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FBI Improperly Accessed Personal Data, 'McSame' - New Attack Ad
Again
By Mark Impomeni (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 11:30:00 PM
Filed under: Bush Administration, Crime,
TerrorFBI Director Robert Mueller,
testifying before the Senate Judiciary
Committee, acknowledged that the Bureau
had improperly obtained telephone
records, credit reports and Internet traffic
for the fourth straight year in 2006. The
information was obtained by the agency
through the use of a controversial tool
granted by the USA PATRIOT Act and
most often was given to the FBI by banks,
credit bureaus, and other businesses
furnishing more information than was
requested, Mueller said.
The scope of the information gathering
will be revealed in a new audit of the
Bureau's activities, expected to be released
sometime this year, for the year 2006. A
previous audit by the Justice Department's
Inspector General for the years 2003-2005
showed that agents sought personal
information or collected more information
than the Bureau is authorized to have
through the use of national security letters.
"We are committed to ensuring that we not
only get this right, but maintain the vital
trust of the American people," Mueller
said.
National security letters have been a bane
of civil liberties activists almost since
Congress passed the PATRIOT Act in the
aftermath of the September 11th attacks.
The letters are a kind of administrative
subpoena that allow the federal
government to demand business records
and personal information for people
suspected in terrorism and espionage cases.
Critics charge that since the letters do not
require a judge's signature, there is no
safeguard as to what types of information
can be legally sought by the documents.
Furthermore, they contend that the use of
the letters has risen far beyond their need.
Last year's audit of FBI activity found that
the Bureau had underreported the use of
05/03/08 - 06/03/08
the letters by more than 4,600 instances.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) urged Mueller to get
the problem of extraneous and
unauthorized information gathering by the
Bureau fixed.
"Everybody wants to stop terrorists. But
we also, though, as Americans, we believe
in our privacy rights and we want those
protected. There has to be a better chain of
command for this. You cannot just have an
FBI agent who decides he'd like to obtain
Americans' records, bank records or
anything else and do it just because they
want to."The Bush Administration lobbied
hard for the reauthorization of the
PATRIOT Act in 2005 and 2006 and won.
Many of its provisions are now
permanently enshrined in law. However,
that does not mean that Congress could
later change the law to remove tools that it
feels have been abused by authorities.
Civil liberties groups will seize on the new
FBI audit when it comes out as evidence
that the Bureau cannot be trusted to follow
the law with respect to national security
letters. If Bush Administration wishes to
leave the PATRIOT Act to its successor as
a legacy item, it will have to demonstrate
that the FBI can reign itself in and do a
better job of limiting its investigators to the
information they are legally authorized to
receive.
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LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
By Greg McNeilly (Political Machine)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 10:37:00 AM
Filed under: Ads, John McCain, 2008
PresidentA liberal special interest groups,
led by Barack Obama supporters, is airing
a new :30 second attack campaign spot
against Republican nominee John McCain.
The ad is titled "McSame."
The predictable attack - same as Bush -
will certainly rally the Democrat base. But
everyone in America knows John McCain
is no George W. Bush.
CNN describes the funding of this spot:
The Fund is a 527, which means it does not
face typical federal restrictions on
fundraising and spending, as long as it
does not coordinate with or directly
advocate for a particular candidate. The
Campaign for America is a 501 (c) (4)
issue advocacy group.
The group's official leadership includes
Anna Burger of the Service Employees
International Union and Change to Win,
which have endorsed Democrat Barack
Obama, and Rob McKay of the
Democracy Alliance, a coalition of some
of the party's wealthiest backers. The SEIU
and progressive philanthropist George
Soros have already donated millions to the
effort.Obviously, the "class warfare"
division it invokes is tricky. Calling
McCain a millionaire, while accurate, is a
bit like throwing stones from a glass house.
Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton
are the wealthiest Democrat candidates to
be this close to their nomination since John
F. Kennedy or Franklin Roosevelt - and
both worth more (based upon projections)
than McCain.
And on health care, if the standard for
accuracy is simply to declare your
opponent is without a plan because you
don't agree with it or like it; then imagine
what McCain should claim about Obama
or Clinton's "plans" to defend America.
Of course, if Clinton or Obama were really
agents of change and a new politics, they
would denounce these type of secret
groups airing hit-and-run attack ads. But I
suspect that sort of indignation and
principle will appear when the fire
becomes incoming.
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2 Politics * Your Click and Print Newspaper

Should Clinton's Surge Scare the GOP?
By Greg McNeilly (Political Machine)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 5:52:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Republicans,
2008 PresidentLike a political Lazarus,
Hillary Clinton has thrice heard her name
called from the grave. First after Iowa,
then in South Carolina and, finally,
yesterday. Not only does her campaign
now live, it is thriving. And this should
give Republicans pause.
The common wisdom is that Clinton is the
candidate who is most likely to be beat by
John McCain. In large part, this belief
centers on her ability to galvanize
everyone remotely right of center into a
motivated base. This has some merit.
But if you look at the demographics and
exit polling, one starts to suspect Barack
Obama is the weaker choice for
Democrats.
Clinton continues to dominate lower-
middle class, under-college educated,
women, Latinos and earns a plurality of
white men.
His coalition, time and again, is essentially
highly-educated, wealthy and or African-
American. Looking at this coalition in light
of the Electoral College poses some
interesting questions.
-- Could Obama compete in Florida, where
he loses among Latinos, voters over 50 and
those making less than $50,000 a year?
-- Can Obama compete in Ohio or
Pennsylvania?
-- Giving up the Latino coalition,
especially in opposition to McCain, does
the entire West and Southwest re-solidify
into a GOP stronghold?
-- What state does Obama change from the
outcomes in 2000 or 2004?
Everyone knows that there are more voters
making less than $50,000 a year than over
but Obama cannot (yet) connect with them
in the same fashion as Clinton.
The GOP may want to join the chorus of
coastal elites calling for Clinton - who has
won more votes than Obama (according to
the total number of votes cast tabulated by
RealClearPolitics.com,Clinton leads with
13.6 to Obama's 13.5 million) but trails by
less than 100 delegates - to drop out!
Changing Republican Presidents might just
depend on it!
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Michigan and Florida, Take
Two
By Faye Anderson (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 1:44:00 PM
Filed under: Democrats, Breaking News,
2008 PresidentOne seldom gets a second
chance to make a first impression. But in
the name of democracy, Florida Gov.
Charlie Christ and Michigan Gov. Jennifer
Granholm are seeking a do-over of their
state's primary election.
In a joint statement, they said: "The right
to vote is at the very foundation of our
democracy. This primary season, voters
have turned out in record numbers to
exercise that right, and it is reprehensible
that anyone would seek to silence the
voices of 5,163,271 Americans."
While the states knew the rules going into
the game, they still think "it is intolerable
that the national political parties have
denied the citizens of Michigan and
Florida their votes and voices at their
respective national conventions."
An agreement may be in the works. The
Associated Press reports: The Michigan
governor, along with top officials in
Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign and
Florida's state party chair, are now saying
they would consider holding a sort of do-
over contest by June. That's a change from
their previous insistence that the primaries
their states held in January should
determine how their delegates are
allocated.
It is an open question whether Barack
Obama will go along given the
demographics of Michigan and Florida are
similar to Ohio and Texas, which he lost to
Clinton.
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Rezko Trial Clouds Obama's Bid

By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:09:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats, Barack Obama,
Breaking NewsThe trial of former Obama
fundraiser Tony Rezko got underway
today, and that is incredibly bad news for
Barack Obama. Among those who'll be in
attendance to watch the legal doings will
be representatives from both Obama's and
Hillary Clinton's campaign, as well as a
gumshoe or two from the Republican
National Committee. The matter is
potentially disastrous for Obama,
depending on what transpires.
Rezko is charged with extortion and wire
fraud. From the WSJ:
Prosecutors allege he used connections
with state politicians and appointees to
arrange kickback schemes. The 52-year-
old real-estate developer has pleaded not
guilty.
Mr. Rezko gave tens of thousands of
dollars to Sen. Obama's past campaigns,
including his 2004 Senate race. Sen.
Obama has donated to charity nearly
$160,000 in campaign contributions linked
to Mr. Rezko, giving away about half that
money at the end of January.
While this story has remarkable parallels to
that of Hillary Clinton's involvement with
disgraced fundraiser Norman Hsu, the real
wrinkle comes in the fact that Rezko
purchased a lot adjacent to the home they
were hoping to buy. More from the
Journal:
The home-purchase deal came a year
before Mr. Rezko's indictment but after it
was known he was facing federal scrutiny.
Sen. Obama has said the deal was a
mistake because it created the appearance
of impropriety.
If Rezko is found guilty, and if Obama's
name is repeatedly invoked, this is a big,
big deal. Though he's not been accused of
breaking any law, Obama's case as an
agent of change is damaged by this matter.
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
America's Hottest
Governor Is Pregnant
By Brandon Barker (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:17:00 AM
Filed under: John McCain, 2008 President,
LOLectionAccording to The Alaska
Report, Alaska's Governor (and "America's
Hottest Governor") is no longer in the
running to be Sen. John McCain's running
mate on the 2008 Republican ticket. Why?
She's pregnant with her fifth child.
On Wednesday, Gov. Palin announced to
the Juneau press that she "will be
delivering an addition to the first family"
in mid-May. Sarah and her husband Todd
already have a son Track, 18, and
daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and
Piper, 6.
The announcement throws a wrench into
the Republican master plan to pair not-
especially-hot John McCain with librarian-
of-your-dreams Palin. Already, two top
female Republicans have declined the
honor--Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and
Condoleeza Rice--and so his journey
continues.
All is not lost, though. Another Alaskan is
available: Lisa Murkowski, who may not
be Alaska's Hottest Politician, but is
certainly getting there. However, her
environmental record makes Sen. McCain
look like, I don't know, Grizzly Man. And
then there's Sen. Elizabeth Dole, an
Live Blogging of Apple iPhone SDK Event Begins Soon
By Mark Hendrickson (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 9:16:06 AM
Head on over to CrunchGear to follow our
live coverage of the Apple iPhone SDK
accomplished public servant and Chanel
suit fan. A McCain-Dole ticket would be
slightly more exciting than a Tsongas-
Mondale ticket.
But hold on: Why are we so quickly
abandoning Governor Palin? I mean, what
could be more genius than a pregnant vice
presidential candidate? I'm totally on
board... as long as the baby is cute.
B. Brandon Barker is the Minister of
Culture.
