Alba Gu Brath!

RIDICULOUS: Brad Pitt Flick Costs Louisiana Taxpayers $27 Million!!!!!

FROM PEREZ HILTON:

Looks like you can lump Hollywood into that pile of crappy, greedy people mooching off of the American taxpayer.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported on the millions of dollars from states that have been going straight to the pockets of Hollywood studios to finance movies via tax breaks.

Hollywood is just as bad as those shady Wall Street finance people!

For example, Louisiana taxpayers funded $27 million of Brad Pitt's $167 million dollar movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The paper also notes that this is the state’s biggest movie payout to date!

Hollywood producers and studios claim that the state tax breaks allow them to keep entertainment jobs in the U.S. and create jobs.

But, au contraire!

The report points to the case of a straight-to-DVD Wesley Snipes and Cybil Shepherd-starring picture called Hard Luck filmed in the state of Rhode Island.

The seaside state gave Hard Luck $2.65 million in tax breaks, but Rhode Islander's only netted $1.9 million in return.

Why don't the politically 'active' stars take on their own greedy industry.

Ahem, Brad?

Did that Benjamin Buttons movie generate more than $27 million in revenues for Louisiana?

[Image via Doug Meszler/WENN.]

[From Brad Pitt Flick Costs Louisiana Taxpayers $27 Million!!!!!]

CRAP! Apple Stays Exclusive with AT&T

I have to keep reminding myself that there is currently no better GSM alternative in the US than AT&T.

My recent experience purchasing an iPhone 3G was so painful I currently loath my carrier. I realize I'd feel the same no matter who the carrier is. The all are pretty bad.

wwn

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From VoIP & Gadgets Blog

According to USA Today, AT&T and Apple have agreed to extend their exclusivity relationship through 2009, meaning the next iPhone will be made specifically for AT&T service.

The report claims that Apple originally signed the deal with AT&T through 2008 and next year would start selling iPhones on other carrier services. But after AT&T offered a $300 subsidy on each iPhone instead of the revenue-sharing model that became such a hot issue last year, Apple decided it was in its best interests to stay on with AT&T for one more year and take the subsidy.

Undoubtedly some will say that AT&T may have made the best deal in quite some time and I tend to agree. But still others will say that Apple did the right thing in taking the money and although it's forced to sign up for another year with AT&T, it's still the right move.

Those people are dead wrong.

And The Digital Home got that right -- read on!

Tags: apple, at&t, iphone

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[From Apple Stays Exclusive with AT&T -- Boo!]

German Family Buys Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle For Grocery Runs [Wtf]

Any German rearmament is always a worry.

wwn

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From Gizmodo

When Joachim Schoeneich of Neu Anspach Germany goes shopping for groceries with the fam from now on, he does so in style: with a tank. Or, more accurately, with a $47,376 six-ton British Army Fox FV721 armored reconnaissance vehicle. "We take the tank to go shopping and little trips," Schoeneich said. "It is a bit hard to find a parking place, but we get right of way at every junction." No kidding. It's too bad the gun doesn't work, but this thing's definitely intimidating enough without it. Well, that and the baby seat he installed for his kid. [Ananova via DVICE]

[From German Family Buys Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle For Grocery Runs [Wtf]]

Apple Pulls Another Innocuous iPhone App

WTF? I thought that Apple was vetting these apps? Is AT&T presuring Steve Jobs when he's too sick to fight back? Are these bans universal? Are they unavailable outside the US?

wwn

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From TechCrunch

Another day, another capricious decision by Apple to pull a fairly innocuous application. This time it’s BoxOffice, a diabolical system for finding and displaying local movie times. Quoth the developers at Metasyntactic:

Apple pulled the app yesterday without giving my any notification that they were doing it, or what their justification was for removing it.

I’ve tried to contact them about the issue, but it’s been a complete dead end. If anyone has a useful contact number for apple, please let me know.

I’m in regular contact with all my data providers, and none of them have had an issue with my app. Indeed, the response was the exact opposite. They like my app and have even asked if i would do custom application work for them in the future. Furthermore, all the data i use is licensed by the owners as ‘free for non commercial use’. i.e. precisely what BoxOffice is.

