Google moves deeper into the entertainment space

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Chris Morris

Google has long since moved past its roots as a company focusing on Internet search, but in the past month or so, it has been demonstrating an increasing interest in the world of entertainment – raising some questions about its end game.

In mid-May, it launched the Google Music cloud storage system and a month earlier, reports suggested it YouTube arm was looking to add up to 20 ‘channels’ of original, professionally produced content, which will fill between 5-10 hours per week. Now it has the games industry in its sites.

3D gaming gets its closeup

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Chris Morris

Between the Nintendo 3DS, Nvidia’s efforts to push 3D on the PC and Sony’s recently announced PlayStation 3-branded 3D display, stereoscopic 3D video- games are finally stepping into the spotlight.

But even as more and more games utilize the technology, there’s a debate among game- makers on how much of a draw it will be for consumers.

Amazon dives a bit deeper into the streaming video space

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Chris Morris

Amazon is ramping up its fight against Netflix.

The online retailer, which lets members of its Amazon Prime service stream over 5,000 films and television shows, has added another 1,000 offerings to the mix – and is prominently letting users know that on its front page today.

Another player enters the cloud music space

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Chris Morris

The sky is getting pretty crowded these days.

The already competitive cloud music space has another competitor stepping into the fray. Best Buy today unveiled plans for its own service, letting people access their digital music collection from virtually anywhere.

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?

Showbiz sweats hacker attacks

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Chris Morris

No one in the entertainment world wants to be Sony these days.

After a security breach resulted in the theft of personal information in more than 100 million user accounts, it didn’t seem things could get much worse. But a series of rapid-fire smaller hacks to sites in Canada, Thailand and Indonesia — along with an exploit on Sony’s PlayStation site that temporarily put accounts at risk again — continued to endanger the company’s reputation with consumers.

Instead of the muffled competitive snickering that usually occurs when a rival stumbles, other entertainment companies have watched in fear as the drama has played out, knowing that their own online operations were spared only by the whim of the hacking community.

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.

Chris Morris: Journalist

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