Entertainment

Why the Grumpy Cat movie is a bad idea

I don't mean to sound all grumpy, but now that the news of Grumpy Cat getting a movie deal has sunk in, I'm feeling pretty frowny about the Internet-famous cat's future in Hollywood.

Don't get me wrong. I have serious love for Grumpy Cat. The three-Grumpy-Cat-moon image is the background on my iPad. I very nearly bought that hideous Grumpy Cat belt at Hot Topic. I might still buy it.

Let's just say the announcement of producer Todd Garner and his company aiming for a "Garfield"-style feature film about the feline doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in me. After all, he was the man behind Adam Sandler's 2011 flop "Jack and Jill." What, was Martin Scorsese not available, or just not interested?… Read more

The 404 1,278: Where we take a ride to Margaritaville (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Everyone panic: a Web site that leaks and archives your "deleted" Snapchat photos.

- You'll never guess which song is the most lucrative ever recorded.

- The world's richest songs.

- Someone's trying to sell a stolen CitiBike on Craigslist.

- Hospitals install video cameras to ensure that employees wash their hands. In related news, DOCTORS AREN'T WASHING THEIR HANDS.… Read more

3D model gets you up close with the Xbox One

Chances are it'll be quite a few months before most of us have a chance to go hands-on with the Xbox One. Until then, you can at least get a very in-depth look at what to expect, thanks to this rotatable 3D model from Microsoft.

You'll see the full Xbox One kit -- console, Kinect 2.0, and new-look controller -- and you can zoom in and out on any part of it to your heart's content.

It's embedded below, or you can click here for a full-size version. … Read more

'Family Ties' actress goes to college to learn coding

Lots of college freshman have started their university careers with the goal of learning coding and one day entering into the exciting world of technology. However, most of them aren't 47-year-old actresses who starred on "Family Ties."

Justine Bateman is a freshman at UCLA. She's entered into a world of calculus, coding marathons, and late-night sessions all in the name of trying to advance Hollywood's acceptance of new technologies.

Crave got in touch with Bateman, who is too busy with finals to answer questions about her college career at the moment. She's logging some serious study time right now, but did mention referencing CNET in a team research paper on cyberwars for her engineering ethics class.… Read more

Spider-Man and two Captain Americas in Hollywood brawl

When superheroes fight each other, there is always the assumption that one side must be on drugs or in the control of some devious mastermind who knows the superhero's one touching weakness.

Neither may have been the case on Wednesday, when superheroes took their battle not to the sets of Hollywood, but to its streets.

As CBS Los Angeles reports, the Madame Tussauds kiosk -- just inches away from the famed Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard -- was the scene of an ugly meeting of the ripped (or not) bodies.… Read more

Lego brings real robotic bricks to life for PlayStation

There are already a few ways you can make Lego robotics, including Lego Mindstorms -- the latest iteration of which includes support for smartphone control -- and, more recently, a Kickstarter campaign to get Raspberry Pi in on the action. The toy company, however, seems to be seeking new ways to make Lego robotics accessible.

The latest is a collaboration with Sony to create a range of bricks called "Toy Alive" aimed at keeping kids interested in Legos in the age of video games. Unveiled at an open house at the Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Tokyo, the bricks are embedded with various electronics that can be controlled with a PlayStation controller, including motors for mobility, actuators that can destroy Lego creations, and tiny cameras that can broadcast to tablets and smartphones. … Read more

Bluestacks extends GamePop's free console giveaway

GamePop will continue to hand out free gaming consoles for the next month in the hopes that it will spur preorder interest for the upstart game system that plays Android games on your TV, its maker announced on Thursday.

BlueStacks, which also makes an eponymous desktop Android app player, has extended the GamePop console giveaway, saying in a prepared statement that "...due to the high demand of preorders it is extending its offer of giving the console itself away free to the end of June." You can preorder the console for free at GamePop.tv. … Read more

Hulu International chief Larcher steps down -- report

Hulu may have lost another executive.

The company's senior vice president of international operations, Johannes Larcher, has stepped down, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing an e-mailed statement from Hulu.

Larcher reportedly stepped down earlier this month.

If Larcher has in fact left Hulu, both parties have some cleaning up to do. Hulu's own Web site says that Larcher is still with the company. Larcher's LinkedIn page says the same. There has also been no word from Larcher on Twitter that he has left Hulu. Still, that doesn't mean that he hasn't stepped down.

If Larcher … Read more

Barry Diller: Young people will fuel Aereo's growth

RANCHO PALOS VERDE, CA -- Barry Diller is happy that the broadcast networks have sued Aereo. It has helped the startup he funded get some high visibility.

Aereo delivers local, over-the-air TV broadcasts via the Internet to subscribers. Antenna/DVR technology has caused a flurry of lawsuits from TV broadcasters, including ABC, CBS (CNET's parent company), Fox, NBC Universal, and Telemundo. The networks allege that Aereo violates their copyrights and that Aereo must pay them retransmission fees.

The court rulings so far have ruled in Aereo's favor, and the company has filed a complaint against CBS seeking to … Read more