So i’m stuck here not knowing what has happened, or what i can do about it. If any of you have any ideas, please let me know. You can respond here, but i’d actually appreciate a reply at cyrusn@stwing.upenn.edu since i probably won’t check back here that often.

Read more…

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

[From Apple Pulls Another Innocuous iPhone App]

1st Obama now Olbermann? Say it ain't so! FISA Flip Flops.

TVNewser is reporting on the apparent flip flop on FISA not of presumed Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama but of MSNBC resident left wing apologist/front man Keith Olbermann?

Doesn't a major flip flop on a core issue used to bash the Bush administration for overreaching during the war on terror earn at least an also ran for WORSE PERSON OF THE WEEK?

Several weeks ago TVNewser reported about growing concerns at NBC News by some staffers over Olbermann's antics including overt on air fawning over Barack Obama. Staffers worry that such on air behavior is stripping the Peacock's news department of its image of objectivity. They are concerned that more and more they look to be in the tank for Obama and are acting as an organ of the Democratic National Committee.

What? Wait! I thought that MSNBC is now the lefts answer to Fox?

BTW, in other Olbermann news....15 Fox News Channel programs, including the morning gabber Fox and Friends, beat Countdown in the ratings.

wwn

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Contradicting Comments on Countdown?

Salon's Glenn Greenwald writes in great detail about MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann's apparent reversal on the FISA law.

In January, Olbermann unleashed a Special Comment aimed at Pres. Bush and the law, saying, "Illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass email."

On Wednesday night, as Greenwald writes, Olbermann's, "blind devotion," to Obama led him to describe, "Senator Obama also refusing to cower even to the left on the subject of warrantless wiretapping."

"Are we hoping for a Fox News for Obama, that glorifies everything he says and whitewashes everything he does?" asks Greenwald.

Obama's support of the FISA bill and subsequent blogosphere backlash is detailed here.

Last night, after Countdown aired, Olbermann issued a response, by way of the Daily Kos, to Greenwald and others.

continued...

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

[From Contradicting Comments on Countdown?]

Save the Planet. Bring back the CRT!

In an interesting choice for PerezHilton, the gossip guru has posted a link to a story claiming LCD and Plasmas are accelerating global climate change.

Wait, didn’t I see a whole mess of Apple Cinema displays on Al Gore’s desk? 

wwn

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From PerezHilton

 

Headline of the Week Weak

"Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming"

Are they serious???? CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming

A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.

Almost half of the televisions sold around the globe so far this year have been plasma or LCD TVs.

But this boom could be coming at a huge environmental cost.

The gas, widely used in the manufacture of flat screen TVs, is estimated to be 17,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.

Ironically, NF3 is not covered by the Kyoto protocol as it was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed in 1997.

Levels of this gas in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists say it is a concern and are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.

Professor Michael Prather from the University of California has highlighted the issue in an article for the magazine New Scientist.

He has told ABC's The World Today program that output of the gas needs to be measured.

"One of my titles for this paper was Going Below Kyoto's Radar. It's the kind of gas that's made in huge amounts," he said.

"Not only is it not in the Kyoto Treaty but you don't even have to report it. That's the part that worries me."

He estimates 4,000 tons of NF3 will be produced in 2008 and that number is likely to double next year.

"We don't know what's emitted, but what they're producing every year dwarfs these giant coal-fired power plants that are like the biggest in the world," he said.

"And it dwarfs two of the Kyoto gases. So the real question we don't know is how much is escaping and getting out."

Dr Paul Fraser is the chief research scientist at the CSIRO's marine and atmospheric research centre, and an IPCC author.

He says without measuring the quantity of NF3 in the atmosphere it is unclear what impact it will have on the climate.

"We haven't observed it in the atmosphere. It's probably there in very low concentrations," he said.

"The key to whether it's a problem or not is how much is released to the atmosphere."

59 hots in 10 mins! And the winnner is....

