6 Lessons Hollywood Needs to Learn From 'The Fast & The Furious

Fast & the Furious 6" is widely expected to dominate the Memorial Day box office and potentially become the highest grossing film in the lucrative franchise's history. 

For a franchise keep growing as it enters its second decade and sixth installment is nearly unheard of in Hollywood, where sequels tend to burn hot and fast, dying out quickly. Yet Universal Studios has adroitly managed the car racing series by tapping into international markets, catering to under-appreciated moviegoing audiences and recognizing the power of Diesel fuel -- Vin Diesel that is.

Here are six takeaways from the "Fast & the Furious" franchise's success for rival studios trying to engineer their own box office Maserati's.

Vin Diesel Is an A-Lister, Get Used to It

He may not wield the clout or boast the magazine covers of a Depp or a Pitt or a Smith, but make no mistake, Diesel is a star. After getting lost on the C-list in the mid-aughts and seeing his once white-hot career fizzle out with bombs like "Find Me Guilty" or artistic embarrassments like "The Pacifier," Diesel cannily returned to the franchise that made him a powerhouse with 2009's "Fast & Furious."

In the process, he helped the series consistently build its audience with each new film, allowing the franchise to gross nearly $1.6 billion globally. With this September's "Riddick," Diesel will see if he can revive another of his action franchises that has run out of steam. If he can pull it off, that will give him two massive tentpole roles in his quiver. Few actors other than Robert Downey Jr. with "Sherlock Holmes" and "Iron Man" can match that kind of track record.

The U.S. Is Nice, But Foreign Countries Are King

Though "The Fast & The Furious" started out as a depiction of L.A. street racing, few franchises  have done a better job of embracing the global marketplace. Starting with 2006's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," the third film in the franchise, the series has traipsed around the globe, conveniently stopping in many of the movie business' most important emerging markets. Along the way, the crew of car racers and thieves have evaded the law in exotic settings like Brazil, Mexico and, in the latest iteration, Spain and the United Kingdom.

With 70 percent of box office revenue coming from abroad, an international flavor is no an longer exotic icing on any big-budget confection. It's an essential ingredient to making the sprawling community of moviegoers feel like they are watching their dreams and lives reflected back to them on the big screen.

The reward for this cosmopolitanism? "Fast & Furious 6" is off to a white-hot start at the foreign box office; its opening in the U.K. and Ireland last Friday gave Universal the studio's biggest opening day ever in that market with $4.6 million. "Fast Five," the previous film in the franchise, more than doubled the largest foreign gross in the franchise's history and most box office analysts predict the latest adventure will eclipse the last film's $416 million international take.
Newsflash! Latinos Go to Movies

Latino audiences have pushed "The Fast & The Furious" series into rarified blockbuster terrain. Thanks to stars like Michelle Rodriguez, and a healthy amount of Spanish dialog, the films have gone out of their way to court this too often neglected demographic.

Pay heed studios! Latinos represent just 17 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 26 percent of ticket sales, according a study by the Motion Picture Association of America. In the case of "Fast Five," catering to this crowd resulted in a monster turnout, with Latinos representing 33 percent of its opening weekend U.S. audience.

...Oh, And So Do Women

Casting women as more than scantily clad helpmates and arm candy has further broadened "The Fast & The Furious" franchise's appeal.

Women represent 51 percent of the U.S. population and 52 percent of the moviegoing public, but according to a 2012 study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, only 11 percent of the protagonists in top grossing films are female.

Yes, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are the top-billed stars in the series, but what's refreshing about "Fast & Furious 6" is that Rodriguez and co-star Gina Carano have roles that are integral to the action. In fact, Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Universal Pictures co-president of production, told TheWrap that the most recent "Fast" film is the highest testing among women.

He added that the on-screen throw down between Rodriguez and Carano is a key selling point of the film and "trumps" the fight between Diesel and Dwayne Johnson that was a heavily promoted part of "Fast Five."

Don't Idle at the Starting Line

Beginning with the fourth film in the series, 2009's "The Fast & the Furious," Universal has rigidly adhered to a release schedule of one "Fast" picture every two years. The studio is accelerating the schedule with "Fast & the Furious 7," which will roar into theaters in 2014, roughly a year after the sixth film was unleashed on the summer box office.

At CinemaCon, the annual exhibition trade show in Las Vegas, Diesel told theater owners that the studio was able to rush into production on a follow-up to "Fast & the Furious 6" because they had carefully mapped out a direction for the series. In a digitally connected age where platforms like Twitter and Facebook have intensified the rate at which entertainment and media is anticipated, consumed and discussed, it is critical that studios move nimbly to exploit buzz before this morning's hot thing become that afternoon's tired idea.

Allow a Director to Grow With a Franchise

Justin Lin didn't have the kind of CV that would instantly make a studio feel comfortable about handing over the keys to one of its crown jewel franchises.

When Universal tapped the UCLA grad to inject new life into the "Fast" series, Lin was best known for the Sundance breakout "Better Luck Tomorrow" and the James Franco bomb "Annapolis." But whatever studio executives saw Taiwanese-born director has allowed the series to reach new heights.

