Online retailers relying more on coupons to ring in sales.

With Online retail sales failing this month for the first time since sales there have been tracked, Internet retailers are offering deep discounts and free shipping to shoppers willing to do a little work to secure secret coupon codes or "referrals."
Finding Online bargains have become a true sport for some people and a cohort of coupon sites have sprout to help bargain hunters satisfy their obsession.
The offerings from these sites with catchy names like RetailMe Not.com, FatWallet.com, CouponCabin.com, BudgetFashionista.com etc, vary from one to another. But they almost all function as repository of coupon codes submitted by readers or retailers themselves. In that regard , RetailMeNot.com seems to have the most comprehensive listing according to the New York Times. It goes even further by offering a add-on feature available to users of the Firefox Web browser that alerts them when the e-commerce site they are visiting has a promotion on a a particular item. Most of the sites offer a platform for feedbacks where users can share their experience on past coupons and swap tips.
These sites generate revenues with a combination of different sources like commissions from retailers who made a sale thanks to them, referral fees and advertising among others.

For more, see NYTimes.com

More Online travel tools to choose from.

Despite the the turbulent economy, a large batch of new Online travel tools have surfaced this past year in a ever crowded market field. These new travel services offerings range from price alerts on a ticket for a specific flight, to an automatic travel journal generator to sites aggregators.
Among a few sample of these new sites, are, Yapta who goes beyond the traditional e-mail alert on a cheap ticket to alert you on a price drop on a specific flight or flights. One of the nice things about Yapta service, is that it offers its users a refund in the form of a travel credit if a ticket price drops after they have made their purchase. It also tracks the availability of reward tickets that its users plan to buy with frequent flyer miles, therefore, taking away the need for its users to regularly check with their airlines to find out when rewards seats are available. For more of Yapta offerings, check their site at Yapta.com.
Another interesting travel site, is TripJane, at TriPJane.com.

For more see, IBD.com

Microsoft to become the default search provider for Verizon.

Despite an intense competition with Google, Microsoft is close to becoming the default search provider on Verizon Wireless cellphones. Under the agreement being finalized, Microsoft would enter into a revenue sharing deal with Verizon for the ads shown next to cellphone Web searches. The deal would also guarantee Microsoft payments to the carrier of between $550 million to $650 million for the next five years.
That may have been the sweetener that helped Microsoft clinch the deal. There are some separate negotiations under way right now which if they come thorough, would put Windows Mobile software in more Verizon devices.

For more, see thestreet.com

VideoSurf offers a new way to search for videos Online.

With today's overwhelming popularity of Web videos and the many sources that make them available, the biggest challenge now is to know exactly what to look for and where to look to find it. For most of the Web video sites like YouTube, their contents are catalogued by the their original publishers using tags and keywords or "contextual metadata" before they are uploaded for the search engines to be able to find them. One of the drawbacks of that practice is the results can be very unpredictable as they depend on the accuracy of the tagging itself. And since there was no way for a human or a machine to double checking the tags and keywords used, the potential for abuse and misleading were very high. Now, a few start-ups have seized on the need for a more reliable way of sifting through millions of videos and pick the right one. One of those start-ups is a California based company called VideoSurf Inc. What distinguish this video-search site from the rest, is its revolutionary concept to conduct search by "seeing" through a video's images for a particular content as well as using metadata. The company claims to have analyzed and categorized more than 12 billion visual moments lifted from various Web sources at its site VideoSurf.com. Another unique characteristic of the site, is the way it displays the search results in a film stripe like format differentiating one scene from another. It also allow users to search by showing only people faces' , useful if you are looking for a particular person in a movie or a long video. The site is in its public beta phase which may explains its lack of a hundred percent accuracy for displaying the right video or listing the actual available ones. It plans to be much improved and fully operational early next year.

For more, see WSJ.com

Fees and rates increase for credit-cards

Despite the Federal Reserve cut of its benchmark rate to 1%, a lot of people are still being hit by higher rates and rising credit-cards fees.
To make up for their mounting operational losses, many credit-cards companies are raising rates and fees across a broader range of existing customers. For that matter, even customers who pay their bills on time, are not immune. Here are a few examples of credit-cards issuers recent rates or fees hikes:
- Chase J.P. Morgan plans to raise its rates on credit-card cash advances and over-draft protection as well as default rate triggered by late payments or balances going over the limit. Chase will also start charging a new $10 monthly service fee to cardholders carrying large balances for at least two years, while raising their monthly minimum payments for outstanding balances, to 5% from 2%.
- Citigroup and American Express have for their part been notifying cardholders about impending interest rates raises by 2% to 3% .

For more, see WSJ.com

Bush administration hurries up business regulatory changes.

Following what seems to be a tradition from past administrations in their last weeks in office, the Bush administration this week hurried up to pass several regulatory changes sought after by various business groups.
Among the changes are new rules that open the way for commercial development of oil shale on federal land; a new requirement in the Family and Medical Leave Act that allow employers to ask an employee's health care provider to give the reasons why a medical leave is necessary; the extension of the maximum consecutive hours for truckers to be behind the wheel to 11 hours.
All these new changes are opposed by Democrats lawmakers and some of them are proposing legislation to make any changes by an ongoing administration within its last three months, to be approved by the relevant incoming administration.

For more, see WSJ.com

PC makers are slashing the prices

Faced with rapid declining demand, PC makers are racing to cut prices in anticipation of a gloomy holiday season. Dell for instance is offering 20% to 30% discounts on new notebook models; recently, an Inspiron laptop with a 13.3' screen who previously sold for $984, was on sale for $713 plus a free printer on its Web-site.
Other PC makers like Asustek Computer Inc are selling their products in non traditional places like Toys "R" Us and Target in order to broaden their customers base to include children and women.

For more, see WSJ.com

Google Flu Trends to track the spread of flu.

Last week, Google introduced a new service called Google Flu Trends designed to predict faster and more accurately, flu outbreaks. The service developed in collaboration with the Center for Diseases Control or CDC, analyzes information gathered from flu related search terms. The key idea here is that the more people in a certain geographical region are searching Google for flu related terms such as coughs, fever, headache, runny noise etc, the more likely there will be a flu outbreak in that area. The CDC is helping validate and refine the model and is providing data over a five year period. The new system is said to be capable of predicting flu outbreaks in a particular area up to two weeks faster than traditional methods.

For more, see Bloomberg.com

Microsoft to add social networking capabilities to Windows Live.

Microsoft announced on Thursday that it was adding social networking features to its latest release of its Windows Live Web services.
In coming weeks, Microsoft plans to offer its users new ways to engage and share with friends online. They can assemble contact lists, set up networks of people and create news feeds that feature Twitter updates, Flickr photos, Yelp reviews and other popular online activities.

For more, see Computerworld.com

Host of spam groups is blocked from accessing the Internet.

The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide should start dropping soon after a Web-hosting firm, identified by many in the computer security community as a major host of organizations engaged in spam activity, was taken offline yesterday.

