Forty years ago this morning, Jimi Hendrix brought down the house to close the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York. Decades later, amid a new era of change, things look suspiciously similar: America is embroiled in unpopular foreign wars, domestic economic worries, and talk about going to the moon. Noticeably absent from the 1969 reprise: another Woodstock to inject some peace and love into our current situation. Rumors surfaced that Woodstock creator Michael Lang might throw a 40th anniversary show on the original grounds in upstate New York, but economic woes crushed that dream. A commemorative concert may still materialize in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park later this year, but something about hipsters lamenting their trust fund losses rather than hippies lamenting their innocence lost makes us want to tune out.
It’s been a rocky—we could even say stoney—year for Michael Phelps, America’s golden boy who last year left Beijing with the most gold medals ever awarded an Olympian in a single games. Riding high after being called the greatest swimmer of all time, Phelps found his way into a very public scandal when photos emerged of the swimmer holding a bong. But America is nothing if not forgiving, especially to its athletes. Not so many months later, the media has forgotten Phelps’ youthful follies and he’s back in the pool. His next big opponent: Shaquille O’Neal. Phelps has agreed to swim against the L.A. Lakers center as part of his new reality television show, Shaq Vs., premiering tomorrow.
No show has so perfectly blended postwar Americana, raw sexual tension, office politics, and the five martini lunch quite like AMC’sMad Men. Season 2 left viewers with enough questions to fill the trunk of a ’62 Cadillac, and while Season 3 doesn’t promise easy answers, it does promise more taboo trysts, more smoke-filled rooms, more lipstick-smudged deceit, and most importantly, more of the mysterious Don Draper, portrayed impeccably by Jon Hamm. Blend 16 Emmy nominations with pitch-perfect set design, add a heaping spoonful of male ego, serve in an office awash in lusty young secretaries, and you’ve got one hell of cocktail. We encourage you to savor it, nevermind that it’s not even lunchtime yet.
Though it might seem counter-intuitive, the Second Life Community Convention hosts a real-world meet-up for participants in SL’s virtual world. Grappling with issues like “how can virtual reality make us healthier?” and “real life religion within Second Life,” the convention will culminate with a talk from futurism guru Ray Kurzweil on the types of communications virtual worlds enable.
The battle lines are being drawn in the Redbox wars. Warner Bros. joined Universal and Fox in their refusal to immediately offer newly released DVDs via Redbox's $1-per-flick rental kiosks. Warner Bros. said starting in October all new releases will be embargoed from Redbox for 28 days after they arrive in stores, and that it also wants a cut of revenue from mail-order DVD companies like Netflix in exchange for providing DVDs on their release dates.
Earlier this week Lions Gate Entertainment inked a five-year deal with Redbox to provide its extensive catalog to the company. Sony made a similar deal with Redbox months ago. But Universal has demanded a 45-day grace period for its new releases to sell on store shelves before Redbox can offer them. Fox has demanded 30 days. Redbox filed suit against Universal last year and against Fox earlier this week citing antitrust violations, so it's reasonable to assume Warner Bros. will face a similar response.
Redbox President Mitch Lowe pledged via a statement that Redbox will continue to offer all new release DVDs from all studios. After Universal's move to block distributors from providing new releases to Redbox, the company purchased the films from retailers, though the practice cuts into the company's margins.
Netflix previously purchased its Warner Bros. DVDs in bulk directly from the studio. A spokesman for Netflix said the company would weigh Warner's revenue sharing proposal.
Been waiting to get your hands on the much-hyped Zune HD? Online pre-orders for Microsoft's iPod challenger began today at Amazon, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and the Microsoft store as the September 15 release date nears. For Zune lovers who incongruously don't like ordering via the Web, in-person Zune reservations begin at Best Buy stores August 16 (select stores will hold a Zune HD preview August 22 and 23).
Apple's iPod has overwhelmingly dominated the mobile media device wars, but Microsoft's latest salvo appears to pack some punch. The Zune HD will run from NVIDIA's Tenga APX2600 processor, a chip the company has been talking up since 2007 for its video playback, 3D interfaces--which should come in handy for rendering video games--and its "full Internet" capabilities (read: it supports Adobe Flash).
Microsoft confirmed today much of what we already knew from information leaked by Amazon and Best Buy earlier in the week--the 16GB Zune will retail for $220, the 32GB for $290--though the company squelched rumors of a September 8 release, making September 15 official. The company has also said the device will be available in five colors, but has not elaborated on what those colors might be.
The Zune HD will go into direct competition with the iPod Touch, and as such it seems it will be a worthy competitor. Both touchscreen devices are Wi-Fi enabled, display video in HD, and provide gaming capabilities. The Zune HD goes further with an HD radio receiver and a power-saving OLED display, and it's priced cheaper than a comparable $299 16GB iPod Touch. But per usual, Microsoft is playing from behind; we can expect Apple to drop the price of the iPod Touch line sometime before the Zune HD hits store shelves. What's worse (for Microsoft, that is) is Apple may have a new iPod offering up its sleeve.
Will Apple drop a Zune HD killer on the market before Microsoft's iPod killer gains any market traction? The iPod line is due for a refresh, and rumors are swirling of an iPhone-style camera coming to the latest iPod touch, a technological advantage that could render the Zune HD a second-tier device before it has the chance to join Apple at the top.
