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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Tax breaks benefiting buyers of sports-utility vehicles fly in the face of a good energy policy and are costing American taxpayers billions of dollars a year, according to a report from Rep. Edward Markey.

“It is incredible that the Bush Administration and Republican Congress can be so blind as to leave these tax loopholes in place while our dependence on Middle East oil soars, the price of gasoline spikes, and our soldiers are mired a war in the Middle East,” said Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

The study, which includes estimates from the Joint Tax Committee of Congress and focuses on two policies favoring the purchase heavier vehicles over smaller models, showed that the tax breaks will cost $2.6 billion next year and $15.7 billion over the next 10 years.

The first break is the exemption light trucks and minivans get from the Gas Guzzler Tax, a levy imposed on autos rated below 22.5 miles per gallon. As an example, the report said an Audi station wagon that gets 20.5 mpg incurs a $1,300 tax, while a 15.8 mpg Jeep incurs no penalty.
Markey also criticized a policy that allows businesses to purchase SUVs and write off most or all of the cost of the vehicle on their income taxes in the first year. That amounts to a subsidy of almost $600 million a year, and $4.1 billion over the next 10 years, he said.

“This makes no sense. Congress is using the tax code to generate artificial demand for inefficient vehicles in the automobile marketplace,” said Markey, who introduced a bill aimed at eliminating both tax breaks for SUVs.

“Regardless of whether we ever ramp up and modernize the minimum fuel economy standards, providing these out-of-date tax incentives that reward the purchase of inefficient vehicles just make things worse,” he added.

Meanwhile, demand for the so-called gas guzzlers has fallen off steadily in recent years, a blow to domestic automakers that depend heavily on the full-size vehicles for profits. Truck sales at General Motors (GM :
General Motors Corporation plunged 31.2% in July, while Ford’s fell 43.8%.

I don’t think that I will be dropping my iPod or iTunes anytime soon for this. Just because the music is free doesn’t mean the restrictions are worth it.

New.com: Music on the Internet has often been free or legal, but start-up SpiralFrog is looking to offer songs that are both.

The 20-person New York-based company has signed a deal with record label Universal Music Group to offer songs for free, hoping to make money by showing ads to users as they download the music.

“Essentially they are paying with their time,” said Lance Ford, the company’s chief sales and marketing officer. SpiralFrog hopes to begin running the service in December, offering downloads in the Windows Media Audio format. The downloads could be played on the PC or transferred to a portable device, though notably not Apple Computer’s iPod.

Although billed by some as an iTunes competitor, SpiralFrog’s idea is more like subscription services such as Napster or MTV’s Urge. Users are required to go to the company’s Web site each month to validate their music, or else it expires.

This is not the first time that a record label has dipped its toe into offering music that is paid for through advertising revenue. Earlier this month, EMI announced a deal with start-up Qtrax, which is also looking to provide free, ad-supported music.

Read the full article here

Boston Globe: NEW YORK — The New York Times’s website is blocking readers in Britain from a news article detailing the investigation into the recent airline terror plot, turning its Internet ad-targeting technology into a means of complying with UK laws.

“We had clear legal advice that publication in the UK might run afoul of their law,” spokeswoman Diane McNulty said yesterday. “It’s a country that doesn’t have the First Amendment, but it does have the free press. We felt we should respect their country’s law.”

Visitors who click on a link to the article, published Monday, instead got a notice explaining that British law “prohibits publication of prejudicial information about the defendants prior to trial.” The blocked article reveals evidence in the alleged plot to use liquid explosives to down US airliners.

The Times site already targets ads based on a visitor’s location, but McNulty said this was the first time the technology was used in an editorial capacity. The Times also blocked UK access to an audio of the article in question.

The underlying blocking technology, known as geotargeting or geolocation, checks the numeric Internet address of a visitor’s computer against databases showing the company or service provider to which that address was assigned.

Source: Variety

Not even a week after its bitter split with Paramount, Tom Cruise and Paul Wagner’s Cruise/Wagner Productions has partnered with First and Goal, an investment firm headed by Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder, homebuilding and mortgage banking company NVR chair Dwight Schar and Six Flags president-CEO Mark Shapiro.

The deal gives Cruise/Wagner Productions development and overhead costs for two years, with the option to renew long term. The pact is said to be part one of a three-step process for C/W in setting up an independently operated production company post-Paramount. The other two parts of the deal include distribution and finance elements.

Wagner and Shapiro separately hinted to Variety that while the pact is only for overhead and development, this new financial arrangement could morph into something more substantial — either creatively or with increased investments — in the near future.

The arrangement will be nonexclusive and allow C/W to work with all studios; it won’t affect Cruise’s ability to star in films for any other production companies or studios.

