ISPs Not Subject to Broadcasting Act
The Supreme Court of Canada has rules that ISPs are not subject to the Broadcasting Act. Because ISPs only provide the medium of transport, the Court said that "they no part in the selection, origination, or packaging of content." Rogers is pleased with the decision. I wonder how long they'll be pleased when this ruling goes towards forcing Rogers to maintain net neutrality?
Android Malware on Rise
Malware targetting Android devices is on the rise. With Android becoming the most popular OS for smart devices, hackers are turning their attention to cracking the OS's security. Google has released an app screening tool called Bouncer to help with security. As pointed out in yesterdays News from the North, with companies switching over from Blackberries to allowing personal Android and iPhones for business use, the chance of a critical leak will grow.
–Scott D
Large round up today…
Depressed? There's an App for That
Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago are working on new technologies to detect and treat depression. Among the approaches being looked at is a mood-sensitive smartphone that will check up on the depressed. The takeaway here is the use of new technologies in different ways; anyone who can adapt social media and smartphones to a new, critical sphere would be heralded a hero.
Astronaut Applications Up
Over 6300 people have applied to NASA to become astronauts, the second highest annual number of such applications. Nine to fifteen will be chosen after a battery of tests (medical and psychological) and interviews with existing astronauts. NASA is looking beyond academic and professional background and will examine hobbies and life experience. Geeks, looks like NASA wants you.
Mainstream Hacktivism
With the fight against SOPA and PIPA, hacktivism has gone mainstream. Along with Anonymous' fight against such organizations as Scientology, white supremecists, and child pornographers, their work against laws that would censor the Internet made the news. The hacktivists' trend towards self-policing also helps quell questions about their motivations.
RIMpocalypso
Not helping RIM's fortunes is the trend of corporations to allow their employees to use Apple and Android devices. Although the Blackberry has strong security, companies such as Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, and Standard Chartered have allowed some employees to use personal devices, claiming a savings from paying a monthly fee to RIM. Research in Motion announced in November a move to offer security features to iPhone and Android users. The use of personal devices for corporate business could harm the companies, though; many countries have strict laws on how personal data can be disseminated and an employee's personal device could be used at home by members of the family, breaching privacy.
iWant my iTV
Both Rogers and Bell are in negotiations to bring Apple's iTV to Canada. Details are sketchy at the moment, but it appears that Apple approached both companies for negotiations.
IBM's Watson Turns to Sales
Although Watson, IBM's AI and Jeopardy ace, isn't available for sale, the program is helping Big Blue with sales. IBM is paving the way to a commercial version of Watson with a line of "Ready for Watson" hardware and software. Again, Big Blue seems to be doing a lot behind the scenes and may burst out when least expected.
–Scott D
Pirating Physical Goods
Pirate Bay has added designs to print on 3D printers to its line up. The first "physible" downloaded in Canada was a model of the Pirate Bay logo. The cost to take the plans and turn it into a physical object was $100. Expect a change in how stores operate in the future as the Star Trek replicator starts becoming feasable as a household appliance.
Facebook Hiring
With its IPO, Facebook is hiring more coders. Apparently, the company read Steve's column today and turned the search over to the Engineering department, who set up challenges for potential hires. The brain teasers include creating anagrams from alphabet soup. Three more rounds are expected before the finals, with Facebook looking to hire from the competing talent along the way.
Arrested Development Revival
More of a Lost in Translation news point than anything else, the show Arrested Development is being revived thanks to success through Netflix. The episodes will be full 22-23 minutes. As pointed out by Serdar last week and in the comments of the post, we're seeing ways around the traditional Hollywood studio system.
–Scott D
Quick round up today.
Second Major Canadian ISP to End Throttling
Rogers finally bent to pressure and has promised to end the practice of throttling internet traffic on its networks. The initial change is expected by June 2012 to half of the provider's customers, with the rest by December. The change comes after the CRTC noted that Rogers was deliberately slowing traffic, including online gaming, thus violating net neutrality. However, altruism isn't Rogers' motive; Bell announced that it would be ending throttling starting March 1.
Apple Amends Ownership Clause
Apple has amended its iBooks Author creation app to make it clear that content belongs to authors and only the format is the company's. The move is to confirm that Apple owns the .ibook format but not e-books created for that file type. Good news for authors wanting to publish via iBooks. Not so good for open sourcing.
–Scott D
Over the past half-year, I've looked at many adapations, most of which weren't as popular as the original. However, it's possible to have a remake be better known than the original work. This week's column looks at one famous instance of the phenomenom.
M*A*S*H started out as a novel, MASH: A Novel of Three Army Doctors by Robert Hooker, featuring Doctors "Hawkeye" Pierce, Duke Forrest, and "Trapper John" McIntyre. In 1970, the first book of the series was adapted by Robert Altman as a motion picture, called MASH, and starred Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye and Sally Kellerman as Hot Lips. MASH used the base story in the books, then went its own direction as an anti-war movie, using the Korean War as subtext for the Vietnam War.