Under Lin, the four "Fast" films he has directed have grown more global in scope, more financially successful, more technically audacious and more critically acclaimed. The decision to move up production on "Fast & the Furious 7," so it can open next year, means that he will have to yield the director's chair to James Wan ("Saw"), but studio executives and producers tell TheWrap that after the success of the "Fast" movies, Lin can write his own ticket.

"He's on the A-list," a rival studio executive enthused. "If he wants to do a Bond film, he can. If he wants to do a Chris Nolan-type 'Inception' movie or a smaller personal movie, he can. Everyone wants to work with him."

Bridge collapses in Washington state

 

PART OF A FOUR-LANE FREEWAY BRIDGE OVER THE SKAGIT RIVER IN WASHINGTON STATE COLLAPSED ON THURSDAY, SENDING VEHICLES AND PEOPLE INTO THE WATER BELOW, AUTHORITIES SAID.

 THE COLLAPSE ON INTERSTATE 5 TOOK OUT THE NORTHBOUND AND SOUTHBOUND SIDES OF THE SPAN AND OCCURRED AT ABOUT 7PM LOCAL TIME IN MOUNT VERNON, 55 MILES NORTH OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON STATE PATROL SPOKESMAN TROOPER MARK FRANCIS SAID.

"I'VE GOT REPORTS OF VEHICLES AND PEOPLE IN THE WATER," FRANCIS SAID. HE ADDED THAT HE DID NOT KNOW IF ANYONE WAS INJURED.

THE CAUSE OF THE COLLAPSE WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY KNOWN. IT WAS NOT RAINING IN THE AREA, FRANCIS SAID.

Man killed in FBI custody

AN FBI AGENT SHOT AND KILLED A FLORIDA MAN WHO TURNED VIOLENT WHILE BEING QUESTIONED ABOUT THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS EARLY ON WEDNESDAY, THE BUREAU SAID.

A FRIEND OF THE DEAD MAN TOLD THE ORLANDO SENTINEL AND ORLANDO TELEVISION STATIONS THAT HE WAS 27-YEAR-OLD IBRAGIM TODASHEV OF ORLANDO, A CHECHEN WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY LIVED IN BOSTON. TWO BROTHERS IDENTIFIED BY THE FBI AS SUSPECTS IN THE APRIL 15 BOMBINGS WERE ALSO ETHNIC CHECHENS WITH ROOTS IN RUSSIA'S VOLATILE NORTH CAUCASUS REGION.

THE FBI SAID IN A STATEMENT THAT A SPECIAL AGENT, "ACTING ON THE IMMINENT THREAT POSED BY THE INDIVIDUAL, RESPONDED WITH DEADLY FORCE. THE INDIVIDUAL WAS KILLED AND THE SPECIAL AGENT WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL WITH NON-LIFE THREATENING INJURIES."

IT SAID THE SHOOTING OCCURRED IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA, WHILE THE SPECIAL AGENT AND OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS WERE INTERVIEWING THE MAN ABOUT THE BLASTS THAT KILLED THREE PEOPLE AND INJURED 264 OTHERS AT THE FINISH LINE OF THE BOSTON MARATHON.

"A VIOLENT CONFRONTATION WAS INITIATED BY THE INDIVIDUAL," THE FBI SAID, WITHOUT PROVIDING FURTHER DETAILS.

TODASHEV'S FRIEND, KHUSN TARAMIV, SAID TODASHEV KNEW BOMBING SUSPECT TAMERLAN TSARNAEV BECAUSE BOTH WERE MIXED MARTIAL-ARTS FIGHTERS BUT HAD NO CONNECTION TO THE BOMBING.

"BACK WHEN HE USED TO LIVE IN BOSTON, RIGHT, THEY USED TO HANG OUT," TARAMIV TOLD CENTRAL FLORIDA NEWS 13. "HE MET THEM FEW TIMES 'CAUSE HE WAS MMA FIGHTER THE OTHER GUY WAS BOXER, RIGHT. THEY JUST KNEW EACH OTHER THAT'S IT."

THE SHOOTING OCCURRED AT AN ORLANDO APARTMENT COMPLEX WHERE SEVERAL PEOPLE OF CHECHEN DESCENT LIVED. TARAMIV SAID TODASHEV AND OTHERS IN THE COMPLEX HAD BEEN QUESTIONED SEVERAL TIMES BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS SINCE THE DAY THE TSARNAEV BROTHERS WERE IDENTIFIED AS THE BOMBING SUSPECTS.

TAMERLAN TSARNAEV, 26, DIED IN A GUNFIGHT WITH POLICE. HIS BROTHER, DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV, 19, WAS FOUND HIDING IN A BOAT IN WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, FOUR DAYS AFTER THE BOMBINGS. HE WAS CHARGED WITH CRIMES THAT COULD CARRY THE DEATH PENALTY IF HE IS CONVICTED.

TAMERLAN TSARNAEV HAD BEEN ON A US GOVERNMENT DATABASE OF POTENTIAL TERRORISM SUSPECTS AND THE UNITED STATES HAD TWICE BEEN WARNED BY RUSSIA THAT HE MIGHT BE AN ISLAMIC MILITANT, ACCORDING TO US SECURITY OFFICIALS.

