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Monday July 25, 11:32 am ET
Green Day Tops '2005 MTV Video Music Awards' With Eight Nominations, Six For 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams' And Two For "American Idiot' Gwen Stefani And Missy Elliott Follow With Six Nominations Each With U2 Nabbing Five Nods Diddy Set To Host And Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, And Green Day Are Set To Perform 22nd Annual Awards Show Will Broadcast Live From The American Airlines Arena In Miami, FL On Sunday, August 28th at 8:00PM (Live ET/Tape Delayed PT)

MIAMI, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- MTV: Music Television today announced the nominees for the "2005 MTV Video Music Awards." Green Day topped the list with eight nominations, six nods for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and two for "American Idiot." Gwen Stefani and Missy Elliott follow with six nods each and U2 nabbed five nominations. The 2005 VMAs will broadcast live from American Airlines Arena in Miami, FL on Sunday, August 28, 2005 at 8:00PM (LIVE ET/Tape Delayed PT).
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It was also announced that multifaceted entertainment powerhouse Diddy will host the 22nd annual awards show. In addition, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, and Green Day have been announced to perform. Hip-hop master West will debut a single from his highly anticipated sophomore album, "Late Registration." Pop superstar Clarkson will perform a song from her multi-platinum album, "Breakaway." Top nominee Green Day will perform a single from their multi-platinum album, "American Idiot." This is the first in a rapidly growing list of performers and celebrity guests to be announced for the star-studded event. Also, for first-time, the VMAs will be scored with original music composed by hip-hop superstar producer Lil Jon and producer Mike Shinoda, of 3x VMA winner Linkin Park, whose side project "Fort Minor" is being released this winter. Viewers will get a chance to download the original music as ringtones exclusively on *MTV on their Virgin Mobile phones.

Some key elements of the show were also teased today. With water as an underlying theme, the most massive and elaborate water effects ever produced in an awards show will be engineered in the arena by the same production company that erected the fountain in front of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Also, there will be live performances staged at remote locations to showcase key locales around Miami. In the center of the arena, five performance stages will be built and will be surrounded by over 1000 audience members made up of South Floridians. A limited number of tickets to the VMAs will go on sale to the public sometime in August. Comcast Cable will be promoting the one-day only ticket sales opportunity. More information will be available on Comcast Cable for more details or by visiting VMAINFO.MTV.COM.

Similar to last year, celebrities will arrive in their extravagant yachts, and will also pull up in their personally owned tricked out cars staging the first ever car show extravaganza on the red carpet. As the celebrities arrive, viewers will get tours of these cars from the talent themselves. The pre-show has been extended to two hours to fit in all the anticipated action. Moreover, the VMAs will be presented on multiple MTV platforms this year giving viewers new ways to experience the show. Exclusively through MTV Overdrive, the network's hybrid broadband channel, MTV viewers will have unprecedented access to the VMAs, beyond the TV screen. More details on all of the above will be announced in the coming weeks.

"Every year we have to out do ourselves and this year is no exception - the VMAs will be experienced in more places and on more platforms than ever before in our history," said Christina Norman, President of MTV. "Between Diddy, who is the ultimate showman & entertainer, and the diverse roster of performers already locked in, this show is already shaping up to be an unforgettable end of summer bash."

Ballots for "2005 MTV Video Music Awards" were sent out to an exclusive industry group and viewers who determined the nominees for the telecast. Approximately 500 viewers and individuals including record labels, music journalists and video producers selected the nominees for awards categories encompassing wide-ranging contemporary music forms rap, dance, R&B and rock.

MTV.com will be the ultimate online stop for the latest VMA news and exclusive content. Viewers get to choose nominees in the "Viewer's Choice Videodome" daily head-to-head matchups. Each week, viewers via MTV.com will keep artists in play via head-to-head video battles until one video is named official nominee at the end of the week. Green Day's "American Idiot" and Snoop Dogg's (featuring Pharrell) "Drop It Like It's Hot" are the first two official Viewer's Choice nominees. An official nominee is named at the end of which week until August 15th, when the final five Viewer's Choice nominee spots will be filled. Viewers will then be able to cast votes amongst those five final music videos right up until moments before the winner will be announced. In addition, MTV2 viewers get to flex their fan power by determining the winner of the MTV2 Award exclusively at mtv.com. Voting for MTV2 Award will begin on July 25th. Voting for the final five nominees for Viewer's Choice will start on August 15th. New this year, MTV.com will be offering a turbo mode of voting through online game play for both Viewer's Choice and MTV2 Awards. Game play voting for both awards will start on August 15th.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is the official business advisor of the "2005 MTV Video Music Awards."

Salli Frattini and Dave Sirulnick are the Executive Producers for the "2005 MTV Video Music Awards." Michael Dempsey is Producer and Summer Strauch is Co-Producer. Beth McCarthy-Miller is Director. Kathy Flynn is Event Producer.


Following are the nominees for the "2005 MTV Video Music Awards":

GENERAL CATEGORIES

VIDEO OF THE YEAR - The Nominee for this category is the Artist and
Producer.

Coldplay
"Speed of Sound"
X&Y
Capitol Records
Director: Mark Romanek
Producer: Arif McGarry
Production Company: Anonymous Content

Kanye West
"Jesus Walks"
College Dropout
Roc-A-Fella Records
Director: Chris Milk
Producer: Gina Leonard
Production Company: Radical Music


Green Day
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films

Snoop Dogg f/ Pharrell
"Drop It Like It's Hot"
R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
Doggystyle/Star Trak/Geffen Records
Director: Paul Hunter
Producer: Rubin Mendoza
Production Company: HSI Productions

Gwen Stefani
"Hollaback Girl"
Love.Angel.Music.Baby.
Interscope Records
Director: Paul Hunter
Producer: Rubin Mendoza
Production Company: HSI Productions

BEST MALE VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

50 Cent
"Candy Shop"
The Massacre
Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit/Interscope Records
Director: Jessy Terrero
Producer: Meredith Welsch
Production Company: Lotus Filmworks Inc.

Kanye West
"Jesus Walks"
College Dropout
Roc-A-Fella Records
Director: Chris Milk
Producer: Gina Leonard
Production Company: Radical Music

Beck
"E-Pro"
Guero
Interscope Records
Director: Shynola
Producer: Eric Escott
Production Company: The Directors Bureau

Usher
"Caught Up"
Confessions (Special Edition)
LaFace/Zomba Label Group
Director: X
Producer: Jill Hardin
Production Company: HSI Productions

John Legend
"Ordinary People"
Get Lifted
Sony Urban Music/Columbia
Director: Kanye West
Producer: Bill Boyd
Production Company: Radical Music

BEST FEMALE VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Amerie
"1 Thing"
Touch
Sony Urban/Columbia
Director: Chris Robinson/Amerie
Producer: Scott Franklin
Production Company: HSI Productions

Mariah Carey
"We Belong Together"
The Emancipation of Mimi
Island Def Jam Music Group
Director: Brett Ratner
Producer: Ron Mohrhoff
Production Company: HSI Productions

Gwen Stefani
"Hollaback Girl"
Love.Angel.Music.Baby.
Interscope Records
Director: Paul Hunter
Producer: Rubin Mendoza
Production Company: HSI Productions

Shakira f/ Alejandro Sanz
"La Tortura"
Fijacion Oral 1
Epic Records
Director: Michael Haussman
Producer: Nina Huang
Production Company: Person Films

Kelly Clarkson
"Since U Been Gone"
Breakaway
RCA
Director: Alex De Rakoff
Producer: Billy Parks
Production Company: F.M. Rocks

BEST GROUP VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Black Eyed Peas
"Don't Phunk With My Heart"
Monkey Business
A&M Records
Director: The Malloys
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films

The Killers
"Mr. Brightside"
Hot Fuss
Island Records
Director: Sophie Muller
Producer: Grant Jue
Production Company: Oil Factory Inc.

