Commish gordon dead? Wtf?

--
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T

Multimedia message

money motive. what can i sell? i can sell cleaning service. laundry cleaning. moving service. music servic

--
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T

Reuters - China's famed Shaolin temple kick starts online store

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@gmail.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com

China's famed Shaolin temple kick starts online store

Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008 12:18PM UTC

By Sophie Taylor

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of kung fu and the star of many martial arts films, has set up an online store to flog its wares.

Named "Shaolin The Stage of Joy", a Web page has been set up by a unit of the temple on popular Chinese e-commerce site www.taobao.com, offering a range of goods including shoes, tea, T-shirts and slippers.

Enthusiasts can snap up a kung fu instruction manual for 9,999 yuan ($1,456), or pick up a pair of "environmentally friendly" chopsticks for 29 yuan.

This is not the first time that the monastery -- known in the West as the training ground for Kwai Chang "Grasshopper" Caine in the 1970s hit television series "Kung Fu" -- has made a commercial foray.

Shaolin Temple's business ventures include kung fu shows, film production and a reality TV search for the next kung fu star. Its monks also go on world tours to perform feats of agility and balance.

The temple, in central Henan province, was also the driving force behind a local government plan to float shares in tourism assets, a Hong Kong newspaper reported late last year.

But the temple came under fire in 2006 after a senior Chinese monk was awarded a luxury car for services to the local tourism industry, which forms a bulk of the city's revenues.

Some Chinese Web surfers also appeared equally unimpressed by the Shaolin Temple's latest commercial venture.

"Shaolin temple is getting less and less likeable," one Internet user wrote in an essay posted on news site ifeng.com on Wednesday. "There's a giant laughing buddha in Shaolin temple. If it saw what the temple is doing these days, I'm not so sure it would still be laughing."

($1=6.866 Yuan)

(Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Reuters - Mobile phone battery dead? Try dancing

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@gmail.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com

Mobile phone battery dead? Try dancing

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008 1:22PM UTC

LONDON (Reuters) - What do you do if you're stuck in a field at a pop festival but there's trouble ahead because your mobile phone's battery is about to run out?

Thanks to a new gizmo, you now just need to face the music and dance.

Mobile phone operator Orange said on Tuesday it had teamed up with GotWind, a firm specializing in renewable energy, to produce a recharger powered by dance energy alone.

The portable kinetic energy chargers will be given a test run at this year's Glastonbury Festival, the world's biggest greenfield music and arts celebration that begins on a farm in Somerset, southwest England on Friday.

Orange said the prototype chargers weigh the same as a phone and are about the size of a pack of cards.

Attached to the user's arm, they employ a system of weights and magnets which provide an electric current to top up charge in a storage battery. This can then later be used to recharge the phone.

"We wanted to create a fun, engaging and interactive product which would encourage users to have a laugh while charging their mobile phone and at the same time test out a new energy-efficient prototype," said Hattie Magee, Head of Partnerships at Orange UK.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Matthew Jones)

Reuters - Nokia buys social networking site Plazes

This article was sent to you from bombastica4000@gmail.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com

Nokia buys social networking site Plazes

Monday, Jun 23, 2008 9:47AM UTC

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top cellphone maker Nokia said on Monday it has agreed to buy social networking start-up Plazes as part of its major push into offering Internet services.

Plazes (http://www.plazes.com/) provides location-aware services that people can use to plan, record, and share their social activities.

Nokia did not disclose the value of the deal.

"This acquisition helps Nokia to accelerate its vision of bringing people and places closer together, in line with our broader services strategy," Niklas Savander, the head of Nokia's Internet services, said in a statement.

Companies such as Plazes are trying to tap into the potential for new services as more mobile phones get equipped with technology to pinpoint their location.

Nokia has said it would have dozens of such phones to offer by the end of this year.

To achieve new growth as the cellphone business is set to mature in coming years Nokia started to invest heavily in building up its presence in Internet service.

It has offered $8.1 billion for U.S. digital maps firm Navteq -- a cornerstone of its services push -- and has said it would invest millions more this year and next.

Plazes has staff of 13, and its main operations are in Berlin.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Quentin Bryar/Rory Channing)

Reuters - Big-screen giant Imax eyes digital future

This article was sent to you from Bombastic4000@gmail.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com

Big-screen giant Imax eyes digital future

Friday, Jun 20, 2008 10:36AM UTC

By Carolyn Giardina and Paul Bond

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Imax Corp. is going digital.

