Botched vote boils
Fox's 'Idol' message boards
Nothing riles people up quite so much as the
mere sniff of voting impropriety on “American Idol.” And when the hit
show’s producers do admit an error, stand back—there are some
seriously grumpy fans out there. Tuesday’s edition of the show included
incorrect phone numbers for fans to vote for contestants Mikalah Gordon,
Anwar Robinson and Jessica Sierra. Producers immediately admitted the
error and did the fair thing, tossing all of Tuesday night’s results and
airing a special Wednesday night episode inviting fans to revote and find
out the results on Thursday. But fans saw more than an honest mistake. “I have a hard time
believing that this was an accident. … I think that this was Fox's
way of getting better ratings and get more people interested in
‘AI,’” one fan wrote on the “Idol” message boards at Fox.com.
“I think it was
probaby for ratings too...or to distract us from the Mario fiasco,”
wrote another, referring to contestant Mario Vazquez’s abrupt
self-imposed exit two weeks ago. But “Idol” producers insisted in a
press conference yesterday that the messed-up graphic was the fault of an
independent contractor that handles on-air displays. “Why would we contaminate the honesty of one of
the top-rated shows in America by fiddling with it?" executive
producer Ken Warwick said.
Big $ woes could close down AOL Latin America
America Online Latin America
may be filing for bankruptcy protection or, even more drastically, closing
its doors. Action soon will be taken based on the decision of the
company’s board of preferred shareholders. Yesterday the ISP, which has
struggled to compete with larger rivals, said it has no stock value and
selling shares of the company wouldn’t help. The company only has enough
money to run through September. Apparently the internet service provider
has exhausted its opportunities to borrow money from partial owners Time
Warner, Venezuela-based Cisneros Group of Cos., or Brazil-based Banco Itau
SA. AOL Latin America is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and operates in
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Puerto Rico.
Poll: People keep clicking, so spam keeps ticking
Despite the threat of viruses and spyware, email
users are still curious enough to click links that arrive in spam, which
means they've officially lost the right to complain about the annoying
stuff. About a third of British email users have clicked on links in
unsolicited messages, according to a survey conducted by Mirapoint and the
Radicati Group. One in ten users have bought products advertised in junk
mail. The messages offering giveaways usually follow the trend of what is
a commodity at the time. Right now a lot of spam features Sony PSP
giveaways. Apple iPods have been the focus in recent months. Security firm
Clearswift has seen a 180 percent rise in sex-related spam over the course
of the last month.
Military
tests virtual reality cure for PTSD sufferers
The last thing war veterans generally want to relive
is a bullet whizzing past their heads. However, that’s exactly what the
military is proposing as therapy for soldiers who suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The military is testing a new
virtual reality system that forces soldiers to relive the experience of
war to gain better control over their memories. The military hopes the new
technology will stop the nightmares, outbursts and other issues that
afflict soldiers who have returned home. A study in the New England
Journal of Medicine this year estimated that one of every six Army
soldiers returning from the war experiences major depression, anxiety or
post-traumatic stress disorder. Within a few months, the virtual-reality
treatments will begin to be offered to troops at the Naval Medical Center
and Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital in California and Tripler Army Medical
Center in Hawaii.
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