By Paul Thomson :: 12:30 AM
The colorful Google doodle featuring a quintet of swimmers bobbing in a wave on Google’s homepage today (above) signifies the first day of Summer.
Also known as the Summer Solstice (exact time, Friday, June 21, at 1:04 a.m. ET), the first day of Summer is also the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere – meaning that part of the globe receives more sunlight than on any other day of the year.
This year’s Summer Solstice is remarkable because it will be closely followed by the largest “supermoon” of 2013. In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, the moon will reach its full phase and will be the closest to Earth that it will be all year.
In the Southern Hemisphere, today marks the first day of Winter Solstice. Not to leave out half of the globe, Google also had a doodle designed for Australia and southern parts of the world as well – see the image below.
Both of Google’s artworks for today were drawn by Christoph Niemann, an illustrator, graphic designer, and author of several children’s books.
Google’s Southern Hemisphere Doodle:
By Cynthia Herbert :: 8:23 PM
In 2002 James Gandolfini appeared on children’s show Sesame Street in a short scene with one of the puppet characters, Zoe.
Zoe was scared by a noise she heard, and James calms her down and tells her not to be frightened, then shows her how she can calm down and not be scared any longer.
Gandolfini also showed Zoe that even big tough guys like him get scared from time to time. Among things that frightened Gandolfini were trips to the barber, and large, talking vegetables.
It’s a touching look at a man who many remember playing much darker, more sinister roles, like his character Tony Soprano on the HBO hit series The Sopranos.
Gandolfini was a talented actor, and passed away yesterday at the age of 51 due to a heart attack.
The clip of Gandolfini appearing on Sesame Street is below.
By Gilbert Falso :: 1:38 PM
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom announced a new video feature for social photo sharing site Instagram today during a Facebook press event.
The update to the Instagram app is already available, for both Android and iPhone, and allows users to shoot and edit a 15 second video clip that they can then post to their Instagram account.
In addition to the video capabilities, Instagram also released 13 new filters for video footage, as well as a featured called “Cinema” which helps provide image stabilization for shaky videos.
The new video features are a direct shot at Twitter’s video service announced earlier this year, Vine. Instagram’s new technology eclipses Vine’s in many ways, including increased video length, ability to edit video clips before they are posted, and the addition of filters.
“We have made Instagram better,” Systrom said as he revealed the video functionality. “And we have made it beautiful. Videos have to be beautiful like Instagram photos.”
By Cynthia Herbert :: 7:45 PM
James Gandolfini, the actor who played Tony Soprano on the popular HBO series The Sopranos has died at age 51.
Gandolfini suffered a heart attack while traveling in Italy to attend the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily.
He first rose to fame playing the role of a hitman in the 1993 film “True Romance.” He was cast as Tony Soprano in 1999, and went on to win 3 Emmy awards for that role across the show’s 6 season run.
By Gilbert Falso :: 4:32 PM
Microsoft has reportedly decided to ease its restrictions on digital rights management (DRM), licensing, and Internet connectivity for its next generation gaming console, the Xbox One.
Bowing to increasing customer and fan pressure, Microsoft is doing away with the following unpopular mandates that turned away many long time Xbox fans:
- Removal of always-on (every 24 hours) Internet connectivity requirement
- Game CDs will work on Xbox One in a similar fashion to the current Xbox 360
- Authentication of games (new and used) is not required
- Downloaded games can be played offline
- Restrictions on buying used games or trading physical discs have been dropped
- Region-specific encoding has been removed
The announcement from Microsoft has not been made through official channels yet, but apparently the message will come from corporate within the next day.
Microsoft has made these changes as its rival, Sony, touted its next generation console, the PS4, with much fewer limits and restrictions than the Xbox One.