign his club and ball for your collection and throw in a custom set of Nicklaus clubs, including a personalized bag.
*Construction and site preparation costs not included
(Beginning at $1,000,000.00; page 76)
HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS® ON-COURT EXPERIENCE
Here’s your once-in-a-lifetime chance to play on your dream team, joining stars like Scooter Christensen and Special K Daley on court with the Harlem Globetrotters. Your exclusive gift package includes a personalized official uniform, guaranteed playing time in a U.S. 2008-09 season game, introduction as a special guest, and insider access to the team.
($110,000.00; page 77)
PLATINUM WEDDING AT THE RESORT AT PELICAN HILL®
There is a rare opportunity to make nuptials the stuff of family legends, with our exclusive turnkey luxury wedding experience at The Resort at Pelican Hill. The ultimate resort setting on the breathtaking coast of Newport Beach, California. A personal engagement coach to take care of every detail, a couture wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses custom designed by Carolina Herrera, up to 40 private ocean-view guest villas and every detail exquisitely executed from the magical cake to the perfect flowers to the private celebrity entertainment at the reception. Our experience also includes resort events for the bridal party, a rehearsal dinner event, an after-reception party, and gourmet breakfast the next day for family and guests.
(Beginning at $1,300,000.00; page 78)
AUTHENTIC GUINNESS® HOME PUB
In celebration of Guinness’ 250th Anniversary, the legendary brand is offering the ultimate gift for beer lovers - a fully functional traditional Irish pub custom-built for their home. The Authentic Guinness Home Pub will be handcrafted with Guinness artifacts and Irish architectural elements reflecting the brand’s rich legacy. The bar also comes with a keg dispensing unit and a one year supply of fresh Guinness draught - ideal for serving perfectly poured pints. Included in the gift package is a VIP trip for two to Dublin, with first-class airfare, luxury accommodations and insider access to the magic being made at the historic St. James’s Gate brewery. Whether out at the pub, or enjoying in the luxury of one’s home, Guinness is always best enjoyed responsibly.
($250,000.00; page 79)
NM LIMITED-EDITION 2009 BMW® INDIVIDUAL 7 SERIES SEDAN
The all-new BMW 7 Series has an ‘09 launch date, but to commemorate 31 years of the BMW 7 Series in the USA, we’ve got just 31 limited-edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series Sedans available for purchase. The inside is furnished with our exquisite BMW Individual Champagne Merino full leather and Alcantara® headliner. The outside finish: our exclusive, 31-autos-only iridescent Diopside Black and illuminated Neiman Marcus entry sills. Also part of the package is a once-in-a-lifetime European adventure. Our exclusive trip includes two business-class tickets on Lufthansa® from New York, gourmet meals, luxury hotel for four nights including Munich and the French Riviera, and rare insider access to BMW. The adventure is scheduled for April 2009. Available beginning at noon EDT on October 16, 2008. Call 1-866-303-2696 to order.($160,000.00; page 81)
THREE CHIMNEYS THOROUGHBRED RACING PACKAGE
You want a working, turnkey, in-the-running thoroughbred racing enterprise right out of the starting gate? You go to Three Chimneys Farm. For this exclusive package, you get the works because Three Chimneys means business. They will build you a stable of 12-15 thoroughbreds and with your input will train them, house them, select races, enter them in races, provide you a personal racing concierge, and manage the entire enterprise for you for the next four years. As the owner, you get to name your stable and any unnamed horses, design your own silks, attend races, pose for pictures, give quotes to the media… and keep all the purses and trophies.
($10,000,000.00; page 82)
Peachpit Announces Free Creative Suite 4 Online Resource Center and New Line of CS4 Books
Peachpit today announced the launch of a Creative Suite 4 online resource center, and the publication of new books designed to enable readers to get the most out of the powerful features of CS4, Adobe’s latest software release. The resource center and books are aimed at all levels of users and cover all that’s new in CS4 including Adobe Photoshop CS4 Adobe InDesign CS4 Adobe Illustrator CS4 and more.
The new Creative Suite 4 online resource center offers complimentary sample chapters, video tutorials, detailed book descriptions with pricing and availability and articles from CS4 experts, including Whats It Going to Take to Run Photoshop CS4? A Real World Guide to the Hardware You’ll Need Getting Familiar with Paths in Adobe Flash CS4 Professional and Creating Tables in Dreamweaver CS4.
