Millions of consumers by year's end should be able to watch free, over-the-air television on cellphones, PDAs and other portable digital devices as the result of initiatives that will be unveiled today by some of the nation's largest TV station owners and electronics manufacturers.
The changes promoting on-the-go viewing are "quite significant," says John Eck, president of the NBC TV Network and Media Works. "If we play it right, it can be a compelling service," for example, by offering local news, which normally isn't available from cellphone video services.
At least 63 stations in 22 cities — including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Washington — will transmit news, entertainment and sports to portable devices this year, according to the broadcast industry's Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC).
The initial group will include affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, ION and PBS. Each city will have a different mix. Most will simulcast regularly scheduled shows.
In conjunction with the announcement, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, manufacturers including LG, Samsung, Zenith and Kenwood will display mobile receivers due in stores later this year. more
Every day, we wake up with a choice. We can choose to embrace the day as a new opportunity to learn, grow, and make a positive impact on the world, or we can let fear, doubt, and negativity hold us back. It's easy to get caught up in the challenges and obstacles we face, but it's important to remember that these challenges are what shape us into who we are. Each obstacle is a chance to learn something new, to become stronger, more resilient, and more capable than we were before. But we don't hav
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Obama has lunch with former presidents
WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama says coming together with all the U.S. presidents is an "extraordinary gathering." Obama stood in the Oval Office on Wednesday with President George W. Bush and three former presidents: Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. The president-elect said all of them understand the pressures of the job and he looks forward to sharing time with them.
Net tightens around China's richest man as wife is detained
The net is tightening around China’s richest man with the detention of his wife amid a police investigation into possible financial offences by the businessman who founded the country’s biggest appliance chain.
State media said Du Juan, 37, was now under police guard in Beijing and had been formally placed under “residential surveillance”. Ms Du had returned to Beijing from an unidentified location outside the city before Christmas. The police wanted to prevent her from leaving the country.
She has long been a close business associate of her husband, running large parts of the company that Huang Guangyu built up from a streetside stall selling watches to a nationwide conglomerate over hundreds of stores.
Mr Huang, 39, listed as China’s weathiest man on the Hurun Rich List this year with wealth estimated at £4 billion, disappeared in late November and was later revealed to be under investigation for alleged insider trading. more
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Secret Millionaire* preview*
The Secret Millionaire is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousand of pounds (or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the U.S. version). Members of the community are told the cameras are present due to a documentary filming. The UK version is produced by the independent production company RDF Media and was created by Stephen Lambert. It first aired in 2006 on the UK's Channel 4, with a second season playing in 2007.
Each week a millionaire leaves their luxury life behind, takes on a secret identity and lives undercover in a deprived area of the UK or U.S. for a week to ten days. Living on a limited budget with no modern conveniences they must forge their own way in the community – working and volunteering alongside the locals and finding individuals and projects who they think deserve a cut of their fortune. On their final day, the millionaires come clean and reveal their true identity to the people they have chosen, surprising them with overwhelming gifts of thousands of pounds or dollars to improve their lives.
Through this unique experience, extraordinary people and heart-wrenching situations inside deprived communities are revealed. As well as highlighting the positive financial and emotional impact of modern day philanthropy, the program also draws attention to some of Britain's and America's social problems in a touching and personal way. The series has also tackled gritty issues such as gang culture, gun crime, disability, and homelessness in some of the toughest areas. more
Police Officer's Fatal Shooting Of Young Father Captured On Cell Phone Video
OAKLAND, Caif. -- Law enforcement officials urged patience while they investigated details surrounding the fatal New Year's Day shooting of a 22-year-old man by a transit agency police officer.
Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Gary Gee said on Sunday that the agency is "committed to completing an unbiased, thorough and detailed investigation" of the shooting death of Oscar Grant.
"This case is not even four days cold. We're in the early stages of the investigation and we will do a very thorough job," he said.
Several unanswered questions remained after BART officers went to Oakland's Fruitvale station to investigate reports of a supposed brawl on a train on which Grant was riding around 2 a.m. Thursday.
A friend of Grant's who was with him on the crowded Oakland train station platform at the time of the shooting said Grant pleaded with officers not to harm him.
"Oscar yelled, 'You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter,"' said Fernando Anicete. "Oscar was telling us to calm down and we did. We weren't looking for any trouble."
Anicete was among more than 50 people attending a tearful news conference in Oakland on Sunday where Grant's family announced they planned to file a $25 million claim against the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency this week. A claim is the first step in the process of suing the agency. more
video of shooting
Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Gary Gee said on Sunday that the agency is "committed to completing an unbiased, thorough and detailed investigation" of the shooting death of Oscar Grant.
