This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Colin Hanks can live up his father's legacy, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

I wonder if Tom Hanks ever stops to reflect on how lucky his career has been. I mean, I know this has been said before, but I still can't get over the fact that one of the biggest celebrity thespians of our era first came to prominence on a goofy sitcom called Bosom Buddies. If it wasn't for some species of divine intervention, Tom Hanks would have been just another deep footnote of the '80s. Although some might consider Bachelor Party a classic -- I'm not sure who that would be -- Tom Hanks' actual breakthrough role came in Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Splash (here's a bit of trivia for you: Splash was the first film released by Touchstone Pictures). Years later, he would go on to star in some of the most memorable movies of our time -- Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, and The Green Mile. Yep, we all know Mr. Tom Hanks.

But have you ever heard of his son, Colin? He was the product of Tom's first marriage to a lady named Samantha Lewes (she unfortunately passed away in 2002). Colin Hanks may not be as famous as his dad, but, according to his page at IMDB, he is an actor in his own right, and has done a lot of television work -- he's worked on Numb3rs, The O.C., and he's been on many episodes of the sci-fi show Roswell. And he's not doing too shabby in the movie business. He's appeared in King Kong, two other movies starring the one and only Jack Black, Orange County and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, and the recent internet thriller Untraceable.

Continue reading Heir apparent: Colin Hanks, looking to make a splash

Heir apparent: Colin Hanks, looking to make a splash originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The definition for biometrics? It's using some type of biological trait - such as fingerprints, voice, retinal patterns - to identify a person.

Of course, a big opportunity is using biometrics for security.

The problem? Well, it's not necessarily accurate.

But an upstart company, BioPassword, thinks it has a solution. In fact, the company was able to snag $11 million in venture capital this week.

As of now, the company's technology has a success rate of about 95%. While this is still not good enough, the company thinks it can push it to 99.9%.

BioPassword essentially has a sophisticated system to analyze keystrokes. Yes, this process can be quite unique for people (in terms of rhythms, pauses and so on).

Interestingly enough, the CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS) show, NUMB3RS, had a spot on this technology. You can check it out here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Biometrics gets an $11M vote of confidence originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

iTunes rounded out its network television offerings today by adding primetime CBS shows including all three CSI franchises, NCIS, Numb3rs and Survivor. The shows will be $1.99 each, just like shows from NBC, USA, Showtime, ABC, and (all importantly) Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

Investors seemed just as pleased as customers (the ones who will now be able to watch a bullet ripping through some poor sap's body over and over and over on their iPod's tiny screen). AAPL rode the tech sector up $2.195, or nearly 4%, to $60.76.

With this addition, iTunes carries virtually every popular primetime TV show, all for $1.99 each, and making the company the vendor of choice for watching television on the (very) small screen. The question: do customers want to download their TV, or record it on their DVRs for fullsize viewage? I'd much rather buy my shows one-by-one than navigate the complexities and scheduling required to remember to record them. How 'bout you?

iTunes to offer 'CSI,' 'Survivor,' 'NCIS' and 'Numb3rs' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Jun 2006 20:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.