‘We Are Young’ Performed on Vintage Computer Parts

Old computer parts find new life as rock stars with a little help from YouTube user BD594. The “band” — we’ll just call ‘em the Ctrl-Alt-Deletes — perform a delightfully geeky rendition of the hit fun. song “We Are Young.”

[More from Mashable: If Santa Were a Hipster]

Vintage hard drives provide the beat as a Yamaha CX-5 tickles the ivories and an HP Scanjet 3C plays frontman with the vocals. Pssh, and you thought the Rolling Stones looked old and outdated.

[More from Mashable: 10 People Who Suffered Awkward Christmas Moments]

BONUS: Top 12 Memes of the Year

12. Photobombing Stingray

Five years ago, three college girls on a Caribbean vacation got a serious case of the heebeejeebies when a stingray photobombed their “say cheese” moment. The hilarious photograph could have ended up as just a fond vacay memory if it weren’t for a friend, who shared the image on Reddit in September of this year.

Click here to view this gallery.

Thumbnail image courtesy of YouTube, BD594

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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My offer: nothing

Time Warner Cable boss Glenn Britt’s message to low-rated cable networks is simple: You’ll get nothing, and like it.

Britt — who is looking to rein in soaring programming costs by culling channels with smaller audiences — has started telling some programmers that they can either go dark or get no fee at all in return for continued distribution on his service.

The networks must “take carriage for no payment,” meaning forfeit their usual subscriber fees while they work to improve their ratings, according to one person familiar with the talks.

The take-it-or-leave-it approach has come up in renewal negotiations with several channels, including IFC and WE TV, whose contracts end Jan. 1. Those talks are expected to go down to the wire, sources said.

WireImage

Time Warner Cable’s Glenn Britt (above) appears to be aping a famous movie quote in the firm’s carriage dealings with some of the smaller fry networks.

Typically, programmers ask for a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in per-subscriber fees each time a pay-TV contract comes up for renewal. IFC and WE are likely asking for less than 10 cents a month per subscriber.

The networks are part of the James Dolan-controlled AMC Networks. The flagship AMC channel isn’t part of the talks and is unlikely to be in danger of being booted, as it aired cable’s highest-rated show of the year, “Walking Dead,” which garnered an average 11.7 million viewers.

Already, Time Warner Cable, New York City’s largest cable provider, has kicked off at least one network that refused to accept its terms. Ovation, an arts and music channel, will be dropped at the end of the year.

Sources say Crown Media’s Hallmark channels, including the movie channel that was considered on the bubble, have reached a deal for renewal with Time Warner.

The two AMC Networks channels aren’t the only ones coming under fire.

Several sources say NuvoTV, an English-language cable channel targeting Hispanics, is also getting booted from digital basic as part of a realignment of Time Warner Cable’s programming tiers. Nuvo, previously known as Si TV, is part owned by singer and actress Jennifer Lopez.

Britt has been trying to cut back on programming costs from less popular networks in response to spiraling fees from more popular channels, in particular sports programming.

On its customer relations website, twcconversations, Time Warner Cable contends: “We are pushing back against TV networks that demand more money without delivering more value.”

The company says if it paid 2 cents more per day for the 80 channels it carries, it would add $48 a month to a bill. While the network hasn’t announced plans to pass along any cost savings to customers from its cable culling, it says it is “developing more flexible packaging options.”

Separately, Time Warner Cable has been strong-arming smaller channels when it comes to what content they air online — even on the networks’ own websites.

The cable company wants to be the first place customers see TV shows. As part of a push to preserve the current pay-TV system, it is pushing back against networks that make content available for free online, according to sources.

Time Warner Cable declined comment.

catkinson@nypost.com

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Deadline to apply for free foreclosure case reviews is Monday

Florida residents who believe they suffered from shoddy foreclosure practices have through Monday to apply for a free case review that could net them up to $125,000 if wrongdoing is found.

The program, which is overseen by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, began in November 2011 with an estimated 4 million eligibility letters mailed nationwide.

As of late September, just 3.8 percent of Floridians who were sent letters about their eligibility for the review have applied.

