MJs This Is It!

Michaela Jacksons This Is It!"

Todays post features Michael Jacksons This Is It concert rehearsal footage.

This Is It offers Jackson fans and music lovers, worldwide, a rare behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer 2009 in Londons O2 Arena.

The film chronicles the months from April through June 2009, and is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Michael rehearsing a number of his songs for the show.

Audiences will be given a look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, Michael Jacksons This Is It captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show.

Kenny Ortega, who was Michael Jacksons creative partner and the director of the stage show is also directing the film, which is being produced by Randy Phillips, Kenny Ortega and Paul Gongaware. The executive producers are John Branca and John McClain. The film will be distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing. Tickets for the limited two-week engagement of the film went on sale September 27, 2009. The release date is October 28, 2009.

Michael Jackson was an extraordinary talent and through his being & talents, a great gift.





We miss him!

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App Engine at a Conference Near You this Winter!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Were excited to be kicking off a new year, and you can expect to find many new exciting features coming to App Engine in the coming months. In addition to Google I/O 2010 coming up in May -- more on this below -- members of the App Engine team may be visiting a conference near you this quarter. Here is the full list:

2010 Jan 24-30 - Snow Sprint 2010 - Bürserberg, Austria - Nick Johnson

2010 Jan 26-27 - Jfokus - Stockholm - Patrick Chanezon

2010 Jan 28 - PROSA - Copenhagen - Patrick Chanezon

2010 Feb 17-21 - PyCon 2010 - Atlanta - Guido van Rossum, Wesley Chun, Joe Gregorio, Brett Slatkin, Andy Smith

2010 Feb 27 - Dare 2B Digital - Los Altos Hills - Wesley Chun

2010 Mar 10-12 - ConFoo.ca 2010 - Montreal - Patrick Chanezon

2010 Mar 12-16 - SXSW Interactive - Austin - Patrick Chanezon, Brett Slatkin, Sean Lynch

2010 Mar 15-18 - Cloud Connect - Santa Clara - Chris Schalk, Wesley Chun, Ikai Lan

2010 Mar 17-19 - ServerSide Java Symposium - Las Vegas - Max Ross

Although not happening until next quarter, save a place in your calendar and book your travel for May 19-20 to San Francisco for Google I/O 2010. This year will be a blockbuster, featuring your favorite Google technologies and product announcements! There are at least 6 App Engine sessions planned. Register NOW!!

In addition to I/O, Google will be hosting a variety of DevFests in Asia late this winter. Keep an eye out for specific dates and locations on the Google Developer Events Calendar.

We would love to meet with App Engine developers at any of these events! Also be sure to follow @app_engine on Twitter for ongoing announcements as well as our Reddit tag for any relevant App Engine news.

Posted by Wesley Chun, App Engine team

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WTF is this iPad Air thing

Fighting Talk Apples wow factor evaporates a little further 

Apple fans, you better duck. Im taking aim. And you know whats coming. iPad Air? iPad Mini with Retina display? Is that it?!
OK, Ill admit it - I will probably get one. But before you call me a hypocrite, hear me out. The fact is, Ill probably end up taking it back, too, thanks to that 14-day returns period.

Lets be honest here. Apple seems to have lost the plot. I watched the announcement like everyone else, waiting for a shooting star to appear on stage. Instead, I got the splatter of a wet lettuce - albeit one thats significantly lighter with a smaller bezel.

Circle of strife

Ill give Apple its dues - the iPad Air is a great step forward. But look at what it is replacing - the iPad 4, which was not much different to the iPad 3. There is nothing really innovative here.
Yeah, the bezel has been slimmed. Yay! Its lighter. Whoop!
But it still cant do the laundry or make me a frickin cup of tea, can it? Can it?

The first iPad was a revolutionary product. It may have initially been derided as a large iPod Touch, but it set the tone. Ill give Apple that.
And the second iPad was pretty damn pleasant too - because it changed the dimensions of what we already had. But the thing is, right from iPad 1, theres been another strategy Apples been working on... and that is to only give 90%, dressing it up as one hundred. To always keep something back.

Holding back

"For the last two iterations, weve got little improvements and now, were told something lighter will make it all OK? Give me a break!"

 

What am I talking about? Hands up if you screamed, kicked, bit and threatened to torch the joint because the first iPad came without a camera. Why? It was such an obvious omission.
The theory was Cupertino was keeping that for iPad 2 to give us reason enough to upgrade. Then iPad 2 came along, a lot sexier with a camera, but packing a crap display at a time when Retina was just taking off. WTF Apple? Youre better than this.

And so, for the last two iterations, weve got little improvements and now, were told something lighter will make it all OK? Give me a break! And dont get me started on the missing Touch ID. What is that about? Clearly, its being kept for the next model, to give us extra incentive to upgrade next year.
You can see this strategy all over - the iPad Mini only just got a Retina display. Why? Why did it not launch with one 12 months ago?! Ill tell you why - because then there would have been nothing to set it apart for customers come October 2013.

This is an appalling strategy, smacking of desperation from a company that is anything but. And before you shoot me down telling me the specs are higher internally, remember that for many people who are sold on looks, thats insignificant.
A cuter design or a nicer screen will shift infinitely more units than the difference between an A1 chip and an A9000000 chip when youre pitching to someone asking "Does this thing do Facebook?"

World leaders woes

Apples pride was evident on stage. We were told in reverential tones that "Apple has listened".
Heres an idea:... Read the rest of this post --->

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