New Utah song “Bed, Bath and Beyonce” goes beyond… well, just beyond.

The band is called Everyone Dies In Utah. And while you’re pondering the meaning of that one, take a listen to the band’s new song: it’s got the why didn’t someone think of this before? title of “Bed, Bath and Beyonce.” The song itself, which just hit iTunes, is more of the aggressive rock variety and not so much anything to do with the style of music Beyonce might be known for. There’s also a new album coming out (from Everyone Dies In Utah, not from Beyonce) in March, with songs whose titles include “So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish” and “Bark Twice If You’re In Milwaulkee.” (their spelling, not ours).

That begs the question of course as to whether the band is from Utah or Wisconsin. As it turns out? Austin, Texas. Figures.

Here’s more on the Verizon iPhone.

Urban Meyer, not MSNBC-fired Keith Olbermann, joining ESPN today

Keith Olbermann is apparently still in need of a job, as today’s new hire at ESPN has turned out to be recently retired University of Florida head football coach Urban Meyer instead. The move makes sense, as Meyer was highly successful at UF but left due to reported health problems; television commentary jobs require only a fraction of the time commitment needed for a head coaching job, allowing the former Gator honcho to remain a part of the college football scene without putting himself at risk. Some were expecting ESPN to instead bring back former anchor Keith Olbermann, who left the sports network years ago and ultimately became better known as the most visible news and political commentator on MSNBC, and was recently fired when Comcast bought NBC and apparently decided that the liberal-leaning Olbermann wasn’t a good fit for its plans to shift the oddly balanced news network (conservative hosts in the morning, liberal hosts in the evening) to the right of Fox News.

Speculations were raised further that Olbermann might be planning to return to sports journalism after he began dabbling slightly in sports related talk via his popular Twitter account. For his part, Olbermann recently stated on Twitter that he was watching the Egypt situation on CNN when one of his followers asked him, which likely sums up how he feels about his MSNBC departure. Others have claimed that Olbermann may participate in an upcoming television show from Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network) which would go behind the scenes of a fictional SportsCenter-like show. For now at least, that appears to be the closest Olbermann might get to re-taking his old SportsCenter seat, as today’s ESPN hire is Urban Meyer instead.

SNL tonight: host Jesse Eisenberg gets Mark Zuckerberg-ed, Nicki Minaj

Saturday Night Live tonight sees the fake Mark Zuckerberg, actor Jesse Eisenberg (he of The Social Network Fame), take the hosting reins – and he’s not the only “Zuckerberg” on board for the episode. SNL has a history of pairing up real-life people with the cast members who’ve portrayed them, but tonight’s mashup comes with a twist: during Eisenberg’s opening monologue, the real Mark Zuckerberg (he of Facebook fame) join him on stage during the opening monologue for what turns out to be a moment which even Andy Samberg (who was also on stage portraying Zuckerberg) referred to as “awkward.” Zuckerberg and Eisenberg claimed never to have previously met, with Eisenberg admitting that he was portraying a fictionalized version of Zuckerberg in the movie. Fake Zuckerberg then asked real Zuckerberg what he thought of the movie The Social Network. Real Zuckerberg replied that it was “interesting.” The two then high-fived, which certainly appeared to be awkward, but then again we’re talking about two of the more awkward people to ever set foot on this planet, so perhaps it was just natural.

Nicki Minaj, whose music career has been exploding just under the mainstream radar for the past year, finally gets her mainstage as she appears as SNL’s musical guest. But the big winner of the night is Mark Zuckerberg (the real one). Appearing on SNL and embracing Eisenberg gives the world a chance to see that he’s a real human after all and not quite the iconoclast depicted in the movie. It’s actually the smartest thing Zuckerberg has ever done. Okay, the second smartest. Update: The good folks at NBC have pointed us to their official online video of the Eisenberg-Zuckerberg meeting.

