text:
> No root required for lollipop and above(and the rest need root)
> Overlayer button to start capture
> Share with your friend
Notice:This application require root below lollipop ! Some anti-virus app will consider this app as virus because of requiring root.
How to root your device:
Replace the words "your device" to your phone model name in the below link and visit it,then you will get the tutorials for rooting your phone.
https://www.google.com.hk/#q=how+to+root+your device
e.g. https://www.google.com.hk/#q=how+to+root+nexus 4
keyworks: screenshot,capture,screen capture,screen snap
What's New
Screenshot Easy
★For free★
Depending on your device you can use the following triggers:
• Hold 'Power button' and 'Volume-down button' for 2 seconds
• Hold 'Power button' and 'Home button' for 2 seconds
• Overlay icon
• Notification icon click
• Shake
• Camera hardware button
• Long click search hardware button
• Custom shortcut
• Widget
• Locale, Tasker plugin support
• Power connect/disconnect
This screen shot app will capture screens on Android 4.0 and higher, devices with root and some not rooted devices.
Internet: advertisements
Screenshot Easy Pro
★No internet permission required★
Depending on your device you can use the following triggers:
• Hold 'Power button' and 'Volume-down button' for 2 seconds
• Hold 'Power button' and 'Home button' for 2 seconds
• Overlay icon
• Notification icon click
• Shake
• Camera hardware button
• Long click search hardware button
• Custom shortcut
• Widget
• Locale, Tasker plugin support
• Power connect/disconnect
This screen shot app will capture screens on Android 4.0 and higher, devices with root and some not rooted devices.
Screenshot It
Take a screenshot of your phone's screen, save as a jpg or png file, and share anywhere!
- Crop screenshots
- Draw and annotate screenshots
- Screen shot status bar button
- Screenshot widget button
- Shake to screen shot
- Delayed screenshot timer
- "Share" menu integration
- Custom save directory
- Overlay phone information on screenshot
- Works on ALL rooted devices, including Honeycomb!
NOTE: If this version does not work, please download "No Root Screenshot It", which will work on your phone (also available on the Android market).
NOTE: To remove superuser permission toast message from your screenshots, goto your "superuser permissions" app and disable toast messages.
Tags: Screenshot screen shot capture
1. You can take a screenshot by touching the shot icon (only support on rooted phones and OS 2.3) or pressing power button and volume down button at the same time, or pressing power button and home button at the same time(on most Samsung phones).
2. You can specify the folders which the screenshots will be saved as images.
3. You can preview the screenshot and decide saving it or discarding it.
4. Croping any part of the screenshot.
5. Drawing on the screenshot.
6. Making mosaics on the screenshot.
7. Inputing custom text on the screenshot.
8. Sharing the screenshot after it's taken.
Screenshot Snap
Ashampoo Snap for Android is a fully-fledged mobile application to capture, edit and share screenshots and images on your Android device.
Capture screen contents, take photos with your built-in camera or simply load existing images and add stylable arrows, shapes, stamps and texts to get your point across. And when you're finished, share your images through any installed file services (EMail, Picasa, Google+, etc.).
Save and store what you see
Imagine you are browsing Facebook and come across a hilarious post or chat message that could very well be the next epic chat fail. Just take a screenshot and remove sensitive information with Snap for Android and come back to it later.
Record and document unforeseen events on the spot
Don't just rely on your memory alone! Use Snap for Android to record and document unfavorable situations such as car crashes and add arrows and notes to detail the sequence of events that caused them.
Record thoughts and ideas right in your photos
Snap for Android gives you a set of creative tools to draw and write on your images. Enhance your vacation snaps and tell your friends exactly where your room was during your last stay or which places you particularly liked on that beach. Just mark the spots right in your photos with Snap for Android.
Share images with anyone
Use the integrated Ashampoo Web upload and share unique Internet links with others. Your images will be accessible through any web browser and automatically expire after 30 days so your images won't stay online forever. Of course, Snap for Android also supports all built-in sharing capabilities including Facebook and Google+.
•Instant-ready: No manual launching required (background service)
•Notification Bar status messages
•Smart trigger: Screenshots taken through Android-default hardware key combination auto-open in Snap for Android
•System integration: Use "Open with Snap" in other apps, import and edit images through Gallery, take and modify camera snapshots
•Draw arrows
•Draw rectangle/ellipse/line shapes
•Stamps (cliparts)
•Add text
•Crop image
•Scale canvas
•Shadow/outline support: Arrows, Texts, rectangles, ellipses, lines
•Set edited images as wallpaper in launcher
•Supports all installed sharing capabilities (Facebook, Google+, Picasa, Twitter etc.)
•No ads
•Image scaling supported
•AshWeb upload: Upload images to AshWeb and share unique links
•Enable/disable Notification Bar messages
•Many additional stamps/cliparts
FAQ: http://www.ashampoo.com/lpa/snap4android_help
Screenshot Ultimate Pro
Share, draw, add text to a screenshot or even send/edit multiple screenshots!
★Most complete screenshot app!★
Why is Screenshot Ultimate Pro the perfect screen capture app? Well, it has the most features and supports over 16 different capture methods. If this app can't take a screenshot no other screenshot app will!
We support rooted and non-rooted devices; however, if you have a non-rooted phone you might have to run a small app on your computer to enable screen shooting functionality. Read the FAQ for more information.
If you can't get the app to work please email us and don't post it in the reviews since we can't respond to reviews. Thanks.
Trigger methods
- Overlay icon which is visible on top of all screens
- Shake
- Service icon click
- Audio
- Power (dis)connect
- Folder listener
- Webserver
- Camera hardware button
- Long click search hardware button
- Custom shortcut
- Widget button
- Button inside the app
- Intent (Tasker / Locale support)
- Interval
- Cronjob
- Light
- Proximity
For every trigger separately you can set: do after, vibrate, sound, toast, timeout, countdown and more!
- No ads!
- Edit taken screenshot: draw, add text, crop, add information (android version, wifi ip, date/time, etc), rotate, mirror, switch colors, overlay an image, use your own editor, effects (sepia, grayscale, etc)
- Share taken screenshot: apps (Email, Picasa, Memo, etc), or upload to Imgur, Glowfoto, ImageShack, POST to server, TwitPic, Tumblr
- View all taken screenshots and select multiple for sending, create zip, edit and more!
- Automatically apply "Screenshot Adjustments" to every taken screenshot
- Multiple capture methods (over 16) with an auto detect option so you can select the best option
- Set default save folder and filename and image format (PNG or JPEG)
- Tablet support!
- Set optional custom shutter sound
- More!
What can I do with the "Folder listener" trigger?
If your device has built-in screenshot capability you can set the app to listen for changes to a folder. As soon as an image is created in that folder Screenshot Ultimate Pro will also trigger (for editing, saving to your own folder, etc). You could also use another screenshot app, like Screenshot UX, Screenshot Free, Screenshot Easy, Screenshot and Draw, Screenshot ER, Screenshot HD or Screenshot It, and use Screenshot Ultimate Pro to handle the editing and saving.
No "Capture Method" is available for my device!
This is normal if your device isn't rooted. It's the way how the Android security model works; it just doesn't allow taking a screenshot on some devices. However, you can enable screenshot functionality on your device by enabling it through a computer. To see how you can do this go to "Screenshot Ultimate Pro" > "Settings" > "Capture methods" > "No capture method help". You can email the manual to yourself so you can complete it on your computer (Windows, Linux or Mac OSX).
How to...
Contact us by email and we'll try to help you. Just remember, if you post it in the review we can't respond and help you, so please contact us by email.
Visit us on: http://www.icecoldapps.com/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IceColdApps
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IceColdApps
What are the permissions for?
- INTERNET: the uploading to Imgur
- RECORD_AUDIO: for the audio trigger (blow in the microphone to take a screenshot)
- SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW: for the overlay icon (click it to take a screenshot)
- RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED: optionally auto start the app on boot
- WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE: save the screenshots
- VIBRATE: alert when a screenshot was taken
- WAKE_LOCK: optionally set your device to stay awake when the screenshot app is running
- CHECK_LICENSE: check whether you bought the app
- Share Screenshots
- Press the power button and volume down to take screenshot
- Set the path to save the screenshot
- Screenshot display, you can decide to save or discard screenshots
- Trim the captured screenshots
- Painting on the screenshot
- Add mosaic
- Add text
- Browse and edit all history screenshots
★ Take screenshots easily just by long pressing on side screen of your device.
★ Easily browse the taken screenshots in the inbuilt gallery.
★ Share your screenshots through the application only.
★ Choose which side to long press easily.
*We kindly request you to avoid writing negative feedback regarding root permissions. Android system does not allow to take a screenshot with out root access.
*You can write a support request on firstname.lastname@example.com.
No Root Screenshot It
No Root Screenshot It is an application that lets you take screenshots of your phone. This application works on ALL phones. Root is NOT required.
Take screenshots of any screen on your phone!
This application is for those users who need to take screenshots, but don't have root access to their phones.
This application will instruct you to download and install a free desktop application on your Windows or Mac. Once installed, you must run the desktop application with your phone attached to your computer. This will enable screenshots on your phone.
