Halloween recall: Beware of fake teeth
Chinese-made ‘Ugly Teeth,’ sold by the tens of thousands, contain lead
Recall information
Are your kids' toys safe?
To find out if a product you own has been recalled, you can try searching the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s database.
Concerned parents and caregivers also can sign up to received an e-mail alert when a new product recall is made public.
To find out if a toy you own was part of the Mattel recall, and get information about obtaining a voucher for the cost of the product.
WASHINGTON - The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced an 11th-hour recall Wednesday to warn consumers that fake Halloween teeth sold by the tens of thousands since last year contain excessive amounts of lead.
The $2 packages of "Ugly Teeth" are only the latest in a long line of Chinese-made toys and novelty items recalled because of lead. The CPSC announced the recall on Halloween, in a late-morning news release.
Since January 2006, the CPSC estimates retailers nationwide have sold about 43,000 eight-piece packages of the party favors. There were no immediate reports of injuries or illness.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
PIRATES 10-31-07
NAIROBI, Kenya - U.S. sailors boarded a North Korean-flagged vessel to help crew members wounded in a battle with pirates off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said Wednesday. American ships were also tracking a hijacked Japanese tanker in Somali waters after sinking two pirate skiffs tied to it.
With permission from the North Koreans, the Navy boarded the ship with a small team of medics, security personnel and an interpreter, the military said. The Koreans already had regained control of the vessel and detained all pirates.
The Navy medics treated three pirates and three Korean sailors for gunshot wounds. Another pirate was dead. The Korean sailors were taken aboard the American destroyer and treated there for two hours before returning to their ship. The pirates remain detained on the Korean vessel.
A helicopter had flown from the destroyer USS James E. Williams on Tuesday to investigate a phoned-in tip of a hijacked ship and demanded by radio that the pirates give up their weapons, the military said in a statement. The crew of the Dai Hong Dan then overwhelmed the hijackers.
The ship had departed from Mogadishu, where it made a delivery of sugar, said Cyrus Mody, a senior analyst at the International Maritime Bureau in London.
The incident came as the U.S. and North Korea worked toward the disabling of the communist country's main nuclear complex by the end of the year, which would be the biggest step Pyongyang has taken yet toward dismantling its atomic weapons program.
A Navy spokeswoman, Lt. Jessica Gandy, said the American destroyer had not been shadowing the North Korean ship. She said it was not known what its cargo was.
Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said it was logical that the military would want to know "what is being transported on the high seas and who is out there operating and if they have nothing but the best intentions in mind."
On Sunday, coalition ships fired on and sank two pirate skiffs tied to the Japanese chemical tanker, the Golden Nori, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokesman. A Navy photo showed one of the skiffs burning after being hit by a gun aboard the USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer. The Navy said U.S. ships were monitoring the tanker.
A Durval Shipping official in Tokyo said the tanker's 28 crew — two South Koreans, nine Filipinos including the ship's captain and 12 Myanmar citizens — had not been injured.
The captain called his family and told them that "the crew is safe, that they are being treated well, that they are in good physical condition," said Philippines Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos.
The tanker was carrying four kinds of chemicals, including, highly flammable benzene, said the Durval official, who gave only his last name, Oka. He refused to say how much benzene the ship was carrying.
"We were aware of what was on the ship when we fired," Robertson said.
Conejos said the hijackers made no immediate demands. The Philippine government is closely coordinating efforts to win the release of the crew with the ship's owner, the Japanese government, international shipping authorities, he said.
"Because of a lack of central control, we have no (Somali) government to talk to ask for information. We have to get it ourselves," Conejos said.
The ship had loaded at several ports in Asia and was bound for Europe, with no plans to stop in Africa, said Mody, the International Maritime Bureau official.
"We were later informed by the coalition forces that the vessel was taken into Somali territorial waters," he said.
The IMB reported this month that pirate attacks worldwide jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007, with the biggest increases in the poorly policed waters of Somalia and Nigeria. Reported attacks in Somali waters rose to 26, up from eight a year earlier, the bureau.
This is the third time Somali gunmen have been overpowered by mariners.
In 1989, crew members of the MV Alpha Mitchel managed to overpower their captors in Somalia waters. In 2004, six crew members of the MT Jenlil also managed to escape to Yemen after overpowering their captors in Somalia territorial waters.
With permission from the North Koreans, the Navy boarded the ship with a small team of medics, security personnel and an interpreter, the military said. The Koreans already had regained control of the vessel and detained all pirates.
The Navy medics treated three pirates and three Korean sailors for gunshot wounds. Another pirate was dead. The Korean sailors were taken aboard the American destroyer and treated there for two hours before returning to their ship. The pirates remain detained on the Korean vessel.
A helicopter had flown from the destroyer USS James E. Williams on Tuesday to investigate a phoned-in tip of a hijacked ship and demanded by radio that the pirates give up their weapons, the military said in a statement. The crew of the Dai Hong Dan then overwhelmed the hijackers.
The ship had departed from Mogadishu, where it made a delivery of sugar, said Cyrus Mody, a senior analyst at the International Maritime Bureau in London.
