Verisign prevented from raising .com pricing without approval
The operator of the .com registry, Verisign, has just signed a new contract with the U.S. Commerce Department. The new contract has terms that stipulate that the company can not raise fees for .com registration unless the Commerce Department approves of them. The latter say they plan to only approve increases for "extraordinary expenses related to security or stability threats."
The price increases will be prevented until 2018. Verisign has raised prices, sometimes by as much as 7 percent, four out of the past six years. The current price is at $7.85 per year and is likely to remain at or close to that amount. Ironically, the similar .net TLD is only $5.86 to register, even though they require the same technology to operate.
The key difference is that .net is a far less popular TLD than .com. This is strictly a case of supply and demand as opposed to any sort of operational cost difference. "This is an important event that provides certainty and sets a clear direction for the company," Jim Bidzos, Verisign's CEO, said in a prepared statement.
Read More ...
Nexus 4 8GB again out of stock, 16GB version ships in 6-7 weeks
If you blinked, you probably missed it. The 8GB Google Nexus 4 is again out of stock after being
briefly back in stock. Google has updated the
product page on the Play Store to simply say "Out of Stock." The 16GB version of the phone, a bit less popular due to its higher price, will ship in 6 to 7 weeks according to the
product page.
The device features an incredibly low price when you factor in the fact that it comes without a contract. My iPhone was this much, but I had to resign a two-year contract. The general consensus is that Google is subsidizing the phone to continue to take away market share from iOS and other smartphones.
It's not clear when Google will have more stock of the budget-priced and feature-packed smartphone, but we'll be sure to let you know as soon as we do so that you'll have the best chances at getting one.
Read More ...
Entourage: Season One (2004) Blu-ray Movie Review
Executive produced and roughly based on the life of star of stage and screen Mark Wahlberg,
Entourage tracks the success of emerging movie star and heartthrob Vincent Chase (Adrien Grenier) and his 'crew' of childhood friends; his manager Eric (Kevin Connolly), struggling actor Johnny 'Drama' (Kevin Dillon) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) as they navigate the Hollywood world.
The debut season starts with a bang - the premiere of Chase's latest (fictional) movie
Head On, co-starring Jessica Alba, whilst introducing the cast of characters, and providing a taste of the heady world of the young superstar.
The first season is almost totally bereft of the 'finding its feet' issues which often plague new series, proving that
Entourage was thoroughly developed well before it premiered in 2004. Whilst the show twists and turns over the next seven seasons, with characters and story arcs that might stretch the friendship, returning to the first season of
Entourage has proved to be a real joy. This Blu-ray remastering effort brings new found contemporary relevance to a show that has hardly aged and will be sure to introduce a new generation of fans.
Video
Entourage: Season One is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1, a divergence from the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1 encoded with AVC MPEG-4 compression.
When I heard that HBO and Warner Brothers were planning to re-transfer the 35mm film elements of
Entourage in a widescreen aspect ratio, I didn't expect significant improvement due to its presumably composed aspect ratio of 1.33:1. How wrong I was. Not only are there no issues that afflicted the similar re-composition of
Friends (i.e. occasional visible production equipment), almost every frame features significantly more important information on both the left and right sides of the frame and sometimes a slight reframe on the top and bottom.
In fact, I think you'll agree once you see the above and below screen caps, that it's clear that
Entourage has been very much filmed with a widescreen aspect ratio in mind after all. Why it was originally edited and finished in 4x3 is therefore a mystery.
Compared to the old NTSC DVD's,
Entourage is somewhat of a revelation. Apart from the obvious improvements in detail and sharpness, colour is significantly lusher and vibrant, taking on a far more professional look overall.
Whilst there's a bit of unobtrusive film grain noticeable at times and a very occasional slight red push obvious on characters faces, overall this is a significant improvement in image quality, which I know
Entourage fans will appreciate a lot.
Audio
Entourage: Season One is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, at 24 bits.
The improvements don't just stop with the image quality. Whilst the previous DVD release featured a Dolby Digital stereo track, the Blu-ray has been upgraded to a full 5.1 track which is so convincing it's hard to believe it was originally anything else.
Dialogue is generally very good, although the series pilot features more noticeably muffled audio than the episodes that follow. There's a considerable amount of surround activity, especially in outdoor scenes, which generally hum with convincing ambiance. The show features heavy use of contemporary (circa 2004) pop music, and this is mixed well, albeit fairly conservatively.
Overall, this is certainly a nice step up from the DVD - there's just no reason to keep them anymore.
Extras
Whilst a little light on with extras, the Blu-ray edition does indeed carry over all previous DVD extras, in addition to a very minor addition which some might appreciate.
First up are
Audio Commentaries for three key episodes featuring series creator and writer Doug Ellin and executive producer Larry Charles. It would have been nice to have a few more, because they are engaging speakers and reveal a lot as to the genesis of the show. However, when they were originally recorded in 2004, both were heavily involved in developing the second series of the fledging show.
The 10 minute
Behind the Scenes of Entourage Featurette is littered with clips from the show (in 4x3 aspect ratio) and comments from the principal actors and Mark Wahlberg. For such a brief spot, there's a reasonable amount of trivia imparted as to how the main characters were cast, but it's just too brief to be of high value.
Finally (and the sole new addition to the set), are
Episode Preview shorts for each episode. Kinda useful for jogging your memory as to what episode you are up to, I guess.
...
Read the rest in your browser!
Read More ...
Available Tags:
Blu-ray ,
No comments:
Post a Comment