shine

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Just say no: Polaroid returns with an instant camera shaped like...the Instagram icon.

- "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song prompts school lockdown.

- You should watch "Room 237," a fan theory documentary about "The Shining."

- 50 fan theories that will blow your mind, and the Subreddit that goes with it.… Read more

One or two jokes have been directed at Apple Maps ever since a less than perfect launch last month. We made one of our own on Rumor Has It a few weeks ago.

It seemed, to some at least, that the maps app had been created after a very drunken lunch between Siri and the Joker.

What a coincidence, then, that a film has emerged of "Batman" losing his way because of his new iPhone 5.

While Siri attempts to direct him as best she can, given her seeming predilection for a tincture at any time of day, … Read more

Up until now tiny pico projectors have been mostly disappointing. But picos like the Velocity Micro Shine are growing up a bit in an effort to offer better picture quality.

According to the company, the Shine's claim to fame is that it's the smallest HD-capable projector with a native resolution of 1,280x768 pixels (WXGA). While that's far from full 1080p resolution, the company says it can accept a 1080p (1,920x1,080) signal. It uses DLP technology with LED illumination and weighs 9 ounces and measure 4 inches on its longest side. … Read more

Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" is, for my money, the greatest (anti-) war film ever made. It also broke new ground in film sound mixing, and the newly remastered three-disc version, "Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure" sounds substantially better on Blu-ray than it did on the previous "Apocalypse Now Redux" DVD.

The 1080p transfers were supervised by the director, and the new Blu-ray is the first disc release in the original wide-screen theatrical aspect ratio (2.35:1). The "Full Disclosure" set also includes "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse," a feature-length documentary (with optional audio commentary from Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola) that was originally released in 1991.

I'm not going to review the Blu-ray's video quality, other than to say it looks great. The DTS Master Audio sound is truly exceptional; I directly compared it with my "Apocalypse Now Redux" DVD that was remastered in 2006 in Dolby Digital sound.

The first thing I noticed about the Blu-ray's surround mix was that it was bigger and more expansive than the DVD's. The film's sound mixer/designer, Walter Murch, produced a remarkably layered landscape. The jungle scenes are populated with a vast array of insects and birds, the sound of wind is sometimes subtly mixed with a vocal chorus, and the far away rumble of bombs exploding will test your subwoofer's stamina. Returning to the DVD's duller and muddled soundtrack was a big letdown.

The "Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure" set is jam-packed with nine hours of extras, but two short featurettes, "The Birth of 5.1 Sound" and "The Final Mix" were the standout attractions for me. The "Apocalypse Now" sound mix was so complex the engineers were required to work 12-hour days from November 1978 to August 1979 (that's about three times longer than it takes to mix the average big budget feature film). "Apocalypse Now" was the first film with stereo surround channels, which is one of the reasons it sounds so much better than other films of the 1970s or 1980s. … Read more

LG joins Telus Mobility's growing lineup of Android phones this week with the release of the Shine Plus. Available for as low as $69.99 with a three-year commitment, the handset looks nearly identical to Verizon's Allyreleased back in May. Details include Android 2.1, a 3.2-inch WVGA touch screen, a sliding QWERTY keyboard, and support for 3G and Wi-Fi. The only noticeable difference between it and its U.S. counterpart is the Shine Plus comes with a slightly better 5-megapixel camera.

The Ally never really took off here in the United States, presumably overshadowed by … Read more

LG and AT&T announced Monday a successor to its LG Shine slider handset, the LG Shine II. It's just as glossy and reflective as its predecessor, complete with a 2.2-inch mirror LCD. Features include a music player with a customizable equalizer, stereo Bluetooth, the typical messaging features, GPS, and a 2.0-megapixel camera. The Shine II will be available starting November 22 for $119.99 after a mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement.

PhotoShine allows users to place their photos into 700 different templates (the trial limits you to 102). The quality of the templates varies greatly; some look pretty nice and could conceivably be printed and framed for display. Others...not so much.

Though the interface was somewhat ugly, it was uncluttered and easy enough to use. The templates that purport to make your photo look like it is featured on a magazine cover are particularly bad, with terrible text and the occasional spelling error. Many of the other templates seem to be made for teenage girls only, which is fine if … Read more

While the benefits of playing video games should be nothing new to astute gamers, surveys and studies are still being conducted seemingly all the time on this subject.

The latest report on the benefits of gaming comes from Sony Online Entertainment (which, I mean come on, how is this impartial?). The results, published in the latest issue of Family Circle magazine, suggests parents are seeing improvements in hand/eye coordination, problem solving, and typing skills since their children have started playing video games.

In addition, games are apparently creating little Enders, by teaching children to think strategically. The report states … Read more

Went to see Martin Scorsese's new concert film Shine A Light with the Rolling Stones, and I have to admit the aged rockers put on a good show. Sure, Mick and Keith's life-long love affair with the blues is still going strong, but their music has become strangely soulless. They jump around, make faces, and the energy level is high, but I didn't care. I've seen it all before, better--the Rolling Stones are now just a machine, reveling in their own outlaw, devil-may-care ethos, a mere simulation of their former selves. Kinda makes me glad the … Read more