And Now, A Six-Minute Underwear Ad

As a publicity gimmick, this six-minute oh-so-artsy and dramatique Thierry Mugler ad debuted on the homemade porn site, X-Tube. Totally NSFW.

Spirit Airlines: $5 To Print Boarding Passes

But only if their clerk prints them for you at the airport.

Low-fare carrier Spirit Airlines drew gasps last year when it became the first U.S. airline to charge passengers for bringing carry-on bags aboard. On Tuesday, the proponent of fees for nearly everything airborne unveiled another U.S. first: Passengers who have boarding passes printed by a Spirit check-in agent will be charged $5 each for each nonstop flight. The Miramar, Fla., carrier said fliers can avoid forking over a five spot by checking in online and printing their own boarding passes. The new fee, which started Tuesday, applies to all flights booked for travel on or after Nov. 1.

Spirit also charges $20-$35 to use the overhead bin for a carry-on.

Masterbeat.com Goes Out Of Business

Masterbeat.com, the popular gay-owned dance music commercial download site, ceased operations on Sunday.

Pam's House Blend Joins Firedoglake

At today's Morning News Dump with Lizz Winstead, Pam Spaulding made the big announcement that she'll be folding Pam's House Blend into a subblog on Firedoglake. FDL founder Jane Hamsher:

Pam's House Blend has long been one of the most compelling and influential sites in the blogosphere. Founder Pam Spaulding has used the platform not only to speak out herself as a woman of color and a member of the LGBT community, but also to play host to many other fine bloggers who have worked with her to build PHB into a robust activist community. Pam was also one of my first friends when we were both posting at Daily Kos, before Firedoglake even existed.

So it gives me great pleasure to announce that Pam's House Blend will be joining the Firedoglake family of blogs. I think it's a perfect union - as the task of hosting a blog and performing the tech, legal and security work to keep it up and running becomes more and more complex and expensive, it will free Pam and her fellow bloggers to spend their time doing what they do best, which is blog. It also allows us to feature the work of a really amazing group of writers on FDL, and be tremendously enriched by the PHB community.

We wish her well.

Yesterday & Today

Rep. Anthony Weiner To Resign

According to the New York Times, Rep. Anthony Weiner is going to resign today.

The top Democratic official said Mr. Weiner called Representative Nancy Pelosi of California and Representative Steve Israel of New York last night while they were at the White House picnic to inform them he had decided to resign on Thursday. Mr. Weiner plans to resign in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, at 2 p.m. , at the spot where he announced his first campaign for City Council in 1992, according to two people told of his plans. The news comes as Democratic leaders prepared to hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss whether to strip the 46-year-old congressman of his committee assignments, a blow that would severely damage his effectiveness.

A damn fucking shame.

Dan Savage Wins Webby Award

Recipients are only allowed a five-word acceptance speech. Watch what Dan does with his five words.

YouTube Rentals

It's now $2.99 to rent Rebecca Black's Friday video for 72 hours.

Maddow Slams Frothy Over Weinergate

Mike Rogers On Anthony Weiner

Quote Of the Day - Dan Savage

"A reporter asks if Weiner was drinking or using drugs—if he has a problem—because only a man who has a drinking problem or a drug problem could get caught up in something like this. Do reporters know what men are like? (And lots of women too?) This desire to pathologize behavior that isn't sick—that is, indeed, very common and human and completely and instantly understandable—is itself pathological. Weiner does not have a problem. He has a computer. The whole world has Weiner's problem: same old horniness, brand new box." - Dan Savage, live-blogging Weiner's press conference.

AARP Launches Gay Website

The AARP has launched a new subsite devoted to the issues of retired and senior LGBT folks. Among the topics covered during the launch are vacation destinations for gay seniors and dating tips for those over 50.

“We are proud to provide diverse, expert voices on topics that are important to all Americans 50+, including members of the LGBT community,” said Hugh Delehanty, SVP & Editor In Chief of AARP’s media properties. “AARP understands that while all Americans 50+ share the same goals of aging with dignity and peace of mind, each of the communities in our lives offers its own challenges, opportunities and contributions towards helping us get there. We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate national Pride month than to launch this portal, which we hope will help members of the LGBT community and their loved ones get access to important information and relevant insights from experts and each other.

Apple To Launch iCloud

Apple is set to launch a cloud-based music player that will scan a user's home iTunes library and then make those tracks available from any web device.