Destiny's Child f/ T.I. & Lil' Wayne
"Soldier"
Destiny Fulfilled
Music World Music/Sony Urban Music/Columbia
Director: Ray Kay
Producer: Rachel Curl
Production Company: Rockhard Films

U2
"Vertigo"
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Interscope Records
Director: Alex & Martin
Producer: Grace Bodie
Production Company: Partizan Entertainment

Green Day
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films

BEST RAP VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Eminem
"Just Lose It"
Encore
Aftermath/Shady/Interscope Records
Director: Philip G. Atwell
Producer: Chris Palladino
Production Company: Geronimo Film Productions Incorporated

T.I.
"U Don't Know Me"
Urban Legend
Grand Hustle/Atlantic Recording Corp.
Director: Ben Mor
Producer: Helen Urriola
Production Company: Smuggler

The Game & 50 Cent
"Hate It Or Love It"
The Documentary
Aftermath / G-Unit / Interscope Records
The Massacre
Shady / Aftermath / Interscope Records
Director: The Saline Project
Producer: Scott Edelstein
Production Company: HSI Productions

Ying Yang Twins
"Wait (The Whisper Song)"
U.S.A. (United State Of Atlanta)
TVT Records/Collipark Music
Director: X
Producer: Skot Bradford
Production Company: HSI Productions

Ludacris
"Number One Spot"
Red Light District
Disturbing Tha Peace
Director: Fat Cats/Chaka Zulu
Producer: Anke Thommen
Production Company: F.M. Rocks

BEST R&B VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Alicia Keys
"Karma"
The Diary of Alicia Keys
MBK Entertainment/J Records
Director: Chris Robinson/Alicia Keys
Producer: Meredith Welsch
Production Company: HSI Productions

Mariah Carey
"We Belong Together"
The Emancipation of Mimi
Island Def Jam Music Group
Director: Brett Ratner
Producer: Ron Mohrhoff
Production Company: HSI Productions

Ciara f/ Ludacris
"Oh"
Goodies
LaFace/Zomba Label Group
Director: Fat Cats
Producer: Joyce Washington
Production Company: F.M. Rocks

Usher & Alicia Keys
"My Boo"
Confessions (Special Edition)
LaFace/Zomba Label Group
Director: Chris Robinson/Usher
Producer: Jill Hardin
Production Company: HSI Productions

John Legend
"Ordinary People"
Get Lifted
Sony Urban Music/Columbia
Director: Kanye West
Producer: Bill Boyd
Production Company: Radical Music

BEST HIP HOP VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Common
"Go"
Be
Getting Out Our Dreams/Geffen Records
Director: Kanye West/MK12/Convert
Producer: Alexander Dervin
Production Company: The Ebeling Group

Nas f/ Olu Dara
"Bridging The Gap"
Street's Disciple
Ill Will/Sony Urban Music/Columbia
Director: Diane Martel
Producer: Gina Harrell
Production Company: DNA

Kanye West
"Jesus Walks"
College Dropout
Roc-A-Fella Records
Director: Chris Milk
Producer: Gina Leonard
Production Company: Radical Music

Snoop Dogg f/ Pharrell
"Drop It Like It's Hot"
R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
Doggystyle/Star Trak/Geffen Records
Director: Paul Hunter
Producer: Rubin Mendoza
Production Company: HSI Productions

Missy Elliott f/ Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
"Lose Control"
The Cookbook
Gold Mind/Atlantic Records
Director: Dave Meyers/Missy Elliott
Producer: Joseph Sassone
Production Company: Radical Music

BEST DANCE VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Ciara
"1,2 Step"
Goodies
LaFace/Zomba Label Group
Director: Benny Boom
Producer: Roger Ubina
Production Company: F.M. Rocks

Missy Elliott f/ Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
"Lose Control"
The Cookbook
Gold Mind/Atlantic Records
Director: Dave Meyers/Missy Elliott
Producer: Joseph Sassone
Production Company: Radical Music

Destiny's Child
"Lose My Breath"
Destiny Fulfilled
Music World Music/Sony Urban Music/Columbia
Director: Marc Klasfeld
Producer: Rachel Curl
Production Company: Rockhard Films

Shakira f/ Alejandro Sanz
"La Tortura"
Fijacion Oral 1
Epic Records
Director: Michael Haussman
Producer: Nina Huang
Production Company: Person Films

Jennifer Lopez
"Get Right"
Rebirth
Epic Records
Director: Francis Lawrence/Diane Martel
Producer: Caleb Dewart
Production Company: DNA

BEST ROCK VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist

Foo Fighters
"Best of You"
In Your Honor
RCA
Director: Mark Pellington
Producer: Norman Reiss
Production Company: Merge @ Crossroads Films

My Chemical Romance
"Helena"
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Reprise Records
Director: Marc Webb
Producer: Valerie Romer
Production Company: DNA

Green Day
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films

Weezer
"Beverly Hills"
Make Believe
Geffen Records
Director: Marcos Siega
Producer: Colleen Haynes
Production Company: Pusher Media

The Killers
"Mr. Brightside"
Hot Fuss
Island Records
Director: Sophie Muller
Producer: Grant Jue
Production Company: Oil Factory Inc

BEST POP VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Ashlee Simpson
"Pieces of Me"
Autobiography
Geffen Records
Director: Stefan Smith
Producer: Oualid Mouaness
Production Company: Miss Jones

Kelly Clarkson
"Since U Been Gone"
Breakaway
RCA
Director: Alex De Rakoff
Producer: Billy Parks
Production Company: F.M. Rocks

Green Day
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films

Lindsay Lohan
"Rumors"
Speak
Casablanca/Universal Records
Director: Jake Nava
Producer: Tom Fanning
Production Company: F.M. Rocks

Jesse McCartney
"Beautiful Soul"
Beautiful Soul
Hollywood Records
Director: Marc Webb
Producer: Valerie Romer
Production Company: DNA

BEST NEW ARTIST IN A VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Ciara
"1,2 Step"
Goodies
LaFace/Zomba Label Group
Director: Benny Boom
Producer: Roger Ubina
Production Company: F.M. Rocks

The Killers
"Mr. Brightside"
Hot Fuss
Island Records
Director: Sophie Muller
Producer: Grant Jue
Production Company: Oil Factory Inc

The Game
"Dreams"
The Documentary
Aftermath/Interscope Records/G-Unit
Director: Philip Atwell
Producer: Chris Palladino
Production Company: Geronimo Film Productions Incorporated

My Chemical Romance
"Helena"
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Reprise Records
Director: Marc Webb
Producer: Valerie Romer
Production Company: DNA

John Legend
"Ordinary People"
Get Lifted
Sony Urban Music/Columbia
Director: Kanye West
Producer: Bill Boyd
Production Company: Radical Music

MTV2 AWARD - The Nominee for this category is the Artist.

Akon f/ Styles P.
"Locked Up"
Trouble
SRC/Universal Records
Director: Flyy Kai
Producer: Yusuf Muhammed
Production Company: Red Summer Photoplays

Fall Out Boy
"Sugar, We're Going Down"
From Under The Cork Tree
Island Records
Director: Matt Lenski
Producer: Josh Rothfeld
Production Company: Rockhard Films

The Bravery
"An Honest Mistake"
The Bravery
Island Records
Director: Mike Palmieri
Producer: Mike O'Connor
Production Company: A Band Apart, LLC

Mike Jones f/ Slim Thug & Paul Wall
"Still Tippin"
Who Is Mike Jones?
Swishahouse/Asylum/Warner Bros. Records
Director: Dr. Teeth
Producer: Tracey Hicks
Production Company: Filming Company

Daddy Yankee
"Gasolina"
Barrio Fino
El Cartel Records/VI Music/Universal
Director: Carlos Perez/Kacho Lopez
Producer: Juan Basanta
Production Company: Elastic People

My Chemical Romance
"Helena"
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Reprise Records
Director: Marc Webb
Producer: Valerie Romer
Production Company: DNA

BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist &
Director.

