The rise of online video, while it has opened many virtual doors, is also creating a bandwidth logjam that threatens to slow the internet to a crawl if it continues unchecked. Peer-to-peer file-trading sites, which are used by a small percentage of the online population but account for more than half of all internet traffic, are largely to blame.
Tag: 02.10.07
Google Hits Snags In Radio Ads Plans
Google has revolutionized the online ad business. But the company is having a harder time repeating the success with radio ads. “Industry insiders cite everything from culture clashes to resistance in the radio industry, which relies heavily on sales representatives, to automate its advertising systems. But the hurdle mentioned most often is Google’s apparent inability to secure enough air time, or inventory, to make its system attractive to advertisers.”
India’s Golden Age Of Television
“Indian films, especially the flashy musicals and dramas of Bollywood, have grabbed plenty of attention in the West. But the country’s lesser-known television business is more than twice as big, with an estimated $3.4 billion in revenue in 2005, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. It is also starting to exert greater cultural influence.”
Irony – Are Americans Just Out Of It?
It’s a cliche, it is: “That’s right: ‘Americans don’t do irony.’ This isn’t strictly true. Although it is true that we British do use irony a little more often than our special friends in the US. It’s like the kettle to us: it’s always on, whistling slyly in the corner of our daily interactions. To Americans, however, it’s more like a nice teapot, something to be used when the occasion demands it. This is why an ironic comment will sometimes be met with a perplexed smile by an unwary American.”
Edinburgh Goes For Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson dominates Edinburgh this month. “All this February, readers can pick up one of 25,000 free copies of the book [“Kidnapped”] from a variety of public libraries across Edinburgh, with plans afoot to leave further copies on buses and park benches and in cafes and bars. Added to this, a month-long events programme encompasses talks, readings, storytelling, drama workshops, film shows, discussions and puppetry.”
Italy Sharply Boosts Arts Funding
Italy has upped arts funding 17% to a total Euros 441 million ($573 million) for 2007 in the first tangible sign of the center-left government’s more pro-arts stance compared with the days when Silvio Berlusconi ran the country.
Princeton ESP Lab To Close
“The laboratory has conducted studies on extrasensory perception and telekinesis from its cramped quarters in the basement of the university’s engineering building since 1979. Its equipment is aging, its finances dwindling. The closing will end one of the strangest tales in modern science, or science fiction, depending on one’s point of view. The laboratory has long had a strained relationship with the university. Many scientists have been openly dismissive of it.”
Outrageous Ticket Fees? Boycott TicketMaster! (Et Al)
Ticket charge add-ons have escalated to an outrageous degree in recent years. Yet theatres and the ticket services aren’t comfortable talking about them. “We will not talk about this. We do not ask you to comment on how much you charge for the newspaper.”
What It Means To be A Writer In Turkey
“A writer is always more than a writer in Turkey, much more so than in America. We don’t discuss the writing, but we discuss the writer herself. Eventually, every writer has to face the question — are you ready to be a public intellectual?”