Will stay on Channel 5 Big Brother eye. The iconic Big Brother eye logo will still be used when the show starts on Channel 5, it has been revealed.
According to the Daily Star, a deal has been struck with artist Daniel Eatock, who worked on all the Channel 4 idents, to create a new eye for the upcoming series of the reality show later this year.
The new eye will apparently be representative of the programme's planned "decadence" theme.
However, producers have apparently not yet decided whether they will reuse Paul Oakenfold and Andy Gray's popular Big Brother theme tune.
"Big Brother will return this summer but expect lots of changes. All we can say is - watch this space," said a show rep.
Celebrity Big Brother will air for the first time on Channel 5 in August. A traditional non-celebrity series will follow in September.
Is the Boss of You Congratulations, America, Donald Trump. Today, with a precarious economy, rising gas prices and three wars under way, the President of the United States of America held a press conference to announce the release of his original birth certificate, to prove that he is eligible to hold his office and quell a controversy fomented by a reality-show judge who by some polls is the leading candidate to oppose him in the 2012 election.
[Pause to allow those readers, who so desire, to kill themselves.]
The release of the certificate—shockingly!—revealed that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii, in 1961, as a human baby. It, and the subsequent press conference, drew saturation coverage from cable news. But not before Apprentice boss Donald Trump held a press conference in New Hampshire on the appearance of the birth certificate he declared "missing" on Anderson Cooper, um, two days ago. His humbled response: You're welcome, America!
Trump's remarks literally began, "I am very proud of myself." Because of course he is. Because who wouldn't be proud to have cynically embraced a toxic nutjob theory, on the basis of no good evidence, questioning the President's legitimacy, then having his suspicions shown to be an Al Capone's vault? Who wouldn't be proud to have turned himself from a national punchline into a national punchline with a shot at a Presidential nomination, through sheer, up-by-the-bootstraps pandering to Internet conspiracists? That takes talent, folks!
Obama, for his part, gave a brief speech that, in the most tactful terms possible, amounted to: Jesus Christ, America. OK, I paraphrase. The President noted that, while he has trouble getting TV networks to break in for coverage of policy announcements, they scrambled out for a birth-certificate announcement like it was a declaration of nuclear war. "We've got better things to do," he said. "I've got better things to do." And he hoped that the country, and the political press, would stop being distracted by "carnival barkers."
Oh, Mr. President: the carnival has barely pitched its tent. Let us count the ways in which it is not over:
* Conspiracists do not believe conspiracies because of evidence. They believe because they want to believe. Whatever subaltern message the birther theories actually represented—Obama is dishonest, Obama is alien, Obama is not one of us—those are not going away because of some silly fact. Expect the forwarded chain e-mail from your cranky uncle any day now, thoroughly documenting how the so-called "longform" birth certificate was not in fact long enough, was photoshopped, does not stand up to magnification, was planted in the files by ACORN or does in fact represent the birth of some baby named Barack Obama, who was abducted shortly after Earth birth and replaced with a tiny cyborg created by gay Muslim communists.
* A corollary: Facts do not dispel conspiracy theories. Facts are raw material for future counter-theories.
* Conspiracies are fungible. OK, the birth certificate is out there—whatever. What about Obama's academic records? Sure enough, Trump, in his own press conference, moved on to asking about those, as part of the argument that Obama was a poor student who didn't belong in the Ivy League. Which may not have anything to do with policy, or the economy, or the actual job the the U.S. citizen elected President is doing. No matter: the sub messages Obama is dishonest, Obama is a usurper, Obama is an affirmative-action baby are what matter.
* The birth certificate controversy was all Obama's fault, anyway! No, seriously: this is an actual meme now. Why did he wait so long? Why did he let this become an issue? Why, Mr. President, did you force us to act like paranoid wackjobs for three years? Expect commentators to demand answers.
In short, the carnival will keep barking. Believers will keep believing. And be sure to tune in for the exciting finale of Celebrity Apprentice! You lucky, lucky country!
Obama releases long form birth certificate. WASHINGTON President Obama, trying to squelch a persistent and distracting controversy over whether he was born in the United States, on Wednesday released the official long-form birth certificate that skeptics had demanded.
The signed-and-sealed Certificate of Live Birth shows he was born exactly where he had said: Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu. During the 2008 campaign, he had released a copy of his Certification of Live Birth, a shorter official form with fewer details.
At a morning White House news conference, Obama said he decided to seek the official waiver needed to obtain the longer document after the debate over competing deficit reduction plans by him and House Republicans were overshadowed by the conspiracy theories fanned by possible GOP presidential contender Donald Trump and others.
"We've got some enormous challenges out there," the president told reporters in the briefing room. "I am confident that the American people and America's political leaders can come together in a bipartisan way and solve these problems. … (But) we aren't going to be able to solve these problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers."
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BLOG: View Obama's birth certificate
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BLOG: Jesse Jackson says Trump using 'racial code' in birther claims
Trump, at a news conference of his own in New Hampshire, bragged that he had forced the president to release the document. "I'm very proud of myself because I accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish," he said.
Then he immediately pivoted to another issue involving Obama's personal qualifications, saying he had read that Obama was a poor student and asking how he had won admission to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, both elite institutions. "I don't know why he doesn't release his records" from his school days, Trump said.
Democratic consultant Phil Singer said it was smart of the White House to release the longer birth document.
"This is a non-issue that for whatever reason takes up space that would otherwise be dedicated to the good things that the president is doing, so it makes every piece of sense in the world to try to take the issue off the table," said Singer, an aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 primaries against Obama.
"It probably would have been a good thing if they'd done it when the issue first surfaced, but better late than never," he said.
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Monday showed the issue gaining surprising traction, given that investigations by news outlets and non-partisan organizations consistently concluded there was no question about Obama's place of birth. In the poll, taken last week, only 38% of Americans said they thought the president was "definitely" born in the United States; 18% said he "probably" was.
Nearly one in four, 24%, said he was probably or definitely born in another country. Nineteen percent said they didn't know enough to say.
Among Republicans, 43% said Obama was definitely or probably born abroad — more than the 35% who said he was definitely or probably born in the USA.
"This has long been a settled issue," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The speaker's focus is on cutting spending, lowering gas prices and creating American jobs."
Obama also said he was focused on jobs, the economy and other big challenges. But he pointedly noted that the release of his birth certificate was consuming more news attention that the pending White House announcement of appointments of a new Defense secretary and CIA chief.
And Trump sounded like a candidate undeterred by the loss of the issue that had drawn him attention, saying he would announce his decision on the finale of his TV reality show, Celebrity Apprentice.
"I think if I do run, I'll do very well," Trump said. "I think I'd beat Obama."
ON POLITICS: Palin, others respond to release
The Constitution requires that the president be "a natural born Citizen." Some conspiracy theorists have suggested that Obama, whose mother was an American and father a Kenyan studying in Hawaii, was himself born in Kenya. Speculation on the issue had grown in recent months.
Trump raised the "decibel level" so high it became necessary for the White House to address it, said Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union.
"I think he had somewhat of an arrogance before, in thinking he wasn't going to respond to an accusation of this nature,but obviously if it warranted that much national attention he should have dispensed with it and moved on," he said. "You scratch your head wondering why it took the president so long to put this to rest if indeed that long form puts it rest."
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson accused Trump of appealing to "ancient racial fears" in raising questions about the birthplace of Obama, the nation's first African-American president. "He is now tapping into code word fears that go far beyond a rational discourse," Jackson told Politico.
Meanwhile, Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus called the issue "a distraction" but seemed to blame Obama for the furor. "Unfortunately his campaign politics and talk about birth certificates is distracting him from our number one priority — our economy."
Obama birth certificate needs truth test. Moments ago, Trump said, "Today I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish."
Trump added, "I want to look at it, but I hope it's true, so that we can get on to much more important matters ... he should have done it a long time ago."
He continued, "I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully getting rid of this issue."
As for the actual document, Trump added, "We have to look at it, we have to see ... is it real? Is it proper? What's on it? But I hope it checks out beautifully."
Head to head with D7000 Nikon D5100 impressions. Nikon has stirred up the camera crowds once again with its newly released D5100, filling the industry with the buzz of a new high-resolution articulating screen. In terms of consumer DSLR options, the D5100 has taken on the role of the mid-range model in Nikon's product line between the D3100 and the D7000 and we think it assumes the part rather nicely. In terms of price, the D5100 fits right in as well, fetching an MSRP of $900 (vs. $700 and $1600, respectively for the two aforementioned camera kits). Of course, the D7000 lands you the better 18-105 f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S VR lens, a larger and brighter viewfinder, built-in focus motor, weather-proof sealing, and a few other internal upgrades. But don't judge too quickly, because we've had some time to play with Nikon's latest creation and the D5100 can certainly shoot along with the big boys of consumer cameras read on past the break for our impressions and comparisons with the D7000.
To the untrained eye, the D5100's body seems pretty mundane compared to its predecessor (or any other DSLR for that matter) but whip out its articulating screen and you'll find that it swings out the left side of the camera. The new model is about 10% smaller and lighter than the D5000 while 30 grams isn't a whole lot on paper, we sure do appreciate it after a day of walking around town with the D5100. The grip also has been redesigned slightly and we have to say that despite this camera being on the small side, the new grip still makes it extremely comfortable to hold while shooting due to its shape and material. You'll also notice that then entire button layout has been shifted over to the right to accommodate that new flippy screen, allowing full access to the camera's functions with one's right hand. Still plaguing the D5xxx models is their plasticky-ness, but this flaw is neither surprising nor unwarranted for the price range – it's just a constant reminder that you're still in the amateur and novice section of digital SLRs.
That said, we're still impressed with the overall feel and design of the D5100. One glaring problem with the D5100 is the location of both the live view toggle (directly to the right of the mode dial) and the movie record button, which finds itself placed near the shutter. We're big fans of the way Nikon did the D3100 and the D7000's Live View layout on the back of the camera, combining both the Live View dial with the record button into a conveniently placed, single sleek switch, but unfortunately we can't say the same for the D5100. It's just so easy to toggle live view on the either the D3100 or the D7000 by just slightly moving our thumbs in natural opposable motions. The D5100 however, requires the photographer to move their entire hand to toggle live view, not to mention that in order to hit record, you have to use your shutter finger this is a disaster when trying to maintain framing or take photos while recording movies.
Like the model it's replacing, the hallmark feature of the D5100 is its articulating screen, and rightfully so. As the company's second DSLR with a movable screen, Nikon has listened to the criticism from D5000 users mainly that it could not be used effectively when attached to a tripod due to its downward position; therefore, Nikon have followed their Canon rivals and placed the screen to the left now we can mount our camera on a tripod and still have all of the range of the screen again. Nikon has increased the screen size, replacing the 2.7-inch screen with a much beloved 3-incher (found on Nikon's previous D90), while quadrupling the resolution, giving it a total of 920,000 dots (versus 230,000 dots on the D5000). Colors are remarkably sharp, brightness is outstanding even in direct sunlight, and the high resolution truly makes it a joy to use in live view mode. The built-in accelerometer, which enables the contents on the display to rotate around as the camera moves laterally, is also carried over from the D5000, and we still find it very useful for situations that call for portrait orientations.
So, is the articulating screen enough of a reason to purchase the D5100? Well, not really... The main reason is that there are plenty of better reasons to own this camera than just that horizontal screen it really just sets the D5100 apart from other cameras and lets Nikon sell us another prodigious camera. Like we've mentioned in our D5000 review, the swivel screen is still only useful in a handful of situations i.e. mainly video recording, or when trying to get awkward shots that you're extending limbs and extremities to get. It does not eliminate the shutter lag from shots in Live View, and often times it makes the camera a lot bigger and more obtrusive if you're working in tight areas (concerts and gardens in our experiences).
The overall execution of the screen on Nikon's part is still very, very impressive. The hinge glides and moves as if on rails. The screen locks into position and is very stable at all viewing angles. Combined with Nikon's new auto focus system that is extremely welcomed when shooting video, the D5100 shines for amateur cinematographers which definitively fills the void we missed with the D5000, as we'll explore in just a moment.
While the D5100 and D7000 share the same sensor, that's pretty much where the similarities end. The D7000 has 39 auto focus points, nine of which are cross types, where as the D5100 has only 11 points, and has a single lonely cross type. The viewfinder is also about half as small, and darker in the D5100 – this is really only noticeable if you are shooting with the two side by side, but for the hardcore Nikonians, framing from the viewfinder is key. That said, the overall image quality of the D5100 isn't too dissimilar to that of the D7000. In most situations, particularly for DSLR newbies, the D5100's image quality is more than adequate and will still have that wow factor in sharpness and depth of field control. In the test image above, both the D5100 (left) and the D7000 (right) had the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR kit lens attached, and were shooting at 6400 ISO speeds. We found that the high ISO performance of the D5100 fantastic, and were generally pleasantly surprised when shooting above 1600 ISO speeds (where we found lots of noise in shot taken by the D5000). For $900, the D5100 certainly holds its own against the D7000 and other models in the DSLR market. Don't just take our word from it, Check out the sample images in our mini trip to Battery Park.
The D5100 also includes an effects mode, which you can toggle on the main mode dial on top of the camera. One particular effect that Nikon placed a heavy focus on was the night vision mode, where the camera would shoot at a ridiculous 102,400 ISO speed. We initially thought night vision on an mid range consumer DSLR to be pretty gimmicky, but after testing, we found that it actually works if you're the black and white, with lots of grainy noise type of person check em out in our sample image gallery. The coolness of night vision aside, we found ourselves more drawn to another effects which Nikon included like the miniature effect (provides tilt-shift like images), the selective color effect and our favorite, the color sketch effect (image below).
Also worth noting is that the Nikon D5100 also includes a built in HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode, where the Camera shoots two images sequentially at two different exposures, then merges the images to create a single photo that brings details to both the shadows and the highlights of the picture (example below).
Nikon just kept the ball rolling with the upgrades from the D5000, as we come to one of the biggest and most noticeable ones: video. After Nikon had released the D3100 and the D7000, both having 1080p 24fps video capabilities, it was only natural to assume that the D5100 would follow. Well, Nikon took it one step further, including 1080p at 30fps, which is sorely missed especially on the D7000, and gone is the five minute video cap we despised in the D5000.
We are extremely happy and surprised with the D5100's video capabilities. Coupled with an articulating screen, "full time" auto focus, and the aforementioned effects to play with, we can't help but to think that a lot of people are gonna get their 'creative' on with this camera. We do have to say that video auto focus, like the D3100, doesn't work all the time, often missing when tracking subjects, and if accompanied with non silent motor lenses (like some third-party that Tamron and Sigma lenses offer), the resulting videos tend to have rather annoying audio. We unfortunately did not get a chance to test the Nikon ME-1 microphone with the D5100 during our time with it, but look forward to other users' reactions and reviews of its performance.
So, is the D5100 worth it for previous owners of the D5000 and new buyers alike? Well, unless you have the green to pony up the $900 (kit)/ $800 (body only), the $600 D3100's similar feel and performane might steer you to go the cheaper route. We are still anxiously waiting to get our hands on a Rebel T3i, Canon's direct competitor to the D5100 so we can definitively answer the old Canon / Nikon question, but we're fairly confident that the D5100 can hold its own against its counterpart. With that said, the older D5000 is still a very capable model (especially with reduced pricing), but the D5100 decisively takes the reigns with it's 1080p video capabilities, great image quality, high ISO noise performance and high-res articulating screen.
Would we recommend this over the outgoing D90? Of course. You are getting a D7000, with a better screen, better video performance in a less weather-sealed, but lighter and smaller body for around the same price. Would we recommend this over the D7000? Well, it really depends on your needs, but realistically, if money was no object, we'd scream D7000 every time. If you need something to snap a few shots of your kids on the playground, and record a birthday song or two in high definition, then the D5100 will do your memories justice. If you're thinking about getting serious about photography, and doing some portraits and or landscapes for some dough, then you'll appreciate the D7000's weather sealing, built-in auto focus motor (so you can use lenses dating back to the 70's), top mounted LCD and a far superior kit lens (if you're the kit type of person). Either way, the D5100 is a winner in our books, especially for the price.
Releases Tomorrow Finally White iPhone 4. The rare albino iPhone 4 has been spotted numerous times in the wild, skulking through the trees in the magical United Kingdom, cavorting across the mysterious lands of Vietnam, and most recently standing in formation in Belgium. Now it's coming somewhere rather less exotic.
The Apple Store. Apple has finally announced it will release the white iPhone 4 tomorrow around the world. Here in the US it'll come in both AT&T and Verizon flavors, warming the hearts and minds of those who like a little less pigment on their handsets. Other than a proximity sensor tweak nothing else has changed on the device, and so the pricing remains the same: $199 on contract for the 16GB model, $299 for 32GB. Sadly, though, your contract also remains
The same, and we're pretty sure really wanting a new phone to match your earbuds isn't grounds for avoiding an ETF.
