January 2011

Facebook Turns the 'Like' Into Its Newest Ad

The ubiquitous "like" is currency for brands, and Facebook is giving them a new way to collect: an ad unit that shows up on the right-hand side of the screen it calls "sponsored stories."

The unit will give brand-related action such as a "like" or a check-in a lot more visibility on Facebook by adding them to an ad unit in addition to users' news feeds. For example, if Starbucks buys a "sponsored story" ad, the status of a user's friends who check into or "like" Starbucks will run twice: once in the user's news feed, and again as a paid ad for Starbucks. Though clearly marked with the words "sponsored story," the ad -- which will includes a user's name, just like the news feed -- is not optional for Facebook users. The product itself is broken into four possible buys for advertisers -- page likes and check-ins, and actions Facebook is calling "application play" and "page posts."

Rep Waters Rips Into FCC, Calls Comcast/NBCU Order 'Meaningless'

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), one of the stronger critics of the now-approved Comcast/NBCU joint venture, said that after vetting the 279-page Federal Communications Commission order that allowed the merger, she has concluded that both the FCC and Justice department failed to craft "substantive conditions," and called the FCC order "meaningless.

She said that there was nothing in the FCC conditions that Comcast had not already promised to do or offer up as public interest commitments themselves. She also pointed out that the network neutrality conditions were taken from the FCC just-passed rules, which she called a "narrowly tailored compromise with the telecommunications industry that excludes mobile wireless companies."

"I do not believe the American public can have much confidence in Comcast-NBCU's commitment to launch 10 new independent channels when current networks have had so many challenges negotiating reasonable carriage terms with the cable giant. And while discount broadband, "limited-time" special offers, and philanthropic endeavors are commendable efforts we strongly encourage the private sector to embrace, they are irrelevant to promoting diversity among broadcast viewpoints and FCC license holders," she said.

And while she gave Justice a shout-out for its review, which she said can ease some of her concerns, she said the FCC was obligated to conduct a more "comprehensive" public interest standard. Justice is concerned with anti-trust issues, while the FCC goes beyond competition issues to whether a deal promotes the public interest. But the FCC and Justice worked closely to fashion their respective conditions, according to multiple sources. Rep Waters said that she did not think public input on the deal translated to FCC action. She suggested the order would not improve with age. "Since no divestitures, separation of corporate authority, or any other stringent conditions were attached to the acquisition," Rep Waters said, "the FCC's 279-page order approving the Comcast-NBCU merger will be even more meaningless than it is today."

Asian-Americans hope merger is turning point for Comcast

Asian-Americans are featured prominently on shows like "The Office," "Big Bang Theory," and "Glee." In many ways the success of TV shows such as "Outsourced" and "Hawaii Five-O" that incorporate Asian-American characters as main cast members represent a watershed moment for the community, which has struggled to find representation in the media despite a rapidly growing population of 14 million. Which is why Asian-American activists and leaders were particularly concerned with the potential impact of Comcast acquiring a majority stake in NBC Universal, which is viewed as a leader among media companies in outreach to the community. According to Asian American Justice Center president Karen Narasaki, whose civil rights organization has had a relationship with NBC for over a decade, the source of that concern is Comcast's decision to kill AZN, one of the only channels aimed specifically at the Asian American community, earlier this decade.

Studios Stand Behind Skins

MTV aired the second installment of its kids-these-days drama Skins, and despite the defection of a number of high-profile sponsors, studio dollars ensured a full spot load.

No fewer than 16 ads for upcoming releases ran during the five commercial pods, a roster that included repeat customers Dream Works (I Am Number Four), Screen Gems (The Roommate), Paramount Pictures (No Strings Attached), Columbia Pictures (Just Go With It) and New Line (The Mechanic). Spots promoting each of the five films ran twice during the 10 p.m.-11 p.m. time slot. Also back for a return engagement were New Line’s horror flick The Rite and Universal Studio’s Sanctum. Both releases were in for a single :30. Four new clients joined the fray Monday night. Focus Features’ Roman epic, The Eagle, appeared at the tail end of the first pod, leading into a promo for MTVs I Used to Be Fat. Rated PG-13, the film opens Feb. 11. Nicolas Cage continues his merry pursuit of financial solvency with Summit Entertainment’s Drive Angry; a spot for the Oscar winner’s 3-D popcorn movie bowed at the end of the fourth pod.

