Reuters - Apps a nail in coffin of broadcast mobile TV

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Apps a nail in coffin of broadcast mobile TV

Thursday, Jul 09, 2009 12:15AM UTC

By Tarmo Virki

HELSINKI (Reuters) - For years it was the talk of the wireless industry: beaming television to the world's four billion cellphones would be the icon of the digital age. Now, just three letters are hastening the demise of that vision.

App. Short for "application," the programs people download from online stores to run on their portable phones have enabled consumers to choose for themselves which moving pictures to take in when they are on the go.

As Facebook and Twitter disrupt business models for mainstream media -- and on the platform that's a lifestyle statement for young adults -- the one-size-fits-all approach of broadcast mobile TV got stuck before it even properly took off.

"It is a financial disaster," said John Strand, a consultant who has followed the mobile industry closely for more than 12 years. "It's a nice product, but the customers won't pay for it."

One way to see why not is to watch young Brazilian footballers knocking a soccer ball around in the Helsinki Cup. A youth tournament currently playing in the Finnish capital, it's hardly a world event in the conventional sense.

But the video clips they are uploading from their phones will run on their parents' mobiles or PCs back home.

"It's even easier than with still images, and a much nicer and expressive way to tell them the news from over here," said David da Silva, spokesman for the team from Brazil.

The service they are using comes from a Web site which offers users the chance to send video from cellphones to their own TV channels on the Web. A small venture, it is one of thousands of offerings from the likes of Apple, Nokia, RIM and many others letting users drive their mobile entertainment.

BBC World and Al Jazeera English have recently launched apps for consumers to watch real-time news on their iPhones, through a London-based company, Livestation.

"This is mobile TV 2.0 -- completely reinvented and redesigned, and I think it's going to overtake the old models very very rapidly," said Matteo Berlucchi, CEO of Livestation.

Perhaps the best illustration of the fast-shifting outlook is the history of forecasts for the market. Strategy Analytics now expects the mobile TV broadcasting market to total $280 million next year. Only three years ago the firm forecast the market to reach $5.4 billion in 2010.

"We've downgraded our forecast a fair bit to reflect the slower-than-anticipated rollout of services and limited momentum from carriers and broadcasters," said Strategy Analytics analyst Nitesh Patel.

"Application and widget stores and mobile internet access have taken priority over mobile broadcast."

SATISFACTION

It's an important distinction, says Andrew Bud, Chairman of the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), a London-based trade association for the mobile media industry. He talks about mobile TV -- which is broadcast -- as opposed to mobile video, which you load onto your device.

"Mobile TV is all about real-time, linear transmission ... where the timing of the programing was set by the broadcaster and the consumer would dip in and dip out," he said.

"Mobile video is much more about video-on-demand. It gives the consumer much more freedom. It's also a little less stressful on the mobile networks."

A survey by KPMG and the MEF found that nearly 40 percent of consumers had at one time watched a piece of mobile video on their handset: 52 percent of them said the experience was satisfying, against 38 percent of a much smaller number of users who said they had tried broadcast mobile TV.

The biggest problem for mobile TV is that it emerged in 2004-2006, just when the media industry started to change.

Cellphone makers and mobile operators have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the infrastructure. Phones and networks are in place in many countries, and watching it is very popular in countries such as South Korea where the service is aired for free.

But even there the wide take-up has not created a flourishing business, and in the United States it has been a hard slog. Telecoms group Crown Castle International closed down its effort to launch a broadcast mobile TV network in 2007.

Technological strain has been a factor restricting the growth of broadcast television on mobiles, enabling swift-moving plug-ins to fill the gap.

"A lot of the discussion around mobile TV centered around the vexed question of broadcasting spectrum and special technical standards and it all got very tangled -- problems that haven't been fully resolved, especially in Europe," said MEF's Bud.

Others have included the lack of a clear business model, fights for broadcasting rights, numerous different technologies competing for the leading position and a lack of affordable phone models.

SNACKING

The moving pictures coming slowly onto cellphones are testing demand for different experiences: Samsung and Sony Ericsson have launched movies, the offerings for Apple's iPhone include TV shows and Nokia has worked with "Heroes" creator Tim Kring to develop new content for launch in Europe's summer.

"Consumers are hungry to snack on their favorite content, be that the latest championship soccer goals or 'Desperate Housewives'," said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.

"Old-fashioned broadcasters who are wedded to the old broadcast model have the biggest challenge because those days are over; consumers expect their favorite content when they want it, on whatever platform is most convenient -- TV, PC or a mobile phone," he said.

Samsung has launched a service allowing its customers to buy or rent movies and TV series to download to their mobile phones, with 24-hour rental prices starting from 2.49 pounds ($3.55), and movies from 4.99 pounds.

The breadth of the offering, which includes over 500 blockbusters from top studios Warner Bros, Paramount and Universal, makes it competitive with other mobile media.

Sony Ericsson has unveiled a more limited offering -- PlayNow arena with movies -- a bundled movie service for selected handsets, allowing consumers to watch up to 60 movies a year on their mobile phone.

"We won't see major business in just taking TV programs to cellphones," predicted Andrea Casalini, Chief Executive of Italian firm Buongiorno, which sells mobile content like games, music, video in 57 countries and says it is the world's largest mobile entertainment firm.

"There can be big business in new formats -- in making shorter programs, shot for cellphone screens, and also in using interactivity."

(additional reporting by Matt Cowan in London and Eva Lamppu in Helsinki; Editing by Sara Ledwith)

Reuters - Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock in bold Montreux premiere

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Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock in bold Montreux premiere

Monday, Jul 06, 2009 10:56AM UTC

By Stephanie Nebehay

MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) - Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang made his first appearance at the Montreux jazz festival on Sunday, teaming up with veteran Herbie Hancock in an audacious show blending classical and jazz music.

The two men dressed in black sat facing each other at twin grand pianos to perform a program ranging from Maurice Ravel to George Gershwin.

"I am very happy to debut here at this great jazz festival. Don't worry, there will be some jazzy stuff later on," Lang Lang, 27, reassured the Swiss audience at the sell-out event.

"We're having a quiet party now," he said after the unlikely pair launched into Ralph Vaughan Williams's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, accompanied by the Orchestre National de Lyon, conducted by John Axelrod.

Lang Lang, perhaps the best known young pianist on the international stage, then played two stirring solos, Liebestraum by Franz Liszt and Tango.

He took up piano aged 2 and gave his first public recital at the age of 5, going on to perform at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last August. He lives in the United States.

Lang Lang and Hancock are booked at London's Royal Albert Hall on Saturday, July 11 on a world tour culminating at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles next month.

One could hear a pin drop in the celebrated Stravinski Auditorium, where only a day before Steely Dan and Dave Matthews led a hard-jamming Fourth of July party. The Black Eyed Peas follows on Monday night at the venue along Lake Geneva.

Festival founder Claude Nobs proposed the two musicians team up while attending the 2008 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles where he watched an improvised performance by Hancock and Lang Lang.

Hancock, making his 30th Montreux appearance at the 43-year-old festival, sat next to the spiky-haired Lang Lang for Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, rearranged for four hands.

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for two pianos and orchestra mesmerized the crowd of all ages who paid up to 300 Swiss francs a ticket. The pair ended with Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 -- which Lang Lang says inspired him when he heard it in a Tom & Jerry cartoon at 2 years old.

Producer and composer Quincy Jones, who co-produced the Swiss festival from 1991-93, is back in town for a few days and made a cameo appearance to introduce the pair.

"I'm happy to play a tiny part in this momentous occasion. As usual, Claude knows how to make it special," he said.

"Herbie has been practicing up to five hours a day -- as serious as a heart attack," Jones said. "This is one of the highests of highs, it's as good as it gets."

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Reuters - Sun to distribute Carbonite's PC backup service

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Sun to distribute Carbonite's PC backup service

Tuesday, Jul 07, 2009 7:13PM UTC

BOSTON (Reuters) - Sun Microsystems Inc will distribute an Internet-based PC backup service from tiny industry pioneer Carbonite, which competes with tech industry giants EMC Corp and Symantec Corp.

They are battling for dominance in a fledgling market that technology research firm Gartner projects will grow to about $820 million in 2013 from $300 million last year. The services use the Internet to copy important PC data onto remote servers.

Boston-based Carbonite said on Tuesday that Sun will offer U.S. customers a free one-month trial of the backup service when they download or update Sun's widely used Java software for personal computers.

At the end of the trial, users will be asked to buy a subscription to the service.

EMC, the world's biggest corporate data storage equipment maker, and Symantec, the largest maker of backup software, got into the market by acquiring two of Carbonite's chief rivals.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by Andre Grenon)

Reuters - Dell launches digital forensics service for police

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Dell launches digital forensics service for police

Tuesday, Jul 07, 2009 3:40PM UTC

LONDON (Reuters) - Dell Inc, the world's second-biggest maker of personal computers, launched a package of hardware, software and services on Tuesday designed to help police convict more criminals as digital evidence proliferates.

The company said its digital-forensics package would help police reduce backlogs that can be as long as two years as it would allow multiple analysts to work simultaneously on the same data while preserving an audit trail of evidence-handling.

The package, launched with partners including Intel, gives customers tools to build and host their own datacentre, meaning they can have the convenience of so-called cloud computing while keeping control of it themselves.

James Quarles, Dell's head of public-sector marketing in Europe, told Reuters that customers remotely accessing criminal evidence in parallel from such datacenters could gain a crucial time advantage, for example when legally constrained as to how long they could hold terrorism suspects without evidence.

Dell reorganized its operations at the end of last year to group them around customer segments, one of which was the public sector, instead of around geographical regions, and said on Tuesday this had helped its new digital-forensics push.

Josh Claman, head of Dell's European public-sector business, said in a blog the new product "embodies everything we wanted to achieve when we decided to restructure the way Public Sector customers' needs are addressed." (en.community.dell.com/blogs)

Dell made about $15 billion in sales to the public sector last year, including hospitals, government, education and defense -- about a quarter of its total revenue.

The company cited estimates by research firm IDC that the U.S. digital-forensics market would be worth $630 million this year, up from $252 million in 2004, while the international market would be worth $1.8 billion by 2011.

Apart from chipmaker Intel, partners in Dell's offering include data-storage gear maker EMC Corp, business-software maker Oracle Corp, security-software maker Symantec Corp and privately held digital-forensics specialist AccessData.

Dell will present the new service to Britain's Association of Chief Police Officers on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by David Holmes and Hans Peters)

Reuters - Stars sing for Jackson in emotional farewell

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Stars sing for Jackson in emotional farewell

Tuesday, Jul 07, 2009 8:19PM UTC

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder and Usher led an emotional public memorial for Michael Jackson on Tuesday as the music world, the Jackson family and thousands of fans bade farewell to the "King of Pop."

Jackson's brothers, each wearing a single sequined glove in homage to his signature look, carried the singer's gold-trimmed casket into the Staples Center sports arena, where Jackson had rehearsed the day before his death for a highly-anticipated series of comeback concerts.

Carey performed Jackson's 1970 ballad "I'll Be There" and singer Smokey Robinson read out tributes from former South African president Nelson Mandela and singer Diana Ross.

But it was Jackson himself who loomed larger than life over the 18,000-plus arena crowd, shown in old concert footage, music videos and news clips, singing, dancing his signature moonwalk and surrounded by adoring crowds.

"The more I think about Michael, and talk about Michael, the more I think that 'King of Pop' is not good enough," said Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, who signed The Jackson 5 in 1968. "I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived."

Jackson's sudden death from cardiac arrest in Los Angeles on June 25 at the age of 50 prompted a worldwide outpouring of grief and sent sales of his biggest hits back to the top of the music charts.

President Barack Obama, on a visit to Russia, said he was "one of the greatest entertainers of our generation, perhaps any generation," and added: "I think like Elvis, like Sinatra, like The Beatles he became a core part of our culture.

Tuesday's two-hour memorial focused on Jackson's 45-year music career, his charity work for childrens' groups and his role in opening the mainstream pop and celebrity world up to African-Americans.

Gordy was among the few who referred obliquely to the darker side of Jackson's life, which in the last 10 years had come to overshadow his prowess as a performer and his 13 Grammy awards.

"Though it ended way too soon, Michael's life was beautiful. Sure there was some sad times and maybe some questionable decisions on his part, but Michael Jackson accomplished everything he dreamed of," said Gordy.

"NOTHING STRANGE" ABOUT DADDY

Jackson was on the eve of a comeback after his career collapsed despite his acquittal in a humiliating 2005 trial on sex abuse charges.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton, angrily denouncing the media focus on the bizarre aspects of his life, said he had a message for Jackson's three children.

"Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with," he said to cheers.

Jackson's three children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince Michael II, 7, appeared with the family on stage at the end of the performances. Paris, in tears, took the microphone to say: "Ever since I was born my daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine and I just want to say I love him so much."

R&B singer Usher's voice cracked as he sang "Gone Too Soon" while actress Brooke Shields, who briefly dated the singer, remembered his laugh as "the sweetest and purest of anyone's I had ever known."

Jackson's family and close friends held a brief private ceremony earlier on Tuesday at a Los Angeles cemetery before unexpectedly bringing the singer's body to the memorial.

Fans watched from bridges as the funeral procession made its way along freeways cleared of traffic for one of the biggest celebrity events ever seen in a city accustomed to living with superstar citizens.

Police had estimated that more than 250,000 people would gather outside the arena but the orderly crowds were much smaller than expected. Many fans and downtown office workers appeared to have stayed at home to watch the ceremony live on national TV networks or on the Internet.

At the Staples Center, Los Angeles resident Parisa Ebraihimi, 28, said she had been a Jackson fan since she was five years old. "For me, his dance moves and his music -- all his songs were about a better world. He'll live on for generations," she said.

Police, security, escorts and sanitation for the memorial ceremony are expected to cost cash-strapped Los Angeles city council nearly $4 million. The city council on Tuesday launched a web site asking for fans to make donations toward the cost of hosting Tuesday's events.

(Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Mary Milliken and David Storey)

Reuters - Phelps has limited ambition one year on from Beijing

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Phelps has limited ambition one year on from Beijing

Tuesday, Jul 07, 2009 7:53AM UTC

By Steve Keating

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Michael Phelps, who 12 months ago was targeting an Olympic record eight gold medals, was this week pondering only the goal of making the U.S. world championship team.

Much has changed for Phelps in a tumultuous 12 months.

After scaling new heights in Beijing, the 24-year-old swimmer tumbled from grace, falling so hard he pondered retirement during a three-month ban from USA Swimming for being photographed inhaling from a pipe used for smoking marijuana.

But a motivated Phelps is back in the pool set to face his first true test since the Beijing Games at the U.S. Nationals, which also serve as the qualifying event for the world championships in Rome.

It seems inconceivable a swimmer in his prime with 14 Olympic and 17 world championship gold medals and a raft of world records should be concerned about such routine matters as earning a spot on the U.S. team.

But these trials hold fear for Phelps as he continues his transition from all-rounder to sprinter.

New events, a new stroke and a return to competition that has produced nearly as many defeats as victories, left Phelps cautioning that there were no guarantees he will secure spots in all four events he will contest in Indianapolis, the 100 and 200 meters freestyle and 100 and 200m butterfly.

In order to book his ticket to Rome and his fifth world championships, Phelps must place among the top two in each event at the Natatorium.

"It doesn't matter to me if I'm the favorite or I'm not," Phelps told reporters on Monday. "The one thing I enjoy the most is being able to step up against anybody if they're faster than me.

"I like stepping up and racing people.

"The 100 free, I know I'm not the best but if I have the opportunity to step up and race the best then that's something I've always enjoyed."

"I have to make the team before I decide anything. Bob (coach Bob Bowman) and I just wanted to get here and see where we stand."

UNCHARTED WATERS

What Phelps is trying to do is not unlike a Formula One driver making the jump to stock cars, yet these are not completely uncharted waters for the world's greatest swimmer.