With the health-care debate bogged down in mindless town hall confrontations and the President reassuring us his plan for health care reform will work--just as soon as he creates it--where can Americans turn for innovative ideas in health care? Having organically grown his business from a failing granola shop in Austin into a nationwide phenomenon, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey knows a thing or two about running a solvent business while taking care of his people. And when it comes to health-care reform, Mackey says, the President and Congress are moving in the wrong direction.
"While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system," Mackey wrote in this morning's Wall Street Journal. "Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction--toward less government control and more individual empowerment."
So how would President Mackey empower the people? For one, he writes, make it easier to create high-deductible insurance plans and health savings accounts. At Whole Foods, the company pays 100% of premiums for all employees working 30 hours per week or more (89% of them). Employees also receive additional dollars to be spent on their own health, up to $1,800 per year, in a Personal Wellness Account that rolls over each year if unused. But the annual deductible for the plan is high--about $2,500 dollars--creating an incentive for employees to spend their health dollars wisely. The plan's costs are low, the employees are satisfied, the care is excellent, and the waste is minimal.
Institutional inefficiencies also plague the current system. Employer benefits are tax-deductible, while individually owned plans are not, an incongruity that makes owning one's own plan far more daunting. State laws that prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines make most insurance non-portable. Government regulations mandating what insurance policies must cover take choice away from the individual and drive costs through the roof, while tort law allows for crippling lawsuits that drive the costs of health care even higher. Meanwhile, Medicare, which never offered much in the way of patient empowerment, hurtles toward insolvency.
By rectifying wasteful government practices that drive the costs of care up while simultaneously easing the creation of high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts, the market can find a middle that offers good care at a rate that won't hamstring the nation with insurmountable deficits. How does Mackey know this will work? He's asked the people. "At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund," Mackey writes. "Our Canadian and British employees express their benefit preferences very clearly--they want supplemental health-care dollars that they can control and spend themselves without permission from their governments."
Asking the people; now there's an innovative idea.
On the heels of a blockbuster distribution deal with Lions Gate Entertainment, the DVD-rental kiosk company Redbox has turned around and filed suit against 20th Century Fox for refusing to offer its new releases to Redbox for 30 days after they debut on DVD. Defiant in its language, Redbox accused Fox of denying consumers access to new release DVDs at an affordable rate.
"At the expense of consumers, 20th Century Fox is attempting to prohibit timely consumer access to its new release DVDs at Redbox retail locations nationwide," the company said via press release. "Despite this attempt, Redbox will continue to provide our consumers access to all major new releases including 20th Century Fox titles at our more than 15,000 Redbox DVD rental locations."
Redbox allows users to pre-select films they would like to see via the Web, then pick up that DVD at Redbox kiosks nationwide. After watching the film, customers can simply drop the DVD at any Redbox kiosk and pick up another film of their choosing. Through a remarkable inventory management system, Redbox is able to offer an inexpensive and convenient way for consumers to rent movies, with films costing just $1 per rental. But Hollywood studios see Redbox's model as a threat to their DVD sales.
Fox's new-release embargo is an attempt to create a window of time for retailers to sell the DVDs before consumers could grab them on the cheap from Redbox. Redbox, it would seem, isn't having it. GE's Universal Studios attempted to institute a similar grace period for its new releases last October, and Redbox filed suit as well. Universal countersued, and the outcome is still pending.
The deal with Lions Gate, announced yesterday, opens up that company's extensive library to Redbox customers for at least five years, including new releases. Lions Gate representatives said the company doesn't see Redbox as a threat to its traditional DVD business but rather as a conduit to get its titles out in front of movie fans when they are more likely to make impulse buys. Revenues from the deal are expected to fall between $200 and $300 million. Sony signed a similar deal weeks ago.
Don’t be afraid to raise a glass this weekend at Toastmasters International’s annual convention, but if you do, you’d best not botch the accompanying speech. The organization, whose singular objective is to help members become better leaders by teaching them to speak in front of crowds, will no doubt set a high standard for oratory. Several—you guessed it—speakers will lecture on topics such as “engaging your audience” and “using humor appropriately,” the latter ostensibly to help members gauge when it’s okay to break out a “that’s what she said” on a conference call.
The price of Microsoft's long-awaited Zune HD, the company's latest attempt to challenge Apple's iPod dominance in the portable media player space, leaked via Amazon today, giving us a glimpse (finally) at the sticker price: $220 for the 16GB model, $290 for the 32GB. That's significantly less expensive than Apple's iPod Touch (priced at $299 for 16GB in Apple's online store), which bodes well for the Zune HD's launch, though it's likely Apple will drop the price of the Touch at some point in the near future to keep things competitive.
Gizmodo also dropped some screenshots on the Web last night bolstering a previous rumor that the Zune HD would hit store shelves on September 8. Amazon doesn't give a shipping date on its pre-order page, which displays an error message if you attempt to click through; we're assuming it's on display by mistake. Whoops.
Both the Zune HD and iPod Touch have touchscreens, Wi-Fi, and HD video out support, and the Amazon page suggests the Zune HD will have gaming capabilities like the touch, though there's no telling what the quality will be like. Zune HD does offer the ability to stream music to a player via Wi-Fi, a feature the iPod can't touch, at least not out of the box. The Zune also has an HD radio receiver and can be used for external storage, the latter feature being only possible on jailbroken Touches.
The battle lines are being drawn in the 
