Commission on Presidential Debates' exclusion of journalists of color
Correspondence regarding the from moderating the presidential debates of 2012
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August 17, 2012
A closely watched patent battle between Apple and Samsung Electronics turned to the money at stake, as the trial entered its final days.
A lawyer for Samsung began the morning providing testimony and evidence designed to reduce the potential bill the company would face if the jury rules Samsung devices violated Apple patents. Apple contends it is owed more than $2.5 billion in damages based on a host of Samsung devices infringing several of its patents. The amount could be adjusted if the jury finds that only some devices infringed some patents. A damages expert for Samsung, Michael Wagner, argued that Apple's estimates—made by accountant Terry Musika, who testified earlier on Apple's behalf—were based on faulty Samsung profit estimates that ignored important costs. Those costs include the cost of marketing the phones, promoting them to carriers and research and development.
Patent Trial Turns to Damages
August 17, 2012
[Commentary] The Department of Justice says Verizon can go ahead with its $3.6-billion purchase of wireless spectrum from the cable industry, but not without some tweaks to help protect consumers from telecom behemoths becoming too cozy.
Specifically, the DOJ said that it's placing limits on sales of cable services at Verizon Wireless stores — a move that had appeared to relegate Verizon's own TV and Internet offerings to the back burner and make the market less competitive. I'm not a told-you-so kind of guy, but this is exactly what I warned of in a column last month questioning how this deal worked in consumers' best interest, not to mention how downplaying the company's own services was good for Verizon shareholders. William Petersen, general counsel of Verizon Wireless, said good times are ahead for consumers. "We now believe the consumer benefits of the transaction will be promptly realized, and look forward to the conclusion of the FCC review so that we can move forward with meeting the unprecedented consumer demand" for wireless and broadband services, he said. Cable providers, of course, are thrilled. They now are a few billion dollars richer and have a new sales channel in Verizon Wireless stores. Perhaps such blatantly anti-competitive behavior was to be expected. Consolidation has been the norm in the telecom industry for years.
Keeping Verizon Wireless from being too cozy with cable
August 17, 2012
The California Assembly overwhelmingly approved a bill that would preserve funding for the state's film and television tax credit.
The Assembly voted 70-4 in favor of the bill, which extends funding for the program another two years. California allocates $100 million annually toward tax credits, which are doled out by lottery because of limited funds. Funding was due to expire next year. The film industry had been pressing for a five-year extension to show the state's commitment to the industry, which is being lured away by other states with strong incentives. But that proved a tall order in light of the state's budget woes. The state Senate is expected to hold its first committee hearing on a similar bill next week. A coalition of labor unions, including the Directors Guild of America, Teamsters, and SAG-AFTRA, lauded the vote.
California Assembly approves state film, TV tax credit extension
August 17, 2012
After decades of neglect, the 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard, known as the Naval Annex Historic Campus, may be ready for a long overdue makeover. The nonprofit Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation and a private developer, Douglas C. Steiner, have reached an agreement, contingent on city, state and federal financing, to convert the hospital complex into a media, technology and film hub. Steiner, who owns the adjacent Steiner Studios movie and television production center, would connect the site to his property to create a 50-acre lot to be called a media campus. The project, which would cost nearly $400 million and take 12 years to build, would use the nine historical buildings on the site and create five new structures for a total of 328,000 square feet, housing media companies and academic programs. There would also be 100,000 square feet of new stages for film and TV, including the first underwater stage in the country and the first back lot on the East Coast to feature a New York City streetscape.
From Weeds and Bricks to Media Hub in Brooklyn
August 16, 2012
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies sent a letter to Janet Brown, the Executive Director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, with concerns that the commission did not select any journalists of color to moderate any of the presidential debates being broadcast this year. The Joint Center asked the commission to schedule additional presidential debates moderated by journalists with large audiences of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and other people of color.
Commission on Presidential Debates Asked to Add Debates Moderated by Journalists of Color
August 16, 2012
UK consumers are achieving average residential broadband speeds of 9.0Mbit/s, driven by the move to new ‘superfast’ services, Ofcom research reveals.
Ofcom’s latest research into fixed-line residential broadband speeds shows that, in May 2012, the average actual UK speed was 9.0Mbit/s, which is 2½ times faster than the average speed of 3.6Mbit/s recorded in November 2008 when Ofcom first began its speeds research. Ofcom’s research now includes some new ‘superfast’ packages, including Virgin Media’s ‘up to’ 60Mbit/s service and BT’s Infinity 2 ‘up to’ 76Mbit/s service, the launches of which have contributed to the rise in average speeds. The continuing trend of increasing speeds recorded in the research confirms that consumer migration to faster services is gathering momentum. While some consumers actively choose to upgrade to superfast broadband packages to achieve higher speeds, many are benefitting from improved speeds as a result of internet service providers’ (ISPs’) network upgrades, at little or no additional cost to consumers.
Network upgrades boost average broadband speeds
August 16, 2012
Saudi Arabia objected this week to a variety of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) ranging from .porn and .sexy to .wine and .bar and .bible, according to records of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The organization said in June it had received 1,930 applications for gTLD "strings", of which 911 came from North America and 675 from Europe. It has extended the period for comments on applications by 45 days to Sept. 26. Saudi Arabia's Communication and Information Technology Commission, the IT and communications regulator, has objected to the .gay string and asked ICANN to refuse the application for the new gTLD. "Many societies and cultures consider homosexuality to be contrary to their culture, morality or religion," CITC said. "The creation of a gTLD string which promotes homosexuality will be offensive to these societies and cultures," it added.
Saudi Arabia objects to .gay, .wine and other proposed gTLDs
August 16, 2012
The Competition Commission of India, the country's antitrust agency, is investigating Google for alleged anti-competitive practices following a complaint by a consumer watchdog group, a federal minister told Parliament. Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) International approached the CCI, which has quasi-legal authority, to investigate the potential misuse by Google of its dominant position in online search and search-related advertising markets, following the company's investigation by the European Commission and antitrust agencies in other jurisdictions, Udai Singh Mehta, associate director at CUTS said on.
Google faces investigation by India's antitrust agency
August 16, 2012
Born in the chaos after Japan's 2011 disasters, the smartphone application "Line" has attracted 50 million users faster than Facebook with a made-in-Japan blend of cute and the promise of free communication. Now, the company behind the application is readying an online media campaign to promote the app in China and the United States to sustain its meteoric growth rate and hit the 100 million-user mark by December. Line allows users to text and call from their smartphones using the existing data plan so users can communicate via the Internet and not be charged for a cell call. It has topped Apple's App Store rankings for downloads in 24 countries from Kuwait to Kazakhstan. To distinguish itself from other communication apps, Line offers its own games, a camera app, and a social platform complete with a timeline and homepage, similar to Facebook.
Born from Japan disasters, Line app sets sights on U.S., China