'Oz The Great And Powerful Trailer' Finally Arrives

By Meg Malone
Just as we hoped after seeing the debut poster last week, we didn't have to wait too long to get a closer look at director Sam Raimi's upcoming film, "Oz: The Great and Powerful." Disney released the trailer yesterday, and based on what's here, Raimi's take on author L. Frank Baum's imagined world is certainly captivating.
After an opening sequence in black and white (which side note, but does it remind anyone else a bit of scenes from last year's "Hugo," with the early-days-of-film look and magician content?), Oscar Diggs (James Franco) takes the next tornado to Oz, and that's when things get really intriguing.
For all the dusty gray in the original poster, the trailer doesn't hold back on stunning visuals once Diggs makes it into Emerald City territory. The rich colors pop right off the screen, from the crystal blue sky to the lush botanical surroundings to mysterious little creatures that remind me of those things Lockhart unleashed on Harry and company in class one day in "Chamber of Secrets" (anybody?).
This is our first chance to not only get acquainted with the Raimi-Oz world, but also to really see the characters. No longer do we need to squint at the poster to see James Franco there in his balloon, but also we get to see the three witch sisters played by Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz. We'll probably get to learn even more about their characters in the future, but to continue with the visual emphasis, it's worth noting that their costumes are definitely worth getting excited over. From from that giant hat Kunis wears when we first see her to that gorgeous white dress that Williams dons as Glinda, it'll be great to see how the rest of Oz is also outfitted.
Finally, the inside the cyclone shot has solidified my fear of both hot-air balloons and tornados, so may I suggest finding another mode of transportation to the theater when "Oz: The Great and Powerful" is released on March 8, 2013.
Like what you see in the "Oz The Great and Powerful" trailer? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!
Tags Oz The Great and Powerful, Trailers

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AT&T Galaxy Note finally updated to Android 4.0; just in time for T-Mobile

When the international version of the Galaxy Note received Android 4.0, packaged as Samsung’s Premium Suite, AT&T users knew they’d have a couple month wait until the update was reworked to Ma Bell’s standards. Sure enough, here we are some two months later and the update is finally rolling out to AT&T Galaxy Notes starting tomorrow. Coincidentally, just in time for T-Mobile to hopefully start selling the device.
There’s a reason why Samsung has attached the Premium Suite tag to the Note’s update to Ice Cream Sandwich. It doesn’t just include the normal ICS flavored enhancements some devices have been enjoying for quite awhile now. There’s a ton of S-Pen functionality added to Android 4.0 that breathes new life into the device.
The biggest changes in the update come bundled with a new and much improved S-Note app. As detailed by The Verge, who has spent some hands-on time with the update, S-Note can now transcribe hand writing into text, convert scribbles into honest to goodness shapes, submit equations to Wolfram Alpha and import PDF files for annotation. Samsung has also included an S-Memo widget, and made My Story, the greeting card app, available for download in Google Play.
Of course along with the added S-Pen functionality, there is a huge boost in performance. It’s still no Jelly Bean, which uses Project Butter to make Android smoother than ever, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
In other Note related news, we couldn’t help but notice the eerie timing between the AT&T Note’s update date, tomorrow, July 10th, and the original rumored release date for T-Mobile’s highly anticipated Note variation, July 11th. Especially since T-Mobile’s Note is rumored to actually launch with ICS, and Galaxy Note accessories have started showing up in T-Mobile retail stores today. There’s good reason to believe T-Mobile’s Galaxy Note won’t be available until August 8th at this point, but things are falling together quite nicely for a rushed July 11th release.
AT&T Note users, feel free to come back to this post tomorrow and share your Android 4.0 update experiences. We’d love to hear how it went.

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Max Payne finally launches on Android, $2.99 on Google Play

What more can we say about Max Payne? The dude is badass, and the game is singlehandedly responsible for the introduction of bullet time. Now, you can get the original Max Payne in all its glory on your Android device, for the stupid-low price of $2.99. Of course, there are some optimizations to be had if you own a Tegra device (most notable on Tegra 3), so you Tegra-toting Android owners out there are in for a treat.

Fair warning; you’ll have to download an additional 1.3GB of game data prior to actually being able to play Max Payne, so we recommend you connect to a WiFi connection prior to downloading. Once the download’s away, you will be presented with a Rockstar-made mobile version of the game we’ve all come to know and love over the years.

Seriously, why haven’t you downloaded this yet? Do it, NOW!

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TomTom for Android finally coming this summer

We were excited a few years back when TomTom indicated it would be launching an Android version of their navigation application. After all, TomTom offers slick voices for a price, and who wouldn’t want to have Yoda or Darth Vader ordering them to their destination?

Today, TomTom co-founder Peter-Frans Pauwels told Pocket-Lint that they’re still working on an Android application, and that it’d likely come sometime this summer. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of an imminent launch for TomTom, as they told us the same thing over a year ago, which itself was about a year after we learned that they were working on an Android version.

Since that time, Google has come out with Google Navigation, a free navigation feature now found commonplace in Android devices, which works beautifully when you’re connected to the internet. The question that begs asking is whether a market for TomTom still exists on Android, especially when you consider that TomTom’s iOS applications retail for at least $50, a heavy premium for a service that will soon be free on all Android devices.

Google is widely expected to announce an offline version of Google Navigation at its Google I/O conference in June, which should fill the one gaping hole that still remains in Google’s Navigation service. In just under a month, there will simply be no room in the market for a standalone Navigation application that provides offline maps, especially with a $50 price tag.

Sorry, TomTom, your Android version is too little, too late.

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