FILE - Quincy Jones arrives at the world premiere of the music video for Paul McCartney's song, "My Valentine", in West Hollywood, Calif., in this April 13, 2012 file photo. Jones sued Jackson's estate on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, claiming that he was owed millions in royalties and fees on music that's been used in post-death Jackson projects including the "This Is It" concert film. Jones produced Jackson's "Off the Wall," "Thriller" and "Bad" albums. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
FILE - Quincy Jones arrives at the world premiere of the music video for Paul McCartney's song, "My Valentine", in West Hollywood, Calif., in this April 13, 2012 file photo. Jones sued Jackson's estate on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, claiming that he was owed millions in royalties and fees on music that's been used in post-death Jackson projects including the "This Is It" concert film. Jones produced Jackson's "Off the Wall," "Thriller" and "Bad" albums. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Quincy Jones sued Michael Jackson's estate claiming he is owed millions in royalties and production fees on some of the superstar's greatest hits.
Jones' lawsuit Friday seeks at least $10 million from the singer's estate and Sony Music Entertainment, claiming the entities improperly re-edited songs to deprive him of royalties and production fees. The music has been used in the film "This Is It" and a pair of Cirque du Soleil shows based on the King of Pop's songs, the lawsuit states.
Jones also claims that he should have received a producer's credit on the music in "This Is It." His lawsuit seeks an accounting of the estate's profits from the works so that Jones can determine how much he is owed.
The producer worked with Jackson on three of his most popular solo albums, "Off the Wall," ''Thriller" and "Bad."
Jackson's estate wrote in a statement that it was saddened by Jones' lawsuit. "To the best of its knowledge, Mr. Jones has been appropriately compensated over approximately 35 years for his work with Michael," the statement said.
An after-hours message left at Sony Music's New York offices was not immediately returned.
Jackson's hits "Billie Jean," ''Thriller" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" are among the songs Jones claims were re-edited to deprive him of royalties and his producer's fee.
Jones' lawsuit states the producer's contracts called for him to have the first opportunity to re-edit or alter the songs, in part to protect his reputation.
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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
That is the tongue-in-cheek name for the at least 20 executives who have become chief financial officers in Silicon Valley and beyond over the past three years after training in the big e-commerce company’s finance department.
Many of these eBay Inc. alumni stay in touch with one another, regularly sharing tips about the growing pains of startups and initial public offerings, while waxing nostalgic over a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon at a trendy San Francisco restaurant.
New spectrometry standard for handheld chemical detectors aids first responders
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
25-Oct-2013
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Contact: Michael E. Newman michael.newman@nist.gov 301-975-3025 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
When it comes to detectors for dangerous chemicals, toxins or nefarious germs, smaller and faster is better. But size and speed must still allow for accuracy, especially when measurements by different instruments must give the same result.
The recent publication of a new standarda culmination of years of research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)provides confidence that results from handheld chemical detectors can be compared, apples-to-apples.
Such detectors are used by emergency responders to check for the presence of explosives or toxic chemicals that threaten public safety. Quality control managers in the pharmaceutical industry use them to verify the identity of chemicals going into their production lines.
The new standard, published recently by ASTM International, is intended as a guide to correct the output from different handheld Raman spectrometers, so that different instruments produce the same result for the same sample.
Raman spectrometers identify chemicals by shining laser light on a sample and detecting the very small changes in the wavelength of that light as it is re-emitted from the sample. However, spectrometers from different manufacturers can produce signals with different peak intensities. These differences can be confusing, particularly if first responders from different agencies use different instruments and get differing results on an unknown sample in the field.
"Our goal is that people get the same answer for the same sample on any machine," says NIST chemist Steven Choquette.
His team developed a series of NIST Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) that are used to correct Raman systems with differing excitation lasers. These standards enable the correction of the differences in peak intensities reported for the same sample by different Raman spectrometers. They then continued to work with spectrometer manufacturers to develop an industry consensus standard to enable comparisons among Raman spectrometers. Their work was funded by the NIST Law Enforcement Standards Office (OLES) and the Department of Homeland Security.