IN FLORIDA, THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE SAID TODASHEV HAD BEEN ARRESTED ON MAY 4 AND CHARGED WITH AGGRAVATED BATTERY WITH GREAT BODILY HARM. DETAILS ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ARREST WERE NOT IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE.

5 dead, including gunman, in shooting rampage near Santa Monica College

A man with a semi-automatic rifle killed at least four people and wounded several others Friday as he carried out a deadly rampage across several blocks of a normally idyllic beachfront city before police shot him dead in the Santa Monica College Library.
Police said earlier that seven people were killed, including the gunman.
The violence began when the gunman, dressed in all black and wearing what appeared to be a ballistic jacket, opened fire on a house where the bodies of the gunman's father and brother were found, authorities said.
As the house burst into flames, the man wounded a woman in a car before moving toward the campus, spraying bullets as he went. Police said he opened fire on a city bus, a police car and other vehicles, as well as bystanders and pedestrians.
He killed three people on the street before shooting at an SUV leaving a campus parking lot. That vehicle's driver was killed and two passengers were wounded as the car crashed through a block wall.
From there, the gunman entered the campus, shooting a woman as he made his way toward the college's library, where students were studying for final exams.
"It appears that those who were encountered on the street were random victims," Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.
"We saw a woman get shot in the head," said administrative assistant Trena Johnson, who looked out the window of the dean's office, where she works, when she heard gunfire. "I haven't been able to stop shaking," she said.
Inside the library, students reported hearing gunfire and screams.
"I was totally scared to death and I can't believe it happened so fast," said Vincent Zhang, a 20-year-old economics major who said he heard a woman pleading, "No, no. Please, no."
The gunman continued to shoot at people in the library, Seabrooks said, but apparently didn't hit anybody there as dozens ran for the exits.
"The officers came in and directly engaged the suspect and he was shot and killed on the scene," she said.
Just 3 miles away, President Barack Obama was attending a fundraising luncheon. Secret Service spokesman Max Milien said the agency was aware of the shooting, which began just before noon, but it had no impact on the president's event.
The president was scheduled to take Marine One to the airport, but traveled by motorcade to avoid any impact on the ongoing local response to the shooting.
After the gunman was killed, police wearing helmets and armed with shotguns and rifles searched the campus for a second shooter. A man dressed entirely in black, the words "Life is a Gamble" on the back of his sweatshirt, was seen being led away in handcuffs.
Sgt. Richard Lewis, a Santa Monica police spokesman, said at a news conference Friday night that investigators had released a man who had been detained and questioned as a "person of interest."
The identities of the man detained and those who were killed were not immediately released.
Two officials briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press the two victims in the burned house were the gunman's father and brother.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.
Two women were admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said Dr. Marshall Morgan, the chief of emergency medicine. One was listed in critical condition after undergoing surgery. The other arrived in serious condition but was upgraded to fair condition Friday night.
Three other women went to UCLA Medical Center Santa Monica with relatively minor injuries, Morgan said. One had shrapnel-type injuries and the two others had injuries not related to gunfire, he said. All were treated and released.
Jerry Cunningham Rathner, who lives near the house that caught fire, said she heard gunshots and came out onto her porch to see a man shooting at the residence. Soon, the building erupted in flames and was billowing smoke.
The gunman, dressed in black and wearing an ammunition belt, pointed a rifle at a woman in a car and told her to pull over, Cunningham Rathner said. He then signaled to a second car, also driven by a woman, to slow down and began firing into the vehicle.
"He fired three to four shots into the car -- boom, boom, boom, right at her," said Cunningham Rathner, who went to the woman's aid and saw she was wounded in the shoulder.
She said the gunman then abducted the woman in the first car and drove away.
From there, the chaos shifted to Santa Monica College, located among homes and strip malls more than a mile inland from the city's famous Santa Monica Pier, Third Street Promenade and its expansive, sandy beaches.
The two-year college, spread out across 38 acres, has about 34,000 students.
Jimes Gillespie, 20, told The Associated Press he was in the library studying when he heard gunfire, and he and dozens of other students began fleeing the three-story building.
"As I was running down the stairs I saw one of the gunmen," said Gillespie, who described the shooter as a white man in his 20s, wearing cornrows in his hair and black overalls.
As he ran across campus, he said he saw a car in front of the English building that was riddled with bullet holes, had shattered windows and a baby's car seat in the back.
Student Noke Taumalolo told Fox News that he saw a female worker sorting recycling cans lying bloody on the ground with the gunman standing over her.  According to the student, the gunman was wearing black tactical gear including a vest, SWAT-like fatigues and a riot helmet.
In a staff parking lot, college employee Joe Orcutt said he saw the gunman standing calmly with his weapon, looking as though he was trying to determine which people to shoot at.
"I turn around and that's when he's just standing there, like he's modeling for some ammo magazine," Orcutt said. "He was very calm just standing there, panning around, seeing who he could shoot, one bullet at a time, like target practice.

