Entertainment

Vdio, the online movie and television service from the makers of Rdio, is now open to anyone in the U.S. and U.K.

Rdio announced the news on its blog Wednesday, saying Vdio is no longer available solely to those people who have Rdio subscriptions.

Rdio launched Vdio in April as a competitor to similar services from Apple and Amazon. The offering lets users buy, rent, and share movies and television shows with others in real time. In addition to Web-based viewing, Vdio lets users access its programming from the iPad through its mobile application.

Vdio is available now … Read more

Comic-Con is just a month away and Mel Hoppe definitely plans to be there. In fact, July is a busy month for the self-described cosplayer, gamer, and geek. Almost immediately after the big show in San Diego, she'll be heading up to Kintoki-Con, the Asian media and culture convention in Sacramento, Calif., where she'll be hanging out in the "Artist's Alley" under her alias, WindoftheStars.

That's because Hoppe isn't just a dedicated cosplayer, she also makes and sells her own costumes from her home base in northern Nevada. I came across the work of WindoftheStars on Google+ a few months ago and was blown away by the beauty, realism, and range of her creations (fortunately, she doesn't go as far as this real-life anime girl).

I reached out to Hoppe to learn a little more about how she got into her craft. She told me a story I'm sure many readers of Crave can relate to. It all started with a Commodore 128 and a joystick at a young age.… Read more

Netflix streaming is heading to the Netherlands.

The company said Wednesday that the service will be available in "late 2013," adding that its streaming service will offer "Hollywood, local and global TV series and films, including critically-acclaimed Netflix Original Series such as 'House of Cards' and 'Arrested Development' whenever and wherever they like on tablets, phones, TVs, game consoles and computers."

Last year, Netflix made a significant push into Europe by launching its streaming service in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The service is also available in the U.K., Ireland, and the small island country … Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. -- If you live in Austin, San Francisco, New York, or any number of other cites, the sight of hundreds of Santa Clauses prowling around, ducking in and out of bars, department stores, or parks as part of the annual SantaCon has probably become second nature.

But imagine seeing dozens of St. Nicks walking toward you on a San Francisco street in 1994 or 1995 , when the Internet was anything but ubiquitous, when culture jamming was a phrase no one had heard before, and Improv Everywhere, the Yes Men, and flash mobs were still a thing of the … Read more

There's nothing worse than a senseless death.

Not that any death makes sense, of course. But it's easier to accept someone dying of sheer old age than a 16-year-old being crushed in a car because she was texting Polly about the dimples on Charlie's cheeks.

This week, advertising's loudest are meeting at the Cannes Advertising Festival. One campaign doing absurdly well is an absurdist effort from Australia that tries to stop people doing stupid things around trains.

Called "Dumb Ways to Die," it takes the silliness of how people die around trains and raises … Read more

On today's show we're welcoming Dan Chiappini from GameSpot Australia along with 404 veteran Scott Stein. We'll briefly recap Scott's time down at WWDC but then get right into some more E3 talk where we make Scott feel jealous about missing what was probably the biggest E3 in something like seven years. Dan think he knows why Nintendo refuses to open its "vault" of games and we all wonder how the company can rebound from a bleak E3 showing.

We're also chatting about the mundane abundance of shooters at E3, the lack of innovation, and which games actually piqued our interest.

And be sure to enter CNET's awesome "From Old School to Tech Cool" contest that's currently underway on our Facebook page!

- Follow our new buddy Dan Chiappini on Twitter.

- Make sure to do the same for 404 veteran Scott Stein.

- Catch up on Scott's and the rest of CNET's WWDC coverage.

- Give CNET's E3 2013 page one last skim.… Read more

We've seen plenty of crazy Lego re-creations over the years, from landmark architecture to vintage computers, but we can't help but be impressed when an entire movie is redone in bricks.

That would be 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," which a team of 12 Lego builders has turned into a marvelous 3D plastic diorama that includes just about every scene in the film, including a rotating tornado.

The collaborators from VirtuaLUG recently showed off the result of their teamwork at Brickworld 2013 Chicago, a display of spectacular Lego builds. … Read more

Sony is once again being squeezed by one of its biggest investors to split itself up by spinning off its entertainment division.

Third Point hedge fund founder Daniel Loeb sent a letter on Tuesday to Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai urging him to set up a semi-independent board to run a spun-off and public entertainment company, Reuters reported. Loeb recently upped his fund's investment in Sony to 70 million shares, or almost 7 percent of the company, a stake worth around $1.4 billion.

Loeb has argued that Sony has been unable to successfully run its entertainment division, which includes … Read more

For some people, an ordinary old giant flat-screen television and Blu-ray player just aren't enough.

How much would you spend for the best of the best? Some hard-core videophiles and audiophiles dump incredible amounts of cash on home theater equipment (and fancy home theaters) that can cost as much as the average car or house. … Read more