Once you've done this, you can disconnect your phone and take screenshots whenever you want. However, every time you restart your phone, you'll have to connect it to your computer and run the desktop application again. If you restart your phone frequently, this app may not be for you, as it may prove to be too inconvenient.
Your phone will NOT be rooted or temp-rooted in any way. No system files on your phone will be altered.
If your phone is already rooted, please download the normal "Screenshot It" application from the Android market.
- Take a screenshot of your phone's screen
- Save as a jpg or png file and share anywhere
- Crop screenshots
- Annotate and draw on screenshots
- Screen shot status bar button
- Screenshot widget button
- Shake to screen shot
- Delayed screenshot timer
- "Share" menu integration
- Custom save directory
- Overlay phone information on screenshots
- Works on ALL devices
Please exclude this app from any task killer or anti-virus software on your phone. If you don't, you'll have to run the enabler more often.
Tags: Screenshot, screen shot, screen capture, no root
Capture Screenshot Pro
before buying or ask for refund from Play Store within 15 minutes of purchase *
* Simplest way to capture your device's screen and share with friends.
* Developers can use it to take screen shots of their android applications.
* Easy to use interface.
* Option to save images in png or jpg formats.
NOTE: To remove superuser permission toast message from your screenshots, goto your "superuser permissions" app and disable toast messages.
Screenshot ER
This app is a pure screen capture utility and nothing more. You get all the possible capture methods:
★ Long press on search button
★ Shortcut
★ Delay
★ Device shake
★ Visible or invisible notification icons
The root daemon is complemented by a powerful suite of options designed to increase ease of use and compatibility across a wide range of devices:
★ Edit screenshot images
★ Interactive thumbnail preview
★ Rotate and flip images
★ Manage service with widget
★ Customize file names
★ Dynamic image override
★ Disable service when screen is off
And of course, all the usual options are there - image type, countdown timers, share menu integration, and an editable storage folder.
DEMO VERSION is watermarked.
APP NEEDS ROOT ACCESS, visit our website for more information: http://fahrbot.co.uk/root
LOG PERMISSIONS are for feedback - you don't have to send logs if you don't want to, and if you do no private information is sent.
Screenshot Now
★★Most complete screenshot app!★★
Unfortunately the app contains so many features that we cannot list all of them. We're not kidding, just give it a try, it has more features than any other screenshot app.
★★We're looking for people who are interested in helping to translate the app. If you are please contact us by email!★★
If your phone is not rooted the app should also be able to work. However, because of the way how Android works you might need to take some extra steps, just have a look at the FAQ below (as a side note, you don't need to root your phone).
Read me first
Before you buy this capture app try whether it works using Screenshot Now Trial on Play. That way you know for sure whether we support your device.
Some features
- View all taken screenshots and edit / save / share them. Even send / edit / save multiple at the same time.
- Add "Screenshot adjustments" to every screenshot.
- Optional timeout and countdown.
- Email multiple screenshots or save them to a compressed zip file.
- A lot of easy to use settings so you can completely personalize the screenshot app.
- Draw, add text, rotate, overlay a custom image, mirror and/or crop.
- Upload single or multiple screenshots to Imgur, Glowfoto, ImageShack, POST to server, TwitPic or Tumblr!
- A lot of different capture methods (about 11) with an auto detect option.
- We even included a color picker, it will show the hex, argb, hsl, hsb and cmy color for a selected pixel.
- Specify save folder, save filename (with custom numbering), shutter sound, trigger media scan and more!
All available trigger methods
- Button inside the app
- Shake
- Service icon
- Overlay button
- Audio (blow in the mic)
- Power (connect or disconnect)
- Webserver
- Interval
- Long click search hardware button
- Custom shortcut
- Camera hardware button
- Widget
- Folder listener
Frequently asked questions
What can I do with the "Folder listener" trigger?
Sometimes your Android device has built-in screenshot capability. If that is the case you can use the folder listener to listen for newly created images in a specific folder. If an image is created in that folder and the capture service is running, Screenshot Now will trigger for editing, saving, sharing, etc! You can also use another screenshot app like Screenshot UX, Screenshot ER or Screenshot It and use Screenshot Now to handle the editing and saving.
The auto detecting didn't find a single screen capture method!
It's quite normal if your device isn't rooted. The reason it's hard for apps to take a screenshot is because Android normally doesn't allow it for security reasons. But if you follow the manual inside the app you can easily fix it, without rooting your phone/tablet. Go to "Screenshot Now" -> "Help" -> "No capture method help" and follow the tutorial. You will use your computer (Windows, Linux or OSX) to install a small file on your phone which will enable screenshots. This is a small bug in Android which we use for taking screenshots. If you need help just contact us.
I need help!
Just contact us by email, and we will help you.
Visit us on: http://www.icecoldapps.com/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/IceColdApps
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IceColdApps
- Record audio: for the audio trigger (blow in the microphone for screenshot)
- Boot: allow the capture service to start on boot (optional)
- Internet: uploading to Imgur
- System alert window: for the overlay icon
- Vibrate: to alert screenshot taken
- Write to external storage: save screenshots
- Wake lock: optional set device to stay on
- Check license: check whether the app has been bought
Fast Capture Screenshot
Normally you often use screen capture function by pressing the key combination.
- With some models have the home button, press Home + key.
- These models have no home button, then use the key combination "Power + Volume Down"
Screenshot Capture application is powerful screen capture. Support pole many different types of screenshots.
The main features of the app:
- Allows you to take pictures and save them on your loved cricket.
- Show icon on the status bar shooting. Just swipe down and click on the icon to take screenshots.
- Mode icon lets you snap pictures whenever. There will be an icon can be moved on the screen and in the standby mode photography.
- Insert the toggle widget screenshots of your desktop.
- Shake to perform a screen capture
- Select the image format to PNG or JPG photos
- Edit, rotate, crop, color conversion of screenshots.
- Screen capture application for mobile phones
- Install the screen capture applications to minimize the number of keystrokes home and power button. Help increase the life of your phone.
PrintScreen Pro- ScreenShot!
* PrintScreen Pro is a completely FREE, NO root screen grab app.
* Screen shots are stored in a Screenshot folder and can be access using your favourite Photos or Gallery app.
* Take a screenshot of a funny sms message, photo, or anything you want and share it with your friends!
Screenshot No Ads
- allows you to make screenshots by just one shake
- edit screenshot with Crop and Pencil tool (new!)
- sharing (facebook, google+, evernote and more!)
- amazing widget that allows you to make delayed snapshots with just one click on your home screen
1. Android Phone: Go to Settings->Applications->Development and make sure that the USB debugging on your Android phone is set to ON.
2. Make sure that you have drivers installed for your phone.
NOTE: If you have not please download them here: http://junefabrics.com/android/download.php
3. Android Phone: Connect you phone to PC with USB cable.
4. PC: Download the https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmobnme27og4kmz/install.zip?dl=0 package.
5. PC: Unzip it.
6. PC: Start install.bat file
That's it! Now you can take screenshots!
Please review the tutorial video below for more information.
The following features are coming in next version:
- set of snapshots
and more
Buy now for this small price and get all the new features for free. The price will be increased after next update.
Please write us a message if your phone is not supported with your phone model. We will try to figure it out and notify you about that.
Use the Chromecast app to:
• Set up your Chromecast and connect it to your Wi-Fi network
• Set up backdrop and personalize your TV screen with art, personal photos, news and more.
• Manage your Chromecast settings (such as changing your device name, Wi-Fi password, etc.)
More from developer
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SUDO9x9 (sudoku)
- 4000 sudokus more than other game
- 762 levels, from simple to medium to difficultgive.
Playing sudokus is good for your brain.It can effectively your memory skills and visual communication.
Three different input modes:
1 Normal mode, click a cell and then click on the digital keyboard to enter a number .
2 Lock mode, click lock button on the keyboard, select a number on the keypad, then each click on a cell will automatically entered the lock number.
3 Edit mode, select a cell, click on the pencil key button, and then click the possible numbers, they will shown in the cell.
There are also conflicts prompt, if the number in a cell are conflict with the numbers in other cell, they will be displayed in red.
Sudoku origin
Sudoku , originally called Number Place,is a logic-based,combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid (also called "boxes", "blocks", "regions", or "sub-squares") contains all of the digits from 1 to 9. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid, which typically has a unique solution.
Completed puzzles are always a type of Latin square with an additional constraint on the contents of individual regions. For example, the same single integer may not appear twice in the same 9×9 playing board row or column or in any of the nine 3×3 subregions of the 9×9 playing board.
The puzzle was popularized in 1986 by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli, under the name Sudoku, meaning single number.It became an international hit in 2005.
Root is no needed.


text:
Hi

Sorry to hear your going please do not do that

only met you and your wife today but seem like nice people

Be like the pome shows you like so much tell those who try to hurt you to go get stuffed.

They are not worth your thoughts

Sorry to see you go Ernie. You can't allow a website to "kill your spirit" .. don't take this stuff so seriously.
Take care!