Eminem
"Mosh"
Encore
Aftermath/Shady/Interscope Records
Director: Ian Inaba
Producer: Ian Inaba
Production Company: Guerilla News Network/Switch Technologies

Sarah McLachlan
"World On Fire"
Afterglow
Arista
Director: Sophie Muller
Producer: Sophie Muller
Production Company: Oil Factory Inc.

Gorillaz
"Feel Good INC."
Demon Days
Virgin Records America, Inc.
Director: Jamie Hewlett/ Pete Candeland
Producer: Cara Speller/Emilie Walmsley
Production Company: Passion Pictures

U2
"Vertigo"
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Interscope Records
Director: Alex & Martin
Producer: Grace Bodie
Production Company: Partizan Entertainment

Missy Elliott f/ Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
"Lose Control"
The Cookbook
Gold Mind/Atlantic Records
Director: Dave Meyers/Missy Elliott
Producer: Joseph Sassone
Production Company: Radical Music

BEST VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK - The Nominee for this category is the
Publisher.

Video Game: Def Jam: Fight For NY
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Video Game: Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition
Publisher: Rockstar Games

Video Game: Dance Dance Revolution Extreme
Publisher: Konami

Video Game: Tony Hawk's Underground 2
Publisher: Activision

Video Game: Madden 2005
Publisher: Electronic Arts

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES

BEST DIRECTION IN A VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist &
Director.

Green Day
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films

White Stripes
"Blue Orchid"
Get Behind Me Satan
V2 Records/Third Man Records
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Producer: Gina Leonard
Production Company: Revolver Films

Jennifer Lopez
"Get Right"
Rebirth
Epic Records
Director: Francis Lawrence/Diane Martel
Producer: Caleb Dewart
Production Company: DNA

U2
"Vertigo"
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Interscope Records
Director: Alex & Martin
Producer: Grace Bodie
Production Company: Partizan Entertainment

Missy Elliott f/ Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
"Lose Control"
The Cookbook
Gold Mind/Atlantic Records
Director: Dave Meyers/Missy Elliott
Producer: Joseph Sassone
Production Company: Radical Music

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY IN A VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the
Artist & Choreographer.

Amerie
"1 Thing"
Touch
Sony Urban/Columbia
Director: Chris Robinson/Amerie
Producer: Scott Franklin
Production Company: HSI Productions
Choreographer: Jamaica Scott

Missy Elliott f/ Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
"Lose Control"
The Cookbook
Gold Mind/Atlantic Records
Director: Dave Meyers/Missy Elliott
Producer: Joseph Sassone
Production Company: Radical Music
Choreographer: Hi Hat

Gwen Stefani
"Hollaback Girl"
Love.Angel.Music.Baby.
Interscope Records
Director: Paul Hunter
Producer: Rubin Mendoza
Production Company: HSI Productions
Choreographer: Kishaya Dudley

My Chemical Romance
"Helena"
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Reprise Records
Director: Marc Webb
Producer: Valerie Romer
Production Company: DNA
Choreographer: Michael Rooney

Jennifer Lopez
"Get Right"
Rebirth
Epic Records
Director: Francis Lawrence/Diane Martel
Producer: Caleb Dewart
Production Company: DNA
Choreographer: Richmond Talauega, Anthony Talauega

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS IN A VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the
Artist & Special Effects Specialist.

Coldplay
"Speed of Sound"
X&Y
Capitol Records
Director: Mark Romanek
Producer: Arif McGarry
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Special Effects: A52

The Mars Volta
"The Widow"
Frances The Mute
Strummer Recordings/Universal Records
Director: Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez
Producer: Simon Chan
Production Company: Artificial Army
Special Effects: Artificial Army

Gorillaz
"Feel Good INC."
Demon Days
Virgin Records America, Inc.
Director: Jamie Hewlett/ Pete Candeland
Producer: Cara Speller/Emilie Walmsley
Production Company: Passion Pictures
Special Effects: Passion Pictures

Missy Elliott f/ Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
"Lose Control"
The Cookbook
Gold Mind/Atlantic Records
Director: Dave Meyers/Missy Elliott
Producer: Joseph Sassone
Production Company: Radical Music
Special Effects: Radium

Ludacris
"Number One Spot"
Red Light District
Disturbing Tha Peace
Director: Fat Cats/Chaka Zulu
Producer: Anke Thommen
Production Company: F.M. Rocks
Special Effects: 20Twenty

U2
"Vertigo"
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Interscope Records
Director: Alex & Martin
Producer: Grace Bodie
Production Company: Partizan Entertainment
Special Effects: Jam Abelenet

BEST ART DIRECTION IN A VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the
Artist & Art Director.

Green Day
"American Idiot"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company - Black Dog Films
Art Director: Jan Roelfs

System Of A Down
"B.Y.O.B."
Mezmerize
Columbia/American
Director: Jake Nava
Producer: Anke Thommen
Production Company: F.M. Rocks
Art Director: Jeremy Reed

Gwen Stefani
"What You Waiting For?"
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
Interscope Records
Director: Francis Lawrence
Producer: Caleb Dewart
Production Company: DNA
Art Director: Zach Matthewes

White Stripes
"Blue Orchid"
Get Behind Me Satan
V2 Records/Third Man Records
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Producer: Gina Leonard
Production Company: Revolver Films
Art Director: Sue Tebbutt

The Killers
"Mr. Brightside"
Hot Fuss
Island Records
Director: Sophie Muller
Producer: Grant Jue
Production Company: Oil Factory Inc
Art Director: Laura Fox

BEST EDITING IN A VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the Artist &
Editor.

Coldplay
"Speed of Sound"
X&Y
Capitol Records
Director: Mark Romanek
Producer: Arif McGarry
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Editor: Adam Pertofsky

Gwen Stefani
"What You Waiting For?"
Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
Interscope Records
Director: Francis Lawrence
Producer: Caleb Dewart
Production Company: DNA
Editor: Dustin Robertson

Foo Fighters
"Best of You"
In Your Honor
RCA
Director: Mark Pellington
Producer: Norman Reiss
Production Company: Merge @ Crossroads Films
Editor: Nathan Cox

Jennifer Lopez
"Get Right"
Rebirth
Epic Records
Director: Francis Lawrence/Diane Martel
Producer: Caleb Dewart
Production Company: DNA
Editor: Dustin Robertson

Green Day
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films
Editor: Tim Royes

Simple Plan
"Untitled"
Still Not Getting Any
Lava Records
Director: Marc Klasfeld/Simple Plan
Producer: Ben Oswald
Production Company: Rockhard Films
Editor: Richard Alarcron

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A VIDEO - The Nominee for this category is the
Artist & Cinematographer.

Coldplay
"Speed of Sound"
X&Y
Capitol Records
Director: Mark Romanek
Producer: Arif McGarry
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Cinematographer: Harris Savides

Simple Plan
"Untitled"
Still Not Getting Any
Lava Records
Director: Marc Klasfeld/Simple Plan
Producer: Ben Oswald
Production Company: Rockhard Films
Cinematographer: Michael Bernard

Green Day
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams"
American Idiot
Reprise Records
Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Tim Lynch
Production Company: Black Dog Films
Cinematographer: Samuel Bayer

U2
"Vertigo"
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Interscope Records
Director: Alex & Martin
Producer: Grace Bodie
Production Company: Partizan Entertainment
Cinematographer: Omer Ganai

Modest Mouse
"Ocean Breathes Salty"
Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Epic Records
Director: Chris Milk
Producer: Gina Leonard
Production Company: Radical Music
Cinematographer: Danny Hiele

White Stripes
"Blue Orchid"
Get Behind Me Satan
V2 Records/Third Man Records
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Producer: Gina Leonard
Production Company: Revolver Films
Cinematographer: Chris Soos
The "2005 MTV Video Music Awards" will be available to a potential viewing audience of over 1 billion people via MTV's 45 channels reaching 429.1 million households around the world as well as through syndication, and its convergent and original online programming will reach the entire online nation, via MTV's 38 Web sites around the world.

