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Today's Topics:
1. 'House of Cards' actor Ian Richardson dead (Greg Williams)
2. New Senate Bills 'Protect The Children' At Plenty Of Others'
Expense, from the talking-heads dept (Rob)
3. Court TV Returns to Dish Network (George Antunes)
4. DirecTV May Delay Satellite Launch (George Antunes)
5. Google Encounters Hurdles in Selling Radio Advertising
(George Antunes)
6. Forgive Me, Viewer, for I Have Confessed in a Banner Ad
(George Antunes)
7. MIT Team Details Optics-On-A-Chip Device (George Antunes)
8. Manure: You May Be Walking on It Soon (George Antunes)
9. Militant Islamic Groups Turn to YouTube (George Antunes)
10. Wife: Husband said 'he will die' before going to prison
(Mason Vye)
11. Batman wants to sell the Batmobile (Greg Williams)
12. Windows Vista Flunks At MIT (Monty Solomon)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:49:58 -0500
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] 'House of Cards' actor Ian Richardson dead
To: Media News <medianews@twiar.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
'House of Cards' actor Ian Richardson dead
POSTED: 11:53 a.m. EST, February 9, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/09/obit.richardson.ap/index.html?rss/
LONDON, England (AP) -- Ian Richardson, who brought Shakespearean depth
to his portrayal of a thoroughly immoral politician in the hugely
popular satirical TV drama "House of Cards," died Friday at age 72, his
agent said.
In addition to his many stage, screen and TV roles, Richardson also
appeared in one of the mustard commercials as the man in the Rolls-Royce
who asked, "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?"
He died in his sleep at his London home, said the agent, Jean Diamond.
Richardson played the silkily evil Francis Urquhart in three miniseries,
"House of Cards" in 1990, "To Play the King" in 1993 and "The Final Cut"
in 1995.
Urquhart's smooth riposte to any slur against another character -- "You
may think that; I couldn't possibly comment" -- was picked up by British
politicians and heard again and again in the House of Commons.
His other television roles included Bill Haydon in John Le Carre's
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"; Sir Godber Evans in "Porterhouse Blue"
and Sherlock Holmes in "The Hound of the Baskervilles."
In 2001, he starred in "Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock
Holmes," playing Dr. Joseph Bell, the mentor of Arthur Conan Doyle, in a
miniseries that was broadcast in the United States on PBS' "Mystery."
He also portrayed the British spy Anthony Blunt in the BBC-TV play "Blunt."
On Broadway, he played Jean-Paul Marat in "Marat/Sade" in 1965,
reprising the role in the United Artists film the following year, and
Henry Higgins in a 1976 revival of "My Fair Lady," for which he was
nominated for a Tony Award as best actor in a musical.
Other movie credits included "Brazil" in 1985, "The Fourth Protocol" in
1987, "B*A*P*S" in 1997, and "102 Dalmatians" in 2000.
But it was his role in "House of Cards" that turned him "from a jobbing
actor that the cognoscenti were aware of into a star that the country's
entire viewing population knew," Richardson said in an interview last
year with the Daily Mail newspaper.
"House of Cards" was brilliantly, if accidentally, timed. It appeared in
Britain in the same year that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was
brought down by feuding in her Conservative Party.
The miniseries was shown in the United States as part of PBS'
"Masterpiece Theatre."
"Urquhart was a wicked character but Richardson portrayed him in such a
way that everybody loved it. In anybody else's hands, that role could
have fallen flat on his face," said Michael Dobbs, who wrote the book on
which it was based.
In the feverish atmosphere of Thatcher's downfall, "even John Major's
leadership campaign in 1990 came to a halt at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night
so that the whole campaign team could sit down and see what was
happening," Dobbs said.
Richardson, born in Edinburgh in 1934, joined the Royal Shakespeare
Company in 1960.
In 1989, Queen Elizabeth II honored him with a Commander of the Order of
the British Empire for his many roles.
