“Nine Inch Nails presents Ghosts I - IV, a brand new 36 track instrumental collection available right now. Almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I - IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.”

Trent Reznor explains, “I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn’t have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I’m very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts.”

Ghosts I-IV - Track 1
Ghosts I-IV - Track 2
Ghosts I-IV - Track 3

“In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos of Marilyn Monroe that have collectively come to be known as “The Last Sitting.” Forty-six years later, Stern has revisited his classic shots with Lindsay Lohan, another actress whose prodigious fame is not quite commensurate with her professional achievements.”

Click here for the rest of the photos (definitely not safe for work) and to read the entire article.

“In 1957, Indiana Jones is thrust back in action, venturing into the jungles of South America in a race against Soviet agents to find the mystical Crystal Skull.”

Click HERE to watch the teaser or head over to Yahoo Movies to watch it in HD…

When you and Heidi got together for the Swimsuit shoot, the atmosphere seemed…
Hot! Yeah, she’s a wildcat. Pretty much every shot came down to one of us trying to get the other’s pants off. The one where I’m biting her — can I say A-S-S? — that was one of the craziest moments. She told me, ‘You need to just bite my ass.’ I was kind of mimicking, half-doing it, so she stopped and said, ‘No! Really bite it!’ It was one of the most surreal moments in my entertainment life.

How did Mrs. Ferrell feel about that?
My wife is incredibly accepting of all these things. She just rolled with it. She came by the shoot and walked in right at the moment when I was biting Heidi’s butt. Heidi felt slightly self-conscious for a second — and then she went right back into it. [Will stops to tend to his 3-year-old son, Magnus.]

Click here to read the rest of the Will Ferrell interview or head over to SI.com to see the 2008 swimsuit edition in all its glory.

Anything starring Veronica Mars (AKA Kristen Bell) is definitely worth a watch, and after checking out the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” trailer, I can’t wait for this movie to hit theaters. It looks a little something like American Pie meets Superbad mixed with a little Something About Mary and a few others. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is due for a April 18th 2008 release. Click HERE to view the trailer, or read the plot line below.

“After a devastating break-up with his girlfriend, TV sitcom star Sarah Marshall, a heartbroken and depressed Peter heads to Hawaii for a little vacation to try his best to forget every detail of his relationship. But love laughs at Peter, because Sarah is vacationing in the same exclusive resort as Peter, along with her new boyfriend.”

Via BrushFireRecords.com: “Check out the official music video for Jack Johnson’s new single “If I Had Eyes” from the February 5th Brushfire Records’ release “Sleep Through The Static.” The video is directed by The Malloys. It is the featured video on the home page of BrushfireRecords.com.”

Click here to watch the video or head over to brushfirerecords.com for more info on the new Jack Johnson record.

Also, Death Cab’s Chris Walla has a new solo album out that is definitely worth having a listen. “Field Manual” is available in stores as of yesterday, or for your listening pleasure at mtvu.com.

Chris Walla “Everybody On”

Via NadaSurf.com:
“You can’t buy Nada Surf’s new album “Lucky” until early February, but starting Friday, January 25th fans, friends and frenemies (??) can stream the entire record on the band’s myspace page: myspace.com/nadasurf Tell your friends, and don’t forget to let us know what you think.”

“Producers have revealed some of the secrets about the latest James Bond film, due for release later this year, including the inner turmoil that drives its suave superagent hero and its title: “Quantum of Solace.”

As titles go, it’s not as mellifluous as “From Russia With Love” or “Goldfinger.” But Daniel Craig, returning as Bond after 2006’s “Casino Royale,” says he likes it.

“It has grown on me,” Craig told reporters on the film’s set at Pinewood Studios near London on Thursday. “It doesn’t trip off the tongue. But why should it?”

Producer Michael G. Wilson said the title, chosen only a few days ago, was taken from a story by Bond creator Ian Fleming that appears in the collection “For Your Eyes Only.”"

Click here to read the entire article at CNN.com.

“Something we’ve wanted for years—for people who visit Last.fm to be able to play any track for free—is now possible. With the support of the folks behind EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner—and the artists they work with—plus thousands of independent artists and labels, we’ve made the biggest legal collection of music available to play online for free, the way we believe it should be.

