Remember that scene in the movie “A Clockwork Orange” when they force open Malcolm McDowell’s eyes and make him watch and watch and watch the screen some more?

That’s got to be what it’s like for the remaining two of the eight original contestants in the Movie-Watching World Championship.

The gang has been sitting in a tent in Times Square since Thursday (on the island formed by 43rd St and Broadway and Seventh Ave) doing nothing but watching movies and trying to stay awake. The winner gets $10,000 in cash, a lifetime membership to Netflix, the movie delivery service that is sponsoring the contest and the “Netflix Popcorn Bowl” trophy. (Netflix for its part cut its fourth-quarter forecast for revenue growth and subscriber on Monday, which took a Berlin Alexanderplatz-sized bite out of its stock price, so the contest might have proved escapist fun for the company’s executives.)

Gizmodo has the rules, but we bring you the entire movie list (57 scheduled titles plus 16 extras — just in case) with the running times in minutes.

There have been some replacements and cancellations, but for those of you who want to know what people have been staying awake all weekend to watch, here’s the list in its painful glory:

Iron Man 125
Best in Show 90
Ghostbusters 105
Inside Man 129
Elvira — Mistress of the Dark 96
The English Patient 162
The Matrix 136
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Aliens 154
Dodgeball 92
A Night at the Opera 92
Star Wars IV: A New Hope 123
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
West Side Story 152
Fletch 98
Baby Mama 99
Batman Begins 140
Spider-Man 121
Superman II 127
On the Town 98
Braveheart 177
Rent 135
Young Frankenstein 102
The Sound of Music 174
Raiders of the Lost Ark 115
Fearless 104
Silverado 133
Memento 113
Meatballs 94
One Crazy Summer 93
Can’t Hardly Wait 101
Dave 110
The Manchurian Candidate 127 (Original version)
The American President 115
Rudy 114
Leatherheads 114
Friday Night Lights 118
Saawariya 138
Casino Royale 144
Mr. and Mrs. Smith 120
The Bourne Identity 119
The Peacemaker 124
I Am Legend 100
Sweet Smell of Success 96
The Sure Thing 95
When Harry Met Sally 96
The Secret of My Success 111
The Insider 158
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying 121
The Devil Wears Prada 109
The Hunt for Red October 135
Apollo 13 140
Chariots of Fire 124
Miracle 136
Clerks 92
The Court Jester 101
Bob Roberts 102

EXTRA/EMERGENCY DVDS:
Remember the Titans 114
Baby Mama 99
Enchanted 107
Doctor Zhivago 200
Dead Man Walking 122
Star Wars IV: A New Hope 123
Jaws 124
Chicago 113
Dances With Wolves 236
Singin’ in the Rain 103
Die Hard 132
Grease 110
Clerks 92
Bad Boys II 147
Braveheart 177
Hairspray 117

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Barry Diller is not backing down. The media mogul’s IAC/InterActiveCorp has once again relaunched its Ask.com search engine — aiming to increase its share of the lucrative Web search market.

Ask.com Chief Executive Officer Jim Safka told Reuters in an interview  that the revamped site — with its faster, better searches — would keep customers coming back for more. He said early tests showed a 16 percent increase in the rate at which customers returned to the search page.

The problem is that Ask.com has a long way to go. Google is the dominant Web search service in the United States, growing in August to more than 63 percent market share, according comScore, a Web audience measurement firm. Yahoo was second with a fall to 19.6 percent share and Microsoft dipped to 8.3 percent. Ask was fourth, growing slightly to 4.8 percent.

And, as the Wall Street Journal points out, this isn’t Ask’s first effort at redesign:

IAC first shifted away from the hallmarks of Ask Jeeves, which was known for answering search queries posed as questions. Then last year Ask tried again with the tech-savvy redesign, Ask3D.

Prior efforts haven’t lifted Ask above a minor competitor in the internet search business.

Still, Safka makes this effort sound promising. Reuters reports that “if a user searches for ‘What’s on TV tonight?’ the results will bring up licensed TV listing results for the user’s local cable operator based on their IP address or if the user types in a local zip code.”

Ask.com efforts come at a crucial time — the search market is in flux with all the major players having talked to one another about various partnerships and deals. If only Ask.com could tell us what the search market will look like a year from now… 

Keep an eye on: 

• The principals behind DreamWorks SKG and Paramount Pictures sealed their parting of ways on Sunday, allowing the DreamWorks studio to tie up with Reliance ADA Group of India to start a new film company (Reuters)
• EBay Inc plans to cut its workforce by 10 percent and expects to exceed its third-quarter earnings forecast (Reuters)
• Netflix Inc., the online DVD rental company, said its fourth quarter revenue and subscriber figures would fall short of expectations (Reuters)

(Reuters photo of Barry Diller)

Thanks Amazon! The online retailer put out a release this morning with some juicy details about Google’s new mobile phone — even as we’re still waiting for the official unveiling later today.

