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com OC Edition
Obama Hold Source of McCain's
Money Woes
By Mark Impomeni (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:00:00 AM
Filed under: Senate, Barack Obama,
John McCain, 2008 PresidentSen.
John McCain's presidential campaign
finds itself in something of a catch-
22. Last summer, when the campaign
was not going well and McCain was
thought to be finished as a candidate,
he agreed to accept Federal matching
funds. That was a sign that the
Senator could not raise money and
might soon drop out of the race. But
now that his fortunes have turned,
and his campaign coffers have filled,
McCain wants to forego Federal
funds and the spending limits that go
along with them. But the Federal
Election Commission, and
Democrats, is balking at the
campaign's plans.
FEC Chairman David Mason has laid
out a set of conditions that the
McCain campaign must meet in order
to qualify for a withdrawal from the
Federal financing system. The trouble
for McCain is that the conditions are
impossible to meet because the FEC
itself cannot meet. The commission is
short of members and cannot achieve
a quorum in order to take action on
any campaign's requests. Four of the
six seats on the commission are the
subjects of holds in the Senate. A
Senator may block action in the
Senate on a bill or a nomination by
placing a hold on it until his concerns
about the action are addressed.
Republicans placed three of the holds
in retaliation for a Democratic hold
on Hans von Spakovsky over
allegations that the nominee was
McCain's Chance for Greatness
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 1:49:00 PM
Filed under: John McCain, 2008
President
I've been harsh on McCain, and for
good reason. And i'm not going to
stop calling it as I see it, even though
he's the Republican nominee and I'm
supposed to jump in line like a mind-
numbed robot.
But in calling it as I see it, I also have
to lay out the distinct possibility that
John McCain could be one of the
great presidents. Think Teddy
Roosevelt, the other Roosevelt, LBJ,
and Reagan. He might be that
magnitude of great. But first I ought
to define what I mean by great
president. That is simply a president,
who by legislative ability, force of
rhetoric, and sheer force of will, is
able to change the direction of policy
24/02/08 - 25/02/08
insensitive to minority voting rights.
The Democratic Senator who placed
the hold that is now holding up
McCain's financing is none other than
McCain's potential general election
opponent, Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama placed the hold on von
Spakovsky's nomination in October
of last year, when his campaign's
fortunes did not look as good as they
do now, and when he was coming
under criticism about his civil rights
credentials. The hold, placed together
with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), was
explained as a reaction to certain
controversial decisions that von
Spakovsky, a lawyer in the Justice
Department's Voting Rights section,
had made. Von Spakovsky was seen
as a champion of policies, such as a
Georgia voter identification law and a
Texas redistricting plan, that would
disenfranchise black and Latino
voters respectively. Both the Georgia
law and the Texas redistricting were
eventually upheld by the Federal
courts.
Commission Chairman Mason has
told the McCain campaign that in
order to opt out of Federal financing,
his campaign must answer questions
about a loan the campaign obtained
to a new direction... permanently.
Teddy Roosevelt broke the trusts and
set us on the course to being a world
superpower.
FDR instituted the New Deal, plus a
whole host of other things.
LBJ instituted the second part of the
New Deal.
Reagan pretty much singlehandedly
stopped the forward movement of
socialism, ended the cold war and
revived conservatism as an effective
political force, and not just a nice
theory.
To do these things, these politicians
had to have rhetoric, a high level of
competence, a belief in their own
rightness, and sheer force of will.
McCain doesn't score high in
LibertyNewsprint.
that is at least partially backed by his
ability to receive Federal matching
funds; and the campaign must
convince four of the six commission
members to approve the plan. But
that last condition cannot be met
thanks in part to the hold on von
Spakovsky, which has stalled all
Senate action on FEC nominees.
The impact on the McCain campaign
is potentially very serious. If the hold
on von Spakovsky is not lifted, or if
the Senate does not move to confirm
the other nominees, thereby filling the
commission's open seats, McCain
will be limited to spending about $54
million during the primary campaign,
which lasts until the Republican
convention in early September. His
campaign is believed to have already
spent about $50 million in the
primary. McCain would essentially
have to go dark, not spending on
advertising, for the next six months
until the general election campaign
starts. That is valuable time that he
could be using to unify the shaky
Republican coalition or begin his line
of attack against his Democratic
opponent. While Republicans would
almost certainly release their holds if
the hold on von Spakovsky is
dropped, it is doubtful that Sen.
Barack Obama, now the likely
Democratic nominee, will release the
hold that would unleash his
opponent's ability to campaign
against him.
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rhetoric, but in those other things, he
is way off the charts. Which means
that of the presidential candidates
We've seen since 1984, McCain
probably has best quotient for
greatness we've seen.
Conservative Republicans shouldn't
take too much solace in this, because
one thing we do not know, is to what
ends McCain will push his
presidency. Will he make war on
earmarks? campaign finance? Iranian
Mullahs? There is little we can tell
from his political ideology, because
as far as I can tell, he doesn't have
one. At all. And that's why I regard
him as scary, and an awful candidate
for the Republicans. He matches up
poorly against Obama, and even if he
does win, Republicans cannot be sure
what they are getting. But all they can
AOL Straw Poll:
Feb. 25-March 3
By Kathleen Hayden (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 4:00:00 AM
Filed under: Straw PollThis content
requires the most recent version of
the Adobe Flash Player. Get this
version below:<br /><a
href="http://www.adobe.com/go/getfl
ash/">Get Flash</a>
Note From AOL: Our weekly Straw
Poll was restarted again on Monday,
Feb. 25 at 12:15PM ET. After voting,
check back again next Monday for a
chance to recast your ballot.
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Web 2.0 Marketplace
Listings for February
25th, 2008
By Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:02:57 AM
The Web 2.0 Marketplace is a place
to list Web 2.0 and “New Media”
websites for sale, job offers,
consulting services, Facebook
development services and more.
(more…)
ShareThis
do at this point is to cross fingers and
hope for the best.
But it's more than likely that
McCain's cross purposes, temper and
lack of ideology would end up
hamstringing his presidency in a
flurry of fingerpointing and name
calling, as he is likely to end up with
no friends on either end side of the
political divide, and his presidency
ends with what we saw of the
Republican nomination process, an
unclear muddle with no happy
campers anywhere.
Greatness or a muddle. No in
betweens.
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2 Politics * Business *
The New York Times Taking On
Water
By Justin Paulette (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 8:18:00 PM
Filed under: Scandal, Media
Some time ago, I received an e-mail
forward that read something like this:
George Bush was recently on a boat
with the Pope during a press
conference. As they looked out over
the deck, the Pope's traditionally
white cap was blown off and landed
some distance away on the water. The
President said, "No problem," and
promptly hopped over the rail,
walked across the surface of the water
and retrieved the hat for the Pontiff.
The crowed was amazed. The next
morning, splashed across the front
page of the the New York Times was
the headline: BUSH CAN'T SWIM.
Today, I received the following:
A biker walking through the zoo
noticed a little girl grabbed by a
ferocious lion, which was attempting
to pull the child through the bars of
his cage in order to make short work
of her. The biker leaped to her aid,
punching the lion in the nose and
rescuing the little girl. A New York
Times reporter on the scene promised
to write up the story for front page
coverage the following day. So, next
morning, the biker checked to see if
he'd make the headlines. It read:
BIKER GANG MEMBER
ASSAULTS AFRICAN
Analyst upgrades: DNA, YUM, JNPR and BJS
By Eric Buscemi
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:27:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and
downgrades, Yum Brands (YUM),
Genentech Inc (DNA), Juniper
Networks (JNPR)MOST
NOTEWORTHY: Genentech, ESS
Technology and SemGroup Energy
were today's noteworthy upgrades:
IMMIGRANT, STEALS HIS
LUNCH.
John McCain is winning his war with
the Times.
I've long believed Republicans would
generally poll 4% - 8% higher if the
media (FOX news excepted, of
course) were not so adamantly and
sinisterly opposed to the GOP and
conservative policies. From Dan
Rather's meltdown to the nefarious
timing of story releases, the network
stations consciously and deliberately
attempt to stymie Republicans and
provide cover for Democrats.
Just before the first Bush presidential
victory, the Times revealed a DUI
arrest which it had been saving for
just that occasion. Just before Bush's
second victory, the Times splashed a
year-old story about lost munitions
across its front page. Good news for
Republicans is dumped in the Friday
edition (which no one reads), or
overshadowed by non-political stories
reserved for just that purpose.
(President Bush took to carrying a
copy of the book "BIAS," a scathing
indictment of the media's liberalism,
whenever he strolled past the media
crews stationed outside the White
House.)
John McCain is going to need to
overcome his media handicap if he is
to defeat his industry-favored
• Rodman & Renshaw upgraded
Genentech (NYSE: DNA) to
Outperform from Market Perform
citing the FDA's approval of Avastin
in mBC.
• Jefferies raised ESS Technology
(NASDAQ: ESST) to Hold from
Underperform to reflect the offer
from Imperium Partners.
• Citigroup upgraded shares of
Your Click and Print Newspaper
opponent in November. And one way
for McCain to counter this
disadvantage is to discredit the Times'
reputation, to make apparent to the
American people the paper's bias
against him. And, the New York
Times couldn't have helped him
more.
Were McCain to come out against the
media without obvious and egregious
cause, he could seem a whining
conspiracy-theorist, attacking the
messenger because he lacked the
power to produce good news for
himself. However, the ever-over-
confident Times began its attack too
soon and too clumsily. The salvo
widely missed its mark and evoked a
series of reprobations from sources
outside the McCain campaign. Thus,
the nominee was preserved from the
mud-slinging while the message of
media-prejudice has been widely
heard.
Conservative outlets will now be
piqued for the next example of bias,
and should be prepared to introduce
this element into the campaign as a
central focus. If the Democratic
candidate can be linked with a
complicit media in an attempt to
deceive and manipulate the American
people, corrupt journalism could
backfire to the disadvantage of both
the media and the Democrats.
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SemGroup Energy (NASDAQ:
SGLP) to Buy from Hold on
valuation, as they believe the
significant accretion expected from
the partnership's recent asphalt
terminal acquisition is not priced into
the stock.
OTHER UPGRADES:
• Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) was
Buckeye
Superdelegate
in Bullseye
By Faye Anderson (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:41:00 AM
Filed under: DemocratsWith Barack
Obama closing in on the Democratic
presidential nomination, the heat is on
members of the Congressional Black
Caucus who endorsed Hillary
Clinton. There are increasing calls for
CBC superdelegates to endorse
Obama who is the overwhelming
choice of their constituents.
Like a hanging, an election defeat
concentrates the mind. CBC member
Rep. Albert Wynn lost his primary
election to Donna Edwards, an
Obama supporter. While Georgia
Rep. John Lewis remains silent on
whether he still supports Clinton, he
has drawn a primary challenger for
the first time in nearly 10 years.And
in the Buckeye State, pressure is
mounting on Rep. Stephanie Tubbs
Jones. The Cleveland Plain Dealer
reports that the wave of support for
Obama in Ohio's 11th Congressional
District "has left Tubbs
Jones...swimming against the tide at
home."
Tubbs Jones was swimming upstream
at this weekend's "State of the Black
Union 2008," an annual conference
organized by radio and TV talk show
host Tavis Smiley who has also come
under withering criticism for his
comments about Obama.
Tubbs Jones lamented the attacks on
black elected officials "who have paid
their dues and served their time." She
noted that "politics is all about
relationships" and CBC members had
"preexisting relationships" with
Clinton. Adding: "Some of us have to
be over here. Some of us have to be
over there so that we don't get locked
out of the process."
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raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• RBC Capital upgraded Juniper
(NASDAQ: JNPR) to Outperform
from Sector Perform.
• Goldman raised its rating on BJ
Services (NYSE: BJS) to Neutral
from Sell.
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
More Housing Market Fixes up for
Debate
By Mark Impomeni (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 12:30:00 PM
Filed under: Senate, House,
Democrats, EconomyWhen Congress
returns from its President's Day
recess next week, the housing market
will be high on the agenda. The
White House announced a plan just
two weeks ago that aims to delay
foreclosures long enough for
homeowners and lenders to work out
financing alternatives. But Democrats
think that the Administration's plans
do not go far enough to help ease the
fears of troubled homeowners, and
are set to consider some of their own
plans.
The Senate will debate a bill this
week that would grant judges the
authority to reduce the mortgage
amount and interest rate on loans in
danger of foreclosure by changing the
