FX Orders New Cold War-Era Spy Drama

FX announced today that they've ordered up 13 episodes of The Americans - a period drama about the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington DC shortly after Ronald Reagan is elected President.

The Americans was created by Joe Weisberg and stars Keri Russell (Felicity), Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) and Noah Emmerich (Super 8). The series will revolve around the arranged marriage of Phillip (Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Russell), who have two children who know nothing about their parents true identity. As the marriage grows more passionate and genuine by the day, it is still constantly tested by the escalation of the Cold War and the intimate, dangerous and darkly funny relationships they must maintain with a network of spies and informants under their control. Complicating their relationship further is Phillip’s growing sense of affinity for America’s values and way of life. Tensions also heighten upon the arrival of a new neighbor, Stan (Emmerich), an FBI agent working in counter intelligence.

Keri Russell in FOX's Running Wilde.

“We’re proud to welcome The Americans, a taught series that crackles with incredible performances rooted in character perspectives never explored on a U.S. television series, to FX’s line up of quality dramas,” said John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. “We’re equally excited to welcome Graham Yost’s talented young Padawan Joe Weisberg as Creator/Showrunner. He joins a long line of gifted writer/producers who have taken their first shot at greatness on FX.”

Weisberg is Executive Producer/Showrunner, alongside Executive Producer Graham Yost (Justified). The series begins production in October and is scheduled to premiere in early 2013.

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Microsoft Job Listing Outs "Next Generation Surface"

In more than a dozen job listings on the Microsoft Career site spotted today by TechRadar, the Redmond, Washington technology giant let slip a hint that its Surface tablet releasing on October 26 this year won't be the last of its kind. A post on the Official Microsoft Blog echoes the sentiment, calling Surface "our new family of PCs".

While this could be a case of some bad or antiquated terminology (possibly referring to the already-announced Surface as the next generation of PixelSense, for example), the listings were posted after the reveal of the tablet on June 19.

The listings themselves also imply that these new positions will involve working on a different set of devices, as one listing mentions "understanding of touch display architecture and experience in mechanical integration of large touch displays into electronics products". "Large" is a relative term in the world of displays, but it could refer to a desktop monitor or integration with TV monitors.

If these listings do represent a new breed of Surface devices, then they may well feature some unique components mentioned in to the job requirements. "Alternative power sources" seems to imply that the next generation will be even greener than the first, though another listing does include AC/DC power expertise, which means battery-powered machines.

As much as Microsoft has lauded the already-announced Surface tablets for their unique cooling architecture, new developments in "passive and active cooling thermal designs" could further innovate on those models and allow for more powerful processors.

Whatever the next Surface looks like, it's no surprise that Microsoft is getting an early start on preparing it for consumers. Given past software cycles, its likely that these newer Surface devices would still run Windows 8, and that third-party hardware manufacturers will still get shafted as Microsoft dives headlong into the hardware space.

Source: TechRadar 

Dan Crabtree is an I.T. guy and freelance writer with words on IGN, and a league of other gaming news outlets. His dog is considered handsome and well-read. You can find him (the human) on Twitter and IGN.

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