He is survived by his wife, Maroussia, and two sons. Funeral
arrangements were not announced.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:38:59 -0600
From: Rob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] New Senate Bills 'Protect The Children' At Plenty
Of Others' Expense, from the talking-heads dept
To: Media-News <medianews@twiar.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
New Senate Bills 'Protect The Children' At Plenty Of Others' Expense
from the talking-heads dept
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070207/085253.shtml
Two separate proposals today from senators will markedly increase the
responsibility ISPs face in helping law enforcement to achieve the
ever-popular political goal of "protecting the children." The first
comes from Republican Lamar Smith, and would introduce data-retention
laws, a long-time goal of the current administration. The laws would
force ISPs to hang on to details of their customers' online activity,
potentially forever, purportedly to help law enforcement investigate
crimes. The second part of this bill revives a previous failed attempt
to require owners of sites with sexually explicit content to put warning
labels on each offending page of their sites, or face prison time.
Meanwhile Republican Senator John McCain and his Democratic colleague
Chuck Schumer are introducing a bill that would create a national
database of illegal child-porn images, and would strengthen the
requirement that ISPs report child-porn activity to the government by
adding the possibility of prison time, in addition to fines. If that
sounds familiar, it's because it's an updated version of a bill the two
introduced back in December, but their announcement today (at a big
press conference) surely has nothing to do with McCain's presidential
aspirations. The bill's been narrowed a bit, as the previous version
also explicitly applied to web sites, but the wording of the new version
remains sufficiently vague so as to threaten a wide swath of online
service and content providers. Another part of the bill would tack 10
years onto the sentence for certain child-exploitation crimes if they
were committed on the internet -- because, you know, exploiting a child
over the internet's inherently worse than doing it any other way.
These bills both are filled with their own problems. The conflict
between data-retention laws and privacy is well documented, while it can
add a ridiculous level of expense for ISPs. In the end, it often
represents an expensive solution that doesn't really work, since just
adding more data isn't the same as having the right data. Meanwhile, the
labeling law could cause some problems, as the unclear boundaries of
what needs to be labeled and what constitutes explicit material could do
little more than to act as de facto censorship tools, since many people
would choose to simply not allow content that's questionable in any way
whatsoever rather than risk getting sent to prison. The bottom line is
this: nobody wants to make it easier for child pornographers or internet
predators to operate, but these proposals, like so many from politicians
before them, are misguided, and will be ineffective and onerous to ISPs
and innocent third parties. As long as politicians make being seen as
"protecting the children", rather than doing anything to actually
protect them, their top priority, expect more of the same.
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:33:59 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Court TV Returns to Dish Network
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Court TV Returns to Dish Network
By Linda Moss
MultiChannel News
2/9/2007 1:34:00 PM
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6415345.html?display=Breaking+News
After being dropped for more than one month, Court TV was back on EchoStar
Communications' Dish Network Friday, but on a less-penetrated tier than
previously.
Turner Broadcasting System, Court TV's parent, and EchoStar announced
Friday that they signed an affiliation agreement that allowed for the
restored distribution of the justice network.
But now, Court TV will be carried as part of Dish Network's America's Top
200 package, formerly called America's Top 120, which reaches about 8
million subscribers. Previously, Court TV was carried on Dish's most widely
distributed tier, America's Top 60, which reaches 11 million subscribers, 3
million more than where the justice network is now.
America's Top 60 has been renamed and is now called American's Top 100.
Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, both parties said
they were pleased with the financial terms of the agreement.
Dish Network dropped Court TV New Year's Eve when both sides failed to come
to terms on a new carriage deal.
================================
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: 4
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:36:20 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] DirecTV May Delay Satellite Launch
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
DirecTV May Delay Satellite Launch
By Linda Moss
MultiChannel News
2/9/2007 1:32:00 PM
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6415378.html?display=Breaking+News
DirecTV may delay the launch of one of its two new planned satellites this
year, according to the company.
Earlier this week, during a fourth-quarter conference call, DirecTV
president Chase Carey confirmed that the launch of the company's first new
satellite was still on target, set for this summer. But he suggested that
the second planned satellite debut may be pushed back.
The company DirecTV plans to use for that launch, Sea Launch, suffered a
setback late last month when a $300 million Dutch satellite it was
launching exploded at liftoff at sea.
DirecTV's plans to offer more than 100 HDTV services, announced at
January's Consumer Electronics Show, hinge on the deployment of new birds.
At the CES, the company said it would launch two satellites this year.
"We are looking into options for launching the second satellite, and it
could be delayed," DirecTV spokesman Darris Gringeri said Friday. "We just
don't know yet if it will be delayed into 2008. Regardless, it will not
change our plans for getting 100 channels of HD up by the end of the year
because that that will be accomplished by the launch of the first satellite
in Q3."