current bankruptcy law. Under the
current law, judges cannot change the
terms of a loan and mortgage
companies can foreclose 90 days after
a bankruptcy filing. Sen. Dick Durbin
(D-IL) said that the proposed changes
are overdue. "This week we have an
opportunity to pass a housing bill that
will help the economy recover, help
American families stay in their homes
and change the law so this never
happens again," he said.
Meanwhile, the House will hold
hearings into the compensation
packages of mortgage company
CEOs. The House Committee on
Government Reform and Oversight,
Clinton Follows Rove Playbook
By Denise Williams (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:36:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Barack
Obama, Breaking News, Scandal
The Drudge Report flash this
morning claims that the Clinton
campaign is sending around an email
with the picture on the left. This
picture, taken in 2006, is of Barack
Obama in Kenya during a five-
country tour of Africa, donning the
garb of a Somali elder while stopping
in his father's native Kenya.
The Clinton team, obviously taking
advantage of the internet-based
fearmongering about Obama's
paternal ties to Islam, has not denied
putting this out, but as of this writing
has not offered any comment.
The Obama camp reacted quickly
(via Politico);
(Obama campaign manager David)
chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-
CA), will take a look at the
compensation and retirement deals of
one current and two former CEOs at
three of the nation's largest lending
companies: Countrywide Home
Loans, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch.
The hearings are sure to generate
populist resentment of the more than
generous deals that these companies
laud their chief executives with.
In a bipartisan effort, the House will
also consider a proposal from Rep.
Mike Castle (R-DE) that the
government shield banks from
investor lawsuits when the terms of
loans are changed. Some investors
who bought mortgage-backed
securities could be negatively
Plouffe said in a statement: "On the
very day that Senator Clinton is
giving a speech about restoring
respect for America in the world, her
campaign has engaged in the most
shameful, offensive fear-mongering
we've seen from either party in this
election. This is part of a disturbing
pattern that led her county chairs to
resign in Iowa, her campaign
chairman to resign in New
Hampshire, and it's exactly the kind
of divisive politics that turns away
Americans of all parties and
diminishes respect for America in the
world," said Plouffe.
Despite Senator Clinton's warm
words at the end of CNN's
Democratic debate Thursday night,
the rhetoric coming from the
campaign and Clinton herself has
turned decidedly negative since this
past weekend. My colleague David
Knowles covered one of Clinton's
more strident attacks on Obama on
Saturday here.
If proven that this did indeed come
Politics * Business *
impacted if the banks voluntarily or
otherwise change the terms of the
loans underwriting their investment.
Castle's idea has garnered the support
of leading Democrats and should
pass. Given that the Bush
Administration is cajoling mortgage
to change the terms of the loans for
struggling homeowners, granting
them immunity for those actions
seems like a necessary component of
any homeowner relief package.
However, well intentioned these
Congressional and Administration
proposals and plans are, they will
ultimately not have a positive effect
on the housing market. Government
intervention in the market only serves
to artificially inflate home prices and
create the conditions that led to the
current market downturn. The
housing market is attempting to
correct itself with falling prices and
by closing out buyers unable to
maintain their investments. But
Congress and the Administration see
potential votes among distressed
homeowners and are rushing to do
whatever they can to capture the
affection of the relative few who are
struggling to make their payments.
For sure, however, all their planning
and law making will do is guarantee
that another group of investors will
need rescuing again at some point in
the future.
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from the HRC camp, this will be one
of the lowest blows laid on Obama to
date outside of the right-wing blogs
and virtual crayon-written spam
emails. Some will see this as a
desperation move by the campaign to
3
Lowe's (LOW)
profit drops in
fourth-quarter
By Eliza Popescu
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:46:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports,
Forecasts, Bad news, Lowe's Cos
(LOW), HousingShares of home
improvement retailer Lowe's Cos.
(NYSE: LOW) were trading slightly
higher in early trading, despite
posting a decline of 33.4% in its
fourth-quarter profit.
The nation's second biggest home
improvement retailer reported that its
quarterly profit slipped 33% to $408
million, or 28 cents a share, hurt by
the weak U.S. housing market. These
numbers were down $613 million or
40 cents per share reported in the
same period a year ago. Despite the
33% decline, the company was still
able to beat analyst estimates of 25
cents a share in the quarter.
The company showed a drop in its
fourth-quarter revenue to $10.38
billion, down from $10.41 billion a
year earlier. Analysts forecast
revenue of $10.85 billion in the
quarter, according to Thomson
Financial. The drop in revenue came
as the retailer had to face a difficult
consumer environment brought by the
U.S. housing market slowdown and
credit crisis.
Continue reading Lowe's (LOW)
profit drops in fourth-quarterRead |
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instill fear and loathing before the
crucial upcoming March 4 primaries.
The last time we had some outrage on
wearing native dress was when
Nancy Pelosi wore a head scarf and
black abaya in Syria - while in a
mosque. Where were these flames
fanned? Right-wing blogs and talk
radio.
And who else has worn a hijab? How
about Condolezza Rice and Laura
Bush? No complaint there.
If fearmongering is all Clinton has
left - if her own message isn't cutting
it - then is this what we want for the
Democratic Party? Will she scare a
few voters away from Obama with
these tactics? Probably, but at what
cost?
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4 Politics * Business *
How Far Can the GOP Push It?
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:42:00 AM
Filed under: Republicans, John
McCain, Featured StoriesFrom
Politico:
The Republican National Committee
has commissioned polling and focus
groups to determine the boundaries of
attacking a minority or female
candidate, according to people
involved. The secretive effort
underscores the enormous risk senior
GOP operatives see for a party often
criticized for its insensitivity to
minorities in campaigns dating back
to the 1960's.
Yes, the gang that brought you
Willie Horton is back. And if you
think that if Barack Obama wins the
nomination that the GOP won't have
the guts to play a few race cards, I
have a name for you to remember:
Harold Ford.
Hillary's 'Celestial Choirs' Attack on
Obama
By Ada Calhoun (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:35:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats, 2008
President
We'd been very protective about
Hillary until lately. The "change you
can Xerox" line at the debate turned
us off, but it was nothing compared to
this video we just found on
PoliticalNanny.com.
Hillary mocks Obama's optimism,
ending with the condescending "You
are not going to wave a magic wand
and have the special interests
Sexist attacks, too, are a certainty
should Hillary prevail. How many
times do you think we'll be reminded
of the campaign trail tears?
The problem for the Republican
Party is that they seem more and
more like a country club for white
men only. They're Augusta on
steroids, and they're getting nervous
about all those Tiger Woods and
Annika Sorenstam fans.
As an increasing number of
Americans are calling themselves
Independents, traditional party
affiliation is on the wane. But it is
falling faster for Republicans. A
Rasmussen survey in May of 2007
found that 36.3% of Americans
identified themselves as Democrats,
while just 30.3% said they were
Republicans, a new low.
Add to this equation the fact that the
GOP is fielding a candidate who, if
he won, would be the oldest first-term
president to be inaugurated in U.S.
disappear."
We like Political Nanny's take:
"Indeed, one can't wave a magic
wand and have all special interests
disappear, but one can speak just
thiiiiiis much too sarcastically and
have one's own campaign disappear."
What Clinton doesn't seem to
understand is that no one is looking to
Barack Obama to be a miracle
worker. What's so appealing about his
campaign is that it's about getting
everyone in America to step up and
bring about the changes that need to
happen. He's made service a key part
Your Click and Print Newspaper
history. That candidate is also a man
who was against the Martin Luther
King Jr. holiday before he was for it.
Still, the debate rages in GOP circles.
Just how sensitive to race and gender
issues is too sensitive? Republican
strategist Tony Fabrizio has been
mulling it over:
"If we approach this campaign from
the standpoint that we need to take
political sensitivity training because
one candidate is a woman or one
candidate is black, I think we are
approaching it from the wrong
standpoint because that already
handcuffs us."
He's right. If they haven't figured out
how to treat minorities and women by
now, a quick class probably isn't
going to do the trick. Better get back
to the country club, it's almost tee
time, after all.
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of his platform, and that is so, so
refreshing.
In 2001, we wanted to do something,
anything, for our country. We would
have signed up to become a spy, to
dig through debris, donate blood -
whatever was needed. But what did
our President ask us to do? He told us
to shop.
Something tells us Obama would
have put our patriotism to better use.
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Genentech (DNA)
soars on Avastin
breast cancer approval
By Brent Archer
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:59:00 AM
Filed under: Major movement, Good
news, Genentech Inc (DNA),
Options, Technical
AnalysisGenentech Inc. (NYSE:
DNA) shares are trading higher this
morning on news that the Food and
Drug Administration granted
conditional approval for its oncology
drug Avastin for the treatment of
breast cancer Friday after market
close. The drug is already approved
for the treatment of colorectal and
lung cancers. If you think that the
company won't fall by too much in
the coming months, then now could
be a good time to look at a bullish
hedged trade on DNA.
After hitting a one-year high of
$86.04 last February, the stock hit a
one-year low of $65.35 in December.
DNA opened this morning at $78.12.
So far today the stock has hit a low of
$77.57 and a high of $79.40. As of
10:45, DNA is trading at $78.06, up
$6.46 (9.0%). The chart for DNA
looks bullish and steady, while S&P
gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS
(out of 5) hold rating.
For a bullish hedged play on this
stock, I would consider a June bull-
put credit spread below the $65
range. A bull-put credit spread is an
options position that combines the
purchase and sale of put options to
hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do
what you think but still leverage nice
returns. This particular trade will
make an 8.7% return in just four
months as long as DNA is above $65
at June expiration. Genentech would
have to fall by more than 16% before
we would start to lose money.
DNA hasn't been below $65 at all in
the past year and has shown support
around $70 recently. This trade could
be risky if there is new bad news
about one of the company's drugs, but
even if that happens, this position
could be protected by the support the
stock might find around $67, where
DNA bottomed this past winter.
Brent Archer is an options analyst
and writer at Investors Observer. At
publication time, Brent neither owns
nor controls positions in DNA.Read |
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Your Click and Print Newspaper
Bible Predicts Barack Obama
Victory
By Tommy Christopher
(Political Machine)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:00:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats, Barack
Obama, 2008 President, HumorI've
noticed a burgeoning trend in our
comments sections toward people
claimimg that Barack Obama is the
Anti-Christ. I'm not sure where
they're getting this from, since,
according to RaptureReady.com, the
Anti-Christ will be a Jew.
Apparently, that's a "Frequently
Asked Question."
Still, you can never be too careful.
Allow me to put your fears to rest.
The Bible predicts victory for Obama,
with Hillary rounding out the ticket.
From Lady of Light:Deborah was
respected and recognized as one who
was "raised up" by God for the
purpose of leading Barak into battle
and into victory over the Sisera. Not
only did God specifically "raise up'" a
woman for this task, but Barak
recognized her power, position and
authority to the point where he would
not even go into battle without her
eBay sellers extend
strike to March 3
By Michael Fowlkes
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:46:00 AM
Filed under: Products and services,
Consumer experience, Competitive
strategy, eBay (EBAY), Marketing
and advertisingLast week I wrote a
couple pieces on the current seller
strike over at e-commerce giant eBay
(NASDAQ: EBAY). The strike was
supposed to last until today, but now
it has been extended another week.
Initial data is showing that the current
eBay strike has lowered the items
listed for sale on the site by an
impressive 13%, so you can be sure
that eBay is paying attention.
As most of you are already aware, the
current strike is the result of
frustrations by eBay users over a
couple new changes that the site has
introduced. While the site lowered its
initial listing fees for items, it raised
its completion fees. This has been
seen by power sellers as a direct
attack on the more successful eBay
sellers. In addition, eBay has decided
to keep sellers from leaving negative
feedback on buyers, a move that has
infuriated sellers who claim that
feedback is their best defense in
U.S. existing home sales hit slowest sales pace since 1999
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:11:00 AM
Filed under: Bad news, Economic
data, HousingSales of existing homes
and condominiums in January 2008
totaled a seasonally-adjusted annual
rate of 4.89 million units, the