Phelps already holds the world record in 200m butterfly and 200m freestyle as well as the American mark in the 100m free and he is rapidly closing in on the 100m butterfly world record.

Just two weeks ago in Montreal, Phelps clocked a time of 50.48 seconds in the 100m fly, the third fastest time ever in the event and just .08 off the record held by compatriot Ian Crocker.

"I think I'm back to where I want to be at this point, probably a little faster than I thought I would be," said Phelps, who will swim his first preliminary heat on Wednesday.

"I have unfinished business.

"When I retire I want to be able to look back at my career and say that I did everything I wanted to do.

"That's the only way I'll be able to look back and say that was a great career.

"The only thing that keeps me going is the goals I have."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Reuters - France's Montcourt dies aged 24

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France's Montcourt dies aged 24

Tuesday, Jul 07, 2009 11:49AM UTC

PARIS (Reuters) - French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt died Monday night at the age of 24, the French tennis federation said Tuesday.

It said the cause of death was unknown.

Montcourt was 119th in the ATP world rankings.

(Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Ken Ferris)

CNN - Robert McNamara, ex-defense secretary, dies

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Robert McNamara, ex-defense secretary, dies

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, a key architect of the U.S. war in Vietnam under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, has died at age 93, according to his family.

McNamara was a member of Kennedy's inner circle during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of nuclear war.

But he became a public lightning rod for his management of the war in Vietnam, overseeing the U.S. military commitment there as it grew from fewer than 1,000 advisers to more than half a million troops.

Though the increasingly unpopular conflict was sometimes dubbed "McNamara's War," he later said both administrations were "terribly wrong" to have pursued military action beyond 1963.

"External military force cannot reconstruct a failed state, and Vietnam, during much of that period, was a failed state politically," he told CNN in a 1996 interview for the "Cold War" documentary series. "We didn't recognize it as such."

A native of San Francisco, McNamara studied economics at the University of California and earned a master's degree in business from Harvard. He was a staff officer in the Army Air Corps during World War II, when he studied the results of American bombing raids on Germany and Japan in search of ways to improve their accuracy and efficiency.

After the war, he joined the Ford Motor Company and became its president in November 1960 -- the first person to lead the company from outside its founding family. A month later, the newly elected Kennedy asked him to become secretary of defense, making him one of the "whiz kids" who joined the young president's administration.

In October 1962, after the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, McNamara was one of Kennedy's top advisers in the standoff that followed. The United States imposed a naval "quarantine" on Cuba, a Soviet ally, and prepared for possible airstrikes or an invasion. The Soviets withdrew the missiles in exchange for a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba, a step that allowed Soviet premier Nikita Kruschev to present the pullback as a success to his own people.

In the 2003 documentary "The Fog of War," McNamara told filmmaker Errol Morris that the experience taught American policymakers to "put ourselves inside their skin and look at us through their eyes." But he added, "In the end, we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war."

McNamara is credited with using the management techniques he mastered as a corporate executive to streamline the Pentagon, computerizing and smoothing out much of the U.S. military's vast purchasing and personnel system. And in Vietnam, he attempted to use those techniques to measure the progress of the war.

Metrics such as use of "body counts" and scientific solutions such as using the herbicide Agent Orange to defoliate jungles in which communist guerrillas hid became trademarks of the conflict. McNamara made several trips to South Vietnam to study the situation firsthand.

He, Johnson and other U.S. officials portrayed the war as a necessary battle in the Cold War, a proxy struggle to prevent communism from taking control of all of Southeast Asia. But while they saw the conflict as another front in the standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, which backed communist North Vietnam, McNamara acknowledged later that they underestimated Vietnamese nationalism and opposition to the U.S.-backed government in Saigon.

"The conflict within South Vietnam itself had all of the characteristics of a civil war, and we didn't look upon it as largely a civil war, and we weren't measuring our progress as one would have in what was largely a civil war," he told CNN.

Casualties mounted, as did domestic opposition to the war. In 1965, a Quaker anti-war protester, Norman Morrison, set himself on fire outside McNamara's office window. In 1967, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched on the Pentagon, which was ringed with troops.

By November 1967, McNamara told Johnson that there was "no reasonable way" to end the war quickly, and that the United States needed to reduce its forces in Vietnam and turn the fighting over to the American-backed government in Saigon. By the end of that month, Johnson announced he was replacing McNamara at the Pentagon and moving him to the World Bank. But by March 1968, Johnson had reached virtually the same conclusion as McNamara. He issued a call for peace talks and announced he would not seek re-election.

After leaving the Pentagon in early 1968, McNamara spent 12 years leading the World Bank. He said little publicly about Vietnam until the publication of a 1995 memoir, "In Retrospect."

"You don't know what I know about how inflammatory my words can appear," he told Morris. "A lot of people misunderstand the war, misunderstand me. A lot of people think I'm a son of a bitch."

Reuters - Gamer steals from virtual world to pay real debts

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Gamer steals from virtual world to pay real debts

Thursday, Jul 02, 2009 6:6PM UTC

By JaShong King

TORONTO, July 2 (Reuters) - Facing real world debts, a trusted figure in a popular online game stole money from the virtual bank he ran and exchanged it for cash through the black market.

It happened in EVE Online, where more than 300,000 subscribers pay $15 a month to play. They gain wealth through hard work, manipulating the market, or killing rivals in a distant future where humans have colonized the stars in an online game similar to World of Warcraft and Second Life.

EBank, EVE's largest player-run financial institution which has thousands of depositors, is at the center of the scandal.

"Basically this character was one of the people that had been running EBank for a while. He took a bunch of (virtual) money out of the bank, and traded it away for real money," said Ned Coker, of the Icelandic company CCP, which developed the game.

The CEO of EBank, a 27-year-old Australian tech worker who identified himself only as Richard and used the online name Ricdic, embezzled about 200 billion interstellar kredits, the game's virtual currency.

He broke the rules of the game by exchanging the stolen virtual funds for $6,300 Australian ($5,100) with players who preferred to buy virtual money rather than earn it playing the game.

"It was a very on the spot decision," the married father of two explained in an interview.

He said a spam email for a black market website that traded online money for real cash popped up on his screen, prompting him to exchange the virtual cash for real money to cover a deposit on his house and expenses related to his son's medical problems.

"I saw that as an avenue that could be taken, and I decided to skim off the top, you could say, to overcome real life (difficulties)."

Word of the theft spread quickly within EVE. Panicked customers started a run on the bank, worried that they would lose the money they had amassed by hunting space pirates or mining asteroids.

Ironically, if Ricdic had merely stolen the online money he could have stayed in the game. But exchanging the virtual cash for real dollars broke the rules and CCP banned Richard's EBank accounts.

"It unbalances the game," Coker said.

Players can only buy virtual money with real money, or use virtual cash to pay for playing time, but they cannot exchange game money for the real thing.

"We have never seen ourselves as gods who make the rules of social interaction," said Eyjolfur Gudmundsson, an economics adviser to CCP. "You are able to lose the things you have created. That's what makes the world interesting."

Ironically, Richard had built a reputation as one of EVE's few trusted players -- a rare commodity in a game where repeatedly blowing up a violator's spaceship was the only way to enforce some contracts.

Asked if he had any regrets about the scam, Richard said he felt he let down his fellow EBank staffers, many of whom he considered friends.

"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it. But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," he said.

EBank survived the crisis. But Richard will not be returning to EVE anytime soon.

"At the moment, we've got our hands full," Richard said about his family responsibilities in the real world.

CNN - Diprivan risk well-known to doctors

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Diprivan risk well-known to doctors

While authorities do not yet know what killed Michael Jackson, the possibility that anesthetics -- particularly the drug Diprivan -- might be involved continues to swell with each new revelation.

On Friday, The Associated Press quoted an unnamed law enforcement source saying investigators found Diprivan in Jackson's Holmby Hills home.

A nutritionist, Cherilyn Lee, said earlier in the week that Jackson pleaded for the drug despite being told of its harmful effects.

Sources close to Jackson told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta that the singer, who suffered from a sleep disorder, traveled with an anesthesiologist who would "take him down" at night and "bring him back up" during a world tour in the mid-90s.

The California State Attorney General's office has now said it is helping the Los Angeles Police Department in Jackson's death investigation. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is also looking into the role of drugs, two federal law enforcement sources said.

The drug Diprivan, known by its generic name Propofol, is administered intravenously in operating rooms as a general anesthetic, the manufacturer AstraZeneca said Friday.

"It is neither indicated nor approved for use as a sleep aid," said spokesman Tony Jewell.

The drug works as a depressant on one's central nervous system.

"It works on your brain," said Dr. Zeev Kain, the chair of the anesthesiology department at the University of California Irvine. "It basically puts the entire brain to sleep."

However, once the infusion is stopped, the patient wakes up almost immediately.

"So if you're going to do this, you'd have to have somebody right there giving you the medication and monitoring you continuously," Kain said.

Dr. Hector Vila, chairman of the Ambulatory Surgery Committee for the American Society of Anesthesiologists, said he administers the drug during office procedures such as urology, dentistry and gynecology. It is also the most common anesthetic for colonoscopies, he said.

Both doctors said that while they have heard of the drug being abused by health care professionals, who have ready access to it, they had not heard of it being used as a sleep aid medication.

"Propofol induces coma, it does not induce sleep," Kain said. "I can put you in a coma for as many days as you want. And, in fact, in intensive care units who have patients who are on a ventilator, that's one of the drugs they use."

Dr. Rakesh Marwah, of the anesthesiology department at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said the drug can lead to cardiac arrest without proper monitoring.

"Propofol slows down the heart rate and slows down the respiratory rate and slows down the vital functions of the body," he said.

Not enough carbon dioxide exits the body; not enough oxygen enters. And the situation can cause the heart to abruptly stop.

"[It is] as dangerous as it comes," Kain said. "You will die if you will give yourself, or if somebody will give you, Propofol and you're not in the proper medical hands."

Los Angeles police have interviewed Jackson's cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray, who apparently tried to revive the singer after he was found unconscious on June 25.

They also impounded Murray's car, saying it might contain evidence -- possibly prescription medications. Police did not say whether they found anything.

Through his lawyers, Murray has released several statements saying that he would not be commenting until the toxicology results into Jackson's death are released. The tests are due back in two to three weeks, the Los Angeles County coroner said Thursday.

"We are treating all unnamed sources as rumors. And, as we have stated before, we will not be responding to rumors or innuendo," Murray's lawyer, Matt Alford said Friday. "We are awaiting the facts to come out and we will respond at that time. "

The anesthesiologist who accompanied Jackson during the HIStory tour in the mid-'90s also refused to comment, although he acknowledged Jackson suffered from a sleep disorder.

"I'm very upset. I'm distraught. Michael was a good person. I can't talk about it right now," Dr. Neil Ratner said outside his Woodstock, New York, home Thursday. "It's really something I don't want to talk about right now. I lost a good friend."

On Thursday, the California State Attorney General's Office said it will assist Los Angeles police in sifting through information in a state database that monitors controlled medication.

The database, known as CURES (Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System), contains an estimated 86 million records that list all doctors who prescribe such medication, the amount, the date and the person who receives it.

Authorities said the database was used in the investigation after the death of former model and reality TV show star Anna Nicole Smith.

A day earlier, federal law enforcement sources said DEA agents would be looking at various doctors involved with Jackson, their practices and their possible sources of medicine supply.

A number of people close to Jackson have expressed concern that medication could have contributed to the singer's death at age 50.

In 2005, after he was cleared on charges of child molestation, Jackson spent a week at a center run by Dr. Deepak Chopra, a physician who focuses on spirituality and the mind-body connection.

During that week, Jackson asked Chopra for a prescription for a narcotic, the doctor said.

"I said, 'What the heck do you want a narcotic prescription for?'" Chopra said. "And it suddenly dawned on me that he was probably taking these and that he had probably a number of doctors who were giving him these prescriptions, so I confronted him with that. At first, he denied it. Then, he said he was in a lot of pain."

Brian Oxman, a former attorney for the Jackson family who was with the family in the hospital emergency room on June 25, also expressed concern about medications the pop star was taking.

"I talked to his family about it, I warned them -- I said that Michael is overmedicating and that I did not want to see this kind of a case develop," Oxman told CNN the next day.

Earlier this week, the nutritionist Lee, a registered nurse, said Jackson suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and asked her to find him some Diprivan.

"I told him this medication is not safe," Lee said. "He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.' "

Lee, however, said she did not know of any doctors who would have given Jackson the drug nor had she seen him use it.

Michael Jackson Rehersal Video Days Before Death

This Deos not look like a dying man.




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Reuters - Cisco may offer Web-based office software

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Cisco may offer Web-based office software

Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 9:41PM UTC

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc is considering offering Web-based alternatives to Microsoft Corp's popular Office software as the networking giant expands on the Internet.

Cisco Senior Vice President Doug Dennerline said on Tuesday his company may develop a service that would allow business users to create documents they could draft and share through its WebEx meeting and collaboration service.

Internet-based alternatives to Microsoft Office cropped up about five years ago, but corporate users have yet to embrace them. If the approach does take off, it could become big business: Microsoft's Office division rang up sales of $60 billion in the software company's most-recent fiscal year.

Google Inc sells Google Apps, an Internet-based alternative to Microsoft Office that includes a spreadsheet, word processor and presentation software. Design software maker Adobe Systems Inc and privately held Zoho Corp offer similar products.

Dennerline, who manages Cisco's online collaboration products, said he is interested in getting into that area.

"That is an interesting space. We are certainly thinking about that," he said on Tuesday during an online news conference. He did not elaborate.

Dennerline also said Cisco is not interested in competing with Salesforce.com Inc in selling online applications that companies use to manage sales and marketing activities -- an area analysts have long speculated that Cisco planned to go into.

Salesforce is the biggest maker of web-based applications, a segment of the software industry that research firm Gartner estimates will see sales rise about 30 percent this year to $6.5 billion.

Cisco, over the past decade, has expanded its focus from routers and switches to a wider range of products including software and video products, such as a high-end video conferencing systems called TelePresence and the WebEx service that facilitates online meetings.

Chief Executive John Chambers said on Tuesday the expansion into new services would continue, including a TelePresence product for homes in the next one to two years.

Chambers has in the past cited plans for a consumer TelePresence system, but analysts have said it would be hard to come up with a cheaper version of the high-definition, life-size video conference system for corporate customers.

"On the one hand, make no mistake about it, we will stay focused on our core competencies, switching and routing. You will see a constant flood of product capabilities and directions coming in these areas," Chambers said.

"At the same time, we realize that the network has evolved."

Shares in San Jose, California-based Cisco fell 1.8 percent to close at $18.65 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Additional reporting by Ritsuko Ando in Tokyo; editing by Andre Grenon, Richard Chang and Bernard Orr)

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Small businesses vital to economic recovery go bankrupt

Entrepreneurship and new small businesses are supposed to lead us out of the recession, just as they have in prior downturns, right?

Sure. Your neighbor's grand idea will persuade a bank to lend her start-up money; she'll open for business in six weeks; and money will immediately flow from customers to her to her employees. Taxes will be paid, and the national economic engine will hum effortlessly in no time.

If only.

Today shows a different reality: Commercial bankruptcies are surging. Fewer people are starting small businesses, and firms already open are struggling under changing consumer habits, a lack of funding options and tougher bankruptcy laws. If a nationwide trend seen since January holds true, more than 300 businesses will file for bankruptcy today alone.

Cafe Boulevard, for 12 years a popular European-style restaurant in Dayton, Ohio, hasn't been able to endure the downturn.

Rising gas and food prices, increased competition and an ill-timed expansion cut profits. Local unemployment made matters worse, because the regulars no longer showed up. In April, the restaurant's owner, Eva Christian, was one of 8,149 U.S. business owners who filed for bankruptcy-court protection.

She didn't close the cafe. Instead, Christian is trying to retain her employees while she works with creditors.

"When I decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, I felt crushed," Christian says. "But my attorney said that Donald Trump did it, and GM did it, and Delta did it. It gives people the opportunity to bounce back."

