Scoop’s Views

Ed McMahon, the former face of Publisher’s Clearinghouse sweepstakes, who teased Americans for years that he could show up at the door of anyone’s home, at any time, and make them a millionaire, seems to be in need of a sweepstakes win these days.

In recent days, McMahon’s financial woes have gone public, and now he says that he is “representing many people in the same situation.” What a crock! Perhaps he should ask one of his neighbors, such as Britney Spears, if he represents everyday people.

Tags: bank repossessions, britney spears, crisis, Ed McMahon, eviction notices, evictions, grandiose lifestyles, Hollywood, home loans, housing, Johnny Carson, loans, mortgage crisis, Pamela McMahon, Publishers Clearinghouse, refinance, refinancing, repo, Simpsons Movie, sub-prime mortgages, sweepstakes, toxic mold

A group of protestors, numbering somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000, and described as Chinese-Americans, decided to protest CNN’s Hollywood office yesterday, protesting CNN’s commentator Jack Cafferty, who made a comment on CNN’s The Situation Room, back on April 9 — almost two weeks ago. Among his comments that day, Cafferty apparently called China’s goods “junk” and its leaders a “bunch of goons and thugs.”

Tags: activists, apology to China, Atlanta, Big Ben, black berets, Chairman Mao, China, Chinese, Chinese-Americans, Chinese-made goods, death threats, dog meat, export jobs, free speech, goons and thugs, Hollywood, imports, Jack Cafferty, Jiang Yu, junk, lead paint, made in China, Olympic protests, Oriental, Paul Wolfowitz, poisoned dog meat, poisoned pet food, protestors, protests, Radium Dial, Recalls, reporters harassed, studios, Technology, The Situation Room, Tibet, U.S. Army, Wal-Mart, Westclox, workers

Toshiba yesterday surrendered, saying it willingly giving up future sales and profits in the lucrative high-definition DVD market.

In giving up its fight for the HD DVD format as the next-generation HD DVD, Toshiba has conceded that Blu-ray will be the standard format. Blu-ray is backed by Sony, Matsushita Electric (which makes Panasonic-brand products), and five Hollywood studios.

Tags: Andy Parsons, Atsutoshi Nishida, BD-R, BD-R-DL, BDA, Blu-ray, Blu-ray Disc Association, Blu-ray format, Disney, DVD, gamers, games, HD DVD, hi-def, High Definition, high-def, Hollywood, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., movies, Panasonic, Panasonic-brand, Sony, Sony Corp., Tokyo, Toshiba, video games