June 2008 Archives

, but that hasn't stopped the celebrity news site from bagging more blockbuster scoops the past two years than any competitor.

's growing reputation as Hollywood 's in-the-know and in-your-face news agency was built by working the phones, developing sources and basically out hustling rivals, say executives. What isn't well-known, however, is that the company may also possess a technology edge. TMZ, which launched as a Web site in 2005 and moved into TV last September, is among the first to build a tapeless, high-definition TV newsroom from the ground up, according to managers.

Full Story: How TMZ uses tech to get in your face (CNET)

WASHINGTON - Former Intel Corp . Chairman Andy Grove has a knack for sensing when circumstances should force changes at a company or an industry — and how to respond.

During the past year and a half, Grove has created his own crash course in electric power, plug-in hybrid vehicles and finding ways of shifting the nation's fleet of vehicles from gasoline. His goal: To draw more attention to electric vehicles . "The most important thing I would like to do is light that almost half-assumed truth up in neon lights : Electricity in transportation has to be done. It is urgent. It is important that everything else is secondary," Grove said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Full Story: AP Interview: Ex-Intel head pushes electric cars (AP)

Barack Obama , said Sunday John McCain 's military service does not automatically qualify him to be commander in chief.

Underscoring during a national television appearance a position he has been expressing for several weeks, Clark said performing heroic military service is not a substitute for gaining command experience.

"In the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable.



Full Story: Clark: McCain a hero, but lacks command experience (AP)

. After a year of trying to sell her four-bedroom home and eight years of singledom, Deven Trabosh is offering her South Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet.

"I figured let's combine the ad because I'm looking for love and I'm looking to sell the house," said Trabosh, a Barbie-esque blonde who teeters around the nearly 2,000 square-foot house in patent leather heels.

, upgraded tile and a soaking tub in a gated community with a pool and tennis courts.



Full Story: Single mom selling Fla. home and heart on Internet (AP)

LOS ANGELES - The head of the Screen Actors Guild doesn't want to hear the s-word as a deadline for contract expiration looms.

has taken out an advertisement in trade publications calling a strike "harmful and unnecessary." Citing $2.8 billion in lost wages, the ad says "We've completed four equitable and forward-thinking labor agreements. Let's get the fifth done." The ad is scheduled to run in Monday's editions of Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

"The industry is shutting down because SAG 's Hollywood leadership insisted on 11th-hour negotiations and dragging these talks into July so they can continue attacking AFTRA ," AMPTP spokesman Jesse Hiestand said in a statement.



Full Story: SAG president doesn't want to hear strike talk (AP)

MTV Games and developer Harmonix. " Rock Band 2 " will feature a new variety of instruments, online modes and songs, and will allow players to import their previously purchased "Rock Band" tunes.

as well as Nintendo's Wii later in the year. The original "Rock Band" was simultaneously released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 last November before later coming to the PlayStation 2 and Wii.

"Rock Band" allows up to four gamers to form a virtual band, thrashing and singing along to songs with friends online or in-person on various phony instruments. The second edition will feature a playlist of over 80 songs — all master recordings — which will include more female-fronted bands and artists who have never contributed tunes to a music game.



Full Story: 'Rock Band 2' to include new online modes, songs (AP)

to retailers and major computer makers Monday, despite protests from a slice of PC users who don't want to be forced into using XP's successor, Vista.

Once computers loaded with XP have been cleared from the inventory of PC makers such as Dell Inc . and Hewlett-Packard Co., consumers who can't live without the old operating system on their new machine will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally "downgrade" to XP. Microsoft will still allow smaller mom-and-pop PC builder shops to buy XP for resale through the end of January. A version of XP will also remain available for ultra-low-cost PCs such as the Asus Eee PC .

Full Story: Microsoft to stop selling Windows XP on Monday (AP)

The service will work with seven current handsets and three to be launched soon, including the third version of the popular music-oriented LG Chocolate .

In a related announcement, Rhapsody said it is getting rid of copy protection on all tracks bought from its online music store. Beginning Monday, customers can buy music in the MP3 format, which will play on practically any music gadget, including iPods. digital rights management , or DRM , which prevents copying and piracy, but also makes it difficult to legally move music between devices.

Full Story: Verizon Wireless gets Rhapsody music subscriptions (AP)

said Sunday that family members may never know why he hopped two fences to enter a restricted area.

Six Flags Over Georgia on Saturday. The ride was to remain closed through Monday out of respect for his family.

near Springfield, S.C. They were taking a break to picnic outside the park, and his son returned ahead of the group.



