Significant Hottie:Megan Fox

See beautiful Megan Fox in this summer's mega hit Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen.

Apple Tablet Rumored for early next year

After what AppleInsider claims has been four years of development "riddled with setbacks," Apple is purportedly finalizing its long-rumored tablet for an early 2010 launch. AppleInsider claims to have been tracking the device get bounced back to the drawing board repeatedly over the past few years, but says that Steve Jobs is finally happy with the product and there's an internal go-ahead to get this thing ready for next year, barring any other setbacks. Purported specs include a 10-inch screen, 3G data and a custom ARM processor courtesy of its P.A. Semi purchase -- after previously considering Intel's Atom, as the story goes. Rumors elsewhere point to Verizon data instead of AT&T, but that might just be wishful thinking. While AppleInsider still claims the device is positioned somewhere between an iPhone and a laptop, its inside sources apparently didn't give the thumbs up to early artist renditions of the handheld, and so AI's new and "improved" render is above -- striking fear in the heart of aesthetes everywhere.

Possible Samsung NVIDIA Tegra chipped phone

NVIDIA's Tegra chip has shown itself to be quite a gem, especially in the field of augmented reality zombie destruction. Looks like Samsung agrees with that sentiment, and has confirmed that it's currently developing a smartphone with the powerful processor. That's not a lot to go on, but knowing the capabilities of the CPU, we're excited. It's probably safe to assume an AMOLED touchscreen is a given, as well as a plethora of TouchWiz widgets, but whether or not the phone goes with Windows Mobile or Android is still a mystery. A recent rumor suggested one of the "top five" smartphone makers would be releasing a $199 GSM-based Tegra device by year's end -- no indication if these two reports are one in the same, but we'd love to see what Sammy has in store sooner rather than later.

Dodge Circuit-EV,Possibly in 2010!

With all of the recent upheaval at Chrysler, it's no surprise that the fate of the very cool Dodge Circuit is not exactly certain. In May, Chrysler assured everyone that the program was not DOA, and Chrylser ENVI president Lou Rhodes recently said something similar to Car and Driver. Rhodes even gave C&D a few details about how the program is shaping up.

Chrysler's plan involves having the vehicle produced by Lotus in the UK (sounds familiar) and then shipped to the U.S. for the electric powertrain. Chrysler's sales target is 100,000 EVs in order to benefit from economies of scale for all the expensive EV bits. By selling that many vehicles, Chrysler's efforts could make the Circuit "tens of thousands" of dollars less than the somewhat similar Tesla Roadster. The Circuit is still likely to be Chrysler's first EV, and could start production next year.

2010 Chevy Camaro Transformers Special Edition

Today at Comic-Con, General Motors officially announced the 2010 Chevy Camaro Transformers Special Edition. The $995 appearance package can be applied to LT (V6) and SS-trim Camaros in Rally Yellow with or without the optional RS package. So, whadda ya get for the dough? It's very straightforward:

• Autobot insignia fender badges and wheel caps
• An embroidered Autobot insignia on the center console
• Gloss-black rally stripes with Transformers logos
• Transformers-logo doorsill plates

If you were hoping for more, such as the Z/28 fascia and hood, the storm drain-sized exhaust outlets used on Bumblebee in Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen, or, say, an actual robot mode, you're outta luck. There are no performance upgrades, either -- you'll simply have to make do with the 304, 400, or 426 horsepower that comes standard, depending on which base config you select. If you desperately want your own Bumblebee but are turned off by the whole Transformers brand-mania thing, you can still do the obvious thing and order up a regular Rally Yellow car and simply add plain black rally stripes for $470.

Kingston's 256GB Thumb drive

We're sure that it's only a matter of moments before a 256GB thumb drive this bulky is something of a joke -- hell, it wasn't so terribly long ago that cramming 256MB into something this size was an accomplishment. That said, if you're a netbook user looking for a storage bump, it looks like Kingston's got your back: this guy boasts transfer rates of up to 20 MB/sec. read and 10 MB/sec. write, and for all of you Vista fans, supports Windows ReadyBoost. Now, for the bad news: only available in Europe and the UK, and custom made upon your order (presumably after the check clears) this modern technological marvel will run you £565.67 ($924).

