Now Available on Steam - Deadpool

Deadpool is back on Steam!

There are a few important things I need to say before you crack into my insanely sweet game. (Oof. Here we go again.) I'm a mercenary with an accelerated healing factor. I've been described as unstable, which is just plain coo-coo. (Wait, do sane people say coo-coo?) I'm gonna battle for the safety of humans and mutants. (And even mumans.) Be prepared for just about anything. (Holla!)

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Nintendo of Japan President Satoru Iwata dead at 55

Nintendo of Japan issued a statement on Sunday confirming the death of longtime company President Satoru Iwata on Saturday.

The brief statement, which was also posted at Nintendo's Japanese Twitter account, simply stated that the 55-year-old passed away "due to a bile duct growth." Neither the company nor Iwata had spoken about his health issues since the president was forced to skip the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2014; as Kotaku reported last year, Iwata himself eventually responded to fans' concerns about his apparent worsening appearance, telling them he was "progressing well."

Iwata had been a member of the Nintendo development community since joining the company's subsidiary game studio HAL Laboratory in the early '80s, where he worked on such famous franchises as Kirby, Earthbound, and Balloon Fight. In 2002, he succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi, the company's president during its rise as a video game company. Iwata successfully guided the company into its incredible Wii era. In more recent years, he responded to concerns over disappointing Wii U sales by taking a salary cut.

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Why you need to own the Four Horsemen of Tech

Google wows. Will Apple, Amazon and Facebook follow?

Giddy up! The Four Horsemen of Tech -- Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook -- helped push the Nasdaq to an all-time high Friday morning.

Google (GOOGL, Tech30) led the charge, surging 15% after the company wowed Wall Street with itslatest earnings. It's the best single-day performance for the stock in nearly seven years.


Google is now at a record high. Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) andFacebook (FB, Tech30) hit new peaks well.

And Apple (AAPL, Tech30), which will report its latest quarterly results next week, is now just 4% below its all-time high following an early summer slump.

These Four Horsemen dominate the Nasdaq. They are the tech equivalent of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Or his jockey, Victor Espinoza? He's the actual horseman after all.

Either way, these four are collectively worth nearly $1.7 trillion and are expected to report sales of more than $425 billion this year.

Sure, you could quibble and say that Amazon isn't really a tech company. Or that Microsoft (MSFT,Tech30) should be one of the Four Horsemen since it is worth more than Amazon and Facebook.

But Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are undeniably leaders in their respective markets -- and their stock performance this year shows that.


Apple is the laggard of the group because its shares are up only 17% in 2015. Facebook has gained more than 20%. Google, thanks to Friday's huge pop, is now up 30%. And Amazon has soared 55%.

So what's next for these fabulous four?

Apple is the only one of these stocks that could be considered a bargain. It trades for just 13 times earnings estimates for next year. The company is the only one of these four that also pays a dividend.


And don't worry about all the talk of Apple Watch sales being lackluster. Next week's earnings should show that iPhone demand is still ridiculously strong.

Google now trades for more than 20 times 2016 profit forecasts thanks to Friday's big move. But for the first time in a while, Google is living up to the hype.

The latest earnings showed strength in mobile and online video advertising. And Wall Street loves that new CFO Ruth Porat (formerly of Morgan Stanley (MS)) is promising to be more disciplined when it comes to expenses.

Related: Amazon sales soar on Prime Day -- despite complaints

Amazon is the toughest of these four to recommend. Its valuation is obscene -- more than 170 times 2016 earnings estimates. Some would argue that Amazon needs someone like Porat to keep Jeff Bezos from spending too much.

But Amazon is doing extremely well. The company touted strong sales for its Prime Day event this week --- even though most of the reaction on social media about the deals was negative. And Amazon has now been overvalued for 20 years. So Bezos is obviously doing something right.

Finally, there's Facebook. It doesn't report earnings until July 29. But investors are clearly expecting extremely strong results. Wall Street is impressed by how quickly Facebook has become a mobile advertising giant. It looks like Facebook is going to give Google's YouTube a run for its money in digital video as well.

And nobody is criticizing Mark Zuckerbeg for the company's acquisition strategy. Instagram and WhatsApp are helping add even more users -- and stay relevant with younger people.

So it's hard to bet against any of these four giants right now. But keep in mind that tech is one of the most fickle industries out there -- from a consumer and investing standpoint.

In addition to Microsoft, there was a time when experts thought Cisco (CSCO, Tech30), IBM (IBM,Tech30), Intel (INTC, Tech30), HP (HPQ, Tech30), Dell (now private), EMC (EMC), Oracle (ORCL,Tech30) and Sun Microsystems (now owned by Oracle) were among the Four Horsemen.

