May 2009

CCHIT to adapt programs to federal health IT agenda

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology will put its 2009-2010 programs on hold and update its certification policies in light of guidance contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. CCHIT said today it will defer the launch of its latest certification programs until it has reviewed the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's forthcoming standards and certification criteria. ONC will deliver a draft rule containing those items to the Health and Human Services Department by Aug. 26, according to ONC's plan for complying with ARRA. CCHIT's certification cycle was set to begin July 1. Organization officials said their review of the draft rule will ensure that the certification programs conform to ARRA incentive requirements. The Certification Commission is a private nonprofit organization with the sole public mission of accelerating the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology by creating a credible, efficient certification process.

"Chain of Trust" to Combat Malware

Developed by the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and StopBadware.org, the Chain of Trust Initiative will link together security vendors, researchers, government agencies, Internet companies, network providers, advocacy and education groups in a systemic effort to stem the rising tide of malware. Applying many of the same approaches used to bring nuisance adware under control, Chain of Trust Initiative aims to establish a united front against a threat continues to grow exponentially. Kaspersky Labs recently reported that malware distributed through social networking sites is successful 10 times more often than scams distributed via email.

Guidelines proposed for Child Online Protection initiative

Guidelines for the protection of children in cyberspace were presented as drafts for discussion on Monday, 18 May in connection with the theme for the 2009 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. The draft guidelines will be reviewed at the Strategic Dialogue on Safer Internet Environment for Children in Tokyo, 2-3 June. The final Guidelines on Child Online Protection will be issued at ITU TELECOM WORLD, 5-9 October 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. Comments will be accepted until 30 June 2009. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré asserted that "we must do everything in our power to create a healthy online environment for our children". He said he was confident that "a secure cyberspace for our children will not remain an ideal but will become a reality". Dr Touré recognized the importance of the draft guidelines prepared in close collaboration with numerous UN agencies and other organizations, including UNICRI, INTERPOL, and the European Commission.

Kindle accounts for 10% of book sales

According to Piper Jaffray, worldwide Kindle revenues will reach $405 million by the end of 2009, and more than double to nearly $1 billion in 2010. To gauge the impact that Kindle is having on the book business and the general e-commerce space, consider what Mark Mahaney of Citigroup told TechCrunch: The device, first introduced in late 2007, accounted for approximately 10% of total North American book units sold in Q1 2009—or about 4 million out of the 38 million books sold. Importantly, people are increasingly willing to try e-book readers. Piper Jaffray found that 5% of consumers surveyed were interested in buying a digital book reader, and 9% were interested in buying one after a price drop. Nineteen percent of respondents had never seen a digital book reader but wanted to check one out.

Sprint Nextel an example for AT&T, Verizon?

Inexpensive, unlimited wireless phone service plans could drive further consolidation in the wireless phone business, as industry leaders AT&T and Verizon Wireless watch customers hit hard by the recession defect to cheaper services from Leap Wireless, MetroPCS Communications and even Sprint Nextel Corp. This is the rationale behind the rumor that AT&T may lunge for Leap, a wireless carrier that has been taking customers from the big carriers via inexpensive, unlimited cellular plans. However, despite the relatively affordable price tag of $2.7 billion, which would be less than $1,000 per subscriber, the move isn't without pitfalls, most notably the expense of converting Leap's 3.8 million subscribers to AT&T's competing technology. Such pains are what has ailed Sprint Nextel since its creation in the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel, which used competing technologies. However, the company may have finally found a means of turning its lemon of a $35 billion deal into lemonade via inexpensive, unlimited wireless plans.

