February 2014

In the DeMint Era at Heritage, a Shift From Policy to Politics

From its inception in 1973, the Heritage Foundation has provided the blueprint for the Republican Party’s ideas in Washington. In doing so, it has proved to be the most durable organization of its kind. But under Jim DeMint, a South Carolinian who gave up his Senate seat to take the helm, Heritage has shifted.

Long known as an incubator for policy ideas and the embodiment of the party establishment, it has become more of a political organization feeding off the rising populism of the Tea Party movement. In recent months, some of the group’s most prominent scholars have left. Research that seemed to undermine Heritage’s political goals has been squelched, former Heritage officials say. And more and more, the work of policy analysts is tailored for social media. DeMint, 62, drawing on his experience in advertising and marketing before he entered politics, has bolstered what he calls his “sales force,” young staff members working for the foundation’s political arm, Heritage Action for America, and the foundation’s media and Internet operations. DeMint’s main focus this year, he said, will be a media tour promoting his new book, “Falling in Love With America Again,” which comes out next month. The new approach, DeMint said, is to spread the ethos of the Heritage Foundation more broadly and among younger recruits. “Conservative ideas are invigorating,” he said. “We had allowed them to become too serious.”

Yahoo Aims to More Deftly Blend Ads With Content

The goal of Marissa Mayer, the chief executive of Yahoo, is to start making the ads on Yahoo just as compelling and just as integrated with the news and information people seek on her company’s websites and mobile applications.

Mayer, who oversaw Google’s signature search products for several years, also hopes to develop new search tools and ads geared to mobile users -- the company’s first steps to innovate in its original business since 2010, when it began a 10-year deal to outsource search to Microsoft. “We’re not sure that a list of links that people have to pick through is the right experience on the phone, and we’re going to start to play with context, applications, other ways to address those search needs,” she said. Better, more useful ads would certainly make Yahoo’s 800 million monthly users and its legions of advertisers happier all around. But for Yahoo, much more is at stake. New ad formats that go beyond the company’s traditional banner and search ads are its best hope of finding fresh sources of revenue, which it badly needs after years of decline.

For Hints at Apple’s Plans, Read Its Shopping List

One company used sensors to read body movements. Another recommended TV programs. Several others offered location and mapping services. All of them had at least one thing in common: They were among the more than 20 relatively small companies Apple says it has bought within the last 15 months.

Apple has avoided jaw-dropping takeovers in favor of a series of smaller deals, using the companies to buttress or fill a gap in products that already exist or are in development. And while the deals may be small -- particularly given Apple’s nearly $160 billion cash hoard -- they offer a window into where the secretive company is headed and which products and services it is trying to build or improve.

Seeking a Lead on News, Network Turns to Data-Mining Media Group

MSNBC has struck a partnership with Vocativ, a digital news start-up, to provide “Ronan Farrow Daily” with up to three taped video segments a week.

Vocativ mines the Internet for exclusive news and other content with data-collection software traditionally used by governments and corporations. Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC, said Vocativ’s marriage of big data and conventional reporting was an innovative approach to journalism. “It is an additional tool for us,” he said. “And who knows where it is going to go for the entire NBC News group.” Vocativ’s ounder, Mati Kochavi, also started AGT International, a global security firm that uses technology to gather information and perform analysis for governments and corporations. The software at the heart of Vocativ, known as Open Mind, was developed as a tool for corporations to identify threats to their business. Open Mind searches social media, chat rooms, documents and other public interactions on what it calls “the deep web” -- areas often overlooked by search engines like Google.

Book Review Byline Tally Shows Gender Disparity

Reading a book review in a well-known periodical? Chances are, the byline belongs to a man.

In its annual count of male and female bylines in book reviews, magazines and literary journals, VIDA, a women’s literary organization, revealed that in 2013, the publications still largely favored men over women. At The New York Review of Books, there were 212 male book reviewers and 52 female; at The Atlantic, there were 14 male book reviewers and three female; at Harper’s, there were 24 male book reviewers and 10 female.

After WhatsApp Deal, Visions of Magic Numbers

“What’s your number?” That’s a question you keep hearing in technology circles these days. It asks how much money it would take for you to sell your start-up, quit your job or close your venture capital fund -- and maybe, just maybe, walk away from it all. For most people, and in most places, asking someone, “What’s your number?” would be like asking “What superpower would you like?” Not in Silicon Valley in 2014.

