user: Movie shot on iPhone 4 by Park Chan-wook to hit South Korean theaters [Video]

A movie shot entirely on an Apple iPhone 4 is on its way to theaters in South Korea.

Award-winning filmmaker Park Chan-wook has shot a 30-minute film, called "Night Fishing," using only an iPhone 4. The movie is about a man who goes fishing at night and finds a female shaman, according to Reuters.

"Night Fishing" was shot using up to 10 iPhones filming simultaneously from different angles. About $130,000 was spent making the movie.

In an interview with Reuters, Park said of the process: "There are many limits. ... However instead of complaining, it should be approached in a unique style that is intended for the movie. Then it can have better results than any other movies."

Park also said he hoped the movie would be a catalyst for young filmmakers to see smart phones as an artistic tool.

"Night Fishing" is set to open in nine South Korean theaters in late January.

Park is best known for his "Vengeance Trilogy" of films, which include "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance," "Oldboy" and "Lady Vengeance."

"Oldboy" is a cult classic, and director Steven Spielberg and actor Will Smith were said to be mulling over a possible remake of the film. Park also is working on an English-language film.

Cherokee Nation looks to iPhone app to help save its language

Word Lens enables iPhone users to instantly translate Spanish to English

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles and Tim French

Summary: Award-winning filmmaker Park Chan-Wook has shot a feature film using only an iPhone 4 called Nightfishing. The movie was shot with 10 iPhone 4s shooting at the same time and, so far, is set for release in South Korea this month.


SAT: College Board’s David Coleman Announces Changes to Test

The prominent SAT college entrance exam will return to its previous 1,600-point scoring system and the essay portion will be optional starting in 2016, the group that creates the test said Wednesday, the biggest makeover in almost a decade for an exam familiar to any high school student with an eye on college.

The group that makes the test, the College Board, also announced a unprecedented test-preparation partnership with the online Khan Academy that could cut deep into the lucrative business of the existing test-prep industry. Under the new test format, which last underwent an overhaul in 2005, no points will be deducted for wrong answers, encouraging students to take a chance if they’re unsure of the answer. Students will be able to choose whether or not they complete the essay portion of the test, and for those who don’t, the top score will go from 2,400 back to the older 1,600. And vocabulary words will be more practical words like “synthesis,” instead of the archaic SAT vocabulary words that have long pained cramming high school students, but rarely occur in normal conversation. Students will also be able to take the test on a computer.

And in a bid to expand access to college, qualifying low-income students who take the test will get their application fees waived in applying to four schools.

“What this country needs is not more tests, but more opportunities,” College Board president David Coleman said in a statement. “The real news today is not just the redesigned SAT, but the College Board’s renewed commitment to delivering opportunity.”

Coleman also announced a new partnership with Khan Academy to provide free, online test-prep. In a dig at the test-prep industry, Coleman said the status quo promotes inequality by charging high fees for testing secrets.

“If there are no more secrets,” he said, “it’s very hard to pay for them.”

Correction: The original version of this story missplled the name of Khan Academy.

Summary: Another major change to the prominent college entrance exam is headed students' way as The College Board, which created the test, is reverting back to its old 1,600-point based scoring system and making the essay portion optional for students beginning in 2016


SpaceX launches Nasa cargo bound for International Space Station

An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday to deliver a cargo capsule to the International Space Station for Nasa.

The 208ft (63m) tall rocket, built and operated by privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, bolted off its seaside launch pad at 3.25pm, darting through overcast skies as it headed toward orbit.

The Dragon cargo ship, which is loaded with about 5,000lb of equipment, science experiments and supplies, is due to reach the station on Sunday. The station, a $100bn research laboratory owned by 15 nations, flies about 260 miles above Earth.

The cargo run is the third by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX as the company is known, under a 12-flight, $1.6bn contract with Nasa. The US space agency relies on SpaceX and a second firm, Orbital Sciences Corporation, to fly supplies to the orbital outpost since the space shuttles were retired in 2011. Nasa also is planning turn over crew transport from Russia to private industry by 2017.

SpaceX had planned to fly last month, but delayed the mission to review a potential contamination issue with its rocket. The issue was resolved, but then an air force radar system, needed to track the vehicle during flight, was damaged, sidelining all launches from Cape Canaveral for two weeks.

Another launch attempt on Monday was called off after a valve leak was found in a part of the system that separates the Falcon 9's first and second stages. The rocket was removed from the launch pad and repaired.

On Friday, the only issue was the weather, but the rain and thunderstorms that clobbered central Florida on Friday cleared in time for the Falcon 9 to lift off at the precise moment when Earth's rotation aligned its launch pad into the plane of the space station's orbit.

"Mother Nature is providing a window of opportunity today," Nasa mission commentator Michael Curie said shortly before launch. SpaceX planned to use Friday's launch to test technology it has been developing to recover and reuse its rockets.

The Falcon 9's first stage holds extra fuel and four landing legs. After it separated from the upper stage and Dragon capsule, the rocket was expected to reignite its engines to slow its descent and position itself for a vertical touchdown on the ocean before toppling over on its side.

"This is a really difficult maneuver," SpaceX vice-president Hans Koenigsmann told reporters during a prelaunch press conference.

Overall, the company considers the test has less than a 40% chance of success. There was no immediate word on whether the test was successful. Eventually, SpaceX hopes to fly its Falcon rockets back to land for refurbishment and reuse.

Summary: Private spaceflight company tests new rocket technology and launches supplies from Cape Canaveral in Florida


Denver's Clyfford Still Museum opens door on elusive artist

What we know about the artist Clyfford Still has been enough to position him as one of the leading figures in postwar American painting. What we don’t know, however, fills volumes and vaults.

Still dropped out of the commercial scene in 1951, not long after he stunned the art world with his huge canvases covered in craggy shapes, intensely-hued and fissured with thrusting verticals he called “lifelines.” “Still makes the rest of us look academic,” remarked Jackson Pollock.

Still exhibited and sold his work only rarely after retreating to rural Maryland in 1961. When he died in 1980, his will specified that the entirety of his estate (which amounted to over 90% of his life’s work) would be given to an American city that would create permanent quarters for its exhibition and study.

The just-opened Clyfford Still Museum in downtown Denver is an elegant concrete and cedar structure resonant with the visceral quality of the artist’s work. Inside are more than 2,000 paintings and works on paper, as well as the artist’s archives, sure to answer questions that have nagged at art historians for years.

What did Still’s early work look like, leading up to his signature style? What was he up to in his barn studio those final two decades?

Read more on the new Denver museum and Clyfford Still.

Photo: The experience of the collection is enlivened by natural light that enters the galleries through a series of skylights over a perforated concrete ceiling designed by Allied Works Architecture. Credit: Clyfford Still Museum

Summary:

assistant: A new at Denver's unusual new Clyfford Still Museum.