New cable network to build the commercials into the shows to thwart ad-skipping technology: a new cable network has elevated the practice beyond the occasional, building such anti-ad-zapping efforts directly into its business model. The entire schedule of the new network, Fine Living, has been specifically set up to incorporate …

24 is back and we were glued to the tube last night for the opening episode. The no-commercials (they were all attached to the beginning and the end) ploy worked well, moving the action along – it was tough to decide when to pee. In case you have been in …

The definitive collection.

A couple of weeks ago in celebration of Columbus Day, we discussed a series of books containing a quite unfavorable picture of the explorer, much of it written in his own words. Columbus clearly was, shall we say, insensitive to the well-being of the natives he found in the New …

Other than as status symbol/conspicuous consumption I don’t get the whole celebrity artifact craze: Kurt Cobain’s boyhood home sold for a $150K premium last month, but from the relic standpoint, at this one is an actual piece of Elvis. I mean when the technology catches up, you can clone the …

Sharp increase in politically-motivated attacks – hacking for Allah: Pro-Islamic hackers are on the frontline of a potential new cyber war after the end of a cease-fire by “hacktivists” and virus designers that followed the September 11 attacks on the United States, Internet experts say. Pro-Islamic hackers are escalating attacks …

Bid for world domination: RealNetworks Inc. on Tuesday made the source code for its Internet media playing software available for other software and hardware makers to use in their products, in a push to make its technology the industry standard. “We are leveraging momentum in market, both among consumers and …

Shoplifter interrupted? It is a “simple case of theft.” Or it is a “case about a woman who has been wronged and wronged terribly.” Thus began the shoplifting trial of the century, as opening arguments and prosecution witness testimony were heard in a Beverly Hills courtroom Monday in the case …

ABC’s political blog, The Note, notes a strange concurrence of opinion between Dick Morris and James Carville regarding the upcoming election: when Dick Morris agrees with James Carville, well, there just might be something to their shared thesis. Even though Dick’s verbiage is steeped in the Fox News polling data …

And I just made a big deal about the news that AOL Time Warner planned to build a $483 million movie studio in China, viewing it as the “end of the cultural revolution.” Just kidding: A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. on Monday said a report from China’s official Xinhua news …