Jan 29 2010
Anyone who is gearing up for the Grammy Awards on Jan. 31 can get in the spirit -- and keep up with the nominee scorecard -- with an all Grammy nominee, all the time online station.
CBS Interactive Music launched Grammy Radio, a stream that features music from artists including The Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Pink, Taylor Swift and more.
Listen online through the CBS and Grammy websites, CBS radio station website home pages or on mobile devices using the CBS Blackberry or iPhone apps.
Jan 19 2010
Where’s Randy? That was the question on the minds of many WDVE-FM morning show listeners this morning.
Morning show co-host Randy Baumann was not on the air with Jim Krenn, and the Jim-and-Randy billing in announcements was gone.
Long one of the top-rated morning shows in the market, Krenn and Baumann brought comedy -- and lots of sports talk -- to morning drive listeners.
In cases like these, sometimes the principals won’t talk, and sometimes they can’t.
But they can still leave muddy footprints online. There was no mention of Baumann on the station website today – an indication that he and DVE have parted ways.
Baumann joined WDVE in 2000, replacing former morning host Scott Paulsen, who left when his contract expired.
Station management could not be reached for comment.
Jan 07 2010
Pittsburgh has been a zombie hot spot on the big screen ever since George Romero unleashed the “Night of the Living Dead.”
Another group of enterprising Web video makers is trying to give Pittsburgh vampires equal time. “The Weakness” is a “neo-noir web serial,” as its creators describe it, about vampires.
Creator/writer/director and lead vampire Lauren Zito comes from a background in fine arts, but became interested in Web video after some experiments with YouTube. The idea of making a Web video series and the dark vampire saga began to unfold.
Her husband James Zito is director of cinematography. Writer/director Ron Siler also plays the role of a priest-turned vampire. Rounding out the cast is a group of local actors and crew members.
“Twilight” it’s not. The main characters are a 400-plus year-old vampire named Zahn, the evil 800-vampire who turned him into a vampire and a mystery woman named Justine.
Lauren Zito plays all three. “It's a complete blast,” she says of her multiple “Weakness” personalities. “I go about it very intuitively...how this person would feel at the moment. They're all based on aspects of my life. I try to react and be completely in the moment.”
The first 13-episode seasonis drawing to an end, and season two will start filming in February.
The series is available on several platforms, including Blip.tv, iTunes, YouTube and on the Francis Rocks! Productions site.
Starting January 7, 2010, “The Weakness” gets a new outlet. It will air on public access cable channel PCTV, Channel 21 Thursdays at midnight, with each episode running for one month. It’s airing in the vampire-friendly midnight hour on cable because of adult content, including language and violence. “It’s no worse than anything you'd see on HBO or Showtime. The violence is all fake,” Ms. Zito says.
The series has evolved technically since it launched in 2007, with longer and more ambitious episodes that are around 20 to 25 minutes long.
The video is dark and shadowy black and white, with the exception of flashback and dream sequences, which add a splash of color.
The series is filmed in and around Pittsburgh, including the Duquesne University campus, where Zito teaches part time.Like so many other film and TV producers, the Francis Rocks production crew finds Pittsburgh to be an versatile and ideal backdrop for a gothic horror series. “It has this gritty look,” Ms. Zito says. “There are old areas and stuff that's really run down.”
For all its nightmarish qualities, “Weakness” also has a sense of humor. There’s a vampire tooth extraction scene – no anesthesia, of course, accompanying by the oddly comforting line of dialogue: “They’ll grow back.” And the characters make an offhand reference to Pittsburgh’s zombie town status. Q: “Are we going to see any zombies?” A: “This is Pittsburgh. The odds are very high.”
Dec 30 2009
If you like the idea of spending New Year’s Eve in Times Square, but don’t like the jostling and the occasional pickpockets, here’s a virtual alternative.
The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment, along with Livestream, will present a live six and a half hour Web event focused on the action in Times Square. The party starts Dec. 31 at 5:50 p.m. and will run into the first 20 minutes of 2010. The Webcast will feature countdowns, the ball-raising ceremony and stage performances.
The Webcast will be available on the Livestream and Times Square Alliance sites.
The organizers are offering a free widget that enables webmasters and bloggers to embed the stream on their sites.
Dec 23 2009
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ) has been helping generations of kids track Santa’s Christmas gift delivery progress.
The tradition started in 1955, when a misprint in a Sears ad inviting children to call Santa directed them to the aerospace monitoring organization instead. In the spirit of the season, an operations manager directed staff to take the kids’ calls and “track” Santa via radar.
