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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Which Retailer Exclusive Version Of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" On Blu-ray Is The Best?

Can you solve the brick wall optical illusion driving the internet crazy

Star Warsfans will finally be able to bring home the latest chapter in the sci-fi saga on April 5 when Star Wars: The Force Awakensreleases on Blu-ray. But though the decision to buy the film is a no-brainer for many, there is yet another choice to be made: which version to buy.

There will be five different home versions of Star Wars: The Force Awakenson launch day, with four of them being retailer exclusive versions that come with various extras. So what does each version come with, and which is the best deal?

Don"t worry, we"re here to help. To make it easy, we"re going to list what each version includes before offering up our opinion on which retailer has the best exclusive. That way you won"t have to agonize over which version to go with. You"ll have all the information (and our opinion) at your fingertips.

For starters, here is what all of the versions include regardless of retailer: the film on Blu-ray and DVD, digital Google Play and iTunes copies of the movie along with a core collection of special features.

Now let"s dive into the differences. Best Buy"s exclusive is straightforward but cool regardless. While no extra special features or goodies are included, the film comes in a stylish steelbook case sporting the faces of Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma. Open the case up, and you"ll see the now-iconic imagery of the Millennium Falcon battling it out with TIE fighters over the deserts of Jakku.

(Photo : Best Buy)

The Wal-Mart exclusive version is much the same in that it comes with an exclusive box, but with an added bonus. Buy The Force Awakensat Wal-Mart, and you"ll snag an exclusive BB-8 slipcover along with a collectible trader disc.

(Photo : Walmart)

Target"s version of the film is the only one to include exclusive special features on the disc, in addition to "an exclusive collectible package" that folds out to show detailed character art. According to the Target website, its version of The Force Awakensincludes "...over 20 minutes of bonus content, including a never-before-seen interview with the film"s breakout stars, Daisy Ridley (Rey) and John Boyega (Finn). You"ll also get a behind-the-scenes look at how the actors trained for their incredible stunts and fight scenes, interactions between the new and veteran cast members, a closer look at how the props team designed and produced some of the film"s new weapons, and lots more."

(Photo : Target)

Last but not least, you can buy the film straight from Disney. Doing so will snag you some exclusive lithographs for your collection.

(Photo : Disney)

Or you can shun all the retailer exclusives and simply buy the standard version that will be available everywhere else. If you can only buy one, our money would be on the Target exclusive version. Though lithographs are nice and there is no denying the coolness factor of Best Buy"s exclusive steelbook case, having 20 minutes of extra special features seems like the clear winner.

You can check out our review of the film"s deleted scenes here.

Related: Can You Hear Darth Vader Breathing In The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer?

Source: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/147054/20160404/which-retailer-exclusive-version-of-star-wars-the-force-awakens-on-blu-ray-is-best.htm

Sia Announces 22-City North American Tour

Sia - Unstoppable (Audio)
Dear TIME Readers,

As a regular visitor to TIME.com, we are sure you enjoy all the great journalism created by our editors and reporters. Great journalism has great value, and it costs money to make it. One of the main ways we cover our costs is through advertising.

The use of software that blocks ads limits our ability to provide you with the journalism you enjoy. Consider turning your Ad Blocker off so that we can continue to provide the world class journalism you have become accustomed to.

The TIME Team

Source: http://time.com/4337268/sia-north-american-tour-dates/

Officials Looking Into Cause Of Apartment Fire In NW OKC

OKC Thunder vs Golden State Warriors - Game 2 - 1st Half Highlights - May 18, 2016 NBA Playoffs
OKLAHOMA CITY -

A fire broke out early Thursday morning at the Lamplight Apartments near N.W. 36th andMacArthur in Oklahoma City.

Officials saidthe fire started on the first floor and spread to the second. The woman in the apartment in which the fire started was transported to the hospital to be treatedfor smoke inhalation.

Residents were told to evacuate from the complex. Everyone got out safely.

Two units sustained fire damage, and the remaining four units in the building received smoke and water damage, according to the fire department.No word on the cause of the blaze.

Source: http://www.news9.com/story/32012407/crews-battle-apartment-fire-in-nw-okc

Superhero Bits: Agents of SHIELD Death, New Marvel Netflix Shows, The Joker"s Gun & More

Marvel"s Agents of SHIELD 3x21 "Absolution" / 3x22 "Ascension" Promo (HD) Season Finale

Who died on Agents of SHIELD last night? When is the Batman: Return to Arkham video game bundle arriving? Which Marvel characters are rumored for their own Netflix series? Which comic convention will no longer have Stan Lee attending after this year? All that and more in this edition of Superhero Bits.