Netflix Gets Around a Speed Bump

Netflix and Comcast are helping each other speed toward their goals. A "mutually beneficial" deal will ensure a faster connection to Netflix's Internet-video service for customers of the country's largest broadband provider. Meanwhile, it could also help Comcast win approval for its deal to buy Time Warner Cable. For Netflix, which accounts for as much as one-third of US broadband traffic, the long-term deal solves the problem of slowing Internet speeds for many of its subscribers by establishing a more direct connection between it and Comcast without going through a middleman.

Netflix already has arrangements with smaller US providers such as Cox Communications to ensure speedy streaming, as well as in international markets. This deal is likely more expensive, considering Comcast's heft. Still, it could push other large broadband providers such as Verizon Communications to do deals of their own. And the terms of Comcast's agreement with Netflix would presumably extend to Time Warner Cable if that merger gets consummated. That would cover roughly 40% of US broadband households.

Apple Gotofail bug: Simple mistake or NSA conspiracy?

Apple spent the weekend scrambling to respond to a security bug called "Gotofail" discovered first in its iOS devices and then in its Mac OSX. Beyond just leaving users vulnerable, the flaw ignited a debate among cybersecurity experts because the mistake in the code was considered so basic. Some wondered how Apple could have made such a simple error.

"This sort of subtle bug deep in the code is a nightmare," wrote Google's security expert Adam Langley on his blog. "I believe that it's just a mistake, and I feel very bad for whomever might have slipped in an editor and created it. But others wondered whether the code was a deliberate attempt to create a backdoor for government spy agencies. They pointed to the fact that some researchers have discovered that the bug first appeared in a version of iOS 6 at about the same time that slides released by Edward Snowden indicate that the National Security Agency claimed it had established a backdoor into some products by Apple. "It’s purely circumstantial," wrote noted Apple follower John Gruber who writes the Daring Fireball blog. "But the shoe fits."

Comcast-Time Warner merger should be blocked

[Commentary] Comcast ranks dead last in the cable industry customer service ratings. Time Warner Cable is next to last. Excuse us for giggling when Comcast suggests a $45 billion megamerger of the two cable bullies is in the best interests of consumers. Unless they're arguing that eliminating one of the two worst cable providers in the business is good for America. Former Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps opposes the merger, saying that it's the FCC's job to protect the public interest. The airwaves "are a public resource,'' he said. "No business, no individual, actually owns them."

The Department of Justice and FCC should nix this turkey, which would hand a behemoth a full 40 percent of the Internet market and about 30 percent of the overall cable subscriber base. Despite solid evidence that the deal would diminish competition and damage customer satisfaction, it's anybody's guess whether the FCC will have the courage to nix the merger. Comcast spent $18 million lobbying in Washington in 2013. It reportedly hosted a $1 million fundraiser for President Obama in 2011.

Can early computer science education boost number of women in tech?

Even as women have made big strides in once-male-dominated professions such as law and medicine, they've been left far behind when it comes to computer science, a lucrative discipline that is the primary driver of the 21st century economy.

The latest US Department of Education figures from 2011 put the number of computer science degrees awarded to women at 17.6 percent. All of which helps explain why women hold less than one quarter of computing jobs in the country, according to an analysis by the Anita Borg Institute. Those who have studied the issue are reluctant to identify one culprit in what is a tangle of political, social, educational and personal considerations. But after talking to dozens of researchers, academics, technologists, educators and students, it is evident that the nation's education system, from kindergarten through college, simply has not lived up to the task of sufficiently encouraging women to pursue courses and careers in computer science.

What would encouragement and exposure look like? Harvey Mudd College, a small liberal arts school in Claremont, created an introductory course specifically for students without programming experience. They emphasized coding's connection to other disciplines. They paid for freshman women to attend the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, a chance to meet programming role models in diverse fields. And they provided early research opportunities for women students to inspire them to stick with the field. The result? The percentage of female computer science majors at Harvey Mudd increased from about 10 percent before the initiatives to 43 percent today.

Benton

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