The incident came as the U.S. and North Korea worked toward the disabling of the communist country's main nuclear complex by the end of the year, which would be the biggest step Pyongyang has taken yet toward dismantling its atomic weapons program.
A Navy spokeswoman, Lt. Jessica Gandy, said the American destroyer had not been shadowing the North Korean ship. She said it was not known what its cargo was.
Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said it was logical that the military would want to know "what is being transported on the high seas and who is out there operating and if they have nothing but the best intentions in mind."
On Sunday, coalition ships fired on and sank two pirate skiffs tied to the Japanese chemical tanker, the Golden Nori, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokesman. A Navy photo showed one of the skiffs burning after being hit by a gun aboard the USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer. The Navy said U.S. ships were monitoring the tanker.
A Durval Shipping official in Tokyo said the tanker's 28 crew — two South Koreans, nine Filipinos including the ship's captain and 12 Myanmar citizens — had not been injured.
The captain called his family and told them that "the crew is safe, that they are being treated well, that they are in good physical condition," said Philippines Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos.
The tanker was carrying four kinds of chemicals, including, highly flammable benzene, said the Durval official, who gave only his last name, Oka. He refused to say how much benzene the ship was carrying.
"We were aware of what was on the ship when we fired," Robertson said.
Conejos said the hijackers made no immediate demands. The Philippine government is closely coordinating efforts to win the release of the crew with the ship's owner, the Japanese government, international shipping authorities, he said.
"Because of a lack of central control, we have no (Somali) government to talk to ask for information. We have to get it ourselves," Conejos said.
The ship had loaded at several ports in Asia and was bound for Europe, with no plans to stop in Africa, said Mody, the International Maritime Bureau official.
"We were later informed by the coalition forces that the vessel was taken into Somali territorial waters," he said.
The IMB reported this month that pirate attacks worldwide jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007, with the biggest increases in the poorly policed waters of Somalia and Nigeria. Reported attacks in Somali waters rose to 26, up from eight a year earlier, the bureau.
This is the third time Somali gunmen have been overpowered by mariners.
In 1989, crew members of the MV Alpha Mitchel managed to overpower their captors in Somalia waters. In 2004, six crew members of the MT Jenlil also managed to escape to Yemen after overpowering their captors in Somalia territorial waters.
BOY STARTS FIRE 10-31-07
LOS ANGELES - Officials blamed a wildfire that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week on a boy playing with matches, and said they would ask a prosecutor to consider the case.
The boy admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. Ferocious winds helped it quickly spread.
"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," Hecht said in a statement.
Police did not release the boy's name. Los Angeles County fire Capt. Michael Brown only would say Wednesday that he was younger than 13.
The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said. It was not clear if he had been arrested or cited by detectives.
Arson investigators first talked to the boy's parents on Oct. 22 after determining the blaze began the day before in the back yard of their Agua Dulce home, Brown said.
The home was not damaged in the fire, Brown said.
Investigators initially considered a downed power line as the source of the fire, but never officially listed it as the cause.
The blaze, which spread quickly through the neighborhood, was among 15 or so major wildfires that destroyed some 2,100 homes and blackened 809 square miles from Los Angeles to the Mexican border last week. Seven deaths were blamed directly on the fires, six evacuees died of natural causes and one person died of a fall.
Authorities arrested five people for arson during that period, but none have been linked to any of the major blazes.
All but four of the blazes are now fully contained. Firefighters on Wednesday continued to cut lines around the remaining fires and kept a close eye on the weather.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Deputy Maribel Rizo said prosecutors were yet to determine if the boy's parents would be held accountable for any financial losses caused by the fire. Rizo did not know when prosecutors would be given the case.
Forecasters have said moderate Santa Ana winds could pick up later in the week.
Investigators have blamed an arsonist for setting a destructive wildfire in Orange County that blackened 28,500 acres and destroyed 16 homes.
Authorities were seeking the driver of a white Ford F-150 pickup truck spotted in a canyon area around the time the fire broke out. They said they wanted to talk to the driver, but stopped short of calling the person a suspect.
Officials offered a $285,000 reward to anyone with information that will lead to an arrest and conviction.
The boy admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. Ferocious winds helped it quickly spread.
"He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," Hecht said in a statement.
Police did not release the boy's name. Los Angeles County fire Capt. Michael Brown only would say Wednesday that he was younger than 13.
The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said. It was not clear if he had been arrested or cited by detectives.
Arson investigators first talked to the boy's parents on Oct. 22 after determining the blaze began the day before in the back yard of their Agua Dulce home, Brown said.
The home was not damaged in the fire, Brown said.
Investigators initially considered a downed power line as the source of the fire, but never officially listed it as the cause.
The blaze, which spread quickly through the neighborhood, was among 15 or so major wildfires that destroyed some 2,100 homes and blackened 809 square miles from Los Angeles to the Mexican border last week. Seven deaths were blamed directly on the fires, six evacuees died of natural causes and one person died of a fall.