Source: Variety

Warner Bros. TV has set David Nutter to direct the pilot for “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” prompting Fox Broadcasting to officially greenlight production on the “Terminator”-themed project.

Nutter, whose last 12 pilots have all been picked up to series, also will serve as executive producer. Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar’s C2 Pictures, which produced the most recent “Terminator” feature, is producing with Warner Bros. TV.

Fox made a put pilot commitment to “Connor” last fall, picking up the script from executive producer Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds). Kassar and Vajna will also executive produce.

Casting on “Connor” will begin immediately, with filming expected to commence early next year in New Mexico.

Nutter — who directed the pilots of successes such as “Smallville,” “Without a Trace” and “Supernatural” — has a connection with original “Terminator” helmer James Cameron, having directed the pilot for Cameron’s Fox series “Dark Angel.”

The new installment in the “Terminator” franchise revolves around Connor and her savior son, John Connor. The series will explore what happened to Sarah Connor after the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, when the character went on the run.

Source: Variety

In a Variety article talking about investors it is mentioned that Legendary is on board for the Superman Returns sequel:

If Legendary is unnerved, it isn’t showing. Like Warners, Legendary insists it will turn a profit on “Superman Returns,” and has given all indications that it’s on deck to co-finance a sequel.

Like Legendary, all the funds argue that they won’t be made, or broken, by just one pic. By investing in a slate of pics over the course of several years, they’re virtually guaranteed a return of 10%.

To all our loyal fans:

I’m burnt… need a day to recoup. Sorry for a non-posting day. Hopefully Neil will put something up.

Kim Myong Jae’s estranged girlfriend was found dead in her room in Seoul on April 22 last year, six days after she poisoned herself.

Two weeks later, Kim, a 30-year-old accountant, found that he had been transformed into the No. 1 hate figure of South Korea’s Internet community, a victim of a growing problem in a country that boasts the world’s highest rate of broadband use.

First, death threats and vicious text messages flooded his cellphone. Meanwhile, spreading fast through blogs and Web portals were rumors that Kim had jilted his girlfriend after forcing her to abort his baby, that he had assaulted her and her mother, and that his abuse had finally driven her to suicide.

“By the time I found out the source of this outrage, it was too late. My name, address, photographs, telephone numbers were all over the Internet,” Kim said. “Tens of thousands of people were busy sharing my identity and discussing how to punish me. My name was the most-searched phrase at portals.” News reports and portals confirmed that his name was at the top of such lists.

The allegations against Kim were first posted on his former girlfriend’s home page after her death and quickly spread in various versions. Kim vehemently denies the allegations, and the police later said they could not substantiate them.

But Web users took the matter into their own hands. They bombarded Kim’s employer, the food and beverage company Doosan, with so many calls demanding that it fire Kim or face a boycott that Kim quit. Anonymous hate mail swamped the Web site of Kookmin University, where Kim attended evening classes, forcing him to drop out.

“I couldn’t believe what was happening to me was real,” he said. “My family had to move to a new house. I was afraid to dine out or use public transportation. I had to live like a fugitive.”

In South Korea, which has one of the world’s most developed Internet communities, the problem known as “cyberviolence” has reached frightening proportions, officials say.

Read the rest here

Source: Variety

In a Variety article talking about how Forest Whitaker will star in “ER” episodes next season, the trade mentions that the actor took over the role from Andre Braugher.

Braugher, an NBC veteran from his days on “Homicide: Life on the Street,” was supposed to play a patient who enters the hospital with a seemingly innocent cough but suffers a stroke while waiting to be treated. He’ll be heading to the bigscreen instead, co-starring in the Fox sequel “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” which is in pre-production.

Stay tuned for which character he may be playing.

FROM CNET: Apple Computer and Creative Technology have agreed to settle their legal dispute over music player patents for $100 million, the companies announced Wednesday.

The $100 million, to be paid by Apple, grants Apple a license to a Creative patent for the hierarchical user interface used in that company’s Zen music players. After months of hinting that it would be coming after rival music player companies, Creative sued Apple in May, claiming the iPod maker was infringing on its patents.

A week later, Apple countersued, claiming Creative was infringing on Apple patents for user interfaces. As a result of the settlement, all legal disputes between the two companies related to the patent will disappear. Creative had also asked the International Trade Commission to investigate Apple for patent infringement.

The patent covers an interface that lets users navigate through a tree of expanding options, such as selecting an artist, then a particular album by that artist, then a specific song from that album, said Phil O’Shaughnessy, a Creative spokesman. The patent applies to portable media players, which includes devices like the iPod or cell phones that have the ability to play music, he said. Creative filed for the patent on Jan. 5, 2001.