‘That’s always, to me, what makes a host fun to have around,’ she tells MTV News.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Miley Cyrus on "Saturday Night Live"
Photo: NBC/Broadway Video
<P>If Miley Cyrus seemed loose <a href="/news/articles/1659306/miley-cyrus-rocks-saturday-night-live.jhtml">hosting "Saturday Night Live"</a> over the weekend, it's because she was.
"SNL" castmember Kristen Wiig tells MTV News the teen queen was not only a blast to have on the set, but also didn't seem to suffer from any anxiety about doing live TV.
"Yes, Miley [was fun to work with]," Wiig said while in New York on Monday (March 7) doing press for her alien-comedy flick, "Paul." "She's cool. It was really, really fun."
Guest host Miley poked fun at her own <a href="/news/articles/1657560/miley-cyrus-talks-bong-controversy-future-plans.jhtml">infamous bong video</a> controversy, as well as at Justin Bieber — whom she played alongside Vanessa Bayer, who just so happens to play Cyrus on the "SNL" skit "The Miley Cyrus Show." Cyrus even went for Lindsay Lohan and Black Eyed Peas frontwoman Fergie. And it was Cyrus' willingness to have a little fun at her own expense that made her the perfect host, according to Wiig.
"Yeah, she was great," the actress said. "She was up for anything. That's always, to me, what makes a host fun to have around. They'll make fun of themselves or how the media perceives them. She was up for anything, which was so great."
In addition to the <a href="http://newsroom.mtv.com/2011/03/06/the-strokes-snl-life-is-simple-in-the-moonlight">performance by the Strokes</a>, some of the night's other highlights included Miley's musical number "I'm Sorry I'm Not Perfect" and "Disney Channel Acting School," where Miley and fellow Disney star Raven Symoné (played by Kenan Thompson) taught such subjects such as "Reacting to Stinky Feet" and "Spying in a Doorway," required skills for any actor on a Disney series.
<i>What did you think of Miley's hosting abilities on "SNL" Tell us in the comments!</i></p>
Despite reports suggesting that the Sony Walkman brand was a dead man walking, the brand continues to crop up – most recently in the electronics giant’s homeland of Japan with the launch of the new E-Series PMPs and a couple of speaker docks to boot.
Starting with the Walkman media players, the NW-E062 and the NW-E063 have landed (throw a K on the end of these model numbers and you’ve got a mini 1W speaker stand included) and are 2GB and 4GB media players, capable of churning through your MP3s, WMAs, ATRACs, Linear PCMs and AACs tunes, with an FM radio on board too.
They pack noise cancelling tech, with 98 per cent of ambient noise cut out, and also boast high frequency playback thanks to the DSEE technology on board.
Measuring just 34.8 x 77.5 x 9.1mm and weighing 37g, the new E-Series devices are slighter than the NW-E050 models and they also pack a 1.4-inch TFT display and a 24-30 hour playback time depending on whether you’ve got the noise cancelling switched on or not.
As well as the new players, there are a couple of new docks hitting Japanese shops too -? the RDP-NWG400B and the RDP-NWM7. The former is a Bluetooth speaker with a 20W output and 2.1 channel setup and the latter is a portable affair, with a 4W output.
No word on a UK release as of yet, we’ll let you know once there is.
The BBC has announced that its popular BBC News app is now available on Android tablets.
The app, which launched for smaller sized Android handsets back in May last year, is on offer for tablets sized 7.2 inches and above, running Android 3.0+. The design has been optimised for larger displays and it offers simple browsing in landscape and portrait view.
That means, if you’re rocking a 7-inch Android tab, such as the original Samsung Galaxy Tab or the HTC Flyer, you’ll still just get the smartphone friendly app.
It works over both 3G and Wi-Fi, although there’s no live BBC News Channel action as of yet – this feature is to be added at a later date. An international version of the app from BBC Worldwide is also set to land later on this year.
“Growing numbers of people are accessing BBC News on mobiles and tablets,” said Kate Milner, mobile product manager for News and Future Media at the BBC.
“In an average week, the BBC News sites and apps are visited by around 9.7 million users worldwide on mobile and tablet devices. That represents about 26 per cent of the total.?
