myMedia

Produced and directed by the Mantello Brothers and presented by Jean-Michel
     Cousteau, the film will have its world premiere at the New England
       Aquarium's Simons IMAX (R) Theatre in Boston on February 13th

    SANTA MONICA, Calif. and LONDON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Filmmakers
Jean-Jacques and Francois Mantello (the Mantello Brothers) and film
ambassador Jean-Michel Cousteau are pleased to announce that their new IMAX
(R) 3D Theatre film DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D will feature narration by
actress and environmentalist Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill: Vol. 1&2, Blade
Runner). Beginning its theatrical run at IMAX (R) 3D theatres on February
15th, DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D will invite audiences on a journey of
discovery with these marine mammal tribes of the ocean.

    (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080124/LATH066)

    "We are thrilled that such an accomplished actress and charismatic
personality as Daryl Hannah has accepted to lend her talent and distinctive
voice to this immersive and emotional film adventure," said the Mantello
Brothers. "Her involvement in the protection of the environment, whether
through Reef Check, EcoAmerica or the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance, is
indisputable and we could not dream of a better, more inspiring person to
call for ocean conservation alongside our outstanding ambassador,
Jean-Michel Cousteau."

    "Less than 1% of human beings have had the incredible opportunity to
visit the underwater world," said Daryl Hannah. "With this beautiful
adventure projected onto IMAX (R) 3D screens, viewers can virtually touch
some of the most incredible mammals in the world," she said. "It is amazing
how much we share with these beautiful creatures -- play, family,
education, community, struggles. Unfortunately, because we often are so
unaware of these underwater tribes and our negative impact upon them
through slaughterings and uncontrolled human activities, they are facing
the greatest challenge of all: to survive the destruction of their habitat
and depletion of food resources."

    DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D will immerse viewers in the daily lives of small
and giant cetaceans as they interact socially, play, communicate through
their highly complex system of sound, feed, breed, migrate and fight for
their survival. The film delivers a powerful message in favor of both ocean
conservation and the protection of its tribes. It marks the first time
humpback whales, belugas, orcas, bottlenose dolphins and manatees have been
filmed in 3D for the world's biggest screens. Unlike other IMAX (R) -type
films, DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D was shot entirely in the wild and consists
solely of underwater footage.

    The New England Aquarium's Simons IMAX (R) Theatre on Central Wharf in
Boston (MA) will hold the world premiere of DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D on
February 13, 2008. The VIP event will be hosted by Daryl Hannah and
Jean-Michel Cousteau. Both will address the media and educators on the
critical situation in which cetaceans currently find themselves. For more
information, please visit http://www.neaq.org

    On February 15th, 3D Entertainment Distribution's release will open to
the general public at the New England Aquarium in Boston, as well as at the
Virginia Aquarium (Virginia Beach, VA), Texas State History Museum (Austin,
TX) and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo (Omaha, NE). The film will then roll out
at both domestic- and international IMAX (R) 3D Theatres throughout the
year. For complete theatre listings, please visit the film's official
website http://www.DOLPHINSandWHALES3D.com

    DOLPHINS AND WHALES 3D reunites director Jean-Jacques Mantello and
producer Francois Mantello with director of photography Gavin McKinney and
music composer Christophe Jacquelin, once again forming the highly
successful 3D filmmaking team behind 3D Entertainment's unique ocean-themed
film series. The company's first two episodes, OCEAN WONDERLAND and SHARKS
3D, which respectively address the urgent need to protect coral reefs and
shark species have proven immensely popular around the globe, grossing a
cumulative $56 million at the box office worldwide and counting.

    The film will be released at IMAX (R) 3D Theatres by 3D Entertainment
Distribution in association with the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild
Animals (CMS), PADI's Project Aware and Reef Check.

For First Time Ever, a Radio Station Goes 24/7 on Presidential Race

With the upcoming presidential race gaining momentum quicker than ever before, it's no surprise that the campaign is garnering a lot of news coverage. Now, for the first time, there is a national radio station devoted to the race 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 
The new station is called "POTUS" (pronounced "POH-tus"), a term used by White House staff for "President of the United States." It is a commercial-free station that airs nationwide on XM satellite radio. Listeners across the country can hear news and commentary about the campaign around the clock.   The station is being broadcast for free to all XM radios on channel 130. Those who don't have an XM radio can go online and listen for free for two weeks by going to xmradio.com/potus.  The "POTUS" station airs radio shows produced by XM and a variety of partners, ranging from the Washington Post and C-SPAN to non-traditional media such as bloggers and podcasters. Also heard on "POTUS" are liberal voices from the political blog DailyKos, conservative voices from the Heritage Foundation, and the renowned polling group Zogby International. POTUS will stop broadcasting in January 2009 when the new president takes office. By that time, the station estimates it will have aired more than 11,000 (eleven thousand) hours of programming about the race.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will Ring in the New Year With 13 Exclusive Live Concert Broadcasts From Across the US

		SIRIUS delivers more than 125 channels of the best programming in all of radio. SIRIUS is the original and only home of 100% commercial free music channels in satellite radio, offering 67 music channels available nationwide. SIRIUS also delivers 61 channels of sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather and data. All SIRIUS programming is available for a monthly subscription fee of only $12.95. (PRNewsFoto/SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO INC.) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES

 Live performances for New Year's Eve 2008 will include Velvet Revolver, 3
Doors Down, Patti Smith, The English Beat, Chubby Checker, Southside Johnny
                              and many others
 SIRIUS will also broadcast classic New Year's Eve concert recordings from
     Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett, Grateful Dead, and Frank Sinatra

    NEW YORK, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SIRIUS Satellite Radio
(Nasdaq: SIRI) announced today that it will celebrate the New Year with 13
exclusive live concert broadcasts from locations across the US featuring
some of the world's biggest artists.


    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991118/NYTH125 )

    The line-up is as follows:

    VELVET REVOLVER
    The Grammy(R) winning hard rock supergroup perform LIVE from the
    Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, NY
    (Octane, channel 20 -- January 1 at 12 am ET/ December 31 at 9 pm PT)

    3 DOORS DOWN
    The American post-grunge band perform LIVE from at the Hard Rock in Las
    Vegas, NV
    (The Pulse channel 9 -- January 1 beginning at 3 am ET/ 12 am PT)

    PATTI SMITH
    The pre-eminent American poet and songwriter performs LIVE from the Bowery
    Ballroom in New York, NY
    (SIRIUS Disorder channel 70 -- December 31 beginning at 10 pm ET/ 7 pm PT)

    THE ENGLISH BEAT
    Punk and Ska revival pioneers perform LIVE from the Malibu Inn in Malibu,
    CA
    (1st Wave, channel 22 -- January 1st at 2 am ET/ December 31 at 11 pm PT)

    CHUBBY CHECKER
    Rock and Roll pioneer performs LIVE from the Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK
    (60's Vibrations, channel 6 -- December 31 beginning at 11:30 pm ET/ 8:30
    pm PT)

    SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY
    Jersey's famed band perform LIVE from the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank,
    NJ
    (E Street Radio, channel 10 -- December 31 at 10 pm ET/ 7 pm PT)

    EVANS BLUE
    The hard rock quintet perform LIVE from The Meridian in Houston, TX
    (Octane, channel 20 -- January 1 at 1 am ET/ December 31 at 10 pm PT)

    THE BANGLES
    The 80s all female pop band perform LIVE from Fremont Street in Las Vegas,
    NV
    (Big 80s, channel 8 -- January 1 at 12 am ET/ December 31 at 9 pm PT)

    CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
    Performance from alternative country rock band broadcast LIVE from the
    House of Blues in Dallas, TX
    (Outlaw Country, channel 63 -- January 1 at 12:15 am ET/ December 31 at
    9:15 pm PT)

    CRYSTAL METHOD
    Los Angeles' dance-based electronic duo perform LIVE from Ruby Skye in San
    Francisco, CA
    (Boombox, channel 34 -- January 1 beginning at 3 am ET/ 12 am PT)

    DJ BORRIS
    Famed DJ performs LIVE from Pacha in New York, NY
    (Area 33, channel 33 -- January 1 at 12 am ET/ December 31 at 9 pm PT)

    DEL MCCOURY BAND
    Grammy(R) winning bluegrass band performs LIVE from Ryman Auditorium in
    Nashville, TN
    (Bluegrass, channel 65 -- December 31 at 10:30 pm ET/ 7:30 pm PT)

    WIDESPREAD PANIC
    Southern rock band performs LIVE from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA
    (Jam_On, channel 17 -- December 31 at 9 pm ET/ 6 pm PT)
    Beyond the live performances, SIRIUS will also air classic New Year's
Eve concert recordings from some of the world's greatest artists.
Springsteen fans can hear Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band's concert
recorded in their home state of New Jersey in 1977 on E Street Radio
channel 10 at 12 am ET/ 9 pm PT. Other great performances will include the
Grateful Dead's 1990 New Year's Eve concert recorded in Oakland, CA on the
Grateful Dead Channel 32 at 6:40 pm ET / 9:40 pm PT; and Jimmy Buffett's
1999 'Millennium Show" recorded in Hollywood, CA on Radio Margaritaville
channel 31 at 11 pm ET/ 8 pm PT.

    In addition, listeners can hear classic New Year's performances from
"The King" and "The Chairman." Beginning at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT, Elvis Radio
will broadcast a triple play of Elvis concerts, including Elvis' 1976 New
Year's Eve performance in Pittsburgh, PA. On Siriusly Sinatra channel 75 at
11 pm ET/ 8 pm and 11 pm PT, listeners will hear Frank Sinatra's 1986
concert recorded at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, NV.