Things I saw in San Francisco that had nothing to do with Macworld 2011

by Bill Palmer

San Francisco is, as anyone who’s visited the place knows, one of the more unusual cities on the planet. Love it or hate it – and even its own residents can’t seem to make up their mind which way they feel – you’re bound to see some crazy, crazy things here without even trying. So even though I came up here this week in order to attend Macworld 2011, I’ve managed to unwittingly add some more oddball San Francisco sightings to my long list. Off the top of my head, here are some of the more interesting things I saw in San Francisco this week which had nothing to do with Macworld:

- A faux-homeless guy holding a sign with read “Need A$$” – his dollar signs, not mine. Is that a double entendre? Triple entendre?

- An old man walking around Walgreens with no pants on. Enough said.

- I saw a boat run over a car. No, really. Some kind of converted fishing boat with wheels, full of tourists, was driving down Market Street. The boat made a sharp right turn and took out a Volkswagen. Whole thing happened a few feet in front of me. No photos or video (other than a shot of the boat after the fact), but I’ve got two other witnesses from the Beatweek staff. Bonus: after the boat driver stopped to go back and check on the driver of the car he’d just ran over, a little girl on the boat started blowing some kind of duck-whistle at the car.

- A strip club whose marquee offered half-off admission to Macworld attendees. Okay, so that had a little something to do with Macworld. But not officially. And no, none of us took advantage of the offer.

Trexta Sketch Up for iPhone 4: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

The concept behind the Sketch Up by Trexta is deceptively simple: an environmentally friendly iPhone 4 case whose tagboard-like external surface can be scribbled on with magic marker for the sake of creating ones own unique personalized case. The $19 pack comes with a couple of blank cases for decorating, along with a couple of magic markers – although you can use your own magic markers for the occasion. The designs are permanent, so the company recommends drawing them on in pencil first before committing to them permanently.

At a time when iPhone cases have generally stopped being exciting, Trexta’s Sketch Up is certainly different. The idea won’t be for everyone, but it’s worth highlighting.

FastMac Impact Shield iPhone 4 case: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

The FastMac Impact Shield for iPhone 4… but it’s just another case, right? Nope. Three and a half years into the iPhone era, cases have been done every which way but sideways. Some new cases get more complex, more visually unique, you name it, in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. But with the Impact Shield, FastMac goes in a different direction entirely. Made of super thin rubber-like material, it appears to be just another (very thin) iPhone case. But start whacking the material with a hammer, as the FastMac folks loved doing at their Macworld 2011 booth this week, and you realize that the Impact Shield is nearly indestructible.

To prove the point, FastMac had video on hand of an iPhone 4 in an Impact Shield case, being dropped from a multi-story building, being run over by a car, and so on. One might be tempted to wonder if the videos were being staged, if not for the fact that the company was hammering away at its booth – and because FastMac has already brought laptop cases made of the same material to market which prove the concept. We saw a bunch of cool new products at Macworld 2011, but not a lot of worthy iPhone 4 cases, as some companies appear to have simply run out ideas. But the Impact Shield from FastMac is definitely a winner.

Macworld 2011 attendees get oddball offer from local strip club

In one of the more peculiar developments of the week, Macworld 2011 is seeing support (or more accurately, an unaffiliated attempt to tap into its popularity) on the part of at least one Market Street adult venue. With its tens of thousands of attendees, Macworld brings a boost in revenue to the various businesses surrounding the Moscone Center in San Francisco where the annual Appe-oriented conference is housed. Attendees must find places to eat and sleep, and so restaurants and hotels benefit each January. But one strip club appears to think it can tap into the action as well, at least according to its semi-intelligible signage:

We have no idea who or what “mackiens” are, but the message is clear: Macworld 2011 attendees can gain discounted access to the club simply by flashing their badges. Obviously there’s no actual official tie-in between Macworld itself and the club; rather the club appears to simply be attempting to take advantage of the situation. Those who’ve been to strip clubs (we’re not admitting to that of course) can tell you that door admission is generally cheap to begin with and represents very little of the actual cost of attending such a venue, so the notion of “half off admission” appears aimed at Macworld attendees who have perhaps never been to such a club before.

