First of all I want to apologize in advance. I won't actually be mentioning anything about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in these first few paragraphs. At the very least I will mention some Scott Pilgrim news so the picture above isn't a complete bait and switch.
In a bit of local flavor an article printed in Philadelphia Citypaper on August 18th got quite a bit of traction. The story centered around how two Philadelphia bloggers reported the meager advertising revenue their blogs brought in when they filed their income taxes and were promptly sent a letter by the city. The city considered their blogs to be a business operating within Philadelphia and demanded they pony up either $50 per year for a business privilege license or $300 for a lifetime license. Philadelphia, among other cities requires anyone running a business (including freelance work) to apply for a business privilege license in order to do business within the city and to pay taxes on income earned. Somehow the story was misinterpreted as a brand new tax on all blogs even ones that don't earn income and the story went national. Many people likened it to an attempt by the government to stifle freedom of speech via taxation.
The following week Citypaper ended up printing a clarification covering some of the original article's misconstrued facts and even a Philadelphia-based Wired.com contributor worked to dispel a few myths. In short, only bloggers who actually earn income on their blogs and report it on their taxes would need to pay for a business license for technically running a business. If the said blogger doesn't bring in revenue from a blog then there is no need to ever pay the fee. (Or the blogger could simply not report earnings at tax time especially if it is a paltry amount of money.) Is a $50 dollar per year or $300 dollar lifetime fee high for a blogger who brings in a tiny amount of revenue-- perhaps just a dozen dollars a year, unfair? Yes, and regressively so. For example, a media giant such as The Philadelphia Inquirer would have to pay the same license fee as the small-time blogger despite the huge differences in profits. If the fee was progressive the small-time blogger (and other very small businesses) would either pay a much smaller fee or the fee would be waived. In the end the story seems to be less about unprofitable blogs having to pay for a business privilege license and more about outdated city laws that aren't keeping pace with reality. (Damage Control doesn't run advertising and I do not claim the blog as a business on my tax returns.)
If you're a frequent Gmail user you probably noticed Google Voice, the newest feature to be added to the e-mail service. The service allows Gmail users in North America to make free calls anywhere in the United States and Canada and international calls are fairly cheap. Many people naturally made the assumption Google was going after Skype. Google's real target may actually be Facebook. In the meantime Facebook is happy to sue anyone who uses the "book" ending on their social networking sites. Gotta protect that brand recognition! And one more recognizable brand may be headed for bankruptcy. Blockbuster has made plans to file for bankruptcy. As expected the company's downfall lies in popular services such as Netflix, Redbox, iTunes, and various internet video sites. While brick and mortar video rental services continue to falter the movie industry itself is still chugging along. Although the quality of movies over the years have become questionable the occasional gem comes along. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is one such gem and the BBC highlighted some of the comic book to film adaptations. Amusingly enough, the film has been covered more by the British media than the U.S. media. Perhaps because Edgar Wright directed this film? Anyway, Scott Pilgrim is destined to become more of a geek cult classic. Also, if you haven't seen the film I do recommend it as a strange but fantastic video game movie.
If you frequently buy Xbox Live Arcade codes from Amazon.com you might be in for a surprise. The practice has come to an end and the reason is unclear, yet Amazon still sells MS points cards, Wiiware game codes, and PSN game codes. To further add to the confusion GameStop is now beginning to sell XBLA game codes in its stores. In less confusing Microsoft news anyone who illegally downloaded a leaked copy of Halo: Reach and played it while connected to Xbox Live now faces a permanent ban. If you can't stop gamers from pirating a game you can at least inconvenience them with a ban. In Sony news, the company wants to focus the PSP brand on a younger audience. Such a move is mildly amusing given the PSP's original target audience. Going for a younger demographic works for Nintendo and it could work for Sony, though Nintendo has always had a lock on younger gamers. If this is Sony's way of proving the PSP isn't dead yet (which is isn't) I'm all for it, besides JRPG fans can only do so much for sales. And who says Life-sized Gundams could never do anything for charity?
Image shamelessly stolen from the BBC website.
Uh oh, Mac Fans! Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads have been on airwaves for a good while, so long that a random person likely couldn't tell you precisely how long they've been on unless they've been analyzing them carefully. Well, 