“The BBC News product development team will be working on further mobile and tablet improvements over the coming year.”
Whilst you wait for them, you can grab the updated app from the Android Market now. It’s free, of course.
Kids looking to spice up chess or checkers will be able to emulate the famous battle chess scene in Star Wars from September as long as they’ve got the right board and an iPad 2.
App Toyz, the company that brought us the App Blaster gun in 2011, is back at this year’s Toy Fair in London with a new augmented reality toy and app called CheckARz.
This time the boffins at App Toyz have turned to Qualcomm and its SDK software to create an app and an accompanying board that makes simple games like chess and draughts interactive by overlaying moving characters when you look through the iPad 2.
The new kit due out in September is currently in prototype stage, but Pocket-lint has been invited to see an early demo, and we’re impressed.
The hope is to develop a range of characters that will then give you a reason to want to play, more than just the chance to kill the other player’s pieces.
As you might of guessed you will need your mate to have an iPad 2 as well.
Qualcomm recently showed an augmented reality Bert and Ernie toy at this year’s CES in Las Vegas at the beginning of the month. The toy allowed kids to create a virtual scene and even a bedroom disco.?
The Pocket-lint Podcast is back with a bang this week as we’ve given it a right royal overhaul and crafted, what we believe to be, the snappiest tech talk around. 30 minutes of the finest gadget gibber gabber.
Brand new industry interviews and top stories will follow in the coming weeks, but to start us off, the Linters exclusively grill one of their own, presenter of Sky One’s Gadget Geeks and editor of reviews Ian Morris, who dishes the dirt on the new hot series.
He’s joined by perennial BBC News and Watchdog expert, and owner of Pocket-lint, Stuart Miles, plus ex-Gamesmaster co-presenter and editor of news Rik Henderson,?as they also chew the cud over the top tech tittle tattle and mull over the biggest story of the week.
So, ensure that you listen below or subscribe via iTunes in order to get your all new and improved Pocket-lint Podcast hit from every Friday morning at 8.30am…
Teen finalist met her real-life idol during mentoring session on Wednesday night’s episode.
By James Dinh
Miley Cyrus on "American Idol"
Photo: FOX
<P>Superstars swing through the hallways of <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/topic/american_idol/index.jhtml">"American Idol"</a> on a weekly basis, but on Wednesday (April 27), Lauren Alaina was greeted by one of her very own idols. Miley Cyrus surprised the finalist with an impromptu visit during her mentoring session.
With the assistance of Babyface and Jimmy Iovine, Alaina's weekly training session was running smoothly as she rehearsed her cover of Carole King's "Where You Lead."
"About halfway through my meeting with Jimmy, he had a big surprise for me," Alaina gushed to viewers in a pre-taped segment on the show. "Miley Cyrus walks in. I was like [<i>jaw drops open</i>] … she was so nice and she gave me such great advice."
With her long curly locks and dressed in an all-black ensemble, Cyrus offered a hug to the aspiring songstress and shared a few friendly words of advice.
"I listen to your music all the time. You're awesome," the "Hannah Montana" star told the 16-year-old. "The most important thing you can do is just do it for yourself because you will always have mean comments. People will always talk about you and that's never going to change."
Alaina's impromptu visit from Miley seemed to have boosted her confidence for Wednesday night's performance. From those high-hitting notes to her inviting a male audience member onstage, the contestant playfully strutted, ending her performance with a chuckle.
News of Cyrus' surprise appearance on "Idol" hit the Internet early Wednesday morning when <a href="http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b238691_miley_cyrus_make_surprise_appearance_on.html" target="_blank">E! Online</a> reported that Iovine asked the superstar to be a mentor as a result of a remark he'd made earlier in the competition. A few weeks back, <a href="/news/articles/1661948/american-idol-lauren-alaina-james-durbin.jhtml">Alaina chose to sing Cyrus' hit song</a> "The Climb," which led Iovine to tell the contestant she was "a much stronger singer than Miley Cyrus."
