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Clinton High-Rollers Threaten Pelosi
and DCCC
By Denise Williams (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:50:00 PM
Filed under: Democrats, Primaries,
Fundraising
A mild chastisement or an extortion
threat?
A group of well-heeled Hillary Clinton
supporters did not take too kindly to
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's
thoughts on the role of
SuperDelegates[TM] and"so-called
pledged delegates."
This past Sunday, Pelosi told ABC
News,"If the votes of the superdelegates
overturn what's happened in the elections,
it would be harmful to the Democratic
party,". But just ten days earlier, Pelosi
told The Hill:
I believe super-delegates have to use
their own judgment and there will be many
equities that they have to weigh when they
make the decision. Their own belief and
who they think will be the best president,
who they think can win, how their own
region voted, and their own responsibility
Armed with this inconsistency and the
former statement's appearance of leaning
toward Obama, these heavy donors to
Clinton and the DCCC fired off this letter,
subtly reminding the third-in-line for the
presidency where the money comes from:
(via TPM's Election Central)
Dear Madame Speaker,
As Democrats, we have been heartened
by the overwhelming response that our
fellow Democrats have shown for our
party's candidates during this primary
season. Each caucus and each primary has
seen a record turnout of voters. But this
dynamic primary season is not at an end.
Several states and millions of Democratic
voters have not yet had a chance to cast
their votes.
We respect those voters and believe that
they, like the voters in the states that have
already participated, have a right to be
heard. None of us should make declarative
statements that diminish the importance of
their voices and their votes. We are writing
to say we believe your remarks on ABC
News This Week on March 16th did just
that.
[...]
Super-delegates, like all delegates, have
an obligation to make an informed,
individual decision about whom to support
and who would be the party's strongest
nominee. Both campaigns agree that at the
end of the primary contests neither will
have enough pledged delegates to secure
the nomination. In that situation, super-
delegates must look to not one criterion but
to the full panoply of factors that will help
them assess who will be the party's
strongest nominee in the general election.
We have been strong supporters of the
DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify
your position on super-delegates and
reflect in your comments a more open
20/03/08 - 27/03/08
view to the optional independent actions of
each of the delegates at the National
Convention in August. We appreciate your
activities in support of the Democratic
Party and your leadership role in the Party
and hope you will be responsive to some of
your major enthusiastic supporters.
(emphasis mine)
Now let's put aside Clinton's own duality
of thought historically on the role of
delegates. The apparent new talking point
that the Clinton campaign is slipping in the
discussion is bolded above. While the
donors and Clinton are correct in stating
that the pledged delegates are not legally
bound in any way to vote for the candidate
that their state, county and local meetups
picked them for, what other reason would
we pick delegates for candidates if they
would just leave the reservation based on
whim or fancy or whoever is paying them
more attention at the time? You have to
remember that the pledged delegates are
picked for their loyalty by the candidates -
not the local Dem machine.
By trying to change the perception of
reality regarding pledged delegates, the
Clinton camp is looking to muddy the
waters of public opinion. The same public
who, if they even voted, probably is not
engaged enough in the process to
know how it really works.
And how about the balls on this bunch
threatening the Speaker of the House? I
hope Pelosi comes back and tells them
where to donate their cash. My friend
GottaLaff has a great rundown on the
signer's of this horsehead on the pillow
here.
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LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
A House Divided
By Faye Anderson (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:25:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats, 2008 President,
Polls The new Gallup poll does not bode
well for the would be history makers,
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The
poll found: A sizable proportion of
Democrats would vote for John McCain
next November if he is matched against the
candidate they do not support for the
Democratic nomination. This is
particularly true for Hillary Clinton
supporters, more than a quarter of whom
currently say they would vote for McCain
if Barack Obama is the Democratic
nominee.
Obama and Clinton are statistically tied
in the national poll, Obama has 47 percent
to Clinton's 46 percent. And according to
the Rasmussen poll: Twenty-two percent
(22%) of Democratic voters nationwide
say that Hillary Clinton should drop out of
the race for the Democratic Presidential
nomination. However, the latest
Rasmussen Reports national telephone
Internet TV Leaving Out the Hearing
Impaired?
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/24/2008 5:10:03 AM
I just got this note, referring to my story
in Portfolio about Joost, Hulu and the
Internet TV space: I have just finished
reading your excellent article about
WebTV.....mostof these sites, especially
HULU discriminates against Deaf and hard
ofhearing individuals by their failure to
make them accessible.....noclose
captioning. Maybe you can help us out by
survey found that an identical number-22%
--say that Barack Obama should drop out.
A solid majority of Democrats, 62%,
aren't ready for either candidate to leave
the race. Nationally, Clinton and Obama
are running essentially even among Likely
Democratic Primary Voters in the
Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential
Tracking Poll.
Forty-seven percent (47%) of Obama
supporters think Clinton should drop out.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Clinton
supporters say Obama should drop out.
Those who remain undecided are a bit
more likely to suggest that Obama should
leave. But, it's worth noting that less than
half of Obama supporters say Clinton
should withdraw, less than half of Clinton
supporters say Obama should withdraw,
and less than half of undecided voters say
either should withdraw at this time.
So pundits, activists, party leaders-and
the Obama camp-should stop dropping
hints that Clinton should "concede now."
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contacting people likeMr. Volpi, Kilar, et
cetera on our behalf.
Earnest Okwara
Former Board Member
National Association of the Deaf
Hm. Mike Volpi, Jason Kilar -- he seems
to have a point.
Related Links
I Don't Want My Web TV
Facebook Page? Or Exhibit A in Court?
Hot Deng! Murdoch Lands on 'Most
Whipped' List
2 Politics * Tech Gadgets *
2008 Myths!
By Greg McNeilly (Political Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 5:31:00 AM
Filed under: Featured Stories, 2008
President
Along with America's first full 2-year
non-stop Presidential campaign has come
\pundits who fill the air and churn their
perspective regardless of relevance or
reality. (And of course, feel free to make
the same claim against this post!) In an
effort to clear the air on some nonsense,
here are my dispelled 2008 myths (in no
particular order).
(1) That this has been a "nasty" or
"negative" campaign. Thus far, the primary
contests, on both sides, has been fought
with the Marquis of Queensberry rules.
Total snooze.
(2) That everyone wants Hillary Clinton
to drop out of the race. Actually the latest
Rasmussen survey shows 22% want
Clinton to drop out and 22% want Obama
to pull out. Seems like the democratic
thing to do is let the contest continue! Plus
that will greatly annoy the establishment
elite (think MSNBC) who are totally in the
tank for Obama.
(3) That the popular vote should
determine the outcome of the Democratic
contest. The rules say the delegates should,
so follow the rules! By the way, 90% of
Obama's margin over Clinton comes from
his home state with 60% of it coming from
the land of honest, clean politics - Cook
County.
Chelsea Fends Off 'Strange' Question
By Tommy Christopher (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 5:01:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Democrats,
2008 President, Scandal The Associated
Press is reporting that Evan Strange, a
college student who got a little too
personal at a Q & A session with Chelsea
Clinton, says he is a Hillary supporter:"I'm
a supporter of Hillary. I love Hillary,"
Strange said Wednesday on CBS' "The
Early Show." He said he asked the
question because his friends "always bring
up that scandal. It's not something I asked
to cause trouble but to show those people
what makes Hillary so strong." In his
(4) That making fun of John McCain's
age is OK. Actually it's not. Just because
American culture is hooked on the anti-
permanent, transient, anything-shiny-and-
new doesn't mean that its ok to be
prejudiced and intolerant against people of
any age bracket.
(5) What world leaders think, matters. Do
we really care what a world leader thinks
of an American leader? Why? Ok, so Hugo
Chavez has declared he wants Obama or
Clinton (this is true, by the way), does that
defense, he could hardly be expected to
have anything but a "Strange" way of
showing his support for Senator Clinton.
What we have here, then, is a story about
the story. After the jump, an examination
of what makes a story a story, and what
makes this story not about this story at all.
First of all, let me start by saying that I
like Chelsea. Everyone knows this, and as
far as I can tell, everyone else likes her,
too. So, let me give you her response to
Evan's question: Strange's question at
Chelsea Clinton's appearance Tuesday at
the school brought a stinging rebuke from
Clinton's daughter. "Wow, you're the first
person actually that's ever asked me that
question in the, I don't know maybe, 70
matter?
(6) If Democratic 'Super Delegates' steal
the election for Clinton it'll be chaos. First
of all, if Super Delegates vote for Clinton
and she wins, then she won fair and square.
Only losers whine. No one is complaining
that New Mexico's Governor or both U.S.
Senators from Massachusetts are thwarting
the will of their people with their Super
Delegate vote.
(7) Primary results are predictive of
General Election outcomes. No, not really.
college campuses I've now been to, and I
do not think that is any of your business,"
Chelsea Clinton said during the campaign
This argument, lately from the Clinton
camp, suggests that because those inclined
to vote in a Democratic primary among a
certain demographic, then all of those in
that demographic will in a General
Election. This has never yet been true.
Primary voters - on both sides - are unique
folk.
(8) Barack Obama is treated fairly by the
media. He ain't. He's the "IT" product this
cycle, hotter than iPhone. We can nash our
teeth about the lack of objective (and I
reserve the right to do this further!) but its
an obvious reality. Both McCain and
Clinton need to simply factor that into their
plans and accept it as a challenge and be
prepared to win regardless.
(9) Politics hasn't changed when you
campaign with old style tactics. For
example, any Democratic candidate
misusing McCain's "100 years in Iraq"
quote. (They all know better.) Or having
the person introduce you at a speech, drive
the knife into your opponent, while you
stand idly by and "take the high ground."
(Personally I prefer candidates with the
cuts and straight-talk to level their own
charges.) Or when you simply label your
opponent "Liberal" or "Radical" without
exampling it. That's all old-school.
What's your take?
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visit for her mother. What question did he
ask?" you're all wondering, and that's
really the point. Chelsea taking a Q & A is
nothing new at all, and this guy getting
shut down by Chelsea is the most natural
thing in the world. Why is it a national
news story?
A little more background for you.
Yesterday, I saw the first of this story on
Drudge, and I sent it to my editor. He, like
I, felt it was pretty thin stuff, and we didn't
do anything with it. So why is this guy on
"The Early Show?" Are our standards that
much higher? And why are we running it
today?
Well, this entire story hinges on the
sensational nature of Evan's question, one
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Dash Express
unboxing and hands-
on
By Nilay Patel (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 4:53:00 PM
Filed under: Features, GPS
Not much has changed since we got to
play with a beta version of the OpenMoko-
powered Dash Express GPRS / WiFi-
connected GPS unit, but the packaging is
quite nice and the final hardware feels top-
notch -- and there are some thoughtful
details like a separate cradle power
connection so you can just grab and go
when you get to your destination.
Gallery: Dash Express unboxing and
hands-on
Gallery: Dash Express interface
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that I won't repeat, which makes you want
to know even more. The conflict between
Chelsea and Evan is secondary to
reminding people of an old,
sensationalized story.
So, why run it now? Because if you don't
read it here, you'll read it somewhere else,
and at least this way, you get to hear from
me that this story is not what it appears to
be, and that it is barely even a story.
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Does Hillary Have Pastor Issues Too?
By Tommy Christopher (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 12:10:00 PM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Religion,
2008 President, Media Everyone loves
symmetry. For every Bonnie, there's a
Clyde, for every Tom, a Jerry, for every
New York Jets, a winning team. In politics,
when one candidate is under fire, the
temptation to find an equivalent issue with
which to flog the opponent is irresistible,
and often desirable for the beleaguered
one. The Atlantic's Joshua Green thinks he
has found the Sonny to Reverend Jeremiah
Wright's Cher: Since Hillary Clinton has
launched a frontal attack on her opponent's
church and pastor, it's worth noting that
she has some odd religious ties of her own.
When I was profiling her two years ago, I
learned about her involvement with a
secretive Christian organization called The
Fellowship that has operated in the
Washington shadows since the 1930s. I
found the story of Clinton and The
Fellowship so bizarre that I made it the
lede to my piece. In light of recent events,
it's worth revisiting. Yes, what about that
gripping expose´? Go ahead and read it, all
27 letter-sized pages. It's OK, I can wait.
After the jump, we can take a closer look
at The Fellowship!!! (Play Ominous Movie
Score in Your Head Now)
It was a pretty thorough piece, I'll give it
that, but I would have appreciated knowing
that the "Illuminati" stuff was confined to
Cheney on the Office of the VP
By Justin Paulette (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 5:26:00 AM
Filed under: Bush Administration, Dick
Cheney
"And notice this, my friends: W. doesn't
speak while Chaney's drinkin' water!"
Thus spake Robin Williams on the
relationship of the Pres and VP - a topic
taken up by the President's #2 during a
break in his Middle East tour.
There can be little doubt that Dick
the first several pages. Beyond that, I
thought there were a lot of coded sexist
messages in there, like the comparison of
her hairdo to her new image. OK, actually,
not-so-coded.
As far as sounding a warning bell about
Clinton's involvement in prayer
breakfasts? That's about as sinister as her
indebtedness to the Girl Scout Cookie
lobby. The article actually makes it sound
like a typically smart move by Hillary.
Witness this passage, describing one of
The Fellowship's meetings:(Sam
Brownback) confessed to having hated
Clinton and having said derogatory things
about her. Through God, he now
recognized his sin. Then he turned to her
and asked, "Mrs. Clinton, will you forgive
me?" Clinton replied that she would, and
that she appreciated the apology.
"It was an extraordinary moment," the
member told me. This repentance fostered
an unlikely relationship that has yielded
Cheney has contributed to the modern re-
casting of the Office of the Vice-
Presidency. The first American VP, John
Adams, described his station as "the most
insignificant office that ever the invention
of man contrived or his imagination
conceived." A century a half later, FDR's
VP, "Cactus Jack" Garner, concurred by
valuing the office as "not worth a pitcher
of warm piss."
Yet, while modern VP's have come unto
their own, wielding significant power and
influence, Cheney has become the
political bounty. Clinton and Brownback
went on to cosponsor one measure
protecting refugees fleeing sexual abuse,
and another to study the effects on children
of violent video games and television
shows. "That morning helped make our
working relationship," Brownback told me
recently. "It brought me close to someone I
did not ever imagine I would become close
to."
Since then, Clinton has teamed up on
legislation with many members of the
prayer group. Hardly the stuff of DaVinci
codes or Lonelygirl15 offings. I dug a
teensy bit deeper and found this interview
with a journalist who had infiltrated The
Family. I file it under, "Grab the tin-foil."
All of these pieces seem to have in
common a fundamental mistrust of
religion. I have no problem with that, but
you've got to have more than inferences.
Of course, in my view, this does make it
on a par with Obama's Reverend Wright
affair, since neither is really remarkable in
any way. I thought that JFK had disabused
us of the notion that religious leaders
exercise some sort of Manchurian control
over their subjects.
Will this story have any traction? Even
this election season's story-hungry press
might have to pass this morsel up.
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personification to many liberals of the
archetypal evil-genius. The irrational
Politics * Technology *
Love Bites Superdelegates
By Faye Anderson (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:41:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats Hillary Clinton
lost one superdelegate when New York
Luv Guv Eliot Spitzer resigned following
the disclosure that he used the services of a
prostitution ring.
With this week's indictment of Detroit
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Barack Obama
may have to subtract one superdelegate
from his tally.
But keep an eye on the scoreboard
because another Clinton superdelegate
might bite the dust. Client 9's successor,
Gov. David Paterson, has admitted he too
had extramarital affairs. But while
Paterson broke his marriage vows, he
remains loyal to Clinton. He showed his
animosity may simply be an extension of
Bush-Derangement-Syndrome (liberals
also cast Karl Rove as an evil-genius,
simply because be can decipher
demographics and had a strong candidate).
Perhaps, given the crop of candidates with
which the Democrats have been served in
elections past, they simply have not been
exposed to either genius or effectiveness -
and predictably fear what they do not
understand.
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3
loyalty by campaigning for her in Iowa and
South Carolina. Fair enough. But
reportedly one of his paramours also was
on the trips.
If Paterson were toppled by a sex scandal
or questionable campaign spending, he
would be succeeded by Senate Majority
Leader Joseph Bruno. However, there is no
chance this wily 79-year-old would
become a love-struck superdelegate. But it
wouldn't be due to his age; rather, it's his
party affiliation. Bruno is a Republican. He
is also Spitzer's archenemy.
If Bruno does become acting governor,
it's further proof that "history repeats itself,
first as tragedy, second as farce."
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What Can a Tech
Fan Do With That
Tax Rebate
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/24/2008 7:25:10 AM
It's getting to be tax crunch time, and
maybe you're looking forward to that
rebate that President Bush signed into law
despite the fact that the government can
hardly afford to give back $120 billion.
Anyway, you can go on the Web and
figure out with a few clicks what you
probably will get. For me, about $1,300.
Let's see, for that I could buy a decent
Sony Vaio or Lenovo ThinkPad laptop. It's
also about the price range for a 47-inch flat
-panel TV. I could buy a couple of
unlocked iPhones.
Although, it's a little depressing to know
that Exxon made $1,300 a SECOND in
2007. Or that Wikipedia founder Jimmy
Wales paid that much for a dinner with a
VC. Kind of puts your refund in
perspective.
Related Links
Follow the Bouncing Market
War of Attrition
Venezuela: No Oil for You!
4 Politics *
Basra Clashes Threaten Petraeus Report
By Mark Impomeni (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:45:00 AM
Filed under: Bush Administration,
Democrats, Iraq, Iran
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued an
ultimatum to Shiite militiamen while in
Basra, Iraq, today, scene of recent intense
clashes between Iraqi government forces
and the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army of
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Maliki told
the fighters to lay down their arms within
72 hours or face arrest. An aide to the
Prime Minister said that any gunman
refusing to heed the call for a cessation of
the violence in the southern Iraq port city
"will be an outlaw."
The violence, which has spread to Shiite
areas of Baghdad in the last two days,
comes in the run up to U.S. Iraq
commander Gen. David Petraeus's report
to Congress on the progress of the troop
surge. Republicans have been trumpeting
reports of decreasing violence and U.S.
casualties as evidence that the surge is
having its intended effect. Democrats, for
the most part, have continued to deride the
effort as an unnecessary expenditure of
U.S. blood and treasure, and say that the
surge has been unsuccessful at getting
political progress in Iraq jump-started. The
flare up in Basra seems perfectly timed to
give those Democrats who refuse to
acknowledge progress in Iraq ammunition
with which to attack the conclusions of
Petraeus's report when they are delivered
Proof Surfaces of Hillary's Bosnia Claims
By Brandon Barker (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 8:27:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Humor,
Viral Video, LOLection Real-life footage
has surfaced that proves
Sen. Hillary Clinton's claims that she,
Chelsea, Sheryl Crow, Sinbad and Gary
Busey dodged sniper fire and other dangers
on their 1996 peacemaking trip to Bosnia.
Sen. Clinton has recently come under
in about two weeks.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto
issued a statement on Maliki's actions,
implying that the violence in Basra,
between legitimate government forces and
the renegade militia group, was in and of
itself evidence that the surge is showing
signs of success.
"This is exactly what we all want to see,
which is the government of Iraq taking the
initiative that was afforded to it by the
surge and going aggressively after illegal
criminal gangs and illegal militias in the
Basra region."
Democrats in Congress, and on the
heavy criticism from political opponents--
including Sinbad--who claim that she is
exaggerating this trip's threat-level (and
Your Click and Print Newspaper
campaign trail, aren't likely to buy that
argument. Sen. Barack Obama and Sen.
Hillary Clinton have both pledged to
withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq almost
immediately upon gaining the White
House. Democratic Congressional leaders
have fought for over a year to cut funding
for the mission in Iraq and have
vehemently opposed the troop surge. For
those reasons, as well as others, it is not in
the Democrats' political interest to
acknowledge success in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iran has been attempting to
exploit the political divide in the U.S. for
its own purposes. There has been an uptick
in attacks against the heavily fortified
Green Zone in Baghdad since the violence
in Basra has broken out. Three people were
injured there today in a mortar attack. The
U.S. military says that rockets and mortars
have been fired at the Green Zone from
Shiite Sadr City, an al-Sadr stronghold.