Naturally, a success in theatres means a television exec wants to cash in on the popularity. In 1972, the movie was adapted as a TV series, this time called M*A*S*H (with the asterisks). Still working the protest angle, production staff bent to the requirements of the network, CBS, while working out some concessions. One major concession was the use of a laugh track. Laugh tracks were used in comedies to let viewers know when something was funny, implying that there was a live audience during the filming of an episode. With M*A*S*H being filmed out on a set instead at a studio, production staff argued that no one would be fooled. After some negotiations, staff managed to get a concession that there would be no laugh track during scenes in the operating room; the idea being that business in the OR would be too heavy. Dramatic scenes in the early season took place often in the OR, whether or not surgery was involved.
M*A*S*H, the TV series lasted far longer than the Korean War did*, and paved the way for TV series that had both comedic and dramatic elements.** The tone of the series changed, subtly, but comparing an episode from the 1974-5 season with the 1979-80 season shows a huge difference in the approach.
The success of M*A*S*H took time at first. The early ratings weren't stellar, and in today's TV marketplace, the show would have been cancelled during its first season. However, CBS took a chance on the series, letting it gather an audience, culminating in the largest even TV audience for the show's last episode. The series let its characters evolve; the Hawkeye of the last season was a more aged version of the Hawkeye of the first, having gone through the war. Again, respect plays a part; respect for the soldiers and the people who died during the conflict, a respect for the intelligence of the viewers. At the time it first aired, M*A*S*H was different from the competition, and managed to maintain its respect for the viewers over its seasons.
Next time, if you can find it, maybe you can read the remake.
* Korean War, 1950-1953. M*A*S*H*, 1972-1983
** The term "dramedy" didn't exist prior to M*A*S*H
The expected has happened; and social media infiltrates dating.
Finally
Facebook has confirmed the rumours about the IPO. Mark Zuckerberg is considering selling some of his shares during the process. Now that the IPO is official, we can start watching the value of FB.
Sex and the Smartphone
Match.com surveyed smartphone users about their dating and sex life. Android users tend to have sex on the first date, have one-night stands, and be active on web dating sites. Now to figure out the why of this data.
Long Distance Kissing
For those who need a good night kiss even while separated by distance, the robot messenger is a dream come true. The Lovotics robots are equipped with a touch-sensitive pair of lips. Alone? With the help of an AI, you can kiss a virtual partner. One part cute, one part creepy…
Server Farms to Get More Environmentally Friendly
Intel, Samsung, and startup SeaMicro are working to make servers more energy efficient. As cloud computing becomes more popular, more and more servers are required. The traditional server, though, consumes both space and energy. The team-up will be working to reduce the size by a third and power consumption by half.
–Scott D
New Nook Coming Out
Barnes & Noble is set to release a new version of the Nook this spring. The New York Times suspects that if the Nook doesn't do well, the traditional book will fall by the wayside as ebooks dominate. If the new Nook does succeed in the marketplace, B&N can maintain physical stores.
Kinect on Laptops?
A leak at Microsoft is implying that the X-Box Kinect could be used on a laptop running Windows 8. Microsoft has already announced that the Kinect could be available February 1st for desktops. Given that the computing market is diversifying ("Post-PC world"), Kinects on laptops is a natural progression.
Corporate Rivals Teaming Up to Fight Spam
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, AOL, and Facebook are working together, targeting spam and phishing. The tech companies are working with PayPal and the Bank of America to fight the scourge of the Internet. So, which one gets to be Heart?
Facebook IPO
Steve has mentioned this, and I've pointed out relateed news stories in the past month, but it looks like Facebook's IPO could come next week. The initial value could be $100 billion. Goldman-Sachs could be significant in the IPO. I just wish I wasn't using "could" – the IPO seems very probable, but no word is coming from Facebook.
Update! People are expecting the IPO to have a twist as Zuckerberg does something that doesn't follow traditional wisdom. The fallout is going to have repercussions.
Cellphones and Smartphones Aid Shopping
Over 50% of cellphone owners use them to help with shopping. Shoppers use their phones to look for the highest quality item and to compare prices. Retailers will need an online presence, even if they don't process online sales, at this rate.
–Scott D
Erotica? On My E-Reader?
With e-readers like the Kindle and Kobo lines, sales of erotic literature has soared. Canadian e-publisher eXtasy had sales take off in 2010 and double in 2011. Part of the advantage of the e-erotica (e-rotica?) is that no one can tell what is being read. There's no lurid cover to have to hide. And, it looks like my NaNoWriMo project from last year may have a potential publisher.
Dial Up Internet For Cheap
The National Capital Freenet is still around and still going, providing cheap dial up serivce and inexpensive DSL. The NCF was one of the first providers in Ottawa and still has over 4000 subscribers and is a good example of a community-based ISP.
–Scott D
Bilingual URLs
Canadian domain names will soon be allowed to use accents. The move by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) will allow French websites to use the proper accents in their URLs. This won't be a problem for Canadian users – bilingual keyboards are available and are in use in the Federal government.
