Harold Maass of The Week The Best of Today's Business

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Oil and gold flirt with record highs

Gold hit a new high of $863.11 an ounce early today, not adjusted for inflation, and oil futures hovered near the record $100-a-barrel mark set during trading yesterday, as investors turned to commodities as a hedge against inflation. Palm oil also hit a new high, soybean traded at a 34-year high, and wheat and corn shot up. (Bloomberg) "This is a bullish extravaganza," said Phil Flynn at futures brokerage Alaron Trading. (MarketWatch) Analysts said the high price of oil, in particular, could tip the U.S. into recession, although some doubted that oil would stay as high as $100. (BusinessWeek.com)

The Weather Channel to go up for sale

Family-owned media company Landmark Communications is looking to sell its assets, which include nine daily newspapers and The Weather Channel, according to Landmark's flagship paper, The Virginian-Pilot. (AP in Yahoo! Finance) The Weather Channel, one of the last independent cable channels, could sell for more than $5 billion, with NBC, News Corp., and Comcast all interested in the channel and its Web site, weather-dot-com. The Web site is the 18th most frequented, topping Facebook and CNN. (The New York Times, free registration required)

Netflix shoots for instant gratification

Mail-based DVD renter Netflix and LG Electronics are teaming up to provide Netflix customers with ways to view movies on their TV through an Internet connection. The partnership is an extension of Netflix's year-old online movie-viewing service, which has been hampered by its reliance on PCs. (BusinessWeek.com) Netflix also plans to team up with other electronic companies and stream movies to other devices. (The New York Times, free registration required) Rival movie-download service CinemaNow is also looking to expand though a partnership with software firm Macrovision. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

Laptop as fashion accessory

In an acknowledgment that style is becoming more important in selling computers, Microsoft is holding a "fashion show" next week to demonstrate that Windows-based laptops can be just as stylish as Apple's wares. Research shows that consumers will pony up an extra $204 for a well-designed, high-end laptop, and companies like Lenovo, HP, Sony, and even Dell are becoming increasingly fashion-conscious in response. "We're entering the age of style because we have multiple PCs in our households," explains Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder. "You no longer have one white box that serves every function for every person in the household." (BusinessWeek.com)

BEST COLUMNS OF THE DAY

Will consumers abandon the tech sector?

Consumers ignored "everything from soaring gas prices to mortgage foreclosures" to buy "the latest tech gadgetry" last year, says Therese Poletti in MarketWatch. But as the year's two biggest consumer electronics trade shows get ready to open next week with no breakthrough products on tap, tech "investors may want to tread carefully in the New Year." Consumers helped tech stocks enjoy "a pretty stunning 2007." But even if a great product emerges from the shows, "already over-extended" consumers trying to "avoid defaulting on mortgages" will have "little money for new computers, digital music players, or cell phones."

Weighing credit card protection

"Credit card fraud remains the most common form of identity theft," says Kelli B. Grant in SmartMoney.com. And while you know to "properly shred those unused cash advance checks and new card offers," for example, "vigilance can only take you so far." But think twice before you buy security add-ons offered by card issuers -- services like credit monitoring and identity theft insurance are generally not worth buying. Look into helpful free services like purchase monitoring, however. And some card companies even let you shop online with "a one-time-use or virtual credit card number." Priceless.

GOOD DAY FOR: A family feud, as the question of whether Toyota or Chevrolet is the top U.S. car brand comes down to a squabble over Toyota's Scion brand. If you count Scion sales, as Toyota does, the Japanese automaker is No. 1. But Chevy's calling foul. "You might as well count Pontiac vehicles as Chevrolet sales if you think Scion's a Toyota," agreed J.D. Power & Associates analyst Tom Libby. (Bloomberg in Los Angeles Times)

BAD DAY FOR: Commute communications, after a new study found that drivers talking on cellphones increase the commute time for everyone on the road. For commuters with an hour-long round-trip, chatting drivers can waste 20 of your hours each year. "People kind of get stuck behind that person, and it makes everyone pay the price," said study author David Strayer. (AP in The Wall Street Journal)

NOTED: Late-night talk shows went back on the air last night, with mixed results. David Letterman, who reached agreement with the striking writers' guild, had a script and A-list celebrities, while Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien had to improvise or write their own jokes. O'Brien filled time by showing his Christmas cards and spinning his wedding ring on his desk. The writers' strike is in its ninth week. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

This column was written by Peter Weber and edited by Harold Maass of TheWeekDaily.com.