The military also says that the rockets and
mortars are Iranian made and supplied to
Sadr's Mahdi Army by the Quds Force, a
Is This The Best They've
unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps. Iran would like nothing better than
for the United States to leave Iraq weak
Got?
and vulnerable to the Islamic Republic's By Justin Paulette (Political Obama's grandfatherly pastor of two
Machine) decades thinks America and all white
influence. Basra and Baghdad may be the
start of a campaign to overshadow the Submitted at 3/26/2008 5:56:00 AM
people are villainous murderers. Clinton
lies outright over her experiences in
conclusions of the Petraeus report, and to Filed under: John McCain, 2008
prod already suspicious Democrats toward Bosnia, likening herself to an embattled
President soldier while on a meet-and-greet soiree.
more concrete actions to bring an end to WaPo has an op-ed piece by Harold
the U.S. involvement there. And the best the liberal fanatics in the
Meyerson which aspires to be a hit piece, media can drudge up on McCain is that he
Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs| but should be viewed as lacking the
Comments accidentally said "al-Qaeda" instead of
substance necessary to merit that "extremists?"
distinction. Perhaps Meyerson should take a tip from
Meyerson raves in hysterical tones that
during one of a myriad stump speeches
the New York Times- when they couldn't
find a scandal on McCain, they just made
importance) to prove her foreign policy delivered by McCain over the past months, one up. It didn't work out so well for them
mettle. the GOP nominee accidentally said that - but if a hit job is worth anything, it's
In this breaking footage, we see clips of Iran was training "al-Qaeda" instead of worth a second try. Watch for it.
Hillary dodging bullets and skirting land "extremists." It took McCain a matter of Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|
mines. We see her brandishing a gun. We seconds to correct himself, as Joe Comments
see her hugging Bosnian children. We see Lieberman nudged the speaker to make
her... actually, it's just a parody. But it's him aware of the misstatement.
worth a minute or two of your time. Just
barely. [Courtesy Barely Political]:
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Deal Lawyer Mulligan?
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/25/2008 10:30:00 AM
Did Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
make a mistake in the rush to generate the
terms—in lawyer lingo, "papering" the
deal—for J.P. Morgan Chase to acquire
Bear Stearns at the original fire-sale price
of $2 a share?
For many years, Wachtell Lipton has
been the firm with the greatest cachet
among deal lawyers, and its partners are
routinely the best compensated in the
country, with profits last year of $4.5
million, according to a survey published
this week by the Lawyer. So it seems hard
to believe that Wachtell could have erred.
But deal lawyers have been buzzing
since Monday, when Andrew Ross Sorkin
of the New York Times, in breaking the
news of talks of a revised, $10-per-share
offer, reported that there had been several
mistakes in the original offer. Most
significant, the original agreement had
language that would have required J.P.
Morgan's guarantee of Bear Stearns
liabilities to remain in place even in the
event that the Bear Stearns shareholders
voted down the transaction.
There is talk that Edward Herlihy, J.P.
Morgan's lead lawyer—and a giant in
banking M&A deals as well as one of the
few lawyers to belong to the Augusta
National Golf Club—had relied on other
Wachtell lawyers because his usual
partner, Craig Wasserman, has been ill.
Calls to Herlihy's office seeking comment
were not returned.
Oracle comes up light
By Jonathan Berr (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:54:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports, Oracle
Corp (ORCL), Economic data,
Entrepreneurs Shares of Oracle
Corp.(NASDAQ: ORCL) fell in after-
hours trading after the software maker
reported inline earnings, indicating a
slowdown in technology spending by
businesses.
Net income rose 30% to $1.3 billion, or
30 cents per share, on revenue of $5.3
billion, according to the earnings press
release. Analysts were expecting profit of
Some were also speculating that Martin
Lipton, the Wachtell partner who invented
the "poison-pill defense" and is considered
an éminence grise among deal lawyers,
may no longer be running the show at
Wachtell.
Other deal lawyers dismissed the idea
that Wachtell had fumbled, calling it
"ludicrous." Deal documents are "very
simple" according to one corporate lawyer.
"They are the intellectual equivalent of a
deed in buying real estate."
Still, the original deal agreement was
completed over a frenzied weekend that
included discussions with federal officials
as well as negotiators for Bear Stearns, and
was sloppy in some respects as a result.
Some places in the merger agreement are
left blank, for instance.
"It's really difficult to say" who was
responsible for the guarantee provision,
says Morton Pierce, co-chairman of the
mergers and acquisitions practice at
Dewey & Leboeuf. "The deal has so many
unusual features, it's really hard to say
from an outsider's perspective whether it
was a mistake or not." He pointed to J.P.
Morgan's option on the Bear Stearns
building and 20 percent of its stock at the
$2-per-share price. "In totality, it was
obviously a very unique transaction."
Mistake or not, however, it is a new
provision in the revised agreement that is
expected to be at the center of any
litigation over the deal. As part of the
agreement announced on Monday, J.P.
Morgan has an option to buy 39.5 percent
of Bear, a move that all but locks up
30 cents on revenue of $5.42 billion,
according to Thomson Financial.
Until now, Wall Street was in love with
the stock, sending the shares up about 13%
this year at a time when many big-cap tech
stocks have done poorly. This is the type
of company that has conditioned investors
to expect continued outperformance.
In fact, Bloomberg News went so far as
shareholder approval of the deal but one
that lawyers say begs to be challenged in a
Delaware court.
"The lockup throws it into the Delaware
courts," says Larry Ribstein, a visiting
professor at New York University School
of Law and author of the Ideoblog.
A 2003 decision from the Delaware
Supreme Court, Omnicare v. NCS
Healthcare, will likely become a big
football in the fight over how the deal
plays out. In Omnicare, a highly criticized
decision from the court, which split 3-2 in
its ruling, the court said the board of NCS,
a pharmaceutical services company could
not lock out shareholders from approving
its deal with Genesis—even though the
deal increased value for shareholders. The
lockup fended off a bidding war with
Omnicare, another company interested in
buying NCS.
"Does it matter that we are talking about
a bankruptcy and the intervention of the
Federal Reserve?" Ribstein asked. "There
is no firm 40 percent rule," he said of the
J.P. Morgan lockup provision. "I am not
aware of any hard-and-fast answers to
these questions."
One thing is certain: The flow of lawsuits
over the deal is likely to become a very big
wave.
Related Links
The Age of Reregulation
Will Asking Mortgage Servicers to
Modify Mortgages Have Much Impact?
Bear Funds Being Liquidated: Who
Wants to Buy?
to note: "Oracle Chief Executive Officer
Larry Ellison, who led the software maker
on a $33.5 billion spending spree, did more
than add 39 businesses and 20,000
customers. He bought armor against a U.S.
economic slump."
Guess that armor has some kinks in it
now.
Tonight's conference call should be
lively. The stock will fall even further if
the company's guidance isn't
extraordinarily optimistic. Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Java Jolt
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:00:00 AM
You may want to have your morning
coffee before you read this.
Those price increases for a cup from
Starbucks or a can of Folgers from the
supermarket? They're just the beginning.
The rise in coffee prices has been
percolating for some time. In July,
Starbucks began charging an average of 9
cents extra for its drinks. So far this year,
Folgers, Maxwell House, and Chock Full
o' Nuts have twice raised prices. Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters has recently
announced that it will increase prices by 8
to 12 percent this spring.
Like other drinks and foods, coffee
prices are being driven by a wave of
investment money into commodities. The
combination of a weak dollar and
struggling equities have made commodities
an attractive bet, and as a result, markets
previously limited mostly to producers and
suppliers are suddenly are suddenly awash
in investors' cash.
Sudakshina Unnikrishnan, a
commodities analyst with Barclays
Capital, notes that last year's harvest
produced a bumper coffee crop.
"There have been no particularly
supportive demand increases, no supply
side shocks to the market," she said. "To a
great extent it's due to a lot of speculative
sentiment toward agriculture as a whole."
Speculation makes up 32 percent of open
interest in the coffee market—its highest
level in 14 years.
The speculative interest in so-called soft
commodities (as opposed to hard
commodities like copper) took a hit last
week in a market selloff. But experts
believe that commodities like coffee beans
remain an attractive investment and that
prices are headed higher.
And if you are thinking about getting
your caffeine buzz from chocolate, it's the
same situation with cocoa.
Nestlé nudged prices up throughout
2007, Cadbury-Schweppes says it will do
the same in 2008, and at the beginning of
February, Hershey increased what it
charges for chocolate bars by 13 percent.
Peter Meyer, a commodities trader at
Lehman Brothers, explains that at the
beginning of the year, investors started
Business * 5
diverting big gains from crude oil, corn,
and wheat into underperforming
commodities like cocoa and coffee.
That shift means that demand for coffee
and cocoa futures is likely to remain high.
"People are going to point to it [last
week's slump in prices] and say the bubble
has burst, I think it's a healthy correction,"
Meyer says. "I think if anything, now
you'll have a couple weeks where money
goes back in."
Unnikrishnan at Barclays agrees:
"There's absolutely no reason prices should
come off sharply and come down. Overall,
in terms of some of the profit-taking
recently, we don't expect that to be
something that defines the market."
With coffee, price increases rarely have
any meaningful impact on consumption.
Indeed, if anything, the higher prices and
worries about the economy may be a
blessing for coffeemakers like Nestlé and
Folgers, as consumers change habits and
shift spending toward grocery-store
purchases and away from restaurants.
Glenn Petraglia, a senior analyst with
Citigroup, sees the soft economy
prompting consumers to trade down to
eating at home from restaurant meals
costing three times as much.
And according to Harry Balzer, a senior
retail analyst with NPD Research, cutting
out restaurants causes consumers to
increase their retail spending on premium
foods.
"You're going to be cutting out restaurant
meals, but demand for indulgence is not
going to change because of financial
hardship," Balzer says.
That means that even as consumers
tighten their belts, premium chocolate and
specialty coffee segments are poised to
continue to grow.
Nestlé recently announced that it would
be investing almost $20 million in a new
research center entirely dedicated to
developing premium and luxury chocolate.
And Starbucks plans on adding a
premium brewed offering to its beverage
menu.
Related Links
Coffee's Class War
Live-Blogging the Starbucks Annual
Meeting: Introducing the Mastrena
Innovations in Coffee
6 Business * Technology *
A Star Is Reborn
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:00:00 AM
IMAX isn't just for science movies
anymore—and it may be coming to a
multiplex near you.
It's been a rough couple of years for
IMAX Corp. The Canadian motion-picture
company's revenue fell in 2006 and again
in 2007, operating at a loss both years; it is
highly leveraged, with $160 million in debt
on $208 million in assets; and at least six
of the 11 analysts listed on IMAX's site no
longer cover the company.
But maybe they should start. There's
been a flurry of news out of IMAX, as the
entertainment technology company
expands distributor partnerships and joint
ventures with cinemas. Also on
Portfolio.com: The Third Way How U2
joined Hannah Montana, Steven Spielberg,
and Tintin in the rush to embrace digital 3-
D.
Hannah Montana vs. U2 In a film fight
between a legendary rock band and a
tween superstar, who wins?
Earlier this week, IMAX announced that
it had signed a 31-screen deal with Regal
Cinemas. That comes on the heels of a 100
-screen partnership with AMC announced
in December 2007. Taken together, that
will double IMAX's U.S. footprint to more
than 300 theaters by 2010.
Ta, Ta, Jaguar
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 6:30:00 AM
In a long-awaited deal, Ford Motor has
agreed on a sale of its Jaguar and Land
Rover brands to Tata Motors of India.
The European luxury brands have been a
drag on Ford, which is focusing on a
turnaround in its North American business.
The company is getting $2.3 billion in the
sale, but it is contributing $600 million to
the Jaguar and Land Rover pension plans
when the deal closes. That means Ford is
netting roughly a third of what it paid for
Jaguar (acquired in 1989) and Land Rover
(in 2000).
For Tata, much has been written about
how the deal marks a big global leap for
the 139-year-old Indian conglomerate that
began making cars just 10 years ago. Tata
At the same time, IMAX has added
distribution deals with 20th Century Fox,
Sony, and Dreamworks to its long-standing
relationship with Warner Bros.
The recent news follows years in which
the company, based in the Toronto suburb
of Mississauga, had difficulty in expanding
its presence. Studios were unwilling to pay
high film-conversion costs for relatively
few screens, and theater owners were
uninterested in supporting IMAX theaters
for relatively few films.
"It was a catch-22, and no one wanted to
budge," said Larry Witt, a stock analyst at
Morningstar.
IMAX co-chief executives Brad
Wechsler and Rich Gelfond bought IMAX
in 1994 for $100 million, and considered
selling it in 2000, but pulled the company
off the block when poor financial results
caused the stock price to fall 80 percent on
the Toronto Stock Exchange.
They made a second pass in the summer
of 2006, but found no buyers willing to
meet their price.
With share price under $5 and a sale out
of the question, Gelfond and Wechsler
were forced to find a way to soldier on.
How did they finally break through the
stalemate between studios and theater
chains? A new business model.
IMAX is now covering much of the up-
front costs to theater owners, and a move
Group, a large steelmaker, has recently
ventured into businesses like chemicals
and luxury hotels. With the purchase of
Jaguar and Land Rover, Tata Motors hopes
to learn about marketing and selling in the
West.
Some have questioned how Tata Motors
can make what seems to be a bigger leap:
from mass to class. Tata is best known for
being the maker of the cheapest car in the
world: the Nano, a 100,000 rupee ($2,500)
33-horsepower car, in India.
Still, if Jaguar and Land Rover can
continue to retain their mystique and
cachet while being made in Britain—and
its history of failed automakers and
sometimes shoddy manufacturing—then
buyers shouldn't mind too much if their
owners are now in Mumbai.
John Elliott on the Riding the Elephant
to digital projectors starting in mid-2008
will significantly cut distribution costs for
studios.
Taken together, that means that IMAX
has more in the way of films and theaters
in its future.
"I think IMAX is a great complement to
Regal's core business," says Jeff Logsdon,
an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. "They
give up some of their box office gross and
make a modest capital investment, and I
like that dynamic at Regal."
So is IMAX poised to take off?
Witt gives the company Morningstar's
highest risk rating due to its high debt
structure and competition from other
digital -projection systems, but believes
that there are strong prospects for IMAX in
the future.
"The reason why a lot of these theaters
are willing to take a chance is that they
have shown in the past that people are
willing to pay for it," says Witt. "When
movies come out, IMAX theaters are full."
Related Links
Oscar Nominations Are Out. Will There
Be a Ceremony?
Globes Downgrade--Now What Of The
Oscars?
Short Films, but Long on Talent
blog on Fortune.com says that besides
whether Tata can break the British auto
industry's "cycle of decline," the other big
question is what happens when Ratan Tata,
the conglomerate's patriarch who is now
70, retires.
"It is Tata who has provided the personal
drive and leadership to turn Tata Motors
into a business that can produce the Nano
and buy two world-famous brands in the
same year. There's a big job waiting for
someone—and Tata is not yet saying
who."
Related Links
Jaguar Rides to India
Bidders Kick Jaguar's Tires
Year Ends on Sour Note for Autos
Motorola Splits
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 5:30:00 AM
A Motorola victory for Carl Icahn? Not
quite yet.
Motorola plans to split itself into two
companies, spinning off to its shareholders
a cell-phone business that has stumbled
badly, losing $1.2 billion in 2007.
The other company will encompass
Motorola's fast-growing home and
networks business, which sells television
set-top boxes and modems, and its
enterprise mobility solutions, which sells
computing and communications equipment
to businesses.
It's a move that the legendary activist
investor Carl Icahn has been calling for
since early last year, when he first set his
sights on the troubled company. But even
today's announcement will not likely
muzzle Icahn on the subject. Also on
Portfolio.com: Ed Zander on Carl Icahn
The former Motorola C.E.O. talks about
his losing battle with the corporate raider.
Icahn first took a stake in Motorola when
its shares were trading for about $19. After
losing a public battle for a board seat at the
May 2007 shareholder meeting, Icahn
persevered. He continued to scoop up
Motorola shares as they steadily declined,
all the while calling for the ouster of chief
executive Ed Zander and the splitting off
of the company's handheld business.
As of the most recent regulatory filing,
Icahn's funds have spent more than $2
billion acquiring 6.3 percent of the telecom
company.
Meanwhile, Icahn's pressure has been
relentless. Zander's departure in January
did little to assuage Icahn. When Motorola
flatly rejected two of Icahn's four board
nominees for the upcoming proxy fight,
the billionaire investor promptly sued for
access to board documentation.
Ballmer: We're Not Behind on Search; Just
Waiting to Make Our Move
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/25/2008 10:50:27 AM
In a quickie interview on 24/7 Wall
Street, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
maintains that Microsoft's search situation
is more like a distance runner waiting to
Your Click and Print Newspaper
But Icahn is in this fight for just one
reason: to make money. And Motorola
shares rose only 1 percent on the news
today, barely flirting with the $10 mark.
For Icahn, victory is still a long way off.
Indeed, in an interview with Bloomberg
Television earlier this week, Icahn said he
was just "in the beginning of the first
inning of the fight" for change in the
Motorola boardroom.
At the same time, some analysts
questioned the move to split the company
in two. Under Zander, Motorola became a
huge success in cell phones. The company
sold more than 100 million of the ultraslim
Razr phone. But when sales of the Razr
lost ground to lower-priced rivals, the
company went into a tailspin and fell
behind in advances in mobile phones.
Follow-ups to the Razr failed to catch on.
Once the leader, Motorola currently has
less than a third of the U.S. market.
Now the handset business is lacking both
a leader and clear direction, two things that
are necessary for its success as a stand-
alone unit. Whoever helms the newly
independent handset company has a
formidable challenge ahead. Nokia,
Samsung, and others reportedly passed
when Motorola explored a possible sale of
the business.
C.E.O. Greg Brown acknowledges there
is plenty of work to do, and by planning
for the spinoff in 2009, he's bought himself
some time.
But Icahn is not a long-term investor, so
time is not on his side. The next inning of
this battle will take place at the shareholder
meeting on May 5.
Related Links
Zander 1, Icahn 0, Ball Still in Play
Dramatic Monday
Icahn v. Motorola, Round Three
make his move past the leader -- i.e.
Google. And he says a little -- very little --
about Yahoo and Microsoft's future as
provider of software that sits on PCs.
Related Links
The War for the Internet
Ballmer's Big Play
Search Mission
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Closing an Enron Chapter
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:00:00 AM
Until this morning, Citigroup was the last
holdout among 11 banks sued in the
bankruptcy of Enron.
Claims from Enron creditors totaling
about $21 billion were headed to a trial set
to begin April 28, and a hearing on
Citigroup's motion to dismiss the case was
scheduled for Thursday in Federal
Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
Citi has now agreed to pay $1.66 billion
to Enron to settle the claims. In a
statement, Citi said it agreed to the
settlements "solely to eliminate the
uncertainties, burden, and expense of
further protracted litigation," and noted
that the settlement is covered by Citi's
existing litigation reserves. Citi also agreed
to waive $249.4 million in claims against
Enron. For its part, Enron will allow $2.4
billion in credit-linked notes, known as the
Yosemite claims, to go forward.
The other banks had earlier agreed to a
settlement of what is known as the
megaclaims litigation, for a total of $1.76
billion.
But the claim against Citi was always the
largest, and the bank's lawyers from Paul,
Radio Deal Finds Legal Channel
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 4:30:00 AM
Well, that didn't take long.
Just days before the $19 billion buyout of
Clear Channel Communications was
scheduled to close, the private equity firms
behind the deal have sued the banks it
hired to provide the financing for it.
Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain
Capital Partners filed suit in New York and
Texas against Citigroup, Morgan Stanley,
Credit Suisse, the Royal Bank of Scotland,
Deutsche Bank, and Wachovia. The move
is an attempt to enforce the commitments
the banks allegedly made to provide the
necessary debt-financing for them to
acquire the chain of radio stations.
The firms say that the banks have
Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, have
fought the claims at every juncture, most
recently pressing for a change of venue for
the trial.
However Citigroup has much bigger
problems than the litigation and ample
reason to try to put the Enron episode
behind it. Under its new chief executive,
Vikram Pandit, Citi is trying to dig out
from billions of dollars of losses on
investments tied to subprime mortgages.
And last week, the Wall Street Journal
reported that Steven Digilio, a former Citi
vice president, had filed an affidavit in the
case, seeking to come forward to testify in
the trial without violating his severance
agreement with the bank. His affidavit
states he sent an email "questioning the
appropriateness of continuing to do
business with Enron" and saw a
handwritten note on an article about Enron
and Citi "that may have had the word
‘fraud' in it." The affidavit did not attach
the email or article.
