Verizon Offering $5 Shared 4G Plan for Samsung Galaxy Camera

Imagine the powerful Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone, except that it can’t make phone calls and its backplate has been replaced by a digital camera — handgrip, zoom lens, and all. That’s basically the Samsung Galaxy Camera in a nutshell, and whether it’s a small, awkwardly-shaped Android tablet or a digital camera that you can play Modern Combat 3 on depends on how you look at it.

When the Galaxy Camera launched last month, it was only available in white, and cost $ 499 on AT&T’s network with a month-to-month data plan. But on Dec. 13, it launches on Verizon’s network, in both white and black. The Verizon Galaxy Camera costs $ 50 more up front, but in return it has 4G LTE instead of HSPA+, and Verizon is offering a “promotional price” for the monthly charge: Only $ 5 to add it to a Share Everything plan, instead of the usual $ 10 tablet rate.

A 4G digital camera

While it’s capable of functioning as an Android tablet (or game machine), the biggest reason for the Samsung Galaxy Camera’s 4G wireless Internet is so it can automatically upload photos it takes. Apps such as Dropbox, Photobucket, and Ubuntu One offer a limited amount of online storage space for free, where the Galaxy Camera can save photos without anyone needing to tell it to. Those photos can then be accessed at home, or on a tablet or laptop.

Most smartphones are able to do this already, but few (with the possible exception of the Windows Phone powered Nokia Lumia 920) are able to take photos as high-quality as the Galaxy Camera’s.

Not as good of a deal as it sounds

Dropbox is offering two years’ worth of 50 GB of free online storage space for photos and videos, to anyone who buys a Samsung Galaxy Camera from AT&T or Verizon. (The regular free plan is only 2 GB.)

The problem is, you may need that much space. The photos taken by the Galaxy Camera’s 16 megapixel sensor take up a lot more space, at maximum resolution, than ordinary smartphone snapshots do. Those camera uploads can eat through a shared data plan, and with Verizon charging a $ 15 per GB overage fee (plus the $ 50 extra up-front on top of what AT&T charges) it may make up for the cheaper monthly cost.

On top of that, the Galaxy Camera’s photos are basically on par with a $ 199 digital camera’s — you pay a large premium to combine that kind of point-and-shoot with the hardware equivalent of a high-end smartphone.

It does run Android, though, right?

The Galaxy Camera uses Samsung‘s custom software for its camera app, and lacks a normal phone dialer app. Beyond that, though, it runs the same Android operating system found on smartphones, and can run all the same games and apps.

Some apps don’t work the same on the Galaxy Camera as they do on a smartphone, however. Apps which only run in portrait mode, for instance, require you to hold the camera sideways to use them (especially unpleasant when they’re camera apps). And while it can make voice and even video calls over Skype, it lacks a rear-facing camera or the kind of speaker you hold up close to your ear. So you may end up making speakerphone calls and filming the palm of your hand.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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Documents: Prisoner plotted to kill Justin Bieber

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — An imprisoned man whose infatuation with Justin Bieber included a tattoo of the pop star on his leg has told investigators in New Mexico he hatched a plot to kill him.

Court documents in a New Mexico district court say Dana Martin told investigators he persuaded a man he met in prison and the man’s nephew to kill Bieber, Bieber’s bodyguard and two others not connected to the pop star.

He told investigators that Mark Staake and Tanner Ruane headed east, planning to be near a Bieber concert scheduled in New York City. They missed a turn and crossed into Canada from Vermont. Staake was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Ruane was arrested later.

The two men face multiple charges stemming for the alleged plot.

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More pressure to justify cost of cancer drugs versus benefits

(Reuters) – Medical providers have begun to think more about cost, as well as safety and effectiveness, when they decide on cancer treatments.

In the past, pharmaceutical companies could launch a high-priced drug with little push back. But now, there is more pressure from insurers as well as doctors to justify using drugs that provide only incremental benefits. Products that offer clear-cut advances in treatment, however, still command premium prices.

