Motorola and Kodak launched the ZN5 last Monday, a new candy bar-style mobile phone with a 5.0-megapixel camera, the first device from its line. Developed in cooperation with Kodak, the ZN5 is aimed at users who don’t want to carry a separate camera for photos. The handset allows users to take photos in several modes, including multi-shot and panorama. The ZN5 weighs 114 grams and measures 118-millimeters by 50.5mm, and 16mm thick at the lens. It stores photos to 4G byte MicroSD cards, and can share photos via MMS, by sending the photo from e-mail, by Bluetooth to a PC or other device, or can upload directly to sharing Web sites. The ZN5 features Wi-Fi connectivity. Users can also print photos at over 90,000 Kodak kiosks, which support printing from MicroSD cards

The Senate has passed a bill seeking to lower amusement tax on movie house tickets. Approved on June 4, Senate Bill 2325 is titled “An Act Amending Section 140 (A) of Republic Act No. 7160, Otherwise Known as The Local Government Code of 1991. The bill was prepared jointly by the committees on Local Government and on Ways and Means, with Senators Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr,  Loren Legarda, Benigno Aquino III and Francis Escudero as proponents. A similar bill is now pending in the lower house.  Ric Camaligan, president of the Motion Picture Anti-Film Piracy Council, related that some cities in the country already lowered amusement tax prior to the passing of Senate Bill 2325. Camaligan recounted, “Quezon City decreased it to zero, Manila to 15 percent, Baguio and San Fernando (Pampanga) to 20 percent.”

The popular video site is experimenting with full-length video to attract more advertisers.  YouTube has only posted a handful of such lengthy videos. But we’ll probably see a lot more. YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen clearly want the site to be more than just a destination for clips of skateboarding dogs, experiments involving Mentos and Diet Coke, and the occasional Simpson episode that needs to be taken down immediately because of copyright infringement. So, undoubtedly, does Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), YouTube’s owner. So Hurley and Chen are testing longer videos that are potentially more attractive to Madison Avenue.  Hurley and Chen have yet to decide if there’s really a future for such videos on YouTube. YouTube is courting independent directors this week at the Los Angeles Film Festival, a showcase for their work. The company also makes a big deal about how two directors of its longer videos have scored television deals as a result of their exposure on YouTube. “Harold Buttelman’s” Francis Stokes, for instance, got a development deal with the Sci-Fi Channel. The Documentary Channel also bought “10 mph,” a movie shown on YouTube about Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell, two aspiring filmmakers who quit their jobs to drive a Segway across the United States. YouTube has had trouble getting much more than clips from Hollywood. Showtime Network, however, recently posted an entire episode of The Tudors on YouTube to promote the new season.

Pinoy Dream Academy 9th Scholar Chivas Malunda is now back in the academy after being rushed to the hospital because of migraine attacks. Chivas was first rushed to the hospital before the gala night. he was found to have suffered from Hyperventilation Syndrome. His wife, Bunny, is always at his side.

The Pinoy Dream Academy Season 2 has Laarni and Inaki as its first probationary scholars. They were originally four, but Christian was saved by the mentors, and Bea by her co-scholars.

To vote for your favorite Dreamer, text PDA <name of dreamer> to 231 (Smart, Talk N’ Text) or to 2331 (Globe, TM, Bayan Wireless).

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has resheduled the canceled basketball games last Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum due to typhoon Frank. The new date is on July 6.

The matches will be between Red Bull and Sta. Lucia Realty and Barangay Ginebra and Alaska Milk.

ABS-CBN kapamilya prime actor John Lloyd Cruz and the country’s pop princess Sarah Geronimo is the newest love team, under Star Cinema’s new movie, All About Love. The two first teamed up in a hit special episode in Maala-ala Mo kaya.

John Lloyd also will be celebrating his 25th birthday tomorrow, June 24.

For massive multiplayer online games like the popular World of Warcraft, it’s helpful to have a headset if you’re trying to coordinate efforts with other members of a team or guild. Rather than tangle up your desk with messy wires, a wireless headset is a nice option. For US$100, Logitech sells the ClearChat PC Wireless, a headset that’s lightweight, comfortable, and sounds good. The ClearChat PC Wireless headset works with Mac OS X and Windows. It has a USB dongle about the size of a flash thumb drive as a transmitter, and communicates using the 2.4GHz radio frequency, similar to band used by a cordless phone. The microphone rests on a boom that can swivel up and out of the way when not in use. The headphones have a built-in battery that recharges using an included USB cable, and Logitech also included a stand to mount the USB dongle if plugging it directly in to your Mac blocks an adjacent USB port. An on/off switch lets you save power when you’re not using the headphones; a built-in LED shows you the device’s power status (it also lights up when you’re charging the battery). Bluetooth might be preferable for some users who don’t want a dongle sticking out of their Mac’s USB port, but for those who don’t mind another device plugged into an available jack, the ClearChat PC Wireless headset offers good quality and comfort at a fair price, with plug-and-play simplicity.

One of the biggest and most significant original Filipino musicals, “Cory!,” will be staged in October and November at the Meralco Theater. Produced by Sen. Nene Pimentel’s wife Lourdes “Bing” Pimentel’s Buhay Isang Awit Foundation and written and directed by respected theater artist, Nestor U. Torre, the musical on former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino’s dramatic and inspiring life and times. Pimentel and Torre have decided to find the best performing talents for the show by opening up all of its roles—from lead to chorus—to open auditions. The auditions are for performers of all ages, and will be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 29 at the Sta. Ana Arts Center. Call Andy at 0919 206-5424.

Liezel Garcia got the first Star Scholar with a grade of 8.97(highest) for this Pinoy Dream Academy season 2. Miguel Mendoza the second highest star scholar with a of grade 8.83. While Van Pojos got the third highest grade for this week.