Archive for the 'In the News' Category

How News Corp. will save the newspaper industry by taking its soul

Published
by
Aaron
on May 1, 2007
in In the News, Opinion and Politics
. 1 Comment

ff_142_murdoch1_f.jpgThe year is 2015. Every day, millions of Americans wake up, get dressed, and go to work. Each day they also carry in hand a newspaper, whether from a subscription or a newsstand. The paper is digital, with automatic, real-time updates from the Internet, complete with streaming text, video, and images. The newspapers experience newfound prosperity that hasn’t existed since the 1940s. Advertisers and readers flock to them, paying for subscriptions and reading in print and online, in perfect harmony. But the newspapers also are no longer what they were like even just ten years ago. Everything that’s published goes through careful screening. All articles considered to be too far left of the industry’s conservative agenda are edited or all together cut. While not always very obvious, everything in the paper is at least subtly leaning towards the political right. The newspaper content has been reduced to that of tabloid quality, with mostly celebrity gossip and very little actual news. While there are no official ties, the government and the newspapers have an agreement — keep information filtered, and everyone’s happy. Well, everyone except the rebels…

This future isn’t fiction. It’s not some 3rd-rate sci-fi novel. It could be real. Well, maybe not exactly. Sure, I may have went a little too far with the whole totalitarian-government-media-ties thing — and the rebels — but, the idea of a conservative-leaning, no-longer-totally-free press may not be too far off. Why? Well because today, News Corp. offered to buy Dow Jones. Why is this such bad news? Well, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., the same people who gave the world the journalistic gems of Fox News and The New York Post (which, back in the day, used the be an excellent paper), has now placed a bid to buy a company that provides the newspaper that just about every single businessman (and woman) in the world, and more, reads. Fortunately, the Bancroft family, which owns more than half of Dow Jones, rejected the deal. But this scary prospect could eventually become reality. News Corp. had attempted to buy Dow Jones before, and after failing again, they may turn onto other targets. Who’s to stop them from buying The Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post, or even (God forbid) The New York Times? One would expect the newspaper companies, but the scariest thing is, they may not.

You see, the newspaper industry is not doing very well right now. It’s losing a lot of market share to blogs, podcasts, and the Web in general (and of course, the even more ever-present TV doesn’t help either). With the ability to get free news online, even from the newspapers’ own sites, why would you pay for a subscription, which not only helps keep the newspaper alive, but also attracts the vital revenue source of advertisers? That’s the problem that newspapers today are facing. Most of the major papers like the Times still haven’t yet figured out to solve this major issue, and while The Wall Street Journal gets by by making nothing free online (because it can be deducted from most businessman’s taxes, and possibly even offered for free by the business itself), the industry itself is really falling behind. But, there is one company that knows how to save the newspaper industry. Unfortunately, this one company is News Corp.

The thing is, News Corp. really knows how to handle itself in a wired world. It already owns the social center of the Web, MySpace, and has assets in just about every form of free expression, including books, newspapers, magazines, TV, and movies. With the potential to bring together old and new media into profitable harmony (for more on Murdoch, News Corp., and the web, see this Wired article), News Corp. could control the entire media landscape itself, if the newspapers let it. And why wouldn’t they? News Corp. offers the industry exactly what it wants — money, popularity, and regained dominance. Of course, News Corp. would do to the entire newspaper industry what it did to The Times of London, The News York Post, and countless others — turn it into a platform for Murdoch’s (and, as it’s assumed, his successor’s) conservative political ideas and resorting the journalistic quality to that of the cheapest tabloids.

So, in the end, what it comes down to is whether the major newspapers will sell their soul to Murdoch and News Corp. for money and power. But for now, Dow Jones turned down the offer and Murdoch still has only one U.S. paper. Still, be wary of what News Corp.’s next move may be, which could be sooner than you think.