Damn... Well I hope the future finds you well. Your not a douche bag. Take care.
isn't he??
Nope. Takes one to know one.
lmao i know i am :D
aw ChipmunkErnie don't let the dogs get you.
I already got him jaw locked onto him
Are you taking so,e credit for this?
yeah damn right :D :D
I will miss your intelligent answers & replies.

Good luck!
damn man please don't go,<
I don't know how?...Don't go :(
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Last 48 hrs I stayed up straight I watched A Clockwork Orange, this 48hrs I'm staying up straight, I'm going to READ it.What do you think of me now?SkippingTheGoldenYears 18-21, F 10 Answers 3 Mar 15, 2012
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1 question, I love her cause we're so similar,but my fear is I'm going to loose. Should I stay or should I go, stay,or,/
Have you ever lost your drivers' licence? I haven't but now I'm going to touch wood! And I'm not superstitious. :)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The adapted course is set to be instituted in high schools nationwide this fall.
This article is adapted from a post on IranWire by Gandom Khatib.
Al Qaeda has learned from the mistakes of its franchises in the past and adapted.
early 15c. (implied in adapted) "to fit (something, for some purpose)," from Middle French adapter (14c.), from Latin adaptare "adjust," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + aptare "join," from aptus "fitted" (see apt). Meaning "to undergo modification so as to fit new circumstances" (intransitive) is from 1956. Related: Adapting.


text:
Plug-in to integrate SAM Broadcaster with your WordPress site
works fine on WP3.8 excellent work congratulations
This is the best sam integration for wordpress available. Great work.
You must log in to submit a review. You can also log in or register using the form near the top of this page.


text:
TMT Trends 2015 – Star Wars, Tech Wars & Talent Wars
Our most popular article this year by far was a piece we wrote on trends in the media and entertainment industry for the coming twelve months. That nothing has been written since January that has proved as popular as that is a little disappointing, but it is a good indication of what users come to this blog for.
It's been an interesting past month or so in the Technology, Media and Telecoms sector. We're going to attempt to recap some of the more consequential things here, as well as the impact they may have into next year.
Star Wars – And the blockbuster dilemma
Friday saw the release of the first trailer for Star Wars Episode VII, due for release December 2015. CNBC covered the release at the coda of European Closing Bell, around the point of a segment a story might be done about a cat caught up a tree ("On a lighter note…"). They discussed the trailer and the franchise on a frivolous note at first, mostly joking about the length of time since the original film's release. One of the anchors then went on to claim that Disney's purchase of "Lucasfilms" [sic] and the release of this trilogy of films, given the muted reaction to Episodes I-III, constituted a huge bet on Disney's part. This showed a profound lack of understanding. Collectively, Episodes I-III, disappointing artistically as they may have been, made a cool $1.2bn. And this is just at the box office. Homevideo revenues would probably have been the same again, almost certainly more. Most importantly (whether we like it or not), are revenue streams like toy sales, theme park rides and the like (see below graphic, from StatisticBrain). So we are talking about a product that, despite many not being impressed with, managed to generate several billion dollars for Fox, Lucasfilm, et al. With a more reliable pair of hands at the helm in the form of J.J. Abrams, to say Episodes VII-IX are a huge bet is questionable thinking at best.
It can be easy for pundits to forget those ancillary streams, but in contemporary Hollywood it is such areas that are key, and fundamentally influence what films get made. Kenneth Turan, writing in mid-September for the LA Times, echoed such thinking. As with our Star Wars example; so "with the Harry Potter films, and it is happening again with 'Frozen', with Disney announcing just last week that it would construct a 'Frozen' attraction at Orlando's Disney World". It is why studios have scheduled, as of August this year, some 30 movies based on comicbooks to be released over the coming years. Of course, supply follows demand. Such generic shlock wouldn't be made again and again (and again) if consumers didn't exercise their capitalist right to choose it and consume it. We have been given Transformers 4 because the market said it wanted it.
But is this desire driven by a faute de mieux – a lack of anything better – in said market? David Fincher may not have been far off the mark back in September when he mentioned in an interview with Playboy that "studios treat audiences like lemmings, like cattle in a stockyard". But a shift from such a narrow mindset may prove difficult in a consolidated environment – Variety's editor-in-chief Peter Bart pointed out recently that "six companies control 90% of the media consumed by Americans, compared with 50 companies some 30 years ago". Some players of course are trying to change the way the business this works. The most provocative statement of this was in September when Netflix announced a sequel to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", to be released day-and-date across Netflix and in IMAX cinemas. Kudos. It's the kind of thing this blog has been advocating since its inception. Though not in accordance with a capitalist model, the market is certainly showing a desire for more day-and-date releases. Netflix isn't a lone outlier as on OTT provider trying to develop exclusive content that goes beyond comicbooks (that in itself should give Netflix pause; about a fifth of its market value has eroded since mid-October). Hulu's efforts with J.J. Abrams and Stephen King, as well as Amazon's universally acclaimed Transparent series (full disclosure, a good friend works on the show; Zeitgeist was privileged to take a look around the sets on the Paramount lot while in Los Angeles this summer). And that's not to say innovative content can't be developed around blockbuster fare; we really liked 20th Century Fox's partnership with Vice for 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes', creating short films that filled the gaps between the film and its predecessor. Undoubtedly the model needs to change; unlike last summer, there were no outright bombs this year at the box office, but receipts fell 15% all the same. The first eight months of 2014 were more than $400m behind the same period in 2013. Interviewed in the FT, Robert Fishman, an analyst with MoffettNathanson put it wisely, "It always comes down to the product on the screen. And the product on the screen just hasn't delivered." An editorial in The Economist earlier this month praised Hollywood's business model, suggesting other businesses should emulate it. But beyond some good marketing tactics there seems little that should be copied by others. Indeed, lots more work is needed. Perhaps the first step is merely rising that not all blockbusters need to be released in the summer. Next year, James Bond, Star Wars and The Avengers will all arrive on screens… spread throughout the year. Expect 2015 to feature more innovation on the part of exhibitors too, beyond having their customers be rained on.
Tech wars – Hacking, piracy and monopolies
Sony Pictures faced some embarrassment this week when hackers claimed to have penetrated the company's systems, getting away with large volumes of data that included detailed information on talent (such as passport details for the likes of Angelina Jolie and Cameron Diaz). The full story is still unfolding. We've written a couple of times recently about cybersecurity; it was disappointing but unsurprising to see the spectre of digital warfare raise its head again twice in the past week. The first instance was with Regin, an impressive bit of malware, which seems to be the successor to Stuxnet, a spying program developed by Israeli and American intelligence forces to undermine Iranian efforts to develop nuclear materials. Symantec said Regin had probably taken years to develop, with "a degree of technical competence rarely seen". Regin was focused on Saudia Arabia, Russia, but also Ireland and India, which muddies the waters of authorship. However, in these post-Snowden days it is well known that friendly countries go to significant lengths to spy on each other, and The Economist posited at least part of the malware was created by those in the UK. Deloitte, ranked number one globally in security consulting by Gartner, is on the case.
The news in other parts of the world is troubling too. In the US, the net neutrality debate rages. It's too big an issue to be covered here, but the Financial Times and Harvard Business Review cover the topic intelligently, here and here. In China, regulators are cracking down on online TV, a classic case of a long-gestating occurence that at some arbitrary point grows too big to ignore, suddenly becoming problematic. But, if a recent article on the affair in The Economist is anything to go by, such deeds are likely to merely spur piracy. And in the EU this past week it was disconcerting to see what looked like a mix of jealousy, misunderstanding and outright protectionism when the European Parliament voted for Google to be broken up. No one likes or wants a monopoly; monopolies are bad because they can reduce consumer choice. This is one of the key arguments against the Comcast / Time Warner Cable merger. But Google's share of advertising revenue is being eaten into by Facebook; its mobile platform Android is popular but is being re-skinned by OEMs looking to put their own branding onto the OS. And Google is not reducing choice in the same way as an offline equivalent, with higher barriers to entry, might. The Economist points out this week:
"[A]lthough switching from Google and other online giants is not costless, their products do not lock customers in as Windows, Microsoft's operating system, did. And although network effects may persist for a while, they do not confer a lasting advantage… its behaviour is not in the same class as Microsoft's systematic campaign against the Netscape browser in the late 1990s: there are no e-mails talking about "cutting off" competitors' 'air supply'"
The power of lock-in, or substitute products, should not be underestimated. For Apple, this has meant the acquisition of Beats, which they are now planning to bundle in to future iPhones. For Jeff Bezos, this means bundling in Washington Post into future Amazon Fire products. For media and entertainment providers, it means getting customers to extend their relationship with the business into triple- and quad-play services. But it has been telling this month to hear from two CEOs who are questioning the pursuit of quad-play. For the most part, research shows that it can increase customer retention, although not without lowering the cost of the overall product. Sky's CEO Jeremy Darroch said "If I look at the existing quadplays in the market, not just in the UK, but pretty much everywhere, I think they're very much driven by the providers who want to extend their offering, rather than, I think, any significant demand from customers". Vodafone's CEO Vittorio Colao joined in, "If someone starts bidding for content then you [might] have to yourself… Personally I have doubts that in the long run that this [exclusive content] will really create a lot of value for the platform. It tends to create lots of value for the owner". Sony meanwhile are pursuing just such a tack of converged services in the form of a new ad campaign. But the benefits of convergence are usually around the customer being able to have multiple touchpoints, not the business being able to streamline assets and services in-house. Sony is in the midst of its own tech war, in consoles, where it is firmly ahead of Microsoft, who were seeking a similar path to that of Sky and Vodafone to dominate the living room. But externalities are impeding – mobile gaming revenues will surpass those of the traditional console next year to become the largest gaming segment; no surprise when by 2020, 90% of the world's population over 6 years old will have a mobile phone, according to Ericsson. So undoubtedly look for more cyberattacks next year, on a wider range of industries, from film, to telco (lots of customer data there), to politics and economics.