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event, which is being held at the
company’s headquarters in Cupertino and
will begin at 10am PT.
We’ll be sure to report back here about all
the juicy details once things are all done,
Darkness Visible
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 12:50:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Democrats,
Featured Stories, ScandalHere's the
question: Did the Clinton campaign
purposefully darken and distort Barack
Obama's image in a recent television ad?
Decide for yourself. On the left is the
televised image of Obama at the
democratic debate in Texas. On the right is
the purportedly treated image used in the
Clinton ad.
DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas
believes that not only did the Clinton ad
people darken Obama's skin tone, they
stretched the photo as well, to give the
appearance that Obama had a wider
nose.Official Clinton response to the
charges:
Asked for comment, Clinton campaign
but CrunchGear is the place to follow the
Politics * Technology *
spokesman Jay Carson said, "this is a
bogus assertion. Ads look different based
on software, screens, computers,
television, etc."
Obama's people have no comment.
I'm not really sold on this one. Though I do
think the width has been exaggerated, this
case seems much more ambiguous than the
famous blackening of O.J. Simpson on the
cover of Time.
Whatever its merits, the story is out there
causing a stir (here, here, here, here, and
here, to sample just a few sites). So have at
it. What's your read?
Do you think the Clinton campaign
purposefully manipulated Obama's image
for the ad?YesNoWe'll Never KnowVote
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minute-by-minute action.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s
time for you to find a new Job2.0
3
Race and the
Democratic
Nomination Race
By Faye Anderson (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:47:00 AM
Filed under: DemocratsThe Wall Street
Journalasks whether the race card is back
on the table. The article cited polling data
that show race was an important factor for
20 percent of Ohio voters and 19 percent
of Texas voters.
While Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton
have said repeatedly race shouldn't matter,
the mere fact that neither candidate wants
to talk about race shows how much it still
matters. Conservative commentator
Morton Kondracke writes: "Obama wins in
states with majority-black Democratic
turnout, like South Carolina, Georgia and
Louisiana and in states with few blacks,
like Wisconsin, Washington and
Vermont."
Kondracke notes: "In Rhode Island,
another heavily working-class state, race
was important to 20 percent of the
electorate, and this group went 56 percent
for Clinton."
Truth is, identity politics--race, ethnic and
gender--played and will continue to play a
crucial role in Obama's and Clinton's rise,
fall and rise again.
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4 Politics * Business *
Did Obama Win Texas?
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 1:07:00 PM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Democrats,
Barack Obama, Breaking NewsThat's what
the Austin American-Statesman has
concluded, anyway:
With all the back-and-forth over the
delegates gained by Obama and Clinton in
yesterday's Texas primary, this word is just
in from state Democratic officials.
Obama could pick up a net gain of three
delegates, after all the dust settles.
So Clinton won the popular vote by a
margin that gives her 4 delegates. But
Obama leads in the caucus portion of the
primary, and, as a result, is on pace to earn
7 delegates. Maybe that big comeback
wasn't so big after all.
Overall, as Marc Ambinder points out, the
math still favors Obama. Likewise,
Newsweek's Jonathan Alter argues that the
March 4 results didn't help Clinton at all.
In fact, if, as my colleague Faye Anderson
reported today, we are headed for a do-
over in Michigan and Florida, Alter sees it
as nearly impossible for Hillary to end up
ahead in both the popular vote as well as
pledged delegates.
The Texas outcome now may give
Obama's supporters the symbolic lift they
hoped for, despite the momentum shift in
Clinton's favor. After all, James Carville
and Bill Clinton both declared that Hillary
had to win the Lone Star State if she hoped
to win the nomination. Of course, they
probably just meant the popular vote, not
overall delegate totals.
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Clinton Roars to Top of National Poll
By Faye Anderson (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 7:40:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Democrats,
2008 PresidentHillary Clinton's victories in
Ohio and Texas underscore Winston
Churchill's admonition: Never, never,
never give up.
Clinton tops Barack Obama in the
Rasmussen daily Democratic presidential
tracking poll 48 percent to 43 percent.
After a brief flirtation with Obama in
Maryland and Wisconsin, the thrill is gone.
Chasing Value: Wells
Fargo may look like a steal
in 12 months
By Sheldon Liber (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 4:12:00 AM
Filed under: Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.A), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bargain
stocks, Chasing Value, Stocks to Buy, Best
Stocks for 2008
My stock alert was triggered for Wells
Fargo Corp (NYSE: WFC) at $28 per
share, two days ago. I did not buy any
shares. I would like to own some stock but
I'm still hoping for one more dip before I
jump in. Having been burned by financial
stocks this past year, like many investors,
I'm proceeding with caution. It closed
yesterday at $28.98.
I suppose I do own some fractional interest
indirectly through Berkshire Hathaway
(NYSE: BRK.A) and the Vanguard Group
Inc., the largest (8.8%), and fourth largest
(3%) shareholders respectively. By the
way, insiders own less than 1% of the
Clinton now holds a 12 percentage point
lead among women nationwide; white
women favor Clinton by 20 points.
Clinton did not crumble in the face of 11
consecutive losses. Like the disco diva
Gloria Gaynor, she will survive to fight
another day. Indeed, in her victory
remarks, Clinton said she's "going all the
way."
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company so although "my pal Warren"
prefers companies where managers have
some skin in the game this one contradicts
that philosophy. The respected CEO,
Richard M. Kovacevich, has actually been
the largest seller of the stock, which he
does through a planned process almost
every two months.
Wells 52-week high / low range is $37.00 /
$24.38. Although I did not buy any yet I
do get the feeling that Wells Fargo may
look like a steal in 12 months. It is the fifth
largest bank in the United States. Regular
readers of the column know I missed
another stock as I wrote yesterday Chasing
Value: Anglo American -- great pick, but
alas.... Perhaps it was childish not buying
WFC on Tuesday, but financial stocks and
commodities are two very different things
right now.Permalink | Email this |
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Navigating gains
with Garmin
(GRMN)
By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:44:00 AM
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc
(AAPL), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Garmin Ltd
(GRMN)
"Rivals may be creating a buzz in the
market for navigational technologies, but
Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN) will fight
off its rivals as it always has, with product
breadth and innovation," says Ian Wyatt in
Top Stock Insights.
"Garmin, which first started selling
products in 1991, has been on a run. Since
2001, the company has compound annual
revenue growth of 30%; net income has
grown 29% compounded annually.
"Through sound financial execution,
Garmin has become a worldwide leader in
providing navigation, communication and
information devices, many of which carry
global positioning system (GPS)
technology.
"The automotive and mobile division,
which represents the company's portable
navigation devices (PNDs), dominates the
company's business. PNDs are the fastest
growing, most competitive and most
consequential market for Garmin and
accounted for 71.2% of revenue in third
quarter of fiscal 2007.
"In the North American PND market
Garmin's share is more than 50%, and its
PND share in Europe is 20%. Itss market
share is greater than 60% in aviation and
higher than 30% in marine electronics. The
company's main geographic market is
North America, followed by Europe, and
then - to a much smaller extent - Asia.
Continue reading Navigating gains with
Garmin (GRMN)Permalink | Email this |
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Time to load up on
Blackstone stock?
By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:19:00 AM
Filed under: Private equity, Blackstone
Group L.P (BX)
About a year ago, when Blackstone
(NYSE: BX) went public, investors were
scrambling to get shares of the top-notch
private equity firm.
Well, the IPO was certainly a mark of
savvy timing (hey, isn't that what private
equity firms are supposed to be good at?).
But the stock price has steadily declined
since, going from $38 to $15.25.
Yet, the fact remains that Blackstone
continues to raise capital (a new $20
billion fund); has operations around the
globe; has dealt with various market cycles
since the mid 1980s; and has avoided
problems such as subprime securities.
So, is this a time to buy the stock?
According to a piece in the
FinancialNews.com, it might be.
In fact, it looks like a variety of major
Analyst initiations: IPCM,
FCE.A and SINA
By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:28:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst reports, CBS Corp 'B'
(CBS), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Analyst
initiationsMOST NOTEWORTHY: IPC
The Hospitalist Co, Forest City Enterprises
and SINA Corp were today's noteworthy
initiations:
• Jefferies believes IPC The Hospitalist Co
(NASDAQ: IPCM) is well-positioned to
grow rapidly in the next several years, as it
takes advantage of numerous organic and
acquisition-driven expansion opportunities
in the emerging hospitalist sector. The firm
started shares with a Buy rating and $27
target.
• Forest City Enterprises (NYSE: FCE.A)
was initiated with an Outperform rating
and $47 target at Keefe Bruyette, as they
pension funds, such as the Washington
State Investment Board, are taking a look
at the stock. They realize that there is still
lots of money to be made from alternative
investments. Keep in mind that sovereign
wealth funds are also funneling their
billions into the sector.
This is not to imply that there will be a
quick turnaround in Blackstone's stock, but
looking at the long term -- which is what
pension funds do -- it seems that optimism
is starting to bubble up.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books,
including The Complete M&A Handbook
and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding
Financial Statements. He also operates
DealProfiles.com.Permalink | Email this |
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find shares attractively-valued at current
levels.
• Sterne Agee initiated SINA Corp
(NASDAQ: SINA) with a Buy citing
checks that indicate trends for online
advertising in China remain very favorable
and support a strong growth outlook.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
• Credit Suisse initiated CBS Corp
(NYSE: CBS) with a Neutral rating and
$25 target and Alcoa (AA) with an
Outperform and $45 target.
• Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) was reinstated
with a Buy rating and $24 target at
Goldman Sachs.
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Profiting from 67% weaker
dollar and 342% higher oil
By Peter Cohan (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:52:00 AM
Filed under: Market matters, Oil
The Associated Press reports that oil just
hit a record high and the dollar hit a record
low. The euro fetched a record $1.5347
this morning -- driving the dollar down
67% since the euro bought 92 cents in
January 2001. And oil's record price of
$105.97 a barrel is up 342% since its
January 2001 price of $24 ($105.97 a
barrel according to Bloomberg as Michael
Fowlkes blogged). According to the New
York Times, when the U.S. president
asked OPEC to increase production, OPEC
said no -- blaming U.S. mismanagement
for the high oil price.
So what? Gasoline prices are rising. And
the diving dollar and spiking oil are linked.
