December 2012

The Year in Tech, 2012

Technology changes year to year, phone to phone, quarter to quarter. Here at The Atlantic, we like to focus on how those changes happen, the ideas that animate them, the people that execute them, the users who transform them. The last year saw massive change in this broad definition of the technology landscape -- from how we elect presidents to how we fight wars, from how we keep in touch with friends to how we read in solitude.

This year wasn't like 2011 in which a few key stories dominated headlines from month to month; it was a year in which there could have been 20 stories on this list as the industry and its watchers groped for an organizing narrative beyond "the rise of social media," the arrival of tablets, and the dominance of Apple. So, we left out the well organized protests against SOPA/PIPA that kicked the year off and the ongoing patent wars that define which companies can make what products, but these themes below reflect our obsessions, the things we've been thinking about, and hearing about from you. They provide a guided tour to how people used technology in 2012, for good, for bad, and for profit.
Election 2012; Drones; Nostalgia; Unplugging; Augmented reality; Memes and GIFs; Privacy; Reading; Evolutionary gadgets; and The end of a web era.

Sprint in Talks to Buy Clearwire

Sprint Nextel is in talks to acquire the 49% of Clearwire it does not already own in a move to clear up a tangled ownership structure that has left Sprint unable to control the decisions of a key strategic partner, people familiar with the situation said. A deal may not happen and could be complicated by the pending acquisition of Sprint by Japan’s Softbank and the need for approval from a diverse group of Clearwire shareholders, one of the people said. Sprint may seek to condition a Clearwire deal on the Softbank deal going through, the person said.

Twitter releases top trends of 2012

Twitter let loose with its list of the top trending topics for 2012. Slicing its massive store of data several ways, the company has highlighted the most popular single tweets, trends across a number of topics and the biggest conversations of the year. The most retweeted message of the year — and in the history of the network — came from President Barack Obama, whose message “Four more years” accompanied by a picture of the first couple garnered 810,000 retweets. The second most-shared message came from Justin Bieber, who occupies the highest echelon of the Twitterati, as he mourned the loss of six-year-old fan Avalanna Routh to brain cancer. The Summer Olympics generated 150 million Tweets, spiking with 116,000 tweets per minute during the closing ceremonies. Usain Bolt gained the distinction of being the games’ most-discussed athlete. The U.S. election produced more than 31 million tweets on Election Day, and 10 million during the first presidential debate alone. The MTV Video Music Awards, Super Bowl, Euro 2012, Hurricane Sandy, UEFA Champions League Semi-Final and the death of Whitney Houston were also subjects of debate.

Top TV In 2012 Dominated By Sports

The top 10 regularly scheduled TV series in 2012, as well as individual TV shows, were mostly about sports, some reality, and very little scripted programming. Three of the top ten regularly scheduled TV shows were sports -- with NBC's "Sunday Night Football" the biggest in terms of overall average viewers. Next up, in second and third place "American Idol" -- its performance show, on Wednesday. NBC's pre-kick show for its "Sunday Night Football" was in fourth place. ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" comes next -- in fifth and sixth place. CBS shows up with one of two scripted TV shows to make the list. "NCIS" sits in seventh place. NBC's "The Voice" comes next in eighth place. Another sport shows comes at ninth place -- and the only cable series: ESPN's "Monday Night Football" series. CBS has the other top scripted show on the list -- "Vegas", the new rookie drama hour series.

Noncom KPBS Finds Good News in News

Evening Edition is the only full-blown evening newscast in the country produced by a public broadcaster — and one of just a handful of local public affairs programs that air nightly on PBS stations. The 15-month-old program airs on San Diego’s KPBS.

Tribune Said to Seek Bankers for Newspaper Sale

Tribune Company -- the bankrupt owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and six other daily newspapers -- is interviewing bankers about selling its papers, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The company seeking an adviser for a possible sale after the company exits bankruptcy, which is slated to happen by Dec. 31, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Selling some of Tribune’s papers would bring an influx of cash to the company after four years of bankruptcy. The new owners may hold onto the larger newspapers, such as the ones in Los Angeles and Chicago, and look to sell the smaller titles more immediately, said Reed Phillips, managing partner of investment bank DeSilva & Phillips LLC.

Faced With Privacy Complaint, Mobbles Pulls App

Mobbles pre-emptively took its mobile app for kids temporarily offline learning that a privacy group would be filing a complaint against it with the Federal Trade Commission.

Alex Curtelin, the co-founder and CEO, chalked it up to poor communication about how it communicated its privacy policies. "We don't store any sensitive information," Curtelin told Adweek. "We only use nickname and email of users to operate the app. Articles are implying that we are collecting a bunch of information. We are being careful not to collect information. There is no advertising, so we don't share any data with any commercial entity," he said. Mobbles said the company is open to speaking with the FTC to make sure it is complying with all the rules. "The mobile area is moving fast and it's hard to know exactly what the rules are. We're trying our best to communicate more clearly," Cutelin said. The new Mobbles version with an improved privacy disclaimer will be available on the Android system in the next day or so, but the Apple version could take much longer, Curtelin said.

Chairman Issa demands briefing from FTC as decision looms in Google case

Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is concerned that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will try to step beyond its legal power to regulate anti-competitive business practices.

In a letter sent to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Chairman Issa demanded a staff briefing by Dec. 21 to discuss how the FTC views its power under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Issa encouraged the FTC to issue guidelines detailing how it views its authority under Section 5. "Such guidelines would provide the regulated community the certainty it needs when contemplating business practices," he wrote. Chairman Issa expressed concern that the "Commission appears to be putting its ambitions ahead of a responsible and measured use of its Section 5 authority." He argued that the FTC should not search for a case to test the limits of its legal power. He wrote that the agency should take action only if there is a clear violation of the law — not to further bureaucratic goals. He also criticized the agency for leaking details of the Google investigation to the press, saying disclosures of sensitive information are "counterproductive to the investigative process and should be stopped."

FTC to place limits on Google's use of standards patents

Federal antitrust enforcers have been looking into Google this year on two issues: how the company arranges its search results, and its use of standards-based patents as ammunition in the sprawling smartphone wars.

Just two months ago, it looked like there was going to be action before the end of the year on the search fairness issue. Today, the ground has shifted. It looks like the Federal Trade Commission has almost reached a deal with Google over the patent issue, and the FTC may leave action over search results to European regulators, according to a report in Politico. The big question is whether Google will be able to use such patents to get an injunction that could kick competitors' products off the market. In a case involving Google-owned Motorola, a federal judge has already ruled standards-based patents—which involve a promise to license on a "reasonable" basis—can't be used to win injunctions. Other bodies, including the International Trade Commission, are also considering how to deal with standards-based patents.

FCC Majority Votes to Approve Dish, H Block Items

According to multiple sources, a majority of Federal Communications Commission commissioners have voted to approve the items allowing Dish to use its satellite spectrum for terrestrial wireless broadband and opening up adjacent spectrum (the H block )for wireless use as well.

The item had been scheduled for a vote at the Dec. 12 public meeting, but will be pulled if all the commissioners vote it before then, as is likely. The item was actually circulated for a vote several weeks ago, but then added to the public meeting list. There has been some complaint that the vote was being taken out of the public eye. The item is also apparently still being vetted for any technical issues with adjacent government spectrum per a standard interagency review process, though there are not expected to be any issues.

Benton

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