Authorities arrested five people for arson during that period, but none have been linked to any of the major blazes.
All but four of the blazes are now fully contained. Firefighters on Wednesday continued to cut lines around the remaining fires and kept a close eye on the weather.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Deputy Maribel Rizo said prosecutors were yet to determine if the boy's parents would be held accountable for any financial losses caused by the fire. Rizo did not know when prosecutors would be given the case.
Forecasters have said moderate Santa Ana winds could pick up later in the week.
Investigators have blamed an arsonist for setting a destructive wildfire in Orange County that blackened 28,500 acres and destroyed 16 homes.
Authorities were seeking the driver of a white Ford F-150 pickup truck spotted in a canyon area around the time the fire broke out. They said they wanted to talk to the driver, but stopped short of calling the person a suspect.
Officials offered a $285,000 reward to anyone with information that will lead to an arrest and conviction.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN 10-31-07
Hey just wanted to say Happy Halloween to everone. So, Happy Halloween. Anyways, I hope everyone gets a chance to get out go trick or treating. No one is too old to do so. Its fun to dress up as someone or something other than yourself for a day. And best of all you get candy, lots and lots of candy. Just what this country needs is a day to make us all fatter. They better be passing out fat free candy or something other than candy, like stickers or better yet how about some money.
Ok, I am done rambling. Everybody have a safe and happy halloween and make sure none of your candy comes from China.
Ok, I am done rambling. Everybody have a safe and happy halloween and make sure none of your candy comes from China.
PORN WORTH WATCHING 10-31-07
Porn stocks worth, um, watching
In an industry that counts on impulse buys, video on demand and faster cell-phone Internet access should be a boon for publicly traded adult-entertainment companies.
Technology has made pornography easier to produce and to distribute. By some estimates, pornography accounts for 40% of all Internet traffic and pay-TV sales. But, for shareholders at least, technology has yet to make pornography wildly profitable.
Playboy Enterprises (PLA, news, msgs) has seen its share price fall by 30% since the start of 2004, compared with a 39% gain in the S&P 500 Index ($INX). New Frontier Media (NOOF, news, msgs), a Boulder, Colo., business that distributes pornographic videos, trades lower than it did three years ago. And a smaller video distributor in Europe called Private Media (PRVT, news, msgs) trades where it did at the beginning of 2004, while the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT.X) of small-cap stocks has advanced more than 45% in the same time frame.
There are lots of reasons why: low-cost, high-quality digital-video cameras that have enabled small private companies; technology-enabled piracy of costlier content; and the abundance of free porn on the Internet.
But new technology appears to offer new hope for porn profits. Innovations such as video on demand (VOD) and faster cell-phone Internet access mean consumers will be better able to get the kind of porn they want, when and where they want it. That should boost sales for the publicly traded adult-entertainment companies supplying these channels.
On demand in demand Playboy, New Frontier Media and other adult-video providers have sold pay-per-view content for years through cable and satellite partners such as Time Warner Cable (TWC, news, msgs), Comcast (CMCSA, news, msgs) and EchoStar Communications (DISH, news, msgs). But this delivery system has had one big shortcoming: Because specific content is pre-scheduled, it isn't always available when a user wants it.
B
ut video on demand solves the problem, and consumers have responded. As New Frontier Media delicately put it in a recent filing, "Instant start times assure that an impulse demand results in a transaction, whereas with pay-per-view, the scheduled start time may not be synchronized to a viewer's requirements."
Private Media's chief operating officer, Peter Cohen, says adult entertainment "is particularly an impulse buy. So the on-demand functionality of VOD suits our content very well."
The numbers are impressive. Pay-television revenue overall was up just 1% at New Frontier Media in the first quarter, but VOD revenue jumped 10%. In the second quarter, overall pay-TV revenue at the company fell 17%, but VOD revenue was up 18% at New Frontier's biggest cable partner, and VOD sales were up at all of its top 10 cable partners. At Playboy, revenue weakness at the magazine and in pay-per-view TV has been offset by strength in VOD sales.
VOD offers other distinct advantages for adult-entertainment providers. VOD broadcasts can't be copied, so piracy is reduced. Also, it's easier to track consumer interests and behaviors with VOD.
"You get better and more specific actionable data about what works, and we have been responding to that," Playboy Enterprises Chief Executive Christie Hefner said in a recent conference call.
Cable providers have been rolling out VOD in the U.S. for several years. However, it has reached less than half the households that will be able to get it, so there is plenty of room for growth. In Europe, the potential is even bigger because cable operators there have lagged on offering VOD. Now, a new technology making up for the shortfall should help adult-entertainment companies deliver porn to viewers in the VOD format: Internet protocol television, or IPTV.
Undressing Playboy's planPlayboy magazine is changing its digital business strategy and giving away more content online. The Wall Street Journal's Lee Hawkins explains why.
"Europe is projected to be the fastest-growing territory for this platform," Private Media's Cohen says. "Everybody has ramped up their activity with these new digital platforms. I think we will see it grow quite quickly now."