Cases are eligible for review if the foreclosure was on a primary residence in some stage of foreclosure during 2009 and 2010. The foreclosure had to have been handled by one of 24 banks or mortgage servicers named in consent orders crafted in response to findings of foreclosure deficiencies. The affected servicers can be found at independentforeclosurereview.com.

Problems contacting borrowers who may have been evicted from foreclosed homes, as well as borrower fatigue in applying for aid programs probably contributed to the limited response, some foreclosure defense attorneys said.

“A lot of these homeowners have been promised a lot of things in the past that were never fulfilled,” said attorney Ron Kaniuk, of Sachs Sax Caplan in Boca Raton. “It’s the law of diminishing returns. Once you are disappointed a few times, you stop filling stuff out.”

The Independent Foreclosure Review is separate from the $25 billion attorneys general settlement reached in February.

Nationwide, the return rate of borrowers responding to eligibility letters was about 5.3 percent through Sept. 27. Since then, an additional 121,677 borrowers have applied nationwide, said Bryan Hubbard, a spokesman for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The original deadline to apply for the review was April 30. It was pushed back to July 31 and then Dec. 31.

Reviewers are looking for several problems including failure to put a homeowner on a permanent loan modification after he or she successfully completed a trial period, foreclosing on a borrower while he or she was current on payments under a loan modification, and not providing a borrower with proper notification during a foreclosure.

Remediation to borrowers can include credit fixes, reimbursement of improperly charged fees, and lump-sum payments of between $500 and $125,000.

For more information about the Independent Foreclosure Review, call 1-888-952-9105.

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Outdoorsy fun for the New Year’s holiday

So, as Miss Ella once sang, What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

Many of you, of course, will ring in 2013 with champagne and dancing at one of the clubs in Miami Beach or downtown Miami — and many of these same people will wake up with a hangover Tuesday only to wonder why they spent $2,000 to be in the same space as R&B/hip-hop act Drake and a DJ at the Fontainebleau or depressed that they spent $1,500 for a VIP table at the Catalina’s Studio 54 party to hear ’70s disco when they could have played Donna, Gloria and the Village People at any old time on iTunes for a few houseguests.

Clubbing not your thing? Good thing you live in South Florida, where going outside generally makes sense at this time of year. Here are some suggestions for activities, with an accent on the great outdoors and even a little fitness thrown in for good measure.

King Mango Strut

The annual spoof of the Orange Bowl Parade — or whatever some politician wants to call it now, as in ‘La Gran Naranja’ — has been “putting the ‘nut’ back in ‘Coconut Grove’ since 1981,” its ads tout. This time around, being an election year should provide plenty of fodder, and not just the silliness going on in West Kendall and Brickell, where some people are still waiting to cast a vote in the presidential race. (Obama won, go home.) The snarky parade pokes good-natured fun at the people and things behind the events that made the news snap during the year. This year’s grand marshal will be Clint Eastwood’s chair, fresh from the Republican National Convention.

This year’s parade takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday in downtown Coconut Grove on the corner of Commodore Plaza and Main Highway. The wacky participants turn left onto Main Highway and then left onto Grand Avenue at CocoWalk. Get comfy along the street and prepare to giggle. Call the Mango Hotline at 305-582-0955 for information.

The ball drop

You can go traditional and watch the ball drop in downtown Miami at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater New Year’s shindig. The free event features music and the midnight countdown for the dropping of the Big Orange, followed by fireworks. Be there at 301 N. Biscayne Blvd. Call 305-358-7550.

Just want the fireworks part? Miami Beach’s New Year’s Eve Party offers a free fireworks celebration at midnight on the beach near Ocean Drive and Eighth Street, if you can tear yourself away from Carl Cox at Mansion and Calvin Harris at Liv. Call 305-673-7400.

Bike It

Shark Valley, on the Tamiami Trail about 35 miles into the Everglades, is a real South Florida experience. Cycle amid gators — and we’re not talking the University of Florida variety. Alligators, wading birds and turtles frolic freely in the greenery along the 15-mile round-trip bike path. A multilevel observation at the midpoint offers a nice break spot for a boxed lunch or photo ops. There are no shortcuts, but you can opt for a tram tour. Call 305-221-8776.