For more, see CNET.com

Google adds video,chat and audio Gmail

Google announced Tuesday it is adding video and audio chat to its free e-mail service, joining Microsoft and Yahoo in a race to make communication on the Web a more social experience.

For more see, PCmagazine.com

United Airlines cancels plans to increase charge for second bag.

On Friday, United Airlines announced that it is abandoning its plans to double the price of a second checked bag to $50. Also announced was a holiday promotion during which, the fees to check a first bag will be discounted by 20% if paid online between now and January 31 .

For more, see WSJ.com

Junk mail lists removal services.

According to the United States Postal Service, American households receive 100.5 billion pieces of junk mail, or 868 pieces for each household each year. If you are among the many tired of receiving junk mail, help is available from some services offering to remove you from unwanted mailers' lists.
At first there is the Direct Marketing Association which last month started a tool called DMA Choice that let you choose between four categories (magazines, catalogs, credit cards, other) or individual business to allow or disallow to receive junk mail from. If you choose to opt out of a particular category or individual business mailing list, that will be good for three years.
Another opt-out service is OptOutPrescreen.com .What makes this service particular is that it removes your name only from lists that are used to send preapproved or prescreened offers of credit or insurance. It is run by the three majors credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and Transunion) and Innovis. It lets you opt out for five years or permanently either online or by phone at 1-888-5 OPT OUT.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Smart phones bar code scanners.

If you were among the many hesitating to make the jump to smart phones, maybe this bit of information will give you a reason to take another look at them. The news here is that most of the smart phones like Google's G1, Apple's iphone or Samsung' s Instinct, are outfitted with third parties applications that can turn them into virtual shopping assistants. Take the case of the G1 for instance, it is loaded with an application from ShopSavvy which turns the phone into a bar code scanner. Here how it works: You go to a store and point the phone lens to a product bar code and it scans it and send the data to ShopSavvy's database for a quick price comparison online and at local stores and product reviews.
Another cool feature of this application is an email alert. For that to work, you submit your e-mail address and your preferred price for a particular product; ShopSavvy will then send you an alert when the price drops to your likening.

For more, see NYTimes.com

NFL games to be broadcast on Sprint cell phones.

Starting this Thursday with the game between Cleveland Brown and Denver Bronco, and for the next seven weeks, NFL games broadcast in the NFL Network television will be simultaneously shown on Sprint Nextel mobile phones as part of the wireless company exclusive partnership with the league.
The phone-casts as they are called, will be available in two packages. In the first one, the games will be available as part of the company's Everything plans priced at $69.99 a month; the second package can be purchased separately at $15 a month.

For more, see WSJ.com

Picasa offers face recognition feature

Picasa, Google's photo organizing, editing and sharing software has a new version out that offers a nice face recognition feature. The new feature in Picasa 3 will take the manual work of identifying peoples in your shared pictures by automatically isolating the faces in them and prompt you to identify them by name. It then goes to work by recognizing those faces every time they appear in future pictures so they can be tagged with one click without any taping.

For more, see WSJournal.com

AT&T is testing Internet broadband cap.

The days of all you can eat Internet broadband usage are closer to an end that you may realize. Slowly but surely, Internet service providers are rolling in Internet broadband usage caps. The latest in that string of companies putting in place cap limits, is AT&T who is following the footsteps of Comcast who has started a similar system at the beginning of last month in Texas. AT&T just confirmed that it is testing a new system for users in Reno Nevada. In that test, new users will be subject to two different caps depending on either they are using slow or high speed DSL service. Members of the first group will see their limit caped at 20GB of bandwidth per month while users of the fastest DSL service will see their limit set at 150GB per month.
Users in both groups who exceed their monthly limits will be billed $1 per gigabyte of data transfer following a one month grace period after their initial sign up.
In the meantime, all existing subscribers are not affected , but when they will as the company plans, they will all receive the 150GB limit. To help its subscribers monitor their bandwidth usage, AT&T is planning to provide them with a measuring tool; other third parties like Shaplus.com are already offering some types of measuring tools.
Anticipating no major setback, AT&T is planning to expand the new system to other markets soon.

For more see pcworld.com

WildChargemat allows charging multiple gadgets.

Ever dreamed of a single device that allow you to charge multiple mobile gadgets all at once ? Well now that dream is reality with a new device called WildCharge mat by a company of the same name.
The device is the size of a typical mouse pad with a surface covered by 12 shiny chrome stripes. It plugs in to one wall outlet and can accommodate five electronic gadgets. It costs $60 and each gadget that you want to charge using the WildCharge mat has to be fitted underneath with a contact dots panel to assure the electricity passage from the charger to the gadget. Some gadgets like the BlackBerry Pearl come already outfitted with the "underneath skin" that provides the necessary contact points. Otherwise, you will have to buy a contact dots panel for $35.
The WildCharge mat does not emit radiation or produce magnetic fields and shuts off automatically when a foreign object comes in contact with it, preventing any possibility for electrocution.

For more see NYTimes.com

AC/DC releases new album, Black Ice

Eight years after its latest album, AC/DC released its new album titled "Black Ice" available only at Wal-Mart in an exclusive deal. Fans are cheering AC/DC’s 15-track return, a familiar hard-rock assault produced by Brendan O’Brien. As an appreciation by the fans, the album quickly reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart with 784,000 copies sold making it the second -biggest sales week for an album this year.

For more see ChicagoSunTimes.com

Debt-relief business generate a lot of complaints.

According to the Wall Street Journal citing federal and state regulators, most of the companies that promises to help people settle their credit cards debts for less, do not deliver. The Federal Trade Commission has seen such increase in complaints that it held a workshop last month on the issue and some states attorney general are pushing for more oversight .The debt settlements companies have gotten such a bad reputation that some credit cards companies like American Express say they won't even work with them the Wall Street Journal said.

For more, see WSJ.com

Cheap cellphone rates for calls overseas.

For a lot of people with the need to call overseas via a cellphone, exorbitant costs have always been a major deterrent. But now thanks to some new sevices, that proposition is much more affordable. The new services are offered by companies like Truphone.com, Jajah.com, or Rebtel.com to name a few. Instead of using traditional phone lines to route international phone calls, these new services direct calls over the Internet using VoiP or voice over Internet protocol made popular by other companies like Vonage Holdings (Vonage.com). Each service is a little different on how it works. But according to the WSJ, they most share the same basic; all you need is a cellphone with Internet access and a credit card. After you sign up online, you will receive a text message with a link to download and install the software that will allow your future calls to be routed through the Internet. A preset amount of money will be put on hold from your credit card and the actual amount of the phone calls you make later are then deducted from that. Still according to the Wall Street Journal, these services are a work in progress therefore they are not without their share of problems like static, echo, fainting, etc. But overall, considered the huge savings that they provide, they are well worth the try. For instance, a cellphone call to China on Jajah can cost as little as 3.3 cents a minute or 2 to 18 cents a minute to UK using Rebtel. None of these services covered every country on earth and each one offer different rates for different countries.

For more, see WSJ.com

Bill targetting illegal online pharmacies signed.