But Jimmy Schaeffler, chairman of the Carmel Group, believes DirecTV is
underplaying the importance of the second satellite launch and its possible
delay.
"It's ironic: The CES 2007 DirecTV announcements focus on the 2007 rollout
of their HDTV plans without any real mention of the delicacy, iffyness and
importance of a core component -- the actual launch of the satellites --
and then when one of those launch cycles looks to be delayed, they downplay
its importance," Schaeffler said. "Launching the birds is still everything."
================================
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: 5
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:38:36 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Google Encounters Hurdles in Selling Radio
Advertising
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
February 10, 2007
Google Encounters Hurdles in Selling Radio Advertising
By MIGUEL HELFT
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/technology/10google.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9 ? When Google acquired dMarc Broadcasting, a company
whose software allows marketers to place ads on radio stations, for up to
$1.24 billion early last year, it was seen as a clear sign of Google?s
ambitions to extend its dominance over Internet advertising to other media.
Now, there are indications that Google Audio, as the company?s foray into
radio advertising is known, has hit some snags. The two brothers who
founded dMarc in 2002 have left Google amid growing speculation by analysts
and radio and advertising executives that the Internet giant is finding it
harder than expected to muscle its way into the radio business.
Industry insiders cite everything from culture clashes to resistance in the
radio industry, which relies heavily on sales representatives, to automate
its advertising systems. But the hurdle mentioned most often is Google?s
apparent inability to secure enough air time, or inventory, to make its
system attractive to advertisers.
?At a high level, dMarc and Google are both trying to move mountains and
reshape traditional media,? said Jordan Rohan, an Internet analyst with RBC
Capital Markets. ?That?s not easy to do. If Google Audio were to be
successful, it needs to have prime-time and drive-time inventory in major
markets.?
Google, which began testing radio ads late last year, confirmed the
departure of Chad and Ryan Steelberg, the dMarc founders, which was first
reported on Thursday by paidContent.org, an industry blog. In a statement,
the company said it was happy with the progress of the tests to date and
remained committed to the audio business.
And during a conference call with analysts last week, Jonathan Rosenberg,
senior vice president for product management at Google, said the radio test
was ?pretty robust in terms of scope.?
?I believe we had over 700 radio stations in more than 200 metros in the
network,? Mr. Rosenberg said, according to a transcript of the call
published by Thomson Financial.
But radio analysts said that they were not impressed by the numbers
themselves, stressing that Google?s access to air time may be limited, by
and large, to what the industry calls ?remnant inventory? ? ad time sold at
the last minute and at low prices.
Many analysts say that Google has been trying to sign a large inventory
deal with CBS Radio, whose network of 147 radio stations is among the
largest in the country, but that negotiations have taken longer than
expected and no deal has been announced yet.
A spokeswoman for CBS Radio declined to comment. Ryan Steelberg did not
respond to an e-mail message and phone calls seeking comment, and Chad
Steelberg could not be reached for comment.
Google?s success in radio is important, in part, because the company?s
lofty valuation is partly based on investors? expectations that it will be
able to expand beyond its core Internet advertising business to media like
radio, newspapers and even television.
Success is important for the Steelbergs, too. Google paid $102 million in
cash for dMarc, and agreed to pay as much as $1.14 billion over three
years, depending on how well the company meets certain performance targets.
Google?s relationship with one radio network suggests that speculation
about its inventory problems is accurate and that the company faces
challenging negotiations with others besides CBS.
During a conference call with analysts last month, Rick Cummings, president
of Emmis Radio, described the airtime it had made available to Google as
?remnant inventory.? Emmis owns 23 stations in major markets and was one of
the first radio networks to work with dMarc.
?The Google folks have expressed an interest in doing more business with us
and in some prime inventory,? said Mr. Cummings, according to a transcript
of the call. ?We?ve said we?re happy to discuss it so long as the money is
there and the price is right. That remains to be seen. That?s really up to
them.?
Analysts say they expect Google will eventually find a way to make deeper
inroads into radio.
?I would assume that someone in the industry will eventually sell Google
some inventory,? said Jonathan Jacoby, a broadcasting analyst with Banc of
America Securities. In a note to investors, however, Mr. Jacoby said it was
possible that ?the management disruption at dMarc could slow the march
toward online radio selling.?
