News Flash: Steve Jobs Passes Away At 56 — 1955-2011

Via Apple:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com

Steve Jobs has changed my life in immeasurable ways. I will never forget what he did for computers, technology, and the world. He will never be forgotten by me.

From all us iPhone users: Thank you, Steve Jobs.

Most Wanted: Apple’s Big Event

This week, is an odd one. For the first time since the list was made, I didn’t post 2 consecutive weeks of the Most Wanted List. I didn’t do it intentionally, but when I realized it, I found it pointless to, because it was already too late. For that, I’m sorry. Although I feel a bit awkward to put out one after a long time, this week is a very eventful and important one. I think you guys know what the first one is. It’s very obvious due to this week’s events. So here we go: here’s the list!

1. Apple’s ‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ Event

It’s that time of year again. Actually, it should have occurred back in June, but a little device called the Verizon iPhone got in the way of that. Nonetheless, its here. Apple is expected to unveil some kind of device, whether its the iPhone 5 or 4S or iPod Touch 5 or all, is yet to be known. What will it be? Tune in at Apple’s press event in Cupertino today for the announcement (note: It will be the first iPhone event without founder and former CEO Steve Jobs).

2. Homeland

I didn’t get the chance to alert you of this show, but this one’s a MUST WATCH! The crazy thing is that this show wasn’t on my radar at all, and it turns out that it’s one of (if not,) the best new show of the Fall. Plot in one sentence: A slightly crazy CIA Agent suspects that a soldier who was in captivity for 8 years has been turned against his country. Two words for you all: WATCH IT.

3. Parks and Recreation

The season is off to a great start, and with last week’s episode full of liquor and Tammys, I can’t wait for what’s in store for TV’s best comedy.

4. American Horror Story – Series Premiere

The reviews haven’t been great, but the fact of the matter is, nothing likethis has been done on TV. Many are calling it scary, bizarre, and outrageous. I’ll watch the first 3 episodes to give it a chance, but I’m very reluctant.

5. iPod

Will the iPod classic be discontinued? That’s another question at Apple’s big event today.

That’s all for this week! Again, sorry for the lack of lists and posts, I’m trying to figure things out to make the s

Tumblr Passes 10 Billion Posts

Popular microblogging/social networking site Tumblr has surpassed 10 billion posts, according to the website.

Tumblr reached the milestone on Friday and to celebrate, the main dashboard has been decorated with confetti. Tumblr has been around since 2007, but just experienced major growth in 2010. Most recently, Tumblr’s growth has been tremendous. The site had passed 6.5 billon posts in June. This means that they’ve added the remaining 3.5 billion posts in just the last three months. Tumblr has reached many milestones in the past year, including passing WordPress in total blogs, and is on track to finish a huge funding round that would value the website at $800 million.

Former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz goes on a bizarre rant

In what is sure to be one of the most unusual interviews in Silicon Valley history, former Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz goes out in bleeping fashion from the company.

In a blunt and bizarre first interview with Fortune magazine since her firing, Bartz when all out to trash Yahoo’s Board of Directors saying that “these people fucked me over.” She tells the magazine that she called Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock a little after 6PM the day before speaking at a major tech conference in New York. She was supposed to call at 6PM sharp and says “I called him at 6:06,” and he began reciting a lawyer-written statement to Bartz over the phone informing her of her firing.

She was clearly not happy with the way Bostock handled the termination. “I said; ‘Roy, I think that’s a script,'” then adding, “‘Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?'” Bostock kept reading and by the end she said,”I got it. I got it,” adding, “I thought you were classier.”

Bartz was recruited in 2009 to lead the company after Yahoo founder and then-CEO Jerry Yang announced that he would step down. Yahoo was close to being acquired by Microsoft in 2008 for some $41 billion. Bartz blames the board for not taking the offer, which ended up in Yahoo scoring a search partnership with Microsoft, which stunted it’s short-term growth but, according to her, would’ve been beneficial in the long term. “The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country, now they’re trying to show that they’re not the doofuses that they are.” Bartz emailed Yahoo’s 14,000 employees about her firing last night, and she insists that she never wanted to make the employees feel distant from her. “I want to make sure that the employees don’t believe that I’ve abandoned them. I would never abandon them, I have way too many purple clothes.” Well, Bartz should consider returning or bleaching those clothes, as it looks highly unlikely that she will remain on the board after her comments. Also, the employees that she didn’t want to think had been “abandoned” by her might not care about her departure, they may even be cheering it on. Employer aggregator Glassdoor shows that Bartz had a 54% approval rating among her employees, below the average of 62%. Also, investors seem pretty happy of Bartz getting the boot—Yahoo’s stock is up over 12% since she got fired.