National Association of Realtors
announced Monday. The January
going with him.
"And Barak said unto her, If thou will
go with me, then I will go, but if thou
wilt not go with me then I will not
go." Judges 4"8
avoiding dead-beat bidders. The final
straw came in the decision to hold
certain PayPal payments for up to 21
days.
The strike, which started last week,
has had a couple of impacts on the e-
commerce world. One result that I
examined last week, was the increase
in traffic and users to some smaller e-
commerce sites that historically have
had a hard time breaking into some of
eBay coveted traffic. Now we are
starting to see just how hard the strike
has been hitting eBay itself.
According to reports, the site has seen
a 13% drop in its auction listings.
Continue reading eBay sellers extend
strike to March 3Permalink | Email
this | Comments
statistic was roughly in-line with the
4.84 million consensus estimate.
The January 2008 stat was also 0.4%
lower than the revised 4.91-million-
unit December 2006 annualized rate,
and was also the lowest sales pace
since the NAR started tracking
combined sales in 1999.
Further, on a year-over-year basis,
Politics * Business *
Ultimately, Barak was given victory
over the tribe. If he had had a sexist
attitude, he would not have had this
victory, and God's purposes would
not have been successfully
accomplished.
In Judges, Chapter 5, verse 1, it tells
us that Deborah and Barak sang
together after the victory saying,
"Praise ye the Lord for the avenging
of Israel, when the people willingly
offered themselves...
There you have it. Unlike polling
data, there's no margin of error to
worry about here. So don't defy the
will of God this November. Wake up,
America!
Tommy Links
Tommy Christopher Uncut l
TomMySpace l TommYoutube
Permalink | Email this | Linking
Blogs | Comments
Analyst downgrades: WM,
FRE, FNM, MOT and GM
By Eric Buscemi
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:32:00 AM
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and
downgrades, General Motors (GM),
Motorola (MOT), New York
Times'A' (NYT), Federal Natl Mtge
(FNM), Washington Mutual
(WM)MOST NOTEWORTHY:
Mortgage finance companies,
Motorola and General Motors were
today's noteworthy downgrades:
• Goldman downgraded shares of
Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM),
Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and
Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) to Sell
from Neutral on concerns of
significant credit losses from the
housing market downturn.
• Motorola (NYSE: MOT) was
lowered to Perform from Outperform
at Oppenheimer after Q1 channel
checks indicated a material shortfall
resales plunged 23.4% compared to
January 2007.
5
Option update: Network
Appliance (NTAP) call
volume & volatility up
By Paul Foster
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 4:22:00 AM
Filed under: Options
Network Appliance (NASDAQ:
NTAP), a provider of unified storage
solutions, is recently up 84 cents to
$22.94.
NTAP company sponsored analyst
meeting is scheduled for March 13.
NTAP call option volume of 45,161
contracts compares to put volume of
16,854 contracts. NTAP March
option implied volatility of 51 is
above its 26-week average of 44
according to Track Data, suggesting
larger price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock
Specialist Paul Foster of
theflyonthewall.comPermalink |
Email this | Comments
in Q1 handset demand. They no
longer see support for shares on a
sum-of-the-parts valuation.
• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares
of General Motors (NYSE: GM) to
Hold from Buy as they believe the
cyclical North American downturn
could be deeper and more protracted
than previously expected.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
• Aventine Renwable (NYSE: AVR)
was downgraded to Sell from Hold at
Soleil.
• UBS lowered James River
(NASDAQ: JRCC) and Peabody
Energy (NYSE: BTU) to Neutral
from Buy.
• Deutsche Bank lowered New York
Times (NYSE: NYT) to Sell from
Hold.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Housing's doldrums continue
Economist Steve Affinito said the
song remains the same regarding the
U.S. housing sector.
Continue reading U.S. existing home
sales hit slowest sales pace since
1999Permalink | Email this |
Comments
6 Business * Tech Gadgets * Social Net *
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ):
Shares define bullish
'flag' pattern
By Larry Schutts
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:58:00 AM
Filed under: Earnings reports,
Analyst upgrades and downgrades,
Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ), International Business
Machines (IBM), Technical Analysis,
Stocks to Buy
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is
one of the world's largest information
technology (IT) companies, providing
a broad array of personal computers,
servers, storage devices, networking
devices, printers, operating systems
and software applications. The firm
also offers a portfolio of multi-vendor
technology, consulting, integration
and outsourcing services. Dell
(NASDAQ: DELL) and IBM (NYSE:
IBM) are major competitors.
Hewlett-Packard pleased the Street
last week, when it reported fiscal Q1
Will Congress get to the
bottom of the executive
pay problem?
By Zac Bissonnette
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 4:12:00 AM
Filed under: Management, Insiders,
Citigroup Inc. (C), Merrill Lynch
(MER), Countrywide Financial
(CFC)As Jonathan Berr wrote on
Friday, Former Merrill Lynch & Co.
(NYSE: MER) Chief Executive Stan
O'Neal, former Citigroup Inc.
(NYSE: C) CEO Chuck Prince and
former Countrywide Financial Corp.
(NYSE: CFC) Angelo Moziilo will
make their much-delayed appearance
before Congress this week.
The topic of conversation will be
their outrageous pay packages --
especially 8- and 9-figure severance
packages -- and how they can justify
packages that seems so blatantly
excessive.
Here's the problem: executive
compensation consultants generally
present compensation committees
with the pay packages that executives
at companies of similar size in the
same industry are earning. Here's the
Apple Tuesday: super special MacBook Pro, iPhone SDK...
or nothing at all?
By Joshua Topolsky
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:01:00 AM
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
As you may or may not know, Apple
has made some sort of announcement
-- however minor -- every Tuesday
since the beginning of 2008. The
internet is currently stacked floor-to-
ceiling with guesses of what this last
EPS of 86 cents and revenues of
$28.47 billion. Analysts had been
looking for 81 cents and $27.6
billion. Management also guided Q2
EPS to 83-84 cents (82 cent
consensus), Q2 revenues to $27.7-
$27.9 billion ($27.43B consensus),
FY08 EPS to $3.50-$3.54 ($3.36
consensus) and FY08 revenues to
$113.5-$114.0 billion ($111.7B
consensus). The CEO cited
"anticipated cost reductions and share
gains in key markets" for the
favorable outlook. AmTech Research,
UBS and Caris subsequently
reiterated "buy" recommendations
and declared price targets in the $54-
$58 range.
Continue reading Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ): Shares define bullish 'flag'
patternPermalink | Email this |
Comments
beauty of that: by that standard none
of these guys is overpaid because all
of them are overpaid! Isn't that
beautiful?
If that sounds circular it is, but that's
how executive pay has spiraled out of
control. Hopefully, Congress will
keep the focus on the raping of
shareholders, and not make this into a
sound-byte spectacle full of rah-rah
populist rabble-rousing.Read |
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Tuesday in February will bring. Many
are speculating that it's going to be
the often-discussed, never-seen
MacBook Pro update, while others
are certain that this will be the day
old Jobsy unveils iPhone's
supposedly-delayed SDK to the
world. Still there are those who
believe this Tuesday will see the
launch of the Apple Robot Army,
while many think that we're going to
finally get a look at that iShrink
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Countrywide Financial puts
an end to Colorado ski junket
By Zac Bissonnette
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:22:00 AM
Filed under: Countrywide Financial
(CFC), Housing, RecessionWith
media outlets and politicians heaping
sympathy on subprime borrowers on
the brink of losing everything, it's
important to keep in mind the real
victims on this mess: that's right, the
mortgage brokers who got us into it.
As if plummeting earnings from the
decline in subprime lending weren't
bad enough, subprime write down
poster child Countrywide Financial
(NYSE: CFC) canceled its annual ski
Gmail Chat Adds Invisible Mode
By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 5:37:29 AM
Gmail Chat has had a tiny upgrade
over the weekend: you can now set
your status to invisible, which is
useful when that dude you used to
work with keeps on sending you
photos of his new car.
One would expect the same option to
appear in Google Talk, but
unfortunately it doesn’t, because
shrink ray that's been long-rumored.
Of course, it's possible this will be a
party at the Rittz-Carlton Bachelor
Gulch in Avon, Colorado, where the
company puts up 30 of its most
valued correspondent lenders (at
$725+ per night) and treats them to
skiing and $140 caviar and Kurobuta
pork osso bucco at Wolfgang Puck's
restaurant.
It looks like this year the closest
they'll be getting to Spago this year is
the Wolfgang Puck canned dumpling
soup available for $31.20 per 12-pack
on Amazon.com. Even that might be
a stretch in this market. But there's
always Chef Boyardee.Read |
Permalink | Email this | Comments
GTalk doesn’t support it yet. Add to
that the fact that this feature works
only in the latest version of Gmail,
and the stage for mass confusion is
set.
ShareThis
heaping dose of iNothing. We want to
know: what do the talented,
handsome, and infinitely-wise readers
of Engadget think we'll see
tomorrow?
Read - More New Apple Products...
This Tuesday?
Read - Tuesday's Coming
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Nokia's nanotech Morph
goes on display, signals
melting devices in our future Intel's 6-core Xeon and
By Joshua Topolsky
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 1:58:00 AM
Filed under: Cellphones
Why is Nokia always trying to outdo
everyone with its fancy-schmancy
concepts and designs? Why can't they
just get in line and keep it simple?
We may never know the answer to
those questions, but what we do know
is that the company is presenting a
new concept device called the Morph
that would be right at home... in the
year 3000. The unit is included in the
MoMA's "Design and the Elastic
Mind" exhibition catalog, and boasts
the ability to stretch and flex to
almost any shape a user could think
of. The nanotechnology-based device
DIY kit lets houseplants Twitter when they need water
By Joshua Topolsky
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:34:00 AM
Filed under: Household
Finally, your mind-exploding,
breakdown-inducing struggle to keep
your houseplants watered regularly is
getting a little help. A group called
Botanicalls has come up with a
CFast CompactFlash cards now said to be coming in "18 to 24
months"
By Donald Melanson
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:40:00 AM
Filed under: Digital Cameras,
StorageWe've already heard a little
bit about about the new and improved
CFast CompactFlash card standard
developed by the CompactFlash
Association, but it looks like things
Panasonic upgrades its 103-inch plasma: sorry, early adopters
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:20:00 AM
Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home
Entertainment
Well, don't you feel silly. After
springing for that 103-incher last
year, Panasonic has made a mockery
of your spendy home theater with a
would deliver transparent electronics,
self-cleaning surfaces, and the
malleability to transform into any
number of configurations. Of course,
the actual technology required to put
this together is years or even decades
away, though Nokia expects to see
some of these innovations making
their way into high-end products
within seven years. See the device
doing its thing in some photos after
the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Continue reading Nokia's nanotech
Morph goes on display, signals
melting devices in our future
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
method to monitor your plants
remotely, then be Twittered when
they need some water. Taking a
slightly different direction than the
ThirstyLight, the system is based
around the popular (and versatile)
Arduino board, which is combined
with a DIY moisture sensor, and a
small piece of code that will alert you
when your greenery is starting to
need a drink. Look, we'll be honest
are now starting to firm up, including
word as to when the cards might
actually be available. As CNET's
Underexposed blog reports, a Lexar
rep says he "predicts" that the cards
should start showing up in "18 to 24
months," and that companies will
"want to start working on prototype
samples as soon as the specification is
finalized." The big advantage to the
150-inch display at CES, and now an
upgraded version of the original 103-
inch behemoth. The new TH-
103PF10UK upgrades the video
processing, anti-reflective coating,
"wireless presentation capabilities,"
media card reader and adds dual
HDMI, but the actual display seems
to be the same as last time around.
There's also a 100,000 hour warranty
Nehalem CPU info leaked
By Joshua Topolsky
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 4:02:00 AM
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Intel's had its new processor plans
slipped out to the public thanks to
Sun, according to DailyTech. Details
on the 6-core (!) Xeon Dunnington,
as well as the kinda-sorta hush-hush
Nehalem were apparently leaked out
onto Sun's public web server over the
weekend, including plans for the new
Xeons to overtake the company's
Tigerton CPU line. The Dunnington
processors will have a 16MB L3
cache shared by all six cores, and will
with you: it's a pretty complicated
process to go through just to figure
cards, as we've mentioned, is their
use of an SATA interface, which not
included, which is only fitting since
we're guessing this new 103-inch
Tech Gadgets * 7
be pin-compatible with the Tigertons,
thus making integration with your
Clarksboro chipset slightly less
painful... by being possible. The
Nehalem also got the spy treatment,
with news that it will not only replace
the Penryn line in Q4 '08, but will