    Various SIRIUS music channels will also broadcast year-end countdowns
of the top albums and songs of 2007. For a complete schedule, please visit
http://www.sirius.com.

    About SIRIUS

    SIRIUS, "The Best Radio on Radio," delivers more than 130 channels of
the best programming in all of radio. SIRIUS is the original and only home
of 100% commercial free music channels in satellite radio, offering 69
music channels. SIRIUS also delivers 65 channels of sports, news, talk,
entertainment, traffic, weather and data. SIRIUS is the Official Satellite
Radio Partner of the NFL, NASCAR and NBA, and broadcasts live play-by-play
games of the NFL and NBA, as well as live NASCAR races. All SIRIUS
programming is available for a monthly subscription fee of only $12.95.

    SIRIUS Internet Radio (SIR) is a CD-quality, Internet-only version of
the SIRIUS radio service, without the use of a radio, for the monthly
subscription fee of $12.95. SIR delivers more than 80 channels of talk,
entertainment, sports, and 100% commercial free music.

    SIRIUS Backseat TV(TM) is the first ever live in-vehicle rear seat
entertainment featuring three channels of children's TV programming,
including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network, for the
subscription fee of $6.99 plus applicable audio subscription fee.

    SIRIUS products for the car, truck, home, RV and boat are available in
more than 20,000 retail locations, including Best Buy, Circuit City,
Crutchfield, Costco, Target, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, RadioShack and at
shop.sirius.com.

    SIRIUS radios are offered in vehicles from Audi, Bentley, BMW,
Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep(R), Land Rover, Lexus,
Lincoln, Mercury, Maybach, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan,
Rolls Royce, Scion, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo. Hertz also offers SIRIUS
in its rental cars at major locations around the country.

Red: Give Gifts That Keep Giving This Holiday Season
 

  Pakistan Poses Bigger Threat Than Afghanistan and Iraq in War on Terror
Taliban Could Not Ask for Better Nation to Hide in; Leaders 'Come and Go as
                                They Please'

    NEW YORK, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror
attacks, the United States successfully deposed the fundamentalist Taliban
leadership in Afghanistan. But in the years since then, there have been an
increasing number of signs of a resurgence, and their influence has crossed
the border into neighboring Pakistan, which many now fear has become a safe
haven for terrorists.
    (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071021/NYSU003 )
    Today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than
Pakistan, according to Newsweek's South Asia Bureau Chief Ron Moreau and
Senior Editor Michael Hirsh, who delve into the Taliban's spreading
influence in Pakistan and what it means to the war on terror. The October
29 cover story, "The Most Dangerous Nation In the World Isn't Iraq. It's
Pakistan." (on newsstands Monday, October 22), states that unlike countries
such as Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan has everything Osama bin Laden could
ask for: political instability, a trusted network of radical Islamists, an
abundance of angry anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas, access
to state-of-the-art electronic technology, regular air service to the West
and security services that don't always do what they're supposed to do.
Then there's the country's large and growing nuclear program.
    The conventional story about Pakistan has been that it is an unstable
nuclear power, with distant tribal areas in terrorist hands. What is new,
and more frightening, is the extent to which Taliban and Qaeda elements
have now turned much of the country, including some cities, into a base
that gives jihadists more room to maneuver, both in Pakistan and beyond.
    Taliban fighters now pretty much come and go as they please inside
Pakistan, Newsweek reports. Their sick and injured get patched up in
private hospitals there. "Until I return to fight, I'll feel safe and
relaxed here," Abdul Majadd, a Taliban commander who was badly wounded this
summer during a fire fight against British troops in Afghanistan, told
Newsweek after he was evacuated to Karachi for emergency care. Guns and
supplies are readily available, and in the winter, when fighting
traditionally dies down in Afghanistan, thousands retire to the country's
thriving madrassas to study the Qur'an. Some of the brainier operatives
attend courses in computer technology, video production and even English.
Far from keeping a low profile, the visiting fighters attend services at
local mosques, where after prayers they speak to the congregation,
soliciting donations to support the war against the West. "Pakistan is like
your shoulder that supports your RPG," Taliban commander Mullah Momin Ahmed
told newsweek, barely a month before a U.S. airstrike killed him last
September in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province. "Without it you
couldn't fight. Thank God Pakistan is not against us."
    The contrast to 2002 is striking. Back then, in the first flush of
President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown on extremists, a newsweek reporter
met Agha Jan, a former senior Taliban Defense Ministry official, in an
orchard outside the city of Quetta. A nervous Jan recounted how he had to
change homes every two nights for fear of capture, and he fled when some
local villagers approached. Jan now has a house outside Quetta, where he
lives when he's not fighting with Taliban forces across the border in his
native Zabul province. Reporters in Peshawar, a strategic Pakistani border
city some 50 miles east of the historic Khyber Pass and the Afghan border,
say it's not unusual these days to receive phone calls from visiting
Taliban commanders offering interviews, or asking where to find a cheap
hotel, a good restaurant or a new cell phone.
    Armed militants have also effectively seized control in places like the
picturesque Swat Valley, where a jihadi leader named Mullah Fazlullah rides
a black horse and commands hundreds of men under the noses of a nearby
Pakistani Army division that seldom leaves its barracks. Peshawar is
perhaps the most important production and distribution center for Taliban
and other Islamist material. Jihadi CD and DVD shops abound. The Afghan
refugee camps around Peshawar, meanwhile, have become vast jihadist
sanctuaries, according to Moreau.
    "The biggest chink in Musharraf's armor is his failure to move against
the Taliban, particularly in the cities," says Samina Ahmed, the South Asia
director of the International Crisis Group in Islamabad. "The brains, the
ones who plan the operations, are not necessarily in the boonies or in the
sticks, they're in cities like Quetta. Can he pick them up? Easily."
    Bruce Riedel, the former senior director for South Asia on the National
Security Council, points out that Pakistan's large and growing nuclear
program is another cause for concern. "If you were to look around the world
for where Al Qaeda is going to find its bomb, it's right in their
backyard," he says. And despite the U.S. government's assertion that
Musharraf's government has tight control over its nuclear-weapons program,
radicals would not need to steal a whole bomb in order to create havoc.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, a noted nuclear physicist at Quaid-i-Azam University in
Islamabad, says outside experts don't really know much highly enriched
uranium Pakistan has produced in the past and how much remains in existing
stocks. "No one has a real idea about that," he says. "That means that
stuff could have gotten out. Little bits here or there. But we really don't
know."
    The most recent example of how bold the extremists have gotten in
Pakistan occurred during what would have been former Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto's joyous return to Pakistan on Thursday, Oct. 18, after an
eight-year exile. One or more suicide bombers set off twin explosions that
killed at least 134 bystanders and police, and injured 450 others as her
motorcade inched along a parade route guarded by roughly 20,000 Pakistani
security forces. Musharraf's government quickly fingered as a suspect
Baitullah Mehsud, a longtime Taliban supporter and director of some of the
most lethal training facilities for suicide bombers in the far-off
mountains of Waziristan.
    (Read cover at http://www.Newsweek.com)

WASHINGTON - IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures announced Monday that, in cooperation with NASA, the IMAX 3D camera is scheduled to return to space in 2008 aboard the space shuttle during STS-125 for production of a new film. Set for release in early 2010, IMAX will chronicle the life story of the Hubble Space Telescope.

"We are thrilled that people from around the world will experience this vital servicing mission from a front row seat," said Shana Dale, NASA deputy administrator, Headquarters, Washington. "Audiences will be mesmerized as they are transported to the distant galaxies of the universe."

IMAX's long-standing partnership with NASA has enabled millions of people to travel into space through a series of award-winning films. The IMAX 3D camera made its first voyage into space in 2001 for the production of "Space Station 3D." The Hubble IMAX 3D film will mark Warner Bros. Picture's first venture into space.

Veteran astronaut Scott D. Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to Hubble when the orbiter lifts off in late 2008. Navy Reserve Capt. Gregory C. Johnson will serve as pilot. Mission specialists are veteran spacewalkers John M. Grunsfeld, Michael J. Massimino, and first-time space fliers Andrew J. Feustel, Michael T. Good and K. Megan McArthur.

The Hubble servicing mission is an 11-day flight. Following launch, the shuttle will rendezvous with the telescope on the third day of the flight. Using the shuttle's mechanical arm, the telescope will be placed on a work platform in the cargo bay. Five separate spacewalks will be needed to accomplish all of the mission objectives.

"A decade ago we made a film that briefly touched on the subject of Hubble, but back then its first images were just coming in," said IMAX producer and director Toni Myers. "Today, we have Hubble's entire phenomenal legacy of data to explore. With IMAX 3D, we can transport people to galaxies that are literally 13 billion light years away. Real star travel is here at last."

"Our original IMAX 3D releases have already put audiences in the driver's seat of a NASCAR racecar and taken them swimming with some of the most exotic undersea creatures on earth, and now we look forward to transporting them to the far reaches of the universe," said Dan Fellman, domestic distribution president, Warner Bros. Pictures. "Warner Bros. and IMAX have collaborated on 20 films over the last four years, and we are excited to share our next endeavor - the IMAX 3D space film - with our audience."