CORRECTION – News Flash: Jersey Shore opens MASSIVE

Many people estimated big numbers for Jersey Shore’s premiere, and those people were overwhelmingly correct. According to preliminary numbers from Nielsen media research, the season 4 premiere of MTV’s Jersey Shore attracted 9.7 million viewers and a huge 4.6 rating among adults 18-49. Even though its likely to be adjusted in the final numbers, it should become the highest rated show of the week.

Story developing…

CORRECTION: Final viewership numbers were just released, and it was averaged down to 8.8 million viewers and a 4.3 rating among Adults 18-49.

Yes, it’s back! Jersey Shore Season 4 Premieres TONIGHT!

It’s been 5 months since we’ve had a Jerzday (as Snooki has reworded my favorite “Jersey Shore Thursday” phrase,) and it’s been a rough Summer. But the whole world can stop crying now, because Jersey Shore is back!

This time, the cast hits uncharted territory: Italy! The country where many of them have never been but have talked a lot about in seaside is the home for the hit show’s latest season. How will they fare with the language barrier and cultural differences? How much harder (or easier) are the girls in Italy compared to the states? And where will they work this time? We might now get answers immediately since the show likes to roll out the characters in the premiere episode. One thing I’m confident about is that the show is likely to get big numbers in the premiere episode, and I’ll have those numbers as soon as they’re available tomorrow afternoon.

Jersey Shore premieres tonight at 10PM on MTV.

Most Wanted: Google+ back on top!

This week, I have to admit a regretful week, and that was last week. Had I known, I would’ve put Comic-Con 2011 as the #1 thing to look out for. Unfortunately, the dates where screwed up in my head and I thought that the convention would be held at a later date. Still, it was a decent list with Friends with Benefits on top. Why? Because Mila Kunis is AMAZING. Anyway, this week we see a lot of new “specials” and A recent #1 pick come back on top as well as one of my favorite artists ever. Without further interruption, here’s the list! Down below…

1. Google+

Google’s fledging social network has been in a “private field beta” for nearly a month now, and if the reports are true, it should go public by the end of this week. Mashable is reporting that Google will delete all private Google+ profiles on July 31st, and that will also be the date for the public opening of Google+. Whether Mashable is correct in their reporting is still to be discovered, I do trust them, and hopefully Google will open it by this Sunday. Us teens haven’t been able to go on Google+ since Google has put an age limit of 18 to use the site.

2. True Hollywood Story: Snooki

I am still amazed and quite frustrated as to why Chelsea Handler hasn’t gotten the True Hollywood treatment, and even more amazed that after only 18 months of sudden fame, Snooki from MTV’s Jersey Shore has, and that THS: Snooki will air this Wednesday at 10. I’m not complaining though, it should be an entertaining hour, and you have to admit, it’s a pretty crazy story—so it’s perfect for E!

3. Adele iTunes Festival London EP

The 2011 iTunes Festival is winding down, but I’ve already considered it over, since Adele has already attended. Her performance was nothing short of incredible, with spot-on vocals and teasingly-funny banter with the crowd. The songs performed have now made their way to iTunes in a six-song EP, which includes a never-performed cover “I Cant Make You Love Me” and live performances of songs from her latest album, 21.

4. Tabloid

This documentary comes right off the heels of the massive News of the World phone-hacking scandal, and it’s having tremendous success on the critical side. The film focuses on a 70s celeb who falls under the pressure and lights of the paparazzi and tabloids, all while being crazy in love, which ends up destroying her career. As I mentioned before, the film has been getting rave reviews and has a smitten 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.

5. My Birthday

Although I think that this will be the worst in recent memory, I will hopefully have I nice cake and eat the entire thing myself (I love cake).

That’s a wrap! Come back next week for a fresh, new Most Wanted List!

Most Wanted: Emmy Nominations and Friday Night Lights Finale!

I had a very difficult time choosing this weeks top spot, and it truly sucks that they happen in the same week. Since I only post things that occur on that week, this marks the first time that I have a tie on the list! This of course won’t happen often, but there’s a first for everything. Other things on the list include a very historic film opening/closing, another Summer TV premiere, and an iOS game I can’t stop playing. Also, since it’s a tie, I will technically have 4 slots, but it will have 5 topics, it’s just that two of them are on one number. With all that said, here’s the list!

1. Emmy Nominations and Friday Night Lights Series Finale

First, I’ll start with Emmy nominations, and I can’t wait until Thursday! We’ll find out who got nominated, who didn’t, and we’ll also find out who got a surprise non and who got snubbed. Could Joel McHale get a nom for Community? Will Ed O’Neill finally get some love from the academy? We’ll have to wait and find out this Thursday when the Emmy nominations are announced!

