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Today's Topics:
1. Apple Announces New 8GB Model of iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED
Special Edition (Monty Solomon)
2. American, others look to add WiFi at airport (Monty Solomon)
3. An urban fiber-optic challenge / Verizon to use Dorchester as
a test site for bringing high-speed Net into cities (Monty Solomon)
4. Starbucks loses laptops with worker data (Monty Solomon)
5. Miles away, 'I'll have a burger' / Fast food drive-throughs
go long distance (Monty Solomon)
6. New museum showcases phones, switchboards & tools from
1876-1980 (George Antunes)
7. Starbucks Loses Laptops With Worker Data (George Antunes)
8. Tidal Energy Companies Staking Claims (George Antunes)
9. Professor's Bigfoot Research Criticized (George Antunes)
10. Nielsen Shelves Rating System for Ads (George Antunes)
11. The People's Commissary (Wal-Mart) announces price cuts on
electronics (George Antunes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 02:15:19 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Apple Announces New 8GB Model of iPod nano
(PRODUCT) RED Special Edition
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Apple Announces New 8GB Model of iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition
CUPERTINO, California-November 3, 2006-Apple today announced a new
8GB model of the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition in response
to outstanding customer demand. The new 8GB iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED
Special Edition holds up to 2,000 songs and is available for $249,
joining the 4GB model priced at $199. Both models come in a beautiful
red aluminum enclosure and feature 24 hours of battery life, Apple's
innovative Click Wheel and an incredibly thin and light design. Apple
will contribute $10 from the sale of each iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED to
the Global Fund to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.
...
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/nov/03nano.html
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 14:44:33 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] American, others look to add WiFi at airport
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
American, others look to add WiFi at airport
By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | November 4, 2006
Wireless Internet access appears poised to take off at Logan
International Airport after federal regulators this week thwarted a
two-year effort by airport officials to shut off private alternatives
to airport-controlled $8-a-day WiFi service.
American Airlines , the biggest carrier at Logan by passenger volume,
will "move as fast as we can" to resume offering WiFi at its Admirals
Club lounge in Terminal B, an American spokesman, Ned Raynolds, said
yesterday . Service was being offered there by T-Mobile USA before
the Massachusetts Port Authority , which runs Logan, ordered it shut
off. T-Mobile, which American would most likely use, charges $6 for
an hour, or $30 for a monthly subscription that offers access at
thousands of sites nationwide.
JetBlue Airways said it will look into offering free WiFi to
passengers in Terminal C. JetBlue currently offers free WiFi at John
F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and the Long Beach,
Calif., airport.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/11/04/american_others_look_to_add_wifi_at_airport/
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 14:44:33 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] An urban fiber-optic challenge / Verizon to use
Dorchester as a test site for bringing high-speed Net into cities
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
An urban fiber-optic challenge
Verizon to use Dorchester as a test site for bringing high-speed Net
into cities
By Keith Reed, Globe Staff | November 2, 2006
Verizon Communications Inc. is installing fiber-optic Internet
service in Dorchester, using Boston's biggest, and one of its most
diverse neighborhoods, as a test site for the challenges the company
will face in bringing "FiOS" to urban areas nationwide.
But relatively few Dorchester residents will be able to get the
high-speed service, which promises download speeds up to 10 times
faster than Verizon's popular digital subscriber line service, any
time soon. Verizon says installation is moving at a snail's pace
because it's harder to run lines in an urban setting than in the
neat, suburban grids where most of the more than 100,000
Massachusetts residents live who already subscribe to FiOS.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/11/02/an_urban_fiber_optic_challenge/
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 14:44:33 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Starbucks loses laptops with worker data
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Starbucks loses laptops with worker data
By Elizabeth M. Gillespie, AP Business Writer | November 5, 2006
SEATTLE --Starbucks Corp. said Friday it had lost track of four
laptop computers, two of which had private information on about
60,000 current and former U.S. employees and fewer than 80 Canadian
workers and contractors.