Among work scheduled during the mission is the installation of two new instruments, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

The COS is the most sensitive ultraviolet spectrograph ever flown on Hubble. The instrument will probe the cosmic web, the large-scale structure of the universe whose form is determined by the gravity of dark matter and is traced by the spatial distribution of galaxies and intergalactic gas. WFC3 is a new camera sensitive across a wide range of wavelengths (colors), including infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. It will have a broad capability to study the planets in our solar system, the early and distant galaxies beyond Hubble's current reach, and nearby galaxies with stories to tell about their star formation histories.

Other planned work includes installing a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor that replaces one degrading unit of the three already aboard. The sensors control the telescope's pointing system. An attempt also will be made to repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. Installed in 1997, it stopped working in 2004. The instrument is used for high resolution studies in visible and ultraviolet light of both nearby star systems and distant galaxies, providing information about the motions and chemical makeup of stars, planetary atmospheres and other galaxies.

Astronauts will attempt to repair the Advanced Camera for Surveys, which stopped working in January 2007. The instrument consists of three imagers that are equipped with a variety of filters and dispersers that detect light from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. It was installed during the March 2002 servicing mission (SM3B).

The Hubble Space Telescope is an international cooperative project between NASA and the European Space Agency. For more information about the mission and the Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

COVER: The World According To Greenspan. (All overseas editions).
Senior Editor and Columnist Dan Gross writes that former Chairman of the
Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan considers himself the luckiest economist in
the world. Greenspan says he was "very fortunate" during his tenure in
which he led the world through vast economic changes and growth. "I emerged
on the scene at the beginning of this extraordinary half-generation." He
has been appointed and reappointed by four presidents, and having overseen
nearly two decades of nearly uninterrupted growth -- the U.S. economy
suffered just two brief recessions under his watch -- Greenspan has
arguably been the most successful public official of the past three
decades.

 Apple Introduces New iPod Classic               

  New 160GB Model Holds Up to 40,000 Songs

    SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today
introduced the new iPod(R) classic, featuring 80GB or 160GB of storage that
holds your entire collection of music, photos, video, podcasts and games-up
to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video. Now in its sixth generation, the new
iPod classic delivers all the features customers love about their iPods,
plus an enhanced user interface featuring Cover Flow(TM) and a new
all-metal enclosure. iPod classic is priced at just $249 for the 80GB model
and $349 for the 160GB model.
    "The first iPod put 1,000 songs in your pocket-this new iPod classic
can put 40,000 songs in your pocket," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With a
thinner, all-metal enclosure and an enhanced user interface, the iPod
classic is ideal for people who want to hold everything on their iPod."
    The new iPod classic holds up to 160GB of storage in an all-metal
anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel enclosure. iPod classic
works seamlessly with iTunes(R) so you can import, manage and then easily
sync your favorite content. You can buy music, video and games for your
iPod classic from the iTunes Store with more than six million songs
available for preview and one-click purchase.
    The new iPod classic features up to 40 hours of music playback and
seven hours of video playback in the 160GB model, and up to 30 hours of
music playback and five hours of video playback in the 80GB model on a
single charge,* letting users enjoy their entire collections of music,
audiobooks, audio and video podcasts, music videos, television shows and
movies wherever they go.
    The new iPod classic is perfect for playing iPod games and comes
pre-loaded with iQuiz, the entertainment trivia game; Vortex, a fast-paced
360 degree brick-bashing game; and Klondike, the popular solitaire card
game. Additional games will be available for purchase for the new iPod
classic later this month from the iTunes Store, including Sudoku and Tetris
from Electronic Arts and Ms. PAC-MAN from NAMCO.
    The iPod is the world's most popular family of digital music players
with over 100 million sold. Today, Apple released its most exciting iPod
lineup ever with the iPod shuffle in five new colors; iPod classic holding
up to 40,000 songs; the incredible all new iPod nano with video playback;
and the breakthrough iPod touch with a revolutionary multi-touch user
interface. iPod owners can choose from a vast ecosystem of accessories with
over 4,000 products made specifically for the iPod including cases, fitness
accessories, speaker systems and iPod connectivity in over 70 percent of US
automobiles.
    Pricing & Availability
    Both iPod classic models are available immediately worldwide in silver
and black. The 80GB iPod classic model is $249 (US) and the 160GB iPod
classic is $349 (US).
    iPod classic requires a Mac(R) with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS(R) X v10.4.8
or later and iTunes 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows
Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and
iTunes 7.4. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is
recommended, fees may apply. The iTunes Store is not available in all
countries.

Newsweek cover: "This Man Was Dead"

(p. 42). Senior Editor Jerry Adler reports
on how doctors are reinventing how they treat sudden cardiac arrest. He
looks at what happens when your heart stops and how new research into how
brain cells die, and how something as simple as lowering body temperature
may keep people alive, could ultimately save as many as 100,000 lives a
year. Adler also reports about the mind and the visions people report from
their deathbeds and the age-old questions about what, if anything, outlives
the body.

History.com Celebrates Independence Day With Interactive States and Presidents Web Sites

New York, July 3 /PRNewswire/ -- As Independence Day approaches, The
History Channel(R) has launched dedicated "Presidents" and "States"
microsites at History.com, providing students, history enthusiasts and
viewers of The History Channel a destination to learn about the 42
presidents who have led the nation throughout its 271-year existence, and
the distinct histories and fascinating facts of each of the 50 states.
    As the most trusted history resource on the Internet, History.com
offers a detailed and entertaining look into the U.S. states and presidents
through maps and timelines, unique anecdotes, images and video footage.
    "The stories behind American presidents and the states are a
significant part of our nation's history," said Dr. Libby O'Connell, Sr.
Vice President, Corporate Outreach and Chief Historian for The History
Channel. "As we celebrate American Independence Day this 4th of July it is
important to understand the history of where we live and recognize the
leaders that helped shape the country we call home."
    The "Presidents" site on History.com, located at
http://www.history.com/presidents, provides interactive information
regarding each American president, including:
    * Biography: Each president has a story; from childhood to marriage to
      presidential hardships and successes.  History.com captures the nature
      of each leader with an in-depth look at their early life, notable
      achievements and family members.

    * Timeline: Viewers can walk through important dates in the President's
      life, from birth to death, catching a glimpse of historic moments in
      between.  The dates of each president's life are plotted on a timeline
      with corresponding biographical information.

    * Image Gallery: A collection of photos of each president allows a more
      intimate look at the nation's leaders.  The photos profile the stages of
      their lives.

    * Video Gallery: The site also features video footage, which serves as a
      great way to visually tell the story of each president's life and
      presidency.
    From the Silver State to the Peach State, History.com provides a fun,
easy to use destination for American "States" history at
http://www.history.com/states:
    * States' Stats and Fun Facts: Each state has its own statistics (Did you
      know New York's state bird is the BlueBird?) and fun facts (California
      has the seventh largest economy in the world) to explore.

    * Interactive U.S. Map: Viewers can roll their mouse over the interactive
      map of the 50 states to see pop-up information, additional history and
      notable landmarks of each location.

    * Video and Images: With distinct landmarks, marvels and points of
      interest within each state, viewers can benefit from a rich media
      exploration of images and video.

    * Engaging Games: Visitors can test their license plate IQ with the "State
      That Plate" game which challenges players to identify each state by its
      local license plate.  Also offered is a chance for visitors to brush up
      on their American geography with the "Place the State" game, an online
      state puzzle.
    About History.com
    History.com is the definitive historical online resource that delivers
entertaining and informative content through interactive timelines; video;
maps; games; podcasts and RSS feeds. History.com delivers thousands of
video streams, from presidential speeches, to UFO sightings, to D-Day, the
award- winning site will showcase newly created video clips daily. Web
exclusive broadband video content has been developed from popular series
and specials on The History Channel including Ice Road Truckers, Dog
Fights, Universe, Cities of the Underworld, Modern Marvels, and Digging for
the Truth. Search through History.com which provides access to an
extraordinary amount of historical information with unprecedented speed. In
addition, an online classroom will supply educational resources including
study guides and lesson plans for teachers. The website is located at
http://www.History.com/.
    The History Channel(R) is a leading cable television network featuring
compelling original, non-fiction specials and series that bring history to
life in a powerful and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. The
network provides an inviting place where people experience history in new
and exciting ways enabling them to connect their lives today to the great
lives and events of the past that provide a blueprint for the future. The
History Channel has earned four Peabody Awards, three Primetime Emmy(R)
Awards, 10 News & Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and received the prestigious
Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the
network's Save Our History(R) campaign dedicated to historic preservation
and history education. The History Channel reaches more than 93 million
Nielsen subscribers. The website is located at http://www.History.com
SOURCE History.com

Nickelodeon's Nicktropolis Reaches Almost 4 Million Unique Registered Users in Just Four Months

