Marketplace

Can Jackie Chan's magnetism stop piracy?

Here's the latest message from movie makers to the people of China: If you buy legal DVD's instead of pirated ones, we'll give you a refrigerator magnet. The Motion Picture Association plans to distribute hundreds of thousands of magnets bearing a message from actor Jackie Chan.
It says, "Thank you for Purchasing Legitimate DVD's. Your action determines the future of the film industry." Chan says he hopes the magnets will encourage people to tell their children that piracy is wrong.

Asia Crime - Law Entertainment International

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Fresh and Easy and closer than the U.K.

British retailer Tesco has big plans for the U.S. market. A few weeks ago, it opened its first 15 Fresh and Easy supermarkets in cities like LA. And now the chief executive of the chain says that by 2009, there will be 200 stores. His goal is for urban shoppers to never be more than a mile away from the nearest Fresh and Easy. Some critics, however, say that the sort-of-cold feeling of the stores and the self-service checkouts might be a problem for some shoppers.

Retail

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The feed from the fed

Here's the latest prediction on how much the Fed will cut interest rates: 100 basis points before June to help the housing market. That comes from the crystal ball of Citigroup's chief economist Lewis Alexander. Alexander made the comments today during a talk for clients in Singapore.
He worked at the Federal Reserve before joining Citigroup. Alexander also says the drop in the dollar's value shouldn't cause too many inflation worries.

Wall Street

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Retiring with a healthy endorsement

Retired athletes are becoming pitching favorites in the midst of today's scandals, like steroid abuse and betting on dog fights. Tennis star Martina Navratilova is the latest example of an old pro cashing in. The 51-year-old will be serving up Health and Fitness tips for AARP. The Wall Street Journal says the endorsement deal could be announced today.

Navratilova says some sponsors were shy to sign her earlier in her career since she's openly gay. The AARP says that's not an issue. The former pro player also had recent deals with Subaru and Prince rackets.

Marketing - Advertising Sports

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Shanghai Disneyland may come soon

Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy could soon have yet another home. Shanghai is hoping for mainland China's first Disneyland. Reports say the city is waiting for approval of the project by the central government. Walt Disney Company happens to have a sleek new Shanghai office complex.
But company reps have repeatedly said for now the focus has been developing its theme park in Hong Kong which opened a couple years ago. A Shanghai Disneyland could come in time for the city to host the World Expo in 2010.

Asia Entertainment International

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Hope you like your coworkers...

The cost of business travel is expected to go up about 7 percent next year. So guess what? You might have to bunk with your co-worker. A survey by Orbitz found 24 percent of business travelers have been required to share a room on the road. In New York, the cost of a hotel room is up 14 percent over last year - 318 dollars a night.

Jobs Travel

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Nokia's sounding like a good option

Nokia hopes this is music to your ears: free downloads for a year. The company has struck a deal to offer free songs from Universal's entire catalog with the purchase of certain Nokia phones. The service will work through an online music store Nokia started last month, yet another rival to iTunes. It's the next step in Nokia's goal of becoming an Internet company like Google. Universal will get a cut of the phone sales but it's still not clear when the new offer will start.

Entertainment Internet

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Taming the Wild, Wild Web

There's a new, self-declared sheriff in town. Ratings giant Nielsen wants to be a piracy cop.
Nielsen is unveiling a new service to help ensure video distributed on the internet is done in ways that's okay with the owners of the content. The Wall Street Journal says Nielsen is hoping to target media companies like NBC Universal and the Discovery Channel, as well as sites like MySpace and YouTube. The service would filter clips through a database to see if the video's been authorized by its production company. No authorization, no posting it on the web.

Internet Media

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Meant for more than your brown bag

George Bernard Shaw once said, "whiskey is liquid sunshine." That kind of sun will be lighting up Christie's auction house in New York this weekend. Christie's will hold its first liquor auction since Prohibition. Some rare whiskies are expected to go for up to $30,000 a bottle.