As the Fed cuts rates further in a futile
Analyst downgrades: ANH,
MFA, NWSAF and SKS
By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:10:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst
upgrades and downgradesMOST
NOTEWORTHY: Anworth Mortgage,
MFA Mortgage, New Star Asset
Management and Saks were today's
noteworthy downgrades:
• Keefe Bruyette downgraded Anworth
Mortgage (NYSE: ANH) and MFA
Mortgage (NYSE: MFA) to Market
Perform from Outperform to reflect lower
book value estimates based on the
widening in agency spreads.
• Deutsche Bank downgraded New Star
Asset Management (OTC: NWSAF) to
Sell from Buy, as they are negative on the
company's business model and growth
effort to stop the real estate market -- and
its related financing mechanisms -- from
collapsing, the dollar drops further. Since
oil is traded in dollars, a lower dollar
contributes to a higher price.
What to do? As I posted earlier, it's
possible to profit from this vicious cycle.
In the first two months of 2008, the S&P
fell 10% while stocks mentioned in my
newsletter rose an average of 9%. They are
companies that benefit from the rising
price of oil. But why stop there?
Commodities such as wheat, copper, gold,
silver and platinum are also moving up.
Why not make a bit of profit to offset the
cost of filling up your gas tank?
Peter Cohan is President ofPeter S. Cohan
& Associates. He also teaches management
at Babson College and edits The Cohan
Letter.Permalink | Email this | Comments
prospects in the current environment.
• Saks (NYSE: SKS) was cut to Neutral
from Buy at Banc of America as they
believe the high-end is slowing.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
• Goldman downgraded Lonmin Plc
(OTC: LNMIY) to Neutral from Buy.
• RBC Capital downgraded Maguire
Properties (NYSE: MPG) and First
Potomac (NYSE: FPO) to Underperform
from Sector Perform.
• Shares of Zumiez (NASDAQ: ZUMZ)
were downgraded to Neutral from buy at
Piper and to Neutral from Positive at
Susquehanna.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Business * 5
Analyst
upgrades: FLR,
FWRD and MDR
By Eric Buscemi (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:00:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst
upgrades and downgrades, Oracle Corp
(ORCL), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN)MOST
NOTEWORTHY: Fluor, Forward Air and
McDermott were today's noteworthy
upgrades:
• Citigroup upgraded shares of Fluor
(NYSE: FLR) to Buy from Hold to reflect
the company's strong performance and
backlog in Q4 and raised their target to
$190.50 from $158.
• Baird upgraded Forward Air (NASDAQ:
FWRD) to Outperform from Neutral citing
near-term growth initiatives that are
gaining traction.
• Citigroup also upgraded shares of
McDermott (NYSE: MDR) to Buy from
Hold to reflect the company's strong Q4
performance and rising commodity prices.
OTHER UPGRADES:
• RBC Capital upgraded Digital Realty
(NYSE: DLR) and ProLogis (NYSE: PLD)
to Top Pick from Outperform.
• Credit Suisse raised China Unicom
(NYSE: CHU) to Outperform from
Neutral.
• Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) and Oracle
(NASDAQ: ORCL) were upgraded to Buy
from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
6 Business * Tech Gadgets *
What bear market? Ten stocks
making new highs
By Timothy Sykes (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:58:00 AM
Filed under: Next big thing, Kimberly-
Clark (KMB), Yamana Gold (AUY),
Gilead Sciences (GILD), Amer Home
Mtge Investment (AHM), Stocks to BuyIn
sharp contrast to the ten horrifically
downtrending stocks I warned against
buying in this article, today I feature these
10 solidly uptrending stocks.
AK STEEL (NYSE: AKS)
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD)
United States Oil (AMEX: USO)
Quicksilver Resources (NYSE: KWK)
Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC)
Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY)
streetTRACKS Gold (NYSE: GLD)
Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST)
Converted Organics (NASDAQ: COIN)
Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD)
It's charts like theirs that make you wonder
why you're messing around with any other
stocks. Ahhh, if it was only that easy. No
matter that all the stocks listed above are
OECD decreases 2008 GDP
growth forecast to below 2%
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:32:00 AM
Filed under: Bad news, Economic data,
RecessionThe Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development cut its
forecast for 2008 growth in its 30-nation
membership to "less than 2%" -- the lowest
growth rate since 2003 -- due to fallout
from the U.S. economic slowdown,
Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.
Sixth months ago, the OCED predicted
that 2008 growth in the 30-nation zone
would total 2.3%, following 2.7% growth
in 2007.
making new highs, now the concern is that
they may have come too far too fast. In
2008, several of these stocks-the gold
plays in particular-have risen nearly 50%.
Obviously the oil stocks have also been
surging, but how much further can the
"black gold" plays really run?
Continue reading What bear market? Ten
stocks making new highsPermalink | Email
this | Comments
The growth revision marks a substantial
shift in OECD expectations. Earlier, the
OECD predicted that member economies
would be to withstand the U.S. economic
slowdown without considerable negative
consequence. That outlook, along with
economic analysis from other countries,
helped form the basis for the so-called
'decoupling thesis' -- where Europe and
other developed countries race along
unscathed by the doldrums in the world's
largest economy.
Continue reading OECD decreases 2008
GDP growth forecast to below
2%Permalink | Email this | Comments
LifeCell Corporation (LIFC):
Share price cycles in bullish
'flag'
By Larry Schutts (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:05:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports, Analyst
upgrades and downgrades, Boston
Scientific (BSX), Technical Analysis,
Stocks to Buy
LifeCell Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFC)
provides surgeons with regenerative and
reconstructive tissue matrices for soft
tissue repair. Products include AlloDerm,
for plastic reconstructive, general surgical,
burn and periodontal procedures; Strattice,
for plastic reconstructive and general
surgical procedures; Graftjacket, for
orthopedic applications and lower
extremity wounds; Allocraft, for bone
grafting procedures; and Repliform, for
urogynecologic surgical procedures. The
Casio unveils 8.1-megapixel EXILIM Zoom EX-Z9
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 4:14:00 AM
Filed under: Digital Cameras
While Casio -- along with most everyone
else -- took the time to roll out a gamut of
shooters at CES, the EXILIM Zoom EX-
Z9 is sashaying in fashionably late. This
8.1-megapixel camera sports a 2.6-inch
LCD monitor, face detection technology,
anti-shake DSP, a 3x optical zoom,
18.6MB (and not byte more) of built-in
Conceptual hotel takes a note from the Death Star
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:44:00 AM
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
We can't say with a straight face that the
capital of Azerbaijan is high on our list of
places to vacation at, but for Star Wars
fanatics, the case could be different.
Reportedly, Heerim Architects has dreamt
up a couple of "lunar inspired" projects for
the Asian country, one of which (Full
Moon Bay) looks an awful lot like the
Your Click and Print Newspaper
materials are sold in the US and abroad,
through a direct sales force and through
such distributors as Boston Scientific
(NYSE: BSX).
The company pleased investors last week,
when it reported Q4 EPS of 19 cents and
revenues of $52.6 million. Analysts had
been expecting 17 cents and $52.2 million.
Management also guided FY08 EPS to
$0.98-$1.06 ($1.04 consensus) and FY08
revenues to $233-$243 million ($238.89M
consensus). Needham subsequently
upgraded the issue to "strong buy" and
boosted its price target to $55.
Continue reading LifeCell Corporation
(LIFC): Share price cycles in bullish
'flag'Permalink | Email this | Comments
for good measure. You'll also find a USB /
AV output socket and 23 "Best Shot"
modes for those who just love choices, but
the hard part will be deciding which of the
four colors (pink, silver, black and orange)
is really worth your $159.99.
Gallery: Casio unveils 8.1-megapixel
EXILIM Zoom EX-Z9
storage, an SD / SDHC / MMC expansion
slot, a video mode capable of capturing at
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
848 x 480 pixels and a rechargeable Li-ion
blazing and wookiees waltzing. Truth be
told, we've no idea if these facilities will
ever break ground, but we're
absolutelycertain the powers in Dubai are
already planning to recreate the entire Star
Wars universe if this thing goes forward.
[Via Inhabitat]
Death Star. Granted, the building looks Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
entirely different from varying angles, but
we're choosing to focus on the one that
brings back fond memories of light sabers
Your Click and Print Newspaper
CeBIT crackdown: 51 exhibitors
busted for patent infringement
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 4:41:00 AM
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Apparently Meizu wasn't the only
manufacturer to get a friendly visit from
German police at this week's CeBIT
tradeshow in Hanover. The word is that 51
different exhibitors got busted at the show
for the patent infringement, with 180 law
enforcement officers confiscating 68
moving boxes worth of gear. Primary
offenses included Meizu-style MP3 / MP4
infringement, along with unregistered CD,
DVD-R and DVD playback devices. All
companies were informed of the rules
before the tradeshow, and the warning we
spotted at Meizu's booth (pictured above)
should've probably served as a pretty good
hint to these companies as well. China
boasted the most offenders at 24, then it
was Taiwan with 12, Germany with 9, and
Poland, Netherlands and Korea with one a
piece. Everybody else just isn't trying hard
enough.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Samsung kills BD-UP5500 combo
player before it ever truly lived
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:49:00 AM
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Given the finality of the format war, we
can't say we're totally shocked to hear that
Samsung will be pulling the plug on its
recently announced BD-UP5500 HD DVD
/ Blu-ray combo player, but still, it's not
good news for folks planning to pick it up
for kicks (or watching their library of HD
DVDs). Interestingly enough, Sammy had
already planned to axe its current flagship
Case mod throws tradition to the wind, uses heatsinks as
enclosure
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:23:00 AM
Filed under: Desktops
Typically, when you think case mod, you
wonder just how tweaked a six-walled
chassis can get. For Ville 'Willek' Kyrö, he
figured that approach was much too
constrictive. Instead, he used an array of
heavy-duty heatsinks to actually build the
frame that held the innards of Project:
hybrid player -- the BD-UP5000 -- this
May, just months after it went on sale and
began taking heat for not meeting
expectations. On the plus side, the firm's
latest BD-only player was a real gem, so
hopefully we'll see lots more where that
came from in the future. Oh, and if you're
weeping this very moment at the thought
of never getting to see one in person, feel
free to click here and live vicariously
through us.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Passive. Needless to say, more heat pipes
than we care to count were used along with
what was likely miles of cable wrap, but
Tech Gadgets * 7
Robotic snake
moves by pushing
off obstacles
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:28:00 AM
Filed under: Robots
We'll be honest -- we've seen more snake-
like robots than we care to count, but a
new creature slithering out of the
Norwegian University of Science and
Technology is noticeably different than
most. As you can see above, there's a
distinct lack of treads, tracks or wheels on
Aiko, as it actually pushes off foreign
objects it encounters in order to creep
forward. Additionally, researchers have
created a "virtual double" of the critter in
order to help guide the development of the
actual robot, though we've yet to hear if it
plans on joining Anna Konda in war on
fire.
