DALLAS, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a move to further provide customers with even more convenient access to home entertainment, Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI - News, BBI.B - News) today announced it has acquired Movielink, one of the nation's leading movie download services. The acquisition gives Blockbuster access to one of the largest libraries of downloadable movies and a large array of television content. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

With thousands of movies and television shows available in its digital library for downloading, Movielink offers customers the ability to legally download entertainment content for rental (VOD) and for purchase (EST). The service was created in 2002 by Movielink, LLC, a joint venture of Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Studios.

The acquisition of Movielink, which has VOD and EST license agreements with the five founding studios, as well as more than 30 other studios, television-content distributors, and foreign and independent content providers, enables Blockbuster to offer consumers downloadable entertainment content via their PCs, portable

Big stock-market drops can be a boon for the young since they get to buy low and then let their investments grow for decades.

But when you're about to retire, steep drops like the kind we've seen in the wake of the subprime debacle seem less like buying opportunities than harbingers of under-funded days in your near future. After all, you're probably thinking about selling stocks, not buying more.

Certified financial planner Steven Kaye doesn't get rattled for his soon-to-retire clients when the Dow takes a dive. "To us, it's completely irrelevant," Kaye said.

That's because Kaye, who is president of the American Economic Planning Group, divides their portfolios into two components: short-term and long-term. The long-term is the part you leave in stocks and other higher risk investments. It's the short-term portion that will be your "safe money" -- the money that gives you peace of mind whenever stocks go awry.

For his clients with an aggressive risk tolerance, he makes sure they have five years' worth of cash flow in fixed income. For clients with a moderate risk tolerance,

A recent study found that it would take $1 million for someone to be willing to give up TV for the rest of their lives.

Guess what? If you decided to give up TV and invested the money you saved, you would get that $1 million -- and probably a lot more.

People rarely consider the cost of watching TV, and when they do, they usually focus on the cost of their monthly cable bill. The truth is that there are a wide variety of costs associated directly and indirectly with having a TV.

Here are some areas where your TV drains your finances:

TV: The cost of your TV can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand if you decide to go for the newer plasma flat screen TVs. Take this cost and multiply it by several times, since you will likely own far more than one TV during your lifetime.

Entertainment cabinet system: Most people don't consider this cost when purchasing a TV, but you need a stand or entertainment cabinet on which to display

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Wireless provider Sprint Nextel Corp. said Wednesday its second-quarter profits dropped sharply on slightly higher revenue and higher costs tied to its planned rollout of a WiMax network.

The Reston, Va.-based company, with operational headquarters in Overland Park, Kan., said it earned $19 million, or 1 cent per share, during the three months ending June 30, compared with $370 million, or 10 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

Not counting one-time amortization, the company said it earned 25 cents per share, beating the 22 cents per share prediction of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Revenue during the quarter rose about 2 percent from $10 billion to $10.16 billion, missing Wall Street's estimate of $10.2

Oil prices fell Wednesday as traders awaited the release of a U.S. government fuel stocks report expected to show gasoline inventories rose last week.

The data was expected to show another drop in crude oil inventories, but increases in both refinery activity and gasoline supplies, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped 37 cents to $72.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. The contract had risen 36 cents to settle at $72.42 a barrel on Tuesday.

September Brent crude fell 26 cents to $71.54 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Oil futures were supported by news that ConocoPhillips shut down gasoline-producing equipment at two refineries, one in New Jersey and the other in Pennsylvania. One of the refineries, at Linden, New Jersey, was expected to be online Friday,

What should I invest in?

“It’s the first million that is the hardest.”
In 1930, Joseph Kennedy pushed for the creation of the SEC or Security and Exchange Commission after the stock market crash of 1929. This government body was formed in order to protect the public from unscrupulous dealers. Ironically, this same Commission that was formed to protect the public from bad deals also keeps them from the best investment deals.

Open a foreign bank account with no papertrail leading back to you.

The only way to eliminate a paper trail is to go in to your new bank personally or through a lawyer and open your account with untraceable cash or a commodity like gold. As many banks around the world are required by their governments to restrict or report the amount of cash they accept from new accounts, it may be necessary to either open a number of small accounts and later consolidate them, or to take really hugh sacks of cash into banks in those remaining few jurisdictions that don't care about conforming to Big Brother's wishes.

Hiding your money away from your enemies.

The first thing to realise about a "secret account" sometimes referred to by the euphemism "offshore account" is that in order to be kept secret from your potential enemies (creditors and tax collectors) it must be kept secret from everyone. Generally speaking, a stranger you meet at a bar isn't the person who turns you in to a tax collector or otherwise blows the whistle on you. Besides Big Brother, your potential enemies include your spouse, lover(s), your business associates or partners, your own kids. These days, you must add to the list of potential informants against you, your accountant or lawyer. Your accountant, lawyer, stockbroker or local banker in many jurisdictions, particularly the USA, is personally liable for criminal prosecution if he has knowledge of any concealment of assets, tax frauds etc; if your own hired hands don't turn you in they may be breaking the law.