Mike Myers’ latest spoof, ‘The Love Guru,’ has Hindus concerned

By Sandy Cohen, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – As the people of Kazakhstan know all too well, mockery of culture and religion seems to be kosher in Hollywood, under the following conditions:

The humour must be so over-the-top, so beyond reality, that it could never be misconstrued as mean-spirited. That, and the targeted groups cannot be large enough, loud enough or organized enough so that their hurt feelings make an impact at the box office.

Just ask Borat. Though Kazakhs complained that their country and customs were grossly misrepresented in “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” the film was a US$128 million domestic success – among the top-grossing films of 2006.

AT&T to offer live mobile TV in May

AT&T said Thursday that it will start offering live mobile TV service from MediaFlo in May, but will anyone be watching?

AT&T first announced its partnership with MediaFlo in February 2007. Back then it said it expected the service to begin by the end of 2007. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel told Reuters the company waited until May to offer the service because it was “a brand new service on a brand new network, and two brand new devices.”

The new service will operate on two new handsets, the LG Vu and the Samsung Access. Subscribers will get access to eight channels of live TV plus two exclusive channels. AT&T said it would make pricing information available in May when the service officially launches.

MediaFlo USA is a subsidiary of wireless chipmaker Qualcomm. Using analog broadcast TV wireless spectrum it bought several years ago, MediaFlo has built a wireless network to deliver broadcast TV service to mobile devices.

Value the top job for new Imperial boss

CALGARY — As Bruce March takes the reins at Imperial Oil Ltd., he faces a problem that’s universal among companies in the oil sands – how to squeeze the most value out of the bitumen they produce.

For Imperial, solving that conundrum has a special urgency, because the company will soon decide whether to approve the construction of its massive Kearl oil sands mine.

However, Mr. March has a secret weapon: He’s a long-time refining executive at Exxon Mobil Corp., Imperial’s parent company. As such, he’s better placed than most to tackle the tricky question of how best to get the company’s output to the North American market.

“[The job is] an opportunity, without question,” Mr. March said yesterday. “These projects need to be integrated into the existing infrastructure.”