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The newly published industry consensus standard, Standard Guide for Relative Intensity Correction of Raman Spectrometers (designated as E2911-13), is available from ASTM International at http://www.astm.org/Standards/E2911.htm. For more on OLES, visit http://www.nist.gov/oles. For more on the NIST reference materials for fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy, visit http://www.nist.gov/mml/bbd/bioassay/fluorescence_raman_intensity_standards.cfm.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New spectrometry standard for handheld chemical detectors aids first responders
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
25-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Michael E. Newman michael.newman@nist.gov 301-975-3025 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
When it comes to detectors for dangerous chemicals, toxins or nefarious germs, smaller and faster is better. But size and speed must still allow for accuracy, especially when measurements by different instruments must give the same result.
The recent publication of a new standarda culmination of years of research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)provides confidence that results from handheld chemical detectors can be compared, apples-to-apples.
Such detectors are used by emergency responders to check for the presence of explosives or toxic chemicals that threaten public safety. Quality control managers in the pharmaceutical industry use them to verify the identity of chemicals going into their production lines.
The new standard, published recently by ASTM International, is intended as a guide to correct the output from different handheld Raman spectrometers, so that different instruments produce the same result for the same sample.
Raman spectrometers identify chemicals by shining laser light on a sample and detecting the very small changes in the wavelength of that light as it is re-emitted from the sample. However, spectrometers from different manufacturers can produce signals with different peak intensities. These differences can be confusing, particularly if first responders from different agencies use different instruments and get differing results on an unknown sample in the field.
"Our goal is that people get the same answer for the same sample on any machine," says NIST chemist Steven Choquette.
His team developed a series of NIST Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) that are used to correct Raman systems with differing excitation lasers. These standards enable the correction of the differences in peak intensities reported for the same sample by different Raman spectrometers. They then continued to work with spectrometer manufacturers to develop an industry consensus standard to enable comparisons among Raman spectrometers. Their work was funded by the NIST Law Enforcement Standards Office (OLES) and the Department of Homeland Security.
###
The newly published industry consensus standard, Standard Guide for Relative Intensity Correction of Raman Spectrometers (designated as E2911-13), is available from ASTM International at http://www.astm.org/Standards/E2911.htm. For more on OLES, visit http://www.nist.gov/oles. For more on the NIST reference materials for fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy, visit http://www.nist.gov/mml/bbd/bioassay/fluorescence_raman_intensity_standards.cfm.
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]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
France's government has taken legal steps to protect the country's independent booksellers from behemoths like Amazon. It already prohibits discounts of more than 5 percent on books. Now it's considering a law that would not allow online retailers like Amazon to offer both a 5 percent discount and free shipping.
Christine Zenino/Flickr
France's government has taken legal steps to protect the country's independent booksellers from behemoths like Amazon. It already prohibits discounts of more than 5 percent on books. Now it's considering a law that would not allow online retailers like Amazon to offer both a 5 percent discount and free shipping.
Christine Zenino/Flickr
Last year, the U.S. government took Apple to court, charging that the company illegally drove up the price of e-books. This summer, Apple lost the case.
In France, just the opposite is happening. The French government has accused Amazon of trying to push the price of physical books too low.
Limiting discounts on books is one of the ways that France is trying to ensure the survival of its independent booksellers.
Jean-Paul Collet, owner of two independent bookshops in Paris, says his stores never would have survived without French legislation that bars discounts of greater than 5 percent on books.
Eleanor Beardsley/NPR
Jean-Paul Collet, owner of two independent bookshops in Paris, says his stores never would have survived without French legislation that bars discounts of greater than 5 percent on books.
Eleanor Beardsley/NPR
Jean-Paul Collet opened his bookstore, La Boucherie, 17 years ago in a historic neighborhood on Paris' Left Bank. Collet says he owes his survival to a 1981 law mandating that books be sold at the same price everywhere, with discounts limited to 5 percent.
"France's one-book-price law saved bookstores in this country," he says. "If tomorrow large chains began selling books at a 30 percent discount, like in the U.S., we independent booksellers would be finished."
This month, France's lower house of parliament passed a bill prohibiting Amazon from offering both a 5 percent discount on its books and free delivery, a combination the French culture minister likened to dumping. Amazon spent $2.8 billion on free shipping worldwide last year to gain a competitive advantage.
Just down the street from his first bookshop, Collet has opened a second one, La Petite Boucherie, for children. He was able to do so because of another aid package for independent bookshops offered by the city of Paris.
The city buys buildings in high-rent districts, and offers booksellers leases at an affordable price. Lynn Cohen-Solal, the deputy mayor in charge of independent commerce, says the city tries to keep a core of 300 independent bookstores.
