NEW YORK — US television networks believe they have found the business model needed to profit in the digital age – streaming their hit shows over the internet as opposed to selling them to consumers as digital downloads. This season they are gearing up to stream unprecedented amounts of programming with embedded advertisements on their own websites and via those of distribution partners. They are embracing streaming video after recent experiments eased concerns that it would cannibalise traditional broadcast audiences and undermine business models. Instead, many TV executives are confident that putting programmes online will build greater awareness among consumers and increase audiences. The networks have also been encouraged by advertisers, who are rapidly shifting their budgets to the internet to reach young consumers. ‘This is definitely something that’s here to stay,’ said Albert Cheng, executive vice-president of digital media at the Disney-ABC Television Group, which last week cited a deal to distribute its top programmes via AOL. ‘We have a sound economic model. Our next phase is to build on top of that,’ he added. Quincy Smith, president of CBS Interactive, agreed, saying: ‘Ad-supported streaming is absolutely the future.’ The TV networks’ dominance […]
Run away the ray-gun is coming : We test US army’s new secret weapon. ‘Where do I put my finger? There … OK? Nothing’s happening … is it on?’ ‘Yes, it’s on. Move your finger a bit closer.’ ‘Er … ow! OW!’ Not good. I try again. ‘OWWW!’ I pull my hand away sharpish. My finger is throbbing, but seems undamaged. I was told people can take it for a second, maximum. No way, not for a wimp like me. I try it again. It is a bit like touching a red-hot wire, but there is no heat, only the sensation of heat. There is no burn mark or blister. Its makers claim this infernal machine is the modern face of warfare. It has a nice, friendly sounding name, Silent Guardian. I am told not to call it a ray-gun, though that is precisely what it is (the term ‘pain gun’ is maybe better, but I suppose they would like that even less). And, to be fair, the machine is not designed to vaporise, shred, atomise, dismember or otherwise cause permanent harm. But it is a horrible device nonetheless, and you […]
CHICAGO — Fake acupuncture works nearly as well as the real thing for low back pain, and either kind performs much better than usual care, German researchers have found. Almost half the patients treated with acupuncture needles felt relief that lasted months. In contrast, only about a quarter of the patients receiving medications and other Western medical treatments felt better. Even fake acupuncture worked better than conventional care, leading researchers to wonder whether pain relief came from the body’s reactions to any thin needle pricks or, possibly, the placebo effect. ‘Acupuncture represents a highly promising and effective treatment option for chronic back pain,’ study co-author Dr. Heinz Endres of Ruhr University Bochum in Bochum, Germany, said in an e-mail. ‘Patients experienced not only reduced pain intensity, but also reported improvements in the disability that often results from back pain and therefore in their quality of life.’ Although the study was not designed to determine how acupuncture works, Endres said, its findings are in line with a theory that pain messages to the brain can be blocked by competing stimuli. Positive expectations the patients held about acupuncture — or negative expectations about conventional medicine — also […]
The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a ‘moral’ cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following. The New York speech is likely to contain an appeal for sustainable development, and it will follow an unprecedented Encyclical (a message to the wider church) on the subject, senior diplomatic sources have told The Independent. It will act as the centrepiece of a US visit scheduled for next April – the first by Benedict XVI, and the first Papal visit since 1999 – and round off an environmental blitz at the Vatican, in which the Pope has personally led moves to emphasise green issues based on the belief that climate change is affecting the poorest people on the planet, and the principle that believers have a duty to ‘protect creation’. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in the UK, said last night: ‘This is a crucial issue both today and for all future generations. We are the stewards of creation and we need to take that responsibility seriously and co-operate to care […]
The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials. The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department’s Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country. But new details about the information being retained suggest that the government is monitoring the personal habits of travelers more closely than it has previously acknowledged. The details were learned when a group of activists requested copies of official records on their own travel. Those records included a description of a book on marijuana that one of them carried and small flashlights bearing the symbol of a marijuana leaf. […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