The data, which includes names, addresses and Social Security
numbers, is about three years old, dating prior to December 2003,
said Valerie O'Neil, a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based coffee
retailer.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/11/05/starbucks_loses_laptops_with_worker_data/
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 14:44:33 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Miles away, 'I'll have a burger' / Fast food
drive-throughs go long distance
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Miles away, 'I'll have a burger'
Fast food drive-throughs go long distance
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | November 5, 2006
NASHUA -- When Jairo Moncada pulled up to the drive-through at
Wendy's in Burbank, Calif., for his usual cheeseburger, fries, and
soda, he knew things looked different. There was an extra lane.
But the 25-year-old could not see the biggest change: The woman
taking his lunch order was sitting 3,000 miles away at a computer
terminal in Nashua, and fielding calls from Wendy's customers at
drive-throughs as far away as Florida and Washington, D.C.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/11/05/miles_away_ill_have_a_burger/
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:02:22 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] New museum showcases phones, switchboards & tools
from 1876-1980
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-56ED659A
Nov. 4, 2006, 12:56AM
Houston Telephone Museum
Say hello to a hidden treasure
New museum showcases phones, switchboards and tools spanning era from 1876
to 1980
By ALLAN TURNER
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4309944.html
The Telephone Museum
? What: The Houston Telephone Museum
? Where: 1714 Ashland, second floor.
? Hours: 9 a.m.- noon, Tuesdays. Special tours by appointment.
? Admission: Donations
The metal frame, leather straps, wooden box and weird Bakelite cylinder
might have come from some primitive, sadistic dental office. Or it might
have been created to support an injured neck or been a kerosene-lamp-era
design for a space helmet.
Grim images all. But the truth was far worse.
The headset, easily weighing 7 or 8 pounds, was the daily wear of female
telephone operators in the days when cars and telephones had cranks.
Welcome to the Houston Telephone Museum, a place that celebrates an era
when telephonic communication sometimes relied on the caller's lung power
and the words, "Hello, Central," were on every lip.
"This museum is Houston's greatest hidden treasure," boasted Oleta Porter,
official greeter and wife of C.E. "Doc" Porter, museum curator and
self-described "scrounge."
Doc Porter, who spent 37 years with Southwestern Bell, first as a lineman,
then as a station installer, cable splicer and, finally, PBX repairman, is
a walking encyclopedia of telephone arcana.
Ask how many wires were crammed into the bulging metal "sleeves" displayed
in the museum, and the 77-year-old Porter answers in an eyeblink ? 50,000.
"I call this museum the 'telephone museum in the age of wire,' " Porter
said. "It covers a period from 1876 to about 1980."
Included in the displays are replicas of Alexander Graham Bell's first
telephone, early switchboards from Houston and other Texas cities, poles,
lines, tools, advertising materials and photos and dozens of telephones
ranging from crank devices to early cordless models.
Children, especially, are intrigued with the parade of the obsolete. "They
look at the phones," Porter said, "and want to know where the buttons are."
The museum is operated by the San Jacinto Chapter of Pioneers of America,
an organization of retired telephone employees, and most of the items were
donated by its members.
"People in the business would save this stuff when they retired," said
Porter. "We tell them that their kids aren't going to know what this junk
is. It's likely to get thrown away. They should donate it us so that it can
be preserved and everybody can enjoy it."
The museum occupies a large room on the second floor of the AT&T building
at 1714 Ashland. A second room, honoring museum benefactor Howard Tellepsen
Sr., will be dedicated in ceremonies today. Tellepsen, Porter said,
provided workers to convert vacant offices into exhibit halls.
The Pioneers' museum was a long time in developing. First discussed at a
group meeting in 1935, smaller versions of the museum occupied a series of
obscure buildings before opening at its present site in 1996.
"I kind of staggered into it," said Porter, a Pearland resident who retired
in 1984. "We put the first phone display together, and the rest kind of
evolved."
The result of the work of Porter and his colleagues is remarkably professional.
The museum features cases of glass insulators and rows of telephones, to be
sure. Inside its galleries, country scenes are re-created complete with
telephone poles and virtual spaghetti bowls of wires.