The "2005 MTV Video Music Awards" will be seen locally in South Florida on Comcast Cable on channel 69. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation, a developer, manager and operator of broadband cable networks and provider of programming content. With a presence in 22 of the top 25 United States markets, Comcast is one of the leading communications, media and entertainment companies in the world. Providing basic cable, Digital Cable, high-speed Internet and telephone services, Comcast is the company to look to first for the communications products and services that connect people to what's important in their lives. The company's 59,000 employees serve more than 21 million customers.

The official sponsors of the "2005 MTV Video Music Awards" are Gap, Jeep, Pantene, Pepsi, Revlon, Saturn, Taco Bell, and Virgin Mobile.

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc. (NYSE: VIA - News, VIA.B - News), owns and operates the following television programming services -- MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, mtvU, VHI, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, MTV INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 12 digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.


Source: MTV

Qualcomm Incorporated, has announced the world’s first fully integrated enhanced navigation solution in wireless 3G modems. Users can now get a higher accuracy in terms of positioning for personal & automotive navigation applications in wireless handsets. This gpsOne® update will be available on new Mobile Station Modem™ (MSM™) chipsets on both CDMA2000® and WCDMA networks.

This will be commercially available beginning in the second half of calendar year 2005 on QUALCOMM's CDMA2000 and WCDMA MSM solutions, including select Multimedia, Enhanced Multimedia and Convergence Platform chipsets.

Venturi Wireless Introduces 3G Optimization Client for Windows Mobile Devices
Wednesday July 20, 8:00 am ET

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Venturi Wireless, a global provider of 3G mobile broadband optimization solutions, announced the availability of Venturi VClient version 3.1 for Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC and Smartphone operating systems. The VClient for Smartphones and Pocket PCs brings the full benefits of Venturi's patented optimization technology to data-enabled handsets and mobile devices.
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With the Venturi VClient installed on the device, subscribers can experience significant improvements in the speed and reliability of their data applications. Consumers and business users can browse the Web, send and receive emails, view videos, download music files, and access critical business applications as much as seven times faster when compared to standard wireless speeds. Beyond faster speeds, the VClient also enhances the user experience by maintaining wireless data connections in poor coverage areas where connection time-outs frequently occur and data sessions are often dropped.

The VClient, a key component of the Venturi Wireless Optimization Solution, connects to the Venturi optimization servers that sit in the mobile carrier's network.

"Our goal is to deliver a wireline-like broadband experience to users of all wireless devices," says Bassam Khan, vice president of product management at Venturi Wireless. "With the VClient for Windows Smartphones and PocketPCs, we are extending our optimization solution from laptops to new classes of wireless devices. As bandwidth-intensive multimedia content and complex business applications are being increasingly accessed from handheld devices, optimization becomes more critical." Frost & Sullivan estimates that by the end of this year, there will be more than 23 million mobile data enterprise users and more than $6 billion from wireless data revenue.

The VClient offers remarkably simple installation, management and usability. The software can be downloaded from the Web and installed quickly on the device.

Venturi's client/server solution utilizes the patented Venturi Transport Protocol (VTP) to overcome challenges related to wireless data transport, including high packet loss and high latency. VTP delivers faster connection speeds and better application reliability under all coverage conditions. In addition to enhancing the subscriber experience, the Venturi Solution also improves overall network efficiency.

The latest version of the VClient is available for download at www.venturiwireless.com. VClient features work only on carrier networks that have selected Venturi optimization servers for their data networks. Users will need to verify that they subscribe to a Venturi-optimized provider.

About Venturi Wireless

Venturi Wireless is the trusted leader in providing mobile broadband optimization solutions to wireless carriers and enterprises worldwide. Venturi's patented carrier-grade solution maximizes network efficiency and delivers the most compelling mobile data user experience available. With the largest active mobile broadband user base, Venturi Wireless offers unparalleled expertise in mobile broadband deployment. Mobile market leaders who have chosen Venturi Wireless include Zapp Mobile, WILLCOM (formerly DDI Pocket) and Verizon Wireless. Venturi Wireless is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with offices in London, New Jersey, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. and Seoul, Korea. Find more information on the Web at www.venturiwireless.com.

Soon to be out of testing, search pioneer Bill Gross' Snap.com is hoping to be ahead of the "exploding search market." The upstart received $10 million in venture capital to enter the soon to be realized third generation of search.

Bill Gross is known for search advertising innovations like paid placement and the widely used pay-per-click method when they were introduced on GoTo.com. GoTo.com later became Overture Services which was bought by Yahoo! in 2003 for $1.7 billion.

Paid placement, where advertisers pay to be listed higher in search engine rankings, is still widely used among various search engines. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a method whereby advertisers are charged commissions every time an their ad is clicked. Search giant Google uses this very method in its AdWords program.

But noting the problem of click fraud, where (just one example) rival advertisers use programs to click on competitors' ads to drain their marketing budgets, Gross plans to set up a new model with Snap.com called cost-per-action (CPA). CPA would charge commissions only when customers complete an action tied to revenue.

Some estimate the instance of click fraud to be 10 to 20 percent, while a recent lawsuit filed against Google claims it is as high as 38 percent.

Gross acknowledges the abuses of his brainchild, PPC advertising, and believes that CPA will grow in popularity.

``I believe the commercial side of search will evolve toward cost-per-action in the next five to 10 years,'' Gross said.

In addition to revising ad revenue models, Snap.com will take similar measures as those by Yahoo! to personalize the search experience.

Gross says that while traditional search engines use factors like page rank and link-strength to create search results that are the same for everyone, Snap.com will build search results based around user preferences and declared intent.

Snap.com is operated by Perfect Market Technologies, Inc., which announced that Mayfield, a venture capital investment company based in Menlo Park, Ca., provided $10 million designated to launching the new search engine.

"We were excited by the opportunity to invest in Snap.com as our entry into the exploding search market," said Allen Morgan, Managing Director of Mayfield. "We believe that there will be more than one winner and Snap.com has all the right ingredients.

"Internet search advertising is now a $6 billion industry but remains underdeveloped when considering its potential in the $280 billion U.S. advertising market," said Bill Gross, CEO of Idealab. "Our mission is to deliver the fastest, most relevant search results for users, and irrefutable ROI to advertisers."

While Gross is reluctant to predict the actual success of Snap, he remains hopeful.

``We feel there is so much more innovation that can take place in search,'' he said.

``It's hard to say that little Snap will ever beat Google, but I think we can become a viable alternative.''

NEW TECHNOLOGY: It will likely take a couple of years for consumers to switch to 3G, BenQ's chairman said while launching the nation's first brandname 3G handset
By Jackie Lin
STAFF REPORTER , WITH BLOOMBERG
Wednesday, Jul 20, 2005,Page 10

Advertising
It will take Taiwan around two years to boost the popularity of high-speed third-generation (3G) mobile handsets, BenQ Corp (明基) chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) said yesterday while launching the nation's first brandname 3G phone.
"If telecommunications operators are active in promoting 3G technology by reducing rates and offering higher handset subsidies to slash the price tag, Taiwan will soon catch up with Europe," he said at a press conference.

By the end of this year, European nations are expected to see a ratio of around 20 percent of mobile phone subscribers using the data-oriented 3G handsets, which allow users to make video phone calls and download video clips, up from the current ratio of 10 percent, Lee said.