So, here’s what they say about the phone…

“The T-Mobile G1 is the world’s first Android-powered mobile phone in an exclusive partnership with Google. The T-Mobile G1 combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile Web experience that includes the popular Google services that millions have enjoyed on the desktop, including Google Maps with StreetView, Gmail, YouTube and others. ”

Amazon, which has a deal with Google related to the phone, also says that the phone will have “one-touch access” to Google Search and will allow access to Android Market, “where customers can find and download unique applications to expand and personalize their phone to fit their lifestyle.”

More details will be coming, including pictures. So stay tuned. While you do, read why some experts say the phone won’t be a game changer.

Keep an eye on:

• NBC Universal will present a sweeping new study this week showing that audiences recall advertisements far more clearly when they are run on both TV and the Internet, findings that could change the way commercial time is bought (Reuters)
• Online movie rental company Netflix has signed agreements with the CBS Corp and Walt Disney Co’s Disney Channel that will allow current season episodes of a number of TV shows to be streamed at Netflix (Reuters)
• Time Inc’s “Life” magazine is being brought back as part of a joint venture that will launch a Web site offering photos (NY Post)

(Photo: Reuters)

Google and Viacom reached a late night accord on safeguarding the anonymity of Google YouTube viewers. Google will no longer have to hand over the user names and IP addresses of its viewers.

But what of the scuffle around the viewership data of Google and YouTube’s own employees? CNET’s Greg Sandoval reported last week the negotiations stalled on Google’s unwillingness to turn over information on its own employees, citing unnamed sources.

In other words, how would Viacom’s $1 billion copyright infringement suit against Google turn out if the data showed YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley viewing and uploading “Colbert Report” videos?

No word on this yet.

(Reuters)

Keep an eye on:

• Microsoft says the Xbox 360 will outsell Sony’s PS3 over the lifetime of the consoles. (Reuters)
• Provigil: the drug of choice for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. (TechCrunch)
• Carl Icahn to Yahoo’s Jerry Yang: “‘I like you, but I have to get rid of you.” (NYTimes)
• AOL launches personal finance site Walletpop. (Reuters)
• Netflix subscribers can soon watch streamed movies over the Xbox 360. (Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters / Andrew Winning / Protesters take part in an Amnesty International demonstration in Belfast (2008))

The secret is out: What Microsoft wants is Yahoo’s search business. Reuters has reported that the deal now under discussion would have…

1). Microsoft buy the search operation.

2). Yahoo sell off its Asian assets.

3). Microsoft buy a chunk of what remains of Yahoo.

Microsoft and Yahoo representatives declined to comment on the Reuters report. But clearly these talks are all about search.

And that really shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, search is crushing all other types of advertising in terms of growth and Google is threatening to run away with market share, leaving Microsoft and all others in the dust.

At the moment, Yahoo is a distant second to Google in search in the United States, and Microsoft is third. Together they would have around 30 percent U.S. share, which still leaves them behind Google, but at least keeps them somewhat in the game.

However, to keep things sufficiently complicated, Yahoo and Google are still talking about a possible search advertising deal, creating what columnist Therese Poletti calls a “bizarre triangle.”

“The Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet search giant is Microsoft’s real target in this battle, as Microsoft enviously eyes the piles of money Google is making as the dominant player in Internet search-based advertising. Perhaps Microsoft should think twice before buying Yahoo’s search business, in light of the fact that Yahoo has been talking to Google about outsourcing search,” Poletti writes.

She later adds, “Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer was quoted a few weeks ago as saying the company would be fine without Yahoo. But that old adage, ‘actions speak louder than words,’ comes to mind. If Microsoft really does not need Yahoo, then why this incessant dance?”

(Photo: Reuters) 

Keep an eye on:

• The SEC charged eight former executives of AOL Time Warner, now known as Time Warner Inc, in a fraudulent scheme that overstated company advertising revenue by more than $1 billion (Reuters) 
• Jean-Francois Decaux, chief executive of JCDecaux, said guidance for underlying sales growth of 6-7 percent for 2008 was “realistic”. Decaux also told the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit that Europe’s biggest outdoor advertising group could raise roughly $1.56 billion for a big acquisition without diluting the shares (Reuters)
• Bertelsmann AG has given the nod to Markus Dohle, the head of its printing unit, Markus Dohle, to take charge at book publishing unit Random House (WSJ.com)
• Netflix is offering its 8.2 million subscribers an option to watch movies without visiting the post office (NY Times)