| Google turns to X Factor's Fuller for push into TV
Internet giant Google is in secret talks with Simon Fuller, the British entrepreneur behind the Spice Girls, about a joint venture that could change the way TV is watched over the internet. News of the collaboration will prompt speculation that Google's plans for the TV market include generating original content and competing with major broadcasters. Executives from the £229bn internet giant have been in discussions with Fuller, who invented Pop Idol, the world's most successful TV franchise, for about a year. Although details of the deal are a closely guarded secret, sources close to Fuller say it could revolutionise the way entertainment and music are distributed. 'It's a big idea on a global scale,' he said. 'It will change television in much the way iTunes changed the way music is disseminated.' Last year saw the launch of Google Video, which offers full-length TV programmes and films on a pay-per-view basis over the internet.
Essay: A more casual approach to the bottom line
Back in my younger days, I had a pretty basic arrangement where money was concerned: Every week I'd earn a little bit of it and, just as regularly, through various transactions, it would end up in the hands of other people. All very simple and straightforward. There was no need for any smooth-talking advisers, helpful booklets, or weekend seminars designed to show me how a property investment in some emerging backwater could be the key to my long-term financial security. But then marriage and a child came along, and suddenly it was important that there was enough money tucked away for a rainy day and maybe even a week in the sun, as well. Pension plans and retirement funds became hot topics, instead of being a conversational fallback. And to top it all off? Thanks to the global economy, those of us within a slightly graying demographic now have international finance to worry about – which, as far as I understand it, involves prime lending rates, the price of various commodities, and the cost of a barrel of oil.
Felton's job status is uncertain as Georgia's season comes to a close
Two freshmen, Jeremy Jacob and Chris Barnes, were lost to season-ending injuries. Another top reserve, Rashaad Singleton, quit the team after he lost a starting job to freshman Jeremy Price. Meanwhile, guard Billy Humphrey is back in the lineup after arrests in separate incidents for underage possession of alcohol and having a small knife in his dorm room. Humphrey has also missed time with a knee injury. Evans has not given any insight how he will factor in the injuries, suspensions and dismissals when he evaluates Felton, who is 71-78 in five years. "As always I'll sit down with our head basketball coach at the end of the year," Evans said Thursday. "We do everything in totality and until such time there is nothing more to be said." Saturday's game will be the final home game for seniors David Bliss, the starting center, and Sundiata Gaines, the team's leading scorer and top overall player.
Barack Obama and Me
This is before Obama Girl, before the secret service detail, before he becomes a best-selling author. His book Dreams From My Father has been out of print for years. I often see Obama smoking cigarettes on brisk Chicago mornings in front of his condominium high-rise along Lake Michigan, or getting his hair buzzed at the corner barbershop on 53rd and Harper in his Hyde Park neighborhood. This is before he becomes a U.S. senator, before Oprah starts stumping for him, before he positions himself to become the country's first black president. He is just a rank-and-file state senator in Illinois and I work for a string of small, scrappy newspapers there.
_____________________ The other day, while stuck in traffic on Houston's Southwest Freeway, I was flipping through right-wing rants on AM radio.
Mozilla may be eyeing online services space à la .Mac, Windows Live
Mozilla Labs vice president Chris Beard has expressed interest in the possibility of creating an open and extensible infrastructure for developing online services similar to Windows Live and .Mac. Beard is intrigued by the possible advantages of closing the gap between the browser and the Internet cloud. "It seems that as the Web continues to evolve and as more of our lives moves online, we could do more to broker even richer online experiences," writes Beard. "We've been thinking about this a lot lately. And, in particular, how the blending of the desktop and the Web—through deeper integration of the browser with online services—could further enhance the user experience, increase user control over personal information, and provide new opportunities for developers to build innovative online experiences." Beard notes that existing web services aren't broadly designed with browser integration in mind.
Gloriously Cranky Cathy Seipp
Never needs changing. Like a fluorescent bulb! ... 5:48 P.M. Dissing the Disgruntled! Grazer-Gate Update: A summary of the L.A.Times' second-time-farce scandal is here. The most recent at-bats ... Resigned editorial page editor Andres Martinez says the paper's newly-arrived editor and publisher caved to a disgruntled newsroom that is annoyed at [the paper's owners in] Chicago, annoyed at them and annoyed at the autonomy of the opinion pages. The newsroom unrest, Martinez says, is partly "ideological" (the news pages presumably being more conventionally liberal than his editorial page), partly "a matter of bureaucratic culture," and some of it a personnel matter (there are some embittered former editorial board members that Kinsley and Carroll sent off to the newsroom).
Rare Helen Keller Photograph Discovered
Captured in 1888 on Cape Cod, the image shows an eight-year-old Helen sitting outside in a chair holding Sullivan's hand and a doll. Experts say it could be the earliest photo of the two together, and the only one showing the child with a doll. "Doll" is the first word Sullivan ever spelled for Keller. The image was discovered in an album belonging to a man whose mother was a childhood friend of Helen Keller's on Cape Cod. .
Dylan descends on Dallas House of Blues
Bob Dylan's music seems to have always been a part of contemporary American life, yet so little is known about him. The 66-year-old singer/songwriter, who rose to prominence on a wave of a cultural revolution in the mid-'60s, made an art out of toying with the press early on. Unwilling to reveal much of himself or his creative process, Dylan delighted in non sequiturs and folding questions back upon themselves during interviews from that heady era. Then he withdrew from the spotlight in the '70s and spent much of the decade reeling from a series of personal trials. Dylan was almost reclusive, resisting any attempt to lift the veil of mystery surrounding his music. It remains true today as most new interviews with Dylan seem like exercises in futility, round-robins of insightful queries and opaque responses.
Protesters in Belgrade attack U.S. embassy
Is the Legal International Human Rigth, this is also for respect for Serbe Nation, this rights for Union, Family, Culture, History, Religion, Peace etc. So, in this sytuation, this separation State Serbe from oryginaly country Serbian Family Peoples Nation, is posible only of "Criminaly decition" and this is very danger for Peace in State Serbia and Peace also in Europe and in all World. So, in this sytuation, my conseil for this Peace, is respect this Top International Human Right. And, this is only posible for all Nations for anulation this very danger decition unresponsable from this peoples politicaly and of islam religion from World, and Kosovo Region oryginaly true of Nation, Religion, Culture etc, and/of State Serbia. .
Act of kindness produces close shave
Last year, Larry Durian jumped into his first St. Baldrick's Day activity head first — so to speak — at the urging of a colleague. This time around, the Canton man is being led by his heart. And for good reason. Durian volunteered to have his head shaved last March at Canton's St. Baldrick's Day, a meaningful alternative to St. Patrick's Day as well as a major fund-raiser to fight childhood cancer. He thinks that good deed just may have saved his life. ''Larry Durian was shaved and the stylist saw a spot on his head that she suggested he have looked at,'' Sue Stevenson, veteran planner of Stark County's St. Baldrick's Day activities, said about last year's party with a purpose. ''Sure enough, he had skin cancer, and he would not have probably found it if he hadn't shaved his head for our event.'' Durian, who is director of the pretrial department of Stark County Family Court, was all too happy to talk about the serendipitous circumstances.
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