360 DEGREES Weblog

Equipped with little more than a video camera and a piece of green cardboard, Montreal filmmaker Patrick Boivin earns a comfortable living by setting up action figures on his kitchen table and moving the limbs in tiny increments to produce weirdly funny slugfests. The creative shorts have propelled this self-taught stop-motion auteur from YouTube sensation to Hollywood hopeful in a matter of months.

Patrick Boivin’s warped sense of humor comes through in his amazing videos.
Image courtesy Patrick Boivin
In March, Boivin, 35, heads west to pitch projects on the strength of his videogame-inspired hit “YouTube Street Fighter,” his funny smackdown clip “Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee” and his recent martial arts spoof “Ninja’s Unboxing,” commissioned by Google to promote its new cellphone. The videos have racked up millions of views on YouTube and earned Boivin entry to Hollywood’s hit-making machine.
Essentially a one-man show, Boivin savors the do-it-yourself show biz ethos.

“There used to be this huge process where you had to go to a company with an idea, they’d called another company to hire a director — there was all this protocol,” he told Wired.com in an telephone interview. “Now, thanks to the web, companies can contact me directly to create all this stuff. For them it’s cheaper, and for me it’s a lot of money because I’m all alone.”

Well, not entirely. Shorts posted on Boivin’s YouTube channel triggered a call last year from Circle of Confusion. The talent-management outfit is setting up meetings with movie producers for Boivin to meet with during next month’s trip to Los Angeles.

Read More http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/02/patrick-boivin/#ixzz0fcTBJHRh

Could it be that geniuses at the Sheinhardt Wig Company (also known as GE) are getting creative now that they’re about to get rid of us underlings at NBC Universal (the parent company of our overlords at SyFy)? It certainly appears so, if you take this high-tech sleigh for a spin. It’s a clever interactive app that takes you on a tour of some of the latest ideas from GE, the company Thomas Edison built.

As part of a marketing exercise for their toughened laptops, Lenovo mounted some beefed up laptops as laptop seats on buses heading to a Lenovo event in Germany. The laptop seats are fully functional with working keyboards and touchpads and are strong enough to allow people to sit on them.

I would suspect that it would be better to get on early if one were looking to do a bit of Lenovo seat web surfing as hitting the machines in the afternoon could very well leave a person’s fingers smelling like ass.

Wishing everybody a happy Thanksgiving!

I have been always a great fan from Bowers & Wilkins and they have just  announced their latest MM-1 computer speakers that combines one 3″ woofer and a 1″ tweeter, where each driver will be powered by a dedicated 18W amplifier. The tweeters boast B&W’s signature Nautilus tube-loaded design that is touted to dampen resonance and improve high-frequency sounds. Apart from that, Bowers & WIlkins have thrown in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) components that will automatically adjust sound balance depending on the signal. Digital to analog conversion happens when connected to a computer via USB. Expect the MM-1 to ship next February for a yet undisclosed price.

Enter the Viper rush.  Available in a M (15-inch) and L (17-inch) sizes, the Viper rush zips open 120 degree and features special bumpers to dissipate heat, a neoprene non-scratch pocket and what should prove to be a tear free seat belt style shoulder strap.  The only thing I don’t like about this case is the price tag: $129.95.

Kitchen gadgets can be as fun as any piece of high-techery you have around the house, but what’s the point of a counter full of gizmos when there’s no room left to actually cook? Well at least this Foldable Kitchen Scale won’t be in the way. It can handle loads up to 6.6 lbs providing measurements in 1g units, but folds up to a footprint no larger than a spice shaker. It’s powered by 2 x AAA batteries which are good for about 6 months of average use, and besides providing weight measurements it’s also got a 60 second timer, though that might be a mistake in the copy since I’m not sure what you could really cook in just 60 seconds. (Flash fry a buffalo with 20 seconds to spare?) ~$55 from Pro-Idee.

How many people still use their Mini DV tapes, assuming the gear they own still work? For those who have more Mini DV tapes that they can shake a stick at, why not use some of the spoilt ones’ casing to function as an impromptu iPhone stand? Cheap and tacky, but it does get the job done. Great recycling idea - now if only someone could add some color and interesting artwork to these DIY iPhone stands, they could be on to something here. All Designs are welcome !!!

Just as we’d heard, RIM decided to outsource the production of the planet’s first BlackBerry watch, but that doesn’t mean that devoted BB Messenger users won’t be hankerin’ for one. The inPulse Smartwatch for BlackBerry is being produced by Allerta, and now that it’s official, we can safely say that it’ll rely on Bluetooth in order to bring incoming emails, text messages and other alerts from your handset to your wrist (or your ankle, if you roll like that). As for specs, you’re looking at a 1.3-inch OLED display, glass lens, full metal body, vibrating motor, microUSB port and a rechargeable battery that’s good for around four days of “normal use.” inPulse users will have to install a special BlackBerry application in order to pass along information, but those hoping to use their watch to actually send messages will be sorely disappointed. It’s up for pre-order now at $149, and if all goes well, the first ones will ship out in February.

Bear with us as we bring you the latest rumors related to the most important product that never was: the Apple tablet. Today we have a pair of rumors bubbling to the surface of a delicious tattle brew. First, the SIM card tray pictured above said to be procured from Foxconn (the rumored Apple tablet manufacturer) and available for $14.05 starting October 23rd for the 4th generation iPhone / iTablet… whatever the mythical host device might ultimately be named. It’s certainly different than the tray found in previous gen iPhones and its chunkier appearance would be suitable for a larger GSM device. Plausible yes, though really, such a SIM tray could be used anywhere.

There’s also a pretty big fuss being made this morning over remarks made by Bill Keller, executive editor at the New York Times responsible for the NYT’s web presence. Speaking at an all-hands meeting with the Times’ digital staff, the supposedly off-the-record speech somehow made its way to Vimeo. Here’s the quote that has Apple fanatics and old-media revivalists in a tizzy:
“I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.”
Now, it’s hard to tell if Keller is speaking from insider information or if he’s just another member of the media convinced that Apple’s tablet will be launched in the New Year. Then again, as Keller himself points out, Apple has always had a special relationship with his paper as routinely demonstrated in Apple’s ads that use the New York Times landing page as proof of the “real internet” browsing capabilities of the iPod touch and iPhone.

Thanks Engadget