"We have to keep our identity," she says, "because if we don't, all the shops are exactly the same in Paris, in London, in New York, in New Delhi, everywhere."
Customer Emmanuelle Ducros, who is browsing in Collet's children's bookstore, says she can't imagine Paris without its small bookshops.
"There's something intimate about browsing in a small bookstore, and the special attention and advice you get from the bookseller is invaluable," Decros says. "You can't get that in a large chain, much less online."
In the 1998 romantic comedy You've Got Mail, Meg Ryan plays an independent bookseller threatened by a giant bookstore chain owned by Tom Hanks.
Just 15 years later, the terrain has shifted so much that it's the big chains now fighting to survive in a world increasingly dominated by Internet book sales and e-books.
Digital books are less popular in France, where they make up less than 2 percent of book sales — compared to more than 6 percent in the U.S. For now, Amazon is the biggest threat to small booksellers in France.
Tourists often marvel at the number of rich and varied bookstores along Paris streets. Right across from Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the city's most famous independent bookstores, Shakespeare and Company.
Inside, every inch of space is crammed with books and readers. David Kopitzke, who is visiting from Wisconsin, says he much prefers picking a book from a shelf to ordering it online or reading it on a screen.
"I am perhaps old fashioned, but I love the touch of books and the knowledge that — 'What was it that was said on page 42?' — I can quickly pass back to page 42 and find exactly what I wanted to remember. That's different in Kindle."
The bill limiting Amazon's price reductions in France still has to pass the Senate to become law. In a statement, Amazon said any effort to raise the price of books diminishes the cultural choices of French consumers and penalizes both Internet users and small publishers who rely on Internet sales.
Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr split after three years of marriage. Plus, Dean McDermott explains Tori Spelling's quotes about not being able to afford a vasectomy: See Us Weekly's top stories from Friday, Oct. 25, in the daily roundup.
Miranda Kerr has reached the end of the runway with husband Orlando Bloom. The Australian model and the British actor have split after three years of marriage, a source confirms to Us Weekly. "It's been a long time coming," the insider says.
What money trouble? Dean McDermott is fighting back, exclusively telling Us Weekly that despite a buzzed-about recent interview, he and wife Tori Spelling are doing just fine financially. Earlier this week, the mother of four was quoted saying that the couple couldn't afford a vasectomy, leading many to presume the parents of four were flat-out broke.
Only the best for the heir to the British throne! Kate Middleton and Prince William will be pushing their precious son Prince George around Kensington Gardens in style. Multiple sources confirm to Us Weekly that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 31, have bought their 3-month-old baby boy a Silver Cross Balmoral pram that retails for $2,350.
When Kim Kardashian welcomed daughter North West five weeks premature on June 15, the reality star and her now-fiancé Kanye West weren't the only ones caught off guard. Mom Kris Jenner and sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian went into a frenzy after Kim headed to the hospital to finish North's nursery in time! In a sneak peek from the Sunday, Oct. 27 episode of E!'s Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Jenner makes her best effort to work as efficiently as possible preparing the all-white room, but the space falls far short of Kourtney's expectations.
Introducing the future Mr. and Mrs. Kimye! Kim Kardashian and Kanye West made their first red carpet appearance together since getting engaged earlier this week at the Dream for Future Africa Foundation Gala at Beverly Hills hotspot Spago on Thursday, Oct. 24.
FILE - This publicity image released by Fox shows Seth Green, left, and Peter Riegert in a scene from "Dads." Fox says it’s ordering a full season of the new comedy “Dads." An additional nine episodes was ordered for a total of 22 half-hours, Fox announced Friday, Oct. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Fox, Jennifer Clasen, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fox says it's ordering a full season of the new comedy "Dads," which came under early fire by critics.
The series is about two best friends and business partners whose fathers move in. It stars Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi, Peter Riegert and Martin Mull. An additional nine episodes were ordered for a total of 22 half-hours, Fox announced Friday.
The pilot episode of "Dads" was slammed by critics as crass, sexist and exploiting racial stereotypes, and producers promised a change in tone. Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Fox's animated comedy "Family Guy," is among the producers of "Dads."
Fox Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly cited the show's appeal to young adult viewers in announcing the additional episodes, calling it "an asset we can grow." The show airs on Tuesday.
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