Leap Motion first impressions: There's work to do

After more than a year of hype and some impressive canned demos, Leap Motion is finally here.
The $79 motion controller for Windows and Mac is available for purchase, and its app store is up and running. I've been playing with a Leap unit provided by the company since last Thursday.

It's hard not to be impressed with Leap Motion on a basic level. Here's a motion controller that's more precise than Microsoft's Kinect, for a fraction of the cost, in a package small enough to sit discretely on a desk. Although Leap doesn't have a video camera like Kinect, it's able to detect the motion of individual fingers.

But is it practical, and does it work as well as it looked in all the promo videos we've seen over the last year? That's where things get a little messy.

Leap Motion's Airspace Home is used to launch most of 

LM's roster of promising, if inconsistent apps.

  Leap's biggest problem is inconsistency in the quality and behavior of its apps, which for the most part are launched through an app hub dubbed “Airspace Home.” Some apps, such as Corel's Painter Freestyle and Leap's own Touchless mouse control app, use a 3D vertical plane to register input. Move your finger beyond that plane, and it's as if you're clicking with a mouse. This works terribly in practice because you have no physical feedback for when your finger has crossed the plane. In Painter, it's too difficult to control when you're actually drawing, and in Touchless, it's too easy to accidentally click on things.

Touchless, for that matter, is somewhat disappointing as a mouse supplement. While it'd be nice to use the app for leaning back and reading through Web pages, scrolling can be tough to initiate in an accurate and predicable way. The app also doesn't support multiple monitors.

Photoscape is one of the few apps that uses
the technology to its advantage.

  Other apps handle input better. Photoscape, a stylish viewer for online photo sources like Instagram and Flickr, uses a quick point gesture to simulate a mouse click, and uses hand swipes to scroll through menus. Additional navigation is based on the position of your hand in 3D space. The app is intuitive and fun, and doesn't run into issues with accidental input.

The big takeaway here is that Leap and its developers have a lot of work to do on making motion controls as consist as possible. One size doesn't need to fit all, but Leap still needs to figure out what works, and prescribe some best practices for app developers. The idea of passing some arbitrary vertical plane to initiate input needs to be thrown out entirely for apps where accuracy is key.

Leap's other big challenge is to come up with some must-have apps for the device. Right now, the collection consists mostly of games or silly diversions, with wildly varying degrees of quality. Some of these games are enjoyable enough—Double Fine's Dropchord being the most notable example—but they don't make a very strong case for PC motion controllers. For this kind of entertainment, you'd be better off in the living room with Kinect.

That's not say there aren't any useful apps available. Unlock is a quick and easy way to log in to Windows with biometric authentication, and for Mac users, Swish provides simple gesture controls such as app switching and volume adjustments. There's also a surprisingly robust selection of MIDI control apps for musicians.

At the moment, though, Leap doesn't provide any truly compelling reasons to get on board. At $79, it's basically something you might buy if you're interested in motion controls, and want to see where the technology goes. It should be fun to watch Leap's journey continue, even if the product isn't ready to be part of your daily computing life. 

Canonical to crowdfund first batch of Ubuntu Edge phones

Canonical is taking its innovative smartphone design directly to potential customers. The company has launched a crowdfunding campaign to build the original batch of its planned Ubuntu Edge devices.

Canonical hopes to raise US$32 million within 30 days, to build 40,000 units. It will use the Indiegogo service and the Paypal electronic payment service, to collect the contributions.

"We'll use crowdfunding to see if there is a real market," said Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu founder, in a press conference. "Today there are very few people who decide what will go into the next generation of handsets. And they can't possible get it right all the time. With crowdfunding, we can connect the passionate forward-thinking types directly to manufacturers."

Contributors who pledge $600 on Tuesday, or $830 for the remaining 29 days, will get one of the devices, which are due to be shipped in May 2014. Canonical will not build the phones should the full $32 million not be donated, though handset manufacturers have indicated a willingness to build the phones on their own, should they receive sufficient interest from the phone carriers.

Like Microsoft did with its Windows RT tablets, Canonical is hoping to kickstart interest among device manufacturers for an innovative hardware design by introducing its own device. Unlike Microsoft, Canonical has no plans to stay in the hardware market after this test run of devices. The company plans to break even in this project, though obviously it will benefit by raising awareness of the Ubuntu Edge.

Ubuntu sees two potential users of Ubuntu Edge: early adopting consumers and the organizations that wish to use the product as a combined smartphone and a sort of thin-client device to power worker desktops.

The Ubuntu Edge is a unique smartphone design in that it would be the first that could be used as a smartphone as well as a full-fledged personal computer, when docked to a monitor with an HDMI cable and linked to an optional keyboard and mouse.

Canonical's idea is that the user can use the phone when out and about, but switch to a PC when docked, thereby consolidating two devices into a single one.

"If you only have to buy one set of RAM, CPU and storage and CPU for your phone, your tablet and your PC, there are enormous savings there in doing that," Shuttleworth said. "If developers only have to target one platform, there are enormous benefits for them."

"This will be the first phone you can connect to a screen and get a full PC experience," Shuttleworth said. The Ubuntu Edge would dual boot both the Ubuntu desktop OS and Android.

As a result of this potential dual usage, the phone design calls for more muscular componentry than is typically found in a phone. It will feature a quad-core processor, though Canonical has not decided on which chip company will provide the CPU. It will also come with 4GB of working memory, or RAM, which is twice what high-end smartphones now offer.

