By Sherri L. Smith & Jabari Johnson, BlackWeb20.com

Legendary producer/rapper Dr. Dre and Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine have been on their tech grind as of late. First partnering up with Monster to create the highly successful “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphones with high-end upscale headphone manufacturer Monster and then the recently announced partnership with HP to create “Beats Audio”, a new high performance audio software which will debut on the limited edition HP Envy. Read the rest of this entry »

Courtesy of Geek.com

By Sherri L. Smith, BlackWeb20.com

Remember when I said webcams were only good for podcasts, spam, and other voyeuristic activities? I may have found another use for them — movie making. Not your cheesy YouTube videos, but actually creating a film with an A-List roster of talent and multi-million dollar budget. Okay, I’m exaggerating but, start-up company Yoostar is pretty close. Read the rest of this entry »

Conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck is seeing how costly it can be to utter racially offensive comments on the public airwaves. Following his recent quip on the FOX News Channel that President Obama “has a deep-seated hatred for White people,” advertisers have been running away like rats from a burning ship. As of this week, such heavyweight spenders as Walmart, CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint – and about 30 others – have ordered their commercials off of Beck’s show, according to ColorofChange.org, which tracks political action among African Americans. The group kicked off the anti-Beck campaign shortly after the commentator cast Obama as a racist on July 28. FOX quickly noted that it did not stand by Beck’s remarks, but Beck refused to capitulate, reiterating his assertion the following day on his syndicated radio program. ColorofChange.org pounced on the moment, painting Beck as poison. “They have a toxic asset,” James Rucker, the organization’s executive director, told The Associated Press. “They can either clean it up or get rid of it.” Advertising biggie Best Buy said that one of its ads unexpectedly appeared in Beck’s show, suggesting that it would be pulling future ads for now. CVS Caremark, told AP that it has told its advertising agency to let FOX know that it didn’t want its commercials on Beck. “We support vigorous debate, especially around policy issues that affect millions of Americans, but we expect it to be informed, inclusive and respectful,” said spokeswoman Carolyn Castel. The Clorox Co. said, “[W]e do not want to be associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show hosts.” Ironically, the Becks of the world – i.e., Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, et. al. – are the ones who attract the most eyes and ears. Nielsen Media says that Beck garners about 2.4 million viewers a day, AP reports. “This is a good illustration of that conundrum,” said Rich Hallabran, spokesman for UPS Stores, who told AP that he has temporarily halted buying ads on FOX News Channel as a whole.

Best Buy Ad

Today at almost every search engine on the web, one of the top search terms is “Best Buy TV for $9.99. But is there any truth to the too-good-to-be-true-offer?

The answer is no.

The retailer made a technical error on its Web site, listing a LCD television set that normally costs $1,800 for only $9.999.

A number of customers jumped on the offer and began to buy the $9.99 TV on the Best Buy site. The company has since corrected the error and has begun to refund customers.

Best Buy, however, has a policy that clearly states that it can revoke” offers and to “correct” any errors.

By Sherri L. Smith, BlackWeb20.c0m

Okay, Rock music has gotten it’s props from the video game community with runaway hits, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Now it’s Hip-Hop’s turn. Activision is on deck to release DJ Hero, a music based game where players can live out their DJ fantasies and cold rock tha party.

DJ Hero features over 100 tracks that spans over a genre of styles including Hip-Hop, R&B, Motown, and Electronica. Aside from the different music styles, DJs in training will get to jam to the some of Hip-Hop’s biggest names including 50 Cent, N.E.R.D., and Beastie Boys. You’ll even get your hands on a Marvin Gaye track. And to keep the star-studded event official, legendary producer and turntablist, DJ Jazzy Jeff will be featured as a playable character. There are several different modes of play, so when you finish kicking the games ass, you can go head to head with friends and see who really has the juice. Read the rest of this entry »