Digital Entertainment

September 8, 2008

CBS's Moonves Has Big Plans for CNET

Anyone who knows Leslie Moonves, CBS's gravel-voiced CEO, knows he doesn't like to lose. This is the guy who kept a punching bag in his Los Angeles office to take out ...

September 3, 2008

Microsoft Will Cut Xbox Prices in the U.S.

Microsoft (MSFT) thought it would steal a march on the competition when it launched its Xbox 360 video-game console in late 2005, a year before rivals could get out ...

September 2, 2008

Samsung's Satisfactory Sound Bar

Anybody who's set up a home theater system knows a thing or two about clutter. Unless you pay money to have wires hidden behind walls, you'll need to contend with a ...

August 27, 2008

Orb's Awesome Audio Mod2 Speakers

One of the often overlooked areas of setting up a home theater is sound. Many of us spend thousands of dollars on a high-definition TV, then shell out several hundred ...

August 22, 2008

Apple's Ambitious iPhone 3G Plans

Forecasting iPhone sales is one of tech's toughest guessing games. Since Apple's iPhone 3G came storming out of the gate with 1 million units sold in the three days ...

August 20, 2008

Olympic Winner: Online Video

The most hotly contested Olympic battle? It's not between U.S. and Chinese gymnasts or Michael Phelps and those trash-talking French swimmers. Instead, the most ...

August 19, 2008

The iPhone Kill-Switch Kerfuffle

And you thought Google's (GOOG) got the goods on you. Sure, the Web search leader keeps tabs on the searches that emanate from your PC. But consider the data dossier ...

August 15, 2008

VCs Hope to See Wi-Fi Everywhere

Many people are familiar with the coffee shop's Wi-Fi, while others even know how to set up a simple home network. Pretty much everyone, however, knows that Wi-Fi is ...

August 15, 2008

Dell's Music Player Has New Zing

A long list of powerful companies have tried and failed to make much of a mark in the world of digital entertainment, where Apple (AAPL) reigns supreme. Think ...

August 13, 2008

Can Online Video Support Its Next Generation?

Hayden Black is nice, funny, quotable, and makes two critically acclaimed and modestly popular Web shows. He may not have a face for television, but that hasn't ...

August 8, 2008

Tom Cruise: A Comic Comeback

This is hard to say. I am a Tom Cruise convert. Yes, this is the same Tom Cruise we recall talking up Scientology, dismissing Brooke Shields's postpartum use of ...

August 8, 2008

Great-Looking Speakers (with Good Sound, Too)

Call me a hypocrite. For years, I've been counseling friends, colleagues, and readers to make sure they accompany expensive, flat-panel televisions with a great sound ...

August 8, 2008

BlogTalkRadio: For Business

In the past two years, BlogTalkRadio has become one of those curious Internet sensations—millions rave about it, but few understand how it'll make enough money ...

August 5, 2008

Sony Buys the Rest of Ailing Sony BMG

In a world of declining values for just about everything, probably the toughest thing to sell is a music company. Who wants to buy into a business where U.S. sales ...

July 29, 2008

Philips' Eco TV: Its Last Hurrah?

Sitting in front of Royal Philips Electronics' (PHG) 42PFL5603D/27 "Eco TV," I'm lamenting the fact that this may be the Dutch company's best achievement in high-def ...

July 25, 2008

The FCC Approves the XM-Sirius Merger

After more than 16 months in regulatory limbo, the planned merger between XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) finally got the go-ahead. Late on...

July 25, 2008

XM-Sirius: Land Mines Aplenty

A lot can happen in 17 months, especially when it comes to the digital music landscape. In the stretch between when Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) and XM Satellite ...

July 24, 2008

Hasbro Threatens Facebook's Scrabulous

Joel Bussanich, 31, logs onto Facebook with an agenda. Sure, it's nice to check in with pals, but mostly he's there because it's his turn on Scrabulous, the Scrabble ...

July 21, 2008

The Battle over Your TV

If you were thinking of starting a set-top box company that delivers video content to the TV, let me stop you right there. There are already numerous players vying to ...

July 18, 2008

CBS Talks Departures

Who's in and who's out at CBS? Executives of the Tiffany Network aimed to set the record straight on that question at the annual gathering of television critics in Los...

July 16, 2008

Joss Whedon's Wacky Web Experiment

Sometimes, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. In Joss Whedon's case, what he felt he had to do was make an online musical about a super villain who keeps getting ...

July 1, 2008

Nokia Tries Apple's Tune

Nokia (NOK) wants some of Apple's rhythm. On July 1 the Finnish mobile-phone maker said that Warner Music Group (WMG) has agreed to participate in Nokia's fledgling ...

June 30, 2008

Taking the Wraps off the New Rhapsody

Digital media concern RealNetworks (RNWK) will announce on June 30 a sweeping expansion of its music store, including the launch of its long-awaited partnership with ...

June 24, 2008

Behind Goldman's XM-Sirius Slam

Just when you thought it was safe to get bullish on satellite radio, along comes a bearish Wall Street report. Days after a top U.S. regulator pledged to give a ...

June 24, 2008

Reading the Kindle with Your Morning Coffee

My typical day begins with a stack of four newspapers waiting outside the door to my apartment. Picking them up is what I do between shutting off the alarm and turning...