What's the worst thing that happens to vinyl records during normal use? Taking them out of the sleeve. The resulting surface abrasion and static charge, which attracts every dust particle in sight, cause more damage to LPs than playing them.
V<I>al Kilmer, Elizabeth Shue, Rade Serbedzjia. Directed by Phillip Noyce. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1. Dolby Digital. 118 minutes. 1997. CLV. Paramount Home Video LV335363-WS. PG-13. $39.95.</I>
Microsoft Corporation and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) have agreed to jointly participate in an educational-enhancement data-distribution system that takes advantage of unused bandwidth in broadcast television's vertical blanking interval, or VBI, according to a <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft</A> press release dated Feb. 17.
Does the United States Patent and Trademark Office operate on a first come, first served basis, or will it bow to the applicant with the biggest bucks? The issue of legal ownership of the "Titanic" trademark---a name worth millions in the wake of the biggest blockbuster movie in history---is being contested at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in Arlington, Virginia.
According to a recent Reuters report, London-based Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) has announced a very original product: a plastic video display. In the report, the company said, "CDT and its Japanese partner, Seiko-Epson Corp., have unveiled the world's first plastic TV display and will set aggressive targets for commercializing the technology." According to CDT chief executive Danny Chapchal, "The announcement will demonstrate that our technology is very close to commercialization for computer and video display applications."
Los Angeles---Visionaries and vultures, pundits and panderers, gurus and geeks. They were all here at the Beverly Hilton for the first Networked Entertainment World Conference, a meeting of computer and software representatives, cable and online service providers, and film and television executives. Co-sponsored by Softbank Forums and the American Film Institute and attended by aspiring Web producers, game designers, and screenwriters (in addition to established industry types), the N:E:W conference was the first of what could prove to be an important annual event.
All it will take is $20 million to make things right between <A HREF="http://www.mgm.com">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer</A> and <A HREF="http://www.spe.sony.com">Sony Pictures Entertainment</A>. A suit filed on February 8 by MGM's Orion Pictures Corporation in Los Angeles Superior Court charges Sony and its subsidiaries, Columbia TriStar Home Video and Columbia Pictures Entertainment, with "substantially underreporting revenues" and "failing properly to account for monies received" for distributing Orion's films on video outside the US. Orion had an exclusive distribution contract with Columbia/Sony from 1985 to 1992.