Enron representatives say the report of
the affidavit "helped" move the settlement
talks along.
In January, Citi's brief to throw out the
claims called the lawsuit by the Enron
creditors "a shameless effort to evade
attempted to renege on the commitments it
made nearly a year ago. "It seems clear
that lenders' remorse set in when credit
markets worsened," the firms said in a
statement. "Now they are trying to walk
away from their commitment letter which
clearly states that they bear all the risk that
conditions in the debt markets might
change."
Indeed, several reports earlier today
suggested that the deal was dead after the
banks balked at the financing. This is just
the latest saga in the 18-month long battle
to take Clear Channel private.
Given that the credit crunch has wrecked
the market for debt since the deal was first
announced in November 2006, a
collapse—and subsequent litigation—has
seemed likely. The banks stood to lose
responsibility," because Enron, a company
run by "felons and self-confessed
fraudsters," had only itself to blame for its
collapse.
In fighting the Enron shareholder class
action, Citi was not nearly as aggressive: It
paid $2 billion in June 2005 to settle
securities-fraud allegations, while Merrill
Lynch, Credit Suisse, and Barclays fought
claims that the banks should be held
accountable for their role in Enron's 2001
collapse. Those banks won an appeal at the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit,
and that win was sealed when the Supreme
Court issued a ruling in January declaring
that there could be no "scheme" liability
under the federal securities laws. After
ruling in Stoneridge, the justices declined
to hear the Enron shareholders' petition.
The class-action claims against Merrill and
the other banks has since been remanded to
Judge Melinda Harmon of the Federal
District Court in Houston.
Related Links
Enron by the Numbers
Enron Epilogue ... or Is It?
The Enron Hail Mary
$2.7 billion on the day the deal closed.
But T.H.L. Partners and Bain appear to
be unimpressed by the challenging credit
market the banks currently face. They
simply want to do the deal. "We have
invested 18 months of time and effort to
own Clear Channel. We want to do this
deal. We are ready to close, have funded
the equity portion of the purchase
consideration, maintain our enthusiasm for
the investment, and are fully prepared to
fulfill our contractual obligation to
complete the deal. But Clear Channel must
have an appropriate capital structure that
allows management to operate the business
effectively and seize growth opportunities
in the marketplace."
A collapse of the Clear Channel deal
would be the latest big buyout to founder
Business * Technology *
Consider U.S. Steel to
strengthen your portfolio
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 11:11:00 AM
Filed under: Industry, U.S. Steel (X),
Stocks to Buy Readers of this space know
that my investment bias is toward large-
cap companies with demonstrated business
models and a competitive advantage in
established markets, preferably with a
favorable global trend as a support. With
the above in mind, U.S. Steel is worth a
review.
U.S. Steel Group(NYSE: X) is the fifth
largest steel producer in the world.
Analysts expect U.S. Steel's 2008
revenue to increase 13-17%, primarily
stemming from acquisitions. Further,
distributor inventory levels reached
unsustainably low levels in 2007, in the
interpretation of many analysts, and the
replenishing in 2008 should benefit X.
Meanwhile, oil producer country
tube/tube-related products should remain
strong, and additional steel sector
consolidation should help the sector regain
over financing, following the dashed
buyouts of Sallie Mae and United Rentals.
Brian Maloney on the Radio Equalizer
blog says, "For the already-beleaguered
radio industry, this is not good news, as
Clear Channel was the only major radio
operator holding on to most of its market
capitalization."
Who would have bet a year ago that the
Clear Channel buyout would have failed
while the Sirius-XM Satellite Radio
merger would get approved?
Related Links
The Deal That Won't Die
This Week: Wither WaMu and Wells?
Clear Channel Muddies the Water
7
modest pricing power. The Reuters
F2008/F2009 EPS consensus estimates for
X are $10.87/$11.52.
The risks? Analysts remain concerned
about rising raw material costs. A
sustained global economic slowdown
would hurt U.S. Steel's results.
The First Call mean rating for X is: Buy
[15 firms]. Mean 2008 target: $119 [high:
$134, low: $90].
Stock Analysis: U.S. Steel is a moderate-
risk stock not suitable for low-risk
investors. Investors with an investment
horizon longer than two years should be
rewarded from X's shares. Note: A safer
position would involve waiting for X's
shares to pull back to the $110-115 range,
but they may not retreat to that level. I'd
consider a Sell / Stop Loss at $83.
Disclosure: Lazzaro has no positions in
stocks. In addition to private real estate
holdings, he owns corporate and municipal
bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Joost in the Browser
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/25/2008 5:52:02 AM
A few blogs have pointed out that there
was a bit of news buried in my story on
Joost in this month's Portfolio magazine.
(Working for a monthly, I didn't know
whether the news would be out before my
story ran -- but as it turns out, this is the
scoop, as they say.)
Anyway, it's the bit about Joost soon
playing inside the browser, rather than
only in a special Joost player that must be
downloaded. Joost did not say exactly
when this will happen -- only "later this
year." But clearly it's important to CEO
Mike Volpi.
8 Business * Tech Gadgets *
MySpace and Friends Need to Make
Money. And Fast.
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 1:30:00 PM
The numbers are amazing. MySpace's
membership has ballooned from 20 million
people in 2005 to 225 million today, an
average annual growth rate of 513 percent.
Rival Facebook grew at 550 percent a year
during the same period. LinkedIn's rate
was 182 percent.
Yet one social networking metric is
distinctly underwhelming: the one with a
dollar sign. Lookery, an ad network
specializing in social media, offers display
ads on MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo for
only 13 cents per thousand times the ad is
served (CPM); Yahoo's average CPM is
estimated at $13. Video ads on MySpace
reportedly fetch just $25 per thousand
showings; CBS charges $50 on affiliated
sites, NBC as much as $75.
Social networking was supposed to be
the Net's next rocket to riches. But many
social sites are having trouble capitalizing
Where's That Yahoo Deal?
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/25/2008 7:30:00 AM
Remember that not-exactly-friendly offer
from Microsoft for Yahoo?
Also on Portfolio.com:
The War for the Internet Full coverage of
Microsoft's bid to take over Yahoo.
Search and Destroy Why Microsoft
won't give up.
Mark Mahaney, an analyst with
Citigroup, notes today that Yahoo is
trading at a discount to Microsoft's offer
and at a 23 percent discount to what he
calls a potential $34-per-share offer.
Raising the bank's recommendation on
Yahoo shares to "buy" from "hold,"
Mahaney said, "We believe that a Yahoo
sale to Microsoft—at a price likely higher
than the initial $31 bid—is the most likely
outcome."
on their audiences, and it's looking like the
convivial atmosphere that promised to
boost the value of commercial messages
may actually diminish it. Even the big
brains at Google are stumped. The search
king, which pays a special rate to place ads
on MySpace, has suggested that it may be
paying too much. "I don't think we have
the killer best way to advertise and
monetize the social networks yet," Sergey
Brin admitted during a January conference
call with analysts.
Some smaller competitors are doing
better. LinkedIn, for example, has a CPM
as high as $75. The difference: The site
caters to professionals, making it easier to
target ads. (It helps that the company also
charges for premium features and job
listings.)
For sites with broader audiences, the key
may be to give advertising a social
dimension. Facebook tried to do just that
with Beacon and Social Ads. These
formats send users an alert or display ad
Shares of Yahoo are up more than 3
percent at midday on hopes for a higher
bid.
Meanwhile, Yahoo has been searching
for a strategic alternative to a Microsoft
takeover, but Kara Swisher reports that
Yahoo's growth plan has not been well
received during a road show for investors
put on by C.E.O. Jerry Yang and other top
executives. She says, "While the group met
with polite audiences, most investors I
talked to were unenthusiastic about the
plan and dubious that Yahoo's blue-sky
hopes would come through. 'I think we
wanted to give Jerry a hearing, but mostly
to save face,' said one investor, in a
sentiment that was typical."
Earlier this month, Yahoo pushed back
the deadline for Microsoft to submit a rival
slate for its board, but it has yet to schedule
a date for its annual meeting.
when one of their pals patronizes an
advertiser. But Facebook has yet to gauge
the effectiveness of these programs
because online privacy watchdogs
pounced, and the site moved quickly to let
members opt out.
Still, the idea that ads can be a social
experience is the industry's best hope.
Social Vibe encourages members to
choose brands to endorse on their pages.
AdRoll shares ads across related niche
sites, turning a blogroll into an ad network.
But it may take time to work out the
business ramifications of online friendship.
The first site to meld commercial
messaging gracefully into these new group
dynamics will have advertisers poking
them to be friends. Related Links
MySpace Is This, And Your Space is
That
Facebook Page? Or Exhibit A in Court?
Diller Disses Writers Strike, Facebook,
and MySpace
Henry Blodget, in Silicon Alley Insider,
argues that Yahoo needs to get the process
started again: "It's time to restore the
normal democratic process and let
shareholders hear both sides (or, at least, to
have the threat of shareholders hearing
both sides get the negotiations going)."
Microsoft, for its part, has indicated that
it remains very interested in Yahoo. In an
interview with the 24/7 Wall St. blog,
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive,
says, "We’ve made the offer, we think it’s
a strong offer, and we think it represents
very good value to shareholders and
customers."
Related Links
Search Mission
Ballmer's Big Play
Tangible Reason Microsoft Needs Yahoo
Doubts Spread About
Google Earnings
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 3/25/2008 8:00:00 AM
"Google will miss its quarter, mark my
words," we recently overheard an exec
from a competing Web company say.
The truth is that nobody knows whether
Google will miss or beat first-quarter
expectations, but from where we're sitting,
industry insiders look a tad nervous.
For every single quarter over the last two
years, Wall Street has either overestimated
or wildly underestimated Google's
earnings, which suggests that they don't
really understand the company.
"I doubt if any of the analysts will get it
right," says Global Equities Research
analyst Trip Chowdhry. "They haven't had
it right for many years. Google has always
beaten the estimates. Will they beat again?
Nobody knows. This time around, there are
so many moving parts."
Although Google has one week left in its
first quarter, and probably a few more
weeks before it reports results, we know
this much already: The company is
cracking down on erroneous paid clicks, or
ads that are accidentally clicked on by
users and paid for by advertisers. The
upshot, presumably, is that paid click
revenue could decline or stall in the first
Firewinder LED windmill, for the eco-
friendly barbershop
By Nilay Patel (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 11:34:00 AM
Filed under: Household
We're all about the wind-powered LED
rigs lately, but for some reason we're just
not as captivated by the Firewinder LED
windmill as we'd hoped to be. The vertical
corkscrew features rows of white LEDs
embedded in the blade's edge that brighten
as the winds blow harder, which is
definitely a neat concept, but in execution
it looks more or less like a super-high-tech
barber pole -- a look we're not certain
we're willing to drop £99 ($200) for.
Check the super-dramatic vid after the
break.
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quarter.
We also know that there's a looming
recession, and even if Google is "well
positioned" for an economic downturn, as
C.E.O. Eric Schmidt says, a decline in
consumer spending is bound to take a toll
on the company at some point.
And while Google is notoriously tight-
lipped about its performance, Wall Street
analysts appear anxious. Cowen & Co.
analyst Jim Friedland, for example, cut his
annual earnings estimate to $4.42 per
share, down from $4.64 per share, based
on concerns about a recession, paid-click
changes, lagging traffic growth at
MySpace (which is a Google partner), and
its shrinking cash position as a result of the
DoubleClick acquisition.
Last week, Jackson Securities analyst
Brian Bolan shaved his price target on the
stock and predicted Wall Street analysts
will continue to cut their earnings
expectations over the next few weeks.
In other words, Wall Street is finally
curbing its enthusiasm for Google. Related
Links
Google "Recession"
Rational Exuberance, and a Word of
Caution
Why He Caved
[Via Inhabitat]
Continue reading Firewinder LED
windmill, for the eco-friendly barbershop
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Archer Daniels Midland
is a known commodity
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 11:37:00 AM
Filed under: Archer-Daniels-Midland
(ADM), Commodities, Agriculture, Stocks
to Buy Readers of this space know that one
of my preferred sectors is agriculture due
to the boom in food consumption created
by emerging market economic growth.
Real incomes are rising in nations in Asia,
Latin America and the Middle East, and
with it, per capita food consumption is
increasing, a trend that benefits Archer
Daniels Midland.
Archer Daniels Midland(NYSE: ADM)
is one of the world's largest processors of
oilseeds, corn and wheat.
The frenzy that accompanied the
financial world's realization that bio could
represent a renewable energy form, for
some energy users, appears to be tapering
(thankfully). Still, although the bloom is
off the biofuel rose, the key driver here
remains in-place: commodities for food
use. Demand for wheat, corn, soybean and
other food basics is likely to remain strong
through at least the end of 2009, propelled
by the aforementioned emerging market
growth.
Most analysts see accelerating earnings
Hitting the skids in Florida
By Zack Miller (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:45:00 AM
Filed under: Personal finance, Housing,
Recession I grew up in Miami. Yes, I was
born and raised there and am under 40-
years-old. One of the few. I love the city. I
love the people. I love the Latin flavor of
the town, its food and nightlife. I also
enjoyed owning and selling a home there
growth on strong corn and soybean
demand, with pricing power. Further,
given the vagaries of the energy business,
it's worth underscoring that ADM is
foremost a large, vertically-integrated food
commodity company (wheat, corn,
soybeans). The Reuters F2008/F2009 EPS
consensus estimates for ADM are
$2.84/$3.24.
The risks? Declining disposable income
is expected to pressure U.S. consumer food
budgets in 2008, and analysts expect a
slowdown in U.S. revenue from food
sources, something that will hurt ADM's
domestic results, offset by a superior
international performance.
The First Call mean rating for ADM is:
Buy [10 firms]. Mean 2008 target: $48
[high: $60, low: $39].
Stock Analysis: Archer Daniels Midland
is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for
low-risk investors. Investors with an
investment horizon longer than two years
should be rewarded from ADM's shares.
I'd consider a Sell / Stop Loss at $31.
Disclosure: Lazzaro has no positions in
stocks. In addition to private real estate
holdings, he owns corporate and municipal
bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
in the early 2000s.
Things are different now. Homeowners
have been hit with the downside of a
strong housing market and have seen
prices snapback much greater than some
other parts of the country. After seeing a
pullback in net worth, Floridians have been
tightening their belts this year in some
creative and not-so-creative ways.
Today's Bloomberg has an article about
Money Honeys: Why
business TV is sexy
By Sarah Gilbert (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 12:21:00 PM
Filed under: Television, Rants and raves,
Competitive strategy CNBC star Maria
Bartiromo and I share a birthday, and I
love a good scandal, so I follow her
religiously. Maria is fun because she's both
gorgeous and cute, smart and sexy. And
then there's the strange case of Todd
Thomson(the Citigroup exec who fell so in
love with Maria that he flagrantly violated
ethics, and common sense, just to spend
time with her). She's also fun because her
nickname is "Money Honey," and what's
more: she's applied for a trademark for the
phrase! Delicious.
Well, she might have to move fast to use
the phrase before she loses the IP to a new
generation of money honeys(money
honeyettes?). New Corp.(NYSE: NWS)'s
Fox Business News has a bevy of beauties
dishing up the news on the stock market
and the economy: Liz Claman, Dagen
McDowell, Jenna Lee, Alexis Glick. Ben
Stein wants to know, where did they all
come from? His analysis, that finance is
both boring and inscrutable, and that men
would rather get this boring, inscrutable
and (largely) completely irrelevant news
from beautiful women, is certainly
sensible.
%Gallery-19241%
But there's an undercurrent in his story
that has me troubled, and though I think
that he's right in many aspects of his
analysis (it's certainly true that more men
watch financial news than women), I'm
peeved that he never wonders whether the
financial world has just been extremely
how the changes in the Florida housing
market are being dealt with by Dolphins
fans. Floridians, and Miami residents in
particular, are dining out less, seeing fewer
movies, foregoing on travel plans, and in
some extreme cases, drinking less
expensive beer.
According to Bloomberg, Miami real
estate prices fell 19.3% year-over-year in
January, tied with Las Vegas for the largest
Business * Tech Gadgets *
sexist and is only just now starting to let
loose. I also find it odd that he doesn't
wonder if there were financially savvy
women being excluded from business
journalism until now. (His "where did they
all come from" question makes it seem as
if they sprung from the head of Lou Dobbs
like Athena.)
Whither Money Honeys? Here's my
thought:
Continue reading Money Honeys: Why
business TV is sexy Read| Permalink|
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drop among 20 metro areas. Some
homeowners feeling the pinch are no
longer drinking Guinness and Royal Extra
beers, but instead buy something domestic
and cheaper.
This change in net worth is real and is
affecting consumption decisions. While it
hurts everyone involved, the process of
(trying!) to realign the split between assets
and debts is ultimately a healthy one for
9
Virginia Tech
students create "smart"
brake lights for cars
By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:36:00 PM
Filed under: Transportation
It's only taken about a million years, but
someone has finally decided that
improvements are possible in automobile
braking lights. Students from Virginia
Tech have developed a new system that
can show not just whether you're stopping,
but if you're slowing down, when you're
about to stop, and how quickly you're
pressing the pedal. The concept uses an
array of horizontally arranged LED lights -
- when you begin to slow, lights in the
center glow orange, after a certain
threshold side lights turn to red, and if
you're slamming on the brake, they'll all
flash red. The team, led by mechanical
engineering Professor Mehdi Ahmadian,
has plans for the system beyond the lab,
though they speculate that it will be easier
to add them as additional indicators on
commercial vehicles at first. If this pans
out, someday soon we may all be tailgating
a totally psychedelic light show.
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
our country and something, I believe, will
help strengthen the U.S. dollar and regain
respect for American ingenuity, strength
and democratic values around the globe.
Zack Miller is the managing editor of
IsraelNewsletter.com,a former equity
analyst for a leading multinational hedge
fund, and a proud former Floridian. Read|
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10 Business * Sports*
eBay and Tiffany lock
horns
By Zac Bissonnette
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:06:00 AM
Filed under: Law, eBay (EBAY), Tiffany
and Co (TIF) A New York federal judge is
considering a lawsuit involving
Tiffany(NYSE: TIF) and eBay(NASDAQ:
EBAY). The case will decide whether
eBay has a responsibility to vet the
authenticity of products bearing the
Tiffany logo on its site.
eBay believes that it is Tiffany's
responsibility to police the site for
infringement of its trademarks, and the
company's policy is that it will respond to
claims by companies flagging possibly
counterfeit merchandise. But eBay itself
does not devote substantial resources to
policing for counterfeiters. Rolex and
Louis Vuitton have sued eBay on similar
grounds.
According to the Wall Street
Journal,"Tiffany argues that eBay knew it
had a problem with counterfeit items being
listed on its Web site and did little to clean
it up."
John McCain gets it right on the mortgage mess
By Zac Bissonnette
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:58:00 AM
Filed under: Politics, Presidential
elections, Housing I never thought I'd be
doing a post praising John McCain's
wisdom, but here goes.
In the midst of calls from members of
both parties for a big government
intervention in the mortgage crisis, John
McCain said in a speech in Los Angeles
that "it is not the duty of government to
NCAA Tourney causes internet traffic jams!
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/25/2008 9:09:14 AM
The internet traffic monitoring website
In the "risk factors" section of its latest
10-K, eBay touches on the Tiffany lawsuit,
saying that "Litigation and negative
publicity has increased as our websites
gain prominence in markets outside of the
U.S., where the laws may be unsettled or
less favorable to us. Such litigation is
costly for us, could result in damage
awards, injunctive relief, or increased costs
of doing business through adverse
judgment or settlement, could require us to
change our business practices in expensive
ways, or could otherwise harm our
business."
It stands to reason that if eBay could take
responsibility for counterfeit listings in a
cost effective way, it would have avoided
this litigation. eBay's business model could
be in some pretty serious trouble if a judge
rules that the company is responsible for
copyright infringement by third party
sellers -- it might have to just stop selling
luxury goods altogether.
This will be an important case for any
eBay investors to follow. Read| Permalink|
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bail out and reward those who act
irresponsibly, whether they are big banks
or small borrowers."
Exactly -- Senator McCain is saying
what needs to be said but isn't being said
because of election-year politics.
Democrats and some Republicans appear
to be making a bet that you will win very
few votes by saying that some people
should lose their homes.
