$20 B for A/C

The price tag placed on air conditioning would upset both Bob Barker and NASA.  The U.S. military spends a cool $20 billion every year on air conditioning for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan NPR reports. The cost of cool is more than NASA’s budget, and even more than BP’s cost of cleanup in the Gulf. When considering the factors what makes the price of air conditioning more astronomical than NASA? Each air conditioning unit requires a gallon of fuel to be shipped to each remote outpost, then driven 800 miles in 18 days to reach its final destination. NPR reports that at the end of next year $30 billion will be spent for the 33,000 troops returning home. This numbers equate to nearly $1 million a soldier. The military reports that they started treating the tents with polyurethane foam which reduced the energy use by 92%. With these new techniques can the military go green be more efficient with their energy use? At the end of war’s Showcase Showdown, who can really say the price is right?

Google juggles $400 million for Admeld

Only TV spots during the Super Bowl cost more than advertising by Admeld as Google signs $400 million deal to purchase Admeld advertising company. The deal is the sixth-largest purchase made by Google as it looks to improve their overall ad quality. Admeld specializes in simplifying the display ad buying process. With the addition of Admeld Google hopes that "by combing Admeld's services, expertise, and technology with Google's offerings, we're investing in what we hope will be an improved era of flexible ad management tools for major publishers," said Neal Mohan, head of Google's display advertising in a company blog post. Michael Barrett, CEO for Admeld added in his own company blog and said, "we imagine our combined offerings can help publishers make more informed, efficient, and profitable decsions across all tiers of their inventory." 

Pandora's box opened

If Pandora's box has something to share with the whole world its music. The popular Internet radio site Pandora announced that it will go public this year. Backed by Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan it is expected to generate as much as $100 million. The company is based out of Oakland, California where it got its start and has since grown to 80 million users with 800,000 songs. Pandora is part of what creator Tim Westergren calls the music genome. He explains that the genome is like musical DNA that has form, harmony, and rhythm. They have branched music into these types of attributes, helping create the website used by many. Pandora creates personalized stations according to the different genres that you choose, introducing many artists and musicians within each station. Pandora is a great way to get exposed to more artists in a specific genre that you may not be able to hear on a typical radio station.

John sells jerky

The Duke brings a new arsenal to his latest gunfight: beef jerky. Ethan Wanye, son of legendary actor John Wayne and president of John Wayne Enterprises announces his plan to offer new products under his father's branded name such as beef jerky and coffee mugs. The plan includes a list of items that are intended to be a line of products that consumers can use. Wayne's main goal is to represent his father's spirit in the marketplace by selling items like knifes, horse saddles, and leather jackets; all things his father used. John Wayne Enterprises was established in 1979 before his passing giving his family rights to his name, image and likeness. Ethan Wayne took over as president back in 2003 and now has the plans to see more growth than from previous president and brother Michael Wayne. Now John Wayne's legacy will fill your pantry and your coffee cup every time you watch True Grit.

More Mormons in the media

Mitt Romney better use his largest glove this year if he wants to catch a seat in the oval office. After dropping out of the president race back in 2008, Romney announced his campaign to run for the upcoming 2012 presidential elections on June 2 in New Hampshire. The former governor and faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hopes to take the Republican nomination that will potentially lead him to the White House. However during his last campaign many feel he received enough religious retaliation to cause him to bow out of the race. This year he will have to face the criticism head-on and address his faith to get into office. Romney served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts and helped erase a $3 billion spending deficit without borrowing money or even raising taxes. Sounds like the government could use some Romney to clean out some of the country's financial spider webs.

Headshot!

Now you can practice your sniping skills inside without leaving bullet holes in your family's living room. This year's E3 video gaming convention aims its sights at action and military gamers this year in downtown Los Angeles. The more niched target placed on consumers supplies what these types of players look for: bigger budget, epic and cinematic games rather than simpler games for a casual gamer. Previous years conventions screened games that tried to attract a wider variety of players such as women and younger children with motion sensor systems like Nintendo's Wii and Kinect for X-box. This year Kinect unveiled new games with armed with knifes, guns and lightsabers. Some of the new games include Electronic Arts Inc's Mass Effect 3, Activision Blizzard Inc's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and THQ Inc's Saints Row: The Third.

King of the Operating Jungle

A new king of the jungle will take the computer operating systems throne this summer as Mac unveils its OS X Lion system. The new interface will include Launchpad, a full-screen home for controlling apps very similar to the format of an iPad. Other new features are Resume, Mission Control and Auto-Save. Mission Control allows users to get an overall view of everything on their system such as apps, Dashboard, Expose, and Spaces. Resume remembers the last thing you were working on and saves your place even after you close the app. When you restart your computer all your information will be in the last spot you left it. Lion is expected to come out this July and can be downloaded and installed to your computer without having to your room.

