star

BARCELONA, Spain--A Star is born: the Alcatel One Touch Star is a new budget Android phone that brings you Jelly Bean without busting your wallet.

The Star is cute enough, with a slight sheen to the back. The case comes in white, black, or pink. The build quality feels solid and not at all rickety, but plastic does look and feel cheap.

For a budget phone, I was instantly struck by how bright and vibrant the 4-inch AMOLED screen is. Games and apps look colorful and run smoothly thanks to the 1GHz dual-core processor.

It's an Android phone, so … Read more

Social media is full of watermarked photos, so this program would seem to be a great idea. With Star Watermark for Mac you can place text and image watermarks on photos. However, with the trial version you can only place watermarks on the included two trial photos.

The full version of Star Watermark for Mac might work great but the trial version doesn't let you do much. Altered watermarked photos cannot be saved but they can be seen. With this version you can modify color, size, orientation and rotation of text and images. Alterations are measured by pixel so … Read more

It's not easy being a "Star Trek" extra. I can only imagine the cold sweats and terror you'd feel if the wardrobe manager handed you a fresh red shirt from the rack. Your chance of making it through the episode just took a dive. Or did it? New mathematical calculations show that the redshirt death rate may not be as dire as we thought.

Matthew Barsalou breaks down the numbers for Significance Magazine. He sticks with the original series and starts by looking at the casualty rates for the different uniform colors across all three seasons.… Read more

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This week on Crave, William Shatner has some choice words for J.J. Abrams, and we toss one back in the greatest drinking game ever invented. Cheers! Plus, we dodge a bullet the size of a football field as an asteroid nearly collides with Earth. Phew. … Read more

The original "Star Wars" trilogy would have lost a lot of its luster if it didn't have Harrison Ford running around playing the roguish bad boy/good guy Han Solo. If a scoop from movie and pop culture site Latino Review is true, Ford will soon get another shot at running around the galaxy.

Latino Review, citing "legitimate sources," unveiled an exclusive scoop saying that Ford's signing for "Star Wars: Episode VII" is a done deal. This could be dismissed as just another rumor, but Latino Review has a pretty decent track record for breaking this sort of entertainment news.

Ford has already shown a willingness to revisit roles that made him famous as a younger actor. The most recent Indiana Jones film came out in 2008. He's taken a longer break from "Star Wars," but has already expressed interest in revisiting the role.… Read more

J.J. Abrams is a busy man. The director who breathed new life into the "Star Trek" film franchise recently agreed to helm the new "Star Wars" movie. This may have fueled geeky fever dreams of crossover "Star Trek"/"Star Wars" projects, but it also led to some head-scratching. Does Abrams really have time to head up two major sci-fi film series?

"Star Trek" did have Abrams first. His sudden commitment to "Star Wars" may have left a few Trekkies feeling like they've gotten involved in an unexpected cinematic menage a trois. That's why I have some sympathy for William Shatner's recent comments to Movie Fanatic.

When asked to share his thoughts on Abrams adding "Star Wars" to his resume, Shatner said, "He's being a pig. He's collecting the two franchises and holding them close to his vest. And he's probably the most talented director of that ilk we have, but he's gone too far this time."… Read more

There's no disturbing lack of faith among Kickstarter supporters.

After all, a crowdfunded project to construct the Death Star that was launched less than a week ago already has nearly 1,500 backers and an astonishing $364,772 in pledges.

Well, the Rebels aren't taking that threat sitting down. A rival Kickstarter campaign to build X-wing fighters has just taken off. Its goal is to build one of the famous spaceships from "Star Wars" and then more. … Read more

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This week on Crave, Japanese scientists teach moths to drive mini trucks, and a new app called Dognition claims to improve our relationship with man's best friend. Also, we decide if a $30 million Death Star Kickstarter campaign is worth it, and Montana is apparently full of badasses! Those stories and more, plus a round of "Into It, Not Into It." … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Hacker exposes George Bush's family photos, portraits.

Wait, so PS4 won't have better graphics?

- J.J. Abrams may direct a Portal and/or Half-Life movie!

- Snow panic has driven Weather.com completely insane.

- Patent troll says he owns "podcasting," sues Adam Corolla, HowStuffWorks.… Read more