NEW YORK, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon's Nicktropolis -- a
virtual community for kids which provides them with the opportunity to play
games, watch video, explore Nickelodeon-branded and original environments,
interact with other kids or Nickelodeon characters in real time, and create
their own personalized 3D rooms -- reached a milestone of almost 4 million
registered unique users, or "Nicktropolitans," since its launch in late
January 2007. The site continues to add new creative content, including its
first live action themed world throughout June.
    "We are extremely pleased that Nicktropolis has added on an average of
about 1 million registered users a month, and believe that the additions of
two new environments, particularly The Naked Brothers Band, which will
allow users to interact with one of the hottest 'tween properties on TV,
will enhance the user experience even more," said Jason Root, Vice
President of Nick.com.
    Added Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President of Digital Media for
MTVN Kids and Family Group, "With the powerful combination of Nicktropolis,
and the original youth virtual world, Neopets, MTVN Kids and Family
provides two truly compelling 2-D virtual worlds for kids. Our goal is to
give them spaces to do what they are doing the most on the internet:
gaming, video, socialization and personalization, all in a safe way."
    Since launching, Nicktropolis has garnered approximately 14 million
visits and almost 500 million page views, along with a total of 108 million
game plays. Within Nicktropolis, the average time spent per week per
visitor in May was 43.4 minutes (source: Omniture SiteCatalyst).
    This month, Nicktropolis will launch two brand new virtual zones within
the site, including one based on the top tween Nickelodeon television hit,
The Naked Brothers Band and another space themed zone. Initially The Naked
Brothers Band zone will feature three different rooms: the "Studio," the
"Apartment" and the "Fuzzy Room." The "Apartment" features musical
instruments that users can play, and a jukebox that plays The Naked
Brothers Band songs such as "Crazy Car," among others. The area will also
include interactive elements such as The Naked Brothers Band video mash-up,
and a brand new game titled "The Naked Brothers Band: Girl Trouble." A
separate The Naked Brothers Band treasure hunt and additional gaming will
be added later in June.
    The new space themed environment, launching on Nicktropolis will allow
kids to navigate and "fly" on a space ship from downtown Nicktropolis into
the Space Center. With state of the art Nicktropolis Space Center auto
pilot enabled, users can steer the ship to different locations within the
Space Center. They will also be able to play the first true Nicktropolis
multiplayer online game. Users had the opportunity to vote on three
possible new zones for the site, choosing among a Space Center, Underground
and Prehistoric Nicktropolis. Out of nearly 1 million votes in one week,
46% voted for the new space world. The site also recently added a new
"Aquarium" area featuring separate sub environments like "Lost Ships,"
"Undersea Volcanos," and "The Castle Ruins," along with the ability to
create, care for and play with your own pet fish. In its first two weeks,
more than 500,000 individual fish were created.
    In addition, Nicktropolis recently launched a newly redesigned home
page highlighting new features such as a "What's New" section, polls,
forecasts, top rooms and top five games, videos and message boards within
Nicktropolis.
    Nicktropolis is part of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group's
interactive and creative online environments that serve preschoolers, kids,
teens and parents. This community, which also includes Nick.com, ME:TV,
TurboNick, Neopets, Shockwave and AddictingGames, Nickjr.com, Nick Arcade,
Nick-at-nite.com, Quizilla, The-N.com, Noggin.com, Parentsconnect,
GoCityKids, generated 23 million unique users in May according to ComScore
Media Metrix.
    About Nickelodeon
    Nickelodeon, in its 28th year, is the number-one entertainment brand
for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in
everything it does. The company includes television programming and
production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer
products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films.
Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 92 million
households and has been the number-one- rated basic cable network for 12
consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos
are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

SOURCE Nickelodeon

Safari for Windows Public Beta Downloads Top 1 Million in First 48 Hours

CUPERTINO, Calif., June 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today
announced that more than 1 million copies of Safari(TM) for Windows were
downloaded in the first 48 hours since the free public beta was made
available on Monday. Safari 3 is the world's fastest and easiest-to-use
browser, and is available as a free download at http://www.apple.com/safari.
    Safari 3 is the fastest browser running on Windows, rendering web pages
up to twice as fast as IE 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2,
based on the industry standard iBench tests.* Safari 3 supports all modern
Internet standards including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SVG and Java. Safari
updates are delivered seamlessly through Apple's Software Update, and the
first update for Safari for Windows Public Beta which fixes some early
reported bugs was released last night.
    Safari 3 for Windows requires Windows XP or Windows Vista, a minimum of
256 MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium
processor.
    *Performance will vary based on system configuration, network
connection and other factors. Testing conducted on an iMac 2.16 GHz Intel
Core 2 Duo system running Windows XP, with 1GB of RAM.
    Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the
Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the
Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with
its award- winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and
professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media
revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online
store, and will enter the mobile phone market this year with its
revolutionary iPhone.
    (C) 2007 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac,
Mac OS, Macintosh and Safari are trademarks of Apple. Other company and
product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Newsweek cover "Caregiving & Alzheimer's"
 Senior Editor Barbara Kantrowitz and Chicago Correspondent Karen Springen report on the millions of baby boomers now caring for parents, and in some cases, spouses afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Of the 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer's, an estimated 70 percent of them live at home, cared for by family. But the financial and emotional toll on these family members can often become overwhelming. To combat the devastating disease, a growing number of boomers are taking action by increasing public awareness and campaigning for increased research funding. It's estimated that by 2030, Alzheimer's will cost Medicare $400 billion, almost as much as the entire current Medicare budget.

"The New War on Hillary"
Senior Writer Jonathan Darman and Investigative Correspondent Mark Hosenball report on potential obstacles for Hillary Clinton in her presidential campaign. So-called Hillary-haters have started new dirt-digging efforts to remind voters, particularly the younger generation of voters of what they consider negative points, with detailed and harsh, accounts of Clinton's White House and Senate career.     http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19140629/site/newsweek/

Apple Introduces Safari for Windows

SAN FRANCISCO, WWDC 2007, June 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R)
today introduced Safari(TM) 3, the world's fastest and easiest-to-use web
browser for Windows PCs and Macs. Safari is the fastest browser running on
Windows, based on the industry standard iBench tests, rendering web pages
up to twice as fast as IE 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2.
Safari joins iTunes(R) in delivering Apple's legendary user experience to
both Windows and Mac(R) users as well as full support of open Internet
standards. Safari 3 features easy-to-manage bookmarks, effortless browsing
with easy-to-organize tabs and a built-in RSS reader to quickly scan the
latest news and information. Safari 3 public beta is available today as a
free download at http://www.apple.com/safari.

Just Two in Five U.S. Adults are Regular Readers of Newspapers

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Gathering news and information
used to be easy - there was the network news and the daily newspaper. Then
cable news stations entered the picture, forever changing the news
landscape. And the impact of the Internet has changed it even further. With
all of these 24-hour news sources at our fingertips, will there still be a
place for newspapers in the new information age?
    The answer is "yes", according to a recent Harris Poll. In a survey of
adults in five European countries, Australia and the United States,
readership of major daily newspapers today ranges from a low of six percent
of adults in Great Britain and Italy to a high of 13 percent in Spain and
Germany. The number one source for each country is TV network news.
    But, looking five years in to the future, the number for major daily
newspapers drops just slightly. The lowest percentage of adults who
indicate that major daily newspapers will be their source for news and
information is in Great Britain and Italy (4% each) while the highest
percentage is among German adults (12%). The big difference is that online
news and information sites become the number one source of news and
information for the United States, France, Italy, and Spain and are tied
for first for Australian adults. TV network news will still be first for
adults in Great Britain and Germany.
    These are some of the results of a Harris Poll which was conducted
online by Harris Interactive(R) among a total of 8,749 adults within France
(1,134); Germany (1,133); Great Britain (1,006); Italy (1,122); Spain
(995); Australia (976); and the United States (2,383), between May 2 and
14, 2007. In Italy and the United States, these adults were 18 and older;
in all other countries, they were 16 and older. Data from this survey was
also presented at the World Association of Newspapers Annual Congress on
June 6, 2007.
    Are Adults Reading the Newspaper?
    Across the countries, frequency of newspaper readership varies greatly.
Almost half (48%) of Spanish adults and 46 percent of Germans are regular
readers (5 or more days a week). Two out of five US adults (39%) are
regular readers as are one-third of British adults (35%), Italian adults
(34%) and Australian adults (33%). On the low end, just one-quarter (26%)
of French adults regularly read the paper while 44 percent of them are
infrequent readers, only one day a week or less.
    There have been a lot of reasons given for not reading the newspaper.
The number one reason for U.S. (58%), French (57%), German (56%) and
Australian (66%) adults is simply lack of time. For British and Spanish
adults, the top reason for not reading the newspaper is that it is biased
or too narrow of a viewpoint in its reporting (54% for each country). For
over half of Italian adults (52%) the top reason is that it is easier to go
online for news and information. As this is also a reason for over half of
U.S. and French adults (55% each) and half of Australian adults (49%), it
is definitely something newspapers should be concerned with in moving
towards the future.
    Ultimately, it seems that a good deal of information gathering is
occurring online. Half of adults in Germany and Australia as well as more
than half of French (54%), US (56%) and Spanish adults (58%) access online
news and information sites at least once a day. In Italy, this number jumps
as three- quarters of adults (74%) access online news sites at least once a
day. Great Britain seems slower to go online. One-third (31%) of British
adults do not access online news sites with any regularity and an
additional 28 percent of them only access them about once a week.
    Credibility of Newspapers
    Newspapers may have a small credibility issue. While adults in these
seven countries do not believe that newspapers have absolutely no
credibility, they do not believe they have complete credibility either. On
a scale of 0 to 100 where "0" means they have absolutely no credibility and
"100" means complete credibility, adults in great Britain rate newspapers a
score of 50 - which is the lowest of all the countries -- closely followed
by Italy (mean of 52) and the United States (mean of 57). Adults in France,
Spain and Australia all are close in their attitudes towards newspapers'
credibility as they give mean scores of 58, 59 and 60, respectively. Adults
in Germany, however, have the strongest concept of newspapers' credibility
as they give them a score of 67.
    Roles of Newspapers
    While people may not be reading newspapers as much as they once were,
they still do see the importance of them. Four out of five or more adults
in all seven countries say it is important for newspapers to have roles
such as providing news and information about evens in their region, country
and the world. Three-quarters or more in each of the countries surveyed
believe an important role of newspapers is to provide news they can use in
their daily life and that is interesting to know. One area where the United
States varies from the other countries is in providing information that is
needed to know how to vote. Eight in ten U.S. adults (79%) say this is an
important role of newspapers and this is by far the highest of all the
countries. Just six in ten Italian and British adults (60% and 61%
respectively) feel the same way.
    Looking to the future
    Looking more specifically to the future, the top thing newspapers and
their associated online news sites could do to better represent the issues
in their communities would be to ensure all points of views are
represented. Another important item for the future is providing more
research and findings on key issues. Two in five (44%) U.S. adults, half of
Spanish adults and 57 percent of Australian adults all say this is
something newspapers could do to better represent issues in their
communities. More than half of German adults (52%) and 48 percent of
Australian adults believe raising the quality of writing and analysis would
help newspapers in the future.
                                   TABLE 1
                   CURRENT SOURCES OF NEWS AND INFORMATION
           "What are your sources for news and information today?"
    Base: All EU adults in five countries, US adults and Australian adults

