Timberlake confirms duet with Mumford

Music to our ears: Justin Timberlake and Marcus Mumford are working on a collaboration. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images

JUSTIN Timberlake is working on a duet with the frontman of Mumford and Sons.

The Suit & Tie singer has revealed his latest collaborator is Marcus Mumford.

The track will feature in Timberlake’s new movie, Coen brothers’ drama Inside Llewyn Davis.

The film co-stars Marcus’ wife, Carey Mulligan.

Justin spoke about the collaboration to America’s Capital FM radio on Tuesday.

"OK I can tell you this. There's a Coen brothers film coming out soon that I was lucky enough to work with Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan. And coincidentally I did work with Marcus Mumford on the soundtrack, so I became very good friends with them," he said.

The 32-year-old singer stars opposite Carey, Oscar and John Goodman in the forthcoming film, based loosely on a posthumous memoir by folk singer Dave Van Ronk, entitled The Mayor of MacDougal Street.

Mumford co-produced the soundtrack with T Bone Burnett and Timberlake was ecstatic to jump on board.

"Marcus and myself, we all kind of worked on the music together and I don't know any other world where we would have the opportunity to collaborate like that but it was so much fun," he said. "So not only will that be a great movie, but the music to it will be fantastic."

Inside Llewyn Davis is scheduled for release later this year.

Justin's announcement of the collaboration comes on the heels of a banner year for Mumford and Sons.

The English folk band, which also includes Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane, was nominated for six Grammys. The band went home with the coveted album of the year award earlier this month for their sophomore release, Babel.

JT is meanwhile preparing for the release of his third solo album, The 20/20 Experience, which is scheduled to hit shelves next month.

The singer is also scheduled to launch a 12-city tour across the US and Canada with Suit & Tie collaborator Jay-Z later this year.

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US wins small battle in Dotcom war

Kim Dotcom, seen here with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in Auckland last May, is battling US authorities in court in New Zealand who wish to extradite him to face charges relating to facilitating copyright fraud. Picture: AP/Kim Dotcom Source: AP

THE United States has today won a court appeal in its battle to extradite Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom from New Zealand.

A New Zealand appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed Dotcom broad access to evidence in the case against him at the time of his extradition hearing, which is scheduled for August.

The appeals court ruled that extensive disclosure would bog down the process and that a summary of the US case would suffice.

Dotcom founded the file-sharing site Megaupload that the US shuttered last year after accusing him of facilitating copyright fraud on a massive scale. Dotcom says he's innocent and can't be held responsible for those who chose to use the site to illegally download songs or movies.

Paul Davison, one of Dotcom's lawyers, said today he planned on appealing the case to New Zealand's Supreme Court.

Under New Zealand law, Dotcom's legal team must first submit an application to the court which will then decide whether an appeal has enough merit to proceed.

In its ruling, the appeals court found that full disclosure of evidence was not necessary at the extradition hearing because the hearing is not the venue to determine guilt or innocence. The court pointed out that the legal obligation on the US is simply to prove it has a valid case to answer.

The court also found that extradition treaties are essentially agreements between governments: "even though courts play a vital part in the process, extradition is very much a government to government process," the court ruled.

Davison said he's "disappointed" in the ruling. He said it's vital that Dotcom get access to a wide range of documents including those which could be detrimental to the US case. He said that would help prove there is no merit to the case.

Dotcom's extradition hearing has already been postponed from March to August due to the legal wrangling. It could be postponed further should the Supreme Court decide to hear the next planned appeal.

Dotcom remains free on bail pending the hearing. In January, on the anniversary of his arrest, he launched a new file-sharing site called Mega.

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Mirror prank: Go for haircut, see ghost

A hidden camera prank scares the living hell out of unsuspecting customers at a beauty shop in a stunt set up to promote new horror film The Last Exorcism 2

Does that mirror have two faces? Source: news.com.au

• Salon customers get the fright of their life 
• Face of a 'ghost' appears in the mirror
• Actress promoting The Last Exorcism Part 2  

THIS is one way to promote a film.

Some marketing types decided to plug The Last Exorcism Part 2 by kitting out an actress as a possessed teenage zombie, and hiding her behind a two-way mirror in a beauty salon.

Customer after customer got the shock of their life when they sat down for a fresh do, only to be confronted by the face of a "ghost" staring back at them from the mirror.

In a possible homage to a legendary elevator prank in Brazil last year, the stunt was set up with hidden cameras and worked a treat - judging by the reactions.

