In ‘celebration’ of Jobs and The Intern, I think we need to remember the worst tech based movies. Guess who made the list?
10. Lawnmower Man 2-Beyond Cyberspace: The motto is “God made him simple. Science made him a god. Now he wants revenge.” I’m not the only one who went ‘huh’. The movie grossed only 2 1/2 million dollars in it’s pathetic run.
9. Jobs: Critics didn’t like this so-called biography of Steve Jobs. Audiences agreed, not even making $7 million in it’s opening weekend. It focused more on the company, and Kutcher and Wozinak can’t stand each other.
8. Matrix Revolutions: Sometimes it’s just better to leave well enough alone. It was too predictable and special effects took over movie development. Thankfully, this was the last Matrix made.
7. The Intern: Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn usually hit it out of the park, but not this time. I guess 40-somethings competing with 20-somethings for jobs happen so much in today’s world not even these comic geniuses make can make it funny.
6. Transformers-Revenge of the Fallen: Once again, they depended more on special effects and less on the actual plots. It’s poor attempt at humor didn’t help matters much.
5. Dreamcatcher: It was supposed to be a sci-fi movie. But this turned into a minstrel show. Aliens coming out of?people’s behind sounds more like a Southpark plot than a Stephen King masterpiece.
4. Plan 9 From Outer Space: This 1959 classic?is more like screen slapstick than screen suspense.?This is what I call, “It’s so bad it’s good”. Check out the trailer.
3. Highlander 2-The Quickning: The fact that it has 4 different time scenarios would make anybody’s head hurt. The only? redeeming quality?of this preachy environment movie?is?Sean Connery. The killing scenes were fun, too.
2. The Happening: M. Night Shyamalan and Mark Whalberg strike out. A movie that starts out with mass suicide has a great hook. Then it just stops making sense.
1. Battlefield Earth: Where do I start??Only 1000 year old technology can save the human?race from?advanced aliens. The aliens enslave humans because of gold.?The special effects remind me of an Atari 2600 game. ?Even Travolta’s acting is cheesy. It’s supposed to be a serious sci-fi movie.?This doesn’t even pass off as comedy. ?It’s so bad I can’t stop watching.
Have you seen the Jobs biography movie starring Ashton Kutcher yet? I haven’t, and I’m wondering if I should. How is the movie? It depends on who you ask.
Critics and other insiders are giving the Jobs movie mixed reviews. Online movie critic site Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of?24 and that’s out of 100. But audience members gave it a score of 52.?The New York Times?didn’t have that many pleasantries either. One critic said Kutcher, “had the sex appeal of?a Power Point presentation.” They criticized the directing for not capturing the passions Jobs had. People who knew and worked with Jobs had plenty to say, like early?Apple employee Daniel?Kottae. ?While he praised Kutcher’s portrayal 0f Jobs, he said portrayals of other characters, especially Wozniak, as inaccurate at best. Kottae claims, “It portrays Woz as not having the same vision as Steve Jobs, which is really unfair.”
Now I’m really skeptical of spending my $12, plus my $5 for a tub of extra butter popcorn. While I do respect Ashton’s work as an actor, I’ve read Jobs’ biography. Steve Jobs is a hard character for anybody to play, I don’t care if Clark Gable comes back from the dead to play him. And the Apple story is a difficult subject to carry. So while the critics are rough, I think they should keep in mind the subject matter the directors had to deal with. But here’s what persuading me to watch Jobs. If you heard Kutcher’s inspiring acceptance speech at the Teen Choice awards, it sounds like playing this role had a great impact on him. So maybe it can inspire others. Other than that, I think I’ll stick with social media spoof iSteve. So do you think the Jobs autobiography is worth me spending $17?
Earlier this week, I did a report on the stock market demise of Blackberry. I thought about other once major tech giants that went down. ?Some had great promise at the beginning and just couldn’t evolve with the technology of today, others were doomed from the start. Guess who made the list?
10.?3D FX Interactive:They once led the field in 3D technology and graphics cards. By the late ’90s, lack of research and development caused them to build graphics card that were irreverent and they lost millions, filing bankruptcy in 2000.
9. Wang Laboratories: ?In the 20th century, they revolutionized computing, from calculators to data processing. This 1980 commercial claims they came up with the e-mail. If only they were around in the 21st century.
8. Ala Vista: In 1995, it was one of the first search engines to appear in this new phenomena called World Wide Web. But when the dot com bubble burst, so did Ala Vista. In 2003, it was bought out, and that company was bought out by Yahoo. As of 2013, there is no more Ala Vista website (all you’ll get is Yahoo’s search engine).
7. Commodore:?Remember the ?Commodore 64? This early home computer system was so popular that in the mid 1980s, it owned up to 40% of that market. Then Apple and other competitors stepped up their game and Commodore became a childhood memory.
6.?MSN TV: “I can watch the TV and the Internet all in one?! Sign me up!” For many?years, this was the reaction for many. Then came Netflix, You Tube, Hulu, etc. MSN TV will be shutting down on September 30, 2013.