"By putting more RAM in, we think we can get comfortable performance" on the desktop, Shuttleworth said.

The Ubuntu Edge will contain 128GB of storage. The 4.5 inch, 280 x 720 pixel display will be made from a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, and it will feature a novel silicon anode battery technology that promises longer charges.

The device will provide high-speed roaming with access to 4G-LTE broadband in both Europe and the U.S. It will also support dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, and NFC (near field communication). It will have two cameras, an eight megapixel rear camera and a two megapixel front facing camera.

With the arrival of its first mobile app, IFTTT is ready for small business

Keeping up with the growing list of social networks, essential apps, and incoming data streams that have become part of modern online life is difficult for even a Web dabbler. Getting them talking to one another is even tougher, which is where tools like “If This Then That,” or simply “IFTTT,” have become invaluable.
This hacker’s dream of a Web service was developed to help ease the translation of data from one network to another, and now IFTTT has released its first mobile app, for the iPhone platform. The mobile app enhances the utility of IFTTT for all of its users, but its release is also a good time to take a hard look at whether IFTTT can now be put to use in the business world.

IFTTT is so valuable because certain networks, like Facebook, are famously closed off, so doing something that should be simple—like saving your photos to your hard drive or republishing videos on YouTube—can be extremely tedious and time-consuming.

Some of the site’s most popular recipes are mostly personal in structure. (If my Facebook profile picture changes, change my Twitter profile picture to match. If I take a photo on my iPhone, send me a copy of it via email.)

IFTTT remedies this by revolving around a simple design conceit. Using an abbreviated scripting language, users develop “recipes,” each of which takes a single data input and does one single action to or with it. For example: If I like a photo on Instagram, then save that photo to my Dropbox folder. That’s it. It sounds simple, and it is, but it saves you the hassle of doing it for yourself. You don’t even have to write these recipes from scratch. Tens of thousands are available for download from the site’s database. (You can get the Instagram to Dropbox recipe here.)
But an increasing number of recipes have a serious business bent. Want to
back up your mobile device contacts to a Google Docs spreadsheet? Auto-send starred Gmail to Evernote? Link a Blogger account to a Facebook Business Page? There’s, to borrow a phrase, a recipe for that.

And of course, you can always script your own recipes to do more. Savvy businesses might use IFTTT to send a text message to the customer support team if the company receives a mention on Twitter. Or IFTTT can be used to simplify the hassles of keeping various networks up to date. Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, and more can all be synced up—one at a time, of course.

The iOS version of the IFTTT app doesn’t really do anything the Web version of the system doesn’t do already, but it does make recipe creation and management a more flexible, do-it-anywhere activity. One of the curious things about digging into IFTTT is that you never know where the idea for a killer recipe will strike. But as more and more of both our social and business lives becomes mobile, that serendipity is less and less likely to occur when you’re sitting at your desk. 

Microsoft leads tech-ad spending in the first quarter with Windows 8 push

 Windows 8 Professional $200.00 Windows 8 isn't for everyone. If you're mostly a desktop PC user comfortable with Windows 7, upgrading to Windows 8 is probably not worthwhile. If you're a mobile user who needs easy access to the...

Tech advertising jumped 30 percent from a year ago during the first quarter, led by Microsoft, which pushed out Intuit to promote its latest operating system, called Windows...something or other.

In all, ad spending by tech companies totaled  $723 million, up 30 percent from a year ago. The jump was especially noteworthy because ad spending actually declined across all other sectors, Nielsen said.
For the last five years, Intuit has led all tech companies in advertising during the first quarter, as it promotes its TurboTax and Quicken software as the tax preparation season ramps up.

But this year, with Microsoft’s aggressive promotion of its Surface tablet, Windows 8, and Windows Phone, Redmond's ad spending jumped by 200 percent compared to the same period in 2012, when it was winding down Windows 7.

“Technology has become so widely available that it pervades every aspect of life to some degree,” said Randall Beard, global head of advertiser solutions for Nielsen, in a statement. “But with increased accessibility comes increased competition, and companies are investing hefty sums into creating buzz around their biggest products in order to secure a share of this sizable market.”

Other top advertisers included Apple, Google, and Amazon, Nielsen said. Its study included “hardware and software products including but not limited to cameras and photographic supplies, computers, handheld music players, stereo systems, and others.”

Whatever your feelings about Microsoft’s products, its advertising has arguably dramatically improved over the past quarter, with its Surface ads ditching the all-singing, all-dancing, all-clacking “Movement” premiere, replacing it with one that emphasized productivity.

Back in May, Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, said that the second ad marked a sea change. “It is significant, because it is the first ad that really shows what Surface can do that the iPad cannot,” Miller said. “Rather than ‘dancing around’ the Surface, I like that this ad actually tries to clarify the unique features of the device.”

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Windows Phone ads have skewered both the Android market as well as iOS fanatics, both with ads that attack Siri and the iPad as well as my personal favoreite, embedded below.
Has Microsoft’s advertising affected your view on the company and its products? Or is it the same old stodgy Microsoft? Let us know in the comments below. 

Microsoft to pay first IE 11 Preview bug bounty to BlueHat security contest finalist

Microsoft has already received several vulnerability reports that qualify for monetary rewards as part of the company’s bug bounty program launched in June for the preview version of Internet Explorer 11.