Heaven on Earth?

Trey Parker's set of scriptures sing and dance they're way to stardom in The Book of Mormon the Musical. The musical written by Southpark co-creator Trey Parker premiered on Broadway March 24 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The show has been well received by most critics and is rumored to clean up this years Tony awards. The reminiscent music of Mel Brooks is praised by The Los Angeles Times: "the songs, often inspired lampoons of contemporary Broadway styles, are as catchy as they are clever."However its profane lyrics and religious satire has others questioning the content. The Wall Street Journal called the show "slick and smutty: The Book of Mormon is the first musical to open Broadway since La Cage aux Folles that has the smell of a send-in-the-tourists hit." While both positive or negative reviews are given, you can be sure that this one will cause a major ruckus equally seen in episodes of Southpark.

$8,500,000,000

Microsoft purchased Skype last week for $8.5 billion as the Internet phone service collected its largest phone bill in company history. Seeking for new advances in technology, the purchase of Skype hopes to bring a larger market and larger dollar signs to the even larger corporation. Microsoft intends to introduce the video calling services to its smartphones, X-box gaming consoles, and Office email and document software according to the Los Angeles Times. The acquisition has many analysts scratching their heads much like in 2005, when Ebay payed $3.1 billion for control of the company and never saw much of a profit. Microsoft is expected to have the same type of trouble and like Ebay, lose more than a dropped call, money. 

This Hangover won't go away for a while.

This particular Memorial Day will be remembered as the one that killed the box office as Hangover Part 2 pulled in $117 million in its debut weekend. The second rendition of the popular movie now takes the spotlight as the most profitable comedy film ever produced. Many believe that the success of the film is solely based on the weekend it hit theatres. In previous years Memorial weekend has done wonders for other films such as Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian or Sex and the City 2. A trend of sequels mixed with the first glimpse of summer creates the perfection equation for movie debut success.

The surreal Reality

Every channel has them, and every channel needs them. Their successes and failures are on display for all to see. Now we are going to see even more of them whether we want to or not. Kim Kardashian and other reality show stars have been filling prime-time TV slots for the past decade, and according to adweek.com, will take up 1/3 of fall programming. Reality shows portray people in everyday life and all that which it entails, as if we couldn’t look out the window and observe the same things happening. However, most reality shows incorporate a loosely based script to help make everyday life seem a little more exciting. If only we all used a script everyday to make our jokes a little bit funnier and our heartaches to hurt a little bit more.

Seen enough?

Every year NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS TV networks receive about 500 pitches, about 70 scripts, about 20 pilots and about 4-8 new series’ all resulting in 1 or 2 TV shows according to The Wall Street Journal. These big 4 TV networks are feeling added pressure trying to keep up with companies like Netflix, Hulu and DVR devices with their number of audiences increasing. The ease of use and control from services warranted by Netflix for example, draw many consumers away from prime-time television. Top TV network executives are constantly monitoring the success of shows and their ratings, determining whether keeping these shows afloat is profitable. Unfortunately for many writers and their scripts, many shows are cancelled and lost never to return from a 3-hour tour.

New Videos on the Block

Michael Jackson’s Thriller set the stage and raised the bar for music videos back in ’83 costing an unheard of $500,000 to produce. In past years most artists continued to use this template to create their own elaborate videos costing upwards of $2,000,000. However due to the high rise of digital music sales and a drop in CD sales, music video budgets have also plummeted. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, directors and producers of these music videos are finding new ways to stick to their measly $100,000 budgets.

New ideas and features for the first time in music videos allow viewers to control the camera, with 360-degree shots of scenes or even director options where loyal fans can place their favorite singer in different scenarios. 

Bin Laden has been laid down

On Sunday, May 1^st 2011, the media announced the death of Osama Bin Laden. After over nearly a decade of searching for the infamous terrorist linked to the 9/11 attacks, the nation and world breathes a temporary sigh of relief with word of his demise. However important this event to the world may seem, there are a couple things that in my opinion would deem fishy.

First, why was there a perfect space between important news stories allowing a nicely timed slot for the breaking news of Bin Laden’s death? I was still trying to find out more about the tornadoes in the South between calling friends in that area and following the news stories when they conveniently ended just in time for Bin Laden’s last 15 minutes of fame.

Second, I find it very opportune that news of Bin Laden has come to us shortly prior to the 2012 presidential elections. All I am hinting at is the great extremes and methods the media uses to portray someone or something.