The pressure on costs is likely to accelerate. The U.S. Affordable Care Act includes several provisions aimed at improving the value of healthcare, including paying hospitals for the quality of care rather than the quantity.

“It’s a sign of the times,” said Mark Mynhier, partner, healthcare industries advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC. “We are in fact in a significantly financially challenging environment.”

Four-fifths of U.S. health insurers recently polled by PwC now require evidence of cost savings or a clear clinical benefit to include new products on their lists of covered drugs.

Doctors at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center decided in November not to use Zaltrap, a new $ 11,000 a month colon cancer drug, because it has a “modest” impact on survival, works no better than Avastin, a similar but cheaper competitor, and has worse side effects.

Sanofi SA, according to the hospital, responded by offering the drug to all health providers at a 50 percent discount to its wholesale price.

The Manhattan cancer center still does not include Zaltrap on its list of available drugs. Sanofi and Regeneron, which helped develop and also sells the drug, both declined to comment.

“In order to warrant the price, you are going to have to have better overall survival,” said Rhonda Greenapple, chief executive at Reimbursement Intelligence, a consulting firm specializing in medical reimbursement.

Linking value to patient outcomes – mainly a drug’s impact on survival – is particularly important in oncology, where treatment costs can total tens of thousands of dollars a year.

“In cases where there are co-pays, they really do effect the consumer,” Mynhier said. “Patients are saying ‘I can’t afford to pay 10 or 20 percent of a $ 100,000 therapy.’”

WellPoint Inc, the second-largest U.S. health insurer by market value, said it is increasing the amount it pays for less expensive generic cancer drugs as an incentive for doctors to use them.

PROFIT OPPORTUNITY FOR DOCTORS

Infused cancer medications are first purchased by doctors, who then bill insurers for reimbursement. That is different from pills and other oral drugs for which doctors typically write a prescription filled at a pharmacy.

The offer of a 50-percent discount to Zaltrap’s list price is a potential windfall for doctors. Patients, health insurers, the government or anyone else who pays healthcare bills would not see a benefit.

“At the very least it is an incentive for doctors to use the drug,” said Dr Leonard Saltz, chief of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s gastrointestinal oncology service. “And I find that concerning.”

He noted that rebates and discounts for cancer drugs are not uncommon, but said this is the first time he is aware of a verbal across-the-board offer for a half-price discount.

The average U.S. oncologist, according to the Journal of Oncology Practice, generated revenue of nearly $ 5 million last year, of which drug costs accounted for nearly $ 3 million.

To combat the temptation of wider profit margins, health plans in recent years began reimbursing doctors for cancer drugs based on average sales prices, rather than wholesale prices. But for a new drug such as Zaltrap, reimbursement is based on the full list price until a sales track record is established.

WellPoint said it is raising reimbursements to independent oncologist on a range of generic chemotherapy drugs by as much as 140 percent.

“These drugs are the backbone of many therapies recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) … and typically much less expensive than their brand counterparts,” said Jennifer Malin, WellPoint’s medical director oncology.

She said the goal is to shift the system away from what has been a largely drug-revenue based practice model, to one where oncologists are paid for providing good patient-centered care.

“The payers are looking at the quality data and demanding incremental value over existing products,” said Dan Mendelson, chief executive officer of consulting firm Avalere Health.

“COKE DIDN’T WORK, SO LET’S TRY PEPSI”

Zaltrap was approved in August by the Food and Drug Administration after a study found it improved survival, in combination with chemotherapy, by 1.4 months in colon cancer patients who had stopped responding to chemo.

That is the same benefit seen with Avastin, sold by Roche Holding AG for around $ 5,000 a month, or about half the price of Zaltrap.

NCCN guidelines say either one or the other drug should be used, not both, but Dr Saltz said most Zaltrap use is likely in patients who were already treated with Avastin – a practice that insurers will eventually stop.