also be the first time in 18 years that
Intel includes on-die memory
controllers. If this sort of thing is
important to you (and we think it may
be) hit the read link and get all the
juicy details.
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
out when your plants need water, but
if you're as serious about flora as we
think you are, this will be a dream
come true.
[Via Make]
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
only boosts the transfer rate to a
speedy 375MB/sec but, of course,
also makes them incompatible with
current CompactFlash-based cameras.
And you thought that 55-in-1
memory card reader was future proof.
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
won't be selling for much less than
$70 grand.
[Via Crave]
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
8 Tech Gadgets * Social Net *
Sony intros the Cyber-Shot DSC- back in WowWee's court
H50 "super zoom" camera By Darren Murph (Engadget) number of solar cells which provide
By Joshua Topolsky
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:59:00 AM
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Sony is no stranger to digital
cameras, as the company has
professed in its press release detailing
the Cyber-Shot DSC-H50, a new 9.1-
megapixel shooter that should have
camera fans perking up their ears.
The new model -- a successor to the
DSC-H9 "super zoom" camera --
sports a Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom
Oakley's Split Thumps: Jamiroquai Sony's new DSC-W300 brings 13.6
style megapixels to point-and-shoots
By Paul Miller (Engadget) the camera sports a 2.7-inch LCD, 3x
By Joshua Topolsky
(Engadget)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:29:00 AM
Filed under: Portable Audio,
Wearables
Oakley's Split Thump MP3 player
sunglasses' fashion offenses are too
numerous to mention, and we're not
sure this is helping matters.
According to the folks over at Tech
Digest, the wrap-around music
players will be getting a very special
500-piece, 1GB Jamiroquai edition,
Digg Townhall on UStream Liveblog
By Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:55:38 AM
Tonight, we have everything you
need to be informed on what’s going
on with the first quarterly UStream
enough power in sunlight to make the
lens, a 3-inch tilting LCD display,
ISO to 3200, and a long-distance
flash (capable of lighting subjects
from 55 feet away). The DSC-H50
also has an "advanced sports"
shooting mode which allows it to
utilize ultra-high shutter speeds (like
1/4000 of a second). The camera is
expected to go on sale in May, and
will only slightly break the bank at
$400.
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
replete with purple and white
camouflage design and two new
remixes from the disco-aping singer's
1993 album Emergency on Planet
Earth. Grab your glasses, get out your
floppy hat, slip on some Mickey
Mouse gloves, and crack open a
bottle of Vicks VapoRub -- it's time
to party like you don't know any
better.
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
Townhall. Not only are we including
the embeds for the UStream video
and chat room, but our own
liveblogging coverage, so that if you
miss any of the broadcast and
conversation, you can review our
coverage and catch up.
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Solar-powered dragonfly throws ball
Submitted at 2/24/2008 11:55:00 PM
Filed under: Robots
Make no mistake, our hearts were
fluttering when we finally witnessed
WowWee's FlyTech Dragonfly
buzzing about, but there's just
something about this creature that
really wins us over. Designed and
constructed by James G. Watt, this
robotic insect reportedly includes a
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:58:00 AM
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Tired of taking candid shots with
your point-and-shoot that can barely
stretch over the state of Nevada?
Sony's got those megapixels in spades
with its new DSC-W300, the new top
-end shooter in its W lineup. In
addition to the 13.6 megapixel sensor,
The event is to be hosted by Jay
Adelson and Kevin Rose, and will be
covering the topics of cesnsorship
within the site, algorithm questions,
and buries becoming public, and of
course the all important question as to
whether Digg is up for sale. There
critter's wings flap. Granted, we aren't
told whether or not it's mighty
enough to deliver loves notes in math
class, but we're digging the concept,
regardless.
[Via MAKE]
Read | Permalink | Email this |
Comments
optical zoom, optical image
stabilization and up to ISO 6400 shots
in "extra high sensitivity" mode. The
camera also brings along Sony's
Smile Shutter tech, and other fancy
processor capabilities, including a
limited burst mode. The DSC-W300
will be available in May for about
$350.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
isn’t expected to be live chat turned
on in the UStream channel, so this
will be your only place to interact
with the broadcast.
ShareThis
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Pingg—Invitations Done Right
By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 7:59:10 AM
Whenever a niche gets really
crowded with startups, you know that
something is broken. Online
invitations, which has been
dominated by Evite for the past
decade, is one of those areas where
there is literally a dozen services
trying to make it
better—MyPunchBowl, Amiando,
Invitastic, MadeIt, Socializr, iPartee,
Renkoo, ImThere, Skobee, Zvents,
Zoji, Windows Live Events. Now add
Pingg. The site launched publicly last
week. A little late to the party
perhaps. But it starts from a very
basic premise that most other online
invitation sites surprisingly have
ignored. Says co-founder and CEO
Lorien Gabel: “We have taken the
approach that the invite matters.”
When you get an invite from Pingg,
you don’t have to click through to a
Website blaring with advertisements
just to find the address for a dinner.
All the information is right there
where it should be, in your email.
Pingg’s invites are drop-dead
gorgeous. A lot of care and attention
has been put into the design of each
one (you can choose from about 45
themes like dinner party, baby,
wedding, food, travel, and eco-
friendly). The invite, image, and
event details all come through in your
email. And you can RSVP from the
email as well.
Fox Said To Be Exploring
Termination Of Google Advertising
Deal
By Michael Arrington
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:34:08 AM
Even while parent company News
Corp. continues to try to disrupt the
Microsoft/Yahoo merger, Fox
Interactive Media (FIM) is rumored
to be in negotiations with Microsoft
take Google’s place as the MySpace
advertising partner.
The Google-FIM deal, first
announced in August 2006, obligated
Google to make guaranteed minimum
revenue share payments to FIM of at
least $900 million based on Fox
achieving certain traffic and other
commitments. But the original deal
was negotiated in extreme haste, say
people with knowledge of the deal. In
February 2007 the parties were
rumored to be working on the final
agreement, months after ads were
already being served by Google.
In Google’s haste to keep the deal
from Microsoft they may have paid
more than they can stomach.
According to our source, Sergey
Brin’s thinly veiled buyer’s remorse
verbalized during Google’s most
recent earnings call on January 31
angered News Corp./FIM execs:
We don’t talk about individual
partners’ performance or anything
like that. Now I do want to highlight
though, we have had a challenge in
Of course, each invite is linked to a
dedicated Website, where more
photos, maps, videos, gift registries,
and payment options exist (if guests
want to pitch in to fund an event, for
instance). The e-mails and Website
are free. But you can also send out
printed invites as postcards for $1.50
each (including postage) or send the
invites as text messages to guests’
mobile phones ($1.50 for 20
messages). Gabel explains why he
thinks Pingg is different in this blog
post.
In addition to making money from
printed invitations and sending SMS
messages, Pingg has various other
affiliate deals in place. If you don’t
like any of the images Pingg provides
for its invites, you can purchase one
directly on Pingg through micro-stock
photography site Fotolia (or upload
your own image for free). The gift
registry, which is currently linked to
Amazon, offers other affiliate-fee
opportunities. A ticketing feature will
soon be launched, as will premium
subscriptions for professional and
power users. But advertising will
never be part of the equation. “That
detracts from the event,” says Gabel.
Nobody wants to see a Weight
Q4 with social networking inventory
as a whole and some of the
monetization work we were doing
there didn’t pan out as well as we had
hoped. But we are continuing the
efforts and we are still optimistic
about future quarters.
…we have a huge amount of social
networking inventory, including the
MySpace relationship, including of
course Orkut, our own network,
which is very, very successful and
probably like 20 others, or something
like that. I don’t know the exact
number. But we have an incredible
amount of this inventory and in fact,
it varies quite a bit in how it all
monetizes, based on a number of
factors, some of which we
understand, some of which we don’t.
…I don’t think we have the killer best
way to advertise and monetize the
social networks yet. We’re running
Watcher’s ad next to a dinner
invitation.
The site has some other nice touches,
including guest-list management and
event-reporting tools. Event hosts can
set up automatic reminder messages
and thank-you notes when they are
creating their invites. And the RSVP
options include the ability to limit an
event’s capacity, or to allow invitees
to bring guests or transfer their invites
to others.
Pingg is based in New York City (the
CEO and VP of marketing share an
office with Clickable. First30Days,
and independent film company
PalmStar Entertainment). Its
development and design team is in
Toronto. The co-founders, brothers
Gabel and CTO Matt Harrop, are
Canadian. They founded the company
in January, 2007 and self-funded it
with $500,000. Then they raised an
$800,000 angel round in March, 2007
led by the early-stage Actarus Funds,
the investment vehicle of Stephan
Paternot, co-founder of
TheGlobe.com. (Paternot now runs
PalmStar). At least that 1.0 money is
now being put to good use.
C r u n c h B a s e
InformationPinggEviteamiandoMyPu
nchbowlRenkooFotoliaInformation
provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
lots of experiments. We had some
significant improvements but as I
said, some of the things we were
working on in Q4 didn’t really pan
out and there were some
disappointments there. I hope to be
able to report more progress in the
future but it’s a big opportunity
because it’s so much inventory.
The vast majority of social network
traffic that Google serves ads into is
controlled by MySpace - this was a
direct complaint about that deal.
Shortly thereafter, our source says,
FIM started discussions with
Microsoft about taking over the
advertising inventory. Microsoft
announced a guaranteed payments
deal with Facebook just two weeks
after the initial FIM/Google deal. I’m
sure they’d be very happy to get their
hands on MySpace traffic, too. And if
anyone has more money to burn than
Google, it’s Microsoft.
What we don’t know is what kind of
termination clauses are included in
the existing agreement. But Google
seems to be saying publicly that they
wish they had never entered the deal.
Perhaps now, with Microsoft waiting
on the sidelines waiting to play sugar
daddy, MySpace will suddenly be
sexy again.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
Technology * 9
Blog Recommendation
Startup Outbrain
Raises $5 Million
By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 9:16:55 AM
Funding Monday continues.
NY/Israeli startup Outbrain is
announcing a $5 million series A
financing, led by Gemini Israeli
Funds. Lightspeed Venture Partners
and GlenRock Israel also put money
into the round. The company was
founded by Yaron Galai, a co-founder
of Quigo (recently sold to AOL for
$340 million), and Ori Lahov,
previously a technologist at
Shopping.com. It raised a $1 million
seed round last year from
Lightspeed’s and Gemini’s joint
Internet lab in Israel, LGiLab, which
is managed by TechCrunch France
editor Ouriel Ohayan.
Outbrain is creating a ratings and
recommendation platform for blogs
and news feeds. So far it has
developed a rating widget that can be
placed at the end of every blog post
or news feed item so that readers can
rate each one. Outbrain wants to use
these widgets to cerate a cross-
blog/news recommendation system
using collaborative filtering
techniques similar to what you find
on Amazon.com for products.
“Readers like you also liked:” X.
Nobody has to register. Outbrain
makes its inferences anonymously
based on cookies. Explains Galai:
With every rating that’s cast to our
system, we constantly tweak the
‘closeness’ of each reader to all other
readers who ever rated anything. We
then give your like-minded readers a
higher weight when making
recommendations for you. So the
more items you rate (and rate
honestly), the better your
personalized recommendations
should get.
This is in contrast to the folks that do
‘related articles’ functionality which
is based purely on the content of the
post. Those by definition are one-size
-fits-all recommendations which we
do not believe are very effective. So
while others try to target
recommendations that are relevant to
the content, we are trying to target
recommendations that are relevant to
the readers.
Outbrain’s widget can be installed on
most blogging and RSS platforms,
inncluding Blogger.com, TypePad,
WordPress.org, Drupal, FeedFlare,
and MoveableType. Bloggers can
grab it here. It competes with other
rating and recommendation widgets
out there, including JS-Kit’s rating
widget and Criteo’s Autoroll widget
that creates reader-centric blogrolls.
C r u n c h B a s e
InformationOutbrainCriteoJS
KitInformation provided by
CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you
to find a new Job2.0
10 Technology *
Glam Raises $85 million In Equity
+ Debt Financing Round
By Michael Arrington
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 9:50:16 PM
Brisbane, California based Glam
Mediareported an $85 million round
of financing, their fourth, today. We
first reported that Glam was looking
to raise as much as $200 million in
August 2007. More rumors popped
up in November 2007.
The round was $65 million in cash
and $20 million in debt, on top of
almost $30 million they raised in
three prior rounds. Investors included
Hubert Burda Media, GLG Partners,