Apple announces Q2 earnings and stock surges above $100

Published
by
Aaron
on April 25, 2007
in Apple, Finance and In the News
. 0 Comments

appleq2financials.jpgIn contrast to my previous post, here’s a positive post about financial news: Apple Inc., better known to, well, everyone, as Apple, has announced its Q2 earnings this afternoon, and they’re pretty amazing at $0.87 EPS, which is up from $0.47 EPS in the year-ago-quarter, and $5.26 billion and $770 million in quarterly revenue and net profit, respectively. Apple has also sold 36% more Macs and 24% more iPods since last year. Plus, the Q2 earnings beat the $0.64 EPS analyst expectation by $0.23. What this means: Apple’s still growing and thriving, and its stock price has surged, going up $7.10 (7.45%) in after-hours trading at the time of publishing, all the way to an all-time-high (not including previous highs today in after-hours trading) of $102.45. So, whether you’re an Apple fan, shareholder, or both (like me), this’ll be good news to you’re ears.

Note: Apple has also announced that it’s not going to fight with ex-CFO Fred Anderson (who accused Steve Jobs of being responsible for the stock options scandal).

Note 2: From TUAW: “During this afternoon’s financial conference call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer announced that a third Big Apple store is being planned. It’s been suggested that this building at 401 West 14th Street will be the third store’s location. At 52,000 square-feet, it would house one heck of a store.” And yes Dave, as you pointed out in your post, New Yorkers do get everything. Except free municipal Wi-Fi. And driving distance from Apple, Google, digg, Macworld and more headquarters. Damn you San Francisco!

Boris Yeltsin dies

Published
by
Aaron
on April 24, 2007
in In the News and Politics
. 2 Comments

24yelstin-190-2.jpgThe New York Times:

Boris N. Yeltsin, the burly provincial politician who became a Soviet-era reformer and later a towering figure of his time as the first freely elected leader of Russia, presiding over the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the demise of the Communist Party, died yesterday in Moscow. He was 76.

Yes, Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev’s successor is now dead. So, what’s the big deal? Well, like Gorbachev, Yeltsin was an economic reformer. Of course, he was also a drunk and chaotic leader. Still, he was better than the current Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who’s reversing all of the economic and political progress that Gorbachev and Yeltsin made. By recreating the fear of the Cold War-era Soviet Union and causing the entire country to rely on petroleum for money, Putin’s slowly been bringing Russia back to its dark ages. The death of Yeltsin, who tried to do everything that Putin didn’t do, is a symbol of this tragedy.

So long (Imus) and thanks for all the fish

Published
by
Aaron
on April 13, 2007
in In the News
. 0 Comments

It was inevitable.

The New York Times:

CBS brought the tumultuous weeklong crisis over racially insensitive remarks by the radio host Don Imus to an end late this afternoon when it canceled the “Imus in the Morning” program, effective immediately

Imus has always been, well, controversial. His comments frequently are borderline racist, anti-semitic, and sexist. Still, he usually manages not to cross that very, very dangerous border. But he screwed up, and possibly permanently damaged his career. Imus had made racist comments before, but none got as much attention as this. Why? Maybe because his comments were directed to a team of young, female athletes who managed to get to the most important game in their season. Or maybe this was finally the breaking point. But, whatever the reason, Imus is gone. In fact, this whole chain of events reminds me of a traditional Passover song, Dayenu (It would have sufficed)…

If Media Matters had written the article about Imus’s comment, but other newspapers had not picked it up — Dayenu (It would have sufficed)!
(Chorus: Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu! Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu!)

If the other newspapers had picked it up, but NBC and CBS had not condemned Imus’s remarks — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If NBC and CBS had condemned Imus’s remarks, but Imus had not apologized — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Imus had apologized, but various organizations had not called for Imus to be fired — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If various organizations had called for Imus to be fired, but Imus had not appeared on Al Sharpton’s radio show — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Imus had appeared on Al Sharpton’s radio show, but CBS and NBC hadn’t suspended him for two weeks — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If CBS and NBC had suspended Imus for two weeks, but if he had not met with the Rutgers women’s basketball team — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Imus had met with the Rutgers women’s basketball team, but if Proctor and Gamble had not dropped all of its ads from MSNBC’s daytime programming (and other advertisers dropping ads from Imus’s show) — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Proctor and Gamble had dropped all of its ads from MSNBC’s daytime programming (and other advertisers dropping ads from Imus’s show), but MSNBC had not dropped Imus’s show — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If MSNBC had dropped Imus’s show, but CBS had not dropped it — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

But all jokes aside, I am very ashamed at Imus for making such racist comments. And as for him loosing his show, I’m sure XM or Sirius (or their new combined company, if they do ever merge), will be happy to pick up Imus, even if he’s not in the star lineup.

