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09 Feb 2011 22:22

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U.S.: UC-Irvine’s Muslim Student Union caught in free-speech battle

  • People are afraid to be seen as with us. It’s like they went after them, how do we know they aren’t going to come after us next? Everyone is afraid and looking over their shoulder.
  • UC-Irvine Muslim Student Union leader Hamza Siddiqui • Discussing the charges against him and ten other members of his group. See, the Muslim Student Union (which had been criticized by Jewish and Israeli groups in the past for its overly-in-your-face approach to the issues) repeatedly disrupted a speech by Michael B. Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, last year. After the speech, the group was suspended for a quarter. It seemed like the scandal died, until the students involved in said protests (three of which went to UC-Riverside) were charged with disturbing a public meeting and conspiring to do so. While the Muslim Student Union perhaps overplayed its hand by trying to drown Oren out for the entire speech in an organized manner, charging them with a misdemeanor seems perhaps a tad anti-free-speech. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 21:56

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Biz, Tech: Could Google or Facebook buy Twitter? It’s a definite possibility.

  • valuation A December financing round put Twitter’s valuation around $3.75 billion – not peanuts in any sense but not anywhere near Facebook’s valuation. Back in February 2009, they were worth just $250 million.
  • offers? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google and Facebook have both eyed taking over Twitter – with offers ranging in the $8 billion to $10 billion range – but talks have gone nowhere so far. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 21:14

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Biz: Did the TV guys win? How fast-flying TBD got its wings clipped

  • Above is a quick Compete.com chart comparing DC media outlets Wjla.com to TBD.com through December. See something notable here? Yeah, we do too. WJLA.com has slightly lower traffic than it did six months ago. But TBD has come out of nowhere to effectively triple the amount of traffic WJLA was getting. Which is pretty amazing, if you think about it – an effective rebranding greatly expanded Allbritton’s reach. (Both are effectively dwarfed by The Washington Post, but the Post has a national reach whereas the Allbritton-owned sites skew local.) And TBD’s editor Erik Wemple says January was the site’s best month ever. Despite this, though, WJLA effectively won the battle for media presence in Allbritton’s corporate structure. How did this happen?
  • HoW TBD BECAME TBD Allbritton, which also owns Politico, said it planned to launch a local news site last year. They brought on Jim Brady, a former Washington Post and AOL guy, who crafted a vision of a local news brand that worked across the board – in broadcast, on cable TV and online. It launched six months ago to much industry attention for its HuffPo-like approach to local news.
  • The visionary, out Unfortunately, corporate culture hurt the site right off the bat. Only a year after Brady started with Allbritton, he was out, a victim of a debate over aggregation (which TBD is really good at) vs. original reporting. “As we talked about the next phase of our growth, it seemed clear to Jim and I both that we had some stylistic differences,” wrote publisher Robert Allbritton.
  • Did The TV Guys win? Now, just six months after TBD launched, it appears that the folks at WJLA control TBD’s destiny. The TBD TV component (on cable) is effectively going away. WJLA.com, the former site, is coming back alongside TBD. And WJLA’s general manager, Bill Lord, will be taking over as head of each of the local news entities. It appears the old-schoolers won. source
  • » Bloodletting on Twitter: Jim Brady, an active tweeter, has been ripping his old company over the last day or so over the decision to restructure. In his harshest tweet, he offered this sentiment: “At good companies, the people who resist necessary change are pushed aside. At bad companies, they are put in charge. RIP, the old TBD.” There is a degree of universal-ness to what he has to say, and many have been made their feelings known about the matter on Twitter today. While it’s certainly not the worst decision a company has made, TBD’s restructuring reflects a debate happening in newsrooms around the world: Is change needed? Or is the status quo more effective? Allbritton appears to have chosen the latter route, despite, you know, the chart above.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 20:10

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Tech: Give it up for Palm and HP: Their new WebOS lineup looks awesome

  • Today’s big winner? HP. Specifically its Palm unit. Today, they revealed a bunch of awesome WebOS products that could potentially get the also-ran back in the game. Above is a feature that the iPad can’t do with the iPhone, to the point that it created a whole cottage industry of apps (Instapaper, Read it Later) to make it happen. But the TouchPad can do this with a Pre, the Pixi, or the new baby brother, the Veer. If the iPhone or the Android were able to do this, it’d be a real game-changer. And reportedly HP is working on WebOS PCs, which would effectively be a more robust version of Google’s Chrome OS. So, yeah, this is a pretty stacked lineup, kids. The only real question we have: How much does this stuff all cost? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 18:55

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Politics: Republican Congressman quits amidst Craigslist scandal

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 15:26

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U.S.: VA Senate: Terry McAuliffe might run to replace Webb

  • Fresh off Jim Webb’s retirement announcement, Clinton super-fundraiser, former DNC chair and failed gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s name has surfaced as a possible replacement. Asked about it, he said that he “can’t rule it out.” If he does run, expect to see Slick Willy making tons of appearances on his behalf: the two have been close for the better part of two decades, and Clinton is nothing if not loyal. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 14:58

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World: North Korea walks out of peace talks with the South

  • Pyongyang’s tried-and-true strategy of increasing military tension on the peninsula as a means of extracting economic aid from the south, and then agreeing to talks to reduce the tension, may have run its course.
  • BU Professor William Keylor • On the consequences of North and South Korea’s failure to agree on just about anything. Their most recent talks ended with North Korean representatives “unilaterally” storming out of the meeting, according to a South Korean spokesperson; they also refused to take responsibility for recent attacks on a South Korean warship. Some suggest that South Korean’s patience is wearing thin. We don’t blame ’em for getting frustrated if that’s the case. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

09 Feb 2011 14:20

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U.S.: Gabby Giffords recovering well, beginning to regain speech faculties

Great news: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is regaining the ability to speak. Sources wouldn’t divulge her first words, other than they involved her asking for toast. Good luck, Gabby! source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 13:44

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Offbeat: How do you get rid of an unwanted bear? Play some honky-tonk

  • problem Whilst doing some work on a hospital in Boulder, CO, a plumber found an unwanted guest sleeping underneath one of the residence buildings: a hibernating bear.
  • solution Rather than tranquilize the bear, they blasted country music, and it ran away. Because even bears don’t like country music (except for these bears, of course). source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 12:49

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U.S.: Jim Webb won’t seek re-election; Virginia Democrats start worrying

  • NO Sen. Jim Webb won’t run for re-election in 2012 source
  • » Why this matters: Webb, a Demcorat, snatched George “Macaca” Allen’s Virginia Senate seat in 2006 by a razor-thin margin. Now, Allen’s running to get his old job back, and had perhaps hoped for a rematch with his past foe. But it ain’t gonna happen, according to a statement released by Webb. Thing is, Democrats don’t have too many other promising Senate prospects in Virginia; their next best bet would probably be DNC chair and former Governor Tim Kaine. But Kaine doesn’t seem to keen on a Senate run, so Democrats may need to either find another viable candidate, or lose Virginia and greet Macaca back into the Senate. Fun fact: Prior to becoming a Senator, Webb helped write the hit 2000 film “Rules of Engagement;” a clue to his future plans, perhaps?
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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