The giant of the large-screen format is beginning one of the biggest initiatives in its 40-year history: switching from 70mm film to a digital system of projection.

Next month, the company will roll out the first three digital Imax installations with exhibitor AMC Entertainment -- two in Washington and one in Baltimore. Three more will debut in August in Philadelphia. Imax expects to have digital systems deployed at 50 sites by year's end, with the goal of converting its 296 owned or equipped theaters in 40 countries.

Imax believes that the digital offerings will prompt new installations and more studio films for release in Imax theaters.

"In 2006, we averaged about 35 new theater signings a year. In the last seven months, we signed 173 new theaters," Imax co-chairman and co-CEO Rich Gelfond says. "That's because of the launch of the digital product."

New joint-venture agreements include deals with AMC for 100 systems and Regal Cinemas for 31 systems. The deployment has the potential to change the fare offered in the theaters.

Imax built its business on screening such documentaries as "Space Station" and "Bugs" but in recent years has aimed for such big "tentpole" movies as the Batman and Harry Potter films. It inked a deal this year with DreamWorks Animation that includes Imax distribution of the upcoming "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" as well as the studio's first three 3-D titles, starting with "Monsters vs. Aliens" on March 27, 2009, "How to Train Your Dragon" in November 2009 and "Shrek Goes Fourth" in May 2010.

"Madagascar 2," which opens November 7, is scheduled as the first "wide" digital Imax release, on an expected 35 screens.

Imax said that it has been talking to six studios about film projects for 2009. During this transition period, Imax will release both film and digital.

A challenge for the Imax business model always has been studio distribution costs. A 70mm Imax print can cost from $22,000 per print for a 2-D film to $45,000 per print for a 3-D title. According to Gelfond, with digital projection, studios would -- at least initially -- deliver the content as files on a hard drive at a low cost of about $800 per digital Imax "print."

Most installations will be joint ventures between Imax, which puts up the production equipment and screen, and the theater owner, who covers the cost to retrofit the moviehouse (about $150,000 per auditorium). Box office is split on a negotiated basis.

In other instances, the theater would purchase the system from Imax, which is about $1.2 million per auditorium plus a minimum royalty to Imax from the exhibitor, which is typically the greater of $50,000 a year or 3% of the total box office.

Typically, the Imax cut from a studio on any given movie at an Imax theater is 12.5% of the box office gross; Imax ticket prices tend to be 20%-30% more than a traditional movie ticket.

Imax's digital initiative has been a long time coming, and investors haven't always been enthusiastic about the expensive strategy.

The company's stock has fluctuated from $30 in 1999 to less than $1 a couple years later after a failed effort to sell itself. It closed Thursday at $7.31 on the Nasdaq, roughly where it was five years ago.

But Wall Street has taken a liking lately, with five analysts calling the stock a "buy" or "strong buy" and no one calling it a "sell."

Eric Wold of Merriman Curhan Ford recently told Imax investors that "introduction of a digital system plus more joint-venture deals could reaccelerate theater growth and profitability."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Reuters - Watch superheros fight evil -- on your mobile phone

This article was sent to you from Bombastic4000@gmail.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com

Watch superheros fight evil -- on your mobile phone

Friday, Jun 20, 2008 5:26AM UTC

By Sachi Izumi

TOKYO (Reuters) - After taking on the big and small screens, comic book heroes like Spiderman and Superman may soon be appearing on an even smaller screen -- your mobile phone.

Suit-clad businessmen reading comic books are a common sight on Japanese trains, but they could soon be poring over their phones with publishers increasingly digitalizing their comics to cash in on the country's mobile-savvy consumers.

The July 11 launch of Apple Inc's <APPL.O> iPhone could also spur the growth of the mobile comic market as the device's touch-screen would make it easier and more appealing to read comics on handsets, analysts say.

As the number of mobile phone subscribers approaches 108 million, or 85 percent of Japan's population, carriers are moving away from voice services, beefing up content services and data transmission to increase revenues.

E-mailing, music-downloads and Internet surfing are already popular, and analysts expect comics to be the next big thing with the number of titles for mobile use soaring recently.