Multimedia Research estimates the number of IPTV subscribers in Europe will grow to more than 27 million by 2011 from about 4 million last year. To catch the trend, Private Media is busy forging alliances with the major telecom providers across Europe who are rolling out VOD. The company says it already has access to 75% to 100% of the current and prospective IPTV viewers in France and Germany.
Porn on the go I'm not sure I really get this one because the screens are so small, but more consumers are watching porn on mobile phones, especially in Europe, where carriers are more likely to offer it.
"It's highly, highly popular," says Tim Clausen, who heads the wireless division at Private Media, which is based in Barcelona, Spain. "People watch entire movies for an hour and a half on their mobile phone." He says revenue from cell-phone-based porn doubled last year to $2.8 million.
Juniper Research analyst Windsor Holden estimates consumers around the world will spend $1.8 billion on cell-phone porn this year. He thinks that will grow to $4 billion by 2012. Strategy Analytics, another research firm, forecasts the mobile-adult-services market will reach $5 billion worldwide by 2010. Holden chalks it up in part to the cell phone's "anytime, anywhere" availability.
"The mobile phone affords the user of mobile adult services the opportunity for privacy, which many users may find attractive," Holden says.
Private Media says its content is available to more than 745 million cell-phone users in 33 countries via 78 operators, and it expects big growth. "We think that wireless will be an explosive top-line revenue opportunity for the simple reason that the cell phone is the ubiquitous device in the world," Cohen says.
Consumers aren't just looking at pictures, watching video and downloading naughty ring tones or video games. "Adoption is really rising rapidly in Europe, and one of the key drivers is video chat," says Holden. Several services provide one-on-one video chat with models for $3 a minute, he says, and the average length of the chat is six to seven minutes.
Compared with Europe, U.S. demand has lagged because high-speed data connections aren't as prevalent and carriers are more reluctant to offer cell-phone porn. But Cohen thinks the rollout of faster data service in the U.S. and better age-verification systems will change that. "As those two obstacles get worked out, we see enormous upside," he says.
Internet imitators In the Internet space, adult-entertainment companies are busy copying successful mainstream models like the auction site eBay (EBAY, news, msgs), the virtual world Second Life and even the social-networking site MySpace.
Rick's Cabaret International (RICK, news, msgs), which owns and operates adult nightclubs, has set up NaughtyBids, the eBay of adult material. The Web site, however, brings in only a small portion of overall revenue. Instead, the company is growing by acquiring and opening more clubs.
Red Light Center, run by a company called Utherverse Digital, offers an adult version of Second Life, one of the popular Internet-based worlds in which people interact through virtual identities known as avatars.
Video on MSN Money
Undressing Playboy's planPlayboy magazine is changing its digital business strategy and giving away more content online. The Wall Street Journal's Lee Hawkins explains why.
Zivity lets models post their pictures and accept payments from users who like what they see. They can also chat with models in a format that resembles MySpace.
If these last two are commercial successes, I'd expect the public companies to make an acquisition or, more likely, roll out similar products. Indeed, Private Media says it plans to launch Internet community and interactive services in the next three to six months.
A caveat With the exception of Playboy, the public companies I've mentioned in this column are small -- small enough so that the attention this column generates could send their stocks temporarily higher. The key word here is "temporarily."
Typically, when an investment column moves a stock, it retraces. So that you don't wind up buying the spike and regretting it, I strongly urge you to avoid buying New Frontier Media above $6, Private Media above $3.30 and Rick's Cabaret above $15.50. It may pay to wait for pullbacks in both Private Media and Rick's Cabaret to even-lower levels, given that both stocks have advanced so much in the past few weeks.
At the time of publication, Michael Brush did not own or control shares of any companies mentioned in this column.
In an industry that counts on impulse buys, video on demand and faster cell-phone Internet access should be a boon for publicly traded adult-entertainment companies.
Technology has made pornography easier to produce and to distribute. By some estimates, pornography accounts for 40% of all Internet traffic and pay-TV sales. But, for shareholders at least, technology has yet to make pornography wildly profitable.
Playboy Enterprises (PLA, news, msgs) has seen its share price fall by 30% since the start of 2004, compared with a 39% gain in the S&P 500 Index ($INX). New Frontier Media (NOOF, news, msgs), a Boulder, Colo., business that distributes pornographic videos, trades lower than it did three years ago. And a smaller video distributor in Europe called Private Media (PRVT, news, msgs) trades where it did at the beginning of 2004, while the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT.X) of small-cap stocks has advanced more than 45% in the same time frame.
There are lots of reasons why: low-cost, high-quality digital-video cameras that have enabled small private companies; technology-enabled piracy of costlier content; and the abundance of free porn on the Internet.
But new technology appears to offer new hope for porn profits. Innovations such as video on demand (VOD) and faster cell-phone Internet access mean consumers will be better able to get the kind of porn they want, when and where they want it. That should boost sales for the publicly traded adult-entertainment companies supplying these channels.
