Cool! Kewel! Cuil? Cuil is the newest search engine that might give Google some competition. At one time Yahoo was king and a little lacklustre simplified search engine with a goofy name Google came out of nowhere and cleaned house. Cuil has some promise considering it was bankrolled by 33 million because the architects are former Google employees (Tom Costello and Anna Patterson) who created this little jewel. Word has it that it there are still many kinks in the engine. Time will tell if the new upstart will put any dent on Google. If the bugs are not fixed, Cuil might just cool off and disappear. The dark background deliberately contrasting Google’s warmer gentle white welcome page with daily fun laced Google logos. Cuil gets straight to the point and starts a unique magazine style search experience.

Looking for a painting program like Corel Painter? Corel Painter might be a bit pricey for some. Sure there is Photoshop and other programs out there that might emulate brushes. Artweaver is the new kid in the block and it has a lot of punch going for it. This robust program is everything Corel Painter has going for it and more. If you can navigate with Corel and Adobe products then Artweaver is no different, easy to draw and paint as natural as possible. The best part about Artweaver is that it is free. Artweaver will make every job easy and has the main extensions such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, TGA, TIFF, PNG, and PSD. You can mimic art tools such as different digital brushes e.g. chalk, charcoal, and pencils. Read more>>

Least we forget, the Beatles want to be trendy once again. It’s now a battle of the bands of sorts with new games  "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" as they go head to head in vying the Beatles on their products. The gaming world got wind of Guitar Hero and the Beatles are in talks to mimick the business plan of Metallica and Aerosmith who have lent their faces and songs to a very lucrative venture in one of the fastest generating money ventures in a long time. Seems there is a new kid in stores each day trying out either Rock Band or Guitar Hero. The games seem transcend easily with parents because most of the music in these games are from their generation. These power chord games are a hit and will one day change the landscape of music as they are also reinventing the music instruments. The future is bright. Wonder how many kids know of The Beatles? The market is growing to encompass all ages who want to graduate from air guitar to a semi-guitar god.

Out with the old, in with the new. A part of comic strip history died this week. How many people knew there was a  Dick Tracy Museum in Woodstock. Well not too many because they just closed their doors. It is reflective on the character who graced the papers and the radio waves in what seems like an eternity. The museum ran out of money so it had to close. The character waned since Warren Beatty and Madonna tried to give the old boy new life in 1990, but never jumped over that extra hurdle of fame. Not too many characters from the early 20th century have really basked in fame since they retired to the comic strip heaven in the sky. The only seniors still making an impact are Batman and Superman, but that had to go through many changes and have a vast history in story. Dick Tracy:CSI would pack them in if there was such a thing. Dick Tracy’s integrity and character has not changed that much and all those fancy gadgets are now a thing of the present. Kudos to IDW Publishing’s deluxe hardcover collection of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy works in book form, this single outlet will burn bright the slim light that remains of this once prominent character.

Dumm Comics is a unique idea. It’s not everyday animators pool their talents together and create an online line of weekly strips. Heavily influenced by their background, the strips look like cels of animation frozen to capture the essence of the strips. The line so far will have the following animators who will garnish a following for sure online. So look out for the following creative collection of diligent souls, Sean Szeles, Katie Rice, Luke Cormican, Ricky Garduno and Fred Osmond.

Battlestar Galactisimpsons is an Internet phenomena equivalent to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. You got your Simpsons in my Battlestar Galactica. When you mix the two shows you would get the result.  Dylan Meconis the artist behind this frakin creation and is back at it once again with his second set of Battlestar Galactica art ? la  Simpsons’ style created by Matt Groening. If you enjoy this type of art you can buy The Simpsons Handbook: Secret Tips from the Pros and create your own Simpsons inspired art just like Dylan Meconis if you are not able to do it freehand.

Flogos are out of this world. Flogos? What are flogos? They are the newest rage coming to a city near you. They are cloud like shapes that float in the sky with company logos. Walt Disney is the first company to jump on this new craze by releasing into the sky Mickey Mouse shape heads that will float and promote the company. The sky is the limit with flogo. No longer will clouds make kids puzzle what shape they are, now we can send shapes up without the wonder.

The future is now. One day you will be able to login to any channel and watch what you want when you want. No longer will you be dictated to when you can watch your favorite show. WB is relaunching a ?digital network,? in beta next month. It will broadcast their old shows. More and more costly ventures are finding there way to the net. Newspapers are retreating to the net for advertising and TV is headed there for viewers. It’s the new way to do business, fall asleep behind the wheel and you could easily lose your core audience. With such short attentions spans, people want quicker access to products. The new online channel will also carry new content. VOD services are growing like mushrooms and the WB network is a shot in the arm for others in the industry who want to follow suit.

It’s amazing what a little ink and hard toil can make if you dedicate 40 hours a week. While combing through the net I came across 24 year old Chris Hastings’ web-comic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. For us older folk Chris Hastings is a cool sendoff to the Italian strip Diabolik created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani in 1962. Web-comics have come a long way since the inception of this form. Chris is proving that it is flourishing and growing with rapid improvement. It’s not everyday you can find free talent like this on the Internet. Keep an eye on Chris, take stock because this is going to be snatched up by a big publisher pretty soon.