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POPSPalin E-mail May Have Been Hacked For a backgrounder on these anonymous internet groups, check out the NY Times profile from August: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?bl&ex=1217736000&en=729a61d7e004a7dd&ei=5087%0A
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POPSFringe Forges Ahead In an era of sagging ratings and increased competition, FOX should be reveling in its ability to score 13 mil-plus viewers in two back-to-back hours of prime-time real estate. Looks like JJ Abrams and his first-place network home are back on track.
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POPSInStyle Editor Promoted Charla Lawhon, managing editor of InStyle, will now oversee all InStyle titles, including special weddings and makeover editions. Editor-at-Large Ariel Foxman will replace her. Check out where Lawhon landed on our Most Powerful US Fashion Editors list: http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/04/style-editor-magazine-forbeslife-cx_ls_0904editors.html
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POPSOffshore Drilling Passes House Pair this story, off our AP feed, with a Washington Post front pager on oil's price retreat over the past two months: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091600247.html?hpid=topnews
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POPSJohn McCain And His BlackBerry To be fair, John McCain is a dedicated BlackBerry user--check out the photo above. (He goes for the consumer-friendly Curve.) And it appears that his adviser merely said he helped promote telecom advances, not that he invented one of the world's most iconic phones. Even so, I wonder what they're saying up in Waterloo about this.
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POPSNew U.S. Air Force Tanker Six Years Away? Via govexec.com. Story quotes another U.S. Air Force general, who says it's "unconscionable to ask people to fly in combat in 50-year-old airplanes." Note: as of 3:22pm, Northrop Grumman shares were down 2.5%. They've fallen 15% thus far in 2008.
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POPSThousands Stranded as UK Tour Operator Goes Bust Compared to what happened on Wall Street today, the news that the third-largest UK tour operator collapsed last week seems insignificant. But within the British travel industry, it's becoming a huge deal. Many are blaming a weakened travel market and high oil prices, and according to this article, this won't be the last firm to go under.
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POPSTopshop's US Debut Delayed The IHT's ace fashion editor, Suzy Menkes, reports on the delay of the opening of British retailer Topshop's first US store. Check out our story on the what trends retailers are betting on this fall: http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2008/09/11/style-trends-fashion-forbeslife-cx_0912trends.html
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POPSTrying On Sears Leave it to a staid, old line retailer to shake up the way young shoppers try on clothes. Sears goes high tech to allow virtual try-ons.
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POPSWhen The Lipstick Fades Palin's earmark spending ranks HIGHER than Obama's. She's going to have to do more convincing to prove herself as a reformer.
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POPSFor renewables: scientists vs. lobbyists From The Economist's profile of a businessperson. A solar executive who thinks the renewable subsidies (also known as the Investment and Production Tax Credits, depending on your perspective, I guess). Hertzberg says, “companies hire lobbyists to chase subsidies rather than hiring scientists to create a better product.” Well, maybe. But if economies of scale mean that solar power keeps getting cheaper (and if long-term trends continue of hydrocarbons getting more expensive), the solar companies are going to be hiring scientists and lobbyists and masseuses and circus entertainers and whoever else they want, because they'll be booming.
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POPSIs wind the new ethanol? I think the differences between wind and ethanol are pretty substantial, to put it mildly. But they do both enjoy subsidies (with the occasionally stated idea that eventually the subsidies will be withdrawn once these infant industries have matured.) There was a similar argument in Friday's Economist from a solar company executive who said that one problem with subsidies is that companies spend their time paying lobbyists to keep the subsidy rather than paying scientists to improve the technology. I'll clipmark that next.
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POPSYouTube How-To Videos for Lobbying When they hold legislative advocacy events or Washington "fly-ins," trade associations usually coach their members on how to go about a visit to Capitol Hill. Roll Call reports on a site that's putting some of that coaching online.
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POPSBig Oil as Venture Investor Wall Street Journal, in a special section today, includes a look at how giant oil companies have approached venture investment in energy. Exxon Mobil apparently has no interest. Canada's EnCana regards it as "social investment and supporting innovation." Also discussed is Shell's involvement with Virent Energy Systems, a company we looked at here: http://www.forbes.com/beltway/2008/03/11/virent-ethanol-gasoline-biz-cz_atg_0312beltway.html
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POPSSuper Bowl Ad Slots Filling Up Recession? Not for big time sporting events like the Super Bowl. NBC is charging more and getting it, selling 85% of its ad slots barely a week into the NFL season.
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POPSThe most powerful octogenarians A list we can only wish we'd thought of. Thoughts: * Who knew James Lipton, host of "Inside the Actors Studio" (and Warden Gentiles) is 81?! * Who knew James Lipton is more powerful than President George H.W. Bush?!
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POPSNewbie Knows Best? Palin gets a C+ for clarity in her answers and a B- for delivery. It's obvious political leaders rehearse before media interviews, it's just not supposed to come off as such. Overall, not bad for her first big-time hit.
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POPSAlaska: "Tip of the Spear" on Climate Change This week's National Journal looks at topic of climate change from an Alaskan perspective. Story quotes Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who describes Alaska as the "tip of the spear" on climate change. Says she: "Clearly, climate change is there; it's real. We can see it happening in Alaska more so than in other parts of the country." Murkowski, the story notes, also advocates opening Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas development, dedicating a portion of the resulting royalties to subsidize new energy sources such as wind, geothermal, and so on.
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POPSZune Is For Babies How do you know your product is a dud? When your marketing strategy requires winning over unborn children.