On demand in demand Playboy, New Frontier Media and other adult-video providers have sold pay-per-view content for years through cable and satellite partners such as Time Warner Cable (TWC, news, msgs), Comcast (CMCSA, news, msgs) and EchoStar Communications (DISH, news, msgs). But this delivery system has had one big shortcoming: Because specific content is pre-scheduled, it isn't always available when a user wants it.
B
ut video on demand solves the problem, and consumers have responded. As New Frontier Media delicately put it in a recent filing, "Instant start times assure that an impulse demand results in a transaction, whereas with pay-per-view, the scheduled start time may not be synchronized to a viewer's requirements."
Private Media's chief operating officer, Peter Cohen, says adult entertainment "is particularly an impulse buy. So the on-demand functionality of VOD suits our content very well."
The numbers are impressive. Pay-television revenue overall was up just 1% at New Frontier Media in the first quarter, but VOD revenue jumped 10%. In the second quarter, overall pay-TV revenue at the company fell 17%, but VOD revenue was up 18% at New Frontier's biggest cable partner, and VOD sales were up at all of its top 10 cable partners. At Playboy, revenue weakness at the magazine and in pay-per-view TV has been offset by strength in VOD sales.
VOD offers other distinct advantages for adult-entertainment providers. VOD broadcasts can't be copied, so piracy is reduced. Also, it's easier to track consumer interests and behaviors with VOD.
"You get better and more specific actionable data about what works, and we have been responding to that," Playboy Enterprises Chief Executive Christie Hefner said in a recent conference call.
Cable providers have been rolling out VOD in the U.S. for several years. However, it has reached less than half the households that will be able to get it, so there is plenty of room for growth. In Europe, the potential is even bigger because cable operators there have lagged on offering VOD. Now, a new technology making up for the shortfall should help adult-entertainment companies deliver porn to viewers in the VOD format: Internet protocol television, or IPTV.
Undressing Playboy's planPlayboy magazine is changing its digital business strategy and giving away more content online. The Wall Street Journal's Lee Hawkins explains why.
"Europe is projected to be the fastest-growing territory for this platform," Private Media's Cohen says. "Everybody has ramped up their activity with these new digital platforms. I think we will see it grow quite quickly now."
Multimedia Research estimates the number of IPTV subscribers in Europe will grow to more than 27 million by 2011 from about 4 million last year. To catch the trend, Private Media is busy forging alliances with the major telecom providers across Europe who are rolling out VOD. The company says it already has access to 75% to 100% of the current and prospective IPTV viewers in France and Germany.
Porn on the go I'm not sure I really get this one because the screens are so small, but more consumers are watching porn on mobile phones, especially in Europe, where carriers are more likely to offer it.
"It's highly, highly popular," says Tim Clausen, who heads the wireless division at Private Media, which is based in Barcelona, Spain. "People watch entire movies for an hour and a half on their mobile phone." He says revenue from cell-phone-based porn doubled last year to $2.8 million.
Juniper Research analyst Windsor Holden estimates consumers around the world will spend $1.8 billion on cell-phone porn this year. He thinks that will grow to $4 billion by 2012. Strategy Analytics, another research firm, forecasts the mobile-adult-services market will reach $5 billion worldwide by 2010. Holden chalks it up in part to the cell phone's "anytime, anywhere" availability.
"The mobile phone affords the user of mobile adult services the opportunity for privacy, which many users may find attractive," Holden says.
Private Media says its content is available to more than 745 million cell-phone users in 33 countries via 78 operators, and it expects big growth. "We think that wireless will be an explosive top-line revenue opportunity for the simple reason that the cell phone is the ubiquitous device in the world," Cohen says.
Consumers aren't just looking at pictures, watching video and downloading naughty ring tones or video games. "Adoption is really rising rapidly in Europe, and one of the key drivers is video chat," says Holden. Several services provide one-on-one video chat with models for $3 a minute, he says, and the average length of the chat is six to seven minutes.
Compared with Europe, U.S. demand has lagged because high-speed data connections aren't as prevalent and carriers are more reluctant to offer cell-phone porn. But Cohen thinks the rollout of faster data service in the U.S. and better age-verification systems will change that. "As those two obstacles get worked out, we see enormous upside," he says.
Internet imitators In the Internet space, adult-entertainment companies are busy copying successful mainstream models like the auction site eBay (EBAY, news, msgs), the virtual world Second Life and even the social-networking site MySpace.
Rick's Cabaret International (RICK, news, msgs), which owns and operates adult nightclubs, has set up NaughtyBids, the eBay of adult material. The Web site, however, brings in only a small portion of overall revenue. Instead, the company is growing by acquiring and opening more clubs.
Red Light Center, run by a company called Utherverse Digital, offers an adult version of Second Life, one of the popular Internet-based worlds in which people interact through virtual identities known as avatars.
Video on MSN Money
Undressing Playboy's planPlayboy magazine is changing its digital business strategy and giving away more content online. The Wall Street Journal's Lee Hawkins explains why.
Zivity lets models post their pictures and accept payments from users who like what they see. They can also chat with models in a format that resembles MySpace.
