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Republicans are ready for their comeback as Internet freedom fighters. Once champions of the Internet’s Wild West, a re-envisioned movement has left them behind. Now the GOP is digging in its spurs as it seeks to rebrand a party viewed as technology illiterate and gain redemption for backing much maligned anti-piracy legislation.
It’s also a convenient sounding board for just about everything else. Internet freedom now gets linked to tax bans, United Nations treaties and small government. Lawmakers have tied the term to everything from Justice Department investigations to American pride. Reinvigorated by the revolt of a region, Web rights have gone on to embody a much broader political agenda. “People use it for their own purposes,” said Gigi Sohn, co-founder of Public Knowledge, an organization that pushes for open Internet. Republicans especially, she said, take it to mean “absolutely no government, consumer competition protection and no regulation whatsoever.” Lawmakers see a born fit.
GOP looks to rebrand as new Internet freedom fighters
[Commentary] The latest research from the Connected Learning folks comes at you like a fire hose of ideas, case studies, academic research and questions about what we're doing and whether we should be doing it differently when it comes to preparing students for the 21st century. But what it comes down to for me, is one basic message: We've got a lot of work to do.
The latest effort from the MacArthur Foundation-backed researchers is certainly a conversation starter. And though it doesn't say so anywhere in the group's 99-page report, what I see between the lines is the notion that Silicon Valley and its allies have tackled the easy stuff when it comes to modern-day learning. We've already invented the Internet; built a network of digital pipes; developed all manner of mobile devices; created online courses; published digital textbooks. Now comes the real challenge: Just what do we do with this stuff? "There is this huge opportunity with new technology," says UC Irvine professor Mimi Ito, a lead researcher on the project, "but unless we take it up in ways that are informed by values of social equity and by a learning philosophy that really empowers young people to make the most of what is out there, it's just going to make things worse in terms of equity and the stress that young people are experiencing."
The worry comes down to what Ito thinks of as the new digital divide. This divide isn't about who has computers and who doesn't; or who does and doesn't have Internet access. This divide is between kids whose families have the means and know-how to layer an extra helping of education on their children and those who don't.
MacArthur Foundation researchers find a new digital divide that's hard to cross
[Commentary] Because broadcasters have too many competitors, many are having a hard time earning a fair return. The common sense answer is for some stations to exit. Now, because of the compelling need for additional wireless broadband capacity, the Federal Communications Commission, in the incentive auction proceeding, is prepared to help ease some stations out the door. It’s the economic equivalent of culling the herd. Stations planning to stay on the air (and the revitalized National Association of Broadcasters) appropriately are focused like a laser on repacking issues. That is as it should be. At the same time, those stations should be cheering for those broadcasters willing to consider the FCC’s offer of a buyout.
[Padden heads the Expanding Opportunities For Broadcasters Coalition, representing stations interested in selling spectrum licenses]
FCC Auction Would Benefit All TV Stations
America’s newspapers have trouble enough these days, what with shrinking ad revenue and straying readers. But the daily print-and-pixel press also hasn’t gotten much love lately from the biggest newsmaker in the business: President Barack Obama.
When President Obama does media interviews these days, it’s not with a newspaper. TV gets the bulk of the President’s personal attention, from his frequent appearances on “60 Minutes” to MTV to chitchats with local stations around the country. Magazines — including the New Republic, which recently landed an interview conducted by its owner, Facebook co-founder and former Obama campaign operative Chris Hughes — are a distant second, followed by radio. Newspapers? Well, President Obama may be the least newspaper-friendly President in a generation. White House press secretary Jay Carney says it’s nothing personal. Without addressing newspapers specifically, Carney said in an e-mail that Obama’s interviews are doled out based on “the best use of the president’s time. . . . He’s done TV and print, and will continue to do both.”
President Obama keeps newspaper reporters at arm’s length
Apparently, you can get media satisfaction — as long as you are online as opposed to offline.
According to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group, consumers accrue more value from their online media usage than from their offline consumption. The new research report — titled “Follow the Surplus: How U.S. Consumers Value Online Media” — calculated that the average U.S. online user got a “consumer surplus” of $970, compared to $900 from offline media. BCG defines consumer surplus as “the value consumers themselves place on a media-related activity or product over and above what they pay for it.” The report looked at seven categories — books, radio and music, U.S. newspapers and magazines, TV and movies, video games, international newspapers and magazines and user-generated content and social networks. The largest chunk of online consumer satisfaction came from UGC and social, such as use of Facebook and Google’s YouTube, which makes sense since the actual cost is nearly zero — making any benefit essentially digital gravy.