The first five months of this year have shown a 52% increase in the total number of commercial bankruptcy filings (36,106) compared with the same period last year (23,829), according to the Automated Access to Court Electronic Records. On average thus far in 2009, some 350 commercial enterprises file for bankruptcy daily an increase of 240% from 2006, the first year after the bankruptcy law was changed.

Small companies hardest hit

Major corporate failures, like GM and Chrysler, flash across front pages and websites. But the vast majority of commercial bankruptcies, which are not separated by size of firm by data keepers, are filed by entrepreneurs and small-business owners, says Robert Lawless, professor of law at University of Illinois.

Troubling for the economy, say Lawless and Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, is the double-whammy of fewer start-ups and increasing bankruptcies.

"There is always this dynamism in the small-business community: Businesses are always dying, and new businesses are always getting started," McCracken says. "Usually more start than fail, but my sense is that now it has flip-flopped. And it's alarming."

Lawless agrees.

"In the past, small-business formation increased in a recession because people had self-employment thrust upon them," he says. "One avenue out of economic hard times self-employment has become less attractive, because the bankruptcy law is less forgiving" and there are fewer options for those entrepreneurs to get bank loans or to find funding elsewhere.

Trickle-down effect hurts

Small business is considered the backbone of the economy. In the past, new businesses led economic recoveries, McCracken says. Small businesses those with fewer than 500 employees make up half of the gross domestic product and account for most job growth.

Problems from the devastated housing market, overall recession and suffering major industries all funnel down to small businesses, especially those that supply the troubled corporations.

"When you have the GMs of the world filing for bankruptcy, they are canceling contracts and discharging debts that they owe to their suppliers," says B. William Ginsler, a bankruptcy lawyer in Portland, Ore. "And those are small businesses that are less solvent than larger corporations."

The transportation industry, which includes the auto and airline businesses, has sparked the biggest run-up in small-business bankruptcy filings, according to new data from an Equifax bankruptcy study. After transportation, the construction, manufacturing and retail industries are the major causes, the study says.

While not always the case, the line from one faltering company to another can be direct.

Just before the economic slump, Cafe Boulevard's Christian opened a second restaurant in Dayton called Cena. Cena's outlook is bleak, because a nearby General Motors assembly plant is closing, and NCR is moving its headquarters from Dayton to Georgia.

"It was bad timing to expand into a second restaurant," Christian says.

Household spending cutbacks reach far, too. Dual-income families who are now single-income may no longer need or be able to afford child care, so many of those services are going out of business, says Lester Thompson, a bankruptcy lawyer in Dayton. Sporting goods stores and lawn-mowing services also have struggled.

Small-business bankruptcy filings jumped the most in the Los Angeles and Chicago metro areas, according to Equifax. But even smaller areas of the country are experiencing a big increase.

David Hicks, a bankruptcy lawyer in Omaha, says he has seen an increase in business struggles related to the auto industry and the mortgage crisis. Among them are owners of used car lots and housing contractors.

In South Carolina, bankruptcy attorney Jane Downey has worked with dry cleaners and gourmet sandwich shops.

Robert Chernicoff, a bankruptcy lawyer in Harrisburg, Pa., says one client who recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is the owner of a new small strip mall, Shoppes at Silver Spring. Mall owners counted on about eight tenants. It's in a good location, Chernicoff says, but the economic downturn caused some tenants to back out, and it has taken longer to find new ones.

Chapter 7 vs. 11 vs. 13

Many small businesses owe so much money to creditors that there is no future. Such owners often file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shut their businesses for good. Chapter 7 allows sole proprietors to discharge their debt and for corporations to have an orderly liquidation.

Those who want to reorganize a business or sell it as a going concern may file for Chapter 11. Chapter 13 is a similar but less costly and time-consuming option that is limited to individuals who have a certain amount of debt.

Last month, Randy Wicker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because his 15-year-old business, Earth Structures, had hit a significant rough spot after previously earning up to $8 million annually. His corporation, based in Spartanburg, S.C., primarily builds retaining walls for highway projects.

Earth Structures has worked on Department of Transportation projects, but those have nearly disappeared. Wicker and other contractors are now competing in the commercial market.

"More contractors are vying for less jobs," Wicker says.

"Maybe President Obama's effort to restore the highways with a stimulus plan will lead to more work for him," says Downey, his lawyer.

Lack of loans worsens problem

The credit crunch is a major contributor to the rise in filings.

Loan dollar volume from the U.S. Small Business Administration has increased 35% since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed on Feb. 17, according to the SBA. Even so, a National Federation of Independent Business trend report states that in May the percentage of business owners reporting that loans are harder to get rose to 16%, the highest reading since the 1980-82 recession.

Businesses can't easily rely on credit cards these days, either.

"What's happening now is that a lot of banks are retrenching and cutting back on lines of credit and credit card limits," McCracken says.

With that reality, and loath to dip into their retirement savings, struggling small-business owners have few options other than bankruptcy. When the bankruptcy law changed in 2005 it was mostly aimed at curbing abuse of personal bankruptcy filing. But it also singled out small businesses for harsher treatment, and those changes did not apply to larger corporations, Lawless says.

Small businesses that file for bankruptcy have a shorter time frame to reorganize, Hicks says. "And before, a judge could pull the plug on a small-business owner that was playing the system, or he could give a break to somebody who was legitimately trying to reorganize," he says. "Most of the discretion is now gone."

But the data show the change hasn't deterred small businesses from filing for bankruptcy.

"You can change the bankruptcy law all you want, but if we have a recession, lots of business are going to file," says John Pottow, professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School. "The increase is yet another sobering economic milestone."

Bankruptcy is still the only option for many small-business owners who are hanging by a thread.

"The failure of a small business doesn't have to be a lifetime sentence for the owner," says U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Lewis Killian, in Tallahassee. "Bankruptcy gives them the ability to go forward, to start up again and be successful."

Reuters - Microsoft's Bing search wins share from Google

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Microsoft's Bing search wins share from Google

Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009 12:17PM UTC

LONDON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's new Bing search engine gained U.S. market share in its first month in operation but still trails dominant rival Google Inc, according to data released on Wednesday.

Bing, launched on June 3 but available to some users a few days earlier, took 8.23 percent of U.S. Web searches in June, up from 7.81 percent for Microsoft search just prior to its rollout and 7.21 percent in April, said Internet data firm StatCounter.

Google lost share slightly, dipping to 78.48 percent from 78.72 percent before Bing. Yahoo Inc, the perennial No. 2 in the market, rose to 11.04 percent from 10.99 percent.

Bing's share peaked in the first week of June at 9.21 percent, falling away in the middle two weeks before coming back at 8.45 percent in the last week of June.

The results may give heart to Microsoft, which is investing heavily in its loss-making online services business and is refusing to cede the market to Google.

"At first sight, a 1 percent increase in market share does not appear to be a huge return on the investment Microsoft has made in Bing but the underlying trend appears positive," StatCounter Chief Executive Adohan Cullen said in a statement.

The world's largest software company may yet strike an online search partnership with Yahoo to make itself a credible competitor, but talk of such a deal has quietened down.

StatCounter, based in Dublin, says its data are based on 4 billion pageloads per month monitored through a network of websites. Other data research firms such as comScore are not expected to release figures on Bing's share until mid-July.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby and Georgina Prodhan; editing by Simon Jessop)

Michael Jacksonin Wonderland

AP Exclusive: Insomniac Jackson begged for drug
AP, Jun 30, 2009 8:23 pm PDT
Michael Jackson was so distraught over persistent insomnia in recent months that he pleaded for a powerful sedative despite warnings it could be harmful, says a nutritionist who was working with the singer as he prepared his comeback bid.

Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse whose specialty includes nutritional counseling, said Tuesday that she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug, Diprivan, which is given intravenously.

But a frantic phone call she received from Jackson four days before his death made her fear that he somehow obtained Diprivan or another drug to induce sleep, Lee said.

While in Florida on June 21, Lee was contacted by a member of Jackson's staff.

"He called and was very frantic and said, `Michael needs to see you right away.' I said, 'What's wrong?' And I could hear Michael in the background ..., 'One side of my body is hot, it's hot, and one side of my body is cold. It's very cold,'" Lee said.

"I said, `Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don't know what's going on, but he needs to go to the hospital ... right away."

"At that point, I knew that somebody had given him something that hit the central nervous system," she said, adding, "He was in trouble Sunday and he was crying out."

Jackson did not go to the hospital. He died June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest, his family said. Autopsies have been conducted, but an official cause of death is not expected for several weeks.

"I don't know what happened there. The only thing I can say is he was adamant about this drug," Lee said.

Following Jackson's death, allegations emerged that the 50-year-old King of Pop had been consuming painkillers, sedatives and antidepressants. But Lee said she encountered a man tortured by sleep deprivation and one who expressed opposition to recreational drug use.

"He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs," she said. "This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest."

Jackson was rehearsing hard for what would have been his big comeback — his "This Is It" tour, a series of performances that would have strained his aging dancer's body. Also, pain had been a part of his life since 1984, when his scalp was severely burned during a Pepsi commercial shoot.

"The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno, who's been working out with Jackson for the past several months, said Jackson was focused on health.

"When he was with me, he wasn't different. He wasn't stoned. He wasn't high. He wasn't being aloof or speedy. Never talked about drugs," Ferrigno said. "I've never seen him take drugs. He was always talking about nutrition."

Several months ago, Jackson had begun badgering Lee about Diprivan, also known as Propofol, Lee said. It is an intravenous anesthetic drug widely used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. It is generally given through an IV needle in the hand.

Patients given Propofol take less time to regain consciousness than those administered certain other drugs, and they report waking up more clear-headed and refreshed, said University of Chicago psychopharmacologist James Zacny.

It has also been implicated in drug abuse, with people using it to "chill out" or to commit suicide, Zacny said. Accidental deaths linked to abuse have been reported. The powerful drug has a very narrow therapeutic window, meaning it doesn't take doses much larger than the medically recommended amount to stop a person's breathing.

An overdose that stops breathing can result in a buildup of carbon dioxide, causing the heart to beat erratically and leading to cardiac arrest, said Dr. John Dombrowski, a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Because it is given intravenously and is not the kind of prescription drug typically available from pharmacists, abuse cases have involved anesthesiologists, nurses and other hospital staffers with easy access to the drug, Zacny said.

In recent months, Lee said, Jackson waved away her warnings about it.

"I had an IV and when it hit my vein, I was sleeping. That's what I want," Lee said Jackson told her.

"I said, 'Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication' — and I had a chill in my body and tears in my eyes three months ago — 'the only problem is you're going to take it and you're not going to wake up," she recalled.

According to Lee, Jackson said it had been given to him before but he didn't want to discuss the circumstances or identify the doctor involved.

The singer also drew his own distinctions when it came to drugs versus prescription medicine.

"He said, `I don't like drugs. I don't want any drugs. My doctor told me this is a safe medicine,'" Lee said. The next day, she said she brought a copy of the Physician's Desk Reference to show him the section on Diprivan.

"He said, 'No, my doctor said it's safe. It works quick and it's safe as long as somebody's here to monitor me and wake me up. It's going be OK,'" Lee said. She said he did not give the doctor's name.

Lee said at one point, she spent the night with Jackson to monitor him while he slept. She said she gave him herbal remedies and stayed in a corner chair in his vast bedroom.

After he settled in bed, Lee told Jackson to turn down the lights and music — he had classical music playing in the house. "He also had a computer on the bed because he loved Walt Disney," she said. "He was watching Donald Duck and it was ongoing. I said, `Maybe if we put on softer music,' and he said, `No, this is how I go to sleep.'"

Three and a half hours later, Jackson jumped up and looked at Lee, eyes wide open, according to Lee. "This is what happens to me," she quoted him as saying. "All I want is to be able to sleep. I want to be able to sleep eight hours. I know I'll feel better the next day."

Lee, 56, is licensed as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner in California, according to the state Board of Registered Nursing's Web site. She attended Los Angeles Southwest College and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Comedian Dick Gregory, who knows Lee and her work, said he believes Jackson's insomnia had its roots in the pop star's 2005 trial on child molestation charges. Jackson's health had deteriorated so much that his parents called Gregory, a natural foods proponent, for help.

Gregory said Jackson wasn't eating or drinking at the time and, after he was persuaded by Gregory to undergo testing, ended up hospitalized for severe dehydration.

But Jackson obviously was healthy enough to withstand the level of medical scrutiny needed to insure him for the upcoming high-stakes London concerts, Gregory said. "That you don't trick," he said of the exams.

Lee, who has also worked with Stevie Wonder, Marla Gibbs, Reynaldo Rey and other celebrities, said she was introduced to Jackson by the mother of one of his staff members. Jackson's three children had minor cold symptoms and their pediatrician was out of town.

Lee said she went to the house in January, the first of about 10 visits there through April, and treated the children with vitamins. Michael, intrigued, asked what else she did and took her up on her claim she could boost his energy.

After running blood tests, she devised protein shakes for him and gave him an intravenous vitamin and mineral mixture — known as a "Myers cocktail," after Dr. John Myers — which Lee said she uses routinely in her practice.

"It wasn't that he felt sick," she said. "He just wanted more energy."

Lee said she decided to speak out to protect Jackson's reputation from what she considers unfounded allegations of drug abuse or shortcomings as a parent.

"I think it's so wrong for people to say these things about him," she said. "He was a wonderful, loving father who wanted the best for his children."

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago and AP Television Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report.click here for more news and cool stuff
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Reuters - Sweden's Global Gaming snaps up Pirate Bay

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Sweden's Global Gaming snaps up Pirate Bay

Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 2:36PM UTC

By Veronica Ek and Mia Shanley

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A little-known Swedish software firm has snapped up file-sharing website The Pirate Bay with the hope of turning the source of legal controversy into a money-spinner that appeals to both users and content providers.

Global Gaming Factory X AB, which operates internet cafes and provides software, said Tuesday that it had agreed to buy Pirate Bay for 60 million Swedish crowns ($7.7 million).

The website made world headlines in April when the three Swedish founders and a financial backer were each sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay a combined $3.6 million in damages for breaching copyright law with the free downloading site, which was one of the biggest sites of its kind on the Internet.

Swedish News Agency TT cited one of the founders, Peter Sunde, as saying that the money would not go directly to him or any of the others sentenced in April.

Sunde told TT that the money would be placed in a company outside Swedish borders and it would be used for internet projects other than downloading sites.

Pirate Bay could not be immediately reached for comment.

Global Gaming said it believed the website was a viable business with its plans for a new, legal business model.

"We would like to introduce (business) models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site," the company said in a statement.

USERS AS EARNERS

Global Gaming Chief Executive Hans Pandeya told a news conference that the revamped website would generate money via advertising, supplying storage space and helping telecom operators optimize internet traffic.

He also said users would be able to earn money by supplying storage space, which would encourage people to use the site.

"That's what is interesting. If you can earn money by file-sharing, it's no big deal to pay for what you download," Pandeya said.

Analysts were unimpressed by the move, comparing it to Napster, an online file-sharing site that quickly lost popularity after it started to charge its users.

"It looks like they are going to Napsterize it," said Leigh Ellis, intellectual property partner at Gillhams Solicitors.

Mark Mulligan, vice president at research firm Forrester, said that many of Pirate Bay's around 20 million users would move on to other free downloading options.

"The bottom line is that most people who use file-sharing networks use it because it's free. They are not likely to start paying just because the owners have a new business model," he said.

"There has not yet been a single example of a legal file-sharing network which has made a successful transition to a legal business."

($1=7.826 Swedish Crown)

(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter and Karen Foster)

Reuters - TV "pitchman" Mays had heart disease, no trauma

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TV "pitchman" Mays had heart disease, no trauma

Monday, Jun 29, 2009 6:24PM UTC

By Robert Green

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Billy Mays, well known for pitching a variety of products in U.S. television commercials, had heart disease but did not appear to have suffered head trauma in a rough airplane landing prior to dying in his sleep on Sunday, a medical examiner in Florida said on Monday.