He added that "Some Americans bought
homes they couldn't afford, betting that
rising prices would make it easier to
Compete.com is blogging that the free
online March Madness On-Demand has
generated waves and waves and spikes and
spikes of traffic towards
How much regulation will
investment banks face?
By Jonathan Berr (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 11:24:00 AM
Filed under: Law, Goldman Sachs Group
(GS), Politics, Bear Stearns Cos (BSC)
Too often Wall Street snaps that the
federal government should leave it alone.
Then, once things go wrong, these fiscal
conservatives transform themselves into
New Deal Democrats and applaud moves
like the Bear Stearns Cos.(NYSE: BSC)
bailout.
Now comes word from Washington that
the investment banks better prepare
themselves for greater government
scrutiny. The question is how much. These
dealmakers are now crying that they want
the government's help without any
additional oversight. That seems like a non
-starter and even the Bush administration
recognizes the need for greater oversight of
Wall Street.
Speaking in Washington today, Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson said Wall Street
firms will need to provide additional
information about their financial
conditions if they want to borrow money
from the Federal Reserve. The former
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(NYSE: GS)
CEO stopped short of calling for
investment banks to face the same
refinance later at more affordable rates ...
Of those 80 million homeowners, only 55
million have a mortgage at all, and 51
NCAASports.com.
As you can see from their second graph
the spikes are happening every March.
Coincidence? :)
regulations as commercial banks.
"Mr. Paulson acknowledged that the Fed's
decision to lend to investment banks
creates a contradiction between how
commercial and investment banks are
being treated, and he implied that
investment banks ought to be subject to the
'same type of regulation,'" The New York
Times said. "But moments later, he said:
'Recent market conditions are an exception
from the norm. At this time, the Federal
Reserve's recent action should be viewed
as a precedent only for unusual periods of
turmoil.'" Looks like the adage of a
conservative being a liberal who got
mugged needs to be revised. Read|
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million homeowners are doing what is
necessary - working a second job, skipping
a vacation and managing their budgets to
make their payments on time. That leaves
us with a puzzling situation: how could 4
million mortgages cause this much trouble
for us all?"
Continue reading John McCain gets it
right on the mortgage mess Read|
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Compete was also tracking the jump in
traffic as people were e-lining up to sign-
up for the free VIP access passes.
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Study says 'golden
parachutes' generally
not a surprise
By Zac Bissonnette
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:32:00 AM
Filed under: Forecasts, Management,
Employees, Merrill Lynch (MER) Today's
Wall Street Journal reports(subscription
required) on a study from Watson Wyatt
Worldwide that found that just 23% of
companies provided unexpected severance
payments to departing chief executives.
This runs counter to a lot of the media
outrage over payments made to "retiring
CEOs." Testifying before Congress earlier
this month, former Merrill Lynch(NYSE:
MER) CEO Stanley O'Neal made this
comment about the outrage over his
retirement package:
"There has been some press about my so-
called `severance package.' These stories
are inaccurate. The reality is that I received
no severance package. I received no bonus
for 2007, no severance pay, no `golden
parachute.' ...In fact, if I had received all of
my compensation in cash during my
tenure, I would have received no "payout"
at all upon retirement ..."
Mr. O'Neal was bringing up an important
point -- perhaps he had been treated
unfairly, and all this talk about "golden
parachutes" does not reflect the reality of
executive compensation in America.
Continue reading Study says 'golden
parachutes' generally not a surprise Read|
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Your Click and Print Newspaper Business * Tech Gadgets * 11

Happy birthday: take a trip in America's

largest flying gadget (part 4)
By Ryan Block (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:48:00 AM

Filed under: Transportation

Sometimes even the plugged-in
Engadget reader needs to pick up and head
out for more relaxing climes. Well, for our
fourth birthday this month we're treating
six lucky people to two round trip tickets
destined for anywhere Virgin America
flies. We wouldn't want you traveling in
something that doesn't have power,
network, and a seatback terminal, though,
so you don't have to sweat about
completely unplugging to get from point A
to point B. Check out the rules below, and
good luck!
• Leave a comment below.
It is in honor of our fourth birthday, after
all, so we wouldn't mind a bit of adulation This is pretty self explanatory. Just be . Tickets are valid through May 31st,
-- but it's up to you. careful and you'll be fine. 2008, and are blacked out May 22-26.
• You may only enter this specific • Contest is open to anyone in the 50 Approximate value is $599 per pair. You
giveaway once. States, 18 or older! can only win once.
Although you can enter up to six times Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate • Entries can be submitted until Friday,
through the course of this six part excluding March 28th, 11:59PM ET.
giveaway, if you enter this specific anyone Good luck!
giveaway more than once you'll be ), so be mad at our lawyers and contest • Full rules can be found here.
automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we laws if you have to be mad. Oh, and be sure to enter part 1, part 2, or
Mars rover is over: LMT, RTN, have robots that thoroughly check to
ensure fairness.)
• Winner will be chosen randomly.
That winner will get two round trip
tickets
part 3 for another chance!
Permalink| Email this| Comments
• If you enter more than once, only
billionaires please inquire activate one comment. anywhere Virgin America flies

By Sheldon Liber (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:19:00 AM
Filed under: Other issues, Competitive
strategy, Scandals, Lockheed Martin
(LMT), Politics, Raytheon Company
(RTN)
Scientists at NASA plan to put one of the
twin Mars rovers to sleep and limit the
activities of the other robot to fulfill a
NASA order to cut $4 million from the
program's budget, mission team members
said Monday.
The project, which was originally
supposed to run for three months, is now in
its fourth year, successfully exploring the
terrain of Mars. It costs NASA about $20
million to keep the project going, but due
to budget cuts, the space agency is forced
to put its child up for adoption, so to speak.
As of yet, no billionaire has stepped up to
the plate, but I am hoping that someone
will soon.
For the cost of a few of your average
modern missiles, we are abandoning a
program that has been one of NASA's most
visible and productive projects.
Continue reading Mars rover is over:
LMT, RTN, billionaires please inquire
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Problems with census PDAs could prompt a
return to pencil and paper
By Donald Melanson (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:01:00 AM
Filed under: Handhelds Harris Corp. may
have nothing but good things to say about
the HTC-made PDAs it's planning to
supply for use in the 2010 census, but it
looks like the handhelds are already
starting to cause plenty of headaches for
census officials, who are reportedly even
considering a return to pencil and paper if
things can't be resolved. As the AP reports,
the problems start with the contract for the
devices, which originally clocked in at
$596 million, has since grown to $647
million, and could eventually balloon to as
much as $2 billion. As if that wasn't
enough, the handheld has also apparently
proven to be "too complex" for some of the
temporary census workers that took part in
a test last year, and the device was
reportedly "not initially programmed to
transmit the large amounts of data
necessary." As a result, census officials are
now said to be considering a number of
different options to scale back the use of
the devices, only one of which apparently
actually has the headcounters entering data
into 'em as they go door-to-door.
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
12 Tech Gadgets *
HP UMPC 2133 specs
revealed, street date of April
7th?
By Nilay Patel (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 1:23:00 PM
Filed under: Laptops We'd been hearing
that HP's slick UMPC 2133 was going
sport VIA processors, and now we've got
some more info to back that up -- we just
received what appears to be a full spec list
for the upcoming machine, and it's VIA C7
-Ms all around, with graphics courtesy of a
VIA Chrome 9 chipset. According to our
source, these will hit on April 7th, and it
looks like those pricing whispers were
pretty accurate as well: $600 will buy you
a 1.2GHz C7-M, a 120GB drive, 1GB of
RAM and Vista Home Basic, while $749
bumps you up to 1.6GHz and Vista
Business and adds Bluetooth, another gig
of RAM, and a bigger battery. There's also
a mysterious $849 Vista Basic model listed
as having "regional" availability (the others
are listed as "Smart Buy") with Bluetooth
and bigger battery, but we don't see why
it's more expensive than the Vista Business
version. Regardless, what really caught our
eye was the $549 model that shares the
same specs as the $600 unit, but looks to
be running SuSE Enterprise -- another
rumor that's come true. That could be the
one that HP expects to sell like hotcakes--
after all, the goal is to have people buy
these " without a thought," and that's
certainly not going to happen at $749.
We'll see soon enough, we suppose. Full
spec sheet after the break.
Continue reading HP UMPC 2133 specs
revealed, street date of April 7th?
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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300
gets reviewed
By Donald Melanson (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 7:58:00 AM
Filed under: Digital Cameras We briefly
got our hands on Sony's DSC-T300 digital
camera (along with a bevy of other Cyber-
shots) back at PMA earlier this year, but
the folks at Digital Photography Review
have now come through with a thorough
review of the camera which, among other
things, is particularly notable for its use of
touchscreen controls. On that important
point, they found the controls "generally
pleasant to use," aided in no small part by
the "largest possible screen for a camera of
its size" (3.5 inches). They were also
particularly impressed with the Cyber-
shot's "small, smart design" and its
impressive 5x optical zoom. It's not all
good news, however, with the camera also
boasting what Digial Photography Review
describes as "terrible battery life," as well
as "over-enthusiastic reds," and a noise-
reduction feature that not only eliminates
noise but reduces image quality no matter
what the setting. Some pretty big trade
offs, to be sure, but apparently not enough
to keep it from getting an above average
rating.
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16GB Samsung P2
now available from
Best Buy Canada
By Donald Melanson (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 8:29:00 AM
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable
Video You may still not be able to get an
iPhone in Canada (at least officially), but
you can now at least grab a spiffy new
16GB Samsung YP-P2, which is a whole
8GB bigger than the model currently
available in the US. From the looks of it,
Best Buy Canada is the among the first to
offer the beefed-up, Bluetooth-packin'
PMP, with it currently demanding $330
Canadian (a $40 discount off the $370 list
price) on the retailer's website. Apart from
the bump in storage, however, there
doesn't look to be any other changes to the
player, with it boasting the same 3-inch
touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.0 support, and
H.264, OGG, and WMV playback as
before. Of course, it's not very likely this'll
be a Canadian exclusive for long, though
we've still yet to hear anything official on
that from Samsung.
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Dash Express now shipping, price
dropped to $399
By Nilay Patel (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 4:41:00 PM
Filed under: GPS
We've been drooling over the GPRS-
enabled, OpenMoko-powered Dash
Express for what seems like forever now,
but it's finally shipping-- and what's even
better, the price has dropped $200 to $399.
Pre-order customers can expect a note
from Dash alerting them to a refund of the
difference sometime soon, while the rest of
us can take ol' Benjamin and his three best
friends over to Amazon, which is the
exclusive retailer for the next 30 days.
Unfortunately, the monthly services fees
are still kind of high: although you can still
use the device as a regular GPS unit after
the initial three-month grace period, if you
buy the premium service you'll be out $13
a month, or $10 if you sign a two-year deal
-- but hey, that's the price you pay to be on
the front lines of the revolution, right?
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
iHome's iH69 computer / iPod speakers
By Nilay Patel (Engadget)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:23:00 AM
Filed under: Home Entertainment,
Portable Audio
We've seen a number of iPod speakers
with pass-through dock connectors, but
we've never really understood the point --
why would we listen to music on our iPod
when we're already sitting at the computer,
which has better speakers? iHome's latest
Tech Gadgets * Technology *
rig, the iH69, tries to bring it all together,
though, with an iPod dock integrated
directly into a set of upright computer
speakers. We're not sold on the idea until
we actually hear 'em -- or we get a sub in
the deal -- but those of you looking to save
on some cable clutter should look for these
bad boys to drop sometime in June.
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
13
Microsoft
Succeeds in Making
Vista Even Worse
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/24/2008 6:08:57 PM
Windows Vista is already perhaps the
most frustrating product Microsoft has yet
heaved onto the computing public. But
now its Service Pack 1 update, which is
supposed to FIX holes and squeaks in the
Vista code, seems to be making things
worse -- so much worse that venerable
publications like Computerworld are
running stories about how to get SP1 off
your machine. InfoWorld has a piece about
how Vista users are blasting Microsoft on
Microsoft's own Vista blog. The headline
on T he Washington Post's story says a lot:
"Vista SP1: Threat or Menace?"
For what it's worth, for Microsoft's much
-ballyhooed power, its stock traded at
around $25 a share five years ago today.
Last I looked, it was at $29, with some
relatively minor ups and downs in
between. You'd have gotten just about the
same performance from an electric power
company, like Con Ed.
Vista, the stock price -- something's
clearly not going well in Redmond. Think
buying Yahoo will help?
(Microsoft vs. Con Ed, courtesy Yahoo)
Related Links
Ballmer: We're Not Behind on Search;
Just Waiting to Make Our Move
Parsing Eric Schmidt: Microsoft is Evil,
Google is Not
Eric Schmidt, Still Seeing the Devil in
Microsoft
14 Technology *
CNET Cuts 10% Of Workforce, Effective Immediately (Updated
With Internal Memo)
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:15:18 PM
CNET has announced that it will cut 10%
of its workforce, or 120 people, effective
immediately, in a move said to help it
“focus on long-term growth amid
complaints from some investors.”
CNET has had no shortage of headlines
recently, from changes at the top through
to an ongoing battle for control against
largest shareholder Jana Partners.
According to an internal memo from
CEO Neil Ashe, the restructure will
include stronger emphasis on centralized
services in areas like IT architecture, SEO,
yield monetization, Facilities, Legal, HR
and Communications.
Business Unit Realignment: with the
introduction of an open API, “CNET will
move its services, catalog, content
management system onto one platform,
making content development, syndication
and content import easier and more open.”
CNET has realigned its investments in
TechRepublic and ZDNET “to improve
monetization,” although exactly how and
in what form was not specified. TV.com
will be abandoning its emphasis on video
for more (we presume low cost) content
such as “entertainment features, breaking
news, trivia competition, and polls.”
International: CNET is considering
raising local capital to expand in China,
but the rest of the international business
operations appear to be subject to a review
with an announcement in weeks, by that
we presume that CNET may be closing
some international sites.
Restructure costs: $3.5 million and $4
million to be accounted for in Q1, 2008.
More when we have it. Staff being
terminated were to be informed at 2pm
PST.
Update: Programmer Robert Balousek is
one of the first reported casualties.
Update: Here’s the full text of the
internal memo from Ashe:
Hello Everyone,
We all recognize that we must
continuously change to be successful, and
we embrace change. At the beginning of
the year, we talked about our focus on
category defining brands and the need to
drive greater efficiencies in the business.
As part of that process, in late January, I
asked Zander to lead a task force to
evaluate our current organization and
resource alignment.
The task force evaluated the following
areas of our business: organizational
construct, technology infrastructure,
editorial development and go-to-market
strategies. Our focus was on creating a
leaner centralized organization that
provides expertise and best practices
around areas of excellence, efficiency, and
governance such as IT architecture, SEO,
yield monetization, facilities, legal, HR
and communications; evolving our
editorial teams so everyone is focused on
content creation; innovating our
technology infrastructure to embrace open
APIs and drive more efficiencies
throughout the organization; and finally,
simplifying our sales approach by building
on the traction of our partner account
strategy.
Based on that business analysis, today,
we are making significant changes to the
organization. This includes the very
difficult decision to make a workforce
reduction that will affect 10 percent of our
U.S. workforce or about 120 people. These
changes allow the company to put greater
focus on its leading brands, as well as help
drive efficiencies throughout the business.
CNET Networks is made up of great
employees who have all contributed to the
success of the company. While the changes
we are making are part of our long-term
growth strategy, I understand that it
doesn’t make it any easier to see our
friends and colleagues leave us.
Today, employees have been meeting
with their managers to hear more specifics
on how these changes impact their
individual roles. Anyone who is impacted
will be informed by 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
Resources will be in place to help all
employees manage through this transition,
including outplacement assistance services
and support from employees’ managers
and HR.
Let me provide you with an overview of
the changes we are making.
Refocusing Central Services are
realigning our centralized services. We
will look to central groups to provide
expertise and best practices around areas of
excellence, efficiency, and governance.
This includes areas like IT architecture,
SEO, yield monetization, Facilities, Legal,
HR and Communications.
Operations
Operations is a newly formed
organization led by Sam Parker that covers
the full breadth of our shared IT and
product services. This group integrates our
enterprise business systems and network
groups into one team.
As part of this change, I’m pleased to
announce that Ned Rhinelander is taking
on the new role of VP of IT Architecture.
In this new role, Ned will track technology
choices and adoption across the company,
identify opportunities for efficiencies and
innovations, and work closely with
business unit engineering leaders to set
shared standards and directions. Sam and
his team will work to continue to find ways
to drive efficiencies, ensuring we get the
full benefit from our scale, and our brands
have an advantage in the markets in which
they compete.
Sales
Dave Morris will take on the role of
Chief Client Officer reporting directly to
me and joining the executive committee. In
this role, Dave will drive our revenue
strategy including our management of
partner accounts, network-wide advertising
programs, and the Detroit auto market.
Dave will also oversee a go-to-market
sales strategy that supports the company’s
revenue plan, as well as business
operations and network product marketing.
We are making these changes to simplify
our sales organization and to build on the
early traction of our partner account
strategy. The existing corporate accounts
will become part of the partner accounts
program. The partner accounts program
allows the company to have an integrated
sales approach that benefits from the
expertise and talent we have throughout
the organization, while at the same time
allowing key marketing partners to realize
the power of all of our leading brands.
Dave will be the Chairman of the
Revenue Council and have the authority to
create and drive company-wide revenue
initiatives. Dave will also have a small
team that will leverage the BU marketing
organizations to support the company’s
network initiatives. Finally, Jack Haire will
be returning to his Special Advisor role
and will continue working with me, Dave,
and the executive committee.
Corporate Communications
Centrally, we will have a global
corporate communications team focused
on public relations and internal
communications. Managed by Sarah Cain,
this team will be responsible for building
strategic plans and programs to effectively
communicate our messages externally and
internally. All other marketing will be
handled at the BU level. Sarah will report
directly to Mickey Wilson as they
determine how this organization evolves.
Business Unit Realignment
At the BU level, resources are being
realigned to support key strategic
initiatives that represent the biggest
opportunities and drive greater
efficiencies. Here are some highlights from
Your Click and Print Newspaper
those changes:
With the move to an open API, CNET
will move its services, catalog, content
management system onto one platform,
making content development, syndication
and content import easier and more open
Within the business group, we have
preserved our core investments in BNET,
while aligning more of our resources to
accelerate the brand’s growth. At the same
time, we have realigned our investments in
TechRepublic and ZDNET to improve
monetization.
TV.com will put more emphasis on areas
of most interest to their audience including
entertainment features, breaking news,
trivia competition, and polls, rather than
original video programming
Stay tuned for more information about
specific changes to your BU from your
business unit leaders.
International
Lastly, as I talked about during last
quarter’s earnings call, to further accelerate
growth and leadership in China, the
company is considering raising capital
from local partners. We are also in the
process of making additional decisions
about our international business. I will be
sharing more information about that in the
coming weeks.
Today, difficult decisions were made.
Each individual that was affected by these
changes deserves our respect and gratitude
for helping to make CNET Networks into
the company it is today. And, while it is
never easy to see our friends and
colleagues leave us, together, we will work
through this transition and stay focused on
our goal to grow the company’s brands,
revenues, and profits.
Best, NA CrunchBase Information
CNET Networks Information provided by
CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because
it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Mozilla Discusses Firefox 3 and
Microsoft’s Public Embrace of Open
Standards
By Mark Hendrickson (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 2:50:33 PM
Mozilla invited a group of bloggers to its
headquarters in Mountain View today for
an open discussion centered around the
upcoming release of Firefox 3 (currently in
public beta).
CEO John Lilly started things off by
pointing out that this coming Monday is
the Mozilla Organization’s ten year
anniversary. He described the organization
as rather humble and discombobulated
when it was spun off from AOL into an
independent entity in 2003. As recently as
2005, when the Mozilla Corporation was
created to lead development on Firefox and
Thunderbird, the organization still
struggled to keep its servers from crashing
during “hours of terror” when browsers
deployed across the world tried to update
themselves at the same time (this problem
has since been remedied).
These days about 150 international
employees work for Mozilla, which has
been divided into six organizations,
including ones for Europe, Denmark,
China, and Japan. The ratio between work
performed by employees vs. the developer
community at large stands at about 60/40.
Mozilla’s fastest growing markets include
China and Russia, with China seeing six-
fold growth since a year ago. Mozilla has
netted about 160M users globally.