"We'll make and design at least five 3G phones by the end of next year," Lee said, adding that some will be marketed under the "BenQ-Siemens" dual brand but that no exact timetable has been set.

BenQ announced on June 7 that it would acquire Munich-based Siemens AG's unprofitable handset unit to take advantage of the German phone giant's brandname and retail channels.


Two models display the nation's first brandname 3G handset, the S80, presented by BenQ Corp at a press conference yesterday.
PHOTO: JACKIE LIN, TAIPEI TIMES
BenQ, the nation's biggest brandname cellphone maker, yesterday launched its first 3G-compatible handset, the S80, which will retail for NT$12,990 (US$406) when bundled with the state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co's (中華電信) NT$383 monthly fee program.

The S80 model entered the European markets of the UK and Italy early this year, according to Chen Ching-lung (陳慶龍), director of BenQ's networking and communication division. He said the company has been shipping around 10,000 3G handsets per month.

As the nation's top three telecom service providers are launching their 3G operations in the third quarter, Lee said he hoped more incentives can be offered to lure phone users to make the switch.

For the moment, BenQ's S80 will be sold through mobile carriers Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大). The company also has plans to expand sales to more European nations.

The introduction of 3G mobile phones may help Taiwan achieve its aim of developing the nation's handset industry into its third trillion-dollar industry, said Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), who also attended the launch ceremony yesterday.

Taiwan already has two industries, semiconductor and flat-panel display, with annual production near or exceeding NT$1 trillion (US$31 billion). The handset industry had a production value of NT$400 billion last year, up 28.5 percent from 2003, according to Ho.

BenQ's first 3G handset cost about NT$700 million in research and development, of which the ministry contributed some NT$100 million, Ho said.

"I hope BenQ can sell the 3G handsets not only in Taiwan, but around the whole world," she said.
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Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 cell phone operator in the U.S., said Wednesday that it will have wireless broadband networks up and running in 15 to 20 cities by year's end as it tries to catch rival Verizon Wireless.
Cingular's commitment to have high-speed Internet available to 40 million Americans by Jan. 2006 pressures No. 2 operator Verizon and No. 3 operator Sprint, which are rolling out similar networks in order to support new revenue-generating services such as video-on-demand.
Though they were relatively slow to catch on, wireless data services are finally being embraced in the U.S.--a promising sign given that each operator is spending billions of dollars to build faster networks.
Sales of cell phone ring tones (which replace a phone's prepackaged ring), game downloads, short text-only messages and photo messages generate more than $1 billion a year in revenue for Verizon. Meanwhile, according to data it released Wednesday, Cingular attracted $1 billion in revenues from the sale of such wireless services in the first six months of 2005.
Verizon Wireless leads the race in what's known as 3G--or third-generation--cell phone networks, which are expected to challenge traditional broadband services offered by cable and landline phone operators. Verizon's BroadbandAccess is available now in 53 markets--accounting for about one-third of the U.S. population--and will cover half the U.S. population by year's end, according to company spokesman Jeff Nelson. Cingular and Sprint, by comparison, are literally just getting started.
"These are full markets, not 'dense urban business corridors,'" Nelson wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com on Wednesday.
Cingular's 3G network right now is available in only a handful of cities, most of them set up by AT&T Wireless, which Cingular purchased last year. But the operator has completed test calls in nine other areas where product launches are imminent, according to Chief Financial Officer Ralph De La Vega.
Sprint says it will offer wireless broadband in 14 metropolitan areas by the third quarter, making the service available to 92 million people. By the fourth quarter, Sprint said, the service will be expanded to more cities and available to 143 million people. No. 4 operator T-Mobile USA intends to introduce a next-generation network in 2007.

Deadwood, Brazil
by Richard C. Morais

Brazil is fast becoming the globe's agri-powerhouse. Behind its impressive rise: an epic 19th century land grab occuring at a 21st-century pace.

WHen Walter Horita, a second-generation Japanese-Brazilian, staked his first claim in the raw savannah of Brazil's interior, back in 1984, there were no roads, telephones or running water in this stretch of the state of Bahia. Bandits had just murdered his neighbors and taken their land. Undeterred, the 20-year-old lived under a black plastic tarp as he cleared the first 420 acres of armadillos and anacondas for modest crops of soy and rice.

Twenty years later Walter Horita's pilot is flying him in his twin-engine Beechcraft over his 74,000-acre estate, tidy homesteads and blindingly white, high quality cotton fields that are nearing harvest and are collectively worth an estimated $60 million. "That was one of my best buys," Horita suddenly yells over the plane's engines, pointing down at the lush fields.

In 1998 Horita spent $60 an acre on a 17,000-acre farm, which, just seven years later, is worth at least $700 an acre. And there's still room for appreciation. The best cropland in the American Midwest goes for $4,000 to $5,000 an acre, even though the profits in the subsidy-dependent U.S. are a fraction of what Horita achieves in Brazil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates that the subsidy-free cotton farms in Horita's region had 35% profit margins on average last year. Today's low cotton prices have pushed margins down to 15%, but in 2003, because of poor U.S. crops and high demand from Asia, farms like Horita's cleared 60% to 70%.

A giant arbitrage is about to take place on the world agricultural market. Farmers will sell--already are selling--overpriced American and European farmland and are buying underpriced Brazilian farmland. Add to the existing economics a possible reduction in agricultural subsidies--it may yet happen--and you have the makings of a transfer of farm wealth from the northern to the southern hemisphere.

While developing China emerges as a manufacturing hub and India as the service industry's back room, Brazil--in the words of former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell--is becoming an "agricultural superpower." In the last several years Brazil has become the world's largest exporter of beef, soybeans, coffee, orange juice, sugar and chicken. The bumper crops are one big reason why President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's left-leaning government could claim a 5.1% real GDP growth rate last year.

Soybeans are Brazil's showcase crop. The high-protein bean couldn't tolerate conditions along the equator until two decades ago, when Brazil's agriculture department created strains capable of growing in the country's interior. Today, having added 30 million acres of soybeans since 1995, the nation is the world's largest exporter of soy products.

Brazil is number four in pork, for example, but probably not for long; its global market share has jumped from 4% to 13% since 2000. Last year Brazil established a legal precedent when it successfully challenged U.S. cotton subsidies before the World Trade Organization. "We want farmer to compete against farmer, not farmers against the U.S. Treasury," says Pedro de Camargo Neto, the former agriculture official who originated Brazil's successful challenges to U.S. cotton and European sugar subsidies.

Of course, Brazil practices its own protectionism in other sectors. Also on the debit side: its dysfunctional judicial system, corrupt legislature and mind-boggling bureaucracy. According to the Pensamento Nacional das Bases Empresariais, a national association of small and medium-size businesses, 10% to 20% of Brazil's GDP disappears in graft. A federal minister found 90% of the municipalities he audited had "misused" 20% to 30% of the public resources under their control, and allegations of congressional vote-buying are unraveling President Lula's coalition government. Brazil's tax burden is higher than Germany's. (And complicated: Tax rates on fertilizer changed three times last year.)

Brazil is a violent place, not just in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Outside the Ordem Terceira de São Domingos church in Salvador, as if on cue for an approaching reporter, a thug emerging from a bar pulls a rusty revolver from his shorts and aims it point-blank at a man and a barking dog. Brazil's homicide rate is 19 per 100,000, triple the U.S.' rate.

No surprise, then, that farming in Brazil is a rough way to make a living (see box, below). But Brazilians who know how to dodge the criminals and the bureaucrats name their farms Eldorado and Ouro Verde (Green Gold) with good reason. According to a recent Credit Suisse First Boston study, total production costs in the U.S. heartland are $235 an acre; in Brazil's heartland, where transportation to faraway ports is a huge expense, those same costs are still just $162 an acre. The USDA estimates that the average soy farmer in the Brazilian state of Paraná enjoyed a 51% profit margin last year. Corn producers in Bahia cleared 44%; cotton earned 39% in Mato Grosso.

