Geekisms!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is now the fifteenth movie to surpass $1 billion at the worldwide box office. What were the other fourteen? And how did they fare review wise, comparatively? IGN has prepared an awesome breakdown of these billion dollar movies and their review scores...

What a difference a month makes. When we last checked in early February, Gingerbread was still the most commonly used major version of Google's mobile OS despite having launched all the way back in 2010. As of the start of March, there's a different story to tell: variants of Android 4 are at last more popular, collectively representing 45.1 percent of active use versus Gingerbread's 44.2 percent. Most of those on the newer OS are still using the 2011-era Ice Cream Sandwich, although we have good news again when Jelly Bean has grown to represent 16.5 percent of current users. There's a long distance to go before any one version of Android 4 surpasses Gingerbread, but the gap is closing fast.

The Humble Bundle crew are at it again. Humble Bundle with Android 5 is now available for whatever price you choose. As their slogan says: 'Pay what you want. Support Charity. Get cross-platform, DRM-free games! 

The bundle consists of popular indie titles such as Dynamite Jack, Beat Hazard, Solar 2 and Night Sky HD, along with their soundtracks. Plus, if you pay above the average purchase price which is currently $6.64, you get Dungeon Defenders (with DLC included) and Super Hexagon as well as the soundtracks for both games.  The fun part of all this is that the games are cross platform which means they are available on Windows, Mac, Linux and even Android!

Hot Damn!!

That's all that was on my mind as I watched the latest trailer for the upcoming summer blockbuster, Iron Man 3. More than enough explosions, robots suits to satisfy any geek cravings you may have. Plus if you watch carefully, you'll see glimpses of the self assembling Iron Man armor which comic book fans will know references the extremis technology from the Iron Man comics. One thing I did notice missing though was the trademark humor that Robert Downey Jr. brings to the role of Tony Stark. It seems like this release will be a more serious take on the franchise. 

Whatever the case, its Iron Man 3, its coming out May 3rd, 2013, if you don't watch it you'll lose all your friends and everyone will hate you! 

Just kidding. But seriously, you have to watch it!

I came across a colleague of mine who had purchased the recently released Blackberry Z10. I don't know how much he got it for but I was able to get some hands on time with the phone and I can boldly state this is not the Blackberry that you've gotten used to dissing. First thing you notice is how light the phone is, it felt like I was holding an empty plastic phone case. That's not to say that it feels cheap, the plastic that makes up most of the phone's outer body feels good and the textured back cover is a nice touch too. the screen is gorgeous and the OS is very responsive to the touch. The camera app was very quick with taking photos and just one tap takes you to the picture gallery with minimal fuss. Multitasking works pretty well though I think this is the part of the phone that i believe will confuse most regular folk on account of the fact that the phone has no physical buttons or onscreen buttons to tell you how to switch between apps. Only those who are familiar with the Blackberry Playbook will know to swipe from the bottom of the screen upwards (or those who pay attention to the tutorial before using the phone).

All in all the Z10 is a pretty swanky device with more that enough power to take on the giants of today's smartphone wars and I hope to spend more time with it but what I'm really waiting for is the Q10 with its hardware keyboard which will no doubt be up to the usual epic Blackberry standards.

Things are heating up in the Nigerian smartphone market. LG just introduced the Nexus 4, the latest in Google's line of Nexus devices which offer the purest android experience. I wonder why Google wasn't involved in this? I guess the left it to LG with its greater worldwide presence in consumer electronics.

The Nexus 4 Smartphone which comes with exciting features such as the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Operating System (OS), an 8 Mega Pixel camera, a 2GB of RAM as well as a 2,100 mAh Li-polymer battery has been highly rated by phone pundits as a device for android purists.

Marketing Manager, Mobile Communications, LG Electronics, Mrs. Bukola Arabome, while commenting on the smartphone market, stated that with the introduction of the LG Nexus 4, LG had once more demonstrated that it is committed to providing consumers with mobile devices that enable and empower them in amazing ways that enable them enjoy everyday life and achieve their personal goals.

According to her, LG Nexus 4 is a powerful smartphone with a beautiful minimalist design and fast performance which easily wins internal performance and user experience.

On the Google Play Store, the asking price for the 8GB Nexus 4 is $300 and the 16GB version goes for $350 which is frigging ridiculous considering the fact that its specs are comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X+, both of which retail at over 400 dollars. There's no word yet on the pricing back home here though so the question now is whether LG will offer it in Nigeria for a similar price to that on the Google Play Store. If they do, then that's and instant win! 

Source: THISDAY LIVE

Michael Bay famously booted Megan Fox between the second and third installments of his Transformers series due to personal differences, but apparently the two have since decided to kiss and make up. Bay has just announced that she will be joining his upcoming Ninja Turtles reboot, making her the first official bit of casting for the Jonathan Liebesman-directed film. Hit the jump to keep reading.

Bay revealed the news via his personal website, writing “TMNT: we are bringing Megan Fox back into the family!” Variety adds that Fox will play April O’Neil, and that the studio met with several actresses including Jane Levy, Anna Kendrick, and Elizabeth Olsen for the role. The character started out in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird‘s original comics as a computer programmer, but is probably better remembered for her TV cartoon incarnation as a television reporter.

Paramount put the brakes on the project last summer to work out script issues, so we don’t know yet what the new plotline will be. However, an older draft of the script that made its way to a TMNT fansite indicated that the protagonists of the film would be not Leonardo, Michael, Raphael, and Donatello, but Casey Jones, a security guard and amateur hockey player. (Think of how Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky led the Transformers series.) If that’s still the case, April would likely serve as the love interest.

While Fox’s casting announcement is the first, we can expect to hear many more in the coming months. The project is expected to shoot in April, for a release date of May 16, 2014.

On a tangentially related note, Bay’s wording raises the question of whether the “Teenage Mutant” part of the title has been added back in. Last year, Paramount’s decision to drop the first half of the name drew fire from fans worried that Bay and Liebesman were changing the characters into non-teenage non-mutants. We haven’t heard any word of a title change, though, so it’s just as likely that Bay is simply using the common abbreviation for the characters.

Source: /Film

Earlier this year, rumors surfaced that Google was planning to build its own Chromebook and it seems like whoever started it was right on track. Google just announced that it will be launching the Chromebook Pixel, a 13'', Core i5 touchscreen laptop with 4GB of RAM and either 32 or 64GB internal storage. Google also offers 1TB of online storage for 3 years from Google Drive.

Looking at the Chromebook Pixel, its a bit obvious where its design inspiration comes from. These days you see a wee bit of Macbook in every laptop that comes out and the Google's own offering is part of this group with its aluminium unibody build and chiclet style keyboard. The screen has a higher pixel density than anything currently on the market (239 pixels per inch ppi vs 227 ppi on its closest competition, the 13-inch MacBook Pro) and the 64GB version comes with support for LTE. 720p front facing cam for webchats, 2 USB ports, headphone/mic jack, SD card port and a mini display port cover the input duties for this beauty. No Ethernet ports though and being a Chromebook, it runs Google's Chrome OS which is basically a Chrome browser with access to all Google's apps and services from the Chrome Webstore. In other words, you need a good internet connection to make the most of this device. Not much of a problem for some but here in Naija, internet is not always available.

Anyways, for those interested, the 32GB Wifi version is now available from the Google Play Store for $1299 and will ship in a week while the 64GB LTE version will be available sometime in April. A bit of a high price compared to the other Chromebooks available from Samsung, Acer and recently, HP but someone's got to pay for that high res screen and premium build materials.

So, early this morning, Sony held its PlayStation conference and announced the successor to its 6 year old console, the PlayStation 4. Powered by an x86 processor and 8 Gigs of RAM, the PS4 is a more than capable replacement for the PS3 but Sony was sure to emphasize that the focus of the console was not on the raw computing power but rather on the experience that comes with the new console. One of the key parts of this all new experience is the integrated sharing features. The PS4 allows you to share you games with your friends as you play and even allows them to take over gameplay from you. Add to this the ability to play new games you've purchased while they're still downloading and event test run games you haven't bought yet and it's clear that Sony are concerned about delivering a top notch gaming experience to its customers.