McQuaid's Goal Sends Bruins to Stanley Cup Finals

Tuukka Rask knew how potent the Penguins offense was. He also knew he could shut them out.
"Every game starts with zero," the Bruins poised goalie said, "so you have a chance."
And two games ended with a zero for Pittsburgh as Boston completed a sweep with a 1-0 win on Friday night that sent it to its second Stanley Cup final, and maybe its second championship, in three years with a 4-0 series victory.
The Bruins will play the winner of the Western Conference finals. The Chicago Blackhawks lead the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 and can wrap it up Saturday night.
Rask's second shutout of the Eastern Conference finals continued his domination of the highest scoring team in the NHL. The Penguins big offensive threats — Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jarome Iginla and James Neal — didn't score a single point and Boston outscored Pittsburgh 12-2.
"We knew we had to be at our best to beat this team," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "That's exactly what happened."
Rask stopped 134 of 136 shots by a team that averaged 4.27 goals a game in its first two playoff series.
"I don't feel like they totally shut us down," Crosby said. "I feel like we got chances, but Rask made some big saves."
The few rebounds Rask allowed throughout the series were quickly cleared away by a defenseman or a forward getting back into the play. On offense and defense, the Bruins always seemed to be in the right spot at the right time. They made precise passes and got their sticks in the way of many passes the Penguins tried.

In the clincher, all the Bruins needed was one goal and defenseman Adam McQuaid provided it with a 45-foot slap shot from the right that went over goalie Tomas Vokoun's right arm at 5:01 of the third period.
Of Boston's 50 playoff goals, 15 have been scored by defensemen.
"I think first and foremost, we're obviously trying to be solid defensively," said McQuaid, who had one goal in 32 regular-season games but two in the playoffs. "It obviously feels good. It feels good to be able to contribute that way when you don't normally."
Rask provided the final flourish when he gloved Iginla's hard 40-foot shot as the final buzzer sounded.
Iginla had turned down a trade from Calgary to Boston before being dealt to Pittsburgh because he thought the Penguins had a better chance to win the Cup, but that turned out to be wrong.
The Penguins never led in the series.
"I just didn't play very well," he said. "That's when you want to play your best for the team."
McQuaid's goal sparked a chant of "We want the Cup!" from the capacity crowd. At the end of the game, the Bruins were one step closer to another title.
They were outplayed for much of regulation in Game 3. But they improved after that and won 2-1 on Patrice Bergeron's goal at 15:19 of the second overtime.
On Friday night, Boston's Milan Lucic admitted, "We were a little sluggish the first two periods ... and we said, 'We have to win a period to win a series.'"
They did just that.
The top-seeded Penguins were trying to overcome both the disciplined defense of the fourth-seeded Bruins and history. Only three teams had lost a series after winning the first three games. The last was the Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Penguins felt they were "put together to win the Stanley Cup. That's our expectation from Day One," coach Dan Bylsma said. "You're going to look at this as a missed opportunity."

Doublespeak Denials Of PRISM Hid The Truth About Participation

“Direct Access” didn’t mean no access. “Back door” didn’t mean no door. “Only in accordance with the law” didn’t mean PRISM is illegal. And you didn’t need to have heard of a codename to have participated. Larry, Zuck, you didn’t spell out your denials of the NSA’s data spying program in plain english, and now we know why. You were obligated to help the government in its spying, but were muzzled.
[Update: This article and its headline have been edited,]
 
The New York Times says you knowingly participated in the NSA’s data monitoring program. In some cases, you were asked to create ”a locked mailbox and give the government the key”, to allow it to peer into private communications and web activity. Even if the exact words of your denials were accurate, they seemed to obscure the scope of your involvement with PRISM. Outlining as clearly as possible exactly what kind of data the government could attain would have gone a long way.
But you were probably cornered by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act restrictions about what you could say about PRISM. And in fact, you might have beeen subtly trying to fight back by asking the government for more transparency. When you decode Mark’s statement “We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe”, I hear “Our hands are cuffed. Only the government can reveal that we participated. We wish they would.”
Sadly, you really were working with the NSA to give it access to our private data, so your supposedly candid statements full of technicalities just broke our hearts, as the truth has come to light.
The terms you used disguised what was going on. Direct access means unrestricted access with no intermediary, but the government didn’t need to be standing in the server rooms to get what it wanted. A back door means access to data without its host’s knowledge or consent, but you were well aware of the NSA’s snooping. The NSA’s actions are likely protected by law, so saying you’re only honoring prying that’s legal didn’t mean no prying. And why would the government tell you the juicy codename or details of its data spying program? All it had to say is it needed your data.
Now these excuses ring hollow. The average citizen doesn’t know the difference. They heard “we didn’t help the NSA”, and you did, so their trust in you has disintegrated.
That’s a threat to your business, and our way of life. I like that all my friends use Google Docs. I like that I can invite any of my friends to a Facebook Event. Seeing them ditch the building blocks of the web you’ve developed because they don’t believe anything you say anymore will be a great inconvenience. And that inconvenience pales in importance to the actual liberty PRISM strips away from us.
Then again, your silence would have been taken as an admission of guilt. What an awful position our government put you in.
[Update 12:45am PST 6/8/13: This article and its headline have been edited as I think the title "Doublespeak Denials Of Prism Participation Were Careful Lies" went a bit far. The execs weren't lying, but by denying specifics rather than discussing their participation in PRISM on a high level, I think they obscured their involvement. However, their companies are legally required to provide private information requested by the government, and were legally restricted in how they could explain the process, so I feel the blame rests more on the NSA than the tech giants. For more information, read my follow-up "Tech Giants Built Segrated Systems For NSA Instead Of Firehoses To Protect Innocent Users From PRISM"]