Duff Ackerman & Goodrich,
Hercules Technology Growth Capital,
Accel, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and
Information Capital. The valuation, as
expected, was in the half billion
dollar range.
The company, according to their
original offering document, which is
ShifD Launches in Beta. Move LinkedIn Goes
Notes, Places, and Links From Mobile—Finally
the Web to Your Phone. By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 8:58:12 PM
Today, in conjunction with the 1.0
release of Adobe AIR, the digital labs
of the New York Times Co. is
releasing an application in public beta
called ShifD. An early version of the
app won a Yahoo Hack Day last June.
It is designed to let users easily shift
notes, links, and addresses between
their computers and their mobile
phones.
Instead of e-mailing yourself notes to
remind yourself to do something or
links to stories you want to read, you
put them into ShifD and create a feed
that is automatically available on
your mobile phone. You can use a
standalone Adobe Air app on your
desktop or a regular Web browser.
On your mobile phone, ShifD
supports most mobile Web browsers,
and is also offering customized
versions for the iPhone and the
Blackberry. You can enter notes back
into your SHifD account from you
mobile phone by texting to “SHIFD”.
It seems like a lot of extra effort just
to sync a limited number of things
between your computer and your
phone. There are more
comprehensive syncing options out
there, and it is not too hard to access a
regular bookmarking service, such as
del.icio.us, from your mobile phone
(see mobilicio.us). As for addresses,
Google Maps and Yahoo Maps, both
have mobile options as well. So there
embedded below, is not yet
profitable. They lost around $3.7
million on $21 million in revenue in
2007. 2008 projected revenues are
$150 million and $40 million in
profit.
Glam operates a number of small
sites geared towards women.
Glam.com is the main anchor with
the largest reach among these
properties, but other owned sites
appear to be pure SEO plays like free
-beauty-tips.com and celebrity-
hairstyles.org. They also sell
advertisements for other sites, which
make up the vast bulk of its page
is nothing new that ShifD allows you
to do. But it does tie those three use
case (notes, links, and places)
together in an elegant way. It makes a
lot more sense for people with less
capable phones. Otherwise, I’d argue
that e-mailing yourself such
reminders and links to your
Blackberry or iPhone—or tapping
into the mobile versions of existing
services you already use—is probably
more efficient. Those of you who
decide to try it out, tell us what you
think in comments.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
Your Click and Print Newspaper
views. We have criticized them in the
past for claiming to be the largest
womens site on the Internet, and the
fastest growing site in the U.S., based
on traffic coming from sites they sell
ads for.
As an ad network Glam may find its
margins squeezed as competition
increases. Still, they control a lot of
page views. Comscore reports that
worldwide uniques across all sites
that Glam sells advertising for had
nearly 47 million unique visitors and
1.1 billion page views. That’s 4x the
unique visitors and 11x the page
views from a year ago.
Glam Media Teaser August
2007CrunchBase InformationGlam
MediaInformation provided by
CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and
Applications, Delivered Daily.
Submitted at 2/24/2008 8:58:33 PM
Six months after Facebook came out
with a version of its social network
for the iPhone, LinkedIn is finally
coming around to releasing a mobile
version of its own.
It is live now. Just go to
http://m.linkedin.com/ on any mobile
browser. Of course, if you have an
iPhone, you will see a version
optimized just for that device.
This isn’t exactly what we had in
mind when we noted there is still an
opportunity to create a kick-ass
mobile social network.
But the basic functionality is all there.
You can look up people’’s profiles,
invite people into your network, and
see updates from your contacts. More
fully-featured, downloadable mobile
apps geared to specific phones may
Bloglines Suffers Major
Outage
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 11:20:49 PM
RSS reader Bloglines has suffered a
major outage over the weekend with
the service simply ceasing to update
any blogs from just before midnight
PST February 24.
Threads on the Bloglines forum
suggest that the issue is widespread
and to date no statement has been
issued by Bloglines or IAC/ Ask staff
in relation to the issue. A test at 11pm
PST shows the most recent stories
indexed by Bloglines are over 15
hours old.
Bloglines users are not happy with
the outage, with some already signing
up for other services, and other
comments including such as
“Remember when they at least
showed the plumber?”
Tiny Pictures Gets A
Big Wad
Mobile of Cash—$7
startup Tiny Pictures secured
a $7.2 million series
TINY B financing
page 11 from
(TechCrunch)
Draper
By ErickFisher Jurvetson. Mohr
Submitted atSchonfeld
2/25/2008 4:00:59 AM
Davidow Ventures, which led the A
round, also participated. Previously,
the company raised a total of $4
million, including seed investments
be coming in the future.
Even limited mobile browser
accessibility should help LinkedIn
keep its members happy. The regular
Website has been on a tear lately,
nearly tripling in unique visitors over
the past year in the U.S., to 3.6
million in January 2008, according to
comScore.
No signs of social networking fatigue
there.
C r u n c h B a s e
InformationLinkedInInformation
provided by CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
CrunchBoardbecause it’s time for you
to find a new Job2.0
One commenter claims that Bloglines
may be about to be shut down:
A buddy who works at ask.com
(owners of Bloglines) says that they
are discontinuing the service because
it makes no money and there will be
an announcement tomorrow.
A shutdown is more than unlikely.
But users deserve some attention
during an outage of this
s i z e . C r u n c h B a s e
InformationBloglinesGoogle
ReaderInformation provided by
CrunchBase
C r u n c h N e t w o r k :
MobileCrunchMobile Gadgets and
Applications, Delivered Daily.
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Digg Competitor Mixx Takes $2
Million Series A1
By Duncan Riley (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 9:30:14 PM
Social voting outfit Mixx has taken
$2 million Series A1 in a round led
by existing investor InterSouth
Partners.
Mixx offers a category based social
voting service that competes with
sites such as Digg, Reddit and
Propeller. McLean, Virginia based
Mixx was launched in September
2007 with talent including former
executives from Yahoo!, AOL, USA
TODAY and The Associated Press.
The company has regularlylaunched
new features in an attempt to stand
out in a market place with strongly
entrenched loyalties to existing
Radar Networks Raises $13
Million B Round; Velocity’s
Ross Levinshon Joins Board
By Erick Schonfeld
(TechCrunch)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 9:00:13 PM
Semantic Web startup Radar
Networks raised $13 million in a B
round, led by Velocity Interactive
Group. Velocity’s Ross Levinsohn
will join the board. Other investors
include Draper Fisher Jurvetson and
Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital. The
company previously raised $5 million
from Vulcan, Leapfrog Ventures, Ron
Conway, and Peter Rip.
Radar Networks is the company
NewsGator Signs 20 New Clients
Including Reuters and WashPost
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 6:04:48 AM
NewsGator recently released its
services for the world to use for free,
and perhaps that helped nudge some
of NewsGator’s new clients into
signing on to its widget and mobile
services. A handful (20, to be exact)
of major new clients, in fact, and
three announcements to boot. The
Washington Post along with
Newsweek (which previously used
blogroll via MuseStorm), Reuters and
Cox Newspapers have signed on to
use NewsGator for the use of
NewsGator’s feed delivery services,
specifically for widgets and mobile
distribution. The hope, of course, is to
get news content in front of more
eyeballs.
The benefit of using NewsGator for
such distribution is its metrics
capabilities and branding, through
FeedDemon. Each widget is viral in
multiple ways, granting viewers to
share content via email as well as
grabbing the widget, and the widgets
are interactive in that they support
ratings and commenting. Cox
specifically is looking to get some
monetary rewards through utilizing
players.
Mixx added the LA Times to its
investor group in December. Total
funding to date is $3.5 million.
(via VentureBeat)CrunchBase
InformationMixxDiggRedditInformat
ion provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
behind Twine, a site in private beta
that helps you organize the Web and
your personal information by
automatically tagging and cataloging
everything you save to it. (For more,
see our write-up).CrunchBase
I n f o r m a t i o n R a d a r
NetworksTwineVelocity Interactive
GroupRoss LevinsohnInformation
provided by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
NewsGator’s services, but I’m sure
that’s a happy byproduct for all of
NewsGator’s new clients.
In taking some of the community
interaction away from the
newspapers’ main websites and
distributing it across the web, it looks
like these printed media companies
are hoping to find additional ways in
which they can engage audiences,
while spreading content, ads, and
opportunities for streams of revenue
all in one little widget.
With the demographics these
newspaper companies are dealing
with, I’m wondering at the possible
impact these widgets will have in the
end, but I’m also wondering at the
effect of such direct distribution
options to the end users (readers) for
other distributive services like
Mochila, which rely on web
publishers to be the bridge between
such premium content and the end
users.
One thing Mochila has that isn’t quite
as prominent through the newspapers’
Technology * Social Net *
TINY
continued from page 10
from Reid Hoffman and Joi Ito.
Tiny Pictures operates the mobile
photo-sharing service Radar, which
lets members comment on each
others camera-phone snapshots.
Radar serves up 15 million mobile
photos a month worldwide. Last
November, the company introduced
advertising in the form of public
photo streams that movie studios and
other companies try to get people to
Microsoft to Track JamBase Reaches 1
Engagement in Million Live Music
Online Advertising Listings after 10 Years
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 7:20:37 AM
Microsoft has announced
“Engagement Mapping,” a new way
to track online advertising that takes
into account all user actions before
they eventually make an online
purchase. Essentially, this means a lot
more data than is currently available
in most online ad platforms –
including Google AdWords – where
the reporting primarily consists of
which ad was clicked and what
percentage of those clicks lead to a
sale.
According to Brian McAndrews,
Microsoft’s Senior VP of Advertising
MICROSOFT page 12
utilization of NewsGator’s widgets is
the aggregation of multiple sources of
content (though this could be done at
NewsGator for individual users). It
appears that a key strategy is the
streaming of content through as many
channels across the web as possible is
an important consideration for
traditional media companies,
especially as ad revenue is
increasingly important for online
venues.
And while Cox Newspapers is quite
clear about its hope for NewsGator
widgets to bring in additional ad
revenue for the company, The
Washington Post and Newsweek have
teamed up with Microsoft to present
the Candidate Tracker. This is a free
(Microsoft-sponsored) app for
Microsoft Windows Mobile Phones,
that will give you real-time coverage
of the presidential candidates and
elections, with content coming from
The Washington Post and Newsweek,
along with their other media
properties. Probably the best thing
about the Candidate Tracker is that
the entire article will show through
this mobile widget, so there’s no need
to click through to the source.
ShareThis
11
pay attention to. Blacked Eyed Peas
singer will.i.am recently joined the
company’s advisory board.
CrunchBase InformationTiny
PicturesRadarInformation provided
by CrunchBase
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool
over the sexiest new gadgets and
hardware.
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:53:07 AM
Founded ten years ago, JamBase
began as an online resource for live
music events, and today the site is
announcing the milestone of reaching
1 million live music show listings to
its database. If you go to the JamBase
site you’ll see a mix of user-generated
content with information on various
artists in the music industry. Articles
on these artists include user-driven
discussion forums and comments as
well. This is all for the purpose of
helping you search and discover
music that’s interesting to you, as
well as events that are coming to your
home town.
In its ten years of existence, JamBase
has grown to include a social network
and a recommendation tool, with a
long term goal of providing near real-
time information about live music
performances. There are a series of
action items you can take as a visitor
or a registered member, from
purchasing tickets to building up your
own event calendar based on shows
you’d like to see. Similar to
Going.com, you can also see other
members that are going to a particular
event as well.
Last year looked to be a pretty good
year for JamBase, with a reported
500,000 users, 40,000 artists, 50
genres, and 50,000 venues
worldwide. JamBase is reporting an
89% increase in show listings from
2006 to 2007, so it appears that the
growing outlets online for sharing
music information, and the layering
in of various community, iTunes-
integrated and action-based features
made available to users has paid off,
most significantly in the past two
years.
Just like others in the space, including
BandTracker, JamBase is heavily
reliant on its users, so a couple of
things I was surprised to be unable to
readily find on the site were shareable
widgets and the promotion of mobile
access to the JamBase site. Both of
these aspects of JamBase are
functions you’ll find rather central to
other services’ ability to leverage user
bases for virality and even
membership, so I imagine a concerted
focus on getting these features into
the hands of its users could only help
JamBase’s current growth as a
resource for music fans.
ShareThis
12 Social Net * TV * Your Click and Print Newspaper