<i>What did you think of Miley's mentoring advice? Sound off below!</i>
<b>Don't miss "Idol Party Live" every Thursday at noon on MTV.com for analysis, celebrity guests and even some karaoke — get in the conversation by tweeting with the hashtag #idolparty! In the meantime, get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/topic/american_idol/index.jhtml">"American Idol" page</a>, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.</b></p>
TOY FAIR 2012: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for
Are you a Star Wars fan? Like Scalextric? Then Hornby has the ultimate set for you coming later in the year – Star Wars Scalextric.
Yep, that’s right, the two biggest toy brands of your childhood will be coming together in glorious 3D (a tie-in with the movies clearly) to bring us two racing sets in the next couple of months.
The first is the Micro Scalextric Star Wars Death Star Attack set that will cost ?69.99 and see you and a mate trying to knock each other off the track in a split time trial race.?
But rather than boring cars, one player will be in control of an X-Wing, while the other in control of a Tie-Fighter. The idea is that the two are too big for you to overtake so catching up with the slower vehicle will instantly knock them off.?
A quick eyes on and the glow in the dark spaceships from the Lucas movies are incredibly detailed while the actual box doubles up as part of the track.
But if the idea of spaceships sounds, well, not exciting enough, Hornby is also planning a second set: Scalextric Start Star Wars Battle of Endor.
It will cost ?99 and feature the bigger 1/32 scale track system. As you might have guessed by the name of the set, you are racing speeder bikes with one player racing as Luke Skywalker and the other as an Imperial Scout.
A Hornby spokesperson told Pocket-lint that it was really excited to have got the global licence for the new toys, so we suspect these aren’t the only sets we’ll be seeing in the future.
Looking to blow off some steam, Chelsy Davy was spotted tearing up the town in London, England last night (January 26).
The former love of Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie (Harry?s cousin) dropped by the Brompton Club in the Kensington neighborhood, attracting plenty of attention along the way.
Chelsy and Eugeine weren?t the only famous faces in the crowd at Brompton- Geri Halliwell?s ex-boyfriend Henry Beckwith also showed up.
And though Ms. Davy is no longer romantically linked to the Prince, she loves to stay in contact with the Royal Family- she was spotted hanging out with Lady Kitty Spencer earlier this month.
OctoMom Nadya Suleman was offered a job yesterday for $1,000 a day by a porn company. Exciting, uh? Not really. The job is a behind the scenes gig that does not include sex or nudity. After she went on welfare a couple of weeks ago and announced she wasn?t able to pay her mortgage or [...]
Instead of a golden ticket to Hollywood … “American Idol” contestant Alanna Snare got a one-way ticket back to her life of fried bulls’ balls — and it looks like she’s thrilled.Alanna was rejected on last night’s episode, but used her ‘AI’…
The Superbowl has become a tester platform for all the big budget adverts set to hit the US. Dominated by technology and consumer electronics advertising, it has a number of viewers quite unlike any other television show in the US, bar the moon landings.
This means new products and ideas get massive budgets thrown at them to come up with new adverts for the Superbowl. Being inventive is key, as standing out in a seven minute ad break where each second is costing thousands, is extremely important. Social media in particular is going to be the buzz word of Superbowl 2012. Nearly every advert will have a Facebook or Twitter counterpart as well as an app.?The Yanks reckon that up to 35 per cent of people watching the game could be doing it with an iPad or smartphone sat next to them, so building on that with social interactivity is going to be important.?
So what does Superbowl XLVI have in store? Do any new products make an appearance? Or has CES cleared the big players out?
Volkswagen Star Wars dogs
Volkswagen has a tradition of putting something big out at every Superbowl. Back in 2011, it was a young Darth Vader messing with a new Passat. This year the Star Wars theme continues with something even better.
What can only be described as a doggie choir is used to re-enact the iconic Star Wars theme, complete with an AT-AT clad Whippet at the end, a particular favourite part as we have one ourselves. This is just a taster to the real advert to come, so who knows what to expect. A battle between Rebel Alliance cats and Empire dogs? We can only dream.