If these last two are commercial successes, I'd expect the public companies to make an acquisition or, more likely, roll out similar products. Indeed, Private Media says it plans to launch Internet community and interactive services in the next three to six months.
A caveat With the exception of Playboy, the public companies I've mentioned in this column are small -- small enough so that the attention this column generates could send their stocks temporarily higher. The key word here is "temporarily."
Typically, when an investment column moves a stock, it retraces. So that you don't wind up buying the spike and regretting it, I strongly urge you to avoid buying New Frontier Media above $6, Private Media above $3.30 and Rick's Cabaret above $15.50. It may pay to wait for pullbacks in both Private Media and Rick's Cabaret to even-lower levels, given that both stocks have advanced so much in the past few weeks.
At the time of publication, Michael Brush did not own or control shares of any companies mentioned in this column.
WI-FI RABBIT 10-31-07
Hands-On Nabaztag 2 Wi-Fi Rabbit
I've been playing with the new Nabaztag for a few weeks, and I must say, this is one rabbit that'll keep you entertained for hours. As soon as I opened it, I headed to Nabaztag.com to configure my Wi-Fi settings so it could start updating me on everything. You see, Nabaztag is a Wi-Fi enabled bunny that can gather information from around the Internet, and reads it for you. If you want to know what's happening on your favorite blogs, you simply go to Nabaztag.com, add your favorite RSS feeds to your Nabcasts feeds, and it'll read the latest headlines every 20 minutes (you can change the frequency). That's only a fraction of what it can do. Once you become a Nabaztag owner, the customization possibilities are endless.Nabaztag has been around since 2005, but was recently upgraded in 2007 with even more features than before. The latest version has a microphone on its navel so you can talk to your rabbit. Anytime you press a button between its ears, and give him a command such as "weather", it's quick to respond. You can send voice messages to other Nabaztag owners by speaking into its navel, as well.
I think the most interesting feature are the NabZtamps created so Nabaztag can "sniff" objects. The new Nabaztag has an RFID tag reader in his nose, so he can recognize objects embedded with NabZtamps stickers. Why would you want him to sniff objects? Well, you can assign an action or behavior to each stamp so the next time you wave, say for example a set of keys, he'll alert your personal friends when you get home or start reading your favorite Nabcasts. Making friends internationally is easy, since the little genius speaks 16 languages, including Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, and of course English.
Not only does it communicate verbally, but it also communicates physically by moving its ears or visually by lighting up. What I love about this smart toy is the passion the Nabaztag-owning community shares. Most owners personalize their bunny by dressing it up in their own creations, or design new applications to give him even more functionality. These Nabaznauts have set up hundreds of websites, forums, blogs, YouTube channels, and they even have a Flickr stream going. Like I said, the entertainment is endless, which is why I took so long to write this quick review.
Which brings me to another point. While you may initially want Nabaztag to read all your favorite blogs, you'll have to be careful not to overload yourself. I had to turn it down a few times, because I needed to concentrate on my work or was on a phone call. I recommend you subscribe to only a handful of Nabcasts, or set it to sleep during your busiest part of the day. I especially think it's great that others can send messages to your bunny via widgets (it has a Yahoo! Widget) or by signing up for a Nabaztag account. Like I said, the possibilities are endless so you'll have plenty of things to discover and people to meet once you become a Nabaztag owner. If you want more details about this curious bunny, make sure you check out Nabaztag.com.
IS IT BIGFOOT? 10-31-07
RIDGWAY, Pa. - It's furry and walks on all fours. Beyond that, about the only thing certain about the critter photographed by a hunter's camera is that some people have gotten the notion it could be a Sasquatch, or bigfoot. Others say it's just a bear with a bad skin infection.
Rick Jacobs says he got the pictures from a camera with an automatic trigger that he fastened to a tree in the Allegheny National Forest, about 115 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, hoping to photograph deer.
"We couldn't figure out what they were," Jacobs said of the images captured on Sept. 16. "I've been hunting for years and I've never seen anything like this."
He contacted the Bigfoot Research Organization, which pursues reports of a legendary two-legged creature that some people believe lives in parts of the U.S. and Canada.
"It appears to be a primate-like animal. In my opinion, it appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch," said Paul Majeta of the bigfoot group.
However, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has a more conventional opinion. Agency spokesman Jerry Feaser said conservation officers routinely trap bears to be tagged and often see animals that look like the photos.
"There is no question it is a bear with a severe case of mange," Feaser told The Bradford Era.
FORGOTTEN PRESIDENTS
We don't recall ever seeing them on our coins, stamps, or monuments, but we're told the following seven men were once president of the United States. Go figure! 
Former presidents Chester Arthur, Millard Fillmore, Rutherford B. Hayes
Herbert Hoover (President #31, 1929--1933)
Although Herbert Hoover won the 1928 presidential election with almost 60 percent of the vote, today he's basically remembered as a dam. Actually, many Americans probably think he was an FBI director or the guy who invented a vacuum.
But Hoover was, in fact, a U.S. president -- and an interesting one to boot. Orphaned at age 9, he worked and scraped his way into the newly minted Stanford University to study mining engineering.
