Entertainment

NEW YORK--You've got to hand it to RealNetworks' Rhapsody. The subscription music service is pulling out all the stops to increase its market share--partnering with TiVo, entering a lofty deal with MTV Networks--and even if it hasn't been able to dent Apple's iTunes, Rhapsody hasn't been making itself look stupid in the process.

In fact, if the company's "Rhapsody Rocks NYC" concert here Monday night was any indicator, music aficionados are taking the company seriously.

Monday night was the eve of this year's CMJ Music Marathon, which runs from Tuesday … Read more

I got a little bit obsessed with JibJab.com's "Starring You!" video creator when it allowed me to create videos of my co-workers dancing the Charleston in drag while horrifically bored on a slow news day. (Josh Lowensohn looks awesome in flapper garb.)

Now, as I've just learned, the site has created a politics-meets-Halloween gimmick so that you can edit a likeness of yourself into mini-movies called "Night of the Living Democrats" or "Night of the Living Republicans" and battle zombified versions of politicians from the political party you abhor the most. … Read more

Regardless of my cohort Tim Moynihan's beliefs, words mean something, and definitions are usually pretty clear in every field except, let's face it, technology. When tech gets involved, an "icon" ceases to be a conventional religious image and becomes a little graphic on your screen and "boot" means a startup process instead of cowboy footwear.

Global Language Monitor, analyzer of words and publisher of top-10 buzzword lists, today released its Top 10 Most Confusing (yet widely used) High Tech Buzzwords for 2007. Topping the list is the near-ubiquitous but apparently misleading iPod: "What … Read more

Film direction: T. Moynihan. Starring: K. Massy, E. Wenzel, D. Bell, B. Cha, J. France, V. Tremblay

File this one under "shameless self-promotion"--PC Magazine has named Crave as one of its Favorite 100 Blogs for 2007. There's no numerical ranking, so we're squeezed alphabetically right in between Core77, a blog we reference regularly; and Crunk & Disorderly, whose title could describe the state that some Cravers can be found in on weekend evenings. Considering the magazine operates its own gadget blog, Gearlog, this is a lovely honor for us.

To make it even sweeter, mid-October … Read more

These are better than any cat video you may have seen.

The German Car Blog noticed this new series of videos on Volkswagen's Swedish site for the Golf that features a menagerie of characters, each introducing a different Golf model.

The "Golf Auditions" include a naked naturalist explaining the Golf's different green fuel options, a female bodybuilder mime who likes the Golf R32, and a cross-dresser showing off the Cross Golf. The site also has a spot for would-be Golf owners to create videos for selling their old car.

Don't worry if your Swedish is … Read more

Current TV launched in 2005 with a dual-platform message: It was a TV station with a built-in Web component. But it was clear that it was really a TV station first, that the site was its feeder system. Today, though, Current TV becomes just Current. The new Web site is a much better destination than the previous version, and makes Current into an honestly multinetwork media product. Current's Web site has content and social features that make it interesting if you never bother to tune in Current on TV.

Current has become a good-looking social bookmarking and community site. … Read more

BestBuy.com lists six Visiontex-branded ATI TV Wonder products today, including the never before seen ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB external ATSC/NTSC TV tuner. The others are merely reboxings of various 600 and 650 tuners on the market, ranging from a USB key-size model to two full PCI Express cards (excepting, of course, the CableCard-based TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, which remains a PC vendor bundle exclusive).

All of these tuners support (as federally mandated) both analog and digital signals, and both the new $149 TV Wonder 650 Combo USB and the $129 TV Wonder 650 Combo PCI … Read more

If you love robots so much, why don't you marry one?

This may be possible in the future, according to artificial intelligence researcher David Levy. According to Levy's Ph.D thesis, titled "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners," robots will become so humanlike and pseudo-emotional that we won't be able to keep from falling in love and making out with them. Aw yeah.

The University of Maastricht in the Netherlands liked the thesis paper so much that they married it awarded Levy a doctorate.

Silly and pervy as the idea of marrying a robot sounds, the … Read more

OK, so this is not strictly tech-related, but it is a cool way to count down the remaining minutes to the weekend. Look at the dancer and decide which way she's spinning.

Got it?

If you think she's going clockwise, you're apparently right-brain dominant (imaginative, philosophical, touchy-feely, impetuous); if you see her going counter-clockwise, you're left-brain dominant (logical, practical, detail-oriented, safe).

If, like us, you are able to alternate views to see her going in both directions, then you're just a plain old genius.

Source: Australia Herald Sun