Some fans created a sweded version of the Captain America: Civil War trailer for you to check out.

Who died on Agents of SHIELD last night? You can find out in this recap of the season finale.

Oscar Isaac talks about power and destruction in a new X-Men: Apocalypse featurette.

Harley Quinn voice actress Tara Strong wants a little cameo in the big screen Harley Quinn spin-off.

Batman: Return to Arkham teaser trailer reveals the release date for the video game bundle coming this summer.

Captain America: Civil War is now the highest grossing 2016 movie in the world with over $971 million.

The Flash finale will have a race between the Scarlet Speedster and Zoom, and thats happening next week.

If The CW didnt take on Supergirl, CBS would probably have ended up renewing it anyway.

Due to the amount of graphics and images included in Superhero Bits, we have to split this post over THREE pages. Click the link above to continue to the next page of Superhero Bits.

Cool Posts From Around the Web:

Source: http://www.slashfilm.com/superhero-bits-1069/

Google I/O 2016: from Allo to Daydream, what you need to know

Google Instant Apps - Demonstration (Google IO)

Google I/O is the biggest date in the firms calendar: its the conference where it gets everyone together in one big room (actually, this year it was a tent) in California to reveal all the cool stuff it has been working on.

This year was more focused than most. Its the first I/O since the company restructured itself into Alphabet, hiving off the wilder projects such as Google Glass, self-driving cars and life-extension research into other subsidiaries. Gone are the days of livestreaming a parachute jumper wearing Google Glass from the I/O stage. But that doesnt mean the company wasnt trying to impress with more down-to-earth revelations.

Leading the pack was the companys latest foray into the connected home business: Google Home. A direct competitor to Amazons Echo, Home is a small cylindrical speaker that you place on your coffee table and instruct to listen to everything you say.

Think of a turbo-charged, always-present version of Siri or Google Now and youre most of the way there. It can answer questions, play music and (if you have any smart home gadgets installed) control your house. It might sound creepy, and that was the reaction that many had when Amazon launched the Echo in 2014. But 18 months on and the Echo has been surprisingly popular, selling an estimated 3m smart speakers since its US-only launch.

Where Home is the physical manifestation Googles desire to build your always-on digital butler, Assistant is its digital counterpart. It says its an order of magnitude smarter than its competitors, such as Siri and Alexa (the intelligence behind the Echo speakers), but such claims are tricky to judge.

Sundar Pichai, the companys chief executive, demonstrated one use case: asking Assistant what movie he and his wife should see. Building up the complexity, he added that they wanted to bring the kids, and then asked how good one choice, Disneys Jungle Book, was. Assistant responded with the films rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (In case youre curious: its very good.)

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during Google I/O 2016. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Not apparently named after an 80s British sitcom, Allo is Googles newest messaging platform. It comes with some baggage: the company still has an entirely separate platform, Hangouts, which is built in to Android phones, as well as a number of lesser-used predecessors including Gchat and the now-defunct Wave. But Allo also represents a fresh start for Google, allowing the company to offer end-to-end encryption for the first time. That decision will throw it headfirst into conflict with the FBI, standing alongside Apple and Facebook against the US governments desire to read the text messages of criminal suspects.

Related: Google Allo: new messaging app is latest to fight FBI over encryption

Its still less secure than iMessage or WhatsApp, however, requiring users to actively opt-in to end-to-end encryption through an incognito mode. But security isnt the main selling point of Allo. Instead, thats the built-in chatbots, including Google Assistant itself: Allo users will be able to use Assistant to find extra information or send auto-generated replies. Impressively, it can even parse images, leading to the (perhaps overly specific) suggestion of Nice Bernese mountain dog as one such reply.

Why stop at one messaging app? Duo is Googles take on FaceTime, letting users chat face-to-face, mobile-to-mobile. Thats something Hangouts already does, but unlike Hangouts, Duo is mobile-only and tied to your phone number, not your Google account.

Erik Kay introduces Allo and Duo during the Google I/O 2016 developers conference in Mountain View, California. Photograph: Stephen Lam/Reuters

One interesting feature Duo offers is Knock Knock, which shows a video preview of you before your recipient even picks up the call akin to looking through the peephole of your front door before pretending you arent in when your weird neighbours knocking.

If youre worried all these apps will fill up your phone or take years to download, Google has its own answer for you: Instant Apps. This is a new feature, which will arrive with the next version of Android, N. It lets you load up the part of an app that you need just from clicking a link.

For example, a Buzzfeed video can play in the Buzzfeed app even if you havent installed it, while someone shopping for a camera can buy it using B&H Photos mobile app rather than their website. For users, itll be seamless, and Googles promising that it wont be too much work for developers either.

