Dr. Horrible Is Planning A Devious Sequel

As you must know by now, I LOVE Dr. Horrible. Well here's some news for you: there's going to be a sequel.

/Film is reporting that, in response to a question about a sequel for Dr. Horrible, Joss Whedon has said:

"The idea is that there will be another part, so we’re not going to tell you about it yet."

Pretty mysterious, but to quote Moist from the movie "It's not a no..."

I for one wouldn't expect a sequel soon, especially because we don't know how long it really took to make Dr. Horrible. Plus, it's always good business to let the epicness of a big success sink in before making a sequel.

Also, if you're interested, there is a planned soundtrack and the DVD is on track to come out too.

Edit: The soundtrack is available online from both iTunes and Amazon. If you plan to get it from Amazon, use the link at the left and support Mason Tech Beat!

Off The Beat - Two Articles, Two Places

Since the last Off The Beat, I published a new MakeUseOf article and my first article with Atlan Meer, a new magazine.

• Internet Magic: From the Web to the Parlor [MakeUseOf]
• The Evolution of the iPhone [Atlan Meer]

The magic article is about how to get started in magic with help from the internet.  I love amateur magic so this was a logical topic for me.

The Atlan Meer article is an overview of the iPhone as well as a suggestion of its potential in the smartphone market.  The magazine is available in major cities every other month and can be subscribed to online by the link above.

I'll keep updating you as long as you keep reading!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Is Corlive the Next "E-mail?"

Back in 1969, a new system was developed so that users of ARPANET, a precursor to the internet, could communicate with one another. Two years later, an "@" sign was added to the syntax and the first real "E-mail" system was born. It turned out to be one of the most successful pieces of technological engineering ever invented. Today almost every inhabitant of the industrialized world has an email address.

While there are countless benefits from having an electronic mailbox, email has more than a few problems. Messages have to travel from one server to another and if either one is down or malfunctioning, those messages may not make it. Spam, phishing emails, and even bacn (automated mail that you have requested) have made email almost as frustrating as it is helpful. Even organizing and storing email can be a hassle with certain delivery systems.

Are there alternatives? Well the phone requires both parties to be actively talking and cannot be easily archived. Instant messenger (IM) is better, but doesn't have the same "formal letter" feel that you can get from email. What really needs to happen is the creation of a new protocol that fixes the difficulties with email while moving the technology forward.

One promising candidate is Corlive, a free service that attempts to correct some of the problems inherent in traditional email. It is fundamentally different from other message sites because it uses HTML links as its primary distribution method.

Corlive is best explained by how it is used, so here are the basic instructions:

1. First, go to Corlive.com and register a username.
   • Tip: Get yours now, because almost all of them are still available.
2. This will create an online inbox that receives all incoming messages.
3. Take the link that it generates for you and put it anywhere online or in your email signature.
4. It's that simple!

One of the best things about Corlive is that it doesn't require all of your friends to join before they can talk to you. Simply give them the link and they can write you immediately. You can check for messages manually on the website or download their lightweight program that monitors your inbox. It will notify you when you have a message.

If you want to try it out, send me a test message here. Notice I used one of their features: auto-population of the subject line. When you send a message from my link it will automatically say "Mason Tech Beat Is Helping Me Test Corlive."

This is accomplished by modifying the HTML in the link. Let's take a look:

• The basic link is http://corlive.com/loyaleagle. My username is "loyaleagle."
• If I want to modify it, I add "?subject=" on the end, followed by my desired subject.
• It comes out as, "http://corlive.com/loyaleagle?subject=Mason Tech Beat Is Helping Me Test Corlve"

There are several uses for this kind of auto-population control, but one of the best I can think of is to leave a contact address on a website for specific kinds of messages. If you wanted to use the link for requests about bugs on your website, for instance, you could have the subject line read "Bug Report: [Name Your Bug]." This way your visitors would understand how to format the subject line of their emails.