On October 15, president Bush signed into law a new bill targeting illegal Online pharmacies and those selling drugs without a valid prescription. The new law, called "The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act," was named after a California teenager who died after overdosing on Vicodin which he purchased online. The new bill pushed by the world biggest Online domain names reggistrar, Go Daddy.com, will require online pharmacies to comply with states laws in which they do business as well as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). With the new requirements, federal authorities will be able to provide Web companies like go daddy.com, a list of legally approved pharmacies. Those companies in turn will be more effective in shutting down illegal pharmacies.

For more see, WebHostingIndustryReview.com

Maverick Mobile Solutions helps you track a lost cellphone.

Ever lost your cellphone or have it stolen just to be depressed at the thought of losing a vital communication device and all the precious contacts information stored in it? Help is on the way. An Indian software company called Maverick Mobile Solutions is testing a new application for cellphone that promises to address the problem. Here how it works: you download the application called Maverick Secure Mobile, on your cellphone and give the company a second phone number to communicate with you in case your cellphone is lost or stolen, and that where it becomes interesting . If your cellphone is lost or stolen and the thief or the person who has it replaces the SIM card with his own, the phone encrypts all the data stored in it and send them to you at the second phone number that you provided.
The application does more by sending you a text message with the location of the phone. It has a feature called Spy Call, with which you can eavesdrop on the person's calls. Also the application let you play a trick on the person possessing the phone by allowing you to make the phone play an annoying loud siren. When you thing that the person has enough of the tricks and maybe be ready to toss the phone, you can send him a text message with your name and location and maybe a reward for returning it.
The application is currently in testing mode, but Nokia has already signed a deal to begin offering it on some of its phones.


For more see NYTimes.com

Wordia.com, an online way to democratise the dictionary.

If posting goofy videos on YouTube is not enough, now you have another avenue not only to make fool of yourself, but to give your own definition of any given word in a recorded video. Wordia.com is the new Web site that makes it possible; think about it like a combination of YouTube and Wikepedia. Its backers among whom is Michael Birch the co-founder of Bebo the social networking site, call the new site a "democratically- compiled" dictionary. democratise

For more, see TheHerald.com

InSpot.org STD e-mail alert service is expanding

A free Web site called InSpot.org created by a Californian non profit organisation by the same name has been allowing users who find out that they have contracted a STD, to anonymously send their partners an e-mail notification to be tested for STD such as HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia , syphilis etc. Here how it works: the user goes online , fills out a form showing which STD they have contracted and the email address of the person to be alerted, selects a model of e-card and the content of the message then send it either anonymously or with their reference in it. Started in San Francisco, the service has now spread to 10 cities and it is reported that since its creation in 2004, 30,000 people have used the service to send about 50,000 e-cards.



For more, see CNN.com

Crossloop, new computer remote service, to help non techie.

For non techie faced with frustating computer problems and without deep pockets or a stand by IT department , the best next solution is a new free sertvice called Crossloop downloadable at crossloop.com .
The new product is a computer remote control service designed for collaborative help where the person needing help can initiate a session in which a more knowledgeable person in a different location is given access to the disabled computer for a diagnostic and help solve the problem.
For the system to work, both parties need to download the free service on their computers and for security reasons, the person being helped have to sit by the disabled computer and be the one that initiate the session by choosing the share tab. By clicking the share tab, the person seeking help will generate an access code different for each session, and only then can he gives it to the person providing the help to access his computer. That person providing the help can be a family member, a friend or a consultant in a list maintained by CrossLoop. In the case of the use of a listed consultant, there is a reasonable fee to pay the consultant depending on the case. An interesting feature of the service is a rating system in which the person being helped can rate the person providing the help in how helpful he has been.
For now the new service is only available for computers with Windows operating system; a Mac version is on the works and should be available in the next months.

For more, see WSJ.com

Peek, simple gadget to send and receive emails on the go.

For people in constant need of checking their emails on the the fly, a new service called Peek may be the answer. It is a device with one mission and one mission only: to send and receive emails. It does not have a built-in phone, camera or all the other gimmicks that the so called smart phones and other digital devices came with. It is sold at GetPeek.com and Target for $100 plus a $20 monthly fee without a contract. The device supports the majors web based email services like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc and supports up to three accounts.

For more, see pcmag.com

Aluratek USB thumb drive provides free Internet radio access.

For Internet radio lovers, a new device by Aluratek called USB Internet Radio Jukebox, is a handy tool to listen to music online from more than 13,000 Web radio stations in 150 countries.
The device the size of a USB flash drive, has all those radio stations information stored in its memory. Plug it in, and an iTunes-like user interface pops up and allows you to search trough thousand of stations. The device lets you search by genre, geographical area, or top 10 stations in each country and you can store your selection to a favorite folder. It retails for about $30 and requires Windows 2000, XP or Vista and Internet Explorer 6 browser or a more recent one.

For more, see thestreet.com

Unlimited domain names are coming soon.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or ICANN which administrate the Internet domain names addresses, has planned to open up the system to allow business and organizations to purchase unlimited number of top-level domains. What that means is, business and organizations will no longer be limited to purchase domain names within the limits of the existing 21 top-level domains like .com, .net or .biz.
Anything, popular subjects, types of business, geographic locations, you named it, could constitute a top-level domain. ICANN has reportedly invested $10 million to build the infrastructure for the new system set to start next year. The cost for each of the new domains is estimated to start at $100,000 and the most sought after may be auctioned off. One of the appeal of this new top domains is the fact that buyers of these new domains, can turn around and sell the rights to sub addresses within the domain. For instance, someone who owns the domain .shoes, can sell as many sub addresses within the domain; with that in mind, a shoes retailer doing business under the name Original George, can purchase the unique sub address OriginalGeorge.shoes.
But , a lot of critics are worried that instead of helping , the new naming system may causes too much confusions.

For more, see WSJ.com

Cheap aifares for college students and teachers.

In a time when air travel is dreaded by many because of the many hassles associated with it and the airline compounding the situation with countless surcharges, it is refreshing for students travelers to know that there are still ways to secure airlines tickets at fractions of their costs.
The discount airline tickets for students is today dominated by two major players, STA Travel Inc and StudentUniverse.com.
According to the WSJ, here are some comparisons between airfares bought through those discount outlets and some regularly priced through the airlines directly: a one way ticket between Dallas and Hartford Connecticut is offered at $242 by STA Travel for one-way on an American Airlines flight on December 20; the same ticket purchased through American , would cost $1,006 according to Orbitz.com.
Another example, a fare between New York and London on the same day on Virgin Atlantic Airways is offered at $364 by StudentUniverse.com while listed at $865 on Virgin's own web site.