“It’s like saying Coke didn’t work so let’s try Pepsi,” he said.

As scientists unravel the biological underpinnings of cancer cells, new targeted therapies are being developed, but the process is expensive.

Dr. Saltz said the solution might just be to walk away from drugs with small, incremental benefits.

“We simply can’t afford to pay these very, very large amounts for drugs that offer most people very small benefit,” Dr Saltz said. “We haven’t figured out how to rein it in.”

(Reporting By Deena Beasley in Los Angeles. Editing by Andre Grenon)

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With SolarCity IPO, Elon Musk May Get Clean Tech Right

Over the past few years, Silicon Valley has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into a vast array of “clean technology” companies. You probably can’t name many of them because, on the whole, they’ve been tremendous failures or totally underwhelming. Companies participating in particularly difficult areas such as solar have turned into laughingstocks and symbols of huge investments gone wrong.

There does, however, seem to be one person getting quite wealthy off green technology, and that’s Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors (TSLA) and the chairman of SolarCity (SCTY). When SolarCity began trading on Thursday, its shares jumped more than 50 percent in early trading (although the company had lowered its IPO price in recent days due to lackluster demand). Musk is now the largest shareholder in a pair of public clean-technology companies. (Going into the offering, Musk owned 31 percent of SolarCity, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. That would be worth $ 150.8 million at the $ 8 offering price. A second filing said he intended to buy more shares at the offering.)

“It’s possible that Elon’s two clean-tech companies will be the two most successful clean-tech companies in the U.S.,” said Peter Thiel, the entrepreneur, investor, and Facebook (FB) board member in an interview earlier this year. Thiel is an investor in Musk’s SpaceX venture.

Instead of playing in the cutthroat world of solar-panel production, SolarCity, founded in 2006, focused on leasing solar panels to consumers and businesses and making this process easier. It helps people calculate how much money they can expect to save with solar panels, sets up the financing, and coordinates the installation of the panel. Through the first nine months of the year, SolarCity brought in $ 103 million of sales. Its business has been booming, although the company has yet to turn a profit and is likely to see a number of the state and federal tax credits from which it benefits decline over time.

What makes Musk’s clean-technology empire intriguing are the ways in which he intertwines the businesses. Tesla, for example, has begun building out a network of solar-powered charging stations for its cars. People can drive long distances—San Francisco to Los Angeles, for instance—and refuel their Model S sedans for free using a type of superfast charger. Musk has pledged to keep this refueling service free “forever,” and it is SolarCity that helps set up the stations. Beyond this, Musk plans soon to unveil what he’s describing as a “new mode of transportation” that sounds like some kind of solar-powered, super-fast tunnel called the Hyperloop. (He describes it in some detail here.)

Musk helped come up with the business plan for SolarCity, which was then founded by his cousins, CEO Lyndon Rive and Chief Technology Officer Peter Rive. All the men grew up near each other in Pretoria, South Africa, where Musk led them on a variety of entrepreneurial ventures, including selling Easter eggs door to door. Their mothers were born in Canada, and at about age 15, Musk hatched a plan to move the entire clan to the U.S. after first obtaining Canadian citizenship. “Without Elon I would be stuck in South Africa,” Lyndon told me in an interview earlier this year. “His ability to help us leave the country was amazing.”

Lyndon eventually obtained his green card for the U.S. through his skills as an underwater hockey player. (Yes, this sport exists.) “The U.S. has this green card category for people with exceptional abilities, like if you’re really good at sports or an actor,” Lyndon says. “I’ve been playing the sport since I was 14, and to get the exception you have to prove that you’re one of the best players in the world.” Both Lyndon and his wife have played for the U.S. National Underwater Hockey team.

Once in the U.S., the Rive brothers started a data center software company called Everdream, which Musk bankrolled. Dell (DELL) eventually acquired the company for $ 120 million. The cousins took the money, gave their next venture a think, and all settled on SolarCity.

