Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Dr. Dre

AV Concept’s 2Pac Hologram Was A Hit

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:44:37 +0000

This past Sunday at the Coachella music festival concert, a hologram of Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac and Makaveli) appeared on stage with Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg. 2Pac was murdered in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996 at the young age of 25. Everybody has been talking about it today and the
“We worked with Dr. Dre on this and it was Dre’s vision to bring this back to life,” stated AV Concepts president Nick Smith. “It was his idea from the very beginning and we worked with him and his camp to utilize the technology to make it come to life.”

The image of Shakur was created by Hollywood effects company Digital Domain, which also made the CG images of Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and Jeff Bridges in “TRON: Legacy.” The hologram of 2Pac was Dr. Dre’s vision, who worked with Philip Atwell (Geronimo Productions) and Dylan Brown (The Yard).

The 2Pac hologram was being planned for months beforehand and it took nearly four months to create in a studio. Smith could not reveal how much creating the hologram costed, but revealed that a similar one would cost anywhere between $100,000 to over $400,000.

Beats Electronics Not Renewing Partnership With Monster

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:36:15 +0000

Beats by Dr. Dre is a company that was founded in 2008 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Beats by Dr. Dre is a brand of headphones and loud speakers and they worked closely with Monster Cable to manufacture to electronics. “Guys were making headphones that looked like medical equipment,” stated Iovine. Going forward, it appears that Beats by Dr. Dre will not be working with Monster due to financial disagreements.

Monster Cable has been developing the headphones and speakers through a license agreement. Beats by Dr. Dre have been successful as their products have captured about 53% of the $1 billion annual headphone market last year according to NPD Group.

Monster helped design the headphones and they even took credit for the idea. “They wanted to do speakers and I said, ‘The new speaker is the headphone,’?” stated Monster Cable CEO Noel Lee.

Now Monster Cable has to get used to the idea of not working with Beats by Dr. Dre, which will be difficult because 60% of the company’s revenue and profit came from the Beats audio gear. Beats will be retaining the rights to the bass-thumping technology, the brand, and the circular design.

Last year Lee asked half of the company’s 650 employees to come up with Monster-branded headphones because “we’re competing with ourselves” said Lee. “We can be the Apple of the headphones space, with or without Beats.”

[BusinessWeek]

HTC Vigor Believed To First Phone Powered By Beats After The Major Investment

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:47:18 +0000

The HTC Vigor is rumored to be the first handset powered by HTC’s major investment in Beats By Dr. Dre. Specs include a 4.3-inch screen with a 1280×720 resolution, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB onboard storage, 8 megapixel camera with a 2 megapixel forward-facing camera, Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), and Sense version 3.5. HTC is investing $300 million in Beats by Dr. Dre, the company founded by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

The investment gave HTC one of the largest stakes in Beats. Beats also works closely with Monster Cable as an investor and they will continue to work with Hewlett Packard for laptop and tablet speakers.

“Getting Beats audio into HTC phones is one of the first things we’re going to do,” Iovine stated in an interview. “We are going to be in business with HTC and they’re going to help us and were going to help them in every way they can. And you’ll see Beats audio in just about every phone or tablet they want it to be in, but they know what we’ve built and respect the brand and will help us continue to innovate and push Beats further.”

HTC and Beats first started talking about working with each other at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this past January. Below is a marketing video of the partnership.

[Gizmodo/LA Times]

Beats By Dr. Dre Being Added To Chrysler Cars [VIDEOS]

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:33:07 +0000

Chrysler Group and Beats By Dr. Dre has announced a new partnership that brings a studio quality experience into cars for the first time. Beats by Dr. Dre will be rolled into the 2012 Chrysler 300S to start. Beats by Dr. Dre founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine had worked closely with the engineering team at Chrysler to design the audio system that contains 10 speakers.

“Our partnership with the Chrysler Group will set the bar for the way music should be heard in cars,” stated Jimmy Iovine, who is also the Chairman of Interscope Geffen-A&M Records. “Beats By Dr. Dre has always been about restoring the emotional music connection between an artist and the listener, and Chrysler vehicles beginning with the Chrysler 300S will let drivers hear music the way the artists intended, replicating the feel and the sound that artists and producers work so hard to achieve.”

Michigan Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Dr. Dre Over Police’s Right To Privacy In Videos

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:39:00 +0000

The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled in favor of rap artist Dr. Dre in a case that involves whether police have the right to privacy when on duty. In a DVD produced of Eminem and Dr. Dre’s tour concert, police officers were shown threatening to shut it down. The police officers were warnings the artists that if they showed a sexually explicit video on the tour, they would be forced to shut it down. The lawsuit was filed by Detroit City Councilman Gary Brown. The court dismissed the lawsuit in a 6-1 ruling. This means that it is legal in the state of Michigan to record officers when on duty. However recording police officers in Illinois is illegal and it has been a controversial issue around the country. [MichiganMessenger]

Rhys Darby and Dr. Dre Featured In New HP ‘Let’s Do Amazing’ Ads [VIDEOS]

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:49:25 +0000

Hewlett Packard is spending $40 million on a new campaign called “Let’s Do Amazing.” For the campaign HP has hired Rhys Darby of Flight of the Conchords and music producer and artist Dr. Dre.

Lady Gaga Heartbeat Headphones Launching In Collab With Dr. Dre and Monster Cable

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:05:17 +0000

Dr. Dre and Monster Cable are partnering with Lady Gaga for the launch of a new set of headphones called Heartbeats. The headphones have a jewel-shaped earpiece and also doubles a high-tech fashion accessory. The headphones will be available in October at a price range of $99.95-$149.95.

“Crack A Bottle” By Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre Breaks Digital Download Record

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:39:46 +0000

Eminem, Detroit’s rapper that has fallen with tough times, plans to rise again with the release of a new album called “Relapse.” So far he is off to a good start with a track that he released called “Crack a Bottle.” The song got about 418,000 download sales in the first week and was #1 on iTunes for the week.

The record song before “Crack a Bottle” was T.I. and Rihanna’s “Live Your Life” at 335,000 downloads in the first week. “Crack a Bottle” knocked Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” from the top. Most recently, “Right Round” by Flo’ Rida featuring Katy Perry took the number one spot from “Crack a Bottle.”