Go Daddy.co girl
Go Daddy likes to keep things fairly low rent at the Superbowl, hoping that it will keep eyes fixed to the screen during ad breaks rather than running off to grab snacks.?Take three models and have two of them body paint Go Daddy logos on the best looking one who is naked. Simple enough really.?
Oh and if you want to see an uncensored version of it then it will be live on the Go Daddy website. We haven’t looked at it yet. Honest. No, we really haven’t but that is because it isn’t live yet.?Oh, and just in case you want to do a bit of Googling, the models involved are?Natalia Velez, Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels.?
Chevrolet game time app
Prizes, prizes, prizes! Everyone loves a good give away, especially if it involves cars, houses or, say, billions of pounds worth of uncut diamonds. Chevrolet has sadly opted for just cars this year, along with some other treats that all seem to involve either American football or pizza; a decent enough combination.
Should you want to prep for the Chevy giveaway, then you can pick up the app?here. There are 20 different Chevrolet cars up for grabs during the ad breaks alone. So, who knows, you could get lucky. Then again you might end up winning some tyres which is great if you have a car but not so hot if you don’t.?
You’ve Been Samsunged!
Samsung’s never ending pursuit of Apple continues. This time it’s a crack at fans who queue outside Apple shops on launch day. A Galaxy S II owner walks by and drops off a charger for the cold?queuing crowd, explaining how he got there using free navigation apps with Android.?
Shame that the people?queuing seem to ignore him and go and buy a new Apple device anyway, or at least that is what we presume. Samsung wishes they had device launch days like Apple has and this advert comes across slightly like it has been designed by a jealous child. Who knows though, perhaps the Galaxy S III will do it.??
Coke Polar Bears
Coca Cola is to bring back its Polar Bear advertising this year with the Superbowl. The company will use a highly innovative social media campaign which will involve the bears commenting live on the game, via a Facebook stream.?
Hundreds of pre-rendered animations have been put together which will create the impression that the CGI animals are actually watching things. A selection of teaser videos currently sits on cokepolarbowl.com, including the above, to give you an idea how it will work.?
Lexus GS teaser
What could possibly be more manly than a game where men run around in spandex, touch each other’s helmets and fight it out over balls? Big fast car adverts between the game of course! Lexus is to show off its new GS at the Superbowl which will no doubt be a highlight among petrol heads.
Known for its in car gadgetry, the new GS will no doubt have some treats hidden inside. If it is anything like the LFA, which has without doubt the?best dashboard we have ever seen on a car, we are excited.?
Bridgestone rubber balls
More cars? Yup. Well not cars exactly, more tyres, which are even more exciting. Ooh big rubber round things which you can roll down the street with a stick. Bridgestone are one of the best manufacturers of equipment for this classic Victorian past-time and have as such indulged in a rather elaborate advert for the Superbowl.
In a taster currently live on YouTube the company is apparently putting its expertise into balls and pucks. It’s obviously a spoof, but still fun none the less.?
Audi vampire party
Recently we’ve noticed particularly flamboyant lighting setups on Audis. The company’s saloons in particular are guilty of cyclist blinding blinkers sat on the front. Audi is aware of this and has turned it to its advantage in its Superbowl advertising.?
A vampire manages to crash his own party by melting his friends with his car’s lovely headlamps. He doesn’t seem to get fried by them though when he gets out; a minor detail we know, but hey accuracy is paramount when it comes to vampires.?
Windows Phone 7.5 users rejoice – for multiple Google Calendar syncing is now available on your Mango handset.
That’s right – after months of waiting and having to do complicated work-arounds, no longer will you forget to go to that important meeting / send your mum a birthday present (delete as appropriate, depending on what calendar you thought had preference; personal or business) as you can now see all your calendars in one place.
“Multiple Calendars is a feature that lets you select which of your Google Calendars are synced to your device,” said Google’s Li Yin from the Sync Team. “Just navigate to m.google.com/sync on your phone’s browser and configure the calendars you would like to see.”
For people with incredibly busy lifestyles (or those suffering from a horrendous case of dissociative identity disorder) you can have up to 25 calendars on the go at any one time. Your calendars will all be displayed once your WP7.5 handset and Google’s sync servers have cosied up – which is every half hour or so. Although you can manually push it by?synchronising?your Google account via the email and accounts page in settings if you can’t wait that long.?