Apple has signed deals with Warner Music Group Corp., Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Group Ltd. and expects to sign a fourth with Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group this week. The agreements will let Apple offer an easy way for consumers to create and listen online to their entire music collections, without the time-consuming work of manually transferring or uploading songs. Many in the music industry see such offerings as a key next step in the evolution of digital media, in which music, and eventually video, is convenient and ubiquitous. Apple wouldn't be the first company to offer such a service, but its standing as the world's largest music retailer and more than 200 million iTunes accounts would give it clout that others have lacked.

The cost of the service has not yet been disclosed.

Twitter Buys Tweetdeck

Twitter has acquired my obsession, Tweetdeck. Via Washington Post:

Word has been circulating for weeks now that Twitter was soon to be swooping up the popular third-party app. In early May, Mike Arrington reported that the deal was as good as done, but the two companies were not yet willing to publicly release the numbers. That changed today, as CNN and CNET broke the news that TweetDeck has officially been acquired by Twitter for $40 million. Twitter has yet to officially confirm, but judging by what we’re hearing from sources close to the deal, it’s done and done.

You Don't Own Your Twitpic Photos

If you use the popular service Twitpic to post photos to Twitter, here's some interesting news.

World Entertainment News Network, a news and photo agency, announced this month that it had become the “exclusive photo agency partner” of Twitpic, a service with over 20 million registered users that allows people to upload images and link to them on Twitter. The deal allows the agency to sell images posted on Twitpic for publication, and to pursue legal action against those who use such images commercially without its permission, according to the agency. “There has been much unauthorized use of Twitpic images which we shall be addressing without delay,” said Lloyd Beiny, the agency’s chief executive.

USMC Blocks Anti-Homophobia Site

A civilian employee of the Marine Corps writes us this morning to note that the USMC has blocked the website of the International Day Against Homophobia. The repeal of DADT is nearly official and the Secretary of State has issued a statement in support of the site's goals. But Marines still can't read about it. Or any other "LGBT" classified sites, apparently.

Planking

Microsoft To Purchase Skype

Microsoft has agreed to purchase Skype for $8.5B.

The acquisition will "increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities," Microsoft said. Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and an array of Windows devices. Microsoft will also connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft said it will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms. “Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

Cable news networks have increasingly turned to Skype to eliminate the cost of bringing interview subjects to their studios.

Dot Gays

New York City-based LGBT marketing executive Scott Seitz is spearheading a group working to win the right to administer the proposed top-level internet domain (dot)gay. What's most interesting about this effort is that Seitz' group has pledged to donate two-thirds of the potentially considerable .gay domain registration profit back to the LGBT community. That promise has earned Seitz the endorsements of major national LGBT rights groups. From an interview with Press Pass Q's Chuck Colbert:

The dot-gay initiative, Seitz explained during a telephone interview, is all about community building and networking, with two-thirds (67 percent) of the profits from the sale of dot-gay domains going back to the community via a nonprofit foundation. Seitz realizes that buy-in from the community, including LGBT media, is key to dot-gay's success. To that end, he is working closely with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and others to ensure wide stakeholder support among LGBT businesses and organizations. Additionally, he is creating town hall meetings at community centers across the country. Already, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Human Rights Campaign, National Center for Lesbian Rights and International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, among others, have endorsed the dot-gay initiative. At least six LGBT publications are also onboard. Management from the Northampton, Mass.-based Rainbow Times and Echelon Magazine, serving the LGBT business community, have sent letters of support to ICANN urging approval of the dot-gay gTLD.

DotGay's website explains how it would all work.

If approved, .gay would exist as a so-called “Top-Level Domain” (TLD), the most well-known example of which is .com, and individuals, businesses and organizations would be able to register domain names ending in .gay. In addition to .gay, the governing body of Internet domain space, ICANN, is considering TLD proposals for .eco, .berlin, .sports, .shop and more. TLD applicants must demonstrate to ICANN broadly based support from the targeted community. Once ICANN determines there is a viable “market” for a new TLD, it evaluates applicants seeking to operate the TLD. To prevail in the selection process, an applicant must establish its bona fides and present a credible plan for developing and marketing the newly created domain space.

Seitz predicts that anti-gay governments such as the Vatican will petition ICANN to deny applications to create the .gay domain. Religious and conservative groups have voiced similar opposition to the creation of a .XXX domain.

Friendster Announces End

Friendster goes dark on May 31st. In other news, people still have Friendster accounts.