                          United   Great
                          States  Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
                            %        %       %     %     %      %        %
    TV Network News         25       36      29    30    22    28        35
    Online news and
     information sites      18       14      17    22    18    16        18
    Cable network news      14        2       9     5     7     7         3
    Radio                   12       16      20    11    16    18        17
    Major Daily
     Newspapers             12        6       7     6    13    13        12
    Local community
     newspapers              8        6       3     7     3     4         6
    Magazines                4        3       5     5     4     5         3
    National Daily
     Newspapers              3       11       6     8    12     5         5
    School & work
     newsletters             1        1       1     1     1     1         1
    Other sources            3        2       3     3     2     3         1
    Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding
    Note: Respondents were presented with choices and their total of
sources used needed to add up to 100%

Spike TV Announces 2007 'GUYS CHOICE' Winners

 First Annual Show Hosted by Tracy Morgan Premieres on Spike TV Wednesday,
                              June 13 at 10 PM
      Adam Sandler Voted the Ultimate 'Guy's Guy' by Spike TV Viewers
 'Swingers' Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau Receive the First-Ever 'Guy Movie
                            Hall of Fame Award'
     Show Features Performances and Appearances by Will Ferrell, James
   Gandolfini, Jessica Alba, Chuck Liddell, Kevin James, Elisha Cuthbert,
               Mandy Moore, Masi Oka, Disturbed and Many More
   To View Exclusive Footage from 'GUYS CHOICE' Log-On to http://www.spiketv.com

    LOS ANGELES, June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners were announced tonight
during the first annual Spike TV "GUYS CHOICE" held at the CBS Radford
Studios in Los Angeles. Hosted by comedian Tracy Morgan, the show that
commemorates all the things men love premieres on Spike TV Wednesday, June
13 (10:00 PM-Midnight, ET/PT).
    Adam Sandler took home one of the night's top honors, as he was voted
the ultimate "Guy's Guy" by Spike TV viewers. Sandler's favorite band of
all time STYX rocked the house with its mega hit "Renegade."
    The show also honored the iconic and ultimately quotable guy movie
"Swingers" with the first-ever "Guy Movie Hall of Fame Award" presented to
Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau.
    In addition, Will Ferrell walked away with two awards, "Funniest M.F."
and "Most Viral Video" for his work in "The Landlord." Spike TV's "GUYS
CHOICE" also included ZZ Top featuring a sizzling dance performance by
Carmen Electra; Chuck Liddell, Elisha Cuthbert, Mandy Moore, Andy Samberg,
Artie Lange, Brittany Snow, Chris Cornell, Disturbed, James Gandolfini, Joe
Rogan, Kelly Carlson, Masi Oka, Rob Corddry, Seth Rogen, Sofia Vergara,
Steve-O, Bill Goldberg, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Tricia Helfer, and Will
Forte, among others.
    The highlight of the night was a toast for Adam Sandler by friend and
comedian, Kevin James, his co-star in the upcoming movie "I Now Pronounce
You Chuck and Larry" (in theatres July 20).
    In addition to honoring the sexiest women and coolest guys from the
past year, the show featured unforgettable tributes to legendary
entertainers, rockers and babes, as well as edgy stand-up comedy and
house-shaking musical performances.
    A full list of winners is included below:

    GUY'S GUY
    Adam Sandler

    BIGGEST ASS KICKER
    Gerard Butler

    BALLSIEST BAND
    Disturbed

    HOTTEST GIRL ON THE PLANET
    Adriana Lima

    LUCKIEST BASTARD
    Cash Warren

    FUNNIEST M.F.
    Will Ferrell

    GIFT FROM THE GODS
    Minka Kelly

    MOST UNSTOPPABLE JOCK
    LaDainian Tomlinson

    NAUGHTIEST CYBERVIXEN
    Christine Dolce

    MOST DANGEROUS MAN
    Chuck Liddell

    FEMME FATALE
    Rose McGowan

    KINGPIN (GUY OF THE YEAR)
    James Gandolfini

    COCKIEST CREW
    "Jackass 2" Crew

    GUTSIEST MOVE
    Stephen Colbert

    SICKEST RHYMES
    Jay-Z

    SEXIEST IMPORT
    Bar Rafaeli

    COOLEST GEEK
    Masi Oka

    BEST GANGSTERTAINMENT
    "The Departed"

    HOTTEST JESSICA
    Jessica Alba

    CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
    Shaun White

    GAME WITH THE MOST GAME
    Madden NFL '07

    MOST VIRAL VIDEO
    Will Ferrell "The Landlord"

    GUY MOVIE HALL OF FAME
    "Swingers" Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau
    To view exclusive footage, interviews, behind-the-scenes access, and
more from the 2007 "Guys Choice," log-on to http://www.spiketv.com
    The official sponsors of Spike TV's "GUYS CHOICE" are the new AT&T,
Corona, Jeep(R), Pizza Hut, SNICKERS(R)Brand, Southern Comfort(R) and U.S.
Army.
    Emmy Award-winning producer Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet Productions and
Casey Patterson, Senior Vice President, Event Production & Talent
Development for Spike TV served as executive producers. Alicia Portugal is
the executive in charge of production for Spike TV.
    Spike TV is available in 91.6 million homes and is a division of MTV
Networks. A unit of VIACOM (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the
world's leading creators of programming and content across all media
platforms.


Badgley Mischka to Dress American Idol Finalist, Jordin Sparks

 The Couture Brand Will Outfit The Finalist For The Finale Week

NEW YORK, May 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Luxury couture brand,  Badgley Mischka, which is owned by Iconix Brand Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICON),  announced today it has outfitted Fox's American Idol finalist, Jordin  Sparks, for the highly anticipated finale week. The designing duo, Mark Badgley and James Mischka held private fittings with Jordin to custom fit her multiple looks for last night's performance show and tonight's finale results show. Jordin is wearing Badgley Mischka Couture, Badgley Mischka Platinum Eveningwear, footwear and jewelry. Mark Badgley and James Mischka, stated, "It has been a wonderful experience to dress Jordin for this season's last episodes. We have collaborated with her over the past week and she is a lovely and extremely talented young woman and a pleasure to work with. This is an incredible opportunity to blend high fashion and music on this cultural phenomenon that is American Idol." This is the first time in America Idol history that designers will be incorporated into the finale shows .

Maureen McCormick Faces Real-Life Family Issues on a Very Un-Brady Dr. Phil, Tuesday, May 22

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, Maureen McCormick, who is best known for playing the perfect Marcia Brady on the iconic situation comedy "The Brady Bunch," goes public with her very real-life estrangement from her father on DR. PHIL, Tuesday May 22 (check your local listings). With cameras rolling, McCormick confronts her father and her brother, but Dr. Phil helps her to confront her own feelings about her less- than-perfect family, and how she will cope if, in reality, there is no happy ending. McCormick originally hinted at the difficulties between herself, her brother and her father, including allegations of elder abuse at the hands of her brother, when Dr. Phil guest hosted "Larry King Live" on April 5th and interviewed her in regard to her various personal problems and addictions. McCormick recently filed a legal petition for conservatorship of her father

Newsweek Explores the Question What Makes us Male or Female? How Those who Believe They Were Born with the Wrong Bodies are Forcing us to Re-Examine What it Means to be Male and Female