Could companies like Netflix (NFLX, Tech30), Alibaba (BABA, Tech30), GoPro (GPRO, Tech30) andSalesforce (CRM, Tech30) eventually become one of the Four Horsemen of Tech?

Heck, if you look at the valuations of the biggest "unicorn' startups, we could be talking about Xiaomi, Uber, Snapchat and Airbnb being the new Four Horsemen in five to 10 years.

So unlike War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death (why are the tech giants nicknamed for harbingers of the apocalypse by the way?) tech companies don't get granted lifetime membership in the Four Horsemen club.

But for now at least, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are galloping way ahead of the rest of tech.

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Ciara strips naked for her new music video

29-year-old Ciara reveals her stunning body as she strips completely naked in her latest music video for Dance Like We're Making Love.

In the sensual video Ciara encourages her partner to 'dance like we're making love', but that wasn't what they did. Their choreography seemed more like a hip hop dance routine than a 'making love' one, lol. More photos from the video after the cut..

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ANT-MAN IS MARVEL’S WEIRDEST MOVIE, AND THAT’S A GOOD THING

ZADE ROSENTHAL/MARVEL STUDIOS

FOR A MOVIE that looked as though it might get squashed before it ever got out of the larvae stage, Ant-Man has turned out to be a quirky and almost brilliant addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Think of it like an invertedGuardians of the Galaxy—all the off-beat humor and unfamiliar characters, just at a millionth of the size.

Granted, Ant-Man, out today, starts out at conventional 1:1 scale. It’s 1989, and scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is working with S.H.I.E.L.D. under Tony Stark’s dad, Howard (John Slattery). Pym, who in the MCU has only been mentioned in passing in Thor, has the formula to make people smaller by shrinking the distance between atoms—but he won’t give it up no matter how much S.H.I.E.L.D.’s head of defense Mitchell Carson (Martin Donovan) wants it. So he walks. Boom. That’s it for scene-setting; now that you know how Pym and his tech fit into Marvel’s world, you’re free to sit back and enjoy the side-quest without worrying about Infinity Gems.

It’s that very tangential nature that gives director Peyton Reed’s film an air of lightness in the beefcake-weighted world of Marvel—and probably what gives it permission to get away with things like Thomas the Tank Engine sight-gags and jokes about The Cure. But just because Ant-Man is about a lesser-known superhero doesn’t mean it strays far from the Marvel formula. In other words, it’s a satisfying popcorn movie, even if the idea of a likable and superpowered white guy feels a little rote by this point.

Of course, this one happened to fall into heroism ass-over-teakettle. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd, as charming today as he was when he fell for his stepsister in Clueless) is fresh out of prison for hacking and living in San Francisco with his former cellmate Luis (Michael Peña, scene-stealing as always). Lang wants to get his life back on track and reconnect with his daughter, but after getting fired from Baskin Robbins he decides to join Luis and his friends in one more heist. Naturally, what he ends up stealing is Pym’s secret Ant-Man suit

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Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man. ZADE ROSENTHAL/MARVEL STUDIOS

Fortunately, Pym has been looking for someone to thwart his former apprentice Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from developing his own tiny-human suit for nefarious (*cough*Hydra*cough*) purposes—so he asks Scott to be the Ant-Man and stop Cross. This seems like a good idea to everyone except Hank’s daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who would be happy to take up an Ant-Woman mantle if her dad would just let her. She might not get her wish, but she does get to take out her frustrations on Scott via old-school training montage. (Dear Marvel: More Lilly ass-kicking in future films, plz.)

Plot-wise, that’s all you really need to know. Ant-Man is a by-the-books redemption story wrapped in a Good Guys vs. Bad Guys tale. Like most comic-book adaptations, its Evil Mastermind’s motivations aren’t entirely clear. And it takes a while to get going, but once it does it’s a fast, fun ride with some brilliant micro-worldbuilding special effects that comes in under two hours, which feels positively brisk considering the, um, fuller comic-book movies we’re used to. It’s fast and loose, and aims only to entertain.

The fact that Ant-Man actually pulls that off is a feat in itself. The movie’s been in the works for nearly a decade, way back when Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wrightwas attached to make it. Wright exited the movie last May over “differences” with Marvel, and the studio finally tapped Reed as an eleventh-hour replacement; meanwhile, Rudd and his writing partner Adam McKay (Anchorman) reworked the script. If you were following the situation,Ant-Man seemed like a good bet to break Marvel’s streak; it was hard to imagine that a movie suffering from this many setbacks would even hit its release date, let alone be any good. Against all odds, it did both.