Peachpit’s CS4 lineup of books includes more than 50 titles. The first books are scheduled to ship this month, immediately following the launch of CS4. Adobe Photoshop CS4 Up to Speed will be the first available title, followed shortly by the bestselling Classroom in a Book series, officially backed by Adobe, and the Visual QuickStart Guide series—Peachpit’s classic task-based series that has been a leader for over 15 years and has sold over 11 million copies. Readers can also look for Scott Kelby’s The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers, just one of the books that has made Scott Kelby the #1 computer book author for the 4th year; as well as the popular Real World, Studio Techniques, and How-Tos series coming in late 2008 and early 2009.
For CS4 users who can’t wait for the printed book, several titles will be available as Rough Cuts through Safari Books Online, including Adobe Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book and Adobe After Effects CS4 Visual Effects and Compositing Studio Techniques. Rough Cuts provide access to an author’s developing manuscript before the final product is published, and are regularly updated as new material becomes available. While the book is in progress, users can choose to purchase electronic access with unlimited viewing and PDF downloads of each revision, pre-purchase the print book, or get the best of both worlds—electronic access immediately and the print book later. Free trials of Safari Books Online are available now.
About Peachpit
Berkeley-based Peachpit has been publishing the industry’s best-selling books on the latest in graphic design, desktop publishing, multimedia, Web design and development, digital video and general Macintosh computing since 1986. Its award-winning books feature step-by-step explanations, time-saving techniques, savvy insider tips, and expert advice for computer users of all sorts. It is the home of the internationally recognized Visual QuickStart Guide series, the design imprint New Riders and its highly popular Voices That Matter series, and is the publishing partner for Adobe Press, lynda.com, NAPP, Apple Certified, AIGA Design Press and others. Peachpit is part of Pearson, the international media company. Pearson’s primary operations also include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. Learn more at www.peachpit.com and www.pearson.com.
Brother Introduces New Compact Line of Inkjet All in Ones
Brother’s Easy-to-Use MFC-790 All-in-One Meets Home Office Needs With Fast Printing, Copying, Scanning and Faxing and a TouchScreen for $179.99
Brother International Corporation today introduced its next generation, color inkjet line to provide home office and small office professionals with a robust all-in-one machine. Each model in the line is outfitted with the essential tools for reliable printing, copying, scanning and faxing, and the MFC-790CW includes an easy-to-navigate TouchScreen and wireless networking. With this new all-in-one line, Brother continues its leadership in understanding the needs of today’s home offices and small offices by providing an abundance of features in one small footprint.
Available as of October 2008 and retailing for approximately $179.99#, the MFC-790CW is the line’s flagship model. The user-friendly unit offers a plethora of features important to every office environment, such as:
802.11 bg wireless networking for easy connection to multiple PCs via a wireless or wired connection
4.2 inch TouchScreen for easy menu navigation
Direct photo printing on demand from media slots and PictBridge interface
Photo enhancement and editing features on-screen
Up to 15 page automatic document feeder
User friendly front loading cartridges
Convenient telephone handset
* Separate color ink cartridges for efficient replacement
The MFC-790CW also boasts a sleek and stylish design, with rounded curves, a glossy piano black finish, enhanced control panel design, and blue back-lit lights.
Brother is dedicated to developing technology that is not only innovative but also is easy to operate and user-friendly, explains Brother’s Senior Marketing Manager Marie Le. From its compact design to the most necessary all-in-one features, the MFC-790CW was developed to make home office users lives easier at an affordable price.
The MFC-790CW covers the essential needs for today’s home office and small office, whether the user wants to print brilliant color photos or is on deadline to print and copy business documents. The machine also offers a built-in answering machine and telephone to streamline the office.
Brother’s all-in-one line includes the following models:
MFC-290C ($99.99) up to 30 ppm color and 25 ppm black printing speed, built-in fax function, automatic document feeder, media card slots, PictBridge USB direct interface
MFC-490CW ($129.99) all the features of the MFC-290C, plus up to 33 ppm color and 27 ppm black printing speed, a widescreen 3.3 inch color LCD display, built-in wireless and Ethernet networking and photo bypass tray
MFC-790CW ($179.99) all the features of the MFC-490C, plus a TouchScreen 4.2 inch color LCD display, built-in answering machine and telephone
All models are currently shipping.