Arts - Culture

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Retail snailing through holiday

The holiday season is not a good time for retail sales to go soft. But they are. This morning, Target said it'll probably fall short of its sales forecast for December. And November wasn't so hot either.
A bunch of stores reported their November figures this morning and mostly, they were disappointing, even with a big Thanksgiving weekend -- 19 out of 26 retailers came up short. Among those that did fare OK: Wal-mart and Costco, Macy's and Nordstrom.

Retail The Economy

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Most severe housing recession since WWII

If that doesn't tell you just how bad things are, maybe this will drive it home: Moody's Economy.com reports today housing markets across the country will crash and suffer price drops of more than 30 percent before the crisis is over. And it's going to be a while before the end is in sight. Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi says the housing recession will continue through early 2009. But he says it won't be until 2010 before we see any decent improvement in sales, construction and pricing.

Housing - Real Estate The Economy

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Wii don't want no strokes

Wii are feeling a little better. That's what some stroke patients are saying after playing the top-selling Nintendo game system. The Ohio State University Medical Center is among rehabilitation centers prescribing Wii-time for people recovering from a variety of traumatic injuries.
The gaming system requires the use of your body, while holding a controller, to determine movement in several games. An occupational therapist at Ohio State says the idea came from a rehab hospital in Alberta, Canada using the Wii with patients.

Entertainment Health

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How to help a credit crisis: Try a merger

The head of JP Morgan says he sees lots of new relationships in his crystal ball. Jamie Dimon told a German newspaper today he expects the credit crisis to unleash a wave of bank mergers in the U.S. and Germany. Dimon also mentioned it wouldn't bother him if the SIV super fund didn't happen. That's the plan for three U.S. banks, including JP Morgan, to help rescue structured investment vehicles.

Wall Street

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Gaining interest in green investing

This Thursday will be a key day for the future of "green" investment. Iberdrola, the largest renewable energy operator in the world, is selling 20 percent of its clean-energy unit on the Madrid Stock exchange. The company is hoping to raise anywhere between $32-$43 billion.
The IPO share price is being set today based on the level of interest by potential investors. For the domestic Spanish market, the demand for these shares is three times the offer.

Other clean energy companies will be following this IPO carefully. It's the moment of truth to find out if investors are really going to throw money into the green sector.

Sustainability

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Swiss bank on Singapore

This morning, the Swiss bank UBS announced $10 billion in write-downs. That's one of the biggest losses for a major bank so far. UBS also cancelled plans for a cash dividend to investors. Some good news for the bank: UBS will be getting some emergency funding from the Singapore government and an unnamed Middle East investor.

Europe International The Economy

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It's been a long time . . .

Led Zepplin played its first concert in 19 years last night in London. The show was a not-to-be repeated charity benefit for the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund. Ertugen, who died last year, signed Led Zepplin to Atlantic Records in 1968. Billboard reports rampant speculation of additional shows in the New Year. It's estimated Zepplin could rake in $3.2 million per night.

Entertainment

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Non-believers marvel as Jesus flies off shelf

All 600 Wal-Mart have already run out of one of the hit toys for the holidays: Talking Jesus. Target doesn't have many left either, and there are no plans to restock before Christmas. The California company that makes the doll is called one2believe. They point out that many people doubted a 12-inch tall talking Jesus would sell. Peter, Paul, Mary, Noah and Moses sold separately.

Retail

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China wants U.S. movies screened

Hollywood big-wigs and government officials think China is plotting against American movies. The New York Times reports there's suspicion that U.S. films aren't getting permission anymore to be shown in Chinese theaters. No formal ban has been announced by the Chinese government, but there's speculation the action could be in retaliation to an intellectual property rights case.

The U.S. filed with the World Trade Organization last year to put pressure on China when it comes to pirating U.S. movies, and to give U.S. companies more access to China's markets.