For more see WSJ.com

live video broadcasting solution offered by Kyte.com and Qik.com

For people looking for a quick and easy way to shoot video on the go and share it almost instantly with an audience, two software companies have distinguished themselves in that field with very appealing products. Those two companies are Kyte.com and Qik.com.
Both these services allow users with the right cell phones and software to shoot video from their phones and broadcast it live on the Web sites of those companies. Example of those phones include the Nokia N series smart phone which runs between $400 and $895 or the Motorola Q, the Sony Ericsson Xperia, the HTC Touch Dual and the Blackjack II. For a live unlimited streaming, users need to have an unlimited Internet data streaming with their mobile phone plans or add the coverage for about $15 to $20 a month.
Beside live streaming, the videos can also be sent to blogs and social networks right from a cell phone. But the coolest thing about the these new services is the possibility for viewers to chat with each other while watching the video. The comments will appear instantly at the bottom of the viewer's screen.
Right now, Kyte services is free for registers users; business too are using it on a free trial base . In the future, the company plans to charge commercial users based either on traffic or revenues.

For more see NYTimes.

American Airlines offers in-flight Internet access.

In partnership with Aircell a telecommunication company, American Airlines has started since August to offer in-flight Internet access on Boeing 767 aircraft's from New-York to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. The service is named Gogo and is a six months trial program. According to the New York Times, with the service, you can send emails, instant-messages or surf the Web. One thing you can not do with it, is connect to VoIP services like the one offered by Skype, to make phone calls via the Internet. Gogo technology is capable of allowing it but a filter have been put in place to prohibit it. Another restriction that has been just added, is the ability to visit adult sites.
For a cross country flight, the gogo service costs $12.95.
Delta and Virgin America are in the work to offer the service by year end while Air Canada plans to do so by next spring.

For more see NY Times

Google creates links to music stores from YouTube.

In its continuous effort to try to monetize YouTube, Google just announced a way for the video site users to buy songs from Apple's iTunes or Amazon.com.The way it works is like this: when users watch a video with a music track on YouTube, they will be able to click on an icon appearing next to the video to pay and download that song from one of the two music stores without having to leave the site.
Google plans to expand the program to include other merchants as well as other products like concerts tickets, video games etc.
For now, the program is only available in the U.S., but Google plans to roll it out internationally in the coming months.

For more, see PCmagazine.com

BlackBerry Storm smart phone to hit stores by year end.

Research in Motion Ltd. the company behind the BlackBerry brand, will be entering the smart phone market dominated by Apple's iPhone. According to the Wall Street Journal, like the iPhone, the BlackBerry Storm has a touch screen and will work on broadband networks both in the U.S. and Europe. In the U.S., Verizon Wireless will be the exclusive carrier while in Europe, it will be Vodafone. The BlackBerry Storm will be preloaded with applications for social network sites like Facebook and photo-sharing sites like Flickr and many other applications. But unlike Google's Android phone, it will not be an open platform. It is set to go on sale in the U.S. by year end and the price is not known yet. Verizon Wireless only suggested that the price will be competitive which make some experts think that it will sell in the neighborhood of $200 to $300 .

For more, see SFGate.com

Yahoo new APT display Ads system announced.

Yahoo announced last month its new ads buying and selling system called APT. The new system aims to make buying and selling ads easier by allowing publishers and advertisers to manage display advertising across various Web sites. Formerly known as AMP, Yahoo new system will involve the more than 800 newspapers members of an alliance with the search company as well as as agencies and ad networks. But newspapers are set to benefit the most from the new system by allowing them to use Yahoo targeted advertising technology which will yield more returns for their ad inventories. Also advertisers are poised to benefit from the new system with the possibilities to reach more sites with just one ad buy. For publishers, APT will give them the option to let yahoo or other newspapers sell their excess inventory at a certain price.
The program is being tested by some newspapers and will be extended to advertisers, ad agencies and ad networks throughout the end of this year and unto the new year.

For more see, editor&publisher.com

A year later, Vudu movies delivery system is still little known.

For movies lovers, a year old device called Vudu is just what the doctor ordered. Vudu is a set top that connects to your TV and allow you to choose from 10,000 movies and TV shows to play directly from the Internet. The device sells for $300 with a limited time movie credit of $200 for any new purchase. Most most movies become available for sale on the Vudu service the day they are out on DVDs and available for rental 30 days later. Starting this month, a free software upgrade will deliver a new movie-quality called HDX which is better quality than most Hi-Def enabled services.
Users who rent movies will have 30 days to initiate viewing. Once initiated, viewing must be completed within 24 hours or before the end of the 30th day, whichever is sooner. You can extend your rental for another week for $1.99 or for another day with $1.
If you buy movies, you may view it for as long as you own your VUDU Equipment, with or without a VUDU Service account.

For more, see PCmagazine

New Web Site Tributes.com a place to pay respect to the deceased.

Using the tools of networking or archiving of sites like classmates.com or wedding.com, Tributes.com is a new web portal aiming to offer people a one stop place to search for the names of the deceased, learn more about their lives and memorialize it. According to the New York Times, Tributes.com compile its database using information from funeral homes and the Social Security Administration's Death Index database going back to the 1890s.
People can place obituaries up to 300 words at no charge or pay $80 for a year placement or $300 for an unlimited placement period. Others services offered by the site include, the posting of funeral details, an email alert system of the passing of a loved ones etc. A feature addition will allow users to download their address book to the site to be kept informed about the passing of people in that book.

For more, see NYTimes.

Netflix adds Starz movies to online streaming service.

Netflix Inc struck a deal last week with Starz Entertainment that will add about 2,500 movies, television shows and music concerts to Netflix's actual library of about 12,000 videos available for online viewing. The deal is the latest in a series that Netflix has been making to help boost its online movies offerings (see previous post) The new deal will cover the rights to stream movies from Disney and Sony corp with titles such as "Superbad", "Ratatouille", "No Country for Old Men" etc. These movies and more are already available online through a service called Starz Play that Starz provides to other partners like Verizon who offer the streaming to subscribers for a monthly fee. But Netflix subscribers of one of its unlimited plans will get the new movies from the new deal, free.

For more, see Reuters.

Fitbit Tracker to help achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Introduced last month at TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco, a new device called Fitbit Tracker has a lofty goal to monitor people's health factors such as calories burned, amount and quality of sleep, etc. It's a tiny wireless device the size of a person's thumb that the user can attach almost anywhere on his or her person to help him or her monitor the health factors described above and much more. According to the New York Times, the device uses a motion sensor called accelerometer like the one in use in the Nintendo Wii to track and convert motion into intelligble data. The device which will go on sale starting next year, will cost $99 and comes with a wireless base that collects the data and send it to a free Web site. On the site, users can enter additional information related to the their food consumption and others personal factors to get a bigger picture of their overall health.

For more, see USAToday

Brad Pitt tops list of celebrities most dangerous to search for.

According to a study by Internet security firm McAfee, online search for information about your favorite celebrity, may not be as innocent as it may sound. An army of malicious sites offering everything from celebrities related items like ringtones, wallpapers, free music download etc is awaiting and trying to entice you to click onto their sites. Once there, you will be exposed to all sorts of malices running the gamut from spyware, adware to viruses or even identity thief with enticing offers. Topping the list is actor Brat Pitt who when searched for "screensavers", yielded 50% malicious Web sites ready to take you for a spin. Following is singer Beyonce whose ringtones searches can lead to sites attempting to steal your personal identification.

For more, see PRnewswire.com

China's milk contamination crisis creates opportunities for "wet nurses."