NEW YORK, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- To most of us, gender comes as naturally as breathing. We have no quarrel with the "M" or the "F" on our birth certificates, Assistant Managing Editor Debra Rosenberg writes in the May 21 Newsweek cover "The Mystery of Gender" (on newsstands Monday, May 14). But to those who consider themselves transgender, there's a disconnect between the sex they were assigned at birth and the way they see or express themselves.  Today's transgender Americans go far beyond the old stereotypes. They are soccer moms, ministers, teachers, politicians, and even young children. Their push for tolerance and acceptance is reshaping businesses, sports, schools and families. It's also raising new questions about just what makes us male or female.  Rosenberg and a team of Newsweek correspondents report that although the numbers of transgender people are relatively few-the most generous estimate from the National Center for Transgender Equality is between 750,000 and 3 million Americans (fewer than 1 percent)-many of them are taking their intimate struggles public for the first time, like L.A. Times sportswriter Mike Penner who announced in his column in April that when he returned from vacation, he would do so as a woman, Christine Daniels. Nine states plus Washington, D.C. have enacted anti-discrimination laws that protect transgender people-and another three states have legislation pending, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Rosenberg writes that this month the U.S. House of Representatives passed a hate-crimes prevention bill that included "gender identity."  So, what is gender anyway? Rosenberg writes that it is certainly more than the physical details of what's between our legs. History and science suggest that gender is more subtle and more complicated than anatomy. (It's separate from sexual orientation, too, which determines which sex we're attracted to.) Gender helps us organize the world into two boxes, his and hers, and gives us a way of quickly sizing up every person we see on the street. "Gender is a way of making the world secure," says feminist scholar Judith Butler, a rhetoric professor at University of California, Berkeley.  Newsweek reports that gender identity first becomes an issue in early childhood, as any parent who's watched a toddler lunge for a truck or a doll can tell you. That's also when some kids may become aware that their bodies and brains don't quite match up. Jona Rose, a 6-year-old kindergartner in northern California, seems like a girl in nearly every way-she wears dresses, loves pink and purple and bestowed female names on all her stuffed animals. But Jona, who was born Jonah, also has a penis. When she was 4, her mom, Pam, offered to buy Jona a dress, and she was so excited she nearly hyperventilated. She began wearing dresses every day to preschool and no one seemed to mind. It wasn't easy at first. "We wrung our hands about this every night," says her dad, Joel. But finally he and Pam decided to let their son live as a girl, Rosenberg writes.  Now, as transgender people become more visible and challenge the old boundaries, they've given voice to another debate -- whether gender comes in just two flavors. "The old categories that everybody's either biologically male or female, that there are two distinct categories and there's no overlap, that's beginning to break down," says Michael Kimmel, a sociology professor at SUNY-Stony Brook.  So what's different in transgender people? Scientists don't know for certain. Though their hormone levels seem to be the same as non-trans levels, some scientists speculate that their brains react differently to the hormones, just as men's differ from women's. But that could take decades of further research to prove, Rosenberg writes.  Rosenberg also writes that although transgender opponents have often turned to the Bible for support, not all people of faith would agree. Baptist minister John Nemecek, 56, was surfing the Web one weekend in 2003 when his wife was at a baby shower. Desperate for clues to his long-suppressed feelings of femininity, he stumbled across an article about gender identity disorder on WebMD. The suggested remedy was sex-reassignment surgery-something Nemecek soon thought he had to do. Many families can be ripped apart by such drastic changes, but Nemecek's wife of 33 years, stuck by him. His employer of 15 years, Spring Arbor University, a faith-based liberal arts college in Michigan, did not. Nemecek says she has no trouble squaring her gender change and her faith. "Actively expressing the feminine in me has helped me grow closer to God," she says.  As kids at ever-younger ages grapple with issues of gender variance, doctors, psychologists and parents are weighing how to balance immediate desires and long-term ones. For parents like Colleen Vincente, 44, following a child's lead seems only natural. Her second child, M. (Vincente asked to use an initial to protect the child's privacy), was born female. But as soon as she could talk, she insisted on wearing boy's clothes and soon wanted to shave off all her hair. "We went along with that," says Vincente. "We figured it was a phase." Vincente and her husband, John, consulted a therapist, who confirmed their instincts to let M. guide them. Now 9, M. lives as a boy and most people have no idea he was born otherwise. "The most important thing is to realize this is who your child is," Vincente says. Rosenberg says that's a big step for a family, but could be an even bigger one for the rest of the world.  (Read cover story at www.Newsweek.com)  http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

NEWSWEEK BOOK EXCERPT: 'JESUS OF NAZARETH' By Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI

Newsweek Writes: With 'Jesus of Nazareth,' Pope Benedict XVI Fights Back Against The 'Dictatorship of Relativism' By Showing the World His Vision of the Definitive Truth of Christ

NEW YORK, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- "Baptism itself was a confession of sins and the attempt to put off an old, failed life and to receive a new one. Is that something Jesus could do?" How could he confess sins? How could he separate himself from his previous life in order to start a new one? This is a question that Christians could not avoid asking, writes Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI in 'Jesus of Nazareth' releasing this week in the U.S. and Canada by Doubleday. "The whole significance of Jesus' Baptism, the fact that he bears "all righteousness," first comes to light on the Cross: The Baptism is an acceptance of death for the sins of humanity, and the voice that calls out "This is my beloved Son" over the baptismal waters is an anticipatory reference to the Resurrection. This also explains why, in his own discourses, Jesus uses the word baptism to refer to his death. Only from this starting point can we understand Christian Baptism. Jesus' Baptism anticipated his death on the Cross, and the heavenly voice proclaimed an anticipation of the Resurrection," Benedict writes in an exclusive excerpt in the May 21 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, May 14).  The Pope explicates Jesus' baptism by John -- a story that appears in all four Gospel accounts and that modern historians believe is at least partially grounded in fact. Benedict starts by describing the social and historical backdrop, the common use of ritual ablutions among first-century Jews. His picture of John the Baptist reflects the scholarly consensus in most respects; the Baptist was an ascetic who likely spent time with the Essenes, a group of Jews who lived in the desert awaiting the imminent arrival of the Messiah, Religion Editor Lisa Miller writes in her introduction of the Pope's excerpt.  "And yet the Baptist's appearance on the scene was something completely new. The Baptism that he enjoined is different from the usual religious ablutions. It cannot be repeated, and it is meant to be the concrete enactment of a conversion that gives the whole of life a new direction forever. It is -- connected with an ardent call to a new way of thinking and acting, but above all with the proclamation of God's judgment and with the announcement that one greater than John is to come. The Fourth Gospel tells us that the Baptist "did not know" this greater personage whose way he was to prepare. But he does know that his own role is to prepare a path for this mysterious Other, that his whole mission is directed toward him," Benedict writes.  "We can imagine the extraordinary impression that the figure and message of John the Baptist must have produced in the highly charged atmosphere of Jerusalem at that particular moment of history. At last there was a prophet again, and his life marked him out as such. God's hand was at last plainly acting in history again. John baptizes with water, but one even greater, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, is already at the door. Given all this, there is absolutely no reason to suppose that Mark is exaggerating when he reports that 'there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins'," Benedict writes in the book. "John's baptism includes the confession of sins. The Judaism of the day was familiar both with more generally formulaic confessions of sin and with a highly personalized confessional practice in which an enumeration of individual sinful deeds was expected. The goal is truly to leave behind the sinful life one has led until now and to start out on the path to a new, changed life."  Also in the excerpt, Benedict writes, "the actual ritual of Baptism symbolizes this. On one hand, immersion into the waters is a symbol of death, which recalls the death symbolism of the annihilating, destructive power of the ocean flood ... Immersion in the water is about purification, about liberation from the filth of the past that burdens and distorts life -- it is about beginning again, and that means it is about death and resurrection, about starting life over again anew. So we could say that it is about rebirth."  George Wiegel, Newsweek contributor and papal biographer, writes in his essay in the May 21 issue, that "In 'Jesus of Nazareth,' Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) reveals the core of his personality as he invites readers into a master teacher's classroom -- a teacher who has absorbed the best of modern Biblical scholarship and has emerged from that encounter with his faith enriched." "'Jesus of Nazareth' is a great summing-up of a lifetime of learning, refined into insight by decades of praying the New Testament as well as reading it. If there is a new chord struck with particular force, it is Benedict XVI's insistence that the Christian Church cannot be a Church of power," Wiegel writes.  In the excerpt, Benedict writes "Looking at the events in light of the Cross and Resurrection, the Christian people realized what happened: Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind's guilt upon his shoulders; he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. His inaugural gesture is an anticipation of the Cross. He is, as it were, the true Jonah who said to the crew of the ship, 'Take me and throw me into the sea.' The whole significance of Jesus' Baptism, the fact that he bears 'all righteousness,' first comes to light on the Cross: The Baptism is an acceptance of death for the sins of humanity, and the voice that calls out 'This is my beloved Son' over the baptismal waters is an anticipatory reference to the Resurrection. This also explains why, in his own discourses, Jesus uses the word baptism to refer to his death."   (Read excerpt at www.Newsweek.com)

Busch Gardens Europe Gives A Sneak Peek of Griffon To News Media

World's Tallest, Floorless Dive Coaster

WILLIAMSBURG, VA (May 16) /PRNewswire/ — Griffon, the world's tallest, floorless dive coaster offered American Coaster Enthusiasts and members of the media a sneak peek today at the European-themed adventure park.

Thrill seekers everywhere have been counting down to May 25 – Griffon's public opening. Busch Gardens Europe's latest steel marvel drops its riders 205 feet, 90 degrees straight down, at speeds as fast as 75 mph. Griffon features several one-of-a-kind elements including floorless coaster trains with stadium-style seating. Each coaster train is comprised of three rows of ten seats, and the outer seats extend away from the track. Griffon's divers also endure two Immelmann loops – a coaster move known for its twisted loop.

"It's the perfect addition to our park," said Donnie Mills, the executive vice president and general manager of Busch Gardens Europe. "Griffon is the coaster on everyone's list to ride in 2007."

Crews broke ground on Griffon in July 2006. Track construction was completed in late February 2007 and the first train installed on the track in March. Since then, Griffon has been put through rigorous safety tests in preparation for its public debut.

The story of Griffon is legend. Two great beasts in one. The heart of a lion. The soul of an eagle. And when they merged, a creature of fury and flight was born. From 205 feet in the sky, Griffon drops riders 90 degrees straight down in a floorless dive as furious and intense as the beast itself. For more information, guests may visit www.griffoncoaster.com or call 800.343.7946.

