film

Sony Corp., the company that brought us the Walkman and parent company of music label Sony Music Entertainment, plans to shut down a CD-manufacturing plant in southern New Jersey in March.

About 300 employees will be laid off once the 50-year-old Sony DADC plant in Pitman, N.J., is closed. Sony said it plans to shift CD-making operations to a facility in Indiana. The company moved DVD manufacturing from the plant about a year ago.

Lisa Gephardt, a Sony spokeswoman said in a statement: "In light of the current economic environment and challenges facing the physical media industry, Sony … Read more

The two camps that have waged copyright war this year on accused movie pirates --adult and independent filmmakers--are teaming up to fight illegal file sharing.

Kenneth Ford, one of the attorneys that made news this year by filing copyright lawsuits against tens of thousands of people, told CNET on Monday that he is now working with Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver. DGW is the Washington, D.C., law firm that sometimes operates as U.S. Copyright Group and represents nearly a dozen indie film studios, including the makers of the Academy Award winning war film, "The Hurt Locker."

"[… Read more

It's our final live show from CES 2011, and it's safe to assume our position as Worst Podcast of CES. Case in point: did any of the other CNET Live podcasts receive an anti-teen-sexting pamphlet from PicsChecker after their show? The 404 must give off some kind of unique vibe, because this service seems to appeal to our demographic. Check it out and let us know what you think. No guest on today's show, but there's plenty of stories from CES to run down, so let's go right to it!

At last year's CES, Polaroid appointed Lady Gaga to the role of creative director, and this time we get to see exactly what she's been working on for the past 12 months. At her big press conference this year, Gaga announced that phones are truly the cameras of the future and debuted the GL20 Camera Glasses, an innovative pair of shades that feature two embedded OLED screens that can capture and display images of anything around you.

Also announced were the GL30 Instant Digital Camera, a printer enabled device that seems to be a throwback of the old "shake it to develop" days of Polaroid film that works in conjunction with the GL10 Instant Printer, a Bluetooth wireless device that can produce Polaroid-style prints in under a minute. TOLD you me and Gaga have a lot in common!

CES is no stranger to extravagance and ridiculousness, and this year saw a bunch of both, starting with the insane Samsung press conference. With their own child from the future emceeing the night, Samsung and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeff Katzenberg stole the show with 3D images, Samsung dance routines replete with rectangular TV props, and a sneak peek at the Xfinity TV app for the Samsung Galaxy Tab that turns the tablet into a remote control and video player.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, indulge us as we take a minute to do what we do best: poke fun at some of the stranger, and perhaps more useless, products featured here in Vegas starting with this Wii/Kinect/Move-enabled bowling ball courtesy of our friends at CTA Digital.

This CTA booth girl looked all right playing with it, but this single-function accessory had us shaking our heads and wondering who would buy this toy.

Let's move on to the booth for Christian gaming site GameChurch.com that actually features a cardboard cutout of Jesus himself fragging enemies like there's no tomorrow. We had no idea Jesus was a gamer, but apparently he's achieved "Ub3r Pwnage since 33 A.D."

GameChurch.com is based on the idea that video game ratings aren't stringent enough for the God-fearing consumer, so the site is here to award its own "morality ratings" to popular video games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Strangely enough, the site also has a sister site at an adjacent convention called XXXChurch.com that seeks to save blasphemers from their own hands.

Stick around after the break, because we have plenty more craziness from the showroom floor to get to, including an exhibiting insurance company that lets you smash an Asus laptop with a hammer, a Steampunk keyboard fetish, and more rumors about the impending Apple iPhone coming to Verizon on February 3. Plus, don't miss our picks for Best of CES 2011. Thanks for listening!

A group of stakeholders in the entertainment industry are poised to make a important sales pitch to consumers concerning the way they buy and watch movies and TV shows.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Netflix, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Best Buy are among the members of a consortium called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, or DECE, which has come up with a set of standards and specifications designed to make approved digital content playable on certified devices. DECE calls the technology UltraViolet.

DECE announced this evening at the 2011 CES in Las Vegas that it expects companies that have licensed UltraViolet to begin … Read more

First Solar has signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, to supply its thin-film solar panels to China Guangdong Nuclear Solar Energy Development (CGN SEDC), the company charged with building and running China's massive solar plant, First Solar company announced today.

The solar farm in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, is planned to be a 2,000-megawatt facility when fully completed by its estimated date of 2019.

While several companies will be involved in the design, construction, and operations of the giant facility, CGN SEDC is the majority owner of the project and will be the primary overseer of the facility'… Read more

More U.S. solar start-ups are finding that the route to the global solar panel market passes through government offices.

The meltdown of the financial markets over the past two years means that state, local, and federal incentives are increasingly part of the financial package solar start-ups need to assemble when looking to start manufacturing at large scale.

Silicon Valley-based SoloPower expects to hear next month whether its application to the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program will come through. Without the loan, private money, and incentives from its home town of San Jose, Calif., SoloPower would be looking … Read more

Ever found yourself yelling, "Noooo, don't do it!" at a movie screen? Or been in the mood for a happy ending and found yourself halfway through a film you knew would leave you in a puddle of tears?

A new system out of Israel's Tel Aviv University allows viewers to influence a movie's plot while viewing it, thus affecting the progression of events. For now, audiences are testing the technology with a full-length interactive pilot feature, "Turbulence." But the plan is to extend the tool to other "hyper-narrative interactive movies," including commercials and television series, said Nitzan Ben Shaul, a professor of film and television studies at the university who created the system.

Called InSplit, it consists of a Web-based basic editor and a standalone player for editing and playing interactive branching narrative videos. The interaction takes the form of an iridescent glow that appears onscreen as an "action item" at pivotal plot moments. Should a character send a defining text message, for example?

If viewers think so, they tap the screen of the standalone player or click "send" on a Mac or PC to activate the actor's cell phone. If the viewer hesitates too long, the action will continue on a predetermined course.

Ben Shaul said he was inspired by "Sliding Doors" and "Run Lola Run," two films that give audiences the suspense and thrill of multiple outcomes.

"They make you think about options in life, but they don't let you experience what responsibility feels like at crucial decision points," he said. "In our film you decide where the character should go, and you can decide to return to the point where the plot flipped. It's gripping." … Read more

Abound Solar has secured $510 million to ramp up production of its thin-film solar panels and compete in the cut-throat pricing of the global solar photovoltaics industry.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu is scheduled to host a conference call today with Abound Solar CEO Tom Tiller to announce that the Fort Collins, Colo.-based company has finalized a $400 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. It also raised $110 million in equity from existing private investors, one of the requirements for getting the loan.

With the money, Abound Solar can boost production to 200 megawatts a year by 2012 … Read more

Robotics manufacturing tends to evoke visions of a John Henry-esque scenario in which competent women and men lose jobs to hunks of automated metal.

But in the case of Solyndra it may be robots that help American workers compete more effectively against China's low-cost labor force.

Consider the video that solar manufacturer Solyndra released this week illustrating how thin-film CIGS (copper, indium, gallium, and selenide) solar modules are produced.

In reality, the video (see below) is a showcase for the company's new state-of-the-art solar manufacturing plant, built with a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, … Read more