J&R

'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' gets a new trailer

The next cinematic installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's written masterpiece "The Hobbit" returns to U.S. theaters on December 13, but in the meantime, be sure to check out a new trailer for the film courtesy of Warner Bros.

As expected, Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" picks up where "An Unexpected Journey" left off. It continues the tale of Bilbo Baggins' journey to take back the Lonely Mountain from the gold-hungry dragon Smaug in an attempt to reclaim the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. All of the actors who played the main characters -- Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, and Thorin Oakenshield -- from the first film reprise their respective roles once again.… Read more

Lord of the Rings slots land Warner Bros. in legal adventure

The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien has embarked on a new quest -- this one in the courtroom.

The Tolkien estate and LOTR book publisher HarperCollins have sued Warner Bros. and other parties, claiming they've breached their contracted agreement to sell merchandise based on the famous book series.

Filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the $80 million lawsuit asserts that a prior agreement allows Warner Bros. to sell only "tangible" merchandise and not digital items, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Also tagged in the suit were Warner's New Line subsidiary and … Read more

Kick the iTunes habit and celebrate Record Store Day

Kick the iTunes habit and stop streaming, it's time to get physical with music you can touch!

Record Store Day is a celebration of the joys of buying music in the real world, and brick and mortar stores all over the country are participating in the event on Saturday, April 21.

The first Record Store Day was in 2007, and every year more and more stores get involved. The Record Store Day Web site has this quote from author Nick Hornby:

"Yes, yes, I know. It's easier to download music, and probably cheaper. But what's playing … Read more

Kingston launches Wi-Drive for iOS device storage

Running out of storage space on your iPhone or iPad? Then you may want to take a look at Kingston's new Wi-Drive.

Now available for sale through a variety of retailers, the Wi-Drive stores content that iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users can access directly on their devices. So you can house documents, music, videos, e-books, and other files on the drive and then wirelessly stream that content onto your iOS device. You don't even need a local Wi-Fi connection; the drive uses its own built-in Wi-Fi to communicate with up to three mobile devices at one time.… Read more

AVG's challenge: Getting people to protect themselves (Q&A)

As the CEO of security vendor AVG, J.R. Smith oversees a lineup of antivirus products used by 110 million customers around the world. And while those people may be relatively secure from the latest malware threats, Smith feels a greater effort is needed to reach out to the many who aren't protected.

A lot of computer users think they're protected with antivirus software but actually aren't, believes Smith, while others just don't seem to take security seriously enough, assuming that their banks and other companies they do business with will protect them.

Beyond just basic … Read more

Where Randall promises he won't walk out this episode

EPISODE 34

Today, we rant about how J.R.R Tolkien's estate took home a whopping $62,000 from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. $62,000--that's like your dad's salary for a movie trilogy that grossed over $8 billion worldwide. Plus, we talk Fight Club reborn on Broadway, and Thriller's 25th anniversary netting some awful bonus tracks.

Listen now: Download today's podcast