Android 4.0: Tracking Ice Cream Sandwich's Availability on Smartphones

Last week HTC published a list of phones that will receive an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, along with approximate launch dates and a projected completion date of late August 2012. This is not a very encouraging prospect considering Google officially introduced ICS last October. Also because Android's next major revision codenamed “Jelly Bean” will be close to release by then (slated for Q3/12).
But this is not an issue with HTC phones exclusively. In fact, Ice Cream Sandwich is more the exception rather than the rule on Android devices across the board. There’s a total of four smartphones shipping with the OS preloaded, just over a dozen with upgrades available, and more than 30 on the “coming soon” list.

Phones shipping with ICS

Your choices here are limited to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which was released in December in partnership with Google and features an unskinned version of Android 4.0, and the HTC One lineup comprising the One S on T-Mobile, One X on AT&T, and Evo 4G LTE on Sprint. These are soon to be joined by the Samsung Galaxy S III, which is expected to launch globally soon, including all four major carriers in the US.

Phones with ICS upgrades rolling out now

These smartphones are already being upgraded to Android 4.0. If you own one of these and are still waiting for the update to come through, keep in mind that they’re being rolled out over a period of several weeks.

HTC	Samsung	Sony
83 Sensation	91 Galaxy S II (unlocked, Canada)	81 Xperia Ray
84 Sensation XE	79 Galaxy S II LTE (unlocked, Canada)	80 Xperia arc S
82 Sensation 4G (T-Mo, Bell, Virgin Ca.)	83 Galaxy Note (unlocked)	Xperia neo V
71 Vivid (AT&T)	71 Nexus S 4G (Sprint)	71 Xperia arc
82 Velocity (Australia)	84 Nexus S (unlocked)	77 Xperia neo
78 Amaze 4G (T-Mobile)
Raider 4G (Bell Canada)

Phones with ICS updates "coming soon"

Not all phone manufacturers are offering specific details as to when each of their devices are getting upgraded to Android 4.0. Motorola is only listing them by quarter, while HTC recently provided a two-month release window, and Sony is being a little more specific with the next round of updates starting this week and continuing throughout June into the third quarter. Samsung is not giving out any dates whatsoever.

HTC

Smartphone model	Timeframe	Device release date
Sensation XL	May-June	May 19, 2011
EVO 4G+	May-June	June 2011
Rezound	June-July	November 14, 2011
EVO 3D	June-July	June 24, 2011
EVO Design 4G	June-July	October 23, 2011
Desire S	June-July	March 8, 2011
Incredible S	June-July	February 26, 2011
Rhyme	June-July	September 29, 2011
Thunderbolt	July-August	March 17, 2011
Desire HD	July-August	October 20, 2010
DROID Incredible 2	TBD	April 28, 2011

HTC notes that due to localization, testing, and partner approvals, updates do not roll out to all devices at the same time. For devices on a wide variety of carriers and in many countries, rollouts can take up to 45 days from the initial update to reach everyone. You can manually check for updates by going to Settings>About>Software Updates if you are not prompted to update automatically.
The upgrade to Android 4.0 will include Sense 3.6, not Sense 4, since some aspects of Sense 4 require dedicated hardware, which is not available on all devices.

Motorola

Smartphone model	Timeframe	Device release date
Droid Razr (USA, Asia Pacific, Canada, China, EMEA, Japan, Korea & LATAM)	Q2 2012	November 11, 2011
Droid Razr Maxx (USA)	Q2 2012	January 26, 2011
Atrix 2 (Asia-Pacific, LATAM, USA, and selected other markets)	Q3 2012	October 16, 2011
Atrix 4G (USA)	Q3 2012	February 22, 2011
Droid 4 (USA)	Q3 2012	February 10, 2011
Droid Bionic (USA)	Q3 2012	September 8, 2011
Photon 4G (USA)	Q4 2012	July 31, 2011
Atrix / Atrix 4G (Asia Pacific, EMEA and LATAM)	TBD	--
Electrify (USA)	TBD	September 22, 2011
Photon 4G (Japan)	TBD	--

To date, the only Motorola device that has been upgraded to Android 4.0 is the WiFi-only XOOM (and only the versions in the US or Canada). The company outlined their 4-step updating process back in December and plans to start rolling out a few of those “soon”. Regarding the selection of phones that qualify for updates and the ones that don’t, Motorola has this to say: “Obviously we want the new release to improve our devices. If we determine that can’t be done—well then, we’re not able to upgrade that particular device.”