Tiny Pictures Raises FreshBooks Adds Expense

$7.2M for Radar Mobile Tracking to Become More
Photo & Video Sharing Competitive
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:42:08 AM
Tiny Pictures has raised $7.2 million
in Series B funding from Draper
Fisher Jurvetson and Mohr Davidow
Ventures. The company’s product –
radar.net – is an application for
sharing photos and videos taken with
your camera phone, which currently
has 750,000 users according to the
company.
The funding will be used to expand
internationally, and to further develop
Radar’s advertising platform, which
launched back in November. To make
money, the company includes
advertisements as content alongside
updates from your friends. For
example, you may see a photo or
video promoting a movie, such as the
ad for Hitman seen in the iPhone
image to the right.
Radar.net has plenty of competition
in the mobile photo and video space,
but is a “picks and shovels” company
of sorts in that once you’ve snapped a
photo on your cameraphone and
uploaded it to Radar, you can share it
FT’s $3,300 Per Year
via widgets or through their Facebook
application.
For big-time social media users, this
has a definite advantage over the
applications currently offered by the
social networks. For example,
currently I can snap pictures using my
Blackberry Pearl and send them
directly to Facebook using the
company’s mobile app. But to share
them elsewhere, I’d need to go
through the same process for my
blog, MySpace, and the other sites I
use.
Tiny Pictures previously raised $4
million, also from Mohr Davidow
Ventures, as well as seed funding
from Reid Hoffman and Joi Ito. In
more exciting news, the company
recently added hip hop mogul turned
social media guru Will.i.am to its
board of advisors.
ShareThis
By Kristen Nicole (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:52:48 AM
Invoice and time-tracking service
FreshBooks has just added a major
for keeping track of personal finances
new feature onto its service, called and staying on budget. FreshBooks’
Expense Tracking. This new feature
new Expense Tracking could be used
will become central to the overall for tracking personal finances as well.
FreshBooks service as it’s core to the
Expense Tracking will be available as
financial and organizational tools that one of the core functionalities of
FreshBooks would like to focus and
FreshBooks at no extra charge, and
build on in its offerings to its users. also looks like it will be fairly
Expense Tracking works just as you
integrated with Freshbooks’ other
would expect to. It’s a service that features, like invoicing.
lets you track sales and costs for
As an invoicing and time-tracking
viewing your cash flow. This at-a- service, it only makes sense for
glance option for keeping abreast of
FreshBooks to continue to expand its
your cash flow is something that can offerings, especially in more
come in handy for business and
automated ways. It’s increasingly
personal use. Perhaps it’s this important as others, like Shoeboxed
personal use case scenario that
and Iterasi, enter the space for
FreshBooks is looking to compete automated processes in dealing with
with, for the purpose of broadening
personal and business-related
its user base even further? financing tools.
Other sites out there like Geezeo and
ShareThis
Mint have brought in some nicely
automated, and very integrated tools
MICROSOFT
continued from page 11
& Publisher Solutions, the new terms of the quality of click-thrus, an
measurement service, “conveys how
each ad exposure — whether display,
rich media or search, seen multiple
engagement metric can help the ad
networks make the argument that
display ads are at least getting a

Social Network Fails At times on multiple sites and across

many channels — influenced an
eventual purchase.”
strong branding message across.
VideoEgg made a similar
announcement last week, introducing

Firefox Simplifying it further, this means that

By Stan Schroeder (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 4:20:12 AM
If you think LinkedIn is for kids and
Facebook is for grandkids, perhaps
you should consider Financial Times’
new social network, aimed at top
level execs who can afford 1700
pounds (3,340 dollars) per year,
because that’s how much (at the very
least) membership costs.
The details about the network itself
are sparse; it’s being described as a
forum with a ‘user-friendly, simple,
efficient and secure system’ for
online networking. I’m guessing that
the high price point will mostly relate
to the exclusivity of the club and
much less to the actual technical and
other accomplishments offered within
the network (see bottom of this article
for proof). However, it’s partially
redeemed with the fact that
membership in the forum includes
free attendance to one of Financial
Times‘ Global Conferences and
Events, as well as a 20% discount on
other events in the series, as well as
12-month subscription to the
newspaper itself. Not bad, but 3,3k
bucks? Ouch.
This particular forum is aimed at
professionals in the digital, new
media, mobile and telecoms sectors,
but Financial Times plans to launch
several more exclusive forums later
this year, aimed at execs who deal
with luxury goods and property.
The actual site, located at
www.ftexecutiveforums.com, is
completely garbled in Firefox. Thus,
it’s obvious that $3,300 can’t even
buy you basic browser compatibility.
I’ll stick with LinkedIn, thank you.
Don’t Firefox me, bro!
ShareThis
if a user sees an ad for Expedia as a
banner, a text ad, and a video over the
course of several weeks and then
a pay-for-engagement model to video
advertising.
Engagement Mapping is set to be
tested by a number of Microsoft’s
purchases a plane ticket, Expedia will major advertisers including Citi
know (provided they are using Cards, Monster Worldwide, and
Microsoft of course). Thus, while you Sprint, starting March 1st. Microsoft
may not know exactly what made a is providing more details on the
user choose Expedia over platform at the Interactive
Travelocity, you can see patterns in Advertising Bureau’s Annual
terms of which ads eventually lead to Meeting in Phoenix today.
purchases. ShareThis
With banner ads recently receiving
criticism for poor performance in
Big Brother 9: Live feeds report
- Feb. 24
By Jackie Schnoop (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 3:00:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother
(US)Even though some big fancy
party is going on in Hollywood
tonight, life goes on in the Big
Brother 9 house. There might be no
red carpet with stunning gowns worn
by starlets, but there are bikinis! Still
intent on playing the sex card, today
was the Bikini Day for the women.

Nah, I don't consider that a spoiler

because anyone watching the show
this past Thursday knew that one day
the women would all have to wear
them. My personal question is what
day will all the men have to wear
Speedos?
Well, now that I think about it...I'm
not sure I want to see Adam or Ryan
in a Speedo.
There are new images added to the
gallery below, no real spoilers. For
show spoilers, read on past the jump.
%Gallery-16734%
Continue reading Big Brother 9: Live
feeds report - Feb. 24
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper Social Net * TV * 13

Massive Online Ad What's On Tonight: 60

Network Funding: $80M+ Minutes, The Wire, The L
for Adconion and Glam Word, Jimmy Kimmel
By Adam Ostrow (Mashable!)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 6:39:52 AM
Adconion Media Group has received
a massive $80 million in Series C
funding for its online advertising
network. The funding round was led
by Index Ventures with participation
from Wellington Partners. The
company is touting the news as
“largest purely VC raise in history.”
Adconion is based in London and is
most prominent internationally.
According to stats the company
publishes on its homepage, they serve
approximately 290 million ad
impressions per day, only about 50
million of which are in the US.
Separately, Glam Media, the woman-
focused media company and ad
network announced that it has raised
a total of $84.6 million ($64.6 million
Series D, $20 million debt financing).
Giveaway Monday:
The funding was lead by media
company Hubert Burda Media, with
participation from GLG Partners,
DAG, Accel Partners, Draper Fisher
Jurvetson, Walden Ventures, and
Information Capital.
Last year, we saw just about every
major ad network get snapped up by
the major Internet companies;
DoubleClick to Google, aQuantive to
Microsoft, RightMedia to Yahoo, and
several others in the multi-hundred
millions of dollars. It’s clear that VCs
are confident the trend will continue,
and as such, are investing heavily in
the next generation of ad networks.
ShareThis
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 8:01:00 AM
Filed under: Programming, What To
Watch Tonight, Upfronts
• At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes,
then a new Big Brother.
• ABC has the Barbara Walters
Special at 7, followed by The Oscars.
• The CW has a new CW Now at 7.
• At 9, PBS has a new Masterpiece.
• Food Network has a new Ultimate
Recipe Showdown at 9, then a new
Iron Chef America.
• HBO has a new episode of The
Wire at 9, then a new Russell
Simmons' Def Comedy Jam.
• Showtime has a new L Word at 9.
• Also at 9: VH-1 has a new Rock of Affleck, Jon Stewart, and Mary J.
Love with Bret Michaels, followed by Blige.
new episodes of Scott Baio is 46...and
Pregnant and My Fair Brady.
• At 11:45, Cartoon Network has a Check your local TV listings for
new Aqua Teen Hunger Force, then a more.
new Squidbillies.
• At midnight (or whenever the post-
Oscars news is over), there's a new
Jimmy Kimmel Live, with Ben
Permalink | Email this | | Comments