Lilly and several other Mozilla
employees including Mike Schroepfer, the
VP of Engineering, spent a considerable
amount of time discussing Firefox 3,
which has been in development for three
years. Firefox Beta 4 is the version
currently made available to the public.
Beta 5, which will be released next week,
will be the last beta before a release
CG News: Motorola splits
By John Biggs (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 6:09:11 AM
In a clear move to keep Motorola’s
flagging mobile phone sales from pulling
candidate in late April or May. The final
version of Firefox 3 has been slated for
release in the first half of this year - in June
or sooner.
Firefox 3 is meant to carry forward the
motto of keeping the internet “open and
participatory”. It will support 50
languages, unlike IE7, which was released
with support for only one. About 50% of
the extensions developed for Firefox
currently work with FF3, with further
compatibility expected to accelerate in
May. There are about 20,000 community
members testing the latest build of FF3 and
submitting an average of 150 bug reports
on a daily basis. Testers have been
particularly vocal about moving the
“home” button back to the main button
area (and Mozilla has acquiesced).
The company stressed a few of FF3’s
primary features. Native skinning has been
implemented so that the browser looks at
home in various operating systems (Mac,
Windows, and Linux). The so-called
“awesome bar”, an advanced version of the
address bar, not only auto-completes but
searches your browsing history for
matches as well. Much of Firefox’s core
has been rebuilt, including the way it
handles history. Now more than 6 months
can be searched instantaneously whereas
before, the default was set at 2 weeks. And
password management is more discreet;
you won’t have to decide on saving a
password until after you’ve signed into a
site.
FF3 also includes extended security
measures such as new anti-malware
down its lucrative broadband and
switching enterprise services the company
is splitting into two publicly-traded
organizations. The Mobile Devices
company will focus on mobile handsets
techniques that will prevent users from
visiting sites that might infect their
computers with malicious programs. The
detection system relies on a blacklist of
software that gets downloaded to the client
periodically. There’s also more advanced
SSL certificate handling and the ability to
easily check whether you’re actually on a
trusted site.
As far as performance goes, Mozilla is
claiming that the FF3 outperforms
competitors both in how quickly it
processes JavaScript and how little
memory it uses. The company has also
been working on better caching methods
that work particularly well with SSL-
protected sites.
When asked about Microsoft’s recent
public show of support for open standards
and interoperability, Mozilla insisted that
the Redmond behemoth still has a “mixed
record” and that declaring support for
CSS2.1 (a ten year old standard) is nothing
to get excited about. The company points
out that Microsoft has done nothing to
support the next generation JavaScript spec
and little to implement CSS3. The same
goes for HTML5, the standard for offline
functionality that has been embraced by
Mozilla, Apple, and Opera.
Lastly, if you’re an iPhone owner who
was hoping to run Firefox come summer,
don’t hold your breath — the SDK license
precludes apps like Firefox that interpret
code. Mozilla does, however, still intend to
ship a mobile version of Firefox. The
platforms that will support it are yet to be
seen. CrunchBase Information Firefox
Mozilla Information provided by
CrunchBase
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile
Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
Daily.
while the Broadband and Mobility
AT&T Is Working on Its
Own 3D Browser (Pogo).
What Are They Thinking?
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:32:08 PM
It takes either a very brave or very foolish
company to enter the browser wars. But
that is exactly what AT&T is doing—in a
small way. I was just shown a demo for
Pogo, a 3D browser based on Mozilla that
is in private beta (we should be getting
invites in a couple weeks). It is a project
that comes out AT&T’s business
development group and Vizible, a Toronto-
based company whose 3-D rendering
engine gives Pogo a very different look
than other browsers. (AT&T is an investor
in Vizible). “The concept is not to rebuild
the browser,” says Vizible founder and
CTO Anthony Gallo, “it is to extend it.”
For the foreseeable future, Pogo will only
be available for Windows machines.
Pogo works like a regular browser, but it
manages pages more visually (see
screenshots below). Instead of tabs, it has a
scrollable strip on the bottom that shows a
thumbnail image of each site you’ve
visited during your session. A
“Springboard” button on the top left takes
you to a grid view of your favorite
sites—akin to what you might put on your
bookmark toolbar. You can also view the
rectangular cells in various Coverflow-like
animations. You can do the same with
regular bookmarks, which are treated as
“collections.” You can drag Website
images into each collection or associate a
collection with a tag. Then any page you
tag going forward gets automatically
placed within that collection. Your
browsing history is also represented
visually, as is your search history. For any
particular search, every page you click
through to gets saved as part of yet another
solutions sector will work on secure voice
and data communication along with
broadband for enterprises and government.
Motorola shareholders will receive
shares in each of the companies once the
Technology * 15
collection—although you can only see one
search set at a time.
A big turnoff, though, is that there are
also banner ads in the Springboard and
other visual modes. And the search bar is
limited to Google and some AT&T-owned
product-, image-, and Yellow-Pages-search
engines. You can’t swap in another search
engine, at least through the beta. Oh, and it
only works on Windows.
The visual tricks are neat, but at this
early stage I am not sure how many people
would ditch their existing browsers for
better visualizations. Does it let you
browse faster or more efficiently than you
could before? I am not sure it does. In any
case, AT&T would have been better off
releasing this as a plug-in for Firefox. But
presenting the Web in a richer, more visual
way is definitely part of a bigger user-
interface trend we’ve been seeing,
especially in search ( SearchMe, Snap, and
ManagedQ come to mind).
Where Pogo is going is more interesting
than where it is at this early stage. Imagine
being able to manage all your
media—video, audio, photos—through the
same visual interface. If Pogo allowed me
to “collect” Web videos, photos, and
music, and manage them in a unified way
like I can with media on my desktop, that
would be a big step in the right direction.
Check out the video below of Pogo in
action, which was taken by my colleague
John Biggs of CrunchGear. Towards the
end you will see some shots of the
underlying Vizible technology, which I
personally find more exciting.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
process is completed.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because
it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
16 Technology *
How To Bring Internet Advertising to TV—The Long
View
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 1:35:53 PM
Over the past couple days, conversations
I’ve had with two different video-startup
CEOs—Suranga Chandratillake of blinkx
and Nick Grouf of Spot Runner—has got
me thinking about what needs to be done
to make TV advertising as relevant as
video advertising. We have a long way to
go, but it boils down to two things: 1)
replacing 30-second commercials on TV
with relevant ad overlays that pop up at
exactly the right moment during a show,
and 2) automating the buying, creation and
placement of TV ads to make it more like
buying search ads.
Yesterday, blinkx CEO Suranga
Chandratillake dropped by my office and
we got to talking about video ads. Blinkx
is a video search engine, but it is also
building a video ad network called AdHoc
that attempts to place contextually-
relevant, clickable text ads in a bar above
the Web video being watched. For
example, in the screen shot of the soccer
video above, you will see a text ad for
shoes. YouTube is doing something similar
with its new AdSense for Video ads. The
ads themselves don’t have to be text. They
can be banners or logos that pop up, or
even new videos-within-a-video under the
control of the viewer. The point is that they
exist within the main video itself, not after
or before it. And they appear briefly at
relevant points during a show.
Determining whether an ad is relevant
for a video is done with some of the same
techniques used on Web pages. Both
YouTube and blinkx look at the tags and
text surrounding a video, but blinkx
Phishing Scam Targeting Facebook Users
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 8:29:36 PM
We’ve had two separate reader reports of
a Phishing Scam targeting Facebook users.
The scam involves a notice appearing on
the wall of user profiles as a message from
a friend, saying “Hey, I got a new
facebook account. Im going to delete this
actually goes beyond what YouTube does.
It uses powerful speech-to-text translation
technology to create a transcript on the fly
and then matches relevant ads to the
words. The ads appear as those words are
being spoken. Suranga showed me the
transcript-creating capabilities of blinkx,
which are not visible to users on his
regular site, and it was impressive. He
clicked on a word in the transcript and that
point in the video started to play. Once you
can do that, inserting relevant ads is trivial.
He says blinkx can also match ads to
related concepts extracted from the
transcripts.
What would it take to run ads like this on
regular TV? Even if the ads are not
clickable, simple banners or graphical
one, so add my new profile” then with a
link that appears to be a link to the new
profile. The actual link goes to a URL on
view-facebookprofiles.com, a domain
registered (and whois protected) on
Namecheap and hosted at Softlayer that
looks identical to the Facebook login page:
Users fooled into resubmitting their
Facebook details on this page then have
buttons that appear in sync with what you
are watching would grab your attention.
Imagine a Nike logo popping up when you
are watching basketball, or cruise ship
when someone in a movie mentions the
Bahamas. It could be annoying, but not if
used judiciously. And it would certainly
solve the problem of people fast-
forwarding through ads with DVRs.
The big issue would be separating the
ads from the underlying video so that new
ads could be placed when the show goes to
cable or is shown in reruns. Right now, all
of those graphics you see on TV are pretty
much baked into the video. Suranga said it
would basically require new TVs with
powerful chips and Internet connections.
The computer chips alone would add about
their Facebook accounts hijacked and all of
their contacts receive a similar message,
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Little By Little,
50 percent to the price of most TVs, so it
will still be a while before that happens.
Google Docs Gets
The other option, of course, is set-top
boxes. But the cable companies don’t have
More Office Like
any incentive to allow ads they don’t By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
control to be seen on their set-top boxes Submitted at 3/26/2008 7:02:39 PM
(which is why they are trying to figure this
out themselves). Google has replaced function tabs on
On the other side of the equation is Google Docs with drop down menus.
placing the ads. What is needed is Spotted by the ever vigilant Philipp
something like Spot Runner’s system, Lenssen, the new drop down menus join
which lets businesses create ads and plan the new Google Docs Toolbar added in
media buys across cable and network TV. February. Combined the service now looks
These ads are targetable by demographics more and more like Microsoft Office (pre
down to the neighborhood level. Google 2007) and is no doubt being implemented
also has its own experiments with regular by Google to make the service more
TV ads through a trial on the Dish familiar to Microsoft Office users in its
Network, where it has software on Dish set push to grow the Google Docs user base.
-top boxes. But Google could be doing a Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
lot more. Says Grouf the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Google is not selling targeted ads now on
TV. It is selling national ads through the
smallest company in the satellite space.
We expect them to become more
aggressive, but have not seen it yet.
These two conversations keep ringing
through my head. I can see a day not too
far where ads on TV start to look like the
text and graphical overlays we are
beginning to see with YouTube, AdHoc,
VideoEgg and others. But you also need an
automated placement and creation system
like Spot Runner’s, which today only deals
with regular 30-second TV spots. Combine
the two together, and there’s the future of
TV. CrunchBase Information YouTube
Blinkx Spot Runner Information provided
Adobe Unveils Webtop
by CrunchBase Version of Photoshop.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because
it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 Picnik IstoNot
As I alluded Scared.
in an earlier post, online
photo-editing applications keep getting
propagating the phishing scam. thing in action, send us an email or leave a
It’s not clear yet exactly what the comment.
phishing scammers are planning on using Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile
the compromised accounts for, or how far Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
it has spread. One tipper claimed that many Daily.
of his friends had been caught as well.
Obviously if you see a message in
Facebook similar to this, it’s a trap! If
you’ve been caught or have shots of this
Your Click and Print Newspaper
ADOBE
continued from page 16
better as the competition heats up between
startups like Picnik and FotoFlexer. Today,
a very large competitor, Adobe, is entering
the market by releasing a Web-based
version of Photoshop for editing pictures
called Photoshop Express. It is in public
beta and anyone can sign up.
Photoshop Express is by no means just
Photoshop ported onto the web. It would
even be a stretch to say it’s a stripped
down version of the desktop software,
since it’s intended for mainstream
consumers, not professionals.
This distinction shows in both what it
lacks and what it offers. There are only 17
editing features in Photoshop Express: a
tiny fraction of those available with the
$650 desktop software. And all of these 17
features are filters intended for tuning and
effects - you won’t find any tools for
drawing lines, adding text, or creating
shapes. What you can do is easily take out
red eye, touch up undesirable areas, change
saturation, pop color, and crop (among
other things).
One of the most innovative features in
Photoshop Express is the ability to revert
any filter you apply to a photograph. You
can do this to a particular filter regardless
of whether you’ve made other changes to
the photo since applying it. All you have to
do is uncheck the particular filter and it
will be subtracted from your changes,
Motorola: The Loss of a Once-Great Company
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 7:05:40 AM
Motorola is pitching its split into two
companies, announced this morning, as a
chance to re-focus and grow. It smells
more like the death of a great American
company.
It certainly feels that way to the Galvins -
- the family that built and ran the company
for most of its existence. Paul Galvin
founded Motorola; his son Bob Galvin
made it huge; and the grandson, Chris
Galvin, was CEO from 1995 through 2003
-- when the board forced him to resign.
Motorola had a spurt of growth just after
Chris Galvin left -- which Galvin and a lot
of others believe came from products
Galvin had teed up -- and performed pretty
which are represented in a historical
filmstrip with all versions of the photo you
have gone through. This undo functionality
for particular changes partly makes up for
the unfortunate absence of layers, which
are so vitally important in the desktop
version of Photoshop.
Photoshop Express also differs from its
desktop cousin by serving as an online
storage and photo sharing service. You can
upload up to 2GB of photos to the web app
(or pull them in directly from Facebook,
Photobucket, or Picassa). They are
arranged in a collection that can be made
available to others or kept private.
Embedding and slideshow functionality is
also available.
Adobe has other motivations behind this
launch: Doug Mack, the vice president in
charge of Photoshop Express, says:
It is a showcase of what is the best that
can be done with Flex and Flash.
Hopefully, it will inspire other developers.
We are also setting up a hosted services
platform that we can expand to other
products.
So this is just the beginning for Adobe.
Should smaller fry like Picnik be scared
now that Adobe is, uh, flexing its muscles
online? Picnik CEO Jonathan Sposato isn’t
too worried. He gives me the classic
Innovator’s Dilemma argument:
We don’t envy the challenge Adobe is
well through 2006 under CEO Ed Zander.
Since then, Moto's cell phone business has
sputtered and lost market share while its
stock price has gone off a cliff.
Chris Galvin recently told me that his
family has sold 99% of their Moto
holdings -- a devastating vote of no-
confidence. "Motorola as an innovator is
dead and cannot be retrieved," he said.
Yes, of course, that could sound like sour
grapes -- except that he might be right. An
investor, Carl Icahn, has succeeded in
putting short-term shareholder gain above
everything, forcing Motorola into pieces
that surely can't have the cultural strength
or market impact of the whole.
Fourteen years ago, when Jim Collins
and Jerry Porras wrote their
groundbreaking book Built to Last, they
included Motorola among just 18 global
facing—they have to deal with not
cannibalizing a highly successful finished-
goods business. Adobe has a business to
protect, while Picnik has a business to
build.
Okay, but what about Adobe’s massive
distribution through its existing products
(Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.).
Sposato’s got an answer for that one as
well:
Sure, I think their distribution is a great
strength for them. And there’s definitely a
Windows vs. Mac analogy here. But i
think today’s internet is so incredibly
efficient that traditional models of
distribution may matter less and less. The
cost of switching apps for most users is
just so easy. They can find new things
really fast and try them out.
Hopefully, I am not smoking crack but I
do think the marketplace is so efficient that
we can compete based ultimately on
quality and ‘winsomeness’ of the product
(to use a very old fashion word).
No Jonathan, you’re not smoking crack.
May the most winsome product win.
CrunchBase Information Adobe Systems
Picnik FotoFlexer Information provided by
CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
companies that had enduring top-shelf
success. Moto was especially cited as a
company that had a built-in mechanism for
renewal. It periodically dipped into a
difficult time, but found new businesses
and exited old ones and got going again. It
Zillow's Business During
a Real Estate Meltdown
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/25/2008 7:38:42 AM
Rich Barton, CEO of popular real estate
site Zillow, passed through town yesterday
and met me for coffee at my satellite
office, Jamie's General Bean.
Zillow has grown like crazy in the two
years since it launched and now gets 5
million visitors a month. It makes its
money strictly on advertising. (Still
private, it doesn't release financial figures.)
So I had to ask: Now that real estate is in a
crisis mode, what's that doing to Zillow?
"We're growing 30% year over year,"
Barton said. He thinks the site is getting
even more traffic now that it's a buyer's
market. "People take time to research
because they have the time -- it's hard to
take the time to research when the market
is in a buying frenzy and you have multiple
bids on a house."
The site also keeps adding features and is
"dipping its toe into home improvement" --
perhaps showing people how a certain
remodeling project would affect a home's
could do that because it had patient
management -- the family that built the
company. Once that was gone, crass
shareholder returns took the lead.
Splitting into pieces doesn't seem like the
same recipe that got Motorola onto the
Technology * 17
price in a certain neighborhood. When real
estate goes sour and people stay put, they
tend to remodel what they own. It will
soon launch mortgage marketplace on the
site.
My guess, too, is that if housing prices
are diving, a lot of people want to keep an
eye on that. Zillow is a good way to watch
what's happening to your home's value --
or the prices of homes in a place you want
to live.
Zillow recently picked up another $30
million in financing in the fall. "I raised the
last round not because we needed the
money, but for a rainy day," Barton said.
"A rainy day (in terms of being able to
raise money) is kinda here."
Related Links
Prying Eyes
House Poor
Peter Schiff on the Housing Market and
the Rescue Plan
Built To Last list.
Motorola's individual businesses might
do fine. Perhaps they'll surprise everyone
and bounce back. But at the moment, the
split seems like a giant step back from
greatness -- and maybe a step toward that
place where you'll find other once-iconic
names like Polaroid, Westinghouse and
Sears.
(A disclosure and bit of trivia: The quote
on the front of most paperback copies of
Built To Last, attributed to USA Today, is
me.) Related Links
Motorola: Maybe the Problem Isn't
Zander
Motorola Splits
Replacement Value
18 Technology * Sports*
Why Cable And WiMax Shouldn’t Mix
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:54:04 AM
WiMax is going nowhere fast but that is
not stopping a consortium of cable and
tech companies from considering a plan to
invest $3 billion more into a proposed
bailout-through-merger of Sprint Nextel’s
WiMax business (known as Xohm) and
Craig McCaw’s Clearwire. The consortium
that is reportedly being put together would
include Comcast ($1 billion), Intel ($1
billion), Time Warner Cable ($500
million), Bright House Networks and
Google ($500 million).
This latest plan comes after Sprint
Nextel’s disastrous$30 billion write-down
last quarter of its Nextel acquisition, and is
an attempt to salvage something out of that
train wreck. It also comes after Intel
recently balked at putting up $2 billion
itself. Intel wants to sell WiMax chips and
has already sunk $600 million into
Clearwire. But even Intel has its limits.
WiMax is a promising technology and
these are early days. But even an extra $3
billion won’t be enough. Building out a
nationwide WiMax network could cost as
much as$8 billion to $12 billion. And there
could be more technical hiccups. (An
Australian WiMax provider is already
giving up).
Clearwire, which is already operating its
broadband wireless service in parts of the
FotoFlexer Tries To Take On Picnik With a New Look
By Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 7:36:38 AM
As consumer applications continue to
migrate from the desktop to the Webtop,
one of the most advanced areas where this
trend is taking hold is in photo-editing
software. Desktop editing apps like iPhoto,
Picassa and even Photoshop are giving
way to Web-based apps like FotoFlexer
and Picnik(and many more).
And the Webtop photo editors just keep
getting better. Today, FotoFlexer released
a completely revamped user interface,
making it simpler and more intuitive.
FotoFlexer also added a bunch of effects,
country, lost $727 million last year, on
revenues of $151 million. So far, it has
raised at least $2.75 billions dollars
through private investors ($900 million in
2006), an IPO ($600 million), and a $1.25
billion line of credit. As for Xohm, it has
only soft launched with employees in three
cities. Nevertheless, last year it cost Sprint
Nextel $577 million in capital expenditures
and operating expenses.
I can see why Google might throw its hat
into the ring here— anything to promote
such as the ability to type directly onto a
photo, add animations, and choose from
more frames. Once you finish tweaking
your photos, they can be posted all over
the Web (Photobucket, Facebook, Flickr,
SmugMug, etc.)
