September 2013

Scientists Expand Scale of Digital Snooping Alert

Scientists reported that they had taken a step toward bringing improved security to computer networks, developing an encryption technique that will extend protection to a small group of computer users.

The researchers at Toshiba’s European research laboratory in Cambridge, England, in a paper published in the journal Nature, wrote that they had figured out a way to allow a group of users to exchange encryption keys — long numbers that are used to mathematically encode digital messages — through an experimental technique known as quantum key distribution. The new technique is believed to be more practical and less expensive than existing technologies. It also extends the scale of the current quantum key systems to as many as 64 computer users from just two users. The system does not prevent eavesdropping — it simply serves as a kind of burglar alarm, alerting computer users that an outsider is listening to a transmission on an optical network.

Bezos Is a Hit in a Washington Post Newsroom Visit

Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and the prospective new owner of The Washington Post, assured newsroom employees that he was committed to preserving quality journalism, investing in news and making sure The Post adhered to his underlying philosophy about content: “Don’t be boring.”

Over the course of the day, he gave some indication of the kind of journalism that interested him, answered questions about the Post’s coverage of Amazon and did not disguise his interest at the intersection of his businesses, telling an afternoon meeting that “it should be as easy to get a subscription to The Post as it is to buy diapers on Amazon,” according to one employee who attended the meeting. Bezos made the visit to chat with employees from both the business and editorial sides about his plans for the company. Bezos seemed to have won over employees who posted photographs of him, speculated on how many electronic devices he had in his pockets, liberally quoted his thoughts on the news business on social media.

Microsoft Wins Jury Ruling in Motorola Patent Case

Microsoft said that a jury in federal court had decided in its favor in a dispute over Motorola Mobility’s licensing of so-called standard, essential patents used in Microsoft products. The jury, in Seattle, agreed with Microsoft’s claim that Motorola, which is owned by Google, broke agreements with standard-setting bodies to license certain patents at a fair and reasonable rate. The company said that the jury awarded it about $14 million in damages, about half what it had sought.

Dish, Disney Gird for Showdown Over ESPN

Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen has long railed against the high cost of sports on TV. Now he has a chance to do something about it. Dish's agreement to carry ESPN, the highest profile and most expensive of the national sports channels, expires at the end of September. Dish and ESPN's majority-owner Walt Disney are now in negotiations on a renewal for the agreement, which dates back to 2005. The talks will also address the fees Dish must pay to carry Disney's other channels, including ABC broadcast stations. As a result, the negotiations will likely revolve around some of the pay-TV industry's most contentious issues—broadcast fees and sports costs.

Videogame Improves Cognitive Ability, New Study Says

In a groundbreaking new study at the University of California, San Francisco, scientists found that older adults improved cognitive controls such as multitasking and the ability to sustain attention by playing a specially designed videogame—and that the effects can be long lasting.

The study is part of a broader effort to understand whether specially designed videogames can help treat neurological disorders, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and even depression. The new study "is a powerful example of how plastic the older brain is," said Adam Gazzaley, a director of the UCSF Neuroscience Imaging Center and a co-author of the study. Gazzaley is also the co-founder and adviser of Akili Interactive Labs, a startup focused on designing these types of videogames. This research turns the traditional view of games on its head.

Verizon Puts Call in AT&T's Court

Verizon’s deal to buy Vodafone's Verizon Wireless stake gives it access to the division's full cash flows. But the debt that Verizon must assume will likely prevent it from making substantial acquisitions in the near term, offering a window of opportunity for AT&T.

Verizon plans to participate in the government's spectrum auction, which it predicts will happen in late 2014 or early 2015. Otherwise, its priority will be paying down the debt, which it says could take two or three years. That likely gives AT&T at least 18 months to make deals unobstructed by its top rival. That could help AT&T out of a bind. It has had trouble winning over the most price-insensitive customers from Verizon, because of the latter's reputation for a superior network. Meanwhile, it is now competing for lower-end customers with resurgent players T-Mobile US and Sprint. One possibility is for AT&T to buy Vodafone's remaining assets, which have an estimated enterprise value of about $95 billion. This would give AT&T entree to Europe, where it could theoretically break from the trend of falling revenues and compressing margins by building a superior network. But that would require heavy investment and could take years to be proven, making it a tough sell to AT&T shareholders. A better option: AT&T bidding for Dish Network. The satellite operator's wireless spectrum would propel AT&T to first place if Dish succeeds in buying LightSquared, according to New Street Research.

Paid bloggers for campaigns should be disclosed

[Commentary] How do voters know if the people posting political pitches via blogs, videos and social media are fellow concerned citizens or, as increasingly is the case, paid propagandists? A regulation to tackle that very modern problem is under consideration by the state Fair Political Practices Commission and deserves public support. Regulation 18421.5 would require campaign committees to reveal when they pay someone to create digital content -- for, say, a blog or a Twitter account -- unless that information is provided in the content itself.

Women in TV Score Incremental Employment Gains, Study Finds

Women in primetime TV equaled highs in employment on screen and behind the scenes, while continue to lag well behind men by both measures.

Assembled by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, the annual report — now in its 16th year — found women accounted for 43% of speaking roles in the 2012-13 measurement period. That represents a modest uptick from the previous year and matches levels recorded on 2007-08, the previous high. Similarly, women accounted for 28% of positions behind the scenes on shows — encompassing series creators, directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography — compared to 26% last year, and 21% when the study began in the late 1990s. Despite the modest progress, Martha Lauzen, the center’s executive director, cited various areas of concern. Women of color continue to lag behind in terms of employment opportunities, and jobs for women in broadcast and cable are particularly few in directing (11%) and cinematography (2%). Just under a quarter of exec producers and series creators were women.

Nobel winner Coase paved way for your smartphone

While not a household name like Milton Friedman, economist Ronald Coase was one of the great free market champions at the University of Chicago and laid the groundwork for one of tech's greatest games: bidding on wireless spectrum.

In the late 1950s, companies only had to meet legal requirements and pay relatively small fees to license radio wave frequencies. Coase argued that it was far more efficient to auction off the bands through negotiation and allow them to be bought and sold thereafter - basically, treat the frequencies like any other piece of property. At the time, this was considered heresy. The federal government has raised tens of billions of dollars through the bidding process since then.

Hollywood’s Tanking Business Model

Movie executives see that box-office revenues have been higher in the summer and conclude that there is something inflationary about a summertime release. Yet this thinking is inherently flawed. The summer was never actually as profitable as it seemed.

The official season, which lasts about a third of the year (at least the way Hollywood divides the calendar), generates around 40 percent of annual ticket sales. Furthermore, box-office revenue may be higher in the summer precisely because that’s when studios have chosen to release their most popular movies. The expected box-office appeal of the film may be driving the release date, in other words, rather than the release date enhancing the box-office performance. Liran Einav, an economist at Stanford University concluded that there was indeed a bigger audience available in the summer; but even so, he determined, a large portion of the seasonal swings in box-office revenue comes from the fact that the biggest crowd-pleasers (“Shrek,” “X-Men,” “Jurassic Park”) are reliably released on the same handful of weekends each year. In the five decades leading up to “Jaws,” the year’s top-grossing movie was released in the summer only 20 percent of the time. In the decades since, the figure shot up to 63 percent. In the last decade, it has been 80 percent. Because persuading an industry’s largest companies to experiment is challenging, smaller and more entrepreneurial companies are usually tasked with figuring out the next-generation business model. Some smaller motion-picture companies, like Magnolia Pictures, have tried innovative things like allowing consumers to watch a film on-demand before it’s released in theaters.

Benton

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