Highlander: The Source Big Brother 9: Nominations #2

By Keith McDuffee (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 1:01:00 AM
Filed under: TV on DVD, Contests
and GiveawaysThis time we've got
five copies of Highlander: The
Source on DVD for five lucky,
random commenters. Two of those
winners will also receive a "mini-
sword" (I'm told fans of the series
will know what the swords are, and
that they are a big collector's item and
are similar to this). The DVD is
available in stores on February 26.
To enter, simply leave a comment
below before 5:00PM Eastern,
Friday, February 29, simply telling us
why you'd like to own the DVD. As
always, we'll randomly choose seven
winners amongst the eligible entries.
Some other details:
• To enter, leave a confirmed
comment below stating why you'd
like to own Highlander: The Source
on DVD.
• The comment must be left before
February 29, 2008 at 5:00PM Eastern
Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a
random drawing.
• Five winners will receive a copy of
Highlander: The Source on DVD
(valued at $26.99). Two of those
winners will also receive a "mini-
sword" based on the series (valued at
about $20).
Click here for complete Official
Rules.
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
By Kristin Sample (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:31:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US),
Episode Reviews(S09E06) "Cups are
a very essential part of life, ya know.
We use 'em for drinkin' and what
not." --Matt on Big Brother taking
away all the drinking cups in the
house after last week's HOH
competition
Do you see how much vital
information you can learn from CBS's
Big Brother 9? Did you know about
the power of the drinking cup before
this? I didn't. The cup and his
brethren, the glass, have taken on a last night's Big Brother 9 is after the
whole new meaning for me. Matt, jump.
you have officially rocked my world.
Matt also told us to never trust %Gallery-16795%
anyone with pink hair. Wonder who Continue reading Big Brother 9:
he's referring to? Nominations #2
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
More of Matt's nuggets and a recap of

The Wire: Clarifications

By Jonathan Toomey (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 2:03:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, The Wire,
Episode Reviews
(S05E08) "A lie ain't a side of a story.
It's just a lie." - Terry Hanning
Rest in peace Omar Little. Wow.
Honestly, that's all I really want to
talk about. So let's get everything else
out of the way first. I'll come back to
Omar. Where to start then? How
about my weekly rant on Scott
Templeton? When I first saw that
quote at the head of the episode, I
was wondering who the hell Terry
Hanning was. I figured he must hold
some weight if his quote was the one
selected to grace the episode though.
Then we saw him. The military vet
that Scott "interviewed" under the
bridge the day he went slumming
with the homeless. I've been waiting
all season for a moment like this.
%Gallery-13453%
Continue reading The Wire:
Clarifications
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14 TV * Movies Your Click and Print Newspaper