Both Tesla and SolarCity have their challenges. Tesla has just started pumping out its new Model S sedan at a regular rate. The good news is that it has thousands of back orders to fill. The bad news is that it needs to produce the machines profitability and reliably. Earlier this month, Musk revealed that Tesla had enjoyed a week of positive cash flow. Still, Tesla remains one of the most shorted stocks on the market, with big-time investors betting that Musk will fail. Mitt Romney drove this point home during the presidential debates, describing Tesla as a “loser.”

SolarCity has installed panels at more than 45,000 buildings and been at the forefront of an era when getting this type of technology put on a home or office became much, much easier. “Clean energy has taken a big hit, primarily on the solar side, because of a lot of the companies there were producing a commodity,” Lyndon says, referring to the solar-panel and substrate makers. “The stocks were overhyped because of overdemand and undersupply, and then supply caught up. This should not be a measurement of the market’s willingness to adopt clean energy. The market adoption is almost doubling every year.”

Businessweek.com — Top News

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Cuban lawmakers meet to consider economy, budget

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban lawmakers are holding the second of their twice-annual sessions with a year-end report expected on the state of the country’s economy.

Legislators are also to approve next year’s budget.

Cuban leaders have sometimes used the parliamentary gatherings to make important announcements or policy statements.

Observers will be watching for word on the progress of President Raul Castro‘s economic reform plan and efforts to promote younger leaders.

The unicameral parliament will reconvene in February with a new membership following elections. It is then expected to name Castro to another five-year term.

State-run media said Castro presided over Thursday’s session.

It was not open to international journalists.

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AP PHOTOS: Top 10 Search Trends of 2012

NEW YORK (AP) — From the tragic to the downright silly, millions of people searched the Web in 2012 to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, a record-breaking skydiver and the death of a pop star.

Google released its 12th annual “zeitgeist” report on Wednesday. The company calls it “an in-depth look at the spirit of the times as seen through the billions of searches on Google over the past year.”

Here’s an Associated Press photo gallery of the top ten trending searches of 2012.

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“Lincoln,” “Les Miserables,” “Playbook” lead acting nominations

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood‘s actors cast their net wide on Wednesday, nominating performers from big awards contenders “Lincoln” and musical “Les Miserables” for Screen Actors Guild honors while also singling out the likes of Denzel Washington and Javier Bardem.

“Lincoln,” “Les Miserables” and comedy “Silver Linings Playbook” led the nominations for the SAG awards with four apiece, including the top prize of best movie ensemble cast.

Joining them with two nominations each were the cast of Iranian hostage drama “Argo” and, in a surprise choice, British comedy “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.”

The awards from the Screen Actors Guild are among the most-watched honors during Hollywood film awards season leading up to the Academy Awards because actors make up the largest voting group when the Oscars come around in February.

SAG voters focus on performances rather than directing and writing, meaning that action and effects-heavy films like “The Hobbit” are usually sidelined.

Consequently, SAG largely shunned the expected Oscar contender “Zero Dark Thirty” about the U.S. hunt for Osama bin Laden, giving it just one nomination for Jessica Chastain’s performance as a CIA agent.

But the latest James Bond blockbuster “Skyfall” made it onto SAG‘s list, with nominations for its stunt ensemble and Spanish actor Bardem’s supporting turn as blond-haired villain Silva.

Other perceived Oscar-worthy movies, including slavery era Western “Django Unchained,” went unmentioned, while cult drama “The Master” had just one nomination – for actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Nicole Kidman made the best supporting actress list for her turn in the steamy but little-seen independent movie “The Paperboy,” while Britain’s Helen Mirren was recognized for her portrayal of Alfred Hitchcock’s long-suffering wife in “Hitchcock.”

The SAG awards will be given out in Los Angeles on January 27 in a live telecast on the TBS and TNT networks.