================================
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: 6
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:40:51 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Forgive Me, Viewer, for I Have Confessed in a
Banner Ad
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
February 10, 2007
Forgive Me, Viewer, for I Have Confessed in a Banner Ad
By LOUISE STORY
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/business/10doubleclick.html?ref=technology&pagewanted=print
Courtney Stecker is obsessed with the idea of surviving a car crash over a
bridge, he confided to the camera. And every time he drives over a bridge,
he said, he shuts everyone else out and imagines his car sailing over the rail.
No, it is not a consumer-generated YouTube clip. Instead, Mr. Stecker's
chilling confession was taped last night from a bar near Washington, and
streamed into banner ads to promote "The Number 23," a horror movie in
which Jim Carrey becomes obsessed with the number 23.
New Line Cinema, the film's producer, sponsored the ads, which were
supposed to be beamed live from the Rhino Bar and Pumphouse in the
Georgetown area. The streaming process, however, encountered delays and it
took 45 minutes or more for the ads to appear online at first. An hour
later, the videos seemed to be running more quickly.
"We were a bit late off the game," said Chris Young, executive vice
president for rich media at DoubleClick, the company that created and
served the New Line ads. "Obviously, as we start doing this more and more
it will be much more regulated."
New Line is one of many advertisers shifting money toward online video
rather than simple banner or display ads. Aside from one-time events like
AOL's Live 8 concerts in 2005, there has been little live footage on the
Internet, and live advertising is a novel concept. Last year, Sun
Microsystems broadcast a technology conference in real time onto ads on
business sites, but New Line's almost live ads are aimed at young consumers
on sites like MySpace and Fox Sports.
"There's a unique creative approach that online needs to take because it's
a different medium," said Gordon Paddison, executive vice president for new
media marketing at New Line, which is owned by Time Warner.
At less than 5 percent of online ad spending, Internet commercials are
still a small piece of that pie, but advertising executives say they expect
them to become far more prominent this year. Advertisers spent $410 million
buying space for video ads online last year, up from $225 million in 2005.
They will probably spend more than $700 million this year, according to
eMarketer, an online advertising research firm.
"The Number 23" Internet commercials are rooted in experiential marketing,
an increasingly popular tactic in the real world that has marketing teams
trying to generate attention on the ground with product samples or events.
New Line Cinema hired street teams to go to 80 bars or events like the
Super Bowl across the country with a confession booth and a video camera.
Visitors to the booth last night could obscure their faces and did not have
to say their names as they described their obsessions to the camera. Local
Internet traffic can make streaming video arrive more slowly, and some dull
or inappropriate content might have been removed.
Jill Corcuera confessed that she had an obsession with the singer Justin
Timberlake. Diane Ingram said that she used to put Visine eye drops in the
beers of customers when she was a bartender. Michelle Elefant, with her
voice full of emotion, said she was straight but deeply in love with a
woman. Molly Whipkey said she had a fear of dying without anyone knowing.
When Web surfers opened pages with the New Line ads, they first saw crowd
shots from the Rhino Bar, then were taken to the most current video from
the booth. Editors from Foglight Entertainment, a video production company,
were sitting on the second floor of the bar last night editing on the fly.
The confessions were also posted on a YouTube channel dedicated to the movie.
Advertisers and publishers are sorting out how to measure video ads and how
much they should cost. They are selling for much higher prices now than
text-based ads on the Internet. The trend is to measure based on an
"interaction rate," which focuses on time spent watching an ad, or using
tools in it rather than a click-through rate that measures how many people
visit a company's Web site as a result of an ad, said Mr. Young of DoubleClick.
Online video is possible on a large scale because broadband Internet
connections are now in more than half of American households. This is the
closest the Internet has come yet to replicating television. Many of the
largest advertisers on TV and in print publications have been slow to move
much of their ad spending online, but ad executives said online video may
change that.
"Big marketers are excited about video because it's a very familiar
format," said John Paulson, president of G2 Interactive, the digital
marketing arm of the Grey Group of Companies, in the WPP Group. "Moving
picture, sight and sound are more familiar. It doesn't feel as foreign to
them as in the old days of a banner ad or Web site content."
But familiarity has misled many marketers into simply repurposing their TV
spots to use online, which ad executives say is a mistake in the longer
run. Web surfers would want shorter, more interactive ads, and online
commercials would ultimately work best when they merge the interactive,
user-involvement aspects of the Internet with traditional video, executives
say.
