GOOD DAY FOR: A band on the run, after thieves heisted 1,000 copies of the video game “Rock Band,” plus the accompanying instrument controllers, from a truck in California. No one was hurt in the $170,000 highway robbery. “We hope these guys end up forming a rock band in jail,” said Bryce Baer, spokesman for “Rock Band” publisher Electronic Arts. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)
BAD DAY FOR: Friendly IPOs, after United Online canned the planned spinoff of Classmates-dot-com, which would have been the first IPO of a social networking site. United cited a bad climate for IPOs, but analysts said that Classmates’ business model—both it and competitor Reunion-dot-com charge subscription fees—make them less appealing than free sites like Facebook and MySpace. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)