A masterful parody of Jeremiah McDonald's Conversation With My 12-Year-Old Self, through the lens of Darth Vader and his... embarrassing childhood.

[mashable]

In one of his first interviews since being released on bail, MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom told TorrentFreak that the charges against him and his company are "nonsense."

In the interview, Dotcom addressed the two infringing files that the indictment claims he personally uploaded: a 50 Cent song and a Louis Armstrong song. He claims the songs were purchased legally and uploaded to test a new private link email feature.

He also says that allegations that MegaUpload prevented Warner Bros. from deleting infringing content are bogus. In fact, MegaUpload wasn't legally required to provide companies with a direct-delete feature at all, and Warner was allowed to remove more links from MegaUpload than any other copyright holder.

Dotcom says he has emails showing that Warner Bros. and other entertainment companies were actively using MegaUpload and wanted to partner with the company. He says Warner even asked MegaUpload to create a tool to automatically upload their content.

"We did nothing wrong. Watch out for our first motion in response to the MPAA-sponsored Department of Justice indictment. It will be enlightening and maybe entertaining," Dotcom said.

[geek]

Matt Smith discussed the casting of The Doctor's new companion, Jenna-Louise Smith, for the first time in a recent BBC Radio Wales interview, calling it "very exciting news."

Although he met "a lot of wonderful actresses," during the casting process, Smith said, "I think Jenna responded to Steven [Moffat]'s writing in the most interesting way. We're very excited to welcome her to the Doctor Who family."

Details about Coleman's character are being kept under wraps until she makes her debut in this season's Doctor Who Christmas Special, but showrunner Steven Moffat has said she'll be the rare person who talk even faster than the Doctor.

"When we saw Matt and Jenna together, we knew we had our girl," Moffat said, "She's funny and clever and exactly mad enough to step on board the Tardis."

[nme]

In a brief interview with Slashfilm at WonderCon, Prometheus writer Damon Lindelof finally explained the relationship between the upcoming film and Ridley Scott's Alien saga ... sort of.

Discussing the possible facehugger in the Prometheus IMAX trailer, Lindelof compared the movie to a rock concert, saying "If you go to a Rolling Stones show, they'd better play 'Satisfaction,' even if it's as an encore."

So, even though the movie isn't about facehuggers and chestbursters, it sounds like they're going to make appearances in Prometheus anyway, just to keep the fans happy. Most of the film, however, will be Scott's "new music."

And, as for the viral campaign that started with Peter Weyland's TED talk, Lindelof says there may be more hidden details about the movie for fans to find, but he doesn't want to give any hints.

Lindelof's other blockbuster project, Star Trek 2, is due to wrap filming in May, and footage will likely debut at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

Prometheus opens in 3D on June 8th.

[blastr]

Photographer David Friedman profiles Ralph Baer, the father of console gaming, as part of his series of inventor portraits.

Baer, now 90, invented the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. It's been 40 years since the debut of the system, and Baer is still inventing toys and games. His creations range from the well-known -- like Milton Bradley's "Simon" -- to the more obscure.

"I'm basically an artist. I'm no different from a painter ... would you ask a guy who's been painting all his life, 'Why don't you retire?'" he told Friedman.

In a segment not used in the video, Baer said that kids today spend too much time on their smartphones, and that when he released the original video game console, he never envisioned it "degenerating into a one player type thing."

[twbe]

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin stopped by CTV's Canada AM this morning to talk about the final two books of his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, revealing that even when he finishes the seventh novel, he won't be ready to stop writing about Westeros altogether.

"It will be very hard to say goodbye to these characters, (but) I don't know if I will necessarily say goodbye to the world," Martin said. "Even when I finish this story, I think there will be other stories to tell set in the world of Westeros."

He says he's currently 200 pages into book six, The Winds of Winter, and hopes to finish within two or three years.

Martin, who took six years to write A Dance With Dragons, has said before that he's now learned to be wary about giving timelines.

And with most of Winds and all of A Dream of Spring to write before the series concludes, the HBO adaptation of Martin's books could actually catch up with him.

"There's always the fear . . . will I fumble the ball at the end, will I make a mistake?" Martin said.

As for the show, Martin says "there is no feeling quite like" seeing his characters come alive, even if they're never going to be exactly the way he imagines them.

Game of Thrones returns April 1st.

[ctv]

Apple design guru Jony Ive, the man behind the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, as well as several generations of Macs, recently talked to the London Evening Standard about how competitors' attempts to replicate Apple's success in industrial design have gone wrong.

"Most of our competitors are interesting in doing something different, or want to appear new - I think those are completely the wrong goals," Ive said, "A product has to be genuinely better."

Although Ive didn't name any names, he had stern words for companies who let marketing drive their design decisions, instead of the other way around.

"It's not about price, schedule or a bizarre marketing goal to appear different - they are corporate goals with scant regard for people who use the product," he said.

Apple's focus on design has been well-publicized. Before his death, Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson that he had made sure Ive would have more "operation power" at the company than anyone else, other than CEO Tim Cook.

That plan seems to be working out for Apple, whose stock broke $500 a share for the first time last month.

It seems to be working out for Ive, as well. He's won several industry awards for his work at Apple, and recently received a knighthood for his contributions to design.

[slashgear]