Each all in one comes with Brother’s One Year Express Exchange limited warranty. The entire line will be available for purchase at national office superstores as well as other retailers, dealers and online resellers. Estimated street price may vary
About Brother
Brother International Corporation is one of the premier providers of products for the home, home office and office. The U.S. corporate office in Bridgewater, N. J., was established on April 21, 1954 and currently markets many industrial products, home appliances and business products manufactured by its parent company, Brother Industries, Ltd. of Nagoya, Japan. These products include an award-winning line of Multi-Function Center machines and printers. Brother also provides the number-one line of facsimile machines in the U.S. and is the leader in electronic labeling, with its full line of P-touch Electronic Labeling Systems. For more information you can visit the Web site at www.brother.com.
SGN Launches iBowl for iPhone
Filed under: Product Launches, Tech News, press release
Using the iPhone’s unique accelerometer technology iBowl simulates a mobile bowling alley where you swing your iPhone like a bowling ball
Today, on the heels of the release of the hugely popular game iGolf, SGN, the leading social gaming company, has launched iBowl. Like iGolf, iBowl leverages the innovated accelerometer mobile technology platform for the iPhone to let bowling fans, sports and gaming enthusiasts play on-the-go.
“We are continuing to push the boundaries of social gaming to engage all gamers and enthusiasts in innovative ways through our creative use of platforms such as the iPhone,” said Shervin Pishevar, CEO of SGN. “The success we have seen with iGolf demonstrates the demand for this kind of entertainment for all audiences.”
Pishevar continues, “SGN is committed to developing social games for all audiences across all platforms and leading the industry with mobile applications that push the social networking envelope.”
iGolf and iBowl are the first two games in a series of iPhone and mobile gaming applications that will be available over the coming months. To play iBowl, the user depresses the ‘BOWL’ button on the touch-screen interface throughout the swing and releases the button at the end of the swing to direct the bowl down the bowling lane. By twisting your wrist while you swing the iPhone the player can create spins and control the direction of the bowling ball. Updates to this game will be available by October 13, 2008.
Today iGolf has been chosen as a ‘Featured Game’ in the Apple App Store. With over 900,000 downloads to date, iGolf is a leader in downloaded games for the iPhone.
The development of iPhone games marks SGN’s expansion in mobile and social gaming technology, heralding its commitment to expanding the “social graph” established on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Hi5 across multiple platforms and form factors. SGN is taking its extensive experience in the development of original and engaging game play an applying cutting-edge technology to create a compulsive game play experience.
About SGN
SGN is the largest developer of social networking games and applications. SGN’s current network of games commands over one million game players per-day across multiple social networking platforms including Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. For more information go to www.sgn.com.
Nokia Launches Pioneering Comes With Music Digital Entertainment Service
Filed under: Breaking News, Product Launches, press release
New Service Offers Customers Unprecedented Freedom and Value
EMI Music, Independents and Music Publishers Join Offering
At the Nokia Remix event held today in London and Singapore, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) announced the debut of its pioneering Comes with Music digital entertainment service which offers consumers a new way to discover and enjoy music. Customers who buy a Comes With Music device will be able to explore and enjoy a diverse catalog of music of international and local artists with unlimited access to millions of tracks for a year, keeping the music once the year is over and revolutionizing their digital music experience.
“Comes With Music sets a precedent for consumer value and convenience that the rest of the digital entertainment industry is already copying,” said Tero Ojanpera, executive vice president and head of the Nokia entertainment and communities business. “Trying out a music recommendation is spontaneous as customers can download without worrying about the cost of an album or a track - the freedom and simplicity of the service is unparalleled. And Comes With Music gives you unlimited access to the millions of tracks in the Nokia Music Store and the music is all yours to keep - because it’s not a revolution unless you get to keep your music.”
Comes With Music offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue and customers can keep all the music that they have downloaded at the end of the year to continue enjoying their music collection. Comes With Music will be available across a range of Nokia devices, including the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic - also announced today and the Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia 5310 XpressMusic. With more than 10 million units sold globally since its introduction last year, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is the best selling music phone in the world.
EMI Music has joined as the latest major label to support Comes With Music.