[Via NewScientist]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
hey, it's hard to complain with the end
result. Hit up the read link to witness this
thing's entire journey -- seven whole pages
worth -- and make sure you've got a
substantial chunk of unused vacation time
before you even think of doing something
similar.
[Via Hack N Mod]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
8 Tech Gadgets * Social Net *
Live from Apple's iPhone SDK press
conference
By Ryan Block (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 4:31:00 AM
Filed under: Cellphones, Features
9:05AM - Alright, we're here and
registered! We'll be checking in as things
get going shortly.
Busted Game Boy given life with Super Mario papercraft
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:02:00 AM
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
Call us crazy (or just packrats, whatever),
but we can't just toss a dead gadget in good
conscience. Apparently, neither can Josh
Burker, who decided to convert a busted
Game Boy into a beautiful piece of vintage
9:26AM - It's minglin' time! The space
usually reserved for product demos is
hollowed out for the Apple Continental
Breakfast today, tons of journos and execs
hanging out before the keynote kicks off.
Continue reading Live from Apple's
iPhone SDK press conference
Permalink | Email this | Comments
art. Similar to the playable Paper Mario
game we spotted about this time last
month, Mr. Burker used his papercraft
Turbine could generate electricity each
time you flush
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:06:00 AM
This one's been swirling around for a tick,
but Leviathan Energy's brilliant new
turbine is just too good to pass up.
Showcased at the Cleantech Forum in
California, this contraption would
reportedly generate power from the
downward movement of water through
pipes in a municipal system. In other
words, there's potential to conjure up
skills to whip up a familiar scene of Super
Mario Bros. and mount it within the space
where the display used to reside. Gunpei
Yokoi would be so proud.
[Via DSFanboy]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
energy from simply flushing one's toilet.
Of course, there's nothing revolutionary
about yet another hydroelectric generator,
but using such a device to grab power from
such a dirty place takes things to a whole
'nother level.
[Via Inhabitat]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Microsoft Considers Raising Yahoo Bid
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:50:21 AM
According to a report in The New York
Post, Microsoft is considering “raising” its
bid to acquire Yahoo to $31/share in cash.
I put “raising” in quotes because as you
probably recall, $31 was the original offer,
but because half of the proposed deal was
in stock and Microsoft shares have fallen
since then, the deal as it stands is now
worth a bit less.
Alley Insider, who has been tracking the
value of the offer on a daily basis,
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G10IL, the Eee PC
killer from ECS, is
actually killer
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 1:40:00 AM
Filed under: Laptops
Perhaps the ECS G10IL could use some
help in the naming department, but it
certainly isn't having any trouble bringing
a bit of class to the subnotebook market. In
addition to those stylish good looks, the
G10IL sports a webcam, HSDPA 7.2, three
USB ports, Ethernet and a 56Kb modem
(joy of joys!). No mention is made of WiFi
or Bluetooth, but at least the former seems
a given. Other details are slim, but the
price is supposedly "sub-$500." Perhaps
this "race to the bottom" won't be so
horrible after all.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
calculates the current 50/50 stock/cash deal
at $28.87/share. An all-cash offer
guarantees Yahoo shareholders their $31,
but also means Microsoft would need to
take on some debt. Currently, the company
has only about $19 billion in cash in the
bank according to Yahoo Finance.
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InstantAction and Cafe.com: Browser-Based Games
Growing Up, Becoming More Social
By Mark Hendrickson (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 9:00:14 AM
I’ve recently had the chance to preview
two new websites that promise to
significantly advance the quality of social
gaming as delivered through the browser.
The first is a project led by GarageGames
and backed by IAC called InstantAction
that brings straight into the browser
graphically complex games that appeal to
competitive gamers.
The second is a site called Cafe.com by an
international company called Boonty. It is
intended more for casual gamers who want
to use gaming more as a way to meet
people and socialize online rather than
compete.
InstantAction is going live today so anyone
can go and check it out (they’ll have four
games available to start and more coming
soon). Cafe.com will remain in private beta
for awhile longer, but the company has
given us 10,000 invitations - just go here
and enter “techcrunch” as your invitation
code. You’ll also start off with 10,000
CafeCoins, the site’s virtual currency,
which are worth about $10 and can be used
to buy virtual goods.
InstantAction
With InstantAction, you can play games in
-browser that look more like Xbox or PC
games. To fully appreciate the quality
improvements, you have to see them for
yourself:
What’s especially impressive is that these
games are not even based in Flash or
Silverlight. Rather, they run on top of a
cross-browser compatible, 150k custom
plugin that only has to be downloaded
once. The plugin, which has been
developed for two and a half years, works
with games that are programmed in pretty
much any language (C++, Java, Python,
Google Simplifies Advanced Search Options
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 12:44:39 AM
Google has reorganized and simplified
their advanced search options page (it
might not be visible for all users just yet,
etc.).
Right now the following four titles are
available - Marble Blast, Screw Jumper,
Think Tanks, and Cyclomite. The first two
are actually popular Xbox games that have
been ported over to InstantAction’s
platform. While these games have single
player versions, the focus is on competitive
multiplayer games. And inviting your
friends to the service is easy; you only
have to give them a URL and they can join
you quite quickly, even if your game has
already begun.
The site does use a good deal of Flash and
Ajax to manage game lobbies, friends lists,
and chat. When playing games, you’ll
always see a list of the people in your party
and a chat room on the right-hand side of
the screen. You can use this area to
communicate with others and quickly
switch over to new games while keeping
the same group of people participating.
The games to be included on the site will
come mostly from smaller game studios
run by veterans of the bigger studios who
have escaped their more corporate
environments. These include Wideload
Studios, run by the same guy who founded
Bungee and came up with Halo.
Among the advantages of running games
from the browser is the ability to make
updates and fixes without imposing
downloads on users. Producers can also
make money from new revenue sources
such as the sale of virtual goods,
subscriptions, and tournament fees.
I suspect that over time we’ll see even
more advanced games run through
InstantAction; ones that appeal even more
to hardcore gamers who just don’t have the
time to buy, install, and learn new games
anymore. The next game to be added -
Fallen Empire: Legions - is particularly
impressive and will certainly take the
but it is for me), hiding a number of less-
used features in an additional menu at the
bottom.
Here’s how the new page looks now:
And here’s the hidden bit below:
platform in that direction (see a sneak
preview of the game here).
Cafe.com
Browser-based casual gaming is nothing
new (see Kongregate, the gaming networks
on Facebook, and the astronomical
popularity of Scrabulous in particular). But
Cafe.com is the most developed social
networking-gaming hybrid that I’ve seen
so far, both in terms of the integration of
social features and the quality of
gameplay.
In contrast to InstantAction, Cafe.com will
appeal to a broader audience that includes
housewives and females in general (who
actually make up the primary audience for
online casual games). CEO Roman
Nouzareth says that the target demographic
is Generation X, which consists of 25-40
year olds.
The design and functionality of the site
reflects that it was designed for a less
“gamer” audience in mind. The tone is
lighthearted and only mildly competitive.
Games include pictionary, chinese
checkers, Sodoku, and billiards.
As with InstantAction, the focus is on
multiplayer games that can be played
instantly with friends (Cafe.com bases its
games primarily in Flash and HTML). But
Cafe.com has also been constructed with
an emphasis on member reputations and
personas. Users can build out profiles with
highly customizable 3D avatars (called
“MiniMes”) that will be loaded into games
themselves to represent characters there.
As with other social networks, you can
Technology * Social Net *
make friends with other members and
message them. Nouzareth says that he
wants Cafe.com to be the place where
people manage their online gaming
personas, while they go elsewhere to
manage their more generic personas.
Virtual currency and the purchase of so-
called “boosts” are particularly central to
Cafe.com’s ecosystem. Members can
purchase CafeCoins using real money and
then use them to buy three main types of
goods: attacks, defenses, and social items
like virtual flowers. Gaming-specific
goods can be purchased outside of
gameplay and added to one’s collection for
use when the time comes during gameplay.
CafeCoins can also be used to buy things
like new clothes for your avatar.
Two APIs are being worked on for
Cafe.com: one that allows for the
integration of games into the site, and one
that will allow for the exporting of data
elsewhere. The former is already available
and being used both by the company’s own
developers and by the handful of outside
developers that it has worked with so far.
The idea with the latter API is that users
eventually will be able to export their
Cafe.com profile information elsewhere,
for example, to display their gaming
reputations other social networking
profiles.
Nouzareth says in reference to Pogo.com,
one of the biggest social gaming sites in
the United States: if Pogo were to have a
baby with Facebook, that baby would be
named Cafe.com. Grab your invitation and
CafeCoins (see above) to find out yourself
how that comparison holds up. This will
give you a taste:
Crunch Network: MobileCrunchMobile
Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
Daily.
The changes aren’t drastic (as far as I can
tell, everything from the old page is also
present now), but the new page indeed
looks cleaner than the last one.
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9
Ziff Davis Media
Takes A Dip In
The Deadpool
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 7:22:30 AM
Ziff Davis Media, the Web 1.0-era
magazine publisher that should have died
years ago, has finally declared bankruptcy.
It owes creditors $225 million. They are
trading that in for 89 percent of the
company and an IOU for $57.5 million.
Here’s pretty much all you need to know,
from the AP:
The bursting of the Internet bubble hurt
publishers like Ziff Davis, which said its
print advertising revenue dropped to $40
million last year from $215 million in
2001. Its total revenue fell to $76 million
last year from about $300 million in 2001.
The company, which is a remnant of the
original Ziff Davis media empire that was
bought and sold three times over during
the past two decades (to Forstmann Little
& Co., Softbank, and current owner private
-equity firm Willis & Stein), currently
publishes PC Magazine and a couple
gaming titles. It also runs 16 Websites, the
best of which is 1Up . During the 1990s, it
launched a bunch of Internet-related print
magazines which no longer exist. Over the
past few years, it’s been trying to transition
to the Web. (Note that it no longer owns
ZDNet, which Cnet bought a long time
ago). Although it plans to emerge from
bankruptcy intact, for now we are placing
Ziff Davis in the deadpool.
