8 Superhero Comic Storylines That Need To Be Made Into Movies

Marvel

How many times are we going to have to see Peter Parker watch his Uncle Ben die, become Spider-Man, and face the Green Goblin?

Or Batman face the Joker for the "first" time?

Or Superman fight Zod?

Superhero movies are getting stale because Hollywood is afraid to deviate from the stories that we all know. It's certainly not because of a lack of stories to draw inspiration from - the characters that studios focus their $200 million blockbusters on have decades worth of material to use.

Would using more obscure plot lines lead to better superhero films? It worked for The Wolverine, which was heavily inspired by a storyline from 1982 and is considered by many to be the best superhero movie this year (and is a success at the box office).

RANKED: These Are The Best Smartwatches You Can Buy Right Now

Screenshot/T3

Google smartwatch concept

It seems like every major tech company, along with a handful of smaller startups, is working on a smartwatch.

Apple, Google, Samsung, and Microsoft are all expected to release their own smartwatches.

Just last month, Foxconn showed off an iPhone-compatible smartwatch that can measure the wearer's vital signs like heart beat and respiration. 

Thanks to David Schmidt of comparison shopping platform FindTheBest, we can now provide you with a definitive comparison of all the smartwatches out there.

FindTheBest ranked the smartwatches based on how smart they actually are. The rating is based on an aggregate of reviews from CNET, PC Mag, Wired, and Laptop Mag. 

5 Photos That Will Get You Crazy Excited For Shark Week

Shark Week!

Discovery Channel's wildly popular television series about one of the oceans' most powerful predators returns on Sunday, August 4, for its 26th season.

You can check out this year's episode lineup here.

In the meantime, enjoy these shark-y photos to get you even more pumped for the Shark Week premiere.

Veteran "Shark Week" filmmaker Jeff Kurr and crew capture Great White Sharks on camera in New Zealand.

Discovery Channel

15 Business Etiquette Rules Every Professional Needs To Know

Kathleen Tyler Conklin

Professional social situations can be awkward.

The rules are slightly different from standard social settings, yet business schools rarely discuss professional etiquette topics.

In her new book "The Essentials Of Business Etiquette," Barbara Pachter writes about the specific skills professionals need to understand when presenting themselves in a business setting.

From how to introduce yourself to what to order at restaurants, these are the social rules you need to know when establishing relationships.

Pachter has given us permission to use these excerpts from her book.

The Second-Largest Panoramic Picture Ever Is Somewhat Terrifying

360 Cities

360 Cities sent us this stunning, 600,000 pixel-wide, 360° panorama photograph shot from the 1,093 ft Tokyo Tower, and it's certainly a sight to behold.

The image is the second biggest panoramic photograph ever, and 360 Cities also shot the biggest photograph ever — an image from the BT Tower in London — but founder Jeffrey Martin said this image was "far better, more interesting, more people, better light."

It's certainly a sight to behold, but, frankly the detail is a little terrifying. Play around for it for a few seconds and you realize you can basically see into the private lives of people from miles away. Reddit users found some pretty weird things going on in the BT Tower picture earlier this year.

Cheaper iPhone compared to the iPhone 5 in leaked photos, reportedly to be offered in two variants

We have been seeing Apple’s rumored plastic (read cheaper) iPhone cropping up on the Internet quite frequently in the past month or two. Now, SlashGear has spotted a set of comparison photos between the cheaper iPhone and the iPhone 5 that show both the phones from every angle.

Posted on Chinese website Weibo, these photos show the subtle differences between the devices. Besides the plastic back, the cheaper iPhone is overall much rounded than the iPhone 5. On the bottom of the device, instead of the speaker grilles, the entry-level device sports four speaker holes on the left of the connector port. The volume rockers too are more rectangular-ish instead of the circular buttons seen on the iPhone 5.

Additionally, the new report also for the first time talks about two variants of the cheaper iPhone allegedly codenamed ‘Zenevo’ and the ‘Zagato/Bertone’. The variants are said to look the same but will feature slight differences on the hardware front. Zenovo is reported to feature a dual-core Samsung H5P processor, 1GB of RAM and Bluetooth 4.0, while the Zegato/Bertone, is said to feature an H6P processor and 1GB of RAM, and Bluetooth 4.0.

As always, we should remind you that the above information are speculations and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Apple’s manufacturing partner Pegatron under fire for poor working conditions, invokes a sense of deja vu

Apple’s manufacturing partner Pegatron is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, as a Chinese workers-rights group has blasted it for the poor working conditions, WSJ reports. Among the many complaints, the biggest issues are the long working hours and withholding of work ID and salaries.