Full Story: Family mourns teen hit by roller coaster in Ga. (AP)

found it wasn't worth quite as much as he thought when he settled for around A$100,000 ($96,000) less than his target price.

Ian Usher, 44, held the seven-day auction of all his belongings, including his three-bedroom home in the west Australian city of Perth and a trial for his job at a rug store, after the break-up of his five-year marriage.

Bids had reached as high as A$2.2 million, only for Usher to discover there had been a glitch on eBay's system which allowed the participation of non-registered bidders who had put in bogus offers.



Full Story: Man auctions off his life, sale price disappoints (Reuters)

has taken out an advertisement in trade publications calling a strike "harmful and unnecessary." Citing $2.8 billion in lost wages, the ad says, "We've completed four equitable and forward-thinking labor agreements. Let's get the fifth done." The ad is scheduled to run in Monday's editions of Variety and Hollywood Reporter.

Anxiety has been growing in Hollywood that actors might walk off the job or studios could lock out performers on the heels of a Writers Guild of America strike that devastated production from November through February.

SAG leaders have been fighting a deal reached between producers and another actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Vote results among that union's 70,000 members are due July 8.



Full Story: SAG leader calls strike talk 'a distraction' (AP)

The school will use instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called study technology. And a few teachers belong to the church.

But the couple say they are not Scientologists , and the academy's director insists the facility has no religious affiliation.

"We are a secular school, and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children," New Village Academy director Jacqueline Olivier told the Los Angeles Times .



Full Story: Will Smith's school insists it's not Scientologist (AP)

Some people might be embarrassed if their friends found an old copy of Mr. Big's "To be with you" or Paula Abdul's "Cold hearted (snake)" stashed away in their CD collection. But not EMI. They own those songs, and they want the world to know it.

, and 10 unnamed defendants for allegedly infringing on the copyrights of those and hundreds of other pop throwbacks. The lawsuit alleges that Hi5 users have uploaded and disseminated hundreds of music videos the company owns rights to. VideoEgg is on the hook because it's a former partner of Hi5, and those allegedly infringing videos were uploaded to its servers. (On May 31, VideoEgg stopped hosting videos uploaded by the public and refocused efforts on its ad network, prompting rumors that the company was on its way out.) The lawsuit doesn't say much of anything about who the 10 John Does are.

Full Story: EMI sues Hi5, VideoEgg over user-uploaded videos (CNET)

As Patty Stonesifer, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , sees it, Gates won't focus on managing the organization, hiring hundreds of new employees or overseeing the construction of a new headquarters.

"He's clear that he loves the idea that he doesn't have to be the operating leadership," Stonesifer said. Instead "he wants to do strategy and advocacy," Stonesifer said, which means he will focus on better understanding the problems the foundation is trying to address. That includes sitting down with government, business and nonprofit leaders to advocate for them to spend more money on world health, hunger and poverty.

Full Story: Bill Gates to dive deeper into foundation strategy (AP)

NEW YORK - A European Vogue cover model fell to her death from her Manhattan apartment building Saturday in an apparent suicide, published reports said.

Originally from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, the almond-eyed, flowing-haired Korshunova appeared in advertisements and on runways for such designers as Marc Jacobs , Nina Ricci and DKNY. British Vogue hailed her as "a face to be excited about" in 2005.

Her break came when modeling booker Debbie Jones noticed her while perusing an in-flight magazine article about Korushnova's hometown of Almaty, according to the Vogue report.



Full Story: Reports: Model dies in apparent NYC suicide dive (AP)

MEYRIN, Switzerland - The most powerful atom-smasher ever built could make some bizarre discoveries, such as invisible matter or extra dimensions in space, after it is switched on in August.

black hole that could swallow Earth? Or spit out particles that could turn the planet into a hot dead clump? Ridiculous, say scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French initials CERN — some of whom have been working for a generation on the $5.8 billion collider, or LHC.

David Francis, a physicist on the collider's huge ATLAS particle detector, smiled when asked whether he worried about black holes and hypothetical killer particles known as strangelets.



Full Story: Scientists: Nothing to fear from atom-smasher (AP)

. But there was no singing during the 30-minute ceremony — just an exchange of vows, prayers and music provided by a string ensemble. A reporter from The Birmingham News attended the ceremony.

Alabama will be their home as the 29-year-old-singer gets set to release a new album later this year.

