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Carson Daly: I'm No Dick Clark (AP via NYDN)
Carson Daly has dismissed the idea that he and Ryan Seacrest are in a rivalry to replace New Year's Eve icon Dick Clark, who suffered a stroke two years ago: "Dick Clark is a huge inspiration for the huge success he's achieved. But that's where I stop. The world is changing. I'm young; I have my own thoughts as a producer. I'm not trying to keep his tradition. I'm trying to do my own."

Hollywood's Neverending Horror Show (NYP)
America's incredible shrinking movie audiences will get even smaller next year and could leave several big theater chains on the investment scrap heap, analysts say. What's worse, Hollywood is so desperate for cash flows to cover high-cost new flicks that studios are rushing out DVD versions too soon. Rush and Molloy: Native Americans skeptical of the ancestry of Apocalypto star.

Microsoft Making Targeted Ad Push (Reuters)
Microsoft Corp. is making a global push to sell targeted online advertisements using data gathered from users of its Hotmail email service. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is aiming to grab a bigger slice of the online advertising market for its msn.com news page and other Microsoft-owned sites. It currently lags behind Google and Yahoo.

Buying That Elusive Online Cred (NYP)
A handful of dubious Internet services offering to turn people into paid shills for advertisers. Their tactics have sparked a controversy similar to the one over fake blogs, or "flogs," launched by Wal-Mart and Sony. Some of these services offer money to bloggers to endorse a company or product, while others pay people to manipulate popularity rankings on sites such as Digg, Delicious and Reddit.

Virtual Fashion Designer Makes Real Cash in Second Life (WaPo)
Veronica Brown is a hot fashion designer, making a living off the virtual lingerie and formalwear she sells inside the online fantasy world Second Life. She expects to have earned about $60,000 this year from people who buy her digital garments to outfit their animated self-images in this fast-growing virtual community.

'Tis the Season for Charitable Nude Calendars (AP via Fox News)
The Humane Society is one of countless nonprofit organizations around the world selling tastefully nude 2007 calendars. A group of women aged from mid 50s to early 70s in Yorkshire, England, pioneered the idea in 2000 when they sold a calendar of discreet nude photographs of themselves to raise money for cancer research. Now, the market is flooded with them.

Michael's Restaurant a Departure (WWD)
Michael's — the near-compulsory media lunchroom — is about to get screenplay treatment in the pages of Departures. The magazine's regular "Screenplay" feature periodically takes aim in dramatic form at spots around the world and is written by two anonymous writers. "Every so often, you come across a place that whether because it's new, newsworthy or just annoying seems perfect for a Departures screenplay," said editor Richard David Story. FishbowlNY: Lunch at Michael's.

Self-Publishing For Beatles Fans (NYT)
Maybe you thought the publishing world had exploited every bit of information about the Beatles, useful and trivial, in the Himalayan stack of books published since the group's heyday in the 1960s. Guess again. Now, if mainstream publishers reject their work as too specialized, even the most Beatles-obsessed authors are finding audiences for their books by publishing them themselves.

MySpace Making YourSpace Safe (CNN)
MySpace is stepping up security efforts, said Hemanshu Nigam, its chief security officer. The company is rapidly expanding its team of software engineers, lawyers and other experts who look for suspicious activity, educate users on how to prevent attacks and go after the worst offenders. Nigam: "We're trying to take away the 'cool' factor of trying to attack us."

President Bush Read Newspaper Last Week (NYT)
Is there hope for newspapers after all? President Bush declared in 2003 that he did not read newspapers, but at his final news conference of the year, he casually mentioned that he had seen something in the paper that very day. Asked for his reaction to word that Vice President Cheney would be called to testify in the C.I.A. leak case, the president allowed: "I read it in the newspaper today, and it's an interesting piece of news."

Can a TV Ad Spoil Mellencamp's 'Our Country'? (WSJ)
A pervasive ad campaign for Chevrolet featuring John Mellencamp's "Our Country" has his record label fearing overexposure ahead of the album's release. The ads have already inspired at least one parody video on YouTube, substituting pictures from the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, guys with beer guts and other unflattering aspects of America — with Mr. Mellencamp's song in the background.

Air America Wins Reprieve From a Station in Wisconsin (NYT)
WXXM-FM, a station in Madison, Wis., owned by Clear Channel Communications, rescinded a decision to drop the liberal network in favor of Fox Sports Radio. The station was preparing to switch to a local sports format on Jan. 1. But in a surprise statement, the station manager, Jeff Tyler, announced that the station had decided to continue with the progressive talk format of Air America into 2007.

Are Lad Mags Keeling Over? (NYT)
"It is tough to come up with something fresh in the category," said Greg Gutfeld, a former editor of Stuff in the United States and Maxim in Britain. "The only innovation is price and frequency, and the only price that is working is free and the only frequency that is working is daily."

News Corp. Gives Up Controlling Stake in DirecTV (DealBook)
News Corp. has agreed to swap its controlling interest in DirecTV Group, other assets and cash for Liberty Media's $11 billion stake in News Corp., ending two years of negotiations between long-time associates Rupert Murdoch and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone, who once helped rescue Mr. Murdoch from near bankruptcy. News Corp. said it will exchange its 38.5 percent stake in the top U.S. satellite television operator, $550 million in cash, and three regional sports networks for Liberty Media's 16.3 percent stake in News Corporation.

Longtime CBS President Dies at 98 (AP)
Frank Stanton, a broadcasting pioneer and CBS president for 26 years who helped build its TV operation into the "Tiffany network," died at the age of 98 at his Boston home on Sunday. Stanton helped CBS evolve from a modest chain of radio affiliates to a media powerhouse that includes a music label. He also helped craft the network's television news operation into a respected and influential information source.