The bearded, black-haired Mays, 50, who gained fame as an enthusiastic TV "pitchman" advertising an array of commercial products, was found dead by his wife at their home in Tampa, Florida.

On Saturday, Mays was among the passengers aboard a U.S. Airways flight from Philadelphia that landed roughly at Tampa International Airport after apparently blowing a tire.

Mays told local TV shortly afterward that objects had dropped from the ceiling of the plane upon impact and he had received a blow on the head, although he said at the time he felt fine.

In a preliminary statement on Monday after an initial autopsy, Hillsborough County medical examiner Vernard Adams said his examination found that Mays had "hypertensive heart disease," which refers to heart disease caused by high blood pressure, but "there was no evidence of any head trauma."

Adams said this heart ailment "was certainly capable of causing the sudden death." He said Mays had died in his sleep.

"It's not unusual for persons with heart disease to die this young," Adams said, adding that a formal report on the cause of death would be issued only after the results of toxicology tests were considered.

Toxicology tests can show the presence of drugs in the body.

Tampa police said no foul play was suspected.

Executives from the television home-shopping industry praised Mays' role in promoting TV salesmanship.

"DRTV (the direct-response television industry) has grown to be a $300 billion business during the last 20 years, and Billy Mays played a key role in making this possible," Julie Coons, president and CEO of the Electronic Retailing Association, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Robert Green; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Will Dunham)

Variety.com - Wood, Cumming set for 'Spider-Man'

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Posted: Fri., Jun. 26, 2009, 1:00pm PT

Wood, Cumming set for 'Spider-Man'

Duo to star in Broadway play mega-spectacle

By GORDON COX

It's official: Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming will star in the upcoming Broadway mega-spectacle "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark."

Deals were wrapped up late in the week for both thesps, who have been expected to confirm their stints in the show for a while now.

Performance dates for the technically complicated tuner have been pushed back from Feb. 18 to Feb. 25, when previews will begin.

Wood will play Spidey's paramour Mary Jane Watson, while Cumming will portray bad guy Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin.

Julie Taymor ("The Lion King"), who helms the tuner and co-pens the book, has worked with both actors. Wood starred in Taymor's movie-musical "Across the Universe," while Cumming appeared in Taymor pics "Titus" and "The Tempest."

The actor donning the tights of the wall-crawler himself has yet to be announced; open auditions for the role were held earlier this year. Wood's co-star in "Across the Universe," Jim Sturgess, has been mentioned as a possibility for the part.

Delay of performances at the Hilton Theater gives the show's creators more time to sort out construction elements, which are said to be moving slower than anticipated.

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Variety.com - Infomercial pitchman Billy Mays dies

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http://wwwvariety.com/article/VR1118005469.html?c=14

 

 

Posted: Sun., Jun. 28, 2009, 9:29am PT

Infomercial pitchman Billy Mays dies

Co-host of Discovery's 'Pitchmen' series

By VARIETY STAFF

Billy Mays, the energetic product salesman of infomercial fame and co-host of Discovery Channel's "Pitchmen" series, was found dead early Sunday at his home in Tampa, Fla. He was 50.

Mays was well-known and well-regarded in the biz for his "larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth," Discovery Channel said in a statement.

"Billy was a pioneer in his field and helped many people fulfill their dreams," the cabler said.

Known as the "king of the infomercial," Mays got his start hawking products on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. He moved on to traveling the country with home and garden shows and other sales-oriented exhibitions. In 1996, he was tapped to pitch the Orange Glo cleaning solution live on the Home Shopping Network. His career in direct response advertising stemmed from his successful appearances on HSN. He became known for his loud, rhythmic and relentless delivery.

Mays teamed with popular British personality Anthony Sullivan to host "Pitchmen" for Discovery earlier this year. The show revolves around a competition among aspiring inventors to develop marketable products. There's no word yet from Discovery on the fate of the show.

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Reuters - Michael Jackson's death sparks bus brawl

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Michael Jackson's death sparks bus brawl

Saturday, Jun 27, 2009 2:21AM UTC

MIAMI (Reuters) - A fight broke out on a Florida bus when news of Michael Jackson's death sparked debate over whether he should be remembered as a great musical talent, and one passenger was charged with assault, police said on Friday.

The bus was moving through the city of North Lauderdale on Thursday when passenger James Kiernan received a text message about Jackson's death on his cell phone, and he read it aloud on the bus, the Broward County Sheriff's Department said.

The unidentified bus driver opined that "Michael Jackson should have been in jail long ago," prompting Kiernan, 60, to retort that "the world just lost a great musical talent," the police report said.

It said the last remark enraged another passenger, Henry Wideman, who started a swearing match with Kiernan, then pulled out a knife and chased Kiernan down the aisle with it.

The driver called his dispatcher and pulled over near a convenience store to wait for sheriff's deputies, who arrested Wideman, 54. He remained in jail on Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

(Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

Reuters - Google CEO says worst of crisis is over

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Google CEO says worst of crisis is over

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 4:56PM UTC

CANNES (Reuters) - A U.S. recovery is likely to begin this autumn, the worst of the crisis has passed and it is "reasonable to be optimistic for 2010," internet search giant Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in southern France, Schmidt said U.S. jobless claims indicated "the beginning of the bottom."

"The rate of jobless claims is decreasing although the absolute number is increasing," he explained.

Schmidt said he did not want to comment on a report that Google had set up a team of engineers to study the technical specifications of Bing, the search engine launched recently by Google rival Microsoft, as he had not seen it.

But he added: "Bing is a competitor. We have absolutely looked at Bing; we have actually studied what they do as Microsoft studied what Google does."

Microsoft's Bing search engine has been winning U.S. market share from its rivals but is still trailing Google and Yahoo Inc.

Bing will be launched in the UK in the autumn and a test version is already available in Europe.

(Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Writing by Helen Massy-Beresford; editing by John Stonestreet)

Reuters - Hello Goodbye: Jackson's Beatles rights at risk

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Hello Goodbye: Jackson's Beatles rights at risk

Saturday, Jun 27, 2009 10:29AM UTC

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beatles For Sale?

The Fab Four's prized catalog -- specifically 267 songs mostly written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney -- is embarking on a long and winding road of ownership uncertainty following the death of Michael Jackson on Thursday.

The pop singer and Sony Corp's Sony Music arm operated a lucrative joint venture that either owns or administers the copyrights to about 750,000 compositions written by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers.

Industry analysts estimate that Sony/ATV Music Publishing is worth at least $1 billion, making Jackson one savvy entertainer. His initial investment cost him $47.5 million in 1985. Music publishing is considered a license to print money. Not quite as exciting as the piracy-ravaged recorded-music side, it involves collecting royalties from such diverse avenues as downloads, radio airplay and videogames.

But mystery now surrounds the beneficial ownership of Jackson's stake. According to a lawsuit filed in 2002 by a creditor, he secured bank loans totaling $270 million two years earlier using both his Sony/ATV stake and the copyrights to his own songs as collateral.

Jackson lived an extravagant lifestyle, even as his commercial appeal dwindled amid damaging child-abuse allegations and changing music tastes. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2005 that his cash reserves ran so low earlier that year that he worried about paying his electric bill. The paper reported earlier this month that he had racked up about $500 million of debt.

"VERY COMPLEX" VALUATIONS

A clearer picture of his finances will emerge during the administration period of his estate that usually lasts about 18 months, said Renee Gabbard of the law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Costa Mesa, California.

Jackson's executors will evaluate his assets, file the estate tax return and invite creditors to submit invoices, said Gabbard, who has a number of wealthy clients with entertainment-related estates.

The process of valuing estate assets, especially intellectual property like music copyrights, is "very complex" and often takes "quite a while," said Gabbard.

"When you have entertainers and musicians they usually have quite extensive royalty contracts. It's very tough to put a value on a catalog of songs," she said.

Jackson and Sony formed their joint venture in 1995, with the singer contributing ATV Songs, whose 4,000 tunes included most of the Beatles catalog. He had bought ATV a decade earlier from Australian businessman Robert Holmes a Court, famously outbidding McCartney in the process.

Jackson was not involved in the day-to-day operations of Sony/ATV, but as a lover of the songwriting process was known to be "incredibly proud" of the company and its fast growth, according to a publishing industry source.

A spokesman for Sony/ATV declined to comment.

His stakes in both Sony/ATV and in Mijac, which holds his own copyrights, were owned by trusts. It was not clear if they were irrevocable or not. If they are revocable, then they could be dismantled to satisfy creditors, Gabbard said.

The estate would first pay federal taxes owed on Jackson's assets, most notably the publishing companies. The remaining assets then would go to satisfy creditors and the balance probably would be placed into separate trusts for his beneficiaries, most likely his children, Gabbard said.

But the publishing industry source said it was too premature to speculate about a possible change in ownership at Sony/ATV, which is run by music industry veteran Martin Bandier.

Additionally, each side is reportedly entitled to make a counter-offer if the other side lines up a buyer, or to bid for the other half it does not own.

The Beatles catalog, meanwhile, just keeps raking in money. The group's CDs will be reissued on September 9, the same day that a Fab Four version of the "Rock Band" videogame hits stores.

(Additional reporting by Dean Goodman, Editing by Anthony Boadle)

Reuters - U.S. seen opposing LiveNation, Ticketmaster deal

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U.S. seen opposing LiveNation, Ticketmaster deal

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 11:11PM UTC

By Diane Bartz - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ticketing giant Ticketmaster's <TKTM.O> deal to buy concert promoting giant Live Nation <LYV.N> will most likely be opposed by the Justice Department, which means that its fate would rest with the courts and the companies' willingness to litigate.

The deal has been criticized by superstar Bruce Springsteen, politicians like Senator Charles Schumer, and legions of music fans commenting in Internet chatrooms.

"This deal's not going through if antitrust laws mean anything," said David Balto, a former FTC policy director and antitrust lawyer.

Some state attorneys general also have shown an interest in the merger, with Ohio leading the way, said a source who is familiar with the situation but reluctant to be named because of its sensitivity.

Add to its woes, a promoter filed suit in Maryland accusing Live Nation of "unlawful anticompetitive, predatory and exclusory practices." The promoter, Seth Hurwitz, accuses Live Nation of booking artists only in venues that it owns or operates.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation had no immediate comment for this story.

And the Justice Department's new antitrust chief, Christine Varney, has said she would take a tougher look at mergers than her predecessors in the Bush administration.

The best that Live Nation and Ticketmaster could hope for in the approximately $400 million deal is a tough fight with the Justice Department, said Marc Schildkraut, a former assistant director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition and antitrust lawyer with Howrey LLP.

"I just always thought the merging parties had a tough row to hoe. The lawyers for those parties are going to have to be pretty good," said Schildkraut.

Varney is taking a tough stance on vertical mergers, where one company buys another in the same supply chain. In this case, Live Nation primarily promotes concerts and Ticketmaster sells the tickets.

But each company has reached into the other's area of expertise, so the merger also has elements of a horizontal deal. Live Nation launched its own ticketing service on January 1 after it ended a 10-year relationship with Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster last year bought Front Line Management, which manages the affairs of more than 200 artists.

Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino said last month that he expected the deal to close in the third or fourth quarter. Antitrust regulators outside the United States are also looking into it.

Antitrust experts Steve Axinn of Axinn, Veltrop and Harkrider LLP and Andre Barlow of Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC predicted that the Justice Department would sue to stop the merger, but could not agree on the outcome if Ticketmaster and Live Nation opted to battle regulators in court.

"I think they (the Justice Department) probably uncovered evidence that Live Nation wanted to compete against Ticketmaster," said Barlow, who added: "I think Ticketmaster would win in court."

Axinn didn't agree, saying. "I think that their odds of winning in such a challenge are impossible to predict."

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Reuters - VW gives Porsche ultimatum to accept merger: report

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VW gives Porsche ultimatum to accept merger: report

Saturday, Jun 27, 2009 1:38PM UTC

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen and its key shareholder, the state of Lower Saxony, have confronted Porsche with an ultimatum to accept a tie-up of the two carmakers under VW's tutelage or else face more severe financial turmoil, Web site Spiegel online reported.

Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking and Chairman Wolfgang Porsche have been urged to agree by the end of June that VW takes a 49 percent stake in Porsche's sports car business for 3-4 billion euros ($4.2-$5.6 billion), Spiegel magazine reported in its online edition on Saturday, without saying who provided the information.

According to the proposal, the Emirate of Qatar would buy Porsche's stock options in VW, which would subsequently integrate the Porsche sports car business into its operations.

VW would not comment on the report. Porsche was not immediately available for comment, neither was the Emirate of Qatar.

The new merged carmaker would eventually be 40 percent owned by the Porsche and Piech families, 20 percent owned by Lower Saxony, 15 percent owned by Qatar with another sovereign wealth fund holding a further 5 percent, Spiegel reported.

VW threatened it could insist on redemption in September of a 700 million euro loan it granted to Porsche, should Porsche reject the offer, Spiegel online said.

Porsche racked up 9 billion euros of debt trying to swallow its much bigger peer Volkswagen before the financial crisis turned the tables and threatened to unravel the deal.

Porsche, which owns 51 percent in VW, had abandoned plans to raise its stake to 75 percent but still owns options to buy VW shares.

The tie-up proposal was devised by Christian Wulff, the state premier of Lower Saxony, which holds a blocking minority of 20 percent in VW, as well as Porsche co-owner Ferdinand Piech and by the CEO and CFO of VW, Spiegel online said.

Qatar would only pursue an investment in a merged VW and Porsche if all major shareholders agree on the set-up, the Web site added.

In a separate article, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Saturday that Qatar plans to buy Porsche's stock options in VW and is no longer interested in buying an interest in Porsche alone, citing unspecified sources.

Porsche had said on Friday it was close to reaching a deal with Qatar that could help solve its financial problems.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Hendrik Sackmann and Arno Schuetze)

Reuters - Microsoft, VivaKi team up in digital and TV advertising

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Microsoft, VivaKi team up in digital and TV advertising

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 6:49PM UTC

PARIS (Reuters) - Microsoft and VivaKi, the digital arm of Publicis, on Thursday unveiled a broad cooperation deal spanning the fast-growing digital advertising sector to targeted television advertising.

The deal will lead to the creation of a customized VivaKi advertisement exchange for television advertising delivered via Microsoft's Admira software, the statement said.

"This will enable more 'audience-specific' television buying by VivaKi, creating an audience on demand for television" it said.

As part of the agreement, VivaKi's units Starcom MediaVest Group, Zenith Optimedia and Digitas, will use Admira technology to help clients plan and buy media ads when Admira goes live in the fourth quarter 2009.

Admira, developed by Microsoft's Navic division, helps advertisers target specific television audiences, thus saving on the costs of placing ads in front of consumers who are unlikely to buy their products.

Publicis, the world's third-largest advertising group by revenue, launched VivaKi a year ago.

VivaKi, which pools the digital capabilities of various Publicis units, aims to help advertisers access a single target audience through a global campaign.

Publicis aims to generate 25 percent of its revenue from digital activities by 2010 against 20.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Jason Benham)

Reuters - Sony eyes cellphone/game gear hybrid - Nikkei

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Sony eyes cellphone/game gear hybrid - Nikkei

Saturday, Jun 27, 2009 4:59AM UTC

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp is considering developing a cellphone-game gear hybrid in a bid to better compete with Apple Inc's highly popular iPod and iPhone, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate launched its first Walkman three decades ago, dominating the portable music player market, but it has been running far behind the iPod and iPhone in recent years.

Sony plans to set up a project team as early as July to develop a new product that combines functions of its portable game player and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones, the Nikkei said.

Sony Ericsson is a cellphone joint venture between Sony and Sweden's Ericsson.

A growing number of game-makers including Capcom Co Ltd and Square Enix Holdings are now offering software for the iPod and iPhone to take advantage of the Apple products' popularity, posing a threat to Sony's PlayStation Portable and Nintendo Co Ltd's DS.