For the record, no one on the Beatweek team who’s here in attendance at Macworld 2011 has any plans to take the club up on the offer. It’s not that we don’t appreciate it; there just isn’t time. The Macworld exhibit hall officially opens on Thursday morning, with sessions already underway, and we’ll be reporting on the most noteworthy products to see their introduction here as the week goes on. In the mean time here’s more of our Macworld 2011 coverage.

Macworld 2011: virtual assistants are the future, says Mac co-creator

by Bill Palmer

The future of mainstream computing will come down to virtual assistants you can communicate with naturally, and it’s being driven by the rise of mobile devices – just ask the guy who helped create the Mac. Bill Atkinson, a member of the original Macintosh development team at Apple, spoke at Macworld 2011 today and voiced the belief that the next step in using technology devices, beyond the mouse and even beyond touchscreens, will be the ability to talk with machines in a human manner. Atkinson cited the upcoming appearance of a computerized “contestant” on Jeopardy as a possible moment of awakening on the part of the public.

Meanwhile, in an interesting twist, Atkinson is spending his days hawking an iOS app whose goal is to bring back the popularity of the printed postcard. Here’s more on Macworld 2011.

Macworld 2011 news: dates announced for 2012, event’s future grows

Remember when Apple pulled out of Macworld Expo, and it was supposed to wither and die shortly thereafter? Think again. Macworld 2010 took on a new, more community-focused (and app-focused) direction and was ultimately one of the more energetic Macworlds in recent memory. This week Macworld 2011 is set to see if it can sustain last year’s momentum, which caught more than a few observers off guard. And in an early sign that Macworld is indeed on the right track, those who picked up their conference badges today were treated to a ‘save the date’ for the next Macworld. On the rear of the badge it reads “See you next year! January 26-28, 2012.”

So much for the notion that the most (arguably only) vital annual event in the Apple community couldn’t survive without Apple’s direct participation. The Beatweek team is onsite at Macworld 2011 this week and will be covering the most noteworthy products (apps, accessories, and who knows what else) introduced at the show.

On the subject of Beatweek’s seven year anniversary, which is today

by Bill Palmer

I knew I was forgetting something. It wasn’t until a friend called this afternoon about a related subject and mentioned “By the way, congratulations on seven years” that it occurred to me that I’d forgotten my own anniversary. No, not that kind of anniversary. The one which says that seven years ago today, I got the idea to launch this publication and subsequently had it up and running before the sun next arose. We’ve had a few different names, a few different formats, but Beatweek is what I’ve been doing with my life since January 20th, 2004. And yet I was so distracted that I’d forgotten all about it.

I had, fairly recently, known it was coming. In fact I tweeted about it back December. But thus far this month has been a whirlwind the likes of which I hadn’t previously seen. Almost comically, I forgot about Beatweek’s seven year anniversary because I’ve been too wrapped up in the Beatweek o the present. I feel like I should be saying something profound and ceremonial right about now, but all that comes to mind is this: we are what we are as a publication, we’ve come along way, we hope you like it, and we hope to continue to get better at what we do.

Now back to work.

Mophie Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 4 scores one for AT&T in bleak week

Score one for AT&T in what has otherwise been a month that’s been all about that other iPhone carrier: the Mophie Juice Pack Plus battery case for iPhone 4, which was Beatweek Magazine’s Best iPhone 4 Battery Case of 2010, has just gone on sale in AT&T retail stores. The Plus nicely doubles your iPhone 4 battery life, while doubling as a ruggedized rubber case which isn’t too much thicker than a non-battery case. We pass this along both because it’s our weapon of choice (along with the slightly svelter Juice Pair Air 4, which was our co-winner) and because it’s a reminder that, at least for now, the AT&T side of the iPhone 4 fence still has one thing going for it: cases, battery cases, and other perfectly form-fitting accessories are actually compatible. Here’s more on the Mophie Juice Pack Plus and here’s where you can buy it.

