] Wal-Mart is renowned for forcing it's suppliers to
] radically revamp their operations to meet Wal-Mart's
] needs. Wal-Mart dictates to it's suppliers, demanding
] just-in-time inventory control and annual - if not
] quarterly - wholesale price drops. 20% of CD and DVD
] retail dollars now flow through Wal-Mart. With that kind
] of buying pull, recorded music became yet another
] consumer item that Wal-Mart could live without, but that
] couldn't live without Wal-Mart. If we go with the theory
] that Sam Walton's boys popped the RIAA's cherry during
] the buyer's renegotiations, that probably provided
] leverage for other retailers from Kmart to Tower Records
] to cut the same deal, especially during a down economy.
]
]
] I wouldn't be surprised to find that the gusto with which
] the music industry tries to squeeze more blood out of
] consumers by lobbying Washington and other capitals was
] in direct relation to how much of they're getting
] squeezed in Bentonville, AR.

And this comment sums up the other key point of the previous linked article.

Slashdot | RIAA Loss Report Contradicts Nielsen Sales Record

] The RIAA reports a sale as a unit SHIPPED to record
] stores. Whereas Soundscan reports units sold [to the
] consumer] at the point of purchase. So, you're talking
] about apples and oranges.

10% more music was sold, but revenue was down 7%. Funny, that.

And if the RIAA's accounting is like this, once can only dream of what the MPAA, in the presence of mystical and legendary Hollywood Accounting (budget was $80M, movie made $300M -- no net profit!), could concoct.

US

] Either way, our heroes this week are the folks who, given
] the lemon of the Atkins diet, make lemonade. Like
] Colgate-Palmolive's (NYSE:CL - News) Hill's Pet Nutrition
] division, which recently started selling Prescription
] Diet Feline m/d, "a low carbohydrate, high protein pet
] food formula clinically proven to alter a cat's
] metabolism for effective weight loss."
]
] Yes. An Atkins diet for your cat. A Cat-kins diet, so to
] speak.
]
] Of course, high-protein diets have been traditional among
] members of the cat family -- lions and tigers come to
] mind -- but the audacity of imposing a human weight-loss
] strategy on a defenseless animal is indeed awesome to
] behold. We can't wait to hear what Weight Watchers
] (NYSE:WTW - News) will be offering in this space.

The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

] According to a recent J.D. Power & Associates survey of
] new-car quality, American car makers now have a new
] low-priced, high-quality Korean rival to add to their
] list of expensive, high-quality Japanese nemeses in
] Toyota (NYSE: TM), Honda (NYSE: HMC), and Nissan (Nasdaq:
] NSANY). I refer, of course, to the surprise second-placer
] in J.D. Power's survey: Hyundai (which tied Honda for
] second and lost only to Toyota). The Korean automaker
] achieved its impressive numbers by slashing its average
] problems per 100 vehicles by nearly 30% in a single year.
] Since 1999, the company has improved its results by
] closer to 50%.

Who didn't see this coming?

Fool.com: Detroit's Quality Pickle [Motley Fool Take] May 13, 2004

] Mobile phone maker Motorola Inc. plans to introduce a
] device that would seamlessly switch calls from cellular
] networks to cheaper Wi-Fi networks wherever they're
] available. Discount carrier IDT Corp. is testing consumer
] Wi-Fi phone service in Newark, N.J.

Salon.com Technology | Wi-Fi phones could be next trend in thrift

] "We are on the cusp of perfection of extreme evil -- an
] evil whose possibility spreads well beyond weapons of
] mass destruction," Joy warned recently in Wired magazine.

Yes, it is the Weekly World News, but its still fun to kick Bill Joy.

Yahoo! Top Stories - Super-Robots Will Wipe Out Mankind!

] The following demonstrates some preliminary results in
] the analysis of acoustic emanations from personal
] computers, showing them to be a surprisingly rich source
] of information on CPU activity.

Acoustic cryptanalysis

] A N O P E N L E T T E R T O
] W I L L I A M K R I S T O L ,
] R I C H A R D P E R L E, A N D
] P R E S I D E N T B U S H ' S
] O T H E R N E O C O N S E R V A T I V E
] P U P P E T M A S T E R S

Humor is good.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: An Open Letter to William Kristol, Richard Perle, and President Bush's Other Neoconservative Puppetmasters

] Woke SH quite early to catch him off-guard and groggy. I
] asked, "What's your first name?" and he said, "Saddam."
] Again I asked, "What's your first name?" and he said,
] "Saddam." I kept asking, "What's your first name?" and he
] kept saying, "Saddam." Once I had a rhythm going, I
] quickly asked, "Where are the WMD?" and he said,
] "Saddam."

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Saddam's Interrogation Logs

] Then Rush Limbaugh put it all in perspective, after a
] caller remarked that the "stack [of] naked men" was "like
] a college fraternity prank."
]
] RUSH: Exactly. Exactly my point! This is no
] different than what happens at the skull and bones
] initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it
] and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then
] we are going to really hammer them because they had a
] good time. You know, these people are being fired at
] every day. I'm talking about people having a good time,
] these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You of
] heard of need to blow some steam off?

Wonkette