Already, some marketers are experimenting with that approach. In November,
Levi's Internet commercials showed young people at holiday parties wearing
Levi's jeans. There were clearly marked spots in the video that viewers
could scroll over to see demonstrations of the jeans.
In a banner ad for "The Prestige," a Disney movie, last fall, Web surfers
could scroll through local movie theater listings in the ad while they
watched a movie trailer. That ad was developed by DoubleClick, but online
ad companies like PointRoll, which is owned by the Gannett Company, have
similar products. VideoEgg, an online video network, is selling scrolling
ads at the bottom of videos that invite viewers to click on them to see more.
Media companies are rapidly increasing the videos they post online
featuring popular TV shows as well as original Internet video, and they are
selling ads to run with that content. Video in display ads may provide new
revenue to the digital units of media companies, said Randall Rothenberg,
chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau, an association for
interactive publishers.
Many of the advertisers showing online commercials with Fox's online videos
are paying for the airtime from their TV budgets, said Michael Barrett,
chief revenue officer for Fox Interactive Media.
"We're seeing tremendous demand from marketers," Mr. Barrett said. "The
demand from advertisers is outstripping our supply of video."
Based on the experience at the Rhino Bar, New Line is considering beaming
video into banner ads from its confession booth at Comic-Con, a comic-book
convention in New York, on Feb. 23, the day the movie opens.
================================
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: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:43:00 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] MIT Team Details Optics-On-A-Chip Device
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
MIT Team Details Optics-On-A-Chip Device
Feb 9, 2007 9:34 PM (ET)
By JORDAN ROBERTSON
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070210/D8N6IUU80.html
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Fiber-optic networks transmit massive amounts of
information quickly, but the signals weaken as the data-carrying light
travels long distances. Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology said they've overcome a major obstacle in harnessing the full
power and speed of the light waves.
It promises to solve a problem that's long plagued fiber-optic networks:
Light waves gradually weaken over distances as they become polarized, or
randomly oriented horizontally and vertically. The tools available to fix
it are expensive to deploy on a massive scale.
The MIT researchers reported in a recent edition of the journal Nature
Photonics that they've devised a solution that utilizes the mass-production
capabilities of standard silicon chips.
It's a promising development as bandwidth-hungry video puts a strain on
networks and consumers demand seamless transmissions.
Like polarizing sunglasses that block light waves oriented in different
directions, the MIT researchers created a clever device that splits the
light beams as they pass through a circuit. The device then rotates one of
the polarized beams, before both beams are rejoined on their way out of the
circuit, retaining the signals' strength.
But it's not just that device that the researchers are touting.
They're also trumpeting the innovative method they devised to integrate the
optical circuitry with electronic circuitry on the same silicon chip.
"It's a big step forward - no one was able to do this before in a way that
is manufacturable and takes advantage of the manufacturability of silicon
technology," said Erich Ippen, an MIT electrical engineering and physics
professor and one of the study's co-authors.
Scientists have been chasing ways to tap into the enormous power of light
waves in networks while figuring out how to manufacture the circuitry
cheaply, and on a massive scale, using the established processes of the
semiconductor industry.
They have often been stymied by incompatibility issues between silicon and
light sources, but in recent years have major strides in discovering ways
for the materials to work together.
The MIT research team demonstrated a working circuit on a chip that they
said could be easily reproduced using silicon fabrication technology that
is already highly developed.
Independent technology experts said the invention could eventually make its
way onto next-generation telecommunications chips, and devices like it
could help redefine how optical networks are built.
Connie Chang-Hasnain, a professor of electrical engineering and computer
science at the University of California, Berkeley, said overcoming the
problem currently requires large components that takes an operator several
hours with precision instruments to assemble.
"Here, you just print (a silicon chip) and nobody is needed to align it,"
she said. "Imagine the massive increase in efficiency and the reduction in
the need for labor and precision instruments. That's tremendous."
The advance comes as companies are looking for ways to boost the
performance of their optical devices while lowering costs, as the
technology becomes increasingly attractive to service providers spending
heavily to upgrade their networks.
Video, which consumes thousands of times the network space of e-mail
messages, is a key driver of those upgrades as Internet users demand more
bandwidth to download content from sites like YouTube, and service
providers prepare for the transition to Internet Protocol Television, or
IPTV - TV delivered over a broadband connection.