Asia Entertainment International

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The new Dustin Hoffmann makes his debut

YouTube is changing employee behavior, at least that was the case for a Dunkin' Donuts worker in New Jersey. Dustin Hoffmann was worried about looking like a wimp on security video if he hid or ran away from a robber that started grabbing cash out of an open register. So instead Hoffman, no relation to the actor, picked up the tip mug and started whacking the crook on the head. Hoffman says he'll post the security tape on YouTube as soon as he can.

Crime - Law Internet

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Little town of . . . lucky slots

It's the company that helped build hundreds of U.S. warships, the Golden Gate bridge, and New York City's skyline. History buffs have wanted to explore the massive ruins of Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania for years. Now, they could have a chance thanks to an $800 million casino going up on the site. About 5 million people a year are expected to visit the the slot-machine complex being built by Las Vegas Sands. That could help provide the economic support to preserve the former steel giant's historic buildings for public display. Sands has already saved 20 buildings from the wrecking ball.

Entertainment Travel

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The new 'straight to video'

The latest Jackass stunts are bypassing the movie theater. The movie sequel Jackass 2.5 will be one of the first Internet films ever distributed by a major studio. Paramount will release the flick on the web for free from December 19 through 31. But if you're itching to spend some cash, DVDs will go on sale the day after Christmas. The Jackass movies are a spin-off from a former MTV series co-starring Johnny Knoxville and his buddies. They basically run around performing gross-out pranks.

Entertainment

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Citigroup's got the SIVs

Citigroup plans on taking over seven structured-investment vehicles, or SIVs, assuming about 50 billion in debt. SIVs take short-term debt, sell it off and then put the proceeds in higher-yielding securities. The funds have been shaken by the credit crisis and Citi decided to take them on rather than be forced to sell assets. The move comes as Moody's Investors Service lowered the bank's credit rating because of billions of dollars of other assets with declining market value.

Investing

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Writers: Breaking negotiations is a violation

Striking writers in Hollywood have filed an unfair labor practices complaint against studios.
Union leaders claim the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers violated federal law by breaking off negotiations. The Writers Guild of America is also demanding that studio heads return to the bargaining table to stop the six-week strike. Talks broke down December 7, when producers refused to bargain further unless writers dropped several proposals. One included the authority to unionize writers on reality shows and animation projects.

Entertainment Jobs

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Hidden treasure hits a wall

Scruples question of the day. A contractor found $182,000 hidden behind the wall of a house in Cleveland. The money might have been there since 1927. The homeowner has the stash, but she's being sued by the contractor, who claims he should get some of it. They happen to be former high school classmates.

Crime - Law Housing - Real Estate

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Wheat eating into your wallet

A new high in wheat prices this morning is feeding inflation worries. U.S. wheat futures topped $10 dollars a bushel for the first time. Wheat prices have almost doubled since the start of the year.
The price of the grain surged this morning because there's concern dry weather in Argentina will shrink global supplies. India's harvest could suffer too without more rainfall.

The Economy

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Retail prepares for an exhausting season closer

Retail workers are going to be drinking a lot of coffee in this last week before Christmas.
The final stretch of the shopping season is going to have as many gimmicks as the start, including expanded hours. Macy's plans to pull all-nighters this weekend at several stores, including its flagship in Manhattan. Some K-Marts will go 24-hours like they did Thanksgiving weekend, and Toys "R" Us will be open until midnight every day until Christmas Eve. The latest shopping data released Sunday shows sales weren't too impressive this weekend thanks to the snow storm in the midwest and New England, and worries about the economy.

Retail

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Writers going straight to the source

The union representing striking Hollywood writers has told its members its going to try something different. Instead of dealing with the umbrella organization for studios and producers the W-G-A says it will now go directly to individual companies. Talks broke off between the WGA and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers December 7th.

Entertainment Jobs

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And the award for stopping the show goes to . . .