Busch Gardens Europe is an Anheuser-Busch Adventure Park. Other Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks include Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Va.; Busch Gardens Africa and Adventure Island in Tampa Bay; SeaWorld Adventure Parks in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio; Sesame Place near Philadelphia; Discovery Cove in Orlando; and Aquatica, SeaWorld's water park, which is under construction in Orlando and scheduled to open next spring.

Whales on a Plane!  Aloha Airlines Unveils a Work of Art by Wyland - a Boeing 737 That Pays Tribute to Hawaii's Marine Life

HONOLULU, May 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Aloha Airlines has unveiled a work of art unique in all the world -- a Boeing 737-700 aircraft hand-painted by globally recognized marine life artist Wyland. In a traditional blessing ceremony, Aloha bestowed the name Koholalele on the jetliner, which will go into service on May 10 between Hawaii and the West Coast. The name Koholalele (literally "flying or leaping whale") honors the humpback whale, an ancient visitor to Hawaii, considered by Hawaiians to be a kupuna, or elder, in its own right. Koholalele also is a place name for an area along the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island and the name of a wind that "leaps over the land" like a flying whale.  Each of the eight aircraft in Aloha's fleet of Next Generation Boeing 737-700 aircraft is named for a Polynesian navigator. The name Koholalele recognizes the humpback whale as one of the great navigators of the ocean.  Wyland's design, which spans the 102-foot length of the plane, includes approximately life-size depictions of humpback whales, bottle-nose dolphins, spinner dolphins, tiger sharks, Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles as well as Hawaiian reef fish and a Laysan albatross.  Wyland painted the aircraft, working day and night, over a two-day period.  A pioneer in the environmental movement for more than 30 years, Wyland previously painted an America's Cup racing yacht but this is his first plane. Back on land, the famous muralist has completed 95 of his ocean murals and is closing in on his goal of creating the 100th of his landmark Whaling Walls, a massive, pre-Olympics project being planned in Beijing.  Wyland founded Wyland Galleries in 1978 and it is estimated that there are 400,000 collectors of his art in 70 countries. More than 1 billion people in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania see Wyland's art each year, and perhaps more than any other artist, Wyland has raised the planet's environmental consciousness with regard to the oceans and their inhabitants.  Now in its 61st year of service to Hawaii, Aloha Airlines undertook the project as a symbol of the community's commitment to preserving the ocean environment.  "Since 1946, Aloha Airlines has proudly served the Islands, and graciously helped share Hawaii's beauty, culture and spirit of Aloha with the world," said David A. Banmiller, Aloha's president and chief executive officer. "Over the years, Aloha has looked beyond the business of flying to recognize the importance of giving back to our community, and preserving the many things that make Hawaii so special. The 3,500 men and women of Aloha Airlines care about the well-being of our home state, as well as the beauty of the natural land and sea environment we enjoy so much."  "Nothing is as elemental to an island state as the ocean, which surrounds us, nourishes us and provides recreation and inspiration," said Wyland, a surfing and diving enthusiast who lives on the North Shore of Oahu. "We urge everyone to join in efforts to protect and preserve Hawaii's irreplaceable marine life."  With this new partnership, symbolized by this specially designed airplane, Aloha Airlines will help promote the mission of the Wyland Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the world's oceans, waterways, and marine life. The foundation encourages environmental awareness through education programs, life-size public arts projects, and community events.  Aloha Airlines flies between the Islands of Hawaii and between Hawaii and Oakland, Sacramento, Orange County and San Diego, California, and Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. For more information and the lowest fares available go to AlohaAirlines.com.  For more information about Wyland, go to www.Wyland.com.

NEWSWEEK Cover: God & War

Military Chaplains and Soldiers Discuss Struggle to Keep Their Faith While Serving in War; 'Is The Pain & The Heartache Worth It?' Writes Chaplain Roger Benimoff After Attack in June

After Second Tour in Iraq, Benimoff Plagued By Questions; 'I Found Myself Getting Violently Mad At God' He Wrote in Journal

NEW YORK, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- When Army Chaplain (Capt.) Roger Benimoff began his second tour in Iraq in February 2005, he wrote, "My heart is filled with prayer and God is giving me a discerning spirit. The spiritual battle I am engaged in is a minute-by-minute war." He is "on fire for God." But the start of a full-blown crisis of faith-one he grapples with as a chaplain at Walter Reed Army Medical Center today-is seen in his journal entry from June 7, 2005, when soldiers brought back the bloodied corpse of one of their men to an aid station near Tall Afar: "Can [I] keep doing this? Is the pain & the heartache worth it? ... God, please let me look to you and no other."  Benimoff's experience, detailed in a daily journal and voluminous e-mails from Iraq shared with Newsweek, is a tale of a devout young man who begins his time in Iraq brimming with faith and a sense of devotion that carried him into a second tour. In the May 7 Newsweek cover "God & War" (on newsstands Monday, April 30), Washington Correspondent Eve Conant reports on how Benimoff, as well as other chaplains and soldiers, struggles to keep his faith in war. After joining Walter Reed last June, Benimoff was plagued by questions. "I am not sleeping well and I am still scared," he wrote. "I was reading my Bible and I found myself getting violently mad at God." For a brief period early this year, he came to "hate" God, and wanted nothing to do with religion.  National Guard Specialist George Schmidt, 30, who was raised as a Methodist in Titusville, Pa., and became a Wiccan before deploying to Iraq in June 2006, says he saw fellow soldiers driven in different directions. "Either you're running to God, grasping to hold on to the guy you were before you came to Iraq, or you're running right away from him because of what you're seeing," he tells Newsweek. Schmidt is now being treated for posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety at Walter Reed.  Army Specialist Joe Schaffel, 24, who is also being treated for PTSD, went to Roman Catholic school in Sleepy Hollow, Ill. "I had faith until I got to Iraq," says Schaffel, who returned from his second deployment last September. "I haven't gotten it back since. Once you get there, you wonder how God could allow anyone to go through that."  As Conant reports, chaplains are unarmed, but they go where the troops go. They help in any way they can. "When there were 17 or 18 bodies, it was more than mortuary services could handle," says Army Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Dick Olmstead, now retired, speaking of his deployment to Kuwait and Iraq in 2004. "Maybe it's not the brightest move to have chaplains opening body bags to place 40-pound bags of ice on dead soldiers, but you have to go where your hands and heart are needed." Still, after 20 or 30 ramp ceremonies, he says, "you can't help but wonder if God is really listening to you."  When he was deployed a second time, in February, 2005, Benimoff asked to be placed with a combat maneuver squadron. "These are the guys that go in and kick down doors and drive tanks," he says. "I wanted to be there for them." He confided in his journal, however, that he was not sure he'd recovered yet from the deaths he endured during his first deployment. And he was terrified of getting killed. Benimoff often traveled in Bradley fighting vehicles or Abrams tanks to reach soldiers in small outposts.  On April 20, he writes of a memorial service he just finished for a private first class. A week later a Bradley crew is badly shaken up after a roadside blast. On April 29, two soldiers are killed by an IED. "Already, I am repeating my pattern from [the first tour]: I am doing more memorial ceremonies than preaching ... I feel numb." One day in May, snipers take aim at him and other soldiers on a hospital rooftop in Tall Afar. "The Army must be warping me," he writes, "because it was not a big deal to get shot at. Last time I was petrified." The adrenaline rush soon wears off; he writes that it is "hard for me to feel at all."  Benimoff's journal ends Jan. 22 of this year. The last lines read: "I do not want anything to do with God. I am sick of religion. It is a crutch for the weak ... We make God into what we need for the moment. I hate God. I hate all those who try to explain God when they really don't know." By late March, during his first interview with Newsweek, he was recovering his faith but the pain had not subsided. "The symptoms are still there; this past year has been the most challenging of my life," he says. "But I have a new relationship with God. I tend to be much more blunt with him."  Also in the cover package, Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas and Editorial Assistant Andrew Romano report on the history of war leaders calling on God in the heat of battle. And in America, God and war have a particular kinship: presidents in time of conflict invoke the Lord's name as a way to rally the people, but also as a comfort and consolation for the loneliness of command. Evoking God in the midst of mass killing is inspirational to some and offensive to others. Divine sanction has been used to give meaning to the Constitution's promise of equality as well as to license genocide. Depending on the moment and the character of the particular president, asking the Lord's help in time of war can be a sign of hubris or humility.   (Read cover story at http://www.newsweek.com/)

NEWSWEEK Book Excerpt: 'Twice As Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power'

By Marcus Mabry

In New Book, Rice Disputes Colin Powell's Claim He Had Less Sway with Bush than Rumsfeld Did; 'I've Heard that And I'd Really Like to Know What He Means ... Powell had as Much Access as Anyone'

Rice Didn't Want to Be Secretary of State; 'No Way, I Don't Want That Job!' She Told a Birmingham Friend

Rice, Who Always had a Thing for 'Bad Boys,' was Drawn to Bush. 'It's as Though They're Siamese Twins Joined at the Frontal Lobe,' Said a Friend

