A divorcing couple travels upstate to remove personal items from their lakeside cabin. Their trip starts off tenuous, but soon, with the inspiration of the countryside, they rediscover their love for one another. Their happiness doesn't last long; as the sun sets, they are trapped in the cabin by a pair of men who seek to reveal the true dynamic of their relationship. (Two Boots Pioneer Theater)

How Powell and Pressburger managed to become quite so commercially successful is something of a mystery to me, despite my belief that they are perhaps the finest creative team in cinema history. This is not quite the weirdest of the lot- A Canterbury Tale wears that crown- but it is a strange, perplexing film, rich in atmosphere and stunningly beautiful to look at, despite being filmed almost exclusively on the Pinewood backlot. Perhaps the greatest achievement here is making a film about nuns, in which nothing of great note really happens until the end, utterly riveting, and even terrifying: Black Narcissus feels almost like a horror film without the horror, an exploitation movie without the exploitation, brimming with all the seediness and gross, repressed sensuality that made Peeping Tom such a critical blow to Powell’s career. The difference is that here he keeps things in check, simmering just below the surface, equally disturbing but mercifully hidden.

The DSC-T70 looks flashy, but its image quality leaves room for improvement, and we found its touch screen frustrating to use.

Although the number of people visiting online retailers on the day after Thanksgiving was up 12% over last year, according to the Nielsen/Net Ratings Holiday eShopping Index, that's a smaller increase than in 2005.

A manufacturing defect is resulting in permanent data loss for numerous MacBook owners, according to Retrodata -- a UK-based drive recovery firm. The company says the critical flaw resides only in Seagate 2.5-inch SATA drives produced in China with a firmware version of 7.01, and an Apple spokesman has acknowledged that the company is looking into ...

This patch updates Blacksite to version 1.2.

A new hydropower prototype from the University of Michigan could end up using even slower river and ocean currents to generate energy. VIVACE, which stands for Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy, can generate power from as little as 2 knots, making it more useful than most turbine and water mill systems out there, which need an average of 5 to 6 knots to operate efficiently.

The system works by harnessing “vortex induced vibrations,� the thrumming caused by the flow of liquid or air over rounded objects. A cylinder placed underwater is subject to the current and starts to vibrate as liquid sticks and creates eddies on the object's opposite side. It's the same scientific principle that caused the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940.

"For the past 25 years, engineers—myself included—have been trying to suppress vortex induced vibrations. But now at Michigan we're doing the opposite. We enhance the vibrations and harness this powerful and destructive force in nature," said VIVACE developer Michael Bernitsas, a professor in the U-M Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

Just a few cylinders could possibly power an anchored ship or a lighthouse. An array of VIVACE cylinders about the size of a running track could produce energy at 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour and power about 100,000 houses. U of M is now working on possibly deploying a pilot project in the Detroit River within the next 18 months. [UMich via Gizmag]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Aiming to plug the huge security hole that is our domestic port system, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a so-called "neutron-scatter" camera that is able to detect almost any radioactive material in its field of view -- even if it's hidden behind layers of shielding, such as in a cargo container. While traditional gamma ray-based handheld detectors are hobbled by relatively stringent proximity requirements, the Sandia cam uses an array of orthogonal sensors to pinpoint neutrons in 3D space at a "classified" distance, although its bulk and laggy result times mean that both types of devices should be used together for maximum efficiency. Currently the prototype neutron-scatter cameras are being deployed to several field locations for calibration, where their detectors will be trained to better compensate for background radiation and reduce incidences of false alarms.

[Photo courtesy of Sandia National Labs]

 

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

AP reports that the Department of Defense has, at least for the time being, banned USB flash drives and is collecting all Pentagon-owned drives from the entire department. The Pentagon hasn't issued an official statement, but a spokesman did say that they are dealing with a "global virus" that affects such external storage. Apparently, Department of Defense lackeys are being told that they may not get their drives back, and no information has been given regarding the length of the ban. A list of items now banned from the Pentagon after the jump.

