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Disney has begun showing full-length movies online, beginning with Finding Nemo, the studio said Tuesday.
It’s the first time Disney has done so, and it’s notable as such, but don’t confuse the move with a full-on YouTubization of the company. Each movie will only be available for a few days after they air on ABC’s Saturday-night TV show Wonderful World of Disney. Finding Nemo, for example, can be watched online through June 13, Disney said.
It’s free, but don’t expect a full-immersion cinema experience.
The movies are available through a “watch now” link on the upper-right side of the Disney.com Web site. I had to sit through an ad for Cocoa Pebbles cereal, then an equally high-fructose introductory Disney promotional video. And the window showing the movie is surrounded by an encrustation of further garish ads.
But ads clearly pay some of the bills here, and streaming video takes a lot of bandwidth and server horsepower, so I can’t complain too much. (Especially since my own paycheck comes from ad revenue.)
I didn’t see much in the way of Snow White-era classics on the schedule, but presumably this is just for openers:
• Monsters Inc. airs on ABC June 14 and is available online June 16-20.
• Haunted Mansion airs on TV June 28 and online June 30-July 4.
• Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is on TV July 5 and online July 7-11.
• Princess Diaries 2 is on TV July 12 and online July 14-18.
• Freaky Friday is on TV July 19 and online July 21-25.
• Peter Pan is on TV August 2 and online August 4-8.
Disney also is showing Camp Rock online on June 23.

webware.com

Steffy spotted a small newspaper ad that asked for donations for a classmate, James Kline, who needed life-saving brain surgery because of epilepsy.
Steffy did a little research and found out who Kline was. Before the game in which he scored his 1,000th point, he printed out fliers and made school announcements asking for donations.
The money raised from Steffy's campaigning was enough to cover James' mother's expenses for a month.
"I met James over the next summer, to see how much of a change and what a difference it made in his life," Steffy said. "It was just unreal to me."
Steffy said Kline remains his greatest inspiration for his newly founded charity, the Children Deserve a Chance Foundation.
Though Steffy, of Leola, is now a quarterback for the University of Maryland, it doesn't mean he's too busy for Lancaster County.
The foundation donates money to epilepsy foundations, and will launch a motivational speaker program this year for area high schools.
Steffy hopes to build a facility in Lancaster city where kids can participate in after-school programs. His goal is to raise $50,000 this year for its startup costs.
"Within the next several months we're looking to purchase and renovate a building," he said.
The foundation will host its second annual golf tournament at the Crossgates Golf Club in Millersville Saturday, June 28.
"This year we'll have a full house," Steffy said. "It's grown so much since we started last year."
Tournament proceeds will fund three college scholarships worth $3,000 each. Two will be offered to Conestoga Valley students, and one to a J.P. McCaskey High School student.
"There are kids everywhere that are in need," Steffy said.
Visit the Children Deserve a Chance Foundation online at www.childrendeserveachance.com.
Education: Conestoga Valley High School. Bachelor's degree in kinesiological sciences from the University of Maryland. Pursuing a master's degree in real estate development, also at Maryland.

articles.lancasteronline.com

Fans spit at her, drivers talked behind her back and sports writers wrote columns about how her pocketbook would get in the way while she was driving.
It’s been 31 years since Janet Guthrie became the first woman to start at an Indianapolis 500, and the world has changed. For the second straight year, three women will be competing in this Sunday’s 500, and one of them, Danica Patrick, is considered the race’s star attraction after becoming the first woman to win an Indy Car race last month in Japan.
Although Guthrie feels proud about all that is happening for women in her sport, there is another emotion too, one that sometimes makes it difficult to watch the sport that once brought her so much purpose and joy.
“The first word that occurs to me is envy,” the 70-year-old Guthrie said in a phone interview earlier this week. “I certainly wish I had had the opportunity to drive for all the teams that Danica has, and in as many races as she has driven. I guess I should be grateful for the opportunity that I had. It is good to see a woman in that position be up front.”
Perhaps it is Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno who need to feel grateful. Because if it weren’t for the spirit, competitive drive and curiosity of a young engineer on Long Island some 48 years ago, they might not be where they are today.
That’s right. Believe it or not, the seeds of women’s race car driving began in Farmingdale where Guthrie was working after recently graduating from the University of Michigan.
“I needed a car, and with my wonderful new salary of $125 a week, I bought a Jaguar,” she recalls with a laugh.
In her autobiography, “A Life Full Throttle,” Guthrie details how she began competing in hill climbs and other minor races around Long Island. She did all of her work on her own car, spending all her spare time in a rented barn. By 1972 she was involved in racing full time.