Sweetheart Devyn Rush emerges as early American Idol 2011 standout

Say hello to Devyn Rush. One night into the American Idol 2011 season and we appear to already have ourselves an early… almost caught ourselves using a word like “favorite” or “frontrunner” but it’s been a few seasons since the favorite actually won… so we’ll just go with “early sweetheart” for lack of any proper terminology this early into season ten. Rush has been dubbed the “singing waitress” in some circles, and what we know of her thus far doesn’t go too far beyond what we all saw law night on Idol’s debut episode. While many an aspiring musician has had a stint waiting tables along the way, Devyn’s story is different in that hers emerges from Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where the wait staff also sings. That, and her performance last night had the new Idol judging crew in love.

Oh, and Devyn has a major rock star in her corner already. Paramore singer Hayley Williams is publicly in her corner, having dined at Ellen’s and seen Devyn perform live, which Hayley referred to last night as “sick” (in the good way, of course).

So here’s what else we know thus far about Devyn Rush: her Twitter bio (you know it’s early in the Idol season when you’re relying on a contestant’s social network pages for background), she’s a “singer songwriter actress” from Philadelphia who’s currently living in New York City. According to IMDB (good lord is it early in the Idol season when we’re relying on IMDB for contestant info), Devyn appeared in an episode of Law & Order: SVU back in 2006. For those who just have to know every Idol contestant’s age, according to her official website, the twenty year old celebrates her twenty-first birthday next week on January 25th.

But it’s all about the music, of course, and if her Idol debut last night was any indication, then Devyn Rush is a name you’re going to keep hearing. Her official site (which appears to be a little outdated) says she plays the piano and bass, so that’s something to look for as the Idol season progresses. No official music releases from her yet in iTunes, so if you want to hear more of her music, the best bet for the moment appears to be her YouTube page or her MySpace Page. As far as American Idol 2011, the next episode is tonight.

iPad app review: Madden NFL 11

by Enuh Iglesias

With this year’s playoffs promising an exciting Superbowl match, Madden on the iPad is a perfect shot in the arm while waiting for the next brutal elimination. EA Mobile, of course, is responsible for creating the hugely successful franchise on various platforms, with the iPad being its latest receptacle of football glory.

I must confess, first off, that I don’t know much about football, except vicariously through my boyfriend who happens to be a lifelong Chicago bears fan. Years of teaching me patiently about the ins and outs of the sport only bore fruition when I downloaded Madden 11 NFL on the iPad as a gift and casually began playing it.

To give EA Mobile credit, capturing the nuances of football is a pretty difficult task but the franchise has been doing it admirably for years. The iPad version is a huge leap from the confusing and cramped screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch, and makes the game much more accessible to newbies to the sport.

There are several game modes to choose from – season play, playoffs, vintage voltage, and multiplayer. Playing offense or defense for the first time pulls up a rather lengthy but useful tutorial. You can play using the standard playbook and take it from there, but advanced players can customize the gameplay by playing game flow mode on and adjust their plays on the fly.

Player rosters are comprehensive, offering individual and team stats for the avid football fan. However, although updated rosters are routinely available, overall team and player ratings have yet to reflect the current standing of the teams and players. This is a bit disappointing if you want to make the game reflect the current performance of your favorite team especially now that the playoffs is on-going. During the game, you can also make substitutions, use audible mode to adjust your play, call a timeout, and the like. Weather conditions, a factor in these games is also customizable (snow, rain, evening, sunny, etc.) but so far the weather doesn’t really affect the gameplay as it should in actual games.
In addition, you can adjust the level of difficulty by playing either regular mode or All-Madden mode. This is standard Madden stuff.

Multiplayer makes the game ten times more fun, and you can take on another player head on through Bluetooth in your team’s best home or away jersey. The only problem playing via Bluetooth is that the experience still leaves a lot to be desired. Multiplayer is significantly slower, with stutters and lags hindering smooth and intense head on combat.

When playing the offensive, you start out by choosing a particular play, including the formation and different styles – short pass, long pass, run and special (for the special teams). A nice pan and zoom function allows you to see the lines of the game drawn according to your chosen play and choosing where to throw the ball is as simple as tapping on buttons corresponding to the receivers’ numbers. In normal mode, these buttons are highlighted in green when chances of completing the throw are good, yellow if a bit dicey and red if plain difficult, or nearly impossible.

