1. TMZ, the schlocky but news-breaking Web gossip site, is now a daily TV show. Target demographic: folks who find clicking a mouse to be just too much bother.
2. So you can buy your iPhone now for $400, two-thirds of what it cost when it debuted in June, or you can wait another three months and, at this rate, get one free just for signing a cell phone service contract.
3. In a sign of growing belief in direct-to-Internet video, Warner Bros. is going to start paying production costs itself for programming designed for the Web, instead of insisting advertisers bear the burden. There was no one left to ask after Mentos and Pepsi turned them down.
4. Speaking of Mentos, the candy’s Web site, surprisingly, embraces the concept of stuffing the tablets into soda bottles in order to waste good soda and mints in a spectacular fashion. The site explains, for instance, how to “Make Your Own Mentos geyser.” This suggests it would be a bad idea to check the Web site for Prince Albert tobacco.
5. Hulu, the much-derided name NBC Universal and Fox decided to give to the video site they conceived as a rival to YouTube, is getting sued by Lulu, a pre-existing Internet publisher, for trademark infringement. The central legal question: Can it count as infringement if the name is always spoken with a dismissive chuckle?