A Sony spokesman declined to comment on the report.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Reuters - Google slammed as China and U.S. quarrel over Internet

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Google slammed as China and U.S. quarrel over Internet

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 1:0PM UTC

By Chris Buckley and Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Thursday stepped up accusations that Google is spreading obscene content over the Internet, a day after U.S. officials urged Beijing to abandon plans for controversial filtering software on new computers.

The growing friction over control of online content threatens to become another irritant in ties at a time the world is looking for the United States and China to cooperate in helping to pull the global economy out of its slump.

China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused Google's English language search engine of spreading obscene images that violated the nation's laws, less than 24 hours after disruptions to the company's search engines and other services within China.

Spokesman Qin Gang did not directly say whether official action was behind the disruptions, but he made plain the government's anger and said "punishment measures" taken against Google were lawful.

"Google's English language search engine has spread large amounts of vulgar content that is lascivious and pornographic, seriously violating China's relevant laws and regulations," he told a regular news conference.

A spokesman for Google in China declined to comment.

Separately, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Wednesday voiced concerns over the "Green Dam" software in a letter to Chinese officials.

"China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-install software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues," Locke said in a statement.

China says the "Green Dam" filtering software is to protect children from illegal images and insists the deadline of July 1 for new computers to be sold with the software will not change.

An official at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, which handles trade rows, said the ministry had no immediate response to the U.S. criticism and referred questions to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which also had no comment.

Critics have said the program, sold by Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co, is technically flawed and could be used to spy on users and block sites Beijing considers politically offensive.

The proposed new rules raised fundamental questions regarding the transparency of China's regulatory practices and concerns about compliance with WTO rules, the U.S. officials said.

GOOGLE DISRUPTED

The software plan coincides with criticisms of Google by China's Internet watchdog and access disruptions in China to the U.S. company's websites.

The watchdog last week ordered the world's biggest search engine to block overseas websites with "pornographic and vulgar" content from being accessed through its Chinese-language version.

Late on Wednesday evening, Internet users in China were unable to open several Google sites for around an hour, and some reported disruptions throughout Thursday.

A company spokeswoman at Google in the United States said the firm was checking reports of problems with access in China.

The disruption -- coming soon after Google was criticized by China -- "seems beyond mere coincidence," said Mark Natkin, Managing Director of Marbridge Consulting, a Beijing-based company that advises on telecommunications and IT.

Google's problems reflect the difficulties of foreign Internet firms competing in the world's biggest online market while facing controversy over censorship.

Chinese officials have said their Internet moves are driven by worries about exposing children to disturbing online images, but an official newspaper reported on Thursday that a plan to recruit volunteers to scour the Internet for banned content and report to officials also has a political element.

The Legal Daily reported that 10,000 volunteers sought by Beijing would also search for "harmful content" that includes "threats to state security," "subverting state power," and "spreading rumours and disturbing social order."

Natkin, the consultant, said the official pressure was most unlikely to deter Google and other Internet companies from continuing to operate in China.

"Google has to be looking at China as a long-term play," he said. "The allure of the Chinese market, not just for Google and not just for Internet companies, is so compelling, so alluring."

(Additional reporting by Doug Palmer and Mohammad Zargham in Washington, Emma Graham-Harrison in Beijing and Lucy Hornby in Shanghai; Editing by David Fox..)

CNN - Jacksons rely on strength of family

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Jacksons rely on strength of family

There's a photo of the Jackson family on the cover of the September 24, 1971, issue of Life magazine. In it, Joseph and Katherine Jackson stand at the foot of a set of stairs, their star children -- known as the Jackson 5 -- arrayed behind them.

They appear to be the all-American clan, gold records arranged behind them, the boys loose and smiling, the parents more awkward and serious in their demeanor.

Over the years, that façade crumbled. The brothers bickered; some made accusations of abuse. But the group remained tight-knit through crises, including Thursday's tragedy, when Michael Jackson collapsed at his house and later died at UCLA Medical Center.

The journey began with music in Gary, Indiana. Joseph Jackson, the patriarch, played in a short-lived band called the Falcons (no relation to the Detroit-based group featuring Wilson Pickett) in the 1950s. His primary job, however, was as a crane operator at U.S. Steel.

Katherine Jackson, the musical and devoutly religious woman who he married in 1949, tended to the couple's large family: Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Michael and Randy, all born between 1950 and 1961. Daughter Janet arrived in 1966.

By that time, the three oldest boys -- Jackie, Tito and Jermaine -- had started their own group, which Marlon and Michael eventually joined. Joseph Jackson saw a chance for his sons to have the musical career he'd found elusive.

Joseph Jackson admitted being a harsh taskmaster. He drove his sons hard, forcing them to rehearse with a James Brown-like intensity. He wasn't above emphasizing his feelings to his seventh child, Michael.

"My father teased me and I just hated it and I cried every day," Michael told Oprah Winfrey in 1993. He said his father also beat him: "He was very strict, very hard, very stern. ... There's been times when he'd come to see me, I'd get sick, I'd start to regurgitate."

He quickly said, imagining his father's reaction, "Please don't be mad at me."

Joseph Jackson disputed the word "beat," but didn't question Michael's account.

"I whipped him with a switch and a belt," he told the BBC in 2003. He added, "I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick."

In a 2005 interview with CNN's Larry King, Jermaine defended his father's actions.

"We grew up like any other black family. You did something, you got your butt tore up, and it wasn't tore up, it was just, you got a spanking," he said. "I will say this. He kept us off of the streets. He kept us away from drugs. He kept us away from gangs and ... we've been able to project a talent out there and have the support of strong people to entertain the world."

By 1968, when Michael turned 10, the Jackson 5 was a professional musical machine. They'd won an Apollo Theater talent night the previous year and were working the "chitlin circuit" of black clubs when producer Bobby Taylor urged Motown to sign the group. Motown founder Berry Gordy was impressed and made them "the last big stars to come off my assembly line," according to a biography on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Web site.

The group shot out of the gate with four No. 1 hits and gained a huge fan base, along with an animated TV show. But success took its toll, particularly when it wasn't so easy to come by.

In the mid-1970s, the band -- minus Jermaine, who'd married Gordy's daughter Hazel -- moved to Epic Records, where they were produced by the Philadelphia soul-funk team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The two remember nothing but good times from the sessions, which produced two albums and the Top 10 hit "Enjoy Yourself."

"It was a collaboration," Gamble said. "They all participated in creating. Tito was a great guitarist -- they were all great musicians."

Huff said he visited the Jackson compound during a trip to California and remembered a warm family setting, complete with a "fantastic meal" cooked by Katherine Jackson.

"I've got nothing but respect for the father," added Gamble. "He's a great man. He made something out of nothing."

Even during that era, however, Michael was standing out. Gamble and Huff recalled him taking a keen interest in recording technology and the way he sounded. Going solo with Quincy Jones producing, as he did in 1979, was the right move, Gamble and Huff said.

The family dynamics kept changing as the siblings grew older. After Michael's "Thriller" became the biggest album of all time, the brothers -- including Jermaine -- regrouped for a new album, "Victory," and accompanying tour. But Michael, now the undisputed draw, disagreed with some of the tour plans and ended up donating his earnings to charity.

Michael's brightened spotlight boosted the careers of his siblings; even Rebbie had a hit. But it was Janet who broke out with the most success, including the No. 1 singles "Miss You Much," "Black Cat" and "Again" in the 1980s and '90s.

With the increased interest in the Jacksons came tabloid scrutiny of the family's every move. When La Toya appeared nude in Playboy magazine, the story made headlines. She later criticized Michael and was on the outs for several years.

Jermaine put out a song called "Word to the Badd," an attack on Michael, in 1991; he later changed the lyrics. Janet's relationships were probed in detail, as were the brothers' marriages.

And Michael, of course, was seen as increasingly eccentric, his personality overwhelming his music.

But for all their own bickering, the family closed ranks when a member was attacked. In 1992, Jermaine co-produced "The Jacksons: An American Dream," a TV miniseries based on Katherine Jackson's memoir, which chronicled their rise to stardom. When Michael faced molestation allegations in the early '90s and was tried in 2005, the family rallied around.

"The Jackson family was groomed to be a team," said Linda Johnson Rice, president and CEO of Ebony and Jet magazines' Johnson Publishing and a longtime family friend. "As you can see through their performances, they were always there for each other."

In recent years, La Toya has appeared on the reality shows "Armed and Famous" and the UK "Celebrity Big Brother." She originally had a scene in the forthcoming Sacha Baron Cohen movie, "Bruno," but CNN confirmed the scene has been cut, "out of respect for Jackson's family," the studio told The (UK) Guardian.

Jermaine, who converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Abdul-Aziz, appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" in 2007. Jackie runs a record label, Tito remains involved in the music business, and according to a 2008 article in the New York Post, Marlon and Randy have struggled financially.

In the hospital emergency room Thursday, Randy and Jermaine were witnessed hugging and crying over their late brother.

"We're a family," Jermaine told Larry King in the 2005 interview. "We're no different than any other family who has feuds and problems. ... But at the same time, we're united, and we have a united front that is very, very strong, and it's supported by God.

"My mother and father did a great job in instilling the morals and principles in us from the very beginning. We feel that with that, that's all you need to go through life."

Reuters - Drug use key question in Michael Jackson's sudden death

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Drug use key question in Michael Jackson's sudden death

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 5:21PM UTC

By Mary Milliken and Laura Isensee

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One day after Michael Jackson's sudden death, speculation turned to what killed the 50-year-old "King of Pop" on the cusp of a long-awaited comeback concert series.

A family attorney said on Friday he had been concerned that Jackson's use of prescription drugs for dancing-related injuries would eventually prove fatal and that the entertainer's inner circle had ignored his warnings.

A Jackson family member told celebrity website TMZ.com the singer had been given an injection of the painkiller Demerol before he went into full cardiac arrest at his rental home around midday on Thursday. TMZ soon after broke the news that Jackson had died at a Los Angeles hospital.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office said the autopsy would begin Friday morning, but it could take six to eight weeks to determine a cause of death, which will likely have to wait for the return of toxicology tests. Those tests will determine if Jackson had any drugs, alcohol or prescription medications in his system.

LEGIONS OF FANS

At dawn on Hollywood Boulevard, fans gathered at Jackson's star on the Walk of Fame to honor the former child prodigy who became one of the best-selling pop artists of all time before descending into a strange and reclusive lifestyle amid accusations of child molestation.

"His music was the soundtrack of my childhood," said Tassa Hampton, 32, as she knelt to light a white votive candle amid a growing pile of flowers and posters. "I didn't realize what a loss it was until he was gone."

Jackson's passing was front-page news around the world as airwaves filled with his greatest hits from "Thriller" to "Billie Jean" and social networking sites were bombarded with messages and tributes from fans and musicians.

"It's so sad and shocking," former Beatle Paul McCartney said. "I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever."

The family has yet to announce details of funeral services. Jackson's body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner's office late Thursday.

Lawyer Brian Oxman, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told CBS's "The Early Show" on Friday that he had been concerned about the prescription drugs that Jackson took due to injuries suffered while performing.

"I had warned everyone that I could warn and I told them that one day, Michael Jackson is going to wake up dead, which is a very odd way of putting it," Oxman said.

"I do not want to point fingers at anyone because I want to hear what the toxicology report says and the coroner says but the plain fact of the matter is that Michael Jackson had prescription drugs at his disposal at all times," he said.

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson's home in the upscale Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles at the behest of Chief William Bratton.

The doctor who lived at Michael Jackson's house is missing, TMZ reported. A law enforcement source told TMZ that the doctor, whose name is not known, gave Jackson an injection before he died.

Facing a battered reputation and a mountain of debt which The Wall Street Journal reported ran to $500 million, Jackson had spent the last two months rehearsing for the London concerts, including Wednesday at the huge Staples Center arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

A complex process began in London to refund ticketholders, including people who bought tickets for sell-out shows from unauthorized dealers. A pair of "VIP" passes was offered on e-Bay recently for 16,000 pounds (over $25,000).

In death, Jackson's music enjoyed a commercial renaissance that had eluded him for years. His songs surged to the top 15 slots on online retailer Amazon.com Inc's best-selling albums within hours.

TAINTED TALENT?

Jackson dominated the charts in the 1980s and was one of the most successful entertainers of all time, with a lifetime sales tally estimated at 750 million records, 13 Grammy Awards and several seminal music videos.

"Michael was and will remain one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived," said Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jackson's first label boss. "He was exceptional, artistic and original. He gave the world his heart and soul through his music."

Jackson's reputation as a singer and dancer was overshadowed in recent years by his increasingly abnormal appearance and bizarre lifestyle, which included his friendship with a chimp and a preference for the company of children.

He named his estate in the central California foothills Neverland Valley Ranch, in tribute to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan stories, and built amusement park rides and a petting zoo.

Jackson was twice accused of molesting young boys and was charged in 2003 with child sexual abuse. He became even more reclusive following his 2005 acquittal and vowed he would never again live at Neverland.

Despite reports of Jackson's ill health, the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children, and first performed with his brothers as a member of the Jackson 5.

His 1982 album "Thriller" yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million internationally.

The following year, he unveiled his signature "moonwalk" dance move, gliding across the stage and setting off an instant trend, while performing "Billie Jean" during an NBC special.

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.

Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999, and he later had another child with an unidentified surrogate mother.

He is survived by three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for a brief public appearance when his father displayed him to fans in Germany by holding him over the railing of a hotel balcony.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Reuters - "Transformers" in high gear already

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"Transformers" in high gear already

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 2:21AM UTC

By Gregg Kilday

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Debuting Wednesday to an estimated $60.6 million, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" already has begun its triumphal rounding of the box office bases that should see it set a record or two by weekend's end.

Once Michael Bay's sequel to the 2007 hit based on the Hasbro toy line staked out the upcoming weekend, there was never any question that it would dominate overall sales. Competitors steered clear of the date, with only Warner Bros. fielding the feel-good weepie "My Sister's Keeper" in a modest bit of counterprogramming.

So the new "Transformers" -- machine-tooled with the help of a budget said to have approached $200 million -- isn't really competing against the other current releases: The Paramount release is out to do battle against the record book.

If Paramount's first-day sales estimate holds, the sequel already can claim the distinction of the biggest Wednesday opening ever. It vaulted ahead of 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which bowed to a one-day gross of $44.2 million.

It came unexpectedly close to challenging "The Dark Knight," which holds the records for biggest opening-day gross and best single-day gross: It collected $67.2 million when it opened last year on a Friday. And it squeezed ahead of 2007's "Spider-Man 3," which debuted to $59.8 million, which had enjoyed runner-up status to "Knight" in the best single opening-day list.

"Transformers'" accelerated takeoff was turbo-charged with the help of $16 million from midnight screenings, included in that $60.6 million opening number.

Entering the weekend, the Paramount/DreamWorks co-production -- which is looking to draw in a wide audience base with the help of its fast-rising stars, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox -- looks on track to surpass the debut of the first "Transformers," which opened on a Monday evening and collected $155.4 million in its first 6-1/2 days. By the close of business Sunday, the sequel probably will have passed that mark and in just its first five days.

In doing so, it also would overshadow 2004's "Spider-Man 2," which holds the record for the best Wednesday-through-Sunday opening with $152.4 million.

"Transformers" still would have a hard time challenging "Dark Knight" for the best five-day gross of all time, $203.8 million. "Dark Knight" was a hit with the fans and critics. Not so "Transformers," which as of Thursday had a low-ball 22 percent approval rating at Rottentomatoes.com.

But Bay's movies have never depended on critics. During the Friday-to-Sunday portion of its debut, the first "Transformers" pulled in $70.5 million. If its sequel maintains its momentum, it will best that number, attracting $80 million-$90 million and possibly more as it heads toward a five-day gross of at least $150 million-$175 million.

The holdovers at the multiplex will have to settle for doing business in "Transformers'" shadow. Disney's rom-com "The Proposal," last weekend's top grosser, Warners' breakout comedy "The Hangover" and Disney/Pixar's animated "Up" should all move down a notch, as they register numbers in the high-teen millions.