There, he married Lou Henry, the only female geology student at the school, and the pair traveled the world evaluating mining sites and learning languages. (In the White House, they often spoke in Mandarin when they didn't want staff eavesdropping.)
Hoover's successful coordination of the U.S. Food Administration during WWI paved his way to the Oval Office. Although massively popular early in his term, a little thing called the Great Depression came along and seriously soured his approval rating. Herbert battled bravely against the dusty tide of poverty, but his programs were largely ineffective.
Sorry, Herbert. Great dam, though.
Martin Van Buren (President #8, 1837--1841)
Despite earning catchy nicknames such as "The Little Magician" and "The Red Fox of Kinderhook" on the political battlefield, M.V.B. is far from the MVP of the American presidency.
One title he can claim, though, is that of the first president not of British descent. Van Buren was the son of a Dutch tavern owner and gained his taste for politics listening to debates in the rowdy rooms of the family saloon.
A self-taught lawyer, the politically adept Van Buren quickly rose up the governmental ranks, landing a spot as President Andrew Jackson's secretary of state in 1828. By keeping clear of the Cabinet infighting that marred Jackson's first term, Van Buren replaced John Calhoun as Jackson's vice president in the second term.
In 1836, he won the presidency, but soon fizzled out in a daze of leadership defeats and ineffective policies. Don't look for him on the penny any time soon.
Warren Harding (President #29, 1921--1923)
Warren G. Harding is generally regarded as the worst president ever. He was disappointing from the get-go, as the very basis of his campaign was boring. Harding ran on the promise of a "return to normalcy," which he (somehow) felt people craved following Woodrow Wilson's bold and visionary term.
To make things worse, Harding ran the White House like a kind of boys' club, where he and some friends known as the "Ohio Gang" enjoyed drinking, playing golf, and cheating on their wives. (Harding is widely rumored to have paid a gambling debt with antique White House china.)
After admitting to friends that he felt overmatched by the job of president, Harding gave his Cabinet free reign and treated the presidency as more of a ceremonial post.
Just as the friends he'd appointed were being nailed for corruption one after another, Harding contracted what doctors assumed was ptomaine poisoning and died of a related heart attack. No autopsy was performed, but rumors abounded that his wife poisoned him to protect what legacy he had left.
Chester Arthur (President #21, 1881--1885)
Most people don't know ol' Chesty for anything other than his mammoth moustache. But he should be remembered as a guy who rose to the occasion.
As a young man, Arthur worked on civil rights cases in New York before succumbing to the corrupt New York political machine of Roscoe "Boss" Conkling. (How anyone could fail to detect corruption in someone named Roscoe "Boss" Conkling is beyond us.)
In 1881, Arthur became vice president under James Garfield, but soon butted heads with the president over an appointment that sapped Conkling's power. In fact, Arthur and Garfield were hardly communicating when, a few months later, Garfield was assassinated, and Arthur suddenly became the big cheese.
Instead of behaving like a pawn as everyone expected, Arthur became a man of the people, taking steps to cut back on cronyism and rebuffing pressures from big business. And what do you call him? The president with the big moustache. Nice going!
Millard Fillmore (President #13, 1850--1853)
Today, Millard Fillmore's name is synonymous with overlooked. Need proof? In February 2006, a group called the Friends of Millard Fillmore will host the 38th annual FOMF Trivia Hunt, a contest celebrating obscure knowledge.
Fillmore was born in 1800 to a destitute family, but thanks to a merciless work ethic, he taught himself to read and eventually became a lawyer.
That quickly segued into politics, and in 1848, the Whigs ran Fillmore for VP alongside Zachary Taylor. The pair won the election, but remained divided by their views on slavery (Taylor being a southern slave owner, and Fillmore, well, not).
When Taylor died, Fillmore tried to appease the North and South by supporting the Compromise of 1850. Unfortunately, the move alienated the North and created a fair share of enemies on both sides. Thus tainted, he lost several bids for re-election and died of a stroke in 1874.
Rutherford B. Hayes (President #19, 1877--1881)
Rutherford B. Hayes is slightly more memorable due to the catchiness of his name, but he's still more than obscure enough to make our list.
Raised by a single mother, Hayes worked his way up in the world from next to nothing, studying at Harvard and practicing law in Cincinnati.
When the Civil War erupted, Hayes was 39 and a father of three. Nonetheless, he volunteered to fight and quickly distinguished himself as a valuable leader.
After parlaying this fame into a Senate seat and then the governorship of Ohio, he received the Republican presidential nomination in 1876. Until the chad-alicious scandal of 2000, this was perhaps America's most contested election --ending with a special Congressional committee declaring Hayes the winner over Samuel J. Tilden by one electoral vote.
Once he took office, Hayes got right to work healing a nation still battered by the Civil War. He later claimed to have inherited the country "divided and distracted" and left it "united, harmonious and prosperous."
Unfortunately for ol' Rutherford, harmony and prosperity alone won't get your mug on Mount Rushmore.