Full-length tracks are now available in the US, UK, and Germany, and we’re hard at work broadening our coverage into other countries. During this initial public beta period, each track can be played up to 3 times for free before a notice appears telling you about our upcoming subscription service. The soon-to-be announced subscription service will give you unlimited plays and some other useful things. We’re also working on bringing full-length tracks to the desktop client and beyond.

Free full-length tracks are obviously great news for listeners, but also great for artists and labels, who get paid every time someone streams a song. Music on Last.fm is perpetually monetized. This is good because artists get paid based on how popular a song is with their fans, instead of a fixed amount.

We will be paying artists directly.

We already have licenses with the various royalty collection societies, but now unsigned artists can put their music on Last.fm and be paid directly for every song played. This helps to level the playing-field—now you can make music, upload it to Last.fm and earn money for each play. If you make music, you can sign up to participate for free.

We’re not printing money to pay for this—but the business model is simple enough: we are paying artists and labels a share of advertising revenue from the website.

Today we’re redesigning the music economy. There are already millions of tracks available, and we’re adding more every day. We will continue to work hard to bring this to everyone in the world.”

Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, because I have never heard of the “Black Cab Sessions” before today. But when I got word that The Kooks jammed a new song freestyle in the back of a cab I had to give it a look.

“A challenge has been laid down. Forget chart positions, forget ticket sales, or brand-extending toiletries or myspace friends or any other measure of success. From here on in, it’s all about how well you can rock in the back of a cab.”

“The Sessions are all about great music and the venue strips this to its essence. We aren’t picky about genre and will happily open the cab door to anyone who blows us away”

Click here to see Black Cab Sessions Chapter Twenty-Five featuring The Kooks, and head over to blackcabsessions.com for more great bands performing unplugged in the back of some random taxi cab.

“Everything New Is Old Again… Like Batman Begins and Casino Royale, this latest incarnation of Star Trek is a franchise re-start that goes back to Kirk, Spock and Bones’ first days aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. But instead of starting with a completely clean slate, Leonard Nimoy returns to the role of Mr. Spock to tie in the original cast with the new.”

Click here to watch the first official teaser trailer or head over to the official movie site to watch it in HD.

“FIFA Street 3 creates a hyper-real world that merges the game’s biggest stars with environments that pulsate to the music in exotic locales around the world. Featuring over 250 of the world’s best players representing 18 of the top international teams, each player has been rendered into a stylized caricature with heroic qualities. Decked out in authentic training kits, every player boasts their own, distinctive style of play with unique abilities to match. Choose from Tricksters, Enforcers, Playmakers and Finishers to give you different options on the ball and make your mark on the street.”

Check out the latest FIFA Street 3 trailer here or head over to IGN.com for more hands on previews, media and more.

If you already subscribe to HBO’s award winning programming, your service is just about to get much better. HBO of all companies is jumping on the download bandwagon and is ready to offer live feeds as well as full show downloads on their new service called “HBO on Broadband”. On Broadband will offer unlimited downloads of HBO shows and movies for subscribers which means you now have the freedom to enjoy your favorite HBO programming whenever and however you want. Starting this month, several episodes from HBO’s original series will be available including: “The Wire”, “In Treatment”, “The Sopranos”, “Sex and the City”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, “Entourage”, “Six Feet Under”, “Big Love”, “Deadwood” and many more.

Similar to NBC’s service (NBC Direct), HBO will require you to download and install their proprietary media player which also serves as a download manager. However HBO’s application is highly interactive allowing users to rate and hold discussions on their favorite shows. Check back soon for more info about “HBO on Broadband”.

“Speed is an essential quality in driving games. Without it, you might as well be taking a Sunday drive in the family Yugo. However, with the Burnout series, developer Criterion Games has added another ingredient that has become just as important as eye-bleeding speed: crashes. The Burnout series has set new standards for snarling, metal-bending, explosive crashes over the years, and the upcoming Burnout Paradise is no exception to that rule. In fact, apart from its open-world nature and seamless online experience, Paradise will be aiming to bring crashes to the next level thanks to the new crash-anywhere, -anytime “showtime” mode.”