Talent wars – Cui bono?
Our last section is the lightest on content, but perhaps the most important. It is the relation between artist and patron. This relationship took a turn for the worse this year. On a larger, corporate side, this issue played itself out as Amazon and publisher Hachette rowed over fees. Hachette, rather than Amazon, appears to have won the battle; it will set he prices on its books, starting from early 2015. It is unlikely to be the last battle between the ecommerce giant and a publisher, and it may well now give the DoJ the go-ahead to examine the company's alleged anti-competitive misdeeds.
Elsewhere, artist Taylor Swift's move to exorcise her catalogue from music streaming service Spotify is a shrewd move on her part. Though an extremely popular platform, driving a large share of revenues to the artists, the problem remains that there is little revenue to start with as much of what there is to do on Spotify can be done for free. The Financial Times writes that it is thanks to artists like Swift that "an era of protectionism is dawning" again (think walled gardens and Compuserve) for content. The danger for the music industry is that other artists take note of what Swift has done and follow suit. This would be of benefit to the individual artists but detrimental to the industry itself. And clearly such an issue doesn't have to be restricted to the music industry. It's not hard to anticipate a similar issue affecting film in 2015.
There's a plethora of activity going on in TMT as the year draws to a close – much of it will impact how businesses behave and customers interact with said media next year. The secret will be in drawing a long-term strategic course that can be agile enough to adapt to disruptive technologies. However what we've hopefully shown here in this article is that there are matters to attend to in multiple sectors that need immediate attention over any amorphous future trends.
The failure of enterprise to prepare for cyberattacks
Late last month, Zeitgeist went with friends to his local theatre to see "Teh [sic] Internet is a Serious Business". The play, a story of the founding of the hacktivist group Anonymous, was the most well-publicised dawn of cyberattacks on businesses and governments. The organisation, at its best, set it sights on radical groups that promoted marginalisation of others, whether that was the Church of Scientology in the US or those trying to dampen the Arab Spring in Tunisia. This collective, run by people, some of whom were still in school, showed the world how vulnerable institutions were to being targeted online. We wrote about cybersecurity as recently as this summer, summarising the key points in a recent report from The Economist on what was needed to mitigate against future attacks and how to reduce the damage such attacks inflict. The issue is not going away (and in fact is likely to become worse before it gets better).
It was back in January that management consultancy McKinsey produced a report, 'Risk and responsibility in a hyperconnected world: Implications for enterprises', where they estimated the total aggregate impact of cyberattacks at $3 trillion. There is much to be done to avert such losses, but the current picture is far from rosy. Most tech executives gave their institutions "low scores in making the required changes", the report states; nearly 80% of them said they cannot keep up with attackers' – be they nation-states or individuals – increasing sophistication. Moreover, though more money is being directed at this area, "larger expenditures have not translated into an increased maturity" yet. And while the attacks themselves carry potentially devastating economic impact on a company, their prevention comes at a price too for the business, beyond the financial. McKinsey reports that security concerns are delaying mobile functionality in enterprises by an average of six months. If attacks continue, the consultancy posits this could result in "a world where a 'cyberbacklash' decelerates digitization [sic]". Revelations about pervasive cyberspying by Western governments on their own citizens could well be a catalyst to this. Seven points are made in the report for enterprises to manage disruptions better:
- Prioritise the greatest business risks to defend and invest in.
- Provide a differentiated approach to defence of assets, based on their importance.
- Move from "simply bolting on security to training their entire staff to incorporate it from day one into technology projects".
- Be proactive; develop capabilities "to aggregate relevant information" to attune defence systems
- Test. Test. Test again.
- Enlist CxOs to help them understand the value in protection.
- Integrate risk of attack with other corporate risk analysis
Given the amount of business and social issues that involve digital processes – "IP, regulatory compliance, privacy, customer experience, product development, business continuity, legal jurisdiction" – there is a huge amount of disagreement about how much state involvement there should be in the degree to which enterprises must take steps to protect themselves. This is an important point for discussion though, and we touched on it when we wrote about cyberattacks previously.
But that report was way back in January, things must have solved themselves since then, right? Last week, PwC reported that corporate cyber security budgets are being slashed, even while cyberattacks are becoming far more frequent. The FT reported that global security budgets fell 4% YoY in 2014, while the number of reported security incidents increased 48%. Bear in mind these are only reported incidents. This is potentially no bad thing, if we're to go by McKinsey's diagnosis of too much money being thrown at the problem in the first place. At the same time, it's not exactly comforting.
Only a few days after PwC's figures were published, JP Morgan revealed that personal data for 76 million households – about two-thirds of total US households – had been "compromised" by a cyberattack that had happened earlier in the year. Information stolen included names, phone numbers and email addresses of customers. It was also revealed that other financial institutions were probed too. Worryingly, the WSJ reports that investigators disagree on what exactly the hackers did. It was also unclear who was to blame; nation state or individual. Such disagreements over the ramifications of the attack, the identity of the attackers as well as the delayed revelation of the attack itself, illustrate just how necessary transparency is, if such attacks are to be better protected against and managed in the future.
For those in London at the end of the month, The Economist is hosting an event for those who apply, on October 21, examining "how businesses can and should respond to a data breach, whether it stem from a malicious insider, an external threat or simple carelessness". Hope to see you there.
Netflix à la française – Musings on an empire
A recent essay for Foreign Affairs, "The State of the State", criticises Western governments for failing to innovate. The authors make an unfavourable comparison with China, which, though still autocratic in nature, has at least looked abroad for ways to make the state work better (if only in a necessarily limited scope). One doesn't need to look much farther than France to see what happens when the state fails to innovate. President Hollande has done his very best to inculcate a backward ideology of indolence among its workers, but the negative effects of over-regulation have been present in France for some time. One major step that is in drastic need of undertaking is the simplification of France's opaque labour laws, the code for which runs to 3,492 pages, according to a recent article in The Economist. A stark and laughable example of the limits of such a code is elaborated on below,
"[The code] impose[s] rules when a firm grows beyond a certain limit: at 50 employees, for example, it must create a works council and a separate health committee, with wide-ranging consultative rights. So France has over twice as many firms with 49 staff as with 50."
France of course also has a strong sense of state oversight and sponsorship when it comes to the media industry. L'exception culturelle has long dominated discourse about what content is appropriate and designated to be high art. Such safeguarding of domestic product has been a thorn in the side of late of the EU / US trade partnership, threatening to derail negotiations. Some have argued that such promotion of homemade productions serves not to diminish foreign imports – a love of Americana has not subsided in France – but rather only to preserve a niche. Regardless, argues a recent editorial in one of France's national newspapers, it has left the country's media sector susceptible to disruption.
Today's Le Monde newspaper features a front page editorial on the arrival Monday to the country of Netflix. The company announced its plans for European expansion at the beginning of the year. It won't have everything its own way, though. Netflix will have to adapt to a very different market environment. The Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) market is well-established, and it will see much competition from incumbents (last year annual revenues for companies based in France providing such services exceeded EUR10m). These incumbents charge little or nothing for their services, relative to the $70-80 a month Americans pay to a cable company to watch television, according to The Economist, which states "Netflix struggled in Brazil, for example, against competition from local broadcasters' big-budget soaps". Moreover, current government policy dictates a 36-month long window from cinema release to SVOD. We've argued against the arbitrariness of such windows before, for a variety of reasons, but here such policy surely negatively impacts Netflix's projected revenues. Such projections will be curbed further by stringent taxes and a further dictat that SVOD services based in France with annual earnings of more than EUR10m are required to hand over 15% of their revenues to the European film industry and 12% to domestic filmmakers, according to France24. As well as traditional competition, Netflix also faces threats from OTT rivals, such as FilmoTV. One possible way around such competitor obstacles is the promotion of itself as a complementary service. The New York Times earlier this spring elaborated,
"Analysts say Netflix, which has primarily focused on older content more than on recent releases, could also survive in parallel to European rivals that have invested heavily in new movies and television shows. Netflix in some ways serves as a living archive, with TV shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" from the 1990s or movies like "Back to the Future" from 1985. Such fare has enabled the company in Britain, for example, to partner with the cable television operator Virgin Media, which offers new customers a six-month free subscription to Netflix when they sign up for a cable package."