John Tyler (President #10, 1841--1845)
John Tyler was up against it from the start. For one thing, he only got to be president because he was the VP under William Henry Harrison, who died of pneumonia following his inauguration speech.
Let's put it this way: When your nicknames include "His Accidency," you're not destined to make a splash.
After Harrison's unscheduled departure, Tyler's orchestration of an orderly transfer of power was his only recognized political success. Tyler didn't want to alienate Harrison's supporters, so he retained the departed president's Cabinet. Unfortunately, they had little respect for their new leader. When he once vetoed a bill they favored, all but one of them resigned. That's pretty much how the presidency went for Tyler.
In fact, his own Whig party tried to have him impeached. Tyler gamely ran for re-election in 1844, but was persuaded to withdraw. Broke, Tyler returned to his Virginia plantation and spent a lot of time supporting the secession of the South. (That didn't work out so well either.)
PICKLE ASSAULT 10-31-07
Guess they weren’t the sweet variety ...
Man gets one year probation in pickle-assault caseupdated 3:43 p.m. ET, Tues., Oct. 30, 2007
NILES, Michigan - A judge gave a 35-year-old man probation in a case that police said involved an assault with pickles.
According to police reports, the pickle problems began when Bobby Lee Bolen was at his then-friend Jody Lee's home on Aug. 20.
Bolen went to the refrigerator and helped himself to some pickles. According to the report, Lee told Bolen he could not afford to feed everyone and not to eat his pickles. Bolen then began yelling and swearing and stormed out, according to the report.
Later, Bolen barged back into the house and got into an argument with Lee. Lee told police Bolen slammed him down on the couch and threw two large pickles at him and said, "Here's your damn pickles."
Bolen also shoved former friend J.W. Romanski III and beat Lee with a telephone when he tried to call emergency authorities, according to the report. Two counts involving Bolen's assaults were dismissed as was a charge of cutting or interfering with phone lines.
"If this is not the silliest case I've ever seen in this courtroom, it certainly is in the Top 10," Berrien Trial Court Judge Scott Schofield said. "The fact that it's silly doesn't mean that it's not serious."
Defense attorney Robert Lutz said alcohol appeared to be at the root of Bolen's problems.
Bolen's sentence included 54 days in jail with credit for 54 days served and one year of probation.
FLYING CARS ARE COMING 10-31-07
3 Flying Cars Coming to a Skyway Near You: Progress Report
There's hope yet for the flying car. Really. The Jetsons-era dream of personal air vehicles (PAVs) has recently received a few gasps of fresh air. An advocacy group, the CAFE Foundation, has launched a $250,000 PAV challenge for new and interesting flight concepts. Plus, companies from the aviation (Boeing) and automotive (Honda) industries are pursuing mainstream airborne-vehicle technology, though no designs or deadlines have been announced.
In the meantime, several independent companies have been researching and developing fly/drive vehicles you might see flying — someday — toward a driveway near you.
Moller Skycar M400
With production versions promised by 2010, this four-passenger beauty is the latest in a line of Moller Skycars dating back to 1962. Using four pairs of Wankel engines, the vehicle is designed for vertical takeoff and landing, and may eventually be capable of fully automated flight.
RANGE: 750 miles
ALTITUDE: Below 36,000 feet
TOP AIRSPEED: 375 mph
PRICE: $995,000. A $100,000 deposit holds one of the first 100 cars, refundable if FAA certification does not occur by Dec. 31, 2010.
PROGRESS: Tethered full-scale prototypes have hovered several feet off the ground.
POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS: Frequent delays and misleading claims led to an SEC fine in 2003.
Labiche Aerospace Flying Sports Car FSC-1
The four-passenger FSC-1 has been in development since the late 1980s, and reached preproduction in 2007. Like a Transformer toy, the FSC-1 turns from car to single-propeller airplane in 30 seconds. A true hybrid, it will operate via existing small airports and highways.
RANGE: 950 miles
ALTITUDE: Below 34,000 feet
TOP AIRSPEED: 275 mph
PRICE: $175,000. The FSC-1 is a kit, assembly required. The $20,000 deposit is refundable if performance benchmarks aren't met.
PROGRESS: A prototype will be on display in Los Angeles this year; production is slated for 2008.
POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS: Plans to fly it to the 2007 Oshkosh air show were scrapped due to testing "conflicts."
Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk
Conceived by a former Boeing engineer in 2001, the 11-seater X-Hawk is marketed as, among other things, an emergency vehicle (to go where choppers can't). It uses enclosed turbine-powered, ducted fans for lift and a system of vanes for stability and maneuvering.
RANGE: 380 miles
ALTITUDE: Below 12,000 feet
TOP AIRSPEED: 161 mph
PRICE: $5 million to $6 million. The X-Hawk's price reflects its proposed emphasis: fewer civilian thrill rides, more military or medical response.
PROGRESS: Exists largely as a set of plastic moldings and a virtual computer simulation.
POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS: Based on 1960s "Air Jeep" technology, which has yet to prove itself in 50 years
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