URC MX-5000 Awesome Universal Remote

URC has rolled out some pretty impressive remotes in its day, and it looks like it now has another claim to fame with what appears to be the first universal remote control with haptic feedback. That comes in the form of the company's new MX-5000 remote (pictured above with the touchscreen-centered MX-6000), which has a 2.7-inch touchscreen that URC says provides a "'very satisfying sensation" when you press one of the onscreen buttons. Otherwise, you can expect it to pack built-in WiFi, narrowband RF and IR to let you control just about anything you can throw at it, along with an included base station to accommodate various IR and RS-232 components and, of course, a built-in rechargeable battery and charging base. No word on a price just yet, but URC says the MSRP will be "less than $1,500.

Significant Hottie;Phoenix Marie

in Tribute & Memory of The King Of Pop:Michael Jackson

According to Nielson Soundscan Michael Jackson albums and Jackson related compilations hold the top nine positions on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog chart,all posting remarkable jumps in sales in the days following the singer's death. Jackson himself holds a record eight of the top 10 spots, while a Jackson 5 compilation also landed in the upper tier of the chart. His Number Ones greatest hits package leads the pack at #1, selling more than 108,000 copies, a staggering 2,340 percent sales increase. The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller follow at #2 and #3, selling more than 102,000 and 101,000 copies, respectively.

His breakthrough Off the Wallalbum is at #4, selling more than 33,000 copies nearly 30 years after it was initially released. The Jackson 5's Ultimate Collection is next at #5, with sales of more than 18,000 copies. His 1987 Bad album returns at #6 (17,000 sold);Dangerous is at #7 (14,000); HIStory — Volume 1 is at #8 (12,000); and the 2004 Jackson box set, The Ultimate Collection, lands at #9 (11,000).

The lone non-Jackson album in the top 10 is a reissue of the "Woodstock" movie soundtrack, which sold 8,000 copies to snag the #10 spot.

All in all, Jackson's solo albums sold more than 415,000 copies this past week, according to SoundScan, an amazing number, considering his titles sold a combined 10,000 copies in the week prior to his death. The one-week total is also nearly 40 percent more than what his catalog had sold in all of 2009.

Of the 415,000 albums sold, 58 percent were digital downloads, which means Jackson has set another record: He's the first artist to hold six of the top 10 slots on the Digital Albums chart, including the top four spots. He also holds a staggering 25 songs on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart, smashing a record set by David Cook last year.

Early SoundScan reports have the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. claiming the top spot on next week's Billboard's Top 200, with sales of more than 88,000 copies. If that figure holds true, this week marks the first time that a catalog album has sold more copies than the album that sits at #1 on the Top 200.

Significant Hottie:Brianna Love

Congratulations to the NBA Champions:LA Lakers

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport

Production of the Veyron Grand Sport, Bugatti's roadster version of the ultimate super car, is just getting underway at the automaker's factory in Molsheim, France. Accordingly, Bugatti has released a batch of new high-res pics that were taken last year in such places as Napa Valley (hence the wine reference), Rome and Sardinia when the car debuted. Now, keep in mind, you don't just take a Sawzall to a Veyron's roof and get a Grand Sport. The GS gets a higher windscreen, daytime running lights and a transparent polycarbonate roof panel or umbrella-like soft top. There's also enough extra bracing beneath the carbon fiber skin to survive a black hole, and the two large air intakes above the engine are now reinforced to act as rollover bars.

The Veyron GS can go nearly 253 mph with its roof panel on, almost as fast as the straight coupe. Sans roof panel it can still hit almost 224 mph, and the soft top brings things down a top speed of just 99 mph. Only 150 units will be made, which means the 1.4 million euro Veyron Grand Sport is an ultra exclusive version of an already ultra exclusive car. Deliveries start in July and 30 have already ordered.