Read this doc on Scribd: Ziff Davis
Bankruptcy Filing
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s
time for you to find a new Job2.0
10 Technology * Social Net *
Microsoft Blews Brings Stop The Bad Guys: Haute
Back Memories Of Rocket Secure 2.0 Released
Pops At The Beach
By Michael Arrington (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:11:59 AM
Ok, so that isn’t an actual picture of the
new Microsoft Blews news aggregator that
was announced by Microsoft Research
today, but tell me that the screen shot (see
below) doesn’t bring back memories of
eating Rocket Pops on the beach as a child
(or wherever you ate them).
But back to Blews. It’s a news aggregator
(see Techmeme and about 45 others,
including this gem), but it goes beyond
mere clustering of stories to show what’s
important right now based on who’s
linking to what in near real time. Blews,
which is only looking at political news,
also tells you the bias of the links in to a
story:
BLEWS uses political blogs to categorize
news stories according to their reception in
the conservative and liberal blogospheres.
It visualizes information about which
stories are linked to from conservative and
liberal blogs, and it indicates the level of
emotional charge in the discussion of the
news story or topic at hand in both political
camps. BLEWS also offers a “see the view
from the other side” functionality, enabling
a reader to compare different views on the
same story from different sides of the
political spectrum. BLEWS achieves this
goal by digesting and analyzing a real-time
feed of political-blog posts provided by the
Live Labs Social Media platform, adding
both link analysis and text analysis of the
blog posts.
Here’s what all that looks like:
Liberal links are blue (rasberry) and on the
left, conservative links are red (cherry) and
on the right. The middle is the story itself
Adconion Acquires Frontline Direct For $20 Million
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 12:00:41 AM
Online advertising network Adconion
Media Group has announced the
acquisition of data management and direct
in white (lemon). The dots around the
edges suggest the emotional charge of the
commentary, which can drip off of the
Rocket Pop in very hot weather.
I note that no one on the team (Michael
Gamon, Sumit Basu, Dmitriy Blenko,
Danyel Fisher and Christian Konig) is a
user interface specialist or web designer.
Putting aside the UI, which is hard to do,
the artificial intelligence behind Blews
could be interesting. It is very hard to get a
machine to decipher emotion and meaning
from raw text unless they are doing mere
keyword searches (see, for example,
Powerset). Microsoft is calling this hard bit
“detecting emotional charge.” If they’ve
got it right, or are close, there are an
unlimited number of potential applications
for the technology.
As an aside, this somewhat reminds me of
ScoutLabs, a startup we wrote about last
December. Scout Labs helps brand
marketers track commentary on their
brands, and tries to decipher emotion
towards that brand as well.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s
time for you to find a new Job2.0
marketing solutions provider Frontline
Direct for 20 million dollars. This news
comes hot on the heels of Adconion’s $80
million heavy funding deal, which was
closed in February.
With this acquisition Adconion plans to
By Michael Arrington (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:15:24 AM
Haute Secure, a service that detects and
blocks malware for web surfers, released
version 2.0 this morning. We first covered
the company at launch last summer and
compared it to Site Advisor, a similar
company that was acquired by McAfee in
2006 for a rumored $80 million.
Even last summer, though, Haute Secure
went way beyond what Site Advisor offers.
Site Advisor is a browser plugin that warns
users when they hit a site that might
contain phishing scams or malware. But
there are differences. Haute Secure looks
at each page on a site individually and
blocks those pages which are bad. Site
Advisor also doesn’t try to block malware,
just warn the user of it. Haute Secure
blocks it.
Haute Secure is also a P2P solution, and
the detection software is included in the
plugin (Site Advisor does not use its plugin
to detect malware). As soon as you locate
new malware code, the plugin notifies the
Haute Secure servers, which then send the
information out to all other plugin users.
This effectively increases the amount of
web space the service can analyze quickly,
adding more protection to users.
Haute Secure also analyzes
advertisements, a common vehicle for
delivering adware. This triggers warnings
on a number of sites that include ads from
networks known to carry malware.
Haute Secure 2.0
The new version of Haute Secure is
available for Firefox as well as Internet
rapidly expand into North America, with
Explorer, and continues to block URLs
that are on a number of open industry
blacklists (PhishTank, Google’s Anti-
Malware list, Spamhaus DROP list). But
now registered users can also create their
own block lists (say, for typosquatters),
and others can subscribe to those lists.
Additional updates to the service are
discussed here.
Haute Secure is also now offering to scan
sites regularly for owners, as third parties
can sometimes upload malware to a site
undetected via ads, widgets and hacking
into the server. The basic package starts at
$20/month, based on the number of URLs
being monitored.
We continue to recommend this service.
Even the most Internet savvy of us can get
burned in a phishing scam, and the service
might just block that site before you give it
personal information.
The company raised $500,000 in angel
funding in January 2007. CrunchBase
InformationHaute SecureInformation
provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s
time for you to find a new Job2.0
new office opening in San Diego
(alongside offices in New York, Toronto
and Santa Monica.) Adconion is currently
serving over 290 million ad impressions
per day worldwide and over 50 million
daily impressions in the US. They base
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Yahoo Maps
Get More Local
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 8:49:31 AM
Yahoo released an update to Yahoo Maps
with more data at the neighborhood level.
The Yahoo Maps team added 12,000 new
neighborhoods in 300 cities. The maps
now denote neighborhood boundaries with
subtle changes in the background color.
And points of interest such as schools and
subway stops are marked.
Yahoo Maps has always had a different
look than Google Maps, but these changes
help define that difference even more. The
background colors are lighter and there is
an attempt to provide a lot of information
visually. I like being able to see the
neighborhood boundaries, but there is a
risk of being presented with too much
information. The best UI for maps is to
keep it simple and then offer different
layers of information that can be turned on
or off depending on what you are looking
for. That said, too much information is
better than too little. I’ve become
completely addicted to online maps, even
in my car.
What can Yahoo (or Google) do next to
make their maps even more indispensable?
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s
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their platform on advanced techniques
such as behavioural targeting, geo-
targeting, day-parting, re-targeting, re-
search and client side conversion tracking.
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Federated Media Weighing Jangl Turns On Audio Ads
Its Options
By Michael Arrington (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:25:06 AM
CNET is reporting that tech-focused
advertising network Federated Media
(which sells advertising on our behalf) is
looking for a new round of financing.
CNET is basing this partially on our
previous report that they hired investment
bank Savvian to represent them after they
turned down a $100 million acquisition
offer, plus a new source that says the
company is looking at term sheets now.
From what we hear, Federated Media is
looking at both financing and new buyout
offers, but wants a valuation way beyond
the $100 million floated to them last year.
Founder John Battelle is said to be looking
for more of a Glam-like valuation, in the
$400+ million range. Glam has a similar
business model to Federated Media, but
focuses on womens sites. Glam also
guarantees significant revenue to its
partners, which resulted in a loss last year
of $3.7 million on $21 million in revenue.
Federated Media doesn’t guarantee
revenue, and is reportedly profitable (they
better be, with how much of our revenue
they keep).
Federated Media is reportedly generating
gross revenues in excess of $2 million per
month, and they keep 40% of that after the
Report: EU Could Approve DoubelClick Deal As
Early as Next Week
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 8:03:37 AM
The last barrier to Google acquiring
DoubleClick may be about to fall.
Bloomberg and others are reporting that
antitrust officials in the European Union
“plan to rule that the purchase may
proceed without changes” as early as
March 11 (about a year after the $3.1
billion deal was first announced). The FTC
approved the acquisition here in the U.S.
last December, but if there was going to be
split to partners.
It’s unlikely the company will get buyout
offers in the price range Battelle is looking
for, so a new financing is likely. But part
of me wonders why they’re doing this at
all. A new financing means a bigger
valuation, which means they need a much
higher price down the road when they do
eventually sell. And with competitors
springing up all over the place, margins
can take a hit.
Perhaps Federated Media intends to take
the Glam approach and go in the red for
the sake of growth and begin to guarantee
revenues. That’s a slippery slope, but it
may also get Battelle his
payday.CrunchBase InformationFederated
MediaInformation provided by
CrunchBase
Crunch Network: MobileCrunchMobile
Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
Daily.
a stumbling block everyone expected it to
be at the EU. If Bloomberg is correct, that
stumbling block is about to be removed.
By Nick Gonzalez (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:01:59 AM
Jangl is finally turning on a revenue stream
across its network of social calling
widgets, which reach a potential 80 million
social networking profiles (the company
hasn’t announced actual active users).
People generally use Jangl to place calls or
SMSs to other web surfers without
exchanging your real number. The new
advertising initiative is called Mobile
Media Platform and provides a set of APIs
for publishers and ad units for advertisers.
The strategy is similar to steps other
widget providers have taken to finally
make some money off their network by
tying in advertisements.
Through the APIs, developers can integrate
bits of Jangl’s SMS and VOIP calling
functionality into their applications. In
exchange, Jangl expands its advertising
reach a bit further. The monetization side
is being handled in partnership with
Pudding Media, and Ogilvy’s Digital
Innovation Group. Jangl will have several
Microsoft won’t be too happy about that. It
was lobbying heavily against the deal, both
in the U.S. and in Europe. Meanwhile,
Redmond has been building its own online
advertising business through its aQuantive
acquisition. You’ve got to wonder whether
Microsoft’s ongoing attempt to buy Yahoo
helped convince the EU that online
advertising is an extremely competitive
industry after all that doesn’t need to be
regulated.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoardbecause it’s
time for you to find a new Job2.0
Technology * Social Net * 11
different types of ad units for advertisers,
such as SMS ads tacked on to messages
users send and pre-roll audio ads that play
during the time you’d normally spend
listening to the phone ring. Advertisers can
target the ads by keyword, category,
location, and demographics. Jangl’s been
running tests of the SMS and pre-roll
format on Facebook and Bebo with
Pudding Media earlier this quarter and
feels confident enough that they won’t turn
Should
users off to the service.
CrunchBase InformationJaxtrJanglPudding
MediaInformation provided by
Firefox Be
CrunchBase
Crunch Network: MobileCrunchMobile
Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
Scared of IE8?
Daily. By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
I’m looking at IE 8 features which were
presented at MIX and once again I see a
Submitted at 3/5/2008 10:01:53 PM
How Can You Make Money From
Web 2.0?