Alex Schoenfelder, general manager of the integrated photonics business at
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU), said the MIT research could help drive down
production costs of making optical devices while moving the technology away
from the core of a network and toward the end consumer.
"It will push the boundary between optics and electronics very close to the
end customer," he said. "And that will be the significance - it will open
the marketplace to significantly higher volumes than we're serving today."
================================
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: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:45:00 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Manure: You May Be Walking on It Soon
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Manure: You May Be Walking on It Soon
Feb 10, 2007 1:42 AM (ET)
By DAVID N. GOODMAN
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070210/D8N6MJ107.html
DETROIT (AP) - Home-buyers of tomorrow could find themselves walking across
floors made from manure.
Researchers at Michigan State University and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture insist it's no cow pie in the sky dream. They say that fiber
from processed and sterilized cow manure could take the place of sawdust in
making fiberboard, which is used to make everything from furniture to
flooring to store shelves. And the resulting product smells just fine.
The researchers hope it could be part of the solution to the nation's
1.5-trillion- to 2-trillion pound annual farm waste disposal problem.
The concept has its skeptics.
"Is this something you're going to bring into the house?" asked Steve
Fowler, an economist with the Composite Panel Association, a
fiberboard-makers trade group based in Gaithersburg, Md.
Traditionally, farmers put manure to use by spreading it in their field as
a natural fertilizer. But as dairy farms and other livestock operations
have gotten larger and more specialized, they can find themselves with too
little land for the manure they produce.
Furthermore, people who move into what used to be rural areas often fail to
appreciate the odors than can come from manure.
"Farmers are having to put more and more money into dealing with manure,"
said Tim Zauche, a chemistry professor at the University of
Wisconsin-Platteville. "This is a huge cost to farmers."
A dairy farm can spend $200 per cow per year to handle its manure, Zauche said.
Under pressure from regulators and the public, more large livestock
operations are installing expensive manure treatment systems known as
anaerobic digesters.
The digesters use heat to deodorize and sterilize manure, while capturing
and using the methane gas it produces to generate electricity. The systems
also separate phosphorus-laden liquid fertilizer from semisolid plant residue.
The solids have some known uses, such as for animal bedding and potting
soil. Agricultural scientists would like to find more.
"We really need to think outside the box on what uses for manure are," said
Wendy Powers, a professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.
Scientists at Michigan State in East Lansing and at the USDA's Forest
Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis., are conducting tests on various types
of fiberboard made with the "digester solids."
As with the wood-based original, the manure-based product is made by
combining fibers with a chemical resin, then subjecting the mixture to heat
and pressure.
So far, fiberboard made with digester solids seems to match or beat the
quality of wood-based products.
"It appears that the fibers interlock with each other better than wood,"
said Charles Gould at Michigan State's College of Agriculture and Natural
Resources. "We end up with, I think, a superior material."
Gould and Laurent Matuana, a forestry professor at Michigan State, are
working on a final report on their pilot study of manure-based fiberboard,
funded by a $5,000 grant from the Michigan Biomas Energy Program.
A draft of the report concludes that fiberboard panels made with processed
manure "performed very well in mechanical tests, in many cases meeting or
exceeding the standard requirements for particleboard."
In Wisconsin, the USDA forest products lab has just begun an 18-month,
$30,000 study that will test the strength and endurance of the manure-based
fiberboard and examine the economic practicality of using digested fiber to
make building products.
One good thing about the manure-based fiber is cost, said Zauche, who is
working as a consultant on the USDA lab's research project.
"Its cheaper than dirt," he said.
Whether that's enough to overcome the public's squeamishness about using a
manure byproduct as a building product remains to be seen, said Craig
Adair, spokesman for APA - The Engineered Wood Association, a Tacoma,
Wash.-based group that represents the plywood industry.
"If nobody in industry has an interest, it will die," Adair said.
---
On the Net:
U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory:
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us
Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources:
http://www.canr.msu.edu/canrhome
================================
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: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:48:25 -0600
From: George Antunes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Militant Islamic Groups Turn to YouTube
To: medianews@twiar.org
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Militant Islamic Groups Turn to YouTube
Feb 9, 2007 3:09 PM (ET)
By TARIQ PANJA
Associated Press
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070209/D8N6DA8O0.html
LONDON (AP) - Anyone with an Internet connection can watch videos of
bombings and sniper attacks against U.S. forces - shot and edited by
Islamic militants and broadcast on YouTube, the world's largest
video-sharing Web site.