- Beer-filled USB flash drives
- Fetus USB flash drives
- Sawed-off USB flash drives
- Carabiner USB flash drives
- USB flash drives shaped like obsolete equipment
- Food-shaped USB flash drives
- Arty meta-storage USB flash drives [AP]

Celebrate Thanksgiving with some jolly games full of hearty eating.

Universal and Imagine Entertainment are in the early stages of developing a new "Nutty Professor" movie, in what would be the third installment of the remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis vehicle, says The Hollywood Reporter . An open call is out to writers for their take on a potential third entry.

Description Not Available

One of the more interesting aspects of the ongoing writers strike the fact that the WGA members are using the internet to get their message out there. Way back when, workers could go on strike, picket on sidewalks and hope that the media would cover their cause enough to put some pressure on suits who are refusing to cough up whatever it is the strikers are asking for. In this day and age, the power of the internet has allowed the strikers to reach out to the viewers on their own.

Square Enix is at it again with another countdown clock.

Description Not Available

11/13/2007
$14.99

A clip form Space Cowboy Online mothership battel

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David is expecting CHUD Employee of the Year for doing this one.

Hey, look, Fox has no idea what's going on...

Reader Comments of the Week

Director: Tyler Perry - Cast: Gabrielle Union, Idris Elba, Tasha Smith, Gary Sturgis, Tracee Ellis Ross

Review: PNY gets on the 8800 GTX bandwagon, rolling out it's XLR8 brand aimed at high-end gamers. While the price tag is breathtaking, so is the raw performance. High end gamers will likely start a stampede, so get in line now.

In lieu of context, please accept this "Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!"

It's the final piece of the Panama pie. Will profit follow? And how quickly?

An anonymous reader writes "We've got a winner in the Pentagon's $3.5 million all-robot street rally, the Urban Challenge. Three, actually. Wired reports that 'bots from Stanford, Virginia Tech, and Carnegie Mellon all completed the course within the six-hour time limit. The robo-cars had to complete different missions taking varying times, so the flesh-and-blood judges will take a day to figure out who takes home first prize."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Since before the launch of Xbox 360 in late 2005, Screen Digest has tracked multiple data points regarding every single packaged retail title confirmed for 256 bit home console platforms. This article does not contain all the data from the Study but does highlight some key points for the console sales for Holiday 2007.

Key findings:

? With around a year less in the marketplace, Nintendo Wii will offer customers a games library with just twenty less releases than Xbox 360 has managed to generate in twice the time.

? Vigorous third party support and new releases of their strongest franchises in Super Mario Galaxy and Halo 3 will drive games sales for Wii and Xbox 360 in Q4

? PlayStation 3?s release pipeline is muted by comparison despite a pared down version of Gran Turismo, new IP in Uncharted and possible hardware related announcements before year end.

? Publisher commitment is shifting to Wii with eighty six releases in Q4 compared with forty seven for 360 and thirty eight for PS3. Of Wii Q4 releases over a quarter are exclusive to the platform, compared with eight for Xbox 360 and five for PS3

? With the most abundant development resources in the industry, publishing giant EA leads the way into the Christmas shopping season with the most releases scheduled for Q4. Ubisoft and THQ follow.

Screen Digest believes that games based on IP licensed from other media constitutes more than a third - around 37 per cent - of all releases in Q4.

? For casual games publishers have shown a marked preference for Wii with nearly forty titles aimed at the casual gamer scheduled for release in Q4, compared with barely a dozen between Xbox 360 and PS3.

Q4 releases cement the UK?s position as a key territory for console games developers, leading European territories and, given its size, more than holding its own against the US and Japan.

Linux Desktop GUI gets more sponsors and $$ as it gears up for the next big thing

Does Alcatel-Lucent finally have a road map to recovery? Posting its third consecutive quarterly loss on Oct. 31, the battered telecom equipment company unveiled a management shakeup and additional job cuts that will lead to a 20 percent downsizing of its 80,000-strong workforce by 2009. On Oct. 31, Alcatel-Lucent reported a third-quarter loss of $372 million on revenues of $6.2 billion, down 8 percent year-on-year.