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch) the question “have you seen ads on
Facebook?” Apparently Facebook believes
Submitted at 3/6/2008 5:23:26 AM
the best ads are the ones users don’t know
How can you make money from Web 2.0 are ads. There’s some talk about beacon
was the main question put to the Web 2.0 and open access as well.
and Beyond: What Is the Business Reality
panel at Microsoft Mix yesterday. Featured
My question about Web 2.0 business
models (or lack there of) is the second
in the video is Frank Arrigo (Microsoft),
Bryan Biniak (CEO Jacked), Tim Kendall
(Facebook), Loic Le Meur (CEO Seesmic),
question in.
The video quality isn’t great, slow internet
aside we should have a better copy up
Chris Saad (Particls). soon.
The responses from Kendall were Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over
interesting. Kendall argued that Facebook the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
is failing because the majority of the
audience put their hands up when asked
12 Social Net * TV *
SHOULD
continued from page 11
whole lot of catching up and very little
innovation. When your biggest
accomplishment is standards compliance -
and we’re talking about a product that’s
been around for 13 years - which is
incidentally a feat that your competition
has accomplished years ago, you have a
problem.
In particular, the eight big features that
were discussed by at the presentation are
“CSS 2.1 support, CSS Certification,
performance, HTML 5 support, new
developer tools, activities, Web slices +
one unnamed one.” Three of them have to
do with standards compliance. What’s left?
Web slices - a feature that lets you
subscribe to any part of a web site - is nice
enough, but it’s also old news: Apple users
have had it for some time now. Better
performance was expected, as were the
new developer tools. Activities, simply
put, let you do more stuff with a web page
from a contextual menu. Doesn’t sound
like anything I can’t already do in Firefox
with an add on.
Which brings me to Firefox’ main
strength. It’s got add ons. Thousands of
‘em, and even though they were initially
used mostly by power users, I see more
and more everyday users like my dad using
them. Every other site has a Firefox
toolbar, practically every web service has
some sort of a Firefox plugin (for example,
yesterday I was pleasantly surprised with
Basecode, a plugin for Basecamp which
enables additional rich text functionality.)
On top of that, Firefox 3 has got some new
features coming which I don’t see in IE8 -
a (good) download manager and a robust,
SQLite-based bookmarking system (with
tagging) come to mind. Of course, we’ll
have to wait for a finished version of both
products to see how fast and stable the
rendering engines will be, but from what
can be seen so far, Firefox is ahead even in
this department. Any way you spin it, and I
see absolutely no reason why I would ever
recommend IE(8) over Firefox (3) to
anyone.
It’s funny how a good market share can be
deceiving. I’m sure that folks over at
Microsoft are still patting themselves on
the back, saying “whatever, we still have
80% of the market.” I’m going to make a
bold prediction and say that - based on
what the most recent versions of both
browsers offer - this market share is
completely irrelevant here and it will go
down steadily in the years to come. Firefox
is the browser, and it’s got bigger
competition in Opera (especially the
mobile version(s)) than Internet Explorer.
To change the trend, Microsoft must do
something radical with IE8 - and they’ve
failed to do so.
*update: while we’re on the subject of web
standards, Acid2 test has been replaced
with Acid3, which no browser can pass at
this moment. The web standards race is
beginning to look a bit like the graphics
card race, where the ultimate goal is
impossible to reach.
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NBC renews Friday Night Lights with
the help of DirecTV
By Joel Keller (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:19:00 AM
Filed under: Cable/Satellite, Pickups and
Renewals, Friday Night LightsFans of the
perpetually unwatched but much-loved
NBC show Friday Night Lights have a
reason to rejoice this morning: the show
has been renewed for a third season,
according to Nikki Finke.
NBC executives had been looking for a
way to renew their low-rated show, mostly
through cost-sharing deals with other platforms.
networks. They finally found a partner: Continue reading NBC renews Friday
DirecTV. No details of the deal were Night Lights with the help of DirecTV
given; all we know right now is that the
satellite company and the Peacock folks Permalink | Email this | | Comments
will share the costs of producing the show
and will both air the show across multiple

Mashable Rocks SXSW: Win Rock Band and TONS of Schwag!

By Tamar Weinberg (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 9:23:55 PM
Listen up, guys! Pete Cashmore, Kristen
Nicole, and Tamar Weinberg of Mashable
will be at the SXSW Interactive festival to
be held on March 7-11 — and we’re
holding a super contest for all participants
and fans of Mashable. The winner will
receive a Rock Band game with all
accessories (drum kit, guitar, and
microphone), plus tons of free schwag
from technology companies and bands -
we’ll be adding more prizes to the stash
during the course of SXSW.
You can enter in eleven different ways,
and the list is growing - look out for
reminders and more ways to enter by
subscribing to the Mashable feed. We’ll be
tracking all entries, but some activities will
entitle you to more entries than others. It’s
a raffle, so the more entries you make, the
better your chances of winning. Here’s
how you can be entered to win this super
prize:
Tag any Mashable-related photos taken at
the event on Flickr with mashablerocks (2
entries)
Tag any videos taken at the event on
YouTube with mashablerocks (5 entries)
Bookmark the page mashable.com/rocks
on del.icio.us, tag it with mashablerocks,
and write “Mashable Rocks” in the
description (1 entry)
Subscribe to the Mashable Friendfeed
between March 6th and 10th (1 entry)
Become a fan of the Mashable Facebook
page. Write Mashable Rocks! on the wall
(1 entry)
Write a message on Twitter: @mashable
rocks (1 entry)
Favorite the Mashable blog on Technorati
(1 entry)
Join the Mashable LinkedIn group. When
you join, send us an email with the subject
I would like to join your group; my
membership is pending approval and add
Mashable Rocks to the body. (1 entry)
M e n t i o n t h i s l i n k
(http://mashable.com/rocks) in a blog post
(3 entries)
Upload a Mashable-related file (picture,
video, you name it as long as it’s virus
free!) to our Drop.io dropbox at
mashablerocks@drop.io. Alternatively,
leave a pertinent voicemail at our drop
conference call number 646-495-9204 x
90750 or get on a conference call with
your friends at 218-486-3891 x 096327703
(2 entries)
Leave a rockin’ comment on a post notated
by our editors as part of the contest. Note:
only some posts will be notated by our
editors and only those comments will
count! (1 entry per post)
Please follow instructions carefully for
your entries to count! Thanks!
And if you’re at SXSW, be sure to find
Pete, Tamar, or Kristen for some cool
Mashable Rocks Schwag!
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Project Runway: Finale (season finale)

By Annie Wu (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:41:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Project Runway,
Episode Reviews
(S04E14) Folks, we have finally reached
the end of the line and, to be perfectly
honest, I think I'm okay with that. This
season, I haven't felt the same sense of
anticipation from week to week. "Isn't
there something I'm supposed to do on
Wednesdays? Oh. Right.Project Runway."
This near-apathy is a far cry from the
screaming that had ensued in my house
when Wendy Pepper moved into the final
three of Season One or when Daniel
Vosovic presented in Fashion Week for %Gallery-17799%
Season Two. That said, I was pretty Continue reading Project Runway: Finale
satisfied with the top three because they (season finale)
really were the best of the bunch, even
though that bunch wasn't so great to begin Permalink | Email this | | Comments
with.
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Jangl Kicks Off VoIP Ads Mochila Launches Slide
With Several Launch Show Widget, with Ads
Partners
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 10:50:21 PM
Surely you’ve noticed that Jangl has been
making a huge push to insert its little green
buttons into every social networking outlet
possible. From Plenty of Fish to Bebo, the
list of major networks with click-to-call
VoIP options via Jangl is growing larger
by the day.
Jangl has quickly found a way to take
advantage of its sprawling reach, as we
learned with the announcement of its
Mobile Media Initiative, which monetizes
calls by inserting ads before you’re
connected. This keeps costs down for users
(down to free, that is), and presents a
unique ad revenue model for the VoIP
service. In terms of any splits that Jangl
has done with its social networking
partners have not been revealed in detail,
but I imagine that any split would
introduce an intriguing opportunity for
furthering Jangl’s initiative along.
Today, the Jangl Mobile Media Initiative is
officially kicking off in a big way, with
several launch partners, including Pudding
Media and Ogilvy’s Digital Innovation
Group, which is actually providing the
mobile advertising solutions for brands
involved. The natural question is of course,
how will users respond to ad-supported
calls over a VoIP network? I imagine a
Daily Poll: Will iPhone Get Flash?
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 8:50:47 PM
Whoa, and we thought that iPhone is
getting Flash support alongside with the
SDK. But, as it turns out, Steve Jobs threw
a couple of jabs at Adobe, saying that
Flash is too slow while Flash Lite sucks
(ok, he didn’t say “sucks” but he meant it),
adding that he’d like to see something in
the middle.
While this is not a definitive “no” to Flash,
great many of them could care less about
the ads, and as more brands and
advertising networks further explore the
possibilities for advertising options, there
will be a give and take relationship
between marketers and consumers,
experimenting with this new medium.
To that end, will it follow the same trends
as video? Unlike services like 800-FREE-
411, users have taken advantage of VoIP
tools without ads for some time now. This
is a situation similar to online videos,
which have been conjoined with ads only
in recent months, long after they became
popular as web entertainment. So while the
expectation on the user end may be
different thanks to the retrograded nature
of ad insertion, I am wondering how
closely these audio ads will in fact mimic
the path we’ve seen for video.
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when Steve says something like this it’s
likely that he really means it, and that he’s
got a backup plan, be it developing his
own platform for mobile RIAs or (gasp!)
perhaps even switching to Silverlight (not
gonna happen, but hey, it’s an option).
Wired suggests a third option: give limited
SDK to “amateur” developers, and Flash
support for approved SDK licensors.
We’ll see soon enough, but in the
meantime, we’d like to see your opinion in
the poll below.
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 12:01:36 AM
Another announcement from Mochila this
week: the aggregate content service
provider and widget distributer is
launching a new ad-supported slide show
player. This isn’t too far off the path of
what Mochila offers with its news widget,
which also includes multimedia content.
But the new slide show player is dedicated
to images, and has a built-in advertising
option that lets brands reach out to
consumers through the web publishers that
utilize Mochila’s widget, and offers an
additional ad-based stream of revenue for
those web publishers.
The images are provided by Mochila’s
content parters, including Getty Images
and the Associated Press. The widget itself
is 300×250, and is somewhat interactive
for the end user. There’s a play button that
gets the slide show player started,
informational text that displays at the
Will iPhone Get Flash Support?
• Are you kidding? People want Flash,
bottom of the widget (which can be hidden
by the end user), previous and next
buttons, and a top menu that lets users see
three photos at a time.
