Facebook to Acquire Oculus VR for $2 Billion

Transaction expected to close in Q2 of this year.

by Scott Lowe

Facebook has announced that it will acquire Oculus VR, makers of the Oculus Rift for $2 billion. Announced today, the social networking giant will acquire the Oculus VR for $400 million in cash and 23.1 million in Facebook shares.

“While the applications for virtual reality technology beyond gaming are in their nascent stages, several industries are already experimenting with the technology, and Facebook plans to extend Oculus’ existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas.” a Facebook press release read. “Given these broad potential applications, virtual reality technology is a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform.”


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CinemaCon: Theatre Ad Sales Rise 6.5% To $678M In 2013 Following 2-Year Slump

By DAVID LIEBERMAN

This is the highest sales total that the Cinema Advertising Council has reported since it began keeping tabs in 2002 — and no doubt comes as a relief for the industry following a 1.2% downturn in 2012 and a 2.1% drop the year before. “This growth is a result of more new brands moving into cinema, the unique power of the movie theatre as a venue for creative, engaging advertising, and a movement by agencies to a more video-neutral approach that places cinema alongside TV and online platforms,” CAC President Katy Loria says.

“We are optimistic about this revenue momentum, and the direction the marketplace is headed with a strong start to 2014 as we enter upfront season.”

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Oscar 2014: “12 Years wins”, “Gravity” dominates

By Armando

As expected, 12 Years A Slave won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday. But it was Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity that took most of the trophies with seven including the best director honor for Cuaron, a first for a Latin American director.

It was also a good night for the low-budget film “Dallas Buyers Club,”. Both of the movie’s stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto won in their respective categories. In a remarkable career comeback, McConaughey won Best Actor for his role of an early AIDS activist Ron Woodroof, while co-star Leto, won best supporting actor for his role as Woodroof’s sidekick.

In a night with few surprises, other top acting prizes include Cate Blanchett for “Blue Jasimine”, and Lupita Nyong’o for “12 Years a Slave”.

Here is the full list of winners > Continue reading

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Fox’s GOTHAM Casts Four Including THE PENGUIN & ALFRED

By Lucas Siegel

It seems Batman origin stories are all the rage.

The population of Gotham, Fox’s upcoming Batman origin drama, is rising fast after the weekend announcement of Ben McKenzie being cast as the lead role, James Gordon .

THR reports that four more actors have joined the cast, including a police captain, a love interest, a butler, and a villain. Robin Lord Taylor, Zabryna Guevara, Sean Pertwee, and Erin Richards come into Gotham with three out of the four characters being very recognizable names to comic book fans.

Pertwee is the newest person to play Alfred Pennyworth, the butler who also takes care of Bruce Wayne after his parents are killed. Jeremy Irons was also recently cast as Alfred, but for the film version in Man of Steel 2.

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2014 Oscar Nominees | 86th Academy Awards Nominations

Best Motion Picture of the Year
NOMINEES:

American Hustle
Nebraska
Captain Phillips
Philomena
Dallas Buyers Club
12 Years a Slave
Gravity
The Wolf of Wall Street
Her

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

NOMINEES:
American Hustle: Christian Bale
Nebraska: Bruce Dern
The Wolf of Wall Street: Leonardo DiCaprio
12 Years a Slave: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Dallas Buyers Club: Matthew McConaughey

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Guardians of the Galaxy: First Look

A first look at one of the most highly anticipated, star-studded movie of 2014.

By Armando

This week, Marvel rang the new year with the first official picture from upcoming superhero film based on the Marvel Comics of the same name.

Directed by James Gunn, the promo image recalls the iconic Usual Suspects poster with the cast of characters standing on a lineup that suggests a strong comedic tone the movie will have.

From left: Zoe Saldana as the Gamora, standing next to Chris Pratt, who plays Peter Quill/Star-Lord, the leader of the Guardians. And then there’s Rocket Roccoon (character voiced by Bradley Cooper), followed by Drax The Destroyer (played by WWE’s Dave Bautista alongside Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel).

Guardians of Galaxy opens Aug. 1. Here’s the movie synopsis that went out with the press release:

“An action-packed epic space adventure, Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.”

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Apple and Samsung Could Be Dethroned by Asus’ Radical New Device

By Sam Mattera

When it comes to the U.S. smartphone market, it’s mostly a two-horse race. Cumulatively, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) and Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF ) sell two out of every three smartphones, with smaller manufacturers such as HTC and Motorola fighting for what’s left.

But that could change next year, when Asus brings its PadFone to the United States. The device, powered by Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG ) Android, is particularly revolutionary and has the potential to disrupt the mobile market.

Asus’ PadFone combines a tablet with a smartphone
The term “phablet” has arisen to define phones such as Samsung’s Galaxy Note III — too small to be a tablet, yet too large to be a smartphone: a hybrid of form factors. But Asus’ PadFone might be the ultimate phablet: Buyers get both a tablet and smartphone, but none of the trade-offs that traditional phablets entail.

Normally, the PadFone Infinity is a standard, 5-inch smartphone running Google’s Android. It has a high-end processor and 13-megapixel camera. In other words, it’s largely indistinguishable from many other Android smartphones. But it has one huge advantage over its competitors — a proprietary dock.

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Paul Walker’s “Fast and Furious 4″ car for sale at $1.4 million

By Armando

Paul Walker’s “Fast and Furious 4″ Nissan GT-R for sale at $1.4 million

A few years ago Steve McQueen’s GT40 fetched for $11 million on a Pebble Beach Auction block, becoming the most expensive American car ever sold. Following the unexpected death of Paul Walker, the tradition of collecting celebrity vehicles is back in business.

Check out the car here: http://suchen.mobile.de

The car in the ad is allegedly the same one used by Paul Walker’s character in Fast and the Furious franchise, a Nissan Skyline GT-R of the R34 which appeared in the fourth film. Apparently, the car was seized by the US government a few months ago, along with many other cars, due to auto safety and emission rules non-compliance.

So how did it end up being in Germany?

A few months ago, a German car magazine posted a review of the car, wherein the owner also reveals its in his possession and has on sale for 300,00 euros (around $400k). Within the last few days, another ad for the car has come up, only this time with a new price: 1 million euros (approximately $1,373,000).

It is kind of creepy when someone cashes in on a former celebrity ownership. But in this day and age, we all know it won’t be the last.

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71st Golden Globe Nominations

Best Picture, Drama

12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush

Best Picture, Comedy

American Hustle
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr Banks
Kate Winslet, Labor Day

Best Actor

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba, Mandela
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaghey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All Is Lost

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