Intel’s Sandy Bridge 
technology is less than a year old, but the next big thing already appears to be on the horizon.
The company showed off prototypes for its “Ivy Bridge” processors this week at its Intel Developer Forum and the early word is encouraging – with faster speeds, lower power consumption and amazing battery life.
The videogame world 
has a long way to go to catch up with the television advertising market, but it has hit a notable milestone.
DFC Intelligence reports U.S. advertisers spent over $1 billion in 2010 on video games, a number that’s expected to double by 2014. Globally, that number hit $3.1 billion, with expectations it will reach $7.2 billion by 2014.
Facebook’s a great 
way to waste 10-15 minutes. You can catch up with friends. You can let everyone know about the mundane details of your day. And you can learn more about your favorite brands and entertainment content.
Unfortunately, that 10-15 minutes often ends up being a lot longer per day – and, as a result, social media has grown into a viable threat to entertainment companies who are alredy fighting for viewers’ attention.
Hulu’s list of 
potential problems keep piling up.
As the bidding war for the streaming video service continues between Yahoo, Google, Amazon and Dish, NBC has launched a new app bringing full-length episodes of select shows to the iPad.
The fight between 
the creators of the Call of Duty franchise and their former publisher Activision has a court date.
Jason West and Vince Zampella’s case against the company will be heard before a judge on May 7, 2012. Both parties are suing each other over a variety of charges in a soap opera-like tale of betrayal, cash and skullduggery – but the money at stake – hundreds of millions of dollars – is very real.
August, traditionally, 
is when game sales start to rev up for the holiday season. This year, though, they sputtered and died.
With the release date of Electronic Arts annual Madden football franchise moved to the end of the month, retail sales plummeted in August, falling 37 percent as compared to last year. Overall, year over year sales were down 23 percent.
Ricky Gervais’ biting 
(some might say mean-spirited) hosting gig at last year’s Golden Globes probably guaranteed he won’t be asked back in the near future in any official capacity. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s through with the awards show.
Gervais, on his blog, has floated the idea of live-streaming a podcast during this year’s show, offering his own brand of commentary and ego-deflation to the proceedings.
TiVo might have 
kick started the DVR revolution, but it quickly found itself shoved aside by cable companies, who offered the same services without a sizable up front cost to customers and a much lower monthly fee.
As the holidays draw near, the company’s about to launch its most aggressive hardware counteroffensive. The question is: Will it matter?
Award season in 
the video game industry is underway.
The Writer’s Guild of America has put out a call for submissions for its Video game writing award, which will be presented alongside similar nods for film and television writing Feb. 19. Submissions are being accepted through Dec. 1.
Looks like Dish Network 
could be looking to tackle Netflix on its own turf – and it’s bringing a surprise player to the game.
Bloomberg reports the satellite service plans to offer a standalone subscription streaming service that will capitalize on the Blockbuster brand. And, to rub salt in Netflix’s wounds: It might include titles from Starz.
Chris Morris: Journalist 