The ads themselves will pop up
intermittently, and the end user will then
be able to immediately click “resume slide
show” to get things going again. The ad
will then shrink down to a smaller banner
ad that displays directly beneath the slide
show widget. This of course can be clicked
on by the end user at any given time. I
imagine this particular move not only
expands the pool of web publishers that
will be interested in using Mochila’s
widget services, but also improves and
diversifies the ad network that Mochila is
steadily building up.
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badly. It's a yes!
• Yes, but not that soon. Apple will wait
for Flash to get faster.
• Yes, but SDK will give limited access to
developers
• Nope, iPhone will join the dark side of
Silverlight
• Nah, they'll go with their own standard.
View Results
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Social Net * 13
Rock Hands for Rock
Band: Exclusive Ticket
Giveaway to SXSW’s Best
Party
By Tamar Weinberg (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 9:24:16 PM
Listen up, everyone! Later this week kicks
off the geekgasm festival of the year, the
interactive portion of SXSW! And
Mashable is proud to announce that we’re
participating in a very exclusive party,
ROCK! The Official Rock Band Party.
Ten tickets have been given exclusively to
Mashable by organizer WashingtonVC, an
early stage fund and incubator based in
Washington DC.
Only through Mashable can you win a
ticket to party with rockers and tech
celebrities while playing the famous (and
super-enjoyable) Rock Band game. Keep
reading to find out how to enter this very
cool contest.
When: Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 from
10pm-2am
Where: Six Lounge, Austin, Texas
Who: Hosted by early stage fund and
incubator WashingtonVC. Pete Cashmore,
Tamar Weinberg, and Kristen Nicole of
Mashable will be in attendance.
There will also be a screening of Randi
Zuckerberg of Revision3’s new video
featuring Robert Scoble, Dave McClure,
and WashingtonVC’s Rana Sobhany.
How do I enter? This is the fun part. Strike
a rock hand pose (like the one below) on
Flickr and tag it with “mashablerocks”
AND “rockconcerts“. Your image should
have you in it, of course - not just a
disembodied hand! The best ten photos
win the tickets, while all photos also earn
you an entry into the Mashable Rocks
SXSW Contest. Party on Wayne!
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14 Social Net * TV *
Yahoo Maps Major Upgrades –
Whose Maps Do You Like Best?
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:16:39 AM
The Yahoo Maps team has announced a
number of upgrades today, including new
neighborhood data, more international
coverage, and supposedly a faster loading
interface. You can check out the full list of
enhancements here.
Meanwhile, the online mapping space is
growing increasingly competitive. Once
dominated by Mapquest, Google Maps has
grown significantly over the past few years
with its constant onslaught of new features
and support of the developer community
through its widely-used APIs. Microsoft
has also ramped up its own efforts,
Patrick Swayze pilot still a go despite cancer diagnosis
By Richard Keller (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 3:25:00 PM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows,
Celebrities
No, you read correctly on both counts.
Patrick Swayze, who is known mostly for
his roles in movies such as Red Dawn,
Dirty Dancing, Road House, and Ghost, is
currently working on a pilot for a new
acquiring Multimap in December for $50
million.
According to Hitwise statistics, Mapquest
is still the leader in market share, though
Google is quickly gaining ground. Today,
we want to know which is your favorite:
Which online map service do you use the
most?
• Mapquest
• Yahoo Maps
• Google Maps
• Live Search Maps
• Other
View Results
ShareThis
A&E drama series. And, this is still going
on despite the diagnosis and treatment of
pancreatic cancer.
According to doctors treating the actor, his
continued participation in the pilot process
can take place because he has a very
limited amount of disease and seems to be
responding to treatment. I'm not a doctor,
but I would think "very limited amount of
disease" translates to the fact that they
High School Reunion: Meet the
Mustangs (season premiere)
By Jay Black (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:01:00 AM
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Episode
Reviews(S04E01) Three years ago, I was
asked to perform stand-up comedy at my
high school reunion. I wasn't a full-time
professional yet, but I was getting close; I
figured I would go in there and kill. I
imagined all the girls who didn't find me
attractive in high school (which was, uh,
all the girls) would instantly swoon for me
and I'd get some measure of closure on
what was a very disappointing chapter in
my life. Of course, I tanked. Badly. The
people at my reunion couldn't have been
less interested in what I had to say if I was
trying to sell them timeshares. I spent the
rest of the night mixing cold medication
and hard liquor, trying to find a
combination that wouldn't shut down my
liver but would help me forget how poorly
I performed that night.
I never thought I'd regret a decision more
than my accepting that high school reunion
gig. Now, three years later, I've finally
caught the cancer early enough.
Representatives for Swayze say that he is
found a decision I regret more: accepting
the assignment to review TV Land's new
reality show, High School Reunion.
Continue reading High School Reunion:
Meet the Mustangs (season premiere)
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
continuing his normal schedule, which
includes working on the pilot The Beast.
The show, still under consideration by
A&E, focuses on Patrick as an unorthodox
FBI veteran.
Continue reading Patrick Swayze pilot still
a go despite cancer diagnosis
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
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Big Brother 9:
Eviction #3 and
HOH #4
By Kristin Sample (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 1:02:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US),
Episode Reviews
(S09E11) Expect the unexpected. Those of
you who are dedicated BB fans know this
phrase all too well. It could mean that your
ex-boyfriend is getting thrown in the house
with you. It could mean that your
estranged father is one of your fellow
houseguests. It could mean that your
nemesis who you campaigned against is
getting another chance at the Big Brother
crown. Last night we evicted another
houseguest, found out what the siren
meant, and got a new HOH all in one hour.
It's not going to be a really short season of
BB after all!
A review of last night's Big Brother 9
follows after the jump...
Continue reading Big Brother 9: Eviction
#3 and HOH #4
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Nielsen cable ratings for the week
ending March 2
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:41:00 AM
Filed under: Industry, Programming,
Ratings
Here are the weekly cable ratings, by
number of viewers.
Yes, I did a double take too: is that really
NCIS in the top 10 of the cable ratings?
I'm used to seeing it in the top 20 every
week in the network TV ratings (even
though I don't know anyone who watches
or even talks about it), but I was surprised
to see the USA rerun at number 9 for the
week. Project Runway makes an
appearance this week, along with the usual
suspects Spongebob, iCarly, wrestling, and
election coverage.
1. Democratic Debate (MSNBC)
2. Debate Coverage/Analysis (MSNBC)
TV Squad features you may not know
about
By Keith McDuffee (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
Filed under: Site AnnouncementsWe
thought it was time again to point out a
few features of TV Squad that have been
around for quite some time now, since we
have new readers coming to the site every
day.
First up, RSS feeds. Most blog readers
know what these are and how to subscribe
to them, so I'm not going to get into the
basics of that now. What you may not
know, though, is how many different RSS
feeds we actually have here. Sure, you can
subscribe to the main feed with all of the
posts, but maybe you want to zone in or
Continue reading Nielsen cable ratings for
the week ending March 2
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
posts in certain categories?
Continue reading TV Squad features you
may not know about
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
24 prequel TV movie set for fall
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:43:00 AM
Filed under: 24, CastingFans of 24 will
have to wait until January 2009 for the
seventh season to commence, but in a
move that's likely to be met with cheers all
around, Fox has announced that the
producers of the Keifer Sutherland action
drama are creating a 24 two-hour TV
movie which will be a prequel to the next
new season. The story will cover the two
years between the end of season six and
the beginning of season seven. The actors
are being cast now, presumably the
essential members of the team who
survived the previous 24-hours of a nuclear
disaster, terrorism, lies, betrayals,
American Idol: Top 8 Girls Perform
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 2:15:00 PM
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps,
Contestants, Performances, Episode
Reviews
(S07E18) This '80s theme has been very
good with the contestants this week as
these past two episodes have been the most
satisfying of the season so far. And other
than a heavy leaning on Whitney Houston,
shootings and tragedies.
Continue reading 24 prequel TV movie set
for fall
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
I think the girls really stepped up their
game this week. Honestly, the way it's
looking, we may honestly be able to
believe the hype that this could be the best
Top 12 ever. Just get the vote right,
America!
Continue reading American Idol: Top 8
Girls Perform
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
TV * 15
The Daily Show:
March 5, 2008 -
VIDEOS
By Annie Wu (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:01:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, The Daily Show,
Episode Reviews"Indecision 2008":
Finally, some Tuesday coverage.
Unsurprisingly, Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama fought all the way through, with
Clinton pulling ahead just enough to claim
major victories. John McCain has already
pretty much locked up the Republican
nomination and Mike Huckabee, um, was
Mike Huckabee. I'm usually not very fond
of the gag jokes, but the giant hands
worked well, if only for that "Oh,
Mickey!" bit.
Continue reading The Daily Show: March
5, 2008 - VIDEOS
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
16 Movies
X-Files 2 Set Photos -- Slow-Motion Mayhem --
Mulder and Scully Get New 'Wanted' Trailer
Some Lovin' (Spoiler Alert) Premieres
By Elisabeth Rappe (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 2:02:00 PM
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom,
20th Century Fox, Comic/Superhero/Geek,
Remakes and Sequels, ImagesOh, X-Files.
There was a time in say, 1996, when the
sight of these photos would have sent me
racing to the official X-Phile board,
logging in under my screen name
IMScully33 (and yes, if you see it in the
AICN Talkbacks -- that is me), and
engaging in excited speculation.
Now I can only rouse a mild interest in
these spy photos, courtesy of Flynet Online
and fresh from the set of The Untitled X-
Files Sequel. It's my duty to warn you of
spoilers (although I pretty much gave it
away in that title) but I have to say. . .is
this really a spoiler? Didn't Mulder and
Scully have sex off-screen and produce a
child, thus rendering this pretty
unexciting?
The time for them to kiss was back in X-
Files: Fight the Future -- and you let us
down, Chris Carter. Stop trying to make up
for that off screen consummation!
This truly causes me pain. It brings to
mind my blissfully misspent youth, which
I spent pondering aliens, conspiracy
8 Sneak Peaks at '21'
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:02:00 AM
Filed under: Drama, Trailers and ClipsA
movie about card counting? It could so
easily be yawn-worthy, but then again,
there have been some sweet card-playing
flicks in the past, so anything is possible.
