Apple To Extend iTunes Music Previews To 90 Seconds

Apple has informed its music distribution and label partners that it will be extending the length of preview clips offered on the iTunes Store from 30 seconds to 90 seconds. The blog Symphonic Distribution quotes Apple as saying, “We are pleased to let you know that we are preparing to increase the length of music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds on the iTunes Store in the United States. We believe that giving potential customers more time to listen to your music will lead to more purchases.”

Mac Rumors has posted a copy of the iTunes Connect notice sent to label representatives, which explains that the 90 second previews will only apply to songs longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds in length, and states that by continuing to offer their music on the iTunes Store, the labels are indicating acceptance of the new terms. Notably, this means that any label not wishing to participate will need to pull their music from the store; it currently unknown when Apple will begin its rollout of the longer previews for customers.

THE FIRE WIRE Comic Book Pick of The Week: Superboy # 1

Superboy is back in a brand-new ongoing series! Join Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth) and amazing up-and-coming artist Pier Gallo as they take Superboy on a journey to a side of Smallville not even Superman knows about! What mysteries lurk beneath the surface of this all-American town – and what are their direct ties to Superboy? The start of the next great DC Universe epic begins right here!

Superboy # 1 ($2.99) is available today. Below is a six page preview.

Rough Justice By Alex Ross

From the sensational, award-winning artist of the bestselling Mythology: his never-before-seen DC Comics sketchbook.

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the stunning black-and-white drawings of the DC characters you loved from Mythology: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, and many more. All of Alex Ross’s extraordinary, hyper-realistic paintings start as pencil on paper, and some of them never get beyond that stage. None of these hundreds of graphite sketches has ever been published before, and most of them will make their only published appearance in Rough Justice.

In 2008 Ross became the first cover artist in DC history to work simultaneously on the monthly Superman and Batman titles. All of the designs he created for an entire year–even those that did not make the final cut–are included here. And in an interview with Chip Kidd, Ross reveals his process and how these drawings translate into the finished paintings.

Rough Justice ($30) reveals the brilliance and brawn of Alex Ross’s draftsmanship: the foundation of his dazzling images.

Pick Punch

The Pick Punch ($25) is a clever little contraption that will appeal to guitar, banjo or stringed instrument players that require a pick. The device is a hole punch that produces 351 or Fender-shaped guitar picks.

The Pick Punch website also sells sheets of plastic in different varieties depending on what material you like your pick made of, but you’re also welcome to use old credit cards or gift cards.

Toy Story 3 Easter Egg Guide

With Toy Story 3 hitting DVD and Blu-ray today ComingSoon.net has decided to take another look at some of the Easter Eggs hidden in the film. They’ve gone through the film frame by frame and HERE are the results.

First Official Full Length Trailer For Gulliver’s Travels Starring Jack Black

Here is the first official full-length trailer for Rob Letterman’s live-action adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

The film, which stars Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Amanda Peet, T.J. Miller, Catherine Tate, Billy Connolly, and Chris O’Dowd, is due in theaters December 22nd.

The Skyfire Browser Promises Flash For The iPhone

At 9 AM ET on Thursday, November 4th, the Skyfire browser will hit the App Store for US$2.99 and provide a way to watch Flash video on the iPhone, iPad and iPd touch. The app has been available on the Android platform, and was finally approved by Apple after a “rather rigorous review.”

When visiting a page with a Flash embed, a thumbnail appears that allows the content to be streamed to the device. The video is transcoded on Skyfire’s servers and converted to HTML5. Flash games won’t work due to the interactivity required, and Hulu has also blocked Skyfire to guarantee that users who want to watch the streaming TV service on the iPad have to continue to pay $10 per month for Hulu Plus.

Skyfire is sure to be popular on iOS devices, as it provides an viewing solution for the half of all web video that is still Flash-only. The Android version of the app has sold over 1.5 million copies, so the new iOS version may well be a hit in the Apple App Store.

Sesame Street – There’s An App For That

Sesame Street takes on pop culture once again – this time aping Apple’s “there’s an app for that” tagline with their even more-useful-than-an-iPhone gadget, the iPogo stick.

Logo Rainbow

This is for my nephew Ben who loves logos. Dan Meth was kind enough to organize a selection of popular corporate logos in order of color. Voila – the Logo Rainbow.

Icons: The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee

Acclaimed comic book artist Jim Lee has spent two decades rendering superheroes like Batman, Superman and X-Men for both DC and Marvel Comics, where he landed his first job in 1989.

The career-spanning Icons: The DC Comics and WildStorm Art of Jim Lee ($40) collects his most brilliant work for DC and WildStorm, the indie comics publisher Lee founded in 1992. Besides the 500 color illustrations the book contains an in-depth interview and an unseen 10-page Legion of Super-Heroes story written by Paul Levitz (who Lee replaced as DC Comics co-publisher).