With the global spread of high-speed Internet connections and the relative
anonymity afforded by the world's biggest and busiest sites, extremists
have found a new theater to display violence and anti-American propaganda.
On Friday, prosecutors in Britain charged six suspects in an alleged plot
to kidnap and kill a British soldier - an act that police allege was
intended to be recorded and posted on the Internet.
Parviz Khan, 36, is accused of plotting to carry out the alleged abduction
while four other men are accused of acting as his accomplices, prosecutor
Patrick Stevens told the court hearing. A sixth man is set to appear in
court on Saturday.
Until recently, videos shot by terrorist groups were posted predominantly
on specialist Internet forums, which often only those knowing what to look
for could find. But more are turning to mainstream sites like YouTube,
which draw millions of visitors around the world each day.
"They can always bring down a video, but it's very easy to create a new
one. It's like an uphill treadmill for YouTube," said Sajjan Gohel,
director of international security at the London-based Asia-Pacific
Foundation, a counterterrorism think tank.
Jeremy Curtin, a U.S. State Department official responsible for monitoring
Internet propaganda, said authorities were aware of the footage on sites
like YouTube but had not made any real headway in tackling the problem.
"It's new to everybody, we are trying to find out how best to engage with
Internet companies," he said.
European intelligence agencies, while acknowledging existence of the
videos, also say there is little they can do to stop them from popping up.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, Thomas de Maiziere, who
oversees intelligence agencies, said authorities are struggling to glean
information from cyberspace.
"Trying to uncover Internet meetings of terrorists is like searching for a
needle in a haystack," he told the online magazine Netzeitung. "The
security agencies have their hands full trying to keep pace and get into
these chat rooms."
That poses problems for companies like YouTube, which features a range of
weird and wonderful videos directly uploaded onto the Web site by users
around the world. The most popular videos now include a panda sneezing, a
song by an "American Idol" entrant and a music video by hip hop star Naz.
Although scores of Web sites let anyone post and share video clips for
free, YouTube is the most popular, receiving some 65,000 new clips a day.
Users collectively watch more than 100 million videos on YouTube daily.
YouTube - owned by Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Inc. (GOOG) - says it
reserves the right to remove videos that users flag as unsuitable.
"YouTube has clear terms and conditions which prohibit, amongst other
things, hateful content," the company said in a statement. "Our community
has been highly effective in policing the site, and YouTube removes videos
if our community flags them as inappropriate."
But like other video-sharing sites, YouTube generally takes down video only
after receiving a complaint. Someone else can easily repost the video under
a different account, and it would remain available until YouTube receives a
complaint on that as well.
It's similar to the challenges YouTube and other sites face trying to keep
copyrighted clips from appearing as technology makes sharing video among
everyday users increasingly easy.
A recent search brings YouTube users to a video carrying the logo of the
Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni insurgent
groups including al-Qaida in Iraq.
In the video, a man stands in a deserted field beside a blue car. Speaking
in Arabic, he gives what he describes as his final testament before a
suicide car bombing that he claims will target a U.S. convoy in Tal Afar,
260 miles northwest of Baghdad.
"I ask God this day to enable us to kill the infidels and to grant us the
highest martyrdom," he says. "I dedicate a special greeting to sheik Abu
Abdulla (Osama bin Laden), Sheik Ayman (al-Zawahri) and our Sheik Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi."
Moments later, the footage shows what appears to be a checkpoint, followed
by an explosion. The man shooting the film screams, "Allahu akbar. (God is
great.)"
In another video entitled "Qanaas Baghdad Episode II," a man purporting to
be an Iraqi sniper offers tips on attacking U.S. soldiers. As music plays,
a group of soldiers stand at the side of a bustling, dusty street. The
sniper locks on to one of them. A second later, the soldier falls to the
ground.
The site had recorded 30,000 hits for the video since it was posted in
November, according to YouTube's view counter on the site. The video was
removed from the site Thursday, but other videos showing sniper shootings
of American troops were still available.
Such videos often touch off heated exchanges by viewers, such as one
between users Sameerah and Helmycito.
"I follow Islam and what the Koran (sic) says. I dont (sic) follow these
stupid idiots who think they are Muslim and kill innocent people which is
against Islam," user Sameerah wrote.