In China, the crisis created by the discovery of the deadly chemical melamine in the country milk's supply, has revived the old profession of wet nurse in which a woman feeds her own breast milk to someone else child. With women poised to earn as much as $2,500 a month -more than most people earn monthly- supplying milk to others' children, the business of wet nurse is said to be booming there.
Many nursing women are posting ads online and signing up at housework agencies across the country to offer their services.

For more, see McClatchydc.com

New law to require the country of origine on most food labels.

Starting on September 30, a new rule will require supermarkets and other big food retailers to label or display the country of origin for most food products.The new rule is part of the Farm Bill passed earlier this year.But not all foods sold in grocery stores will be covered, there will be some exceptions including processed foods like breaded chicken or packages of mixed vegetables. Another set of exemptions will apply to food products sold in small stores and places like butcher shops, restaurants and school cafeterias. Also, meat, nuts and produce that were that in the supply chain before September 30, do not have to be labeled with the country of origin. Overall, food producers will have a six month grace period; after that, they can be subject to a $1,000 fine per violation.

For more, see wptv

World Federation of Adverisers against the Google/Yahoo deal.

According to the Wall-Street Journal, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has joined the rank of trade organizations opposed to the proposed deal between Google and Yahoo. The proposed deal would have let Google sells search ads on Yahoo with the proclaimed goal to serve better targeted ads. It would guarantee Yahoo a least $800 million a year in payments from Google. The WFA expressed its opposition to the deal in the form of a written argument to the European Competition Commission which is already investigating the matter following a previous complaint by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).
In the U.S., the National Association of Advertisers has already expressed its opposition to the deal for fear that it will give Google, control of nearly 90% of the online advertising market.
The U.S. justice Department is actually reviewing the deal at the request of the the two companies involved who voluntarily agreed to delay its implementation.

For more, see Mediapost.com

Netflix teams with CBS and Disney to stream TV shows.

To add to its online library of Television shows available to its subscribers, Netflix just struck a deal with CBS and Walt Disney Co. The new deal covering shows ranging from CSI to Hannah Montana will allow Netflix subscribers to watch them over the Internet a day after they originally aired on TV.
The new deal comes on top of Netflix one year old program that let monthly DVD rental subscribers paying $8.99 or more, watch television shows and movies online at no additional cost.

For more, see bizjournal.com

Hannah Montana on MadTV



For more, see portfolio.com

Fire-sprinklers system mandated in new homes.

At its national annual meeting in Minneapolis, the International Code Council which sets the residential building code used in most of the U.S., voted to make fire sprinklers system mandatory in new one and two family homes and townhouses nationwide starting in January 1st 2011.

For more, see Firehouse

Adobe Creative Suite 4 to debut today.

Software maker Adobe System is to announce today the launch of the latest version of its notoriously known Web-publishing software, the Creative Suite series. The new version called Creative Suite 4, is in fact a collection of 13 individual software including Photoshop for photo editing, Dreamweaver and Flash for Web-sites design, InDesign for desktop publishing and Illustrator for video editing etc. The new software is loaded with tools and shortcuts designed to make creative professionals' jobs, easier.
The different products in the new CS4 are more integrated with one another which will offers more possibilities to design more dynamic Web sites that combine different types of media like animation or live video. It is said to run 20% to 50% faster than the previous version and will cost between $1,699 and $2,499 depending on the bundle package. The new software should be available for purchase next month.

For more, see InformationWeek

Axe chocolate man ad deemed too hot for India.

A television advertisement for Axe men's deodorant stirred a big controversy in India, prompting government officials to order it suspended. In the ad, a man is transformed into a walking chocolate figurine after spraying himself with Axe's Dark Temptation deodorant. As he goes by his daily life, women, most of them scantily dressed, can't resist him. They threw themselves at him, licking and biting off various parts of his body. The one bite that seemed to have broken the camel's back is the one of the man's butt by a woman sitting in a commuter bus.The Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting suspended the ad after receiving one complaint and has referred the matter to the Indian Advertising Standards Council which has yet to take a position.

See for yourself.

Symantec launches Norton 2009 Internet Security Suite.

Symantec one of the world leader in Internet security protection softwares, just launched its 2009 Norton Internet Security Suite with a lot of improvements.
The new product tested by PC Magazine, is getting a lot of praises. It is said to be less intrusive on your operative system which means you will see fewer of those those pesky pop-pup. It boots much faster and according to the magazine, the new Norton anti virus and spyware protection, "is extremely effective."
The new security software is packed with other neat features like a warning message against fake or malicious Web sites and the capability to securely enter your passwords and other identification on Web sites. It's anti spasm feature for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express which is set to the the default position, may be one of the only weak points of the new software.
The new Norton costs $70 with the possibility to install it on three PCs and comes with one-year subscription to its updates; the cost after the first year is $60. It is only available for PCs running Windows XP and Vista at least for now and for the first time, comes with free phone support.

For more see PC Magazine

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 praised.

Unveiled at the end of last month in a beta or testing form, Microsoft newest browser Internet Explore 8 is loaded with a lot of new features. One of them is a Web mapping system that is part of what are called accelerators or in simpler terms, shortcuts. When your cursor is over a web address on a Web site, one accelerator drops down a menu bar of different Web mapping services. When you click on one them, the address is mapped for you. Another neat feature is the way Web sites are opened in separates tabs that look like different browsers themselves. That design has the advantage to isolate different Web sites so that if one of them is an unscrupulous one, it will be unable to crash the whole browser.
But certainly, the biggest draw of the new Microsoft browser, will be it's private browsing mode called InPrivate. With that mode, you can browse all you want with no worries of your activities being tracked.

For more, see USATODAY.

Shutterfly starts offering photoblogging platform.

With little fanfare, photo-sharing site Shutterfly announced last month a new service called Share Sites which is a customizable online photo album doubled with photoblogging capabilities. The new service will allow users to create themes centered photo-albums on pages that can be made public or viewed upon invitation only; users can invite friends to post their own pictures next to theirs, creating a collaborative work. And just like in any modern blog, visitors of someone public site can leave comments, participate in polls or forums. The service is linkable to YouTube for videos viewing only, but Shutterfly said it will add direct video uploading capabilities, soon.
Over all, the service is very impressive even for seasoned web users, and easy to use for fairly new ones.

For more, see ReadWriteWeb.com

Metallica new Album leaked online.

Metallica new album "Death Magnetic", the first in years and set to be released this Friday, has been leaked online where it was posted after one copy was allegedly sold at a record store in France. But in an interview to a San Francisco radio station, Lars Ulrich the band's drummer said he was not upset about the leak and everybody is happyrybody is happy.

For more, see internetnews.com

Small Book Publishers to enter the Digital Age.

Last week, books publisher Perseus Book Group announced the lunch of a new digital publication service called Constellation in partnership with several big publishing and technologies companies. The new service will allow easier access to digital book publishing to small and independent publishers who can not afford it.
Among the companies involved, are Google with its Google Book Search Feature, Sony with its Sony Reader, Barnes & Nobles etc.

For more, see NYT.

U.S. teenage birthrate highest among developped nations.

