Filed under: Feature | Tags: 300, Baywatch, Car, Cinemax, David Hasselhoff, Ford, KITT, Knight Rider, KnightRider, KR 500, Michael Knight, Mustang, NBC, RIDES, Shelby, Sparta, Sweepstakes
PIMP MY RIDE: KNIGHT RIDER VS. THE CINEMAX 300C
Meet Kitt
Knight Rider gets a jump start back to network television this Sunday, February 17th on NBC. The sequel will return as a 2-hour movie event featuring a guest appearance by Michael Knight himself, David Hasselhoff. I’m sorry for what you’re about to see but I couldn’t pass this opportunity up.
After Baywatch was cancelled, I thought I would never have the opportunity to see a Hasselhoff-running-in-slow-motion moment. I just hope that this is my new lease on life. . .
Kitt, which stands for Knight Industries Three Thousand, is a tricked out version of the 2008 Ford Shelby KR 500. The car sports a mean 550 hp with a 5.4 V8 engine for some extra pull. Over 600 hours were spent in construction and design and this one comes in three flavors for KITT’s triumphant return.
KITT Hero: An every day variety
KITT Attack: A super high-speed version that transforms into Attack mode with the help of air-ride technology and specialized body parts. Oh yah, and they disabled all of the safety controls on the car of course.
KITT Remote: A driverless version of the Hero vehicle.
Video of Kitt
And now introducing. . .
Meet the Cinemax 300C
In promotion of Cinemax’s Month of 300 beginning in March, Cinemax has teamed up with RIDES Magazine to design a pimp version of the 2008 Chrysler 300C. The month of 300 features over 300 titles including movies, original series, and shorts. What’s better than watching 300 of your favorite shows? Watching them in you car of course. The overhaul serves up 22-inch wheels with red rims, custom body kit, 4 interior video screens and a 37″ flat screen with massive sound system built into the trunk.
22-Inch Wheels with Red Rims
Screen and Sound System in the Trunk
Interior
Video of the Cinemax 300
Cinemax’s Hysterical Sparta Commercial
So here’s the main diff between the two. The Cinemax 300 C, while visually stunning, sports a design overhaul rather than an internal overhaul.
Power: KITT
It’s 500 hp and 5.4 V8 compared to the 190hp 2.7 V6 of the 300C smokes the competition.
Design: Cinemax 300C I’m a sucker for red rims and a flat panel screen with audio system in my trunk.
Winner: Cinemax 300 C
I don’t really need KITT’s smoke screen and ‘attack mode’ to scare the traffic behind me. I just wanna look hot behind the wheel. Lucky for me, there’s a sweepstakes I can enter. The motto of the 300 should be Slow your Roll. . .especially because, the Shelby would smoke the 300 in a competiton.
Both cars have a sweepstakes. To slow your roll, click here.
To hit it and quit it, click here.
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
Comcast founder Ralph Roberts says he will work for $1 a year, and other top company execs are agreeing to accept lower cash bonuses for 2007. Some big Comcast shareholders are criticizing the cable giant’s performance, even calling for CEO Brian Roberts to step down. (http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20080214_Comcast_founder_slashes_his_pay.html 2/14)
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said his company would stick to growing in its own industry and would not look to acquire large companies such as Yahoo! Or Sprint. (The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/Reuters 2/14)
The timing is right for General Electric to consider a potential breakup to separate NBC Universal, according to JPMorgan analyst C. Stephen Tusa Jr. “We think 2008 could be the time,” he says. Tusa recommends that an asset breakup should start “with the cash cow TV stations.” (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080214/general_electric_analyst_note.html 2/14)
Four networks, ABC, CBS, CW and FOX, will all present traditional upfront shows. NBC remains a question mark, having said during the writers strike it may not go forward with a full blown upfront presentation this year. ABC’s showcase will be May 13 at Lincoln Center; CBS’ is set for May 14 at Carnegie Hall; while on May 15 FOX will hold its upfront at the New York City Center and CW will host at Madison Square Garden. With that said, however, all four networks may change their presentations to make them more low-key.
FOX unveiled a couple of summer series: season four of So You Think You Can Dance starts off with a two-night, four-hour premiere on May 22 at 8p with Part 1 and Part 2 on May 29 at 8p and the series opener of When Women Rule the World (wt) on June 2 at 8p.
Girlfriends, a staple on UPN and now on The CW for 8 years, will call this season its last. The show will not produce a final episode to air this season. Rather network has chosen to only resume production following the strike on shows that it plans to bring in the fall. In a statement, the CW said in part: “This was a very difficult decision for us, and was based solely on the considerable cost to license each episode in an extremely unusual business environment.” The network is considering producing a special retrospective on the show to air this season.
