Palm Pilots were the epitome of cutting-edge cool — in 1998. By 2004, when the movie came out, the PDA market had entered terminal decline, as people switched to keeping their contacts on increasingly advanced cell phones. And the best part?

Sony, whose movie studio released the film, exited the PDA business in early 2005. Not that electronics executives at the famously combative conglomerate would have ever tipped off their counterparts in Los Angeles.

The movie business has always been late to catch on to trends. But the swift shifts of technology make the studios' sluggishness all the more embarrassing.

Universal and Pirates director Gore Verbinski have acquired rights to make a movie from a Wall Street Journal article written in 2007 about a woman virtually widowed by her husband's Second Life addiction.

The problem: Ric Hoogestraat, the subject of the story, makes an unappealing leading man: He's a 53-year-old homebound diabetic. And Second Life, the virtual world in which Hoogestraat's hunky avatar, Dutch Hoorenbeek, "married" a user who was not his real-world wife, makes for a lousy villain. How do you make a movie about a place where nothing really happens? Once Verbinski gets to understand the boring porn-and-kink-filled universe of Second Life, I suspect he'll discard that whole angle. And he'll also drop the notion of an unattractive lunk as the hero. And then, if he doesn't drop the whole idea, he'll make a movie that really has nothing to do with Second Life at all.

We should have expected this, though. I asked Chris Null, the editor of FilmCritic.com, for suggestions on just some of the technological trends Hollywood has missed. Here's the list we came up with:

Movie: Hackers (1995)
Trend: Errr, hackers.
Why it was late: Hackers had been a known media phenomenon since 1971, when Esquire published a feature story on phone phreakers. By 1995, the Internet was making hacking tools so easy to distribute that amateurs known as "script kiddies" were taking over the scene. But hey, the movie had Angelina Jolie!

Movie: You've Got Mail (1998)
Trend: Email
Why it was late: An AOL inbox was trendy around 1990. By 1998, most people worth knowing had bozofilters set on anything from an @aol.com address. And movies with Meg Ryan.

Movie: American Pie (1999)
Trend: Webcams
Why it was late: The Internet-broadcast deflowering of the main character, Jim, relied on technology that was an Internet-culture phenomenon in 1996 (remember JenniCam)?

Movie: Chat Room (2002)
Trend: Chat rooms
Why it was late: The first text-based chat room dates back to 1974, but the notion of cybersex hookups was commonplace by 1998. The first example of deception in the course of a courtship is a few millennia before that. The first and last usage of the phrase "surfin' for cyber bootie" dates to 2002.

Movie: Cellular (2004)
Trend: Cell phones
Why it was late: The cell phone was invented in 1973, or 1944, depending on whom you ask. But the idea of cell phones as a means of rescue permeated society after September 11, 2001 — which is when this Kim Basinger kidnap thriller might have felt timely.

Movie: Firewall (2006)
Trend: iPods
Why it was late: Portable MP3 players had been widely identified as a security risk by 2004, making Harrison Ford's $100 million iPod heist implausible. Plus we'd moved on to Nanos by then.

Which well-educated Hollywood C-lister has gotten quite the reputation for chasing tail at media and dot-com parties on both coasts in addition to the usual entertainment industry circuit? This has been going on for a while, but it’s only recently begun to turn him into a punchline. And trust me, this fellow should know already that you don’t want to be a punchline among people who write them for a living. Not to mention the fact that gossip about his left-of-center bedroom interests is starting to get out.

Show off your algorithms in the comments. Include this curiosity: Why would a supposedly "well-educated" actor try to pick up women at tech parties?

If you don't, you probably think that the Web 2.0 bubble will never burst. If you do, you were probably developing a wicked taste for single-malt scotch, cocaine and Internet porn — and have the collection agency notices from rehab-facility bills to prove it. Either way, your perception of reality is sufficiently warped that you'll find the scenario plausible enough to suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy the gags. Certainly more credible than the hypnotism macguffin in Office Space.

The story: Two British guys adopt a lion cub in 1969, raise it for a couple years and then release it into the wild. Later, the pair go to to Africa to visit their old friend. Despite warnings that the cub will no longer recognize its old friends, it decides not to maim them. Or something. Anyway, watch the clip below and trust me, you'll squirt a few drops. 13 million others have, which is exactly why, during these troubled economic times, Sony Pictures just announced it plans to adapt the clip for a feature called "A Lion Called Christian."

Watch both the city of light test shoot and the meditation on skateboarding as HD clips from Vimeo and you won't be disappointed.

Pranky crank film professor Arnold Baskin, a teacher at New York University, asked my class last fall why they preferred film over digital. "Because it's more magical," replied a classmate. Not to be too much of a shill for the company started by Oakley shades magnate Jim Jannard, but Red's digital cinematography efforts have created their own, more than estimable, magic — and at a relative bargain price of $1,250 a day and $3,750 a week for a rental in Los Angeles.

I've just agreed to write a movie for Sony and producer Scott Rudin about how Facebook was invented. I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding out what Facebook is, so I've started this page. (Actually it was started by my researcher, Ian Reichbach, because my grandmother has more Internet savvy than I do and she's been dead for 33 years.)