In the light of Sarah Pailin's news of her pregnant daughter, an UNICEF report dating back to 2001, revealed some interesting facts. First off, the U.S. teenage birthrate was the highest among developed nations and second off, only one other country, Hungary, has as many teenage abortions as the U.S.
For some experts, the figures are puzzling given the fact that girls in the U.S. are not the most sexually active among the same group of nations.

For more, see NYT.

Federal Reserve's beige book points to a soft economy.

The combination of high prices, weak job market and consumers cut back in spending, contributed to a slow economic growth in the final days of July and into August according to the latest beige book just released by the Federal Reserve Bank. According to the book, released on Wednesday, "the economy spent the summer in a rut, with consumers feeling little relief from the government's tax rebates."

For more, see Chicago Tribune.com

Pole Dancing studio denied a permit by township.

With the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union, a Pennsylvania women has sued a Township named Adams for violating her First Amendments rights when it denied her permit to operate a pole-dancing studio. The women, whose day job is computer system analyst, said what she is teaching is an art form and a respectable and recognized form of exercise. She also claimed that despite classed titles like "Stiletto Strut" and "power Lap Dancing," her audience is strictly made of fully clothed students with no paying spectators. But the zoning board denied her appeal despite the testimonies of several students clients, included a grandmother.

For more, see ABC News

CNBC joins in with LinkedIn.

Trying to draw from each other's strength, CNBC the business news channel and LinkedIn the social networking site for business executives, have brokered a partnership deal. The deal calls for CNBC to air community generated content such as surveys and polls from LinkedIn's nearly thirty million members and to make LinkedIn networking tools available to cnbc.com users.
In return, CNBC will provide its programming, articles, blogs, financial data and video content to LinkedIn.
The clear winner here is CNBC who will be able to offer its advertisers, a highly targeted audience. To alleviate some fears of lost of privacy by its members, LinkedIn said that CNBC will not have access to its members' profile information, at least for now.

For more, see Reuters.

Aston Martin gives a sneak into the upcoming 77 Sport car.

British sports-car maker Aston Martin just revealed glimpse of its much hyped new model set to topple the Bugatti Veyron launched in 2005, as the world most expensive car. The new Aston Martin now known only as One 77, get its code name from the fact that only 77 units will be built. It is said to be made of carbon fiber and aluminum and is set to go onto production as early as 2009 with a sticker price in the neighborhood of $1.8 million. The car has its own web site and can be previewed at www.one-77.com.

For more, see Cnet.com

Canada said to be on verge of recession.

New figures out last week reveal Canada's economy barely grew in the second quarter, victim of the decline of US demand for Canadian goods. The gross domestic product expanded only by just 0.1 per cent over the quarter, much less than what the Bank of Canada and most forecasters have predicted.

For more see Reed Construction Data.

Japan to roll up stimilus plan.

The Japanese government unveiled Friday a series of economic measures meant to rescue the stagnent economy. They include an income tax cut, fuel subsidies and government loans to small and mid-size business for a stimilus pacjage worth Y11,500bn about $18 billion. This will be the country 15th in sixteen years.

For more, see FT.

Russia spells five guiding principles in World affairs.

Foollowing its invasion and pullout of Georgia, Russian President Dmitri A. Medveded spelled his government's five guiding principles in foreign policy in a speech Sunday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, one day prior to an European summit on Russia, EU relations.
Those principles are: Russia observance of International law; rejection of what he calls United States dominance of world affairs in a "unipolar" world; to seek friendly relations with other nations; to defend Russia citizens and business interests abroad; to claim Russia sphere of influence in the world.

For more, see BBC

Best Buy ramping up its computer cleaning service.

Embolden by the growing demand of its consumer tech-support service through its Geek-Squad team and a gain in market share in the electronics retail field, Best Buy is pushing hard its computer cleaning service. The clean-up in question here is the one that consist of getting rid of all the non essentials pre installed softwares that come with a brand new PC and that can slow it down. Best Buy has been offering the service for some time, but now it has started to bring more publicity to it. To convince customers, it has started in some stores in California, to showcases how two same PCs, one with all the preloaded softwares and one without it, perform side by side.The service is available at most Best Buy stores for $30.
But like most of you already know, you can do that yourself by going to the Start tab, control panel, double click on the add or remove icon, scroll through the program you want to remove, highlight it by clicking on it and then hit remove.

Experts warn Arctic Sea ice is melting faster.

With three weeks left in the Arctic Summer, experts at the National Snow and Ice Data Denter are afraid that this year could break the record for the lowest level of ice measured there in September for nearly thirty years.

For more, see AFP

Free driving direction over the phone.

MapQuest and 1-800-FREE411 announced a free service last week that allow users to speak their current location and their destination and receive a text message with directions.

For more on this topic, see LBS-Zone.com

Intuit launches Quicken Beam.

Intuit, the company best known for TurboTax and QuickBooks softwares, launched a new free service last week that lets cellphone users check the balance of all their financial accounts or receive alerts whenever a balance reaches a certain level. The service is in a public testing phase and the company is soliciting feedback from users who can download it at Intuitlabs.com.

For more, see Web Cpa.

Search ads getting hit by slow economy.

A recent survey by marketing firm Covario, showed that search ad marketing is not immune to the slow economy. The survey of 12 large tech companies found that last quarter, search ad spending rose by the smallest percentage since early 2007 when the survey was first started. The surprising news was that search ad spending with Yahoo by those 12 companies, was up while down with Google. Experts attribute the Yahoo uptick to its emerging year old Panama search ad service.

Obama to text his supporters first with running mate choice.

Senator Obama is planning to announce the name of his running mate on Saturday at a big rally in Chicago. But before that big public announcement, some of his supporters who signed on by giving their cell phone numbers, will receive the news first via text-message.

Chrysler to make some cars Wi-Fi hot spots.

Starting Monday, Chrysler is making Wi-Fi an option for some of its vehicles. A trunk mounted router produced by a small company called Autonet Mobile, will turn some models , into a travelling Wi-Fi hot spot. Multiple users would be able to surf the net at the same time and the hot spot will extend up to 100 feet away from the vehicle. At $499 plus a $29-a- month subscription, the system will not be cheap.

For more, see Wired.com

Bigfoot turned out to be Big Joke.

Tom Biscardi, a California man who makes a living running a Bigfoot Web site, paid big money to a pair of men for what they touted as the frozen carcass of Bigfoot. The discovery first made news about two weeks ago when the duo said that they have stumbled upon the carcass while hiking in Georgia. After the deal, the Bigfoot promoter held a news conference last Friday to announce the findings. But after the carcass was defrosted, it turned out to be nothing but a rubber suit covering a bunch of body parts from different animals. Now the promoter is threatening to press charge against the pair for what he calls a total scam.

For more , see PressBanner.com

Donald Trump to the rescue of Ed Mchon.

Ed McMahon ,the longtime sidekick to comedian Jonhnny Carson who for months now has been fighting to save his multi million dollar Beverly home from foreclosure, has a new ally in Donald Trump. The real-estate mogul is reportedly negotiating a deal that could result in Mr Trump buying the first-lien mortgage on the house.

