Homeland, Breaking Bad, Louis CK Nab Emmys

Look, no one ever accused the Primetime Emmy Awards of being overly in touch with the absolute best in TV, but they do nominate a ton of great shows and actors. It's the actual voting for, and then handing out of, the awards they seem to have trouble with. I'm mostly speaking here to to their penchant for rewarding the same shows year after year. Tonight, at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, we got a few pleasant surprises, but a lot of boring "same ol' same ol'."

Sometimes this works out in our favor here at IGN TV. Bryan Cranston's won three Emmy's for his portrayal of Walter White on Breaking Bad. But not this year (or last year because he wasn't eligible). Homeland's Damian Lewis took home for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, upstaging both favorites Cranston and Mad Men's Jon Hamm. Likewise, though more of a sure bet, Homeland's Claire Danes won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. At that point, it was almost a given that Homeland would win Best Drama series, which it did. Causing many fans of Breaking Bad's electrifying Season 4 to cry foul. That being said, Homeland is a still a fantastic drama and the win gave Showtime its first ever Emmy-winning series.

Breaking Bad didn't walk away empty handed though. Cranston might not have won, but Aaron Paul took home the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his Season 4 role as Jesse Pinkman (bitch!). In the comedy category, Modern Family, usually the odds-on favorite these days, swept up most of the wins; with trophies for Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and one for Outstanding Comedy Series. Veep's Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home the prize for Outstanding Lead Actress in a comedy, besting the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Girl's Lena Dunham.

The hilarious Louis CK didn't go home empty handed, winning Emmys for writing on FX's Louie and one for writing his live variety special "Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre." Meanwhile, The Daily Show won its 10th (!!!) consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series. In the Movie/Miniseries category (with a very loose interpretation of what constitutes a miniseries), the statues mostly went to HBO's Game Change, History's Hatfields & McCoys and movie stars Julianne Moore and Kevin Costner - with one American Horror Story win for Jessica Lange's performance as Constance.

But for those of you bummed about your favorite shows losing out, there's a silver lining. Both Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital and Cartoon Network's Regular Show won Emmys too. So cheer up!

Here is a list of the winners, with a link to the FULL LIST at the end:

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Downton Abbey (PBS)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Homeland (Showtime) WINNER!
Mad Men (AMC)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Glenn Close (Damages)
Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
Kathy Bates (Harry’s Law)
Claire Danes (Homeland) WINNER!
Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)
Damian Lewis (Homeland) WINNER!
Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad)
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) WINNER!
Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey)
Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)
Christine Baranski (The Good Wife)
Christina Hendricks (Mad Men)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) WINNER!
Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad)
Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey)
Jim Carter (Downton Abbey)
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
Jared Harris (Mad Men)

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

Downton Abbey: “Episode 7,” written by Julian Fellowes
Homeland: “Pilot”, written by Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff WINNER!
Mad Men: “The Other Woman,” Semi Chellas and Matthew Weiner
Mad Men: “Commissions and Fees,” written by Andre Jacquemetton and Maria Jacquemetton
Mad Men: “Far Away Places,” written by Erin Levy and Matthew Weiner

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES

The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Girls (HBO)
Modern Family (ABC) WINNER!
30 Rock (NBC)
Veep (HBO)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Lena Dunham (Girls)
Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly)
Zooey Deschanel (New Girl)
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep) WINNER!

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Don Cheadle (House of Lies)
Louis C.K. (Louie)
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) WINNER!

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory)
Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives)
Julie Bowen (Modern Family) WINNER!
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)
Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie)
Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Ed O’Neill (Modern Family)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) WINNER!
Max Greenfield (New Girl)
Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live)

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

Community: “Remedial Chaos Theory,” written by Chris McKenna
Girls: “Pilot,” written by Lena Dunham
Louie: “Pregnant,” written by Louis C.K. WINNER!
Parks and Recreation: “The Debate,” written by Amy Poehler
Parks and Recreation: “Win, Lose or Draw,” written by Michael Schur

OUTSTANDING MINISERIES OR MOVIE

American Horror Story (FX)
Hatfields & McCoys (History)
Hemingway & Gellhorn (HBO)
Luther (BBC America)
Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia (Masterpiece)
Game Change (HBO) WINNER!

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE

Connie Britton (American Horror Story)
Julianne Moore (Game Change) WINNER!
Nicole Kidman (Hemingway & Gellhorn)
Ashley Judd (Missing)
Emma Thompson (The Song of Lunch)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE

Woody Harrelson (Game Change)
Kevin Costner (Hatfields & McCoys) WINNER!
Bill Paxton (Hatfields & McCoys)
Clive Owen (Hemingway & Gellhorn)
Idris Elba (Luther)
Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE

Frances Conroy (American Horror Story)
Jessica Lange (American Horror Story) WINNER!
Sarah Paulson (Game Change)
Mare Winningham (Hatfields & McCoys)
Judy Davis (Page Eight)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE

Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story)
Ed Harris (Game Change)
Tom Berenger (Hatfields & McCoys) WINNER!
David Strathairn (Hemingway & Gellhorn)
Martin Freeman (Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia)

For the FULL LIST of winners, head over to the official Emmy site!

Source : ign[dot]com

Nook Simple Touch Hacked to Emulate Playstation

The Nook Simple Touch by Barnes and Noble is famously easy to root, and hackers have put it to all sorts of inventive uses, but this one may take the cake: a Hack a Day reader sent in a video of him playing the Playstation titles Crash Team Racing, Monster Rancher 2 and Spyro 2 on his Nook's black and white e-ink screen.

