movie

In the category of "one day people, will ask, 'How did you ever exist with just an iPhone?'," I recently visited the Old Town Music Hall, a little movie theater built in 1921 in El Segundo, Calif., which is near Los Angeles, and marveled at the technology and talent that went into playing live music for silent films.

That technology was the mighty Wurlitzer. That's right, before talking pictures, audiences were entertained by silent films that used title cards and, in many theaters, live music accompaniment. The Wurlitzer is a brand of organ, but also much more. … Read more

After targeting Web sites for copyright infringement for years, Hollywood is now setting its sights on mobile apps, according to Reuters.

Time Warner, Walt Disney, Sony, Viacom, and Twentieth Century Fox have all recently sent app "take down" notices to Google. Citing copyright infringement, these studios are demanding that the Web giant remove apps that use the likeness of characters in their movies or TV shows.

One of the offending apps is "Hobbit 3D Wallpaper HD," which has images from the popular movie, according to Reuters. Other apps are from movies like "Clash of the … Read more

People just can't seem to get enough of flesh-eating zombies (or maybe it's the other way around). These days, the fantasy of a modern society fighting off zombies appears in nearly every medium of visual entertainment. Michigan-based artist Matt Busch takes this concept to a whole new level in his Hollywood is Dead series of classic movie posters featuring an undead twist.

How did it all begin? Four years ago, Lucasfilm asked Busch to create six versions of the classic "Star Wars" posters with a little zombie flair. "While they [Lucasfilm] spawned the initial idea, the real joy for me that keeps me doing them is my love for movie posters," Busch told Crave. "I'm such a fan of the classic artists like Drew Struzan and Bob Peak. So to be able to study their work up close is a lot of fun for me. And then, yeah, ripping it to a bloody mess by giving it the zombie treatment is a guilty pleasure, too."… Read more

Nearly a dozen European countries now have access to a key iTunes feature that lets users re-download purchased video content.

iTunes users in 11 countries, including France, Sweden, and Belgium, can now view and re-download movies they bought from Apple. Previously, users in those countries would have needed to back up that file in the event that the device it was on was damaged or stolen.

The full list of countries in this latest batch (per The Next Web) includes Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. France was reportedly the only one to … Read more

For a number of reasons, people may want to create videos of their computer's screen activity. Screen Movie Recorder for Mac performs this function poorly, if at all.

Available as a free trial, the program does not list any restrictions or limits on the use of the demo version, but also does not show the full program price. Instead, upon starting the Screen Movie Recorder, a registration pop-up box appears and prompts you to go to an outside Web site for a full version registration code. The program was small in size and easy to download and install. The … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Satire site The Onion apologizes for offensive Oscar tweet.

- Daniel Tosh apologizes on Twitter for rape joke during stand-up routine.

- The most terrifying button on Facebook.

- Billboard starts counting YouTube Hits on its Hot 100 lists, Harlem Shake gets first place.

- Video: Harlem residents respond to Harlem Shake.… Read more

The Pirate Bay has broken its operation in two after an organization backed by the music and movie industries took aim at its backer.

According to TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay today shifted its operational duties to Norway and Spain. Previously, the Swedish Pirate Party was providing it with the bandwidth it needed to operate its site. However, the Rights Alliance, an organization backed by the biggest music and movie companies, threatened to sue the Swedish Pirate Party over its support. That lawsuit could have cut off the Swedish Pirate Party's ability to pay for The Pirate Bay's bandwidth … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- A what, where, and why primer on the Game Developer's Conference from guests Meggan Scavio and Simon Carless.

- The 15th annual Independent Games Festival opens its Audience Award voting window, now through March 1.

- Nominations open for 2013 Game Developers Choice Awards.

- Unity Engine coming to BlackBerry 10 smartphones, BlackBerry PlayBook.… Read more

People flying on Southwest Airlines can now watch on-demand movies and TV on their tablets, smartphones, and laptops via the planes' Wi-Fi.

The airline announced today that it's boosting its in-flight entertainment to include new movie and television packages. This feature is available on all Wi-Fi-equipped aircrafts, which is about 75 percent of the Southwest's fleet.

"Providing a comprehensive and robust in-flight connectivity system for our customers is paramount," Southwest Airlines' senior vice president of business development Dave Ridley said in a statement.

Southwest now boasts eight channels of live television, which customers can stream directly … Read more