I made the image above in about 30
seconds. (You can play with it here). The
tabbed UI is really easy to use, and there
seems to be a lot of effects and layers that
you can add. I am not so crazy about the
animations, but I think those are supposed
to appeal more to young girls. All in all,
though, the functionality that is available
for a Webtop app is pretty impressive and
the new features and functionality should
more broadband wireless networks. But
Comcast and Time Warner Cable should
stay away. The logic behind the investment
seems to be that the cable companies could
use the WiMax network to counter the
moves by Verizon and AT&T into their
turf (with TV service over phone lines). It
is being suggested that the cable
companies would be able to launch their
own white-label mobile phone and high-
speed Internet services over WiMax , or
use it to distribute their TV content to
make it much more competitive with
Picnik. Which one you use now is really
just a matter of personal preference.
(FotoFlexer is more tightly i ntegrated with
Photobucket, Picnik is baked into Flickr). I
computers and new digital devices.
Here’s where that logic breaks down:
1. WiMax is more an alternative to fixed
broadband Internet access than it is to
mobile phone service. Verizon and AT&T
have a huge head start and customer lock-
in when it comes to cell phone service.
WiMax mobile phones would take decades
to chip away at that even if they do offer
fater data speeds. Today, Clearwire is only
offering at-home phone service, not
mobile. As for broadband Internet and
home phone services, Comcast and Time
Warner already compete effectively
against the phone companies today with
their alternative services over cable.
2. It no longer makes sense to try to own
all the pipes because pipes are becoming a
commodity. Yet pipes are an expensive
commodity. If the idea is to create a new
way to stream TV and movies to people,
the cable companies no longer have to
build out the infrastructure themselves to
do that. It would be much cheaper to let the
WiMax business prove itself to be viable
on its own and cut deals for distribution.
(Photo via Erik Charlton).
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile
Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
Daily.
like Picnik. Mike prefers FotoFlexer. But
as the traffic graph below shows, more
people agree with me.
The fact is that FotoFlexer is getting
trounced by Picnik. According to
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Billy Packer
caught on tape
MLFing!
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/25/2008 3:45:23 PM
As I was watching the repeat of the
Davidson vs Gonzaga NCAA game on
CBS College Sports, with 37.6 seconds left
in the second half, and after coming back
from a TV timeout, Billy Packer, who
thought he wasn't on the air, said "Pretty
Woman" while the camera was focused on
Stephen Curry's mom.
Not that there is anything wrong with
any of the above, but Billy Packer usually
tries to play the "serious analyst" card and
criticizes others who make "off topic"
comments.
Which explains why the CBS NCAA
tourney pool of analysts includes "serious"
types, and sleepy play by play guys. Which
is perhaps why Gus Johnson is often left
out of the second week of games, and
notable analysts like Marques Johnson of
FSN are not invited.
comScore, FotoFlexer only had 396,000
unique visitors worldwide in February,
compared to 966,000 for Picnik. This new
UI could help it turn things around. And
just in time too, because a big new entrant
to the Webtop photo-editing game is
debuting tomorrow (more on that later).
CrunchBase Information FotoFlexer
Picnik Pixenate Information provided by
CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Gibson and the Guitar
Games Patent Suits
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/24/2008 6:04:31 AM
Amazing how success brings out the
patent fights -- which as of now are raging
full on between Gibson Guitar and the
makers of guitar simulation games. It also
doesn't help that the whole history of the
Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games
is a bit convoluted.
First of all, Gibson Guitars did get a
patent in 1999 for a "System and method
for generating and controlling a simulated
musical concert experience." And it does
kind of describe what Guitar Hero and
Rock Band became -- except it doesn't
really describe a video game so much as a
way for a real musician to pretend he's in a
rock concert.
But Gibson didn't seem to worry too
much about that -- until Guitar Hero turned
into a $1 billion game and Rock Band hit
the market as a big success. The earliest
version of Guitar Hero came out in 2005.
The companies behind it were Harmonix,
which created the original game, and Red
Octane, which gave the game a boost by
creating the game-specialized guitar
controllers. Eventually Red Octane got
bought by Activision, which turned Guitar
Hero into that $1 billion game. Red Octane
was bought by MTV, which more recently
developed Rock Band.
And now that the games are all the rage,
Gibson is suing-- despite the fact that
Gibson not only knew about the games all
along, but worked with Activision on
branding and creating guitar controllers
that looked like classic Gibsons. On
Friday, Gibson filed suit over Rock Band.
Activision has already sued Gibson back,
saying the patents are invalid.
What a mess. Basically, it seems Gibson
wants a payday from a concept it thought
up but never developed. I'm sure there's
way more to the story than we'll ever
know, but there must have been a better
way to figure this out than going to court.
Related Links
The Guitar Heroes
The Gamesman
Rock Band Tops 6 Million Downloads
Modu: A Ton of Money for a
Potential Game-Changing Start-
up
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/24/2008 5:53:52 AM
Not many start-ups land$100 million-plus
in funding. Investors have to be convinced
they're helping create something huge.
Maybe Israeli start-up Modu will be that
kind of game changer.
Certainly the concept is intriguing.
Modu, started by the guy who created the
USB flash drive (and sold it to SanDisk for
$1.6 billion), is developing a modular cell
phone/music player/file storage core. The
idea is that you could slip this core into
any number of devices. Drop it into a tiny
cell phone when you're going out to
dinner. Drop it into a Blackberry-type
thing during business hours. Plug it into
your car and the car will play your music
and route your calls into a car-based
phone. And so on.
But it's gotta cost a LOT to get this
started. Modu will probably have to make
the core plus the first devices it goes in, to
seed the market. Eventually, it would
likely want to license the technology so all
sorts of consumer electronics companies
could make Modu-powered devices. That's
a long haul and a lot of potential
roadblocks to overcome.
Technology * 19
Some Good
Suggestions for
Newspapers
By Kevin Maney (Portfolio.com:
Tech Observer)
Submitted at 3/21/2008 6:22:43 AM
I'm not sure why Ted Leonsis -- AOL's
vice chairman and owner of the
Washington Capitals hockey team --
decided to write out a 10-point plan for
saving newspapers, but he's got a lot of
pretty intriguing thoughts. Lord knows
newspapers need saving, and none of the
newspaper companies seem to have the
imagination to do it.
One thing bothered me about Ted's plan:
He implies there is no room anymore for
the craft of journalism. "Change the
metrics of success and what is winning
readership and reach over subscribers,
context and distribution over Pulitzer
prizes," Ted writes. Perhaps the financing
mechanism for good writing and smart
research is dead, at least on the newspaper
level. From a guy who spent most of his
adult life working for newspapers, that's
sad if true.
Gannett stock price Related Links
Tampa Bay Lightning Sale Deadline
Looming
Contact Overload!
Tech Money Buying the NHL
20 Sports*
2008 March Madness TV Listings
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/26/2008 7:30:46 AM
If you enjoyed our regular season TV
listings, and our 2007 March Madness TV
listings, you will be thrilled by our 2008
March Madness TV listings!
2008 NCAA Tournament TV listings
The National NCAA tourney TV listings
were just published (March 17) at CBS
Sports. The tourney games will be on CBS,
CBS-HD, and CSTV (now CBS College
Sports).
The play-in (cough cough opening round
game) tips off on Tuesday night on ESPN
and ESPN-HD, and squares off Mount
Saint Mary's with Coppin State, the team
with the 20 losses.
The CBS studio hosts will be the same as
before (Seth Davis, Bryan Gumbel and
Clark Kellogg), and the eight announcer
teams are the usual faces, but with one
addition. Youngster Carter Blackburn of
CSTV will be "trained" by Dick Enberg
(old enough to be his great grandpa) and
Jay Bilas (tall enough to be his grandpa).
Action begins on Thursday at 9am
pacific (noon eastern), and CBS decided to
start things off with an intriguing game,
Xavier facing off the Georgia Bulldogs,
aka the Georgia Miracles!
You can also watch games live or repeats
on your computer for FREE at
NCAA.com. This is what they call March
Madness On-Demand. They also have a
"video library" of previous games and
events. Or so they claim ;-)
The 2008 NIT TV listings
The TV listings are embedded in the
brackets at the NIT website(embedded
PDF file). Direct link to the PDF file right
here(PDF file). Every single NIT game (31
total) will be carried by the ESPN family
of networks, including ESPN, ESPN2,
ESPNU, and ESPN Classic.
For more details on the NIT tourney,
check the NIT website.
The inaugural CBI TV listings
The games are available online and at
Fox College Sports. Details here. Action
tips off on Tuesday March 18, 2008 with
two games, and continues on Wednesday
with two more games. We are not sure
which games will be available on local
channels or regional FSNs.
Detailed daily TV listings(ALL TIMES
PACIFIC)
Monday March 17, 2008
6pm, Black Magic Part #2, ESPN
(commercial free; will re-air on ESPN
Classic later on)
730pm, College Gamenight, ESPN2
9pm: ESPNU Inside the Polls, ESPN2
Midnight: CLASSIC, 1993 Arizona vs
Kentucky, in the Maui, ESPN Classic
various time: Debut of College Sports
Tonight on CSTV (CBS-CS). This is a
daily one-hour show that recaps the world
of college sports. Think of it as
SportsCenter for college sports but not by
ESPN.
Tuesday March 18, 2008
11am, 1987 NCAA Final: Syracuse vs
Indiana, ESPN Classic
12pm, repeat: P10 tourney: Arizona vs
Oregon State, Fox College Sports
1pm, 1998 NCAA Final: Texas vs
Oklahoma, ESPN Classic
130pm, repeat: 2008 SEC tourney final,
Georgia vs Arkansas, the miracle, CSTV
(aka CBS College Sports)
4pm, NIT game: UNC Asheville at Ohio
State, ESPN2 (7'7" giant Kenny George
visits Value City arena)
4pm, 11pm, CBI game: Richmond at
Virginia, Fox College Sports
430pm, NCAA Opening Round: Mount
St Mary's vs Coppin State, ESPN
6pm, NIT game: Oklahoma State at
Southern Illinois, ESPN2
6pm, NIT game: Akron at Florida State,
ESPN Classic
6pm, 1am, CBI game: Houston at
Nevada, Fox College Sports
630pm, NIT game: Minnesota at
Maryland, ESPN
630pm, 1130pm, NAIA D2 tourney
final, CSTV (CBSCS)
8pm, NIT game: Alabama State at
Arizona State, ESPN2
Wedn March 19, 2008
Pregame press conferences on ESPN
News throughout the day!
midnight: Classic: 1987 TipOff classic:
UNC vs Syracuse, ESPN Classic
10am: CLASSIC 1966 NCAA Final:
Texas Western vs Kentucky, ESPN Classic
11am: CLASSIC 1989 NCAA Final:
Seton Hall vs Michigan, ESPN Classic
1pm: CLASSIC 1990 NCAA final:
UNLV vs Duke, ESPN Classic
1pm: March Madness Central (3 hours),
CSTV (CBS CS)
4pm: NIT UAB at VCU, ESPN2
4pm: NIT Morgan State at Virginia
Tech, ESPN Classic
4pm: CBI Cincinnati at Bradley, Fox
College Sports
6pm: CBI Valpo at Washington, Fox
College Sports
6pm: NIT Charlotte at Nebraska, ESPN
Classic
6pm: NIT San Diego State at Florida,
ESPN2
8pm: NIT New Mexico at California,
ESPN2
Thur March 20, 2008
*** check local CBS station for listings
in your area ***
*** all times pacific ***
7am to 9am: SportsCenterU, ESPN
9am to 2pm: NCAA Tournament
begins!, CBS, National schedule
9am to 145pm: March Madness Central
on CSTV (CBS CS)
11am to 1pm: Tourney Gameday,
ESPN2
145pm, 1am: NCAA tourney from
Anaheim: Cornell vs Stanford, CSTV
(CBS College Sports)
4pm to 10pm: NCAA Tournament
afternoon session, CBS
4pm to 10pm: March Madness Central
on CSTV (CBS CS)
All night: March Madness Highlights
(one hour long), CSTV (CBS CS)
9pm: NIT Second round: Southern
Illinois at Arizona State, ESPN2 (first one
to 39 wins!)
Fri March 21, 2008
*** check local CBS station for listings
in your area ***
7am to 9am: SportsCenterU, ESPN
9am to 2pm: NCAA Tournament Round
1 Day 2!, CBS, National schedule
9am: NCAA Tourney, CSTV (CBS
College Sports)
11am to 230pm: College Gameday,
ESPN
2pm, 1am: NCAA tourney from
Anaheim, CSTV (CBS College Sports)
4pm to 10pm: NCAA Tournament
afternoon session, CBS
1am: NCAA tourney repeat, CSTV
Sat March 22, 2008
*** check local CBS for your area ***
*** all times pacific ***
9am: NIT round 2: Akron at UMass
10am: Road to the Final Four, CBS
11am: NCAA Round 2 Day 1, four
games [1-2-2-3], CBS, National schedule.
11am: WEST VIRGINIA vs Duke, CBS
120pm: Kansas State vs Wisconsin or
Xavier vs Purdue, CBS
340pm or so: Notre Dame vs
Washington State, or Marquette vs
Stanford or UNLV vs Kansas, CBS
6pm or so: Pitt vs Michigan State or
Texas A&M vs UCLA, CBS
9pm: Gameday on ESPN (1 hour long)
Sun March 23, 2008
*** check local CBS for your area ***
*** all times pacific ***
6am: Game of the week repeat: NIT,
Rhode Island at Creighton, ESPN Classic
630am, Outside the Lines: Pat Summitt
vs Geno Auriemma, The Drama, ESPN.
Video preview.
9am, NCAA Round 2 Day 2, three
games, CBS, [1-4-3], National schedule.
910am: Siena vs Villanova
1120am or so: Miami vs Texas or Bulter
vs Tennessee or Davidson vs Georgetown
or Western Kentucky vs San Diego
130pm or so: Miss State vs Memphis, or
Oklahoma vs Louisville or Arkansas vs
North Carolina
9pm: Gameday on ESPN (1 hour long)
All Nite: March Madness Highlights,
CSTV (CBS CS)
Mon March 24, 2008
*** good news, NCAA games repeating
on CSTV! ***
9am: Three NCAA game tourney
repeats, CSTV (CBS College Sports).
That's right, if you missed any games or
your local CBS kept switching out, you
can watch them in a full two-hour edit
window!
9am: full-game repeat: BELMONT vs
Duke, CSTV (CBS CS)
11am: full-game repeat: UConn vs San
Diego, CSTV
1pm: full-game repeat: Drake vs Western
Kentucky, CSTV
11am: Two Classic NCAA Tournament
Finals on ESPN Classic
11am: 1991 NCAA Final Duke vs
UNLV Kansas, ESPN Classic
1pm: 1993 NCAA Final Michigan vs
North Carolina, ESPN Timeout Classic
4pm: NIT game, ESPN
4pm: CBI game: ODU at Virginia, Fox
College Sports, CBI schedule
6pm: NIT game, ESPN
6pm: CBI game: Utah at Tulsa, Fox
College Sports
920pm: College Gameday, ESPN (20
Your Click and Print Newspaper
minutes)
1am: full game repeat, not sure which
one, CSTV
Tue March 25, 2008
9am: three full NCAA Tourney game
repeats: UConn vs San Diego, Drake vs
Western Kentucky (2.5 hours long), and
Davidson vs Gonzaga, CSTV
11am: Two Classic NCAA Tournament
Finals, 1994 Arkansas vs Duke, and 1995
UCLA vs Arkanas, on ESPN Classic
230pm: March Madness College
Coaches, FSN
4pm: NIT game, ESPN2
6pm: NIT game, ESPN2
Wedn March 26, 2008
8am: Three repeats of full NCAA games:
Davidson vs Gonzaga, Butler vs
Tennessee, and Xavier vs Purdue, CSTV
(CBS College Sports)
1020am: Gameday repeat (20 minutes),
ESPN
2pm: March Madness Central (2 hours
long), CSTV (CBS College Sports)
4pm: CBI semifinal #1, Fox College
Sports
4pm: NIT Quarterfinal, ESPN
5pm: NCAA repeat: Texas A&M vs
UCLA slugfest, CSTV (CBS College
Sports)
6pm: CBI semifinal #2, Fox College
Sports
6pm: NIT Quarterfinal, ESPN
630pm, 2008 McDonalds All American
Game, ESPN. Preview at Recruiting Wars.
8pm: NCAA repeat: Xavier vs Purdue,
CSTV
11pm: NCAA repeat: Butler vs
Tennessee, CSTV
Thur March 27, 2008
8am: NCAA repeats: Butler vs
Tennessee, Xavier vs Purdue, Stanford vs
Marquette, CSTV (CBS College Sports)
2pm: March Madness Central (1 hour),
CSTV
3pm: NCAA Division 2 tourney,
semifinals (two games), CSTV
4pm: NCAA Tourney, Sweet 16 Day 1,
CBS National sked.
4pm: Washington State vs North
Carolina or, West Virginia vs Xavier
(around) 630pm: Louisville vs Tennessee,
or, Western Kentucky vs UCLA
10pm: College Gameday, ESPN
1130pm: NCAA repeat: Stanford vs
2008 page 22
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Sweet 16 Preview and Predictions, Day
1 for Friday (NCAA Round
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/26/2008 4:33:00 PM
You can get a two hour preview of the
NCAA Tourney games on CSTV, today at
2pm pacific (5pm eastern), but you can
also get a preview right here. For all the
TV stuff, be sure to check our March
Madness TV listings.
West Virginia vs Xavier
The first wave of games tips off with a
good old rivarly, Bob Huggins vs Xavier.
As you may recall, Huggins was the head
coach at Cincy, and they had an annual
intense rivarly game every year. We now
love West Virginia even more, after they
beat up the Dookies, and we are planning a
blogging celebration for them later today :)
And because of that we want West Virgina
to win and move along. But Xavier, just
like Texas, is one of those crazy teams that
can beat anyone and can lose to almost
anyone. They already showed early
tournament onions by making comebacks
against Georgia and Purdue.
But ultimately we think the combination
of outside shooting, Joe Alexander, and
Bob Huggins toughness will get the
Threepointers over the top and send the
Musketeers home. And the X-men will
have to worry some more, as their head
coach may be poached by one of the BCS
schools. Indiana is not the only major
program looking for a head coach, and the
impressive success of Herb Sendek at
Arizona State may tempt other Pac-10
schools to go after one of his former
assistants. We are talking potentially
Oregon, California or USC. But let's leave
that for the coaching carousel discussion :)
North Carolina vs Washington State
In the other game, North Carolina will
face Washington State. This is the ultimate
contrast in style, although the young singer
is not a ...dick like his dad, he lets his team
run when they have the advantage. We've
said all along that Washington State, just
like Wisconsin, are operating in a narrow
band. They usually beat the teams they are
supposed to beat, and lose to the teams
they are supposed to lose to.
If you don't think so, be sure to check
Washington State's record, courtesy of Ken
Pom RPI. They are 0-5 against Sweet 16
teams (UCLA, Stanford), but they beat up
NCAA teams that lost in the first week
(Baylor, Zags, USC, Oregon). Arizona is
an exception because when they had their
full complement they were playing like a
Sweet 16 team. But injuries and such
derailed them. But that's a story for another
day.
Ultimately we think that UNC will
overmatch Wazoo. Derrick Low may give
them some headaches, as neither Lawson
or Q are ideally suited to guard him. Kyle
Weaver on the other hand will have his
hands full having to deal with Ellington on
defense and Ginyard and Green on offense.
Hansbrough will probably be limited by
the Wazoo interior play and defensive
scheme, but the combination of Lawson
and Green/Ellington, and possibly Deon
Thompson's bank shots will be the
difference.
Louisville vs Tennessee
This is a game we have a hard time
getting a read on. Both teams are deep,
both press and run and gun. We would
have preferred that this was a Final Four
game instead of a Sweet 16 game.
But let's consider Tennessee's history in
the NCAA tourney in the Bruce Pearl era
and Pitino's history. That does not look
favorable for Tennessee, but one could
have easily made the same argument for
Texas A&M vs Louisville last year at
Rupp Arena, and Billy Clyde Gillispie
pulled out a tough win at his future home
court beating Pitino on his former home
court. Or to use Pitino-speak, his former
home cot :)
But there's something else that goes
against Tennessee: Consider how they did
not only in past NCAA tourneys under
Bruce Pearl, but also in other tourneys.
This year they got blown out by Texas in a
pre-season tourney in New Jersey. Last
year they lost to Butler in the pre-season
NIT. They haven't done well in the SEC
tourney either.
Obviously the three point shot can be a
determining factor and if there is a big
difference in the shots made, we think that
the team with that advantage will probably
win the game.