Golden Globe nominations are announced on Thursday and Oscar nominations will be revealed on January 10.

‘LINCOLN’ PICKS UP STEAM

“Lincoln,” director Steven Spielberg’s well-reviewed film about U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s battle to outlaw slavery, has been picking up multiple accolades from U.S. critics in the busy Hollywood awards season.

On Wednesday, it brought SAG nominations for lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis and supporting actors Sally Field as his wife, and Tommy Lee Jones as powerful Congressman Thaddeus Stevens.

Hugh Jackman was nominated for best actor while Anne Hathaway is in the race for her supporting role in the movie adaptation of hit stage musical “Les Miserables.”

Other actors nominated on Wednesday included the stars of quirky comedy “Silver Linings Playbook” – Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro. John Hawkes and Helen Hunt also have a stake, for playing a disabled man and his sex therapist in heart-warming independent movie “The Sessions.”

“Being recognized by your peers is something I could only dream of happening and to be included in this group of actors is not only humbling but quite frankly, surreal,” Cooper, a first-time SAG nominees, said in a statement.

Washington, a two-time Oscar winner, was nominated for playing an alcoholic pilot in “Flight,” a role that has been largely overlooked in early critics award.

Perhaps the biggest surprise on Wednesday was “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” the story of a group of elderly Britons who retire to a ramshackle Indian hotel.

The film, which boasts a strong British cast including Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy, had two nominations – best ensemble and best supporting actress for Maggie Smith.

Smith also was nominated in SAG‘s television category for her role as a sarcastic countess in period drama “Downton Abbey.”

The popular British show was among the picks for ensemble acting in the TV category.

Other TV drama nominations went to the casts of “Boardwalk Empire,” “Homeland,” “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.”

In TV comedy, old favorites “30 Rock,” “Glee,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “Modern Family,” “Nurse Jackie” and “The Office” were nominated for their ensemble casts.

(Editing by Xavier Briand and Bill Trott)

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Lilly plans another study for Alzheimer’s drug

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Eli Lilly‘s experimental Alzheimer’s drug has flashed potential to help with mild cases of the disease, but patients and doctors will have to wait a few more years to learn whether regulators will allow the drugmaker to sell it.

Lilly said Wednesday that it will launch another late-stage study of the drug, solanezumab, no later than next year’s third quarter. The company’s stock slipped in midday trading.

The Indianapolis drugmaker said in August that the intravenous treatment failed to slow memory decline in two late-stage studies of about 1,000 patients each. But scientists saw a statistically significant slowing when they combined trial data. Pooled results found 34 percent less mental decline in mild Alzheimer’s patients compared with those on a fake treatment for 18 months.

Researchers also saw a statistically significant result when they examined a subgroup of patients with mild cases of Alzheimer’s disease.

Lilly will attempt to confirm that benefit in the new trial before it seeks U.S. regulatory approval, something analysts widely expected the drugmaker to do after it announced the initial results.

The additional study could help Lilly build a better case with U.S. regulators. But it will likely take a few years to learn the results. Researchers will have to measure over time a patient’s rate of cognitive decline, which involves the ability remember things.

Citi analyst Andrew Baum said in a research note the study will likely be completed by the second half of 2015. He expects the drug, if approved, to launch in 2017.

Eli Lilly and Co.’s share price fell $ 1.60, or 3.2 percent, to close at $ 49. It’s still up 16 percent since the company announced the initial results in August. Baum said Wednesday’s news helped shake out some of the “false hope” for a near-term approval of the drug that had inflated the stock price.

Drugmakers have tried and failed for years to develop successful treatments for Alzheimer’s, and patients and doctors are anxious for something that can slow its progression.

Solanezumab was one of three potential Alzheimer’s drugs in late-stage testing. Bapineuzumab, being developed by Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy unit, gave disappointing results in two studies last summer.

