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The Television Critics Association has just announced the nominees for the 2011 TCA Awards. The Association - which represents more than 200 journalists writing about television for print and online outlets in the United States and Canada - recognize outstanding television programming in the 2010-2011 season, paying homage to both actors and producers in several categories, including news and information, youth, drama and comedy achievements. This year’s 27th edition will include for the first time a category to award the best TV series in reality programming. Leading the nominations are HBO's Game of Thrones, FX's Justified and NBC's Parks and Recreation. Notably absent is FOX's hit show Glee, that last year was named Program of the Year, but hasn't garnered a single nod this year. Check out the complete list of nominees below: Individual Achievement in Drama Steve Buscemi (“Boardwalk Empire,” HBO) Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones,” HBO) Jon Hamm (“Mad

Mad Men star Jon Hamm recently spoke to the BBC about the end of the hit AMC show, and how the delay in the production of season 5 can't be blamed on one person. Hamm also spoke about his late blossoming career and why this means so much to him. Matthew Weiner has stated in the past that Mad Men isn't a show that will continue long in to the future and he told The Hollywood Reporter in March this year, that "seven seasons seems like the right length for the life of the show." This is the amount of seasons that Matthew Weiner has signed on to do after those protracted contract negotiations that have led to the delay in filming season 5. Jon Hamm has now echoed his boss in saying that 7 seasons is when Mad Men will finish, saying that "I think it should end. Everything should end. I was a big fan of The Office [UK version] because it ended". One problem can be that when a show is a big success that there is a willingness to let it continue until it runs its

Last night marked The Real Housewives of New Jersey's move to Sunday nights and the drama continued to unfold, yet at a quietly, steady pace. Each Housewife had their own issue to worry about this week and new revelations were revealed concerning new Housewives Melissa and Kathy; one heartbreaking, the other one pretty predictable even if you hadn't seen any of the trailers leading into this season. Let's Make A Bet: Melissa Gorga Will Drop a Single By the End of the Season And the self-promotion for Melissa Gorga begins... Tonight marked the realization that Melissa has a voice that the masses must hear, according to Joe Gorga. He declares to back Melissa up in her dreams of becoming a superstar, which gets Melissa's creative juices in motion. By creative juices, I mean a shopping trip for her and her sisters at a local (expensive looking) clothing store and a meeting with a 22-year-old up and coming songwriter, who helps Melissa with her songwriting. Now that Melis

People who have been late to the party on to the hit U.K. teen fantasy drama Misfits (like me) will not have an excuse to miss out anymore. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that online streaming service Hulu has acquired the rights to stream Misfits, along with two other U.K. series never before seen on American television, on its website starting really soon. The company, which is owned by NBC Universal, will make a formal announcement later today on the acquisition of the three U.K. shows and what the "exclusive first-run" deal entails. Misfits, as well as U.K. shows Whites and The Booth at the End, will be available to both premium subscribers to Hulu Plus and users of the free with ads service on the website. In short, everyone gets a chance to get a taste of what both shows have to offer. A cult hit in the U.K. and here in America, Misfits tells the tale of five troubled early 20-somethings, who while doing community service are struck by lightning from an electri

After last year's Tony Awards ceremony found several big names adding trophies to their collections (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Denzel Washington, Scarlet Johansson), this year's Tonys were less about movie star clout but still managed to award recognizable TV names with statues. Most notably, The Book of Mormon, a religious satire musical created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park), walked away with nine awards, including Best Musical. John Benjamin Hickey (The Big C) won his second Tony for his role in The Normal Heart, a play that focuses on the early 80s AIDS crisis in New York. John Laroquette (Night Court) walked away with a Tony for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, while Norbert Leo Butz (The Deep End) was awarded best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical. Other TV-related nominees included Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie, The Sopranos), Bobby Cannavale (Will & Grace), Judith Light (Who's the Boss?), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabul

The Real Housewives of Orange County Season Six concluded last week, so now we have entered Reunion territory and while no one was jumping off couches and pushing Andy Cohen over, the verbal jabs, tears, and accusations flew as required of any Bravo reunion show. The only setback was that it reminded me of the last three RHOC reunion shows since some of the same issues were brought up to only be resurrected again next season without a doubt. Blasts on Gretchen and Slade? Check. Trying to figure out why Alexis is still with Jim? Check. Tamra being as nasty to everyone as she wants to be? Double check. However, there were some moments that stood out to me that I have to get off my chest out of the sheer lunacy of their existence. Yes, there were some abomination unleashed on our sets tonight and I gotta take them down one by one. If I miss any of them, please fill free to add them in the comments section. 1) Alexis Really Believes She Was Made From Jim Bellino's Rib and Women Need