Other than Lofton - if he is having a wild
shooting game - we don't see any potential
matchup advantages for the Vols.
Ultimately we think that Padgett and T-
Will will be able to make up for the
potential shortcomings of the Cardinals
guards crumbling under the Vols pressure,
and Derrick Caracter and Earl Clark will
be too much for the Vols big men to
handle. Louisville will win, we predict, but
it could be a very close game.
Western Kentucky vs UCLA
We badly want Western Kentucky to
win, but we are afraid that UCLA will be
too much. Duke West has been getting a
series of "friendly" calls by the zebras, not
just the highly visible controversial calls,
but also the multiple fouls per possession
the UCLA wrestling-forwards commit on
screens on offense and double teams on
defense.
We have enough material now to convict
Ben Howland of ruining the game of
basketball. You have two of the fastest
guards in the country in Collison and
Westbrook, and the most smartest (LOL)
big man in Kevin Love, and yet you try to
win the games in a slugfest, the same way
a desperate low-major coach of a 300+
RRI team is clinging on to dear life. For
crimes against basketball, Ben Howland,
you have been convicted to lose in the
Elite 8, and never make it to the Final Four
again :)
Friday's Games
We will be posting our preview and
predictions for the four day two games
later today! Update! The time is Later!
Here is the preview and predictions for day
two of the Sweet 16 (Friday).
March Madness predictions
One, Day Two)
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/20/2008 10:42:18 PM
After going 13-3 in day one of our March
Madness predictions, we feel brave enough
to post predictions for all sixteen games of
day two. We start in chronological order,
the order the games will tip off.
The one and only Bill Raftery tips off
Friday's games with Tennessee
steamrolling American. American is a
great story, but the Bruce Pearl express is
loaded in numbers and in talent, the Patriot
league team has no chance! But it would
be a really nice upset if it happened. A
very big IF!
Then Billy Packer gets his hands dirty by
calling a mid-major game, where Davidson
continues their streak of not winning
NCAA games. That means Gonzaga will
not be GoneZaga in the first round! The
depth and versatility of the Zags will
ultimately get them the W. Look for key
contributions from Bouldin, Kuso and
Pendo.
Then the annoying Tim Brando and the
G-Man will call Drake beating Western
Kentucky in a game that will be a lot
closer than Keno Davis and Drake fans
would think considering their #5 seed.
The fourth game of the first wave will
have the first upset, Saint Mary's beats up
the Miami Hurricanes, and Patty Mills
scores 33. Randy Bennett said Miami
reminds them of San Diego, and they
haven't beaten San Diego lately, but we
think that ultimately St Mary's has what it
takes to beat the Canes.
Second wave of games
Three of the four games will be
cakewalks, Texas over Austin Peay,
Georgetown over UMBC, and UConn over
San Diego. But Butler will have its hands
Sports* 21
full yet ultimately survive and advance
over South Alabama.
Afternoon games, first wave
Phil Martelli will get his shiny bold
dome broadcast live on CSTV (CBS
College Sports), in addition to having the
game shown on various CBS affiliate
regions. We think that St Joe's has enough
to beat Oklahoma, although it wont be
easy. Their beating Xavier twice will give
them the confidence needed to pull such a
victory over a BCS team.
We do not see Vandy having any trouble
with Siena, and North Carolina won't have
to climb a mountain to beat Mount Saint
Mary's.
The Oregon vs Mississippi State game
looks very promising, but because the Nike
Ducks are bombing away, Batman won't
have as much impact on the game, and we
predict that Oregon will beat Rick
Stansburies.
Last block of games
Memphis and Louisville will have no
troubles advancing. However our crystal
ball is having a hard time getting a good
read on the other two games, so our
predictions for the next two games are not
as strong as the previous ones. Ultimately
we think that talent will rise to the top and
the combo of Eric Gordon and DJ White
will be too much for Arkansas, and the
Hoosiers will advance and face UNC in a
good (on-paper) game.
Last but not least, we have Clemson vs
Villanova. This is a hard game to pick. We
simply cannot see clearly, but we will give
Clemson the slight edge to beat the
Fighting Massiminos.
For all the TV listings of the NCAA, NIT
and CBI, be sure to check our March
Madness TV listings post.
22 Sports* TV * Your Click and Print Newspaper
2008
NCAA Tourney Sweet 16 Preview and continued from page 20
Marquette, CSTV Game #2: TBD, CBS

Predictions, Day 2 Fri March 28, 2008

By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/26/2008 4:31:29 PM
If you already read our Sweet 16 Day
One preview, then you are ready for Day
Two! Day 2 games will be played on
Friday. Be sure to check our March
Madness TV Listings for airtimes. All
times pacific, unless otherwise indicated!
Davidson vs Wisconsin
Wisconsin, just like Washington State,
are teams that have a more performance
narrow band. They usually beat the teams
they are supposed to beat, and lose to the
teams they are supposed to. This is good
news for Badger fans, unless of course
Davidson is indeed playing like an Elite 8
team :)
I would prefer to see the Cinderella story
continue, Davidson and Stephen Curry to
make some noise and get to the Elite 8, and
Bob McKillop to finally get the mass-
market respect he deserves.
But I'm afraid that Wisconsin is not
going to be "surprised" by the Wildcats the
same way the Zags and the Hoyas were.
Bo Ryan has the depth and the talent to
win this game, one way or the other.
Stanford vs Texas
Oh boy, this is a tough one to get a read
on. Texas, like Xavier, are crazy teams.
They can beat anyone, and they can lose to
anyone. The Stanford guards are really
going to have their hands full with DJ
Augustin and AJ Abrams, and there's only
one Greg Washington on the roster.
The good news for Stanford fans is that
they were already able to beat a guard-
loaded team in Marquette, and that was
with the drama of Trent Johnson getting
prematurely ejected from the game.
But unlike the Marquette guards, the
Texas guards can shoot from Austin and
make the bucket in Houston. And that's
where the game is going to be played.
Home co(ur)t advantage goes to Texas for
sure.
Texas has enough big bodies to bother
the Lopez twins on offense and defense,
and the struggling Lawrence Hill is going
to be tested going up against former Kelvin
Sampson signee (the list is getting longer
and longar) Damion James.
On the other hand, the Lopez twins are
going to clog up the paint on defense, and
create havoc in the paint on offense.
Can Stanford limit the three-point makes
of Texas? Can they stop the wild runs and
fast-breaks? If yes, they have a chance to
win the game. Our prediction? Texas wins
in a dramatic game.
Michigan State vs Memphis State
Well, well, well, the pundits are picking
Izzo State, just like they were picking Pitt
to steamroll Izzo State. We didn't, we saw
that Izzo would be able to short-circuit the
Panthers, and all the pundits (Bob Knight
included) were blinded by the fact that
MSG is Pitt's second home court as half of
their roster is from the NYC/NJ area. We
predicted Michigan State would beat Pitt.
And using the same reasoning, we see
that Izzo State is really overmatched in just
about every position, and unless Memphis
has a total collapse on the free throw and
the three point line, Memphis will get an
easy win over Michigan State.
The development of Kalin Lucas was
slowed down because coaches are "loyal"
to their older players, in this case, Lucas is
the one who should be running the show,
not Neitzer and not Walton. But that's
another story. Calipari has a lot of options
to try to slow down Kalin Lucas, from tiny
Andre Allen, to tall Antonio Anderson,
along with Willie Kemp and Derrick Rose.
Neitzel is an easy cover for most of the
Memphis perimeter players.
Raymar Morgan could create some
problems but Calipari has options, from
Dozier to Anderson to handle him.
Michigan State's size inside is not a threat
since none of those guys are likely to beat
a team or force double-teams. Heck, we
may even see Pierre Niles or Hashim
Bailey if Izzo goes big and tall ;-)
Villanova vs Kansas
Can you smell it? Can you smell it? We
can smell it! No, it's not last week's dinner,
it's the upset in the making! It's all about
the guards, and Nova has a boatload of
them. Guards and three pointers! That will
be the undoing of Kansas, and a very
disappointing loss for the Bill Self
Jayhawks.
They showed this year against UNLV
that they can grind better than last year
(see Southern Illinois and Kansas NCAA
tourney games), but as we saw in the
Arizona game, talented guards can give
them headaches. And Nova has plenty!
Now how can Villanova make up for the
difference in talent inside the paint? With
Casseim Drummond out for the season, the
"shorties" will have to deal with "Shady",
"Chaka Khan", and "Not Elton Brand
Jackson", along with "Paul Bunyan". If the
Nova Shorties can do enough to minimize
the impact of the three big bigs, and
contain Shady, and the guards, then we
have an upset special!
Does this defy logic? Yes it does! But
then again, this is the NCAA tournament.
And let's not forget, how many of the NBA
playoff results would have been the same
if the NBA Playoffs were single
elimination games? Even some of the best
NBA teams of all time had their bad games
and even got blown out on occasion. And
with the NBA we are talking about
seasoned professionals, not college kids.
Obviously Kansas would win a best of
seven series, but in a single game setting, if
the Nova guards are on fire, and the
pressure weighs on Kansas, and the
memories of the two first round exits and
Elite 8 appearances cloud their minds, it
will be upset city!.
8am: NCAA repeats: UCLA vs Texas
A&M, Memphis vs Mississippi State,
Davidson vs Georgetown, CSTV
10am: College Gameday, ESPN
2pm: March Madness Central (2 hours),
CSTV
4pm: March Madness Central (5.5
hours), CSTV
4pm: NCAA Tourney, Sweet 16 Day 2,
CBS National sked.
4pm: Stanford vs Texas, or, Davidson vs
Wisconsin
(around 630pm: Villanova vs Kansas, or,
Memphis vs Michigan State
10pm: College Gameday, ESPN
1130pm: NCAA repeat: Davidson vs
Georgetown, CSTV
Sat March 29, 2008
*** all times pacific ***
*** Elite 8, Day 1, CBS (two games) ***
1130am: March Madness Central (30
minutes), CSTV
1130am: Division 2 final, CBS
2pm: Road to the Final Four (90
minutes), CBS
330pm: NCAA Tourney Elite 8 Game
#1: TBD, CBS
around 6pm: NCAA Tourney Elite 8
Rob Thomas gets yet another pilot
pickup
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 7:03:00 AM
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals Is that
a throne Rob Thomas is sitting on? Seems
like he's quickly becoming King of TV!
The prolific scribe is quite literally sitting
in the catbird seat. ABC has just greenlit
another Rob Thomas pilot, that's his third -
- but who's counting? It follows ABC's
resurrection of Cupid and a Beverly Hills,
90210 spinoff for the CW. The latest Rob
Thomas opus is an import based on the
New Zealand TV series Outrageous
Fortune.
Outrageous Fortune is a one-hour
dramedy is about a family of criminals.
When the father is jailed for four years, the
matriarch declares that it's time for the
family to go straight. Thomas has written
the pilot and will act as executive
430pm: March Madness Central (3.5
hours), CSTV
9pm: College Gameday, ESPN
Sun March 30, 2008
*** all times pacific ***
*** Elite 8, Day 2, CBS (two games) ***
10am: License to Thrive, Title 9 at 35,
ESPN2
11am: March Madness Central (5 hours),
CSTV
11am: NCAA Tourney Elite 8 Game #1
around 130pm: NCAA Tourney Elite 8
Game #2
930pm: College Gameday, ESPN
Mon March 31, 2008
8am: NCAA repeats: Davidson vs
Georgetown, and more, CSTV
Tue April 1, 2008
4pm: NIT semifinal #1, ESPN2
630pm: NIT Semifinal #2, ESPN2
Thur April 3, 2008
4pm: NIT final, ESPN
6pm, repeats at midnight: College
Basketball Skillz (2 hours), ESPN
More coming later on
*** all times in this post are PACIFIC,
unless otherwise indicated ***
producer, along with John Barnett,
Michael Larkin, Michael Goldstein, Bruce
Cervi and John Lansing.
Continue reading Rob Thomas gets yet
another pilot pickup
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
NCAA Tourney Second Round
predictions, day two
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/23/2008 7:58:27 AM
We went 6-2 in yesterday's second round
predictions. We did predict Bob Thuggins
and his Threepointers beating the Whining
Express of Coach Ratface K, and that
Washington State would short-circuit the
Fighting Irish, and that Izzo State would
beat up the Pitt Panthers. We pointed out
that Pitt's marvelous performances at MSG
happen for a reason, half of their team
comes from the New York area, so MSG
games are home-coming games for those
players. The only two we got wrong? The
wild prediction that UNLV would beat
Kansas and Beasley and Billy "Get me a
towel" Walker would out-talent the
Wisconsin Badgers.
It is worthy to point out that we believe
that both Wisconsin and Washington State
are "ceiling" teams, they can consistently
beat the teams they are supposed to, but
they cannot beat teams that are better than
them. That's why Washington State can
beat teams like Notre Dame, and the
middle of the Pac-10, but was 0 for ever
against UCLA and Stanford.
Anyways, now let's move on to day two
of the second round. Action tips off with
Villanova short-circuiting Siena. The
Cinderella run ends for Siena. Remember,
this is the team that beat Stanford early in
the season when the feisty Trent Johnson
scheduled a home-coming game for Taj
Gibson. But you can get Jay Wright won't
sleep on them, he was the Hofstra coach
Ben Braun officially fired by California Berkeley
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/26/2008 5:01:59 PM
As we predicted a few days ago, Cal-
Berkeley head basketball coach Ben Braun
was fired after 12 (not 15) seasons as the
Chief Bear. Story at Sports Illustrated.
More on this story at regional website
SfGate.com. And also at the university
newspaper, the Daily Californian.
So our first of two predictions came true.
Which one was our second prediction?
after all, so he is familiar with the east
coast mid-majoralia.
Run and gun? Whatever it is, Texas will
beat Miami handily. This is easy to predict.
The other three games in the same time
slot are not. And CBS is going to go crazy
with quick live look-ins.
In the super-battle of the double-digit
cinderellas, Western Kentucky will squeak
by San Diego, and first-year former
GoneZaga coach will taste what GoneZaga
has been tasting the last few years, bitter
tears of defeat. Speaking of the surprise
mid-majors, be sure to check the post at
Casey's Clipboard on them and Siena.
The end of the rainbow does not contain
Sweet 16 gold for the Figthing McKillops,
who just shuttered their NCAA Glass
Ceiling by finally winning their first
McKillop NCAA tourney game. This
could mean that they lose their coach to a
bigger job though. Oregon maybe hiring
and the international man of mystery could
be a good-will ambassador for Nike ;-) We
predict that Georgetown will grind
Davidson to the ground, and get a Hoyas-
style but convincing win.
The hardest game to predict? Butler and
Tennessee. The Wild Pearls have not been
convincing and given their recent results in
the NCAA tourney in the Bruce Pearl era
(perhaps the shadow of the giant
...Summitt looming on them men's
program?), and last season's pre-season
NIT game, we are prepared to declare that
Butler will beat Tennessee! Oh my! This
regional is starting to sniff like the 2007
Randy Bennett riding his second wave of
NCAA Tournament selection success a
few miles down the road to take over Cal-
Berkeley.
One of the pluses of Randy Bennett is
that he looks a bit like Herb Sendek, and if
Sendek was able to reboot ASU in just two
years...
Ironically this is the second coach Herb
Sendek unintentionally managed to get
fired. If it wasn't for Sendek's success in
Year Two at ASU, the other coaches (Jay
preseason NIT with Butler, North Carolina
and Tennessee. But let's not crown them
just yet :)
The last three games, shown all together
on one TV set, will feature Memphis
winning comfortably over Mississippi
State, North Carolina getting an early scare
from the energetic Arkansas Razorbacks
before making a run around the 8 minute
mark of the second half, and getting a
relatively un-close close win. So onto the
Sweet 16 for UNC! And the last game? We
predict overtime for the Oklahoma vs
Louisville game, with lots of battles in the
paint, and Terence Farley being a factor,
but ultimately Rick Pitino wins in
overtime.
To check what's on the old-school
YouTube, be sure to check our March
Madness TV listings.
By the way, kudos to CBS for switching
to the very close Purdue vs Xavier game
during the TV timeouts of the Marquette
vs Stanford game, instead of running the
usual commercials. Because they work for
viewers like you ;-)
If you missed any games, or you want to
rewatch them, or if your team lost and you
want to relive some great wins from the
past, the whole NCAA library (allegedly)
has been posted at NCAA.com. You can
also watch NCAA tourney games there
outside your region. Or something like that
:)
John, Ben Braun) could have gotten more
out of the usual excuses (tough conference,
not easy to do it, east coast bias, etc). But
if Sendek turned ASU into a promising and
rising program, what exactly has Ben
Braun being doing in Berkeley?
But in our opinion the firing offense was
poor recruiting decisions. How can you
have a team loaded with big men, and yet
fail to get enough guards around them?
And why was Jordan Wilkes not even
given a chance to play through the season
2008 McDonalds All-
American All-Star game
tonight on ESPN!
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:22:04 PM
Yes, the 2007-2008 season is not over
yet, but you can already start planning for
the 2008-2009 with the McDonalds All-
Star Game, previewed at our sister blog,
Recruiting Wars.
Another controversial group of two
dozens players was selected for this game,
and with the NBA Draft out of the
question, we only have a couple of
uncommitted players, the most notable
being Tyreke Evans who seems to be
enjoying the spotlight and the attention this
generates.
The Grassroots Ballin blog states that
Tyreke Evans will announce his decision
on April 16, 2008. He is down to four
schools, check Grassroots Ballin to find
out which four!
The game tips off at 630pm
pacific(930pm eastern) on ESPN and
ESPN-HD. But there is an NBA game
when the team was struggling? And the
"Omar Wilkes bolted out a year earlier"
excuse does not hold water. Wilkes was a
wing. The team badly needed a point
guard. Both Knezevic and mini-me Randle
are backup guards at best. Christopher is a
nice Pac-10 caliber player but he is more
of a wing-guard.
Sports* 23
before that, so if the NBA game runs late,
it may eat up some of the ...McDonalds ;-)
But that's not the only all-star game of
the season! The Jordan Brand Classic, is
taking place on April 19 at the storied
MSG. This time it will be shown live on
ESPN2, no longer hidden in the secret
world of ESPNU, a channel no one is able
to watch because ESPN and Comcast are
too stubborn to reach a reasonable
compromise.
Preaching aside, there's also the Nike
Hoop Summit, this time moving to
Portland, Oregon, after being "glued" to
the Calipari-FedEx arena in Memphis, TN.
This one will be shown on FSN and Fox
College Sports, tipping at 1pm pacifc on
April 12, 2008.
And in case you were wondering why we
haven't mentioned the Roundball classic, it
looks like it has been cancelled or frozen.
It looks like there won't be a 44th
Roundball Classic this year :-(
March Madness
Second Round
predictions
By ncaahoops
Submitted at 3/22/2008 9:17:37 AM
Our day 2 predictions were not as good as
day one, we went 9-7 thanks to all the
crazy upsets that took place making it true
March Madness. Our running score is 22-
10. Our record is ...on the bubble ;-)
So what will happen in the eight second
round games today? Here we go...
Bob Thuggins and his Threepointeers
will beat the Dookies! Go Thuggins! Go
West Virginia! Go WVa! Go Go Go! This
will be the only game shown in the
timeslot, so the world can enjoy a Duke
Loss :-) More on the TV schedule at our on
MARCH page 24
24 TV *
MARCH
continued from page 23
-going March Madness TV schedule post.
The second wave of games will have
Billy Walker and B-Easy beating the
"ceiling" Wisconsin Badgers, the X-men
beating Purdue in an entertaining game.
Then Washington State will short-circuit
Notre Dame and win easily.
Stanford and Marquette, hard to predict,
but ultimately the Lopez Twins beat the
Marquette guards. And *gasp* UNLV and
the Fighting Lon Krugers will beat Kansas!
That's right, Bill Self will find himself on
the wrong end of another March surprise.
You heard it here first ;-)
The last two games will be entertaining
What's On Tonight: Great Performances, Men In
Trees, Top Chef
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:02:00 AM
Filed under: Programming, Upfronts
• At 8, ABC has a new
Wife Swap
. Men In Trees
• FOX has a new
Moment of Truth
at 8, followed by a new
American Idol
. • TBS has two new episodes of
• CBS has a new
Big Brother
at 8.
• There's a new
Great Performances
on PBS at 8, then a new
Great Performances at the Met
. Ghost Hunters
• The CW has a new
America's Next Top Model
. .
