The RealDVD trial takes a sketchy turn. The Motion Picture Association of America and another group, concerned that trade secrets about DVD encryption technology would be revealed during a trial against Real, asked the judge to close the courtroom. Judge Marilyn Patel agreed. RealDVD, if you don’t know, allows people to save DVDs onto their computer and legally watch them later. Just days after releasing the software, Real was sued by the MPAA. The closed courtroom does not bode well for Real’s case, by the way. source
Get yourself together sweetheart for the big one — the semi-final. Shut the door, choose the right song and come back as who you are, not who you want to be.
Simon Cowell • In an interview with reporters in Los Angeles. Cowell said he’s fed up with all the stories on Boyle and wants her to focus on the “Britain’s Got Talent” competition. Boyle’s video is still uber-popular on Youtube, by the way. • source
“ILVTOFU” is free speech, they say. Sometimes, the American Civil Liberties Union gets a bad rap for taking on inconsequential things in court. This is one of them. The ACLU has chosen to go after the Colorado Department of Revenue for denials of vanity plate applications to see if there are any free speech laws being broken. We hope there are, just to see veins burst on the foreheads of people who don’t like the ACLU. source
Dear Jay, We realize it’s not your fault that you’re not funny. And shouldn’t bring light to it every time we post. Sometimes, we just need to leave it alone and get out the news. There’s a limit to how catty we should be. And in the future, if something bad happens to you, we’ll hold our tongue while posting about it. Sorry for being so mean, man. source
Dear Jay, We realize it’s not your fault that you’re not funny. And shouldn’t bring light to it every time we post. Sometimes, we just need to leave it alone and get out the news. There’s a limit to how catty we should be. And in the future, if something bad happens to you, we’ll hold our tongue while posting about it. Sorry for being so mean, man.
Anyway … Leno, the talk show host getting replaced by Conan O’Brien in a couple of months, then moved into prime-time, apparently was suffering from dehydration when he was taken to the hospital yesterday. It was not a sign of anything more dangerous, nor was work particularly stressful. Friday’s show also got cancelled. source
Chuck was the Director of Marketing for the Lund Cadillac Group. We are sure he would still want all to know that 0.9% financing is still available on all New 2008 Hummer H2’s.
An obituary for Chuck P. Dimmick, who died at a NASCAR race last week. Clever. • source
Mashable has a pretty darn massive list. Between #musicmonday, #nopantstuesday, #winewednesday, #rtthursday, #followfriday, #sexysaturday and #sinnersunday, there’s always great ways to communicate with the Twitter world at large via hashtags. We recommend using all of these hashtags together, for best effect. source
By merely joining this group, you have all shown the restraint and intelligence necessary to not jump to conclusions and be able to read news stories with a fair eye.
A message from the Facebook group “Phil Markoff is Innocent Until Proven Guilty” • The group, currently 218 members strong, is getting outsized media coverage considering its size. Despite this, police note that the case is fairly open-and-shut, as the murder weapon was found in Markoff’s apartment. • source