The FCC has ruled that Cox does not violate the leased-access policies by having more than 50% digital subscribers in New Orleans, according to Leased Access Programmers Association President Charlie Stogner. The decision allows the cable firm to carry the leased-access programmer Real Estate TV, or RETV, on its digital tier. (Broadcasting & Cable 2/14)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
In a sign of shareholder unrest over Microsoft’s bid to buy Yahoo, shareholders of both companies are sounding off. One Yahoo investor is suing the company for saying “no” to Microsoft’s offer, while a major Microsoft stockholder wants the software giant to “play hard ball.” (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/yahoo-microsoft-faced-shareholder-unrest/story.aspx?guid=%7B3DB32FF6%2D0F4F%2D43F6%2DA698%2D96804903D4F2%7D 2/14)
Yahoo, which is laying off 1,000 employees, is finding that many of its former workers aren’t going quietly. An hour after Susan Mernit was laid off, she posted a note to her blog and updated her Facebook status. Within hours she received more than 100 responses, including job leads. (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2008/tc20080213_782861.htm 2/13)
Amid the turmoil of staff layoffs, takeover offers and merger discussions, Yahoo has relaunched Yahoo Video. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/15/yahoo-relaunches-yahoo-video 2/15)
Check out the high definition trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie on Yahoo Movies, as reported by Techcrunch. You can’t embed the trailer, of course (that would make too much sense), but they have some ridiculous countdown widget thing that shows the exact number of seconds until the movie is released. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/14/indiana-jones-high-def-trailer 2/14)
Google is starting to test video advertising on some pages of its search results. Ads with accompanying videos will have a small button with a plus sign. Users that click the button on an ad will see a small video player that shows a commercial, movie trailer or other clip. (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/google-tests-video-ads-on-search-results-pages 2/14)
Leveraged video sharing site Revver was acquired by online entertainment platform LiveUniverse for less than $5 million, reported NewTeeVee. LiveUniverse, founded by MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan, operates sites such as Glumbert.com, BlinkYou.com and LyricsDownload.com.
Six U.S. film studios are filing civil complaints against Chinese file-sharing firm Xunlei, part-owned by Google, for copyright infringement and are seeking more than $1 million in damages. Xunlei is accused of facilitating the unauthorized transmission of hundreds of Hollywood movies. (http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSSHA34521220080215 2/15)
Kijiji is not yet a Craigslist killer, but eBay’s competing free classifieds site is starting to build traffic. The U.S. Kijiji alone has grown from 362,000 visitors in July 2007 to 1.8 million in January, according to comScore. Kijiji now ranks as the sixth most visited U.S. classifieds site. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/14/watch-out-craigslist-sister-site-kijiji-is-taking-off 2/14)
Filed under: WIRELESS
Google apparently withdrew from the FCC’s C block wireless spectrum auction, leaving AT&T and Verizon to duke it out for a platform that can be used to deliver advanced interactive wireless services. In so doing, the company may achieve what it wanted all along – more competition in the wireless market without spending a dime, argues Business Week, because the spectrum comes tied with open-access requirements. Meanwhile bidding for the 700 Mhz C block band (which everyone thought Google wanted for the “G-phone”) has petered out after a single $472 million bid – well below the $1.3 billion “reserve” price. Perhaps the FCC should have offered a Buy It Now option.
GPS technology is making the transition from vehicles into a growing number of mobile handsets, as manufacturers continue to find ways to incorporate its user-friendly features. Garmin recently introduced its first branded mobile device, featuring a touch screen for navigation. (Yahoo!/Agence France-Presse 2/14)
Filed under: GAMING
“Rock Band,” MTV’s first foray into the video gaming arena, continues to rock on. According to data from industry tracker NPD, the game racked up $30 million in January across the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 platforms. (Variety 2/14)
Market-research firm iSuppli predicts that Nintendo’s Wii will supplant Micorosft’s Xbox 360 as the leading installed base console this year. “The Wii’s performance illustrates the success of Nintendo’s strategy of targeting casual users with an inexpensive console and entertaining titles, rather than addressing hard-core gamers by offering highly sophisticated and spectacular titles and systems,” iSuppli analyst Pam Tufegdzic said. (Yahoo!/TechWeb/InformationWeek 2/14)
The video game company reported about $975 million in losses in 2007 that it attributes to piracy. It is asking the U.S. government to step up its efforts to combat illegal sales of its consoles and games in countries including China, Brazil and Mexico. (GameDaily BIZ 2/14)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
Some retailers, movie studios and consumer-electronics companies recently announced a preference for the Sony Blu-ray DVD format over Toshiba’s HD DVD, hoping their decisiveness will spur consumers to feel safe investing in a format. While Blu-ray now has the edge with movie fans and video gamers (Sony’s PlayStation 3 has a built-in Blu-ray player), Toshiba expressed confidence that two high-definition DVD formats could successfully coexist. (USA TODAY 2/14)
The Disneyland resort is teaming up with Microsoft and other software providers to create an attraction featuring digital home technologies of the future. Residing in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, the exhibit will display everything from mobile phones and PCs to digital music and gaming. (http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206504237 2/14)