The recipient of the first IE 11 bounty will be Ivan Fratric, a security researcher who earned second place and $50,000 last year in Microsoft’s BlueHat Prize contest for the development of defensive technologies. Fratric’s entry into the contest was a system called ROPGuard, which can detect and prevent return-oriented programming (ROP) attacks.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Fratric worked as a researcher at the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing until October 2012, when he joined Google as an information security engineer.

“The security community has responded enthusiastically to our new bounty programs, submitting over a dozen issues for us to investigate in just the first two weeks since the programs opened,” said Katie Moussouris, a senior security strategist with Microsoft’s Security Response Center, Wednesday in a blog post. “I personally notified the very first bounty recipient via email today that his submission for the Internet Explorer 11 Preview Bug Bounty is confirmed and validated,” she said, adding that this means “he’s getting paid.”

Moussouris did not disclose the identity of the first bounty recipient in the blog post, but she confirmed Thursday that it’s Fratric in a Twitter message congratulating him.

Other researchers qualified for IE 11 bounties as well and they will be notified soon, Moussouris said in the blog post. Microsoft will create an acknowledgement page to list the researchers who wish to be publicly recognized, she said.

Microsoft announced the IE 11 Preview bug bounty program on June 19, after years of being reluctant to the idea of paying security researchers for reporting vulnerabilities in its products. In the past, the company preferred to encourage the development of active defenses like anti-exploitation techniques that can block entire classes of exploits. The BlueHat Prize contest in 2012, with a prize pool of over $250,000, was intended to promote the development of such defensive technology.

The IE 11 Preview bug bounty program, meanwhile, kicked off on June 26 and will run for 30 days, until July 26. The reported vulnerabilities can qualify for bounties between $500 and $11,000, or even more in particular cases, depending on the gravity of the vulnerability and the quality of the report.

“It’s not about offering the most money, but rather about putting attractive bounties out at times where there are few buyers (if any),” Moussouris said. “For our products, that tends to be during the preview (or beta) period.”

At the end of June, Fratric said on Twitter that he reported a potential memory corruption issue in IE 11 Preview to Microsoft, but it’s not clear if that’s the bug that won him the program’s first bounty.

In addition to the IE 11 Preview bounty program, Microsoft also launched two other programs, one that will reward researchers for finding novel exploitation techniques to circumvent Windows 8.1’s exploit mitigation defenses and the other for developing new ways to block known exploitation techniques.

First 'Oldboy' Trailer: History, Hotel Rooms and Hammers to the Head

For those looking for a revenge flick that's exciting, confusing and more than a little violent -- a hammer in the head, Josh Brolin? -- the first trailer for Spike Lee's upcoming remake of the 2003 South Korean thriller Oldboy might be exactly what you're looking for.

Oldboy started life as a manga series running in Weekly Manga Action by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobukai Minegishi that ran from 1996 to 1998, before being adapted by director Park Chan-Wook in 2003 and, now, Lee for this new American version of the story.

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Each version of the story features the same basic plot. A man is locked away for years without reason, and once released, goes looking for explanations and those responsible. But what's odd is that each successive version of the story adds additional years to the length of imprisonment. In the original manga, Shinichi Goto is trapped for a decade. In the first film adaptation, Oh Dae-su is locked away for 15 years, and as the new trailer for the American edition reveals, Brolin's Joe Doucett is kept in solitary confinement for twenty years.

(As is always the case in such movies, Brolin ages suspiciously well in those twenty years; by the time he's released with his new haircut, he almost looks younger than he did in 1993.)

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The American version of the movie has been in the works for some time; in 2008, it was Will Smith and Steven Spielberg attached to the project, although both dropped out a year later, effectively killing the project until Lee became involved in 2011. Mark Protosevich, who provided scripts for I Am Legend and The Cell, has remained attached as screenwriter throughout.

The film also stars also stars Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley. Oldboy will be released October 25 via FilmDistrict.

Twitter: @sajilpl

'Astro Boy' Creator's Complete Works Coming to U.S. for First Time

Good news for fans of classic manga, or even just those with a fondness for Astro Boy: Californian publisher Digital Manga Inc. has announced that it has acquired the U.S. rights for the entire catalog of Osamu Tezuka's work, and plans to bring everything into circulation for American audiences.

Tezuka is likely best known in the U.S. as the creator of Astro Boy (or Tetsuwan Atomu to give the series its original title, which translates to "Iron-Armed Atom"), but his accomplishments go far beyond that. With an output estimated to be somewhere in the realm of 150,000 pages of comics spread across more than 700 manga volumes, his other creations include pre-WWII-era political drama Message to Adolf; Buddha, a memoir of Gautama Buddha; and the epic, unfinished Phoenix, a series about reincarnation that spans the length of human existence from the distant past to the far future.

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Additionally, Tezuka headed-up Mushi Production, an animation company credited with pioneering television animation in Japan (Alongside original series like Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Princess Knight, Mushi also animated Frosty the Snowman for Rankin Bass; yes, you've likely seen some of Tezuka's work without even knowing it).

Digital Manga confirmed its new deal with Japan's Tezuka Productions to Anime News Network last week. According to ANN, the publisher plans to release Tezuka's entire back catalog digitally, with select titles receiving print editions via Kickstarter campaigns.