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Full Story: 'American Idol' winner Ruben Studdard weds in Ala. (AP)

. After taking the stage Saturday, the troubled singer climbed down into the pit and scuffled briefly with a reveler.

The performance came just after she was hospitalized. Her father says she developed emphysema from smoking cigarettes and crack cocaine , although her spokeswoman has said Winehouse only has pre-emphysema symptoms.

Zion National Park - St. George, Utah. A destination for outdoor Adventure Travel activities in southern Utah.



Full Story: Winehouse strikes back at Glastonbury reveler (AP)

Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Yantai , but after morethan three hours of sitting on the tarmac, the airlinecancelled the flight, the Beijing Morning Post said.

"Most of the about 200 passengers disembarked to completeflight transfer procedures, but a Mrs. Shi was one of 52passengers who refused to get off," the newspaper said.

"Mrs. Shi said that she and her colleagues had to get toYantai for a meeting, they were on a very tight schedule, andcould not accept the cancellation of the flight." At 3 a.m. the airline finally told them they could take a7.30 a.m. flight to Yantai.



Full Story: Passengers sleep on plane after flight cancelled (Reuters)

Summer Olympics . NBC's digital plans, however, have angered media outlets that worry the company is being heavy-handed in enforcing its rights to exclusive Olympic access.

Athens was available in 2004, but those visiting the NBC site were required to enter a credit card number , even though they weren't charged, and that drove away traffic.

NBC quietly experimented by beaming live over the Internet the hockey gold-medal game from the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics . The change in scope to what it is offering this year is staggering.



Full Story: NBC offers wide online access for Beijing Olympics (AP)

went on stage to reminisce with his longtime friend Steve Ballmer , and neither man could hold back tears as Ballmer handed Gates a large scrapbook as a farewell present.

"They went off with OS 2, we were left with good old Windows, and sure enough the David versus Goliath story came out with the right ending," said Gates, eliciting laughter from the crowd of 830 Microsoft employees. Gates, who founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, admitted that Microsoft has faltered along the way, and certainly isn't perfect today.

Full Story: Ballmer and Gates bid farewell with tears (AP)

They came together in this hamlet where each won 107 votes in January's primary. Body language rivaled campaign rhetoric as attention-getter of the day. And a pair rendered distant by a marathon campaign acted like teammates, alternately exhorting the rank-and-file to put any recriminations behind them.

Clinton noted that they had stood "toe to toe" against each other in a primary season fight that began almost two years ago and declared the time has come to "stand shoulder to shoulder" against the GOP . They seemed equally determined to regain a White House that their party hasn't seen since her husband, President Clinton , left at the start of 2001.

"To anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting or voting for Sen. (John) McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider," said Clinton, beseeching her supporters to join with Obama's "to create an unstoppable force for change we can all believe in." In turn, Obama praised both Clinton and her husband as allies and pillars of the Democratic Party.



Full Story: Obama, Clinton appeal for Democratic unity in N.H. (AP)

NEW YORK - Another chapter has been added to the Lohan family saga — and this time, it may be another Lohan.

Michael Lohan, father of actress Lindsay, said in a statement Friday that he's looking into a woman's claim that she had a daughter by him.

Lohan said he once had a relationship with a woman named Kristy, whose last name he did not provide, and that he hadn't seen her in 12 years. He said the two were seeing each other while he was separated from Dina Lohan, and the woman was going through a divorce.



Full Story: Another Lohan saga: Another Lohan? (AP)

The chairman of Microsoft and one of the world's richest men, Bill Gates, is stepping down from his job running the world's largest software company.

Mr Gates, who made his fortune through developing software for the personal computer, plans to devote his time to charity work. As a teenager Bill Gates had a vision of a personal computer on every desk in every home.

Full Story: Gates to step down from Microsoft

SEATTLE - It is almost unthinkable that any one human could pick up where Bill Gates leaves off when he ends his full-time tenure Friday as Microsoft's leader.

But as Gates bones up on epidemiology at his charitable foundation, the software company he built with a mix of visionary manifestos and extreme hands-on management must still wake up Monday to face hard problems even he could not solve. Among them: beating Google Inc . on the Web while fending off its attacks on desktop computing. When Microsoft Corp . announced in 2006 that Gates planned to go part-time as board chairman, so he could spend more time on his global health charity, it named two senior executives to guide the company's overall technical direction.

Full Story: Gates moves on, but Microsoft keeps 'quests' alive (AP)

TOKYO - Master Japanese drummer Daihachi Oguchi, who led the spread of the art of "taiko" drumming to the U.S. and throughout Japan, has died after being hit by a car, an official at his ensemble said. He was 84.