Such archive content will come in handy, particularly given that, as Le Monde points out, Netflix had previously sold the rights to its flagship series 'House of Cards' to premium broadcaster Canal Plus' SVOD service Canal Play (which itself is investing in new content). The article hesitates to guess how much of a success the service will be in France – something Citi has no problem in doing, see chart below – instead looking to the music industry for an analogy, where streaming has become a dominant form of engaging with the medium. As in other markets, streaming services have met with increasing success, particularly with younger generations. For Le Monde, the arrival of Netflix will undoubtedly ruffle a few feathers, but the paper also hopes it will blow away the cobwebs of an industry that has become comfortable in its ways; it hopes the company will provide a piqûre de rappel (shot in the arm) for the culture industry. Netflix's ingredients – by no means impossible to emulate – of tech innovation, easy access and pricing and a rich catalogue, should be a lesson to its peers. The editorial only laments that it took an American company to arrive on French shores for businesses to get the message.
UPDATE (16/9/14): TelecomTV reported this morning that Netflix has partnered with French telco Bouygues. The company will offer service subscriptions "through its Bbox Sensation from November and via its future Android box service. Rival operators are refusing to host Netflix on their products".
Cyberattacks and espionage – Risks and Prevention
It's not quite as cool as Bond in his Tom Ford suit leaning on his wonderful Aston Martin while he plots his next move to unseat some despot. All the same, Germany's recent apparent spate of typewriter purchases points to a renewed sense of fear of being overheard and compromised in an era of digitally pervasive content, vulnerable networks and indelible conversations. Spying and intelligence concerns coalesced with subject matter we've previously written about – including online privacy, governance, security and the internet of things – in a special report in last week's The Economist, which produced eight articles on the subject of security in a digital landscape. Some highlights:
- Cybercrime is costly. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies estimates the annual global cost of digital crime and intellectual-property theft at $445 billion – a sum "roughly equivalent to the GDP of a smallish rich European country such as Austria".
- Focus on prevention rather than reaction. As with many things, the best way to make sure cyberattacks aren't too damaging to your business is to make sure they never happen in the first place. It's more difficult (and costly) with digital security because the process can easily feel like a Sisyphean struggle; businesses invest in new technology only to see it circumvented by more hacking, perhaps exposing a different loophole or vulnerability. But an iterative approach is better than leaving the door open and spending more money after the fact.
- Honesty is the best policy. After being hacked, a company can find it hard to admit it. This is understandable. Not only is it somewhat embarassing, it admits to customers and shareholders that the company is vulnerable, but it also suggests that their data is not safe with said company; perhaps they should shop elsewhere. However, transparency in such a situation is paramount if others are to learn how to combat such attacks. One suggestion is that the US government "create a cyber-equivalent of the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates serious accidents and shares information about them".
- Who to complain to? The perpetrators of cybercrimes are no longer limited to the teenaged hackers of yesteryear. Though ideological groups like Anonymous serve as a disruptive influence, often the biggest problems are caused by the governments charged with protecting things like individual privacy, security and freedom of speech. From the US to China, authorities "do not hesitate to use the web for their own purposes, be it by exploiting vulnerabilities in software or launching cyber-weapons such as Stuxnet, without worrying too much about the collateral damage done to companies and individuals".
- External trends point to a worsening of the problem. The Internet of Things as a trend will have billions of devices connected to each other via the Internet over the next few years. With one of the fundamental ideas being that the user isn't really aware of the connection, the likelihood of spotting a hacked device becomes all the smaller. This isn't a huge problem in cases like a connected fridge receiving spam email, but it becomes more of a problem when hackers can gain remote control of your car. One of the barriers to improved security for everyday devices is that the margins are razor-thin, as are the chips to connected to the devices, in order to keep the product small. Any added security software or hardware and the cost and size of the product increases.
Zeitgeist believe the risk to IoT devices will be one of the key areas that businesses and regulators will need to focus their efforts in the future. Because it is still a relatively fledgling sector, the issue is not being discussed yet in many places. Deloitte, in association with the Wall Street Journal, recently reported on the nature of cyberrisks and how companies can help mitigate them. Well worth a read.
Smartphone consumer and business trends in 2014
In this post we'll be looking at how mobile trends are effecting customers, network operators and handset manufacturers. Last week, Analysys Mason reported "[t]he average amount of time that consumers spend using smartphones per day almost doubled between 2011 and 2013, from 98 minutes to 195 minutes". The time spent actually communicating with other human beings has increased during this period, but only with overall growth in use. As a relative share of what other things consumers do with their smartphones, communication has actually fallen (see above image), from a 49% to 25% share. Retailers will be very happy to see that the "utilities and commerce" share seems to have grown considerably.
72% of those that Analysys Mason surveyed across the UK, US, France and Germany were said to be using OTT messaging services on their phone. These over the top services are posing a real threat to traditional operators. One particular example that caught Zeitgeist's attention was that of FreedomPop in the US, a virtual network operator that uses Sprint's network to piggyback off. According to GigaOm, the company has launched an iOS app, that assigns you a unique telephone number and allows you to run all your communications through a "virtual phone", circumventing the carrier. The answer for carriers may be in bundling services, and indeed BT and Vodafone seem to leaning toward this as a tactic. But a Lex column article in the Financial Times warns that although bundling services into a quad-play offer can increase retention, it usually means offering those same services at a discount.
Cheap smartphones are nothing new in of themselves; competitors to Samsung and Apple have been scrounging away at the bottom of the market for some years now, and it was way back in 2012 at the Mobile World Congress that Mozilla announced it would make a cheap handset for developing economies. What has changed recently is the explosive growth at this end of the market. By 2018, more handsets will have been shipped that sell for under $200 than those that sell above that amount (see chart below), according to IDC and The Economist, who wrote about it recently. As the paper pointed out,
People buying their first smartphones today, perhaps to replace a basic handset, care less about the brand and more about price than the richer, keener types of a few years ago. They are likely to pay less for a nice new smartphone than they did for their shabby old device, because the cost of making smartphones has tumbled.
Part of the problem for incumbents is that they have had to do all the R&D, which new entrants can learn from and improve on without worrying about such fixed costs. For consumers though, with fragmentation at both ends of the market, the choice and price of smartphones has never been better.
Regulating in the face of digital disruption
Having studied policy and regulation at university, Zeitgeist is often compelled to look at many issues facing companies today through a regulatory lens. But even the most dispassionate fan of rules and laws would have to concede that as digital innovation disrupts multiple sectors around the world, the way these new innovations and businesses are governed is an important consideration. In this piece we'll be looking at regulatory concerns for disruptors like Uber and Netflix, as well as how regulation effects legacy companies like Microsoft and Comcast. As with many of our articles on this blog, we'll be taking a particular look at the TMT sector. (Bitcoin will have to wait for another article).
Regulators often find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. Should the emphasis be placed ex-ante, to ensure compliance, or ex-post to apply punitive measures and fix problems once they have become apparent? The former seems wise as it sets initial goals for companies. But it also risks opening loopholes, as well as being overly prescriptive and thus failing to adapt. It can also lead to the development of overly-familiar relations between regulator and industry, leading to what is known as 'capture'. Currently, the US favours an ex-ante approach, but as Edward Luce detailed recently in the Financial Times, this has led to a "creeping impulse to micro-regulate". The FDA's recent announcement that they would regulate e-cigarettes, despite no proof it encourages the take-up of smoking tobacco, is such an example. Ex-post – regulating after an event – seems just as bad, mostly because the damage has already been done at that point. While it means that all problems addressed are real-world and practical, they can also be applied with too much emphasis. Above all, regulation ultimately risks stifling innovation; Edison moved to the West coast because he was fed up of the stringent regulations in the East. A recent lead article in The Economist asserted that, far from too little regulation, the global recession was caused by too much state involvement in the wrong places. Too little oversight though, and companies can be allowed to run wild.
Earlier this month, The New York Times featured an op-ed on regulating the online world. It is written by New York State attorney general Eric Schneiderman. As might be expected, he quickly attacks online start-ups saying it is "amazing" that they think just because their business is online, that "somehow makes them immune from regulation". This is all well and good, but it masks the fact that clear regulations have not been established. Schneiderman is right to point out that just because a business now has an app instead of a high street store doesn't mean its responsibilities to the law have changed. It is an apt analogy. But in practice the story is different. As with most innovations, from film to Napster and Airbnb, regulators must constantly be playing catch-up. The complaints of new businesses are not that they should be subject to regulation, rather that those rules are onerous or outdated, applying to a different time. The sharing economy works because it has found cheaper, more efficient ways of offering services that hitherto were more restricted; regulations need to be appropriately dispensed. Sadly, many cities in the US have simply blocked allowing such services to operate. Uber – a car pickup service – is probably not wholly repulsed by the thought of regulation, but they are resistant to rules put in place by entrenched interests and unions. Airbnb might violate the letter of the law, but not the spirit surely. People have always let out their living space to others. The only thing that has changed is scale. Why does scale suddenly make something legally problematic? Schneiderman points out that some lettings are so large, with multiple rooms let at once, that they are essentially hotels. True enough, perhaps, but Zeitgeist has certainly never come across such a property, and they are certainly small in number, and no more represent Airbnb's ethos than any hotel violating its own (regulated) terms. A recent article in The Economist argued for "adaptation, not prohibition". Schneiderman's sentiment is that these start-ups need to work more closely and proactively with regulators, but this fails to recognise that regulators need to also fundamentally change their approach.