A pivotal study of the third — Gammagard, by Baxter International Inc. — will wrap up at the end of this year. Results are expected in the first or second quarter next year.

Solanezumab binds to beta-amyloid protein, which scientists believe is a key component to sticky plaque that basically gums up the brain of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease. The drug is designed to help the body remove the protein from the brain before it can form that plaque.

Current treatments like Pfizer Inc.’s Aricept try to control symptoms of the disease. Analysts have said a treatment that does more than manage symptoms such as memory loss, confusion and agitation could be worth billions of dollars in annual sales. But drugmakers first have to spend a massive amount on testing and clinical development to produce such a drug.

“When you go for the blockbuster, you have to pay for the blockbuster, either in money or time,” WBB Securities analyst Steve Brozak said regarding Lilly’s announcement.

More than 35 million people worldwide have dementia, a term for brain disorders that affect memory, judgment and other mental functions. Alzheimer’s is the most common type. Many Alzheimer’s patients typically live four to eight years after diagnosis, as the disease gradually erodes their memory and ability to think or perform simple tasks.

In the United States, 5.4 million people have Alzheimer’s, which is the country’s sixth-leading cause of death. The number of Alzheimer’s patients in the U.S. is expected to jump to 16 million by 2050, and costs for care are expected to skyrocket.

___

AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Big decline in UK unemployment

12 December 2012 Last updated at 08:54 ET

Continue reading the main story

The number of people out of work fell by 82,000 between August and October, to 2.51 million, official figures have shown.

It was the biggest quarterly fall in unemployment since 2001.

The unemployment rate was 7.8%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous three months.

The Office for National Statistics also said that the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell 3,000 to 1.58 million in November.

Total pay was up 1.8% compared with the same period last year.

Employment rose 40,000 to 29.6 million, which was the highest figure since records began in 1971.

“We see more people looking for work and actually finding work, so I think there’s a really strong labour market there,” Mark Hoban, minister for work and pensions, told the BBC.

“I think there’s more flexibility in the labour market, although this month we’ve seen a big increase in full-time jobs and no movement at all in the number of part-time jobs.”

David Cameron was challenged in the Commons over “stubbornly high” long-term unemployment

Employment in the public sector fell for the 12th consecutive month, dropping 24,000 to 5.7 million, which was outstripped by a 65,000 rise in private sector employment to 23.8 million.

“The main disappointment was the fact that despite the gains in employment, there is no pick-up in wage growth, which remains at 1.8%, year on year,” said James Knightley at ING.

“The fact that UK employment is rising, consumer confidence is up and anecdotal evidence of retail sales haven’t been too bad, offers some hope that the domestic situation in the UK is stabilising.”

Among the details in the ONS report:

• number in full-time employment rose 44,000


• number in part-time employment fell 4,000


• unemployed 16-to-24-year-olds fell 90,000 to 626,000, excluding people in full-time education


• the biggest regional fall in employment was in Scotland, where it fell 27,000


• the biggest regional rise was in Yorkshire and the Humber, where it rose 48,000

Leader of the opposition Ed Miliband said long-term unemployment was still “stubbornly high” and the problem was of “fundamental importance… to the country as a whole”.

Continue reading the main story

Things seem to be getting better for young people looking for work. Or at least they are not getting worse. Alas, the same cannot be said for average earnings, which have actually now fallen even further behind inflation in October, with average annual growth of just 1.3%, less than half the rate of inflation.”

End Quote

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron said that while long-term youth unemployment was down 10,000, the problem showed the importance of the government’s Work Programme. However, “clearly, there is more to do,” he said.

Surprising strength

Many analysts have questioned why unemployment has not been higher, given the general weakness of the economy.

The flexibility of the workforce has been part of that, according to Ross Walker, UK economist at RBS, who points to the large numbers of part-time jobs in previous months, small rises in average wages and the increase in self-employment.