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…as if millions of Mac users cried out, and were then silenced

Published
by
Aaron
on April 12, 2007
in Apple and In the News
. 1 Comment

No, no, NO!!!!!!

Macworld:

Apple on Thursday released a statement noting that Mac OS X v10.5 “Leopard” won’t be released until October. The cause of the delay? The iPhone.

And the irony of it all is that the iPhone could be one of Apple’s greatest blunders (putting so much money into such an expensive phone), and Leopard one of its great success (ultimate integration between Windows and OS X).

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Bush almost goes kaboom!

Published
by
Aaron
on April 8, 2007
in In the News and Random Things of Interest
. 0 Comments

The Detroit News:

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.

While it may have been soothing to see President Bush blow up in flames, the though of Cheney getting total and absolute power (which, in reality, he already has) is pretty damn scary.

[via digg]

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Hilary’s in

Published
by
Aaron
on January 20, 2007
in In the News and Politics
. 1 Comment

The New York Times:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, immediately squaring off against Senator Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic field in what is effectively the party’s first primary, the competition for campaign donations.

Go Hilary!

It’s a gas, gas, gas!

Published
by
Aaron
on January 8, 2007
in In the News and NYC
. 0 Comments

The New York Times:

Authorities were investigating widespread reports today of a strong odor similar to natural gas that permeated parts of New York and New Jersey during the morning commute.

New York City agencies and the United States Coast Guard were responding to numerous calls on emergency telephone lines. Fire trucks raced around in search of the odor.

The smell was reported from Manhattan’s midtown to Battery Park City, and strong odors were reported in Jersey City, said a spokesman for New York’s emergency management office, Jarrod Bernstein.

Some office workers were evacuated from their buildings, and a woman was taken away by ambulance, apparently overcome by the smell, New York 1 television reported.

But, don’t worry, it’s just a harmless gas leak. Says NY1:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this morning that it is not clear what is causing the natural gas smell that has been sweeping the city, however he said it is not believed to be dangerous and that city sensors are not reporting elevated levels of natural gas.

Hundreds of reports of the odor began flooding the 911 system around 9 a.m. in parts of Manhattan and New Jersey.

Bloomberg said there was a small natural gas leak reported at 6th Street and Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village earlier this morning, but that it would not have caused such a pervasive smell.

Con Edison and city agencies are still working to determine the cause of the smell.

The mayor also said that air quality sensors throughout the city do not measure any high concentrations of natural gas that would be cause for concern, and that Con Edison has said that there has not been a drop in pressure along the natural gas line

Still, now seems like a great time for “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” It’s a gas, gas, gas!

Israel nuking Iranian nuke facilities…yikes

Published
by
Aaron
on January 6, 2007
in In the News, Israel, Politics and WTF?
. 0 Comments

The Sunday Times:


ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.
Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.


Yikes. Well, I guess it’s better than Iran having the bomb.

[via digg]

UPDATE: Never mind…

Global Warming, Vacations Pics, and Letters from Iwo Jima

Published
by
Aaron
on January 6, 2007
in In the News, Movies, NYC, Personal, Photos, WTF? and Weather
. 0 Comments

Blizzard in Jerusalem, frosting in San Francisco Oakland, 68 degrees in New York (see today)? What’s the world coming to! Well, MSNBC says El Niño and the jet stream, but I have to say that I think Mr. Gore was right on the ball with this one. I mean, when New York breaks a record for longest period of time without snow (the previous was in 1877, in which it didn’t snow that season until January 5th or 4th), I think that this is more than just a natural cycle.

Speaking of crazy weather, my pictures from super-cold Paris (see the last week of December) are up on Flickr and are all geotagged, too.

Also, today I just saw Letters from Iwo Jima. The film, which corresponds to Clint Eastwood’s other film about Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers, is about the the famed battle from the Japanese perspective. It is very powerful and well done, and worthy of Best Picture (though it’ll never get it, as Clint Eastwood already has at least two), even though it is Japanese with English subtitles (which actually adds to the emotion and realism). It’s controversy makes it very interesting to watch (it doesn’t portray the Japanese as saints, but they’re not demonic either) and more intriguing than Flags of Our Fathers, which I still want to see.