Comics led the size of the mobile publication market to double in the last business year to 22 billion yen ($204 million), according to Internet and media research firm Impress R&D. The size is almost three times bigger than the e-publication market for PCs.

"Until now, users had been extensively using mobile phones for emails," said Shinko Securities analyst Tomohiko Okugawa said. "Now that's shifting to games and comics ... this is the area it's going to be very interesting."

Top mobile phone carriers -- NTT DoCoMo Inc <9437.T>, KDDI Corp <9433.T>, and Softbank Corp <9984.T> -- recently unveiled handsets and services, enhancing features like video downloads and animated e-mails, a move seen benefiting content providers such as MTI Ltd <9438.Q>, DeNA <2432.T> and Dwango <3715.T>.

"We cannot be ahead of competition just by prices, features and sounds like we used to, and now we have to improve contents and user-friendliness to position ourselves apart from the rivals," said Toshitake Amamiya, general manager of KDDI's content and media division.

"The importance of contents has been growing ... It is crucial to pursue what we can do in this market where each adult always carries around a mobile phone and uses it as a life tool."

Nikko Citigroup analyst Hiroshi Yamashina said the bigger, better screens of new cell phones will help make mobile comics more popular.

Carriers have been releasing handsets in collaboration with popular TV brands, with some of them boasting 3.3-inch screens. Yamashina said the launch of Apple Inc's iPhone would also push up popularity of mobile comics as it can revive the sense of turning pages on its touch-screen.

(Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Reuters - Cellphones challenge cameras with sharper pictures

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@gmail.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com

Cellphones challenge cameras with sharper pictures

Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008 3:43PM UTC

By Tarmo Virki

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Sony Ericsson unveiled on Tuesday the first globally available phone with a high-resolution 8 megapixel camera as the handset industry mounted a fresh attack on traditional camera makers.

For more than a year, the best cameraphones have had a 5 megapixel camera, comparable to most digital cameras. A few higher-resolution models are sold in South Korea.

Now other vendors are expected to follow Sony Ericsson's lead, threatening the camera industry which has had the upper hand with higher pixel counts and better quality pictures.

Sony Ericsson's C905 Cybershot model will go on sale in the fourth quarter, in time for the holiday rush. Analysts said Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were set to unveil their own models shortly.

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia will have a 5 megapixel camera in its next flagship phone model N96, but it is also looking to deploy higher-resolution cameras.

Cameraphones sales long ago leapfrogged traditional camera sales, allowing Nokia to add "the world's largest camera maker" to its title as handset leader.

The world's top digital camera makers -- Canon Inc, Sony and Eastman Kodak -- enjoyed a 24 percent expansion in their market last year. But consumer spending is expected to be crimped in key western markets.

"The mobile cameraphone industry is closing the quality-gap on portable digital still cameras and this represents an opportunity for growth and new markets," said Neil Mawston, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics.

Nokia controlled 34 percent of the cameraphone market in January-March, according to Strategy Analytics, with Samsung at 20 percent and Sony Ericsson at 11 percent.

"Sony Ericsson is trying to regain the initiative as a mobile-imaging-leader, after losing momentum to Samsung and Nokia in recent months," Mawston said.

Helped by Cybershot, Sony Ericsson's share of the cameraphone market is bigger than its share of the handset market. But Nokia and Samsung have brought 5 megapixel quality into the midrange market, attracting a wider range of buyers.

Ben Wood, director at research firm CCS Insight, said Nokia's approach towards very high resolution cameras on phones looked more conservative than that of smaller rivals.

"We are unsure whether this is due to platform limitations or a focus on delivering the best quality pictures with less megapixels," he said.

"Quality over pixel count is a rational approach from a technical perspective, but it may see Nokia losing out on the high street as consumers perceive 8 megapixels to be better than 5," Wood said.

Soren Petersen, head of Nokia's product portfolio, told Reuters earlier this week the Finnish firm should set the benchmark for others in the top-end of the of phone market.

"In ultra high-end we have stuff in works, but I could see some more there in terms of setting the bar," he said in an interview. "I could see a combo of 8 megapixel camera, big touch screen, still with a Qwerty keyboard."

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Erica Billingham)

Wud up blogland. All is topsy turvy with the black rider. Life comes in various desighns. Tim Russert Passed a

--
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T