Significant Hottie:Jayden James

Bowling Ball for the Wii

Riiflex Wiimote weights sure look life-threatening, but they're not nearly dangerous enough. To give your Wii Sports nights that little extra bit of risk and intrigue, what you need is a (nearly) full-sized bowling ball. Appearing on what is perhaps the least functional website ever, CTA Digital is showing off an "authentic" bowling accessory, splitting open like Pac-Man to gobble up a controller, then closing up again to form what should be the perfect weapon for knocking down both bedposts -- and giving anyone standing nearby a concussion. There's no mention of how much the thing weighs, but we do know that it has what looks to be an industrial-strength wrist strap on there, and that thoroughly broken website contains not one but two statements indicating the company will not be held liable for what you do with the thing. You know what that means: game on!

$99 For a Blu-ray player!

Whether you want one for a cheap Father's Day gift, player for a second room, or just a low barrier to entry for Blu-ray ownership we certainly won't judge, and we suspect more than a few will be tempted by Meijer's offer of a $99 Curtis Mathes branded CMMBX130 Blu-ray player. Add on coupon code DOTMJR09 for free shipping, and its easy to over look its lack of surround sound analog outputs or Profile 2.0 support for the cheapest new Blu-ray player we've ever seen. Inside is the same Broadcom 7440 chipset that powered much higher priced players from Samsung and others in the past, so while the absolute latest in energy efficient, fast loading, BD-Live connected goodies may escape you, we figure that extra Benjamin or two in your pocket will be more than enough to compensate.

DTV Switch is finally here!

The day is finally here, after the pushback and staggered changeover, analog television broadcasts across the country are giving way to a future of digital TV and making room for new services to take over the airwaves soon. Still, after months of announcements, coupons sent and many dollars spent there are still millions who will be caught unawares as their television blinks off today. It's been an incredibly long time coming, so take a look back at some of our coverage of the run up to the digital TV switch, and why not drop us a line to let us know of any interesting local coverage in your area or experiences (procrastination-fueled runs on converter boxes, transition gaffes, mob violence) going on.

Nintendo Wii,Record Setter!

The Wii has already set more than its share of sales records, but it looks like Nintendo has now claimed another big one, with the latest NPD figures indicating that the Wii has become the fastest-selling console ever in the United States. That milestone was apparently marked when the Wii sailed past 20 million consoles sold after just 31 months on the market, although that number is of course just a small part of the more than 50 million consoles shipped worldwide which, incidentally, has already made the Wii the fastest-selling console in the world.

Toshiba REGZA SV670 LED HDTV

If you're not down with waiting for Toshiba's internet-connected range of HDTVs -- which, by the way, should be out before the dawn of 2010 -- here's a bit of excellent news: the REGZA ZV650 and SV670 series are now shipping. Both of the sets were initially announced way back at CES, and the latter of the two is Tosh's first-ever LED-backlit HDTV. Said set also packs local dimming, ClearScan 240 dejudder technology, PixelPure 5G 14-bit video processing and that questionably useful Resolution+ system. There's also a USB socket, four HDMI connectors, IR pass-through, a PC input and REGZA-LINK (HDMI-CEC).

Significant Hottie:Bree Olson

Samsung Omnia II

This rumor is for everyone out there who nearly went insane from all of yesterday’s WWDC coverage. Word is that what you’re looking at above is Samsung’s upcoming GT-i8000 aka Omnia II. Assuming the picture is the real deal and the specs are right, we’re hearing that the Omnia II will come with a 3.7-inch AMOLED WVGA resistive touchscreen display, 8.1 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and VGA video recording at 30 fps, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and HSDPA connectivity, miniUSB, 150MB of internal memory and a 1500 mAh battery. There is also a rumor that the Omnia II will run custom take on TouchWiz above Windows Mobile 6.1, which while not as polished as TouchFLO 3D is still remarkably better than the standard WinMo fare. But then, what isn’t? And yes, we too noticed that this resembles the mysterious x-ray of a device Samsung plans to spill the beans on next Monday.

