Week of July 8, 2007

President Bush appears argues that U.S. forces have made some progress and

needed time to make the country more secure and that placates some in

Congress a little bit. He gets two more months.

A suicide bomber drove a load of watermelons and vegetables to the center of a

village marketplace in northern Iraq, detonated his yellow truck and killed as

many as 150.

Nevada casinos raked in $1.14 billion from gamblers in May, setting a one-

month record.

Top U.S. intelligence officials say that a resurgent Al Qaeda and stepped up

training and worldwide operations from safe havens in Pakistan.

Pakistan - Government forces storm the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad in an

attempt to rescue hostages inside. 40 Islamic militants are dead.

The cash-strapped McCain campaign loses Terry Nelson and chief Strategist

John Weaver.

Iran has a new English-language news channel and its called “Press TV. “

Sports - Sidney Crosby of the Penguins - and

the NL’s most valuable player and scoring champ,

signs a five-year extension through 20212-12

season worth $43.5 million.

All Star game - The American League wins for

the fifth straight time - 5-4.

Business to Dow retreats to 13,501.70 - after

losing just over 148 points from housing sector

woes.

Bill Clinton’s new book on citizen activism and

public service “Giving” will be published in

September.

Radio news -

The Jack-FM format is no more in New York as CBS-FM (oldies) returns to New

York. The format dropped the station back to 16 th place in the last ratings.

Week of July 8, 2007

Technology -

A federal appeal panel declines to delay a substantial increase in royalties that

Internet radio stations must pay for playing music and the big rates could take

effect on Sunday if nothing else is done. Some small radio stations already have

stopped broadcasting to avoid accruing royalty payments because the rate hike

is retroactive to Jan 1, 2006. The Copyright Royalty Board - an obscure group of

federal judges, set the new rates in march, eliminating a provision that allowed

small webcasters to apply 10% to 12% of their revenue instead of a set per-song

fee of .0762 of a cent each time a song is played.

Sony is slashing the price of PlayStation 3 to 4498 from $599. After dominating

with its first two PlayStation systems, the PS3 is lagging behind Microsoft’s Xbox

360 and Nintendo’s Wii as the next-generation console of choice.

Google says it had agreed to buy Web-based security provider Postini for $625

million.

In San Francisco - 300 tech types gather to develop new programs for the

iPhone - but Apple has been reticent on giving out programming code, so they’ll

have to do it from scratch. The event is called iphoneDevcamp.

Music news -

Many believe Avril Lavigne’s

“Girlfriend” is a ripoff of the

Rubicoos 1970’s,“I Wanna Be Your

Boyfriend" - note for note. She is

being sued for copyright

infringement for allegedly

plagiarizing the song. She says

she’s never heard the Boyfriend

song

To you catch Live Earth either on

TV or your PC? It was the largest

pop culture event of its kind - with

nine concerts taking place on seven

continents.

Entertainment news -

Movie “The Simpsons” is set to debut in Westwood (LA) on July 24 with wide

release on July 27. But Fox isn’t letting out any plot details.

Week of July 8, 2007

Music news -

Prince is stirring up trouble among British retailers because he is giving away his

new album “Planet Earth” with a tabloid paper “The Mail” this week at a price of

$2.80.

Television news -

Changes on Nip/Tuck - a show that’s been on FX for almost five years. Creator

Ryan Murphy says that Sean (Dylan Walsh) will become more confident and

successful and Christian (Julian McMahon) will become more insecure as he

meets other doctors who are better at stretching flabby skin than he is. Also,

Sean and Christain will become medical advisors on a television drams called

“Hearts and Scalpels.” It all starts Oct. 22 on FX.

Court TV will become truTV on January 1. Same channel. Different name.

Fox will launch a new financial channel on October 15 as Fox Business Network.

Passing - Actor Charles Lane (102)

- who often played humorous cranks

- and crusty skinflints.

ESPN SportCentral anchor Dan

Patrick is leaving after 18 years.

Wednesday night television -

CBS - King of Queens, Criminal

Minds, CSI”NY, Late Show, Craig

Ferguson

NBC - Most outrageous Moments,

The Singng Bee, America’s got

Talent, Last Comic Standing, Tonight, Conan O’Brien, Carson Daly

ABC - The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?

American Inventor, Traveler, Nightline, Jimmy Kimmel

MyNet - American Heiress, Saints & Sinners

Fox - So You Think You Can Dance, Don’t Forget the Lyrics

America’s Next Top Model

PBS - American Masters, Tavis Smiley, Charlie Rose

MTV - Engaged & Underage, My Super Sweet 16 Remix, Real World Vegas

At the movies -

Transformers

Ratatouille