Breaking Bad: Gray Matter

By Jason Hughes (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:41:00 AM
Filed under: Episode Reviews,
Breaking Bad
(S01E05) This episode served as a
bridge in our larger story to the next
chapter of both Jesse and Walt's lives.
In the previous installment, Walt
withdrew from the sordid world of
drug trafficking and focused on his
family, revealing his cancer and
looking at the varying options
In Treatment: Week Four
By Paul Goebel (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 1:24:00 AM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows,
Episode Reviews
(S01E16-20) "Fuck all of you and the
fish you swam in on." - Sophie
Laura
So it seems pretty obvious that Paul is
jealous. What's worse is that Laura is
so painfully aware of Paul's jealousy.
The power has so clearly shifted in
their relationship that it seems to be
verging on malpractice.
You gotta love how Paul can be so
detached when Laura is in tears
begging him to have sex with her but
when she is describing her sexual
Some X-Files movie sequel hints -
VIDEO
By Isabelle Carreau (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:23:00 AM
Filed under: Other Sci-
Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on the
Bigscreen, VideoCan you hear the
eerie music becoming louder and
louder? That's the sound of the X-
Files movie being one step closer to
being released on the big screens this
summer (more than likely on July
25)! Being an X-Files and a spoilers
fan, I jumped up and down a few
times while humming the show's
theme this morning when I stumbled
on a SCI FI Wire article that offered
just what I was looking for: spoilers
available to him. Meanwhile, his
erstwhile partner Jesse had a bad drug
reaction and sought refuge in the
home of his parents, which didn't turn
out as well as he had hoped. Here
they both continued their efforts to
move on with their lives, to varying
degrees of failure.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Gray
Matter
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
encounter with another man, the
scowl on his face is severe enough to
cut glass. He clearly needs a vacation.
Continue reading In Treatment: Week
Four
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
about the upcoming X-Files movie!
Continue reading Some X-Files
movie sequel hints - VIDEO
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
More Lipstick for NBC
By Isabelle Carreau (TV
Squad)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 1:40:00 AM
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals,
Lipstick Jungle
NBC's Sex and the City-like
fashionable show Lipstick Jungle
received an order of six extra
episodes. This means that the series
will get a first season of 13 episodes.
TV Guide reveals that the series,
Stump the King - Seinfeld
By Paul Goebel (TV Squad)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 12:00:00 AM
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows,
Ask TV Squad
Just last night, a fan named Kevin
sent me this query...
"What actor/actress has received the
most money for a sitcom syndication
deal?"
Well, the short answer is Jerry
Seinfeld. The long answer has all the
details.
VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel is
F**king Ben Affleck!
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:02:00 AM
Filed under: Fandom, Home
Entertainment, Trailers and Clips
I crashed pretty much right after the
Oscars last night, but I convinced my
wife to leave the TV on in bed in
order to watch a little of whatever
Jimmy Kimmel was going to do for
his post-Oscars show. And, to my
delight, he chose the time to seek his
revenge on girlfriend Sarah
Silverman and her "I'm f**king Matt
Damon" music video. Oh yes,
Kimmel took his video -- "I'm
f**king Ben Affleck" -- to the next
level. Not only did it open with a
Brad Pitt cameo, but by the time it
was over, a group of people were
based on the book of the same name
written by SatC author Candace
Bushnell, is winning its timeslot
among women of the 18-49 and 18-
34 categories.
%Gallery-15649%
Continue reading More Lipstick for
NBC
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
Continue reading Stump the King -
Seinfeld
Permalink | Email this | | Comments
singing in a "We are the World"
format; folks like Don Cheadle, Huey
Lewis, Robin Williams, Joan Jett,
McLovin', Lance Bass ... and
Harrison Ford. Yes! Harrison friggin'
Ford driving a car with a bumper
stick that read, "Honk if you're
f**king Ben Affleck." I don't know
how in the world they convinced Mr.
Serious to appear in this thing, but
nevertheless the entire thing was a
riot.
Check out the video above. And in
case you missed the
Silverman/Damon video that started
this whole thing, you can view it after
the jump. Enjoy.
Continue reading VIDEO: Jimmy
Kimmel is F**king Ben
Affleck!Permalink | Email this |
Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
Live Blogging the Oscars -- Let's
Get This Party Started!
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 12:31:00 PM
Filed under: Awards, Oscar Watch
Click here for the 2008 Academy
Award Winners, updated in real time,
and
highlighted in bold.
Click here for our continuing live
blogging -- Kim is up for the final
stretch.
Click here for our continuing live
blogging -- Scott's up now with the
second hour.
Cinematical's Erik Davis, Scott
Weinberg and Kim Voynar are live
blogging the Oscars! Erik steps in
first with the ceremony's opening
hour below ...
9:37PM: Okay, I'm throwin' it to
Weinberg. Enjoy the rest of your
evening folks. (And sorry for pissing
some of you off. I'm just havin' fun --
and I love you all!)
9:31PM: Looks like we've got Best
Supporting Actress up next. This one
is completely up in the air, but I'm
rooting for Amy Ryan. Don't give
Blanchett another Oscar please.
Please. It's like, one more Oscar and
she'll turn gold. (She might not have
many, but doesn't it feel like she's
already got 15 Oscar wins?)
Seriously. She's already bronzing a
bit. Man, there were so many better
Ryan quotes. Here we go. Best
Supporting Actress Winner: Tilda
Swinton. Complete shocker right
there!
Live Blogging the Oscars -- The Second Hour
By Scott Weinberg
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 1:43:00 PM
Filed under: Awards, Oscar Watch
Click here for the 2008 Academy
Award Winners, updated in real time,
and highlighted in bold.
Cinematical's Erik Davis, Scott
Weinberg and Kim Voynar are live
blogging the Oscars! Scott's up next
with the ceremony's second hour
below ...
10:45pm As the guy from Loverboy
and Can't Buy Me Love introduces
yet another song from Enchanted, I
turn you over to Ms. Kim Voynar,
who gets pretty much all the best
awards to herself.
10:44pm The consistently
unintelligible Penelope Cruz is here
to give out the award for Best Foreign
Film, a category that Kim and I are
boycotting for various reasons.
9:28PM: Seriously. He's still doing
f**king Bee Movie commercials!
Holy God -- Seinfeld has officially
jumped the hive. Best Animated
Short Film Winner: Peter and the
Wolf.
9:25PM: Owen Wilson! Did you
know he's got a guy watching his
wrists backstage? Best Live-Action
Short Winner: Le Mozart De
Pickpockets
9:22PM: Another song. How about
they just sing Falling Slowly from
Once a good seven times throughout
the night and call it a show? Ah, but
this one has the thirty people in the
background swaying back and forth.
Powerful, ladies and gentlemen.
F**king powerful stuff right there.
Sway people! Clap people! Raise that
sh*t up people!
9:20PM: I'd say the writer's strike
jokes will feel old and tired in another
Congrats, though, go to Best Foreign
Film: The Counterfeiters.
10:39PMbrb i have to pee
10:33PM Nicole Kidman gives out a
Lifetime Achievement award to art
director / production designer Robert
F. Boyle, of North By Northwest, The
Birds, and Fiddler on the Roof.
10:29PM Apparently Renee
Zellweger is a huge fan of film
editing, and so she gives out this
award: Best Editing: The Bourne
Ultimatum. That's three!!
10:27PM Wow, I forgot that Crash
won Best Picture.
10:25PM Kim says it's Hansard she
loves, not Farrell. So there. Glen, I
have her number.
10:23PM Woohoo! Jack Nicholson
10 minutes. Like the bad dream
salute. Where's the "reveals breasts
moment" salute?
9:16PM: Javier thanked his mom in
Spanish. I bet half the theater
wondered if she was an illegal
immigrant at that moment.
9:10PM: Here comes supporting actor
with a montage first. Let Regis
announce this one please -- I want to
hear him say Xavier Bardem again.
Aww, I hope Cuba Gooding saw that
look back from the McDonald's drive
-thru. Best Supporting Actor
Winner:Javier! Javier! Javier!
9:08PM: Shhh, it's Cate Blanchett.
Are we allowed to talk while she's on
stage? I feel like Blanchett is my
somewhat hot 8th grade homeroom
teacher. Man, all the shitty awards
come in the first hour. Art Direction
Winner: Sweeney Todd: The Demon
Barber of Fleet Street. Nice. Good
win.
9:05PM: Because The Rock needs to
announce every f**king award! Best
Visual Effects Winner: The Golden
Compass. Take that Transformers of
the Caribbean!
Gallery: On the Red Carpet at the
Academy Awards
Continue reading Live Blogging the
Oscars -- Let's Get This Party
Started!Permalink | Email this |
Comments
time! This guy's the freakin' man.
Still. Here he intros a look back at the
first 79 Best Picture Winners. Cool.
10:20PM You gotta remember Glen
Hansard from The Commitments,
right? He had crazy red hair back
then.
Movies 15
Damon and
Greengrass to Return
for 'Bourne 4'
By Jessica Barnes
(Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 2:32:00 AM
Filed under: Action, Thrillers,
Casting, Deals, Universal, Remakes
and SequelsFrankly I'm amazed that
the announcement for a fourth
Bourne movie wouldn't get a little
more fanfare than buried half way
down an article. In a press release in
Variety, Universal announced that
Matt Damon and director Paul
Greengrass will be returning for a
new installment of the Bourne
franchise. Originally, when the two
were peppered with questions about a
fourth film, they had the stock answer
that Damon would only reprise his
role if Greengrass returned to direct,
and Greengrass would only return to
direct if Damon was willing to star.
Confused? Don't be, it was basically
the PR equivalent of keeping the idea
of a film on the back-burner without
promising anything too specific.
DAMON page 17
10:18PM Colin Farell (aka Voynar's
secret lover) slides on in to introduce
a tune ("Falling Slowly") from Once.
If this song doesn't win this award, I'll
kick one of my three cats.
10:13PM Good lord is Marion cute.
10:12PM The always-cool Forest
Whitaker is here to give out a big
one. Best Actress: Marion Cotillard,
La Vie en Rose!
Gallery: On the Red Carpet at the
Academy Awards
Continue reading Live Blogging the
Oscars -- The Second HourPermalink
| Email this | Comments
16 Movies
Live Blogging the
Oscars -- The Final
Stretch
By Kim Voynar (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 2:47:00 PM
Filed under: Awards, Oscar Watch
Click here for the 2008 Academy
Award Winners, updated in real time,
and highlighted in bold.
Cinematical's Erik Davis, Scott
Weinberg and Kim Voynar are live
blogging the Oscars! Kim's up next
with the conclusion of the 2008
Academy Awards ...
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for
spending Oscar night with us!
11:45PM Thank God, it's almost
done. Denzel Washington, looking
smoking hot, is presenting. And the
big winner is ... no surprise! No
Country for Old Men is sweeping it
up tonight. Good for them. WINNER
BEST PICTURE: No Country for
Old Men
11:40PM Coming up, Best Director.
I'm still betting on the Coens to take
this one. Scott calls it for Paul
Thomas Anderson, but at least he's
not threatening to kick any cats if
PTA doesn't win. Scott ate BBQ with
PTA once. I'm jealous. Don't you just
love Martin Scorsese's voice? And ...
the Coens win it! I bet No Country
takes Best Picture too. WINNER
BEST DIRECTOR: Ethan Coen and
Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
11:32PM Time for Best Actor. Helen
Mirren even makes presenting an
Oscar look good. I'm still betting
Indie Weekend Box
Office: Oscar Winner 'The
Counterfeiters' is No. 1
By Peter Martin (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 1:02:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Drama,
Foreign Language, IFC, Sony
Classics, Warner Brothers, Box
Office, Focus Features, Fox
Searchlight, Miramax, Cinematical
Indie, Paramount VantageAnalyzing
the weekend box office returns,
Leonard Klady of Movie City News
saw "no great Oscar box office
surge," though No Country for Old
Men enjoyed an upward swing; based
on his estimates, Best Foreign-
Language Film Oscar winner The
Counterfeiters(Sony Pictures
Classics) topped the indie charts.
Hailing from Austria, The
Counterfeiters tells "one of the most
interesting stories to come out of
World War II," wrote Christopher
Campbell, though he felt it was "not
quite a great film." The
Counterfeiters averaged $12,330 per-
screen at the seven locations where it
played.
French master Jacques Rivette's
latest, The Duchess of Langeais(IFC
Films) struck Ryan Stewart as similar
Daniel Day-Lewis, so is Weinberg.
And we're ... so right. Daniel Day-
Lewis. And he so deserves it. ...
WINNER BEST ACTOR: Daniel day
-Lewis, There Will be Blood
11:27PM So, the Coens win
screenplay for No Country, Cody for
Juno. Who's gonna take Best Picture?
My money is still on No Country for
that one, but we'll see if there's an
upset.
Gallery: On the Red Carpet at the
Academy Awards
Continue reading Live Blogging the
Oscars -- The Final StretchPermalink
| Email this | Comments
to La Vie en Rose "in that it works
just well enough to support a dynamic
performance but contains too many
structural oddities, fights too many
directorial idiosyncracies and stifles
its own momentum too much to
succeed on the whole." Rivette's fans
came out at both theaters where it
opened, averaging $11,250 per
screen, according to Box Office
Mojo.
Continue reading Indie Weekend Box
Office: Oscar Winner 'The
Counterfeiters' is No. 1Permalink |
Email this | Comments
Your Click and Print Newspaper
DISCUSS: Oscar
Results! What Do You
Think?
By Kim Voynar (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/24/2008 4:01:00 PM
Filed under: Awards, Oscar Watch
Well, the Oscars are a wrap. You can
see all the winners right over here.
Cinematical staff did pretty well with
our predictions, and so did our
readers. You guys picked the winners
for Best Picture, Best Director, Best
Supporting Actor, Best Actor, Best
Original Screenplay, and Best
Adapated Screenplay -- the same
categories we got right. We missed
Best Doc and both actress categories.
Not bad overall.
What do you think about this year's ladies. On the guy's side, Johnny
Depp and George Clooney both
Oscars? Did you think Jon Stewart
did a good job with the hosting? looked hot, and so did Denzel
Washington. And Glen Hansard ...
Aside from the part where he kind of
disappeared for the last hour, but I yeah, he was adorable too. I'm just
saying.
guess they usually do that towards the
end when everyone wants to wrap it
Time for your thoughts on
up already and get to the parties.
What were the big surprises of the Hollywood's big night -- discuss
away!
night? Any huge disappointments?
(Go ahead, anti Diablo Cody
contingent. You can say it.)
Oh, and who looked awesome, and
who didn't? I thought Marion Gallery: On the Red Carpet at the
Cotillard, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Academy AwardsPermalink | Email
this | Comments
Garner and Anne Hathaway had the
best looks of the night among the
Monday Morning Poll:
Oscar's Biggest Upset?
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:02:00 AM
Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Oscar
Watch, Monday Morning Poll
I have such a huge Oscars hangover
this morning. Did anyone theme it for
the night? I cooked some mean-ass
burgers in honor of Juno, then
attempted to make a few milkshakes
(in honor of There Will be Blood)
before realizing I had no ice cream.
Anyone get nutty and make
Ratatouille? Anyway, when it comes
to the day after the Oscars, talk
usually surrounds the big surprises.
What were the shockers? Personally,
I totally thought Transformers would
walk away with at least one Oscar for
special effects or sound, and Marion
Cotillard winning best actress came
somewhat as a surprise. I mean, a
French actress winning best actress f**king Jimmy Kimmel at the time
for a foreign language film that
and couldn't be there to rescue her.
practically NO ONE saw? But anyway, last night's biggest
And Tilda Swinton? Really? Do
upset? In your opinion, who was it?
cracked-out single mothers not mean (And is it okay to say that my new
anything to the Academy voters?
crush is Marion Cotillard. Holy crap
Amy Ryan definitely should've won did she look fantastic!)
in that category. Other surprises --
who the hell let Gary Busey onto the View PollPermalink | Email this |
red carpet? Did you see him lick
Comments
Jennifer Garner's neck? Poor girl.
Unfortunately, her husband was
Your Click and Print Newspaper
DAMON
continued from page 15
Universal released the info in a
release about their upcoming slate of
films, and according to them both
Damon and Greengrass are definitely
returning to work together on the spy
franchise. There are two books left in
the Bourne series, so at least there
would be some source material to
start with. The two are currently
working on the Iraq drama, The
Green Zone, and Damon has already
signed to star in The Informant for
Steven Soderberg and is also in talks
to star in The Human Factor for Clint
Eastwood. Greengrass is also going to
be busy with his upcoming Vietnam
drama, They Marched into Sunlight.
So it could be as late as 2010, before
the two can even get started on
making another Bourne flick, let
Movies 17
alone get one into the theaters.
However, with Bourne Ultimatum
taking home three Oscars last night
(three!), I imagine the fourth flick
might be made a priority. For
Universal's sake, I hope this one is a
done deal. I can't help but think how
embarrassing it must have been for
MGM's Harry Sloan when his studio
got a little overzealous about a certain
spy franchise.
[via Empire]
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Discuss: Why was Brad

Renfro Excluded from the In EXCLUSIVE: Images from
Memorium at the Oscars? Martin Scorsese's 'Shine a
By Kim Voynar (Cinematical) Light'
Submitted at 2/25/2008 3:32:00 AM
Filed under: Awards, Celebrities and
Controversy, Obits, Oscar WatchLast
night, as per every year at the Oscars,
they take a brief break from all the
self-congratulatory back-patting to
acknowledge the deaths in the movie
industry over the preceding year. As
several of our readers (and Scott
Weinberg, who was going ballastic
on IM about it) noted, Brad Renfro,
who died of a drug overdose on
January 15 of this year, was
mysteriously excluded. The troubled
actor, best known for his work in The
Client, Apt Pupil, and Bully, had
been known to have a drug problem
for years, and had a drunk driving and
heroin-possession arrest in May 2006,
but was supposedly "working hard on
his sobriety" at the time of his death.
The In Memorium was supposed to
be for everyone who died between
February 1, 2007 and January 31,
2008. Heath Ledger, who died a week
after Renfro, was included in the
montage. No word from the Academy
that I've seen yet on why Renfro
wasn't included -- an honest
oversight? A deliberate sweeping-
under-the-red-carpet because heroin
was involved? What do you think
about Renfro being shut out of
Oscar's "In Memorium"?Permalink |
Email this | Comments
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 2/25/2008 4:02:00 AM
Filed under: Documentary, Music &
Musicals, Fandom, Movie Marketing,
Images
Cinematical has just received these
exclusive photos from Martin
Scorsese's upcoming Rolling Stones
documentary, Shine a Light. The
film, which premiered at this year's
Berlin Film Festival to rave reviews
and is due out in theaters on April 4,
provides extensive coverage of the
band's two-night engagement at New
York's historic Beacon Theater.
Additionally, the doc also features
historical footage, interviews and
behind-the-scenes footage from
decades past. Shine a Light marks
Scorsese's third musical-themed
documentary, after he previously
covered the Band and Bob Dylan in
The Last Waltz and No Direction
Home: Bob Dylan, respectively. Next
up, apparently Marty will be filming
a documentary on the life and times
of Bob Marley.
A Rolling Stones show directed by
Martin Scorsese? I'm there. You?
Check out the gallery below for more
images from the film. Shine a Light
hits theaters on April 4.
Gallery: Martin Scorsese's Shine a
LightPermalink | Email this |
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