Other leisurely bike rides around town include the shaded 13 or so miles of the Old Cutler Trail in South Miami, and you can pop over to Pinecrest Gardens for the Sunday Green Market, one of South Florida’s best farmers markets. North Dade residents aren’t too far from the restored Hollywood Beach Broadwalk for some nice ocean views while cycling or strolling.

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How ‘Doctor Who’ Kept Its Big Christmas Secret Off Twitter

Tonight Doctor Who fans get to gorge on their annual Christmas fix — a full-length special episode the series has produced every year for the holiday since 2005. This time, however, there’s some extra spice in the form of a new regular cast member: Jenna-Louise Coleman debuts in “The Snowmen” as the Doctor’s next companion.

Except it’s not her debut. Coleman actually made her first appearance in the series premiere back in September. Actually, make that surprise appearance. In preseason interviews, Doctor Who‘s producers had explicitly told fans they’d have to wait until Christmas before they’d see Coleman in the show.

[More from Mashable: Top 10 Twitter Pics of the Week]

But there she was, fighting Daleks and making soufflés, way ahead of schedule. This was unheard of for the series, which has seen major plotlines leak online — usually months before broadcast — several times over the past few years. The show had gotten to the point where it would simply announce any major developments far in advance in order to get ahead of the spoiler hunters.

Yet somehow the show’s producers kept Coleman’s early debut a secret — a feat made even more challenging since there were several preview screenings of the episode, each attended by hundreds of rabid fans, all carrying smartphones. How did Doctor Who keep every single one of them from tweeting about it?

[More from Mashable: How Music Ruled Twitter in 2012]

“I asked. That’s it,” says Steven Moffat, Doctor Who‘s current showrunner. “I don’t think anyone thought it would work. I certainly didn’t. At the London premiere, I just stood up and said, ‘Please, nobody, no fan, no newspaper — nobody at all — mention that she’s in it. And to my surprise it worked.”

Moffat says the idea of misleading the audience about when Coleman would debut “grew” as he was writing the current series. But it almost didn’t happen since others at the BBC wanted to get ahead of the news and announce her presence at the first preview screening. Moffat, however, was convinced (rightly, it turns out) that he could persuade the fans and journalists in attendance to guard the secret.

“They tried to talk me out of it at the last minute,” he says. “And it did involve a lot of charming journalists and saying ‘Please don’t…’ It was the polite embargo, really. We couldn’t really embargo it. And I was always clear, ‘There is no punishment here. You don’t get blacklisted — I’m just asking, and the show will be better if you keep this secret.’ And they did.”

But did really not a single person on fire off a quick tweet about Coleman being on the show? It appears so. Although Twitter doesn’t offer a way to search tweets within a specific date range, searching the Twitter domain on Google during the month of August (the series premiered on Sept. 1) for her name reveals just regular promotion for the show.

“You can get a long way just by asking politely,” says Moffat. “Who knew that’s all you had to do? What’s remarkable about it is not one single person broke. And I really didn’t think that was going to work, because if any website had broken it — if any forum had broken it — the press would have just leapt in. They would have felt no further need for restraint. But they didn’t.”

Now Coleman makes her “proper” debut in the Christmas special, but is she playing the same character as before (who was — spoiler alert — abruptly killed off), or someone different? Moffat’s already told fans not to expect any great explanations under the tree. What’s going on with Coleman’s character (characters?) won’t be fully revealed until the series returns in the New Year.

But who knows? Maybe that’s another mislead.

Will you be watching Doctor Who tonight? Does the show still surprise you? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Doctor Who Returns

Matt Smith (The Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) attended a special screening of the premiere of Doctor Who Series 7 at New York City’s Ziegfeld Theater. The episode, “Asylum of the Daleks,” debuts on BBC America on Sept. 1.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Lady Gaga Documentary Announced

The nearly 33 million Little Monsters who follow Lady Gaga on Twitter got a massive Christmas present this morning as the singer revealed she'll soon be coming to a theater near you!

VIDEO - Lady Gaga Hosts Fame Picnic in Paris

"Merry Christmas little monsters," Gaga wrote. "Terry Richardson is making a #LadyGagaMOVIE documenting my life, the creation of ARTPOP + you!"

"Thank you for being so patient waiting for my new album ARTPOP I hope this gets u excited for things to come. I love you with all my heart!" Gaga announced her fourth album on August 6, 2012 and featured several of the songs in contention for inclusion on her recent Born This Wall Ball. Although no release date is yet known, it's rumored to be due out in Spring 2013.

