A RIM technical team has been in New Delhi for several months, working closely with Indian officials to develop a workable solution. RIM has built a large community of fiercely loyal corporate subscribers who value their service precisely because of its strict security and confidentiality. The Indian government has assured Blackberry users that it will not shutdown the service if discussions continue beyond the deadline, provided discussions are yielding satisfactory progress.

If RIM and Indian security officials fail to reach an agreement, a shutdown would affect more than one million Blackberry users in India and another forty-one million worldwide users who regularly place calls and send electronic mail to India. India is currently the world’s fastest-growing wireless market, so that RIM has powerful economic incentive to reach an agreement. Shutdown would affect Enterprise Mail and Messenger, but subscribers still could use their Blackberries for calls and internet browsing. Officials close to the negotiations have reported that Messenger Service probably will continue after August 31, because RIM has given assurances that the government may have access to that network.

Danes goes home with the statuette for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie, and the made-for-HBO bio-pic also won the Outstanding Made for Television Movie honors, and earned supporting awards for Julia Ormond and David Strathairn and the directing award for Mick Jackson. Not to be outdone, Al Pacino earned Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-Series or Movie, honored for his portrayal of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in the HBO (of course) movie “You Don’t Know Jack.”

Danielle Cox, watching and “tweeting” for Patterson-Forbes Partners, quipped, “If Kathy Griffin had declared one of her famous drinking games, demanding everyone take a shot when a winner said ‘Thank you, HBO,’ EMT’s would take us all directly to rehab at the end of the show.” Taking a more coldly analytic look, Cox added her voice to the chorus proclaiming the advantages of production for cable: “Producers and directors working on projects for broadcast television can take their subjects, characters, situations, and dialogue only so far before they run afoul of FCC regulations. Because anyone can watch broadcast programming, the creative guys must tone-down their fare to make it suitable for anyone. Teams at HBO face none of those constraints.”

In a mild surprise, offering a glimmer of hope for teams at the networks, ABC’s hit comedy “Modern Family” won the Emmy for “Best Comedy Series.” The show’s edgy, innuendo-laden scripts also won trophies for executive producers Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd; they take home Emmys for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

All the signs and symptoms of addiction
Devotion to Farmville can, however, rage out of control. In the two cases that informed the Farmville warning, women showed all the signs and symptoms of addiction. They frequently went without regular meals and sleep, “working” on their farms for up to thirty-six hours at a time. The two women neglected their home and family responsibilities, and both abused their credit cards to purchase equipment and accessories for their virtual farms. Although Farmville costs nothing and users may accumulate virtual dollars for expanding and improving their farms, Zynga does allow users to pay cash for funds that rapidly accelerate the pace and intensity of play. In both cases, the women sought help for their habits only after their families intervened and forced them to acknowledge they had problems.

In the very early days, when the internet first evolved out of the University of Illinois’s “gopher” software, a handful of users joked, “Be careful. The stuff may be habit forming.” Now, healthcare professionals seriously predict “internet addiction” will appear in the next edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychological Disorders. Industry experts estimate, every year, American corporations lose 500 million man-hours to internet play and social networking. Although businesses have a few tools for restricting and monitoring employees’ internet use, most have neither time nor resources to control workers’ misappropriation of time on their desktops. Business analysts caution would-be internet marketers and entrepreneurs, “The line between building your business and wasting your own time easily blurs,” and they advise, “Hire customer service representatives to manage your marketing, so that you remain well out of temptation’s reach.”

On Wednesday, Google introduced its new feature that enables users to place free or reduced-price telephone calls via Gmail. On Thursday morning, Google officials tweeted that users had placed more than one million calls in the first twenty-four hours of the service’s availability. According to math wizards with time on their hands, the number translates to one in every 3000 American calls on Wednesday. Alternatively, it means that, if your company has 300 employees, at least one person on the payroll tried the new Google service. Or, in the average office building, at least one worker on each floor placed a computer call to someone in North America.