Continue reading this hands on preview at GameSpot.com or click here to watch the latest Burnout Paradise trailer.

“Have we already forgotten fall 2003? The number one song in the country was “Hey Ya!” by Outkast. The Florida Marlins shocked the New York Yankees to win the World Series. Howard Dean was cruising toward the Democratic nomination. And on TV, a sun-kissed teen soap opera called The OC—basically, Knots Landing lathered in Proactiv—was the biggest, bloggiest thing in the pop-culture universe. That, and the five gay dudes who taught everyone how to dress.”

Head over to GQ.com to read the entire interview and view all the photos from Rachel Bilson’s latest photo shoot.

No computer? No Problem… The all new Apple TV “Take 2″ works just as well without a computer as it does with one, plus you get HD movie rentals and 5.1 digital surround sound to boot. Click here for more info or continue reading below for the entire press release.

Apple Introduces New Apple TV Software & Lowers Price to $229

Rent High Definition Movies Directly from Your Widescreen TV

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today unveiled all new software for Apple TV(R) that allows movie fans to rent movies on the iTunes(R) Store directly from their widescreen TV, and lowered the price of Apple TV to just $229. With iTunes Movie Rentals and Apple TV, users can just click a button on their remote to effortlessly rent movies from a catalog of over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, with no computer required. DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals are $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99. Apple will provide the new Apple TV software free of charge to existing Apple TV owners when it releases the new Apple TV priced at $229 in about two weeks.

“With the new Apple TV and iTunes Movie Rentals, movie lovers can rent DVD-quality or stunning HD movies from their couch with just a click of a button,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “No more driving to the video store or waiting for DVDs to arrive in the mail.”

iTunes Movie Rentals feature iTunes’ legendary ease of use, which makes discovering and enjoying movie rentals as simple and easy as buying music on iTunes. Once a movie is rented, it starts downloading from the iTunes Store directly to Apple TV, and users with a fast Internet connection can start viewing the movie in seconds. Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 24 hours to finish it — or watch it multiple times.

With Apple TV, users can also view photos from their computers, Flickr and .Mac Web Galleries on their widescreen TV as slideshows or screen savers, and anytime photos are updated on Flickr or .Mac, they are automatically updated on Apple TV. Apple TV users can now browse and enjoy the iTunes Store podcast directory of over 125,000 video and audio podcasts, view over 50 million originally created videos from YouTube or choose from a selection of six million songs, over 600 TV shows and 10,000 music videos to purchase directly from their Apple TV. Purchases downloaded to Apple TV are automatically synced back to iTunes on the user’s computer for enjoyment on their computer, all current generation iPods* or iPhone(TM).

Apple TV easily connects to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort(R) 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV now automatically plays all of your iTunes content without setup or management**.

Pricing & Availability
The new Apple TV software will be available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers later this month. Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, is available from the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $229 (US) for the 40GB model and $329 (US) for the 160GB model (US and Canada). Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV. iPod(R) games will not play on Apple TV. iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only.

*Movie rentals work on iPod classic, iPod nano with video and iPod touch.
**Compatible with 802.11b/g/n. Based on an IEEE 802.11n draft
specification. Wireless video streaming requires an 802.11g/n network.

It’s no secret that Apple had to have been planning movie rentals through iTunes for a long time, but now it’s a reality. Every major movie studio you can think of including Fox, Warner, Disney, Paramont, Universal, Sony, Miramax and more are all on board to provide their movies for rent via iTunes 7.6 and the new and improved Apple TV. More than 1000 films are already available to rent starting at $3.99 for new releases, $2.99 for older movies and $4.99 for HD movies. After renting a movie, you have 30 days to start watching it and 24 hours to finish watching it once you have started it. All rentals are transferrable to your iPod or iPhone as well. Continue reading below for the official press release or head over to apple.com for more info.

Apple Premieres iTunes Movie Rentals With All Major Film Studios

New Apple TV Software Lets You Rent Movies Directly from Your Widescreen TV

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced iTunes(R) Movie Rentals featuring movies from all the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. Users can rent movies for as low as $2.99 and watch them on their Macs or PCs, all current generation iPods*, iPhone(TM) and Apple TV(R). iTunes Movie Rentals launches today and will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV. iTunes Movie Rentals are priced at $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99.