newsday.com

What does an Internet service provider have in common with a florist?
Seemingly not much. But United Online, which owns dial-up Internet service provider NetZero, said Wednesday that it’s spending $456 million to buy FTD Group, the floral and specialty gift provider.
I don’t think I’m alone in thinking this seems like an odd pairing. FTD is one of the largest floral companies in the world, providing products to consumers as well as retail florists throughout the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Ireland. But United Online, which owns Internet properties such as Classmates.com, Juno, NetZero, and MyPoints, said the FTD acquisition will provide it with additional revenue and help it expand into the growing floral Internet business.
“This transaction will meaningfully diversify our revenue base within a large global market experiencing significant migration to the Internet,” the company’s CEO Mark R. Goldston told The Wall Street Journal.
But as anyone familiar with M&As can tell you, most mergers, even the ones that seem to make sense, don’t end up working out. Just look at Time Warner and AOL, which by most accounts is considered a huge failure. Or even eBay’s $2.6 billion acquisition of Skype. The deal hasn’t been a total bust, but last year eBay took a $900 million so-called impairment write-down against the value of Skype. In these examples, companies spent loads of money to “diversify” their businesses, but in the end the deals didn’t work out as planned.
While I’m sure that United Media’s execs believe there is a very good, strategic reason to get into the flower business, time will tell if the strategy delivers on its promise.
Beyond Binary by Ina Fried A look at how technology is changing our lives and at the people behind all that life-changing stuff.
Coop’s Corner by Charles Cooper Charles Cooper weighs in on Silicon Valley hijinks, and he doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

news.com

AmeriGas Propane Q2 Earnings Up 11% - Quick Facts [APU]
4/30/2008 8:17:47 AM AmeriGas Propane, Inc., (APU) reported that second-quarter net income was $133.0 million or $1.58 per share, an increase of 11%, compared to $119.9 million or $1.47 per share for the same period last year. On average, 7 analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial expected earnings of $1.77 per share.
Revenues increased to $1.01 billion from $809.8 million for the year ago quarter. Four analysts expected revenues of $925.04 million.
For the six-months, net income grew to $187.26 million or $2.46 per share from $175.53 million or $2.37 per share for the year before period.
Revenue for the first two quarters increased to $1.75 billion from $1.43 billion for the same period last year.
Looking ahead to 2008, the company now expects net income of $151 million.
Southern Co. Q1 Profit Rises [SO]
4/30/2008 8:17:22 AM Southern Company (SO) reported first-quarter earnings of $359.2 million, or 47 cents a share, compared to $338.7 million, or 45 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding the impact of synthetic fuel investments, Southern Company earned 47 cents a share for the first quarter of 2008, compared to 41 cents a share for the same period in 2007. Analysts expected earnings of 41 cents a share for the first quarter.
Revenues for the first quarter of 2008 were $3.68 billion, compared with $3.41 billion in the same period a year ago, an 8% increase.
Timken Q1 EPS From Cont. Opns. Rise; Guides Q2, FY08 - Quick Facts [TKR]
4/30/2008 8:16:41 AM Timken Co. (TKR) on Wednesday reported first-quarter income from continuing operations of $84.5 million or $0.88 per share, compared to $74.3 million or $0.78 per share in the first quarter last year.
Excluding special items, income from continuing operations increased to $78.9 million or $0.82 per share from $62.5 million or $0.66 per share in the prior-year period.

rttnews.com

The Orlando Sentinel
March Madness is here, and that means scores of employees will be calling in sick to watch the opening-round games of the men’s college basketball tournament. But if you have to work, or don’t have access to a TV, you can watch every game on your computer free. It’s also great if your local CBS station isn’t showing your favorite team. You must have a broadband Internet connection to use the service.
1. Go to ncaasports.com/mmod
2. Click on “Register Free,” fill out the required information and click “Submit.” Click the link to continue and bookmark the page in your Web browser.
3. When you want to watch a game live, return to the bookmarked page and select the game you want to watch. Because of high demand, you may have to wait in the “waiting room” before your game is displayed on the screen.
4. If you are watching games at work, the service has a great “Boss button” which you can press when your boss comes over to your desk. Hitting the button will replace the video feed with a spreadsheet. Keep in mind that some companies block access to this service and if that happens, start working on your cough.
5. You can sign up for the service at any time, but if you do it early, you should be able to snag a “VIP Pass.” One of these will get you access to the games faster than people with “General Admission” access.

postbulletin.com

When ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi joined Gambo and Ash earlier in the week, he discussed why Arizona State should not be in the NCAA tournament.
He used a bunch of fancy statistics like the RPI, SOS and their non-conference SOS - which is exactly what is wrong with the NCAA Tournament selection process.
It has become too much about numbers and not using common sense.
Over the course of an NCAA season you can watch a lot of college basketball. I haven’t watched every team that is on the bubble, but I have watched a decent amount of programs play throughout the season. I’m not sure how many teams the members of the NCAA Committee have watched, but if they have taken in a couple ASU games, it would seem obvious that the Sun Devils should be apart of the 65 team field.
Here is a look at the Sun Devils resume and some teams competing with them:
ASU went .500 in the toughest conference in the country prior to the Pac-10 Tournament. The Sun Devils a solid non-conference win against Xavier and a bad loss against Illinois on a neutral court, but did not play for two weeks before that game. If injuries are taken into account, why not a team being rusty in their first game of the season? They swept Arizona, split with Oregon and beat Stanford and USC at home. A win against UCLA or Washington State would have clinched a spot for them, but their resume is still good enough to get in between an 8-12 seed.

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