VIDEO - The Secret Lady Gaga Never Told Beyonce

Gaga has previously collaborated with Richardson on countless magazine covers and 2011's Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson photobook.

Lady Gaga won't be the only major musician to be featured in a documentary next year. It was revealed on November 26 that HBO would be airing a Beyonce documentary on February 16, 2013.

VIDEO - Get A Sneak Peek at Beyonce's Documentary

The film promises extensive first-person footage -- some of it shot by Beyonce on her laptop -- in which she reflects on the realities of being a celebrity, the refuge she finds onstage and the joys of becoming a mother after giving birth to her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, in January 2012. Watch a sneak peek below.

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Picture-perfect! Good Sam restores SI couple's Sandy-damaged photos

Sandy washed away their treasured memories — but a wave of kindness brought them back.

A Staten Island couple was convinced they had lost a lot more than furniture when the October superstorm ravaged their home — they had to throw out a waterlogged photo album, including family wedding pics from the ’50s.

“Everything was floating,” said Mary Buongiorno, who lost other photo albums with her husband, Lenny. “We were looking at the pictures — with bacteria and water, you don’t know what to do.

“I figured it was gone forever.”

Distraught, the couple left the pictures on the lawn of their Midland Beach home to be thrown out.

Paul Martinka

BACK TO LIFE: Leonard and Mary Buongiorno with Sandy-damaged photos (left) restored (right) by a Samaritan.

But good Samaritan Mike Valente, a bus driver, couldn’t let the memories go to waste. He found the photos on the side of the road and got to work immediately.

“When the album came to my house, it smelled terrible,” said Valente, of Eltingville. “It was sitting underwater for two weeks, the leather and cardboard absorbed the water and there was also sewage there.”

He worked for five weeks to restore the album, chipping away at it a few hours each night to clean, dry, rescan and restore the photos on his computer.

Mary was at a friend’s house last week when Valente showed up with the surprise.

“I never expected anything,” she said. “When I opened it up, the pictures were just overwhelming!”

Valente had a simple explanation for his random act of kindness.

“We have traditions and we have things that we do in my family; I’m all about memories,” he said.

Brooklyn photographer Rob Loud knows the story too well.

“Several people close to me lost homes, cars, countless possessions,” said Loud, 33, who lived in Long Beach for four years and moved to Clinton Hill in May. “Everyone always says, ‘If there’s one possession you cannot get back, it’s photos.’ ”

So the shutterbug last week volunteered his time and talents to host a photo shoot with Sandy victims who lost their family portraits — and help them regain some of the memories lost during the storm.

pedro.oliveira@nypost.com

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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port

Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port.

Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades reported 3,689,000 passengers for the period, putting it slightly behind the others in third place.

“We’re all very close,’’ said Paula Musto, PortMiami spokeswoman.

PortMiami has slipped below its previous high of 4 million plus passengers because of changing ship deployments, she said. That number is expected to again cruise past 4 million in 2013 as several new ships homeport in Miami.

Jane Wooldridge

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New generation of judges serving on federal bench in South Florida

For a fleeting moment this fall, U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. declared in jest that he wished he were “king of the world.”

If he had such power, Scola said from the bench, he would deny a defense lawyer’s request to travel to Pakistan to question a group of defendants charged in a Miami terrorism case along with two Muslim clerics. Since the missing defendants weren’t present, the judge considered them “fugitives.’’

But the judge let the defense team make the upcoming trip against fierce opposition from prosecutors, because case law allows such extraordinary depositions, he found.

Scola, a former Miami-Dade prosecutor and state circuit court judge, relishes his role as one of three new members on South Florida’s federal bench, which is experiencing a generational sea change as the result of several retirements and presidential appointments.

“I knew I wanted to be a judge when I was 10 years old; my father was a judge in Massachusetts,” Scola said, during a brief December interview wedged between verdicts in the South Beach “bar-girls” trial and the sentencing of a mental-health clinic director convicted of Medicare fraud.

