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If you've ever watched "Entourage," you'll know how Hollywood studios like to control things.

If you've ever watched "Entourage," you'll know how funny it is when they don't.

It is appearing increasingly possible that there might be a few Hollywood weaves being torn out at the latest pronouncements about the projected new "Star Wars" movies.

The story so far: Carrie Fisher said that she would reprise her role as Princess Leia in the latest "Star Wars" adventure.

Then her rep said she was joking. … Read more

Russell Crowe has seen the light.

It was burning in the sky outside his office in the Sydney district of Wooloomooloo.

There in the sky were visitors from an outer galaxy, beings even weirder than the ones he encounters in Hollywood.

So, as Australia's Daily Telegraph reported, Crowe secured pictures and then posted the time lapse edition to YouTube.

The Telegraph speculated that Crowe was concerned he wasn't enjoying enough publicity for his new movie.

Indeed, I wasn't aware that there was one.

On Twitter, Crowe claimed: "A friend and I set camera to capture fruit … Read more

A rose is still a rose by any other name.

The same, as far as Facebook is concerned, goes for a breast.

The company's breast police don't offer leeway, as some of your local policemen do.

When they see a breast, they not only incise it, they also slice the account that harbors it from the Facebook community.

The latest to hang their heads in horror are the social networkers of the Jeu De Paume, a highly respected art museum in Paris.

In all Gallic innocence, they posted an extremely artistic photograph of a blonde lady covered merely … Read more

Microsoft has confirmed that by no means is it winding down its anti-Google Scroogle campaign. In fact, the company was so pleased with the last two chapters of its crusade that it's gearing up for a third chapter.

"Scroogled will go on as long as Google keeps Scroogling people," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNET.

Microsoft began its Scroogle campaign with the goal of urging users to dump Gmail for its own Outlook.com over privacy concerns. Dubbed "Don't get Scroogled by Gmail," Microsoft addresses the issue that Google scans users' e-mails to determine relevant … Read more

When Apple gives a new phone to a child, that child gets drunk and leaves it in a bar.

Samsung, on the other hand, is far more trusting.

A new teaser ad which is surely for its Galaxy S4 phone (clue: Tagline is "Be Ready 4 The Next Galaxy") offers a blond-haired boy who, for some unexplained reason, is being given the first of the new phones.

Jeremy Maxwell, aged, oh, perhaps 11, is being given the role of "Secret Messenger" for the new phone.

Why is he secret? And to whom must he deliver the … Read more

A sweaty confession: I use my cell phone in the gym.

No, of course I don't talk into it. Who does that with a cell phone? But it's useful to have around, just in case someone needs you to urgently think about something -- or if you need to know what's happening out there somewhere. Texting and e-mailing are silent.

Some gyms, it seems, are very cell phone-averse. At Planet Fitness in Boston, for example, there is a very strict anti-cell phone policy.

You can only use your gadget in the lobby. Once you're on the … Read more

In business, meaning what you say is unnecessary. It can also have consequences.

Was a Beijing restaurant really serious when it posted a sign that read: "This shop does not receive the Japanese, the Philippines, the Vietnamese and dogs"?

It was. Its owner takes China's territorial rights against various nations (and, presumably, dogs) very seriously.

And what should one make of the highly territorial bosses at Google when they say things in public?

Last week, they surpassed themselves in uttering words of moving peculiarity.

First, Android chief Andy Rubin told the Mobile World Congress that Google has … Read more

It all started when I was at a bar and accosted by three women: a Stanford Hospital resident, a UX designer, and a wine distributor.

With faces more appalled than John Boehner's when he has to meet the president, they simply couldn't believe I'd never watched "Downton Abbey."

"But you have an English accent," the wine distributor offered, as the UX designer ordered a sixth beer.

"I have a bald head, but that doesn't mean my house is full of Patrick Stewart posters," was the best I could counter.

The … Read more

Great chefs are crazy.

There are many kinds of crazy. Some of these culinarians rant, rave, and spit fire and brimstone. Some pore over their ingredients like scientists: quiet, brooding, and deeply serious.

All believe they can create their own particular gastronomic dreams, ones nobody else can copy. Especially not a computer.

IBM thinks different.

Having seen its Watson computer crush mere humans at the trivial game of "Jeopardy," the company is now setting the machine's sights on bigger business.

According to The New York Times, the world of haute cuisine is one in which IBM would like to make a robotic incursion.… Read more