NewsScan Daily, 15 February 2005 (" Above The Fold" )

NewsScan Daily, 15 February 2005 (" Above The Fold" )
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NewsScan Daily is underwritten by RLG, a world-class organization making
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"ABOVE THE FOLD" 
      Mobisodes: Smaller Than a Breadbasket
       Verizon Buys MCI: Bigger Than a Breadbasket
       China's Crackdown on Internet Cafes
       Network Vandal Faces 10 Years in Prison
       Looking for Deals: The Trend Toward Mergers
       A Keyless Future
 
FEATURES
       Flash Card
       Honorary Subscriber: Howard Hughes
 
MOBISODES: SMALLER THAN A BREADBASKET
     Three new original action series (one produced by the creators of the
TV show "24") have been developed for showing exclusively on Verizon's
newest mobile phone and for distribution over that company's V Cast, a
high-speed cellular phone network that delivers broadband Internet-quality
video. Each of the one-minute mobile episodes (called "mobisodes") is
specially shot and edited for cellphone screens. Cingular and Sprint
currently offer video as well, but Verizon's content is sent over a
third-generation network known as EV-DO so that the video on V Cast runs at
closer to 30 frames per second -- the same as broadcast television. But is
the screen just too small to watch shows on? Gary Newman of 20 Century Fox
Television says: "When you're holding it 10 or 12 inches away from you, it
doesn't feel too small." And on the general subject of screen size, media
services company executive Stacey Lynn Koerner notes: "You've got half the
population going out and buying 60-inch television screens, and the other
half is pulling down content onto smaller and smaller devices like phones
and PDAs and iPods. You have the need to have enormous immersive
experiences, and you also have the need to take your own personal
entertainment experience with you everywhere you go." Whatever. (New York
Times 15 Feb 2005)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/arts/television/15cell.html>
 
VERIZON BUYS MCI: BIGGER THAN A BREADBASKET
     Verizon says it plans to buy long-distance phone company MCI for $6.75
billion, and analysts expect the deal will get approved by federal and state
regulatory agencies. Industry analyst Jay Pultz of the Gartner research firm
predicts, "This is going to be the biggest change in the industry in 21
years [when the government forced the breakup of AT&T's phone industry
monopoly]. All the services will be primarily under the umbrella of
behemoths." What will that mean to price competition? Pultz says it means
that "prices aren't going to be in the free fall they have been."
(Washington Post 14 Feb 2005)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22406-2005Feb14.html>
 
CHINA'S CRACKDOWN ON INTERNET CAFES
     Chinese authorities shut down more than 12,575 Internet cafes in the
last three months of 2004 to create a "safer environment for young people in
China," according to the Xinhua News Agency. With 87 million people online,
China has the world's second-largest population of Internet users (after the
U.S.), and the government actively promotes Internet use for business and
education. However, communist authorities block access to Web sites they
deem pornographic or subversive and Internet cafes are banned from operating
near schools. (AP/Washington Times 14 Feb 2005)
<http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/C/CHINA_INTERNET_CRACKDOWN?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME>
 
NETWORK VANDAL FACES 10 YEARS IN PRISON
     David Jeansonne, a 44-year-old Louisiana man, faces up to ten years in
prison for hacking into WebTV. Jeansonne has pleaded guilty to having sent
e-mail messages to about 20 subscribers in 2002, advising the recipients
that they could change the display colors on their screens -- but in fact
secretly resetting their dial-in telephone number so that they called 911
instead of the local modem telephone number when they tried to access WebTV.
(San Jose Mercury News 14 Feb 2005)
<http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10902507.htm>
 
LOOKING FOR DEALS: THE TREND TOWARD MERGERS
     A national survey conducted for the accounting and consulting firm
Grant Thornton has found that 4 in 10 technology companies anticipate a
change in ownership within the next decade, whereas only 3 in 10 of all
companies nationally feel the same. Among those who expect this change, 39
percent believe a merger is most likely, while 30 percent anticipate a trade
sale. The study was conducted for Grant Thornton by the research group
Harris Interactive.
 