• At 9, HGTV has a new
as Texas A&M gives UCLA more than
they can handle, but ultimately Ben
Howland with the help of Kevin Love and
the Zebras will beat Texas A&M.
Everyone is jumping on the Pitt
bandwagon, but one man is not! And that's
the one who is going to derail the Pitt
Train. His name? Tom Izzo. That's right,
Izzo will outgrind the Panthers, and squeak
by in a double-overtime instant classic.
And in case it wasn't clear: Michigan State
will beat Pittsburgh in an instant classic!
Deserving Design
, followed by a new
Design on a Dime
. Lewis Black's Root of All Evil
• Sci-Fi has a new
at 9, then a new
Destination Truth
• At 9:30, HBO has a new
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Talk Talk: Brian Williams, John
Krasinski, Pamela Anderson
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:05:00 AM
Filed under: Late Night, TV Royalty,
Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show
Here's who's on the late night shows
tonight.
• Charlie Rose:
Governor Ed Rendell and chef Thomas
Keller
• The Daily Show:
Brian Fagan (repeat)
• The Colbert Report:
Howard Kurtz and Ethan Nadelmann
(repeat)
• The Late Show with David Letterman:
and Senator Chuck Hagel
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien:
Brian Williams, Judy Greer, and
Langhorne Slim
• Jay Leno:
The Rock, Ed Helms, and Bjork (repeat)
• The Late, Late Show with Craig
Ferguson:
In Treatment John Krasinski, Joe Torre, and Jose Pamela Anderson
. Gonzalez , Christian Siriano, and Judith Smith-
• At 9:45, TCM has the 1932 version of • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Levin
The Most Dangerous Game John Cusack,
• Last Call with Carson Daly:
. The Jonas Brothers Zachary Levi and hellogoodbye (repeat)
• At 10, ABC has a new , and Sofia Vergara Permalink| Email this| | Comments
• Tavis Smiley:
. David Schwimmer
• Bravo has a new
Top Chef
at 10.
Taylor Perry's House of Payne
at 10.
• Also at 10: Comedy Central has a new
South Park
, then a new
.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Permalink| Email this| | Comments

Chuck Lorre's censored vanity card

By Anna Johns (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 8:01:00 AM
Filed under: Industry, Watercooler Talk
At the end of each episode of The Big
Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men,
producer/creator Chuck Lorre has a "vanity
card" that says something different each
week. I usually pause my TiVo to read
what it says, not realizing that he posts
each and every one of them on his website.
This week's vanity card for The Big
Bang Theory is pretty juicy. So juicy, in
fact, that CBS wouldn't let him air it. The
original card explained how CBS censored
a joke at the climax of the show where
Cousin Leo blames his fake drug addiction
on a molester named Chaplain Horrigan.
Lorre writes, "In the original shooting
script the make-believe molester was
called Father Horrigan." But, he says, CBS
didn't want to offend Catholic viewers by
suggesting that priests are known for
molesting little boys. Lorre's complaint is
prolific and quite funny, you can read the
entire vanity card here. I have also placed a
graphic of the card after the jump, just in
case it gets taken down from his website
(though, I doubt that will happen).
Continue reading Chuck Lorre's censored
vanity card
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Former and current Idol public
appearances
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 7:24:00 AM
Filed under: American Idol, Contestants,
Alumni, News and Gossip Hey all you Idol
maniacs. Want to know where your
favorite Idol contestants past and present
will be making appearances? Of course
you do. You've already got the RV packed,
notes to the kids' schools written
explaining their prolonged absences and a
case of Funyuns jammed underneath the
passenger seat. You're a member of the
Soul Patrol, a Clayniac and are still
suffering from McPheever. Oh you've got
it bad.
But MJ's Big Blog has what you need.
No more aimless driving around America
shouting "Can anyone tell me where Gina
Glocksen is performing tonight?" or "Has
anyone seen Jessica Sierra, she still owes
me bail money?" Now you can go to one
place and plan your journey like the
Deadheads before you. Now you can
Nielsen cable ratings for the week
ending March 23
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 9:25:00 AM
Filed under: Industry, Programming,
Ratings
Here are the weekly cable ratings, by
number of viewers.
I just realized that I don't watch any of
the shows in this week's top ten cable
ratings. I mean, yeah, I've seen episodes of
Law and Order: SVU and SpongeBob
SquarePants in the past but they aren't
shows I watch regularly. As for Monday
Night RAW, Hannah Montana, iCarly, and
Ella Enchanted...well, they're not really
made for me I guess.
I think the last time something was in the
top ten here that I watch regularly was
Burn Notice.
South Park: Major Boobage
By Brad Trechak (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 4:38:00 PM
Filed under: South Park, Episode
follow Ace Young as he travels around
various Borders signing Chicken Soup for
the American Idol Soul, and you can catch
Diana DeGarmo at the Braves opener. Oh,
and if you're in Atlanta at Kroger tonight,
look up Melinda Doolittle, buy some ice
cream and tell her I said "Hi."
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
1. Monday Night RAW(USA)
2. Monday Night RAW(USA)
Continue reading Nielsen cable ratings
for the week ending March 23
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Reviews(S12E03) To begin, for those
unaware, South Park Studios has started to
offer full episodes of the show on their
official site with limited commercial
TV * Movies 25
American Idol: Top 9 Revealed
By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 1:45:00 PM
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps,
Contestants, Alumni, Performances,
Episode Reviews(S07E25) Hey, let's just
keep this chat love going and going and
going. And I promise the link is there now.
Go ahead, click it. If you haven't joined in
on one yet, you should check it out. We're
getting some lively and opinionated
discussions going. What's better than real-
The Write Stuff: Interview
time commentary from fans just like you? with 'Run Fatboy Run'
Tonight's live chat will start shortly before link. Look for the full episode review right Screenwriter Michael Ian
the 9pm ET elimination show. Watch the here later tonight.
results and see what bizarre wardrobe Continue reading American Idol: Top 9 Black
choice Paula goes with tonight. Talk about Revealed
Clay Aiken's BFF Kimberly Locke coming Permalink| Email this| | Comments By Patrick Walsh (Cinematical)
back to the Idol stage. And see if America Submitted at 3/26/2008 2:02:00 PM
got it right ... or if Kristy Lee is still alive.
You can join the chat by following this
America's Next Top Model: House of Pain
By JJ Hawkins (TV Squad) everything, she just hadn't done very much
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:44:00 PM
to stand out this season aside from profess
her anxiety of being naked around other
Filed under: OpEd, America's Next Top women. I'm not ashamed to admit I find
Model, Episode Reviews
(S10E06) To be perfectly honest, I
that to be a turn-off.
%Gallery-16564%
haven't paid a whole lot of attention to
Aimee this season.
Continue reading America's Next Top
Model: House of Pain
I mean look at her in the capture above. your attention as she does. Permalink| Email this| | Comments
She's pretty nondescript to say the least
The waterfall or the buildings behind her
have just as good a chance at capturing and while she's a pretty girl and
Big Brother 9: Eviction #6 and HOH #7
By Jackie Schnoop (TV Squad) necessarily agree or like everything which
Submitted at 3/26/2008 4:59:00 PM
was said or happened. But I tell you ...
tonight was legendary. Yes, really, it was.
Filed under: Big Brother (US), Episode Read on past the jump for the full
Reviews skinny!
(S09E22) Okay, the motto for Big Continue reading Big Brother 9: Eviction
Brother 9 is to expect the unexpected. #6 and HOH #7
Tonight was a good example of why I this season and the current houseguests, Permalink| Email this| | Comments
enjoy the reality television genre. You tonight's episode will go down in the
never know what's going to be said or what classics of the Big Brother annals. I don't
will happen. Although I've groused about
interruption. I originally reported this in with some fantastic animation. When you Continue reading South Park: Major
November. watch the crudity of the animation in Boobage
I'll say this: when the South Park team standard episodes, it's easy to forget that Permalink| Email this| | Comments
put their minds to it, they can come up they're pretty damn talented at their craft.
26 Movies
WRITE
continued from page 25
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, New
Releases, Scripts, New in Theaters,
Interviews, Columns, The Write Stuff
Today we speak with
comedian/actor/writer/director Michael Ian
Black. Black's hilarious credits include
MTV's The State, Comedy Central's Stella,
and the cult classic Wet Hot American
Summer. He's probably best known to the
general public as being the standout
quipper on VH1's "I Love the (Insert
Decade Here)" specials. Black's latest
project is Run Fatboy Run. He wrote the
original screenplay for the film, which was
directed by David Schwimmer and stars
Simon Pegg, Hank Azaria, and Thandie
Newton.
Cinematical: Would you tell our readers
a bit about Run Fatboy Run?
Michael Ian Black: Sure. It's a lovely and
funny romantic comedy about a guy who
has never finished anything in his life who
decides to run a marathon.
The 'Fanboys' Situation Gets Real Nasty
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, RumorMonger,
Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom
I shouldn't need to go through this whole
thing again, so if you have no idea what's
currently going on with the film Fanboys,
read this, this and this-- and then come
back. A little while ago I received the
craziest email from a good pal, and that
email contained three other email
exchanges between director Steve Brill(aka
the dude who took over for Kyle Newman
Cinematical: What inspired you to write
the film?
MIB: I wanted to write something a little
more mainstream than what I am normally
known for. I had just written two
screenplays that were more left of center
and I wanted to challenge myself to try to
write something that I thought would be a
little more accessible.
Cinematical: Are you a marathon man?
Why do people do this to themselves?
MIB: I've never run further than a couple
miles. I have no idea why somebody would
subject themselves to the agony of running
for twenty-six miles. Particularly if they've
got a car.
Continue reading The Write Stuff:
Interview with 'Run Fatboy Run'
Screenwriter Michael Ian Black Permalink|
Email this| Comments
during reshoots) and fans of the original
cut of Fanboys. A couple of notes before I
post these emails:
• No matter how cruddy the director is, I
do not support attacking the man's cut
when you haven't even seen it yet. I've
made that clear before, and I'll say it again
now. However, his other films are
definitely fair game.
• I've confirmed with a source "in the
know" that this is indeed Steve Brill
behind these emails; that, originally, he
confessed to them, but then tried to say
someone hacked his email account when
Box Office: 21 Fatboys and
a Superhero
By Matt Bradshaw (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 11:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Thrillers, Box
Office, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Box
Office Predictions, War The Seuss-
abration continued as Horton Hears a Who
held onto number one for the second
consecutive week. Tyler Perry's Meet the
Browns took second, but held the highest
per screen average of the top five films
($10,011). The caveman spectacle 10,000
B.C. took fifth, clinging to the top five for
the third week in a row. Here are the totals:
1. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who:$24.5
million
2. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns:$20
million
3. Shutter:$10.4 million
4. Drillbit Taylor:$10.3 million
5. 10,000 B.C.:$8.9 million
Four new flicks going into wide release,
with the movies being divided equally
between comedy and drama.
21
What's It All About: A young man in
dire need of money to pay for his
education at M.I.T. takes part in a well-
organized card counting ring with a fool-
proof method for winning at blackjack.
Based on a true story.
Why It Might Do Well: The combined
he realized how much of a complete idiot
he came off as. But note that I have not
talked to Brill myself (though I'm totally
cool factor of having Kevin Spacey and
Laurence Fishburne in the same movie
may make some people curious.
Why It Might Not Do Well:
Rottentomatoes.com is giving this one a
lackluster 54%, and personally watching
people play cards bores me to tears.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction:$17 million
Continue reading Box Office: 21 Fatboys
and a Superhero Permalink| Email this|
Comments
willing to do so, Steve, so email me), so
I'm not 100% certain this was him. More
like 96.5%.
• Also, I've tried to clean up the foul
language as best I can, but do keep in mind
that these email exchanges aren't exactly
safe for work.
That said, head after the jump to read
these hysterical exchanges ...
Continue reading The 'Fanboys' Situation
Gets Real Nasty Permalink| Email this|
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
From the Editor's
Desk: Say Hello to
My Little Friend
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 12:02:00 PM
Filed under: Site Announcements, From
the Editor's Desk
I've been on hold for the Macy's Fraud
Department for an hour and a half.
Seriously. An hour and a half! How do you
make someone wait THAT long on hold?
Haven't we fixed these issues yet? What,
does Macy's have, like, one person who
works for them? Ugh.
Anyway, I suck at introductions, so I'll
just come right out with it: Two new
writers have joined our staff here at
Cinematical recently; both of whom chose
to be beat-in instead of sexed-in, thank
God. They are Elisabeth Rappe and
Eugene Novikov. They are two very cool
people with different tastes and different
opinions, and so we welcome them to our
team and ask you nutty readers to take it
easy on them as they slowly transition into
our rowdy circle of elitist film snobs.
Also, in case you have not noticed, we've
added a little Featured Stories thingy on
the right side below that Cinematical
Seven banner. See it? There's three of them
up now, and those will change every day.
They will predominantly feature the day's
hottest stories, as well as posts with
healthy ongoing debates. There will be lots
more changes in the coming weeks, so stay
tuned. And, as always, definitely let us
know what you'd like to see here on the
site in the comments section below.
p.s. I'm still on hold. Make that two
hours. ARGH! Permalink| Email this|
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Gabrielle Union Joins
'Cadillac Records'
By Jessica Barnes (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 12:32:00 PM
Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals,
Casting, Sony Girlfriends and wives
usually get the short shrift in music
biopics. In most cases, they end up as
background (with maybe the exception
being Walk the Line). Hopefully, this will
not be the case for Gabrielle Union's latest
role. BlackFilm reports that Union has
signed to star in Darnell Martin's music
biopic Cadillac Records as Geneva Wade.
Wade was blues legend Muddy Waters'
long-time girlfriend and was the
inspiration for the classic song, Little
Geneva.
Cadillac is the story of Chess Records,
founded by Leonard Chess. The famed
label was responsible for launching the
careers of some of the greatest names in
R&B. Casting has been the order of the
day since news first hit that Adrien Brody
would be playing Chess. Since then, it's
been a flood of news, with the debate over
Beyonce being cast as jazz legend Etta
James at the top of the list. It should
probably not come as a shock that other
casting news has garnered fewer headlines.
So just to bring you up to speed: Jeffrey
A Glimpse of Muscle on the Set of 'Fast and Furious 4'
By Jessica Barnes (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 1:32:00 PM
Filed under: Action, Universal, Fandom,
Remakes and Sequels, Images OK, I'll
admit it: I have watched all of the Fast and
the Furious movies. IThough I know next
to nothing about cars, that never really
mattered to me. I mean, who doesn't like
watching shiny things driving at the speed
of light? Car Domain is now posting
images of some of the cars from the set of
Fast and Furious 4(although Car Domain's
Wright signed to play the great Muddy
Waters, Cedric the Entertainer will appear
as Willie Dixon, Eamonn Walker as
Howlin' Wolf, and Columbus Short as
Little Walter. There is also my favorite
piece of casting -- Mos Def as Chuck
Berry. Because, frankly, Def is just
'eccentric' enough to pull it off.
Continue reading Gabrielle Union Joins
'Cadillac Records' Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
scooper says most of them are background
for a nightclub scene). We've already seen
stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker hard at
work, so it's about time we got to see some
of the real stars of these films -- the cars
(you can see the full set and some bonus
camera phone footage over at Car
Domain).
The fourth film in the series reunites the
original cast (Diesel, Walker, Jordana
Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez) along
with some new faces, including Ms. Israel,
Gal Gadot. Chris Morgan ( Wanted) wrote
Russia Gets Some 3D
Shakespeare
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 1:02:00 PM
Filed under: Animation, Foreign
Language, Deals, Family Films Remember
when 3D was considered tacky? It doesn't
seem so long ago that I would mention old,
wacky 3D films in conversation and get
strange looks from people. "Why would
you want to wear those annoying glasses?"
It seemed like a quickly-faded fad, but not
anymore. It looks like 3D is here to stay,
and it isn't just influencing North
American film. Variety reports that after
the current rise in popularity of animated
features, Central Partnership, an
independent Russian production company,
is getting into the game with a pricey stake
in an upcoming 3D cartoon based on
William Shakespeare's ultra-classic
romance, Romeo and Juliet.
Peregrine is the working title for the
film, which focuses on Mitya, a peregrine
falcon who is adopted at birth by a family
of pigeons. I imagine Mitya will fall for
another bird species and thus tap into all
that Romeo and Juliet goodness with
warring families and ruffled feathers -- the
film is set to include Moscow pigeons,
the script and Justin Lin is back behind the
camera (he also directed the third
installment, Tokyo Drift). The story
sparrows, and falcons. Konstantin
Khabensky, who will soon appear in the
Angelina Jolie film Wanted as The
Exterminator, will voice Mitya, while
Renata Litvinova( The Tulse Luper
Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish)
will voice a pigeon named Galya. The film
is set to fly into theaters later this year or
early 2009.
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
centers on Walker and Diesel who are out
to stop a heroin importer known as Braga.
Of course, the only way to do that is to join
his underground racing team (I know, it
doesn't make that much sense, but what
can you do?).
Continue reading A Glimpse of Muscle
on the Set of 'Fast and Furious 4' Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Movies 27
Fan Rant: When
Movie Fandom
Gets Crafty
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 3:02:00 PM
Filed under: Fandom
Fandom. It makes people do crazy
things. People worship; people cherish;
and people band together to fight. These
days, we have heard all about that Fanboys
debacle, which rages on while the film sits,
tapping its impatient fingers. But that's
only one aspect of fandom. There's also
those love-filled homemade fan creations.
But this post is really all due to the
picture above. Now, I've seen many funky
fan crafts over the years, but this one I just
loved. David Lynch isn't the sort of man
who gets a ton of fan recreations, and
honestly, aside from my still-unfinished oil
painting of Jack Nance, this is the first one
I've seen. It's simple, yet oh so bloody
cool.
I have to admit it: I have an addiction to
creating and appreciating funky things --
whether they be large, wine cork platters, a
chess-themed birthday cake, or making a
pair of underwear with Christopher
Walken's face on the front. (Yes, I have a
pair of Walken underthings. No, I will not
share a picture.) I've always liked making
things because, well, it's fun to do. But it
also allows you to be original. Instead of
paying someone to show your inner fan or
inner taste, you can make something
unique and filled with your own time and
appreciation.
Continue reading Fan Rant: When Movie
Fandom Gets Crafty Permalink| Email this|
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28 Movies
The Return of Jodie Foster's
'Flora Plum!?'
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 11:32:00 AM
Filed under: Drama, RumorMonger One
of the films I've been itching to see, which
can't even seem to get itself in front of the
camera, is Jodie Foster's Flora Plum. For at
least the last ten years, there has been buzz
about this film, which was originally going
to star Claire Danes, out of My So-Called
Life and into Yale, and Russell Crowe. But
just like bad luck has loomed in Terry
Gilliam's world of filmmaking, Foster just
can't seem to get it made.
Crowe injured himself and production
stopped. He never returned to the project
and later in 2002, there was word that
Ewan McGregor was taking over. Again, it
stopped. Yet Foster is still determined to
get the film made. She talked with MTV,
and is still very invested in getting it made.
However, she's being wary about how
much she says, for fear that she'll jinx
herself. "My new superstition is to never
mention it, because every time I do, my
film falls apart." From there, she talks
about finally jumping behind the camera
again, over a decade since her last
directorial effort, Home for the Holidays.
Continue reading The Return of Jodie
Foster's 'Flora Plum!?' Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Get Ready for More Iraq on the
Big Screen
By Monika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
Submitted at 3/26/2008 10:32:00 AM
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Scripts, War
Earlier today, we got a discussion post
from Gene Novikov about Hollywood's
obsession with Iraq war movies. They're
coming out by the droves, yet they've been
a crapshoot at the box office. But lo and
behold, there's a bunch more on the way.
Variety reports that there are three more
deals in the works for films on the war.
Phoenix Pictures is looking to develop a
movie based on The Long Road Home-- a
book by ABC New's chief White House
correspondent Martha Raddatz that should
appease some complaints about the liberal wants to "get it right and make sure that
enough time has elapsed so that people
slant in Iraq war movies. The book is about
an Army platoon that was ambushed by will be receptive." I'm not so sure he's got
the time angle down pat.
insurgents in 2004 while patrolling Sadr
City in Baghdad. Eight soldiers were killed Continue reading Get Ready for More
Iraq on the Big Screen Read| Permalink|
and more than 70 others were injured in
the attack. Phoenix exec says this is a great Email this| Comments
story that should make you cry, and he