Samsung

Smartphone model	Timeframe	Device release date
Galaxy S II (AT&T, T-Mobile)	TBD	April 28, 2011
Galaxy S II Skyrocket (AT&T)	TBD	November 6, 2011
Galaxy Note (AT&T)	TBD	October 28, 2011
Captivate Glide (AT&T)	TBD	November 21, 2011
Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (Sprint)	TBD	September 16, 2011
Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G (T-Mobile)	TBD	March 21, 2012

Samsung has been at the forefront of the move from 2.3 to 4.0, rolling Ice Cream Sandwich out to a number of unlocked devices, including the hugely popular Galaxy S II. Unfortunately, updates to branded devices tend to get held up in carrier-specific testing so a lot of users with subsidized phones are still waiting their turn. Making matters worst neither Samsung nor carriers are sharing a timeframe for the update.

Sony

Smartphone model	Timeframe	Device release date
Xperia mini	Week of May 28	August 2011
Xperia mini pro	Week of May 28	August 9, 2011
Xperia pro	Week of May 28	October 18, 2011
Xperia active	Week of May 28	October 1, 2011
Sony Ericsson Live	Week of May 28	Q4 2011
Xperia S	End of June	March 1, 2012
Xperia P	End of June	Unreleased
Xperia U	Q3 2012	May 7, 2012
Xperia sola	TBD	May 7, 2012
Xperia ion	TBD	March 1, 2012

Sony has been pretty forthcoming about its Ice Cream Sandwich rollout and so far they’ve mostly kept true to their planned upgrade schedule. Just recently they started rolling out updates for two of their 2011 devices and more should follow throughout the week and over the next month. Notably, the Xperia Play will be the only Xperia phone from last year’s lineup not getting the update, as Sony cited stability and consistency issues.
Sony is rolling out Android 4.0.4 to its devices while remaining on kernel 2.6.32 — technically, ICS should feature Kernel 3.0.X+. It’s unclear if this will result in any issues or missing features. A developer for Sony Ericsson had previously said that it takes a lot of testing and validation to make a new kernel stable, so they decided to keep the tried and tested 2.6.32 kernel to release ICS as quickly as possible.

Why all the fuss about having the latest version?

If there’s one lesson to learn here is that you should buy a phone that makes you happy today, not one that promises new features with an update that may or may not appear. Granted, that’s a valid advice for any consumer electronic purchase, but Android serves as the perfect example for it.
That said, it’s not unreasonable to want your one-year-old phone to be able to get the latest software update, especially when you know it’s technically capable of running it. There are many new features to be gained in the transition from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich. Here are a few of the most noteworthy:

• UI Improvements: Android 4.0 is based on a new look and feel, the Holo theme, which offers a more consistent experience throughout the OS and makes it easier for users to find those common buttons and actions. There’s also a new “Roboto” font that’s easier on the eye and has a more modern feel.
• Multitasking, Widgets, and Folders: There’s a new Recent Apps button that lets users jump from one task to another, and a side-swiping gesture to get rid of apps you’re no longer using. Users can also resize widgets to their liking and drag and drop icons on top of each other to create folders.
• Contacts and sharing: ICS ditches the old Android 2.3 contact list for one that shows richer profile information, including large profile picture, phone numbers, addresses, and a button for connecting on integrated social networks. There’s also a new NFC peer-to-peer sharing feature that allows users with NFC-capable devices to share apps, contacts, music, videos by touching one phone to another.
• Improved speed and full hardware acceleration: Tests have shown significant performance improvements in Android 4.0 when it comes to handling graphics and using the web browser.
• Data usage manager: Android 4.0 allows users to monitor total data usage by network type and application, as well as set limits on those data-hungry apps so you don’t incur in expensive overage fees.
• Various other new features and enhancements: You can access the camera and notifications without unlocking your device first, there’s a new face-unlock feature, Wi-Fi direct support to share files between compatible devices, improvements to the camera and video apps, and more.

Lastly, it’s also worth noting that the lack of timely updates exacerbates Android’s fragmentation problem, which makes it that much harder for developers to QA apps. If you’ve ever wondered why you run into bugs and other unexplained behaviors on Android but not on iOS, well, fragmentation probably played a part on it.