Titles that already have print editions in the U.S. -- Black Jack, Message to Adolf, Buddha and other series -- will remain with their current publishers for print editions, but Digital Manga will retain digital rights.

Sadly, no launch details have been released yet, but when they are, fill up your Kindles and iPads, people. This isn't just good stuff, it's some of the best stuff.

Twitter: @sajilpl

SF Plane Crash: Social Media Is Key First Responder

The Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed at SFO airport
In the aftermath of the Asiana Airlines flight that crash-landed at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday at 11:36 a.m., the drama unfolded on social media as witnesses relayed the initial reactions that were then amplified by cable news.

Passenger David Eun, a Samsung exec who was formerly president of AOL Media and Studios, posted his first tweets at 12:13 p.m., within minutes of the crash-landing and fire. According to the Associated Press, at least two people have died and 182 were taken to area hospitals.

Eun, a Harvard Law graduate who also has worked at NBC, calmly posted short but clear bulletins on the crash and the condition of the passengers. (His first cool-under-pressure tweet, which even included the airport's Twitter handle (@flySFO), was retweeted nearly 30,000 times. His Twitter followers grew from 2,000 to nearly 19,000 in hours.

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Prospective Asiana passenger Sheryl Sandberg’s postings on Facebook also were widely quoted in traditional media. “Taking a minute to be thankful and explain what happened,” wrote the Facebook COO. “My family, colleagues Debbie Frost, Charlton Gholson and Kelly Hoffman and I were originally going to take the Asiana flight that just crash-landed. We switched to United so we could use miles for my family's tickets. Our flight was scheduled to come in at the same time, but we were early and landed about 20 minutes before the crash. Our friend David Eun was on the Asiana flight and he is fine.”

Meanwhile, a young woman (@EuniceBirdRah) whose father was on board asked her followers to pray for his safety. "He is on the 777," she wrote as she headed to the airport. Awhile later she sent out another tweet -- tagged for CNN -- with a photo of the burning plane that her father (who had escaped unhurt) had sent to her via text message.

She followed up a few minutes later: "About to go on CNN.. My heart is aching for the passenger, crew, family." Then finally: "God is real."

The story’s development was the latest chapter in what has become an emerging story for the traditional news media, which has found itself ever more reliant on social media bulletins and photos for its most immediate and, often, eye-witness coverage of significant breaking news events.

Saturday, the lesson implicit in that story was dramatically reinforced when traditional news outlets with no reporters immediately on the scene were forced to rely on passengers’ Twitter postings, as well as dozens of photos posted to the Internet by passengers and those waiting inside the airport terminals.

Within a relatively short time, there were videos of the evacuation and fire up on YouTube, which were picked up by Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. By then, FNC's Claudia Cowan was on the ground reporting in SF, MSNBC aired a special report with Lester Holt and CNN's international anchor Richard Quest called in to discuss the incident.

Eun's cool-headed series of tweets made him the dominant initial observer of the crash-landing.

Among his Tweets:

"Fire and rescue people all over the place. They're evacuating the injured. Haven't felt this way since 9/11. Trying to help people stay calm. Deep breaths…"

"Lots of activity here. Friends, pls don't call right now. I'm fine."

First 'Despicable Me' No. 1 on iTunes, Amazon

Steve Carell's Gru and his adorable minions aren't just taking over the box office, where Universal's Despicable Me 2 grossed $34.3 million on Wednesday.

The animated characters are also dominating digital downloads on iTunes, Amazon and Google's Play store.

The first Despicable Me movie is the No. 1 movie download on iTunes and Amazon as of Friday morning. The film is available to rent (starting at $2.99) and buy ($9.99) on both sites. The first movie is also the No. 9 rented title on Google Play ($2.99).

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Minion Madness, a 12-minute collection of mini movies about the minions is also making noise on the charts, landing at No. 14 on Google Play, No. 33 on iTunes and No. 75 on Amazon. Despite its higher placement on the Google Play chart, it costs $4.99 to buy there and $3.99 on iTunes and Amazon.

The Despicable Me game is also the top free iPhone app and No. 5 on Google Play's list of free Android apps.

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Meanwhile, preorders for the second film have already begun in earnest, with these advanced purchases putting Despicable Me 2 at No. 18 on Amazon's list of best-selling DVDs (where the first film is also No. 1) and No. 73 on iTunes' list of top movies.

iTunes features a Despicable Me 2 promotion on its main page, and Amazon has a promo on the main page for its Instant Video offerings.

First Kisses and Being Forgotten at Camp: 'The Way, Way Back' Stars' Best Summer Memories

With the sights, sounds and smells of summer heavy in the air, kids from coast to coast can surely be found soaking in the sun and surf, making memories for years to come.

In Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s directorial debut, the coming-of-age story The Way, Way Back, Duncan (Liam James) comes into his own while working a part-time job at a run-down water park, alongside the quick-witted layabout Owen (Sam Rockwell) and the charming voice of reason, Caitlyn (Maya Rudolph). Meanwhile, Duncan’s mom (Toni Collette) navigates the murky waters of a new relationship with Trent (Steve Carell).

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Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Amanda Peet and Rob Corddry also star, with the directors playing double duty in front of the camera, as well.

In honor of their summer-perfect film, in theaters July 5, the stars of The Way, Way Back reminisce about their own coming-of-age memories.

For Rash, it was the time his parents forgot to pick him up at summer camp. For Janney, a first kiss on the beach with a “guy with long blond hair.” For Rudolph, growing up in Westwood, it was poolside birthday parties in late July.