"Do u call US soldires (sic) innocent people? why r they there? Kill them
as they kill our bros and sisters out there," Helmycito replied.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States accused the Arabic
television network Al-Jazeera of giving a propaganda platform to al-Qaida
for broadcasting videos in which bin Laden justified the attacks. The
failure of American counterterrorism officials to now move against U.S.
companies also displaying martyrdom videos shows a lack of fairness, said
Ahmed Sheikh, Al-Jazeera's editor in chief.
"It's really hypocritical and unbelievable," Sheikh said.
Experts believe advances in Internet technology will lead to a surge in
well produced, homemade extremist videos.
"It's practically impossible to stop these videos," said the State
Department's Curtin. "You can close one channel and another one will open up."
Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department computer crimes prosecutor, said
the videos at YouTube and other sites are evidence of "a new front in the
propaganda battle."
"It's here to stay," Rasch said. "It's going to get worse - we are going to
see real-time executions with higher production values."
================================
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: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 13:44:04 -0500 (EST)
From: Mason Vye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Wife: Husband said 'he will die' before going to
prison
To: medianews@twiar.org
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Wife: Husband said 'he will die' before going to prison
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) _ The wife of a man barricaded in his fortress-like home
since he was convicted of tax evasion said Wednesday she's sick with worry
about his safety.
''They're not going to let him stay there forever,'' Elaine Brown told
WMUR-TV. ''So, how's that going to end? I don't know.''
Ed and Elaine Brown were convicted last month of plotting to conceal their
income and avoid paying federal income tax for years. They argued the tax is
illegitimate and no one is required to pay it. They said they would pay their
taxes if the government shows them a law that allows labor to be taxed.
Elaine Brown, a dentist who earned most of the couple's income, has to wear
an electronic monitoring bracelet and is staying at her son's home in
Worcester, Mass., pending the couple's sentencing in April.
She said she is not allowed to see her husband, who says he's prepared for a
standoff with the government at his home in Plainfield, despite U.S. marshals'
continued statements that they have no plans to attack.
''He said he will die there before he will give in and go to prison,'' Elaine
Brown said. ''The worst-case scenario is that I'm in prison, Ed is dead, and
our home and our business property is gone.''
She declined to comment on whether her husband was armed.
''We've been together for 22 years,'' Elaine Brown said tearfully. ''This is
the longest we've been apart.''
Ed Brown told WMUR that he's trying to work with the federal government. He's
still holed up in the home, with supporters coming and going.
___
Information from: WMUR-TV, http://www.thewmurchannel.com/index.html
---------------------------------
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Message: 11
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:45:18 -0500
From: Greg Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Batman wants to sell the Batmobile
To: Media News <medianews@twiar.org>
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
http://dwb.heraldonline.com/24hour/weird/story/3550617p-12771530c.html
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) Batman has been cruising the streets of South
Florida, but he's not looking for the Joker. He's trying to sell the
Batmobile.
Terry Lobzun donned the cape and cowl to generate publicity for an
auction of the 1966 TV series replica. He spent Thursday afternoon
driving up and down A1A in Fort Lauderdale, The Miami Herald reported.
"The thing about the Batmobile is that it's a cultural icon," Lobzun
said. "You just want to let people know about it."
This Batmobile will be offered up Saturday afternoon at the Florida
Collector Car Auction at the Broward County Convention Center, where
it's expected to sell for between $100,000 and $200,000. Other replicas
in the past have sold in the $100,000 range.
The Batmobile being sold Saturday has gadgets like rocket tubes,
parachutes and a Bat Ray Protector, but none of them work.
--
Greg Williams
K4HSM
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:46:11 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Medianews] Windows Vista Flunks At MIT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Windows Vista Flunks At MIT
The reason? The software isn't yet ready for 'productive and
safe computing.'
By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
Feb 8, 2007 03:00 PM
Tech staffers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are
warning professors and administrators at the school -- host to one of
the country's most prestigious computer science departments -- not to
upgrade desktops or laptops to Microsoft's new Windows Vista
operating system because the software isn't yet ready for "productive
and safe computing," according to an internal statement posted on
MIT's Web site.
Specifically, MIT's department of information services and technology
is warning computer users at the school away from the Enterprise
Edition of Windows Vista. The reason, according to the Web posting,
is that many critical security and productivity applications aren't
yet compatible with the OS.
...
http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197004575
------------------------------
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End of Medianews Digest, Vol 179, Issue 1
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