Land holdings are concentrated. The million-acre farm of the Maggi family in Mato Grosso is 50% larger than the state of Rhode Island; many Brazilian farms have between 30,000 and 200,000 acres. Not all of them represent inherited wealth. The feverish run-up in land values has enabled some daring entrepreneurs like Walter Horita to amass huge holdings overnight.

Let's visit the western Bahia town of Luis Eduardo Magalhães (LEM) to see how this boom is playing out. The town of 45,000 more closely resembles Wild Bill Hickok's Deadwood than it does Council Bluffs, Iowa. Two decades ago LEM consisted of a single poacher of emus, surrounded by wild savannah, selling gas from a barrel at a bend in a dirt road. American farmers were among the first to spot the region's reliable sun and rain and the flatness of its plateau. They knew lime could correct the poor soil quality of the savannah that Brazilians call cerrado. When their crops flourished in the "worthless" land they had claimed through a Brazilian homestead act, well-connected bandits called grilheiros--named after the desiccated crickets the bandits used to "age" forged property deeds--murdered three of the four pioneering American farmers. Clay Earl--a son of one of the murdered farmers, who, as a boy, repeatedly helped defend the family farm during shoot-outs--says "it was just like the far West 150 years ago."

The land seized in the Bahian land wars that raged between 1978 and 1985 was eventually parceled and sold off to young Brazilian farmers moving up from the southern states. Because of hyperinflation and Brazil's regular currency crises, farmland is to this day priced in 132-pound soybean "sacks," not cash, and farmers routinely plow their profits back into more land.

Olmiro Flores de Oliveira says when he started in Bahia, "one lunch bought 10 hectares [25 acres]." Today Flores owns 30,000 acres of land--worth 70 times what he paid a decade ago--and he has added to his empire John Deere and Mitsubishi franchises. Jao Vadim (we can't use his real name for security reasons) is a soft-spoken Brazilian who owns 22,000 acres, 13,000 of them virgin cerrado. Vadim is producing 4,700 pounds per acre of cotton and clearing 40% after expenses. Corn at 8,600 pounds per acre clears 34%, soybeans at 3,400 pounds per acre 29%.

The transformation of Brazilian land is in its early stages. The U.S. and Brazil are roughly the same size, but Brazil has only 5% of its land devoted to crops, compared with the U.S.' 19%. Even without touching the environmentally sensitive Amazonian jungle, Brazil could, with modest investment, add another 420 million acres of farm crops--the equivalent of America's entire agricultural space--mostly by converting underutilized pasture land and cerrado.

Last year De Oliveira's Deere dealership in LEM sold 388 tractors, combines, planters and cotton pickers, farm vehicles costing between $28,000 and $340,000 each. "The U.S. land rush took place over a century," says Michael Shean, an agricultural researcher. "It was 10-acre plots awarded by government and half a million farmers going out West in wagons. Brazil, in contrast, has opened up an enormous amount of land in five years, using modern technology and financing."

LEM's population has almost quadrupled in five years and is still growing at a 20% annual clip. In its shantytown mangy dogs and lice-covered children move warily among the red-dust lanes, where there were 300 bars and 97 whorehouses at last count. The latest knifing makes the paper--complete with bloody pictures from the morgue--and the town's evangelical Baptist pastor, normally holding services in his garage, voluntarily locks himself inside the overcrowded jailhouse to preach the gospel to 60 prisoners forced to sleep in shifts on 12 cots.

But, a few streets over, sticks in the ground represent the future agricultural museum and town hall; bulldozers are clearing ground for neighborhoods. Down the road from the Massey Ferguson and Case dealerships, Cargill's silos and Bunge's soybean plant are working around the clock.

A lot of the wealth is hidden. Miguel Carvalho is a 73-year-old farmer with nine children. Outside his homestead is a mud-rutted lane filled with rusted farm equipment; the chair in his office behind the eucalyptus windbreak is tied together with pink twine. No sign that Carvalho is sitting on 1,000 head of cattle, prized coffee bushes and land worth $20 million. Carvalho paid mostly $8 an acre for land worth around $700.

Not far from Carvalho, Paulo (Loco) Borges shuffles in mismatched flip-flops around a mountain of dirty soybeans, cursing the shuddering machine meant to separate the beans from unwanted twigs and debris. Borges sold $12 million worth of land this year.

At LEM's brand-new gated "Cotton Residence," next door to the competing "Soy Bean" and "Corn" developments, opulent villas with satellite dishes and sold-but-not-yet-built-upon lots for millionaire farmers sit behind spitting fountains and guards with pistols at their hips. Last November a farmer's 10-year-old son was kidnapped at gunpoint in the next town over; he was released only after other farmers passed the hat and helped the family scramble together the $200,000 ransom.

Well-financed U.S. and European investors are moving in to compete with Brazilian natives, redeploying their low-cost capital in high-return Brazil. Young American farmers in particular, financed by an older generation of farmers diversifying away from expensive cropland in the U.S., are coming down to Bahia to make their fortune. The Buenos Aires-based Adeco Agropecuaria is already one of the biggest landowners in Argentina, with 222,000 acres, and is now diversifying its commodity and climate risk by moving heavily into Brazil. Hertz FarmManagement, an American firm headquartered in Nevada, Iowa, is sinking clients' money into western Bahia, as HSBC and Holland's Rabobank move into the region alongside the agencies representing Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta products.

The Hotel Saint Louis is a year-old hotel rising ten stories out of LEM's red-dust streets. Brazilians, Americans, Dutch,French, Swiss, Japanese and Germans are in the garden restaurant, drinking lime juice laced with sugar cane spirits as they swap tales from the front: $100,000 worth of uninsured chemicals stolen from a farmyard; a foreign farmer unwittingly caught up in his neighbor's bank fraud and in danger of having his own cotton crop seized by the bank.

Fortunes will be made here, and fortunes lost. And, probably at a slower pace, fortunes will be lost on the overpriced pampas of Iowa and the Loire Valley. Soybeans and sugar are getting outsourced.

If an ad is really entertaining, you don't zap it. You might even go out of your way to see it.

The television industry is, not unjustifiably, petrified by the zapping phenomenon. Ten million households in the U.S. choose TV programs by using video-on-demand services offered by cable companies, but the category has yet to catch on with advertisers. Reason: a presumption that on-demand viewers are particularly likely to fast-forward past the ads. What's the solution?Make ads that are so entertaining, or so useful, that people want to watch them.

In Philadelphia marketers are sampling what may be the future of user-initiated TV advertising. There, 745,000 digital cable subscribers can learn more about products by volunteering to view long-form ads on Comcast from General Motors, Reebok and Wachovia. And surprise, surprise: Viewers are tuning in, according to a new on-demand tracker.

Rentrak, a small Portland, Ore. software company, has developed a measurement system that monitors what catches the attention of these customers. With help from Rentrak, GM learned that long-form ads for its car brands, including Cadillac Escalade and Hummer, were viewed 125,000 times over 12 months and that viewers stuck around for an average 3.4 minutes.

This is a big deal. The number of on-demand viewers is expected to quadruple in five years, and marketers are trying to create and place ad messages that these engaged TV viewers will want to watch. Rentrak Chief Paul Rosenbaum, 62, thinks he can turn user-initiated viewing into a measurable ad vehicle: "This will make advertising accountable on the on-demand platform."

Rentrak uses transaction processing software to analyze reams of viewer data from four cable companies representing 10 million households that have video-on-demand--some people use it; some don't. Its system breaks out the data many ways, including total on-demand orders, most-watched programs and user-initiated ads.

