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ChangeQuakes Of The Week

November 06, 2006

TOP CHANGEQUAKES OF THE WEEK
** Sarbanes-Oxley Rollback Coming?
** Pressure To Convert To Income Trusts Forced Canadian Tax Change
** Electronics May Face Ho-Ho-Hum Holiday Season
** Children's Bigger Bellies Indicate Greater Health Risks

MORE CHANGEQUAKES TO WATCH

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TOP CHANGEQUAKES OF THE WEEK

Sarbanes-Oxley Rollback Coming?

(REGULATORY CHANGEQUAKE) -- The most controversial section of 2002's post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley law -- under fire in the run-up to Tuesday's elections -- is already being thinned down by regulators under orders from the U.S. Congress. Amid complaints by Republicans and Democrats alike about the burdens Sarbanes-Oxley places on business, Rep. Barney Frank told Reuters the regulators are working on it.

www.eweek.com

Pressure To Convert To Income Trusts Forced Canadian Tax Change

(ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKE) -- Mounting investor pressure on oil and gas companies (including energy giant EnCana Corp.) to convert structures forced Ottawa's tax clampdown on income trusts, according to the parliamentary secretary of finance. The comments come as a coalition of energy executives prepare to battle Ottawa's tax plan, arguing that exceptions should be made for royalty trusts, which are often credited for working with marginal lands that have been sold off by larger companies.

www.canada.com

Electronics May Face Ho-Ho-Hum Holiday Season

(ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKE) -- A fierce battle may be brewing over consumer electronics dollars this holiday season. Even as two new video game consoles join the widening mix of televisions, cameras, portable music players, computers and cell phones, some market watchers say the electronics industry could be running up against a season that might be more ho-hum than ho-ho.

www.usatoday.com

RELATED ARTICLES: EBay Shopping Index Tracks Hot-Selling Items
news.yahoo.com

Wal-Mart Trims Some Electronics Prices
www.usatoday.com

Children's Bigger Bellies Indicate Greater Health Risks

(DISCOVERY CHANGEQUAKE) -- American children and teens are growing ever-fatter tummies, a bad sign that means they are at even more risk of heart disease and diabetes, U.S. researchers report. They found that the belly fat of children and teenagers had increased by more than 65% since the 1990s -- directly in line with rising obesity rates.

today.reuters.com

RELATED ARTICLE: China Weighs Impact Of Growing Obesity Problem
today.reuters.com


MORE CHANGEQUAKES TO WATCH

CORPORATE CHANGEQUAKES

Google Takes Ad Program Offline To Print

Google (GOOG) is rolling out its most ambitious print advertising initiative yet, an online marketplace that will let advertisers place bids on space in more than 50 major newspapers across the U.S. The search giant will launch an alpha test of Google Print Ads this week.

www.businessweek.com

AT&T Cable Plan Adds Wireless

Mobile phones figure prominently in AT&T's (T) attack plans as it prepares to take on the big cable TV operators. "Wireless is at the top of our list," says Scott Helbing, AT&T executive vice president of entertainment, who is responsible for acquiring programming content for AT&T's new video service, called U-verse.

www.usatoday.com

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGEQUAKES

WirelessHD Consortium Tries To Cut Cables

The world's leading electronics makers have teamed up to develop a wireless technology to carry high-definition video and eliminate some of the "cable spaghetti" that links televisions with set-top boxes and other equipment. Seven companies were set to announce Tuesday that they formed the WirelessHD Consortium to free high-definition TVs from the tangle of cables connected to cable or satellite boxes, gaming consoles, DVD players, or even camcorders and other portable multimedia gadgets.

www.usatoday.com

Time Magazine: YouTube Named 'Invention Of The Year'

YouTube, the video-sharing Web site recently acquired by Google for $1.65 billion, beat out a vaccine that prevents a cancer-causing sexually transmitted disease and a shirt that simulates a hug to grab top honors as Time magazine's "Invention of the Year for 2006."

www.usatoday.com

RELATED ARTICLE: YouTube Plans To Go Mobile In 2007
www.usatoday.com

Alternative Energy Tries To Ride New Tide

In the quest for oil-free power, a handful of small companies are staking claims on the energy of the rising and ebbing sea. The technology that would draw energy from ocean tides to keep light bulbs and laptops aglow is largely untested, but several newly minted companies are reserving tracts of water from Alaska's Cook Inlet to Manhattan's East River in the belief that such sites could become profitable sources of electricity.

www.usatoday.com

ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKES

New U.S. HIV Cases Will Cost $12 Billion Annually

Future treatment for the 40,000 people infected with HIV in the United States every year will cost $12.1 billion annually, according to a new study. U.S. patients infected with HIV can expect medical bills for current care related to the disease of $618,900 during their lifetimes, according to the study, which will appear in the November issue of Medical Care.

today.reuters.com

FDA APPROVAL CHANGEQUAKES

FDA Urged To Regulate Feel-Good Foods

There is a growing market in the United States for a set of specialty foods, known as "functional" foods, that make vague claims of promoting physical or emotional well-being beyond basic nutrition. But as critics complain that the claims made for these products are overblown at best, federal officials are chewing on a proposal to regulate them more strictly.

www.beverageworld.com

OTHER CHANGEQUAKES

500,000 Americans Travel Abroad For Surgery

An estimated 500,000 Americans are taking their health into their own hands by choosing medical care abroad. Many are stuck in a growing gap of uninsured or underinsured who are too young for Medicare and left with only losing healthcare options: siphoning their retirement, living in pain or possibly dying.

www.usatoday.com