A complete disintermediation in video viewing -- Losers: Live TV, television networks, local TV stations, cable TV operators. Winners: online video, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Daily Motion, Vimeo, etc. --
"....For the first time, fewer than half (48 percent) of [the 800 likely voters surveyed, 30% on cell phones] say that live TV is their primary source for watching video content. The second-most-preferred form for viewing is through recorded programming, but a majority said they skip 100 percent of the ads when they watch. ... Seventy percent of those surveyed said they had watched live television in the previous week. But fully 30 percent said that, other than live sporting events, they had watched no live television in the previous week. For younger voters, it's closer to 40 percent...Over time, this will require a substantial reorientation in thinking about how to allocate advertising dollars...."
Cameras on cops: Coming to a town near you: "Who watches the watchers? It's an age-old question, but police across the country may have a new answer. The Los Angeles Police Department is currently testing body-mounted cameras that record officers' interactions with citizens. The New York Police Department says it's reviewing the technology...."
The Future of Internet Freedom - NYTimes.com: ".... Much of the fight against censorship has been led by the activists of the Internet freedom movement. We can join this open source community, whether we are policy makers, corporations or individuals. Money, coding skills or government grants can all make a difference. Given the energies and opportunities out there, it’s possible to end repressive Internet censorship within a decade. If we want the next generation of users to be free, we don’t see any other option."
Google patches $310K worth of Chrome, Chrome OS bugs
Computerworld
While all four targeted browsers -- Chrome, Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox andMicrosoft's Internet Explorer -- fell to researchers at the cash prize contest, Google's was the only one to have fixed flaws as of Sunday. Four vulnerabilities were ...
Notification overload: Why I'm turning off my phone alerts ... at least until my apps know me better | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Andy Hickl, A.R.O.: "I’ve decided not to receive any more notifications on my phones. No, I’m not a Luddite. Just someone who’s escaping the noise and anxiety caused by a mostly broken system...."
Look, Smartphone: No Hands! | MIT Technology Review: "Controlling an iPhone or Android phone with just your voice and a noise-cancelling headset is doable, but frustrating.....People might not mind chattering alone in the car, but not everyone is comfortable doing so on the bus. “I think giving people choice is always the best option when you can,” he says. I agree, in part because I couldn’t shake the feeling that I looked completely bizarre muttering to myself while using the Era in public. I suspect erasing that feeling will prove to be even more difficult than improving the speech recognition."
Google’s Chromecast streaming stick set to go on sale in the UK this week | Technology | theguardian.com: "The Chromecast plugs directly into a television via the HDMI port and acts as a receiver for media sent from Android smartphones and tablet apps, Apple devices as well as computers via the Chrome browser...."
Glenn Greenwald’s Encryption Guru - Alex Carp - POLITICO Magazine: ".... Schneier is a legendary encryption specialist who has written or edited 13 books on the subject, and worked for the Department of Defense, telecommunications companies, banks and governments. Most recently, he’s been a vocal advocate of the idea that the best security systems accept a reasonable amount of risk; a blind focus on protecting against every threat, he says, usually comes with unexpected costs....."
Google improves game content for players and developers
PFhub
This week, the Game Developers Conference kicks off at San Francisco's Moscone Center. While that is taking place, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced a bevy of positive changes it is making on games for players and developers. This is a move ...
Google's chat service crashes-- now Fixed
San Jose Mercury News
Google has been building up its professional offerings to challenge Microsoft's dominant enterprise offering of the Office productivity tools and Outlook email program, offering paid versions of its free Web-based suite to corporations. Google's non ...
Alibaba plans IPO that could break Facebook's record, Yahoo shares jump - San Jose Mercury News: "...."There are certainly some smart investments that I owe to my predecessors. Very notably, Jerry Yang's investment in Alibaba is something that people are very excited about," Mayer said at a conference in San Francisco last year. While Alibaba has not established how many shares it expects to sell nor a preliminary price range, experts say the company is currently worth as much as $200 billion, topping Amazon's market capitalization, $172 billion. An IPO that comes anywhere near that type of valuation would easily top Facebook's $104 billion value during its May 2012 IPO, when the Menlo Park social network raked in $16 billion, the most ever for a technology company...."
Android phone battery suffering? Here's a simple fix | ZDNet: "Google services aren't the only culprits; third-party apps can also get stuck and drain the battery. If your phone keeps killing the battery too fast even after a reboot, check the battery information in Settings. If an app is using the battery too much, Android settings will show it clearly as the offender. If that's the case, you'd better uninstall the app immediately."
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