Graphics and sound effects are hi-res and polished, although the players don’t look as realistic compared to other Madden platforms. Game controls are generally responsive, but using individual action buttons can be a pain. When playing against the computer, you have to activate the timer button to select a particular action. In multiplayer mode, the action buttons are readily available. However, most of the time, these buttons don’t work as well as they should and it’s often simpler to just use the speed up button and just hope for the best. The lack of a zoom out function to see the entire field during gameplay also makes it difficult to anticipate opponents that come from out of nowhere and suddenly tackle you.

All in all, even with its flaws, Madden 11 NFL is a thoroughly fun and engaging game for football aficionados and newbies. Just live with the flaws if you just want to play football, you’re good to go. Hike!

NFL Madden 11 for iPad in the App Store

Censor: American Idol Steven Tyler is a FOX standards nightmare

When you tune in for the season premiere of American Idol tonight, expect the censors to be working overtime – and no, it’s not because of Cee-Lo Green. Instead, new Idol judge Steven Tyler is said to be a profanity machine on the show according to host Ryan Seacrest, who quipped that the standards and practices division at the FOX network may have difficulty keeping up with the Aerosmith singer as he swears his way through the premiere like a sailor.

This is no surprise to those who know Aerosmith and Steven Tyler better than they know American Idol, as Tyler is as comfortable with the f word as he is with a microphone. But for those longtime Idol viewers who’ve grown accustomed to the show’s PG rating, with previous judges who’ve carefully remained within the boundaries of what you actually can say on television, expect a surprise as Steven Tyler blows up the blueprint in his own way. Here’s more on the American Idol premiere.

Chris Cornell, not with Soundgarden, to tour acoustic in April

Those expecting Chris Cornell and his reunited band Soundgarden to graduate beyond one-off reunion shows and launch a full-fledged tour can keep waiting. Cornell announced today that he will indeed be touring the country in April and May of this year – just not with Soundgarden. Instead the frontman will perform a series of solo acoustic dates kicking off in Austin, Texas on April 1st before hitting the north and south ends of both coasts.

Cornell’s tour, which is being referred to as Songbook, will see the singer perform solo acoustic renditions of songs spanning his career, ranging from Soundgarden to Audioslave to his various solo albums and everything in between. Despite announcing they were reuniting a little more than a year ago, playing a few gigs (including Lollapalooza), and releasing a compilation record last year, Soundgarden’s second go-round has yet to evolve into a full scale tour or any newly recorded material. In the mean time, however, fans of the band can see Cornell performing some of Soundgarden’s classics in a different setting. Here’s more on the Soundgarden reunion.

American Idol tonight: do-over gets nine minutes to save nine seasons

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest has announced that the first nine minutes of tonight’s season ten debut will explain “where we’ve been & where we’re going.” That gives the iconic show, essentially, nine minutes to salvage nine seasons of effort and sell the viewing public on the promise of what is essentially a do-over. Yes, the blueprint blow-up was going to happen one way or the other, with Simon Cowell leaving because he wanted to; that alone was going to mean a different direction for the show. But with the exit of what was ultimately three-fourths of the judging panel and a pair of famous faces who have no plausible connection to the show’s past, Idol must now sell its viewers on the idea that this can work.

There’s no time, this time around, for Idol to wait for the season’s contestants to start shining brightly enough to carry the season (that formula didn’t work in the ratings department last year anyway, even after certain contestants did start shining). Nor can the buy-in which comes with fan voting be counted on to float the season, as that also comes later on. For the show’s remaining audience, and for those tuning in tonight out of curiosity, the clock will be ticking from the first second. High profile changes tend to bring a high level of interest, but that interest tends to come with a very short attention span. Fair or not, for many of tonight’s viewers, nine minutes is about all they’ll need in order to decide whether these new changes are going to sit well with them. In other words, American Idol has about nine minutes to make this work. And according to Seacrest, the folks at Idol know it as well. Here’s more on the American Idol 2011.