Of filming the movie, James says: “This [was] definitely one of my favorite summers, of course, with some of the greatest actors and comedians of all time.”

The Way, Way Back brought a bit of sunlight to snowy Park City during its Sundance debut earlier this year. It is distributed stateside by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

First Feature Film Completed Under Hungary Fund Bows at Karlovy Vary

KARLOVY VARY -- The first feature film completed with backing from Hungary’s new national film fund had its world premiere Wednesday at the Karlovy Vary international film festival.

Janos Szasz’s Le grand cahier (A nagy fuzet, also known in English as The Notebook) – a $4 million-budget Hungarian co-production with Germany, France and Austria that tells the harsh story of twin brothers put into the care of a cruel grandmother during World War II, received $780,000 (600,000 Euros) from the Hungarian National Film Fund (HNFF).

An adaptation of Agota Kristof’s international bestseller, the film’s three-year journey from script to a screening at one of Europe’s leading film events coincided with a major shake up in Hungarian public film funding.

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A change of government and revelations of multi-million dollar debts – along with allegations of corruption at predecessor body the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Foundation (MMKA), lead to the establishment of the new film fund, backed by national lottery funding worth $26 million this year.

Budapest-born Hollywood producer Andy Vajna (Rambo, Terminator, Nixon) was brought in to oversee the reforms to fund commercially viable films destined for theatrical release.

At the time, the changes provoked dismay among many filmmakers who feared they would no longer win public funding for their projects.

While some famous Hungarian directors publicly denounced the new system – most notably art house director Bela Tarr, who announced his retirement from filmmaking, most chose to give it time to prove itself.

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Szasz, whose film initially won support from the MMKA before interim backing from a government department, completed the movie under Vajna’s new system.

It’s the first of six films slated for release this year and next -- including Kornel Mundruczo’s White God (Feher isten) and Karoly Ujj Meszaros’ Liza, the Fox-Fairy -- and is one of 27 movies that have been greenlit for production funds.

HNFF CEO, Agnes Havas, said strict rules governing revenue share, accountancy practices and, in some cases, granting the fund international sales rights for backed projects, had established financial transparency and revolving door funding for further movies.

“Hungarian films are back in the market,” Havas told The Hollywood Reporter shortly before Le grand cahier screened Wednesday.

"Under the old system, more money was spent than the foundation had. All that has changed now.”

Havas, who began her career in film in the 1980s and has worked with HBO among others, said the selection committee system of the new fund guaranteed that a genuinely wide range of projects win backing.

“We are backing existing talent and bringing forward new talent,” she said.

Szasz, who works in both film and theater, said despite the changes of funding bodies, the whole process had been "smooth."

"It was even easy; I cannot and won’t complain."

For the First Time, You Can Actually Own the Digital Comics You Buy

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — If you’ve ever bought a digital comic book, your experience probably went something like this: You opened up an app like ComiXology, paid around $1.99 to $3.99 — likely, the same price as a print issue — but never downloaded the file for the comic to your hard drive. That’s because you don’t really own it — you’ve simply licensed the right to look at it in someone else’s library.

It’s a digital sales model that has been adopted by every major U.S. comics publisher — and most e-book publishers as well — and was inspired by fears that piracy of digital copies could hurt not just digital but also print sales. It has also essentially prevented the comic book readership (or at least, the legal comic book readership) from truly owning any of the books they buy. At least until this morning, when comic book publisher Image Comics announced at its Image Expo convention that it will now sell all of its digital comics as downloadable via its website for both desktop and mobile users, making it the first major U.S. publisher to offer DRM-free digital versions of comics. Readers can even choose the file format they prefer: PDFs, EPUBs, CBRs or CBZs.

“My stance on piracy is that piracy is bad for bad entertainment,” Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson told Wired in an exclusive interview. “There’s a pretty strong correlation with things that suck not being greatly pirated, while things that are successful have a higher piracy rate. If you put out a good comic book, even if somebody does download it illegally, if they enjoy it then the likelihood of them purchasing the book is pretty high. Obviously we don’t want everybody giving a copy to a hundred friends, but this argument has been around since home taping was supposedly killing music back in the ’70s, and that didn’t happen. And I don’t think it’s happening now.”
‘My stance on piracy is that piracy is bad for bad entertainment. There’s a pretty strong correlation with things that suck not being greatly pirated.’ — Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson
And while Image comic books will still be offered for sale on ComiXology, iBooks, and every other platform where it was previously available, Image’s Director of Business Development Ron Richards says that offering the direct-to-consumer downloads is important. “There’s something to be said for the ownership factor. If readers purchase a book on ComiXology, that may be their library [on the service] but from what I understand that could be revoked. And God forbid, if ComiXology goes under or their data center has an earthquake all their hard drives go away — then you’ve got nothing.”

Indeed, there have been several snafus so far that have illustrated the limitations of ComiXology’s model of digital sales. In March, a server crash caused by massive demand for a Marvel Comics promotion not only shut down sales of new comics, but also user access to the reader and any comics stored in the cloud. In April, ComiXology refused to submit an issue of Brian K. Vaughan’s popular Image comic Saga to Apple’s iOS store based on its sexual content, and later removed 56 other comics for content issues. Other comics have been “pulled back” after they were purchased by readers and locked until a later date.

Image, whose comics include The Walking Dead and Saga, is currently the third-largest comics publisher after the “Big Two” superhero companies Marvel and DC, and has a long history of breaking away from the corporate model of doing business. Founded in 1992 by a group of high-profile comics creators who wanted to keep the rights to their work, Image remains a publisher of creator-owned content — meaning writers and artists get to keep the rights to their work — rather than the work-for-hire model that dominates mainstream comics, where creators typically receive no further royalties. This distinction, which sits at the heart of the most contentious legal and ethical issues within the industry, has made Image an attractive home for the original work of numerous A-list superhero writers and artists.

But despite Image’s history of innovation — and thumbing its nose at the corporate status quo — its decision was informed not just by ideas but by data. Despite the industry’s initial fears that digital comics would hurt print sales, or disrupt the fragile balance of the direct market in comic book shops, the exponential growth of digital sales hasn’t hurt print — and may have even helped it.

“Over the last several years, we’ve learned the answer to the big question, and guess what: Digital comics have not destroyed the industry. Digital has shown tremendous growth, but we’ve also seen growth in the direct market and the book market,” said Richards. “If you look at other publishers, they’re seeing the same thing.”



Image has the statistics to back it up — and even more surprising in an industry where publishers have been notoriously cagey about providing data about digital sales, actually shared them. Although the publisher only started selling digital comics in 2009, digital sales now make up more than 11 percent of the company’s overall revenue, and is currently projecting sales of 15 percent by the end of 2013. Image’s best-selling comic, The Walking Dead, sees 22 percent of its sales in digital. And when measured solely against print comics sold in the direct market at comic book stores, digital makes up 27 percent of revenue.

Digital comics has transformed from a threat to a boon, a new channel for sales that not only serves existing readers in new ways but opens to the door to a different and far larger audience than brick and mortar stores. “There’s a lot more potential for outreach with digital comics,” said Stephenson. “I mean, how many comic stores are there? Maybe 2,000 or 2,500 in the United States? There are more radio stations than that. If you’re trying to convince casual [and new] customers to find comics, we’d be better off selling to radio stations than comic book stores.”

Still, says Stephenson, it may take time for certain calcified ideas within the industry to change, particularly regarding digital comics and piracy. “Piracy is not going to stop; everybody’s doing a completely ineffectual job of stopping it now, and I don’t think that this is going to add to it… Now that the technology has caught up to us, then the attitudes and the opinions [in the industry] have to catch up as well. And that takes time, because it’s a shift in the paradigm. There are a lot of people who still don’t quite understand it.”

The Image Comics website, which relaunched today with its new DRM-free offerings, will focus initially on releasing new comics and best-selling series like The Walking Dead, with more of the back catalog to be added as time goes on. And while the new downloadable format will not retroactively be available for Image comics purchased on other apps like ComiXology or iBooks at the time of the launch, Richards says it’s something they’re looking into.

But for any comics that readers buy directly from Image moving forward, the model is simple. “As long as you purchased them, they won’t go away,” said Richards. “If you bought it, you own it.”

First 'Nymphomaniac' Clip: Seduction on a Train

The first teaser for Lars von Trier's buzzy erotic drama Nymphomaniac has been released online, and it's branded with the auteur's distinctive style of yellow-tinted scenery and an unvarnished, at times unsettling, naturalism that hooks you even though you might want to look away.

Billed as an "appetizer" from the first of eight chapters of Nymphomaniac, the scene features Stacy Martin as a younger version of Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) embarking on a mission to seduce a fellow passenger aboard a train.

The sexually explicit film, slated to premiere Dec. 25 in Copenhagen, drew even more attention when von Trier released a porn-inspired cast photo in May, featuring a plethora of stars (including Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman and Willem Dafoe) in compromising positions.

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First Look: The New Pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel (Exclusive Photos)

Still the perfect place to be seen, the pool has just resurfaced after a three-month, multimillion-dollar renovation befitting the Pink Palace, which turned 100 last year.This story first appeared in the July 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Plunge into the Beverly Hills Hotel pool and you might come out famous. It's where Raquel Welch and Robert Evans got discovered, Esther Williams swam each morning and The Beatles swashed by moonlight. Katharine Hepburn dove in clothed, while Tallulah Bankhead reportedly did so naked. In a cabana, Yves Montand romanced Marilyn Monroe. Boorish Rex Harrison greeted longtime pool manager Svend Petersen wearing nothing but a strategically placed handkerchief, a different color every day, and Fred Astaire walked around the perimeter as if life itself was a graceful dance.

PHOTOS: Exclusive Photos of Beverly Hills Hotel's New Pool

"There were so many beautiful stars there and so much action," recalls actor and habitue Robert Wagner. "Afterparties, movie meetings. It's the embassy of Hollywood!" It was a great place for a young actor to get recognized, he says. "But no belly flops. You'd want to do a pretty clean dive."

Still the perfect place to be seen, the pool has just resurfaced after a three-month, multimillion-dollar renovation befitting the Pink Palace, which turned 100 last year. "Everything was custom designed to preserve what the hotel represents: the glamour, the stripes, the pink, the green," says renowned designer Adam Tihany, who was responsible for the refresh. "I commissioned a banana-leaf mural, and we created a new umbrella that makes you feel like you're under a banana tree." Service has entered the 21st century.

PHOTOS: 8 Iconic Beverly Hills Hotel Pool Snapshots

Before the remodel, food was not available poolside, and the adjacent Cabana Cafe didn't serve dinner. (Maybe that's why Howard Hughes had staffers leave roast beef sandwiches in the tree outside his cabana late at night.) Now, guests can order the hotel's famed McCarthy Salad while sunbathing, the cafe has been expanded with an open-show kitchen, and the less prestigious upper-level cabanas were replaced by a pool terrace, where dinner will be served starting in the fall. "We're creating one of the most romantic spots in L.A. to dine alfresco," says Tihany, "not just for the bathing-suit crowd, but for people in cashmere and Jimmy Choos."

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Coverdell, 529, Roth: Which to tap first for college?

 

Take into account taxes and, if you qualify, need-based aid, says Troy Onink, CEO of Stratagee.com, a college-planning firm.

Start with the 529 and Coverdell Education Savings Account: Withdrawals for eligible expenses, such as tuition and books, aren't taxed or counted as income in financial-aid calculations.

You might also tap the mutual funds to get the American Opportunity Tax Credit, worth as much as $2,500 annually. You'll have to spend up to $4,000 from sources other than the 529 or ESA; the income phaseout is $180,000 for couples and $90,000 for singles.

Related: Getting the financial aid you need

Save the Roth for last (using it only if you're already set for retirement). You can withdraw contributions tax-free; earnings used for school are taxed as income.

Twitter: @sajilpl

George Zimmerman Trial: 3 Highlights From The First Day

Defense attorneys and prosecutors took turns to present their opening statements in the murder trial of George Zimmerman today in Sanford, Fla.
Zimmerman, 29, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, is charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

As was previewed in the months leading up to trial, prosecutors said Zimmerman was a vigilante who profiled Martin and took the law into his own hands, while the defense said it was Martin who "viciously" attacked Zimmerman and Zimmerman acted in self-defense.

With that here are three highlights that tell the story of the opening day:

— The Knock, Knock Joke: Defense attorney Don West included a joke in his opening. As The Orlando Sentinel
reports, first he told jurors there were "no monsters" in this case and then the Sentinel reports:

"... he told an ill-received knock-knock joke: George Zimmerman who? 'Alright, good. You're on the jury.'

"He apologized for the joke after lunch, blaming his delivery."

Mediaite has video:

— Open With Expletives: The prosecutor in the case opened with Zimmerman's own words. According to the Daily Beast
:

"'[Expletive] punks. Those [expletives], they always get away,'" said assistant state attorney John Guy as he stood in front of the packed court, using the same words that he says Zimmerman told a police dispatcher as he pursued Martin on the night of February 26, 2012. "Those were the words in that grown man's mouth as he followed in the dark a 17-year-old boy who he didn't know ... Those were the words in that man's chest when he got out of his car armed with a loaded semi-automatic pistol and two flashlights to follow on foot Trayvon Benjamin Martin, who was walking home from a 7-Eleven ... Those were the words in that defendant's head moments before he pressed that pistol into Trayvon Martin's chest and pulled that trigger."

— The Scream For Help: One of the keys in this case will likely be who the jury believes was heard screaming for help during a 9-11 phone call.

According to the Huffington Post, the defense said:

"Zimmerman's family members and friends have listened to the 911 recording and are convinced 'that's George Zimmerman screaming for help,' West said.

"'You cannot tell someones age by [listening to them scream],' West said. 'There's nothing predictable. A 50-year-old man can sound like a 15-year-old girl, so there's nothing scientifically there to tell who's voice it is.'"

The AP reports the prosecutor argued just the opposite:

"... prosecutor John Guy implied that it may have been Trayvon Martin screaming in the background of the call.

"'Listen carefully please, to that call. Listen carefully ... when the gunshot goes off, Trayvon Martin was silenced immediately,' Guy said. "When the bullet the defendant fired passed through his heart, when that gunshot rings out on the 911 call, the screaming stops.'"

3 Custom Cocktails for the First Day of Summer

Online food-and-drink phenoms Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark have graduated from web series to TV with their new six-episode Cooking Channel show Tripping Out. The pair – who launched a career off of a 2009 viral lark in which they straight-facedly instructed viewers on how to create an over-the-top McNuggetini cocktail – is now traveling the country, from Alaska to Miami, on Anthony Bourdain-esque adventures.

To celebrate both the premiere of the show and the start of summer, THR asked Ward and Hardstark to conjure a trio of fresh libations just for the season. They’re no joke at all.

PHOTOS: 11 Buzzy Books for a Summer Road Trip

Hollywood Re-Porter
4oz porter stout
1/2 c dulce de leche ice cream
1 oz coffee liqueur
Luxardo cherry

“Scoop ice cream into a highball glass and pour coffee liqueur over it. Slowly pour porter stout over both and finish with a Luxardo cherry on top. Enjoy dinner, a drink and deadline-meeting caffeine in one chalice of multitasking.”

Bittersweet Moscato Spritzer
4 oz moscato wine
4 oz sparkling water
1.5 oz grapefruit juice
Dash Peychaud's bitters
Sprig of rosemary for garnish

“In a tall glass full of crushed ice, add chilled moscato, grapefruit juice and sparkling water, then a dash of Peychaud's bitters. Mix and garnish with a sprig of rosemary, then ogle the pool boy from behind a ficus.”