Obama Opposes Bid to End Public Financing of Presidential Elections

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), a member of the House Budget Committee, and 18 co-sponsors introduced a bill, HR 359, that would end public financing of presidential elections and political party conventions. Supporters tout the bill as a deficit-reduction measure. The White House disagrees.

Pointing out that the public financing system was put in place after Watergate (a scandal involving a Republican presidential campaign), the Office of Management and Budget released a public statement of administration policy strongly opposed to the bill. OMB said the effect of the bill would be "to force many candidates into an endless cycle of fundraising at the expense of engagement with voters on the issues; and to place a premium on access to large donor or special interest support, narrowing the field of otherwise worthy candidates." Essentially, the administration said it would be a second blow following the Citizen's United decision in September 2009 that allowed corporations and unions to directly fund ads advocating the election of candidates in the immediate run-up to federal elections and primaries.

Kinect and the Power of Big Broadband

[Commentary] The Microsoft Kinect's motion-capture technology is in equal parts astounding, joyful and amazing. Kinect, which on its own is pretty awesome, becomes even more powerful when it’s married to an Internet connection.

The higher the speeds, the more the possibilities. Ironically, this seemingly fun technology is also showing us the need for bigger broadband pipes and the possibilities that raw speed can open up. Today, many believe there isn't much needed for pipes that go beyond 25 40 Mbps, contending that those speeds are good enough for surfing the web, Facebook-ing, Tweeting, emails and watching Netflix. If one has to understand why we need bigger pipes we need to think differently, and imagine new uses. As Albert Einstein once said: “The specific problems we face cannot be solved using the same patterns of thought that were used to create them.” Tomorrow’s problems, and thus the opportunities are illustrated by some of the recent hacks around Kinect. Fredrik Ryden, a student at University of Washington developed a piece of software that allows Kinect to create 3-D maps of a patient’s body which can be used in tandem with force feedback technology and medical robots for surgeries.

AT&T Increases Prices on Text Messaging In the Name of Streamlining

Last week, AT&T quietly “streamlined” their text messaging offerings by eliminating the $5 for 200 message/month plan and the $15 for 1,500 message/month plan. This leaves customers with two options -- pay $10 a month for 1000 messages or $20 a month for unlimited messages.

In doing so, AT&T doubled the cost of text messaging for a significant percentage of their customers -- a service that costs AT&T essentially nothing to provide. Normally, this is the type of unjustified price increase that the Federal Communications Commission would look in to. Unfortunately, the FCC has ignored problems with text messaging and refused to move forward on a petition that we and others filed over three years ago. Until the FCC moves, carriers will continue to nickel and dime consumers. Those new buckets will just be pretty wrapping on higher prices.

Commerce Department, NIST Host Standards Setting Forum

Secretary Gary Locke opened a discussion with thought leaders from industry and academia at the Commerce Department on the federal government’s role in setting, developing, using and adopting standards for critical national needs.

Together with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the department hosted the panel discussion led by Phil Weiser, senior advisor on technology and innovation at the White House National Economic Council. U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and NIST Director and Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology Patrick Gallagher also participated. Achieving national priorities – which include a smart grid for electricity distribution, electronic health records, cybersecurity, cloud computing and interoperable emergency communications –depends upon the existence of sound technical standards. The standards being developed through public-private partnerships for these new technology sectors are helping to drive innovation, economic growth and job creation. The roundtable provided key insights for the National Science and Technology Council's Sub-Committee on Standards, administered by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. NIST, on behalf of the subcommittee, recently published a Federal Register notice seeking input on effective federal participation in standards and conformity assessment activities related to technology.

Government “Stick” Helped Move Smart Grid Standards

The threat of the government stepping in and legislating the smart grid standards making process was a useful tool for helping the process along, said Raj Vaswani, Chief Technology Officer of smart grid networking firm Silver Spring Networks, during a round table on government standards on put together by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Telework is about to change your agency

Telework is now the law of the land for federal agencies.

Proponents say telework can do everything from boost productivity to reduce pollution, but establishing a telework policy involves confronting some risks. The IBM Center for the Business of Government has just released a new telework study looking at how four agencies have already started teleworking, what worked well, and what didn't. Study author Dr. Scott Overmyer from the Center for Graduate Studies at Baker College told Federal News Radio the agencies are the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Overmyer said he picked those agencies "because they're fairly diverse in the jobs that they perform and also their telework programs are probably the most mature." The one problem Overmyer said he found faced by the four agencies was management resistance. Not being able to make a leap of faith when it comes to managing employees when out of the office, said Overmyer, was "probably the primary difficulty that most of these agencies had in common."

Benton

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