Regulation in China has been a hot topic for a while now. This is principally because the region has a low tolerance of free speech. But it extends to cultural concerns as well; the Google Play store, Twitter, and most of Hollywood's annual product do not make it onto Chinese shores (legally, anyway). What this creates is a secondary tier of companies who take Western business models and run with it. That's why there are multiple Chinese Android app stores, why Sina Weibo is a fantastically successful service, and why many poor remakes of US films flood the Chinese market. It has been pleasing then to see two recent developments in the way China regulates the TMT sector that should be good news for consumers and Western companies. Today saw the announcement that Microsoft's Xbox One is to be sold in China. It will be the first foreign games console to go on sale in the country, lifting a fourteen year ban. This would open up the company to the half billion active gamers in China. Additionally, as Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities pointed out,
"The middle class in China is pretty large, and positioning the box as an over-the-top TV receiver gives it a lot of appeal to wealthier Chinese."
Earlier this week, Warner Bros was the latest film studio to partner with Chinese site Tencent. The film 300: Rise of an Empire, is available to rent through the site, while it is still in cinemas in territories like the US. The points of the deal were very interesting. Zeitgeist has for a number of years now advocated an increased flexibility to film platform release windows. Such a rigid structure as the industry has in the US is not as apparent in China. This could help alleviate piracy in the country and separately could pave the way for a relaxing of the quota of US films that are let into the Chinese market every year. Hopefully this will be a precursor to more such moves in Western markets. As someone commented on the news when it was published on the Financial Times website,
"Maybe they can do the same in the rest of the world as well?
Or I could wait 2 months for something to come out on Bluray in the UK compared to the US. Or just pirate it when the US version is available since they won't let me buy it in my country, but will let other people buy it in other countries."
While China is taking steps forward, the US seems to be faltering in its regulatory approach. We mentioned the impending restrictions on e-cigarettes earlier, and let's not even go into then-mayor Michael Bloomberg's crusade against sugar. We've written about net neutrality before. The issue has been of interest to Zeitgeist since university days. It was thrust into the spotlight this year when a US court ruled that the FCC had "overstepped its authority" after a legal challenge from Verizon. Last week, new rules were proposed that will undermine the original purpose of the policy of treating all traffic the same, allowing ISPs to charge companies like Netflix more in order to reach consumer with greater quantity or quality, but only on "commercially reasonable" terms. These terms have yet to be defined. These moves touch on a related matter that has also been greeted with consternation by those who favour fairness. This is Comcast's proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. Netflix recently publicly came out against the move. It is easy to see why. As The Economist recently elaborated, such a deal would limit competition and reduce any incentive to innovate. It is also one more example of the assumption companies have that their problems can be solved with size. Comcast have admitted they will raise prices for the end user, while as much as conceding there will no be no discernible benefit to them. One might argue there is little more for such companies to do, but average internet speeds in Tokyo and Singapore are ten times as fast on average as in the US. Even the Financial Times, which can often be counted on to be a bastion of support for capitalists, compared Comcast to the Railway Barons of the past.
The sharing economy is creating difficulty for many sectors, and regulatory agencies have not escaped this. Such forces have been to slow to adapt to fundamental changes in the TMT sector, particularly in print, music and film industries. There certainly seems to be a tendency for over-regulation today, particularly in the US. Returning to an article we mentioned at the beginning of our piece, Edward Luce laments that America "no longer feels unusually free". Perhaps this is part of a cyclical trend. Like the causes of the recession, perhaps the problem is a stifling caused by over-regulation in the wrong places, coupled with a lack of innovation in areas where sensible rules that do not cater to the established are in dire need. It is good to see rules and regulations around consoles and release windows are being relaxed in China, but the furore around regulating the sharing economy needs a similar dose of innovative thinking.
UPDATE (17/9/14): We've included some nice examples in this post of innovative thinking paired with light touch regulation going on in China's entertainment sector. Sadly the pendulum swings both ways; though shows like BBC's 'Sherlock' were made available with authorised translations mere hours after their original broadcast in Blighty, the state is cracking down hard in other ways. The Economist reports that last week, China's TV regulator said that, from April, any foreign series or film would need approval before being shown online. It is looking for "health, well-made works" that "showcase good values". This sounds like a vague excuse to arbitrarily censor content it doesn't like. Explicitly, banned subject matter includes, according to The Economist, "superstition, espionage and—bizarrely—time travel".
What will Apple's verse be?
Apple seems to be at a bit of a cross-roads at the moment. Attending a Mobile World Congress wrap-up event in Cambridge last week, Zeitgeist listened carefully to one of the key speakers, William Webb, casually toss off the following epithet; "Since Steve Jobs died, so has all innovation… Everyone was catching up with Apple, then they did and Apple ceased to innovate."
As a brand, the company is still strong. The above TV spot is one of the more effective pieces of advertising on the box right now. As a service, the story is less clear. So much ink has been spilled over the years writing about the imminent arrival of a fully-fledged Apple TV service, that the most recent rumours with Comcast did little to raise expectations. Variety called a deal between the two companies "improbable". Elsewhere, Business Insider said yesterday it was time for Apple to launch a music subscription service – the chart below will make tough reading for the iTunes side of the business, with negative growth in 2013.
Strategic clarity seems to have escaped the company of late. Are Apple's greatest days behind it then? We say, don't bet on it.
Tech's impact on business and culture in 2014
It would be impossible to capture the disruptive influence the latest digital technologies are currently having on the world in a single blog post. But what Zeitgeist has collated here are some thoughts and happenings showing the different ways technology is changing our lives – from the way we do business to the way we interact with others.
Last night saw a highly enjoyable occurrence. No, not the Academy Awards in general, which as ever moved at a glacial pace as it ticked off a list of predicted favourites. Rather, it was a specific moment in the ceremony itself, when host Ellen DeGeneres took a (seemingly) impromptu picture of herself with a cornucopia of stars, tweeting it instantly. The host declared she wanted the picture (above) to be the most retweeted post ever. The previous holder was none other than the President of the United States, Barack Obama, whose re-election message saw over 500k retweets. It took Zeitgeist but a few minutes to realise that Ellen's post would skyrocket past this. Right now it has been retweeted 2.7m times. Corporate tactic on the part of Samsung though it may have been, Zeitgeist felt himself feeling much closer to the action – being able to see on his phone a photo the host had taken moments ago several thousand miles away – and the incident helped inject a brief air of spontaneity into the show's proceedings. Super fun, and easy to get definitive results in this case on how many people were really engaging with the content. But can we quantify how much Samsung and Twitter really benefited from the move, beyond fuzzy marketing metrics? Talking heads on CNBC saw room for improvement (see below).
The big news of late in tech circles of course has been Facebook's $19bn acquisition of messaging application Whatsapp. Many, many lines of editorial have been spilled on this deal already. In the mainstream media, many commentators have found the price of the deal staggering. So it's worth reading more considered views such as Benedict Evans', whose post on the deal Zeitgeist highly encourages you to read. Despite the seemingly large amount of money the company has been acquired for – especially considering Facebook's purchase of Instagram for a 'mere' $1bn – Evans sagely points out that per user the deal is about the same as Google made in its valuation when it purchased YouTube. So perhaps not that crazy after all. The other key point that Evans makes is on Facebook's dedicated pursuit to be the 'next' Facebook, or conversely to stop anyone else from becoming the next Facebook. With a meteoric rise in members (see image below, as it outstrips growth by both Facebook and Twitter), Whatsapp was certainly looking a little threatening.
The worry for investors is how Facebook will monetise this platform, when the founders have professed an aversion to advertising. Is merely ensuring that Facebook is the 'next' Facebook a good enough reason for such acquisitions? Barriers to entry and sustainable advantages will be few and far between going down this route. The Financial Times, in its analysis of the acquisition, points out that innovation is quickly nipping at the heels of Whatsapp. CalPal, for example, is one example of a mobile application that lets users message each other from within an app. In the markets, there has been a relatively sanguine response to the purchase, but only because of broader trends. As the FT points out,
"External forces have also helped to push the headline prices of deals such as WhatsApp into the stratosphere. A global excess of cheap money, along with a scarcity of alternatives for growth-hungry investors, has boosted the stock prices of companies such as Facebook and Google."
