Intel's Sandy Bridge technology is less than a year old, but the next big thing already appears to be on the horizon.

The company showed off prototypes for its "Ivy Bridge" processors this week at its Intel Developer Forum and the early word is encouraging – with faster speeds, lower power consumption and amazing battery life.

Now, I realize that processor chips aren't exactly sexy, so I'll avoid getting too deep into the weeds here. They are, though, the brains behind all the gadgets the entertainment industry depends upon to distribute content – so the more we know about them, the better.

Let's look backwards first: Rolled out in January, Sandy Bridge (technically called second generation Core processors) were vastly faster than the previous line and offered strong video processing capabilities as well as security enhancements for studios.

Warner Bros., Dreamworks and 20^th Century Fox partnered with Intel to deliver high definition content in a secure environment – and created enough of a comfort factor that studios agreed to release HD films to the PC market simultaneously with DVD and Blu-Ray releases.

Ivy Bridge will contain all of that – as well, apparently, as the ability to remain on standby for 10 full days, while remaining connected to the Internet. That's done by reducing the power required while a laptop is in idle mode, meaning the batteries can last a lot longer.

Apple machines still have an idle time advantage over Intel, able to run for up to 30 days, but they don't stay connected online.

Why is this useful? In short, when you take a Ivy Bridge powered laptop out of idle, your email will be caught up (theoretically, of course, the chips are still being fine tuned) or the movie you've paused can resume almost instantly.

Intel will likely talk a lot more about these chips at CES in January – but the company already had them up and running in its Ultrabook laptops, easing some fears that the technology was running behind. The early word on the systems sounds encouraging, though.

Join us at 10 am PST for a live chat with "Battle: Los Angeles" vfx supervisor Everett Burrell.

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Intel’s Sandy Bridge chip was perhaps the most impressive thing at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, but the rollout of the next generations processors has hit a stumbling block.

Intel today announced it had discovered a flaw in a support chip that works with next generation – or so-called Sandy Bridge – processors, and has suspended shipments and will be replacing those that have already shipped with the affected support chip.

To be clear: There’s nothing wrong with Sandy Bridge itself, which includes the ballyhooed “Intel Insider” technology that provides such sufficient security that major studios (including Warner Bros.) will begin releasing high-definition versions of films online in conjunction with DVD and Blu-ray releases. But it’s still a disappointing setback for the company that will cost it up to $1 billion in lost revenue and repair/replacement costs.

The problem was the support chip, code-named Cougar Point, had flaws in its Serial ATA (SATA) ports. Ultimately, that could have meant that SATA devices, such as hard drives and DVD drives, might not have work properly.

Intel expects to have an updated version of the chip ready to go in late February, but it will be April before it sees a full recovery of production volumes.

Research in Motion, the company behind the Blackberry, is still fighting Apple tooth and nail in the smartphone market – and it’s not planning to cede the tablet space to the company, either.  

The company today unveiled its Playbook tablet, a 7-inch 9.7mm-thick device that’s due early next year in the U.S., with plans for an international roll-out in the second quarter of 2011.

The PlayBook appears to be targeted squarely at the business audience. It comes with a special version of the Blackberry operating system that runs multitasking and offers video playback of 1080p (with HDMI out). 

Like the iPad, it comes with an e-Reader application and dual cameras for video conferencing. Unlike the iPad, it also supports Adobe’s Flash.

The system has a 1 Ghz dual-core CPU with 1 GB of RAM. It’s also able to tether directly with a Blackberry device via Bluetooth. It’s WiFi only right now, but RIM says it plans to ship 3G and 4G models in the future.

The biggest detail is, of course, the one that’s missing. RIM gave no heads up on what the PlayBook will be priced at.

A marketing video of the device in action can be found after the break.

DXG has established a good niche for itself in the budget camcorder segment – but how does it stand up when it tries to take on the big boys of the video industry?  

The company is taking aim at Canon, Sony and Panasonic with the DXG-A85V, an ultra-affordable 1080p HD camcorder that’s loaded with features, including 12X zoom, touch-to-focus, Eye-Fi Wireless ready and a 10MP still camera. And while it may find notable success with non-discriminating consumers and entry-level shooters, discerning lensmen and pro-ams can pass this one by.