Next: The Series Finale of Friday Night Lights, and I couldn’t be more sad about it. I’ll be doing a full-length post later this week on the FNL, but this show is so incredible, so real, that I can’t believe it didn’t catch on. It first matter though, five seasons is an incredible amount of time for a show like this to last, although I would’ve like it to last 10 or more seasons. Get ready to cry, because this one is for the record books. Friday Night Lights ends it’s run this Friday at 8PM on NBC.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

This film opening effectively ends the decade-long franchise that reinvigorated the book industry and brought a world of imagination to millions of readers, parents and children alike. J.K. Rowling’s adventure of the little boy who could has broken records across the board, from being one of the best-selling books of all time, to being the most successful film franchise ever, surpassing over $6 Billion in ticket sales. I honestly can’t see a franchise being so big ever again, so congrats, Harry, and thank you.

3. Rizzoli & Isles – Season Premiere

Yes, Jane and Maura are back! The biggest new hit of Summer 2010 returns with some answers regarding the shooting of Jane in last season’s finale. Did she survive? I’m certain of it. But the real question is how she changed after the shooting. Make sure you watch to get some answers tonight on TNT!

4. Tiny Tower – iPhone/iPod touch

I can’t tell you how addicted I am to this game. I can’t stop checking in to see how many coins I earned while I was gone. In this game, you basically own a building where you add apartments and stores where your tenants can work at, and as your businesses develop, you earn money and with that money, you can add additional floors, eventually making a big tower that’s crazy busy and a huge money maker. As of today, I have 11 floors (which isn’t big by any means) and a little north of 40,000 coins. If you want to add me as a friend on Game Center, add me! My username is [take a wild guess:] JuniorTV.

That’s a wrap for this week! If nothing unexpectedly crazy happens next week, I will have 5 topics next Monday. Until then, thanks for reading The Most Wanted List!

Most Wanted: Google+ Invites

This week, I’m posting my first Most Wanted List on WordPress! Some things to look out for is a new social networking site (I think you know what I’m talking about.) And that’s it. Why? It’s the Fourth of July weekend, and I decided to take a smaller workload on the list. I’ll have a full 5-topic list next week, but for this week, here’s our sole #1!

1. Google+

Google’s latest social networking effort is the most promising one yet, and it’s right up the alley that everyone has predicted: it’s the anti-Facebook, even though it’s just like it. The introduction of Google+ was very sudden, and everyone wanted to at least try out the newest thing. so many people signed up, that Google had to shut off invites, and for Google to be getting too much demand, that says a lot about interesting Google+ is to consumers. If you want to join, it’s in an early private beta, and invites are currently closed, but definitely keep trying daily and follow Google’s blog and twitter account.

For this week, it’s a wrap! Make sure you come next Monday for a full version of The Most Wanted List!

A Big Week for Google

BY THE WAY: This is my first original blog post on WordPress, thanks for visiting!

Google had it’s busiest week in years with the introduction of a new social networking service, and it’s most ambitious redesign in the web company’s history. As you’ve probably already heard, the new service is called Google+ and its had the Internet going talking all week. You can tell right off the bat that Google is aiming to dethrone Facebook, and that it looks very similar to Facebook. There are some distinctions in Google+ to distance itself (if at all) from Facebook, like splitting friends or family into specific groups called Circles, and it allows you to send status updates or any other content only to the “Circle” you choose, which could be all if you’d like to make it fully public. Another interesting feature is the Hangouts feature, which is probably the most original feature in Google+. Hangouts allows video chatting between friends right from the browser, and it allows up to 10 people chatting at once. It’s an amazing feature, especially since it’s web-based (so no software downloading) and it’s free! Video chatting services like Skype and ooVoo charge for video chatting with more than 3 people, so for 10 being allowed to chat all at once for free is pretty unheard of… And AMAZING! The last feature I’ll talk about quickly in this post is the Huddle feature, which is another original feature in Google+. Huddle offers group messaging with friends with their mobile devices to make a group texting conversation. Since you’re probably going to use Huddle inside the Google+ app (which will be released for iPhone soon), you will be able to message everyone for free, no texting fees. This isn’t the last feature in Google+, but if I posted every feature, this post will be 10 times longer than it already is. If you’re interested in Google+, just go to it’s page at plus.google.com.

Next, Google’s redesign. The web giant decided to change the look of it’s website after introducing Google+, and it’s very Web 2.0. The usually white-themed website got a black bar on the top for the first time, which was criticized by some, but the outcry died down quickly. The sidebar that was introduced a few years ago looks kore modern, as well as the image search and Google Calendar. Another redesign uncovered yesterday is that Gmail is also getting a UI change, looking a lot like Google+, and what will soon be the rest of Google.

You think that’s all? Well Google’s just getting started, as Google+, which has been in a field-testing private beta, has opened to the public this morning, so you can now sign in with your Gmail account and try Google’s social service yourself; and since Google+ is in beta, Google is constantly getting feedback, and will be adding and fixing features in the coming days and weeks.