One of the most visibly exciting developments in technology in recent years is the explosion of the wearable tech sector. But it is Google's flagship product, Glass, that has met with much ire and distress. An excellent piece of analysis appearing in MIT Technology Review last month hit the nail on the head when it identified why Glass was having trouble winning people over. The article rightly identifies the significant shift in external appearance inherent in making the switch from a device that needs to be taken out of a pocket as makes it clear when it is being interacted with (you need to cover half your face with the product to talk to someone, for example). The article also details the savvy approach Google have taken to the distribution of their product. It's always sensible to try and mobilise the part of your base likely to be evangelists anyway, so as to build advance buzz before a full-blown release. But to get them to pay for the privilege, as Google are doing with their excitable fans, dubbed Explorers, is a stroke of genius for them. However, the key issue, and what the article states is an "insurmountable problem", is that "Google's challenge in making the device a successful consumer product will be convincing the people around you to ignore it". It is this fundamental aspect of social interaction that is worrying many, and now Google is worried too. As detailed in the FT, the company has acknowledged that the product can look "pretty weird". Recognising it has a "long journey" to mainstream adoption, it published a list of Dos and Don'ts. Highlights include,
"Ask for permission. Standing alone in the corner of a room staring at people while recording them through Glass is not going to win you any friends… If you find yourself staring off into the prism for long periods of time you're probably looking pretty weird to the people around you."
It indicates that Google may have a significant 'Glasshole' problem it needs to attend to. The case may be overstated though. One of the problems may just be that potential customers have yet to see any practical uses for it. This is beginning to change. Last week, Virgin Atlantic announced a six-week trial of both Glass and Sony smartwatches. The idea will be for check-in attendants to use the devices to scan limousine number plates so that passengers can be greeted by name and be instantly updated on their flight status.
In the arts, digital technology has inspired much innovative work, as well as helped broaden its audience. David Hockney, one of England's greatest living artists, recently exhibited a series of works produced entirely on his iPad at London's Royal Academy of Arts. He is far from alone. Last week's anniversary issue of The New Yorker featured work from Jorge Colombo on its front cover, again produced entirely on an iPad. Such digital innovation allows for increased productivity as well as new aesthetics. When done well, art can also involve the viewer, encouraging interaction. Digital technology helps with this too. Earlier in the year The New York Times covered how the New York City Ballet redesigned part of their floor in a new scheme to attract new visitors to the ballet. The result, roughly life-size pictures of dancers arranged on the floor, has seen great success, and an explosion of content on social media platforms like Instagram, where users have taken to posing on the floor as if interacting with the images (see above). It's a simple tactic that now reaches a far greater audience thanks to new digital technologies.
A recently published book, 'Now I know who my comrades are: Voices from the Internet Undergound', by Emily Parker, seeks to demonstrate the ways in which digital technology has made helped to coalesce and support important activism in regions such as China and Latin America. But, as The Economist points out in its review, the disappointing situation in Egypt puts pay to some of the author's claims; there are limits to how productive and transformative technology can be. In business, these hurdles are plain to see. A poll taken by McKinsey published last month shows that "45% of companies admit they have limited to no understanding on how their customers interact with them digitally". This is staggering. For all executives' talk of the power of Big Data, such technology is useless without the proper structures in place to successfully analyse it. We also perhaps need to think more about repercussions of increased technological advances and how they influence our social interactions. In the recently opened film Her (starring Joaquin Phoenix, pictured below), set in the very near future, a new operating system is so pervasive and seamless that it leads to fraught, thought-provoking questions on the nature and productivity of relationships. When does conversation – and more – with a simulacrum detract from interactions with the physical world? These considerations may seem lofty, but as we illustrated earlier, the germination of such thoughts are being echoed in discussions over Google Glass.
So technology in 2014 heralds some promise for the future. Wearable tech as a trend is merely the initial stage of a journey where our interaction with computing systems becomes seamless. It is on this journey though that we need to make sure that businesses are making the most of every opportunity to streamline costs and enhance customer service, and that individual early adopters do not leave the rest of us behind to deal with a bewildering and alarming new way of living. One of our favourite quotations, from the author William Gibson, is apt to end on: "The future's already here, it's just not very evenly distributed".
TV's bloody disruptions
Last night, Zeitgeist eagerly devoured the first episode of the new season of Netflix's House of Cards, a series that has received lavish praise – not least from us – both for its content and its position as vanguard of a new wave of television distribution, production and consumption. The series lead, Frank Underwood, takes on his competition with a ruthless lack of morality that is unlikely to jar with those in the cutthroat television industry. The New York Times recently featured an excellent piece on the series, focusing on the showrunner Beau Willimon, the unique nature of doing such a show with Netflix, which among other things guaranteed 26 shows upfront, and the new mood of "post-hope" politics. Is traditional linear TV entering its own post-hope state?
Such talk of impending doom makes for nice editorial (which Zeitgeist is not averse to), but how true is it? To some extent, such new forms of consumption are being hampered by externalities as the platforms make the switch from early adopters to the everyday consumer. Indeed, Netflix's sheer popularity is proving to be a thorn in its side. In November last year, Sandvine reported that the content Netflix provides now accounts for almost a third of internet traffic in the US. This staggering figure no doubt accounts for at least part of why internet speeds take such a distinct hit during primetime viewing hours (see chart below). As Quartz has the insight to point out, such issues are less to do with intentional throttling and more to do with peering agreements between ISPs and content providers.
Such issues are likely to be ever more prevalent as the notion of net neutrality continues to come under attack. At the end of last month, a federal appeals court overturned the Federal Communication Commission's Open Internet Order, which had stipulated that ISPs could not prejudice one type of internet traffic over another. The fear of any such policy being overturned has always been one of the creation of a two-tier internet, where people who can afford faster internet get preferential access, and companies are free to charge distributors differing amounts based on the type or amount of content they are delivering. Such consternation was also felt in government, where five US senators called on the FCC chairman to "act with expediency" to preserve the open internet. The news immediately caused concern for Netflix, as shareholders fretted that ISPs might start to charge the company for the traffic it takes up. CEO Reed Hastings responded categorically,
"Were this draconian scenario to unfold with some ISP, we would vigorously protest and encourage our members to demand the open Internet they are paying their ISP to deliver."
Consolidation and the narrowing of choice took a further hit on Wednesday this week when Comcast announced it would buy all of Time Warner Cable for $44.2bn. The choice on cable landscape is already limited for the US, so it will be interesting to see what regulators make the deal. Chad Gutstein, former COO of Ovation, an independent arts-focused cable channel, penned an article in Variety saying that any concerns over the deal should be restricted to the possibility of abuse of a dominant position, rather than simply market share.Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu, writing in The New Yorker, rightly points out that the FCC should be approving such mergers only if they serve the public interest. He sees no such possibility in this instance, where the most pressing need for cable customers is lower prices. Last year, he writes, Comcast collected about $156 a month on average, per customer. For cable. Professor Wu contends that the merger would put Comcast in a position that would make it easier to raise prices further. This, despite the fact that conditions created via the merger would technically put the company in a position where it could create savings, both through economies of scale and more advantageous negotiating positions with programmers like ESPN and Viacom. Of course, Comcast is probably keen on preserving if not extending margins as it faces increasing competition from players like Netflix and Amazon. Cord cutting may be in vogue now, but Comcast will try to combat this by creating what is called 'lock-in'. Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, a consumer advocacy group, is quoted in the New York Times; "Comcast and the new, giant Comcast are going to do as much as they can to stop you from unbundling. In order for you to get content you like, you're going to be pushed to pay the cable bill, too". Such tactics will test the limits of customer inertia, but only if they have somewhere else to go as a viable alternative.
The switch to online viewing is also raising issues of policy change in the UK. Public service broadcaster the BBC has long left it unclear as to at what point requiring a TV licence is mandatory, leaving citizens to infer that simply owning a television set is reason enough. Recently though, the broadcaster finally clarified that owners can use their TV, with no fee, to play games, watch DVDs, basically do anything that doesn't involve watching live television. For the moment, this also includes their IPTV offering, iPlayer. In an article earlier this month, The Economist said the fee was "becoming ever harder to justify". Antonella Mei-Pochtler of the Boston Consulting Group, quoted in the article, believes the increasing trend of young people to timeshift their viewing is likely to become ingrained. Coupled with the growth of internet-connected TVs, this is bound to accelerate a shift away from traditional linear consumption. The BBC is soon to begin developing premium content for its iPlayer service in order to seek additional revenue streams that may offset a decline in fees paid. But as The Economist points out,
"[T]hat would suggest, dangerously, that the BBC is like any other optional subscription service. Folding on-demand services into the licence fee could also amplify calls for the BBC to share its cash with other broadcasters, not least because such consumption may be precisely measured."
When we look at the market for television sets and set top boxes, the news isn't that superb either. The curved TVs debuted at CES in January are surely little more than a distraction. Last week, Business Insider reported that Sony is to finally spin off its TV operations into a separate unit, amongst news of $1.1bn in losses and 5,000 job cuts. But while we've talked of consolidation and narrowing choice, we also need to recognise this is also a period of unprecedented choice for consumers. As a recent article on GigaOm points out, there are millions of channels on YouTube alone. There are growing pains. As consumption of such content moves "to the living room", the article details various sub rosa negotiationsby retailers like Walmart with their own video market, or players like Netflix willing to pay top dollar to put branded buttons on remote controls. What is clear, with all the issues described in this post, is that consumer choice needs to be preserved in an open market with plenty of competition. Such an environment will always foster innovation. This may breed disruption, but that doesn't have to mean devastation. The age of linear TV viewing may be at the beginning of its end, but that doesn't mean there's still a lot to fight for, even if it's a scrap. Frank Underwood wouldn't have it any other way.
