London premiere of last Harry Potter film to be livecast on YouTube (Yahoo! News)

On July 7, YouTube will be live streaming the red carpet premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 from Trafalgar Square in London. Many famous faces are expected to appear at the event, including author J.K. Rowling, Emma Watson who plays Hermione, Rupert Grint of Ron Weasley fame, and Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe. The livecast will be reaired immediately after it is done so those with time zone differences can watch. The stream begins at 8 a.m. Pacific/11 a.m. Eastern/4 p.m. British Summer Time.

You can watch the event on YouTube's official Harry Potter Channel. If you go there now, you'll see a countdown clock and be able to watch the most recent trailers for the film, read the official Twitter feed or enter a sweepstakes to be at the London premiere.

Can't wait for the final film's July 15th premiere? There are plenty of Potter-themed distractions for you to indulge in from watching the early movies on YouTube or Facebook as well as ABC Family's upcoming Harry Potter Weekend to downloading the Harry Potter Wand app and dueling your friends.

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait even longer, October to be exact, before we learn the full scope of what the newly announced Pottermore site has to offer for fans who want to continue their passion for all things Harry Potter.

Twitter via YouTube Official Blog

Post by Dan O'Halloran

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Pottermore unveiled: Harry Potter ebooks and an online wizarding world (Yahoo! News)

After a mysterious site sprung up last week, Harry Potter fans were in a frenzy. Today, author J.K. Rowling revealed what the new Potter portal had been hinting at. The biggest news — for fans and the publishing industry alike — is that Rowling will release the long-awaited Harry Potter ebooks herself, directly through Pottermore, the new website. The Harry Potter ebooks won't be constrained by DRM, the copyright licensing system that constrains much virtual media.

Beyond the ebook reveal, Rowling hinted that Pottermore will offer an interactive world "where fans can share, participate in, and rediscover the stories." It's not entirely clear if there will be a full multiplayer online game like many fans had hoped, but details from Wired suggest that fans will be able to navigate the virtual world along with the story, exploring familiar settings like Gringotts and Hogwarts, even using a virtual currency — galleons, of course.

While there are no new books in the works, Rowling hinted that Pottermore will be the home of new material that she's been "hoarding for years" about the intricately crafted fantasy universe that took the world by storm. The beta version of Pottermore will launch of July 31 — but only for the first 1 million fans to track down the clues to an online Potter-themed scavenger hunt. The full new virtual Harry Potter experience will open its gates on October 1.

(Source)

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