To set the scene, the hair salon had a horror movie playing in the background.

"What was that ... maybe it came from the TV?" claimed one bemused customer.

Another says: "Oh my God. That thing just scared me ... the thing in the mirror, the scary thing. I know I'm not tripping."

The jewel in the prank's crown was an appearance on the salon floor by the possessed teenage girl, who demonstrated Exorcist-esque flexibility with a range of back-bending moves.

She clearly does a lot of yoga. BOO.

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Twitterati bags PM's Rooty Hill plan

Victims stunned by ABC hack attack

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THE Prime Minister's decision to move to western Sydney for a week has upset local voters, and drawn criticism from politicians.

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Vodafone 'lawsuit' storm in a teacup?

LAW FIRM'S class action makes underwhelming debut after it was unable to confirm how many customers had signed up, a day after claiming it had 23,000.

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VODAFONE Australia says a law firm that is threatening a class action against the telco hasn't contacted the company in two years.

The Force is strong in this one...

IS THIS out-of work presenter's video resume a Force unto itself, or has she crossed over to the Dark Side?

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African choir inspires

 Year 12 student and Social Service Captain Elisha. Picture: Janine Eastgate Source: Leader

Year 12 student and Social Service Captain Elisha prepares for the Swaziland children who will be visiting Strathcona Girls School. Picture: Janine Eastgate Source: Leader

A GROUP of Strathcona Baptist Girls' Grammar School students is making the dreams of an African choir a reality.

Year 12 students Elisha Catlow, Madison Fairlie, Briony Harrison, Kaiva Kaimins have fundraised to bring the Possible Dreams International Choir to sing in Australia.

The choirs members include amputees, orphans and young people with HIV.

"So far I have only seen the choir on video and they are amazing. I can't wait for the concert, it's going to be awesome," Elisha said.

Back home in Swaziland, the choir sings at celebrations to mark the building of a house or vegetable garden for a poor family.

The choir will perform on on March 12 from 7-9pm at 34 Scott St, Canterbury.

Details: tickethost.com.au

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Show off: Juggler solves Rubik's cube

WATCH Stanford University mathematics student Ravi Fernando solve a Rubik’s Cube while juggling. Source: Humans of Stanford

SOME people have all the talent.

"Sir Ravi the juggler," as he has been dubbed by his peers at Stanford University in the US more than lives up to his name.

The multi-talented student can solve a Rubik's Cube while juggling two hacky sacks.

He also talks at the same time.

This just feels like an uneven distribution of talent.

Watch the video above and feel totally inferior.
 

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Facebook makes your friends hate you

Think, before you "like". Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

• Facebook feed filled with what your friends "like"
• Technical term is EdgeRank
• Businesses that clutter feed will be "unliked"

WANT to keep your Facebook friends? Think carefully before you next click the "like" button.

Here's why.  

Ever noticed how your news feed can be filled with pictures or pages that your friends have recommended? 

Imagine that you have a friend called Mike and he "likes" the My Kitchen Rules Facebook fan page. You will then get an announcement on your news feed that says “Mike likes My Kitchen Rules”.

Most of the time, that’s OK because - let's face it - you are probably watching My Kitchen Rules too. The problem is that Mike might not want you and everyone else in his news feed to know that he likes My Kitchen Rules.  

More to the point, he'd probably not intend for you to be able to see it and he really wouldn’t want to annoy you by clogging up your news feed, but that is what ends up happening. 

The technical term for this is EdgeRank. According to Paul Kaan of the Social Larder, it's the set of rules Facebook uses to filter what you see. 

"It shows you more of things that you've liked or interacted with in the past and less or none of those things that you haven't liked or there have been complaints about," Mr Kaan said.

"It also factors in how popular content is amongst your Facebook community. The more popular the more of it you will see."

From Facebook's point of view, it maximises the potential of the post by ensuring it gets out to the most people possible.  From the users perspective it gives you access to sites and pages and information you otherwise may not have discovered. 

But, as Mr Kaan told news.com.au, the system is still maturing.  

"Smart businesses will seek to engage with their consumers, provide content that they value and care about, content that they are willing to freely share with their friends," he said. "Businesses that clutter people's feeds with unwanted messages will be unliked with one quick click and lose the opportunity to engage. The system will sort itself out in time."

While we’re waiting for that to happen, the best way to keep your Facebook friends happy is to be mindful of what, and how much, you "like" on your page. 

Have you experienced this problem on Facebook?

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