Movie review:Terminator Salvation

John Connor - Christian Bale
Marcus Wright - Sam Worthington
Blair Williams - Moon Bloodgood
Dr. Serena
Kogan - Helena Bonham Carter
Kyle Reese - Anton Yelchin
Star - Jadagrace
Darker, grimmer and more stylistically single-minded than its two relatively giddy predecessors, "Terminator Salvation" boasts the kind of singular vision that distinguished the James Cameron original, the full-throttle kinetics of "Speed" and an old-fashioned regard for human (and humanoid) heroics. Only pic's relentlessly doomsday tone -- accessorized by helmer McG's grimy, gun-metal palette -- might keep auds from flocking like lemmings to the apocalypse. The fourth in the celebrated sci-fi series, "Salvation" opens and closes with humanity at war with the machines. In other words, this thing isn't going to end soon. Nor should it, if it keeps on like this.

McG, whose segue from music vids to movies resulted in two "Charlie's Angels" extravaganzas and the woeful "We Are Marshall," exhibits an unexpected flair for the dreadful, abrupt and awesome. What we get here -- which was perhaps missing on the relatively sunny mental landscapes of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" -- is a sense of real horror: When humans are snatched up like Cheez-Doodles by skyscraper-sized Go-bots, there's no slo-mo relief or stalling. Stuff happens as it might were the world actually overtaken by demonic appliances.

Christian Bale, playing the "prophesized leader of the Resistance" John Connor, may have traded in the Batman body armor for "Road Warrior"-style outerwear, but one thing hasn't changed: He is, once again, a movie star playing second fiddle. Heath Ledger stole "The Dark Knight" away from him and Sam Worthington (who will appear in Cameron's "Avatar" this Christmas) heists "Terminator Salvation" from Bale, for the most ironical of reasons: In a movie that poses man against machine, Worthington's cyborg is the far more human character.

As a steel-beaded logo of Warner Bros. fades away, Marcus (Worthington), on death row for an unexplained crime, gets an 11th-hour visit from Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter), who wears the headscarf and pallor of a terminal cancer patient. She wants Marcus' body -- literally. She wants to turn him into a cyborg.

Wracked with guilt, resigned to his execution, Marcus agrees to sign the release in exchange for a kiss. "So that's what death tastes like," he says, as she leaves him to his lethal injection.

This is not your governator's "Terminator."

Bale, meanwhile, playing the adult version of the hero-to-be portrayed by Edward Furlong ("Terminator 2) and Nick Stahl ("Terminator 3"), is as purposeful and furious as anyone played by Arnold Schwarzenegger or Robert Patrick. One suspects he's been studying Linda Hamilton in "Terminator 2," although -- let's face it -- this is serious business. It's 2018. Skynet -- the "aware" machine -- has all but accomplished its self-appointed mission of destroying the threat of people.

But pockets of rebellion continue to operate even if, as in the case of a charred and rubble-strewn Los Angeles, the local contingent consists of just two kids: Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and the mute/cute Star (Jadagrace).

Kyle -- given a slightly geeky and perfectly plausible portrayal by Yelchin ("Star Trek") -- will grow up to father John Connor after being sent into the past to meet Sarah Connor (if you haven't followed the "Terminator" time line, this is no time to be catching up).

Thus, he has to be preserved. So does John, given that it's been predicted since 1984 that he'll be the one to save the world. There's a lot at stake.

McG's direction is always intelligent. (He does seem to have a thing for "The Great Escape," which is referenced several times.) The script by John Brancato and Michael Ferris occasionally goes off the rails. Certainly, their insertion of an existential dilemma for Marcus -- "I need to find out who did this to me," he says, his chrome-plated plumbing having been exposed to the open air -- feels very late-inning.

And the obligatory borrowing from the previous movies ("Come with me if you want to live," "I'll be back ...") tend to upset the mood created within McG's bleached-out world, which is very deliberate and doesn't need the comic relief.

There are great bits though: The thrashing, centipede-like, killer-snake thingie, which has the personality of a wolverine, is a neat invention. So are the biker Terminators, which molt like malignant pinecones off their towering mother �bot. A Schwarzenegger lookalike -- it isn't clear whether it's the ex-actor CGI'd or a complete fabrication -- is funny, but in this case apt.

Significant Hottie:Nina Mercedez

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