Since the 1930s, ?AM/FM radio has connected our world. It has given us music, sports, news, entertainment, and memories to last a lifetime. One European nation now vows to shut off this historic medium.
Norway’s Minister of Culture announced all FM radio will cease in 2017, and will be replaced by digital radio. A system called Digital Audio Broadcasting will take FM’s place and is expected to provide more diversity and quality. And the numbers seem to back that promise up. Over half of Norwegians already listen to digital radio. Digital radio provides Norway with 22 channels. Their FM system provides only five. Norway is the first nation in the world to outright abandon FM for DAB, other nations are in Europe and Asia are switching to DAB. Keep in mind FM radio was patented in 1933, so we’re saying goodbye to an 80+ year tradition.
I remember stories of my grandparents listening to Brooklyn Dodger games on radio. I remember my parents telling me stories of AM radio. When I was a kid, I listened to FM radio, had favorite stations and favorite DJ personalities. I know I’m giving away my age, but sometimes I’d record FM radio shows and songs onto blank cassettes (don’t judge me!). That was then, this is now. Here in the USA, while 90% of still listen to traditional radio weekly, it’s obvious more people are tuning into Internet radio and streaming services. I think the only thing that’s keeping FM radio in business is the car. Even radio talk show personalities are switching to the Internet. Instead of waking up and turning on the radio, I turn on my iPod touch, or my desktop. I’m not the only one. In fact, most people I know turn on their device instead of the radio. How long will it be before the US switches from FM to digital radio?
Comcast and Time Warner want desperately to merge. But not everyone is so thrilled. In fact, lawyers representing the US Dept. of Justice’s antitrust division is trying to block the merger from ever seeing the light of day.
These attorneys are investigating the 45.2 billion dollar merger and are concerned this will harm customers as well as the entire cable industry. If the deal is blocked, it would hurt Comcast more. They could kiss the New York and Los Angeles market goodbye. Merging with Time Warner would help Comcast ‘compete’ with satellite and Web companies as well as rival cable companies. The decision will be made by Renita Hesse, an assistant attorney general for the antitrust division. Her and her colleges in the justice department are going to outside parties in to build evidence against this merger. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is also weighing in on the merger, but they haven’t revealed if they are for or against the merger.
I agree with the antitrust division on this one. And I’m glad someone in government is fighting this merger. If this merger goes on, a lot of businesses can go belly up and many innocent workers could lose their jobs. Your monthly cable bill will skyrocket. The only people this merger will help are the executives of Comcast and Time Warner. Comcast believes if the merger fails, it would harm their chance to take over the two biggest markets in America. But Comcast has a lot to fall back on, so it’s hard for me to have too much sympathy for them. Renita Hesse and others in the antitrust division should convince the FCC that this is a bad idea and should be blocked. There’s an old saying: When a company is too big to fail, they’re too big to care. Wouldn’t that apply to this potential merger?
Two years ago, the Los Angeles, CA school system conducted an experiment. They wanted to to provide every student, teacher and administrator with an iPad educational purposes. The experiment failed.
Now, the LA school district seeks a refund for this failure. They may even seek legal action against Apple and Pearson. Pearson is the subcontractor that developed the iPad based curriculum. The plan intended to close the technological and socioeconomic gap failed from the word go. Now Apple and Pearson’s role in the bidding process is being scrutinized. Even the FBI is getting involved. LA School Superintendent John Deasey has resigned because of this. Keep in mind this experiment was $1.3 billion. The contract between LA schools and Apple/Pearson required Apple to bring the iPads and Pearson to provide the English and math curriculum. ?But Pearson could only provide curriculum for the first year due to licensing issues, and teachers never embraced Pearson’s product. Of the 69 schools under this new system, only two use it often enough. Teachers, students and administrators also complain of Pearson’s lack of language proficiency and lack of data, among other things. A spokesperson from Pearson stood by her company. She said she stands by the quality of her performance and is proud to be partaking in this groundbreaking initiative. Apple has yet to comment on this fiasco.
I wouldn’t call it groundbreaking until it’s actually working. But it sounds more like Pearson’s problem than Apple’s. I hope Pearson can fix it’s language proficiency problems and other issues. But if few schools are accepting this system, would the others accept a new and improved system? Before they sue and go through years of ugly litigation, maybe they should get another subcontractor. I think providing iPads to kids as a learning technique is a wonderful idea that shouldn’t be totally abandoned. And look at the crisis of education in this country. Wouldn’t a successful school iPad experiment help remedy the situation?