5. Palm Computing: ?It was one of the first smartphone companies. Their Palm Pilots were one of the first hand held devices on the market. Their stocks were once $95 and by 2001, they were $6.50. They’re now owned by HP.
4. Napstar: It was the first file sharing network in Internet. It also got them in major copyright trouble, even landing them on Capitol Hill. It’s infamous history is now captured on big screens as well as in documentaries.
3. My Space: In the mid 2000s, My Space was all the social media rage. But Facebook came up with a better social media product. By the time Twitter got popular, My Space became a second class citizen. Yes, it’s still around, but when was the last time the My Space CEO made Time Magazine’s Man of the Year?
2. Blackberry: As I reported a few days ago, their stocks are null and void. And they struggle to keep up with the competition. As they look to be bought out, can they make a comeback?
1. America Online: For a long time, they led the league in all things computer technology. As they entered to the 2000s, they could do no wrong. But by decades end, US subscribers crumbled to 5 million, down from 27 million in 2001-02. They ended their relationship with Time Warner. But it looks like things are starting to turn around. In 2013, they reported their first quarterly revenue in eight years. Can they turn it around?
Facebook is testing a VIP app that can only be used by celebrities. It lets them monitor what fans are saying about them and if they choose, the celebs themselves can jump in the conversation. Facebook wants to get stars to share more of their lives on their site. Let’s face it; it’s a lot easier for celebs and fans to interact on Twitter. That’s what drives so many tweets. Facebook has even put a team together dedicated?to working with?the rich and famous?on their site. Twitter already has celebrity partners, so Facebook is using this app to catch up.
Will it work or is Facebook wasting their time? In my years in the technological world, one thing I’ve learned is never say never. Here’s another reason I think Twitter is a better celebrity site: celebrities don’t have to say or share as much. On Facebook, people can, and often do, share everything. Now I can see why they would want to chime in on conversations, especially when bad things are said about them and want to clear the air. But I’m thinking privacy is an issue here. I don’t like the fact that even more people are paying attention to my FB conversations than they already are, I don’t care how rich and famous they are. Plus, many a celeb actually want their privacy and want to keep some distance between themselves and their fans. That’s one of the biggest complaints many famous people have today. Twitter allows them to do that. Can Facebook allow celebs to interact with fans as well as respect everyone’s space?
Is it me or are there a lot of buyouts going on? Well, I’m listing the Top 10 buyouts in the 2010s. I’m listing them in the order of importance, not really in financial order.
10. Electronic Arts buys Pop Cap, July 2011, $750 Million: Your favorite games like Planets vs. Zombies and Bejeweled Blitz are now part of the same company that brings us Madden NFL and The Sims, giving EA mega gaming power.
9. Disney buys Playdom, July 2010, $563.2 Million: Remember when Disney was about children’s movies and amusement park resorts? Now they’re about owning ESPN, ABC and Playdom, one of the largest social media gaming companies. What’s next?
8. Amazon buys Klva Systems, March 2012, $775 Million: It’s Amazon’s second biggest acquisition in it’s history, but Klva builds robots. Robots are going to be a huge part of our near future one day, and Amazon is in the driver’s seat.
7.. Amazon?buys Quidsi, November 2010, $545 Million: Quidsi is behind diapers.com and soap.com. This acquisition gives Amazon more power over our household products and gives chain stores stiff online competition.
6. Microsoft buys Yammer, June 2012, $1.2 Billion: No coincidence why this tech conglomerate is interested in this private? social media network for businesses.
4. Yahoo?buys Tumblr, May 2013, $1.1 Billion: It’s Yahoo’s biggest purchase in the midst of it’s big comeback. Will Tumblr help Yahoo get in the social media game?
3. Facebook buys Instagram, April 2012, $1 Billion: The social media king got even bigger when it acquired this online photo sharing giant.
2. Google buys Motorola, August 2011, $12.5 billion: It’s still debated why this acquisition happened. I think Google wants to compete with Android and Apple in the smartphone arena. What better way to do it?
1. Microsoft buys Skype, May 2011, $8.5 billion: They’re many reasons why this deal happened. My favorite is juice for Windows 7 Mobile and future Windows. But everyone wanted Skype. Microsoft got it.
Television has come a long way from the old black and white days. Today’s TV comes from things from online connection to cameras. Speaking of cameras, Samsung Smart TV corrected a huge wrong.
Due to a manufacture’s mistake, Samsung Smart TV has been forced to correct a huge wrong. A flaw let hackers get into any screen and turn on the TV and watch the TV remotely. That’s right, they can watch your TV without your control, knowledge or consent. They can use this to log onto your web accounts to get your information. Or worse, they can be watching your every move, even during your more intimate moments. Don’t worry, Samsung did fix the mistake. A security firm named iSEC Partners identified the issue and the makers combated it with proper software.
But this brings up bigger issues. How many more televisions have security flaws like this that weren’t caught? I read an article about how the Xbox One has a camera that can monitor someone at all times. Many of these TVs that connect online have little security, except for a password that often gives you more grief than it ever would a potential hacker. Until firms like iSEC Partners dive into the big issues, I think security issues like this will become more difficult to remedy. When you’re watching your favorite TV show tonight, who might your uninvited guest be?