TiVo has been around for a long time now and was the brand that introduced many of the people out there that can’t live without their DVR today to the tech. TiVo has announced that it has enhanced its app for the iPad tablet to benefit cable operator partners. The app allows iPad users to explore, search, and browse the entertainment options that are available on their cable provider without having to interrupt what is being watched on TV. If the user finds a program that they want to view, the newly updated app allows them to flick the program from the iPad to the TV screen. That sounds really cool. The app detects and integrates the operators brand, programming, and VOD catalog when it is connected to a TiVo box provided by the operator. I wish my satellite DVR was a TiVo box, this would be great for checking shows that are coming on later without making up most of the screen while my family is watching something else. “Operators are constantly looking for new ways to connect with th

Batteries that power an electric vehicle or a hybrid work best when they are cool. Keeping the batteries cool can be a big challenge in some parts of the country during the summer. Ford is getting its new Focus Electric ready to hit the market and since the vehicle will be sold all around the country Ford is working to keep the battery cool in the hotter climates. Ford has announced that the Focus Electric will use an advanced liquid cooling system for its lithium-ion battery packs to provide an advantage over models without a cooling system. When the battery is being charged or used the Ford system will use an integrated chiller to lower the temperature of the hot coolant going through the battery as needed. In the winter, months if the coolant is at a good temperature presumably the chiller wouldn’t activate. The system uses the vehicles AC system to cool the fluid as it flows around the battery. The cooling system will work when the car is charging as well even though it’s not on.

We have talked about the cool gear that MimoMonitors offers several times in the past. The company has a line of cool USB monitors that are small and compact and get the power and connectivity they need to operate from a single USB port. The company has a cool new bundle that wraps any one of those monitors up in a package with a MimoPlug Linux computer. The MimoPlug is one of the tiny computers that hangs from your wall outlet and takes up about the same amount of space as an AC adapter. The tiny MimoPlug measures in at a scant 4.33″ L x 2.74″ W x 1.9″ H and when paired with one of the several MimoMonitors available makes for one of the smallest computer systems around. The system is aimed at the cloud-computing environment. The tiny little machine is good for local computing as well and can be operated 24/7 for retail kiosks, hotel guest services, network monitoring, employment applications, and all sorts of other needs. Inside the computer portion of the system is a 1.2GHz CPU wit

Bowers & Wilkins is a high-end audio company that offers things ranging from loudspeakers to docks for iPads and more. The company is known for audio quality and high prices for their gear too. The design of the PM1 speaker is very interesting and reminds me of cars from the 50′s with all the fins on them. One of the main design elements is the Carbon Braced Tweeter on the top of the speaker that has a break-up frequency of 40kHz and an aluminum dome tweeter. The dome of the tweeter is braced with a filament-wound carbon fiber allowing the frequency to be raised from the 30kHz of B&W’s other tweeters up to the 40kHz in PM1 duty. The PM1 uses a 2-way vented box with the Nautilus tube loaded tweeter I already mentioned. The drive units are a 1-inch dome for high frequency and the mid-range is a 5-inch cone bass of woven Kevlar. Each of the cabinets it made with real wood veneers and mocha gloss color. They measure 25.6″ high, 10.6″ W, and 11.8″ d. The speakers use high-end hardw

If your pops is more a gadget hound than the tie sort you need to get a good gadget gift idea for Father’s Day that won’t leave you broke. If dad likes to watch TV and movies, a nice option is the Roku XD players that will be heading to Walmart just in time for Father’s Day. The Roku XD can stream all sorts of content so there is sure to be something for all uses to enjoy. The box is also easier to work than a computer for many users that might like gadgets, but may not be that good with tech. The Roku XD player is in Walmart right now for $78. It offers watchers 250 entertainment channels with Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and lots more. Sports fans can also get access to NBA Game Time, NHL GameCenter Live, and UFC content. The Roku XD also streams music and can share photos from Flickr and Facebook. “We know that our customers love having instant access to entertainment on their TVs – and at great value. With the Roku XD player now available at Walmart, customers can get

NEC has unveiled a new desktop monitor that lots of features that is thin and lightweight called the MultiSync EX231Wp . The new screen has a 23-inch panel. NEC calls the screen a minimalist design and it has a very thin bezel at 14.6mm with a depth of 14.2mm and a weight of 9.3 pounds with the stand. The screen is LED backlit making it green with power consumption of 27W. The low power consumption makes the monitor one of the most power-efficient in its class. The screen has a quick release stand that make it easy to set up and it has an optional photo frame stand. This might be the perfect screen for mobile pros that have to set up displays or booths with digital signs. The contrast ratio of the screen is 3000:1 typically and 25000:1 dynamic. The native contrast ratio is 1920 x 1080 making for full HD compatibility. Brightness is 250 cd/m2 and the display has DisplayPort and DVI-I inputs. The screen also has a USB port and the standard stand is adjustable with 110mm height adjust ran