Oguchi was crossing the street when he was struck by the car Thursday. He was rushed to the hospital but died of excessive bleeding early Friday, said Yuken Yagasaki of Osuwa Daiko, the group in Nagano prefecture (state) in northern Japan that Oguchi had led.

Oguchi helped found top U.S. taiko groups, including San Francisco Taiko Dojo , which has performed in Hollywood movies and on international tours since its founding 40 years ago.



Full Story: Master Japanese drummer Oguchi dies (AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paris Hilton is making good on her promise to become a better person.

The 27-year-old socialite made an "extremely generous" donation toward the construction of a medical building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles , hospital officials said Thursday, although they did not specify the amount.

"The children I have met through my involvement with Childrens Hospital have truly touched my heart," Hilton said in a statement. "I am proud to make a donation and lend my name to the fundraising effort to help children who are facing terribly serious illnesses." The 460,000-square-foot Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases is expected to open in 2010.



Full Story: Paris Hilton donates to LA's Childrens Hospital (AP)

A complete overhaul of the way in which people navigate the internet has been given the go-ahead in Paris.

The net's regulator, Icann, voted unanimously to relax the strict rules on so-called "top-level" domain names, such as .com or .uk. The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names.

Full Story: Internet overhaul wins approval

SEATTLE - It is almost unthinkable that any one human could pick up where Bill Gates leaves off when he ends his full-time tenure Friday as Microsoft's leader.

But as Gates bones up on epidemiology at his charitable foundation, the software company he built with a mix of visionary manifestos and extreme hands-on management must still wake up Monday to face hard problems even he could not solve. Among them: beating Google Inc . on the Web while fending off its attacks on desktop computing. When Microsoft Corp . announced in 2006 that Gates planned to go part-time as board chairman, so he could spend more time on his global health charity, it named two senior executives to guide the company's overall technical direction.

Full Story: Bill Gates moves on, but Microsoft keeps his 'quests' alive (AP)

O.J. Simpson says an ambitious Nevada prosecutor is pressing a kidnapping and armed robbery case against him that he says even the alleged victims don't want to pursue.

"If I was anybody else, I wouldn't be going to court," Simpson told a reporter for Fargo, N.D., radio station KFGO who interviewed him late Tuesday at a Fargo cigar bar. Simpson was vacationing in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

"How many trials have you ever heard of where both of the victims say they don't want this guy to go to jail, they don't want to go to court, and you still go to court?" Simpson asked. "It's only me.



Full Story: O.J.: Anybody else wouldn't be going to court (AP)

The end credits of the "Batman Begins" sequel include a farewell note to Ledger, who died in January from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs; and to special-effects technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed last September in a stunt-car accident.

"In memory of our friends Heath Ledger & Conway Wickliffe," reads the tribute included in the credits, which went up Thursday on the Warner Bros . publicity Web site.

Ledger plays the villainous Joker in "The Dark Knight," who begins a reign of terror on Gotham City that pits him against conflicted hero Batman (Christian Bale).



Full Story: `Dark Knight' credits pay tribute to Ledger (AP)

A complete overhaul of the way people navigate the internet could begin following a crucial vote in Paris.

The net's regulator Icann will vote to decide if the strict rules on so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed. If approved, firms could turn brands into web addresses while individuals could also grab a unique domain based on their name, for example.

Full Story: Crucial vote on internet's future

. The portable video game console is now being used as a key teaching tool, breaking with traditional Japanese academic methods.

A giggly class of 32 seventh-graders used plastic pens to spell words like "hamburger" and "cola" on the touch panel screen — the key feature of the hit console — following an electronic voice from the machine. It's a sort of high-tech spelling bee . When the students got the spelling right, the word "good" popped up on the screen, and the student went on to the next exercise. The first five students to complete the drills were awarded colorful stickers.

Full Story: Nintendo DS teaches English in school (AP)

"The matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties," NBC spokeswoman Jenny Tartikoff said in a statement, the Times reported. The network would not say how much the General Electric Co unit paid, the paper said.

Rockwall County, Texas , had reportedly sent sexually explicit messages to a person that he believed was under-age.

The person actually was a volunteer for Perverted Justice , a group that helps set up stings to catch child sexual predators and was a paid consultant for the Predator series, the Times said.