New generation of Arab singers

Nancy Ajram

Arab music has a long tradition of Oud — a local variety of lute — and soulful longing. It is the foundation of classical Arab music. Umm Kulthum of Egypt was phenomenally popular throughout the Arab world. Many regard Al-Atlal (The Ruins) as her best song. She died in 1975.
Nouhad Wadi Haddad a Lebanese female singer popularly known as Fairuz or Turquoise closely followed her in eminence. While classical songs were Umm Kulthum’s forte Fairuz excelled in modern Arabic songs also projecting the Lebanese heritage. Her all time popular song A’tini al-Nay is cherished by every Arab.
They are followed by new bunch of talented and popular young singers, both male and female. They are Amr Diab, Nancy Ajram, Tamer Hosny, Mohammed Hamaki, Elissar Zakaria Khouri, Sherine Ahmed Abdul Wahab, Kadim Al Sahir, Cairokee a band group and Wael Kfoury.
Among the lot, Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab (Amr Diab) of Egypt is a versatile performer; Diab is both a singer and composer. He has received many awards as the best-selling Arab recording artist. Music connoisseurs commend Diab for blending a Mediterranean Music style combining Arab sound and diction with Western cadence and instruments.
Amr Diab’s 1996 album “Nour El Ain” (Light of the Eye-Sight) became a sensation in the music world. “Habibi” from the album drew music lovers like infatuation worldwide in countries like Pakistan, India (performed by Nachiketa in Bengali with lyrics of his own), Afghanistan, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. The album sold 3 million copies! In 1998, he received the World Music Award from the Prince of Monaco. Diab became a living legend. His album “Amarain” (Two Moons) of 1999 is rated as his best. Amarain featured Diab in a duet “Qalbi” with Algeria’s “Didi” famed Khaled based in France.
Nancy Nabil Ajram (Nancy Ajram) of Lebanon is an immensely popular pop star in Arab music. Nancy came into the limelight in 2003 with the big success of her lead single “Akhasmak Ah”. With her fourth album “Ah w Noss” (Yes, and a half)) she became the pop icon of Arab world. Coca Cola made Nancy their official celebrity spokesperson. The commercial was a hit — “Oul Tany Kida?” (Say that again?). The success continued and her fifth album “Ya Tabtab Wa Dalla” is believed to be her best. Ajram’s crowning moment came when her best-selling album “Betfakkar Fi Eih” won the first World Music Award .as the best-selling Middle Eastern Artist.
Tamer Hosny Abbas Farghaly (Tamer Hosny) of Egypt is idolized as the Star of Generation. He is a highly endowed talent – singer, actor, composer, director and songwriter. In 2004 his second album “Hob” (Love) a romantic one featured a catchy solo “Arrab Habibi”. Its success earned him the nickname “King of Generation”. The solo song kept on running in music channels. The 8th album “Elly Gai Ahla” (2011) found great popularity and he found his bride in his fellow Moroccan singer Bassma Boussil.
Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed El-Hamaki (Mohammed Hamaki) of Egypt is known as the Master of Pop Music. He is in his thirties. His virtuosity extends to musical instruments; he can play both guitar and piano. He shot into fame with his album “Kheles El Kalam” (All The Words Have Finished!). The song “Wahda Wahda” (One by One) became very popular.
Elissar Zakaria Khouri (Elissa) is a Lebanese pop singer. Elissa became a phenomenon with her W’akherta Ma’ak. It included a popular duet “Betghib Betrouh”. The video clip of her equally successful album “Ayshalak” was done in France by French Director Fabrice Begotti.
The popularity of this new generation of singers shows that Arab world has great love for music and has a wealth of talents to keep it alive. The legacy of Umm Kulthum and Fairuz continues.

WAR TRIAL - Mojaheed to hang

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed waves while being taken to International Crimes Tribunal-2 Wednesday morning for pronouncement of verdict in war crimes case. Photo: Focus Bangla

A special court in Dhaka has awarded death penalty to Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed for offences during Bangladesh’s war of independence 42 years back.
Five out of seven charges have been proved beyond doubt, Justice Obaidul Hassan, head judge of International Crimes Tribunal-2, announced in a jam-packed courtroom Wednesday afternoon.
The Jamaat linchpin, who led the infamous Al-Badr force in killing intellectuals of the land at the fag end of the 1971 Liberation War, received death penalty for three charges, and life sentence and five-year imprisonment for two others.
Standing in the dock wearing a Panjabi, the 65-year-old shook his head in disapproval of the judgement.
This is the sixth verdict in the sensational war crimes trial that was initiated 40 years into the country’s birth, which the Jamaat was strongly against and instrumental to negate.
His party has enforced a countrywide daylong hartal (shutdown) to protest the verdict.
Mojaheed’s verdict came couple of days after another war crimes tribunal, ICT-1, awarded former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam 90 years jail.
Tight security was arranged in and around the ICT-2 building as the court prepared to deliver judgement on Mojaheed Wednesday.
A contingent of securitymen guarded the Jamaat top leader as he was taken to the prison cell of the court at 9:42am in a white microbus.
He was taken to the tribunal dock just one hour later.
The court started its proceedings at 10:48am.
After a brief description of the case, Justice Md Shahinur Islam, a judge on the three-member panel, started reading out from the 209-page verdict.
A 37-page excerpt was read out.
BACKGROUND
Mojaheed, a former technocrat minister of the last BNP-led alliance government, was arrested on June 29, 2010, in connection with hurting religious sentiments of Muslims.
The investigation agency, designated to probe war crimes, started investigation his alleged crimes during the war on July 21, 2010, and completed its probe in October, 2011.
Mojaheed was shown arrested in the war crimes case on August 2, 2010.
On January 16, 2012, the prosecution submitted 34 charges against him and the tribunal took the charges into cognisance on January 26.
The case was transferred to Tribunal-2 on April 25, 2012.
On June 21, 2012, Mojaheed, who was a top leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the student wing of Jamaat in 1971, was indicted on seven charges.
As per the indictment order, Mojaheed in October 1971 was elected provincial president of Chhatra Sangha and became the chief of Al-Badr, an auxiliary force of the Pakistan army that was especially responsible for the planned killings of the intellectuals at the fag-end of the nine-month-long war.
Al-Badr was an “action section” and “armed wing” of Jamaat and was formed mainly with the members of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the Tribunal-2 observed during the proceeding of another war crime suspect Jamaat leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman’s verdict.
As many as 17 prosecution witnesses including the investigation officer of the case testified against Mojaheed, while his younger son gave testimony as the lone defence witness.
The prosecution and the defence placed closing arguments between May 7 and June 5.
Earlier on June 5, the tribunal kept the Mojaheed case CAV (Curia Advisari Vult, a Latin legal term meaning verdict would be delivered anytime).
WAR TRIAL PROGRESS REPORT
The two tribunals dealing with the war crimes cases have so far delivered verdicts in five cases.
The Tribunal-1 on July 15 awarded 90-year jail to former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Ghulam Azam for his war time offences.
The Tribunal-2 awarded expelled Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad and Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman death sentence and another Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah life sentence, while the Tribunal-1 awarded Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee capital punishment.

