PRINT A A A Just when you thought Game of Thrones didn’t need any more characters, pictures have emerged of more than 3,000 fans queuing in Spain for the chance of becoming an extra in the upcoming sixth series. According to reports, 3,500 fans turned up in Spanish cities Tudela and Girona to audition for a part as an extra. The cast of Game of Thrones is currently filming the sixth season in Spain, having previously filmed outside Seville where more than 550 extras took over the local bullring, which was used to represent a Daznak fighting pit in season five. The recent pictures of queues in north east Spain have prompted speculation that the large crowds may be needed for Daenerys Targaryen’s ongoing battles in the continent of Essos. According to the casting call, people who are thin with natural coloured hair were given priority. Only men with short or medium length hair were asked to apply, while women had to have long hair to stand a chance of success.

Microsoft surprised everyone in 2012 by announcing a tablet designed in house to run the company’s brand new Windows RT operating system. It was the first time we had seen Microsoft, a company mostly focused on software products, come out with a fully-fledged tablet of their own, and it wasn’t just a rehash of a competitors’ design: the Surface RT’s magnesium-alloy body combined with the innovative Touch and Type Covers made it stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately by the time the Surface RT launched in late 2012, it wasn’t as stellar as everyone was expecting. The ARM-based Tegra 3 SoC made the tablet feel slow and clunky to use. On top of that, Windows RT itself was void of many features found on tablets that used fully-fledged Windows 8, most notably the ability to run desktop applications. Along with the Surface RT, Microsoft also announced the Surface Pro which did run Windows 8 Pro 64-bit and came with ultrabook-class internals and a high-resolution display. However it also cam...

A number of apps over the years have attempted to make it easier for friends to get together offline by helping them to plan everything from casual get-togethers to more formal events. Now Microsoft is taking a shot at this space with a new social polling app called  Tossup . The app lets a group of friends vote on things like where and when to meet, what restaurant to choose, as well as RSVP. In addition, the app can also be used for general opinion-gathering. Tossup is one of the latest projects to emerge from  Microsoft Garage , the company’s program which works something like an internal accelerator at Microsoft, allowing employees and teams to turn their ideas into real-world projects, many of them being cross-platform mobile apps. Recent Garage releases have  included things like  social apps for  trip tracking  or seeing what people are chatting about nearby ,  Android   lockscreens , an alternative mobile  keyboard for ...

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is all set to make a comeback into the whopping Smartphone Android market. According to specs, the BlackBerry Android phone buys a similar look of a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with its curved slides. BlackBerry was planning to build a phone in conjunction with Google’s Android software, earlier this year. But, this is considered to be company’s last move to make up for its catastrophic drop-in sales of BB10 touchscreen handsets. Evan Blass, also known as @evleaks, identified for leaks of new handsets, who posted its supposed first look in his twitter account, and says that the latest BlackBerry can be launched on AT&T and taken to be codenamed as  Venice . BlackBerry tried its best to make a few noticeable lateral entries with a slider gadget, a dual-curved, all-touch display with a keyboard, but still it could not compete-well with the Android or Apple, briefly due to lack of big labelled apps. However, the Company mentioned in an email statement as, ‘...

Images of two BlackBerry smartphones running Android have leaked. One of the devices appears to be based off of the current Passport, and the "Venice" will feature a quad-HD display and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. BlackBerry 10 was supposed to be the OS that would allow the former smartphone king to compete with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android handsets. The OS made its debut on the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, which were released in 2013, but the new smartphones and OS never took off with consumers and developers. In an effort to appeal to both groups, BlackBerry added support to run Android applications with the release of BB10.2.1. Now, the company is taking things one step further and is rumored to launch two new smartphones that will drop BB10 for Android. We recently  reported  that BlackBerry is planning to release its first completely Android-based smartphone, and like previous devices, would include the company's iconic and much-loved physical QWERTY keyboar...

HBO has announced that it is teaming up with McFarlane Toys for a series of character figurines and “construction” sets for the epic fantasy series  Game of Thrones , starting with the Iron Throne Room, which you can see here in all its glory…       According to  EW , the Throne Room will be joined by Mother of Dragons and Attack on The Wall sets, which will feature scene specific characters and accessories and retail for between $14.99 and $49.99 (although the images above consist of a starter kit plus additional characters at $3.99 apiece). “[HBO is] a world-class network and  Game of Thrones  is one of the most visually compelling shows that I’ve ever seen,” states Todd McFarlane. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to create high-quality collectible construction sets based on this fan-favorite property. Both collectors and fans of this epic series can build their favorite scenes with this new product line.”

Weeks after the last episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ season five aired on HBO, the theory that Jon Snow could be a member of the  Targaryen family  continues to take the online fandom by storm. Many fans have refused to believe that the Lord Commander has met a most brutal end, thereby emphasizing the possibility that he could “rise from the ashes” and follow in Daenerys’ Targaryen’s footsteps. The theory explains that Snow might not be Ned Stark's illegitimate son, but rather the son of Ned's own sister Lyanna and Daenerys's older brother, Rhaega. As made clear in the books, on her deathbed, Lyanna asks her brother Ned to promise her something, and fans have long since guessed that this could be a request to raise her son as his own. Others also believe Tyrion Lannister could also come from the Targaryen family line. Daenerys's father, widely known as the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen, particularly had a soft spot for Tyrion's mother, Joanna Lannister. In the fifth book...