Using the innovative blend of Google Voice and Gmail technologies, users can send and receive calls through their computers. When they link Gmail and Voice, users arrange to have their inboxes ring when people call their Google voice numbers. The Google Voice number also appears on call recipients’ incoming call screens. At least for the remainder of this year, G-phone calls will be free throughout the United States and Canada. Calls from the United States to France and the United Kingdom will cost just 2¢ per minute. Google officials hope that international calls will generate sufficient revenue that they can keep North American calls free.

Google announced that it does have plans to roll out the service across Europe and Asia, but officials declined to give specifics. They said they also have plans to introduce a business version of G-phone service, but they said they have not yet perfected the technology and refused to set a target date for its debut. Google does not plan to make the service available on mobile devices; industry insiders speculate, however, that designers and engineers are working on an Android application that will adapt the service to hand-helds.

Cable versus broadcast: Is it fair?
“30 Rock” and “Modern Family” round-out the list of most-nominated shows, collecting 15 and 14 nods respectively. More importantly, however, cable hits dominate the nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, the one award that proclaims “this show is simply the best.” “True Blood,” a sexy-gory vampire soap opera, “Mad Men,” the story of flannel-clad chain-smoking fifties ad men, and “Dexter,” a clever crime drama with a supernatural twist, enjoy all the built-in advantages of appearing on cable. Fewer FCC constraints translate to more beguiling characters in more compelling situations delivering edgier lines. The qualities that distinguish cable dramas’ writing and staging give them an edge over broadcast fare as academy members mark their ballots for precious golden statuary.

Who are you wearing?
For many viewers, presentation of the awards represents a marathon anti-climax, because the big action happens on the red carpet. In the last three years, ratings for the pre-awards broadcasts have rivaled those for the awards themselves, because devoted fans eagerly tune-in to see their favorite stars done-up to perfection and dressed “to the nines.” The single most important red carpet question remains, “Who are you wearing?” A designer’s label becomes a barometer of a celebrity’s standing in the business. Only the A-Plus list will model-walk the red carpet in Giorgio Armani. Well-established actresses will represent Chanel and Versace. Look for up-and-coming talents to show off Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein.

Right now, AM and FM radio stations pay no “performance royalties” to musicians and singers, but they do pay “mechanical royalties” to songwriters. The advent of satellite and internet radio upset a delicate equilibrium in broadcasting, creating a money-making opportunity for artists who were losing fortunes to illegal downloads and bit-stream torrents. Restoring a delicate balance, a panel of judges—politicians with tenure—set frighteningly high performance royalty rates for web-radio stations. Happy musicians. Unhappy broadcasters, who already were losing audiences and advertising revenues to commercial-free internet and broadband stations that simply increased their subscription fees to cover higher royalties. For listeners, a potentially fatal threat to broadcast radio, still most listeners’ player-of-choice in their cars.

Late last week, the National Association of Broadcasters introduced what they called “a compromise,” but which impressed most observers as an unnecessary complication. Paraphrasing the press release from the NAB, Reuters reported, “[Broadcast radio] Stations would pay, at most, 1 percent of their annual revenue, and those rates could no longer be ratcheted upwards by the same panel that tried to mug Webcasters. Stations would pay less to simulcast their content online and would be able to air the same commercials online and over the air.” The NAB, however, added a quirky codicil: The government would require mobile-phone manufacturers to include an FM receiver in every handset.

The keyword in the codicil: “require.” Members of the Consumer Electronics Association, trade group for cell phone makers, strenuously object to complicating their processes and raising their costs by mandating a feature most consumers say they do not want. Redraw the battle lines, therefore, to align major manufacturers and internet service providers against radio broadcasters, putting artists and musicians in the crossfire.

Congress will take-up debate on the issue during its brief fall session before mid-term elections.

Just a hotel rates drop because the kids go back to school, the sun comes out, the thermometer rises, summer clothing goes on sale, and wise tourists book their flights and hotels for the perfect visit to the city by the bay.