“None of that fully explains the gap – we would still have expected the labour market to have been rather weaker than it has been,” he said.

“Maybe actually, underlying growth is a little bit better than is being reported.”

BBC chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym said the Bank of England had admitted it did not understand why the labour market was so strong.

“They’re a bit worried about low productivity – in other words, more people in work, but not producing proportionally the amount that you would expect,” he said.

Shadow employment minister Liam Byrne: “We are absolutely not out of the woods yet”

“So is that a sign of a weak economy or an economy that’s got potential to grow in the future? They really don’t know.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility, which makes economic forecasts on behalf of the economy, last week cut its forecast for the peak rate of unemployment to 8.2%, although that still suggests a considerable increase in joblessness from the current 7.8%.

Shadow work and pensions minister Liam Byrne welcomed the fall in unemployment, but stressed that there was also bad news in the figures.

“Pay packets are under intense pressure as the pace of jobs growth slows down – wages are now growing at only half the rate of prices,” he told the BBC.

“Families are under real pressure right now and what today’s figures show is that the Department for Work and Pensions’ big back-to-work programmes are frankly delivering nothing.”

BBC News – Business

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The Hobbit: Richard Armitage Talks Preparations For Playing Thorin Oakenshield

British actor Richard Armitage admitted it wasn’t a walk in the park to play a J.R.R. Tolkien character in Peter Jackson’s reimagining of “The Hobbit,” the first installment of which is on its way into theaters.

Upon touching down in New Zealand, where the trilogy was shot, the cast had a lot of character preparation to do.

PLAY IT NOW: Martin Freeman Discusses The Hobbit’s ‘Good Chemistry’ & Playing Bilbo Baggins

“We arrived in February 2011 and we went straight into a training program, which was called ‘Dwarf Bootcamp,’ which was literally boots — these huge boots. We learned how to walk, we wrestled with each other, we did archery together, we did sword fighting, hammer fighting, horse riding — everything you could possibly think of,” Richard, who plays Thorin Oakenshield in the film told Access Hollywood at the film’s junket.

In addition, the cast, which includes his former “Cold Feet” co-star James Nesbitt as Bofur, found ways to get to know each other better off set.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — New York City Premiere

“We went round to each other’s houses and we cooked food together, we went to the pub and got drunk together, so there was an incredibly great bonding time between the dwarves,” he said.

Richard had plenty of experience sword fighting and horse riding in the BBC America series “Robin Hood,” but it was something else that came in handy during the long days on set.

“I’d done a number of shows where I’d had to use sword fighting and I’d also done horse riding. I’d also pulled guns out of my pocket. That was less useful,” he laughed, likely referring to his recent role in the PBS-import series “MI-5,” where he played a British spy. “But, yeah, you draw on everything. I’d worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company, so the vocal work was really useful to kind of pull that from there. I’d worked in a circus, there were… all sorts of things that were really useful, but the one thing that I do have — for lack of talent — is stamina and that’s the one thing I think everybody needed on this job.”

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Meet ‘The Hobbit’ Cast!

An imagination was useful also, but Richard said what turned out on the big screen was still wilder – and more beautiful – than he dreamed of.

“So many moments… Actually, apart from the eagles — which every single time I’ve seen this film absolutely blows my mind and I can barely keep the tears back and [it has] nothing to do with the pathos of the scene, just that feeling of flight moves me — is the throne of Aragorn, in the beginning of the prologue,” he told Access of the moment that moved him most. “When it got to [filming] that scene, I walked on and… it was just a green cross on the floor with a tiny green chair… [But in the film], they just made this incredible, almost space aged, sort of suspended seat in the middle of this stalagmite. It just blows my mind when I see that.”

VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Brit Pack: Hot Shots Of Stars From The UK!

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” hits theaters on December 14, 2012, followed by “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” on December 13, 2013 and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” on July 18, 2014.

– Jolie Lash

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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