The hack, which requires a rooted Nook Simple Touch, involved installing a version of Mac OS 7 and FPSE (Free Playstation Emulator, which assigns the bottom-half of the touch-screen to a virtual-button controller), and a program called NoRefresh to manage the display.

The hack is actually fairly straightforward; if you've rooted your Nook you could probably pull this off too. Pretty amazing to see a device made for reading text emulating graphics that were cutting edge not so long ago.

Of course, the game ISOs and Playstation BIOS files are copyright-protected, so as cool as this is it's not technically legal. And rooting your Nook, if you don't know what you're doing, is probably a bad idea too.

Have a games-related hack of your own? Tell us about it in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Is this the Next Flagship Nokia Phone?

Two images of Nokia's Lumia 920 have surfaced today, featuring a touch interface with 3 soft buttons, what appears to be a PureView camera, and (allegedly) a 4.5 inch screen.

While the image is pretty clearly computer-generated, it's not unlikely what we're seeing is an incomplete press rendering. In other words; this probably is the Lumia 920.

A leaked image of the 4.3-inch Lumia 820, showing more of Nokia's bright colors, appears below.

Nokia will announce its Windows Phone 8 offerings at a press event with Microsoft in New York on September 5th. We'll have more details for you as they come out.

Stoked for Nokia's upcoming Windows Phones? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Kindle Touches Get Yanked, Refresh Inevitable

Mere weeks before a major Amazon announcement, both the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are out of stock on Amazon's website. Does this mean a Kindle refresh is inevitable?

In a word? Yep.

The Kindles were refreshed almost exactly a year ago, and increasing pressure from e-reader competition like the backlit Nook and sub-$200 tablets like the Nexus 7 may have ostensibly forced Amazon to refresh their entire line of Kindles.

Current rumors suggest we could see up to five or six new SKUs from Amazon, but it's uncertain whether these alleged SKUs will be a variety of different Kindle Fires or include e-readers (Amazon currently sells six different Kindles).

While a backlit screen is almost guaranteed, what else would you want to see from Kindle e-readers? What would get you more excited about a Kindle Fire 2 than, say, a Nexus 7? Let us know in the comments.

Nic is the Tech Editor at IGN. He loves technology almost as much as Brand New, Boyz II Men, and A Day to Remember. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

FreedomPop Brings 500MB WiMAX to Your iPod Touch for $99

The only real bummer with Apple's iPod Touch is that it requires a Wi-Fi connection to be of much use, but FreedomPop is about to change all of that. 

Touting "free wireless internet," the Sprint MVNO has introduced the $99 iPod 4G Sleeve, a case that allows your iPod Touch to use up to 500MB of old-school 4G WiMAX absolutely free each month.

And that's not all: FreedomPop will generously increase your monthly WiMAX allotment in 10MB increments thanks to friend referrals and "partner offers and promotions," which could nab you up to 5GB per month.

The iPod 4G Sleeve is essentially a case with a built-in mobile hotspot, which allows up to eight devices to connect - including your iPod Touch, which can hop onto Sprint's WiMAX network using Wi-Fi.

Unfortunately, bargains like this always seem to come with a downside, and in the case of FreedomPop's offering, it's the fact that the sleeve isn't quite shipping yet. However, if you're eager to part with your $99, the company is accepting preorders on its website starting today.

Now if we could just get one of these with 4G LTE, we'd be in business...

J.R. is a recovering independent feature film producer/director who turned a love of shiny gadgets into a steady stream of gigs writing about them for fun and profit. He can be frequently be found talking nonsense on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Microsoft Reveals Wedge and Sculpt Touch Peripherals

Not to be outdone by Apple's gesture-command Magic Mouse, Microsoft launched the Touch Mouse for Windows 7 last year, allowing for four-way finger swiping for simple commands like switching applications and minimizing open tasks.

With the upcoming release of Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface tablet, the Redmond-based software developer (recently turned computer manufacturer) will be updating its touch suite with the Wedge Touch Mouse and Mobile Keyboard and the Sculpt Touch Mouse and Mobile Keyboard, two peripherals designed with Metro in mind.

For those who have already sprung for the Windows 7 Touch Mouse, Microsoft will be updating the driver to include new Windows 8-specific gesture controls. Those looking to pick up all new hardware will have to choose between the pragmatist's Wedge model and the artist's Sculpt model.

The Wedge Touch Mouse ($69.95) is small, running on only a single double-A battery and, according to Microsoft, compact enough to fit in your pocket. The minimalist aesthetic is designed to highlight the four-way touch controls, which in addition to scrolling or snapping items to the left or right of the screen, will be able to open up the Windows 8 charm menu and zoom. The thumb swipe will still move forward and backward through open apps.

The Wedge Mobile Keyboard ($79.95), like its mouse counterpart, will connect via Bluetooth and feature battery-saving sleep modes when not in use. The pitch here is that this keyboard will have some Windows 8 shortcut hotkeys for navigating Metro and settings menus. It also comes with a case that puts the keyboard to sleep and doubles as a stand for a tablet.

The Sculpt Touch Mouse ($49.95) has a more traditional mouse design but it still supports four-way gesture controls. It's larger than the Wedge Touch Mouse, aimed more towards the desktop user crowd.

The Sculpt Mobile Keyboard ($49.95) is curved in at the back, giving the face of the keys an ergonomic feel without committing fully to that framework. According to Microsoft, the battery life for this model is ten months in active use.

All of these devices will be available on or around the Windows 8 release date of October 26.

Source: PCWorld

Dan Crabtree is an I.T. guy and freelance writer with words on IGN, and a league of other gaming news outlets. His dog is considered handsome and well-read. You can find him (the human) on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com