"The telephone company created a tool for every job," Porter said, "and
each tool was good for just one specific job." Typical was the lineman's
hatchet, an exotic hybrid that was a hatchet-wrench-hammer.
The Houston museum, Porter said, is one of the few places visitors can view
these tools.
A vast collection of switchboards, starting with the primitive
electromagnetic "drop leaf" models, also is on display. Included is a
Braille switchboard formerly used at Lighthouse for the Blind.
A special treasure is a decades-old trailer used to haul equipment into the
fields. It was found at a ranch in Fredericksburg, where it was being used
to store farm equipment. Pioneers lovingly restored the trailer, then
labored to wedge it into the museum's elevator.
"We had to pull the wheels off and turn it on its end," Porter recalled.
"It wasn't heavy, but it was a tight fit."
Tours of the museum are led by volunteers who once used the equipment on
display.
Patrons may visit workshops where club members repair cassette recorders
for the Library of Congress' books on tape program, an effort benefiting
the blind. Club members also make dolls and small stuffed bears designed to
comfort distressed children encountered by firefighters or policemen officers.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:07:28 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Starbucks Loses Laptops With Worker Data
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-56ED659A
Starbucks Loses Laptops With Worker Data
Nov 4, 2006 2:58 AM (ET)
By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061104/D8L64GIO0.html
SEATTLE (AP) - Starbucks Corp. said Friday it had lost track of four laptop
computers, two of which had private information on about 60,000 current and
former U.S. employees and fewer than 80 Canadian workers and contractors.
The data, which includes names, addresses and Social Security numbers, is
about three years old, dating prior to December 2003, said Valerie O'Neil,
a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based coffee retailer.
The company has not received any reports that anyone's personal information
has been compromised.
"We have no reason to believe these laptops are in the hands of someone who
wants to misuse them," O'Neil said. "We just want to make every effort to
protect our partners."
O'Neil said Starbucks was in the process of notifying those affected,
including an estimated 8 percent of its current work force, which numbers
about 135,000 worldwide.
Starbucks has been looking for the laptops since early September after
discovering they were missing from a closet in the corporate support center
at its south Seattle headquarters, O'Neil said.
The company waited several weeks to disclose it had lost the laptops,
O'Neil said, because "we wanted to make sure we were thorough before we
notified people."
In a letter to those potentially affected, Starbucks urged people to
monitor their financial accounts for suspicious activity and said it was
offering free credit protection services to help them do that.
"Please know that we are exploring all avenues to locate these laptops,
including reaching out to law enforcement agencies," the letter stated.
O'Neil said Starbucks was reinforcing its corporate policies and updating
procedures on protecting the personal information of its employees to
prevent such data loss from happening again.
Asked if there were any secret recipes on the missing computers, O'Neil
chuckled and said, "I don't know of any."
---
Starbucks information security help line: 1-800-453-1048.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:41:53 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Tidal Energy Companies Staking Claims
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-56ED659A
Tidal Energy Companies Staking Claims
Nov 3, 2006 6:35 PM (ET)
By JEANNETTE J. LEE
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - In the quest for oil-free power, a handful of
small companies are staking claims on the boundless energy of the rising
and ebbing sea.
The technology that would draw energy from ocean tides to keep light bulbs
and laptops aglow is largely untested, but several newly minted companies
are reserving tracts of water from Alaska's Cook Inlet to Manhattan's East
River in the belief that such sites could become profitable sources of
electricity.
The trickle of interest began two years ago, said Celeste Miller,
spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agency issues
permits that give companies exclusive rights to study the tidal sites.
Permit holders usually have first dibs on development licenses.
Tidal power proponents liken the technology to little wind turbines on
steroids, turning like windmills in the current. Water's greater density
means fewer and smaller turbines are needed to produce the same amount of
electricity as wind turbines.
After more than two decades of experimenting, the technology has advanced
enough to make business sense, said Carolyn Elefant, co-founder of the
Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition, a marine energy lobbying group formed in
May 2005.
In the last four years, the federal commission has approved nearly a dozen
permits to study tidal sites. Applications for about 40 others, all filed
in 2006, are under review. No one has applied for a development license,
Miller said.