For more see Dallas News

Joggers believed to live longer than non runners.

According to a study by Stanford University, running on a regular basis, can slow the aging process. The study found that elderly joggers were half as likely to die prematurely from cancer than non runners. The study discovered that running helped slow the rate of heart and artery-related deaths; it is also associated with fewer early deaths from neurological disease, infections and other causes.

Foreclosure Prevention workshop held at Gillette Stadium.

Last week, hundreds of homeowners lined up inside Gillette Stadium home of the New England Patriots to be part of a mass foreclosure prevention workshop co-sponsored by the Boston Federal Reserve bureau. The event was held as the number of foreclosures was still growing according to the Boston Federal Reserve.

Inmates serve as firefighters in California.

Facing record wildfires since late June, California fire officials have been enrolling inmates from the state's prisons to fight those fires. It is said to have 4000 of them, contributing three million hours and saving the state more than $80 million a year.

LA hospitals use homeless to defraud medicare.

Following a whistle blower, an investigation has revealed a scheme in which some LA area hospitals sent ambulances and vans onto the streets and load them with recruited homeless people, who would be brought to those facilities for bogus treatments or no treatments at all. They would then bill federal and state health insurance programs for their"services".

Fast Food are out in one LA neighborhood.

Blaming them for the current obesity wave, the Los Angeles City Council voted last month for a yearlong freeze of new fast food franchises opening in some of the City poorest neighborhoods. Another measure by the city, provides economic incentives to grocery stores and restaurants with more healthy menus, to open there.

Beijing Etiquette Book.

Worried about having the perfect Olympics possible, Chinese officials have printed and distributed an etiquette book to Beijing residents prior to the start of the Games. The book outlines what are good manners and the basics of some foreign customs and even some fashion pointers. Among the no-no's: wearing more than three colors shades in an outfit, white socks with black shoes, and pajamas and slippers in public.
In the obvious category, the book goes on to say :"When entering an elevator...let people walk out before entering; once inside, riders should place their hands on the the railings to avoid falling..."
In the silly category, the book warns riders of escalators to only look straight ahead and never stare at other passengers. It also warns residents of things not to ask foreigners, including their age, marital status, income or religious and political beliefs.

T-Mobile to be the first to offer Google's smartphone.

T-Mobile has been chosen to be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone powered by Google's Android software. The phone to be manufactured by HTC , one of the world largest makers of mobile phones, is expected to go on sale in the United States before Christmas, or as early as October.The high-end phone is said to match many of the capabilities of Apple's iphone and other smartphones that run software from Palm, Research in Motion , Microsoft and Nokia to access the Internet and perform computerlike functions.

For more see : Canada.com

Signs that your senator is having an affair.

1. His answering machine prompts you to look under his desk if you want to reach an operator.
2. He signs all correspondences to his constituents with this question : Who's your Daddy?
3. He stopped having $400 hair cut and started going for $800 one.
4. In a speech on the Senate floor, he kept repeating the term "the two women", while he really means to say "the two Americas."
5. In an televised debate, he calls his opponent "sweetie."
6. He called the company that runs ezpass and ask them for advices on ezaffair.
7. He owns the entire DVD collection of the Maury Popo Show.
8. He likes multitasking so much that he does it in his sleep.
9. He stopped telling the mills factories story and instead started telling the story of how the chopsticks mark got on his shirt.
10. When at home alone, he could be seen through the windows, jumping on his couch.
11. He rather locks himself in a hotel bathroom than answer reporters' questions.
12. He looks too well put for a senator.

Yahoo to launch Fire Eagle today.

Fresh of its success in fending off Microsoft take-over bid , Yahoo is keeping the pace with new services launch. It is set to announce today's debut of its new location-sharing platform called Fire Eagle. This is a service that when they sign-in for it , web users can employ to update their physical location information and share that information with friends and followers through web based applications of their choosing. With location-sharing tool on the rise, Yahoo envisions Fire Eagle as the ultimate tool for location information for users who can decide which application can have acces to their location and the degrees of details.

For more see: CIO

Some upset eBay sellers are moving elsewhere.

Unhappy with changes made by eBay this past February to the fees it charges and the vendors rating system, some merchants who once used the online-auction site exclusively, are diversifying the services they use to list their inventories. Those are mainly niche sites like Wigix Silkfair, Etsy etc. They charge less, or nothing at all and offer more support, like tutorial videos.

Iranians tired of power cuts.

For most of this Summer, Iranians have faced daily power cuts lasting as long as two hours with temperature near 100 degrees.
The power shortages have affected everything with very long lines frequently seen outside gas stations and banks, while productivity has been down. The situation has most people in Iran wondering how is it possible that their country with the world second largest oil and gas reserves, can suffers such shortages?

Iraq insist on timeline for exit in new deal with U.S.

Iraq foreign minister reiterated the notion that any new security deal with the U.S. must contain a "very clear timeline " for the departure of U.S. troops.
Hoshyar Zebari said American and Iraqi were "very close" to reaching a long-term security agreement that will set the rules for the U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

India wins first Olympic gold medal in nearly thirty years.

On Monday, India won an Olympic gold medal for the first time in nearly thirty years when one of its representatives came out on top of the 10-meter air rifle competition, beating competitors from China and Finland. The nation of more than one billion celebrated the win , led by its Prime Minister.

U.S. Women basketball try to be nice in blowout of China.

On Monday, the U.S. women's basketball team blew out China with a final score of 108-63 ;the score was already 61-27 at half time. But with such dominance, the U.S. team had a dilemma : How to manage the blowout and stay with the Olympic spirit? The team did it the best way it knew how by having two of its best players, Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles come off the bench.

A former Edwards claims to be the baby's father.

With Edwards denials of him being the father of his ex lover's baby, a former aide of his campaign is claiming responsibility, even there is no father's name listed on the baby's birth certificate.

John Edwards offers to take a paternity test

After admitting he had an affair with a campaign aid, John Edwards was quick to point out that he was not the father of his ex lover's baby. To prove it , he said he was willing to take a paternity test. But Rielle Hunter, the woman at the center of the storm said through a spokesperson, that she will not allow that to happen.

Edwards admitts affair.

On Friday, former Senator and Democratic presidential nominee hopeful, admitted that the long running rumors of him having an affair with a former campaign aid, were true. In an statement aired on Nightline on ABC News Friday night, he said that had so vehemently denied the allegations because he could not face people who believed in him and tell them the true. According to him, "it is inadequate to say to the people who believe in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry...If you want to beat me up, feel free .You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself."

NBC scramble to stop streaming of the Olympics.

NBC which has the exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics in the United States, spent most of Friday playing cat and mouse game with foreign broadcasters websites who were streaming the Games opening ceremonies well in advance of NBC scheduled rebroadcast. NBC sent them frantic requests to restrict the streaming to their own countries; NBC also sent requests to U.S. sites like YouTube and others, to take down the forbiden videos.

Swimming politics.