"Sister's Keeper," starring Cameron Diaz in the tale of a family dealing with one daughter's leukemia, is aiming to lure older female moviegoers from the "Transformers" juggernaut. One of its selling points is that it's directed by Nick Cassavetes, who directed "The Notebook," a leggy, summer sleeper. "Keeper," though, is probably looking at a gross around the $10 million mark for its opening weekend.

For the handful of moviegoers who turn a deaf ear to "Transformers," the specialty arena will host several new titles.

Miramax will present Stephen Frears' period romantic drama "Cheri," starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates and Rupert Friend.

Roadside Attractions may benefit from the world's focus on events in Iran as it releases Cyrus Nowrasteh's "The Stoning of Soraya M.," which examines the plight of one Iranian woman.

And Summit Entertainment introduces Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq-set "The Hurt Locker," a critical hit on the festival circuit, in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. On Rottentomatoes.com, that film's approval rating had reached an enthusiastic 97 percent on Thursday.

(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)

Reuters - Mystery surrounds Michael Jackson's sudden death

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Mystery surrounds Michael Jackson's sudden death

Friday, Jun 26, 2009 12:41PM UTC

By Dan Whitcomb and Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One day after Michael Jackson's sudden death, speculation was already turning on Friday to what killed the 50-year-old "King of Pop" just weeks before his long-awaited series of comeback concerts.

Jackson, a former child star who became one of the best-selling pop artists of all time before a descending into a strange and reclusive lifestyle, died on Thursday afternoon at a Los Angeles hospital, where he had been rushed in full cardiac arrest after collapsing at his nearby rental home.

His passing was front page news around the world, airwaves were filled with his greatest hits from "Thriller" to "Billie Jean," social networking sites were bombarded with messages and tributes from fans and musicians continued to pour in.

"It's so sad and shocking," said former Beatle Paul McCartney. "I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever."

Few details were known about the circumstances surrounding Jackson's death, but the entertainer was reportedly unconscious and not breathing by the time he arrived at UCLA Medical Center, and doctors were unable to revive him.

His body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner's office late on Thursday.

Brian Oxman, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told CNN on Thursday the family had been concerned about his health and had tried in vain to take care of him for months.

"Michael appeared at rehearsals a couple of times, he was very seriously trying to be able to do those rehearsals," Oxman said of Jackson's preparations for a series of 50 concerts that were scheduled to begin in London in July.

"His use of medications had gotten in the way, his injuries which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebrae and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way," Oxman told CNN.

Authorities have scheduled an autopsy for Friday. But they cautioned it could take weeks to determine a cause of death, which will likely have to wait for the return of toxicology tests. Those tests will determine if Jackson had any drugs, alcohol or prescription medications in his system.

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson's home in the upscale Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles at the behest of Chief William Bratton. But they called the investigation an "every day" event.

TAINTED TALENT?

Jackson dominated the charts in the 1980s and is considered one of the most successful entertainers of the past century, with a lifetime sales tally estimated at 750 million records, 13 Grammy Awards and several seminal music videos to his name.

"Michael was and will remain one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived," said Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jackson's first label boss.

"He was exceptional, artistic and original. He gave the world his heart and soul through his music."

But Jackson's reputation as a singer and dancer was overshadowed in recent years by his increasingly abnormal appearance, and bizarre lifestyle, which included his friendship with a chimp and a preference for the company of children.

He named his estate in the central California foothills Neverland Valley Ranch, in tribute to the J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan stories, and filled it with amusement park rides and a petting zoo.

Jackson was twice accused of molesting young boys and was charged in 2003 with child sexual abuse. He became even more reclusive following his 2005 acquittal and vowed he would never again live at Neverland.

Facing a battered reputation and mountain of debts the Wall Street Journal reported ran to $500 million, Jackson had spent the last two months rehearsing for the London concerts, including Wednesday night at the huge Staples Center arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

Despite reports of Jackson's ill-health, the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March Jackson passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

"I can't stop crying over the sad news," Madonna said in a statement. "I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats but his music will live on forever."

Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children and first performed with his brothers as a member of the Jackson 5.

His 1982 album "Thriller" yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million internationally.

The following year, he unveiled his signature "moonwalk" dance move, gliding across the stage and setting off an instant trend, while performing "Billie Jean" during an NBC special.

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.

"I'm so very sad and confused with every emotion possible. ... This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me," Presley said in statement.

Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999, and he later had another child with an unidentified surrogate mother.

He is survived by three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

(Editing by Dean Goodman, Anthony Boadle and Matthew Jones)

Reuters - Pop star Michael Jackson dead: report

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Pop star Michael Jackson dead: report

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 10:30PM UTC

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop giant Michael Jackson, who took to the stage as a child star and set the world dancing to exuberant rhythms for decades, died on Thursday, TMZ website reported. He was 50.

There was no official confirmation of the reported death and spokespersons for Jackson could not be reached for comment.

"We've just learned Michael Jackson has died," TMZ said.

"Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back," the entertainment site said.

It added, "A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived."

Earlier, the Los Angeles Times said the singer had been rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital by fire department paramedics who found him not breathing when they arrived at the singer's home.

The newspaper said paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene before taking him to the UCLA Medical Center hospital.

Jackson had been due to start a series of comeback concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer, whose hits included "Thriller" and "Billie Jean," had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months.

The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within minutes of going on sale in March.

His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, makes him one of the most successful entertainers of all time.

He lived as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation.

There were concerns about Jackson's health in recent years but the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

CHILD STAR TO MEGASTAR

Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael -- first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6. They walked off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson Five, and then The Jackson 5.

Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released "Thriller" in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide.

The next year, he unveiled his signature "moonwalk" dance move while performing "Billie Jean" during an NBC special.

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999. The couple never lived together.

Jackson has three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

(Additional Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Writing by Frances Kerry, Editing by Jackie Frank)

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Reuters - Michael Jackson rushed to hospital: report

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Michael Jackson rushed to hospital: report

Thursday, Jun 25, 2009 9:29PM UTC

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Michael Jackson has been rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital by fire department paramedics who found him not breathing when they arrived at the singer's home, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the scene before taking him to the UCLA Medical Center hospital.

No further details were immediately available, and spokespersons for Jackson could not be reached for comment.

Jackson, 50, is due to start a series of comeback concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer, whose hits include "Thriller" and "Billy Jean," has been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months.

The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within hours of going on sale in March.

Jackson, who started out as a child star in the band "The Jackson 5" more than 40 years ago, has lived as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation.

There have been concerns about Jackson's health in recent years but the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

(Additional Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Jackie Frank)

CNN - Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol and actress, dies

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Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol and actress, dies

Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and "Charlie's Angels" stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, died Thursday. She was 62.

Fawcett's death was confirmed by Paul Bloch, one of her representatives at Rogers and Cowan, an entertainment public relations firm.

Fawcett, who checked into a hospital in early April, had been battling anal cancer on and off for three years.

Bloch told CNN that Ryan O'Neal, Fawcett's romantic partner since the mid-1980s, and her friend Alana Stewart were with Fawcett at Saint John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, when she died.

"Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world," O'Neal said in a written statement. Read more tributes to Fawcett

O'Neal is the father of Fawcett's son, Redmond O'Neal, born in 1985. Redmond O'Neal is in an intense rehabilitation program conducted in the Los Angeles county jail, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore told CNN on Thursday.

Fawcett's son was informed on Wednesday night by a grief counselor and a chaplain that his mother's death was imminent, and a grief counselor and chaplain also told him when she died, Whitmore said.

The young man, who is currently with a chaplain, has spoken with his father, Whitmore said.

Ryan O'Neal had recently told People magazine that the sex symbol was declining.

"She stays in bed now. The doctors see that she is comfortable. Farrah is on IVs, but some of that is for nourishment. The treatment has pretty much ended," he said in a story posted May 7.

Fawcett's cancer journey has been documented in a television special partly shot by the actress. Fawcett began shooting "Farrah's Story," by taking a camera to a doctor's appointment. Eventually, the film expanded to include trips overseas in hopes of treating the cancer.

The documentary aired on NBC on May 15.

Fawcett's beauty -- her gleaming smile was printed on millions of posters -- initially made her famous. But she later established herself as a serious actress. She starred as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie "The Burning Bed." She appeared on stage as a woman who extracts vengeance from a would-be rapist in William Mastrosimone's play "Extremities."

She reprised the "Extremities" role on film in 1986. Other Fawcett films include "Logan's Run" (1976), "Saturn 3" (1980), "The Cannonball Run" (1981), "The Apostle" (1997) and the Robert Altman-directed "Dr. T and the Women" (2000).

To many, Fawcett will always be best known for her red-swimsuited image on the pinup poster, which sold a reputed 12 million copies after its release in 1976. iReport: Share your memories of Farrah Fawcett

Fawcett was a model best known for bit parts, commercials and as "Six Million Dollar Man" actor Lee Majors' wife when she shot the poster in early 1976 at the behest of Pro Arts, a Cleveland, Ohio, company.

Photographer Bruce McBroom placed Fawcett -- then known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors -- in the Indian blanket-draped front seat of his 1937 Chevy and snapped away. Fawcett did her own hair -- a long, tousled cascade of blonde locks -- picked out the red bathing suit and chose the frame later used for the poster, according to a story in the Toronto Star.

The poster, with Fawcett's million-dollar smile front and center, became a sensation.

Soon after the photo shoot, Fawcett was asked to join the cast of a new Aaron Spelling TV show, "Charlie's Angels," about a trio of female detectives who work for a mysterious man named Charlie, whose only appearance in the show was through his voice (supplied by John Forsythe).

Fawcett, who played Jill Munroe, was the last to be cast. Co-star Kate Jackson was the known name at the time, but thanks to her poster, Fawcett became the breakout star.

The highly rated TV series kicked off what came to be known as "jiggle TV," series full of pretty actresses who appeared in bikinis at the drop of a hat.

"Denunciations of 'massage parlor television' and 'voyeurism' only brought more viewers to the screen, to see what the controversy was about," wrote Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh about "Charlie's Angels" in their indispensable reference, "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows."

ABC's "Three's Company" and CBS's "The American Girls" were among the shows that immediately followed, and shows such as "Baywatch" owe "Charlie's Angels" a debt.

But Fawcett didn't stay with "Angels" long. At the end of the first season, unhappy with her contract, she left the show and was replaced by Cheryl Ladd.

Fawcett's career stagnated for a time after "Charlie's Angels." She appeared in a handful of forgettable films and divorced Majors.

But her career received a major boost with her starring role in "The Burning Bed," a 1984 TV movie co-starring Paul Le Mat. Fawcett played an abused wife who sets fire to her husband's bed as he lies sleeping. Fawcett received an Emmy nomination for her performance.

Fawcett also became romantically involved with O'Neal around this time. The pair had a son, Redmond, in 1985.

In recent years, Fawcett has appeared sporadically in the public eye. She posed nude for Playboy in 1995. In 1997, she appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman," an interview that became notorious for Fawcett's apparent incoherence. She later said she was just having fun with Letterman.

She reunited with her "Charlie's Angels" co-stars, Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, for an awards show in 2006.

Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1947. She married Majors in 1973; they divorced nine years later.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2006.

Reuters - Mobile money seen as chance for world's poorest

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Mobile money seen as chance for world's poorest

Wednesday, Jun 24, 2009 4:6PM UTC

By Georgina Prodhan

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Being able to use a mobile phone for money transfers, bill payments and even savings would give some of the world's poorest people the chance to become part of the financial system, telecom providers and bankers have said.

While microfinance is estimated to have reached about 100 million people through institutions such as Grameenbank and small-scale community projects, telecoms industry group the GSM Association (GSMA) reckons that almost four times that number, who currently have no bank account, could benefit from mobile financial services.

"The Grameenbank model works, but the scalability is limited," said Hannes van Rensburg, chief executive of mobile financial services provider Fundamo said on Wednesday.

"The problem is about the inertia of money. It's very difficult to move very small amounts of money fast," he said in an interview with Reuters at the GSMA's Mobile Money summit in Barcelona.

South Africa-based Fundamo is the world's leading provider of software and services for mobile money to network operators and banks, with about a quarter of the global market. More than 100 million transactions were made using its platforms last year.

These transactions can be as small as 30 cents at a time, as mobile financial services providers aim to reach more of those living on less than $2 per day.

EASIER BY PHONE

Currently, about 3.5 billion people, more than half the world's population, have no access to banking services. However, 1 billion of those people do have mobile phones and the GSMA sees that figure rising to 1.7 billion by 2012.

Access to financial services could not only remove the need for long, costly and risky journeys to move money around, but also reduce the burden of constant, active money management endured by those living on tiny amounts and in constant danger of financial crisis.

"Poor people are doing a tremendous amount of financial transactions just to survive," says Stephen Rasmussen, who runs a mobile banking program for CGAP, an association of non-profit organizations under the auspices of the World Bank that seeks to help to increase financial access for the poor.

"People at the very bottom spend far more energy and mental time on managing these systems than we do," Rasmussen told Reuters.

Mobile money deployments have huge momentum, with the number expected to double to 120 by the end of the year, according to the GSMA.

High-profile initiatives announced in recent months include South African operator MTN's plans to roll out mobile money using Fundamo's technology in 23 countries across Africa and the Middle East and Kuwaiti operator Zain's plan to extend its Zap money service from Kenya across its network, which spans 24 countries.

Eventually, these services could provide some of the world's poorest people the chance to save money safely and to obtain credit, although the bulk of transactions currently taking place are simple money transfers.

"We haven't even cracked step one correctly yet," said Fundamo's van Rensburg.

Rasmussen agreed.

"The prepaid phone has completely changed the world in the last five years," Rasmussen said. "But we're still talking potential."

"It's not going to instantly bring people out of poverty, but it's one more thing in the tool kit," he said.

(Editing by Karen Foster)

Reuters - "Friends" stars reunite online

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"Friends" stars reunite online

Wednesday, Jun 24, 2009 11:47AM UTC

By Andrew Wallenstein

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A "Friends" reunion of sorts is coming to the Internet courtesy of Lexus.

The carmaker is launching a second season of "Web Therapy," an online comedy series starring Lisa Kudrow for its branded-entertainment network, L Studio. Returning June 23, "Therapy" will feature Kudrow's fellow "Friends" alum Courteney Cox as a guest star. Don Roos directs.

With the release of 15 new short-form episodes of "Therapy," Lexus has also retooled its strategy to syndicate the series to iTunes, YouTube and Hulu. When L Studio launched last September, all of its content was confined to the website, which has also since been redesigned to incorporate high-definition video that loads faster and can be shared on social networks.

Kudrow, who won a Webby Award in June for outstanding comedic performance for "Therapy," stars as Fiona Wallice, a shrink who employs pretty shaky methods on a clientele she counsels over Webcam. In addition to Cox, Kudrow will play opposite Alan Cumming, Steven Weber and Victor Garber in the second season.

Beginning with the July 6th episode, Cox plays a psychic who seeks Wallice's help because the dreams she relied on to deliver her psychic vision no longer occur. It's a comic wink to the role played on CBS' "Medium" by her sister-in-law Patricia Arquette -- Cox even alludes in character to the famous family into which she married. "Good god, how many of them are there really?" she jokes about the Arquette clan.

While episodes will continue to be available at LStudio.com, bundles of three episodes will be available on iTunes for $1.99; a season pass for "Therapy" will cost $7.99. On YouTube and Hulu, Lexus will be in the unusual position of being an advertiser who will sell spots within "Therapy" to other advertisers.

(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)

(please visit our entertainment blog via www.reuters.com or on http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

CNN - Neda: Latest iconic image to inspire

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Neda: Latest iconic image to inspire

A 14-year-old girl stoops and screams above the body of a Kent State University student killed in 1970 by an Ohio National Guardsman.

A police chief aims his gun at a Vietcong prisoner's head in 1968, just before executing him on a Saigon, Vietnam, street.

And in 1989, an unarmed man in Beijing, China, stands defiantly in front of a column of tanks as they rolled into Tiananmen Square.