The 'Shut Up It's Healthy'
1.5 oz gin
1 oz ginger liqueur
.5 oz lemon juice
2 oz berry kombucha
Fresh ginger coin, 1/4 inch thick
Sage leaf for garnish

“In a cocktail shaker, muddle the ginger coin to express the juice. Add gin, ginger liqueur and lemon juice and shake over ice, then pour into a lowball glass filled with ice. Top with Kombucha, stir and garnish with a sage leaf (smack sage between palms first to release aromatics and all of your aggressive tension). Enjoy a cleansed soul, a probiotic belly, a detoxed liver, and a slightly retoxed liver.”

 

RSL jumps into first place with success at home

SANDY — The Rio Tinto momentum has proplled Real Salt Lake to the top spot in the West.

Kyle Beckerman scored a goal right before halftime and Robbie Findley added another immediately after it to lift Real Salt Lake to a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The win vaulted RSL (9-5-3) into first place into the Western Conference. Seattle (6-5-3) lost for just the second time in its past nine MLS matches.

“I am really, really pleased,” said RSL coach Jason Kreis. “To score two goals, get the shutout at home, and to keep the momentum going is exactly what we were looking for.

“ I hope to ride this momentum for the rest of the season,” he added.

Seattle finished the match with a total of two shots. RSL tallied 17, putting six on the net.

Salt Lake has scored two or more goals in five consecutive matches. RSL has 27 goals in its last 10 games across all competitions this season, registering eight wins during that same stretch.

“We knew this (home stretch) was critical. We knew had to get the next three. We took them one at a time, building momentum and doing a good job,” Beckerman said.

The string of victories includes a pair in U.S. Open Cup play, with a quarterfinal matchup with the NASL Carolina Railhawks up next on Wednesday evening at Rio Tinto.

“It’s a big one. We need to keep reminding ourselves, that if we get complacement we will lose,” Beckerman said. “We need to keep the momentum going on Wednesday.

Beckerman put Salt Lake on the board in the 41st minute after cleaning up a deflected free kick by Javier Morales. The ball bounced off a defender and took a hop out to Beckerman on the right side of the box. He cleaned it up perfectly, sliding a half-volley under to the crossbar.

Seattle had no shots on goal and did not create a single shot period during the first half.

Salt Lake created a much bigger hole for the Sounders right after halftime. Findley gave RSL a two-goal lead in the 46th minute on a second-chance goal after his initial shot was saved.

Findley tracked down a deep pass from Morales and fired a right-footer just outside the 6-yard box. Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning cleared the ball out to Khari Stephenson, who flicked ahead to Findley again. He launched another shot just outside the right upper corner of the box. This time, he threaded the ball inside the left post.

The Sounders struggled to mount a comeback because they could do hardly anything against a stiff RSL defense. They did not create their first shot of the game until Mario Martinez curled the ball from the right side of the box at RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando in the 73rd minute.

Seattle finished the match with a total of two shots. RSL tallied 17 shots, putting six on frame.

One key for RSL’s success has been the play of young players Carlos Saucedo, Olmes Garcia and Khari Stevenson. Saucedo is in the spotlight after injuries to Kwame Watson-Siriboe and Chris Schuler.

“Carlos has been doing a great job, and he’s done that since day one,” Beckerman said. “He’s proven that he belongs.”

• FIRE 2, CREW 1: At Columbus, Ohio, Mike Magee had the winning goal and Joel Lindpere had two assists to help the Chicago Fire rally in the second half for a victory over Columbus.

Lindpere found former Crew midfielder Dilly Duka at the far post for a right-footed stab that tied the game 1-1 in the 52nd minute.

Two minutes later, Lindpere assisted on Magee’s 10th goal, sending a cross into the box that Magee chested into the goal.

Magee has scored in four league matches and six straight in all competitions since being acquired from Los Angeles in May.

The Fire (5-7-3) are 3-0-2 in their past five matches and have won six of the past seven against the Crew.

Federico Higuain scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute for Columbus (5-6-5).

• FC DALLAS 2, SPORTKING KC 2: At Frisco, Texas, Andrew Jacobson and Walker Zimmerman scored in the final two minutes of regulation to lift FC Dallas into the tie.

Jacobson scored in the 88th minute and Zimmerman followed with his first career MLS goal in the 90th to cap the stunning comeback for Dallas (8-3-5), which remains unbeaten at home this season at 7-0-2.

Dallas remains atop the Western Conference standings, despite winning just once in its last five matches (1-2-2).

After Kei Kamara’s penalty kick goal in the 43rd minute and an own goal in the 58th, Kansas City (6-5-5) seemed to be in good shape, even after going down to 10 men following C.J. Sapong’s ejection in the 68th minute.

Dallas nearly won it in stoppage time, but Kenny Cooper’s 20-yard blast curled just wide of the right goal post.

• D.C. UNITED 1, EARTHQUAKES 0: At Washington, Chris Pontius converted a minute penalty kick in the 11th minute and D.C. United (2-11-3) snapped a 13-game winless streak with its first victory since March 9.

San Jose (4-7-6) was shut out for the third time in four games and has failed to score in each of its seven losses this season.

• TORONTO FC 0, DYNAMO 0: At Houston, Joe Bendik stopped four shots for Toronto FC and Tally Hall made three saves for Houston in the scoreless draw.

Houston (6-5-5) is winless in six games, while Toronto FC (2-7-6) extended its unbeaten streak to three games.