I feel like I eat so much lately I could win this thing.

wwn

From TechCrunch

Joey Chestnut Beats Kobayashi Again in Hot-Dog Eating Contest

It’s not the 4th of July without the Coney Island Hot-Dog Eating Contest (that’s how we celebrate in Brooklyn, by stuffing our faces with as many hot dogs we can fit). This year’s winner is defending champion Joey “Jaws” Chestunt, who won in overtime from six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi.

Both ate 59 hot dogs during the 10 minute contest (down from 12 minutes in the past), and then the contest went into overtime to see who could eat five additional hot dogs the fastest. CNN has all the details, but Kurt Dietrich’s wonderful Flickr photos tell the story best.

Happy 4th of July everyone. Try to go easy on those hot dogs.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Apple Fanboys with Nuts On Top....

Engadet is reporting that a line has formed outside the NYC Apple Store/Borg Cube.  That’s one week before the damn phone goes on sale.  If memory serves me right, all the lining up for the last iPhone was completely unnecessary.  Apple had plenty of inventory.

What is troubling me is the required in store activation and here’s why.  According to some reports the activation takes anywhere from 15–30mins per customer.  That would mean that an average Apple Store genius could only process anywhere from as many as 32 phones to a few as 16 phones in their entire 8 hour shift.  That’s with no breaks!  Take the worse case scenario and say it is 16 phones per sales associate. That would mean you’d need at least 10 people devoted just to iPhone sales in an Apple store to process a line of 160 people.  Could be a long day.

wwn

 

 

iPhone 3G lines start at the Apple Cube... one week early

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

So we heard some really over-eager folks have decided to get a jump on the iPhone 3G line -- a really, really big jump. Obviously, we had to head down and see if it was true... and it is. Right now, about ten people have started a line outside of Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York. Word is that the family at the head of the queue are attempting to break some kind of record which involves their baby -- which kind of sounds a little intense if you ask us. On the other hand, you didn't hear Greg Packer complaining, right? We're going to wrangle some of these cats for an interview and video, so stay tuned! For right now, check some more pics after the break.

Update: We got a chance to speak with group leader Daniel on video, who let us in the gang's desire to break the world record for waiting in line, as well as some... er, broad political ideas. We also learned that the baby probably won't be forced to stay outside of the Apple Store all week. See it for yourself in the clip after the break!

[Via GearDiary]

Continue reading iPhone 3G lines start at the Apple Cube... one week early

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Apple Fanboys with Nuts On Top....

Engadet is reporting that a line has formed outside the NYC Apple Store/Borg Cube.  That’s one week before the damn phone goes on sale.  If memory serves me right, all the lining up for the last iPhone was completely unnecessary.  Apple had plenty of inventory.

What is troubling me is the required in store activation and here’s why.  According to some reports the activation takes anywhere from 15–30mins per customer.  That would mean that an average Apple Store genius could only process anywhere from as many as 32 phones to a few as 16 phones in their entire 8 hour shift.  That’s with no breaks!  Take the worse case scenario and say it is 16 phones per sales associate. That would mean you’d need at least 10 people devoted just to iPhone sales in an Apple store to process a line of 160 people.  Could be a long day.

wwn

 

 

iPhone 3G lines start at the Apple Cube... one week early

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

So we heard some really over-eager folks have decided to get a jump on the iPhone 3G line -- a really, really big jump. Obviously, we had to head down and see if it was true... and it is. Right now, about ten people have started a line outside of Apple's flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York. Word is that the family at the head of the queue are attempting to break some kind of record which involves their baby -- which kind of sounds a little intense if you ask us. On the other hand, you didn't hear Greg Packer complaining, right? We're going to wrangle some of these cats for an interview and video, so stay tuned! For right now, check some more pics after the break.

Update: We got a chance to speak with group leader Daniel on video, who let us in the gang's desire to break the world record for waiting in line, as well as some... er, broad political ideas. We also learned that the baby probably won't be forced to stay outside of the Apple Store all week. See it for yourself in the clip after the break!

[Via GearDiary]

Continue reading iPhone 3G lines start at the Apple Cube... one week early

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Of course! It must me because of me.

I sign up for Facebook and a new security vulnerability is identified.

Check it out at ZDNet