Economic tailspin batters local TV

The economic downturn has local TV broadcasters, both in Philadelphia and across the country, reeling and, in some cases, fighting for survival. They're struggling to cut costs in many ways: Ditching highly paid veterans, combining jobs, pooling resources, and expanding to the Internet are the common ploys. And, as traditional advertisers have deserted the ship, they're looking elsewhere. But advertisers want an audience. Ratings here slipped nearly 19 percent between November 2004 and November 2008, as Philadelphia's six major stations lost a combined average of 140,000 viewers at any given point during the day, according to the Nielsen Co. More than 440,000 viewers, on average, are missing in prime time, a drop of 25 percent. Despite the excitement of the presidential election - or maybe because it moved viewers to cable news - ratings for local evening news shows nationwide dropped 11.4 percent from November 2007 to November 2008. (Late news shows dropped 3.7 percent, according to Nielsen.) Advertisers, particularly in the auto industry, have headed for the exits. Nearly $200 million in revenue, 25 percent, vanished from the Philadelphia TV market between 2004, the previous Olympic and presidential election year, and 2008, according to BIA Advisory Services, the leading industry financial analysts. Not only is that revenue not coming back, the forecasters say, an additional $50 million will be missing by 2012.

Studies show the genders really are different online

Gender, more so than race, ethnicity or economic status, determines how and what we peruse online. According to a recent study by eMarketer, slightly more women say they use the Internet than men. However once logged on, male Internet users tend to spend more time surfing the Web than females. Meanwhile, in a separate report, eMarketer estimates that US marketers will spend 37.2 billion dollars on online advertising by the year 2013. Clearly understanding what gets the genders ticking makes economic sense for any business buying ad space on the Web. Internet Protocol addresses, however, don't come in shades of pink and blue. So companies eager to reach men tend to focus ads on sports, technology and news sites. Businesses concentrating on women often center on stereotypically female-oriented sites, like parenting Web sites.

Are Baby Boomers Killing Facebook and Twitter?

The story is as old as the Web: A social network born among twenty-something college kids and young wired professionals sprouts up, apparently out of nowhere, and grows into a cultural phenomenon. Eventually, it reaches critical mass and explodes, its mushroom cloud drawing the attention of millions of Baby Boomers, leading to a huge influx of new users, which in turn triggers complaints from the youngsters who started it all. The invasion of the Boomers spurs some members of younger generations to flee the carnage (and the fallout) in search of fresher territory. We've seen this scenario play out on MySpace and Facebook, and now it is starting to happen on Twitter. When the Baby Boomers--traditionally defined as anyone born in the United States between 1946 and 1964--arrive, they tend to do so en masse. And when they set up camp, they invariably change the dynamic of the social network itself. Whether due to their distinctive social habits or the sheer vastness of their demographic, a mass migration of 50-and-over folk brings in its train everything from increased political activity to a proliferation of spam.

Democrats seek financial rescue of minority-owned broadcasters

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) is leading an effort to convince Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to take "decisive action" by extending credit to minority-owned broadcasters suffering from a lack of capital and lost advertising revenue amid the economic slump. Rep Clyburn and other senior members, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), argue that minority-owned broadcasters are sound businesses, but that the recession could undermine the government's efforts to diversify the airwaves. The congressmen suggest the Treasury Department could provide access to capital to minority-owned broadcasters, which they say represent less than 7 percent of full-power radio stations and a "negligible" ownership of television stations. "They are looking for continued access to capital to continue their otherwise fundamentally sound operations," the members write. The letter suggests Treasury could set up a credit facility specific to the industry, similar to the government's efforts to support auto suppliers, or possibly set up a program for bridge financing and government-backed loans until the economy improves.

Can News Media Survive the Internet Age?

The Federal Trade Commission today announced it will hold a series of workshops titled " Competition, Consumer Protection, and First Amendment Perspectives." The first workshop will be held on September 15, 2009. The workshops will consider a wide range of issues, including possible business and non-profit models for news organizations, the role of targeted behavioral and other online advertising, whether additional, limited antitrust exemptions may be necessary under these unique circumstances, and the implications of online news for both copyright protection and the availability of broadband access. Witnesses will include journalists and other representatives of news organizations, privacy experts, direct marketers, online advertisers, academics, new media representatives (such as bloggers and local news Web sites), and consumer advocates. An agenda for the September 15, 2009 workshop will be circulated at a later time.

Benton

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