December 2014

Public broadcasters are not happy with a US Forest Service directive on vetting filming requests in national parks, arguing it would be illegal content-based regulation. While they are fine with leaving the wilderness untrammeled, they also don't want the Forest Service to run roughshod over the Constitution.

In a filing, the groups ask the Forest Service to recraft the directive, and warn there could be legal action if that does not happen. The service is proposing issuing a directive that officials evaluate TV and film projects that want to use public lands on whether they have a "primary objective of dissemination of information about the use and enjoyment of wilderness or its ecological, geological, or other features." That, says a coalition that includes the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio, and the Association of Public Television Stations, would be tantamount to government officials making content-based judgments about whether to issue permits.

When CNN’s Van Jones took the stage at San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church at the behest of Ben and Felicia Horowitz, he didn’t mince words. “How many of you guys have a smartphone? How many of you have downloaded an app? How many of you have uploaded one?” he asked the audience of about 200 Glide regulars and friends of the Horowitz’s. Few in the audience raised their hands. “You know why? ’Cause you’re suckers,” he continued. “Here you are, moving your thumbs around, you’re so cool, making other people money. You know what we used to call that? Picking cotton, picking fruit in the field. Nothing wrong with it. But you deserve to be more than just digital cotton pickers in the information age. You need to be uploading and not downloading. Your genius should be tapped.”

"Serial" is the podcasting world's first mega hit. And that could translate into bigger audiences and bigger paydays for other podcasters.

According to podcast advertising company Podtrac, the first nine episodes had about 2.2 million listeners each. The top ten podcasts after "Serial" bring in an average of 620,000 listeners per episode. Advertisers have been reluctant to put money into podcasts because the reach was minimal, but that's changing. Some experts say podcast listeners are more engaged than a television audience, especially when the ads are delivered by the host in a similar style as the rest of the show.

[Commentary] The number of schools offering AP Computer Science has dropped 35% in recent years. Today, despite clear real-world relevance, the subject is more often viewed as an elective, a club, or an after-school activity than as a core subject. The message seems to be that not everyone needs to know about computers. And that may be one of the reasons why computer science still has such a diversity problem.