Monthly Archives: August 2014

Kids/Parents

DC Comics Re-Designs The Monster Cereals

by  • 

General Mills DC Comics

Mmmmm… Love me some Boo Berry…

 

Monsters Cereals are arriving on store shelves now, and this year Count Chocula™, Franken Berry™ and Boo Berry™ have a brand new look—thanks to an exciting partnership with DC Entertainment, home to DC Comics.

For the first time ever, General Mills has partnered with four DC Comics artists to redesign this year’s packaging for Monsters Cereals. DC Entertainment Co-Publisher Jim Lee redesigned Boo Berry, Dave Johnson gave Franken Berry a facelift, and Terry and Rachel Dodson restyled Count Chocula. The partnership stemmed from the DC Comics artists’ love for Monsters Cereals and their enthusiasm for the opportunity to reinterpret the Monsters characters.

"There are many lifelong fans of Monsters Cereal at DC Entertainment so we were excited when the Monsters team at General Mills reached out to us to help design their packaging," said Lee. "It’s not Halloween without Monsters, and we hope everyone loves the new designs just as much as we do."

Since their arrival in 1971, Monster Cereals™ have become an irreplaceable part of pop culture and Halloween, and fans eagerly wait for them to hit the shelves each year.

"The DC Comics artists’ share our love for the Monster Cereals, so collaborating with them for this project was a natural fit," said Lauren Pradhan, Big G Cereals marketing manager. "Reimaging the artwork with DC Entertainment was a highly collaborative process, and we had a lot of fun seeing the artists’ interpretations of our beloved Monsters come to life for this exclusive packaging."

In addition to the Monsters makeover on the front of the package, DC Comics artists Sholly Fisch, Brent Schoonover and Dave McCaig also redesigned the back panels of the boxes, creating unique comic strips of Monster adventures. The packaging will be available as limited-edition collector’s items for the 2014Halloween season.

Meet the Monsters
The cereals hold a special place in the hearts of Millennials and Gen-Xers who grew up with the Monsters. Saturday morning meant cartoons and a bowl of Count Chocula or Franken Berry. Each year, parents want to share those memories with their kids, and this seasonal favorite brings back all kinds of fond family nostalgia.

More than just a tasty treat, the Monsters have become iconic Halloween figures, each with their own story and personality.

Considered by some to be the most popular of the Monsters, Count Chocula is a vampire who prefers chocolate to blood and is well recognized for his tagline, "I vant to eat your cereal!" Introduced in 1971, Count Chocula cereal combines chocolaty cereal made with whole grain corn and colorful marshmallow shapes.

Franken Berry is a cuddly, pink version of Frankenstein’s monster, introduced shortly after Count Chocula. This friendly ghoul still wears the same chain-link suspenders he did when he was created. Franken Berry cereal combines delicious strawberry-flavored cereal made with whole grain corn and colorful marshmallow shapes.

Boo Berry was introduced in 1973 as a blue ghost with a purple tie and hat. The cereal has delicious blueberry flavor from combining blueberry-flavored frosted cereal made with whole grain corn and colorful marshmallow shapes.

Retailer Exclusives
In addition to the Monster’s new look from DC Comics, fans can also find the Monsters in their retro-style packaging again this year. Through an exclusive agreement, the cereals will be available in retro packaging at Target stores. These boxes celebrate the history of the Monsters, featuring Count Chocula andFranken Berry from 1979 and Boo Berry from 1980. The retro boxes feature cut-out masks on the back of the box for super fans who want an instant Halloweencostume.

Walmart will also be celebrating Monsters season, offering a digital game featuring the Monsters and General Mills’ other beloved cereal equities. The game, available via a mobile app, is free to play and available on the family sizes of Honey Nut Cheerios™, Lucky Charms™, Cinnamon Toast Crunch™ and Cocoa Puffs™, giving fans a fun new way to interact with the characters.

Monsters Cereals will be available at select retailers in the U.S. starting in August, with full nationwide distribution by September. And this year, limited quantities of the ever-popular Count Chocula and Franken Berry will also be sold by select retailers in Canada. Follow the Monsters online using the hashtag, #MonsterCereal.

Tech News

Pyle Announces Erasable Illuminated LED Writing Board

by  • 

I post some tech news here, only the stuff that I think is really cool and the new Illuminated LED Writing Board from Pyle is one of those things..

 

pyle1pyle2

Pyle Audio, introduces its line of multiple size Erasable Illuminated LED Writing Boards. Pyle’s Writing Boards allow users to make neon signs with LED flashing lights and fluorescent colors. It’s perfectly designed for presentations, supermarkets, restaurants, hair salons, clubs and family parties with its easy hang suspension loops to display the sign everywhere.

Simply write a desired message or draw a picture and light it up for the full neon effect. Pyle’s Writing Board comes with eight fluorescent colored makers and an electronic control box with a remote control that allows you to wirelessly change the multi-colored lights and flashing patterns. The 6mm markers have removable points which change from bullet or chisel tips, so it’s as easy as drawing on paper. The Erasable Illuminated LED Writing Boards come in multiple sizes (16”x12”, 32”x24” and 35”x24”) that are now available at www.PyleAudio.com for $71.99 to $114.99.

“Our team of world class engineers worked diligently to create a message board that provides one of the fastest, most impressive and easiest ways to attract the attention of a passersby,” says Abe Brach, Product Manager. “Users spend a lot of money designing new signs annually, but now they won’t have to. We designed this Eras able Illuminated LED Writing Board as a great way to customize messages while still being environmentally-friendly, economical and durable.”