The site that is furthest along in testing lies in New York's East River,
between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, where Verdant Power plans to
install two underwater turbines this month as part of a small pilot project.
Power from the turbines will be routed to a supermarket and parking garage
on nearby Roosevelt Island.
Verdant co-founder and President Trey Taylor said the six-year-old company
will spend 18 months studying the effects on fish before putting in another
four turbines.
The project will cost more than $10 million, including $2 million on fish
monitoring equipment, Taylor said.
"It's important to spend this much initially," Taylor said. "It's like our
flight at Kitty Hawk. It puts us on a path to commercialization and we
think eventually costs will fall really fast."
If all goes well, New York-based Verdant could have up to 300 turbines in
the river by 2008, Taylor said. The turbines would produce as much as 10
megawatts of power, or enough electricity for 8,000 homes, he said.
With 12,380 miles of coastline, the U.S. may seem like a wide-open frontier
for the fledgling industry, but experts believe only a few will prove
profitable. The ideal sites are close to a power grid and have large
amounts of fast-moving water with enough room to build on the sea floor
while staying clear of boat traffic.
"There are thousands of sites, but only a handful of really, really good
ones," said Roger Bedard of the Electric Power Research Institute, a
nonprofit organization in Palo Alto, Calif., that researches energy and the
environment.
"If you're sitting on top of the best scallop fishing in the world, you
can't put these things down there," said Chris Sauer, president of Ocean
Renewable Power Co. in Miami. The two-year-old company is awaiting approval
for federal study permits in Cook Inlet and Resurrection Bay in Alaska, and
Cobscook Bay and the St. Croix River in Maine.
Other prime tidal energy sites lie beneath San Francisco's Golden Gate
Bridge and in Knik Arm near Anchorage, Bedard said.
Government and the private sector in Europe, Canada and Asia have moved
faster than their U.S. counterparts to support tidal energy research. As of
June 2006, there were small facilities in Russia, Nova Scotia and China, as
well as a 30-year-old plant in France, according to a report by EPRI.
"I expect the first real big tidal plant in North America is going to be
built in Nova Scotia," said Bedard, who led the study. "They have the
mother of all tidal passages up there."
The industry is coalescing over worries about dependence on foreign oil,
volatile oil prices and global warming. Many states have passed laws
requiring a certain percentage of energy from renewable sources, and tidal
entrepreneurs believe they will be looking to diversify beyond wind and
solar power.
Elefant said the industry is still trying to figure out how much energy it
will be able to supply from tides, as well as waves.
"While ocean energy may not power everything in the U.S., it will be
functioning in tandem with other renewable resources and supplement other
sea-based technologies," said Elefant, a lawyer in Washington D.C. "The
most important thing is for the nation to invest in a diverse energy supply."
In the United States, wave energy technology is less advanced than tidal
and will need more government subsidies, Bedard said, however, the number
of good wave sites far exceeds that of tidal. Wave power collection
involves cork or serpent-like devices that absorb energy from swells on the
ocean's surface, whereas tidal machines sit on the sea floor.
Tidal energy technology has been able to build on lessons learned from wind
power development, while wave engineers have had to start virtually from
scratch, Bedard said. But a few companies are working aggressively to usher
wave power into the energy industry.
Aqua Energy, could start building a wave energy plant at Makah Bay in
Washington state within two years, said Chief Executive Officer Alla
Weinstein. Another wave plant, whose backers include major Norwegian energy
company Norsk Hydro ASA, is under construction off the coast of Portugal.
Miller said the commission has received applications for three wave energy
permits in Oregon, all filed since July.
With the uptick in interest in tidal and wave energy sites, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission is holding a public meeting in Washington on
Dec. 6 to discuss marine energy technologies. The meeting can be viewed on
the commission's Web site.
---
On the Net:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: http://www.ferc.gov
Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition: http://www.oceanrenewable.com/
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:43:52 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Professor's Bigfoot Research Criticized
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-56ED659A
Professor's Bigfoot Research Criticized
Nov 4, 2006 5:26 AM (ET)
By JESSE HARLAN ALDERMAN
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061104/D8L66LK80.html
POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) - Jeffrey Meldrum holds a Ph.D. in anatomical
sciences and is a tenured professor of anatomy at Idaho State University.