“With the launch of Nokia’s Comes With Music, fans now have a new avenue to find and enjoy music from EMI’s catalogue, and our artists have a powerful new way to reach their fans,” said Douglas Merrill, president, digital business, for EMI Music. “By encouraging music discovery in an innovative and consumer-friendly environment, Comes With Music will continue to push experimentation in the digital music industry.”
Comes With Music will also feature a tremendous selection of independent music, courtesy of deals with The Orchard (NASD: ORCD), Beggars Group, IODA, the Ministry of Sound, PIAS and Pinnacle. These companies join Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group in supporting Comes With Music. Nokia has also secured music publishing rights from CELAS on behalf of EMI Music Publishing, GEMA on behalf of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, SACEM on behalf of Universal Music Publishing, as well as the MCPS-PRS Alliance.
The United Kingdom will be the first market to offer Comes With Music with sales planned to start on October 16, 2008. The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Comes With Music edition is expected to cost GBP 129.95 and people can pre-register their orders for Comes With Music devices from Carphone Warehouse at http://www.carphonewarehouse.com.
http://www.nokia.com/comeswithmusic
Notes to Editor:
For multimedia material on the Nokia Remix, please visit http://events.nokia.com
For print quality photos, please visit http://www.nokia.com/press/photos
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable customers to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
About EMI Music
EMI Music is the recorded music division of EMI Group Limited, one of the world’s leading music companies. EMI Music represents artists spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin.
http://www.nokia.com
Source: Nokia Corporation
AOL Television Launches New Online Series Outside The Box
AOL Television has announced the launch of Outside The Box, http://www.television.aol.com/outside-the-box, a new free on-demand online series in which cast members from popular network and cable television programs interview one another using fan submitted questions. The debut episode, featuring Kate Walsh, Taye Diggs, Audra McDonald and Tim Daly from ABC’s Private Practice will premiere today. The season premiere of Private Practiceairs tonight, Wednesday, October 1 (9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
The new series will put the power directly into the hands of television fans, allowing them to create and submit questions that will be used during the interviews. The one-on-one format features two or more cast members interviewing one another about the show, their characters and their antics on and off the set. Each episode will last no more than ten minutes and also include comical outtakes and bonus clips. AOL Television will debut episodes periodically. Forthcoming episodes include ABC’s Desperate Housewives (series airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC) with Felicity Huffman and Doug Savant; Dirty Sexy Money (airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET on ABC) with Lucy Liu and Peter Krause; Life on Mars (premiering Thursday, Oct. 9, 10:00 p.m. ET on ABC) with Michael Imperioli and Jason O’Mara; and Scrubs with Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and Donald Faison. The series will be filmed remotely or at AOL’s studios in Los Angeles or New York.
“Outside The Box signifies our ongoing commitment in providing consumers with the highest possible production quality, while simultaneously providing fans with unparalleled access to top talent,” said Mike Rich, Senior Vice President. “This new series will provide advertisers a new venue for high impact custom solutions while reaching a large scale built-in audience who consume, and then share video on the web.”
Outside The Box is supported by AOL’s digital advertising business, Platform-A, http://www.platform-a.com, which will identify key opportunities for advertisers and provide relevant display advertising and content-targeted links on the sites.
The series will be part of AOL Television’s growing offerings, which include free and full streaming of a myriad of current and classic TV series, daily video highlights of last night’s top television moments, celebrity interviews, photos and gossip, as well as interactive quizzes, user-polls and original editorial features. AOL Television is one of the most trafficked sites on the Web for television fans with more than 14 million unique visitors according to the August 2008 comScore Media Metrix report.
Outside The Box is an outgrowth of Moviefone’s signature series, Unscripted, in which cast members from film interview each other using user-submitted questions. Since the series launched in 2004, Moviefone has filmed more than 60 episodes of the series, including interviews with Hollywood A-list talent including Johnny Depp, Will Smith, George Clooney and Halle Berry. In addition to Unscripted, the new show joins AOL’s roster of long running original series that include AOL Music Sessions, The DL, and The Interface.
About AOL
AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC and its subsidiaries have operations in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.
Google Launches New Google Blog Tracking Service
Google announced today a new Blog Tracking Service. Here is the announcement from Google’s Official Blog.
Did you know that millions of bloggers around the world write new posts each week? If you’re like me, you probably read only a tiny fraction of these in Google Reader. What’s everybody else writing about? Our Blog Search team thought this was an interesting enough question to look into. What we found was a massive mix: entertaining items about celebrities, personal perspectives on political figures, cutting-edge (and sometimes unverified) news stories, and a range of niche topics often ignored by the mainstream media.
Today, we’re pleased to launch a new homepage for Google Blog Search so that you too can browse and discover the most interesting stories in the blogosphere. Adapting some of the technology pioneered by Google News, we’re now showing categories on the left side of the website and organizing the blog posts within those categories into clusters, which are groupings of posts about the same story or event. Grouping them in clusters lets you see the best posts on a story or get a variety of perspectives. When you look within a cluster, you’ll find a collection of the most interesting and recent posts on the topic, along with a timeline graph that shows you how the story is gaining momentum in the blogosphere.
ABSOLUT LAUNCHES PIONEERING ONLINE ART PLATFORM TO EXHIBIT HELMUT LANG’S ALLES GLEICH SCHWER
Filed under: Launch Events, Product Launches, Site Launches
ABSOLUT vodka is proud to launch a radical medium to view and experience art, as a new online virtual “gallery” goes live, showcasing Helmut Lang’s “Alles Gleich Schwer”. This, a bold new exhibition of artworks, will be brought to a global audience as part of the artist’s vision of an ABSOLUT WORLD, eradicating traditional barriers between viewer and art, consumer and gallery - accessible to all for a three month period through WWW.ABSOLUT.COM/HELMUTLANG.
To present “Alles Gleich Schwer” in a digital environment, ABSOLUT and Helmut Lang are working as a creative partnership to develop a uniquely innovative interactive platform, in which the art can live beyond physical space and outside the restraints of location. Here, users will be able to get under the skin of the art - move it, rotate it, almost virtually cradle it. Moreover, in a ground-breaking exploration of the Internet as a creative medium, visitors to ABSOLUT.COM/HELMUTLANG will be able to exclusively download and print limited edition high-res exhibition posters, with no requirements needed other than an Internet connection.
This desire to work with the web’s inherently self-regulating methodology is key to Lang’s vision, as he states, “I’m interested in the virtual platform because of its relatively democratic nature and specifically to be independent from time or geographic boundaries.” Here, users have “equal access to the same information” and are afforded “the unique experience of viewing art in an isolated manner, which also has its interesting side.”
Absolut’s Karl-Johan Bogefors adds, “the opportunity to create an environment in which participants, irrespective of where they might be, can have access to and interact with outstanding original material in an honest and forward-thinking way, has been a great satisfaction for us.”
“Alles Gleich Schwer” previewed at the prestigious kestnergesellschaft in Hannover as Helmut Lang’s first solo institutional art exhibition, curated by Frank Thorsten Moll and Neville Wakefield. The exhibition marks Lang’s move away from the physical body’s articulation through clothes towards an understanding and examination of the object. Drawing on references as diverse as the folkloric rites of maypole ceremonies and the exploration of surrogate skin, Lang has created a series of visual pieces that integrate an intimate knowledge of the human form with the personal mythologies and abstract arrangements of the world at large.
The collaboration between Helmut Lang and Absolut draws on a relationship that stretches back to Helmut Newton’s “ABSOLUT LANG” campaign (1995) and reflects Lang’s early adoption and appreciation of the Internet, which he used before any other designer to showcase fashion collections (Helmut Lang Scéance de Travail, A/W 97-98, online). Karl-Johan Bogefors explains, “Absolut as a brand has from the very beginning and throughout its well documented history communicated an innate creativity. Helmut Lang is a true Visionary, in all his output - fashion, art, even the communication of these disciplines, which is itself an artform. In this respect he is part of the language and culture of Absolut, and we are proud to be working together once more to help realise this, his new Vision.”
Absolut’s latest project with Helmut Lang is part of its larger ‘In An Absolut World’ Visionaries campaign’; an online-led brand program that engages both consumers and leading creative luminaries to express clever and daring visions of an ideal world and helps bring them to life on ABSOLUT.Com. Other recent Visionaries include Kanye West, uber-blogger Perez Hilton, comedian Zach Galifianakis, with upcoming visions expected later this year from Eddie Izzard and artist/eco-chef Jim Denevan.
WWW.ABSOLUT.COM/HELMUTLANG will be on view from September 30th - December 31st.
“Alles Gleich Schwer” will be on view at the kestnergesellschaft August 31st - November 2nd.
www.kestner.org