BIG SCREEN TO CELL PHONE
Sony Pictures Digital and T-Mobile have teamed up to provide clips, screen savers, trailers, and specially created Java games over t-zone, T-Mobile's consumer portal. The new deal, announced Wednesday, will use Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, handsets to provide movie content and is marketed to the "m-generation" -- 18 to 24 year olds, the companies said in a statement. The service will sell wallpapers, screensavers and ring tones from $1.50, and downloadable games from $1.50 to $3.00. Also available to download will be content from Sony's library of classic movies -- including "Men in Black," "Ghostbusters" and "Easy Rider" -- and TV shows such as "Dawson's Creek," Bewitched" and "Starsky and Hutch." The deal will be available in both Europe and the United States. "Drawing from the rich library of Sony Pictures Entertainment enables us to create and publish innovative, personalized entertainment experiences for the mobile consumer," said Rio Caraeff, Sony Pictures Digital vice president.
STATES MOVING TOWARD INTERNET TAX
Tax officials, legislators and other delegates from 31 states adopted a model agreement Wednesday that would bring uniformity to sales taxes from e-commerce across state borders. At present, governments lose $14 billion a year on untaxed Internet transactions due to the legal problems of states trying to collect sales taxes on items purchased outside their boundaries, said Frank Shafroth, director of state-federal relations for the National Governor's Association. The model agreement would simplify the thousands of different rates and definitions for sales taxes across the nations. The agreement addresses a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that states first must simplify their sales tax laws in order to require out-of-state retailers to collect and remit the taxes. The plan becomes operational when 10 states have enacted the legislation, which could take place as early as June of next year, according to some experts.
(With thanks to UPI's Phil Magers in Dallas)
E-TAX HELP
Pennsylvania's Department of Revenue is switching from the paper trail to a "Personal Income Tax Guide" on the Net. The state's PIT Guide, is available online at state.pa.us, the department said Wednesday. Having the guide online will allow the Department of Revenue to update the document easily with clarifications and changes due to new tax rules or procedures, tax officials said. "This resource will answer many people's questions through comprehensive, yet easy-to-use information on a large number of topics," state Revenue Secretary Larry P. Williams said in a statement. "The PIT Guide is a great resource for Commonwealth taxpayers and tax professionals alike."
INTERNET MEDICAL SOLUTION
A new Internet-based system that creates an integrated database of patient information, including X-ray and other medical images, will be introduced at the Dec. 1-6 Radiological Society of North America annual meeting in Chicago. The Imagecast system, developed by IDX Systems Corp., of Burlington, Vt., "enables the transition to a fully digital, paperless environment," the company said in a statement. Imagecast includes the company's single-database Radiology Information System, or RIS, and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems, or PACS. "As diagnostic images are interpreted by our radiologists, we have the ability to have images simultaneously available to our referring physicians," said Dr. Dominick R. Conca, chair of radiology at the Geisinger Health System Foundation of Danville, Pa., which in May adopted RIS and PACS. "This in turn encourages real-time consultations when necessary between clinician and radiologist."
WARNER JOINS WITH PRESSPLAY
Pressplay has brokered an agreement with Warner Music Group, making available thousands of Warner Music Group songs to the online music service. The deal provides music from artists on Warner's record labels -- Atlantic, Elektra, Warner Bros., Lava, Word and Rhino -- that pressplay members can listen to for free or, for a charge, can download the music to a PC, transfer to a secure portable device, and burn on a CD. The deal, announced Thursday, makes Warner pressplay's fifth major music company to provide content to the Web service. Launched in 2001, pressplay is available through MSN, Yahoo, MP3.com, Roxio and Sony Musiclub. In addition to songs from Warner Music Group, pressplay has content from BMG, EMI Recorded Music, Madacy, Matador, Navarre, OWIE, Razor & Tie, Roadrunner, Rounder, Sanctuary, Sony Music Entertainment, TVT, Universal Music Group and Zomba.
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