Full FeedRead all about it; AOL goes tabloid “above the fold”
“Pics show beauty topless, kissing married TV star”..
“Reality show couple calls it quits”...
“Star is skin and bones on red carpet”...or if you don’t like that anorexically-inclined headline, try “Skinny actress frumpy in white”...
“One busy, hot mama tells how to get in shape quickly”...
At 10:30 p.m. PST on July 15, 2008 - the end of a day that saw more stomach-churning stock market volatility, more violent death in Iraq and Afghanistan and closer poll results in the presidential race - the front page of AOL showed some, shall we say, interesting priorities among those who are making the news judgment calls and authorizing the headlines at this major portal.
Not that Yahoo! or MSN, viewed at the same time, were in danger of being confused with PBS’s “Newshour with Jim Lehrer.” It’s just that AOL seemed to be taking most of its news cues lately from its sister entertainment/celebrity gossip website TMZ.com.
How to punish a “digi-kid;” take away their PC’s, cell phones..not their TV’s
The Me Generation, Generation X, Generation Y…they’ve all had their time in the media spotlight. Now prepare yourself for “Digi-Kids,” the term that market research firm NPD Group uses to refer to youth ages 4-14 who spend more time on their computers instead of parked in front of a television.
Parents of digi-kids probably didn’t need a market research report to confirm all this, but NPD’s latest “Kids and Consumer Electronics” report shows that 75 percent of youth surveyed use a computer while only 70 percent say they use a TV. The report also shows an increase in usage of social networking sites for this particular demographic, which should be of particular interest to parents, educators and law enforcement worried about online predators.
Moms and dads still trying to decipher the text messaging hieroglyphics preferred by their sons and daughters won’t like the finding showing 20 percent of the “digi-kids” surveyed own their own cell phone, with 13 percent of - get this - four and five-year-olds saying they use them. Maybe I’m just too old school - and I realize this is not a new issue - but the idea of a child barely out of the toddler stage learning how to work a cell phone and text their peeps before they can master a bicycle is a little too Brave New World for me. Or is it Children of the Digi-Damned?
Read [NPD Group]
Related
LCD, plasma TV sales still hot as economy cools off
Size still matters when it comes to buying a flat-screen TV during a recession. And instead of using economic stimulus checks to buy new HDTV’s, consumers are spending that money to pay off the energy bills generated by their current home entertainment systems.
Those are just two of the findings released during the recent DisplaySearch TV Supply Chain Conference in San Diego. (DisplaySearch is the part of the NPD family of retail and consumer research groups that focuses on the flat panel display industry.) The big headline, however, is that those displays continue to sell even though most of those surveyed at the conference agree that we’re in a recession. The key statistic is a 53 percent year-over-year increase of LCD’s and plasma TV’s in North America, with 7.5 million units sold in the region in the first three months of 2008 (a 7 percent increase over industry projections).
DisplaySearch’s survey results echo what has been reported elsewhere; sales of smaller screen sizes are doing better than larger ones. A 32-inch screen is still the sweet spot for cost-conscious consumers.
The forthcoming holiday season will present a major challenge for retailers is the present economic trend continues, according to a majority of conference attendees. That usually means better deals for consumers, and those deals could remain even if the economy recovers over the next few years because panel manufacturers are adding more TV assembly lines. Excess capacity equals “downward pricing pressure,” and that means a shiny new HDTV in your home sometime soon.
Read [DisplaySearch]
9th Court of Appeals says your work emails/text messages are private
Sending nasty text messages about your boss - or sending an email to another company asking about openings - always rated high on the employee risk scale if you were using a work-based account. Never mind the existence of personal email accounts; some workers felt they had a reasonable expectation of privacy even if they were sitting in a cubicle.
The Justice Department and lower courts said no, but the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has actually ruled in favor of those workers. The court said employers who outsource email and electronic communications to an outside company do not have the right to read those emails just because they’re paying for you to use those services; they have to get your permission first. Of course, all emails kept on internal servers are still fair game.
LinkedIn makes the connection to more funding and publicity
How ironic: LinkedIn - indeed any social network - is all about making a connection. Yet thanks to the blizzard of coverage generated by the professional-themed network’s new $53 million-dollar round of funding, all I saw when I first tried to get on LinkedIn were error messages saying “connection interrupted” (Firefox) or “the server unexpectedly dropped the connection, which sometimes occurs when the server is busy” (Safari).
Yep, a New York Times story and ton of links on top content aggregators like Techmeme will do that to you.
FCC’s Martin says yes to XM-Sirius merger; what about the other commissioners?
It’s been 17 months since the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger was announced, and in that time a typical consumer’s desire to spend discretionary income on a satellite radio subscription may have broken up into static.
Now that the regulatory process appears to be winding down and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has given his blessing to the merger, the sour economy is proving to be a new obstacle in making this media duet sing like a Coldplay single. “I believe that consumers will begin to feel wary about many subscription-based products in general,” says Ryan Saghir of Orbitcast in an email to Gadgetell. “As rising gas prices and increased food costs continue to take their toll, some subscribers may not find value in a ‘luxury expense’ when they can listen to similar content on their iPod. Indeed, that in essence was the basis of the argument for the merger.”