Game of Thrones  has always been a show that elicits extreme reactions from its fans, and as the seasons have progressed, it has only increased in its divisiveness. On the one hand, there is the epic scope of its storytelling, the nuanced insight into deplorable characters and the fascinating way it explores themes of morality, war and power. And on the other hand is the over-the-top violence and nudity, which in recent seasons has combined into gratuitous and unnecessary instances of sexual violence. The show’s fifth season, which recently concluded, amplifies both these aspects. If there was an overarching theme to this season, it was how difficult it is to retain power once you have it. In their disparate storylines, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) all struggle with the power they have suddenly acquired: Cersei finally rules at King’s Landing, with her young son merely a puppet whose strings she can easily pull, Jo...

Season 5 of Game Of Thrones has completed, and after 50 episodes, it is already one of HBO’s most successful series. Combining the medieval fantasy elements of Lord Of The Rings with the language, violence, and sex of HBO stalwarts like The Sopranos and The Wire, Game Of Thrones appeals to all demographics. At the end of Season 5, fans of both the books and the show alike are in a new situation where neither group knows what’s going to happen next. Book readers have had an advantage of knowing pretty much what’s going to happen on the show thus far, because they’ve already read the source material. But since Martin has taken his sweet time to release the sixth book in the series, The Winds of Winter, and the showrunners of the HBO series, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have started to introduce plot elements in the show that haven’t happened in the books yet. While seemingly standing at a cross-roads, this it is now a great time to rank all 50 of the episodes of the show from 50 to ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With a wait of nearly a year before  'Game of Thrones'  fans can satiate their addiction with new episodes (Season 6 premieres in April 2016), Westeros withdrawal is sure to set in at some point. Thanks to USAopoly, Hasbro and HBO, 'Game of Thrones' fans can experience the battles and spoils of the Lanister, Stark, Targaryen and Baratheon families in a board game format. MONOPOLY: Game of Thrones Collector's Edition Game is now available at game and toy stores, and through  store.hbo.com . With the exception of the four corner panels (GO, Jail, Free Parking and Go to Jail), the entire board has been redesigned to reflect all things Westeros. The Chance and Community Chest cards are now 'Valar Morghulis' and 'The Iron Throne' cards. The money features the symbols of Essos and Westeros. The classic Monopoly game tokens have been replaced with zinc-cast replicas of a White Walker, a Dragon Egg, a Three-Eyed Raven, The Iron Throne, a C...

NEWS ANALYSIS: The Windows 10 WiFi password sharing feature poses a potential risk, but it's manageable if you have implemented real wireless security. The expressions of alarm are all over the place. Suddenly people have discovered something called "WiFi Sense" that Microsoft is including in Windows 10 when it's released at the end of July. Once the new version of Windows is released, this feature of Windows will have an impact on your wireless network security. So you will need to plan on how to handle it before it launches. Microsoft's  WiFi Sense  is a means of sharing connection information between users. The original idea was to make connections between wireless hotspots quick and easy so that you don't have to fumble around with your wireless device every time you find yourself near a new source of WiFi. To make this happen, Microsoft learns the log-in characteristics of WiFi access points, and it saves them. In addition, WiFi Sense can share those char...

  Software major Microsoft has agreed to support 'digital villages' in Maharashtra and develop a 'smart MIDC' apart from setting up a  cyber-security  centre in Pune. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Microsoft's office in Seattle on Friday. He also visited the Microsoft Cybercrime Center, a statement from Chief Minister's Office said on Friday. Fadnavis met  Microsoft  CEO  Satya Nadella  and appreciated the contribution of data centres for 'Make In Maharashtra' initiative, it added. They discussed cloud services, technological help for MSMEs and technological solutions for implementing Right to Service Act. Nadella appreciated the state's initiative to bring transparency in the administration, the statement said. Microsoft also agreed to support 'digital village' scheme in Maharashtra and to develop smart MIDC (industrial colony). The location of the smart MIDC would be selected shortly. The software major also agreed to adopt a vill...

Could Minecraft be the killer app for Windows 10? A new version of the blockbuster game is coming for Windows 10, and it will be available when Microsoft’s new operating system debuts on July 29. That’s  the news this morning  from Mojang, the Minecraft developer, which was acquired by Microsoft last year for $2.5 billion . “Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta,” announced at Minecon 2015 in London, will be available for free to the 20 million people who already have the Flash-based PC version of the game, according to the company. Anyone else can get the game for $10 during the beta period. Here’s the list of highlights, as released by Mojang this morning. Craft, create, and explore online with up to seven friends playing Windows 10 Edition Beta, through local multiplayer or with your Xbox Live friends online. Play online and local multiplayer with other Pocket Edition players thanks to a free update, due to arrive soon after launch. Multiple control sc...