The Oscar-nominated John C. Reilly stars in his own comedy, “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.” The acclaimed character actor talks to Mercury News reporter Mark de la Viña about the mock biographical film, how the role gave him a taste of the rock-star lifestyle and how he enlisted Jack White of the White Stripes to play Elvis in the comedy.

Comedian Dane Cook talks to Mercury News reporter Mark de la Vina about how the Internet helped him become one of the hottest stand-up performers — someone greatly resented by many comic peers.

Andy Sternberg interviewed Wired editor and The Long Tail author Chris Anderson at the 2007 O’Reilly Tools of ChangeConference.

Anderson described the premise for his upcoming book project — titled “Free” — to be published in mid-2008 by Hyperion. He also discussed future plans for Wired’s Web site and introduced his new start-up, BookTour, which was launched at the conference.

(We apologize for the subpar audio quality. We had some technical problems.”

In an audio version of their first video podcast, Dean Takahashi and Mike Antonucci debate whether or not to buy the new Xbox 360.

Mercury News music critics Marian Liu and Shay Quillen, along with Oakland Tribune's Jim Harrington, talk about what they liked about summer concerts so far and what shows to catch that are coming up.

“Dean Takahashi and Mike Antonucci discuss recent reports that some doctors believe video-game addiction has become enough of a risk to children and adults to classify it as a mental disorder.

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She may look like a video vixen, but popstress Nelly Furtado is a mom and has long shed those high heels for Birkenstocks. The singer known for the club single “Promiscuous” is actually very down-to-earth over the phone.

Filmmaker Michael Winterbottom is one of the most versatile directors in his field. He can now add shooting Jolie to his resume. She stars in his new film, “A Mighty Heart,” which opens Friday. Winterbottom spoke with San Jose Mercury News reporter Mark de la Vina about working with the actress and reflected on the challenges of making a movie about the search for slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Nicole Wong, Google’s deputy general counsel in charge of compliance, is the point person for growing criticism of Google’s privacy practices. More than two dozen European privacy regulators have launched an inquiry into Google’s data protection practices. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission is probing Google’s pending $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, an online advertising company. Last week, Privacy International, a London group, ranked Google’s practices the worst among 23 top Internet services, including Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL. Wong spoke with the Mercury News about her job and Google’s approach to privacy.

Dean Takahashi and Mike Antonucci talk about the latest news and trends in video games. Today, they discuss the best — and worst — in graphics from “Lara Croft Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition” to the classic “Games of War.” In gaming industry news, the guys offer their thoughts on the sales figures for May just released for the Xbox 360, wii and PS3.