Truth in Advertising vs Freedom of Speech
File this under A for Audacious. Rogers, the cable company cum wireless provider, has asked the Ontario courts to strike down the requirement that a company needs to have "adequate and proper" tests of a product before making claims about that product. The company claims that the wording violates its freedom of expression. The court case, expected to start in June, is the latest in the company's battle against the Competition Bureau, which started in 2010 when the Bureay levied a Cdn$10 million against Rogers for misleading advertising. This could be Canada's /Citizens United/, a case in the US that ruled that corporations are people.
Canadian Small ISPs to Get New Wholesale Rates
Starting February 1, small ISPs in Canada are getting new wholesale rates. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissionm (CRTC) enacted new rules last year on how the larger service providers charge independant ISPs for service. The larger providers, including Bell and Rogers, were given a choice – flat rate per user or a specific capacity. Teksavvy, one of the small ISPs, expects to have to raise its rates as a result. The move starts to level the playing field, but still gives a lot of control to the majors.
Online Econmy Expected to Double by 2016
Boston Consulting Group released a report at the Davos, Switzerland G20 summit saying that amount of online business is expected to double by 2016. An online presence will be almost mandatory by then, even if no online sales are done.
Someone Has Confidence in RIM
Fairfax Financial Holdings, Ltd, has doubled their investment in Research In Motion. The company now owns over 5% of shares of RIM. Could this help or hinder RIM?
Siri Has Competition
Apple's Siri now has a competitor, Evi. Evi, created by True Knowledge in the UK, can also respond to verbal questions. Unlike Siri, Evi is available on both iPhones and Android devices. Someone really should put them in a debate with each other.
Facebook Suing Spammer
Facebook and Washington State have filed suit on Ascend Media for "clickjacking". "Clickjacking" gets people to like a site, which then gets posted through their Facebook accounts and spreads. Ascend Media has taken in US$1.2 million a month gross.
Excerpt of Book about Chinese Internet Censorship
Rebecca MacKinnon has written a book about how the Chinese government censors the Internet in the country. The excerpt mentions the "China Internet Self-Discipline Award", given out to people who foster "harmonious and healthy Internet development". When a government starts using words featured in The Prisoner (ie, "harmonious"), something has gone horribly wrong.
–Scott D
The 80s saw a major change in how toys could be advertised. A regulation that prevented companies from making cartoons based on a toy line was dropped* by the Reagan administration. This opened the door to several lines, including Transformers, Jem and the Holograms, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, and My Little Pony**. Hasbro created the My Little Pony toy line in 1981, releasing the ponies in 1982, with several cartoons based on the toy ponies. The cartoons were aimed at young girls, the same demographic the toys were. One little girl in particular, Lauren Faust, gave her My Little Ponies distinctive personalities as she played with them.
Ms Faust grew up to be a writer and creator, particularly of cartoons. She worked on such series as The Powerpuff Girls before helming one of the biggest cartoons of the 21st century – My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. In creating that cartoon, she took the personalities her toy ponies had and gave it to the Mane 6 – Twilight Sparkle (a book smart but naive unicorn), Rarity (a fashionable but vain unicorn), Fluttershy (a kind but shy pegasus), Rainbow Dash (a brash tompony), Applejack (a down to earth but workaholic earth pony), and Pinkie Pie (a genre savvy party pony).
There are many keys to the success of MLP:FIS. The big one is that it has a broad appeal. While the show is aimed at young girls, who Hasbro wants to pressure parents into buying the toys, there's enough in the series to attract a large peripheral demographic***. Shout outs and homages abound, from Looney Tunes to Benny Hill; something for everypony. In addition, Hasbro itself has not bothered to take down episodes from various sites, including YouTube, in part because company officials have no idea how to react to the show's success. Since the series exists to sell ponies and ponies are selling, the officials have decided to let things stand.
Another key is how the show presents dilemmas for the Mane 6 to solve. In the 80s, typically there was one character who was designated as being always wrong, even if that character's idea made the most sense. In the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, Eric the Cavalier held that designation – he'd would always make a suggestion that the others would reject for the group's, even if his idea made more sense. In MLP:FIS, no pony has that designation. Conflict can come from any two characters, and the solution is to work together and use each others' strengths without making either pony feel bad, using the power of friendship.
A third reason for the success is the treatment of the fans. Fanon names for minor ponies, such as Derpy Hooves and Doctor Whooves, have become canon. This is unprecidented. Yet, it lets fans feel more included, something that goes with the message of the series. The names don't affect anything with the Mane 6, but some ponies, including Derpy Hooves, have made more appearances as a result. There is a synergy between the creative crew and the fans.
Over and over, the term "respect" has come up in respect to making a successful remake. In this case, the respect isn't necessarily towards the original material. Instead, it's respect towards the fans that has made My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic a success.****
Next time, an anti-war TV series.
* Although ads for the toys still could not air during the show
** Please hold your squees until after you've read the column. 🙂
*** The last time I saw such a peripheral demographic was in 1995 with /Sailor Moon/. The general reaction from the older male periphery then was, "What did I watch and why am I still watching?", a reaction seen today with new bronies.
**** You may now squee. 🙂