The soon-to-be published report by the Chinese labor watch claims that Pegatron is allegedly making the laborers work 60 hours every week, which is about 24 hours more than what Pegatron’s employees are generally promised and also withholding every worker’s IDs, which won’t allow them to work anywhere else. It has also been claimed that workers are not paid what they have been promised and in some cases the company is also said to be withholding their salaries.

Besides these, Pegatron allegedly has failed to provide suitable living conditions for the workers and also hasn’t provided good quality gloves required to protect the workers from the materials used to create metal back-plates for the iPad.

Apple reportedly to release two more beta updates for iOS 7 before the Grand Master update in September

Last night, Apple released the fourth beta update for iOS 7 to developers. Though the update schedule was put off track by its developer website falling victim to hackers, BGR Classic reports that everything is back on track and Apple plans to release two more betas before the Grand Master update in September.

According to the report, the GM update will be arriving early in September, which could be a sign that Apple might unveil the iPhone 5S and the cheaper iPhone aka iPhone 5C running on the latest OS by the end of that month.

Last night’s beta update (build 11A4435d) is available as an over-the-air (OTA) update or can be downloaded from Apple’s developer website. As expected, the latest update brings with a host of bug fixes and enhancements to the graphics and UI. Apple’s developer portal has been updated with the download files and also has the full iOS 7 beta 4 change log.

Samsung looking at acquiring OLED displays manufacturer Novaled: Report

Samsung is reportedly looking at acquiring German-based organic light-emitting diode company Novaled AG for its smartphone and television screens. A Bloomberg report has cited two insiders disclosing that the deal is likely to get inked soon, possibly by the end of this month, and is estimated to cost Samsung over $200 million.

Samsung already owns 10 percent of Novaled and is believed to account for more than 50 percent of the company’s sales in 2011. Samsung has been trying to acquire a larger share in the company since September 2011 and even proposed an equity investment of an undisclosed amount to Novaled around the same time. However, nothing concrete has come out of the talks so far. The deal however is reported to be finally in the final rounds of agreement.

MEA launches ‘one stop shop’ information app

India’s external affairs ministry Monday launched a smartphone app – MEAIndia – placing all its different wings as well as the 120 missions under one platform, becoming the first government ministry to do so. “It’s a one stop shop to give you all you need to know,” said outgoing Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai after inaugurating the app at an event here. He retires July 31.

Mathai said through the app the ministry had tried to “adapt and adopt” to the needs of communication today. Earlier, ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said deciding to go in for the interactive app was a “leap of faith” as no other government department has ventured to do it.

The MEAIndia app will help users find out the nearest Indian mission or post for emergency consular assistance, if required, and also find out how to undertake the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Haj Pilgrimage, according to a ministry statement Monday. The app will provide all the information required to apply for an Indian passport, locate the nearest Passport Seva Kendra, download the requisite forms, calculate the fees and even track your application status. Online application for passports is also on the way, says the statement.

Average Internet speed in India to jump by 40 percent in a year: Report

When one talks about Internet speeds in India, normally the adjective that comes to mind is abysmal, but it appears that there may be some good news in store for us connected Indians. A report from PTI claims that in a year the average Internet speed in India would jump to 1.8Mbps which accounts a 40 percent rise. The report quotes Akamai Technologies that claims the investments in high-speed fiber networks and affordable data plans will result in this exponential increase.

The current average Internet speed in India is recorded to be 1.3Mbps as of the first quarter of 2013. India lags behind massively, the global average of 3.1Mbps which was attained after a 4 percent increase this year. India is currently ranked at 114 in terms of average Internet speed.

The report states that growth in speed is expected in tier II and tier III cities not just tier I cities which include all the metros. Additionally, it has been noted that corporate keep upgrading their networks which helps driving down the costs of connections in the long term.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra first impressions

Sony today launched the Xperia Z Ultra in India targeting the growing popularity of smartphones with humongous displays. Sony aims to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Note and LG’s Optimus G Pro series of phablets while maintaining the unique Sony premium design and build quality. We spent some time with the device today and here are our first impressions.

                      

At a glance, the Xperia Z Ultra looks like a blown up variant of the Xperia Z, which isn’t a bad thing. The build quality is phenomenal and it feels good to hold with a tempered back glass panel. At just 6.5mm thin it feels incredibly slim while somehow managing to feel sturdy too.