These are iconic images, the kinds of shots that changed the way people viewed history as it unfolded. They put human faces on conflicts and became rallying cries for movements, inspiring those who demanded change.

But while these photographs -- chronicling a single, silent moment -- were taken by seasoned photographers, two of whom won Pulitzer Prizes, this time amateur cell phone video is grabbing worldwide attention. It captures the death of a young woman named Neda Agha-Soltan, galvanizing protesters in Iran and shaping perceptions of a land and people few Westerners know.

"Every revolution needs icons and symbols -- an image that embodies a sense of universality of blight and at the same time innocence," said Roya Hakakian of Connecticut, a writer, poet and journalist who was born and raised in Iran. "The image of Neda does both."

The graphic video of Neda's death, caused by a gunshot fired during a protest in Tehran, Iran, records her final moments: Her eyes turn toward the camera, people scream and struggle to revive her while blood streams across her face.

Having gone viral with the help of social networking sites such as Twitter, the video of Neda's death has earned her the highly revered status of martyr. The woman who by all counts was an innocent bystander is now known as the "Angel of Iran" and is inspiring poetry. She is mourned publicly despite Revolutionary Guard threats, and her likeness graces posters.

For Hakakian, who left Iran about 25 years ago, the significance of Neda's image runs deep. She said it's part of a larger picture of current protests being propelled by women, and a reflection of the Iran and the Iranians she knows.

What outsiders have seen over the past three decades, she said, are fist-pumping men decrying America, images of hostages and "the burning of Uncle Sam effigies." Americans, she continued, have gotten to know little beyond the talk of Hezbollah and Hamas support, discussions of nuclear bombs and the rants of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for, among other things, the destruction of Israel.

"We come from different corners of the world, but we see the same thing," Hakakian said of the video of Neda's death. "You don't need to be Iranian. You don't need to be her neighbor. You don't need to know her name. ... Anyone can watch this and come away with the sense of injustice and what's taking place, and I think that's why it's catching on."

Graphic images have long played a role in driving social awareness and change, said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.

The skeletal figures of concentration camp victims drove home the horrors of the Holocaust. And the brutalized body of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy killed in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman, was shown at the insistence of his mother at his funeral, galvanizing the civil rights movement, Shapiro said.

In more recent years, amateur video was credited with capturing the 1991 beating by Los Angeles police of Rodney King. And the first images out of Virginia Tech during the 2007 campus shooting were taken by students before professionals could hit the scene, added Nora Paul, founding director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota.

The challenge today, in a time when anyone can post images, is making sure graphic photos or videos are put in context and used by news organizations in a way that moves stories forward, both Paul and Shapiro agreed.

While news outlets may blur faces, offer warnings to viewers or not even use some images, the vastness of the Internet means that once they are out there -- no matter how horrifying or inappropriate for viewers -- it's next to impossible to stop them from being circulated.

"Even if you try to control access, the dam is already broken," Paul said.

As for the impact on viewers, the effect of disturbing and violent images is hard to measure, said Elana Newman, who teaches psychology at the University of Tulsa and is a specialist in psychological trauma.

An image often can communicate "the depths of pain" in a way that words alone cannot, Newman said. But she added scholars often debate whether such images turn people away from news, desensitize them or bolster a story's credibility. And there is also the challenge to consider of "balancing the privacy of the victim with the importance of telling the story."

Her own opinion?

"These images are helpful when these events are far away," she said, because they can bring home a story. They, however, are "not helpful to people when they're in their own backyard."

And the impact on the person who captures the image is often untold.

John Filo was a senior photography student at Kent State when he snapped the photo that became a symbol of the shootings on campus and helped propel the anti-war movement at the time.

He doesn't remember going through six rolls of film that day, but he remembers being shot at and is all too aware that a mere feet -- even inches -- separated him from life or death. In 13 seconds, four students were killed and nine were wounded.

It took "a good nine years" for him to sort through the experience, he told CNN. His relationships suffered, as did his confidence as a photographer. He grappled with survivor's guilt, the images he saw but didn't share and the anxiety about how his work affected other people's lives.

"Everyone that was there that day was affected," said Filo, now director of photography for CBS media relaitons. "At least I had something to do that day. There were people who felt totally helpless -- people who tried to hide behind a four-inch street curb."

When no one could believe what was happening around them, he had the power to show it.

"You sit there as a journalist and say, 'If it was my brother or my mother, would I have taken this picture?' " he reflected out loud. It's "your purpose of being there. So yes, if it was my brother, if it was my mother, I'd still shoot the picture."

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ThisMoment.com is the newest social networking debutante

Vince Broady insists his new site, Thismoment.com, isn't just another way for you to share videos and pictures with friends, and find out about their likes and dislikes.

The site, which debuts today after six months in a private beta, is a place to create "moments," similar to what you might do on Facebook or Twitter, but also making use of the various media all over the Net.

"I got really frustrated using the other services," says Broady, a former CNET and Yahoo executive. "One is oriented towards photos, another toward video. One is all about status updates, another is about friending. There hasn't been a service yet that lets you break out of the format, to share what's most important to you, and incorporate stuff from the Net to help tell your story."

Broady raised $3.5 million to start the venture, with assistance from former CNET chief Shelby Bonnie, former MTV digital exec Mika Salmi and current MySpace exec Jason Hirshhorn.   Making it pay off will be a challenge, however.  The social networking market is notoriously crowded, and many sites are not profitable.

At thismoment.com, you put video, pictures and web content (from Flickr, YouTube, Picassa Web Albums, the New York Times and Time Inc.) into a "moment," telling a story of, say, a recent vacation, night out at the movies, graduation or other event.

"It's not a photo album, it's not a blog post, it's a moment," says Broady. "It gets to the essence of the human experience, which is emotion."

Broady says he started the site because he found himself "wasting" so much time constantly updating his status, and uploading pictures to sites, "and having nothing to show for it. It was all going into a digital shoebox, no one was looking at them, and I knew I could create something richer and more meaningful than what Facebook and Twitter were doing."

Broady has several personal "moments," on display. including one about taking his kids to see the old Mel Gibson film Mad Max, complete with YouTube clips from the film, Flickr photos of the movie theater and commentary about the Broady's  meal. 

The amount of time to create these multimedia blog posts could be quite time-consuming, but Broady is convinced folks will put in the effort.  "They're doing it now," he says. "They put in the time everyday."

He hopes to make money via advertising, and by selling promo content that can be used for moments. At launch, he's got stuff from the New York Times, Time and Road and Track magazine. The content will be free for the first 90 days.

By Jefferson Graham

Photo: Thismoment.com

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Phanfare gives up on social networking

Andrew Erlichson thought fans of his premium photo sharing site Phanfare would embrace social networking features like instant updates to friends whenever new pictures were posted, or news feeds about their pictures

.

Instead, his base of over 11,000 paying customers voted a resounding "no."

They wanted their old Phanfare back.

So Thursday, Phanfare goes "back to our roots," as pure photo sharing, says Erlichson. Phanfare users will once again be able to showcase their work with personalized URLs (such as http://jeff.phanfare.com) to share albums, with optional passwords instead of pesky registrations and notifications.

The social networking features are still there -- if wanted -- "but we don't expect for them to be used much," nor will they promoted, says Erlichson.

Phanfare competes with Smugmug for folks who want their photos presented online sans ads, in a more pleasing layout than at sites that exist just to sell prints.

Mighty Smugmug -- which serves consumers and pro photographers as a place to also sell prints -- has over 100,000 paying customers. Phanfare has a little more than 11,000 subscribers, mostly folks with their first digital SLR who who are photo enthusiasts.

So in a bid to increase market share, Phanfare began last year offering a free service, with storage of up to 1 gigabyte of photos -- hoping users would love the service so much they would sign up for the upgrade.

It didn¹t happen.

So now Phanfare is lowering its prices, to $49.99 yearly from $54.99 and heavily touting its acclaimed free iPhone app.  It lets you tap into your entire Phanfare photo library on your phone, even if offline (such as when you're on an airplane).

Erlichson says he added social networking features before Facebook really took off, and that in the interim, he's learned that social networking is a "natural monopoly. You want to join a network where all your friends are, so the biggest one continues to get bigger."  Phanfare fans can still share their pictures instantly to Facebook and Twitter, he says, so there was no need to have social features on Phanfare.

By Jefferson Graham

Photo: Phanfare's new home page.

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Napster creator tears down walls for social gaming

A decade ago, Shawn Fanning gained fame and turned an industry upside down with his music-sharing service, Napster. His latest project aims to remake the video game world, connecting players not only with content but also with one another.

Long before he began work on Napster, Fanning, now 28, was a gamer. And he was frustrated that he could not maintain contact with players outside of games like World of Warcraft. "You meet new people and friends and lose touch with them," Fanning says. "All these game platforms are walled gardens, and so you often only know someone you play with under their game alias."

So Fanning began work on a network he called Rupture to connect players across various game systems, individual online PC games such as Warcraft and even some casual Web games, "breaking down those barriers," he says. "Once you are a part of Rupture, you can track your friends and what your friends are playing, and find new games."

Electronic Arts acquired Rupture last year; Fanning remains general manager. "Shawn brought an entirely fresh, new way of thinking to our social gaming initiative," says EA CEO John Riccitiello. "It's exciting to see how his next venture, Rupture, applies his disruptive thinking to social gaming."

Currently in public testing, Rupture collects game identities and tracks your career. Once a player creates a Rupture account, profiles can be expanded upon with in-depth information harvested, for instance, from across PC, console, and Web gaming platforms. And Electronic Arts plans to supply information from its games, which range from sports to casual, on all platforms.

Game publishers could integrate Rupture to provide real-time updates. A Rupture desktop application meant to run while you are playing PC games lists friends' statuses (online or not).

Rupture's website provides social networking features such as friends and followers, plus recent games and challenges issued by other gamers (such as "Survive in Zombie mode co-op to level 20" in Call of Duty: World at War). "You get all the stuff your friends are posting, plus all of (their) achievements, high scores, new weapons or items," Fanning says.

Testing focuses on what data to publish automatically in the "feed" and what to leave for further searching. "You want to be able to digest that stuff really easily at a high level," he says. "Then, if you are interested in drilling down on a certain game or person, you have that ability."

These challenges pale in comparison with those Fanning faced in the past. Napster kicked off the peer-to-peer music-swapping craze and spurred a landmark copyright infringement decision before shutting down in 2001. A subscription Napster service eventually went into bankruptcy; this year, Best Buy relaunched the fee-based service.

Looking back, Fanning says, he was "completely blown away by the amount of interest and controversy. I wouldn't say I regret anything. It's easy in hindsight to look back at how such a complex situation unfolded and how you might have been able to make better decisions, but all in all, it was a great experience."

He says that in the music industry, "it is really hard to do anything innovative. (You're) dealing with a lot of people who aren't jumping at the prospect of their business model changing." But the gaming world, he says, is "a hybrid of technology and media, and their success depends on them incorporating and evolving new technology. You find people are far more open-minded."

Reuters - Springsteen, Ticketmaster battle escalates

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Springsteen, Ticketmaster battle escalates

Monday, Jun 22, 2009 10:32PM UTC

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Bruce Springsteen's manager has come out swinging against the Newark Star Ledger and Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller following a news report that the rocker's organization kept many of the best tickets to a recent show out of the public's hands.

The Ledger reported last week that about 2,300 total tickets for a May 21 performance at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., were held back for "friends of the band, the record label and the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority, which operates the venue."

Diller was quoted in the New York Post as saying Springsteen "has been one of our most vocal critics on our ticketing policies and while he's more than entitled to his opinion, it seems minimally fair-minded to point out that in the concert that created the battle, where Ticketmaster apologized for making a technical mistake, it seems that Mr. Springsteen held back from his fans all but 108 of the 1,126 tickets closest to the stage," Diller said.

The entire fracas dates back to February 6 Springsteen on-sale chaos for the Izod show, where the Springsteen camp claimed Ticketmaster directed fans to its in-house secondary site TicketsNow in a "bait-and-switch" maneuver.

In his response, posted Monday on Springsteen's Web site, Landau says Springsteen's holds "had nothing to do at all with the breakdown of Ticketmaster's system. When fans were redirected to TicketsNow, "an undetermined but large amount of money flowed into TicketsNow (and eventually Ticketmaster) even though there were still tickets at normal prices yet to be made available on Ticketmaster. We perceived this to have been a major abuse of our fans, complained about it mightily, and added that because of behavior like this, the pending merger of the number one ticketing company and number one management company (both owned by Ticketmaster) with the number one venue owner and operator (Live Nation) might not be such a hot idea."

Landau says a public apology from Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff "which apology we promptly and graciously posted on our site" substantiates the Springsteen camp's position when coupled with the volume of complaints received by New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, whom "ultimately secured a consent degree from Ticketmaster, in which they promised that some of their practices ("glitches") with regard to its sister company TicketsNow will never be repeated."

Landau calls the Ledger piece "the same article that the Star Ledger runs whenever we do a few indoor shows in New Jersey" and Diller's spin as "flatly untrue. He is merely using the time honored tradition of blowing smoke to distract attention away from Ticketmaster's already acknowledged responsibility for their "glitches" on February 6, the on-sale date of the two Izod Center shows."

Regarding holds by Thrill Hill, Springsteen's touring division, "Perhaps the first thing to be said is that when we play New Jersey, our fans know that we are usually going to do more than two indoor shows in order to ensure, among other things, that during the course of a tour, Springsteen tickets will be plentiful so as many fans as possible will have a chance to get great seats (hence the five upcoming shows at Giants Stadium.) As our fans also know, we have kept all of our tickets under $100 and do all that we can to ensure that as many as possible are sold at face value."

Landau admits to "significant holds" in New Jersey, as well as New York and Los Angeles" (which indeed is a common industry practice for major tours), saying the holds are for band members and their families, the Springsteen organization, the label, reviewers, radio stations, and charities.

Then he offers the following charge: "Unlike some Ticketmaster managed artists, no tickets are held for high dollar resale on TicketsNow, or through any other means."

Springsteen's ticketing practices have "evolved over more than 30 years of experience. Does anyone seriously imagine that any element of these practices caused Ticketmaster to redirect ticket requests to TicketsNow for the Izod Center shows? What would our incentive have been? It's not we who earned vastly larger sums when fans paid way over the face value of the tickets. It was Ticketmaster/TicketsNow."

Landau admits such public airing of Springsteen's business is uncharacteristic of the organization. "But we do get upset when we see fans being taken advantage of, as they were on February 6," he says. "So, when that stuff stops happening (and the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow problems surrounding our recent show in Washington D.C. shows that these issues are far from resolved) we will stop complaining. And when the facts cease to be misrepresented, we will stop explaining."

(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)

Reuters - AT&T in deals with Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent

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AT&T in deals with Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 2:37PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc <T.N> said it extended a network equipment supply agreement with Alcatel-Lucent <ALUA.PA> and would soon start selling a cellphone from Motorola Inc <MOT.N>.

AT&T, the second-biggest U.S. provider of mobile phone services, said on Tuesday it would start selling Motorola's Karma phone on June 28 for $79.99. The device, which has a miniature computer keyboard, is aimed at consumers looking to use their phones to send text messages or access social networks like Facebook.

The device is based on a proprietary operating system from Motorola, which is struggling to regain share in the cellphone market after years of criticism of its phone line-up.

AT&T also said it extended an agreement for Alcatel-Lucent to supply equipment used for AT&T's U-verse television and high-speed Internet service, which is being expanded around the country.

Motorola shares were up 18 cents or 3 percent, at $6.21 in morning trade on New York Stock Exchange, where AT&T was up 12 cents at $24.27. Alcatel-Lucent U.S. shares were down a penny at $2.46.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by John Wallace)

Reuters - Sarah Jessica Parker has twins via surrogate

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Sarah Jessica Parker has twins via surrogate

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 8:17PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Sex and the City" actress Sarah Jessica Parker and her actor husband Matthew Broderick had twin daughters via a surrogate mother, the couple's publicists said on Tuesday.