A former Twitter software engineer filed a class action lawsuit. In the suit, she claimed the company’s promotion policies deliberately and unlawfully favor men. The former engineer is Tina Huang. Huang talks of employees being notified of promotions through a ‘shoulder-tap’ process. But it was mostly men getting their shoulder tapped, creating somewhat of a ‘good old boy’ network. When Huang complained of this promotion system, and complaining of being overlooked, she was reportedly fired. The lawsuit says upper management is chiefly male and it makes all hiring decision. That alone breeds an environment favoring men for jobs and promotions. Twitter is fighting back. The social media conglomerate claims Tina Huang left on her own terms. They even say they tried to get Huang to stay, and was never fired. Twitter insists it’s deeply committed to diversity it’s office and is ready to prove Huang was treated fairly.
What do A-list actress Ashley Judd, former White House Intern Monica Lewinsky, pop star Iggy Azalea, and former Boston Red Sox Pitcher Curt Shilling have in common? They’ve all been targets of cyber bullying. They’re all taking steps to combat it.
A few weeks ago, I talked about Iggy Azalea shutting down her social media accounts because of cyber hatred. That hatred started when unflattering pictures were released by the paparazzi. A few weeks later, Curt Schilling’s teen daughter was the target of cyber bullies and vulgar tweets. Shilling sought out the trolls and took legal action against them. Some, including a New York Yankee employee, were fired because of their mean tweets. Last weekend, Ashley Judd tweeted in defense of her favorite basketball team, the Kentucky Wildcats. The tweets she got back were so hateful and vile that some included threats of violence and rape. She has vowed to file charges against her cyber trolls in hopes these charges sent a message. Then there’s Monica Lewinsky, perhaps the first major cyber bullying victim. In the wake of her romp with then President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, she recalls being labeled on the Internet every negative, degrading name a woman can be possibly labeled as. While giving a TED talk, she virtually declared war on cyber bullying, and used her own humiliating ordeal as a catalyst. Lewinsky also used the TED platform to encourage victims to keep surviving and never give in or give up. She said, “Anyone who is suffering from shame and public humiliation needs to know one thing: you can survive it…”
I don’t know how which method you feel works best: shutting down, confronting the haters, or encouraging the victims. I prefer the second and third methods myself. At least they’re doing something. I encourage us all do whatever we can to fight this social epidemic. It all starts with us. Let’s watch what we say on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, blogs and other social media. Our words can hurt. Basically, if you can’t say it to someone’s face, don’t say it online. If you are the victim of cyber hate, call them out on it at first, but don’t stoop to their level. Just let them know you don’t appreciate abusive language. If it persists, don’t hesitate contacting local authorities. There are anti-bullying laws in every state in the US. Stay strong; there are many, many, many other victims who have been where you are. For every hater, they’re usually many more true cyber friends who are ready to love, support, encourage and uplift you. Shouldn’t we be more focused on them?
Government requests for Facebook in the United States and most of Europe for the second half of 2014. But yet the number of government requests worldwide has gone up by a couple of hundred. Here’s why.
That’s because in nations like Russia and India, they’ve increased. Facebook is the #1 social media site in the world. This is a good tool to take interest in someone, especially if that person is suspected of a crime. India has the second highest government request on Facebook‘s list. They’ve had 5,473 request between July and December 2014. But catching criminals may not be the reason. Late last year, India’s national government asked Internet service providers to censor over 30 sites. I wonder did they go through Facebook just to enforce this censorship? Keep in mind no Internet restrictions were made in the US during this time. Government request went up in Turkey as well, a nation that has it’s own censorship issues. In the past, Facebook and other social media networks and ISPs have been accused of being in cahoots with governments worldwide in spying on their citizens. These are accusations Facebook and other technology entities vehemently deny. In fact, Facebook vows to scrutinize each and every government request.
The first thing I notice here is the same nations that are tightening up on free speech are the same ones hitting up Facebook for requests. I notice the US and Western European nations. There, government request have declined. I wonder if the NSA revelations of 2013 had anything to do with that. I think that scandal woke up a lot of people, from social media CEOs to consumers to even law enforcement. I think even they’re backing off because they know Facebook’s stand when it comes to such issues. What about nations like India, Russia and Turkey? Can anything be done to lower the number of government requests in these nations?