Google has also announced improved Gmail fun on Windows Phone too; with offline mail searching and better default mail options.
Looking to blow off some steam, Chelsy Davy was spotted tearing up the town in London, England last night (January 26).
The former love of Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie (Harry?s cousin) dropped by the Brompton Club in the Kensington neighborhood, attracting plenty of attention along the way.
Chelsy and Eugeine weren?t the only famous faces in the crowd at Brompton- Geri Halliwell?s ex-boyfriend Henry Beckwith also showed up.
And though Ms. Davy is no longer romantically linked to the Prince, she loves to stay in contact with the Royal Family- she was spotted hanging out with Lady Kitty Spencer earlier this month.
Stepping out for some fun-filled time with the family, Amber Heard was spotted leaving Katsuya restaurant in Los Angeles, CA on Thursday (January 26).
The ?Drive Angry? dame looked super cute in a casual ensemble as she and her loved ones exited the popular dining attraction and headed off into the night.
Earlier in the week, Amber and her younger sister, Whitney, hit The Grove in West Hollywood for a bout of shopping.
Ms Heard was last seen in the now-cancelled NBC show ?The Playboy Club? and can next be seen in an upcoming drama flick called ?Syrup.?
Gabriel Aubry kept a tight grip on his dauther Nahla this AM, in the midst of his battle royale with baby mama Halle Berry.We’re told Gabriel left his house to take Nahla to her pre-school.TMZ broke the story … Halle is trying to temporarily strip…
President/CEO of Together We Rise talks to MTV News about song, slated for March release.
By Jocelyn Vena
Justin Bieber
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
<P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/bieber_justin/artist.jhtml">Justin Bieber</a>'s fans are working to give back the same way the pop star readily does. Several of Bieber's biggest fan groups, as well as the nonprofit Together We Rise and Brush Buddies (the makers behind the singing Bieber toothbrush), have all teamed up to work on a charity single.
"They're all working on pieces of the video and the lyrics. Right now, they're putting together videos and thank-you's.' We're working on the back end," Danny Mendoza, President/CEO of Together We Rise, which focuses on helping foster children in the U.S, told MTV News about the project.
"It started with a young lady named Vivian, she runs the Justin Crew fan club and she approached it on Twitter. She approached it and she had a lot of fan support," he continued. "She took it upon herself to take a leadership role, and then she contacted me because she needed some guidance. We just decided we'll help you do it. Justin Bieber had tweeted about us in the past and helped us get some recognition, so it was a thank-you to him as well.
Proceeds from the song will go toward <a href="/news/articles/1673555/justin-bieber-believe-charity-drive.jhtml">Bieber's <i>Believe</i> charity drive</a>. It will drop in March, just in time for his 18th birthday on March 1.
"I'm almost 100 percent positive that they know," Mendoza said of Bieber's camp's knowledge of the project. "Justin Bieber inspired a lot of young people to give back. It's a thank-you for helping us and we want to give back in your honor."
Bieber is certainly not a newbie to the world of charity. Mendoza said that having a pop star like Bieber being so socially conscious has been incredible for the charities he helps bring attention to.
"He definitely has the right people around him … They made it a priority that giving back is more. I think his relationship with [his manager Scooter Braun's brother] Adam Braun and his charity [<a href="/news/articles/1674628/justin-bieber-new-york-city.jhtml">Pencils of Promise</a>], he was able to see hands on a lot of it."
After Bieber tweeted this week about the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the <a href="/news/articles/1677905/justin-bieber-organ-donor.jhtml">Ontario-based organ donation</a> network has seen registrations skyrocket to more than 1,200 people, four times the amount the network usually receives.
<i>What charity do you want Bieber to promote? Leave your comment below.</i></p>
My new favorite celebrity MILF Jessica Alba (she was always my favorite, but just recently became a MILF) is looking scrumptious in the new GQ UK video. For a while after giving birth Jess started going down the dumpy road but at some point she must?ve straightened her path, because these last photos of Jessica [...]