UPDATE (22/02/14): The New York Times published an interesting article comparing Netflix and HBO recently, showing how the two companies are faring financially (see image above), as well as their approaches to developing content, which started off as opposing ideologies but are slowly starting to meet in the middle as they borrow from each other's playbook. The article quotes Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer: "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us."
UPDATE (22/02/14): Of course, commercial network television in general is also going through a period of consternation, slowly building since the day TiVo started shipping. At the end of last year, the Financial Times reported that share of advertising spend on television is set to end after three decades. This is partly due to a proliferation of new devices and platforms – not least of which is Netflix – but also partly due to the amount of people time-shifting their viewing and skipping through the ads along the way. Thinkbox, a lobbying arm for the television industry, recently published a blog article with accompanying chart. It illustrated how many people time-shifted a particular programme depending on the genre. For example, fewer people time-shifted the news than drama shows. But one of the key points made in the article is "that there is no significant difference in the amount of commercial TV which is recorded and played back compared with BBC equivalents. To put it another way: TV is not time-shifted in an attempt to avoid ads". This is specious reasoning at best. While it may be true that, yes, people do not discriminate between whether they time-shift a BBC show or an ITV show, it would be totally wrong to infer that those viewers are not avoiding ads when they do appear. The article's author is guilty of confirmation bias, not to mention grasping at straws.


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Forest Service:
Information on Appeals, Objections, and Litigation Involving Fuel Reduction Activities, Fiscal Years 2006 through 2008
GAO-10-337: Published: Mar 4, 2010. Publicly Released: Mar 4, 2010.
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Increases in the number and intensity of wildland fires have led the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service to place greater emphasis on thinning forests and rangelands to reduce the buildup of potentially hazardous vegetation that can fuel wildland fires. The public generally has an opportunity to challenge agency hazardous fuel reduction decisions with which it disagrees. Depending on the type of project being undertaken, the public can file a formal objection to a proposed decision, or can appeal a decision the agency has already made. Appeals and objections must be reviewed by the Forest Service within prescribed time frames. Final decisions may also generally be challenged in federal court. GAO was asked, among other things, to determine, for fiscal years 2006-2008, (1) the number of Forest Service fuel reduction decisions and the associated acreage; (2) the number of decisions subject to appeal and objection, the number appealed, objected to, and litigated, and the associated acreage; and (3) the outcomes of appeals, objections, and litigation, and the extent to which appeals and objections were processed within prescribed time frames. In doing so, GAO conducted a nationwide survey of forest managers and staff, interviewed officials in the Forest Service's regional offices, and reviewed documentation to corroborate agency responses. GAO requested, but did not receive, comments from the Forest Service on a draft of this report.
Through a GAO-administered survey and interviews, Forest Service officials reported the following information: (1) In fiscal years 2006 through 2008, the Forest Service issued 1,415 decisions involving fuel reduction activities, covering 10.5 million acres. (2) Of this total, 1,191 decisions, covering about 9 million acres, were subject to appeal and 217--about 18 percent--were appealed. Another 121 decisions, covering about 1.2 million acres, were subject to objection and 49--about 40 percent--were objected to. The remaining 103 decisions were exempt from both objection and appeal. Finally, 29 decisions--about 2 percent of all decisions--were litigated, involving about 124,000 acres. (3) For 54 percent of the appeals filed, the Forest Service allowed the project to proceed without changes; 7 percent required some changes before being implemented; and 8 percent were not allowed to be implemented. The remaining appeals were generally dismissed for procedural reasons or withdrawn before they could be resolved. Regarding objections, 37 percent of objections resulted in no change to a final decision; 35 percent resulted in a change to a final decision or additional analysis on the part of the Forest Service; and the remaining 28 percent were set aside from review for procedural reasons or addressed in some other way. And finally, of the 29 decisions that were litigated, lawsuits on 21 decisions have been resolved, and 8 are ongoing. Of the lawsuits that have been resolved, the parties settled 3 decisions, 8 were decided in favor of the plaintiffs, and 10 were decided in favor of the Forest Service. All appeals and objections were processed within prescribed time frames--generally, within 90 days of a decision (for appeals), or within 60 days of the legal notice of a proposed decision (for objections).
Jun 24, 2015
Renewable Energy:BLM Has Limited Assurance That Wind and Solar Projects Are Adequately BondedGAO-15-699T: Published: Jun 24, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 24, 2015.
Jun 9, 2015
Missouri River Basin:Agencies' Progress Improving Water Monitoring Is LimitedGAO-15-558R: Published: Jun 9, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 9, 2015.
Jun 4, 2015
EPA's Science Advisory Board:Improved Procedures Needed to Process Congressional Requests for Scientific AdviceGAO-15-500: Published: Jun 4, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 4, 2015.
May 20, 2015
EPA Science Advisory Panels:Preliminary Observations on the Processes for Providing Scientific AdviceGAO-15-636T: Published: May 20, 2015. Publicly Released: May 20, 2015.
May 11, 2015
Forest Restoration:Adjusting Agencies' Information-Sharing Strategies Could Benefit Landscape-Scale ProjectsGAO-15-398: Published: Apr 9, 2015. Publicly Released: May 11, 2015.
May 7, 2015
Hanford Waste Treatment:DOE Needs to Evaluate Alternatives to Recently Proposed Projects and Address Technical and Management ChallengesGAO-15-354: Published: May 7, 2015. Publicly Released: May 7, 2015.
May 6, 2015
Oil and Gas Resources:Interior's Production Verification Efforts and Royalty Data Have Improved, but Further Actions NeededGAO-15-39: Published: Apr 7, 2015. Publicly Released: May 6, 2015.
Apr 16, 2015
Bureau of Land Management:More Information Needed to Implement the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013GAO-15-394: Published: Apr 16, 2015. Publicly Released: Apr 16, 2015.
Mar 23, 2015
Nuclear Waste:DOE Needs to Improve Cost Estimates for Transuranic Waste Projects at Los AlamosGAO-15-182: Published: Feb 18, 2015. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 2015.
Mar 4, 2015
Indian Irrigation Projects:Deferred Maintenance and Financial Sustainability Issues Remain UnresolvedGAO-15-453T: Published: Mar 4, 2015. Publicly Released: Mar 4, 2015.
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$10 off $75 Home, Sports, School Supplies, Fashion, & Beauty - Back to School. Use promo code BACK2SCHOOL at checkout. Ends 7/8/2015.
Learn more about Connectors for the Rainbow River Stones and Wavy Tactile Path (6 Pieces / Set):
Manufacturer: Weplay
Mfg Part#: KT0010
Sku: 229851911
Package Weight: 13 lbs
Batteries: Not Applicable
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|EEB1152: Features: -Connectors. -Used to link the wavy tactile path and the rainbow rive stone together. -Can be used as the starting point or the turning point in the route. -Each rainbow river stone requires 3 connectors in order to keep its balance when connected to the path. -Ages: 3 Years and up.


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Batman Villains in the New 52: Harley Quinn
I'm gonna talk about a fan-favourite who's reputation has been destroyed by the New 52, Harley Quinn. I hope you leave comments and agree and disagree on my views and rating. Next time I'm gonna do Scarecrow. Enjoy!
Harley Quinn
Harley used to be the Joker's smitten assistant who had become a fan favourite after her first appearance in Batman: The Animated Series. Sadly the New 52 have turned her into a slutty psycho working with Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad. I know I'm in the minority here but I do like the more crazy Harley, yet the only storyline where I've seen the old Harley was in 'The Hunt for Harley Quinn' where she wanted vengeance for the 'death' of the Joker. Even though she completely betrayed the team for some reason she is till on the team, why?. Anyway it seems she will be staying on the team for quite a while but that might change in issue 14 where Joker interrupts a funeral for Deadshot and that issue is a tie in with the 'Death of The Family' so Harley may be returning to the Batman titles.
Her costume has changed drastically since her first costume which has been around for twenty years. The new one is not a jester outfit it is more of corset and very small mini shorts, she also has one side of her hair bleached red and the other black. I hate that her skin is now permanently white and the the cause of her insanity is thanks to being dropped into a vat of chemicals, the same one as the Joker. I hope she leaves the squad soon because it's destroying both Harley and her reputation, I wish DC would stop placing her in groups and let her back together with the Joker instead of teaming up with the Sirens, Secret Six and now the Suicide Squad.
In verdict, I'm not at all happy with her being placed in the Suicide Squad and I hate her new heavily slutty personality and why did she make out with Deadshot, I thought she only had eyes for Joker! Even though I hate so much about her rebooted version I'm still reading Suicide Squad. Anyway I ain't happy about Harley and she better be joining her 'puddin' soon.
Reboot Rating: D-
Recommended Reading: Suicide Squad: The Hunt for Harley Quinn (Issues #6- #8)