| Golden Treasure Caps off Record Year
Cage can attest to that. National Treasure: Book of Secrets spent another weekend at number one, banking $35.6 million between Friday and Sunday—plus another $13.7 million on Christmas Day—to bring its two-week total to $124 million. The adventure flick also had the third-biggest Xmas showing ever, behind only Meet the Fockers ($19.5 million) and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($14 million). Alvin and the Chipmunks and I Am Legend accounted for another $30 million and $27.5 million in receipts, respectively, leaving Smith's sci-fi tour de force just a few days shy of the $200 million mark. A resurgent Charlie Wilson's War remained in fourth place with $11.8 million, up 21.9 percent from last week, despite mixed reviews. But critics be darned—the film was nominated for five Golden Globes and perhaps people want to see for themselves what a lighthearted dramatization about what amounted to the U.S.
Costco shines bright
Costco, however, had a 7 percent jump in December sales compared with a year ago, and that outpaced Wall Street's 5.6 percent estimate. Shares rose nearly 4 percent. Meanwhile, Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. saw a 4 percent decline in same-store sales, a key barometer in determining a retailer's health, but that was better than analysts had predicted. And Bellevue-based Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc., which typically doesn't disclose its results with other retailers, said comparable sales increased 4.8 percent for the fourth quarter. Eddie Bauer shares shot up 35 percent Thursday, its biggest gain since coming out of bankruptcy in June 2005. Nationally, the same-store sales tally of the UBS-International Council of Shopping Centers was up a meager 0.9 percent in December, worse than the original prediction of 1.5 percent.
What to do with your old digital camera–reuse, reduce, recycle!
Between the flurry of new camera announcements at CES and PMA and year-end holiday purchases, chances are pretty good that you or someone you know has a new digital camera. The question is what to do with the old camera. If it's in working order, you could pass it along to someone less fortunate than yourself (in my case, my 9-year-old niece who love, love, loves the old 4 megapixel snapshooter that was festering in my defunct electronics drawer). But if your old camera is beyond repair and not worth foisting on some poor unsuspecting Luddite, then seeking out an option to recycle the product will win you some karmic points with the environment. One option is to check with the manufacturer of your camera. More and more vendors are providing easy ways to recycle their old products.
Simmermon: Photos lack purpose
What was once used to preserve a memory or leave a legacy to pass down through generations has now turned into an egocentric, self-absorbed facefest. The idea of picture taking has made many unique transformations since the first cameras were invented. .
Keynote bloopers and practical jokes
Five weeks and a day from the time I'm typing this sentence, Steve Jobs will take the stage at the Moscone West expo hall to kickoff the 2008 Macworld Conference & Expo with his annual keynote. I think it's a pretty safe argument that Jobs' Expo keynote is the most anticipated event of the calendar year among Mac enthusiasts. And for good reason—in just one 90-minute-give-or-take speech, you get exciting revelations, carefully crafted showmanship, and (more often than not) a boatload of new product releases. You also get the occasional glitch or blunder. And now, thanks to an enterprising iMovie user and Web 2.0 technologies, you can relive those unscripted keynote moments that Apple would just as soon have you forget. The 4:40-second “Apple Keynote Bloopers" video— posted on YouTube and embedded below—is credited to Macintologist, and it's pretty much a collection of everything that can go wrong doing exactly that.
Cable Network Rankings for Feb. 11-17
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Transcript from Goodell's news conference
"Good morning. Welcome to Arizona and Super Bowl XLII. I hope that all of you are enjoying the hospitality of this wonderful community. Before I take your questions - and I assume you have some questions - I'd like to make a few comments. First, thank you to all of you for your extraordinary interest and coverage of the NFL this season. We appreciate it. If numbers are any indication, by the number of credentials we have issued this week, it certainly is one of the games that has the most interest in our history. So, thank you for being here and thank you for your coverage over the season. "Also, let me thank the two teams - the New England Patriots and New York Giants. I congratulate them on a tremendous season. They have played terrific football and they have gotten here in two different ways, but nonetheless, both with records.
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