For now Rentrak provides viewership analysis to cable companies for free in exchange for the raw data. Rosenbaum plans to start selling Rentrak's system to TV execs this summer. Soon after, he will peddle it to advertisers, sharing that revenue with cable companies and perhaps programmers.

Some industry players are titillated. "Measuring and monitoring digital delivery of content for content providers, content distributors and advertisers is the future of advertising," says HDNet founder and billionaire Mark Cuban, who in December paid $4.5 million for 500,000 shares of Rentrak.

But will ad tracking give this company some longevity? Publicly held Rentrak, founded as a franchised video-store chain in 1980, makes 80% of its revenue (which was off 9% last year to $78 million) leasing DVDs, videocassettes and videogames on a revenue-sharing basis to 5,000 video rental outlets. With that business threatened by pay-per-view and video-on-demand, Rosenbaum, who took over the company in 2000 after a nasty proxy fight, is eager to diversify. Rentrak started tracking movie theater ticket sales for movie studios in 2002.

But its leap into video-on-demand measurement may not go as smoothly. VNU-owned Nielsen Entertainment and Nielsen Media Research plan to measure on-demand data next year. To compete, Rentrak must persuade more cable companies to give it household viewing information, as Comcast, Cablevision, Charter and Insight are starting to do. Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest player, so far plans to analyze its own.

"Rentrak is at the mercy of the operators," says Timothy Hanlon, a senior vice president at Publicis Groupe Media Ventures.

The Middle Kingdom isn't just trying to buy American companies on the open market. It's also stealing industrial secrets by taking over corporate computers.

China's swipe at such U.S. assets as Unocal's oil wells and Maytag's trade name are very much in view. Less obvious: a far more insidious grab for industrial secrets. This electronic theft is taking place with the tacit okay, or at least the nonintervention, of the Beijing government.

The latest attack is a so-called Trojan horse, code used to swipe information from compromised PCs, named Myfip. It first emerged last August in the theft of PDF documents. At least 11 other versions of Myfip were widely circulated from September to April, seeking to gather sensitive documents, like CAD/CAM files used to store, say, mechanical designs, electronic circuit board schematics and layouts. Myfip is sent via spam and can navigate a corporate network once a user clicks on the attachment.

Details of such espionage came to light after Joseph Stewart, senior researcher at Myrtle Beach, S.C. security firm Lurhq, reverse engineered Myfip's code in May on behalf of clients. He discovered it was sending stolen data to an Internet user in Tianjin, China's third-largest city and the second-biggest hub for manufacturing, particularly electronics. Some Internet protocol addresses were linked to an Internet domain name registered to someone called Si Wen in Tianjin. The thieves were so flippant about law enforcement that they didn't even bother to conceal the origin of their mailings, a common practice for international hackers. "This seems to be an attempt at intellectual property theft," says Stewart. He believes Myfip is just the start of a wave of China-sponsored cybercrime that will seek out vital trade secrets. "Nothing suggests that Chinese authorities are vigilantly prosecuting those who are attacking foreign interests," says John Watters, chief of Idefense, the Reston, Va. intelligence firm. "They turn a blind eye to it as long as it doesn't oppose national interests."

"This is a serious, huge issue," says David Jevans, chairman of the Antiphishing Working Group, a consortium of banks, software vendors and law enforcement agencies that keeps an eye on identity theft. "The risk of losing credit card numbers can be managed, but there are some things you can't ever afford to have compromised."

There have already been large-scale attacks in Britain. Last month the U.K.'s National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre issued a major call for vigilance, noting 17 targeted Trojan horse attacks sent by e-mail that "appear to be covert gathering and transmitting of commercially or economically valuable information" from British companies and the government. The attacks have been going on for a "significant period of time with a recent increase in sophistication." It seems the IP addresses used to send the e-mails and control the malicious code are linked to the Far East; at least one Trojan in play, Netthief, has been traced to a Chinese source.

Israel, too, has had its share of such cyberspying, stemming from a case dubbed the Trojan Affair. In May, Michael Haephrati, a computer consultant, was detained in London and is now awaiting an extradition hearing for allegedly selling a rogue program to Israeli private investigators who used it to spy on their clients' competitors. Eighteen Israeli executives have reportedly been arrested for trying to steal information from rivals; the victims include Israeli affiliates of Hewlett-Packard and Ace Hardware. Police suspect that cell phone carriers, an importer of Volvos and a mineral water supplier, among others, spied on the competition. Israel's central bank governor warned that the scandal might scare off foreign investors.

Catching crooks is a matter of luck. The Israeli case came to light only because Haephrati's former mother-in-law, a writer and radio psychologist, suspected him and notified police after passages from her then-unpublished book--L For Lies, in which a Haephrati-like character is a crime suspect--suddenly surfaced on the Web. Myfip, like some phishing attempts, still requires clicking on an attachment, tough for technology to prevent. One tip-off: clumsy English instructions like "Plain table please you download." Once the Myfip gang gets grammatical, watch out.

Shimano has reinvented the lowly comfort bike to woo the La-Z-Boy generation.

The U.S. cycling industry desperately needs a mass-market hit. The number of bikes Americans purchase each year has languished at around 13 million for 30 years, never eclipsing the 15 million bought in 1973.

Shimano, the Japanese producer of gearshifts and derailleurs used by the likes of Lance Armstrong, has an idea that might appeal even to sedentary middle-agers: a new bike with an automatic transmission for "people who don't want to ride up a mountainside in France and are scared to death of Lycra," says Kozo Shimano, the 43-year-old head of the company's U.S. wing and grandson of the company's founder.

Shimano's Nexus Inter 7 replaces the cluster of gears and chain arms with two gear sets sealed inside the rear hub. Shifting can be controlled by a mounted computer that selects a gear based on how fast you're moving and whether you're slogging uphill or coasting down (it has seven speeds). Yep, you can ride and talk on your cell phone.

A bike with the fully automated system costs around $1,000; a semiautomatic version is $350 to $700. That's three to six times what cheapie ten-speeds cost at Wal-Mart but only slightly more than a quality comfort bike.

Shimano's problem will be reaching the comfort riders who might want one of these bikes. "A lot of these people don't dare to go into a bike shop," concedes David Lawrence, head of the company's U.S. marketing.

Can 100 chattering Silicon Valley techies give new products a boost?

Ralph (Buddy) Arnheim, a lawyer for tech companies, loves the shiny, new $600 digital toilet seat in the master bath of his Los AltosHills, Calif. home--a combination toilet, bidet and, yes, butt blow dryer. What's not to like? He got it for free. And so did 50 other big-shot Silicon Valley types, including Napster cofounder Sean Parker and venture capitalist Heidi Roizen.

They are members of a group called the Silicon Valley 100 (others include Netscape founder Marc Andreessen and venture capitalist Timothy Draper), chosen for their interest in swag--and supposed opinion-making ability. Vendors of new gizmos hope these folks will like the gadgets, talk them up and generate a few sales. Viral marketing with a forced draft.

That's what happened with the toilets. Soon after the seats were installed, articles about them popped up in newspapers and blogs, helping Brondell Inc. secure distribution deals with Home Depot and Bed Bath &Beyond.

Since January Silicon Valley 100 members have received six products, including a $264 videogame mail-order service, a $250 computerized fitness test and $149 specialty earphones. The middleman: Auren Hoffman, 31, an irrepressible networker and consultant to startups.

Live by buzz, die by buzz. Arnheim didn't like the noise-isolating earphones he received from Etymotic Research in February, which is one reason the Silicon Valley 100 didn't help sell a lot of the product. "This is a roll of the dice," concedes David Hodess, who heads GameFly, the videogame subscription service.