Full Story: NBC settles lawsuit over man's suicide: report (Reuters)

Universal has settled a $105 million lawsuit brought by a woman who claimed a televised sex sting by " Dateline NBC: To Catch A Predator " drove her brother to kill himself.

"The matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties," said a statement released by both sides. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Patricia Conradt's lawsuit had claimed her brother, a suburban Dallas prosecutor, fatally shot himself after he was accused of engaging in a sexually explicit online chat with an adult posing as a 13-year-old boy.



Full Story: Settlement in NY lawsuit over NBC's 'Predator' (AP)

Two teams of foreign aid workers dedicated to delivering emergency telecoms in disaster areas have been forced to leave cyclone-hit Burma.

The members of Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) left the country after attempts to reach affected areas were blocked. The charity, which described the situation as "unprecedented", said it had no other choice but to leave.

Full Story: Burma blocks emergency telecoms

SAN FRANCISCO - Oracle Corp . breezed past analysts' expectations in its fiscal fourth quarter, providing another sign of the technology industry's vitality despite the listless U.S. economy.

The business software maker said Wednesday that it earned $2.04 billion, or 39 cents per share, in the three months ending in May, up 27 percent from $1.6 billion or 31 cents per share at the same time last year. If not for expenses related to acquisitions and stock awarded to employees, Oracle said it would have made 47 cents per share — three cents above the average estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Full Story: Oracle 4Q earnings rise 27 percent to $2.04B (AP)

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution.

The Justice Department says it targeted 16 cities as part of its "Operation Cross Country" that caps off five years of similar stings nationwide.

Many of the children forced into prostitution are either runaways or what authorities call "thrown-aways" — kids whose families have shunned them. Officials say they are preyed upon by organized networks of pimps who lure them in with shelter or drugs, then often beat, starve or otherwise abuse them until the children agree to work the streets.



Full Story: 345 arrested, kids rescued in prostitution busts (AP)

" will focus on the humanitarian crisis in the Congo with the help of an unusual correspondent — Ben Affleck .

The 35-year-old actor took a "Nightline" crew on his recent fact-finding mission to Africa with the goal of spreading the word on a story that gets relatively little notice in the United States. His essay airs 11:35 p.m. Thursday on ABC.

He's been to the Congo three times in the past year. He said his motive was to learn about the war and hunger that have killed thousands of people per month in the past decade in hopes that the outside world would be moved to help, and his celebrity opened some doors.



Full Story: Ben Affleck takes journey to Congo (AP)

Lifesaving equipment in hospitals may be switched off by radio-frequency devices used to track people and machines, Dutch scientists claim.

Radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) are on the rise in healthcare, helping identify patients, and reveal the location of equipment. There are two types of RFID, one which transmits information, and another, "passive", device which can be "read" by a powered machine when it is held nearby.

Full Story: 'Hospital risk' from radio tags

The service, called T-Mobile AtHome, will cost $10 per month when it rolls out on July 2.

Customers need a wireless plan that costs at least $40 per month, and need to buy a T-Mobile Internet router for $50. The router plugs into the home broadband connection, and the customer's corded or cordless phones plug into the router. "Clearly there's a big opportunity for us to give T-Mobile customers an incentive not to be on competitive landline service," said T-Mobile USA's chief executive, Robert Dotson.

Full Story: T-Mobile goes nationwide with landline service (AP)

A representative for the former "Idol" confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that Studdard, 29, plans a Saturday wedding. He and Surata Zuri McCants, 30, took out a marriage license on Monday, according to court records.

The Birmingham native, nicknamed the "Velvet Teddy Bear" on the show for his big frame and sonorous voice, has released three albums since his 2003 win, including the platinum CD "Soulful." He is working on a new album .

Zion National Park - St. George, Utah. A destination for outdoor Adventure Travel activities in southern Utah.



Full Story: Former 'American Idol' champ to wed (AP)

and Lil Wayne have owned the music scene over the past year: It seems as if T-Pain's voice has accented half the hits on urban radio, while Lil Wayne, another ubiquitous collaborator, has appeared on the rest.

In addition, Lil Wayne just this month scored the year's best-selling album sales debut with 1 million copies sold of his new CD, "Tha Carter III." So it was appropriate that both artists dominated Tuesday's BET Awards with not only their energetic performances but their presence, despite winning just one trophy each.

Other highlights from the three-hour ceremony included a girl group reunion; a stirring tribute to the Rev. (and soul legend) Al Green ; and topless performance by ripped rapper Nelly.



Full Story: T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Barack Obama rule the BET Awards (AP)