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RealNetworks claims
MLB webcast foul
RealNetworks is hoping to tag out
Major League Baseball. The media company is seeking a temporary
restraining order in U.S. district court to force MLBAM, a division of
Major League Baseball, to use its formats. RealNetworks filed a lawsuit
against the league Tuesday that focuses on a contract reached in February,
which said the league had to offer RealNetworks’ media streaming format
with any other format that the sports organization selects. RealNetworks
found MLB.com’s subscription service, which offers live audio and
sometimes video streaming of Major League Baseball games, to be encoded in
Microsoft’s Windows Media format only. In response, MLBAM spokesman Jim
Gallagher said all they could reveal is that RealNetworks’ claims are
without merit. Rumor is the suit could be the precursor to an agreement
for Microsoft’s MSN web portal to become the internet distributor of
MLBAM’s service.
Study:
Sky's blue, grass's green, undergrads drink
File this under “well, duh”:
College kids drink, and beer companies know it. A study released Tuesday
by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University says
alcohol companies offer a “cyber playground” to young people. The
study estimated that alcohol company web sites had approximately 700,000
visits by underage people from July through December. The center director
said many high school and college-aged kids came to play video games,
download music, and email gadgets and icons, all of which were dripping in
alcohol marketing. The center compared the lack of adult supervision on
the sites to a liquor store that doesn’t card its customers. The
Distilled Spirits Council fired back, saying the Federal Trade Commission
had reviewed the ads and web content and confirmed they were directed to
adults. Coleman added that 99.9 percent of the sites had age verification
and responsible drinking messages. The study said roughly 13 percent of
visitors to 55 alcohol company sites were younger than 21.
'Alias'
star Garner helps recruit future spooks
“Alias” star Jennifer Garner
has made the switch from playing a spy on television to recruiting spies
for the CIA. Garner will be featured in a video on the agency’s
employment web site. The CIA chose her to represent its organization
because, as stated on the CIA web site, the character she plays embodies
the integrity, patriotism and intelligence the CIA searches for when
recruiting. Garner might even possess these qualities in real life; she
did the video out of the goodness of her own heart and went unpaid for the
gig. Garner says on the video that the CIA is in need of people with
diverse talents and backgrounds, integrity, common sense, patriotism and
courage who hope to make a difference in the world, especially those with
foreign language capabilities. The CIA has been recruiting people with
language skills since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Wham! All George
Michael's music, for free
Loyal George Michael fans, however many are left, are
finally getting a thank you for years of devotion: Michael’s handing out
his music for free. The British singer, best known in recent years for his
bathroom arrest and coming out of the closet, says he has retired from the
music business. Because of that, he’s putting all his music on the
internet for fans to download for free. He said all this while promoting
his most recent album, which he also claims will be his last. Michael says
he has enough money and does not want to become any more famous. He said
he will include an option for downloaders to contribute money to charity
instead.
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