He is also one of the world's foremost authorities on Bigfoot, the mythical
smelly ape-man of the Northwest woods. And Meldrum firmly believes the
lumbering, shaggy brute exists.
That makes him an outcast - a solitary, Sasquatch-like figure himself - on
the 12,700-student campus, where many scientists are embarrassed by what
they call Meldrum's "pseudo-academic" pursuits and have called on the
university to review his work with an eye toward revoking his tenure. One
physics professor, D.P. Wells, wonders whether Meldrum plans to research
Santa Claus, too.
Meldrum, 48, spends most of his days in his laboratory in the Life Sciences
Building, analyzing more than 200 jumbo plaster casts of what he contends
are Bigfoot footprints.
For the past 10 years, he has added his scholarly sounding research to a
field full of sham videos and supermarket tabloid exposes. And he is
convinced he has produced a body of evidence that proves there is a Bigfoot.
"It used to be you went to a bookstore and asked for a book on Bigfoot and
you'd be directed to the occult section, right between the Bermuda Triangle
and UFOs," Meldrum said. "Now you can find some in the natural science
section."
Martin Hackworth, a senior lecturer in the physics department, called
Meldrum's research a "joke."
"Do I cringe when I see the Discovery Channel and I see Idaho State
University, Jeff Meldrum? Yes, I do," Hackworth said. "He believes he's
taken up the cause of people who have been shut out by the scientific
community. He's lionized there. He's worshipped. He walks on water. It's
embarrassing."
John Kijinski, dean of arts and sciences, said there have been "grumblings"
about Meldrum's tenure, but no formal request for a review.
"He's a bona fide scientist," Kijinski said. "I think he helps this
university. He provides a form of open discussion and dissenting viewpoints
that may not be popular with the scientific community, but that's what
academics all about."
On campus, Meldrum - himself a hulking figure, with a mop of brown hair, a
bristly silver mustache, and a black T-shirt with a silhouette of a
hunchbacked, lurking Bigfoot - gets funny looks and the silent treatment
from other scientists, and is not invited to share coffee with the other
science professors.
Over the summer, more than 30 professors signed a petition criticizing the
university for hosting a Bigfoot symposium where Meldrum was the keynote
speaker.
He pays for his research with a $30,000 donation from a Bigfoot believer.
Still, Meldrum has a distinguished supporter in Jane Goodall, the
world-famous authority on African chimpanzees. Her blurb on the jacket of
Meldrum's new book, "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science," lauds him for
bringing "a much-needed level of scientific analysis" to the Bigfoot debate.
"As a scientist, she's very curious and she keeps an open mind," said
Goodall spokeswoman Nona Gandelman. "She's fascinated by it."
Bigfoot is sort of the Loch Ness Monster of the Pacific Northwest. The
legend dates back centuries. Indian folklore includes murmurs of a man-ape
that roams the hidden hollows. Sasquatch is a Salish Indian word meaning
woodland wildman.
Newspapers began recording sightings of Bigfoot in the backwoods during the
1920s. But skeptics have challenged the accounts, and practical jokers have
staged elaborate hoaxes, including grainy film footage of someone in a
monkey suit and phony footprints stamped into the ground with giant molded
feet.
Meldrum said it was a decade ago in Walla Walla, Wash., that he first
discovered flat 15-inch footprints in the woods. He said he thought
initially that they were a hoax, but noticed locked joints and a narrow
arch - traits he came to believe could only belong to Bigfoot.
"That's what set the hook," Meldrum said. "I resolved at this point, this
was a question I'd get to the bottom of."
When not in the lab, he loads his Chevy Suburban with tents and forensic
gear and heads for the woods of Washington state and Northern California,
where he has collected what he says are footprints, hair and feces from the
ape-man. He tests hair samples and uses physics to produce charts that
purport to show how Bigfoot would walk.
Meldrum wonders aloud how much longer he will be on the faculty. But he
said he also dreams of one day bringing back a bone or a tooth or some
skin, and silencing the "stuffy academics."