American Idol 2011: Crystal Bowersox judges Steven Tyler positively

At least one prominent American Idol alumnus has given a thumbs up to new incoming judge Steven Tyler ahead of his debut. Tweeting on the subject, previous season runner-up Crystal Bowersox tweeted that she “just saw Steven Tyler on Fallon. Wish he’d been on my panel.” She went on to refer to Tyler as a “badass.”

Bowersox was widely considered the favorite for much of the previous Idol season, but ultimately came in second to winner Lee DeWyze. Her season was Idol’s last to include original judge Simon Cowell, who left the show as fellow judges Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi also departed. Steven Tyler (Aerosmith lead singer) and Jennifer Lopez have taken their places alongside original judge Randy Jackson to form what is now a three-judge panel. The third original judge, Paul Abdul, departed the show prior to Bowersox’s season. Got all that? There’ll be a quiz later.

Crystal Bowersox released her debut album “Farmer’s Daughter” in December 2010 and spoke with Beatweek extensively at that time in our cover story interview.

Here’s more on the American Idol 2011.

Sprint iPhone 4G watch: nevermind about that “better pricing” thing

Ask a Sprint iPhone holdout why they’d rather remain with Sprint than go get themselves an iPhone 4 from another carrier, and they’ll have an answer or two ready. Some will name-check Sprint’s 4G network, although that only exists where it exists and, depending on whom you ask, is only debatably “4G” anyway (hence Verizon’s recent use of the term “4G LTE” as if to say “no, this is the real 4G over here). Others will point to Sprint’s superior pricing plans, which the company’s CEO has spent plenty of time on television promoting as being inexpensive and all-inclusive. Except, oops, the price of poker just went up. Again. And this time there’s no way around it.

Sprint has announced that while it had previously only been charging customers a $10 monthly fee if they actually wanted to have access to 4G (funny how that part never gets mentioned in the commercials), BetaNews now says that all new Sprint customers will have to begin paying the extra $10 a month for 4G whether they use it or not. The good news for Sprint customers: the data is still unlimited, and even with the new fee tacked on, using a Sprint smartphone is still less expensive than using an iPhone on either Verizon or AT&T. The catch: Sprint still doesn’t have the iPhone. In other words, unless you’re an Android geek, the price you’re paying to remain with Sprint isn’t so much a monetary one as it is in terms of spending who knows how much longer glaring at the iPhone in the hands of AT&T and now Verizon customers, wondering what if, when, and why not. Here’s more on a Sprint iPhone.

SNL: country host Gwyneth Paltrow, Cee-Lo Green forgets you

Gwyneth Paltrow, newly crowned country star, returns to acting tonight as she hosts Saturday Night Live tonight. Meanwhile, Cee-Lo “Fuck You” Green is the musical guest. Paltrow’s acting turn on SNL cones as the superstar actress has spent much of the year launching a country music career, even while acting in blockbuster Iron Man 2. Cee-Lo has spent the year seeing his upbeat single referred to by a variety of euphemisms, including “The song otherwise known as Forget You” as it was being nominated for a Grammy award. We’ll see whether his SNL performance tonight on NBC consists of a censored version of the original or the self-censored version often heard on the radio.

Kanye West tweets Britney Spears, pokes fun at his own past faux pas

Kanye West has made light of his own past in his latest tweet, which references the fact that the new Britney Spears song “Hold It Against Me” has skyrocketed to the number one position ahead of his own new collaboration with Jay-Z. Posting publicly on Twitter, Kanye address Spears: “Yo Britney, I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you be #1, but me and Jay-Z single is one of the best songs of all time! LOL”

West is referring to the fact that Hold It Against Me has edged out his own H • A • M on the iTunes overall singles chart (Spears is also #1 in pop singles while Kanye is #1 on the Hip Hop / Rap chart). Kayne’s “best of all time” quip is of course in reference to the instance in which he once crashed the MTV VMA stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech in order to declare that Beyonce had the greatest video of all time. Here’s more on Kanye West. Here’s more on Britney Spears.

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