Now Juyly/August 2008

tuesday, july 01
Log Off
Bill Gates relinquishes daily duties at Microsoft
Redmond, Washington

He led his company to global tech domination and made himself richer than any other person on the planet. If we were Bill Gates, we'd quit now, too. At this year's CES, Gates noted wistfully, "This will be the first time since I was 17 that I haven't had my full-time job at Microsoft." But it's not as if he is, at 52, really retiring. He'll still be MSFT's chairman. And he's taking on a bigger role at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The world's biggest charitable foundation is, you might say, the Microsoft of philanthropy -- and overseeing the distribution of $55 billion sounds like a full-time job to us. -- Ellen Gibson

tuesday, july 01
Idolize
Kickoff of the American Idols Live! Tour 2008
Glendale, Arizona

Not even the spectacle of Sanjaya Malakar could save last year's A.I. concert tour from being a bomb (a bomb, Randy Jackson, not the bomb). And this season's TV ratings were soft. But America isn't quite ready to give up idolatry yet. Early ticket sales this year were nearly as strong as in record-setting 2006. One show in Utah -- home of runner-up and human squeeze toy David Archuleta -- sold out in 14 minutes. -- Jeff Chu

thursday, july 03
Read
Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol
By Iain Gately

Iain Gately, the author of Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization, turns to another vice cum big business, decanting a meticulous, 560-page history of how alcohol has been made, consumed, vilified, and celebrated throughout the centuries. He traces the roots of the gin and tonic; visits ancient bacchanals and medieval alehouses; and weaves together Prohibition rumrunners, Spuds MacKenzie, and Bridget Jones. Gately even explains the alcoholic genesis of some popular phrases; for instance, quality bootlegged rum gave us "the real McCoy," which is not a bad way to describe this intoxicating book. -- Beth Adams

monday, july 07
Meet
G8 Summit
Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan

For the second year in a row, climate change tops the agenda. Last year in Germany, the rich-country leaders agreed to "seriously consider" halving emissions by 2050. This year, we expect they'll pledge at least to "portentously ponder" it. Next year, they might at last act: This is George W. Bush's last G8 Summit -- sayonara! -- and both parties' White House hopefuls have talked a bigger green game. -- JC

tuesday, july 08
Hobnob
ALLEN & CO. INVESTMENT CONFERENCE
Sun Valley, Idaho

Locals regard the media bigwigs' yearly invasion with "laissez-faire," says Carol Waller, head of the Sun Valley visitors bureau. The town would be chockablock with tourists anyway, so the economic infusion isn't "radically different." But she says the biz-reporter hordes deliver media exposure worth more than $200,000 to the community. And the value of being linked with regular attendee Warren Buffett or first-timer Mark Zuckerberg rather than Demi Moore, who calls the area second-home? Incalculable. -- JC