Seven weeks of the Hollywood writers' strike, a few weeks of watching re-runs on TV . . . I bet you are looking forward to some classic award shows with fancy red carpets and hilarious jokes by the hosts. Guess what? Someone writes those shows, too. And the Writers Guild of America just said it will not allow its members to write for the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards.

Jon Stewart is set to host this year's Oscars. And he's a member of the Guild. And if that's not enough to ruin the party, the Guild also denied the use of clips from movies and past awards programs for the upcoming ceremonies.

Entertainment Jobs

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Even Bear loses sometimes

Bear Stearns is expected to announce its first quarterly loss ever tomorrow. The 84-year old company, like many others, has taken big hits from the credit crunch. And now it looks like the firm's top brass will feel the pinch. The Wall Street Journal reports CEO James Cayne and other executives are expected to say no to their bonuses this year. It's a big change for Bear. Over the years, it's used a hefty compensation approach to recruit employees labeled P-S-Ds: that stands for poor, smart, desire to be rich.

Wall Street

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Summers on recession

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers is the latest voice to chime in with recommendations for the government on how to avoid a recession. He said the administration needs to think about a $50 billion to $75 billion tax cut and spending package. Summers also wants to see more aggressive action from the Fed. He made the comments to the Wall Street Journal ahead of a speech today to the Brookings Institution.

Politics The Economy

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Ticketmaster gets NFL-specific

You'll have a new way to get your hands on NFL tickets next season. Ticketmaster is launching a website in 2008 where people can resell their tickets. The multi-year deal with the NFL will mean you'll be seeing the pro-football logo and promotions on Ticketmaster's original site.

Entertainment Sports

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Cell phones and technology go hand in hand

Blame it on the iPhone and BlackBerry, Americans are spending more than ever on mobile phones. Bloomberg reports U.S. customers paid 40 percent more for handsets last quarter compared to a year ago. That of course means higher sales for Apple and Research In Motion. It could also translate into boosts for rivals like Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

Science - Technology

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Not strong enough to steer clear of restrictions

New fuel-efficiency standards could drive muscle cars into extinction. GM will unveil a new supercharged version of the Corvette next month at the Detroit auto show. But the car's chief engineer says the 2009 Corvette Z-R-1 could be the last in a long tradition of performance cars by U.S. automakers. GM hasn't released the Z-R-1's fuel economy numbers but the current 505-horsepower Corvette gets an estimated 15 miles per gallon in the city, 24 on the highway.

Auto Industry

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CEOs: Yep, we do make too much.

A lot people think CEOs are overpaid. Even CEOs. A new poll from Bnet.com finds that 64 percent of top executives view compensation as excessive. That compares to 77 percent of all employees.
The poll didn't ask whether the CEOs would take a pay cut, though.

Jobs

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No more Apple leaks here

A senior at Harvard is shutting down his website with leaks about Apple products. Nicholas Ciarelli's not saying whether he got any cash from the settlement but told the New York Times he's pleased. Apple sued Ciarelli when he was a freshman for publishing a site for Apple rumors called "Think Secret." It's one in a series of lawsuits brought by Steve Jobs' company against similar sites. Apple lost two other suits on appeal. Courts say web publishers are entitled to the same First Amendment protections as traditional journalists.

Internet

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Big profits mean big bonuses

This year we've seen a good number of Wall Street CEOs' resignations. But there is one chief executive that not only did not lose his job, but is getting a holiday little present. Little as in $68 million. That would be the size of the bonus that Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, is pocketing. He did keep his company on track and drove it to deliver a record profit this year, as competing Wall Street firms were reporting multibillion-dollars write-downs in the middle of the subprime meltdown.

Jobs Wall Street

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Jigga-bye

Rap superstar Jay-Z said yesterday he's stepping down as president of Def Jam Recordings at the end of the year. His contract was up. And the New York Times reports Jay-Z's wanted a renewal that was more lucrative. Universal Music Group, the parent of Def Jam, said no. Jay-Z will continue to record for the label, he owes Def Jam at least one album. His next move is unclear. There's speculation he might strike a deal with the concert giant Live Nation.