"This case is not even four days cold. We're in the early stages of the investigation and we will do a very thorough job," he said.
Several unanswered questions remained after BART officers went to Oakland's Fruitvale station to investigate reports of a supposed brawl on a train on which Grant was riding around 2 a.m. Thursday.
A friend of Grant's who was with him on the crowded Oakland train station platform at the time of the shooting said Grant pleaded with officers not to harm him.
"Oscar yelled, 'You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter,"' said Fernando Anicete. "Oscar was telling us to calm down and we did. We weren't looking for any trouble."
Anicete was among more than 50 people attending a tearful news conference in Oakland on Sunday where Grant's family announced they planned to file a $25 million claim against the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency this week. A claim is the first step in the process of suing the agency. more
video of shooting
Monday, January 5, 2009
Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna
TOKYO — Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna at a Tokyo fish auction Monday, about ten times the average price and the highest in nearly a decade, market officials said.
The 282-pound premium tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,700), the highest since 2001, when another Japanese bluefin tuna brought an all-time record of 20 million yen, market official Takashi Yoshida said.
Yoshida said the extravagant purchase — about $370 per pound — went to a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor who reached a peaceful settlement to share the big fish. The Hong Kong buyer also paid the highest price at last year's new year event at Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the world's largest fish seller, which holds near-daily auctions.
Typical tuna prices at Tokyo fish markets are less than $25 per pound. But bluefin tuna is considered by gourmets to be the best, and when sliced up into small pieces and served on rice it goes for very high prices in restaurants.
Premium fish — sometimes sliced up while the customers watch — also have advertising value, underscoring a restaurant's quality, like a rare wine.
Thousands of tuna were auctioned at Monday's festive new year sale, which often brings unusually high prices.
"It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," Yoshida said, citing rough weather at the end of December. Buyers vied for only three Oma bluefin tuna Monday, compared to 41 last year.
A similar size imported bluefin caught off the eastern United States sold for 1.42 million yen ($15,400) in Monday's auction.
Due to growing concerns over the impact of commercial fishing on the bluefin variety's survival, members of international tuna conservation organizations, including Japan, have agreed to cut their bluefin catch quota for 2009 by 20 percent to 22,000 tons.
The 282-pound premium tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,700), the highest since 2001, when another Japanese bluefin tuna brought an all-time record of 20 million yen, market official Takashi Yoshida said.
Yoshida said the extravagant purchase — about $370 per pound — went to a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor who reached a peaceful settlement to share the big fish. The Hong Kong buyer also paid the highest price at last year's new year event at Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the world's largest fish seller, which holds near-daily auctions.
Typical tuna prices at Tokyo fish markets are less than $25 per pound. But bluefin tuna is considered by gourmets to be the best, and when sliced up into small pieces and served on rice it goes for very high prices in restaurants.
Premium fish — sometimes sliced up while the customers watch — also have advertising value, underscoring a restaurant's quality, like a rare wine.
Thousands of tuna were auctioned at Monday's festive new year sale, which often brings unusually high prices.
"It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," Yoshida said, citing rough weather at the end of December. Buyers vied for only three Oma bluefin tuna Monday, compared to 41 last year.
A similar size imported bluefin caught off the eastern United States sold for 1.42 million yen ($15,400) in Monday's auction.
Due to growing concerns over the impact of commercial fishing on the bluefin variety's survival, members of international tuna conservation organizations, including Japan, have agreed to cut their bluefin catch quota for 2009 by 20 percent to 22,000 tons.
A woman drowned trying to save her dog
PLAINSBORO, N.J. — New Jersey authorities say a woman drowned trying to retrieve her grandson's dog from a frozen pond.
Authorities say 61-year-old Janet Howard was walking a German Shepherd named Apollo on Saturday when it wandered onto the ice covering Plainsboro Pond. Police speculate that Howard went after the dog but the ice broke, plunging her and the animal into the water about 25 feet from shore.
A passer-by on a bicycle heard Howard's cries and tried to help her, but he also fell through the ice.
He fought his way back to shore and raced home to call 911. Rescue workers later found Howard about 4 1/2 feet beneath the surface. She was taken to Princeton Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The dog somehow reached the shore and ran home.
Authorities say 61-year-old Janet Howard was walking a German Shepherd named Apollo on Saturday when it wandered onto the ice covering Plainsboro Pond. Police speculate that Howard went after the dog but the ice broke, plunging her and the animal into the water about 25 feet from shore.
A passer-by on a bicycle heard Howard's cries and tried to help her, but he also fell through the ice.
He fought his way back to shore and raced home to call 911. Rescue workers later found Howard about 4 1/2 feet beneath the surface. She was taken to Princeton Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The dog somehow reached the shore and ran home.
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