Freaks & Geeks Reunion Coming Together Says Judd Apatow

Following months of rumors, speculation, and wishful thinking on the part of many fans, it now appears that a Freaks and Geeks reunion may finally be in the works after all.

According to Daily Variety, Judd Apatow, executive producer of the cult-classic series says the much-anticipated reunion is, in fact, “coming together.” If all goes as planned, the original cast would take the stage at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills next March as part of PaleyFest 2011.

On Saturday, December 4th, Apatow (Superbad, Step Brothers) first tweeted the likely prospect of an actual cast and producer reunion.

Freaks & Geeks reunion? In march a live reunion during paley tv festival is coming together. Ten years.

Talk of a Freaks and Geeks reunion has lingered aimlessly for years, much like the series itself – a testament to the odd, yet endearing characters that still can’t escape our collective imagination a full decade after unceremoniously departing network television.

The brainchild of Paul Feig, Freaks and Geeks aired on NBC for all but one memorable season (1999-2000). After eighteen episodes, the series was promptly cancelled with six of the episodes yet to air. A groundswell of fan support subsequently prevented the program from being forgotten. Eventually, the complete series would be released on DVD. Freaks and Geeks would turn up nearly seven years later on Time Magazine‘s list of the “100 Greatest Shows of All Time,” an accolade followed by recognition of Freaks and Geeks as the 13th-best series of the past 25 years, according to Entertainment Weekly in 2008.

Freaks and Geeks – the cancellation of which serves as a perpetual reminder to network television executives that their wisdom is far from infinite – featured a bright young cast of future film and television stars (and Apatow film regulars).  Included in the ranks were Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, Samm Levine and Busy Phillips.

The Paley Center for the Media won’t officially announce programming for its 2011 PaleyFest until next week, but those in the know – including Apatow – say a gathering for a Q&A with many of the original cast and series producers will happen.

The 2010 William S. Paley Television Festival brought with it a star-studded event that put into focus everything from Dexter to Breaking Bad.

Source: Daily Variety

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‘Castle’: Are Beckett and Castle Finally Getting Together?

On ABC’s lighthearted murder mystery series Castle, Nathan Fillion’s (Firefly, Serenity) titular author and Stana Katic’s Detective Beckett have been circling each other since the very first episode. Many fans are tired of the song and dance, but their patience may soon be rewarded.

Recently, Katic teased that the January 10th episode would bring the two characters “closer than they’ve ever gotten before.” Considering the steamy conclusion to the second season last Spring, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for speculation.

When Entertainment Weekly spoke to Katic before the American Music Awards last weekend, she was eager to spill some plot details – but before doing so, Katic wanted to reassure Castle fans that having the two leads in a close personal relationship wouldn’t ruin the fast, chatty dynamic the show has enjoyed so far.

“They are meant to be. I think they can be a couple and still be spicy and funny. Everyone else is like, ‘Oh no we can’t do that. That will ruin it. That will kill the show.’ [A Moonlighting] curse has come up. But no way, man. Don’t believe in it at all.”

Despite Katic’s protestations, it’s hard to believe that a monogamous relationship between Castle and Beckett wouldn’t fundamentally change the show. The banter between the talky manchild and the hard-boiled detective has helped differentiate the series from the crowded space of procedural crime shows, and a dynamic-shifting love story can spell doom for a young series. That said, the sexual tension between the two characters has gotten pretty extreme, especially after the second season’s revealing finale. Fans may not care about the long-term implications if Castle and Beckett can just get a freakin’ room.

Some writers and producers have been reluctant to pair off tentpole characters ever since Moonlighting in the ’80s, when a steamy relationship between Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd’s characters destroyed the successful show in its third season. Many have speculated that this stigma is what kept the leads on the competing Fox series Bones apart for so long.

It’s not as if such a move has never worked, and the writers should be comfortable and confident enough in their characters to give it a try – assuming Stana Katic isn’t just toying with us. The coming addition of Laura Prepon may play out in the arc surrounding movie versions of Castle’s novels next year.

The answers to your burning questions will be revealed on Castle in January.

Castle airs Mondays @10pm on ABC

Source: Entertainment Weekly
Footer Image Source: michygeary on DeviantArt

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3G And WiFi Can Work Together To Ease Mobile Network Congestion

The abstract idea seems pretty simple. Whenever possible try to offload traffic to any available WiFi network. Easier said than done of course. And if there is no available WiFi – Wiffler uses what the researches have dubbed as “prediction based offloading” which determines when it is likely to be within range from a WiFi hotspot. If this period is less than an acceptable maximum delay period it waits, otherwise it uses the available 3G network. Not all data applications can appreciate this behaviour though – VoIP applications certainly cannot be used in this manner. But something like a mailbox sync wouldn’t really suffer with a small delay.  According to Mahajan, they were able offload data within a delay period of 1 minute.