"Is the theory of exploration dead?" he asked. "I'm not out to proselytize
that Bigfoot exists. I place legend under scrutiny and my conclusion is,
absolutely, Bigfoot exists."
---
On the Net:
Idaho State University: http://www.isu.edu
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:45:20 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Nielsen Shelves Rating System for Ads
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed;
x-avg-checked=avg-ok-56ED659A
Nielsen Shelves Rating System for Ads
Associated Press
Nov 3, 2006 2:50 PM (ET)
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061103/D8L5PR600.html
NEW YORK (AP) - Nielsen Media Research has put off indefinitely its
first-ever ratings system for commercials, primarily because the people who
would buy it can't agree on what they want.
The system, which had already been delayed, was scheduled to start
operation on Dec. 11.
For years, Nielsen's clients had been content to receive ratings
information on individual shows, which didn't break out specifically who
was watching during the commercials. Now companies want to know this,
because digital video recorders give viewers the opportunity to speed
through commercials and because the Internet offers other advertising options.
"The clients in general agree that the rating of commercial minutes is
something that is coming and needs to come but the form that it needs to
take is something that has not been agreed upon," said Gary Holmes,
spokesman for Nielsen Media Research, on Friday.
The system Nielsen was set to start would measure how many people watched a
commercial when it was broadcast live or on DVR in the ensuing seven days.
Advertising agencies have resisted this. They prefer to simply see the
ratings for commercials as they have aired live, as opposed to DVR ratings
that included commercials that viewers might have sped through. There's
also an ongoing debate within the industry about whether to include DVR
ratings at all when setting ad rates. They currently don't.
Broadcast networks are interested in the DVR rates because with more
measured viewers they would likely get more advertising revenues.
Cable networks prefer ratings without the DVRs. Partly because of the
preponderance of sports and news on cable, their shows aren't recorded as
much as shows on broadcast networks.
Before starting the service, Nielsen wants its competing constituencies to
reach some agreement for which standard will be used, Holmes said. He would
not say how many entities had already signed up for the service.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2006 16:01:33 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] The People's Commissary (Wal-Mart) announces
price cuts on electronics
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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[A tip of the hat to Blair Alper who first pointed out the irony that
almost everything on sale at the very capitalistic Wal-Mart has been made
in communist China. Blair started referring to Wal-Mart as "The People's
Commissary" to highlight this bizarre fact. Seems like an appropriate
nickname to me.]
Wal-Mart announces price cuts on electronics
Retailer has suffered through slow beginning to holiday season
Reuters
Updated: 1:41 p.m. CT Nov 3, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15548179/
CHICAGO - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Friday said it lowered prices on nearly
100 electronics including plasma televisions, digital cameras and mobile
phones, getting a jump on the holiday-season price wars.
The world's biggest retailer has vowed to aggressively cut prices this
holiday season as it tries to lift anemic sales at its U.S. stores. In
October, it cut prices on a selection of toys and games, which it said
boosted sales volume.
The latest markdowns include a $500 cut on a Panasonic 42-inch plasma
television to $1,294. Rival Best Buy Co. Inc. offered a similar Panasonic
42-inch plasma television for $1,708.99 on its Web site.
Best Buy's stock was off more than 2 percent at $51.88 in midday trading on
the New York Stock Exchange, after trading as high as $53.71 earlier in the
session.
Rival Circuit City City Stores Inc. was down 1.4 percent at $25.75 on the
NYSE, after hitting $26.48 earlier in the day.
Both stocks fell sharply after Wal-Mart's announcement.
Analysts contend that specialty chains can fend off Wal-Mart by offering
better in-store service as well as in-home installation for sophisticated
electronics.
Wal-Mart posted disappointing October sales and forecast flat November
sales at U.S. stores open at least a year, in part because of poor demand
for trendy apparel and disruption from store remodeling efforts.
Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott told analysts last week that he was not
satisfied with Wal-Mart's poor sales growth, but expected demand to improve
during the holiday season.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15548179/
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
------------------------------
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End of Medianews Digest, Vol 83, Issue 1
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