Saudi Arabia’s oppression of women goes way beyond its ban on driving

For the second time in three years, dozens of Saudi women are getting behind the wheel to protest their country's practice of forbidding driver's licenses for women. The de facto ban on female drivers is Saudi Arabia's best-known restriction against women, a symbol of the larger system of gender-based law that makes it one of the worst countries for women, according to the World Economic Forum's annual report on gender rights.
Saudi Arabia's restrictions on women go far, far beyond just driving, though. It's part of a larger system of customs and laws that make women heavily reliant on men for their basic, day-to-day survival. This video, produced by Amnesty U.K. in 2011, a few months after Saudi women's rights activists staged their last protest drive, helps explain just how it works to be a woman in Saudi Arabia. (Fair warning, the video has an offbeat sense of humor, 
If you couldn't make it through the video, here's the rundown: each Saudi woman has a "male guardian," typically their father or brother or husband, who has the same sort of legal power over her that a parent has over a child. She needs his formal permission to travel, work, go to school or get medical treatment. She's also dependent on him for everything: money, housing, and, because the driving ban means she needs a driver to go anywhere, even the ability to go to the store or visit a friend.
It's one thing for women to depend on men to go anywhere, putting their movement under male veto power. But it's quite another when they also must have a man's approval to travel abroad, get a job or do just about anything that involves being outside of the home. It consigns women to second-class-citizenship, which is unfortunately common in a number of countries, but goes a step further in Saudi Arabia. Saudi women have many of their most basic rights reduced to probationary privileges, granted only if the man who is assigned as their "guardian" feels like granting them. And because women are typically forbidden to interact with men who are not family members, they've got little to no recourse beyond that guardian. The almost complete lack of political rights doesn't help, either.
The restrictions go beyond the law: women are often taught from an early age to approach the world outside their male guardian's home with fear and shame. A 1980s "educational flyer" still posted at a school in Buraydah warned against the "dangers that threaten the Muslim woman," such as listening to music, going to a mixed-gender mall or answering the telephone. It drove home that "danger" with an image of a women, in a full black burqa, being stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife.
Saudi women's rights activists get this, of course, and even though they're focusing their energy on overturning the driving ban, it's clear they see it as part of a larger effort against part of a much bigger system of oppression. The movement for driving rights that began in mid-2011 has not changed that law, but Saudi women have won some modest rights as a result, including representation in the country's officially powerless but high-visibility Shoura Council, which they're in turn using to amplify their campaign against the driving ban. Saudi women are facing a much bigger challenge than just a driving ban, as this video shows, but it also helps to show just how remarkable it is that they've accomplished as much as they in as little time.

Hour of Code campaign urges students to learn to code (podcast)

It's pretty unusual to see an issue supported by President Obama and House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor -- as well as Apple and Microsoft -- but they're all backing Hour of Code, which aims to get 5 million students in 33,000 classrooms around the world to learn at least one hour of computer science this week. 
Sponsored by Code.org, the effort features entertainers Shakira, Ashton Kutcher, and Angela Bassett and athletes Chris Bosh, Warren Sapp, and Dwight Howard in videos supporting this cause. Tech luminaries including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Susan Wojcicki, and the late Steve Jobs also weigh in with messages on the importance of learning to code. Click here to view them. 
During the course of the week there will be Hour of Code Learning events at every major Apple store in the U.S. along with all 51 Microsoft retail stores. This is also Computer Science Education Week. In a recorded interview (scroll down to listen), Code.org co-founder Ali Partovi said that "only 5 percent of U.S. schools teach computer science today, and that number is down from where it was 10 years ago." He said that computer science education peaked around 2003/2004 for a variety of reasons including budget along with state education standards. "In the vast majority of U.S. states computer science does not count toward graduation. It counts as an elective." As money gets tight, schools are cutting computer science along with art and music.
Pointing to the number of coding jobs not just in tech firms but hospitals, government, and all types of businesses, Partovi said that computer science "is the most empowering thing a kid could be learning, especially a kid from a disadvantage background." I didn't fact-check this, but he said that "a college graduate's first job in computer science makes more money than a doctor who's 10 years older." One thing I can't argue with is his statement that for disadvantaged youth, "the dream of becoming a computer programmer" is much more realistic than the odds of becoming an NBA player or a hip-hop star.
Click below to listen to the interview with Ali Partovi and click here for a post and video about Hour of Code.