And Now The News...

Found a few interesting news items that deserve commenting:

From Movie & TV News @ IMDb:
Would Apple Buy Disney?
Rumor spread flood-like through the Internet over the weekend that Apple Computer might make an attempt to acquire the Walt Disney Co. The rumors were touched off by an item in Barron's. It noted that Apple now boasts a stock-market value of more than $60 billion - $10 billion more than Disney's, and that when Disney completes its acquisition of Pixar, Steve Jobs, who heads both Pixar and Apple, will become Disney's largest shareholder, with four times the stake of Michael Eisner and seven times that of Roy Disney. Several analysts forecast that Apple will soon develop a movie downloading service for its video iPods, which are expected to sport larger screens in their next evolution. "From an intellectual property standpoint, [an Apple-Disney merger] would be a match made in heaven," Washington D.C. intellectual-property attorney Alan Fisch said in the Barron's article.

Imagine that. Apple has always been regarded as a dark horse. And even though this little upstart of a computer company gets its sleek products and simple logo big-time movie and TV placements, it is still treated as "the other computer platform." iPods command more than 80% of the mp3 player market, but a vast majority of their owners hook up to iTunes through their PCs. Yet here they are, the company that started back in 1976 when the two Steves, Woz and Jobs, strung together a few circuit boards inside a wooden box to, essentially, create the Apple I, is now possibly taking over an industry giant.

Giant. Disney is oh-so much more than Snow White, The Lion King and a few amusement parks. They are ESPN. ABC. E!. Touchstone. A&E. Giant! And now they might be Apple.

Granted, the deal is hardly signed yet hence it is unknown what Apple's controlling stake would be, however, one only needs to look at the previous merger between AOL and another media giant, Time Warner. I believe the question more at hand is, what would this merger do for Apple? Will Apple Computers start to take their proper hold of a blind nation whose dependency on a second-rate operating system such as Windows is so grand it truly is mind-boggling? Will iMacs and G5s and PowerBooks start appearing more in homes and cubicles than on film? Imagine, a nation waking up one day realizing that the "other" operating system is actually the better one.

Dreams, perhaps, only dreams. But isn't Disneyland a place where your dreams can come true?

If you are interested in finding out more about Apple Computers and their beginnings, please check out a fine book called Apple Confidential 2.0 by Owen Linzmayer. Or you can always just buy an Apple computer.



From NHL on OLN
SHUT DOWN
Flyers captain Keith Primeau will sit out the rest of the regular season, nearly four months after sustaining another concussion. Primeau was injured Oct. 25 after taking a hit from Montreal's Alexander Perezhogin, the latest and most severe in a list of head injuries the center has sustained in a 15-year career. He had one goal and played in only nine games for the Flyers this season.


Not a surprise announcement, and definitely not a joyous one. After to coming to the Flyers from the Hurricanes in 1999, and the Red Wings before that, Primeau had a career best season in 2000-2001 scoring 34 times with 39 assists. After that season he began getting hurt more frequently leading to less and less ice time and points alike.

Still, he was the captain and to many fans signified all that was good, and especially all that was rough, for the Broad Street Bullies. Disappointing that the player who is captain no more will not return to the ice.

Surprisingly, Primeau did not announce his retirement. In doing so, the center would have freed up about $3M for the salary-cap strained Philadelphia team. A team that could use another solid player.

This year has shown the depth the team has had as injuries have abounded all season long, most particulary all-star Peter Forsberg, returning to Philadelphia with a gold medal, who has continuously been battling a pulled groin. The addition of Petr Nedved has certainly answered that call and has helped out Golden Simon Gagne work his way to being an NHL leader in goals. Now Handzus, Johnsson and Therien will all be on the injury report for indeterminate amounts of time.

Just past the Olympic break, every game until season's end is inter-conference. This includes four more games with hated rivals the New York Rangers, the team that sits three points above the Flyers. And for as well as Hitchcock's team is going, questions still remain. Can the Flyers remain strong with depth while still nursing injuries? Just how healthly is Forsberg right now? Why is Antero Niittymaki still the backup goalie? And Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?

One thing is certain. With 24 games left, there is still plenty of time to game on.

As Always,
theJOE