Perfect weather. Uncrowded attractions.
In July, cranky tourists crowd Pier 39, anxiously looking for some hint of sunshine, and asking, “What happened to sunny California?” T-shirt vendors and sidewalk purveyors of crab and shrimp cocktails smile wryly and shrug. In September, sophisticated locals don their sundresses and visit The Buena Vista Café, home of Irish coffee and the best Eggs Benedict anywhere.

In September, weather-wise tourists apply their SPF’s and stroll leisurely through Ghirardelli Square, where hundreds of unique shops beckon, and smiling shopkeepers, finally relaxed after their summer madness, eagerly show-off their best and rarest. Wearing their Wayfarers and clanging their bells extra gladly, cable car operators ply their way up and down the hills, grateful for sunshine at last. Even the frigid trip to Alcatraz is bearable in September, and eager swimmers actually can venture into the waves at Ocean Beach.

Downtown hotels and The City’s finest, most famous restaurants welcome September visitors. And this year the hometown Giants are locked in a fierce battle for the pennant, so that ballgames at all-new and absolutely beautiful US Cellular Field have become a must-see. The Golden Gate and Bay Bridge gleam a little brighter under September sun, when happy visitors begin to understand why Tony Bennet so willingly left his heart in San Francisco.

Haydenne Beaumont, film-maker in residence at Patterson-Forbes Partners, explains, “Jen has built an entire career on playing the multiple incarnations of Rachel, her character on ‘Friends’. Situations and boyfriends change, but Anniston has remained America’s girlfriend. In the last two years, audiences have started giving ‘the ultimatum.’ They have been telling their sweetheart it’s time to take the relationship to a higher level or call it off.” Beaumont concedes that Anniston’s overall popularity has not declined; she still appears on more magazine covers and gossip sites than 99% of other celebrities, “but loving Jen and spending scarce cash to watch her play the same tired role are two radically different questions,” Beaumont maintains.

One Hollywood screenwriter, expressing empathy for Anniston and explaining her own dilemma, breaks it down, “Jen’s popularity in the Rachel-role has limited her growth as an actress. She always has enjoyed the luxury of lots of scripts and lots of promising projects, so she only once has ventured outside her comfort zone.” Looking at “the Jen dilemma” from a writer’s perspective, the veteran laments, “I would like to write a part with her in mind, a part that challenges her to own her age and her depth and her power as a woman.” She hesitates, “but, because Anniston never has shown she can play that kind of part, I feel very reluctant to risk it.”

“The Break-Up,” released several years ago, remains Anniston’s most recent hit. Released in April, “The Bounty Hunter” delivered mediocre results at the box office, turning a profit from its low budget rather than its widespread appeal. “The Bounty Hunter” has performed slightly better in DVD and on-demand purchases, but experts conclude, “The numbers show that American audiences feel unwilling to pay premium rates for Anniston fare.”

“The Switch” has received mixed reviews among professional critics, who generally have complimented Anniston’s delivery of the movie’s best lines, but who also have suggested her co-stars carry the majority of the movie’s action.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini told reporters, “With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online.” Indicating his company’s new sense of direction, the chief continued, “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.”

After Otellini’s official announcement, an Intel press release elaborated the company’s reasoning. The statement reminded that security is now an essential element in online security, and users update their PCs’ anti-virus protection every day, but few have developed adequate defenses for other internet connections—mobile phones, ATMs, medical equipment, and automotive systems. Intel now will sell security software with new chips designed especially for those devices. The company expects its first security-enhanced chip to hit the market early next year.

Aware of the close collaboration between Intel and McAfee, industry analysts had anticipated the move for some time, and they generally endorsed the merger. “Good alone but better together,” Allyson Hilliard, Patterson-Forbes senior technical analyst quoted an old cliché, “The merger combines two industry leaders in a major undertaking, which, frankly, is somewhat overdue.”

Wall Street was not quite so bullish on Intel’s $7.5 billion expenditure. Moving to match share-prices with Intel’s handsome tender offer, buyers boosted McAfee shares 57% on Thursday; but Intel shares dropped nearly 4% on worries that first-year earnings will suffer in the big new company’s first year.