All These Streams And Nets, What Is A Surfer To Do?

Water metaphors aside, some crazy stuff is happening on the information super highway these days. We all know about the Net Neutrality debate and wherever we may fall we can probably agree that the government is showing its age when it comes to reaction speed. Thankfully, (sarcasm there) Netflix and Comcast may be bringing the debate right through those pipes and into our homes (I hope I don't have to make anymore water allusions but I can't make any promises).

Level 3 Communications, a group that helps Netflix send there streaming content to consumers, has accused Comcast of demanding increased fees due to the amount of traffic caused by the streaming audio/video content. According to diehardgamefan.com, Level 3 will be appealing to the FCC to investigate and stop Comcast from demanding these high rates. The FCC has already stated that they will meet to work up regulation regarding net neutrality in December, and Comcast is sure to be holding their breath in the peanut gallery. If you haven't heard that Comcast plans to buy NBC, please go Google that right now! In fact, if you visit Comcast.com right now, you are sure to notice a NBC presence in some of Comcast's displays.

Net neutrality is one of the most important issues facing the current media landscape. The very idea of governmental regulation of the internet, service providers and access to web content is an enormous partisan wedge that has been magnified and misunderstood nearly beyond recognition. Freedoms are being threatened, fingers are being pointed and the massive media conglomerates are anxiously awaiting the decision. I, for one, hope that the ideals and freedoms that helped make the internet a place for creativity, free speech, and news dissemination are maintained throughout this soaking wet topic.

I'm not the first to say it but...NEWSBEAST!!!!!!

How could you not read a news publication titled "News Beast"? Well, I'm not sure if that is actually going to be the title of the newly merged online news purveyor The Daily Beast and the news magazine Newsweek. The merger, announced November 12, is just the latest in a long line of media based buyouts, bankruptcies and bifurcations (just rolling with the alliteration).

IAC, a massive internet business group that owns Ask.com, CollegeHumor, Match.com and The Daily Beast among others, entered into a joint venture with Newsweek owner Sidney Harman earlier this week. Harman, who purchased Newsweek earlier this year for $1 from the Washington Post Co., will remain as Executive Chairman. While Tina Brown from the Beast will become Editor-in-Chief for Newsweek magazine and remain Editor-in-Chief of the Beast.

So what? Well, the Daily Beast, as mighty a internet news source as it may be, is still in the internet limbo of possibly, maybe, almost-but-not-quite, attempting to be profitable. Newsweek has been suffering for a while now, an epidemic shared by most every physical news sources you can point at, but the partnership seems to add a good bit for both publications. I am excited to see where the "Newsbeast" will go and what this merger may mean for the media landscape.

The Business Big-Guns Are Getting More Net Savvy!

By now we all know that any employer will be Googling and/or Facebooking ( I know I am not the first person to turn Facebook into a verb) our names in order to see what kind of tawdry internet persona we have left for anyone to spy. But businesses are finding ways to be an even more formidable and net-savvy opponent than previously thought.

Mercurynews.com has recently reported that new software is available that will help companies "sift" through social networking sites in order to nab new customers and bombard existing customers with more relevant advertising or asses "problems that need to be fixed." Now, it seems like every day the landscape of the internet is spawning more and more "Big Brothers" a la Orwell's 1984, but this software, which is only in the formative stages, may actually help consumers. The article mentions an example of an airline passenger who tweets about their lost luggage and a customer service rep who reads the tweet and sets off to find the luggage and respond tweets ( I may have made up that phrasing, but I doubt it) that the luggage has been located. Of course, companies are going to report on the silver lining, but does this just equal more invasion?

While seemingly helpful companies like Google often claim that their "tailored" advertising aims to elevate our internet experience, one cannot help but worry about just how invasive all this marketing and advertising will become. While we all want our most intimate partners to know about our daily experiences, both positive and negative, do we really want our banks, supermarkets, internet service providers, cell phone companies, employers, and cable companies know what we really think?

P.S. Image may or may not relate.

Google Rolls Out New Search, More Ads

Google, the internet search engine that added a verb to our language, continues to improve the search process. With the addition of Google Instant, Google may be able to save everyone in the world some time and some superfluous keystrokes. In fact, Google estimates that the new instant search features will save "2-5 seconds per search" and if you follow that math out, the claim is that Google Instant will save the world 3.5 billion seconds a day. While you may be able to visit sites (that you have not already bookmarked) a little quicker, there also seems to be an increase in the ads that appear as part of your search results.

So here is the deal with the searching and the viewing of advertisements. Google will finish any word you begin typing and immediately bring up pall pages associated with the filled-in search box. Think T-9 or smart texting that completes words before you finish them. Now Google's search has been doing this for a long time in its drop-down box but now, Google will also display the search results. For instance, type the single letter "N" and the search results for Netflix immediately appear. Sure, a great number of us were actually searching for Netflix but those of us who were searching for other words that begin with in ave just experienced a new form of advertising. Type "A" and Amazon.com explodes on your screen. Well, not really but in a more explosive fashion than it did before.

So while the picture really only applies to the instant part of this topic, and if you are searching for "Cup-of-Noodle" you have to type all the way through "c-u-p-space-o-f-space-n" but if you're looking for craigslist typing only "C" will bring you much joy and extra seconds to your life. So if you don't mind having to wade through a sea of advertisers and slightly skewed search results, Google may be able to save you some time.

It's Like A Publisher's Version Of "Wife Swap"

In these nightmarish days where we see the physical side of publishing shrinking more and more every day, news of news magazines is a pretty hot topic. Over the summer, two of the most recognizable names in the weekly publication of news, Newsweek and New York Times Magazine have been on a search for editors. Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, was confident that they would have a new editor by August, but here we are approaching Halloween and only now are we getting news of office door name changes.

The New York Times online is reporting that executive editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Hugo Lindgrin, has been named the new editor of the Times Magazine. This news is slightly jarring as the assumption was that the magazine would likely hire from within after the failed courting of Daniel Zalewski, the features editor of The New Yorker.

As for Newsweek, there are some rumors floating that The Daily Beast and Newsweek may be merging. This stapling together would be great news for the drowning Newsweek as Tina Brown is one of the most respected names in media today. This news, though still just rumor could shape the face of 77-year-old news magazine as Brown's Beast is seen as the cutting edge of new media reporting while Newsweek has steadily lost its prowess.

The ramifications of these mergers and editorial swaps have still yet to be seen but these recent New York shake-ups are emblematic of the changing landscape for printed press.