One reason why we're optimistic this Sorkin is the real one: As a writer he's always shown a taste for procedural stories — using the detailed inner workings of politics, law and show business to craft his plots. Plus, from A Few Good Men, we know he's good at the courtroom scenes, which will come in handy once his researcher turns up the many disputes over Facebook's founding.

1. The Dramatic Opening Scene:

2. Bar Scene One: Tucker Max Has A Way With Women And Dudes Better Not Give Him Any Shit Bro:

3. Bar Scene Two: Tucker Max Can Steal Your Sorostitute You Dumb Frat Boy So Watch Out Bro:

If we have the stomach, we'll bring you more lowlights soon bro!

As Defamer points out:

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes cited a 60%-70% profit margin during a VOD trial for Warner Bros. films on cable — more than twice the return on Time Warner DVD rentals.

Primarily through new ventures that not only go around the studios, but around traditional distribution entirely. While the networks and studios all have subsidiaries producing content strictly for online distribution, the talent contracts are still typical pay-as-you-go deals (and meager at that). Agencies have been most enthusiastic about new busines models — probably because they're already realizing efficiencies in terms of talent discovery using the Internet, which allows them to get around scouts and managers and reach new faces easily and cheaply.

A number of agencies have begun embracing new models. 60frames, an online video startup, took $3.5 million in venture funding and was incubated by the United Talent Agency. Creative Artists Agency is assembling a $200 million venture fund with partner Draper Fisher Jurvetson. International Creative Management is reportedly talking to Qualcomm about raising their own cash. And William Morris has helped back a $500 million SPAC to fund M&A deals, with Ashton Kutcher serving on the board. The draw for the agencies is the ability to own a piece of the company that distributes work from their own talent stables.

The only problem is, that gives them a conflict of interest when negotiating with the studios. Why pitch deals to the studio for the standard 10 percent cut when in-house deals would result in agency fees and back-end profits? And no one knows how this will shake out for talent. As LivePlanet producer Sean Bailey pointed out to reporter Laura M. Holson, "People in Silicon Valley too want their pound of flesh."

(Photo by Getty/Sharon Dominick)

• Fans versus friends: Be careful who you call a friend, especially in public. Because they may very well publicly deny said friendship. Awkward! Instead, say you're a fan — you show your respect without requiring their reciprocation. On the other hand, be nice to your own fans, since they're the ones who rabidly defend you in the comments and show up to your parties.
• Pre-empt gossip: Get caught snogging someone of the wrong age, class or gender? See a flash pop as you lean into that pile of drugs for a whiff? Spin it in public yourself before the gossip hounds and rumor mill can spin it for (and against) you.
• Think before you publish: Every appearance made and project undertaken by a star is considered from multiple career angles before it's agreed to. You might call your Twitter updates about bowel movements "radical personal transparency." Others call it "bad business decision."
• Personal grooming: You might be able to show up on the Google campus in a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. That doesn't mean you should show up at the Webbys in the same outfit. If you make a pile of VC cash or flip your company, you might want to consider spending some of it at Barneys and getting a decent haircut.
• Don't swim without a buddy: Going out on the town, or just to South by Southwest? Bring a friend who knows these rules as well or better than you do. You never know when you'll need someone to push you into a cab or knock that tell-tale, post-rehab martini out of your hand just before getting run over by on-rushing Flickr users.
• Hire professional help: To some, this all comes quite naturally. They're called lawyers, stylists, managers, publicists, agents and the like. They make it their business to know these things, and can offer an invaluable objective perspective when your own vision is blinded by the glare of stardom. And they'll often volunteer when you're young and illiquid if they can trust you to be loyal when you cash in.
• Don't slag your competition — much: Fame, as Emily Dickinson once wrote, is a fickle food. There's a fine line between friendly competitive posturing and creating lifelong enemies. You really don't want to piss off someone you might eventually find yourself begging, on hands and knees, to hire or acquire you.
• Have a sense of humor, and humility: This is, by far, the most important, both for your public image and for your own self esteem. The Internet is not, in the grand scheme of things, serious business. We all get planted in the ground eventually. Have some fun and keep it all in perspective.

A lot like it used to — everyone's still working to pay their agent, their lawyer and their accountant. No one producing video for online distribution is even thinking about hiring a maid, gardener or driver yet — not even Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. And if you think Google AdSense will cover those costs, you'll probably end up begging for change on the boulevard of broken dreams. Or maybe the off-brand Spider-Man will have a heart attack and you can take his place amusing tourists. Licensing deals, merchandise and sponsors are still the only ticket to Tinseltown riches. And old showbiz types will milk young upstarts for every penny on that end. (Photo by Steve Zaslavsky)

Aside from providing us with some entertaining viral videos, the strike had no impact on the business of tech. TV ratings, even on programs produced before the strike, continue to plummet; there's no reason to expect them to pick up after the writers return to work. One sure loser: Venture capitalist who fancied themselves the new media moguls. As rapacious as Hollywood bosses are, they surely take less of their servants' work than Sand Hill Road. Like Eisner himself, these wannabe studio chiefs are left with only the purest fantasies of being a player.