“iTunes Movie Rentals instantly brings great movies from all the major studios directly to your iPod, iPhone, TV or computer — without having to drive to the video store or wait for DVDs to arrive in the mail,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Movie lovers can now discover and enjoy movies as simply and easily as music lovers discover and enjoy music today on iTunes.”
“Apple has created an incredibly easy and innovative way to rent and enjoy movies,” said Jim Gianopulos, chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment. “Millions of movie lovers will be able to watch
wonderful movies from Fox and the other major studios whenever and wherever they want, be it on their computer, TV, iPod or iPhone.”
iTunes Movie Rentals feature iTunes’ legendary ease of use, which makes discovering and enjoying movie rentals as simple and easy as buying music on iTunes has always been. Once a movie is rented, it starts downloading from the iTunes Store directly to iTunes or Apple TV, and users with a fast Internet connection can start viewing the movie in seconds. Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 24 hours to finish it — or watch it multiple times.
The all new Apple TV software delivers an entirely new user experience centered around iTunes Movie Rentals, allowing movie fans to rent and watch movies right from their widescreen TV, with no computer required. Users can also view photos from their computers, Flickr and .Mac Web Galleries on their widescreen TV as slideshows or screen savers, and anytime photos are updated on Flickr or .Mac they are automatically updated on Apple TV. Apple TV users can now browse and enjoy the iTunes Store podcast directory of over 125,000 video and audio podcasts, view over 50 million originally created videos from YouTube, or choose from a selection of six million songs, over 600 TV shows and 10,000 music videos to purchase directly from their Apple TV. Purchases downloaded to Apple TV are automatically synced back to iTunes on the user’s computer for enjoyment on their computer, iPod(R) or iPhone.
Apple TV easily connects to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort(R) 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV now automatically plays all of your iTunes content without setup or management**.

Pricing & Availability
Movie rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac(R) or Windows require iTunes 7.6, available as a free download immediately from http://www.itunes.com. iTunes Movie Rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only and are $2.99 (US) for library titles and $3.99 (US) for new releases, and high definition versions are priced just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 (US) and new releases at $4.99 (US).

The new Apple TV software will be available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers later this month. Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, is available from the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price $229 (US) for the 40GB model, and for $329 for the 160GB model. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV. iPod games will not play on Apple TV.

*Movie rentals work on iPod classic, iPod nano with video and iPod touch.
**Compatible with 802.11b/g/n. Based on an IEEE 802.11n draft
specification. Wireless video streaming requires an 802.11g/n network.

“This milestone agreement lays the foundation for Sony to offer high quality video content in the DivX format to its retail partners for playback on next-generation DivX Certified devices,” said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. “Consumers want the flexibility and choice to enjoy high-quality video content from a range of retailers across a variety of devices. We are very pleased Sony Pictures Television recognizes the value of the DivX digital media solution and look forward to working together to offer a great experience to consumers.”

“We are dedicated to finding legitimate outlets for our content and to that end are excited to be working with DivX to provide retailers with an expanded ecosystem for the digital distribution and playback of our digital media,” said Michael Arrieta, Executive Vice President, Digital Distribution & Mobile Entertainment, Sony Pictures Television.

“Anyone who owned an Xbox 360 in November of 2006 picked up one of two games — or, if you’re lucky enough, you bought both — Rainbox Six Vegas or Epic’s Gears of War. While Gears was certainly the more hyped of the two titles, Rainbox Six Vegas rose to the forefront of many gamers’ minds as a contender for Game of the Year. While it did concede the honors in the end, the series clearly made the jump to high-definition gaming much easier than others. Some say it was the first fully realized Xbox 360 game to come on the market. Period. We would agree.

Now Ubisoft is preparing to unleash the sequel to the masses in Spring 2008. In the first part of our interview we touched on the new character customization options and overall design of the single-player portion of Vegas 2. Now we’re back with Jean-Pascal Cambiotti to go over what we can expect to see from the multiplayer side (both cooperative and adversarial play) of Rainbow Six Vegas 2.” Continue reading at IGN.com.