Entertainment

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- New app helps prevent Icelanders from sleeping with their relatives.

- Dudes: stop making the same face in every photo, or, a gentleman's guide to the selfie.

- Support 404 listener Jacob's run for Boston this weekend!… Read more

With the weather warming up, there's a good chance you'll start spending more time at the pool, river, lake, or whatever body of water you like to head to for sun and fun when you're not indoors staging a Zerg rush. This week's prize would like to tag along.

Grace Digital's portable Ecoxbt stereo Bluetooth speaker is not just water resistant, but 100 percent waterproof. Not only that, it floats. Just jump right in and play your music from any Bluetooth-enabled device. You can also answer incoming calls over the built-in speakerphone.

Part of Grace Digital's Ecoxgear line of outdoor-friendly gadgets, the device measures 4 inches high by 9 inches wide by 2.8 inches deep and weighs 1.5 pounds. The rechargeable battery yields 10-plus hours of play or talk time, plenty for a good run in your kayak or canoe. (See a video of the speaker in action here, complete with sexy "From Here to Eternity"-style beach product shot.) … Read more

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Friday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far.… Read more

After evaluating more than 4,000 submissions and commissioning more than a dozen half-hour pilots, Amazon Studios is ready to roll. The "Hollywood" division of the online shopping giant is making 14 pilots available on Amazon Instant Video in the U.S, and the Amazon subscription services Lovefilm UK and Lovefilm Germany, to watch for free and rate and review them.

The pilots include shows from established talent and studios, as well as up and comers who cut their teeth online.

The lineup includes a big slate of comedies, led by "Alpha House," starring John Goodman … Read more

Netflix has launched its third original series with Friday's debut of "Hemlock Grove."

Following its usual strategy, the video rental service has made all 13 episodes of "Hemlock Grove" available in one shot, so people can watch them at their own pace.

Based on a 2012 novel written by Brian McGreevy, "Hemlock Grove" is a supernatural thriller that takes place in a small Pennsylvania town where a teenage girl is murdered, and the town casts an eye at many of its more eccentric residents as potential suspects.… Read more

Another month, another victory for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Research firm NPD released its monthly game industry sales figures yesterday, revealing that, for the 27th consecutive month, the Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in March, beating out Nintendo's Wii U and Sony's PlayStation 3. According to Microsoft, it sold 261,000 units Xbox 360 units in the U.S. in March. Total consumer spending on all Xbox-related hardware, software, and accessories hit $402 million.

Once again, though, the game industry overall had a down month in March, generating just $992.5 million in physical sales. During the … Read more

In home networking, the fastest way -- in terms of data speed -- to connect devices together is via network cables. However, running cables properly, which involves making networking ports and connector heads, is no easy task. This is part of the reason the wireless network (Wi-Fi) has become so popular. But chances are, there's a spot in your home that the Wi-Fi signal can't reach, because of distance or thick walls. This is when a power-line connection can be a useful alternative.

Power-line adapters basically turn the electrical wiring of a home into network cables for a computer network. You need at least two power-line adapters to form the first power-line connection. The first adapter is connected to the router and the second to the Ethernet-ready device at the far end. There are some routers on the market, such as the D-Link DHP-1320, that have built-in support for power-line connectivity, meaning you can skip the first adapter. After the first connection, you just need one more adapter to add another Ethernet-ready device to the home network.

Apart from the ability to bridge the network through thick walls, power-line connections are also a lot more stable than Wi-Fi signal and have as low latency and a regular Ethernet wired connections.

Currently there are two main standards for power-line networking, HomePlug AV and Powerline AV 500. They offer speed caps of 200Mbps and 500Mbps, respectively. The following is the list of top five power-line adapters on the market. This list is sorted by the review date, starting with the most recently reviewed. It will be updated as more devices are reviewed.… Read more

Hang onto your fur -- there's going to be a new "Star Wars" film in cinemas every summer. "Episode VII" will arrive in 2015, with "VIII" and "IX" following in two-year intervals.

The years in between (2016, 2018, and maybe 2020) will see spin-off movies, Disney boss Alan Horn told cinema owners at CinemaCon. These could focus on key characters such as Han Solo, Boba Fett, and Yoda.

Having paid $4 billion for its new set of action figures, Disney is desperate to start playing with them. This new release strategy … Read more

Blood Dragon is a rather bizarre game expansion for Far Cry 3, combining the plot and scripting of an '80s action film with the voice talents of actor Micheal Biehn.

This five-minute short film is set in the word of Blood Dragon and features robot ninjas, cyborg soldiers, and a nuclear explosion.

That's everything you need to know. … Read more