This concept is further extended to ensure that when both are available simultaneously Wiffler divides the data between the 2 networks. It could result in substantial cost savings for the customer and network decongestion for a carrier. However, I wonder how thrilled they would be given that customer saving translates into less earnings!

For the purpose of the study, they used only Free Public WiFi networks – it remains to be seen how the concept would hold up when it encounters commercially charged and encrypted WiFi’s. Honestly, I hope it doesn’t rely on the Wifi networks being open because in the face of the Firesheep incident people should, and those in the know certainly would, think twice about using unsecured wireless networks. But if they are lucky, and the FCC is able to make good on their “WiFi on Steroids” promise it could certainly revolutionize data consumption on-the-go!

The great thing from our point of view is that even though we are yet to go anywhere near facing the problem of 3G network congestion – a possible solution is already in the works!

Let us know what you think.

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Categories: International, Mobile, News, Technology
Tags: 3G, Arun Venkataramani, Aruna Balasubramanian, Augmenting Mobile 3G Using WiFi, data usage, fcc, india, Network Congestion, prediction based offloading, Ratul Mahajan, researchers, traffic, White spectrum, Wiffler, wifi, wifi hotspot, Wifi on Steroids

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3G And WiFi Can Work Together To Ease Mobile Network Congestion

At a time when we are still waiting with baited breath for large scale 3G services in India, there are markets around the world where the 3G networks are under more stress than they can handle. In fact a Cisco Report this year stated that the average smartphone user generates 10 times as much traffic as a feature phone user. No surprise then that networks in countries like the United States are crumbling under the excessive traffic. At this opportune time 3 Indian Researchers - Ratul Mahajan and teammates Aruna Balasubramanian and Arun Venkataramani are trying to prove that 3G and WiFi connections on a device need not be Mutually Exclusive. The project is called Wiffler.

Should their research ever translate into a commercial product/service it could go a long way in helping the average consumer use data services at affordable costs. Their research is summed up in a paper titled – Augmenting Mobile 3G Using WiFi - a good read if the topic interests you. The basic premise is that a moving vehicle in an urban area will experience intermittent WiFi connectivity. Thus, ideally a user should be able to offload some traffic onto WiFi networks whenever they are available.

As the first part of their research they set out to do a joint survey of areas of simultaneous WiFi and 3G connectivity. They found that 3G was available 87% of the time as compared to WiFi’s 11%. Moreover, in areas of simultaneous connectivity WiFi had higher loss rates. The first part of the study was conducted in a student town called Amherst in Massachusetts. And then extended to Seattle and San Francisco. According to the researchers, they were surprised to receive similar results across 3 cities with vastly differing network usage characteristics.

The abstract idea seems pretty simple. Whenever possible try to offload traffic to any available WiFi network. Easier said than done of course. And if there is no available WiFi – Wiffler uses what the researches have dubbed as “prediction based offloading” which determines when it is likely to be within range from a WiFi hotspot. If this period is less than an acceptable maximum delay period it waits, otherwise it uses the available 3G network. Not all data applications can appreciate this behaviour though – VoIP applications certainly cannot be used in this manner. But something like a mailbox sync wouldn’t really suffer with a small delay.  According to Mahajan, they were able offload data within a delay period of 1 minute.

This concept is further extended to ensure that when both are available simultaneously Wiffler divides the data between the 2 networks. It could result in substantial cost savings for the customer and network decongestion for a carrier. However, I wonder how thrilled they would be given that customer saving translates into less earnings!

For the purpose of the study, they used only Free Public WiFi networks – it remains to be seen how the concept would hold up when it encounters commercially charged and encrypted WiFi’s. Honestly, I hope it doesn’t rely on the Wifi networks being open because in the face of the Firesheep incident people should, and those in the know certainly would, think twice about using unsecured wireless networks. But if they are lucky, and the FCC is able to make good on their “WiFi on Steroids” promise it could certainly revolutionize data consumption on-the-go!

The great thing from our point of view is that even though we are yet to go anywhere near facing the problem of 3G network congestion – a possible solution is already in the works!

Let us know what you think.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed OR Email Alerts!

Categories: International, Mobile, News, Technology
Tags: 3G, Arun Venkataramani, Aruna Balasubramanian, Augmenting Mobile 3G Using WiFi, data usage, fcc, india, Network Congestion, prediction based offloading, Ratul Mahajan, researchers, traffic, White spectrum, Wiffler, wifi, wifi hotspot, Wifi on Steroids