We’ll never know what Wright’s version would’ve looked like (probably awesome), but the story as it is plays perfectly to Rudd’s strenghts; he may not come off as a superhero type, despite the new contractually obligated six-pack, but his sardonic humor is so unique it could be trademarked. When he comes in with lines like “I think our first move would be calling the Avengers,” it feels as natural as Robert Downey Jr. delivering a Tony Stark zinger. Ant-Man doesn’t get everything right, but what it nails is creating a Scott Lang that feels like an everyman—and also very much like Rudd.

For those who like to keep track of these kinds of things,Ant-Man marks the end of Marvel Studios’ second phase. (Phase 3 begins next spring with Captain America: Civil War.) It might be the weirdest—and it’s definitely the least splashy—note to go out on. But if it signals a willingness from Marvel to embrace more less-squeaky-clean superhero movies, then that’s no small feat at all.

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Windows 10's forced automatic updates are a good idea

Microsoft will force Windows 10 Home users to download and install updates to its operating system without any options to turn them off. A final version of the OS, distributed to testers this week, contains a clause in the end user license agreement (EULA) that reveals Windows 10 users will receive "automatic updates without any additional notice." The changes have left some Windows users concerned.





By default, Windows 10 will download, install, and reboot machines automatically when they’re not in use to install the updates. There’s only one other option: download, install, and choose when to reboot. This is a big change from Windows 8.1’s four options that included automatic reboots, choose when to reboot, choose when to download and install, and never check for updates.



Windows users are concerned over two potential scenarios

Windows users are concerned over two potential scenarios: forced downloads and faulty updates. Windows 10 will automatically download updates, so those with capped internet connections won’t be able to manage the date downloads are made. Windows 10 updates won’t just be security patches, but they’ll also include feature updates making the download sizes a genuine concern for some. The real worry is over faulty updates, but that’s less of a problem thanks to Microsoft’s "Windows as a service" model. Failed or faulty updates are already very rare, and Microsoft can lean on its 5 million Windows 10 testers to try out updates before they’re distributed more broadly. I can’t remember the last time I had to restore my Windows machine because of a bad patch.

While there are concerns, the advantages far outweigh any of the negatives. If you’re used to family members calling you for technical support because they’ve failed to upgrade to the latest Windows service pack or some malware disabled Windows Update then those days will hopefully be over. Windows 10 updates will be automatic and mandatory, so the OS should act more like Google's Chrome browser. Google updates Chrome regularly, and everyone gets the latest version once they close the browser or restart their machine. It keeps everyone up-to-date and secure, and now all Windows 10 users will benefit from the same approach.

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Best Buy has spammed me more than all of Nigeria’s princes combined

I’m not an expert on many topics, but I have learned a few things from personal experience. And the chief pearl of wisdom that I can pass on to the next generation is this:never give Best Buy your e-mail address.

I get dozens of spam e-mails every day, and I am constantly unsubscribing from lists I never joined. It’s just one of the hazards of being a tech journalist.

But while I’ve accepted that my work inbox is going to be filled with junk, I go to great lengths to keep my private e-mail pristine. I use a personal domain instead of an emailprovider.com address, and the spammers haven’t found it. Even my junk folder is empty. It’s glorious.

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Apple Launches A8-Based iPod Touch With 8MP Camera, Adds New Nano and Shuffle Colors 1K MacRumors

Apple today introduced the sixth-generation iPod touch with a 4-inch display, 64-bit A8 chip and M8 motion coprocessor, 8-megapixel rear-facing iSight camera and new colors: blue, pink, silver, space gray, gold and red. 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models are available through the Apple Online Store starting today for $199, $249 and $299 respectively, while a new larger 128GB model was introduced for $399.

The new iPod touch also features 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth 4.1, no longer has a loop attachment and comes with iOS 8.4 preinstalled for access to Apple Music and Beats 1. The 128GB and (PRODUCT)RED models will be sold exclusively through Apple, while all other colors and storage capacities should be available through authorized resellers such as Best Buy and Walmart in the near future.

Apple also updated the iPod shuffle and iPod nano with a matching lineup of colors, but no other hardware or storage capacity changes to the devices were made. iPod nano and iPod shuffle maintain their prices of $149 and $49 respectively and currently ship within 1 business day on the Apple Online Store.
"iPod touch gives customers around the world access to Apple Music, the App Store and iOS, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, starting at just $199,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPhone, iPod and iOS Product Marketing. “With big advancements like the A8 chip and the 8 megapixel iSight camera, customers can experience next-level gameplay, take even more beautiful photos and enjoy their favorite music, TV shows and movies.”iPods have become an increasingly minor business for Apple over the past several years, with only 2.6 million units sold in Q4 2014, the last quarter when Apple reported iPod sales. Beyond new colors and storage capacities, Apple had last updated the iPod touch and nano in October 2012 and the iPod shuffle in September 2010.

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