Inside Info:

Corlive has told me specifically that they plan on creating a system for folder organization. With a syntax similar to the one mentioned above, you will be able to send messages from a link directly to any one of your custom folders. This will be even better for sorting "friendly emails" from "requests for service."

They also plan on providing support for message forwarding as well as a threaded message interface (much like that of a forum or Gmail). To make money, Corlive will be adding a small amount of advertising in an "unobtrusive" way. This is probably a good plan for them as mail websites get a lot of page-loads per user and bulky ads would become annoying very quickly.

As Corlive is an "internal" service, in the sense that all of the messages float around within one server, it offers a different quality of service. You won't experience problems with one server not talking to the other properly. On the other hand, if their main server goes down, you're totally out of luck.

Right now, Corlive doesn't seem to have much in the way of security. One thing that they brag about is the lack of spam. Their staff sent me this explanation of how they prevent automated messages, "Every user, after sending more than x messages in 24 hours will see a captcha and will be required to answer it. "Normal" users won't be bothered, and spammers or bots will be." This seems like a fairly solid strategy. Just remember that many bots can now read captchas with very powerful image-mapping algorithms.

There's a lot to know about Corlive. To keep it all straight, here's a few things that I do and don't like about Corlive:

Pros:

• Messages are guaranteed to get to their recipient unless Corlive itself is down.
• Spam is supposedly not an issue.
• It is very straight-forward and easy to use.
• It resembles a profile on a social network more than a specific "email address."
• Links have a great syntax and can easily be used to add more features to an email.
• You can use it now. You don't have to wait until it becomes popular.

Cons:

• It has very few features at the moment.
• It is heavily dependent on a single group of servers.
• It may have trouble scaling up. Look what happened to Twitter.
• It doesn't appear to be very secure right now.
• There is no API, interoperability with other services, mobile version, or even more than a few profile options - a beta in the true sense of the word

My Wishlist for Corlive:

• An app to generate URLs with auto-population data already attached
• A blog that details updates about Corlive
• All of the basic features one already expects to see in email
• A better notification program - the current one is basically an overzealous text file.
• New and innovative ways to distribute the link and for others to interact with the system

Give it a try, send a message or two, and let me know what you think! Also, weigh in on whether you think Corlive is a rather boring sounding name or not.

[Email Image from Travel The Home Exchange Way]

Vacation Time

FYI, I am on vacation this week so don't expect any miraculous articles too soon.

Just a tidbit for you...I had over 1000 hits on my Dr. Horrible articles....that's an order of magnitude more than I'm used to.

Thanks, hope you're having a good summer!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Dr. Horrible Act III: This Will Shock You and Hurt You

I have to say I just finished watching Dr. Horrible's third act and I am completely speechless. I litterally haven't said a word since it stopped playing. Fortunately I don't type with my mouth.

This third act relies on the first two for background, but it is by far the most powerful. Anything more I say will need to be under spoiler protection, but I think you will agree with my by the end of it.

[Spoiler Alert] Act III Reacap:
First of all, the last act left me a little dubious about what was going to happen. The plot really isn't that complex so I felt like I'd seen this kind of thing before. I must say that I was both right and wrong.

The act begins with the city planning to open the homeless shelter in Captain Hammer's name (with statue). Penny and "Billy" duet again and it's clear through some visual clues (frozen yogurt, friends calling) that Billy is falling away from Penny and the rest of the world in preparation for the big event. Dr. Horrible is seen doing devious things in his lair while the news media fills us in that Penny and Captain Hammer are getting more serious. We also see who is wearing those shirts they sell in the Jinx store.

As the shelter is being dedicated, the room is set up with a presumed statue of Captain Hammer under a cloth in the room and a podium with the Mayor and other relevant people. Captain Hammer give a speech and it becomes clear to Penny that he really doesn't think much of anyone but himself. The crowd eats it up though as Penny edges her way off the stage.