21, based on those MIT peeps who made
news for their speedy, mental card
counting, is coming out this month (we'll
have an early review from SXSW), and
Cinema Blend has 8 clips up to whet your
appetite -- ones that make things a bit more
theories, and buying all those episode
guides. I was even a Scully lookalike at the
tender age of 17. (I even appeared in an
issue of The Official X-Files Magazine. I
was that good.) In so many ways, The X-
Files helped make me the geek I am today
-- and also the bitter cynic who sits
snarking on this post now. I want it to be
1996 again so I'm actually excited by the
release of a second X-Files movie, and
sighing over the possibility that two
brilliant and lonely FBI Agents will get
together.Permalink | Email this |
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interesting than the earlier trailer.
Granted, this isn't any sort of documentary
on these guys, but a Hollywoodized drama.
And, as Jessica stated last month, a bit
white-washed. Nevertheless, it's got the
lights of Sin City, and that irresistible
money allure. In the clips, you can check
out the suit-cost scene that works much
better outside of the trailer, lots of
practicing, the inevitable fissures of
cockiness and working for someone
outside of the law, and some introductions,
although unfortunately, the sound doesn't
By Elisabeth Rappe (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 2:32:00 AM
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy,
Thrillers, Angelina Jolie,
Comic/Superhero/Geek, Trailers and
ClipsIs there another woman on the planet
who can look as beautiful with semi-
automatics as Angelina Jolie? It's just not
fair. (Does anyone find it slightly ironic
that a woman who is so dedicated to
humanitarian aid has such a fondness for
spraying bullets on film?)
The new Wanted trailer has debuted online
over at MySpace (it's still not on YouTube,
so I can't embed it for you), and it's one of
those things you shouldn't like. Like
Twinkies or Skittles. But then Angelina
Jolie defies physics and scoops up poor
James McAvoy in a furious red sports car.
You may roll your eyes at the slow-motion
"Goodbye" bullet at the end, but
ultimately, this is going to be one of those
films to crash to on a hot summer night
with a few friends -- a decent thrill ride
you'll probably feel silly about going to
later. (And it certainly has Timur
Bekmambetov's stamp all over it.)
There are also a bunch of new pictures,
mostly stills from the trailer. There's James
seem to be working on that clip (numbered
8, but really 7).
McAvoy's washboard abs for the ladies,
Angelina looking coy and suggestive for
the boys. . .and well, let's be honest,
everyone else. My taste favors Scotsmen,
and I still can't look away.
And, if you're a diehard fan of the graphic
novel, prepare to be disappointed. I'm
hearing that it has only the basic premise in
common.
Wanted opens on June 27, 2008.Permalink
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It's flashy, it's Hollywood, and it's directed
by the guy behind Tad Hamilton and
Legally Blonde, so you decide. Still, even
with the fanciness, I kinda like seeing
smart number crunchers on screen. We see
so many idiots these days, ones that make
you wonder if they even know how to tie
their shoes, that it's nice to see someone
who can do math in their head.Read |
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Jamal Woolard
is 'Notorious'
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 4:32:00 AM
Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals,
Casting
No, that's not the Notorious B.I.G. That's
Jamal Woolard, who has just been cast by
Fox Searchlight to play him, Christopher
Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls, in the
upcoming biopic Notorious. Man, the only
possible critique I could come up with is
that his eyebrows are a little dark. That's
some spot-on casting. They're definitely
not Dead Wrong.
Voletta Wallace, Smalls' mom, is happy
with the casting as well: "it was Jamal's
charming personality, warm spirit,
wonderful sense of humor and beautiful
smile that won my heart. He is a talented
and charismatic actor and I am excited that
he will bring Christopher's character to the
big screen." Topping that off, Woolard
also has the real-life experience to make
this pop. THR adds to the press release,
explaining that Jamal is a drug-dealer-
turned-rapper just like Wallace was.
Under the directorial eye of George
Tillman Jr., we've got Woolard as Wallace,
Angela Bassett as Voletta, Derek Luke as
Sean Combs, and Anthony Mackie as
Tupac Shakur. Production begins March
24 in New York.
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Will "Pierre" be Lucky for
Jason Reitman and Jim
Carrey?
By James Rocchi (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 1:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Celebrities
and Controversy, Scripts, Distribution, Fox
AtomicIt's a familiar tale: Hitch a falling
star to a rising talent ... and see what
happens. This week's iteration comes in the
form of a Variety story that sees Juno
director Jason Reitman teaming with Jim
Carrey on a new comedy titled Pierre
Pierre. The film -- budgeted at a fairly-
modest $13 million -- is pitched as the tale
of a "self-indulgent French nihilist who
transports a stolen painting from Paris to
London." In his heyday -- Ace Ventura,
The Truman Show, Liar, Liar -- Carrey's
salary alone would have exceeded the
proposed budget of Pierre Pierre; however,
as any viewer of The Majestic, The
Number 23 or Fun with Dick and Jane can
tell you, those bright days are far in the
past.
Pierre, Pierre is going to be released under
the Fox Atomic specialty banner, and also
features a script from first-time writers
Edwin Cannistraci and Frederick Seton. I
guess the question I'm pondering is which
Jim Carrey will show up -- the tired,
Ali Larter Gets Obsessed with Idris Elba
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:32:00 AM
Filed under: Thrillers, CastingSince she
won't be struggling with her alternate side
in a world of Heroes any time soon, Ali
Larter is getting Obsessed. Variety reports
that she's going to star in Screen Gems'
upcoming thriller, along with Beyonce
Knowles and Idris Elba. Television
director Steve Shill will helm the project,
from a script by David Loughery. The
latter has penned the likes of Star Trek V:
The Final Frontier and The Three
Musketeers, had a 13-year break after Tom
and Huck, and is now back with this and
makeup-coated hack of Dr. Seuss' How the
Grinch Stole Christmas and Lemony
Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
or the more interested, more invested
Carrey of The Truman Showand Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? And does
new talent Reitman have the skills, and
vision, to coax the latter kind of
performance out of an actor many consider
a fading funnyman?Permalink | Email this |
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the upcoming Lakeview Terrace.
In the hand that rocks the professional
cradle, Elba plays "an asset manager who
Nite Owl! Ozymandias! Silk
Spectre! 'Watchmen' Character
Stills Released!
By Elisabeth Rappe (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 8:32:00 PM
Filed under: Action, Warner Brothers,
Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images
And let the games begin. Zack Snyder has
released high resolution stills of several
Watchmen characters to celebrate the "one
year from now" release of the film.
I really love the look of the Comedian.
Actually, I'm digging all of them with the
exception of Ozymandias, who is a little
too Goth for my taste. But I think all these
strike the fine balance between being
functional (I always wondered how Nite
Owl actually moved in that suit), being
updated for the screen, and being accurate
to the comic. Hate me all you like.
A friend I've sent these to via AIM thinks
they don't "look Dave Gibbonish enough.
The poses are all Batman." I agree about
the poses (especially Laurie's), but I rather
think Snyder was giving them free rein and
has a knockout wife (Knowles) and
thriving career until a temp office worker
(Larter) begins stalking him." What better
validation can an actor get? One gets
stalked by an attractive woman, and the
other gets to be a "knockout." Acting can
be so rough!
Screen Gems head Clint Culpepper is said
to be "working with Knowles' and Larter's
reps to iron out scheduling kinks," but the
company is planning to get the film into
production this summer.Read | Permalink |
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letting them have a bit of fun. The high
level of Photoshop suggests that too.
Sound off below. Let loose with your
shrieks of delight, groans of mediocrity, or
howls of despair. I'll be anxiously awaiting
what you fill my inbox with.
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Movies 17
Seth Rogen is
a Mall Cop
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 3:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, CastingHe's
currently filming a porno with Elizabeth
Banks, and you'd think it would be pretty
hard to top that. Well, Seth Rogen has
found his next picture, and it has him
joining the dangerous, fast-paced world of
mall security. Variety reports that Rogen
will star in the upcoming comedy Observe
and Report, written by Jody Hill. Being a
mall cop might sound a little bland after
the world of triple-X, but this project has
got a bit of a twist to it.
Rogen will play Ronnie Barnhardt -- "a
deluded, self-important head of mall
security who squares off in a turf war
against the local cops." It's not every day
that mall security ends in turf wars.
However, this is one case where there will
be a bit of a battle off-screen. You might
remember that Kevin James has his own
flick on the way called Mall Cop.
Personally, I think this is an easy choice.
Some kidlets and PG-lovers will head right
over to James' version, where thieves take
over his mall. But really, would you want
that if you could have a mall turf war? One
with Seth Rogen? Production gears up next
month after Zack & Miri wraps.Read |
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18 Movies Your Click and Print Newspaper

Fan Rant: Bracelets and Benefit

Dinners
By Kim Voynar (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/5/2008 1:01:00 PM

Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy,

PoliticsSo, IMDb has two stories about do-
gooder celebs up this morning, one about
Cameron Diaz calling the Oprah Winfrey
show in support of her friend and fellow
Angel Drew Barrymore, who was on the
show to present a check for $1,000,000 to
the United Nations World Food Program,
and the other about Reese Witherspoon.
Witherspoon is the cosmetic company
Avon's "global ambassador for women's
empowerment," and in that capacity, she
kicked off Avon's partnership with the
United Nations Development Fund for
Women by announcing that Avon will be the bracelet's product page blithely tells
selling $3 "Women's Empowerment you that the bracelet will "go great with the
Bracelets" online to benefit the fund. Speak Out Against Domestic Violence
Keychain!" No, I'm not making that up.
The slogan for the partnership is Continue reading Fan Rant: Bracelets and
"Empower women, change our world," and Benefit DinnersPermalink | Email this |
if you go to the Avon website to the Comments
bracelet, it tells you to "wear the bracelet
that could change the world." A sidebar on

EXCLUSIVE: 'Smart People'

Poster Premiere!
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/6/2008 4:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Romance,
Fandom, Movie Marketing, Images,
Posters
Cinematical has just received this
exclusive final poster for the film Smart
People (click on the image for a larger
version), starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah
Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas
Haden Church. Smart People first
premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
back in January where our own James
Rocchi called it "so well-made, so well-
acted and so impressively (for lack of a
better word) smart that anyone who seeks
it out will find something to admire and
enjoy in its craft and heart." Here, Noam
Murro makes his feature directorial debut
with a story that follows a widowed
professor (Quaid) who's life takes an
unexpected turn when his adopted brother
(Church) shows up for a visit. For more on
Smart People, feel free to check out our
Sundance audio interview with Sarah
Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid and Thomas
Haden Church.
Smart People arrives in theaters on April
11.
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