Over the past few years, the federal court in the Southern District of Florida has seen the departure of four judges — Daniel T.K. Hurley, Paul C. Huck, Alan S. Gold and Patricia A. Seitz — who have gone on “senior” status, meaning they handle lighter caseloads. Another federal judge, Adalberto Jordan, was confirmed this year as a member of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Those five vacancies, in one of the busiest federal districts for criminal and civil cases in the country, accounted for about one-third of all the positions on the federal bench in South Florida.

The retirements have generated coveted openings that have been filled by Scola, 57; Kathleen M. Williams, 56, a former Miami federal public defender; and Robin S. Rosenbaum, 46, a former Fort Lauderdale federal magistrate judge. Rosenbaum, also a one-time federal prosecutor, was sworn in as a new U.S. district judge Dec. 13.

“It’s pretty obvious that Robin is never going to make a decent living,” 11th Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, for whom Rosenbaum once clerked, quipped about her public-service career during her investiture in Fort Lauderdale federal court.

But then Marcus struck a more serious note, describing federal district judges as the “crucible of justice” in the U.S. court system. “I have to say, Robin, this is work you were born to do,” he said.

Another recent nominee: Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William L. Thomas, a former assistant public defender in both the state and federal system. Thomas is scheduled for confirmation as a federal judge in 2013. If confirmed, he would become the first openly gay black man appointed to a federal judgeship in the nation.

Michael Caruso, the Miami federal public defender who replaced Williams in August, said the appointment of federal judges is in many ways a “president’s most enduring legacy.”

“All presidents strive to appoint smart, fair and hardworking lawyers,” Caruso said, commenting on the four nominated by President Barack Obama in South Florida. “President Obama, in addition to choosing women and men who share these traits, has chosen those who’ve been trial lawyers in the criminal justice system and who have devoted a significant portion of their career to public service.”

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Queens cries for Sandy hero

Rockaway residents rescued by a daring surfer during Hurricane Sandy are now grieving over the tragic drowning of the young man, who risked his life doing “what he thought was right.’’

Dylan Smith, 23, who used his surfboard to float six of his neighbors to safety, died Sunday in Puerto Rico when massive waves pulled him under as he surfed there on vacation

“My heart bleeds for his family. He didn’t deserve this. He saved my sister, and he didn’t want to be thanked,’’ Ray Marten Jr., 15, said yesterday.

“He just did it because that’s what he thought was right,” the teen said, recalling how Smith pulled Ray’s 13-year-old sister, Lauren — struggling to stay afloat in the storm-fueled waves — onto his board and paddled to land.

Ellis Kaplan

‘ALWAYS THE GOOD ONES’: Donna Moroney (below) is consoled yesterday over the death of her nephew, Dylan Smith (above), who was hailed for using his surfboard to rescue Rockaway residents from Sandy.

On other trips, he carried five people — some of whom had been trapped on their porches — to safety.

Smith’s family was devastated.

“All Mary and Timmy and Jake want is Dylan home for Christmas,” said a family friend, referring to Smith’s mom, his FDNY dad, and his younger brother.

The hero’s aunt, Donna Moroney, said his mom “doesn’t have his body to hold. She wants to hug and kiss him. She just lay in his bed all day yesterday.”

“Why is it always the good ones?” she asked. “He saved all those people; he put his life at risk.’’

Moroney said Smith had been on the island four days when he died.

Other surfers were nearby when he was pulled underwater said Puerto Rican National Police spokesman Ruben Alvarez.

When Smith resurfaced, surfers paddled him to shore. One of them, a doctor, began CPR but was not able to revive him.

“It was pretty dangerous out there. The waves were big, and the current was strong,” Alvarez said.

Smith was named one of People magazine’s Heroes of 2012 for his bravery the night of Sandy.

In addition to saving his neighbors, he also helped them rebuild.

“Dylan was helping people even after this. He was helping neighbors clear out their property, rip out basements,’’ Ray Marten Sr. said.

“Whatever was needed, he was there doing.”

Neighbors couldn’t bear the thought of Smith’s family suffering during the holiday.

“It’s Christmas Eve. The timing is just awful,” said local resident Emalia Cann, 51.

“I haven’t even gone in and seen the family yet. What can I say to them? I could just give them a big hug,’’ she added.

“I’ve known Dylan since he was 6 years old. He’s a hero. He saved so many people the night of the storm.”

jsaul@nypost.com

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