Headlines

In Data Deluge, Multitaskers Go to Multiscreens

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:20:57 +0000

Workers in the digital era can feel at times as if they are playing a video game, battling the barrage of e-mails and instant messages, juggling documents, Web sites and online calendars. To cope, people have become swift with the mouse, toggling among dozens of overlapping windows on a single monitor. But there is a growing new tactic for countering the data assault: the addition of a second computer screen. Or a third.

What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:20:15 +0000

The digital tsunami that swept over the Capitol last month, forcing Congress to set aside legislation to combat the online piracy of American music, movies, books and other creative works, raised questions about how the democratic process functions in the digital age.

Wireless crunch faces political 'solutions'

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:19:22 +0000

The flipside to the mobile revolution is that we're rapidly approaching a wireless spectrum crunch. As spiraling numbers of consumers watch video, stream music and send pictures on their smart phones, various carriers say they're just a few years from hitting their capacity wall.

Can Facebook pursue a social mission and go public at the same time?

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:18:00 +0000

Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is about more than making money – it has a 'social mission to make the world more open and connected.' Are the two goals compatible?

How AOL—Aka Facebook 1.0—Blew Its Lead

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:16:50 +0000

Critics mocked America Online as "the Internet with training wheels," yet in the late '90s that was just what Web neophytes wanted—easy access, and all the neighbors you ever wanted to hang over a clothesline with. Community drove the growth of the service.

Google Is Said to Assure Fair Licensing for Motorola Patents

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:15:29 +0000

Google, the largest maker of smartphone software, plans to send a letter to standards organizations reassuring them it will license Motorola Mobility Holdings patents on a fair and reasonable basis.

AT&T shareholders demand answers

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:14:32 +0000

Some AT&T shareholders want more than just dollars and cents from the board of directors in the aftermath of the company’s aborted takeover of T-Mobile: They want to know how company money is being spent to influence politics.

Silicon Valley job growth sizzles in 2011, but new report also issues warnings

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:13:45 +0000

Job growth in Silicon Valley accelerated sharply last year, but the growth has primarily benefitted people in highly skilled technology sectors rather than those in unskilled industries.

Lawmakers Remain Hopeful About Spectrum Bill's Prospects

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:45:57 +0000

Two key lawmakers said that despite some differences between the House and Senate approaches to the issue, they are still hopeful spectrum legislation will be included in a package to extend a payroll tax cut.

LightSquared asks FCC to set tough standards for GPS receivers

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:44:54 +0000

Wireless startup LightSquared asked the Federal Communications Commission to set tough technical standards for the design of GPS devices.

Facebook will release more user data: lobby group

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:44:06 +0000

Social media network Facebook has promised to release more information about the data it collects from millions of users, an Austrian group lobbying for respect of privacy laws said.

Scripps Stations Expand Offer to Candidates

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:36:34 +0000

As part of “Democracy 2012,” Scripps television stations in all 13 of the company’s television markets will provide a minimum of five minutes of airtime to candidates nightly between 5 and 11:35 p.m. in the 30 days preceding the general elections.

Tales from the front lines of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:33:02 +0000

The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is producing jobs, driving growth, providing tools for economic empowerment and improving lives across the country. That was the takeaway from a recent panel discussion at the annual State of the Net conference held in Washington, D.C. last month.

House Science Committee approves network research bill

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:30:26 +0000

The House Science Committee reported a bill that would update the government's investment plan for network and information technology (NIT) R&D.

When Whinosaurs Attack!

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:29:16 +0000

From the same people who brought you Fear Factor, Temptation Island and When Animals Attack! comes one of the most-shocking-but-true stories of hubris, greed and endless griping imaginable.

Net freedom experts disagree on Twitter censorship

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:27:28 +0000

At a panel discussion on global Internet freedom sponsored by the Media Access Project, experts were split on whether Twitter's new policy to allow country-specific censorship represents a fundamental failure to protect free speech, or is simply the price of doing business globally.

On Twitter, Still Tough Going for Komen

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:26:07 +0000

The apology by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, which culminated in the resignation of a top executive, did little to change the highly critical reaction in social media, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Center for Investigative Reporting, The Bay Citizen explore Merger

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:25:04 +0000

The Center for Investigative Reporting and The Bay Citizen agreed to formally explore a merger, a move that would combine the oldest nonprofit investigative news group in the nation with a startup newsroom focused on the San Francisco Bay Area. T

Election News Tops Public Interest and Coverage

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:22:26 +0000

With a critical Republican primary in Florida, the 2012 presidential campaign was the public’s top story last week, closely followed by news about the economy.

WBEZ shifts NPR shows to make room for more Chicago programming

Benton Foundation — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:19:42 +0000

Chicago National Public Radio affiliate WBEZ-FM/91.5 is shifting two syndicated afternoon programs to make way for new Chicago-centric content.

At Super Bowl Stadium, More Mobile Uploads Than Downloads

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:50:57 +0000

In addition to beer and popcorn, football fans who crowded into the Super Bowl stadium in Indianapolis over the weekend were consuming copious amounts of data from wireless networks.

California Pension Fund to Engage With Facebook on Governance

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:48:22 +0000

Facebook faces corporate-governance scrutiny from one of its investors, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

Phoenix Center: Less Wireless Competition Equals Lower Prices

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:46:04 +0000

The Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies released a policy paper to support the argument that in a world of spectrum constraint, fewer firms, not more, providing wireless broadband can actually lead to lower prices and "possibly" increased investment and employment in the sector.

Dish Gets Canadian Approval for TerreStar Switch

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:45:14 +0000

Canadian regulatory body Industry Canada has approved the transfer of TerreStar's Canadian wireless spectrum licenses to Dish Network.

Judge denies EMI's bid to halt resale of digital music

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:44:06 +0000

ReDigi scans a user's computer hard drive to obtain the copy of the song the person wants to sell and then deletes it from the seller's hard drive.

Cable Leads the Pack as Campaign News Source

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:42:36 +0000

With a contested primary in only one party this year, fewer Americans are closely following news about the presidential campaign than four years ago. As a consequence, long-term declines in the number of people getting campaign news from such sources as local TV and network news have steepened, and even the number gathering campaign news online, which had nearly tripled between 2000 and 2008, has leveled off in 2012. The one constant over the course of the past four elections is the reach of cable news.

Why the 2012 Presidential Race Will Be Defined By Data

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:41:17 +0000

Within the digital-marketing community, we're focused on what this election cycle portends for the future of online political advertising.

Where the Jobs Are: The App Economy

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:40:30 +0000

This study shows that there are now roughly 466,000 jobs in the “App Economy” in the United States, up from zero in 2007. The study also found that App Economy jobs are spread throughout the nation.

Will Google’s Insanely-Fast Kansas City Network Shame U.S. ISPs?

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:39:29 +0000

This week, Google began laying miles of fiber-optic cable across Kansas City, Kansas and neighboring Kansas City, Missouri. Google’s goal? To show off its telecom engineering chops and showcase next-generation web-applications. Oh, and maybe shame the big national broadband providers into improving U.S. Internet service speed, which currently lags behind many other countries around the world.

Global broadband snapshot: Hong Kong throttles the rest of the world

Benton Foundation — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:37:55 +0000

Anyone who thinks their Verizon fiber connection is fast ought to spend a week hanging out in East Asia.