Apple facing executive exodus?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Chris Morris

Executives shuffle in and out of companies all the time, so a couple moves in and of themselves don’t necessarily have an underlying meaning. But Apple appears to be losing a number of its top dogs.

John Herbold, a senior product manager on Apple’s recently announced iCloud service, has left the company, according to his LinkedIn page. His departure follows that of Apple Store creator Ron Johnson (who moved to J.C. Penney earlier this month) and OS X creator and Steve Jobs confidante Bertrand Serlet, who left in March.

Add Sega to the hacker list – and make another check mark next to Sony

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Chris Morris

Hackers continue to run amok in the entertainment world.

Sega is the latest game company to be hit, following in the steps of Nintendo, Bethesda, Sony and more. Meanwhile, another group claims to have breached Sony Pictures – this time in France.

Senate proposes jail time for illegal video streams

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Chris Morris

While it’s already illegal to upload and download copyrighted content, there’s a loophole that lets streaming sites get away with it. The U.S. Senate is moving to close that fast.

The Commercial Felony Streaming Act – a bill that would make illegal streaming a felony – has passed the Judiciary Committee and now moves into the full Senate. If it’s passed, it would carry penalties of up to five years in prison for offenders.

The weirdest casting news of the day – possibly year

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Chris Morris

Brad Pitt is an A-list celebrity. Actors clamor to share screen time with him, since it’s an almost certain chance to get screen time in front of a huge audience.

So what the heck is the CEO of Activision doing in Pitt’s latest film?

Set-top box vampires

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Chris Morris

There are roughly 160 million set-top boxes in homes around the U.S. – that’s more than 80 percent of the country’s domiciles. And every last one of them is a vampire.

Not the Bela Lugosi or Robert Pattinson kind, of course – but the kind that suck power from your walls and money from your wallet.

Meet the Internet’s new public enemy #1

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Chris Morris

Fame in the hacking community is a rare and fleeting thing. Kevin Mitnick found it – and served time for it. And more recently, the decentralized group “Anonymous” has been the reigning top dog.

But in the last month, a new contender for the throne has made a big push – and a lot of entertainment companies have been casualties of this war.

May game sales bite the dust

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Chris Morris

No one expected May to be a particularly stellar month for video game sales – but no one expected it to be a disaster either. Unfortunately, disaster doesn’t begin to describe the month.

Software sales nose dived 19 percent in May, the industry’s worst performance since Oct. 2006. Overall, brick and mortar sales were down 13 percent to $718.8 million. Year to date, the industry is 14 percent off of 2010’s retail sales pace, according to The NPD Group.

Report: Arrests made in PlayStation Network attack

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Chris Morris

Police in Spain have arrested a trio of hackers who officials say could be a part of the recent attacks on Sony’s PlayStation Network.

Reuters reports the three suspected members of the loose hacker alliance known as Anonymous are being charged with cyber-attacks against Sony, governments, businesses and banks.

E3 2011: Snoop Dogg talks piracy, video games

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Chris Morris

E3 is a magnet for celebrities each year. Steven Spielberg regularly shows up. Robin Williams has been seen sneaking into demos. And earlier today, Snoop Dogg was at the YooStar booth to promote the company’s latest game – “YooStar on MTV”.

Before going out to shill the game, the rapper talked with me about his thoughts on piracy after the Sony data breach earlier this year as well as his favorite games.

E3 2011: Two new Halos, Live TV headed to Xbox

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Chris Morris

Microsoft is covering its bases at this year’s E3.

The company, in its pre-show pres conference, announced a variety of new games and services, designed to appeal to everyone from core gamers to casual gamers to nongamers.

Chris Morris: Journalist

Category Archives: Variety – Technotainment