An Iranian swimmer pulled out a race Saturday just minutes before it was to begin among reports that he did it in protest of the presence of an Israeli swimmer in the pool.
The Iranian officials denied the rumors saying he puled out because of illness. Regardless, the International Olympic Committee is investigating and threatening sanctions if the allegations are proven true.

Australia delegation critisized over choice of colors.

Critics have been swirling in Australia over the country Olympic delegation choice of blue and silver colors over its traditional green and gold. But the athletes said they loved it.

Disabilities groups calling for a boycott of 'Tropic Thunder."

A coalition of disabilities groups is calling for a boycott of DreamWorks upcoming movie, "Tropic Thunder" on the premise of what the groups call "the movie's open ridicule of the intellectually disabled."
Led by the chairman of the Special Olympics Timothy P. Shriver, the groups have planned to picket the premiere of the movie today in Los Angeles.

100,000 volunteers work at the Olympic Games.

About 100,000 volunteers all under 30, wearing blue "Beijing 2008" shirts are said to be working at the games. They staff the security stations, answer visitors questions in English, or just greet people with a smile.

New efforts to curb phone books.

The Yellow Pages, a $17 billion a year industry has become a familiar targets of state legislatures with lawmakers trying to put some limits on the distribution of phone books. So far , seven different states or territories have tried and failed to pass a legislation giving people the choice to opt out of the phone books distribution lists. A current effort is being pushed by a Councilman in Albany New York who is looking to gather support for a law that would limit the distribution of phone books and require publishers to make it easier for people to request a stop to phone books delivery. If that bill pass, it would be the first one of its kind in the country.

Heard at the interview for Ben Laden's new driver.

1. Don't expect a pay check on Friday; you will be rewarded with 85 virgins after death.
2. We do not have a 401 K plan; we have a AK 47 plan.
3. Can you goat sit when I am away?
4. Can you arrange for me to go on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney?
5. Can you get me Pamela Anderson cell phone number?
6. Can you make this year the one when I finally attend the White House Christmas party?
7. Can you find me a time share for my old cave ?
8. Can you convince Starbucks that my neighborhood is a good location for their millionth store?
9. Can you go through waterboarding without spilling a secret?
10.How well do you tolerate flatulence?
11. Can you book me on the Mokhtar Letterman Show?
12. What is the costs of living in hell?

Ben Laden's former driver is sentenced.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the former driver of Osama Bin Laden was sentenced on Thursday to a lighter five and a half years in prison by a military commission who rejected the prosecution request for a more severe one. The military judge who handed down the sentence already indicated that he plans to give the ex-driver, credit for at least the 61 months he has been held since being charged more than six years ago. Even if the light sentence would end in five months , Salim Hamdan fate after that, remains unknown since the Bush administration repeatedly said that it can hold detainees in Guantanamo until the end of the war on terror.

Military Court convicts Bin Laden ex-driver.

A panel of military officers convicted Osama Bin Laden' s former driver of material support to terrorism yesterday in a military commission operating in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He was acquited of a more serious charge of conspiracy to commit terrorism acts. A sentencing hearing which carries a life term, is set for today.

Signs that your Quaterback is too old.

1. He played his rookie year during the Eishenhover administration.
2. The site of your team new stadium, used to be his high school.
3. His helmet cannot fit because of his toupee.
4. He calls his offensive line by the name of his platoon during the Korean war.
5. When he get hit, he is more worried to find his earring-aid , than the next play.
6. Instead of replica jerseys , his most die hard fans wear his replica toupee.
7. He got a partial hip replacement during half time.
8. Before the start of each game , the referees borrow a quarter from him to toss .
9. John Madden starts to make sense to him.
10. He cannot make it to practice because he has to babysit the grand kids.
11.His bingo buddies provide the half time entertainment.
12.After a ballgame, his stats are not displayed by Sports Center: they are delivered by the Social Security Administration.

Brett Favre a no show at practice.

A huge crowd packed the stands to see the once retired, just unretired quarterback take the practice field , to be disappointed. Thirty minutes before practice, Favre left Lambeau Field followed by the Packers chief executive and the General Manager to meet at Favre nearby home.That meeting lasted for about an hour and was reportedly centred on discussions to trade the veteran quarterback to another team, possibly, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The latest developments echo the sentiments of Packers coach who said he thinks Favre felt he could no longer play for Green Bay after it was announced that he will have to compete for the starting job with incumbent Aaron Rodgers. To quote Coach Mike McCarthy , "Favre has a lot going in his head, he is in a tough spot."

Google is launching Insights for Search today.

Google is introducing a new free service today called Insights for Search. The service is like a more refined version of Google other search tracking tool, Google Trends which is two years old. The new service offer more details about what people are searching and can aggregate the results by cities, states, or nations. It is a great tool for marketers who can use it to study trends and develop or follow advertising campaigns, but it is available to anyone.

Comcast to buy Daily Candy.

Under its interactive media division , Comcast Corp has reached deal to buy Daily Candy , an email fashion and culture newsletter affluent urban women with a readership of 2.5 million.

Google launchs free music-search service in China.

Months of negotiations have paid off for Google who is launching a free music-search service in China. With the service, Internet users in China can search for songs by singer , album or title on Google's search page and follow that by downloading licensed music files for free. The service is said to be supported by advertising revenues.

American Idol top producer to leave.

Niegel Lythgoe who has been the top producer of the prime-time juggernaut "American Idol" on Fox, is leaving the show to focus on a new joint venture with Simon Fuller , the creator and acerbic tongued judge on the show. Beside the new joint-venture, he said he plans to devote more time to another Fox reality series in which he is a creator, an executive producer and a judge, "So You Think You Can Dance" . He said to having plans to promote local versions of that show in other countries.

In Mauritania, discountent officers depose president.

Following a gathering at the presidential palace, a group of army officers seized Mauritanian president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in a bloodless coup early today and announced that he has been deposed. Prior to the coup, the president has just dismissed several army officers.

Bernie Mac hospitalized in critical condition.

Suffering a severe pneumonia, Actor Bernie Mac is hospitalized in serious condition in a Chicago Hospital. And earlier today, his family has to issue a statement denying rumors that the actor has died. His publicist also denied a report suggesting that the actor was suffering from a medical condition called sarcoidosis which affect ten of thousand of Americans each year. According to medical experts, it is an immune system disorder that can make it hard to breathe, inflame the lymph nodes in the neck and the chest and cause bumps and ulcers to break out on people's skin.

Morgan Freeman in serious condition after car accident.

Shortly before midnight last night, Oscar actor winner Morgan Freeman lost control of the 1997 Nissan Maxima he was driving , flipping over several times in a rural road near his home according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Tropical Storm Edouard threatens the costs.

Residents along the Texas and Louisiana coasts are preparing for Tropical Storm Edouard which is predicted to pack winds near 45 miles per hour. In the meantime, Louisiana governor has already declared a statewide emergency while thousand of residents of low-lying communities are being asked to evacuate.

President Bush to leave today for Asian visit.

President Bush is to leave today for a visit to Asia with stops in South Korea, Thailand before taking part in the Olympic Games opening ceremonies in Beijing on Friday.