A KEYLESS FUTURE
     Some luxury vehicles don't have an ignition key slot anymore and
residential-door-hardware companies are marketing push-button entry systems
for homes. Kevin Kraus of the door hardware company Schlage says,
"In 10 to 20 years, the key will be nothing but a backup device." Cars
offering keyless systems include the Lexus GS sport sedan, Cadillac XLR and
STS, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Chevrolet Corvette. Although Johns Hopkins
University researchers recently reported they were able to hack their way
through radio-frequency security codes on cars, Texas Instruments (one of
the makers of radio-frequency equipment) says it has never had a security
breach. Gale Johnson, editor of the trade publication Locksmith Ledger
comments, "The mechanical key is disappearing. Locksmiths today are a little
like a buggy maker in 1900." (USA Today 15 Feb 2005)
<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-02-15-nokey-usat_x.htm>
 
*****
 
FLASH CARD
     "Wash four distinct and separate times, using lots of lather each time
from individual bars of soap." (Howard Hughes)
 
HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: HOWARD HUGHES
    Today's Honorary Subscriber is the eccentric American billionaire Howard
Hughes (1905-1976), who is now the subject of a new Hollywood movie, and who
in his lifetime made headlines as a businessman, aviator, and movie
producer. In his later years he was, ironically, much publicized for his
aversion to publicity, given as he was to shrouding his person and business
operations in mystery.
    Orphaned at 17, Hughes quit school and took control of his father's
Houston-based Hughes Tool Company, shrewdly buying out all other relatives.
In his twenties, with a yearly income of about $2 million, he moved to
Hollywood and became a movie producer, making such films as "Hell's Angels"
(1930), "The Front Page" (1931) and "Scarface" (1932). He introduced Jean
Harlow, Jane Russell and Paul Muni to the screen.
     In 1948 he bought a controlling interest in RKO Pictures Corporation,
selling it in 1955, but remaining chairman of the board until 1957. Along
with his interest in motion pictures, Hughes had a life-long fascination
with aviation. In 1932 he founded Hughes Aircraft in Culver City,
California. The company never succeeded as an airplane manufacturer, but
became profitable as a producer of aircraft equipment, including radar and
weapons guidance systems. In 1937, he bought a struggling airline that he
renamed Trans World Airways. His management of TWA was controversial, and in
1966, after refusing to appear in court to answer antitrust charges, he lost
control and sold his 78 percent share of the stock for more than 500
million. 
    Hughes was a skilled pilot and competent aircraft designer. He set speed
records with planes he designed and he circled the earth in record time,
flying a Lockheed 14. In 1942 he began work on the design of his famous
"Spruce Goose," an eight-engine, wooden flying boat intended to carry 750
passengers. In 1947 he piloted this machine on its only flight for a
distance of just one mile.
    Never an extrovert, in 1950 Hughes went into complete seclusion in Las
Vegas, Nevada, where he began to buy up much of the hotel and nightclub
industry, but was seen by only a few trusted male aides. After years of
working without sleep for days on end in a black-curtained room, he
reportedly became emaciated and deranged, with an uncontrollable and morbid
fear of germs. In his later years he began to move abruptly from one place
to another, finally dying on a flight to Houston, Texas, to seek medical
treatment. 
     He died without a will, and considerable legal debate arose over the
disposition of his estate. The courts finally made the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute the beneficiary of his vast fortune. Originally set up by Hughes
as a tax shelter and public relations ploy, this Institute is now the
largest U.S. source of funds for biomedical research.
                  ***
[To find a library copy of Michael Drosnin's "Citizen Hughes," visit RLG's
RedLightGreen service at
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=11729234&> -- or to purchase a copy of Richard Hack's
"Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters," go to:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1893224643/newsscancom/ref=nosim>
     Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult
literacy programs.]
 
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