In the tradition’s high-tech version, Google has joined the effort, letting people follow the journey using Google Earth and Google Maps. This year, they’ve enhanced the experience. Using the Google Earth Plug-In – a free download -- you can view Google Earth by directing your browser to the NORAD site, and kids can watch Santa move in rich 3-D environments across the globe.
The tracking starts Christmas Eve at 2 p.m. (EST), and can be followed either online or using most mobile phones.
They can also follow using Google’s recently launched Real Time Search feature, which adds a live scrolling feed that gathers tweets, blog posts and news articles as they post online.
Santa’s also into the whole social networking thing: follow him on Twitter [@noradsanta] and on Facebook [Facebook.com/noradsanta].
For a sample of the experience, here he is at the Giza Pyramids in Egypt in ’08:
Oct 30 2009
If you're trick or treating for some Web TV viewing with a seasonal Halloween edge to it, here are a few Web series to check out.
Vampires starring in a musical performed by “High School “ musical alumni sounds a a surefire formula to get the attention of younger viewers. Enter “I Kissed A Vampire” -- a web musical that stars Lucas Grabeel and Drew Seeley of “High School Musical” and Adrian Slade.
it’s a teen romance, in which Grabeel’s character is bitten by a bat and turns into a vampire, complicating his budding romance with the girl next door.
There are three episodes, which are available only on iTunes. The songs from the series are available as downloads there as well.
And from Paramount Digital Entertainment, there’s the 10-part sci-fi thriller “Circle of Eight.”
Set in Los Angeles, it’s the story of a young woman who moves into an apartment building full of young singles. It’s also the site for a serious of mysterious deaths.
“Circle of Eight” is also an interactive thriller where viewers can follow online clues: for example they can move their mouse across the screen to find a clue.
The first three episodes premiered this week on MySpace. It will also be released on DVD as a full-length thriller.
Oct 19 2009
The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is now available offline in electronic form.
The WikiReader is a small electronic handheld device that gives the reader access -- wherever they happen to be -- to 3 million Wikipedia articles: It doesn't require an Internet connection.
Wikipedia is a collaborative archive of articles that has become a major online research tool.
Content can be updated on the WikiReader.
Parents will welcome the fact that their children can use WikiReader for homework and research without having to be online. Parental controls aren't needed.
WikiReader sells for $99. It's available through the WikiReader site. The annual update subscription is $29 a year, for two updates.
Sep 15 2009
The
radio dial used to be tightly defined by its numbered frequencies.
But the boundaries are shifting beyond those limits, and old and new
platforms are merging.
Last.fm,
a popular online music Web site, will launch as an HD broadcast
station that will air through CBS radio stations in New York, Los
Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, starting Oct. 5.
Last.fm,
now seven years old, is owned by CBS Corporation. The music discovery
site makes recommendations to its users based on the kinds of music
and artists they like.
The
playlist for the new HD version will be be a mix of music shaped by the site's
user-generated weekly charts. The station will also stream online.
And
last week's unveiling of a new version of Apple's iPod Nano – which
now comes with an FM radio tuner - gives commercial radio stations a
boost by giving them a chance to reconnect with listeners they might have lost
to portable music players. Wireless reception gives listeners the
option of listening to radio on the go instead of their own music
collections and downloads.
Listeners
can tag songs they hear on their favorite station and buy them from
iTunes through the “Buy From FM” platform.
Aug 26 2009
Anyone who watches the Weather Channel is familiar with those mellow-yet-bouncy new age, smooth jazz and pop instrumentals that accompany the local weather forecasts. Some people have their favorites, and hang around to see if they'll hear them: others go for the mute button.
The former category can now carry the Weather Channel tunes with them 24/7. The Weather Channel has launched Weather Channel Music, a web site featuring music played during the “Local on the 8s” segments and more.
There are collections by Larry Carlton and Weather Channel mainstay Ryan Farish.
The site's musical offerings go beyond the Weather Channel's own playlist. There are several collections -- "Acoustic Altitudes" and “Getaway" -- plus classic selections from Al Jarreau, George Benson, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, The Count Basie Orchestra and others.
Listeners can sample excerpts online and download their choices for 99 cents a song.
Aug 07 2009
The 2009 Newport Jazz Festival will Webcast live this Saturday and Sunday (August 8 and 9).
The 55th edition is a mix of legends, current stars and up-and-coming players. It includes Roy Haynes, Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride and others.
Locally, listeners can find the the live stream through local jazz/NPR station WDUQ-FM's (90.5) site or through NPR’s site.
Performances run from 10 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. See the NPR site or the Newport Festival site for updates on Webcast times.
NPR is also offering free downloads of music by some of the Festival artists, as well as a downloadable collection of songs from last week's Newport Folk Festival.
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