With a 6.4-inch display, the Xperia Z Ultra sits between the Xperia Z and the Xperia Z Tablet, giving buyers an option if they don’t want to go for both a smartphone and a tablet. But that also raises an important usability question – the Xperia Z Ultra is a very tall device and isn’t really comfortable to use as a phone. We compared it with the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 and it was much taller albeit narrower than Samsung’s phablet.

The Xperia Z is also the first device with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 chipset to be available in India and it shows in the slick performance. As always, we will look into the real performance and battery implications in our detailed review.

Thankfully, Sony seems to have heard our pleas and has finally got the display right with the Xperia Z Ultra with brilliant color reproduction and great viewing angles unlike the Xperia Z, where the display looked washed out and had poor viewing angles.

The only area of concern for us is the camera, which is not accompanied with any LED flash. While we were informed that the software wasn’t final, the performance left much to be desired. We have reasonable doubts about its low light and indoor performance.

While we are not big fans of using smartphones that are bigger than our faces, the premium build quality of the Xperia Z Ultra combined with the Snapdragon 800 chipset are reasons enough to make it one of the top contenders in the phablet space. But whether it actually lives up to our expectations is something we will find out in our review. Watch this space.

TRIM on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean reportedly improves performance on Nexus 7 tablets

As developers spend more time with the recently released Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, they are finding subtle improvements on the OS when compared to previous iterations. One such feature spotted by AnandTech is called ‘TRIM’ support for Nexus 7, which has been requested by Android users for quite some time now.

Nexus 7 users have long complained about the massive drop in performance after having used the tablet for some time. This is largely because, when you delete something on the tablet the data is not completely removed from the storage and when you transfer something new, it just overwrites on that space. Over time this degrades performance and the tablet becomes sluggish. This is the case with most of the Android-based smartphones and tablets, but according to AnandTech, it is particularly bad on the Nexus 7 tablet.

With the new TRIM feature support, the system will clean the unused space on the solid state drive at prescribed times. The feature reportedly starts the maintenance once every 24 hours and only if the battery is over 80 percent. Though it is too early to say just how much difference TRIM brings to the Nexus 7, The Vergehas reportedly tested the feature and they observed that the interface is “snappier” and apps “open swiftly”. There also seems to be marked difference in the scrolling and loading of websites, which they describe as “happens when I want it to.”

What will R Madhavan do in his new Hollywood film?

0

He’s popularly referred to as the Shahrukh Khan of the South and has done some memorable roles in Hindi movies, but now he heads West to play a zombie…

R Madhavan now joins the likes of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan – the actor has bagged a Hollywood film. Maddy will play a zombie in Hollywood producer Simon West’s remake of 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. And Madhavan, who is very happy with the course of his career, states, “I can’t ask for more. This is my perfect launch pad in Hollywood.” Maddy will be sharing screen space with Danielle Harris, Tom Sizemore, Tony Todd, Alona Tal, Sarah Habel and Bill Moseley in his debut film. While work is taking Madhavan places, the actor has films in store for his Tamil and Bollywood fans – he will soon be seen in Anand L Rai’s sequel to Tanu Weds Manu opposite Kangana Ranaut and will announce a Kollywood film with a big banner very soon, he says.

Indian Idol Junior promo: Can Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone really sing?

s

0

The actors along with Rohit Shetty were seen on the sets of Indian Idol Junior promoting their film Chennai Express

Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone were super impressed by the junior singers ofIndian Idol. The lil kids inspired the Chennai Express actors so much that besides dancing, they even attempted to sing a few lines with the children. While it was a very sweet gesture, we must insist that they never ever do such a thing in their life.

After listening to them hum a few lines, it’s confirmed that SRK and Dips can’t sing to save their lives. The two were trying their level best to croon the song Titli fromChennai Express.

India Bridal Fashion Week 2013: Esha Gupta, Lisa Haydon and Chitrangda Singh look pretty!

0

At the recent IBFW, the three babes sizzled on the ramp in their super ethnic avatars

We are totally in awe of Lisa Haydon’s pristine white lehenga choli. She set the catwalk on fire in a Tarun Tahiliani design. We like the way she has covered her head with the netted pallu. While Ms Haydon ditched the ravishing red colour that’s typically associated with brides, Chitrangda Singh and Esha Gupta were seen wearing creations that made them look like dazzling dulhans. And Chitrangda Singh opted for an elegant Suneet Verma creation – we somehow can’t stop ourselves from getting mesmerised by that intricately embellished lehenga. The only thing that’s a wreck is her hairdo. A classy chignon would have looked much better than those casual side swept bangs. Compared to these two hot babes, Esha Gupta is highly thanda in an Adarsh Gill outfit.