Pyle’s LED Writing Board is designed for vertical and horizontal display to fit all presentation needs. Don’t get stuck using one dull color, this writing board has flashing modes for multi-color combinations. Allow your kids to get creative at home or use it as a enhanced message board at the office. The LED writing board is fun for all ages and can be used in schools, businesses, classrooms and kids rooms. This 3 pound writing board which has an acrylic panel easily erases by wiping with a damp or dry clean cloth – so the creativity never has to stop.

Product page: http://www.pyleaudio.com/sku/PLWB3040/Erasable-Illuminated-LED-Writing-Board-w-Remote-Control-and-8-Fluorescent-Markers,-16-x-12

Deals/Freebies

Weekly Steam Game Giveaway Watch Dogs Conspiracy DLC

by  • 

wdc_thumb

I’ve got another giveaway going on for you over on TestFreaks, this week it’s Watch Dogs Conspiracy DLC for Steam.

Link: http://blog.testfreaks.com/contest/weekly-steam-game-giveaway-watch-dogs-conspiracy-dlc/

Quote:
"So we’re back with another game giveaway and this week, for you we have Watch Dogs Conspiracy DLC. Normally we run our contests Sunday to Sunday, but for this one we’ve partnered with a site called Cheap Digital Download which is actually interesting and helpful website, it’s a CD Key shopping comparison site so you can find the games you want at the lowest prices. CDD searches and finds the lowest prices available for you, it’s kind of nice having everything in one place so you don’t have to search around. "

Rants!

If YouTube Says You’re Guilty Then You Are and There’s Nothing You Can Do About It

by  • 

youtube

YouTube has a monopoly in the online video market, yes sure there’s some others out there but I couldn’t even name any off the top of my head as they have such a small market share they’re not even in competition with YouTube. When you think of online video you think of YouTube and that’s all there is really…

I don’t know what to do, I don’t even want to use YouTube anymore honestly as they’ve pissed me off so bad recently.

A little while back I reviewed a mouse and I posted an unboxing video of it on YouTube of course, it was one of the first reviews of the mouse I believe and I guess it was a little popular, at least YouTube claims it was. I did notice a few shares on Twitter, not even 10 of them, and it had four comments on it in total. It wasn’t what I would call popular at all in my opinion but YouTube thinks it was so they deleted the video and re-uploaded it for me. I don’t even know how many views the video had actually, I don’t pay attention to stuff like that.

I do this for fun, not to make money, making money would be nice but I’m not making any doing this, especially from YouTube.

I thought the idea of YouTube was for people to see the videos, I guess not

YouTube emailed me and accused me of hiring a marketing company to ‘game the system’ and they said I was paying for views. I didn’t do any of that, all I did was post the video to YouTube and embed it in the review. I shared the review on my G+, Twitter and Facebook accounts and maybe on Pinterest and Linkedin, it was so long ago I don’t even remember.

I tried to appeal it as I didn’t want to be accused of doing something I didn’t do. They essentially accused me a violating their TOS and hiring an outside marketing company to game their system and get fake views on the video to make it popular. I told them I didn’t do it, they said I did and that’s that apparently. It seems that when the powers that be at YouTube say you’re guilty then you are and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. They basically called me a liar, which really made me angry and accused me of doing things that I did not do and there’s no way to prove it to them either.

There’s a Google office near me and I even offered to come in to the office with any proof they need, copies of bank statements, copies of Paypal statements to prove that I never hired a marketing company. Access to my accounts, whatever they need to show them I didn’t do what they said I did. Anything to stop them from falsely accusing me of doing this, I didn’t get a response after that message though. I guess they don’t care about proof. It seems when you offer to prove you’re not guilty they just don’t care as they’ve made up their mind already.

It’s not even about the video anymore, I don’t care, they can delete it, it’s the fact that they called me a liar and falsely accused me a doing something that I did not do. I’ve never hired a marketing company in my life, I don’t trust them and I don’t have the money to hire one, even if I did have the money I wouldn’t hire one.

The sad thing is that we’re all basically stuck with YouTube and if they say you’re guilty then you’re guilty plain and simple and there’s nothing you can do about it. You have no chance to prove you didn’t do anything to them, you’re guilty and that’s that. I don’t even know why there’s an appeal system in place, it doesn’t work at all from what I can see.

Whatever…

Tech News

BioShock Coming to iOS

by  • 

2KGMKT_BIOSHOCK_IOS_APP_ICON

The original BioShock is coming to iOS. There’s no official date, just ‘later this summer’. Curious as to how it would play on a touchscreen, but I guess I won’t find out until it hopefully comes to Android..

 

 Little Sister and Big DaddyPicture Board

2K today announced that one of the Company’s highest-rated games of all time**, BioShock®, will be coming to iOS devices as a premium priced mobile game later this summer. BioShock will bring the complete experience of the original "genetically enhanced" action-adventure, first-person shooter to iOS devices, while offering optimized touch controls and full Made for iPhone (MFi) game controller support.
BioShock delivers a true triple-A first-person shooter game experience on the iOS platform, by sending players on an underwater adventure to explore the submerged Art Deco city of Rapture, fighting deranged survivors of a failed objectivist utopia and genetically modifying their own DNA to gain superhuman powers.
Developed by Irrational Games in 2007, BioShock launched to wide critical acclaim, garnering review scores of 10 out of 10 from Game Informer, 9.7 out of 10 from IGN and 9 out of 10 from GameSpot. The inaugural franchise release also won more than 28 awards*** for its visionary art, writing, audio and overall quality.
BioShock will be available soon via the App Store as a premium title for iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®****. For more information on BioShock and 2K, visit www.2k.com