No Pressure

from Abstruse Goose by lcfr

That's So Nineties

from Dilbert Daily Strip

Xbox 360 Media Remote Revealed; Bluetooth Wireless Headset Too

via MissingRemote

You probably know by now that Windows Media Center extenders have been on life support with only Microsoft supplying the Xbox 360 as the sole extender product available in the retail market. The de-emphasis of the extender continues with the latest Xbox 360 Media Remote revealed by Major Nelson. Sadly for Media Center extender users, there is no more Green Button. Presumably, this is all due to the continued emphasis of the Xbox brand and bringing video content into the game console. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't want to confuse consumers with the Green Button or tempt them to be led astray from the native Xbox interface.

In addition, the Xbox 360 Media Remote was also announced. Media playback controls include play/pause, skip forward, fast forward, skip back, fast back, and display to control DVD, CD, or streamed media. The TV controls include power on/off, volume up/down, mute and TV input. The Xbox 360 Media Remote’s menu navigation controls include A, B, X, Y buttons, D-pad navigation, back and select. Live TV, if provided on the Xbox 360 by your TV service provider, can also be controlled with the Xbox 360 Media Remote. This Xbox 360 Media Remote will be available worldwide for $19.99 (U.S. ERP) and will be in stores in early November 2011.

Today Microsoft also announced the all new Xbox 360 Wireless Headset with Bluetooth. The device is compatible with Bluetooth devices such as mobile phones and PCs in addition to being able to connect to Xbox 360 through the console’s standard radio frequencies. The Xbox 360 Wireless Headset with Bluetooth will be available for $59.99 (U.S. ERP) and will be available in stores worldwide beginning early November 2011.

Beavis and Butt-Head Return This Fall & First New Clip!

The one-on-one event at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 with Mike Judge was moderated by Jackass star, Johnny Knoxville.

Judge charted his course from being an engineer, musician, and a teacher to an animator. MTV gave Judge his start by airing his first four animated shorts in Liquid Television, with the series premiering in 1993 after the success of the "Frog Baseball" short.

Explaining where the names of the characters came from, Beavis was the surname of a friend back in Judge's hometown while Butt-Head was the nickname of a local idiot. He didn't intend to give the town in which Beavis and Butt-Head is set a name, but he distractedly named the high school Highland (which is the name of the Alberquerque school where his mother taught).

Judge joked that he brought the show back because he felt like TV was getting too smart. He explained that originally, he ended the series after being burned out, stepping away from the characters in spite of offers for sequels to the movie, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.

Many of the characters from the original series are coming back, including the hippie teacher and gruff military teacher (I find it hilarious that he doesn't call the characters by their names). Judge talked about pranking truckers over the CB by asking for locations of vegetarian restaurants in his hippie teacher voice.

Not only will the characters in the new show be riffing on videos, they'll be taking shots at footage from series like Jersey Shore and UFC fights. Judge also said that at this point, there are no guest stars lined up for the series. This could to change given the regular lineup of special guests on King of the Hill.

When asked about the animators he looked up to, Judge gave some love to Tex Avery and the golden age of animation, as well as John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy. He also assured us that the show was not made in a Korean sweatshop--but the studio has a "creative" use of space.

In terms of influences outside of animation, Judge credits Cheech and Chong and Jerry Lewis. He still respects the timing of Cheech and Chong and their comic timing, noting how well put together Things Are Tough All Over is.

We then saw footage from an episode called "Werewolves of Highland," which occurs after the boys have seen Twilight and decide that to pick up girls, they'll have to become vampires. Yeah, that's definitely more Beavis and Butt-Head - that is to say, yeah, I would really like to see more of this! The show strikes a nice balance between smart-stupid and stupid-stupid that worked so well with the original run of the show.

Beavis and Butt-Head will return this Fall on MTV -- but get your special sneak preview below!!!

Get More: Beavis and Butt-Head, MTV Shows

Amazon Prime to Stream Star Trek Too

Amazon has announced its first deal with a major TV network to stream content through its subscription service, a move that ratchets up competition with Netflix and Hulu.

The world's biggest online retailer has announced an agreement with CBS to allow its Amazon Prime members to stream 2,000 episodes of 18 shows owned by CBS, including "Medium," "Star Trek" and "Cheers." Further details of the agreement weren't revealed, except that it is nonexclusive; CBS has already struck a similar deal with Netflix.

The announcement comes at a seemingly opportune time for the Seattle-based company. Hulu, partly owned by Comcast, Disney and News Corp., is being shopped around for new owners, a move that raises questions about the long-term future of its many licensing deals with those same companies.

Meanwhile, Netflix recently announced a 60-percent spike in its subscription price, sparking customers' ire and leading some analysts to question whether there will be an exodus of subscribers, currently some 24-million strong, to an alternative service such as Amazon Prime, or to movie rental sites such as Apple TV or Google's YouTube.

At $80 a year, Amazon Prime subscribers, who also get discounted, expedited shipping from the merchant, pay less than subscribers to Netflix, which costs a minimum of $96 a year. (Hulu Plus also costs $96 a year.) Netflix does boast a far larger library, however, with an estimated 20,000 titles. But with the additional CBS heft, Amazon Prime is slowly catching up and will now offer more than 8,000 movies and TV shows.

Amazon's deal with CBS also makes the idea of buying Hulu less attractive to the company. Hulu's pre-existing deals with TV networks was considered the key reason Amazon was initially cited among the dozen prospective suitors, which include Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and AT&T.

Additionally, the move is a further sign that networks value the Internet as another medium for showing content. ABC recently announced plans to license "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" for new episodes online, after it stops broadcasting the soap operas in the coming months. The network hasn't announced whether the soaps will be distributed to viewers directly or through a subscription service such as Netflix -- or Amazon Prime.

Story and Picture via iTvedia