Study: Online Media Pays Off for Consumers More Than Offline
Google's Chrome browser blocked users from multiple websites -- including its own YouTube video site – Feb 10 due to suspected malware, mirroring a situation earlier in the week when ads served across the Web barred Chrome users. Complaints on Twitter began appearing around 1 p.m. Pacific time Saturday, with users reporting varied sites -- including MercuryNews.com, YouTube, NBC News, The Verge and several smaller destinations.
Google Chrome browser blocks websites with malware warnings, including YouTube
Google chairman Eric Schmidt is to slash his stake in the search company by 42 percent in the next year by selling $2.5 billion worth of shares.
News of the planned disposal came as Google’s shares hit a new high on Feb 8, ending the week at $785.3 and capping a gain of about 30 percent over the past year. Schmidt’s planned sale, which was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, will greatly speed up the rate at which he has been reducing his financial interest in the company he joined 12 years ago, and his influence over it. However, Google said he remained “completely committed” to it. Schmidt’s intended disposals are covered by a plan under which shares will be sold at regular intervals over the next 12 months without his involvement. It is an arrangement commonly used in the US to reduce concerns about corporate insiders trading on privileged knowledge about their companies. The plan was instigated last November. Schmidt will sell 3.2 million of his 7.6 million shares in Google, leaving him an investment in the leading US internet company valued at just under $3.5 billion, based on Friday’s close.
Google chairman to sell $2.5 billion of shares Google chairman Eric Schmidt to sell more than 40 percent of his stock (Associated Press)
The newspaper union that battled Tribune Company over a $67 million executive bonus proposal for 2009 has asked the court to order the publisher to cover its professional fees: $358,000.
The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild says its fight saved Tribune $21.2 million in cash, a precious resource in 2009, one of the worst years in the media company's history. The Guild filed papers seeking to recoup what it spent on lawyers and advisers for the initial bonus fight, which culminated in a September 2009 courtroom showdown. The Guild invoked a bankruptcy principle called "substantial contribution," which allows a court to order fees be paid for an entity that, in the course of advocating for its rights in a Chapter 11 proceeding, benefits other creditors. In court papers, the Guild said its "aggressive investigation and scrutiny" of Tribune's bonus programs, many details of which were shielded from public view by court order, "transcended self-protection or self-benefit."
Union Asks Tribune to Pay Legal Fees
Apple, for the first time in years, is hearing footsteps.
The maker of iPhones, iPads and iPods has never faced a challenger able to make a truly popular and profitable smartphone or tablet — not Dell, not Hewlett-Packard, not Nokia, not BlackBerry — until Samsung Electronics. The South Korean manufacturer’s Galaxy S III smartphone is the first device to run neck and neck with Apple’s iPhone in sales. Armed with other Galaxy phones and tablets, Samsung has emerged as a potent challenger to Apple, the top consumer electronics maker. The two companies are the only ones turning profits in the highly competitive mobile phone industry, with Apple taking 72 percent of the earnings and Samsung the rest. Yet these two rivals, who have battled in the marketplace and in the courts worldwide, could not be more different. Samsung Electronics, a major part of South Korea’s expansive Samsung Group, makes computer chips and flat-panel displays as well as a wide range of consumer products including refrigerators, washers and dryers, cameras, vacuum cleaners, PCs, printers and TVs. Where Apple stakes its success on creating new markets and dominating them, as it did with the iPhone and iPad, Samsung invests heavily in studying existing markets and innovating inside them.
Samsung Emerges as a Potent Rival to Apple’s Cool
Europe’s most senior justice official is adamant she will fight US attempts to water down a proposed EU data protection and privacy law that would force global technology companies to obey European standards across the world.
Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for justice, said that the EU was determined to respond decisively to any attempts by US lobbyists – many working for large tech groups such as Google and Facebook – to curb the EU data protection law. “Exempting non-EU companies from our data protection regulation is not on the table. It would mean applying double standards,” Reding told the Financial Times. “Data protection is a fundamental right in Europe which is clearly enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Whilst this may not be the case in other parts of the world, one thing is clear: if companies want to tap into the European market they have to apply European standards.”
Brussels fights US data privacy push