This 296 page coffee table book is a must-have for fans of Jim’s Lee, comic book art and DC heroes and villains.

Magellan eXplorist GC Review

A few weeks ago my family and I discovered the world of geocaching.  For those of you that are not familiar with geocaching, it is a high-tech outdoor treasure hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers called “geocaches” (pronounced geo-cashes) or “caches” anywhere in the world.

We began our adventure by downloading the Geocaching.com App from iTunes. There you can also find a free Geocaching.com Intro version which allows you to download up to 3 caches.   We started our inaugural family geo trek and were able to reach our destinations with mixed success.  We found 2 out of the 5 caches that we were seeking. The 2 that we found were approximately 20 feet off course from where it was reflected on our iPhone.

We thoroughly enjoyed our first geocaching adventure, but felt that if we could have access to more precise GPS data, we would be better prepared to locate our hidden treasures, find even more caches in a smaller amount of time and thus have a more enjoyable overall family experience.

We started to research handheld GPS options.  We fell in love with the Magellan eXplorist GC ($199) which is specifically made for geocaching. Out of the box we quickly updated the GPS software from the Magellan website, then batch loaded 500 geocache locations (although the device can hold up to 10,000 geocaches) using VantagePoint software and the USB cable included, and then we were ready to hit the trail. We found several caches quickly and easily with this handy GPS device.  The simplicity of this unit allowed our children to get involved in the fun and navigate the way independently.

The unit is rugged, durable, has a sleek design, is rated IPX-7 waterproof, and fit comfortably and securely in the palm of my hand.  The unit comes equipped with 2 AA batteries boasting an extended battery life of up to 18 hours. The color display is crisp and vibrant and best of all can be viewed easily in direct sunlight. The interface is easy to use and intuitive.  There is a built-in compass overlay feature to help guide you to your destination more easily.  You can also create waypoints, view your trip odometer, and even leave virtual breadcrumbs throughout your trek to be sure that you can easily find your way back home.

You can seamlessly upload geocaches right from Geocache.com using the USB cable or create a query to upload a batch of caches using VantagePoint software which can be downloaded for free on the Magellan website.

Best of all the Magellan eXplorist GC comes with a 30 day free premium membership to Geocaching.com, allowing you to browse and select from over 1 million geocaches worldwide. There are so many great things to boast about geocaching. It allowed our family to get off the beaten path and discover new places. In fact, we explored several trails and parks that we never even knew existed, mere miles from our home. Aside from the great treasures that you and your kids will enjoy, the quality time spent together as a family is priceless.  So I encourage anyone looking for a new experience to try geocaching and I highly recommend the Magellan eXplorist GC to help you set your course for adventure. (Reviewed by Meredith Fire-Hess)

TIME Interview: The Shawshank Redemption’s Frank Darabont on His New TV Show The Walking Dead

For a while, it seemed as if director Frank Darabont was going to become something like Stephen King’s in-house movie director. He launched his career with the now beloved prison drama The Shawshank Redemption, moved to the Oscar-nominated prison drama The Green Mile and ended up with the people-imprisoned-in-a-supermarket movie The Mist, all based on stories by King. A self-admitted horror and sci-fi geek (ask him about the Invasion of the Body Snatchers and War of the Worlds posters in his dining room), Darabont’s latest project is The Walking Dead, a zombie apocalypse series based on the Robert Kirkman comics, which debuts on AMC on Halloween night. Darabont spoke to TIME about horror movies, why the undead don’t run and the weirdness of having grisly zombies on the same network as Mad Men.

So You Just Bought A Blu-ray Player. Now Trade In Your Old DVD’s

You might be familiar with Warner Bros.’ DVD2Blu program, which has been running for a while now and which allowed you to swap old WB DVD’s for their upgraded Blu-ray counterparts for a fraction of their retail price. Sounds great, right? Well, they just one-upped themselves.

Warner Bros. has announced a limited-time offer where they’re expanding the program to accept any DVD, from any studio, in exchange for one of the selected Blu-rays from their DVD2Blu catalogue for “as low as $4.95 each.” There are, of course, limitations. First of all, as mentioned, this is a limited-time offer, although the website doesn’t stipulate how long it will last. Secondly, there are a few rules about just which DVDs you can send in, which basically break down to you not being able to game the system by sending in bootlegs, home-burned DVDs, or porn. Here’s the official wording from the website. Please note only professionally produced DVDs (anything from a major/independent studio sold at retail), non Adult content will qualify.

Head on over to DVD2Blu.com for full details and rules.