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

Looking to take your notebook to new heights? Aside from the overtly deliberate PUN that Logitech is forcing down our throats here, the Alto notebook stand ups the ante of prior renditions by including a full-sized keyboard, sleek(er) design, and an ability to hold notebooks "up to nine pounds." The collapsible device can reportedly be setup in "less than 30 seconds," and measures just 9.33- x 16.84- x 1.41-inches when folded over and not in use. The integrated keyboard touts a variety of "media controls" to handle volume, track, and macro functions, and it also offers a trio of non-powered USB ports for connecting low-power peripherals. Logitech expects to roll these $99 risers out in December for those residing in the UK, while Americans will have to wait until January.

[Via Laptoping]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, First Person Shooters

Codemasters is getting in on the Halloween spirit, dropping the first teaser for Clive Barker's Jericho today (see it on Eurogamer). Jericho is Barker's first gaming collaboration, but the British-born horror novelist has already stretched his talents across the film, theatre, paint, and comic mediums. Video games are just the next logical step.

Judging from these early glimpses, the development team is setting a grisly tone, but nothing shockingly novel. Codemasters has gotten too comfortable with its string of racing-sims these past few years. Let's hope a change of direction -- and Barker's imagination -- lends itself to something special, lest Jericho become just another pretender saturating the horror genre. Show us more!

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SPONSORED BY: Age of Empires III - Real-Time Strategy Game Control a European power on a quest to colonize and conquer the New World. AOE3 introduces new gameplay elements, as well as new civilizations, units, and technologies. http://www.ageofempires3.com/

I'm told both sides have been meeting all day and it's still going on even at this late hour. That has to mean actual negotiations are taking place. I'm told this is a good sign. I'll let you know what's happened in today's session as soon as I hear. Could sanity prevail? Or did they find something else [...]

This demo lets you try out the tutorial and one map that is centered on town of Towson.

Now that mobile WiMax has officially been certified as a 3G technology, Sprint backing off calling its new WiMax service 4G.

Nintendo has released an update to the Wii. While the console remains on version 3.3 the Wii Shopping channel has had a number of small changes mainly in preparation for the DSi. First off Wii Points are being changed to Nintendo Points, as the two are separate now. The controller usage screen is now separated from the purchase screen and youÂ’ll be prompted to check you have the necessary controls the play a game. While no reports of this update affecting homebrew have been reported, you may want to hold off updating if you use homebrew.

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Business

The Japanese PS3 price cut and slower-than-expected sales of the PSP are among the reasons being cited for Sony's announcement yesterday of a 62 percent drop in profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March. The revised numbers include a 200 billion yen expected loss for the games unit, nearly double the initial estimate for the fiscal year, and costs incurred during the recent recall of many Sony laptop batteries.

Sony also announced reduced shipment targets for the PSP, down from 12 million units to 9 million units for the fiscal year. The reduction mirrors a recent increase in DS sales expectations from Nintendo from 17 million to 20 million units for the business year.

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SPONSORED BY: Age of Empires III - Real-Time Strategy Game Control a European power on a quest to colonize and conquer the New World. AOE3 introduces new gameplay elements, as well as new civilizations, units, and technologies. http://www.ageofempires3.com/

Description Not Available

Have the internet make your dreams come true

Exophase.com writes "Sony recently sent out an email newsletter promoting the T-mobile hotspot service to members of the PlayStation Underground. Inside the email was a list of WiFi compatible games and interestingly, one of them was Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops: Infinite War.

We haven?t heard of this title until now, so we?re assuming it is Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops+, which was recently released in Japan, under a new name."

18 new shots posted.

Twelve hungry vendors

CIO: "Many open-source projects begin with a techie who has an itch to scratch. None of the existing tools do exactly what he wants, so he builds his own solution--then makes the source code available to the world at large..."

Off the Wall: "Long ago, I lost any queasiness about the command line. I'm not one of those who think it's the only way to interact with their computers, but it's a rare day that I don't use it three or four times on my GNU/Linux system..."

Back from Iraq, an ex-Marine finds himself in some hot combat again when a merciless crime lord kidnaps his wife. Starring wrestler John Cena. Watch the trailer.

Runtime: 2 min 14 sec