Back in March when we reviewed the Nintendo 3DS we really liked the console but didn’t like that the eShop wasn’t available at the time. The eShop is set to launch soon making the new Nintendo portable more appealing to us. Despite the eShop coming soon, the 3DS hasn’t been selling in the volume that Nintendo hoped for. The company has announced that the 3DS portable has finally hit the million unit mark for sales in Japan. The 3DS has been on the Japanese market for 13 weeks now. To compare it took the Nintendo DS only four weeks to hit the million unit mark. The DS Lite and DSi took eight weeks each to hit the million sales mark. That certainly shows that the 3DS has taken off slowly. I think at this point the slow sales is mostly the lack of many games on the market to choose from. Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata has previously said that the 3DS wasn’t performing as Nintendo had hoped and so far, global sales haven’t been that great. The sales in Japan are roughly a third of global sales o

Does the idea of the 3D iPad appeal? Apple has been rumored to be considering a 3D display for its next-gen tablet, though so far nothing has been confirmed; still, NetbookNews stumbled upon a new CPT panel while at Display Taiwan, and the company chose to demo its 3D screen slotted into a first-gen iPad chassis. The 9.7-inch 3D panel is yet to be added to CPT’s site, but according to the video demo below it relies on special glasses in order to see the 3D effect. That, along with references to screen resolution halving, suggests a passive 3D system, where polarizing lenses in the glasses are used to filter out the left and right eye image respectively. NetbookNews apparently weren’t allowed to check its resolution, either, though they tell us it was definitely higher than the 1024 x 600 of the current first- and second-gen iPads. Of course, while CPT was clever to demonstrate its panel in such a familiar – and teasing – way, that doesn’t mean Apple is looking to the company for the

If you need a cool mouse to go with that steampunk laptop you pre-ordered, Aaron Ristau has the rodent for you. The dude makes these cool looking little mice with old fashioned keys from typewriters and what appear to be chrome dishes that remind me of hubcaps from cars of the 50′s and 60′s. I particularly like the version of the mouse with the spikes on the side rather than the ring. The design looks really cool, but they aren’t exactly ergonomic. The actual mouse workings of the cool peripherals are a Logitech M305 wireless mouse. You do have to remove three screws from the top of the mouse to get at the battery that powers the Logitech rodent inside. The Wireless Mouse Version 2 from Aaron Ristau comes in several painted colors. Ristau will even allow you to choose specific keys to use for the left and right mouse buttons if you want and assuming they are available. Each of the mice will cost $180 plus shipping. They aren’t cheap, but steampunk geeks will want one nonetheless.

Apple is having a great year so far and its Mac computers are selling very well. Some of the Mac notebooks like the MacBook Air are due for an update. Apple is pretty good about offering an update at least once per year on their notebooks and other hardware. There have been rumors that the Air would get an update to Sandy Bridge power in July. The rumor came by way of industry sources. The updated machines are also expected to get the Thunderbolt port that other MacBooks have onboard. Reuters reports that Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily has published a story citing industry sources that claim the new MacBook Air will start selling by the end of June. The first shipment is claimed to have 380,000 units and combined with shipments so far of the existing Air the total number of Air notebooks shipped will be 460,000. If the source is correct, I would bet there would be a lot of new Air owners that buy this month before the new machines land with a serious case of buyer’s remorse. The sa

Several of the biggest tech firms in the world are putting their weight behind the future of wireless payments using near field communications or NFC tech. Google has been talking up the Google Wallet service that it is working on and many others are working on payment systems as well including some credit card companies. HP is said to be eyeing introducing wireless devices that are capable of making wireless payments by integrating NFC technology inside. HP owns Palm and the WebOS operating system and it would be easy to see NFC tech coming to future HP smartphones and tablets. According to one source cited by BusinessWeek, the first HP wireless device with NFC inside may be available as early as the end of 2011. The idea is that the HP tech would allow the users to not only pay by tapping their phone on a reader at checkout, but he user could get loyalty points and coupons as well by tapping their device on a poster at the store. One of the sources also claims that third-party devs