There's big money in owning mnemonic 1-800 numbers, but the FCC stands in the way. For now

If you call 1-800-Dumpster, 1-800-Hardwood or 1-800-GetACar, you'll make Scott Richards a little richer. Richards doesn't collect trash, lay floors or hustle cars. Rather, he controls these and several other toll-free "vanity numbers," which his firm, Dial 800 (1-800-Dial800) of Beverly Hills, Calif., licenses out to Waste Management, flooring firms and car dealers for $99 a month and 11 cents per minute per call.

By law, Richards and a cottage industry of entrepreneurs like him aren't supposed to make money from toll-free numbers. The phone numbers belong to the public and can't be bought, sold, brokered or otherwise profited from, according to a 1997 edict of the Federal Communications Commission. But Richards and others toe the line of the law by licensing out their numbers, rather than selling them, and the FCC looks the other way.

Now with a new, free-market regime at the FCC, lead by recently appointed Chairman Kevin Martin, there's hope toll-free numbers and the $11 billion they annually pile up in calling fees will be deregulated. That would mean that individuals will be able to own the numbers outright and sell or lease them as they wish. Mitchell Knisbacher, president of 800response of Burlington, Vt., says the industry trade group he founded plans to petition the FCC to open the numbers to public ownership.

"We should be able to go to people and say, ‘You're a guy in Arizona, and your number has little value to you. We'll buy it from you for $10,000 or $50,000,'" says Knisbacher, who controls such catchy numbers as 1-800-NewCash, 1-800-NewHonda and 1-800-NewHouse. "He'll have his money, he'll pay taxes to the IRS, the government will make a good amount of money and we'll take the number to people who can use it."

Nearly all of the 800 numbers with mnemonic value have long been assigned to individuals or corporations by phone companies. Folks like Richards and Knisbacher grab numbers that apply to regional businesses--1-800-BankLoan for Richards, for example, or 1-800-NewRoof for Knisbacher--and then peddle the numbers town by town and according to area code. Knisbacher has one number leased in 50 separate areas.

"The FCC has to wake up and realize there's a significant economic benefit to having an 800 number for a business," but no easy way of securing the numbers, contends Richards.

Opponents such as the Association of National Advertisers complain companies would be held up for "unreasonably high" price tags by people sitting on valuable numbers. The FCC similarly worries about speculators warehousing numbers.

But Richards argues for an auction system that awards the numbers to the highest bidders: "In an ideal world, you would have an Ebay of 800 numbers. It would give every business an opportunity to be a 1-800-Flowers."

Political advertising is no longer a seasonal sport--just watch the deluge over Justice O'Connors spot.

A week before Sandra Day O'Connor announced her resignation, cable and Sunday morning news shows had already aired an ad that featured the infamous quote from Democratic Party boss Howard Dean: Many Republicans "have never made an honest living in their life." A conservative group called Progress for America has planned to spend $700,000 blanketing the nation with the ad--the first shot in an $18 million advertising effort to help ensure confirmation for President Bush's pick in a Supreme Court vacancy.

TNSMedia Intelligence-CMAG calculates that in the first six months of the year $70 million was spent on broadcast and print political ads, up from $28 million in the corresponding period of 2001, the last year following a presidential campaign. A big chunk from this money pot went to the debate over cabinet nominations, Social Security personal accounts and tort reform. Political ad spending for state issues is strong, too. The projected tab for California's long list of ballot issues: $50 million. "We are now to a point where no political issue is too small for an ad campaign," says Evan Tracey, chief operating officer of TNS. He notes that the Clarence Thomas nomination of 1991 attracted scarcely a dime of advertising.

Ad Spending
$4.4 million
on filibusters and judicial appointees
$1.5 million
on Attorney General Gonzalez's nomination
$8.3 million
on Social Security
$75,000
on John Bolton's nomination to U.N.
$4.5 million
on tort reform issues
Figures as of June 28. Source: TNS Media Intelligence-CMAG.
Issue advertising gained prominence a dozen years ago when "Harry and Louise" TV spots opposed Hillary Clinton's health insurance plan. Now the topics range all over the political map. This summer the National Farmers Union, a group representing family farms, aired radio ads criticizing the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation--a fellow lobbyist--over his stance favoring the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

National Media, an ad agency run by Alex Castellanos, who made election commercials for George Bush in 2000, recently hired away a Young &Rubicam executive to keep up with new business. "We are in a more polarized political environment," says Castellanos.

An unlikely source of this craze: campaign finance reform. The passage of recent laws to curtail soft money donations spurred formation of dozens of so-called 527 groups, whose sole purpose is to run ads during elections. Now, says Tracey of TNS, the nonprofits "have to find ways to stay relevant, so they create issue ads."

New Net tricks let you watch your home TV on your notebook PC or even your cell phone.

Stuck in a hotel room with hours of downtime? No need to abandon yourself to the lame entertainment on the inn's TV. Now you can open up your laptop and watch episodes of your favorite shows or innings of the home team streamed directly from your home digital video recorder via a high-speed Net connection. Just as the VCR developed and TiVo refined the concept of time-shifting TV, new Net-based products enable place-shifting--watching programs from a device that's somewhere you're not.

The $250 Slingbox from Sling Media can take TV from your living room and send it wherever you have a PC with a Net connection--bedroom, back yard or barnyard. You can connect the Slingbox directly to an antenna or cable feed and let it tune in analog channels, or attach it to a set-top box or DVR. Either way extra connectors keep the home TV hooked up, too. On any Net-enabled Windows XP machine SlingPlayer software will emulate your remote by controlling an IR blaster aimed at the box back home and then display the picture in its own frame on the PCscreen. Playback on mobile devices is promised soon.

On my notebook in a Wi-Fi cafe I could watch live TV and on-demand video from my DVR, as well as shows Ihad recorded on it earlier. I even programmed the DVRremotely to record a baseball game. This gives "remote control"new meaning: Now you can drive your spouse nuts by hogging the clicker from afar.

Unlike TiVo, Slingbox imposes no service fees. But though designed to be easy to install, the unit has several gotchas, the main one being that you have to wire it directly to your router. If that's impractical, as it is in my house, you'll need to spend $100 or so to link the router and the Slingbox via separate Wi-Fi or power-line alternatives that add complexity.

The first Slingbox I tried kept dropping the Net connection. Company executives spent hours helping me tinker fruitlessly with potential home networking problems before admitting what I'd suspected all along: The unit was defective. Moreover, the Windows software has lots of rough edges, the most obvious being its inability to change video brightness and contrast settings. The box does change channels quickly, though it takes a while to stabilize the image and audio synch. But even with lots of bandwidth the video tends to be soft and shimmery, and the audio can be warbly.

A different approach won't cost you a cent. Install Orb Media software from Orb Networks on a fast Windows XP machine with a built-in TV tuner and you can use it to stream showsnot just to other PCs but also to almost any device with a Web browser and Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. Sounds unlikely, but I was able to watch a ball game on a Nokia cell phone and a Wi-Fi-enabled HP iPAQ. Image quality was just okay on the little devices, but on a laptop Orb's video generally looked and sounded better than the Slingbox's. Even for the majority of PC owners who don't have a TVcard, the surprisingly versatile Orb Media software lets you access just about any video, photo or unencrypted music file on your machine from just about anywhere.

But this, too, is a work in progress. Response to commands can take 15 seconds, which seems like an eternity when all you want to do is change the channel. Sometimes those commands end in a software crash on the home machine, though that can often be fixed remotely. The awkward Web interface needs a serious overhaul, particularly since it can leave you staring at a blank window and doesn't begin to reveal clever features like the ability to share photos with friends or set up TV recordings from your cell phone. And like the Slingbox, Orb works far better over a local network than remotely.

Orb Networks would like to sell you extra features like local weather reports, but if you're curious about place-shifting, Orb is a great way to try it without spending a dime. If you're thinking about a Slingbox, make sure you buy it with a money-back guarantee. TV it is, but prime time it is not.

Stephen Manes (steve@cranky.com)