News Corp. to Sell Fox Movies Online
News Corp. is to start selling Fox pics and TV content on a download-to-own basis via News Corp.-owned websites, Variety reports. The new service will be available from October on gaming-oriented site Direct2Drive.com with MySpace.com and other sites to come, according to a report in the Financial Times. Recent pics such as “X-Men: The Last Stand” will cost $19.99 to download while episodes of TV skeins such as “24” will cost $1.99. Once downloaded, the content will be transferable to Windows Media compatible portable devices. The download service is also expected to include non-Fox content in the future.
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Hostile Climate Greets Governor’s Plan to Save Earth
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is running for reelection as a self-styled bold leader, who can boost the business climate at the same time he protects the planet from global warming, the Los Angeles Times reports. But Schwarzenegger’s latest plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2012 is being greeted with skepticism by many environmentalists and downright opposition from major business lobbyists.
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Up next: `YouTube’ of video games?
Santa BMicrosoft hopes to recruit future video game developers by making it possible for just about anybody, working from their home PC, to create games for the Xbox 360 video game console, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The company is announcing today that it will make available a stripped-down version of its game development tools for $99. The XNA Game Studio Express software will have everything someone needs to make a working video game.
Santa Barbara OKs Housing Aid for Folks Making Up to $160,000 a Year
he scruffy lot with the golden weeds and the lonesome palms wouldn’t rate a second glance if it were in, say, Los Angeles or Bakersfield, the Los Angeles times reports. No one would think twice about these two flat, empty acres if their ZIP Code placed them in San Jose or Stockton. But this is Santa Barbara, a built-out city hemmed in by the Santa Ynez Mountains to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south and politics in every possible direction. And this is believed to be Santa Barbara’s last vacant lot big enough to hold a housing development. Not, however, just any housing development. The City Council is considering whether to use the property to build affordable housing, a condominium complex called Los Portales for families earning up to $160,000 a year.
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