We know that Apple has tons of apps, music, and movies on iTunes and we know that there are tons of downloads each month. Apple keeps a chunk of the money for each item sold on the iTunes network to help pay the bills and stock its coffers with loot for things like building spaceship campuses . I’ve never really stopped to think what it costs Apple to run the iTunes store, support the bandwidth needed for all those downloads, and other costs. What we know of the iTunes store is that it is packed with 15 billion songs, had has 130 million book downloads, 14 billion apps downloads, and has paid out $2.5 billion to devs. There are 225 million accounts, 425,000 apps, 90,000 iPad apps and 100,000 game and entertainment titles available. Asymco took the data I just mentioned and cobbled it together with data that was already available and used that info to come up with an idea of what Apple pays to run iTunes. The number works out to something in the range of $113 million monthly assuming th

Amazon’s rumored Android tablet will support the retailer’s video streaming system, currently offered free to Amazon Prime customers, according to analysts Detwiler Fenton . In a new research note, they claim that the 10-inch “Hollywood” tablet rumored earlier this year will be sold with a “promotional video service offering”; they also concur on the LCD display and “more robust applications process” than the smaller color Kindle – which we’ve heard codenamed as “Coyote” and as using a 7-inch panel – also believed to be in the works. The analysts expect pricing around $399 for Hollywood, undercutting previous leaks suggesting $449. Coyote is believed to around the $349 mark. Amazon is yet to even acknowledge the existence of either slate, but the 7-inch model is tipped to use NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset, while the 10-inch version will, it’s rumored, use the new quad-core NVIDIA Kal-El processor, launching later in 2011. There’s still confusion over whether Amazon’s two models will be

RIM is apparently readying a collaboration with UI and user-experience specialists YOU i Labs , the same company that HTC originally worked with on HTC Sense . According to GigaOM ‘s sources, while an acquisition of YOU i Labs was first predicted, in fact the two companies are simply working in partnership; the Canadian interface developers already collaborates with Teknision, the company responsible for the BlackBerry PlayBook ‘s UI. The PlayBook has been praised for its straightforward interface, but also criticized as culling much of the concept behind that interface from rival systems like webOS. Meanwhile, the company’s smartphones – although improved in the latest version of the BlackBerry OS – still come under pressure from Android and iOS interface design. Late last year, RIM acquired The Astonishing Tribe , another user-experience firm. What, exactly, RIM, TAT and YOU i Labs will be working on together remains to be seen. YOU i Labs’ recent blog posts talk about the potential

Apple has begun selling unlocked iPhone 4 handsets in the US, as rumored earlier this week, with the smartphone available from $649.99. That gets you either the 16GB white or the 16GB black iPhone 4, while $749 nets you the 32GB model in either color. Obviously that’s significantly higher upfront than a subsidized, AT&T iPhone 4, but when you take into account a two-year agreement on the minimum plans, the AT&T handset comes to $1,519 over the course of the contract. Obviously you’ll have to pay for service if you actually want to use your unlocked iPhone 4, but as long as you can find a microSIM to fit then you’ll likely be able to take advantage of lower rates. T-Mobile USA calls and EDGE data would be supported, but not 3G data since the carrier uses different bands. “If you don’t want a multiyear service contract or if you prefer to use a local carrier when traveling abroad, the unlocked iPhone 4 is the best choice” Apple However, the GSM iPhone 4 does support the bands u

Sony has detailed its Welcome Back program to UK users of the PlayStation Network , sending out emails to subscribers explaining what fraud protection and other aspects they’ll receive. The European scheme follows the US offering , consisting of both free access to services, some downloadable games and a year’s subscription to an anti-fraud service. In the UK, the anti-fraud scheme is provided by Fraud Protect ; eligible PSN users will get twelve months of online card and personal information monitoring, up to £10,000 identity-theft insurance, anti-fraud software and other support. The site has already updated to deal with the expected influx of calls: “If you were a PlayStation Network or Qriocity account holder as of 20 April 2011 and aged 18 years or over you may qualify for 12 months FREE cover. You have the option of enrolling in the program for 60 days from 20th May 2011. PlayStation customers will need PSN user ID and email address to register. Qriocity customers will need emai

The ongoing Apple and Nokia legal battle has ended, with Apple agreeing to pay Nokia to license unspecified patent technologies, and both companies dropping all ongoing patent litigation. Though the exact amount of Apple’s payments – and other details around the deal – are unknown, Nokia has confirmed that it will consist of a one-time payment followed by ongoing royalties. “We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees” CEO Stephen Elop unsurprisingly says, before going on to predict that having access to Apple’s purse will have a “positive financial impact” on Nokia’s Q2 2011 financial results. The company slashed projections at the tail-end of May as its Symbian portfolio floundered. The legal spat between the two companies has been ongoing for some years now. Nokia filed a suit back in October 2009 alleging patent infringement, and Apple swiftly responded with claims of its own. That escalated to respective demands that the ITC block Apple and Nok