| Good Looks Ahead: What's Next for HDTV?
Everyone is looking for a unique characteristic," notes Gagnon. "You see it in laptops, you see it in cell phones--and now everybody wants a unique statement of design in a TV." Just as cell phones, digital cameras, and laptops now come in colored packages, TVs too are moving beyond basic black. Manufacturers are also taking a cue from the sleek details found on smaller products. LG Electronics, for example, recently introduced TV sets with color and style tweaks. The 32-inch LG40 features such accents as a curved pedestal and a red front-drop bezel; the back of the LG60 is red, too, and you can see a flash of color peeking through the side and front. An even bigger emphasis this year is on thinness. Hitachi, JVC, and LG have all revealed thin sets, ranging from 1.5 inches to 1.7 inches thick.
Heaviest man lived with plenty of heart
Nor did he ever get to ride a bicycle. Such activities were just too tiring. --- But Robert Earl was not slothful. He gladly would help on the family farm, feeding chickens, gathering eggs and performing other jobs that could be done at a slow pace. Despite such limitations, Robert Earl never showed any self-pity. All accounts peg him as a gregarious, smiling youngster - "a very jolly fellow," as Harry Manley puts it. Those close to Robert Earl say he did not eat like a pig. They say he had a hearty appetite, perhaps enough to pack extra pounds onto any person. But they say his meals were not so big - some say he rarely had seconds - as to account for his enormous size. Still, by age 13 he had reached an astounding 546 pounds. At school, he sat on a special bench braced with two-by-fours and wire.
Short View: Rich pickings
Who is the world's richest man? Crude arithmetic suggests a neck-and-neck race entering the last few weeks of the year. The identity of the winner could tell us a lot about the state of the world and its markets. The incumbent is Bill Gates of Microsoft, worth $56bn at the turn of the year according to Forbes. It seems that he has at last been overtaken: investors' confidence in Microsoft, long the ultimate “growth" stock, has waned in recent years. .
CATS taps N.Y. company's technology
The Charlotte Area Transit System has chosen a New York company's software to enhance safety and improve operations on city buses. Under the agreement, Verint Systems Inc.'s Nextiva Transit system will transfer video and other data from the buses to CATS' central monitoring station for investigation and risk management. CATS serves a six-county area around Charlotte, operating bus and trolley services as well as a light rail system. It is the largest transit system between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. Financial terms of the agreement weren't disclosed. .
A Fondness for Quirky Teenagers
Charlie Bartlett is the movie no studio wanted to make. Impressed by his second unit directing work on Meet the Fockers, executives at Universal encouraged longtime editor Jon Poll – whose editing credits include Meet the Parents and the last two Austin Powers movies – to bring them a movie that he could direct. When he did, it was for a teen comedy in which the titular character sets himself up as the unofficial school therapist, who listens to his fellow students problems and doles out scammed prescription drugs. Universal passed. So did every studio in Hollywood. "No one would make this film," Poll tells FilmStew during a recent interview in San Francisco. “It's an R-rated movie where kids are giving each other drugs." To Poll, that was an overly simplistic read of a dark comedy that he nevertheless considers heartwarming and optimistic.
Bills report: Inside slant
Wilson said the move is being made to cultivate new fans and corporate support in North America's fifth largest city, making the Bills more viable in Buffalo and Western New York. However, he reiterated what he has said in recent years concerning the long-term fate of his team after his passing: his heirs will sell it to the highest bidder and he can't guarantee the team will remain in Buffalo. It's logical to assume one of those bidders will be Wilson's new Canadian friends, the team of Ted Rogers and Larry Tanebaum. Rogers owns the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Communications that owns the Rogers' Centre, where the Bills will play. He is Canada's third-richest man with a net worth of nearly $5 billion. Tanebaum is chairman of the board of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NHL's Maple Leafs and NBA's Raptors.
Pelosi ultimatum shows US Democrat's 'backbone'
House of Representatives Democrats really did not expect the Justice Department to present their contempt citations against two of US President George W. Bush's top aides to a federal grand jury for prosecution. But the effort and having a civil lawsuit at the ready as a backup in their fight against the White House over the 2006 firings of nine federal prosecutors has satisfied, for now, some liberals who for a year have wanted much more: Bush's impeachment. Even before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to reach Congress' highest office, the California Democrat had rejected demands from many in her party for impeachment. Until two weeks ago, she had sat for seven months on the contempt citations sought by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee against Bush's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and his former counsel, Harriet Miers.
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