NEW YORK, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admits the Bush administration made mistakes regarding the Iraq war, she says "they had nothing to do with 'dysfunction' in the interagency process she ran. She even disputes, astonishingly, Colin Powell's claim that he held less sway with Bush than Rumsfeld did. 'I've heard that, and I'd really like to know what he means. Colin Powell had as much access as anyone,' Rice insists 'Colin used to come have dinner with the president. I don't think Don ever did that'."  Rice's comments are in an upcoming biography entitled, "Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power," by Newsweek Chief of Correspondents and Senior Editor Marcus Mabry. It is excerpted in the May 7 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, April 30).  In the excerpt, Mabry writes about the time when Rice was being considered for the post of secretary of State. "'No way, I don't want that job!' Condoleezza Rice had told her Birmingham girlfriend Deborah Carson. And yet here she was, three days after Bush's re-election, the president asking her to take that job: to replace Colin Powell as secretary of State," Mabry writes. "Rice laid to rest the rumor that what she really wanted was Donald Rumsfeld's post at Defense. She didn't. 'The question for me is not where I go,' she told Bush flatly that afternoon at Camp David. 'I'll go where you want me to go. The question is do I stay. And that's what I have to grapple with'," Mabry writes. "It wasn't the first time Bush had asked Rice to do something she had decided not to. During the 2000 campaign, she had planned to advise Bush informally; instead, Rice ended up leading his foreign policy team. 'In a political sense, I think he kind of courted her,' said Carson. 'He really went after her. He's very charming'  Mabry writes that Rice was drawn to Bush. "'First of all, I thought he was wonderful to be around,' she recalled, sitting on the couch in her State Department office. 'He was warm and funny and easy to be around. I thought he had just an incredibly inquisitive mind ... You could barely finish an explanation before he was digging into it'."  "Bush was also a bad boy. And Rice, according to friends and family, had a thing for bad boys. That was why, as a 20-year-old grad student, she preferred her second Fighting Irish football player boyfriend to her first, said Jane Robinett, Rice's best Notre Dame friend: John "Dubie" Dubenetzky, cocky and handsome with wavy blond hair, was less deferential than Wayne Bullock, the sweet fullback who had moved Condi's boxes into Lewis Hall," Mabry writes. "Rice's friends insisted the attraction to Bush was platonic, but Brenda Hamberry-Green, her Palo Alto hairdresser, who had spent years commiserating with Rice over how hard it was for successful black women to find a good man, noticed a change when Rice started working for Bush. 'He fills that need,' Hamberry-Green decided. 'Bush is her feed'."  "By the time Rice met Bush, he had become a Christian teetotaler and a devoted family man. The two shared a strong religious faith, a belief in American power, similar senses of humor, and a conviction that sports was a metaphor for life," Mabry writes. "Most important, they saw themselves as outsiders: Rice as a function of her race and gender, Bush because he had never fit in as a Texas boy with the Northeastern elitists he came to see as snobs. 'There was this connective stuff-that was really fully under way by the summer of 1999,' said Rice's friend Coit "Chip" Blacker. 'There's a funny kind of transfer of energy and ideas that's almost-not random, but unstructured. It's as though they're Siamese twins joined at the frontal lobe'."  "The mind meld grew stronger in Washington, especially after 9/11. But as much as it reassured Bush to have the woman he called his 'sister' by his side, their closeness also became one of the administration's liabilities in the run-up to the war in Iraq ... Rice tended to enable the president's missteps rather than check them. The basis of the relationship had been formed in the campaign: she molded his instincts, she didn't challenge them. So as the administration marched toward war in Iraq, she didn't push back. She didn't question troop levels or the Defense Department's rosy post-Saddam scenarios. She didn't demand the administration devise a single, unified plan for after Saddam's statue fell."  "Some administration officials say Rice as national security adviser concentrated too heavily on advising the president," Mabry writes, "rather than managing the national security 'process.' They point to her remark at a Washington dinner party in 2004, when she said, 'As I was telling my husb-' before abruptly correcting herself, 'As I was telling President Bush ... ' (Rice told me she doesn't think she ever made the comment; 'I swear I don't remember any such slip ... I don't think it happened.' And neither do a number of other guests at the dinner, though some swear they heard her say 'husband.') Even Rice's friends, most of whom happen to be Democrats, say her affection for Bush blinded her to his failings. 'She thought he could do no wrong', said one."
(Read excerpt at www.Newsweek.com)

Budget-Wise Tips for Managing College Costs

(NewsUSA) - The months before entering college are busy ones for students and parents alike. Purchasing new clothing, shopping for furnishings and heart-to-heart conversations about the importance of putting classes above socializing are all part of the pre-college routine.

Less likely to be discussed is the importance of money management. But the average college student spends nearly $3,000 for various expenses beyond tuition, according to the College Board.

Good financial habits learned early will serve the student throughout his or her college years and well beyond, says Rich Linsday, president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals. He offers the following tips to help parents and their college-bound children:

* Begin with the basics. Begin early to ensure your child knows the basics of maintaining balances for checkbook and savings accounts, ATM fees, debit cards and such.

* Discuss expectations - both yours and your child's. Work with your son or daughter to develop a reasonable budget. If you're planning to send money to help subsidize day-to-day expenses, this is also a good time to discuss any rules regarding how money is to be spent.

* Consider on-campus versus off-campus housing. For most, dormitory living is more economical than off-campus apartments, many of which require 12-month leases. But if you choose off-campus housing, shared apartments can reduce expenses.

* Plan for dining arrangements. Evaluate the pros and cons of campus meal plans and off-campus cooking or dining out. Many parents appreciate that campus meal plans have set costs, which is helpful when trying to develop a budget. Campus meal plans also save students the time of shopping, cooking and cleaning up, and save more money than dining at a restaurant.

* Prepare for incidental expenses. Some parents are comfortable letting their child use a credit card for whatever needs come up, while others prefer to limit credit cards for emergencies. Because credit card debt can so easily add up, many parents choose to give their student a lump sum of money at the beginning of each semester or send a monthly check.

* Stay organized. Whether your student pays cash, writes checks or uses a card, careful recording of expenses will help your child stay within budget. And such discipline has rewards far beyond college.

For more information, visit www.financialpro.org.

USA TODAY Continues 25th Anniversary Celebration with Weekly Top 25 Lists

Today's List: Top 25 Things That Shaped the Internet

MCLEAN, Va., April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY turns 25 years young this September, and to continue the celebration, The Nation's Newspaper will look back at the Top 25 Things That Shaped the Internet.
 

In 1982, most PCs were connected to little more than dot-matrix printers. Owners soon hooked them to each other - and a little academic network called the Internet. A phenomenon was born. USA TODAY chose events that turned the Net into the tool it is today.
 

Every Monday for 25 weeks, USA TODAY will offer an exclusive color page of Top 25 anniversary memories - 25 lists over 25 weeks designed to spark conversation and debates. USA TODAY's interactive online environment at USATODAY.com offers readers not only the chance to debate each list, but will post reader's choices as well.
 

The Top 25 conversation continues today with the Top 25 Things That Shaped the Internet. Here are the top 10:
 

  1. World Wide Web
     Tim Berners-Lee created user-friendly "Web pages" that could travel
     over the Internet, a network built to shuttle research between
     universities. The world logged on: 747 million adults in January.
  2. E-mail
     Tech's answer to the Pony Express. Programs such as 1988's Eudora
     made it easy to use. In-boxes have been filling up ever since. Nearly
     97 billion e-mails are sent each day.
  3. Graphical User Interface (GUI)
     Most computer displays were blinking lines of text until Apple featured
     clickable icons and other graphic tools in its 1984 Mac. Microsoft's
     Windows took GUI - pronounced "gooey" - to the masses.
  4. America Online
     AOL turned people on to Web portals, chat rooms and instant messaging.
     Early subscribers paid by the hour. AOL once boasted 35 million
     subscribers. It bought Time Warner for $106 billion in 2001.
  5. Broadband
     The answer to the drip-drip-drip of dial-up, high-speed Internet
     service fuels online entertainment. About 78% of home Internet users in
     the U.S. have broadband, up from less than 1% in 1998.
  6. Google
     So popular it's a verb. The search powerhouse, with a market
     capitalization of nearly $149 billion perfected how we find info on the
     Web. Google sites had nearly 500 million visitors in December.
  7. Mosaic/Netscape
     Created by Marc Andreessen and others, Mosaic was the first widely-used
     multimedia Web browser. Spin-off Netscape Navigator ruled the '90s
     until Microsoft's Internet Explorer took off around '98.
  8. eBay
     Thanks to eBay, we can all now buy and sell almost anything (skip the
     body parts). eBay has 230 million customers worldwide who engage in
     100 million auctions at any given time.
  9. Amazon.com
     Jeff Bezos' baby began as an always-in-stock book seller. It survived
     the tech bubble and now is the definitive big box online store. It was
     the second most-visited online retailer in December, after eBay.
  10. Wi-fi
     Have coffee shop, will compute: Wireless fidelity lets us lug our
     laptops out of the office and connect to the Net on the fly. More than
     200 million Wi-Fi equipped products sold last year.

Find the full list in today's editions of USA TODAY or log on to USATODAY.com. A new Top 25 list will run every Monday through September 10th.
 

USA TODAY, the nation's top-selling newspaper, will be celebrating its 25th anniversary on September 15th, 2007. It is published via satellite at 36 locations in the USA and at four sites abroad. With a total average daily circulation of 2.3 million, USA TODAY is available worldwide. USA TODAY is published by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI) . The USA TODAY brand also includes: USATODAY.com, an award-winning news and information Web site that is updated 24 hours per day; USA TODAY Sports Weekly, a magazine for enthusiasts of professional football and baseball; and USA TODAY LIVE, the television arm of the USA TODAY brand that brings the spirit and quality of the newspaper to television.
 

Source: USA TODAY

Web site: http://www.usatoday.com/