It’s not that the DXG-A85V doesn’t shoot good video. On the contrary, the pictures are crisp and run at 30fps at maximum 1080p settings (60fps if you shoot at 720p). Do they stand up to high-end cameras from more recognizable names? Not entirely, but they’re a lot closer than you might expect.

Stories about film studios that have had YouTube rip down videos featuring copyrighted works are a dime a dozen, but it’s not that often that you see the surfers of the Web unite in protest over it.

Constantin Films is in the middle of a PR disaster for just this reason, though. The German production company has asked the streaming video service to remove the hundreds of parody videos that used the climatic scene from its film “Downfall”.

What’s a little baffling is the timing. The parodies kicked off over three years ago, when some savvy editors put false captions to the German language scene showing Hitler furious he had been banned from Xbox Live. Other notable versions had him making plans to attend Burning Man, railing about the real estate bubble and even frustrated that his plans to dub his own Hitler meltdown video had already been done.

The studio says the parodies could trivialize the Holocaust, so it wants them down. Critics note that if the company felt that strongly about it, they could have (and should have) filed the copyright claim years ago. 

In the end, the parodies may have been funny stuff, but they used copyrighted material and Constantin apparently felt enough was enough. The Internet, though, doesn’t seem quite ready to let go.

Videos continue to surface, with settings attempting to bypass the removals. (The above video is a good example, assuming it stays up for any length of time.) And smaller video sites are still running the site.

It’ll be interesting to see if Constantin sticks by its guns, despite the Internet outcry or decides that it was a bit too late to the party to claim to be offended by the films.

(A warning about the above embedded video. It contains some harsh language.)

Microsoft is not a company of fools. It knew the Zune was going to get pummeled by the iPod – and it knows that the Zune HD will never knock the iPod Touch or iPhone off of their throne. But it also knows there are a lot of people more interested in a good personal media player than an all-in-one device – and for them, Microsoft has hit the sweet spot.

While the Zune HD isn’t quite a home run for the company, it’s a solid triple – and has quickly become the strongest competitor on the market to Apple’s PMP empire. Priced fairly at $220 for the 16GB model and $290 for the 32GB one, the device is stylish, ultra-light and ultra-powerful. It boasts a solid battery life. And, come mid-December, it could be a tough item to find on store shelves.

One of the Zune HD’s major attractions is its 3.3-inch OLED screen, which offers a sharper picture than anything you’ll find on the iPhone. Like many competitive devices, the screen is touch sensitive and offers a 16:9 (widescreen) ratio. Ironically, videos shown on the Zune HD itself do not appear in high definition.

Most people won’t realize it, though. Video on the player is crisp and clear. As with  a high-end TV, though, it’s best watched in a darkened room. The Zune HD’s highly reflective screen makes outdoor viewing (and some indoor viewing) a bit challenging – and sometimes impossible.

To get true HD from the Zune HD, you’ll need a $90 dock (sold separately). With this, users can output 720p video from the device to their HDTV. The functionality is a big selling point for the Zune device – and it’s a feature that really shines. Videos look spectacular – and the interface works surprisingly well on the big screen, despite its shortcomings on the player itself.

The player’s interface is one of the Zune HD’s more notable stumbles. It’s minimalist, but perhaps a bit too much so. Figuring out how to navigate among choices isn’t as intuitive as some competitors, including Apple.

You won’t see Rachel Ray or Paula Deen anywhere on Hungry Nation TV, but you may learn how to make a cocktail in just 12 seconds.

Next New Networks is launching the new online video network today, with a focus on food for the common man – and frugality.

“We are always trying to identify areas that are underserved by the media and see if there’s a way to serve that audience online through video,” says Lance Podell, CEO of Next New Networks. “Much of what [cable’s] Food Network focuses on is professional, but it’s over-aspirational. … What we thought about was how much food is a part of our live and how we all enjoy talking about and sharing food stories, but in a more mundane and real way.”

Hungry Nation will launch with two shows - VendrTV and Working Class Foodies – and plans to add a third (12 Second Cocktails) next month. By December, it plans to increase that number to five.

The art of fan-made fantasy trailers on the Internet has come a long way. The latest -- this appeal to cast Nathan Fillion in the upcoming Green Lantern film -- could fool a lot of people. For the record, though, this is not an official trailer for the film.