Near the end of Captain Hammer's pretty amazing song, he is suddenly frozen by Dr. Horrible, who was (rather obviously) hiding under the statue's hood. It looks like the "Freeze Ray" is finally working. Dr. Horrible begins his song, telling everyone that they are sheep and if they only listened and thought a little they would see through Captain Hammer's veil of goodness. This is also a pretty awesome scene because you just don't know what's going happen...the climax, so to speak.

Finally Dr. Horrible begins firing his Death Ray (shown in a slightly earlier scene) in the air and scaring most people away. Just as he is about to kill Captain Hammer and seal his destiny, his Freeze Ray fails and Hammer punches him about 10 feet. Captain Hammer then picks up the Death Ray and intent on firing it on Dr. Horrible, it blows up in his hands. He hurtles away in pain, screaming.

It is at this moment that Dr. Horrible discovers that the bits of the blaster that exploded have impaled Penny and she is dying. She just barely recognizes, say, "Captain Hammer will save us," and then dies quickly. I'm not sure what to make of all this so if any one has any decent analysis of it, post in the comments. Anyway, the press immediately asks about why he murdered her and it is driven home that SHE, not Captain Hammer, will be the murder that gets him into the League of Evil.

The rest of the episode is a big flowing scene of his new status as a supervillan, his donning of a more evil looking uniform (pulling down the goggles), and his entry into the League. It is interesting to see that among the rather weird League members (Fake Thomas Jefferson?), Bad Horse is actually a horse and this is why he has cowboy messengers.

All of this slowly comes to an end and at the last possible moment, when the song goes, "...and I won't feel...a thing," the words are spoken by Billy, sitting in front of his webcam, out of his costume. This image was a real stunner because we really see how getting all he wanted in the end doomed him to not being able to enjoy it.
[/Spoiler Alert]

So, were you stunned by the ending as I was? I can't even begin to figure out what to do with this show in my mind. Absolutely incredible!

[Here are links to my thoughts on Act I and Act II.]

@w00d + Epic-Fu = Best Thing Ever!

I am beyond excited. A few days ago Sarah Atwood (affectionately known as @w00d online) posted that she had just been hired by Epic-Fu, one of my all-time favorite video podcasts. She also made a post on the Epic-Fu blog about her first day on the job.

If you follow Mahalo Daily (a video podcast put out by Mahalo.com), you will remember Sarah from Mahalo Vlog Idol. She was one of the 6 finalists and that was where I first discovered her. She has a great style and I think if you asked me then whether she would be a better Mahalo Daily host or an Epic-Fu correspondent, I probably would have gone with the latter. After reading her blog and her geeky interests, I think you might agree.

Yesterday, Epic-Fu's latest episode featured her for the very first time. They have been trying out new people and her segment was by FAR the best one recently. She does a great job pretending to be drunk (unless she wasn't pretending...) and being that chick at the club who just kind of rambles on about stuff. In that way she gave reviews about The Dark Knight, Dr. Horrible, and a few other superhero things. Her expanded reviews are available on "Sarah's Rave Reviews!"

It was very entertaining and if they decide to make that her standard delivery method, it wouldn't be a bad thing. Then again, is it possible to get typecast on a podcast? Hopefully they will use more of her skills than the drunken ones. :P

Here is the episode...her segment is near the end of it, but it's a good episode overall, so I won't tell you the exact time signature:


All I can say is "GO, Sarah, Go!" I feel like Epic-Fu has been kind of wonky since the new "season" began and @w00d might be just the one to get everything back on track.

[Image of Sarah Atwood from her Flickr page]

Heroes Has Released a Neat Show Online

I know The Beat seems to be turning into a TV blog, but really it just happens that this and Dr. Horrible are premiering at the same time. Anyway, I love Heroes and they have just put out the first in a series of web-only episodes that I assume will come out until the lauch in September.

The first one is here and is about a mailman with an unusual talent. It was pretty good. Hulu is at least one of the broadcasters and I personally prefer watching it with their player.

[Image from Hulu's Heroes page]