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Time to cut Rupert a break?

Let the hand wringing begin: Rupert's in charge.

As we are now aware, a $5 billion buyout bid from News Corp. for Dow Jones, parent of The Wall Street Journal, appears to have enough support from factions of the Bancroft family, which holds a majority stake in the company, apparently putting the coda on this three-month saga.

But we're only in the early innings when it comes to the grieving over the pending acquisition by Rupert Murdoch of one of the world's best newspapers. Normally, I'd let this story pass, but by virtue of News Corp.'… Read more

NowPublic jumps into the public eye--but how will it turn out?

In a quintessentially Web 2.0 case of "If it got funding, it must be worth a look," user-generated news site NowPublic hauled in $10.6 million in series A venture capital funding earlier this week, and now the blog community has pounced on it with accolades and criticism alike. NowPublic, in case you haven't checked it out yet, is a "citizen journalism" site devoted to bringing you news of the user-generated variety--all stories and accompanying photos, videos, and other multimedia are contributed by fellow NowPublic readers. Then, much like Digg, which remains the top … Read more

Dear Editor, check out this video of my cat

The actual merit of this month's CNN-YouTube Democratic debate has proven arguable, but it at least appears to have been influential, as more and more "traditional" news outlets are turning to the power of YouTube and its ilk as a way to breathe some new life into participatory citizenship.

One CNET News.com editor directed me to a relatively new feature offered by the online operations of the California regional paper Contra Costa Times--"Your Views," which allows users to submit their own photos, videos, and cartoons. The whole system is provided by a … Read more

Associated Press cuts new-media news service

This one's kind of a bitter irony. We've all been reading over and over about how traditional news outlets are turning to the Web in order to boost readership and advertising revenue in the face of a well-documented decline in print media (Wired magazine has a feature in this month's issue about newspaper chain Gannett's attempt to modernize). But in this case, it's the other way around: The Associated Press, according to a report on Friday evening, has announced that it's axing its youth-oriented, blog- and video-heavy ASAP news portal because it proved to … Read more

iPhone now shipping within 24-hours from online Apple Store

After weeks of inconsistent availability, Apple is now advertising that the iPhone will ship within 24 hours when ordered from its online store. The store previously displayed a "2-4 week" shipping estimate. Both 4GB and 8GB models now display the "ships within 24 hours" label, as do several iPhone accessories including the iPhone dock, stereo headset and a number of third-party add-ons. The iPhone Bluetooth headset, however, still carries a 5-7 day wait.

iPhone on display, but not for sale in the UK

Computer Warehouse, a large retailer in the United Kingdom, is showing off the iPhone in its Brentford, Middlesex showroom. The phone on display cannot be used to make phone calls (apparently activated in the US, then shipped over) but can access data functions via WiFi.

The retailer says:

"One of only a handful of the little beauties in the UK, visit Computer Warehouse's Brentford West London store and have a rare chance to try the 'magical device' for yourself. The iPhone has many features that explain its hype. Along with the ability to download music and videos it … Read more

Box.net now iPhone-optimized: Remotely stored Word, Excel docs, images

Overcoming the iPhone's storage limitations to some extent, Box.net has introduced an optimized version of Box.net for the device. The service allows users to upload any file to its servers then remotely access them. Of course, the file format must be supported on the iPhone, so right now only Word, Excel, PDF documents, iPhone-encoded movies and images will be accessible.

The basic, free account includes 1GB of storage and has a 10MB-per-file limit. A 5GB account is $7.95 per month. The upgraded account has a 1GB per-file limit.

Of course, you could always email file attachments … Read more

News anchors break from the script

Nearly three million people have watched on You Tube as Mika Brzezinski refuses to report on the Paris Hilton story; until yesterday I was not one of those people. I had heard about the encounter and rejoiced in her defiance, but I only stumbled onto the clip after reading Taking the Lead over at the Stop Big Media blog which is published through Free Press. Actually watching the event unfold went well beyond reading about it, and I was shocked to see the rest of the news team's reaction to her actions.

Despite the way Joe Scarborough mocked his colleague for taking the initiative, Jack Cafferty at CNN's the Situation Room has followed suit. During a recent broadcast, Cafferty asked the operator of his teleprompter, "I wonder if we can get the Lindsay Lohan DUI arrest out of the teleprompter and put my script in it, is that possible?" Seconds later Cafferty concluded, "Apparently it's not."

… Read more

What does MySpace news about removing 29,000 sex offenders mean for parents?

MySpace has quadrupled its estimated number of registered sex offenders posting profiles on the site, from its May estimate of 7,000 to a current tally of 29,000. The pages of identified offenders have been deleted. What does this news mean for parents? How do we assess risk and keep it in perspective, and what best practices should be implemented on family, corporate and societal levels to keep kids safe?… Read more