Amazon Event Liveblog: New Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite And More

Image credit: Amazon

We’ve got a pretty good feeling that there will be new Kindle Fires and e-readers at Amazon’s event today in Los Angeles, but it’s never official until Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gets on stage and shares the details. And this is the place to find out those very details as they are shared. The event begins today  at 10:30 a.m. PST / 1:30 p.m. EST. Check back here for updates then.

Note: The updates in the CoverItLive module below will come through automatically when the event begins; no need to refresh the page. Just keep it locked here!

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Movie director Tony Scott jumps to death from California bridge

Movie director Tony Scott died Sunday after jumping from a bridge in Los Angeles. A suicide note has reportedly been found at his office.

Tony Scott, director of hits such as Top Gun, Days of Thunder and Crimson Tide, has died after jumping from a bridge in Los Angeles.

According to Lt Joe Bale of the LA coroner’s office, 68-year-old Scott was seen by several witnesses parking his car on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro around lunchtime Sunday shortly before jumping into the water. His body was recovered around three hours later.

Early reports suggested a suicide note had been found inside his car, but it now appears the note was instead discovered in his office.

The British-born director, brother of Ridley Scott, had been working in Hollywood since the early 1980s after beginning his career directing commercials. His filmography includes blockbusters such as Beverly Hills Cop II, True Romance, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and, most recently, Unstoppable. At the time of his death, he was as busy as ever, prepping Top Gun II as well as a number of other movies and TV productions.

Speaking to BBC radio shortly after Sunday’s news broke, Steven Gaydos, executive editor of entertainment magazine Variety, said he felt “extremely shocked” by Scott’s death, calling him “one of the most popular, successful, stylish, creative filmmakers in Hollywood over the last 30 years.”

[Image: Featureflash / Shutterstock]

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

LA restaurant offers discount to diners who give up their phone during meal

A restaurant in Los Angeles is offering a 5 percent discount to diners willing to hand over their handset for the duration of the meal. The owner says he wants people to connect again (with the person sitting opposite them rather than with someone in another part of the country).

There was a time when visiting a restaurant with a friend meant enjoying a tasty meal together and having an engaging conversation. Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, however, it’s now also about texting a friend between the starter and the main, taking a call from a co-worker mid-meal, tweeting a photo of the dessert, and firing off an email during the post-dinner coffee. Of course, a review of the eatery posted online even before you’re out the door is also obligatory.

If both of you are at it, no one gets hurt, but it kind of defeats the whole point of going to a restaurant with a friend, does it not?

Discount

One restaurant owner/chef in Los Angeles has decided to encourage people to once again enjoy the company of their fellow diners by offering a 5 percent discount on their check if they hand over their phone before the first course is served.

Southern California radio station KPCC reported that Mark Gold, who runs Eva restaurant on Beverly Boulevard, is hoping to create a more homely atmosphere by giving patrons the chance to enjoy their meal without the possibility of a handset interrupting the flow of the dining experience.

“For us, it’s really not about people disrupting other guests. Eva is home, and we want to create that environment of home, and we want people to connect again,” Gold told KPCC. “It’s about two people sitting together and just connecting, without the distraction of a phone, and we’re trying to create an ambience where you come in and really enjoy the experience and the food and the company.”

Gold added that so far just under half of the diners visiting his restaurant have taken up the offer, though he failed to mention whether anyone had broken into a cold sweat halfway through the main course, begging to have their phone returned.

Phone Stack

Earlier this year another Californian man, Brian Perez, also had an idea to get diners looking at each other again, instead of at their handsets, creating a game called Phone Stack. The idea is that after taking your seat, everyone places their mobile in the center of the table. The first person who grabs their device during the meal, regardless of the reason, has to take care of the check.

How do you feel about Mark Gold’s idea of taking your phone away for the duration of the meal? Could you handle it? Or does the thought of being separated from your handset for even just a few minutes fill you with dread?

[Image: Shebeko / Shutterstock]

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com