Parker, 44, and Broderick, 47, who already have a six-year-old son said their daughters -- named Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge -- were born on Monday in Ohio.

"The babies are doing beautifully and the entire family is over the moon," the couple said in a statement.

Parker is expected to begin shooting a sequel later this year to the movie version of the TV series "Sex and the City" along with Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis.

Broderick, star of the Broadway musical and movie "The Producers," and Parker married in 1997.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Alan Elsner)

CNN - Ed McMahon dies at 86

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Ed McMahon dies at 86

Ed McMahon, the longtime pitchman and Johnny Carson sidekick whose "Heeeeeeerre's Johnny!" became a part of the vernacular, has died.

McMahon passed away peacefully shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center, his publicist, Howard Bragman, said Tuesday

McMahon, 86, was hospitalized in February with pneumonia and other medical problems.

He had suffered a number of health problems in recent years, including a neck injury caused by a 2007 fall. In 2002, he sued various insurance companies and contractors over mold in his house and later collected a $7 million settlement.

Though he later hosted a variety of shows -- including "Star Search" and "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes," McMahon's biggest fame came alongside Carson on "The Tonight Show," which Carson hosted from 1962 to 1992. The two met not long after Carson began hosting the game show "Who Do You Trust?" in 1957. iReport.com: Share your memories of Ed McMahon

"Johnny didn't look as if he was dying to see me," McMahon, who was hosting a show on a Philadelphia TV station, told People magazine in 1980 about the pair's first meeting. "He was standing with his back to the door, staring at a couple of workmen putting letters on a theater marquee. I walked over and stood beside him. Finally the two guys finished, and Johnny asked, 'What have you been doing?' I told him. He said, 'Good to meet you, Ed,' shook my hand, and I was out of the office. The whole meeting was about as exciting as watching a traffic light change."

Though McMahon was surprised to be offered the job as Carson's sidekick, the two soon proved to have a strong chemistry. Carson was, by nature, introverted and dry-witted; McMahon was the boisterous and outgoing second banana, content to give Carson straight lines or laugh uproariously at his jokes (a characteristic much-parodied by comedians).

Carson made cracks about McMahon's weight, his drinking and the men's trouble with divorce. McMahon was married three times; Carson, who died in 2005, had four wives.

McMahon was also the show's designated pitchman, a talent he honed to perfection during "Tonight's" 30-year run with Carson, even if sometimes the in-show commercial spots fell flat.

For one of the show's regular sponsors, Alpo dog food, McMahon usually extolled the virtues of the product while a dog eagerly gobbled down a bowl. But one day the show's regular dog wasn't available, and the substitute pooch wasn't very hungry.

McMahon recalled the incident in his 1998 memoir, "For Laughing Out Loud."

"Then I saw Johnny come into my little commercial area. He got down on his hands and knees and came over to me. ... I started to pet Johnny. Nice boss, I was thinking as I pet him on the head, nice boss. By this point the audience was hysterical. ... I just kept going. I was going to get my commercial done.

'The next time you're looking at the canned dog food ...' -- he rubbed his cheek against my leg -- ... reach for the can that contains real beef.' Johnny got up on his knees and started begging for more. I started petting him again ... and then he licked my hand."

McMahon also promoted Budweiser, American Family Insurance and -- during the most recent Super Bowl -- Cash4Gold.com. Entertainment Weekly named him No. 1 on its list of TV's greatest sidekicks.

Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 6, 1923. His father was a promoter, and McMahon remembered moving a lot during his childhood.

"I changed towns more often than a pickpocket," McMahon told People.

He later joined the Marines and served in World War II and Korea.

Though McMahon was well-rewarded by NBC -- the 1980 People article listed his salary between $600,000 and $1 million -- his divorces and some poor investments took their toll. In June 2008, The Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon was $644,000 in arrears on a $4.8 million loan for a home in Beverly Hills, California, and his lender had filed a notice of default.

McMahon and his wife, Pamela, told CNN's Larry King that McMahon had gotten caught in a spate of financial problems.

"If you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that," said McMahon, who added that he hadn't worked much since the neck injury.

McMahon later struck a deal that allowed him to stay in the house.

He is survived by his wife, Pamela, and five children. A sixth child, McMahon's son Michael, died in 1995.

Reuters - Oil falls nearly 4 percent on economic outlook, dollar

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Oil falls nearly 4 percent on economic outlook, dollar

Monday, Jun 22, 2009 7:28PM UTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent to below $67 a barrel on Monday as the dollar firmed and concerns about the possibility of an economic rebound weighed on the market.

The World Bank said prospects for the global economy remained "unusually uncertain" as it cut 2009 growth forecasts for most economies, adding to concerns of a slower turnaround.

U.S. crude for July delivery, which expires on Monday, traded down $2.62 to settle at $66.93 a barrel. Brent crude lost $2.21 to settle at $66.98 a barrel.

"Crude and products futures fell for a second day on a bearish revision from the World Bank and on a stronger dollar," Addison Armstrong, an analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a research note.

The U.S. dollar gained against the euro on worries over the euro zone's economic and fiscal outlook. A stronger dollar can limit the appeal of commodities to investors.

Further weakness came as economic concerns dragged down equities. Optimism over a potential economic rebound had lifted stocks in recent months and helped push crude up from $32.40 in December.

Some support came after Nigeria's main militant group said on Sunday it had attacked three oil installations belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, widening a month-old offensive against the OPEC nation's energy industry.

Data showed implied oil demand in China, the No. 2 consumer, rose 6 percent in May over a year earlier, its fastest growth since August 2008.

Surging demand in China and other emerging economies sent oil and other commodities on a six-year rally that peaked when crude topped $147 a barrel last July.

Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Guards threatened to crack down on street protests in the OPEC producer after opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi called on supporters to stage more demonstrations over the disputed June 12 election.

A Reuters poll of analysts ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data forecast crude stocks in the world's top consumer fell by 1.3 million barrels last week on lower imports, while product stocks were seen rising.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly stockpile data on Tuesday, while data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration comes out on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Matthew Robinson, Robert Gibbons and Gene Ramos in New York, Alex Lawler in London and Fayen Wong in Perth; Editing by Christian Wiessner)

Reuters - Used cars congest Indian roads as sales spike

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Used cars congest Indian roads as sales spike

Monday, Jun 15, 2009 7:18AM UTC

By Janaki Krishnan

MUMBAI (Reuters) - When Indian insurance executive K. Shankar shopped for a car, he was pleasantly surprised to discover he could buy a three-year-old SUV in near mint condition for just a bit more than a new hatchback.

"This SUV is ideal for me ... and if I can get it for the price of a much smaller new car then why not?" said Shankar.

Used car purchases are soaring in India, the world's second most populous country, as a host of global and local auto firms offer attractive trade-in deals to build customer loyalty and boost new car sales.

Many of these used vehicles are getting snapped up by people who have never owned cars before or families adding second or even third vehicles to their fleets.

With over one million cars being added to India's roads every year, experts worry the country's creaky infrastructure won't keep up with the volume of traffic, causing unbearable congestion and more traffic accidents in a country with already one of the world's worst road death tolls.

"Growth in vehicle ownership has reduced rush hour speeds to 5-10 km an hour in the central areas of major cities," the World Bank said in a recent report on India.

The number of vehicles on Indian roads has grown at an average pace of 10.2 percent annually over the last five years, it said, adding that 50 percent of roads were in a state of disrepair and only 30 percent of highways had two lanes or more.

PRE-OWNED CARS

Until recently, the used car market in India was dominated by neighbourhood dealers and roadside garage mechanics who controlled nearly 90 percent of the market, say industry experts.

But several global car makers such as Hyundai <005380.KS>, Ford <F.N> and General Motors <GM.N> have entered the market with pre-owned certified car programmes, causing used car sales to soar. India's largest vehicle maker, Tata Motors <TAMO.BO>, also entered the market earlier this year.

Local firms Maruti Suzuki <MRTI.BO> and top utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra's <MAHM.BO> were the first to spot an opportunity when they launched their pre-owned certified cars programmes more than five years ago.

The used car programmes allow customers to get new cars in exchange for their older ones at substantial discounts. These used cars are then refurbished and sold with warranties.

For auto firms, the exchange programmes are a way of building brand loyalty. For new car owners they are an opportunity to buy bigger cars at entry-level prices.

"We will be able to ensure customer loyalty and it will also reflect in the sale of new cars," said General Motors India's Vice President P. Balendran.

Most used car buyers are first-time owners or those buying additional cars for their spouses or their children, said Hormazd Sorabjee, auto expert and editor of Autocar India magazine.

According to industry estimates, in the last fiscal year ending March 2009, new passenger vehicle sales were about 1.5 million units while sales of used cars were about 1 million.

"If you look at the mature markets such as the U.S. and Europe, used car sales are in multiples of new car sales ... and that is the sort of trend we are seeing replicated in India," said Jayesh Jagasia, founder of VeriCAR, a company that inspects used cars for customers.

The growth in used cars might make life more convenient for many Indians, but it has the potential to grind life down to a halt in major cities where road infrastructure is not keeping up with the ballooning volume of traffic.

Car accidents are also a major concern. India's road toll is one of the worst in the world with around 100,000 people getting killed in road accidents in 2007 alone.

As business grows, an industry for used cars has also sprung up such as web sites advising customers on good car deals and rating used vehicles.

The financial crisis, in which India's growth has slowed to 6.7 percent in the fiscal year ended March from 9 percent a year earlier, has also been behind the growth in used car sales.

"Interest in used cars has increased over the last one year or more because of uncertainty prevalent in the market and unavailability of loans," said Umang Kumar, co-founder of Gaadi.com, a search website for used and new cars.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal and Megan Goldin)

Reuters - Goldman free of government but Buffett looms large

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Goldman free of government but Buffett looms large

Friday, Jun 19, 2009 12:45PM UTC

By Steve Eder

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Now that Goldman Sachs <GS.N> has settled its $10 billion (six billion pounds) debt with the U.S. taxpayer, investors are wondering about the Wall Street firm's other looming presence -- Warren Buffett.

Last September, shortly after Lehman Brothers <LEHMQ.PK> went bankrupt, but before the U.S. Treasury unveiled plans to bail out the banking industry, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway <BRKa.N><BRKb.N> invested $5 billion in Goldman and acquired preferred shares and warrants to buy common stock.

Goldman, which received $10 billion from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP, repaid that money on Wednesday. But Buffett's presence is large, not just because of his huge investment, but also given his reputation for integrity and as one of the world's savviest investors.

So what will Buffett, the second wealthiest man in the United States, according to Forbes magazine, do?

"Basically not much," said Vahan Janjigian, author of the book 'Even Buffett Isn't Perfect.'

"He has a history of making fairly large investments in these kinds of companies and sitting back and letting the management team run the company."

Janjigian expects Buffett to sit tight as Berkshire collects $500 million of annual dividends on the preferred shares and earns paper profits on accompanying warrants to buy $5 billion of common stock at $115 per share for up to five years.

Goldman closed on Thursday at $143.09, meaning Berkshire would earn more than $1 billion in profits if it cashed the common stock warrants now. That is in addition to the 10 percent preferred stock dividend, which is twice the 5 percent rate the government was getting from the TARP investment.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman declined to comment and Buffett did not return a message left with his assistant seeking comment.

Despite what Goldman gave up, the Buffett deal was critical at the time, said Marshall Sonanshine, the chairman and managing partner of Sonanshine Partners.

"It was sensible when it was done, but tragic it had to be done the way it was done," said Sonanshine. "The last four months of 2008 were such an extraordinary time of fear and financial collapse one cannot realistically ask: 'Should we have? Might we have? Could we have?' The point is Goldman is a very strong franchise."

INVESTMENT PROSPECTS WERE DIM

Buffett's investment didn't always look so promising.

In November, two months after he made his move, Goldman common shares were as low as $47.44. Some doubted the wisdom of Buffett's investment and began to question his stewardship of Berkshire itself.

But Buffett stuck with Goldman through all the ups and downs -- even after his trusted investment banker, Byron Trott, announced planned to strike out on his own.

Bill Bergman, an equity analyst with Morningstar <MORN.O> in Chicago, recalled an October newspaper column in which Buffett said he planned to buy stock in U.S. companies.

"No one is noticing now that the market is above where it was when he wrote the article," Bergman said.

Bergman initially expected Goldman to be a safe and strong investment for Berkshire.

"That is what it looks like increasingly," he added.

And making the deal even sweeter, Goldman's top executives are publicly committed to protecting Buffett's investment.

In a regulatory filing in October, a group of Goldman executives, including Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, agreed not to sell more than 10 percent of their common shares in Goldman until October 2011, or until Berkshire redeems the $5 billion in preferred stock it purchased last year.

Gary Townsend, the president and chief executive of Hill- Townsend Capital LLC, said it was obvious Buffett will stick with Goldman over the long haul.

"Buffett tends to be a long-term holder," Townsend added. "I don't see him quickly leaving."

And with a deal like that, why should he?

(Reporting by Steve Eder; editing by Andre Grenon)

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Obama signs law giving FDA authority to regulate tobacco

Expressing a hope that America's teens will not be hooked as he was, President Obama just signed into law a bill granting the Food and Drug Administration sweeping new authority to regulate tobacco.

The president, shown here at the signing ceremony with lawmakers and teens representing the generation they're all trying to save, said he's trying to reduce the estimated 1,000 teenagers a day who become smokers.

"I was one of these teenagers. And so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time," said Obama, who has been public about his own struggles to quit smoking.

The bill represents "the strongest action the federal government has ever taken to reduce tobacco use," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Obama said the focus is on stopping sales pitches to children.

"The kids today don't just start smoking for no reason. They're aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They're exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn, and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting," the presient said.

The law Obama signed aims to end that. By this fall, it will take flavored cigarettes off the market. By January, it will require tobacco manufacturers and importers to give the FDA about ingredients in their products to their products; by next April, tobacco companies will be banned from putting their logos on sporting, athletic or entertainment events or on clothing and other promotional items. By next July, the terms "light," "low" or "mild" may no longer be used to market tobacco products. By 2011, all tobacco products must carry larger and stronger warning labels.

As USA TODAY's Wendy Koch outlined in a story earlier this month, Obama's signature culminates a better-than decade-long effort by members of Congress to give the FDA regulatory power over tobacco,a product that played such an important part in the early U.S. economy that some of the pillars on the first floor of the U.S. Capitol are topped with marble facsimiles of the Golden Leaf.

The Campign for Tobacco-Free Kids says more than 1,000 organizations, including public health and faith groups, joined to support the bill, which passed overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate.

A bipartisan delegation of House and Senate members who helped shepherd the bill through Congress was on hand for the White House signing ceremony. Absent was the bill's chief author, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. Kennedy, who remains in Massachusetts undergoing cancer treatment, issued a statement hailing passage of the "long overdue" bill and suggesting it's a promising sign for the president's efforts to overhaul the health care system.

Decade after decade, Big Tobacco has seduced millions of teenagers into lifetimes of addiction and premature death. Enactment of this legislation will finally put a stop to that. It is truly a life-saving act, and a welcome demonstration that this Congress is capable of enacting major health reform.

(Posted by Kathy Kiely)

Reuters - Dutch muggers caught on Google street view camera

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Dutch muggers caught on Google street view camera

Friday, Jun 19, 2009 5:14PM UTC

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch twin brothers who mugged a teenager in the northern town of Groningen were arrested after being caught on camera by a car gathering images for Google's online photo map service, police said.

The pair stole the 14-year-old boy's mobile phone and 165 euros ($230) in cash last September.

"The picture was taken just a moment before the crime," a police spokesman said.

In March, the victim recognized himself and the two robbers while surfing Google Maps, which has a "Street View" feature allowing users to see images of buildings. The images are usually taken by a camera mounted on a car.

After an investigation by the police, one of the 24-year-old twins confessed to robbing the boy.

($1=.7183 Euro)

(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde)