(Corrects to show Kenny Wallace, not Rusty Wallace did a similar program)

A company launched by a NASCAR fan to allow fellow race lovers to collectively sponsor a car has signed up a former NASCAR champion driver as its first recipient.

FanCar said it will sponsor two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Terry Labonte and Carter/Simo racing at the Ford 400 race on Nov. 22 in Miami, the last race of the season. The company was launched by Texan and NASCAR fan Matt Ferguson last week.

"Our sport is struggling for sponsorship," Ferguson said in a telephone interview. "There are way too many great drivers out there without sponsors."

Smaller teams in NASCAR have cut jobs and merged this year to survive as corporate sponsors have cut spending amid the weak economy.

For $20, each fan will be able to vote on the car's paint scheme as well as the overall message on the vehicle, and will receive their name on the car and a certificate of sponsorship and a digital photo of the car. Before Labonte's involvement was announced, donations had come from Alaska, Massachusetts and Canada, Ferguson said.

Labonte (above, in 2007) has won 22 races in his NASCAR Sprint Cup career and was the series champion in 1984 and 1996. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers.

Ferguson said he did not know how much he has raised for Labonte because the response was so heavy after FanCar was announced that he turned off the email notifications he received on his BlackBerry cell phone every time someone made a donation.

NASCAR driver Rusty Kenny Wallace took a similar approach to sponsorship for a race in Canada earlier this year, raising about $100,000. Among the sponsors of his care were Lombardo Bail Bonds, AmmoSam, Repo Rob, MarriageJunkie.com, Iowabarns.com and a cat, according to reports.

Ferguson said all money raised goes to Labonte as he pays for his business through advertising on the website, as well as the sale of FanCar merchandise. The 32-year-old entrepreneur from College Station, Texas, added that he intends to continue the program next season and has been contacted by other car owners and race tracks about the program

(Reuters photo)

Brace yourself for the next salvo in the battle of the ebook readers (or electronic reading devices, or e-reader, or whatever you want to call them).

Barnes & Noble is planning a "major event" next Tuesday in New York to announce a mystery... something.

The bookseller won't say exactly what it will announce, but we'd be surprised if its NOT a digital book reader, to compete with Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader series.

In fact, Gizmodo says it has the goods on the device -- which it says has "a multi-touch display like an iPhone" -- and picture of the device. Click the link and take a look.

What do you think of this device (which may or may not be the actual product)? For that matter, what do you think about e-readers? Are you ready to buy one?

Let us know in the comment area.

You know how it is when you take a trip to Target: You're going to buy just that ONE THING that you need, and you're going to keep it cheap. As you leave the store, you wonder how you dropped hundreds of dollars on things that you didn't realize you needed until you walked into the store.

Target is hoping to spawn a similar phenomenon on its website, where it has begun offering a magazine newsstand. Rather than starting from scratch, it has signed on Zinio, a digital publishing company that offers magazines and books from more than 350 publishers.

Zinio will sell electronic versions of magazines on a page on Target's website, either as single editions of current and older issues, or as annual subscriptions - usually at a discount. People can read them in a Web browser version or through an application that Zinio offers for download. This is similar to what they've done on other websites, like the one operated by Barnes & Noble.

Yes, you can already look at online versions of magazines, Zinio Chief Executive Richard Maggiotto said in an interview. This is different, however, he said: "It's a high-fidelity, robust magazine." In other words, these titles, ranging from Elle to Woman's Day to Seventeen, are meant to look -- if not feel -- like the print magazines they are replacing. Zinio and Target will share the revenue they get from each sale.

Maggiotto declined to reveal specific goals, but said that he would be happy to see 1,000 or more new subscriptions (a month) come in during the first year of the Target partnership. So far, he said, Zinio sees about 60 percent of its magazine sales coming from archival or current issue sales, and about 40 percent from subscriptions.

This might not be such big news on most other days, but it is coming after some cataclysmic events transpired in the magazine industry. With ad sales suffering, big publishers such as Conde Nast are cutting workers and titles, making some media experts wonder whether the good times are over forever. Digital revenue has failed to make up for print revenue losses, just like in the newspaper world. But every little bit helps, right? Apparently so. Maggiotto would not say who Zinio's next partners are, but said that "there are 10 more in the queue."

(PS: Apologies to Tom Waits for stealing one of his lyrics for the sake of a headline. It's from "Nighthawks at the Diner." The photo is all Reuters)

Hey Brian Dunn, CEO of gadget lover's cathedral top electronics retailer Best Buy, what's on your short list of five great bang-for-your-buck devices for this holiday season?
(Thanks to the CNN Money reporter for asking this question at a press conference today)

DUNN: My short list?

* (First), on my personal short list -- a netbook is definitely on my short list - and by the way it's a companion device. It's lightweight, it's small, it's great to take on a quick trip.
* (Second) I think the HD Instinct is a very interesting smartphone. [Mediafile: That's Samsung's Instinct HD]
* (Third) I love my Flip HD camcorder. That's a great piece.
* Four, I really love the Ultra Thin OLED TVs are cool. [Mediafile: Um, cool yes. Bang for Buck? At about $2,000 for an 11-inch screen, let's just leave it at cool and move on. mkay?]
* The fifth one, of course, is a gift card , that I can give to the people I love, so they can get whatever it is they want.

Well played, Brian. Well Played.

After seeing Martha Stewart on CNBC this morning, I was surprised to find that she doesn't sell a Martha Stewart-branded KA-Bar knife because she seems like she knows how to use one.

Stewart appeared on TV to talk about the company's new merchandising agreement with Home Depot. The hardware big-box retailer will offer a line of products sold under the Martha Stewart brand. Before they got too far into the interview, they talked about a similar program with discount retailer Kmart that ends in January 2010 -- the same time that the Home Depot deal begins.

Here is an excerpt:

The new [Kmart] ownership really has let our line deteriorate. It's been kind of ripped off, I would say, and really diminished, and the quality is really not what I am proud of. Have you been into a Kmart lately? it's not the nicest place to shop. ...

The stores are not what they were. The shopping experience is not what it was. The products are not there that people go in for. And it's not a good situation. And as a designer-supplier, I have been extremely disappointed.

CNBC reporter Becky Quick didn't hide her agreement:

I've been in a Kmart recently too and I know exactly what you're talking about. It's not only that the quality of the stores has dropped, it's that it's hard to find sales people to help you in some of these stores.

And it went on like that for a while. Are you listening, Home Depot and Macy's? Make sure you keep making good things.

(Photo: Reuters)

A non-profit organization is linking cancer to hot dogs outside one of the most iconic U.S. sports parks.

The Cancer Project is reminding fans of the Chicago Cubs baseball team of the connection between consumption of hot dogs and the occurrence of colorectal cancer with a billboard outside Chicago's storied Wrigley Field.

The 48-foot-wide billboard (pictured above) -- featuring an image of hot dogs jammed into a cigarette pack labeled "Unlucky Strike" --  is scheduled to debut on Monday at the intersection of W. Addison and N. Halsted, just east of Wrigley Field.

The organization is not asking the Cubs to ban hot dogs at Wrigley. (They don't want a fan insurrection after all). The group even lauds the Cubs for offering such vegetarian options as veggie burgers and hummus at Wrigley. 

What the Cancer Project asked in a letter to Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney dated Aug. 3, however, is for the team to place "dietary disaster" warning labels near where hot dogs are sold at the ballpark since processed meats have been linked to colorectal cancer.

"Baseball stadiums need to be frank about the cancer risk posed by hot dogs and other processed meats," Krista Haynes, a Cancer Project dietitian, said in a statement. 
   
"Just as tobacco causes lung cancer, processed meats are linked to colon cancer," she added. "Like cigarettes, hot dogs should come with a warning label that helps baseball fans and other consumers understand the health risk."

Kenney and a Cubs spokesman could no immediately be reached for comment.

The billboard is part of Cancer Project's national campaign, launched in July with a similar billboard outside the home park of Cubs rival, the St. Louis Cardinals.

There are no further plans at this point to expand the campaign, a Cancer Project spokeswoman said.

More than 21 million hot dogs are expected to be sold this season at U.S. major league ballparks, the Cancer Project said, citing a survey by the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.

In March, the National Cancer Institute published a study of more than half a million people showing red and processed meat intake is associated with a higher risk of dying from cancer and cardiovascular disease, according to the Cancer Project. 
 
In 2007, the American Institute for Cancer Research published a report showing that just one 50-gram serving of processed meat (about the amount in one hot dog) consumed daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer, on average, by 21 percent, the Cancer Project said. Every year, about 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and about 50,000 die of it, the Cancer Project said.  

The Cancer Project is affiliated with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which advocates a vegetarian diet as a way to better health, based on research and not animal rights beliefs.
 
(Billboard image provided by Cancer Project; Reuters photo of Wrigley)

Just when it seems like everyone is using Twitter, we learn that is not really the case. 

A panel discussion on Thursday at the CIES World Food Business Summit in New York featured four prominent industry leaders: Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes, Cargill CEO Greg Page, Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld and Jeff Noddle, executive chairman of grocery chain Supervalu. The conversation turned to how the panelists’ companies would stay relevant with the next generation of consumers.

Understanding Generation Y, whose oldest members are already in the work force, will be key to success in the future, said Noddle.  

Very broadly defined, Generation Y includes more than 70 million Americans born from 1977 to 2002.  

“They will measure their purchases on different criteria than those who came before them,” Noddle said, noting that younger consumers were more concerned with issues of sustainability and health. “We’re trying to understand that and trying to project how do you respond to that. Even though they may not have the dollar power today, they will. And I think that’s a critical element.”

Sara Lee’s Barnes agreed, noting that today’s younger consumers “grew up on the Internet” and that they “have every bit of information at their fingertips in a nanosecond.”

Moderator Bill Rancic, the first winner on Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” reality television show, asked who on the panel was “tweeting” (and therefore a “twit”). 

Nobody was.

Then Rancic asked the same question of the crowd, which included an international array of grocery retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and consultants.

Only a handful of arms went up.

After bragging that his wife, E! News anchor and managing editor Giuliana Rancic has over 650,000 followers on the social networking site, Rancic exclaimed: “It is just taking over, and it’s not just in the U.S.”

Twitter may be taking over, but it clearly has not penetrated the grocery aisle just yet.

(Refiles to correct Donahoe’s first name to John.)

To sell Skype, or not to sell Skype. That is the question for eBay, and Wall Street has diverging opinions on whether the San Jose company will or won’t unload its Internet telephone service.
    
Skype was acquired under the reign of former CEO Meg Whitman (now a California gubernatorial hopeful) and touted as a nifty way for eBay’s millions of sellers and buyers to connect. That reality never materialized, and current CEO John Donahoe has acknowledged that synergies between eBay and Skype are nonexistent.
    
Still, Skype is on a tear, growing at double digits and adding 350,000 global users a day. The five-year-old company logged $551 million in revenue in 2008 — that number is expected to double by 2011 — and is now a subject of great speculation by analysts, who wonder whether eBay plans to spin it off, or hold it close. 
                              
Cowan and Co’s Jim Friedland, for one, thinks it’s for sale. Writing in a note the day after eBay held an analyst presentation to outline the company’s three-year plan, Friedland said it appeared “eBay was using the Skype discussion to trigger a bidding war between Google and Microsoft.”
       
“We believe the asset would be attractive to both Google and Microsoft to enhance their web-based enterprise application services. In addition, Skype’s user base of 405 million, which is particularly strong internationally, would likely strengthen Google’s dominant position in the consumer web app market.”

But Bernstein Research’s Jeffrey Lindsay did not see it that way: “We think the dearth of buyers such as Google or Microsoft will mean that eBay is more likely to spin out part of Skype to the public (like Time Warner did initially with Time Warner Cable).”
    
Huh. Donahoe, incidentally, has said only that eBay will do what’s best “to maximize Skype’s potential and value.”
    
Deutsche Bank’s Jeetil Patel opined that, since Skype is performing well, “Management should hold on to this business model” and Credit Suisse’s Spencer Wang said he did not see eBay rushing to sell.
    
“While we think the company would be open to parting with Skype at the right price (currently valued at $1.8 billion on eBay’s balance sheet), a divestiture of Skype does not appear imminent,” Wang wrote.

(Photo: Reuters)

Wall Street technology investors spent much of Wednesday at eBay’s San Jose campus listening to the online giant defend its company, especially its slowing marketplaces unit.

And for anyone doubting the relevance of eBay’s site in today’s crowded e-commerce field, Mark Carges, the chief technology officer of marketplaces, set them straight.

Walking the crowd through eBay’s enhanced search functions, Carges showed a slide encapsulating what may very well be the best of eBay — “A Hello Kitty wedding cake topper,” he announced, to giggles throughout the auditorium.

He paused for emphasis before adding: “Available only on eBay.”

The budding techie comedian made the crowd guffaw with a special mention of the item’s “satin floral accents.”

Other twitters, and not the virtual kind, came when Donahoe told the crowd to turn off their cell phones — “Unless they’re buy orders and then stay on as long as you like.”

And finally, regarding that perennial crowd pleaser, valuations, Donahoe asked Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan to explain to the gathered investors how they should value the company.

“Far be it for me to tell them how to value the company” said Swan, demurely.

“Give them hints,” suggested Donahoe.

The upshot? EBay — currently trading at 7 times projected 2009 earnings — is undervalued, and no laughing matter, according to the company.

Swan said the subject made him “miffed.”

Amazon’s hotly anticipated Kindle e-reader got even more press on Wednesday, but not the good variety.

In an op-ed titled “The Kindle Swindle” that appeared in the New York Times Wednesday, the president of the Author’s Guild, Roy Blount Jr., took Amazon to task for its text-to-speech function on the new Kindle that began shipping this week.

The new Kindle can read books aloud — but unlike audio books, royalties are not paid to authors. Blount argues the technology Amazon uses to turn text into a human voice is quickly improving, and authors need to be “duly vigilant” about this new means of transmitting their work.

The Guild, which is studying the issue, has called the Kindle’s speech function a “significant challenge to the publishing industry.” It has recommended to its members that they bring up the issue of the Kindle when negotiating new book contracts.

Publishers certainly could contractually prohibit Amazon from adding audio functionality to its e-books without authorization, and Amazon could comply by adding a software tag that would prohibit its machine from creating an audio version of a book unless Amazon has acquired the appropriate rights. Until this issue is worked out, Amazon may be undermining your audio market as it exploits your e-books.

In his op-ed, Blount assured readers that the Guild will continue to provide free audio availability to the blind — and pooh-poohed suggestions that parents should expect lawsuits from reading bedtime stories to their children.

For the record: no, the Authors Guild does not expect royalties from anybody doing noncommercial performances of “Goodnight Moon.” If parents want to send their children off to bed with the voice of Kindle 2, however, it’s another matter.