Never afraid of duplicating itself (see: all its messaging apps), Google is launching a new virtual reality platform called Daydream. Built on top of Android N, Daydream is essentially Android for VR: itll offer users a home screen from which to access apps. Among them will be Google stalwarts including the Play store, YouTube and Photos.

Related: Google Assistant takes on Amazon and Apple to be the ultimate digital butler

Google already has a VR platform, Cardboard, but thats a deliberately limited beast, designed to let users trial a VR-lite experience through nothing more than their existing smartphone and a piece of laser-cut cardboard. Daydream, by contrast, looks built for purpose-made VR headsets, and will probably end up competing head-to-head with the likes of the Gear VR, a Samsung/Oculus co-creation.

Clay Bavor introduces Daydream during the Google I/O 2016 developers conference in Mountain View, California. Photograph: Stephen Lam/Reuters

Google didnt actually save the most surprising thing for last thats an Apple thing but alongside the reveal of Daydream came a second announcement: the company has created a VR headset. Sort of.

Android remains an area where Google prefers to work through third-party manufacturers, rather than building its own kit. Therefore, the Daydream headset it showed off on stage wont be available to buy in stores. Instead, its a reference design, intended to show manufacturers who want to build their own Daydream sets what sort of features theyll be expected to provide. But Googles Nexus phones started off as reference devices, and now you can buy them direct from Google. So who knows whats to come?

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNHdVgk05n7mK8R70AxjQLV8n5Wu5w&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779109259934&ei=u789V9ihB4eY3gHTvK-gCw&url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/19/google-io-2016-what-you-need-to-know-from-allo-to-daydream

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

St. Louis Blues really want Canadians to cheer for them in the NHL playoffs

NHL Rivals: Chicago Blackhawks - St Louis Blues

Its been 46 years since there were no Canadian teams in the NHL playoffs, and while cheering on the Toronto Raptors may help fill the void, Canada is a nation of hockey fans first and foremost.

With no home teams battling for the cherished Stanley Cup, deciding which American team to throw your support behind can be complicated. Is it the team in the coolest city? The one with the best logo? The one your dad was a fan of?

The St. Louis Blues are hoping youll choose the remaining team with the most Canadian players on the roster.

READ MORE:St. Louis Blues winger Scottie Upshall watches from afar as hometown Fort McMurray burns

In a video released on their website last Friday, the Blues urge Canadians to adopt them for the playoffs and list many reasons why, including having 18 players from the Great White North playing for them (Tampa Bay has eight, the Penguins have 11 and San Jose has 13).

WATCH BELOW: St. Louis Blues released this video urging Canadians to adopt them as their playoff team

Other reasons Canadians should adopt the Blues according to the team:

They also highlight that, like Canadians, they are genuinely nice people, which they proved Tuesday when they flew 12-year-old Wyatt Nelson and his visually-impaired father Gerry from Saskatchewan to St. Louis for Game 2 of the Western Conference series.

Wyatt provides play-by-play commentary for his father and when the Blues heard their story, they made them their guests of honour. Wyatt even got to call some of the action on the Blues radio broadcast during a break in the second period.

READ MORE:Saskatoon boy calls play-by-play at NHL playoff game for blind father

To make Canadians feel even more welcome cheering for them, they also promise to perform O Canada ahead of each game even though its not required since no Canadian teams are playing (theyve had difficulties sticking to this promiseunfortunately).

The Blues are currently tied with San Jose 1-1 in the Western Conference finals.

SOUND OFF: Will you cheer for the St. Louis Blues now? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page.

-with files from Thomas Piller

2016Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Source: http://globalnews.ca/news/2708705/st-louis-blues-really-want-canadians-to-cheer-for-them-in-the-nhl-playoffs/

Hailee Steinfeld & DNCE Hit Wango Tango With "Rock Bottom"

DNCE - Toothbrush (Audio)

Hailee Steinfeld crashes the stage during DNCEs set at 102.7 KIIS FMs 2016 Wango Tango held at StubHub Center on Saturday (May 14) in Carson, Calif.

The 19-year-old surprised the crowd on stage when she arrived to perform her duet with the band, Rock Bottom.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Hailee Steinfeld

WANGO TANGO that was unreal. I had an absolute blast. thanks DNCE for letting me crash yo set ;), Hailee wrote on Twitter after the show.

Check out all the pics of their performances below!

35+ pictures inside of Hailee Steinfeld and DNCE at 2016 Wango Tango

Source: http://www.justjared.com/2016/05/16/hailee-steinfeld-dnce-hit-wango-tango-with-rock-bottom/