josh

Actor Josh Gad took programming courses to be Woz

SAN FRANCISCO--Last week it was revealed that actor Ashton Kutcher ended up in the hospital after going on an all-fruit diet to be like Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It turns out, Kutcher's co-star Josh Gad went through some of his own method acting to channel Apple's other co-founder, Steve Wozniak.

"I had to take programming classes," Gad told attendees today at Macworld iWorld, during an onstage interview with Kutcher. "Acting by its very nature is faking. You don't become that person unless you're psychotic."

Gad added that he "was as computer … Read more

Wozniak slams scene in Kutcher's 'Jobs' biopic

Probably only a handful of people know what Steve Jobs was really like. And one of them is Apple co-founder and longtime friend Steve Wozniak.

After watching the first publicized clip from the Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher, Wozniak has said it's all wrong, according to Gizmodo.

"Not close...we never had such interaction and roles...I'm not even sure what it's getting at...," he wrote to Gizmodo.

The movie, titled "Jobs," is about Jobs' life from the 1970s through the 1990s. The cast of characters includes Josh Gad as Wozniak, Matthew … Read more

Speakers and art, together at last

I first spotted Josh Ray's Urban Fidelity Kickstarter project on the Stereophile Web site, and it looked really interesting. The speaker is less than an inch thick and uses a made in the U.S.A. 8-inch driver. Completed speakers will sell for $399 a pair! The Urban Fidelity speaker is an "open baffle" design that uses sound from the front and back of the 8-inch driver. The speaker panel is made with formaldehyde-free wood sourced from North American forests and manufactured in Los Angeles, and the paints and inks are water-based and free of harmful chemicals. … Read more

Twitter co-founders partner with new startup, Branch

Twitter's co-founders, who now head an incubator site called the Obvious Corporation, announced their involvement in a second project today--Branch. This new Web site will be focused on creating a discussion platform that will "turn the Internet's monologues into dialogues."

"The prototype, called Branch (formerly Roundtable), enables a smart new brand of high quality public discourse," Twitter and Obvious Corporation co-founder Biz Stone wrote in a blog post today. "Curated groups of people are invited to engage around issues in which they are knowledgeable."

The Branch project is a partnership between … Read more

Hey, over here! The challenge for startups at CES

LAS VEGAS--The startup scene at CES this year was vibrant--although it was sometimes hard to tell.

The Consumer Electronics Association gave startups their own area this time around, called Eureka Park. It spanned two big rooms in The Venetian, far away from the main convention center and from most of the exhibitors. The goal was to let fledgling businesses participate in the massive show without getting lost amid the big boys.

In that sense, Eureka Park was a success. The booths, 10 feet by 10 feet, cost $1,000, a quarter the price for the same space in the main … Read more

Flipboard editorial chief on how magazines are flipping out (Q&A)

Veteran Time Inc. journalist Josh Quittner completed his defection from print media by joining Silicon Valley startup Flipboard--the popular social-magazine app for the iPad--this past July. Quittner is Flipboard's first editorial director. Before joining the company, he directed Time Inc.'s digital magazine strategy and ran editorial for Time.com. In the mid-1990s he was the first writer to cover the Internet exclusively for Time. And he's also had stints running editorial for Fortune and Business 2.0. So why leave a namesake publishing conglomerate for an unproven social-media experiment? Anyone familiar with consumer technology knows Flipboard … Read more

Why Gowalla hasn't stopped moving

AUSTIN, Texas--It can't be easy for Josh Williams, the CEO of geolocation service Gowalla, to see once-close rival Foursquare plastered all over his hometown this week for the annual South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW). On the massive outdoor "Pepsi Max Lot" where lucky Foursquare check-ins can earn users "golden tickets" to a Monday night concert by Big Boi, at local vendors participating in a blockbuster partnership between Foursquare and American Express, or just on the smartphones of the tens of thousands of geeks who flood the Texas capital for the conference each year.

"… Read more

Engadget top editors exit AOL's giant tech site

Josh Topolsky, the editor-in-chief of Engadget, is leaving the AOL-owned property, which is one of the largest tech news sites on the Web.

Also departing is Managing Editor Nilay Patel, said sources.

Sources said the move by Topolsky (pictured here, although the coffee cup is not permanent) and Patel is not out of the tech news arena and both are considering several options.

But the departures have been a long time in coming, related to a range of ongoing issues the veteran editors have had working for the large New York-based Internet company. Sources said it was not precipitated by … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 19: Google TV is here, do you need it?

Google TV is here, Android Sued again, and all the CTIA news you can handle, All that and more coming up on this week's edition of Android Atlas Weekly.

Google TV http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370416,00.asp

Microsoft sues Motorola over Android http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/microsoft-sues-motorola-over-android/?news=123

Google spits back at Oracle’s Android suit http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/06/google_answers_oracle_android_lawsuit/

Nielsen report shows smartphone buyers flocking to … Read more

Microsoft bringing ESPN to Xbox Live

Just as we suspected back in January, Microsoft has announced an exclusive partnership with ESPN to bring live and on-demand sports coverage to Xbox Live. On hand to reveal the news were ESPN personalities Josh Elliott and Trey Wingo.

The ESPN service will offer 3,500 live events in addition to on-demand content from college football and basketball, MLB, NBA, and soccer games; though there was no direct mention of the NFL and NHL. These streaming games will also offer some DVR functionality too as Elliot and Wingo demonstrated replay modes using voice control through Kinect.

Also enhancing the ESPN … Read more