] Streaming media registered strong growth in 2003, with
] total video streams up by 104% to 7.8 billion and
] aggregate tuning hours for Internet music radio 53%
] higher when compared to '02.
]
] Some 78% of video streams served were viewed at broadband
] rates, according to a report published by AccuStream
] iMedia Research.

] The report, Streaming Media 2003: Brand, User and
] Audience Share Analysis, provides detailed market
] analysis of the year in streaming media, with extensive
] data by audience type, daypart, content category, bit
] rate, site, network, aggregator, and includes media
] consumption patterns of high-speed users, forecasts and
] historical comparisons.
]
]
] For example, broadband streams viewed by unique user per
] month rose to 10.2 in '03 compared to 6.9 in '02, a 47.8%
] increase.

Internet Video Streams up by 104% in '03 to over 7.8 Billion

] He made headlines with his now infamous performance on
] American Idol. But fame - or notoriety - may be going to
] William Hung's head
]
] By Jill Alphonso
]
] IS WILLIAM HUNG, the 21-year-old American Idol wannabe,
] getting too big for his britches? Or is he just really,
] really tired of the unexpected worldwide attention he's
] been getting?
]
] When LifeStyle e-mailed him for an interview last
] Thursday, back came this short reply: 'My time is money
] right now. So only if you're willing to compensate me for
] my time. Sincerely, William Hung'.
]
] We got his e-mail address from the University of
] California, Berkeley, website. He did not reply to
] further mail.

Hung up on money - FEB 15, 2004

] Oh, the hype was just insane, wasn't it?
]
] The groundswell of post-Super Bowl backlash against Janet
] Jackson and Justin Timberlake ushered in an unprecedented
] level of excitement for the Grammy Awards.
]
] And rightfully so.
]
] There were people getting banned (Jackson), there was
] talk of adding a tape-delay, the FCC was going to be
] glued to the screen like ground control waiting for the
] next disaster and CBS, well, how would you have liked to
] have been them for the second consecutive Sunday?
]
] All this worrying and all this buildup made this year's
] Grammys one of the most watched in history, and network
] execs breathed a sigh of relief as they got what they
] wanted: no breasts, no sex and no swearing.

Suits' scheme works to draw viewers, bore them to death - thenews-messenger.com

] Jewel entertained at halftime of the Nets-Spurs NBA
] Finals game last Sunday - and did so again about a
] half-hour later.
]
] But she was accompanied by a laptop, not a microphone and
] fellow musicians, for the later performance. On press
] row, 15 feet from the Continental Arena court, the
] Alaskan-born pop star answered live questions online from
] fans on the NBA.com Web site.
]
] Welcome to the 21st century NBA, a league run by a
] commissioner nicknamed "Digital Dave" - Teaneck native
] David Stern - because of his fondness for the latest in
] telecommunications and high-tech gadgets.

Welcome to the 21st century NBA

] Competition among $1.99 bottles of wine is getting so
] fierce so fast that officials of the California State
] Fair may have to add a new class to this summer's wine
] competition: Best of the Cheapest.
]
] First on the market last year was the Charles Shaw wines
] -- "Two Buck Chuck" -- made by Bronco Wine Co. of Ceres
] and sold only at the Trader Joe's chain of grocery
] stores.
]
] Then a few weeks ago the Beverages & More group of liquor
] stores introduced its own $1.99 wines under the Pacific
] Peak label, made by Golden State Vintners of Napa.
]
] Now the Raley's, Bel Air and Nob Hill family of grocery
] stores is leaping into the arena with three $1.99
] varietals marketed under the CA Arbor label, made by
] Black Oak Winery of Healdsburg.

I'm in Sonoma County for a couple of weeks and plan to visit Black Oak Winery in Healdsburg to get the dirt on the $2 wine trend sweeping across California.

Two-buck wine craze spills into Raley's chain

] SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- By now, most industry members are
] aware of the burgeoning trend in sales of $2 varietal
] wines that has apparently exploded on the West Coast, a
] result of the surplus of California bulk wine. The "Two
] Buck Chuck" phenomenon began last year at Trader Joe's
] chain of supermarkets, where Bronco Wine's Charles
] ["Chuck"} Shaw Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and
] Cabernet Sauvignon were selling for $1.99. Reports of
] waiting lines snaking out of the stores were not
] exaggerations. Indeed, one member of the California wine
] community recently told StateWays that she spent time in
] a store just watching consumers buying Two-Buck Chuck by
] the case -- mostly from two to five cases, and some even
] more.

Sales of $2 Wine Flying High

] A US military contractor accused of human rights
] violations has won a multi-million-dollar contract to
] police post-Saddam Iraq, The Observer can reveal.
]
] DynCorp, which has donated more than £100,000 to the
] Republican Party, began recruiting for a private police
] force in Iraq last week on behalf of the US State
] Department.
]
] The awarding of such a sensitive contract to DynCorp has
] caused consternation in some circles over the company's
] policing record. A British employment tribunal recently
] forced DynCorp to pay £110,000 in compensation to a UN
] police officer it unfairly sacked in Bosnia for
] whistleblowing on DynCorp colleagues involved in an
] illegal sex ring.

US Firm With Sex Scandal Record Wins Iraqi Security Contract

] LONDON (Reuters) - Last week's daring midnight rescue of
] 19-year-old American soldier Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi
] hospital has become one of the few feel-good stories of
] the war for Western media outlets.
]
] For George Paine, a technology consultant-turned-amateur
] war correspondent, it was a headache. Before the dramatic
] rescue of the injured young woman, Paine wrote a short
] update for his Web site http://www.warblogging.com/
] mistakenly reporting that Lynch was among the soldiers
] presumed dead.
]
] Paine, part of a growing community of online diarists
] called "bloggers," awoke the next morning to irate
] e-mails from readers and fellow bloggers.
]
] "I was exhausted. I didn't make clear Jessica was only
] MIA," the New York-based war watcher said afterwards.
]
] In the annals of journalism, Paine's mistake had minimal
] impact. The responses led him to quickly correct the
] error and move on.

LiveWire: for Bloggers, War Is No Cakewalk

] BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An international press freedoms
] group has accused the U.S. military of deliberately
] firing at journalists, killing three of them, when U.S.
] tanks rolled through Baghdad.
]
] Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday also called on
] U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to provide
] evidence that U.S. forces fired in self-defense, as the
] Pentagon said, and not deliberately.

Media deaths explanation sought - Apr. 9, 2003

] A software designer was being held Thursday as a material
] witness in a terrorism investigation after FBI agents
] searched his Hillsboro home and his office at Intel.
]
] According to neighbors and co-workers, Maher Mofeid
] Hawash, 38, was the target of Thursday's searches by the
] FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.
]
] Hawash was booked into the Multnomah County Detention
] Center on Thursday afternoon and put on a "material
] witness hold" at the request of the U.S. Marshal's
] Service, a sheriff's department spokesman said. A
] material witness designation allows the government to
] hold someone in order to compel testimony.

On Thursday, March 20, 2003, our friend and colleague Maher (Mike) Hawash was arrested ("detained") as a "material witness" by the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force in the parking lot of Intel Corp's Hawthorne Farms parking lot. Simultaneously, FBI agents in bulletproof vests and carrying assault rifles awoke Mike's wife Lisa and their three children in the home, which they proceeded to search. Since then, Mike has been held in the Federal Prison at Sheridan, OR.
http://www.freemikehawash.org/#action

FBI, Joint Terrorism agents search home in Hillsboro