Entertainment

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Warren Buffet's done his holiday shopping

Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway, is spending $4.5 billion to buy the majority of Marmon Holdings. Marmon is an industrial conglomerate with businesses in wire and cable, railroad tank cars and water treatment systems. It's controled Chicago's Pritzker family. This deal is Buffet's largest-ever acquisition outside of the insurance industry. Berkshire will purchase the rest of Marmon in stages by 2014.

Investing

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Art is making money

The financial markets might be struggling, but the art market is doing quite all right. The fall auction season in New York broke records: $71 million for an Andy Warhol, $33 million for a Matisse.
One November sale took in almost $400 million.

The weak dollar is partially responsible for this. In the last years, more wealthy buyers from Russia, China, India and the Middle East have decided to spend their millions in art.

One thing to be cautious about: Generally, the art market trails the financial markets by about six months. So the party might be over soon.

Arts - Culture International Investing The Economy

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Apple having a sweet time

It's a juicy time for Apple. Shares of the company hit the $200 mark for the first time yesterday.
At the same time, there's word today Apple's signed a deal with 20th Century Fox that could change the way people pay for movies online. The agreement will allow you to rent the latest Fox DVD releases for a limited time through downloads on iTunes. The new Apple-Fox partnership is supposed to be announced at next month's Macworld show.

Entertainment

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Long live Las Vegas

Recession worries, the housing slump, and high energy prices are doing a number on many business, but not on the Las Vegas strip. The New York Times reports in October alone, gambling revenues for some of the biggest casinos were up nearly 20 percent over the same time last year.
But gambling halls in other parts of the U.S., that rely mostly on middle-class consumers, aren't doing so well. In some places, revenues are actually down by more than 5 percent. In Vegas, one key factor for success has been China's hot economy with Asian high rollers spending record amounts of money in VIP lounges.

Entertainment

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Every 17 seconds, Wii finds a home

Christmas has been amazing for Amazon. The company said the 2007 holiday season was its strongest ever. December 10 was Amazon's busiest day -- shoppers ordered almost 5.5 million items. One of the most wanted products was Nintendo's video game system, the Wii.
Amazon says it sold about 17 Wii's per second when they had them in stock.

Internet Retail

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You can watch the Super Bowl now

It turns out everyone will be able to watch what could be a historic football game Saturday night.
The New England Patriots' attempt to go 16-0 against the New York Giants was only going to be available on the NFL network.The channel isn't carried by most major cable companies. But now the NFL says it's reached an agreement to also air the game on CBS and NBC. This is the first national simulcast for the league since the very first Super Bowl in 1967.

Sports

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Countries debating the taboo of mink

You might think that wearing a fur coat has a certain stigma, but fur traders don't know anything about that. The price of mink is near record levels. Strong demand from China and Russia are mainly responsible for this. But even in the U.K., the demand for fur has gone up at a very strong pace. Some furriers even claim that their success has to do with the fact that fur is a green commodity: It comes from a renewable resource, there is very little pollution involved in the production of it and it's biodegradable. Others don't think that the stigma is gone and are skeptical about the long-term success of fur.

Retail

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Keep your 'net close and your ID closer

Here's a new year's resolution: keep your laptop close and a close eye on your online activities.
Experts say 2007 is turning out to be a record year for personal data theft. The trend isn't expected to change anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information. One data theft analyst says too many companies and agencies are reacting after the fact to breaches rather than looking for holes ahead of time. Hackers will likely hone in more than ever on vulnerabilities with wireless data transmission.

Crime - Law Internet

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To help food price inflation, China sells at home

Sell more at home. That's China's message to its food producers. The country's finance ministry says China will levy taxes next year on basic products like wheat, soybeans, corn, and rice. The tax, ranging from 5 percent to 25 percent, is the latest move by the government to help rein in food price inflation. It was at a rate of more than 18 percent last month.

Asia International

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