Orbitcast, which tracks developments in the satellite radio industry, reports that legal counsel with XM and Sirius met last week with Republican FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Tate in addition to talks with Martin. XM-Sirius needs two more “yes” votes on the panel to combine and supposedly make 17 million total subscribers happier, while offering a new and improved merged company to potential new customers. But Saghir tells me that what really has to happen is some new hardware to put the spark back into the XM-Sirius marriage.
“I think a newer, cooler, and more advanced portable radio is desperately needed, but it may not be in the traditional sense,” Saghir says. “As the chips get smaller, we might start to see satellite radios in GPS devices and cellphones. Additionally, with the ‘open device’ provision that Sirius-XM have reportedly agreed to - which will allow for any manufacturer to produce satellite radios - we may begin to see receivers in places we never imagined before, and at much lower prices.”
Read [Orbitcast]
RelatedThe 2008 election: we’re Internet users and we approve this message
Imagine a Secretary of Social Networks as part of the Presidents cabinet. If the impact of the internet on this election continues its current technological fashion, then the winning candidate might just have to add another chair at cabinet meetings as social networks are becoming critical to getting elected.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a survey detailing web usage for the 2008 election. It finds more Americans than ever before are using technology to get informed and get involved and expands on the role of social networks in the Obama campaign as detailed in the June issue of Atlantic Magazine.
46 percent of those surveyed say they’re using the internet, email and cell phones for campaign information and candidate/party/issue advocacy. Obama’s campaign is no doubt sending out memos to field offices at this moment relaying the Pew news that 74 percent of his “wired” supporters rely on the internet for election news, since that represents a target-rich environment for further organization, fundraising and messaging.
John McCain’s campaign isn’t lagging that far behind: in a duel of the presumptive nominees’ supporters, the Pew Project says 56 percent of McCain’s backers are getting news and other political information online compared to Obama’s 65 percent. There is plenty of time for McCain’s braintrust to level the digital playing field.
While the survey’s findings are showing that the internet is helping 28 percent of those polled feel more “personally connected” to the campaigns, even more are concerned that the web provides an powerful echo chamber for negative campaigning and “extreme viewpoints.” Obama was on the sharp end of several web-based attacks during the primary, forcing his campaign managers to set up fightthesmears.com. If recent history is any indication, that kind of tactic won’t stop the fringes on both sides from using the web to mine the darkest impulses of the electorate.
RelatedSony Ericsson has Wii envy with its F305 phone with motion gaming
Sony Ericsson has officially set into motion all the details about its F305 Motion Gaming phone,. If the company has its way, soon your city streets and public places will be full of young people pretending to bowl and fish while oblivious to the strange looks from passersby.
The leaked details as seen previously here on Gadgetell are confirmed: compatibility with GSM and EDGE networks, a 2-inch TFT screen, 2-megapixel camera, stereo speakers and 10MB of in-phone memory. Motion-sensor accelerometers allow you to interact with gaming a la Nintendo Wii. Three games are pre-loaded: Bowling, Bass Tournament and Jockey, but 50 more are available via download at the PlayNow service. It hits the streets in certain markets in late summer/early fall; no pricing yet.
Some commenters on tech blogs are making the obvious Wii-mote related jokes about the need for wrist straps so F305’s don’t become accidental projectiles when you’re trying to nail that 7-10 split. Others, however, share my view that being unable to see the phone’s screen while (ahem) going through the motions may make for difficult gameplay. Developers could view this as a challenge; what about shaking the phone? A driving game like the one for the new 3G iPhone, where the handset is the steering wheel?
Read [Sony Ericsson]
RelatedBlock pestering SMS messages with AT&T
Just because you’re living la vida digital shouldn’t mean that all your digital hassles have to follow you wherever you go, like a stray dog or (worse yet) Rupert Pupkin, Jerry Lewis’ deranged fan in Martin Scorsese’s “King of Comedy.” Text-message spam is merely a 21st-century example of the annoying telemarketer who majored in Bad Timing.
Cell phone carrier services are slowly waking up to the idea of allowing customers to block unwanted messages as well as calls from ex-boyfriends-turned-stalkers and needy relatives. AT&T is rolling out its blocking capabilities, although you have to do some drilling down to activate the service, according to Uneasy Silence. The options are buried on their website and take some digging to find. But they are there and it is a good first start for AT&T. More options are rumored to be coming.
Not on AT&T? Check with your service to find out if they are offering blocking services for text messages that come to your phone via email on the internet, or if/when they can provide phone-to-phone SMS blocking (a service that is taking a little longer because of court challenges by advertisers and free speech advocates). Also find out if selective blocking of phone numbers is offered.
Read [Uneasy Silence]
RelatedAn LG computer monitor that Al Gore could love
No disrespect to Kermit the Frog, but it’s actually a helluva lot easier these days to be green, especially with corporate marketers working overtime to tout any and all energy-efficient / environmentally-safe qualities of their products. Such is the case with LG’s new Flatron W2252TE LCD monitor, which the company claims is the “world’s most energy-efficient monitor.” LG says the Flatron model uses 45-percent less power but still manages to serve up enough contrast and brightness for all that web surfing and all those games you like to play on your computer.
Experience what it’s like to download at unlimited speeds from a massive collection of over 800 Terabytes of user uploads. You’ll max out your Internet connection downloading a file in… Continue Reading »
Palm Pre Information & Updates
Palm just introduced their next-gen smartphone, the Palm Pre, and next-gen operating system, Palm webOS. Gadgetell's got the latest Pre and webOS information and news for you right here.
