FukDatShhh.CoM

By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – Scoot over, Simon Cowell. “American Idol” is adding a fourth critic to its panel of judges.

Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi will sit alongside Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson when the eighth season of “American Idol” premieres in January, the Fox network said Monday.

“For the past seven seasons, Paula has had to endure the experience of being the only woman at the judges’ table,” said Mike Darnell, president, alternative programming of Fox, in a statement.

“With Kara by her side, Paula has some backup and now there is going to be a lot more `girl power’ on the show,” Darnell said.

DioGuardio’s songs have been recorded by Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood and Pink, among others.

“We are turning the heat up on `Idol’ this year and are thrilled to welcome Kara to the judges’ table,” said creator and executive producer Simon Fuller in a statement. “She is a smart, sassy lady, and one of America’s most successful songwriters. We know she will bring a new level of energy and excitement to the show.”

Executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz said a fourth judge isn’t a new idea.

“We had originally intended for `American Idol’ to have four judges,” she said. “We’ve seen from our international series that having a fourth judge creates a dynamic that benefits both the contestants and the viewers.”

___

Fox is a unit of News Corp.

Story provided by: BayNews9.com

Blame the mounting economic pressures, or too many chubby engineers: Google has decided to stop offering free dinner, afternoon snacks, and its “tea trolley” to employees, according to an unconfirmed rumor floated on Valleywag.

A Google representative did not immediately return my request for comment, so this one is still hanging around in the gossip-sphere. But Valleywag reported that the changes are slated to be announced Monday, which would mean that either a confirmation or debunking should be available within hours.

Google has become renowned for its employee perks: massages, game rooms, gyms, laundry facilities, and free food three times a day. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin went out on a limb in creating the free-food strategy, which they said was a worthwhile investment to make employees healthier, happier, and more efficient. The food’s even good enough for Google’s original head chef to have penned a cookbook.

Cutting perks always results in bad PR, something that Google learned the hard way when it shot the cost of day care for employees’ kids into the stratosphere, for example. But cutting back on free food, one of Google’s most visible and unique perks, may be over the top for some workers.

Critics of the perks have suggested, in addition to questioning the economic efficiency, that offering so much free food is really just a way to make Googlers spend more time at the office. Then there’s the
internal joke about the “Google 15″ (or “Google 20″ depending on who you ask), the rumored weight gain that happens after getting hired at Google and being surrounded by so much gratis grub.

Coincidentally, the gossip comes soon after the heavy blogging of a two-month-old Flickr photo that revealed Google’s New York cafeteria serving bacon cheeseburgers on Krispy Kreme donuts as a novelty food. Hey, Googlers, maybe the rumored change is for your own good.

Still, this has not been confirmed, which means that it could easily turn out to be false, or perhaps overhyped (restricted to Google satellite offices, for example). But given the marketwide economic
belt-tightening, it’s not too hard to believe the rumor.

Sony unveiled a wireless keypad for the PS3 at their press conference at the Leipzig Games Convention. The keypad will attach to the top of an existing Playstation 3 SINAXIS or DUALSHOCK wireless controller and will give gamers access to a full keyboard.

In addition to the obvious keyboard feature, the keypad will also have a mode that will turn the main area of the keypad into a touchpad. The touchpad mode will allow users to slide their finger on the area to move the cursor on the screen. The keypad will also have two short cut buttons that will allow users to go directly to the “Message Box” and the XMB’s “Friends” icon during gameplay.

The keypad is also a Bluetooth device that can be used with any other Bluetooth enabled device that has keyboard functionality. That means you could theoretically use the keypad with something like your smartphone or GPS as well as your Playstation.

Look for the PS3 Wireless Keypad to hit stores sometime in November.

[via Playstation]

By David Milliken

LEIPZIG, Germany (Reuters) – Consumer electronics giant Sony (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) announced a new version of its Playstation Portable handheld games console that can be used as a telephone, to go on sale in Europe and the United States in mid-October.

The Playstation Portable 3000, which has been the subject of speculation on technology websites, will have a built-in microphone and a new screen which has more colors and is better suited for use outdoors, Sony said at a video games convention in Leipzig, Germany on Wednesday.

The PSP already supports the software program Skype (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which enables users to make free telephone calls over the internet, but the new PSP, with built-in microphone, will make the process easier, Sony says.

“We believe that this will establish the PSP as a viable communication device,” said David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

The PSP 3000 will retail for 199 euros ($294), compared to 169 euros for the current slim version of the PSP, which will remain on sale.

Sony also said it would launch a version of its flagship Playstation 3 console with a 160 gigabyte hard drive to store more downloaded content and video, to retail for 449 euros on October 31. including 70 euros credit for downloads.

A version of the PS3 with an 80 gigabyte hard-drive will go on sale for 399 euros later in August, Sony said.

Music videos streamed over the internet would soon be available free to the PS3, while a music and video download service modeled on its U.S. version should be available across Europe by the third quarter of 2009, the company added.

(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Free Software Released But Wont Work On Apple OS

Washington, D.C.- There is a new program that has just been released by Microsoft, it is a free program that will allow users to stitch together different 3D images or images that are normally requiring different separate pieces.

When it announced its release on Thursday Microsoft said that the program was first developed in 2006 by the Live Labs division of Microsoft.

It is a program that allows several new and novel options for those that deal with photography.

It gives the photographer the ability to take a number of pictures of a scene then join them together into a large unbroken image.

It can even electronically go past an object to work to create a 3D image.

Downloaded from the Photosynth site, the new software creates a browser plug in and the image will be 3D enabled.

The finished synthetic or “synth” image then can be used, or embedded in blogs, or even uploaded on social networking sites.

Microsoft was unashamed that it will only work on Microsoft PC compatable computers, unfortunately it will not work on any Apple or Macintosh OS type systems, but all things considered, that is not a surprise.

Story from: eontarionow.com